One of the most enthusiastic observers of natural scenery was Guy of Bazoches. He describes the environs of the castle of St. Gilles in southern France about as follows:[1081] “Here smile cultivated and fertile fields, and here the sides of the hills are adorned with vineyards. The pleasing aspect of the shrubbery and the beauty of gardens meets the eye, and oh! how the sweet smell of the grass fills the air! Fruit trees groan under their load and lament their fertility, and the warbling birds in the branches send forth rich harmonies. If we look in a different direction we see the plain stretching out its level lap covered with green meadows and alluring us with its beauty. The Rhone, disdainfully cutting through the midst of the fields, rolls down proud waters and, reaching its place of birth, flows forth into the neighboring sea.” Even more striking is a passage from a poem that has been ascribed to Marbod of Rennes. “My uncle owns an estate in the forest where I am in the habit of going to leave care behind and all that may trouble one. The green grass, the silent woods, the soft and festive breezes, and a lively spring in the meadow revive my tired spirit: they give me back to myself and enable me to regain my poise (me mihi reddunt et faciunt in me consistere). For who is not robbed of himself in the restless city, roaring with a multitude of noises?”[1082] The writer goes on to meditate in truly Roman fashion on the transitory character of all things of this earth. Ganzenmüller comments on the subjective character of these sentiments: “What a distance separates this from the attitude towards nature of a Bernard of Clairvaux! Bernard ascribes loneliness to God, our poet to himself. No longer did one seek in nature for God but for one’s own self.”[1083] PRACTICAL INTEREST IN COUNTRYSIDES On the whole, however, the passages just quoted are more or less exceptional. The majority of descriptions of countrysides that date from our period reveal neither highly developed esthetic feeling nor transcendental emotion. What they do reveal is the prevalence of keen intellectual interest in detail. If a region was in any way unusual either by reason of the richness of its produce or the marvelous tales that were in circulation about it, that region was held to be worthy of comment.