The Merry Past 



Another attempt to establish a pack was made by- 

 Mr. Leigh Cross, but he met with a very hostile recep- 

 tion, and the authorities of that day actually issued 

 an order forbidding the sportsmen to appear in scarlet. 



The French at that time had a not unnatural 

 antipathy to our national red, and at first the ears of 

 the sportsmen were constantly saluted with " God 

 dam 1 " accompanied by " Monsieur Rouge^^ or " les 

 soldats Anglais / " 



Owing to various reasons the experiment was 

 abandoned. Five years later, however, in 1823, a 

 regular pack of foxhounds was established at Bou- 

 logne by Mr. Cresswell, who, in addition to other 

 sporting innovations, made a race-course, and built 

 himself a sporting-box at Hardelot, seven or eight 

 miles west of Boulogne. 



At that time Anglomania raged throughout France. 

 There was a certain count who lived near Arras, who 

 was terribly affected by it. Everything he had was 

 English, and everything he did was a V Anglais. He 

 had entered a horse for some plate or stake at the 

 races at Hardelot, and it being made a favourite 

 elated him not a little. " He is von dem fine horse," 

 said he to an English friend, " von excellent vellow : 

 I assure you he is a Roman." "Roman!" said the 

 sportsman from across the Channel, looking at his 

 head to see if he possessed the projecting forehead. 

 " Yes, he is a rum vun," repeated he. And eventually 

 it was discovered that he meant a rum 'un ; and more- 

 over that he considered "rum 'uns " to be an espe- 

 cially good breed of horses. 



89 



