rt, had to
receive "le bouton" before they could don it.[63]

[Footnote 62: The lampion was the three-cornered hat, cocked on
all sides alike in the shape of a spout, and stiffened with
wire.--EDITOR.]

[Footnote 63: "Wearing the king's button" is a very old French
sporting term, signifying permission to wear the dress or the
buttons or both, similar to those of the monarch when following
the hounds.--EDITOR.]

The locale of these gatherings differed according to the seasons.
Fontainebleau was chosen for the spring ones, but throughout the reign
Compiegne always offered the most brilliant spectacle, especially after
the Crimean war, when Napoleon III. was tacitly admitted to the family
circle of the crowned heads of Europe. The shooting-parties were a
tribute offered to the taste of the English visitors, who, after that
period, became more numerous every succeeding autumn, and who,
accustomed as they were to their own magnificent meets and lavish
hospitality at the most renowned country seats, could not help
expressing their surprise at the utterly reckless expenditure; and, if
the truth must be told, enjoyed the freedom from all restraint, though
it was cunningly hidden beneath an apparently very formidable code of
courtly etiquette. As one of these distinguished Englishmen said, "They
have done better than banish Mrs. Grundy; they have given her a special
invitation, and drugged her the moment she came in."

The Court invariably arrived on the first of November, and generally
stayed for three weeks or a month, according to the date fixed for the
opening of the Chambers. From that moment the town, a very sleepy though
exceedingly pretty one, became like a fair. Unless you had engaged your
room beforehand at one of the hotels, the chances were a thousand to one
in favour of your having to roam the streets; for there were hundreds
and hundreds of sight-seers, French as well as foreign, desirous of
following the hounds, which every one was free to do. In addition to
these, many functionaries, not sufficiently important to be favoured
with an invitation to the Chateau, but eager for an opportunity of
attracting the notice of the sovereign--for Napoleon was a very
impulsive monarch, who often took sudden fancies--had to be
accommodated, not to mention flying columns of the demi-monde, "pas trop
bien assurees sur la fidelite de leurs protecteurs en-titre et v