THE STUDY OF NATURE. 



43 



It was not the sweet austerity {soave austero) of Italy; it was 

 a soft and overflowing profusion, under a warm, mild, and moist sky. 



Nothing appeared in sight, though a large town was close at 

 hand, and a little river, the Erdre, wound under the hill, and from 



thence dragged itself towards the Loire. But this vegetable pro- 

 digality, this virgin forest of fruit trees, completely shut in the view. 

 For a prospect, one must mount into a species of turret, whence the 

 landscape began to reveal itself in a certain gi-andeur, with its woods 

 and its meadows, its distant monuments, its towers. Even from this 

 observatory the view was still limited, the city only appearing im- 

 perfectly, and not allowing you to catch sight of its mighty river, 

 its islands, its stir of commerce and navigation. A few paces from 

 its great harbour, of whose existence there was no sign, one might 

 believe oneself in a desert, in the landes of Brittany, or the clearings 

 of La Yende'e. 



Two things were of a lofty character, and detached them- 



