On the Place de la République is a bronze statue to Florian (Jean Pierre Claris), born in the château of Florian, near Sauve, in 1755, and who died in 1794. He wrote plays, stories, verses, and fables. Not knowing much about his works, I went to a bookseller at Alais to ask if he had them. "The works of Florian!" he exclaimed. "We have his statue in the place." "Yes; but that is the work of the sculptor Gaudez, not of Florian himself." "Les œuvres de Florian—mais—" The man looked puzzled. "He lived a very long time ago. What did he write?" "I fancy, fables." "Ah, monsieur! you mistake. That was La Fontaine." "There is an 'F' in each," said I, "as there is a river in Macedon, and there is also a river in Monmouth, and there is salmon in both." Of course, the allusion was lost on him. "I think his works have never been reprinted," said the bookseller. "I will tell my child to ask the school-master about him." Now I happen to possess at home an edition of Florian, printed in the year III. of the Republic, 1797, and on my return I read some of his works—as much as was possible. Among them is an "English novel," very complimentary to our nation at the opening, but full of the most amusing blunders. The characters are Sir Edouerd Selmours, Mistriss Hartlay, a M. Pikle, and a Mekelfort. Florian gives a translation into French verse of "Auld Robin Gray," but in an evil moment appended the original Scottish text, which is rendered thus— "Vhen the shepare in the fauld, and the kyeat hame And all the weary warld asleop is gane, Thewaes o my heart fall in shovers fra my eye"— and so on. We have a fault, Florian is kind enough to inform us:— "Ils dédaignent d'ouvrir les yeux sur le mérite, sur les qualités qui sont propres à chaque peuple; cette insouciance donne à leurs vertus un air d'orgueil qui en diminue l'attrait; enfin, ils comptent pour fort peu de chose l'approbation, le suffrage des autres; et le seul moyen d'être aimable, c'est de les compter pour beaucoup." I suspect that this criticism is more just than his rendering of English surnames and his spelling of Scottish words. FOOTNOTES: [9] Tomlinson's _Cyclopedia of the Useful Arts_, _sub voce_. [10] De l'Arbousset, _Les Cévennes Séricoles_, and _Cours de Sériculture Pratique_, Alais, n.d. Maillot (E.), _Leçons sur le Ver à Soie_, Paris, 1885. CHAPTER XIII GANGES Quissac—A tree gallows—The micocoulier—Sauve—Massacre by the Camisards—The abbot's summer-house—Manufacture of essences on the _garigue_—S. Hippolyte-du-Fort—Cruelties of Roland—Ganges—The murder of the marchioness—Grotto des Demoiselles—Manufactures of Ganges—Season for excursions.