816 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



small extent. The plants were trained from twelve to 

 twenty feet high, and were covered with fruit. Medlar 

 i loos were scattered here and there in the hedge-rows, and 

 l>ore considerable crops. 



Small votive altars now became frequent on the road-side. 

 To these our French postilion paid no sort of obeisance ; 

 but we noticed waggoners and foot-travellers lifting their 

 hats at passing them. These structures afforded evidence, 

 not only of the superstition, but of the poverty of the people. 

 Some of them did not exceed in size a common sentry-box, 

 and were built in a very coarse and flimsy manner. In 

 Scotland, better structures could be reared for 20s. or 30s. 

 The upper part, in front, is either glazed, or protected by 

 an iron-grating, and contains the effigies of some saint. We 

 had the curiosity to examine one, dedicated " to the honour 

 of God and St Hubert,' 1 by a man and his wife, who, it 

 would appear, dreaded the effects of the bite of a dog 

 supposed to have been mad, and thus propitiated St Hu- 

 bert, the guardian from such calamities. In the interior 

 of the shrine were awkward figures, in some sort of paste- 

 work, of the saint bound to a stake, accompanied by a dog 

 and a stag. Underneath were the words, " St Hubert, 

 priez pour nous." A small wooden box, with a slit for re- 

 ceiving money, is a common appendage. 



The roads were every where pretty good. We now 

 found that the thunder-storm of the night before last had 

 been very local. Only slight showers had fallen at Brus- 

 sels : about half-way to Enghien, the road was for some 

 mihs quite miry and spotted with little pools of water; as 

 we approached Enghien, however, it again became dry and 

 even dusty; and on our arrival at this town, we learned 

 that there had been no rain here for some time past. 



