THE " PERMIS DE CHASSE." 13 



Some Englishmen, ignorant of the Breton language, have 

 mistaken a vivacious and noisy manner for hostility, and 

 hence has arisen a quarrel; but it has been their own 

 fault in not having learnt a few common phrases before 

 entering on the sport. 



A permis de chasse is necessary in France, but is 

 generally obtainable without much difficulty. If you are 

 non-resident_, or rather if you pay no taxes as a house- 

 holder, the maire may refuse your application, or may 

 oblige you to take out a patente, that is, a licence to exer- 

 cise the trade therein named, and which is considered 

 equivalent .to residence. The price of this varies with 

 the nature of the calling, from 5 francs to 400 francs. 

 I know one Englishman who styled himself vendor of 

 lucifer matches, and anotlier spectacle seller, and they paid 

 only some 7 francs on account of the baseness of the trade. 

 The permis costs 25 francs, and is good for a year from the 

 date. It should be always carried on the person, as the 

 gendarmes, gardes de chasse, and gardes champctres, &c. 

 are entitled to demand it, and for want of it you may be 

 arrested and put to trouble. Nothing has ever struck me 

 as more ridiculous than making the gendarmes the public 

 gamekeepers. You want to dog and catch the non-licensed 

 people and the poachers — men of light heels and activity, 

 and therefore you send after them a gendarme in heavy 

 knee-boots, like those of our lifeguards, an enormous 

 cocked hat, and a heavy sword and carbine, who has about 

 the same chance as a snail with a grasshopper. Their 

 great hat is quite an invitation for a charge of duck-shot 

 — a moving target. They are in general well-behaved 



