of the wonders which Nature has formed at La Puy.

Above this, at a mile's distance, is the rock of Espailly, formed in
the same way, and almost equally precipitous. On its summit is a
castle, having its own legend, and professing to have been the
residence of Charles VII., when little of France belonged to its
kings but the provinces of Berry, Auvergne, and Le Velay. Some
three miles farther up there is another volcanic rock, larger,
indeed, but equally sudden in its spring,--equally remarkable as
rising abruptly from the valley,--on which stands the castle and old
family residence of the house of Polignac. It was lost by them at
the Revolution, but was repurchased by the minister of Charles X.,
and is still the property of the head of the race.

Le Puy itself is a small, moderate, pleasant French town, in which
the language of the people has not the pure Parisian aroma, nor is
the glory of the boulevards of the capital emulated in its streets.
These are crooked, narrow, steep, and intricate, forming here and
there excellent sketches for a lover of street picturesque beauty;
but hurtful to the feet with their small, round-topped paving
stones, and not always as clean as pedestrian ladies might desire.

And now I would ask my readers to join me at the morning table
d'hote at the Hotel des Ambassadeurs. It will of course be
understood that this does not mean a breakfast in the ordinary
fashion of England, consisting of tea or coffee, bread and butter,
and perhaps a boiled egg. It comprises all the requisites for a
composite dinner, excepting soup; and as one gets farther south in
France, this meal is called dinner. It is, however, eaten without
any prejudice to another similar and somewhat longer meal at six or