Delightful valley, haven of repose, Groves ever verdant, where the limpid stream Peacefully onward flows, Whose dulcet murmurings seem Like note of birds, chanting their amorous woes; How my heart thrills your rural charms to view, And longings seize me, ’neath your sheltering boughs Her cherished name i’ the beech’s bark to hew. In this fair spot our Puybonne reigns, And uprightness and charity Silently bear him company, His spirit our happiness sustains. The frolic shepherds, at his call, Under the elms together come, Who to his bounty, one and all, Owe flocks, and herds, and home.”[7] ----- Footnote 7: Vallon délicieux, asile du repos, Bocages toujours verts, où l’onde la plus pure Roule paisiblement ses flots, Et vient mêler son doux murmure Aux tendres concerts des oiseaux, Que mon c[oe]ur est ému de vos beautés champêtres! Que j’aime à confier, sous ces riants berceaux, Le doux nom d’une nymphe à l'écorce des hêtres. De ces beaux lieux Puybonne est possesseur; Avec lui la bonté, la douce bienfaisance, Dans ce palais habite en silence: Le sentiment y retient le bonheur. Puybonne enseigne aux folâtres bergères A s’assembler sous les ormeaux, Il se mêle parfois à leurs danses légères, Puis il leur donne des troupeaux. ----- I was astounded. At Langres I had never heard anything so courtly, and I was impressed with the fact that the air of Paris contained a something inexpressible, which it was useless to seek elsewhere. After dinner I set out to inspect the principal edifices of the town. The genius of art has spent two centuries in distributing his treasures on the glorious banks of the Seine. Hitherto I had only been acquainted with Gothic castles and churches, and their melancholy character, tinged with uncouthness, only awakens displeasing thoughts in the mind. Paris, it is true, still contains a certain number of these barbaric structures. The cathedral itself, which rises in that quarter of the town to which the term City is specially assigned, bears witness by the irregularity and confusion of its plan to the ignorance of the age in which it was erected. Parisians overlook its hideousness on the score of its antiquity. Father Féval was accustomed to say that everything antique is worthy of respect.