142 



SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



The souvenir of this anecdote was by no means reassuring 

 for our horses, and already several Parisian steeds were 

 pretty well fatigued in the wood of Yerrieres, from whence 

 the stag had not yet broken. 



We were just outside the wood, upon a gentle eminence 

 that descends towards Yerrieres, and commanding a beauti- 

 ful and rich perspective. Suddenly the stag appears on the 

 borders of the wood ; he hesitates an instant, but the sounds 

 of the chase are fast approaching ; he makes one bound, it 

 was magnificent : clearing an immense space, he speeds 

 across the plain. 



We thus found ourselves the first in the chasse; the 

 piqueurs and the hounds soon joined us; a relay was placed 

 by chance on the road to Plessis, and the stag redoubled his 

 speed; the plain was covered with horsemen; it was like a 

 charge of cavalry. 



" This puts me in mind, sire, of a hunting field in England," 

 said the Duke of Wellington, addressing the king, with 

 whom he was riding in company; "I could almost fancy 

 myself in the Yale of Aylesbury." 



" You astonish me, Monsieur le Due," replied the king, 

 rather coldly ; " I confess that when I had the honour of 

 your company at one of my stag hunts, I expected to show 

 you a sight which you would not easily witness in your own 

 country." 



"Will your majesty permit me to observe that it would 

 be a most laudable ambition on your part if the fact could 

 only be satisfactorily proved." 



" Oh, upon that point, my dear lord, you must strike your 

 flag, however disagreeable it may be to you. England, so 

 celebrated for her horses, her hounds, and the beauty of her 

 equipages, understands very little of the true science of the 

 chase; not that chase which consists in following an animal 

 over mountain and vale, through woods and rivers, over 

 hedges, gates, and walls, and killing him a short distance 



