6o Travels in France 



day I would make such great lords skip again .^ We supped 

 with the Duke de la Rochefoucauld ; the provincial assembly of 

 Saintonge is soon to meet, and this nobleman, being the presi- 

 dent, is waiting for their assembling. 



T)Oth. Through a chalk country, well wooded, though with- 

 out enclosures to Angouleme; the approach to that town is 

 fine; the country around being beautiful with the fine river 

 Charente, here navigable, flowing through it; the effect striking. 

 — 25 miles. 



315/. Quitting Angouleme, pass through a countr}^ almost 

 covered with vines, and across a noble wood belonging to the 

 Duchess d'Anville, mother of the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, to 

 Verteul, a chateau of the same lady, built in 1459, where we 

 found everything that travellers could wish in a hospitable 

 mansion. The Emperor Charles V. was entertained here by 

 Anne de Polignac, widow of Francis II. Count de la Rochefou- 

 cauld, and that prince said aloud, n' avoir jamais ete en maison 

 qui sentii mieux sa grande vertu honnetete et seigneurie que celle 

 la. — It is excellently kept; in thorough repair, fully furnished, 

 and all in order, which merits praise, considering that the family 

 rarely are here for more than a few days in a year, having many 

 other and more considerable seats in different parts of the 

 kingdom. If this just attention to the interests of posterity 

 was more general, we should not see the melancholy spectacle 

 of ruined chateaus in so many parts of France. In the gallery 

 is a range of portraits from the tenth century, by one of which 

 it appears that this estate came by a Mademoiselle la Roche- 

 foucauld in 1470. The park, woods, and river Charente here 

 are fine : the last abounds greatly in carp, tench, and perch. It 

 is at any time easy to get from 50 to 100 brace of fish that weigh 

 from 3 lb. to 10 lb. each: we had a brace of carp for supper, the 

 sweetest, without exception, I ever tasted. IfJL pitched my 

 tent in France I should choose it t o be by a river that gave such 

 ^hr2"^otnmg prov okes one so m a coiintrxrgiMgJlgg-J^i-gjg^> 

 a riverTor the sea within view of the windows, and a dinner 

 every day without_^shj_jwhich^j£_so ^coinmon-JiL^ngl^^ — 

 27 miles. 



September i. Pass Caudec, Ruffec, Maisons-Blanches, and 

 Chaunay. At the first of these places, view a -^'ery fine flour- 

 mill built by the late Count de Broglio, brother of the Marechal 



^ I can assure the reader that these sentiments were those of the moment; 

 the events that have taken place almost induced me to strike many such 

 passages out, but it is fairer to all parties to leave them. — Author's note. 



