Ces rameaux amoureux entrelasses expres
Aux Muses, aux Amours, offrent leur voile epais;
Et ce cristal d'une onde pure
A jamais ne doit reflechir
Que les graces de la nature
Et les images du plaisir.
Close to the brink of the river stands a prodigiously large granite
rock, immediately facing the waterfall called le Bassin de Diane: on
it are these words:
SA MASSE INDESTRVCTIBLE
A FATIGVE LE TEMS.
a quotation from Delille.
[Illustration: GRANITE ROCK in the GARENNE.]
The French writers, speaking of this interesting place, observe:
"Comment soupconner en effet qu'au milieu de cette _terrible Vendee_,
qu'au centre de cet impenetrable et sombre Bocage, il existe un pays
delicieux et fertile, couvert de mines seculaires qui rappelent tous
les souvenirs historiques de notre ancienne France, comme le caractere
de ses habitans en rappele les moeurs, le courage, et la loyaute".
On the opposite side of the river, a little to the right, stands the
ancient Chateau de Clisson, celebrated in the modern as well as the
ancient history of Bretagne. Its lofty turrets, and decaying bastions,
extend a considerable distance along the shore of the Sevres,
recalling to mind the ancient days of chivalry, when bravery, love,
and religion, were so singularly blended together, and gave a romantic
half-polished manner to the greatest barbarians. In later times it
became the scene of events which no one can contemplate without the
deepest interest.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67