Sporting in Both Hemispheres (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1858 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XT. BT. CLOUD--ANECDOTES OF CHARLES X. The only royal residence where Charles X. really felt himself at home and led the life of a country gentleman, which he had been so long accustomed to, was at St. Cloud. When he resided at that palace, he acted much on this principle. He had generally strolled out in the morning, before breakfast, with his gun, sometimes alone, and sometimes in company with the Due d'Angouleme, or his son the Dauphin, to shoot rabbits in the preserves immediately around the chateau, where they were very numerous, having no enemies but the king, and a few poachers to whom not even the royal preserves were sacred. The king was very fond of these private shooting-parties, without any of the pomp and ceremony of the Court; and when he was accompanied by his son, was accustomed to mix up with his sport many impressive remarks and reflections upon their past life and present circumstances. On the 15th July, 1829, the king left the chateau, alone and on foot, to visit Madame la Dauphine, at Villeneuvo l'Etang, which he often did, taking his way through the grande allee which leads to Ville d'Avray. Suddenly, upon entering one of the solitary and transversal alleys, he perceived an individual before him humming some old military song, and hardly able to support his body in that horizontal position that nature intended. It was evident that the man, whether poacher or some other suspicious character, was in that happy frame of mind from the effects of liquor that levels all ranks and conditions, and puts him completely at ease with himself and all the world. He stumbled against the king, and would have passed on without further notice, had not his majesty stopped, and looked hard at him, when at length he touched his hat, and made an aw...