224 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



poacher, the confiscation of the gun is 

 superadded to the punishment. 



Where the landed proprietors are 

 wealthy, and their domains large, the 

 estate is well preserved, as a good estab- 

 lishment of gardes de chasse is kept up ; 

 and these functionaries, with very few 

 exceptions, perform their duty zealously 

 and faithfully. Where the revenue of the 

 Seigneur will not admit of this outlay, 

 depredations on his manor are but of too 

 frequent occurrence ; for almost every 

 Frenchman carries a gun, and he will pop 

 at the partridges w^henever he can ; — 

 whether he kills them or not, is of little 

 moment. 



The French Deputes do not trouble their 

 pohtical brains about game-laws ; for, with 

 the exception of a royal ordonnance, 

 which compels every sporting subject to 

 take out a ports d'armes, at the rate of 

 twelve-and-sixpence a head, there is no 



