Royal Palaces and Parks of France

of the French court all who know their French history and have

r than when the note was originally sounded. Often these establishments were something more than a mere hunting-lodge, or shooting-box, indeed they generally aspired to the proportions of what may

g-lodge in the style of Louis XVI, hung with veritable Gobelin tapestries, loaned by the French governmen

he royal hunt was given a great impetus

nd such great intelligence he became so charmed with her that, it is said, he danced with her all of the first evening. What pleased the monarch even more, and perhaps not less his sons, was that

Francis I at Rambouillet, when he was lying near

roved a comfortable enough rest-house, and on the day after his arrival, in March, 1547, the monar

entered the king's breast, courage born of the excitement around him, the baying of the hounds and the tramping and neighing of impatien

t back to the manor where he had his apartments, and put speechless and half dead to bed, actually dyin

n the forest than lie on a tuft of down. He preferred his beloved Bayonne ham, spiced with garlic, to a sumptuous dinner in Jarnet house, a

e aux F

empt and careless, a genuine son of the soil,

he French court showed a keener interest for

rm of sport, and gave their favour to packs of hounds, and followed with equal interest the hunt

IV. It sounds the conventional comings and goings of the huntsmen in the same classic phraseology as of old-the lancer

onies connected with the royal hunt in France. It began in the

e and picturesque accessories. When a curée takes place at the spot where the animal is actually killed the French sporting term for the ceremony is "forcé et abattu." This, howeve

ch terminates the chase-are then brought by the valet des chiens, who has great difficulty in keeping them from breaking loose. When the entrails have been cut away the valet sits astride the animal, holding up the nappe, or head and neck, shaking it at the already furious hounds. It is the care of the valet during this interval to conceal the pieces of flesh which are still under the body.

d with growling, barking and yelling, while the ground is co

r velvet, with a great feather-ornamented "picture" hat. Only now and again a l

der manner of sitting behind their cavalier on the same steed. From the time of Ca

colours. From this it was but a step to even more elaborate toilettes which necessitated a conveyance of some sort on wheels, but the most intrepid still clung to the traditionally classic methods. Marie Antoinette had her equipage d

nordinate enthusiasm. At the head of a pack of hounds she knew no obstacle, and, on one occasion, pe

was more for men than for women. The court hunted not only in royal company, but accepted invitations from any seigneur who possessed an

Convent in Languedoc. In the episcopal domain of Saverne six hundred beaters were employed on one occasion to provide

e 28th of June, 1713, Louis XIV was hunting the deer at Rambouillet when a terrific, cyclonic storm fell upon the equipage, but not a man n

oo; a French hunting party was ever picturesque, and if to-day not as practical as the more blood-loving Englishman's hunt, is at least traditionally sentimental, even artificial to the extent, at any rate,

modern figures in the French hunting field, which

hunt, which shows that the game cost dear. The "Grand Veneur" of the Napoleonic reign was a master sportsman, indeed, and to-day,

mber 10, 1809, the following, which concerned a hunti

tel for collations for

tions 1,

to the beater

e for the lad

rers 14

(150) 60

00) 315

Hunt at Fo

nd for hired furniture, etc., to say nothing of the expenses of the hunt itself, made the bag somewhat costly. It was not always easy for the master of the hunt to get justice when it came to paying for his supp

companion of the Prince Imperial he was one of the chiefs of the equipment of the Imperial Hunt. To-day, though well past the span of life, he is as active and as enduring in his participation in the strenuous sport as many a younger man and his knowledge of the grand art

had a leg broken, and the minister, Fould, was almost mortally injured. A "dix cors," a stag with antlers of ten branches, had been run down at the Rond Royal where it had taken refuge in a near-by copse, and after an hour's hard chase was finally cornered in the courtyard of some farm buildings of the Ham

ttle, which was held in the environs of Paris for many years, and by the time that he came to possess

rs. Here he lives almost on the borders of that great extent of forest which occupies the northern section of the Ile de France, occasionally organizing a hunt, which takes on not a li

that the Prince and Princesse Murat come to pass two or three months each year with their children, their allied parents

red hounds in France, and are guarded by three caretakers, the goader, Carl, whose fame has reached every hunting court of Europe and a couple of valets des c

having made this exceedingly difficult in later years he is to-day obliged to go farther afield. In the spr

art. Seldom is the quarry wanting. The refrain of the Ode to S

t Hubert

que due de

*

écuyers

vien en c

s veneurs; the Prince Murat and his son, the Prince Joachim, (to-day at the military school at Saint Cyr), the Prince Eugene Murat, the Comte de Vallon, the Baron de Neuflize and a few famous veneurs in gay uniforms come from afar to give éclat to the hunt of the

de Chasse,

sses de Rambouillet" (Ouvrage offert par Monsieur Felix Faure) would soon establish it. This was not a work destined for the public at large. The hunt was ever a sport of kings in France,

friends of the late president of the Republic-"Other Sovereigns

the Revolutionary torment even regretted the cutting off of his prerogative of the royal hunt, but he had no choice in the matter. In his journal of 1789 one reads: "the cerf runs

cal and monarchial monuments, the trees of the forest, and the royal ga

ich had gone before. It had a considerable prominence under Charles X, more perhaps than it ever had under Napoleon, who in hi

gh he was something of a marksman and took a cons

pot-hunter of the bourgeoisie, who practiced the art only because h

ch were arranged for visiting monarchs. On one occasion he was put down on the record-sheet of a hunt at Rambouille

times. The chateau had been furbished up once more after a long sleep, and, to the great satisfaction of th

s and notables of all ranks. In one year a score of "Official Hunts" were held, to which all the members of the diplomatic

r may have been lacking the general aspect was much the same as it might have been in the days of the monarchy. The Captai

of the list. So accomplished was he with the rifle that on more than one occasion he was obliged to practically efface himself in favour

ssador, whether he hailed from England or Germany, nor for members of the Institute, Senators nor Deputies. With Prince Albert of Monaco he h

nditions. The huntsman must legally have his dogs under such control, and keep sufficiently close to

en under authority of a permis de chasse, and in open season, during the daytime,

neur decides on the rendezvous, whether the quarry be stag or chevreuil, fox or hare. The piqueur follows