he impression that very much is wanting in order to merit
preeminence in the classification of those memories which a traveller
is wont to store up as a result of his travels and observations. Perhaps
it is the city's pitiful attempt to be gay, to be modern, to undertake
pretentious improvements,--all of which appear to fail utterly in their
purpose. These things cannot be unless they are of a spontaneous growth,
which here they apparently are not. Not that the city still merits the
opprobrious (_sic_) term of "Black Angers" with which most writers and
all makers of guide-books are pleased to refer to it,--it hardly does.
In fact it is doubtful as to just what the term originally meant.
Perhaps it was merely a reference to the gloom caused by the extensive
use in the construction of its buildings of the black slate in which the
neighbourhood abounds;--at any rate the expression is one of undoubted
antiquity.

The two chief attractions are the cathedral and the castle, both
"historical monuments." The latter, as before noted, is the ideal
military stronghold of our early imagination; and if age, magnitude, and
the general air of good preservation, count for anything, it must be one
of the most impressive monuments of its class still to be seen.
Originally its wall, now minus battlements, fronted close upon the
river. It is surrounded by a dry yawning _fosse_, formerly a moat, and
possesses no less than seventeen enormous and perfectly formed towers,
each perhaps eighty feet in height, banded near the top in white and
black stripes. Hardly more than a circling wall to-day, it has stood
well the test of time since it was erected by Philip Augustus and
completed under St. Louis in 1180. Little remains of the Renaissance
portion originally occupied by the Counts of Anjou. Its charm lies
rather in its exterior, the interior confines resembling more a
lumber-yard than anything else,--not worth spending one's time upon,
under the present facilities which are offered for its inspection. One
small structure within the walls is notable as being that in which King
Rene was born. It is recorded that Wellington received a part of his
military education in Angers. If so, it is probable that he studied this
military defence with some care and minuteness. To us, at least, who
have not been educated with respect to military fortification, it seems
to fill all demands that are likely to be made upon a building of its
class. Doubtless it c