Besides being a national emblem, many ancient and noble French houses bore a cock on their shields. There were cocks “cantant,” holding up their heads with opened beaks, as though they were crowing, and cocks “hardy,” which stood on one leg with the other aggressively uplifted. Louis-Philippe, on being made King of the French, adopted the bird standing in this warlike attitude, a circumstance which did not escape the attention of the Legitimist opponents of the bourgeois king. Shortly after his accession a biting satire was circulated in anti-Orleanist society. It set forth how the noble Gallic cock, raking in the dunghill, had scratched up King Louis-Philippe, who, in exulting gratitude, had placed the bird in the arms of France. Be this as it may, the Gallic cock held his place on the escutcheon of the Orleanist dynasty until the events of 1848 compelled Louis-Philippe to escape to England under the assumed name of Mr. Smith. M. Gambetta carried this bird, in the act of crowing, on his book-plate, with an equally gallant motto, “Vouloir c’est Pouvoir,” but we seek in vain to learn of what was composed the library of Gambetta. This is a mystery! It may be readily surmised that he had not many of the tastes of a bibliophile, nor time in which to indulge them. As to the plate itself, the design was probably suggested by Poulet-Malassis, and it was engraved by M. Alphonse Legros about 1874, when that artist was commissioned by Sir Charles Dilke to go to Paris to procure a portrait of M. Léon Gambetta. Proof impressions of the plate exist in four states, all very rare; but the curious feature about it is that M. Gambetta certified in 1882 that he had never made use of it as a book-plate, and when in May, 1895, Dr. Bouland obtained the loan of the _original copper_ to publish in the “Archives de la Société Française,” he found it had scarcely been used. So that the numerous copies of the Gambetta book-plate scattered about must be looked upon as forgeries. The book-plate of another distinguished Frenchman, Victor Hugo, is also somewhat of a puzzle. [Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF LÉON GAMBETTA. (REDUCED.)] It has been reproduced in nearly every illustrated article that has been printed on French ex-libris, with its towers of the cathedral of Notre Dame illuminated by the flash of lightning carrying his name: “Les tours de Notre-Dame étaient l’H. de son Nom!” On what occasion can M. Aglaüs Bouvenne have designed this celebrated book-plate, seeing that at the time of his death the library of Victor Hugo consisted of less than fifty volumes? The history is a somewhat curious one. As is well known, Victor Hugo was an implacable enemy of Napoleon III., and during his reign resided in Guernsey. Wishing to pay his great countryman a compliment, Mons. Aglaüs Bouvenne designed this plate, the towers of Notre Dame being introduced not only to remind Hugo of his beloved Paris, but also in allusion to his famous novel.