French, and returned to her
own home more than ever dissatisfied with the despotic monarchy by
which the people of France were oppressed.

From Amiens, M. Roland removed to the city of Lyons, his native place,
in which wider sphere he continued the duties of his office as
Inspector General of Commerce and Manufactures. In the winter they
resided in the city. During the summer they retired to M. Roland's
paternal estate, La Platiere, a very beautiful rural retreat but a few
miles from Lyons. The mother of M. Roland and an elder brother resided
on the same estate. They constituted the ingredient of bitterness in
their cup of joy. It seems that in this life it must ever be that each
pleasure shall have its pain. No happiness can come unalloyed. La
Platiere possessed for Madame Roland all the essentials of an earthly
paradise; but those trials which are the unvarying lot of fallen
humanity obtained entrance there. Her mother-in-law was proud,
imperious, ignorant, petulant, and disagreeable in every development
of character. There are few greater annoyances of life than an
irritable woman, rendered doubly morose by the infirmities of years.
The brother was coarse and arrogant, without any delicacy of feeling
himself, and apparently unconscious that others could be troubled by
any such sensitiveness. The disciplined spirit of Madame Roland
triumphed over even these annoyances, and she gradually infused
through the discordant household, by her own cheerful spirit, a great
improvement in harmony and peace. It is not, however, possible that
Madame Roland should have shed many tears when, on one bright autumnal
day, this hasty tongue and turbulent spirit were hushed in that repose
from which there is no awaking. Immediately after this event,
attracted by the quiet of this secluded retreat, they took up their
abode there for both summer and winter.

[Illustration: LA PLATIERE.]

La Platiere, the paternal inheritance of M. Roland, was an estate
situated at the base of the mountains of Beaujolais, in the valley of
the Saone. It is a region solitary and wild, with rivulets, meandering
down from the mountains, fringed with willows and poplars, and
threading their way through narrow, yet smooth and fertile meadows,
luxuriant with vineyards. A large, square stone house, with regular
windows, and a roof, nearly flat, of red tiles, constituted the
comfortable, spacious, and substantial mansion. The eaves projected
quite a distance be