descend by a flight of steps from the Rue de Siam to the lower streets.
Running along the bay, of considerable extent, and well planted with
trees, is the magnificent promenade called the Cours d'Ajot, from the name
of the officer of the Engineers by whom it was laid out and planted a
century back. Well sheltered by its trees and refreshed by the sea
breezes, it commands a fine view over the new "port de commerce," and the
whole extent of the harbour of Brest, which is capable of containing 500
ships of the line, and is, with the exception of those of Rio Janeiro and
Constantinople, the largest and most beautiful in the world.

Brest harbour has only one entrance, which is to the west, through a
narrow channel called Le Goulet, less than a mile in width, and cut into
two by the Mingant rock. In the year 1796 the 'Republican' was lost here.
Sailing out of the harbour, with a contrary wind and snow, the pilot
thought he had passed the Mingant rock, when the ship struck, and went
down with 800 men on board. Brest Castle in the Middle Ages was a place of
such strength and importance that John IV., who had four times besieged it
fruitlessly, when it was under the English dominion, was wont to say "Ce
n'est duc de Bretagne, qui n'est pas sire de Brest." It had been held by
Sir Robert Knolles against the army of the King of France under Du
Guesclin, who was obliged to raise the siege. The donjon was built by King
Richard II. during the War of Succession. The making Brest an important
naval station was the thought of Richelieu, and the work of Louis XIV.,
who built the arsenal.

Next day we made an excursion to see the church of Notre Dame-du-Folgoet
or the Fool of the Wood, celebrated in legendary lore: the tale is so old
and often told, we have some scruples in repeating it.

Towards the middle of the fourteenth century, there lived in the woods of
Lesneven, a poor idiot boy, called Salaun (Solomon), better known under
the name of the Fool of the Wood (Folgoet). He was miserably clad, had no
bed but the ground; no pillow, but a stone; no roof, but the tree which
gave him shelter. He went every day to Lesneven to seek his daily bread,
but he never begged; he uttered the simple words "Ave Maria! Solomon could
eat bread," and returned with whatever pittance was given him to his tree
near the fountain, into which he dipped his crusts, and plunged even in
the depth of winter, for his bath, always repeating the words, "Hail,
Mar