thousand francs;
Comte Edgar Ney, his chief coadjutor, with forty thousand francs.
History sees the last of the latter gentleman on a cold, dull, drizzly
September morning, of the year 1870. He is seated in an open
char-a-bancs, by the side of some Prussian officers, and the vehicle, in
the rear of that of his Imperial master, is on its way to the Belgian
frontier, en route for Cassel. He is pointing to some artillery which,
notwithstanding its French model, is being driven by German gunners. "A
qui ces canons-la?" "Ils ne sont pas des notres, monsieur," is the
courteous and guarded reply. Verily, his father's exit, after all is
said and done, was a more dignified one. Michel Ney, at any rate, fell
pierced by bullets; the pity was that they were not the enemy's. In
addition to the grand veneur and premier veneur, there were three
lieutenants de venerie, a capitaine des chasses a tir,--whom we will
call a sublimated head-gamekeeper;--and all these dignitaries had other
emoluments and charges besides, because Louis-Napoleon, to his credit be
it said, never forgot a friend.

The whole of the "working personnel" was, as I have already said,
recruited from the former establishments of the Condes at Chantilly, of
the late Duc d'Orleans, the Ducs de Nemours and d'Aumale; and such men
as La Feuille, whose real name was Fergus, and La Trace could not have
failed to make comparisons between their old masters and the new, not
always to the advantage of the latter. For though the spectacle was
magnificent enough, there was little or no hunting, as far as the
majority of the guests were concerned. After a great deal of
deliberation, dark green cloth, with crimson velvet collars, cuffs, and
facings, and gold lace, had been adopted. In Louis XV.'s time, and in
that of the latter Bourbons, the colour had been blue with silver lace;
but for this difference the costume was virtually the same, even to the
buckskins, jackboots, and the "lampion," also edged with gold instead of
silver.[62] The Emperor's and Empress's had a trimming of white
ostrich-feathers. The dress could not be worn, however, by any but the
members of the Imperial household, without special permission. The
latter, of course, wore it by right; but even men like the Duc de
Vicence, the Baron d'Offremont, the Marquis de Gallifet, the Marquis de
Cadore, women like the Comtesse de Pourtales, the Comtesse de Brigode,
the Marquise de Contades, who held no special charge at cou