he arms of the Guaisnics
as clean-cut and clear as though the sculptor had just laid down his
chisel. This escutcheon would delight a lover of the heraldic art by a
simplicity which proves the pride and the antiquity of the family. It is
as it was in the days when the crusaders of the Christian world invented
these symbols by which to recognize each other; the Guaisnics have never
had it quartered; it is always itself, like that of the house of France,
which connoisseurs find inescutcheoned in the shields of many of the old
families. Here it is, such as you may see it still at Guerande: Gules,
a hand proper gonfaloned ermine, with a sword argent in pale, and the
terrible motto, FAC. Is not that a grand and noble thing? The circlet of
a baronial coronet surmounts this simple escutcheon, the vertical lines
of which, used in carving to represent gules, are clear as ever. The
artist has given I know not what proud, chivalrous turn to the hand.
With what vigor it holds the sword which served but recently the present
family!

If you go to Guerande after reading this history you cannot fail to
quiver when you see that blazon. Yes, the most confirmed republican
would be moved by the fidelity, the nobleness, the grandeur hidden in
the depths of that dark lane. The du Guaisnics did well yesterday, and
they are ready to do well to-morrow. To DO is the motto of chivalry.
"You did well in the battle" was the praise of the Connetable _par
excellence_, the great du Guesclin who drove the English for a time from
France. The depth of this carving, which has been protected from the
weather by the projecting edges of the arch, is in keeping with the
moral depth of the motto in the soul of this family. To those who know
the Guaisnics this fact is touching.

The gate when open gives a vista into a somewhat vast court-yard, on the
right of which are the stables, on the left the kitchen and offices.
The house is build of freestone from cellar to garret. The facade on the
court-yard has a portico with a double range of steps, the wall of which
is covered with vestiges of carvings now effaced by time, but in
which the eye of an antiquary can still make out in the centre of the
principal mass the Hand bearing the sword. The granite steps are now
disjointed, grasses have forced their way with little flowers and mosses
through the fissures between the stones which centuries have displaced
without however lessening their solidity. The door of the