I thanked them for my share of the amusement, and remarked to one near me how beautiful the voice of Eugénie was. "Yes," said she, "she is celebrated in the country for singing so well; but, even now, her mother sings the best; you never heard such a lovely tone as her's; they are a musical family: every one cannot have such a gift as Eugénie." This seemed a good beginning for the music and poetry of the south, and promised well for all that was to come; _but that music was the last_, as it had been the first, I had heard in France; where, in general, there is no melody amongst the people, in any part that I have visited. As for its poetry, we were approaching a place where a celebrated _patois_ poet resided, who is the boast, not only of Agen, but of Gascony, and who has made, of late, a great sensation in this part of France. CHAPTER XVII. AGEN--LA BELLE ESTHER--ST. CAPRAIS--THE LITTLE CHERUBS--ZOÉ AT THE FOUNTAIN--THE HILL--LE GRAVIER--JASMIN, THE POET-BARBER--THE METAPHOR--LAS PAPILLOTAS--FRANÇONNETTE--JASMIN'S LINES ON THE OLD LANGUAGE--THE SHEPHERD AND THE GASCON POET--RETURN TO AGEN--JASMIN AND THE KING OF FRANCE--JASMIN AND THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND. IT was night when we reached Agen, and, amidst a tumult of _patois_, which sounded like Spanish, and was strange to our unaccustomed ears, we landed, and had our goods torn from us by peremptory porters, who, in spite of remonstrance, piled every one's baggage together in carts, and, ordering all the passengers to follow as they might, set off with it to some unknown region. The stars were bright, and the night fine, as we scrambled along over a very rugged road for more than a mile--for, the new pier not being yet finished, the boat was obliged to land its cargo at a distance from the town. Up and down, in and out, we pursued our way, guided by the lanthorns of our tyrants, and at last found ourselves in a boulevard, planted with large high trees, which we followed till a shout announced to us that the Hôtel de France was reached. By what seemed little less than a miracle, all our baggage was safely brought after us, our troubles were quickly over, and we took possession of spacious and lofty chambers, in a very imposing-looking hotel.