An Etcher *s Voyage of Discovery. 305 



most French villagers of his class. I found books in 

 his house which interested me exceedingly, especially 

 * Charton's History of France,' which is carefully illus- 

 trated from authentic memorials of preceding centuries, 

 not with fancy compositions invented by some artist of 

 our own. My host was doing what he could to increase 

 the free library in the village, already considerable 

 enough to be a great treasury for a poor student. He 

 took me to see it, and I certainly had not expected to 

 find a library in a place where there was not a tiled roof, 

 nor even a priest. 



Every one who has travelled (unless he be a down- 

 right gourmand) will probably have remarked, that it is 

 not the places where we have fared most luxuriously, 

 which usually leave the most agreeable impression upon 

 the mind. At the fine places we expect too much, I 

 think, and are almost always either disappointed or 

 within a very little of being so. I have heard a whole 

 carriage full of men do nothing but grumble and swear 

 as they drove home after a most extravagant Greenwich 

 feast, and I have seen the same men quite happy and 

 contented with a slice of beef and potatoes. In this 

 latter frame of mind, which expects nothing, and is 

 always satisfied with what fortune sends, did the present 

 writer stay his two nights at St. Nizier ; and he left it 

 with a pleasing impression, as he walked down, paddle 

 in hand, towards the rocky shore, his canoe being borne 

 with great ceremony behind him by the mayor him- 

 self and one of the most active and influential mem- 

 bers of the Common Council. Nevertheless, it may be 



