42 WOLF-HUNTING. 



and Welshmen of the present day. So, indeed, are the songs in 

 general which M. de la Villemarque has collected in that most 

 interesting work of his, " The Poems of the Breton Bards of the 

 Sixth Century." That gentleman, when he visited the prin- 

 cipality of Wales about thirty years ago, established the fact, since 

 corroborated by many others, that a Breton scholar with a know- 

 ledge of English and a Welshman understanding French, can 

 carry on a conversation in the Breton language with little 

 difficulty to either all the old words being the same, although 

 when written the spelling of them may be very different. 



" But," I hear an impatient enquiry, " what on earth has all 

 this to do with wolf-hunting and wild sport in Britanny? Cut 

 bono the knowledge that the Breton language has or has not out- 

 lived the period of existence assigned to all languages by Sir 

 Charles Lyell ? " The answer to which is simply this : That, by 

 the old Breton peasantry, the connection between Great Britain 

 and Lower Brittany is still cherished with a sentiment of respect 

 and pride ; that an Englishman is regarded with far more favour 

 than their very dissimilar and uncongenial French neighbours ; 

 and that if a Welshman speaking his native tongue visit that 

 primitive people, he will be received by them with especial favour 

 and kindness, and welcomed as a brother possessing the same old 

 Celtic blood in his veins as that of which they are equally proud. 



This community of blood and language is a key to the 

 Breton's heart ; and if, in addition, the sojourner in quest of sport 

 carry a well-stocked tobacco-pouch, and is liberal therewith, he 

 may hunt, shoot, or fish, where his inclination lead him, through- 

 out the length and breadth of Lower Brittany. I speak from 

 experience, having passed two pleasant seasons among the people, 

 and traversed, in pursuit of game, its wildest nooks. I never once 

 was looked upon as an intruder, but, on the contrary, received 

 the right hand of fellowship wherever I roamed from the peasant 

 proprietors of that rugged land. True, the aforesaid require- 



