The hedges were covered with wild thyme and rosemary; and
the clematis interwoven with honeysuckles and other fragrant flowers,
richly perfumed the air. The grapes in Touraine and Orleanois are not
abundant this year, but the wine that is expected to be made, will,
it is supposed, from the dryness of the summer, be of an excellent
quality.
The town of Orleans is memorable for the siege it sustained against
the English in 1428, when the maid of Orleans acquired so much renown,
and whose barbarous execution at Rouen, cannot be remembered without
feelings of horror and indignation, and must ever remain a stain on
the memory of that brave soldier the Duke of Bedford. The transactions
subsequent to that event, led to the almost entire expulsion of the
English from France; and those glittering conquests which were an
object of more glory than interest, and had been purchased at such an
expense of blood and treasure, were from that time lost to the English
nation.
During the Revolution, the ancient statue of this celebrated female
was taken down and unfortunately destroyed, and one more modern, but
less interesting, finely executed in bronze, has been since erected.
She is habited in armour, with a lance and shield, supposed to
be leading on the victorious troops. At the four angles, are the
emblematical figures in relief, of the principal events of her
singular career. On a marble pedestal, is inscribed:
A JEANNE D'ARC.
Orleans is the chief seat of the department of the Loiret, formerly
the capital of Orleanais, on the river Loire, over which it has a
handsome bridge like the one at Tours, though not of such extent, as
the river here is not so wide, and very shallow.
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