ruin. The sad events of this period, and the destruction and carnage
which followed, can never be effaced from the page of history. The
ruined towns and villages prove the melancholy truth, that the general
corruption of a nation prepares the way for general anarchy, and that
the blindness of political rage is always more vindictive than even
private hatred.

I can never sufficiently lament the absence, at this time, of Madame
de La Roche-Jaquelin from the country, as she occasionally resides in
the neighbourhood, since the restoration of her property, (although
her once noble residence is now in a state of ruin,) occupying a small
chateau at some small distance, which had partly escaped the fire and
destruction that had been fatal to most houses in the district. Who
can read the interesting memoirs of this Lady, and not sympathize in
the sufferings of herself, and of those brave and loyal people whose
heroic struggle against their republican oppressors lasted with little
intermission from the overthrow of the monarchy until its final
restoration? Among the number of heroic females who, like Madame de
la Roche-Jaquelin, thus distinguished themselves, was Madame de La
Rochefoucault who, like her admirer Charette, was put to death at
Nantes. This lady, of an ancient and noble family, and of great
beauty, signalized herself on various occasions, but being taken
prisoner at the battle of the Moulin aux Chevres, she was immediately
shot!

[Illustration: MILL AUX CHEVRES.]

The whole history of this terrible war is filled with the noble
devotion of heroic females. The chiefs were attended in the most
sanguinary battles by ladies, who had themselves ornamented their
standards with loyal and chivalrous emblems of the cause for which
they were prepared to sacrifice themselves, and who were frequently
seen rallying the broken troops, and falling, covered with wounds, by
the hands of their enemies!

The annexed view of the Moulin aux Chevres, which is rendered
interesting from the account given by Madame de la Roche-Jaquelin of
the battle fought near it, will convey a tolerable idea of the scenery
of the country.

The prodigious growth of the willow tree in Bretagne, is such as to
claim the peculiar notice of travellers: here they attain a gigantic
height, no where else to be seen. Batard, in his "_Notices sur
les Vegetaux_" mentions one in the commune of Pommeraie in the
arrondissement de Beaupreau, whose age was supposed