down upon it, pillaged the
town and devastated the cathedral. It was one of those Counts of Leon
who so vigorously claimed his rights "de bris et d'epaves"--the laws of
flotsam and jetsam--esteeming priceless as diamonds certain rocks upon
which vessels were frequently wrecked. This law, rigorously enforced
through long ages, has now almost died out.

In the fourteenth century du Guesclin took possession of the town in
the name of Charles V., but the French garrison was put to the sword by
the barbarous Duke John IV. of Brittany in the year 1374. In 1590 the
inhabitants of the town joined a plot formed for their emancipation, and
the neighbouring villages rose up in insurrection against an army of
three hundred thousand men raised by the Convention. The rebels were
conquered after two disastrous battles--one within, the other without
the town--when an immense number of the peasants were slain.

Seeing it to-day, no one would imagine that it had once passed such
stirring times: had once been a place of importance, wealth, and envy.
Its streets are deserted, its houses grey and sad-looking. The place
seems lifeless. The shadows cast by the sun fall athwart the silent,
grass-grown streets, and have it all their own way. During our short
visit I do not think we met six people. Yet the town has seven thousand
inhabitants. Some we saw within their houses; and here and there the
sound of the loom broke the deadly silence, and in small cottages
pale-faced men bent laboriously over their shuttles. The looms were
large and seemed to take up two-thirds of the room, which was evidently
the living-room also. Many were furnished with large open cabinets or
wardrobes carved in Breton work, rough but genuine.

Passing up the long narrow street leading to the open and deserted
market-place, the Chapelle de Creisker rises before you with its
wonderful clock-tower that is still the pride of the town. The original
chapel, according to tradition, was founded by a young girl whom St.
Kirec, Archdeacon of Leon in the sixth century, had miraculously cured
of paralysis; but the greater part of the present chapel, including the
tower and spire, was built towards the end of the fourteenth century, by
John IV., Duke of Brittany. The porches are fifteenth century; the north
porch, in the Flamboyant style, being richly decorated with figures and
foliage deeply and elaborately carved. On the south side are six
magnificent windows, unfortunately not