in grain, wine, &c. A canal runs down to the sea at Baie d'Aiguillon. NAPOLÉON-VENDÉE is 32 kil. further (Route 36). ROUTE 38. Blois to Vendome and Le Mans. Blois, as in Route 36. LE BREUIL (16 kil.) VENDOME (16 kil.), an old sous-préfecture on the Loire, in the department Loire-et-Cher (population, 8,000), having the ruined walls and six towers of the castle of the ducs de Vendôme; also the cathedral church of Ste. Croix, a college, a barrack (in the old Benedictine convent), marble fountain, &c. But it is most remarkable for the Boy Crusades, which originated here, 1262, with a shepherd youth, Stephen. About ten thousand children were encouraged by their infatuated parents and the priesthood, to follow him to Marseilles, to embark for the Holy Land. After suffering great hardships on the way to this port, the survivors were trapped on board ships for Alexandria, and sold there as slaves. Trade in cloth, paper, fruit, &c. [At 16 kil. north-east, up the river, is FRETEVAL, where the English, in 1194, suddenly attacked Philippe Auguste, and captured the royal seal and public acts, which it was the custom, till then, to carry about with the sovereign.-Morée, a little further, has remains of its old walls, MONTOIRE (13 kil. west-south-west of Vendôme), down the stream, was the old capital of BasVendômois. For a while it was called Kerhoent, after a Breton Seigneur, who obtained possession; another owner was Marshal Tallard, who laid out the Grande Place. The picturesque remains of St. Oudville Château stand above the town. Pop. 3,072. About 30 kil. west is COUTURES, near Poissonnière château, where Ronsard the poet was born, 1524. In Gatine's forest, hard by, is the fountain of Miracon, and Rebauchère Castle, on the Loire, all connected with the poet; who was buried in Coutures Church, a building pulled down at the Revolution.] EPUISE (17 kil.), is the next place to Vendôme. [MONT DOUBLEAU (10 kil. north), on the Graisne, has large ruins of a feudal castle, as old as the ninth century.] ST. CALAIS (15 kil.) is a sous-préfecture in department Sarthe, on the Auille; and has two Gothic churches, with a new palais de justice. Pop., 3,900. Woollens, &c. are made, Coaches to Château du Loire and Blois statio BOUILOIRE (17 kil.). Le Mans station is 35 kil. further. (see Route 15.) ROUTE 39. Tours, to Chateau-du-Loir, and Le Mans. By rail (61 miles) in 3 hours and 20 minutes. Leaving Tours, you go back to St. Pierre-des-Corps, where the line turns off to Mettray (8 miles), the site of a penitentiary colony or Reformatory, established in 1839. The buildings form an irregular square, with a spire Each house holds forty-three church at one side. individuals, and includes a workshop, refectory, and bed-room. Total number about 550. Its success has been most encouraging. St. Antoine (4 miles). Neuille (4 miles). St. Paterne (5 miles). To the west, 17 kil., is CHÂTEAU-LAVILLIÈRE on the Fare; above which rises an elegant seat, built by Louis XIV. for the Duchesse de la Vallière. Dissay-sous-Courcillon (4 miles). Cross the Loir, to Chateau-du-Loir (3 miles), in department Sarthe, a well-built, industrious place, in a charming part of the Loir, among vineyards of white wine. Its old Castle, perched high on the rocks, sustained a siege of seven years, in the eleventh century, against Geoffry of Anjou, and was taken by Henry IV., in 1589. St. Guingalais' Gothic church has an ancient crypt of the tenth century, and some marble carvings. Several grottoes are in the cliffs. Coaimon bridge commands a fine view of the Loir. Pop., 3,100. Good linens, cotton thread, &c., are made, and it is noted for its chesnuts. A large trade in cattle, hemp, flax, poultry, &c. Coach to St. Calais. Vans (5 miles). Aubigne (3 miles). Coach to La Lude. [LA LUDE (15 kil.), a pretty place, of 3,400 pop., on the Loir, in department Sarthe, having seve ral old carved houses, and a fine château, half Gothic, with enormous towers, commanding the river. They show the room in which Henry IV. alept; and Mongendre's statue of Hercules is in the park. Hotel.-Du Boeuf.] Mayet (5 miles). Coach to La Flèche. [LA FLÈCHE (15 kil.), a sous-préfecture in department Sarthe, of 6,400 souls, in the pretty valley of the Loir, and a healthy, well-built town, among woods and vineyards, called by its present name, because of a spire (Alèche) put on St. Thomas' Romanesque church, in the 12th cent., by Count Helie, whose old castle stands in the river. This spire, which was 85 feet long, was blown down by a hurricane, 1726, crushing a house in its fall. It has a public library of 22,000 vols., a good Hôtel de Ville, hospital, &c., but is most remarkable for the Jesuits' College, founded, 1503, by Henry IV., in token of his conversion to Romanism; and afterwards changed to a military school, in which Descartes was educated. The Vendéans took the town, 1793. Opposite it is the fine château given by Henry IV. to his favourite, La Varonne. Hotels.-Des Voyageurs (Travellers); de l'Etoile (Star); des Quatre Vents (Four Winds). [At 21 kil. north-east is CRAON, in a pleasant part of the Oudon, and as old as the eighth cent., but the ancient castle, which the Prince of Conti took, 1592, is replaced by a modern seat. It gives name to an illustrious family in French history. Pop. 4,100.] CHÂTEAUBRIANT (6 kil.), in Loire-Inférieure, a sous-préfecture, with 3,900 inhabitants, and so called after a Castle, built 1015, by Briant, Count of Penthiévre, of which the donjon keep and two high towers are left, besides the chapel and other old buildings, and the Château Neuf, in which Francis de Foix was bled to death by his wife. This place is noted for a sweetmeat called conserve d'angelique. Muslins, linens, gloves, &c., are made, and the Sabots or wooden shoes are made. poultry is noted.] Ecommoy (4) miles). Laigue et St. Gervais (4 miles). Arnage (5 miles). And 4 miles further is Le Mans stat. as in Route 15. ROUTE 40. Angers, to Segre, Chateau-Gontier, Laval, Distance, 127 kil., or 79 miles. Angers station, as in Route 36. LE LION D' ANGERS (22 kil.), a pretty place on the Oudon, where it joins the Mayenne. To the north-east, where the Sarthe falls in, is BRISSARTHE, which has a very old Norman church, at the door of which Robert the Strong was killed, 866, by the Normans, who were inside, and who thenceforth gained a footing in France. CHÂTEAU GONTIER (65 kil. north of Angers), a sous-préfecture, on the Mayenne, having a charming view of the basin of that river from the promenade. Church, an early Gothic. Part of a castle, built by Fulque of Anjou, in the 11th cent., remains. The Vendéans took it, 1793. There is a mineral water; linens, woollens, &c., are made Pop. 6,143, with a good trade. Hotels.-De la Boule d'Or (Golden Ball); Trois Trompettes (Three Trumpets). At 30 kil, further is Laval (see Route 15]. SEGRÉ (14 kil.), a sous-préfecture (department daine-et-Loir), on the Oudon, in a fine grain and country, with some Druid stones near it, at ais. Pop., 2,300. Aout 12 kil. north, in department Mayenne, is the Gothic château of St. Ouen, built by Anne of Brittany, with various excellent carvings about it.] POUANCE (22 kil) Hotels.-Des Voyageurs (Travellers); du Lion d'Or (Golden Lion). Coaches to Laval and Rennes, on the Paris and Rennes line. [About 16 kil. south, on the Nantes road, is the Trappist convent of Le Meilleraye). THOURIE (18 kil.), in department Ille-et-Vilaine. [At 12 kil. north-north-east, is EssÉ, or Rouvray, on the Seiche, close to a Druid monument called the Roche-aux-Fées (Fairies' Rock) composed of 42 stones (schistus) about 12 feet high, of which 34 of various sizes stand in the ground, and support eight larger ones, as at Stonehenge. They make a long square, of 63 feet by 12, lying north-west and south-east, and cut in two by a line across it.] CORPS-NUDS (17 kil.), has a very old church, and 2,400 pop. At 18 kil. further is Rennes, in Route 15. ROUTE 41. Poitiers to Nantes, through La Vendee. Poitiers, as in Route 35. PARTHENAY (24 kil.), on a slope of the Thouet, a sous-préfecture, of 4,700 pop., in department Deux res (part of Vendée), in a country of hills, valleys, Ekes, and forests. It was strongly fortified, and has suffered in the former English and religious wars, as well as in the Vendéan wars, of the first and later Revolutions (chiefly in 1793 and 1832). Parts of an old castle of the 12th cent., flanked with five or six towers, are seen; also St. John's church, of the 9th cent.; and the clock-tower, 74 feet high, once part of the prison. Coarse woollens are made. Hotel.-Du Cheval Blanc (White Horse). Coach to St. Maixent stat [At AIRVAULT (18 kil. north-north-east), are an old | republican general Kleber, 1793, is filled up. At the castle, and the Gothic church (with a spire on picturesque country seat of La Garenne, belonging to four pillars) of a convent, destroyed in the M. Lemot, they show the grotto of Heloise, the bath religious wars. SECONDIGNY, (14 kil. west- of Diana, temple of Vesta, &c. A Gothic bridge south-west) up the Thouet, has remains of its old across the Môine. About 10 kil. north-east of walls and castle.] Clisson is VALLET, which produces the best wine in the department. Pop. 6,300. TOURNEBRIDE (15 kil). BRESSUIRE (31 kil.), on a hill over the Argenton, is a small sous-préfecture of 1,900 pop., and had some good manufactures of cloth till the Vendéan war at the Revolution, which left but one house standin, and an old granite church, with a tower of 360 feet. It is again reviving, and makes handkerchiefs and woollens. At 13 kil. further is Nantes, (see Route 36.) ROUTE 42 [ARGENTON-LE-CHÂTEAU (18 kil. north), was also Nantes, to Vannes, Lorient, Quimper, and Trade in white At 20 kil. east of destroyed in the Vendéan war. and red wines, and woollens. it is Thouars. (See Route 36.) CHÂTILLON-SUR-SEVRE (22 kil.), was once fortified, but ruined by the religious and Vendéan wars. MORTAGNE (18 kil.), in department Vendée, where the Vendéans were defeated in the civil war of 1793. There are an old convent, and part of a castle which Oliver Clisson took from the English, 1373. It was the Roman Segora, and is prettily placed on the river Sèvre-Nantaise. [LES HERBIERS (12 kil. south-west), on the NapoleonVendée road, has a ruined church, and remains of the fortifications built by the English when they held it. From some Roman remains found near it, some think it was the ancient Herbadilla. Pop., 2,826. At CHOLLET (8 kil. north-east of Mortagne), on the road to Angers, is a castle which was ruined, with most of its houses, in the Vendéan wars. Pop., 10,400. Handkerchiefs called Chollets are made here.] TORFOU (15 kil.), has a column (shaped like a factory chimney) commemorating a victory gained by the Vendéans in the revolutionary wars. [About 7 kil. east are the picturesque ruins of Tiffauges Castle, with its machicolated walls and towers, spreading over a rocky height above the Sèvre, where the Creonne joins. It was built by the counts of Thouars, 1119, came to the famous Barbe-Blue (Marshal Gilles de Retz, or "Blue Beard"), and was dismantled by Richelieu. It commands a fine prospect. A colony of Theiphalian Goths settled here, 475, and gave name to the town.] CLISSON (14 kil.) stands above the picturesque valley of the Sèvre, where the Moine joins it, with the old battered ruins of Clisson castle, which belonged to the Constable de Clisson, a soldier of the 14th cent. Parts of the walls, ditches, keep, great hall, &c., remain; a well, into which 400 Vendéans were thrown by the Brest, Distance, 312 kil., or 193 miles. A rail is planned along this route, of which a section is making as far as Châteaulin. Nantes Stat., as in Route 36. Thence to Savenay, by rail, 39 kil., in the same route. Starting from this by road, the next place is PONT CHÂTEAU (15 kil.), on a small stream, navigable to St. Nazaire, on the Loire. Pop. 3,600. LA ROCHE-BERNARD (19 kil.), in department Morbihan, a small port on the Vilaine (16 kil. from the sea), which is crossed by a suspension bridge, 582 feet long, 106 above water. [About 12 kil. to the south-west, on the road to Croisic, is Herbignac, near the ruined château of Beuronet, with its round towers, &c. Further on, near Croisic, is Piriac, a small granite-built bathing-place, opposite Belle Ile.-At 24 kil to the north-east of Roche-Bernard, up the Vilaine, where the Oust joins, is REDON, a sous-préfecture (in department Ille-et Vilaine) of 4,500 souls, and a small port, having a good trade in slate, grain, salt, beer, honey, coarse woollens, &c. Its walls were pulled down, 1588. Since a late fire, only the tower is left of St. Sauveur's Gothic church, which belonged to the abbey here. The clock-tower (horloge) is worth notice; as well as Beaumont château, 1 which includes some ancient towers. Hotel-Du Lion d'Or (Golden Lion).] The coast rail from Nantes to Brest will pass Redon, and will here unite with a line from St. Malo and Rennes, MUZILLAC (15 kil.). At 24 kil. further, is VANNES. HOTELS.-Du Commerce; De France; De Dauphin; De la Croix Verte (Green Cross). Pop. 11,500, Chief town of department Morbihan, 1 1 seat of a bishop, and port of the fourth class, on the Marle, 4 kil. from the lagoon or Gulf of Morbihan, to which only small craft come. It was the old capital of the Venetes, and, after having been the scene of various events in the history of Brittany, was joined with it to France, 1532. Though the neighbourhood is pleasant, it is in itself a dull and ancient-looking place, with narrow streets. Five of its six gates are left; le Port and la Garenne are the chief promenades. A few small vessels are built here. St. Pierre Cathedral, rebuilt in the 15th cent., has a new spire (since 1824), a high roof, two good figures of saints in wood, and the tombs of St. Vincent Ferrier and Bishop Bertin. The small chapel of the college deserves notice. Carmes convent is now the bishop's palace: the former one, used as the préfect's hotel, was rebuilt on the site of the Château of La Motte. The salle de spectacle was the hall where the states of Brittany met for about seventy years. An ancient tower, called. Tour du Connétable, was part of Hermine castle, where Jean IV. caught Oliver de Cisson, the Constable, and made him pay a heavy sum for his release. The dukes had another seat, called the Castle of Plaisance, in this neighbourhood. Two heads of "Vannes et sa femme" (Vannes and his wife), are shown by the townspeople, by whom they are as much venerated as Gog and Magog elsewhere. There is a library of 8,000 vols.; besides hospices and old convents. Trade in grain, honey, beer, cider, eaux-de-vie, wine, cottons, lace, &c. Conveyances to Rennes, on the rail to Paris. [At 15 kil, to the north-east is ELVEN, noted for its curious machicolated Tower, where the Duke of Brittany kept the Earl of Richmond a prisoner, when wrecked here, after the battle of Tewkesbury. It was built, 1256, by a crusader, Eudon de Malestroit, and is eight-sided, each side being 30 to 38 feet long, and 4 to 15 feet thick; the height, in five stages, is 128 feet. Another machicolated tower, but round, stands near it, and is still older. Many Druid stones are about. -At 25 kil. further, towards Rennes, is the sous-préfecture of PLOERMEL, on the Duc (near the canal from Nantes to Brest), which makes a fine lake and cascade close by. It grew out of a Château of the Bretagne dukes, and is considered so healthy that invalids are sent here for recovery. At the old church of the 12th cent. are some stained windows, and effigies, in armour, of John II. and III. of Brittany. Another church is at the Ursuline convent. Pop. 4,700. Hotels.-De France; du Commerce. After passing the Obetisque des Trente, at Mi-Voye, where, according to a silly local tradition, 30 Bretons beat 30 English, in 1351, you come (12 kil. west of Ploermel) to Josseline Castle, the fine Gothic seat of the Dukes of Rohan, above the Oust, including the room in which Oliver de Clisson (who rebuilt it after it had been raized by Henry II.) died in 1407. The device of the present owners (who sprung from Rohan, to the north of this), "à plus, à moins," is carved in the tracery of the balustrades. At 13 kil. south-east of Vannes, towards the sea, is Sarzeau where Le Sage, the author of "Gil Blas," was born in 1668. There are many Druid stones here, besides the tumulus of Grand-Mont, 321 feet round, and 107 feet high; and beyond it, on the sands, are remains of Rhuys, or St. Gildas' abbey, of which Abelard was prior.] AURAY (18 kil.), a town of 3,700 souls, noted for the battle of 1364, when Charles de Blois was killed, and his dukedom came to his opponent, John de Montfrt. The old castle is gone; it stood near the promenade. St. Esprit, a Romanesque church, is large, and of the 13th cent. At the Chartreuse chapel, a place to which pilgrims resort, are the names of the royalists who fell in the Quiberon expedition, 1795. A few small craft are built here; and conveyances may be got to visit the Druid monuments at Carnac, &c., around the wild gulf of Morbihan. [At 12 kil. south-west, in a wide lande, is CARNAC or KARNAC, the most remarkable druidical station in France, consisting of about 4,000 blocks of granite, arranged with tolerable regularity in eleven rows, running east and west, on a space 1 mile long, and 300 feet wide. Some look like the small kistvaens in England, or are balanced like the logan stones; and most of them are from 4 to 19 feet high. Their origin is unknown; but, like those in England (where there are usually but two rows), they are supposed to refer to serpent worship. Many remains of this class are about; as at Locmariaker (12 kil. east-south-east), at the Gulf of Morbihan's mouth, which some say was the Roman Dorioricum. A circus and Roman way may be traced here, and it has a great dolmen (or kistvaen), called the Table de César, and a colossal menhir (logan stone) on the ground, as much as 67 feet long. Some are inscribed with unknown characters. at Sarzeau (as above), and Ploermel and Erdven (north-west of Carnac).-About 10 kil. to the south-west of Carnac is Others are QUIFERON, on the long, sandy presqu'ile, or penin sula, of that name, off which Hawke defeated | Upon their dissolution, the crown took it back, 1764. the French fleet, 1759, but which is more notorious for the unfortunate descent of 1795, made by a body of emigrés under British protection, who were defeated, and shot by the republican leaders.-At 13 kil. south-west is Belle-Ile, or Belleisle, one of the largest French islands, having, at St. Palais, an old cháteau of its marquises. It belonged to Quimperlé abbey in the 10th cent.; and was held by the English, 1761-3. The lighthouse is 276 feet high. The Nantes steamer stops here. The islands of Houat and Hæodic are near Belleisle, which like the rest of the chain, appear to have been formed by the continual action of the Atlantic on this rocky and sandy coast.] The English had attempted its capture, but without success, in 1746, when they landed at Pouldu, but were driven off, with a loss of 900 men, by the Count of Tinteniac. A chapel in Rue du Post is pointed out, to this day, with an English bullet lodged in the front of it. LANDEVAN (15 kil.), at the head of a creek from the sca, and 19 kil. from Port Louis, near some grottoes. HENNEBON (13 kil.), where five or six roads meet, is a small port near the Blavet's mouth, up which the English fleet sailed to support the Countess of Montfort, when she was besieged in her castle (of which a few remains are left) by Charles de Blois, It has a Gothic church of the 14th cent., a suspension (instead of its ancient) bridge, and parts of old walls and an abbey. A few small vessels trade from it. There are mineral springs near. The direct road to Quimperlé is 16 kil. nearer than by Lorient. [About 20 kil. to the north-east is 1342. BAUD (pop. 5,000) with a lead mine and very old chapel near a fountain. Near it, at Quinpilly château is a granite figure of a woman, in the Egyptian style, brought from a temple which stood on Castannec hill, near Bieuzy (a little north). Further on (22 kil.), towards the head of the Blavet, is PONTIVY, a sous-préfecture and old place, including a New Town, begun by Bonaparte, who called it Napoléon-ville. Pop., 6,500. Parts of the old walls, and the château of the dukes of Rohan are left. The Nantes and Brest canal passes here; linen is made. Hotels.-Des Voyageurs (Travellers); de la Grande Maison. At 10 kil. from Hennebon is LORIENT. A sous-préfecture, seat of a maritime préfect, fortress of the third class, and naval port in the small gulf of St. Louis, at the junction of the Blavet and curf, (5 kil. from the Bay of Biscay), having a dockward, and pop. of 20,000. It was a little fishing village when given, 1666, to the French East India Company, o whom it received its name, L'Orient or the East. It is well built, the best houses being on the Quai, and in Place Royale; but most of them are painted white and black, to imitate granite. In the market place is a granite pillar to Bisson, a brave officer, who being placed on board a prize with his small crew, was overpowered by ten times their number. Seeing that all was lost, he desired his men to jump overboard; then went below and blew up the whole of his assailants, seventy in number. A signal tower (121 feet high), on a hill to the south, where the observatory stands, commands the best view of the town and Dock-yard, the establishments of which, seated on the Scorf, include the préfect's hôtel, the mast-house, building slips for frigates and steamers, foundries, new engineshops, block-factory (poulierie), a lazaretto (on Ile St. Michel below), and the military and seamen's barracks, the latter being the old buildings of the Company, where Law, the projector of the Mississippi scheme, lived. There is a small theatre in Place la Bôve; and a parish church, begun on so large a plan that part was pulled down for stone to finish the rest. The Hôtel de Ville is good. The commercial port is entered by a lock on the north of the town. Trade in wax, honey, beer, sardines (pilchards), &c., but the chief dependence of the town is on the Dock-yard, which employs 2,000 men. Hotels.-De France; des Etrangers; de la Croix Verte (Green Cross). Conveyances: by coach, daily to Rennes, Brest, Nantes, Morlaix, Auray, &c.; by steamer to Nantes, weekly, touching at some of the islands; and, every hour, to Port Louis, from Cale Ory quay. [At 4 kil. south, on the other side of the Scorf, near the mouth, is the bathing place of PORT LOUIS, built and fortified by Louis XIII., and called Porte Liberté in the Revolution. About 10 kil. south-west of this is Ile de Groix, which has several caves and Druid stones, and produces froment d'Espagne (Spanish wheat). It was saved from the English fleet in the last century by the curé, who, while the men were away fishing, dressed up the women, and moved them about like bodies of troops, so skilfully, as to deceive the enemy, and cause |