for their afflicted commodore. At length Victory declared in favour of the feathered angler, who, bearing away for the nearest shore, landed on the smooth green grass one of the finest pike ever caught in the Castle Loch." This adventure is said to have cured the gander of his desperate propensity for wandering. CHAPTER XXII. Village _fêtes_--The first of May--The religious festivals--The _Fête Dieu_--Appearance of the streets--The altars erected in them--Procession from the church--Country fairs--The book-stalls at them--Pictures of the Roman Catholic Church--Before the _Vendange_--Proprietors' hopes and fears--Shooting in the vineyards--The first day of the _Vendange_--Appearance of the country--Influx of visitors at this season--The consequences--Herminie--Her sad history--Le Morvan--Recommended to the English traveller--Lord Brougham and Cannes--Contrast between it and Le Morvan. One of the happiest and most useful customs established by our ancestors, was, without doubt, the village _fête_--the periodical festival that takes place in every hamlet, and at which the inhabitants of the adjoining _communes_ assemble on a specified day to foot it gaily in the dance and drink each other's health glass to glass in brimming bumpers. These joyous _fêtes_, a kind of fraternal and social invitation, which are given and accepted by the rural population when spring and verdure made their appearance, are held all over France, and rejoice every heart. In our day, though much shorn of its ancient revelry, and neglected, _la fête du village_ is still kept up, for it is, so to speak, indigenous,--a part of our social habits, and like everything which carries within it a generous sentiment, is loved and cherished by the people. As the day approaches every village is suitably decorated, the women are all on the tip toe of excitement to see and be seen, the peasant throws dull care behind him, and the artizans in the nearest town work with renewed energy in order that they may do honour to the occasion. Every one, in short, makes his way to the rendezvous, a merry laugh on his lip and joy in his heart, and, lost in the tumult and general gaiety that prevail, all forget, for some few hours, their hard work and privations. These festivals offer to each either profit or amusement; the peasants find in them a refreshing and salutary rest from toil, the tradesman fails not to fill his pockets with their hard earnings, the clown shows off his summersets, the young men are touched with the tender passion, and the young girls, with their white teeth and sparkling eyes, await with feigned indifference the proposals of their admirers. The village _fête_ forms a bright epoch in rustic life, and the gay hours passed at them are the happiest, the most joyous, and the most enchanting of the year.