which it opened by a neat palisadoed
gate. I have no doubt, though I had no means of verifying my opinion,
that the possessor of this estate had been in England. The lawn was
freshly mown, and the flowers, the fresh-painted seats, the windows
extending from the ceiling to the ground, and even the circumstance of
the poultry being kept on the common, and prevented by a net-work from
getting on the lawn--all these were so perfectly in the English taste,
that I offered Mr. Younge any wager that the possessor had travelled.
"He is most probably a returned emigrant," said Mr. Younge; "it is
inconceivable how much this description of men have done for France. The
government, indeed, begins to understand their value, and the list of
the proscribed is daily diminishing."

From Ecures to Chousi the country varies very considerably. The road is
very good, but occasionally sandy. To make up for this heaviness, it is
picturesque to a degree. The fields on each side are so small as to give
them a peculiar air of snugness, and to suggest the idea to a traveller,
how delightful would be a fancy-cottage in such a situation. For my own
part, I was continually building in my imagination. These fields were
well enclosed with thick high hedges, and ornamented with hedge-rows of
chesnut and walnut trees. There were scarcely any of them but what had a
foot-path on the side of the road; in others there were bye-paths which
led from the road into the country, sometimes to a village, the chimnies
only of which were visible; at other times to a chateau, the gilded
pinnacle of which shone afar from some distant hill. I observed several
fields of flax and hemp, and we passed several cottages, in the gardens
of which the flax flourished in great perfection, Mr. Younge informed
me, that every peasant grew a sufficient quantity for his own use, and
the females of his family worked them up into a strong, but decent
looking linen. "This is another circumstance," said he, "which you must
not forget in your comparison between the poor of France and other
kingdoms. The French peasantry, and particularly the women, have more
ingenuity than the English or American poor; they universally make every
thing that is connected with their own clothes. Their beds, blankets,
coats, and linen of all kind, are of the manufacture of their own
families. The produce of the man's labour goes clear to the purchase of
food: the labour of his wife and daughters, and even a sm