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paper . Hence the chary making gentry and their productions will he consigned to oblivion , AA'hile such a good-humoured and thoroughly appreciative book as the Narrative of a Walking Tour in Brittany , will long command respect , and afford instruction aud amusement . If wc retrace our steps some twenty or twenty-five years , Brittany was almost as unknown to the English tourist as the wilds of Australia , aud very few of our countrymen

dreamed that , within a feiv hours' distance from Southampton there was a race of people even more picturesque and primitive than our own Highlanders to be found across the AY . Uer in lu belle France . In the province of Brittany there arc more of the remains of the medii . ysil French character than in aiiv other part . In the country districts the revolution , the monarchy , and the empires , both of Napoleon I . and III ., appear to have

left little or no trace of events , and Mr . Jejihson chose well when he selected this district for a summer ' s trip of enjoyment , and how capable he ivas of enjoying it the sequel will shew . Our author gives some excellent reasons for choosing a holiday . He was , as a country clergyman living in the flat county of Essex , amongst marshes , fogs , and flic proverbial ca / fdom of that district , getting both out of health ancl spirits , and us iie tells us , " little things and little people were assuming an alarming importance iu his mind : "—

" ' The nature of my occupations did not supply an adequate counterpoise to these depressing influence ... To listen-to tho monotonous whine unci suuflle of the children in the national school as they read the sublime wolds of inspiration , or repeat that excellent moral poem of Dr . " vtatts about the "little busy bee ; " to be all attention while an old woman recounts the history of each particular pain and ache which racks her limbs ; to endeavour Sunday alter . Sunday , to adapt the principles of Christianitto the chill and unpractised understanding of

y a peasantry to whom any but the merest colloquial English is an unknown tongue ; and to sit by and keep the peace at vestrv meetings while rival tanners wrangle over rates and , road making—those are not enlivening , though they are useful and salutary occupations . ^ lt happened that , last spring , I took up a . volume of Montaigne ' s tissaj-s , by way of driving my mind into another channel of thought . . 1 he first I alihted ivas the following—' est desire

passage g upon : ' C pitici en lieu oh toutye que vous veoye ; : vous embesoguo et vous concerne ; et me semble jouir phis gayement Jes plaisirs d ' une maisoii estraiHere et y appnrtev lc gout plus libre et pur . Uiog 6 ne respondit , scion mo v . a celuy qui luy demands quelle sorte cle vin il trouvait le mdlleni- • L estrangier / cht-il . ' "That is what I want , ' 1 exclaimed . "

Ancl he then determined to change his air and locality for a time to some place where he would have no home associations break in upon his holiday to remind him of anvthinp- Emdish except it came to him with a tinge of fourteenth " century romance ¦ and he likewise , in casting about for this desideratum , looked for a part where Ins superfluous cash would not melt so easily as in many other places equall y within the same distance . So he otiose a five weeks walk and

m Brittany , communicating his idea to Mr Lovell i . eeye , that gent eman suggested the dcsirabilitv of illustrating the journey by photographs , mul started , independently of Mi . lephson , to coyer pretty nearl y tiie same ground , takin- stereoscopic viOAVs ol almost every object of interest on his iray . Mr ¦ uceve succeeded m obtaining about two hundred of these view . "

J , " W & " 7- n - SSUCd ^ "" ^ "eously with the Kan-afire of , mol ' , r " ! ' nlta" «> nnd cm » l » risc subjects . rom the picthence Ii ojn ( Jimnper to Heroics . These views vividly ami brcidlmn ,, ic _ ? 'b ' ' r ° ' V ' 'J lmint Bret 0 » architecture , its pagan dolmens and . Christum calvencs , churches , __ h .. to . ___ v _ ,,, 1 mL ?„ .

tions oi me in Hntta . iy , and they arc every way worthy to " rank with Mr Jephson s descriptions , while Mr . Jcphsou ' s description arc equall y worthy of Mr . Reeve ' s illustrations - ^ i' ""^ Accompanying our author , ive wish , for their intrinsic lieaittv we could present our readers with some of the illustrator ' s Landvwork , but , as we cannot ive must take leave of Mr . Itccve ancl . ollow our author , Mr . Jephson , who writes sensibly and foi / li y on the advantage of walking

a instead of a riding t _ ur but tlS is one inconvenience winch continuall y peeps oSt in Mr Jephl ° l , l 7 ° ' nm \ t ]\ nt is -Jho nnnoynnce lie was perpctuaily s ibun or el "" " PCdC u ' ' " ' f ? ' that ciwi'lcter h 0 ™ peculiarly undci the surveillance of that paternal system of o'overmneiit toh ' ano , t S i SllpCdeStn ! m 1 S a P erfecfly unintelli gible puzzle to iSSV ^ 1 a - ° f ttnt S ° Urce of Provoking hilfotis attacks SnS to S ^ i " r at 0 rs V aml t 0 « 'cK » Sl « l »« an who detcr-™™ fJlT } ' 1 'veryof a gemhrmc becomes . ... least , n .

fcsiionalmcndfcan ATOU - ftl or " ? '" ^ V * ° » 1 * ° - in Brittany he was to hi , , arm il . , ' i "f ° 'i ™ thc 1 , rst towu l'irlv _ vV . ml I 'i isc . andm spite of a passport rcguhiUj IM , niicl by Imn thought irreproachable , snddeuly pounced

upon and compelled to satisfy the thirst for knowledge of an inquisitive gentleman in a cocked hat , as he tolls us in the following extract : —• " Having breakfasted at seven cm a basin 01 cafe au la-it , 1 buckled on my knapsack and set forward , intending to take another look at , tho principal parts of the toAvn , which I had visited the evening before . But passing through the Grand Place . I was stopped hy , 1 cocked hatted

gendarme , who demanded my passport . X . uv , it happened that when asked at ' yt . Male Avhither I was going , I said ' to Valines , ' because I intended Valines to be the limit of my tour , after which I should return . The passport ivas , therefore , vise lor . ' amies . But HOAA- my gendarme took it into bis head that having said that I ivas going to Valines , it AA-as the duty of the paternal democracy to see that . 1 took the shortest possible road to Valines . 1 ivas , therefore , marched through the streets , followed by a crowd of naughty little boys , to the police-office , , where I

i \ - as ushered into the presence of the cummiiisuire dc police , a grim 1 unctionavy , Avhose countenance was suggestive of dungeons ancl thumbscrews . After eyeing me from head to loot , torn / rutin , the im-fid ofheial asked , in a voice ivhich Avas in tended to send my heart into the soles of my shoes , and force the latent conspiracy -against the Kmperov out of my finger ' s ends , 'Qui etes-vous ' - ' This was a staggering question . I could hardly suppose that he meant to ask my name , because he had ifbefore him in the passport . I therefore concluded that he took me

, for some person of great political consequence , Mazzini or Lord Palnierston , perhaps , and anxious , in my modesty , to undeceive him , 1 replied , 'Mon Dieu , ' monsieur , ' je ne suis personne , '— ' / am nobody . ' As I uttered this reply , its resemblance to that which a predecessor in vagabondism had returned to an equally ferocious questioner struck me , and the resemblance ! of the redoubtable coniuiissaire to the shaggy-br . iAved Cyclops made me laugh . This still further excited his Avvaih , ami he . proceeded , A . ilh liioro awe inspiring severitthan everto cross examine me as to tile

y , details of my birth , occupation , abode , object in coining to ( . ' ranee , & c . When I told him that I ivas not come to see the Emperor , Avhom I was , in fact , rather anxious to avoid , and that my only object AA'as to walk through Brittany for my amusement , be evidently discredited my story altogether . His filial decision was that , having arrived at Ht . Brionc , I might stay thoro , but that the paternal government would not permit me to leave that interesting toivn , not even to go to Valines . "

In consequence , our traveller had the mortification of being tramped about the town , from one police ollice to another , for three mortal hours , before he could allay the uneasiness of the perplexed gendarme , and on this and other occasions his treatment left a somewhat hitter tinge in Mr . Jcphsou's mind against the "paternal government . ' But with the country , peasantry , priestsfelloiv travellers , landladies of the various innslie formed

, , A'c-ry pleasant impressions . He liked the tanning , buckivheat pancakes , the legends , gaiety ofthe peasantry , the wild and waywnrd melodies they s . uig , and the popular and innocent amusements of the people . There are numerous little pen ancl ink pictures , which , for neatness of execution , deserve to go hand in hand with Mr . . F-. CA _ . _ V ; illustrations ; such 11 one wc here present , to our readers : —

" The village of Canine is a small place , but the little inn , dignified by the name of tho 'Hotel du Commerce , ' is clean , and the fare good . X felt rather tired ancl not very well , and seeing that the hostess ivas a nice motherly looking woman , I called her into my rouiisels as to Avhat 1 should have for supper . She immediately suggested a soujic au , lull , the very thing for a weary traveller who feels faint aud yet c . mimfc eat , - . and I found that , as the French say , ' Tappet-it vient en inaiigeant , ' 1 . mention this as a hint which may lie useful to travellers . But the widow

Gililns—for such , as 1 aftei'H'ai'ds learnt , was my hostess ' s namethought that a little conversation might also bo of use to me , and after setting down the dessert , began to let 1110 into some of her personal history , partly , no doubt , in expectation that her confidence would produce a similar disclosure on my part . She was tall and well favoured , with a , precise mouth , out of which issued a sweet voice , tuned to a key of gentle and pious resignation . The description of the 1 ' i'ioresso in the Canterbury Tales miht have been written for her . She ' of hive

sauylg inif was J 11 J , simple , and coy ; hire mouth was smnl , and thereto sofie anil reed ; ' she was also 'ful , plesant , and amyable of port , and peyneil hire to countorfete clicrc of court , and ben estatliche of manere . ' Throughout tho house there reigned an nil- of piety . Tho chimney ornaments were little altars ; beside the bed AA'as a-jirie-dkn ; and the pictures on the walls ivere saints , with extracts from pious chansons underneath . All this was explained when Madame Gildas told me , on my saying that I hacl just visited the Chartreuse , that her father had

been , nmong the unfortunate Eoy . ilists shot on the Champ des iUartyrs , ancl that her grandmother ivas one of the most zealous of those ivho , in the first . Revolution , had harboured the persecuted clergy , and arranged the midnight meetings on the ocean , when the people , like the early Christians in the catacombs , worshipped God with death and torture staring them in the face " I . remarked to my hostess on the becomingiiess of her costume ; upon Avhich , looking down and heaving gentle sigh , she informed mo that .-lie was ill the first year of her widowhood , and that the dress which I admired AA'as the deepest- mourning she could wear . She then pivivcded to tell me that tho people of PJouIiarncl , though living so