e well,
with its ornamental railings, the noble and lofty hall, the library,
with its magnificent chimney-piece, repeating again, in stone, the
Rohan motto, _A Plus_, and the equestrian statue of Clisson, by
Fremiet, in the dining-room.

_Hennebont and Largoet_

Of the old chateau of Hennebont, where John of Montfort breathed his
last after escaping from the Louvre of his day, only a heap of stones
remains. The old fortress of Largoet is in much the same condition,
nothing of the ancient structure having been conserved save the famous
Tour d'Elven, considered to be the most beautiful castle keep in all
Brittany, which has also a literary distinction as being the scene of
some of the most touching episodes in Octave Feuillet's _Roman d'un
jeune Homme pauvre_.

_Chateaubriant_

At Chateaubriant, which owes its name to the compounding of the
word 'chateau' with that of 'Briant,' the family style of its
original lord, the old feudal fortress is now a ruin, but the
castle, built by Jean de Laval, Governor of Brittany under Francis
I, is in good repair. An inscription giving the date of the completion
of the new chateau as 1538 is above the portal of the colonnade.
There is a gruesome legend associated with the old chateau, in which
for some time dwelt the unfortunate Francoise de Foix, Countess of
Chateaubriant and beloved of Francis I. Tiring or becoming suspicious
of her royal lover, she decided to return to her husband, the old
Count of Laval. The reunion, however, was not productive of
happiness, owing to the fever of jealousy in which her elderly
husband lived because of the love affair with the King. This
jealousy eventually flared into mania when he heard that she had
actually visited her former lover in prison after he had been
captured at Pavia. Instantly he "shut his young wife up in a
darkened and padded cell, and finally had her cut into pieces by two
surgeons," so the story goes. Terrified at what he had done and of
the consequences which were sure to follow when the King heard of
his savagery, the Count fled the country immediately afterward.

The chateau of Brodineuf (dating from the twelfth century) and that of
Caradeuc are in good repair, but the latter is ancient only in parts.
It shelters two Murillos within its walls. The picturesque chateau of
Combourg was in early times a feudal fortress, and in it Rene
Chateaubriand's infancy was passed. This place may be visited by
interested sightseers, a