m in the Castle de la Motte. He behaved in the
most friendly manner, and invited the Constable, the Lords of Laval and de
Beaumanoir, to see the castle of Hermine he was building. He led the
Constable by the hand through the chambers, and when they arrived at the
keep, said, "Sir Oliver, there's not a man who understands masonry so well
as yourself; enter and examine the walls well, and if you say it is
properly built, it shall remain." The unsuspecting Constable ascended the
staircase, when the door was closed upon him and he was seized and loaded
with three pairs of fetters. The Duke ordered him to be put into a sack,
his hands and feet tied, and to be thrown secretly at night into the sea.
But the Constable owed his life to the loyalty of Jean Bazvalen, who, like
another Hubert, did not obey his master's commands, the laws of his
sovereign being less sacred in his eyes than the dictates of humanity and
honour. Clisson was set at liberty, on agreeing to pay 100,000 livres and
to surrender the town of Jugon and some other fortresses. This perfidious
attempt occasioned a war of three years, and was retaliated by Clisson's
daughter and grandsons upon Duke John V.

The Tour du Connetable, which formed the north-east angle of the Chateau
de la Hermine, is now used as a museum of Celtic antiquities, and contains
various objects collected in the tumuli of the Morbihan. We observed one
very large jade celt, eighteen inches long, found, we understood, in the
Butte de Tumiac. At Vannes the States of Brittany held their sittings, and
here took place the union of that province with France, 1532.

About twelve miles from Vannes is Korn-er-hoet, demesne of the Princess
Baciocchi, cousin of the Emperor. It was formerly surrounded by woods and
the interminable lande of Lanvaux, which stretches its desolate length
along the Morbihan from Baud to Rochefort. This district had been, from
time immemorial, the abode of some eighty families of gipsies, who lived
there in clay huts under the rule of a chieftain. The sight of this barren
wilderness had so impressed the Princess Baciocchi, in a tour she made in
Brittany in the year 1857, that she obtained the sanction of the Emperor
to reclaim it. She caused a temporary chalet to be built for her
occupation at Kern-er-hoet, and, superintending the works herself, in a
few years effected a wonderful transformation. A model village has been
formed, with church and schools, a well-ordered agricultu