56 OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 



fox-hunting ! Is it likely a marchand de gihicr, 

 (of which, no doubt, there will be many,) will 

 allow hounds to draw his coverts, or even a gun 

 to be fired, or a dog to enter his premises ? No 

 more elevated barrels or percussion locks will be 

 necessary, and the name of v. sportsman in a 

 few years will be forgotten. 



The game laws in France are not clearly under- 

 stood by the lawyers : the old despotic law is 

 done away with ; and the new ones, made since 

 the revolution, are so very indefinite, as not to 

 be understood. I had the misfortune to be pro- 

 secuted for a trespass by an old Countess who 

 lived at Harfleur ; and having consulted my 

 solicitor, he advised me to wait on the lady, 

 and acquaint her that she had been misinformed 

 by her " Garde," that I had not committed a 

 trespass on her land. She received me very 

 graciously, but made some unpleasant remarks 

 on the conduct of the English — one of which 

 was so very absurd, that I could scarcely refrain 

 from telling her she was a silly old woman. She 

 accused the English of causing Louis the 16th to 

 be beheaded ! The proces verbal Avas brought 

 into court, not to be decided by a jury, but by 

 an old worn-out judge, who determined on the 

 declaration made by the garde de chasse who 

 swore I was shooting in a turnip field, the property 



