es to Nantes,
the triangular point resting upon Angers, is the country of the
Chouans, which it is necessary, in reference to the Vendean war, to
distinguish from the country south of the Loire, in the department of
the Loire Inferieure, called le Bocage, or la Vendee. Although the
latter was the scene of the more desperate warfare between the
republicans and the royalists, yet the former had its share of
bloodshed and misery. The whole country on both banks of the Loire, as
far as Angers, is classic ground to those who revere the efforts by
which the Vendeans so long resisted the republicans.

The city of Nantes is the chief seat of the Prefecture of the
department of the Loire Inferieure, standing on the right bank of the
river, surrounded by its ancient rampart, of a circular form, and in
good preservation: on the opposite bank stand the ruined tower
and mouldering bastions of Permil. This spot is interesting to an
Englishman, from the memorable events to which the fatal pretensions
of Edward the Third gave rise, and which occupy the pages of French
and English history, during a period of more than a century[6].

[Footnote 6: In 1343, Edward the Third laid siege to this place.
Froissart mentions the English army being drawn out on a hill, in
battle array, near the town. The ground rises a little in this
direction, but, I should suppose, it must have been on the right bank,
as the country there is hilly, and this ancient fortress must have
defended the passage of the river. "The king himself," says the
Chronicle, "with the rest of his army, advanced towards Rennes,
burning and ruining the country on all sides, and was most joyfully
received by the whole army who lay before it, and had been there for
a considerable time. When he had tarried there five days, he learned
that the Lord Charles of Blois was at Nantes, collecting a large force
of men at arms. He set out, therefore, leaving those whom he had found
at Rennes, and came before Nantes, which he besieged as closely as he
could, but was unable to surround it, such was its size and extent.
The marshals, therefore, and their people, overran the country and
destroyed it. The king of England, one day, drew out his army in
battle array on a hill near Nantes, in expectation that the Lord
Charles would come forth and offer him an opportunity of fighting with
him: but, having waited from morning until noon in vain, they returned
to their quarters: the light horse, howeve