site of the ancient castle of the princes, now almost entirely gone, except a few mounds marking out the ground-plan. The village of Poix, though covering a great deal of ground, is not large; for, except the few houses standing contiguous to the _auberge_, the others are scattered up and down, widely apart from each other. The situation is extremely pretty in summer, probably beautiful: a deep and rather narrow valley, with a small stream running through it; partly below the village covered with woods, which also ran over and clothed all the surrounding hills--not close thick copse, but composed of trees and thickets of coppice, through which one might ride in all directions on a carpet of turf. On a steep bank, immediately opposite our dwelling, was the little church, unpretending, but having a beautiful Gothic western doorway, over which, as a record of revolutionary folly, was painted in large letters, “_Temple de la Raison_;” these had been either whitewashed or painted over, but insufficiently, for they were still distinctly legible. The weather during our stay at Poix (seven days) was gloomy and very cold, yet we managed to have many interesting rides amongst the woods. Hitchins dined with us always, and came provided with some excellent wine, which he procured from his own hostess. In one of our walks, at the fork of the roads to Amiens and Abbeville, we found a diminutive chapel with a figure of the Virgin in it, and as diminutive a priest, humpbacked. He showed us his chapel, and we put some money into his box, and so parted mutually satisfied. It was at this corner that I met an elderly French veteran trudging towards the village in his _capote_ and forage-cap, with the usual goat-skin knapsack: he was _minus_ an arm, and upon questioning him I found that he had left it at Waterloo. Something interesting in this interview. In the village we found a corporal and four privates of the 18th Hussars, stationed here for despatches. The corporal fell in love with Angélique, and proposed for her, but was rejected. Her lover gave us an alert one night to deliver a despatch (these hussars always come in the night!), and I made sure we were off. It was an order to have divine service every Sunday. _8th._--At length on the 7th the order did come, and this day we marched to Airaines through a sufficiently dismal country, and weather very cold and gloomy, still followed by the girls from Grandvilliers. Some part of the country, from its hilliness and numerous orchards, in some measure resembled Devonshire; but as we approached the town these cease, and we saw again only extensive and treeless plains.