An Etcher's Voyage of Discovery. 277 



Whoever wishes to enjoy the sight of some noble ruin 

 should come upon it in this unpremeditated way. One- 

 half the delight of it is in the surprise. When you have 

 been told at starting, by a guide-book, that ' at three 

 miles from your inn is such a castle, now ruinous but 

 formerly belonging to the Counts of, &c., ' and read 

 the description of it in detail, you will either be quietly 

 pleased or provokingly disappointed ; but you will never 

 feel the gladness of a delightful surprise. How noble 

 look the gray old towers when the mind has been occu- 

 pied all day with Nature and forgotten the history of 

 man ! What a welcome interruption to the perpetua 1 

 sylvan harmony ! 



This ruined Castle of Igornay has towers, round and 

 square, and a great court-yard, now full of the pictur- 

 esque of a French farm. It has true machicolations, 

 and must have been a strong place formerly. I found 

 a young miller at the mill, who was more intelligent 

 than lads of his class usually are, and a diligent reader 

 of the newspaper. All the recent events in Italy and 

 America were familiar to him, and he asked me a hun- 

 dred questions. As it was cold, he made a blazing fire 

 for me, and when I left helped to carry the boat, so as to 

 avoid the mill-weir. There are some shallows just below 

 Igornay, so the young miller waded and dragged the boat 

 after him, with me in it, till we got into deeper water ; 

 1 would not hear of my wading, though I told him I 

 was accustomed to it, and it would do me no harm. I 

 paid him with nothing but thanks. 



Few hours of travel have ever been more delightful 



