hold dominion over
a peasantry bigoted in proportion to their ignorance, his position is one
of difficulty and danger; but he goes on with undrooping energy, convinced
that, though the progress is slow, the good seed has not been sown in
vain, and will, in due time, bear fruit, though those who first sowed it
may have passed away. There were about a dozen Bretons at the evening
service; they seemed to be constantly going in and out, as if unable to
keep up their attention to so long a service. There are also English
Protestant chapels at Morlaix and Quimper, and French at Brest and
Lorient.

We saw a christening in the cathedral, of a child about eighteen months
old; the mother wore a wonderful conical cap of lace.

A few houses from our hotel a ball was going on, given every week for the
workpeople of the town. The clatter of their iron-pointed wooden shoes
seemed quite to drown the music.

Next day we walked to the Fontaine des Anglais, so-called from the
slaughter of a body of English at that place. Jealous of the prosperity of
Morlaix, Henry VIII. sent a fleet up the river to attack the place, and
the commander, being informed by a spy of the absence of the chief nobles
at Guingamp, and of the townsmen at the fair of Pontivy, landed with a
force which entered Morlaix, burnt it, and returned laden with booty to
their boats. Six or seven hundred men, who were intoxicated, fell asleep
in the wood, where they were attacked by the nobles, who had hastened from
Guingamp to the assistance of the town, and were all massacred. The
neighbouring fountain, said to have been tinged with the invaders' blood,
received in memory of the event the name of "Fontaine des Anglais." It was
on this occasion the town of Morlaix added to its arms, a lion (emblem of
vigilance), encountering a two-headed leopard (for England), with the
punning motto, "S'ils te mordent, mors-les" (Morlaix).

Emile Souvestre, author of 'Le Foyer Breton,' and 'Les Derniers Bretons,'
the ablest portrayer of Breton manners, customs, and superstitions, was a
native of Morlaix; he died in the Protestant Communion, 1854.

We were recommended to sail down the Morlaix River to its mouth, as the
scenery is very picturesque, but we had not time to effect it. The great
beauty of Brittany generally consists in its river scenery, the Rance, to
Dinan; the rivers of Quimper and Quimperle; the Aven, Elorn, and Blavet,
are all highly picturesque and worth visiting. Our next