  COUNTRY SOUTH OF THE LOIRE.--LE BOCAGE.--CLISSON.--HISTORICAL ANECDOTES.--THE GARENNE, AND RIVER SÈVRES. The best method of travelling in this country is on horseback: in fact, it is impossible to proceed in any other way, after quitting the main road. Having procured a guide and horses, I set out early in the morning, crossing the Loire by the Pont Rosseau, to Verton, keeping along the banks of the River SÈvres. Verton is a romantic village standing on a hill: most of the houses are in ruins, from the effect of the destructive war of La VendÉe. From thence to Le Palet, most intricate narrow roads, or more properly speaking, pathways, darkened by the overhanging branches of trees, and in many parts deep with mire, from the sun's rays not being able to dry the ground, make it difficult to proceed, and we several times lost our way. It was late before we reached Le Palet, and though I had not tasted food for many hours, I could not resist stopping to view so interesting a spot, and making a hasty sketch of the ruins of the house in which AbÉlard was born, and in which HÉloÏse resided with him before their final separation. The ruins of the House of BÉrenger, the father of AbÉlard, are close to the church of Palet, on the left of the high road, three miles distant from Clisson. Le Palet is thus described by a French author, in the history of the Province. "Cet homme si cÉlÈbre par son savoir, ses amours, et ses infortunes, amena HÉloÏse au Palet lorsqu'il l'eÛt enlevÉe de chez le Chanoine Fulbert, pour la soustraire au ressentiment de cet oncle jaloux et barbare; mais, obligÉ de quitter cette retraite paisible pour retourner À Paris, oÙ l'appelaient ses nombreux disciples, le soin de sa gloire et de sa fortune, AbÉlard confia À sa soeur sa chÈre HÉloÏse et le gage prÉcieux qu'elle portait dans son sein. Elle accoucha au Palet d'un fils d'une si rare beautÉ, qu'elle le nomma Astralabe, c'est-À-dire, astre brillant; mais l'absence de celui qu'elle adorait rendait moins vifs pour elle les doux plaisirs de la maternitÉ; son Âme expansive et brÛlante Était livrÉe sans cesse À une inquiÈte et sombre mÉlancholie qu'elle ne parvenait sans doute À dissiper qu'en venant sur les bords de la SÈvres rÊver À l'objet de sa tendresse, et soupirer aprÈs son retour. Sept siÈcles se sont ÉcoulÉs depuis cette Époque, et les noms d'AbÉlard et d'HÉloÏse embellissent toujours ce dÉlicieux ravage. On interroge avec une curiositÉ avide ces roches Éternelles et ces grottes mystÉrieuses qui furent les tÉmoins discrets de leurs peines et de leurs plaisirs. On se reporte À ces temps reculÉs oÙ ces amants venaient dans cette solitude enchanteresse, se confier mutuellement leur vifs inquiÉtudes; on croit les voir s'Égarer sous ces riants ombrages, et s'abandonner À toutes les inspirations de l'Éloquence, À toutes les illusions de l'amour." I arrived at Clisson just as the sun was disappearing, and its rays were only sufficiently strong to reflect the ruined towers of the Castle in the river which runs at its foot. It will be much easier to imagine, than for me to convey the sensations I felt when I first caught a glimpse of it, with the story of La Roche-Jaquelin full in my recollection! I alighted at a small cabaret, dignified by the appellation of the Hotel de la Providence, which seemed preferable to another recommended to me by my guide,--such an one, indeed, as might be expected in a remote place like this: part of the roof was off, and, like most of the houses in the place, bore evident marks of the desolating war that had been carried on here: many are still in ruins. The descent into the town is very steep and rugged, the road being formed out of the solid rock. The master of the cabaret was sitting with his family at the door, but the appearance of his mansion was so unpromising, that I thought it best to make some agreement, and a few inquiries before dismounting;--these preliminaries being settled, and having consented to pay him fifty sous for supper and my bed, and thirty for breakfast, I entered the house: and never recollect having a keener relish for a meal, or enjoying one more heartily, for I had been sixteen hours on horseback. Fatigued and exhausted as I was, I rambled after dinner towards the delightful grounds of La Garenne, belonging to Monsieur La Motte, who has embellished them in a most interesting and romantic manner. The river SÈvres runs along the side, and separates them from the fine old Castle of Clisson, whose high and decaying towers and battlements give the beholder a noble idea of its ancient grandeur. The evening was a very fine one,--one of those delightful soft, clear skies usual at this season, the latter end of July. I sat myself down in the grotto of HÉloÏse,--a spot of the deepest seclusion, formed, by the hand of Nature, of large masses of granite. The nightingales were singing in the lofty trees at the back; on the sides were shrubs of every description intermingled with fruit trees, and the river having several falls and little rocky islets, gave an air of delightful enchantment to this most romantic scene. HÉloÏse! À ce nom, qui ne doit s'attendrir? At the entrance of the grotto are engraved these lines, nearly effaced by the hand of time. HÉloÏse peut-Être erra sur ce rivage, I had but a few weeks before seen the tomb of AbÉlard and HÉloÏse in the Cemetery of PÈre la Chaise at Paris, whither it had been recently removed from the Convent of the Augustins, at which latter place I had formerly made the annexed drawing of it. I had likewise been very lately at Argenteuil, once the place of her asylum described by Pope: In these deep solitudes and awful cells-- and had the same day witnessed the ruins of the house in which AbÉlard was born, and in which HÉloÏse resided and became a mother, and from whence she used to make frequent visits to this spot: all these circumstances combined, gave the scene before me a most powerful interest. I rose early the next day, anxious to revisit a place which had afforded me such delight the previous evening. Wandering by the beautiful banks of the river, along its green meadows, in a woody recess, I observed the following lines beneath an urn, cut in the rock on which it rested: Consacrer dans l'obscuritÉ, [Illustration: RUINS OF ABÉLARD'S HOUSE.] A little further on, is a stone pillar, with a venerable accacia tree spreading its leaves over it. It has the following Latin inscription: VII IM CAESAR [Footnote 8: Auguste Étendit jusqu'À La Loire La Gaule Aquitanique, autrefois bornÉe par la Garonne, et comprit L'Armorique dans la Province Celtique ou Lyonnaise. L'Empereur Adrian, ayant fait depuis une nouvelle distribution des Gaules, divisa La Lyonnaise en deux, et mit L'Armorique dans la seconde; enfin cette Lyonnaise ou Celtique ayant ÉtÉ encore divisÉe en deux, Tours devint la MÉtropole de la troisiÈme, qui comprenait la Touraine, le Maine, l'Anjou, et la Bretagne.--Histoire de Bret.] [Illustration: GROTTO of HÉLOÏSE at CLISSON]. [Illustration: TOMB of ABÉLARD and HÉLOÏSE.]. Farther on several large blocks of granite are piled together in so strange and curious a manner, that it must have been the work of Nature alone:--one of them has these beautiful lines carved on it: O! Limpide RiviÈre! O RiviÈre chÉrie! Close to the brink of the river stands a prodigiously large granite rock, immediately facing the waterfall called le Bassin de Diane: on it are these words: SA MASSE INDESTRVCTIBLE [Illustration: GRANITE ROCK in the GARENNE.] The French writers, speaking of this interesting place, observe: "Comment soupÇonner en effet qu'au milieu de cette terrible VendÉe, qu'au centre de cet impÉnÉtrable et sombre Bocage, il existe un pays dÉlicieux et fertile, couvert de mines sÉculaires qui rappelent tous les souvenirs historiques de notre ancienne France, comme le caractÈre de ses habitans en rappele les moeurs, le courage, et la loyautÉ." On the opposite side of the river, a little to the right, stands the ancient ChÂteau de Clisson, celebrated in the modern as well as the ancient history of Bretagne. Its lofty turrets, and decaying bastions, extend a considerable distance along the shore of the SÈvres, recalling to mind the ancient days of chivalry, when bravery, love, and religion, were so singularly blended together, and gave a romantic half-polished manner to the greatest barbarians. In later times it became the scene of events which no one can contemplate without the deepest interest. In viewing this magnificent ruin, it is impossible not to regret that a place so frequently the theatre of noble achievements, inhabited by one of the greatest men that France has produced, FranÇois I. ConnÉtable de Clisson,[9] father to Anne of Bretagne, should have been so recently the scene of such savage horrors and bloodshed! Now, all is silence and solitude: and amidst the noble ruins which were once decorated with banners, and the hard-earned trophies of victory,--where high-born knights and splendid dames mingled in mirth and festivity to the echoes of the minstrels, singing lays of love or battle,--are now only to be seen and heard the birds of prey, hovering over a solitary tree, planted to mark the spot where a deed was committed which has not often its parallel in the darkest histories of the most ferocious nations. [Footnote 9: In the "Histoire GÉnÉalogique de France," tom. vi. is an account of the Constable's death. "The Duke of Orleans, brother to the king, was very fond of a Jewess, whom he privately visited. Having some reason to suspect that Peter de Craon, Lord of SablÉ and de la FertÉ-Bernard, his chamberlain and favourite, had joked with the Duchess of Orleans upon his intrigue, he turned him out of his house with infamy. Craon imputed his disgrace partly to the Constable of Clisson. On the night of the 13th June, having waited for him at the corner of the street Coulture Ste. Catherine, and finding he had but little company with him, he fell upon him at the head of a score of ruffians. Clisson defended himself for some time without any other weapon than a small cutlass; but after receiving three wounds, fell from his horse, and pitched against a door, which flew open. The report of this assassination reached the king's ears just as he was stepping into bed. He put on a great coat and his shoes, and repaired to the place where he was informed his constable had been killed. He found him in a baker's shop, wallowing in his blood. After his wounds were examined, "Constable, (said he to him), nothing was or ever will he so severely punished." It was given out that Clisson made his will the next day, and there was a mighty outcry about the sum of 1,700,000 livres, which it amounted to. It should be observed, that during twenty-five years that he was in the service of France, he had sought for and beaten the English every where; that he gained the famous battle of Robeck, and chastised the Flemish; that he enjoyed for twelve years the salary and appointments of Constable; and that, moreover, his landed estate, (which included many castles inherited from his ancestors, in Bretagne and Poitou,) was very considerable."] During the Vendean war, the royalists had been driven out of Clisson by the republicans, under the command of a ferocious jacobin. The town was pillaged and burnt before they quitted it. Twenty-seven females had, during the battle, concealed themselves among the ruins: when information of it was given to the troops, who had already quitted the place, they were ordered to return, and the whole of these unhappy women were thrown alive into a well, where they perished!!! It has since been filled up, and the lonely tree, just mentioned, now records the bloody and inhuman deed. In the account of Clisson, by a late French author, no notice is taken of this circumstance. He merely observes, when mentioning the destruction of the place, after the de la Roche-Jaquelin had quitted it, "Les Rives ombragÉes de la SÈvres, si sÉduisante par ses belles cascades et l'ensemble de ce paysage poÉtique, feroient de cette contrÉe un sÉjour dÉlicieux, si de tristes dÉbris, qui heureusement disparoissent tous les jours, ne rappelaient encore le souvenir affligeant de nos discordes civiles. Les armÉes RÉvolutionnaires qui combattirent les VendÉens, en 1793 et en 1794, employÈrent inutilement pour les rÉduire le fer et le feu; la flamme atteignit les villes, les villages, les mÉtairies, et jusqu'aux humbles chaumiÈres; et, dans ce vaste et Épouvantable incendie, Clisson ne put Échapper À une ruine complÈte. Jamais peut-Être cette petite ville ne se seroit entiÈrement rÉÉdifiÉ, sans une circonstance particuliÈre qui contribua puissamment À la faire renoÎtre de ces cendres." In the town of Clisson was born the celebrated Barin de la Galissonniere, Admiral of France, who fought the well-known action off Mahon, in the month of June, 1756, with Admiral Byng, who, in consequence of his conduct on that occasion, was brought to a court martial and shot. The French writers make the following absurd remark, as to the cause of his fate: "Les Anglais, furieux d'avoir ÉtÉ vaincus par un Amiral FranÇois, firent fusiller l'Amiral Byng." It is now well known that he was sacrificed to an unprincipled ministerial faction. The ancient ChÂteau de Clisson is built on a rock, on the bank of the SÈvres, facing the mouth of the river, called Le Moine, which empties itself into the SÈvres at this place, so that the town of Clisson stands between the two rivers at their junction. An ancient bridge, from whence this view is taken, joins one part of the town to the other, and leads to the castle, which was once considered the barrier of Bretagne. The two rivers run over a bed of granite rock, which, in some places, forming a cataract, adds considerably to the surrounding scenery: large masses of this rock in many parts seem as if piled up by nature for the purpose of giving it a more romantic effect. The whole forms a most picturesque object, when viewed from the opposite shore, from whence the sketch of the temple erected on the ruin of St. Gilles is taken; and the remembrance of its recent fate throws over the scene a strong and melancholy interest. [Illustration: RUINS OF CLISSON.] The castle is supposed to have been first erected by the Romans, as the Province formed a part of the Gaule Aquitanique, under the Emperors Augustus and Adrian. The French repaired it during the reign of Louis VIII. in 1223, under Olivier I. Sire de Clisson, as he is styled; and it was made a regular fortification, and surrounded by a wall a century after, by the ConnÉtable: in 1464 the Duc de Bretagne, Francis II. entirely finished it. The Sire de Clisson, Olivier I. who had served during one of the Crusades in Palestine, was knighted with several others, in 1218. "Un nombre prodigieux de Seigneurs Anglais, Normands, Angevins, Manceaux, Tourangeaux, et Bretons, prirent la Croix; Le Pape, Innocent III. envoya en Bretagne, en 1197, Helvain, Moine de St. Denis, pour y prÊcher une croisade. Une grande quantitÉ de Bretons se laissÈrent conduire en Syrie par ce Moine; et, en 1218, plusieurs Seigneurs Bretons suivirent leur exemple, entre autres, HervÉ de LÉon, Morvau, Vicomte du Fou, et le Sire de Clisson." From the construction of the towers and bastions, it is supposed that at his return from the Holy Land, he had copied the Syrian style of building; and one of the towers, which is represented in the sketch of the gateway of the ChÂteau de Clisson, is still called La Tour des PÉlerins. This tower, which has been used as a dungeon, is the most perfect of any remaining. In it are subterranean galleries, anciently used as a prison, and appropriated by the republicans to the same purpose. It is dreadful to think of the horrors that have been practised within its walls, in our own time. [Illustration: TOUR des PÉLERINS.] From the top of this tower the prospect is very extensive, and, during the year 1793, when the republican army quartered themselves in it, a sentinel was placed there to give notice in case of the approach of an enemy. The historian of that period, speaking of the entrance to this tower, observes, in reference to the cruelties committed there in the Vendean war: "Il existait au milieu de la derniÈre cour un trÈs beau puits, taillÉ dans le roc et extrÊmement profond: il est actuellement comblÉ..., et ma plume se refuse À tracer les scÈnes horribles qui ensanglantÈrent ce lieu en 1793 et en 1795, tristes et Épouvantables effets des guerres civiles!" This passage alludes, I imagine, to the circumstance related in page 90. Within its walls are various inscriptions, many of them in characters so difficult to decypher, that they remain unknown. The following has been rendered into more modern French by Cerutti. J'ai gravi, mesurÉ ces ruines sublimes; Louis IX. and Blanche of Castille, his queen, retired to Clisson, at the time the English, under Henry III. penetrated into Poitou, and were received by Olivier de Clisson, who then garrisoned it. In the war of the League, which convulsed the kingdom of France, Clisson remained faithful to Henry III. and during the early part of the reign of his successor Henry IV. The Protestants were there protected, and established themselves in the fauxbourg. From the period at which Henry IV. signed the edict at Nantes, 15th April, 1598, until the war of La VendÉe, this celebrated fortress is no where mentioned by any of the French historians: it became neglected when the feudal system declined, and the republican army completed its ruin. The sad events of this period, and the destruction and carnage which followed, can never be effaced from the page of history. The ruined towns and villages prove the melancholy truth, that the general corruption of a nation prepares the way for general anarchy, and that the blindness of political rage is always more vindictive than even private hatred. I can never sufficiently lament the absence, at this time, of Madame de La Roche-Jaquelin from the country, as she occasionally resides in the neighbourhood, since the restoration of her property, (although her once noble residence is now in a state of ruin,) occupying a small chÂteau at some small distance, which had partly escaped the fire and destruction that had been fatal to most houses in the district. Who can read the interesting memoirs of this Lady, and not sympathize in the sufferings of herself, and of those brave and loyal people whose heroic struggle against their republican oppressors lasted with little intermission from the overthrow of the monarchy until its final restoration? Among the number of heroic females who, like Madame de la Roche-Jaquelin, thus distinguished themselves, was Madame de La Rochefoucault who, like her admirer Charette, was put to death at Nantes. This lady, of an ancient and noble family, and of great beauty, signalized herself on various occasions, but being taken prisoner at the battle of the Moulin aux ChÊvres, she was immediately shot! [Illustration: MILL AUX CHÊVRES.] The whole history of this terrible war is filled with the noble devotion of heroic females. The chiefs were attended in the most sanguinary battles by ladies, who had themselves ornamented their standards with loyal and chivalrous emblems of the cause for which they were prepared to sacrifice themselves, and who were frequently seen rallying the broken troops, and falling, covered with wounds, by the hands of their enemies! The annexed view of the Moulin aux ChÊvres, which is rendered interesting from the account given by Madame de la Roche-Jaquelin of the battle fought near it, will convey a tolerable idea of the scenery of the country. The prodigious growth of the willow tree in Bretagne, is such as to claim the peculiar notice of travellers: here they attain a gigantic height, no where else to be seen. Batard, in his "Notices sur les VÉgÉtaux" mentions one in the commune of Pommeraie in the arrondissement de BeauprÉau, whose age was supposed to be nearly two thousand years. Within the ChÂteau at Clisson are some very old ones, but the finest I observed were at the Moulin aux ChÊvres.
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