.

The ancient Chateau de Clisson is built on a rock, on the bank of the
Sevres, facing the mouth of the river, called Le Moine, which empties
itself into the Sevres at this place, so that the town of Clisson
stands between the two rivers at their junction. An ancient bridge,
from whence this view is taken, joins one part of the town to the
other, and leads to the castle, which was once considered the barrier
of Bretagne. The two rivers run over a bed of granite rock, which, in
some places, forming a cataract, adds considerably to the surrounding
scenery: large masses of this rock in many parts seem as if piled up
by nature for the purpose of giving it a more romantic effect. The
whole forms a most picturesque object, when viewed from the opposite
shore, from whence the sketch of the temple erected on the ruin of St.
Gilles is taken; and the remembrance of its recent fate throws over
the scene a strong and melancholy interest.

[Illustration: RUINS OF CLISSON.]

The castle is supposed to have been first erected by the Romans,
as the Province formed a part of the Gaule Aquitanique, under the
Emperors Augustus and Adrian.

The French repaired it during the reign of Louis VIII. in 1223, under
Olivier I. Sire de Clisson, as he is styled; and it was made a regular
fortification, and surrounded by a wall a century after, by the
Connetable: in 1464 the Duc de Bretagne, Francis II. entirely finished
it.

The Sire de Clisson, Olivier I. who had served during one of the
Crusades in Palestine, was knighted with several others, in 1218. "Un
nombre prodigieux de Seigneurs Anglais, Normands, Angevins, Manceaux,
Tourangeaux, et Bretons, prirent la Croix; Le Pape, Innocent III.
envoya en Bretagne, en 1197, Helvain, Moine de St. Denis, pour y
precher une croisade. Une grande quantite de Bretons se laisserent
conduire en Syrie par ce Moine; et, en 1218, plusieurs Seigneurs
Bretons suivirent leur exemple, entre autres, Herve de Leon, Morvau,
Vicomte du Fou, et le Sire de Clisson".

From the construction of the towers and bastions, it is supposed that
at his return from the Holy Land, he had copied the Syrian style of
building; and one of the towers, which is represented in the sketch
of the gateway of the Chateau de Clisson, is still called La Tour des
Pelerins.

This tower, which has been used as a dungeon, is the most perfect of
any remaining. In it are subterranean galleries, anciently used as a
prison, and appropriated by th