is peeling off, and where every boy that passes
throws his stone at the windows.

The pleasure grounds attached to the chateau, very exactly correspond
with its style: the chateau is usually built in the worst possible site
of the whole estate. It generally stands in some meadow or lawn, and
precisely in that part of it which is the natural drain of the whole,
and where, if there were no house, there would necessarily be an
horse-pond. A grand avenue, planted on each side with noble trees, leads
up to the house, but is usually so overgrown with moss and weeds, as to
convey a most uncomfortable feeling of cold, dampness, and desolation.
The grass of the lawn is equally foul, and every thing of dirt and
rubbish is collected under the windows in front. The gardens behind are
in the same execrable state: gravel-walks over-run with moss and weeds;
flower beds ornamented with statues of leaden Floras, painted Mercurys,
and Dians with milk-pails. Every yard almost salutes you with some
similar absurdity. The hedges are shaped into peacocks, and not
unfrequently into ladies and gentlemen dancing a minuet. Pillars of
cypress, and pyramids of yew, terminate almost every walk, and if there
is an hollow in the garden, it is formed into a muddy pond, in which
half a dozen nymphs in stone, are about to plunge. The ill-taste of
these statues is not the worst; they are grossly indecent: nothing is
reserved, nothing is concealed; and yet the master of the house will not
hesitate to exhibit these to his female visitors, and what is worse, his
female visitors will look at them with a pleasant smile. Once for all,
there is no such thing as decency, as it is understood in other
kingdoms, to be found in France. Nature is the fashion of the day, and
according to the French philosophy, the passions are the best index to
what is natural. With a very few exceptions, the French women act up to
this doctrine, and are as natural as any one could wish them.

We passed through many pretty villages, and amongst them Clery, where
Louis the Eleventh was buried. We visited the tomb of that memorable
tyrant: it is of white marble, and the taste of it is good. The King is
represented as kneeling, and in the attitude of addressing his prayers
to the Virgin. The church of Clery was built by this King, and it was
his express wish that he should be interred in it. The monument was
raised by Louis the Thirteenth. It contains likewise the heart of
Charles the E