ted.--_Edin. Rev. for Feb._ 1816.]

This luxuriance of growth does not proceed entirely from the moisture
supplied by the ditches and drains; the soil naturally is uncommonly
fertile: and whatever springs from it, whether planted by the hand of
man, and nourished, while growing, by his attention and skill, or its
spontaneous production, bears witness to this uncommon fertility.
The country abounds in corn and vineyards; the produce of the latter
consists principally in white vines. At the season of the year when I
passed through it, the intermixture of the rich and soft yellow of the
wheat nearly ripe, with the light green foliage of the vines, produced
a most pleasing effect. In Poitou and Anjou, the harvest generally
begins about the latter end of June: this year it was late every
where, but very abundant. The vineyards had mostly failed.

Le Marais, which is also comprehended within the limits of Le Bocage,
is that part of Lower Poitou, adjacent to the sea. There the country
is open and flat, and the passes are impracticable during the winter,
and very difficult at other seasons of the year. The inhabitants of Le
Marais formed a division of the army of the celebrated chief Charette.
La Vendee was divided into two circuits; each army had its own, until
the junction of the whole under La Roche-Jaquelin, &c; that of
Charette occupied the district of Chalans, Machecoul, la Roche Sur
Yon, les Sables, a part of the districts of St. Florent, Vehiers,
Chollet, Chatillon, la Chataigneraie, a great part of the districts
of Clisson, Montaigne, Thouars, Parthenay, and Fontenay-le-peuple.
Although the locality of Le Bocage is a perfect contrast to that of le
Marais, nature seems to have exerted all her power in forming these
two districts into one extensive fortress, capable of opposing every
thing to an attack, and presenting so many means of defence, that it
was rarely possible for the enemy to lead a column, or to regulate
its movements so as to preserve union in its marches or manoeuvres,
dispositions for an attack, or retreat. The positions of the Vendeans
could never be understood, or their projects foreseen, in a country
where the frequent undulations of land, hedges, trees, and bushes,
obstructing the surface, would not admit of seeing fifty paces round;
and one of the republican generals, writing to the Convention,
thus speaks of Charette's movements. "It is no easy matter to find
Charette, particularly to bring him to