willows, ashes, poplars, and sometimes oaks; so that one is often astonished to see so vigorous a forest springing out of the middle of the waters." The traveller then goes on to tell the uses these forests are put to,--how the fagots are sent to Rochelle and the Isle de Rhé, and how the trunks of the trees, cut into firewood and called _cosses de marais_, are highly valued throughout the whole of the neighboring country, and burn better than any other trees. But, as the reader will probably never dabble in the cultivation of the marshes of Brétagne, he shall be spared the details. My author, however, goes on to state that the farms vary in extent from two hundred and forty to twelve hundred acres, and that each is divided by little canals into squares of about thirty acres, each canal being large enough to carry a small boat. Now fancy, dear reader, what an interminable network of water-communication these canals, each hidden from the other by trees and shrubs, must form; how impossible for any but one born and bred in the country to find one's way along there; how easy for any one acquainted with their involutions to baffle the most skilful pursuer, to lie hid from the eyes of the most clear-sighted enemy. The Minotaur did not feel himself more safe in the depths of the Cretan labyrinth than Edward Langdale after their morning's row; and Edward was more safe than the Minotaur. "Here," he thought, "we may stay till all pursuit is ended and all suspicions forgotten, till dear Lucette has recovered strength,--and, perhaps, till I can communicate with Mauzé or Rochelle." All very well as a matter of probability; but where any thing is joined together by mere tacks--as is indeed the case with the fate of every one,--and not alone with his fate for years or months, but for a single hour--it is much better to remember, before we make any calculation at all, what tacks may fall out or get broken and the whole piece of machinery tumble to atoms. Edward Langdale could shoot a duck; and, though the birding-piece which the young farmer trusted to his hands was a single barrelled gun of rather primitive construction, and the shot merely bits of lead cut small, not a bird got away from him,--more to the admiration than the liking of his companion, who had fancied that he could display some skill in the eyes of one whom he believed to be city bred. However, the boat was plentifully loaded before they returned; and the young farmer guided it back by a different course from the _marais mouillans_ to the firm land near the house, pointing out to Edward, with an air of pride and satisfaction, six or seven woolly beasts upon a tongue of the _terrier_, and telling him they were sheep.