FRANCH HOEK. 3 
waggon-makers, Vlie, Jehoshaphat, the Paarl, and 
Drakenstein, surrounded by fertile vineyards and 
orange groves, with the distant village church, the 
serpentine windings of the Berg or Mountain River, 
and many other agreeable objects. The eye roamed 
with delight over this wide expanse of varied beauties, 
which, sweetly blended, and relieving each other in 
the landscape, produced a scene of deep and peculiar 
interest. 
The Franch Hoek mountain bounded the view in 
one direction, at the foot of which lay the scattered 
village of that name, so called from its having been 
‘the spot selected for their retreat by the French 
Protestants, when they fled from the persecutions 
consequent upon the revocation of the edict of 
Nantes by Louis XIV. To them, it is said, the 
colony is indebted for the introduction of the vine. 
The village lies in a deep recess, and seems an 
eligible place of refuge, formed for contemplation 
and retirement from the world’s confusion. It must 
have strangely contrasted with the scenes of strife 
and turmoil from which these persecuted exiles had 
fled. They discovered, indeed, a retreat which the 
poet so ardently desired, when he exclaimed 
* Oh! for a lodge in some vast wilderness 
Some boundless contiguity of shade, 
Where rumour of oppression and deceit 
Might never reach me more!” 
I had lingered long amidst this sublime scenery, 
B 
