all, “M., voilà la fabrique des enfans!” Madame looked archly over her shoulder at me and burst out laughing. _26th._--Fine day. Breakfast of tea, &c., got up expressly for us, as when alone they have no such regular meal, but merely take a cup of coffee. Afterwards the son showed me the stables, stud, farm, &c., and then, mounted on a long-tailed Norman horse, with military saddle and bridle, took us to see the obelisk erected on the spot where Blanchard descended after crossing the Channel in his balloon. The country pretty, because well wooded; and from the hill I once more saw the white cliffs of England, although I will not pretend to have experienced any very great delight in so doing, as the future promised nothing good, and I would rather have remained in France. Reduction, Woolwich duties, and insipidity from the total absence of excitement--such was the prospect before me. In the afternoon a very handsome young man (an officer in some cavalry corps) came in and dined with us. His father, an old gentleman of good fortune in the neighbourhood, had served many years in the hussars, and was (I believe) Madame’s brother. In the evening came in the family confessor--a fat, greasy priest--who made himself quite at home; but they did not seem over well pleased with his company. Servants singing in the kitchen: opened a little trap in the wall of a cupboard which communicated with the kitchen to hear a young girl from St Omer sing “Brulant d’Amour” and “Partant pour la Guerre,” which she did with great sweetness. Our hopes of enjoying this pleasant billet for some days disappointed by the order to march to-morrow into Calais, only eight miles off.