The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



table-land. The house, standing alone amidst the 

 heath and broom, with no neighbour for many a 

 mile around and visited at intervals by the wolves, 

 was to them the hub of the universe. But for a 



compatibility, they reserve to themselves the same in- 

 come as Jean Fabre and Frangoise Fabre, father and 

 mother of the donor, reserved to themselves in the mar- 

 riage contract of the said Fabre received by M. Dufieu, 

 notary . . . ; thirdly, to settle upon their other children 

 a portion such as by law shall pertain to them out of 

 their possessions in money when they accept a settle- 

 ment; and in case Frangoise and Anne Fabre should 

 not desire so to do, they shall enjoy the annual pension 

 ... of three setters each of rye, two quarters each of 

 oats, five pounds each of butter, and five pounds each 

 of cheese; the use of their usual bed, and of their spin- 

 ning-wheel ; the use of their clothes-press and the small 

 articles of furniture necessary according to their con- 

 dition; . . . the said Fages, the mother, reserves to her- 

 self the sum of thirty francs to be paid once at her will 

 to employ and dispose as she shall see fit. In the third 

 place, the said Poujade, the father, favouring and con- 

 templating the present marriage, has given and con- 

 stituted as the dowry of his daughter, the future wife, 

 to take the place of any right to a portion which she 

 might claim against his goods and those of the mother 

 aforesaid, a clothes-press with apparel valued at a hun- 

 dred livres, a heifer and a cow valued the two at eighty 

 francs, two sheep, and the sum of fifteen hundred livres, 

 the said sum being made up of one hundred and fifty 

 livres of the maternal parent's and the rest of the pa- 

 ternal parent's money. . . . 



Devised and rehearsed in the presence of the sieur 

 Joseph Dejean, burgher of Moulin-Savi, and the sieur 

 Andre Bourles, practitioner of Segur, signed by the afore- 

 said Fabre, father and son, and the aforesaid Poujade, 

 father, and not the aforesaid Fages, who, being requested 

 to sign, has stated that she is not able to do so. . . . 



Forwarded by us, the notary undersigned, holder of 

 the draft at Segur, the 12th April 1807. 



Rous, notary*' 



14 



