that Brittany,
and indeed all France, owes the privilege of eating butter in Lent. It
was forbidden as animal food by the laws of the Church, and oil, a
vegetable production, ordered as a substitute. In 1491, Anne solicited of
Rome, for herself and household, permission to eat butter on fast-days,
alleging, as a plea, that Brittany did not produce oil. Encouraged by this
favour, Brittany obtained the same indulgence, and it was acquired
successively by the other provinces of France; but all are originally
indebted for the privilege to the good Queen-Duchess Anne.

Next day, leaving the department of Finistere, we entered that of
Morbihan, and went by rail to Lorient on the river Scorff, here joined by
the Blavet. It was formerly the seat of the French East India Company; it
is now one of the five military ports of France and the residence of a
maritime Prefect. In the Place Bisson is the statue of a young officer of
the French navy, a native of Guemene-sur-Scorff (Morbihan). When
commanding, in 1827, a brig in the Greek Archipelago, he was attacked by
two pirate vessels. Nine out of his fifteen men were killed and himself
wounded; the enemy crowded on the deck. Desiring the survivors of his crew
to jump overboard, "Now," cried he to the pilot, "is the moment for
revenge!" and, setting fire to the powder-magazine, he blew up himself,
his ship, and the pirates who had boarded her. Next morning the bodies of
seventy Greeks lay on the sea-shore, showing the success of his
self-devotion. The pilot, who, with four sailors, was saved, received the
decoration of the Legion of Honour. On the pedestal of Bisson's statue is
an inscription, concluding with these words: "Mort en heros, pour son roi
et sa patrie, ses amis le pleurent, la France le regrette, et ses freres
d'armes envient son sort."

From here we proceeded to Hennebont (Breton, "old bridge"), famous, in the
War of Succession, for its heroic defence by Jeanne de Flandre, during the
captivity of her husband, Jean de Montfort, who had been taken prisoner at
Nantes and carried off to Paris. Jeanne, who, as Froissart says, had the
courage of a man and the heart of a lion, placed herself at the head of
his party. Like another Maria Theresa, she presented herself before the
Breton lords, with her infant son in her arms, and received their oaths of
allegiance. She then joined in the defence of Hennebont, which was
invested by Charles of Blois. Clothed in armour and mounted o