]10 BRITA^NY AND THE CPIASE. 



is more up to trap and trapping than the Breton peasant. 

 Guns, springes, wires of all shapes and sizes, traps iron and 

 wooden, nets, dogs and lanthorns, are all put into requi- 

 sition, — with what success let the market-day show^ when, 

 in a small country town, you may see a hundred hares 

 exposed for sale at one time. How Puss escapes, Diana 

 alone can tell ; and I know no stronger proof of the pro- 

 tective power of instinct than that she should not only 

 exist, but keep up a good head under such adverse circum- 

 stances. In mounting a hedge bank, it is highly desirable 

 to look sharp if you value your fingers and toes. Snap 

 crack ! and off goes a trap under your very nose. I have 

 frequently seen men and dogs cauglit in them, and a large 

 fox-trap with proper teeth is a monstrously unpleasant em- 

 brace to fall into. Some poachers, too, are uncommonly 

 audacious. Not long ago, an old gentleman, whom I know 

 very well, on hearing some fii'ing near his chateau, went 

 out and found two men shooting. He ordered them off: 

 sharp words passed, and the dispute grew very personal. 

 At last one whispered to the other, who pulled out a piece 

 of rope, and they pounced upon the worthy squire, pi- 

 nioned him, and proceeded deliberately to tie him to one 

 of his own fine beech-trees. In vain he struggled, sacred, 

 kicked, and shouted: two young men were long odds 

 against one old one ; and finally behold him, tightly slewed 

 up fore and aft, and only able to move his tongue. He 

 told me he fully expected they were going to shoot him : 

 but after jeering and mocking a little, advising him to be 

 more civil the next time, and by all means to eschew pre- 

 serving for the future, they made him a polite bow, and 



