ch decayed
from its ancient importance when capital of the country dismembered from
Cornouaille, in the sixth century, by Comorre the Breton Bluebeard. It is
situated on an eminence, commanding an extensive view of the barren
monotonous surrounding country, bounded by the Arre mountains, the Alps of
Finistere. It is the centre of Lower Brittany, and the Duke d'Aiguillon,
Minister of Louis XV., caused six roads to be made from it to Brest,
Quimper, Morlaix, St. Brieux, Vannes, and Chateaulin, with the hope of
introducing commerce and civilisation into this barren district, "le
dernier trou du monde," as it is styled by the Parisian.

La Tour d'Auvergne, Premier Grenadier de France, was born here, and a
bronze statue of him, by Marochetti, has been erected to his memory. He is
in the uniform of a private soldier, and presses to his heart the sword of
honour just presented to him by the First Consul. Round the pedestal are
four bas-reliefs, representing scenes in his life. In the first, he saves
a wounded soldier; in the second, he forces the gates of Chambery; in the
third, he takes leave of the parents of a youth, for whom he goes as a
substitute into the army. The last represents his death; he was killed by
a lance at Ober-hausen (Bavaria), fighting against the Austrians. The
monument bears this inscription on its four sides:--

"La Tour d'Auvergne, 1^er Grenadier de France, ne a Carhaix le 23
Decembre, 1715; mort au champ d'honneur le 27 Juin, 1800.

"Ecrivain, Citoyen, Soldat, sa vie toujours glorieusement remplie ne
laisse que de sublimes exemples a la posterite.

"Tant de talens, et de vertus, appartenaient a l'histoire et au premier
Consul, de les devancer.

"Celui qui meurt dans une lutte sacree trouve pour le repos une patrie
meme sur la terre etrangere."

Preferring the title of "Premier Grenadier de France" to higher honours,
La Tour d'Auvergne remained as a private soldier to his death; but in a
decree of Buonaparte, then First Consul, preserved in the Musee des
Archives, he orders that La Tour d'Auvergne's name should still be kept on
the muster-roll of his old regiment; and, when called, the corporal should
answer, "Mort au champ d'honneur!"

The moderation and absence of ambition in the character of La Tour
d'Auvergne is expressed in a letter to Le Coq, Bishop of Ille-et-Vilaine.
He writes,--"Je me prosterne bien plus volontiers devant la Providence pour
le remercier que pour rien dem