VILNERIE AND THE VALO/S 257 



neither learn nor forget, but such of you as can do both or 

 even either will benefit much by following my advice.' 



Many things have changed and happened in France since 

 Louis XVI. entered ' rien ' in his hunting diary on the day 

 the Bastille was taken. The charming old names Hke the 

 Cabinet de Monseigneur, the Route du Vert Galant, the 

 Bouquet du Roi are only names and memories. Hunting is, 

 alas ! no longer the occupation of kings or the pastime of 

 a Court. But a Bourbon prince still hunts the stag at 

 Chantilly according to the ideas of the sixteenth century. 

 Gaston-Phebus, his distinguished ancestor, is still the 

 suzerain of venerie. In this country, less than one hundred 

 years has revolutionised— speaking broadly — our horses, our 

 hounds, our methods, and our hunting fashions— least of all, 

 perhaps, strange to say, our hunting dress. But in France, 

 to have recourse to a metaphor, the valse seems never to have 

 ousted the minuet and the pavane. 



