THE LAST CHASSE OF CHARLES X. 171 



the eye can penetrate for some distance beneath its massive 

 shades. It is beautiful, like everything majestic; but at 

 the same time few things suggest more melancholy reflec- 

 tions than the sight of one of those giant trees which the 

 lightning or the tempest has stricken to the earth, it is 

 the emblem of some misfortune, the image of greatness 

 fallen. 



The axe of the woodman strikes the sapling, it falls, and 

 its place is hardly missed ; not so with the lord of the forest ; 

 echo repeats for a long time the strokes of the hatchet that 

 is dealing its death-blows, and when it falls it is with a 

 mighty crash ! This tree was the only one that had fallen 

 amongst many others that stood erect in green and stately 

 vigour around it, and Charles X., in spite of his philosophy, 

 could not help feeling a cold sensation at heart. 



" This," he soliloquised, " is the destiny of all that is 

 great ! The highest trees suffer the most from the winds ; 

 the most lofty tower falls with the greatest crash, and the 

 thunder strikes the highest mountains !" 



The king covered his face with his hands. His eyes were 

 filled with tears ; dear yet painful souvenirs were recalled to 

 his mind ; amongst others, those lines of Horace he had so 

 often repeated with his brothers during his boyhood, 

 "Rectius vives, Liciiii, neque altum," and which indeed 

 Louis XVI. had read in the Temple the very day of his 

 execution. 



Some gentlemen of his suite now joined the king, whose 

 countenance had reassumed its habitual expression, and 

 announced that the stag had doubled back again, and was 

 now on the banks of the Etang de Hollande. The king 

 departed at full gallop ; the stag was not yet visible, but the 

 rides and the banks of the lake were crowded by spectators. 

 Instead of the animal he was pursuing, the king found a 

 little fete prepared for him. 



