opposite Aletum was a rock, est in conspectu Tenedos, not the refuge of the perfidious Greeks, but the retreat of Aaron the Hermit, who took up his dwelling in this island in the year 507, the date of the victory of Clovis over Alaric. Aaron founded a small convent, Clovis a mighty monarchy; both alike have fallen.

Malo, in Latin Maclovius, Macutus, Machutes, became Bishop of Aletum in 541; he had been attracted thither by the fame of Aaron, and visited him in his island home. He became Chaplain of the Oratory of the Hermit, and, after the death of the Saint, erected a cenobial church in prædio Machutis. His name was soon after given to the whole island, and subsequently to the city, which was called Maclovium and Maclopolis.

A series of forty-five bishops is reckoned from St. Malo, the first Bishop of Aletum, to John the Happy, surnamed De la Grille, who was canonized in 1140. Aletum being at that time almost entirely abandoned, John de la Grille transferred the episcopal see of the Roman city to the Bretagne city, which was beginning to flourish on the rock of Aaron.

St. Malo suffered severely in the wars which took place between the Kings of France and England.

The Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. of England, in whom terminated the strife between the white and red roses, was carried prisoner to St. Malo. The Duke de Bretagne delivered him up to the Ambassadors of Richard, who conveyed him to London with the intention of putting him to death. But he succeeded in escaping from his guards, and took refuge in the cathedral, asylum quod in eá urbe est inviolatissimum: this right of sanctuary had its origin with the Druids, the first priests of the Isle of Aaron.

A Bishop of St. Malo was one of the three favourites (the other two being Arthur de Montauban and Jean Hingaut) who ruined the unfortunate Gilles de Bretagne : this may be seen in "l'Histoire lamentable de Gilles, Seigneur de Chateaubriand et de Chantocé, Prince du sang de France et de Bretagne, étranglé en prison par les ministres du favori le 24 Avril, 1450."

The capitulation between Henry IV. and St. Malo was worthy of both. The city treated as a power with a power, protected those who had taken refuge within its walls, and retained the liberty accorded to it by an ordinance of Philibert de la Guiche, Grand Master of the Artillery of France, to cast a hundred pieces of cannon. No place more closely resembled Venice, its climate and its fine arts excepted, than the small republic of St. Malo in its religion, wealth, and naval exploits. It aided the expedition of Charles V. in Africa, and succoured Louis XIII. before La Rochelle. Its flag proudly traversed every sea, maintaining relations with Mocha, Surat, and Pondicherry; and a company formed in the bosom of St. Malo explored the Southern Ocean.

From the time of Henry IV., my native city has been distinguished by its devotion and fealty to France. It was bombarded by the English in 1693; and, on the 29th of November that year, they threw into it an infernal machine, amid the ruins caused by which I have often played with my companions. They again bombarded it in 1758.

The Maloese lent considerable sums of money to Louis XIV. during the war of 1701, and in gratitude for this service he confirmed to them the privilege of fortifying themselves; he even commanded that the crew of the first vessel of the Royal Marine should be composed exclusively of sailors from St. Malo and its territory.

In 1771, the Maloese made fresh sacrifices and lent Louis XV. thirty millions. The celebrated Admiral Anson landed at Cancale in 1758, and burned St. Servan. In the Château of St. Malo, La Chalotais wrote upon linen, with a toothpick dipped in water and soot, those Memoirs which then produced such an immense sensation and which none remember now. Events efface events; inscriptions graven over other inscriptions form the pages of the History of Palimpsestes.

St. Malo furnished the best sailors for our Navy; the general roll may be seen in the folio volume, entitled, "Rôle Général des Officiers, Mariniers et Matelots de

VOL. I.

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Saint Malo," published in 1682. There is also a "Coutume de Saint Malo," printed in the "Recueil du Coutumier Général." The archives of the city are rich in charters, which are useful to the historian and to maritime law.

St. Malo is the birth-place of Jacques Cartier, the Christopher Columbus of France, who discovered Canada. The Maloese obtained fresh renown at the other extremity of America in the islands which bear their name.

St. Malo is the native city of Duguay-Trouin, one of the greatest naval men that ever appeared; and in our days it has given to France the celebrated Surcouf. The renowned Mahé de la Bourdonnaie, Governor of the Mauritius, was born at St. Malo, as were also Lamettrie, Maupertuis, and the Abbé Trublet, whom Voltaire made an object of his wit. This is by no means an insignificant list for a place, not equal in extent to the garden of the Tuileries. The Abbé de Lamennais has left far behind him these lesser literary stars of my country; Broussais likewise was born at St. Malo, as well as my noble friend the Count de la Ferronnays.

In fine, not to make any omission, I must call to mind those celebrated bull dogs which constituted the garrison of St. Malo: they were descendants of those famous dogs reared in the regiments of the Gauls, and who, according to Strabo, stood up in battle array with their masters against the Romans. Albert le Grand, a monk of the Order of St. Dominic, an author as grave as the Greek geographer, declares, "that at St. Malo the guardianship of a place so important was committed every night to the fidelity of certain bull dogs, who formed an admirable and safe patrol." They were at last condemned to capital punishment for having had the misfortune of inconsiderately eating the legs of a gentleman! This has given rise in our days to the song, Bon Voyage," where the whole is turned into ridicule. The criminals are imprisoned; one of them refuses to take the nourishment presented by the hand of his disconsolate guardian; the noble animal starves himself to death: the dogs are punished like men for their fidelity. Moreover the Capitol was, like my Delos,

guarded by dogs who never barked when Scipio Africanus came to offer his prayers at dawn of day.

St. Malo is enclosed by walls of divers eras, which are divided into large and small, with a promenade running along the top. The city is further defended by the château of which I have spoken, and which was enlarged with towers, bastions, and trenches by the Duchess Anne. Seen from without, this insulated city resembles a citadel of granite.

It is upon the shore of the wide spread sea, between the Château and Fort Royal, that the children assemble to play; and here it is that I was educated, the companion of the winds and waves. One of the first pleasures which I enjoyed was to combat with the storms, and to sport with the surges which retired before me, or pursued me on the beach. Another amusement was to build little structures with the sands of the shore, which my companions called ovens. Since that time, I have often seen castles built for eternity crumble more rapidly than my palaces of sand.

My lot being irrevocably fixed, I was left to pass my infancy in idleness. Some notions of drawing, of the English language, hydrography, and mathematics appeared more than sufficient for the education of a young boy, destined beforehand to the rude life of a mariner.

I grew up in my family without study. We no longer inhabited the house where I was born: my mother occupied an hotel in the Place Saint Vincent, nearly opposite the gate which led to Sillon. The young polissons of the city were my dearest friends, and the court and stairs of our house were always crowded with them. I resembled them in everything, spoke their language, assumed their manner and gait, was dressed like them, and my clothes like theirs were open and unbuttoned, and my shirt in tatters. My stockings were always full of holes, my shoes slipshod and down at heel, and my feet coming out at every step. I constantly lost my cap, and often my jacket. My face was besmeared, scratched, and bruised; and my hands were black and grubby. My appearance was altogether so strange, that my mother, in the heat of

her anger, could not often help laughing and crying out: "How ugly he is!"

Notwithstanding all this, I loved, and ever have loved cleanliness, nay, even elegance. At night, I endeavoured to patch my tattered garments, and good Villeneuve and my Lucile used to help me to repair my toilette, in order to prevent my getting punished and scolded; but their patchings only made my clothes look the more ridiculous. I was often miserable, especially when I appeared in my rags among children who were proud of their new clothes and fine appearance.

There was something foreign in the character of my country people, which called to mind the Spaniards. Maloese families were established at Cadiz, and Cadiz families resided at St. Malo. The insular position, causeway, architecture, houses, cisterns, and granite walls of St. Malo, gave it a resemblance to Cadiz; and, when I visited that city, I was often reminded of St. Malo.

The Maloese locked up at night in their city by the same key, constituted one family. Their manners were so simple, that young women who sported the ribbons and gauzes of Paris were looked upon as worldly-minded, and shunned by their alarmed companions. For any to go astray was an unheard of event, and a Countess d'Abbeville having been suspected, a complaint ensued, which the people sung to her while making the sign of the cross. However, the poet, faithful, in spite of himself, to the traditions of the troubadours, took part against the husband, whom he called "un monstre barbare."

On certain days of the year, the inhabitants of the city and the country met together at fairs called Assemblées which were held in the islands and on the forts around St. Malo. They repaired thither on foot when the tide was low, and in boats when it was high. The multitude of sailors and peasants, the carts with linen awnings, the caravans or horses, asses and mules, the crowd of merchants, the tents pitched on the beach, the processions of monks and friars who