s and loud-sounding bugles were
all deemed so many direct insults by the ill-conditioned section I have
mentioned. The unequivocal evidences of dislike they exhibited to this
dashing 'turn-out' formed, I believe, one of its great attractions to
the Eighteenth, who never omitted an occasion, whatever the state of the
weather, to issue forth every day, with all the noise and uproar they
could muster.

At last, however, the old _commissaire de police_, whose indignation
at the proceeding knew no bounds, devised an admirable expedient for
annoying our fellows--one which, supported as it was by the law of the
country, there was no possibility of evading. This was to demand the
passport of every officer who passed the _barriere_, thus necessitating
him to get down from the roof of the coach, present his papers, and have
them carefully conned and scrutinised, their _vises_ looked into, and
all sorts of questions propounded.

When it is understood that the only drive led through one or other of
these barriers, it may be imagined how provoking and vexatious such a
course of proceeding became. Representations were made to the mayor
ever and anon, explaining that the passports once produced no further
inconvenience should be incurred; but all to no purpose. Any one who
knows France will acknowledge how totally inadequate a common-sense
argument is in the decision of a question before a government
functionary. The mayor, too, was a royalist, and the matter was decided
against us.

Argument and reason having failed, the gallant Eighteenth came to
the resolution to try force; and accordingly it was decided that next
morning we should charge the _barriere_ in full gallop, as it was
rightly conjectured that no French employe would feel disposed to
encounter the rush of a four-in-hand, even with the law on his side. To
render the _coup de main_ more brilliant, and perhaps, too, to give an
air of plausibility to the infraction, four dashing thoroughbred
light chestnuts--two of the number having never felt a collar in their
lives--were harnessed for the occasion. A strong force of the wildest
spirits of the regiment took their places on the roof; and amid a cheer
that actually made the street ring, and a tantarara from the trumpets,
the equipage dashed through the town, the leaders bounding with the
swingle-bars every moment over their backs. Away we went, the populace
flying in terror on every side, and every eye turned towards the
_