The wind favoring us the day following, we sailed at break of day, and
arrived at Angers at the close of a beautiful evening. The approach to
this town, in sailing up the river Mayenne, is highly picturesque; its
ancient castle is situated on a high rock overhanging the river; its
walls and antique towers, built by the English, have an imposing
effect. The town stands in a plain, which, in the distance, being
fringed with wood, together with the corn and meadow ground, give it
that richness and beauty that characterizes the whole country between
Nantes and Angers. The river Mayenne, and a small branch of the
Loire, divide the town. It is the chief seat of the province of
Maine-et-Loire, formerly the capital of Anjou. It is a large ancient
city, with a fine cathedral, a botanical garden, museum, and
several manufactories of cottons; one of them in imitation of India
handkerchiefs. Here the last effort was made by the Vendeans, whose
flight from it was immediately followed by the bloody and disastrous
affair of Mans.
I had now passed the provinces of Bretagne and Poitou, as they border
the Loire; and, in point of beautiful and romantic scenery, this
district can scarcely be surpassed. The left bank of the river,
running along the country of Le Bocage, from Nantes to Angers, a
distance of seventy-two miles, is a continued range of lofty hills,
agreeably diversified with corn lands, and studded with vineyards. The
opposite bank is a more flat and variegated country, with pleasant
eminences and broad plains, watered by branches of the Loire, which in
many parts contains small islands covered with trees.
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