Behold him seated at his hospitable board, which groans beneath the cheapened luxuries and substantial fare, alike of his native and his adopted land, and gladdened by the presence of his selected countrymen, who perhaps like himself, have quitted their native shores, to seek for renewed pleasure, wonted repose, health, or it may be economy, abroad. The sparkling champagne speedily thaws the icy formula which too often envelopes and conceals the best, inherent feelings of his nature, and in the exuberance of his zeal for the universal cultivation of the social principle, and his lively sense of national toleration and liberality, he rises to toast, with equal sincerity, the beloved Queen of old England, or the citizen King of France.
And in what a pretty sylvan retreat has he snugly domiciled himself!—his white freestone villa, which presents a pleasing display of architectural elegance, is replete with every internal comfort; a smiling parterre, decked with many a fine specimen of the stately cypress, a garden stored with rare and luscious fruits, and the generous vine every where hanging in graceful festoons, are the most prominent adjuncts of his sequestered retirement.
There is in short, an exclusiveness, a completeness, spaciousness and peacefulness, about this his foreign abode, which comports well with his native feelings, and closely assimilates with the home of his childhood.
Such are the brighter parts of a pleasing picture, and it would hardly appear fair, were we to recount them without a glance at its darker shades, which, circumscribed like some of the former; are also of an intense character, and in the busy workings of the ill disposed curiosity monger, often appear, as the concentrated essence of bold conjecture. In plain terms, here, as in other small communities, the condition, and character of individuals, are constantly subjected to the microscopic investigations of the vigilant, and not over scrupulous retailers of flying news, and interesting on dits.
The good feeling of the well-bred, and liberal minded Frenchman, is ever here, manifested towards the English, in a variety of pleasing demonstrations, constituting a series of practical illustrations of that native politeness, for which he is pre-eminently distinguished.
And no one can, we think, be a spectator of these mutual good offices, and growing interchange of kindly feeling, between the subjects of two nations which have so long been led to regard each other as inveterate foes,—without rejoicing at the liberal and peaceful policy which maintains inviolate the present order of things. Beneath its fostering and genial sway, the acceleration of the respective national interests and energies, the reciprocal cultivation of the arts and sciences, the advancement of true religion and benevolence, and the consolidation of domestic happiness, though amongst the most prominent, are but a meagre catalogue of the mutual benefits, which the two neighbouring nations, cannot fail to realize, as the blessings of a permanent peace.
BOTANY OF TOURAINE.
In this rapid enumeration of the more prominently interesting features of Indre-et-Loire, it would appear unpardonable were we to pass over wholly unnoticed, the Botanical productions of the department, the great variety and successful culture of which, have long since obtained for it the enviable sobriquet of the garden of France. And perhaps it behoves us the more especially to glance at it in an essay of this character, as the study of Botany has become so favorite and fashionable a pursuit, that scarcely a person of any pretensions to elegant taste, or to refined intellectual occupations, traverses a new or distant region without endeavouring to increase the interesting riches of his Hortus siccus: or at least to bestow some attention to its natural floral and arborescent productions.
It is justly observed that a Botanical taste, of all sources of amusement, is, to an invalid, perhaps the most desirable. When exercise is the only object it becomes irksome even in the loveliest scenery; the Botanist is however beguiled onwards with a never ceasing fascination, yet so leisurely as not to induce fatigue; and when his strength is unequal to excursions of higher attainment, he can find beauties in the humblest paths.