is inconceivable how much comfort, and even elegance, resulted from this
arrangement.

Mr. Younge and myself being engaged in an argument of some warmth, in
which Mrs. Younge had taken part, Mademoiselle St. Sillery had given us
the slip, and the carriage being ready, I had to seek her. After much
trouble I found her engaged in a childish sport with some boys and
girls, the children of the landlord: the game answered to what is known
in America by the name of hide and seek, and Mademoiselle St. Sillery,
when I found her, was concealed in a _saw-pit_. I have mentioned, I
believe, that this young lady was about twenty years of age; an elegant,
fashionable girl, and as far removed from a romp and a hoyden as it is
possible to conceive; yet was this young lady of fashion now engaged in
the most puerile play, and even seemed disappointed when she was called
from it. Such is the French levity, that sooner than not be in motion,
the gravest and most dignified of them would join in an hunt after a
butterfly. I have frequently been walking, with all possible gravity,
with Mademoiselle St. Sillery, when she has suddenly challenged me to
run a race, and before I could recover my astonishment, or give her an
answer, has taken to her heels.

We reached Blois rather late; we had intended to have staid there only
the night, but as it was too late to see the town, and the following
morning was showery, we remained there the whole day, and very
pleasantly passed the afternoon in walking over the town, and informing
ourselves of its curiosities. The situation of Blois is as agreeable as
that of all the other principal towns on the Loire. The main part of it
is built upon an hill which descends by a gentle declivity to the Loire;
the remaining part of it is a suburb on the opposite side of the river,
to which it is joined by a bridge resembling that at Kew, in England.
From the hill on which the town stands is a beautiful view of a rich
and lovely country, and there is certainly not a town in France or in
Europe, with the exception of Tours and Toulouse, which can command such
a delightful landscape. It appeared, perhaps, more agreeable to us as we
saw it after it had been freshened by the morning rain. The structure of
the town does not correspond with the beauty of its site. The streets
are narrow, and the houses low. There are some of the houses, however,
which are very respectable, and evidently the habitation of a superior
class of