Riom 189 



too the ponds }ield a regular revenue. Income at present 

 10,000 livres (£437 los.) a year; price 260,000 livres (£11,375) 

 and 10,000 livTes for wood — twenty-five years' purchase. Also, 

 near St. Poncin another of 400,000 livres (£17,500), the woods 

 of which, 450 acres, produce 5000 livres a year : 80 acres of vines, 

 the wine so good as to be sent to Paris; good land for wheat, 

 and much sown; a modern chateau, avec ioutes les aisances, etc. 

 And I heard of many others. I conjecture that one of the finest 

 contiguous estates in Europe might at present be laid together 

 in the Bourbonnois. And I am further informed that there are 

 at present 6000 estates to be sold in France ; if things go on as 

 they do at present, it will not be a question of buying estates. 

 but kingdonis, and France itself will be under the hammer. I 

 love a system of policy that inspires such confidence as to give 

 a value to land, and that renders men so comfortable on their 

 estates as to make the sale of them the last of their ideas. 

 Return to MouHns. — 30 miles. 



10//7. Took my leave of Moulins, where estates and farming 

 have driven even Maria and the poplar from my head, and left 

 me no room for the tombeau de Montmorenci; having paid 

 extravagantly for the mud walls, cobweb tapestry, and un- 

 savoury scents of the Lyon d'Or, I turned my mare towards 

 Chateauneuf, on the road to Auvergne. The accompaniment 

 of the river makes the country pleasant. I found the inn full, 

 busy, and bustling. Monseigneur, the bishop, coming to the 

 fete of St. Laurence, patron of the parish here; asking for the 

 commodiie, I was desired to walk into the garden. This has 

 happened twice or thrice to me in France; I did not before 

 find out that they were such good cultivators in this country: 

 I am not well made for dispensing this sort of fertility ; but my 

 lord the bishop and thirty fat priests will, after a dinner that 

 has employed all the cooks of the vicinity, doubtless contribute 

 amply to the amelioration of the lettuces and onions of Monsieur 

 le Maitre de la Poste. To St. Poncin. — 30 miles. 



ixth. Early to Riom, in Auvergne. Near that town the 

 country is interesting; a fine wooded vale to the left, every- 

 where bounded by mountains : and those nearer to the right of 

 an interesting outline. Riom, part of which is pretty enough, 

 is all volcanic ; it is built of lava from the quarries of volvic, 

 which are highly curious to a naturalist. The level plain, which 

 I passed in going to Clermont, is the commencement of the 

 famous Limagne of Auvergne, asserted to be the most fertile of 

 all France ; but that is an error, I have seen richer land in both 



