ary, and the juniper-tree: nothing can be more delightful than the
scent of them, when the wind blows over them. The hedges are every where
interspersed with flowers; there are blossoms of some kind or other
throughout the year. I must not, however, disguise from you, that there
are some drawbacks from this excellence: the countries south of the
Loire are subject to violent storms of rain and hail, and the latter
particularly is occasionally so violent, as to beat down and destroy all
the corn and vintage on which it may fall. These hail-storms, however,
at least in this excessive degree, are not very frequent; they sometimes
do not occur once in five years. Some years ago, they were more frequent
than they are at present: they used to come on at that time with a
violence which swept every thing before them, even destroying the
cattle, and it is said that even men have been killed by these
hail-stones. Such storms, however, are now considered as natural
phenomena.

"The plenty of these provinces, I speak of Touraine and Anjou, is such
as might be expected from their climate, and the fertility of the soil.
I am persuaded, that a family or an individual might live at one-fourth
of the expence which it would cost them either in England or in America.
Bread is cheaper by two-thirds, and meat of all kinds is about
one-fourth of the London market. Land, both in rent and purchase, is
likewise infinitely cheaper than in England, and if managed with any
skill, would replace its purchase-money in seven years. The French
farmers, for want of capital, leave half their land totally
uncultivated, and the other half is most scandalously neglected. An
English farmer would instantaneously double or quadruple the produce of
the province. The government, moreover, admits foreigners of any country
as denizens, under the condition that they shall apply themselves to
agriculture or manufactures. I am not, however, certain that
agriculture is included in this permission, but I am inclined to believe
that it is comprehended in it. Of one thing I am sure, that the
government would not refuse its protection, and if required, its special
licence, to any foreign agriculturist, who should be desirous of
purchasing and settling."

In this and similar conversation we reached Mont Louis, and it exactly
answered the description which the ladles had given of it. We were in
the midst of the village and its inhabitants before we saw it. Imagine a
number