Pierrefonds, and afterwards to the
magnificent Roman remains at Champlieu. In the evening there were
charades and carpet dances as usual.

The third day was always reserved for the most important part of the
programme--the stag-hunt. Candidly speaking, I doubt whether Napoleon,
though a very excellent horseman, cared much for this sport, as
conducted on the grand traditional lines of the French "code of
venerie." His main object personally was a good stiff run with the
hounds, such as he had been used to in England, troubling himself little
whether the pack kept the scent or not. In fact, there were generally
two packs out, one of purely English breed, which was followed by the
Emperor and his guests; the other French, followed by the serious lovers
of sport, who, as a rule, caught at every pretext to get away from the
magnificently apparelled crowd, driving or riding in the wake of the
sovereign. Among the former there was a considerable sprinkling of the
landed gentry of the neighbourhood, monarchists and legitimists to a
man, some of whom did not even condescend to honour the Emperor with a
salute. Compiegne, Senart, etc., were, after all, public property, and
they could do as they liked, though I have got an idea that this wilful
slight was an instance of singular bad taste on the part of these
gentlemen.

The spot fixed for the meet was invariably the large clearing known as
the Carrefour du Puits-du-Roi, whence radiated eight immense avenues,
stretching as far as the uttermost confines of the forest of Compiegne.
The spot, apart from its associations with royalty, from the days of
Clovis up to our own, was admirably chosen, the mise-en-scene worthy of
the greatest stage-manager on record. The huge centre itself was kept
clear by the gendarmes de chasse--a cross between a mounted constable
and a ranger--from any but the officers of the garrison on horseback and
other persons privileged to join the Emperor's suite. Six of the avenues
were free to the pedestrians, who could watch every movement from their
vantage point; the seventh was set apart for carriages of all sorts,
from the humble shandrydan of the local notary and doctor to the
magnificent break of the neighbouring landed proprietor, or the less
correctly but more showily appointed barouches of the leaders of
provincial society, who rarely missed an opportunity of attending these
gatherings, where there were so many chances of coming in contact with
the c