THE EM PIKE AND THE REPUBLIC 261 



than the last two or three furlonos. When we all had to 

 flit, bag and baggage, before the Prussian advance, my father 

 did not go with us, but rode a clean-bred and most fractious 

 chestnut mare named Catalina to the coast from Fontaine- 

 bleau. I think it was to Dieppe. Isidore accompanied him 

 on Flambeau. It was lovely weather, and both horses had 

 good legs and feet, so they enjoyed it. Once they were all 

 but shot at as spies by a zealous franc-tireur from behind a 

 tree, but explanations were quickly forthcoming from the 

 startled Isidore. Flambeau was soon after raffled for an 

 unflattering amount at a bazaar in aid of an organ fund 

 in Yorkshire. By that time he made a cheerful noise 

 himself. 



The Fontainebleau hirelings were very moderate animals 

 and suffered from chronic sore backs, but I remember one, a 

 reputed ' Irlandais,' which was held in high esteem and 

 request ; and another of the now scarce colour known as 

 porcelaine — a creamy white with black spots and flecks and 

 a very pink nose. He was a well-shaped, self-advertising ani- 

 mal, and made a great show and commotion. Louis XIV., 

 who liked pied chargers, would have looked capital on 

 him, and Loutherbourg or Vander Meulen would have 

 been pleased with their model. There was plenty of hunt- 

 ing ; M. M. Aguado hustled the boar about ; the Imperial 

 Venerie hunted the stag. The late Baron Lambert, as 

 Lieutenant de la Venerie, was for all practical purposes 

 Master. He was very kind to me, and I looked up to him 

 as one upon the pinnacle of human greatness. He invited 

 me once or twice to the Venerie, took me out for a ride on a 

 Venerie horse, and gave me a Swaine and Adeney cutting 

 whip. Speaking from memory, I think he bought nice 

 horses with plenty of quality for the men, and he always 

 rode lean-necked, clean-headed, conspicuously coloured 

 horses himself. I remember in particular a charming white 



