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GEORGE TEMPLAR AND THE DUC DE BOURBON. 113 



individual in black, whose voice awoke the echoes of the forest, 

 and could even be heard above the sound of the French horns. 

 Upon being told that he was one of the most celebrated 

 masters of hounds in England, he treated him with much 

 courtesy, and asked his opinion on the style of hunting he 

 had adopted, the quality of the hounds, and other questions 

 connected with the chasse; to all of which Templar gave the 

 most satisfactory replies, and much amused the old Due de 

 Bourbon by telling him that the huntsmen and piqueurs 

 whom he had frequently met in his short-cuts on foot thorugh 

 the woods (guided by the wind and his own thorough know- 

 ledge of hunting) had taken him for an English priest (un 

 pretre Anglais), and had interpreted one or two British 

 hunting halloos which he could not refrain from uttering, 

 either into vociferous benedictions or loud curses upon the 

 sport he was pursuing. 



The stag was soon brought to bay in a swampy corner of 

 the etang, and received the coup de grace from a couteau de 

 chasse ; the " mort " was sounded ; the train of Monseigneur 

 the Due de Bourbon took their departure for Chantilly; 

 cavaliers and ladies vanished in different directions through 

 the different green avenues, and the forest was left again 

 to its original stillness and repose. 



Many years subsequent to the event I have been relating, 

 I remember to have formed one of a royal hunting party at 

 the Bois de Meudon, near Paris, at which two sons of Louis 



Philippe, the Due d'A and the Due de M were 



present. The stag had eventually resorted (as is almost 

 always the case) to a large pond or etang in the centre of the 

 forest, and, ensconced in a corner inaccessible from behind, 

 amidst high reeds and aquatic plants, kept the dogs at 

 bay with his formidable horns. One of the Princes dis- 

 mounted, a rifle, or loaded piece of some kind, was placed iu 

 his hands, and having approached along the bank to within 



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