similitude was increased by a house on the further extremity of the village it was situated in a lawn, and entirely girt around by walnut trees, except where it fronted the road, upon which it opened by a neat palisadoed gate. I have no doubt, though I had no means of verifying my opinion, that the possessor of this estate had been in England. The lawn was freshly mown, and the flowers, the freshpainted seats, the windows extending from the ceiling to the ground, and even the circumstance of the poultry being kept on the common, and prevented by a net-work from getting on the lawn all these were so perfectly in the English taste, that I offered Mr. Younge any wager, that the possessor had travelled. "He is most probably a "returned emigrant,' > said Mr. Younge: "It is inconceivable, "how much this description of "men have done for France. The "government, indeed, begins to "understand their value, and the "list of the proscribed is daily "diminishing.'

From Ecures to Chousi, the country varies very considerably. The road is very good, but occasionally sandy. To make up for this heaviness, it is picturesque to a degree. The fields on each side are so small as to give them a peculiar air of snugness, aud to suggest the idea to a traveller, how delightful would be a fancy cottage in such a situation. For my own part, I was continually building in my imagination. These fields were well enclosed with thick and high hedges, and ornamented with hedgerows of chesnut and walnut trees. There was scarcely any of them but what had a foot-path on the side of the road: in others there were bye-paths which led from the

road into the country, sometimes to a village, the chimneys only of which were visible; at other times to a chateau, the gilded pinnacle of which shone afar from some distant hill. I observed several fields of flax and hemp, and we passed several cottages, in the gardens of which the flax flourished in great perfection. Mr. Younge informed me, that every peasant grew a sufficient quantity for his own and the females of his family worked them up into a strong, but decent-looking linen. "This "is another circumstance," said he, " which you must not forget "in your comparison between the

"or

use,

poor of France and other king"doms. The French peasantry, "and particularly the women, have "more ingenuity than the English American poor; they uni"versally make every thing that "is connected with their own "clothes. Their beds, blankets, "coats, and linen of all kind, are "of the manufacture of their own "families. The produce of the "man's labour goes clear to the "purchase of food: the labour of "his wife and daughters, and even

a small portion of their labour, "is sufficient to clothe him, and " to provide him with his bed."

We passed several groups of villagers reposing themselves under the shade: I should not indeed say rèposing, for they were romping, running, and conversing, with all the characteristic merriment of the country. They saluted us respectfully as we passed them. In one of these groups was a flageoletplayer: he was piping merrily, his comrades accompanying the tune with motions of their hands and neck. "Confess," said Mademoiselle St. Sillery, "happy people: these poor crea

"that we are a

tures

"You are a philosopher," said Mr. Younge to her, smiling. "I am

"

a Frenchwoman," replied she, "and would not change 'my cheerful flow of spirits for "all the philosophy and wisdom "in the universe. Nothing can "make me unhappy whilst the sun "shines."

I know not whether I have before mentioned, that a great quantity of maize is cultivated in this part of the kingdom. The roofs of the cottages were covered with it, drying in the sun; the ears are of a bright golden yellow, and in the cottage gardens it had a beautiful effect. I observed, moreover, a very striking difference between the system of cultivating the flax in England and in France. In England, the richest land only is chosen; in France, every soil indiscriminately. The result of this difference is, that the flax in France is infinitely finer than in England, a circumstance which may account for the superiority of their lawns and cambrics.

der an apple-tree. Mademoiselle and myself had agreed to divide be tween us the office of purveyor to the party. It was my part to see that the meat or poultry was not over-boiled, over-hashed, or overroasted; and it was her's to arrange the table with the linen and plate which we brought with us. It is inconceivable how much comfort, and even elegance, resulted from this arrangement.

Mr. Younge and myself being engaged in an argument of some warmth, in which Mrs. Younge had taken part, Mademoiselle St. Sillery had given us the slip, and the carriage being ready, I had to seek her. After much trouble, I found her engaged in a childish sport with some boys and girls, the children of the landlord: the game answered to what is known in America by the name of hide and seek, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery, when I found her, was concealed in a saw-pit. I have mentioned, I believe, that this young lady was about twenty years of age; an elegant fashionable girl, and as far removed from a romp and a hoyden, as it is possible to conceive; yet was this young lady of fashion now engaged in the most puerile play, and even seemed disappointed when she was called from it. Such is the French levity, that sooner than not be in motion, the gravest and most dignified of them would join in a hunt after a butterfly. I have frequently been walking, with all possible gravity, with Mademoiselle St. Sillery, when she has suddenly challenged me to run a race, and before I could recover my astonishment, or give her an answer, has taken to her heels.

only

only the night; but as it was too late to see the town, and the following morning was showery, we remained there the whole day, and very pleasantly passed the afternoon in walking over the town, and informing ourselves of its curiosities. The situation of Blois is as agreeable as that of all the other principal towns on the Loire. The main part of it is built upon a hill, which descends by a gentle declivity to the Loire; the remaining part of it is a suburb on the opposite side of the river, to which it is joined by a bridge resembling that at Kew, in England. From the hill on which the town stands, is a beautiful view of a rich and lovely country; and there is certainly not a town in France or in Europe, with the exception of Tours and Toulouse, which can command such a delightful landscape. It appeared, perhaps, more agreeable to us, as we saw it after it had been freshened by the morning rain: The structure of the town does not correspond with the beauty of its site. The streets are narrow, and the houses low. There are some of the houses, however, which are very respectable, and evidently the habitation of a superior class of inhabitants. They reminded me much of what are common in the county towns of England.

But the boast and ornament of Plois is its chateau, or castle. We employed some hours in going over it, and I shall therefore describe it with some fullness.

The situation of it is extremely commanding, and therefore very beautiful. It is built upon a rock which overhangs the Loire, all the castles upon this river being built with the evident purpose of controuling and commanding the navigation. What first struck us

very forcibly, was the variety and evident dissimilarity of the several parts. This circumstance was explained to us by our guide, who informed us that the castle was the work of several princes. The eastern and southern fronts were built by Louis the Twelfth, about the year 1520; the northern front was the work of Francis the First; and the western side of Gaston, Duke of Orleans. Every part, accordingly, has a different character. What is built by Louis the Twelfth is heavy, dark, and gothic, with small rooms, and pointed arches. The work of Francis the First is a curious specimen of the Gothic architecture in its progress, perhaps in its very act of transit into the Greek and Roman orders; and what has been done by Gaston, bears the character of the magnificent mind and bold genius of that great prince. This comparison of three different styles, on the same spot, gave me much satisfaction.

The rooms, as I have said, such as were built by Louis the Twelfth, are small; and those by Francis spacious, lofty, and boldly vaulted. Nothing astonished me more than the minor ornaments on the points of the arches; they were so grossly, so vulgarly indecent, that I was fearful the ladies might observe me as I looked at them: but such was the taste of the age. Others of the ornaments were less objectionable: they consisted of the devices of the several princes who had resided there.

We were shewn the chamber in which the celebrated Duke of Guise was assassinated, and the guide pointed out the spot on which he fell. A small chamber, or rather anti-chamber, leads to a larger apartment: the Duke had passed through the door of this anti

chamber,

chamber, and was opening the further door which leads into the larger apartment, when he was assassinated by order of Henry the Third. His body was immediately dragged into the larger apartment, and the King came to view it. "How great a man was that!" said he, pointing to his prostrate body. Historians are still divided on the quality of this act, whether it is to be considered as a just execution, or as a cowardly assassination. Considering the necessary falsehood, and breach of faith, under which it must have been perpetrated, the moralist can have no hesitation to execrate it as a murder.

We passed from this part of the castle to the tower at the western extremity, called La Tour de chateau Regnaud, and so called, because a seigniory of that name, though distant twenty-one miles, is visible from its summit. The Cardinal of Guise, being seized on the same day in which his brother was assassinated, was imprisoned in this castle, and after passing a night in the dungeons, was executed on the day following. The dungeons are the most horrible holes which it is possible to conceive: the descent to them entirely indisposed us from going down. Imagine a dark gloomy room, itself a horrible dungeon, and in the centre of the floor a round hole, of the size and shape of those on the paved foot-paths in the streets of London, for shooting coals into the cellars. Such is the descent to these dungeons; and in such a place did the great and proud Cardinal of Guise terminate a life of turmoil and ambition.

We next visited the Salle des Etats, or the States'-hall, so called, because the States General were there assembled by Henry the

Third: it is a large and lofty room, but the part of it which chiefly attracts the attention of travellers is the fire-place, where the bodies of the Guises were reduced to ashes on the day following their murder. k is not, however, easy to conceive, why vengeance should be carried se far.

The western front of the castle, which was built by Gaston, Duke of Orleans, is in every respect wor thy of that great prince, and of the architect employed by him, the illustrious Mansard. This architect laboured three years upon this front, and having already spent three hundred and thirty thousand livres, informed the prince, that it would require one hundred thousand more to render it habitable. The prince, however, eager both to encourage the artist, and to have the work finished, could not muster up the money, which in that age was an immense sum: the front, therefore, was left in the state in which it now remains. It is as much to the credit of the Duke as to that of the architect, that this noble front constituted his pride, and that he felt the value of this work of Mansard.

The gardens of the castle are worthy of the structure to which they are attached: Henry the Fourth divided them by a gallery into the upper and lower gardens, but nothing now remains of this gallery but the ruins. The garden itself is now sold or let to private persons.

Blois has several other buildings which are worthy of the attention of a leisurely traveller: amongst these is the college, which for inerly belonged to the Jesuits, and which is at present a national school. The church attached to the college combines every order

of