by observing that she has not hands enough
to do the parterres justice, and is very jealous
of the personage who has charge of the
kitchen garden, on which all the care of the
establishment is showered, the truth being,
that part of the revenue of the château
depends on its cultivation and productiveness.
The fruit is certainly magnificent here; the
peaches in particular being of an incredible
size, and the flavour, as well as the aspect of
the grapes, admirable.

Of all the statues, monuments, fountains,
and ornamental buildings, which the taste of
Buffon erected in his favourite bowers and
groves, nothing remains but a simple column,
which the filial attention of his son raised
close to the study of the naturalist, once, on
occasion of his absence from home. The
widowed Betsy never failed to ask all visitors,
if they had observed that memorial, which
she had caused to be re-erected, after it had
been thrown down by the unthinking rabble,
to whose love of destruction the chateau and
grounds had been given up as a prey.

The death of the widow will probably
change everything at Montbard: as she has
no direct heirs, the house and grounds will
perhaps be sold, and the estate divided. It
would take a good deal of trouble to destroy
the old tower which, it is to be hoped, will be
left as a point of view from the railroad, and,
as it could not serve any utilitarian purpose,
there is no reason why it should not be
left to its own reflections of the mutability
of things; for the grand old ruin has seen
a variety of changes, since Roman brick
and mortar were employed to seat it so
firmly on the rock in which it is embedded.
The lords of Montbard, who looked out
from its loopholes, were some of the most
powerful of their time, and served their
sovereign masters, the Dukes of Burgundy, in
many a war, regardless of the will of the
vassals whose arms and lives were their
property to do what they pleased with. One of
them, a certain Hugues the Fourth, was, in
the thirteenth century, a great benefactor to
his native town, reserving for himself, in
consequence of want of money—an excuse
acknowledged in all ages—fifteen days'
credit with the bankers and wine merchants,
beyond which time they were not bound
to supply him, until he had paid his debts.
How many of his tradespeople disputed
their rights with a lord who lived in such a
domicile, is not recorded; but it would have
been rather an imprudent act to send
up the bill too often to a spot, whence not
only a precipice descended, but where
numerous dungeons completed the architecture.
Philip the Bold, of Burgundy, lived
occasionally in this castle, and there received his
bride, the mother of his violent son, Charles
the Rash, whose frantic ambition an army of
Swiss peasants put an end to—scattering his
jewels beneath the wheels of their rough
waggons, and cutting up his golden tapestry
into aprons for their wives. Henry the Fourth
besieged Montbard and took it, and here he
drank confusion to the League, in some of the
best wines of the best wine district in France.

The modern hero of the village is doubtless
the barber. In his old age he boasted to me
that, on one memorable morning, he shaved
before breakfast, the chins of "three men
capable of ruling a world"—Buffon, Rousseau,
and Voltaire! Rousseau, who had been invited
by the master of the chateau to meet his great
rival, in the hope that the two spirits would
become reconciled, was seized, on that occasion,
with a fit of sentimental enthusiasm as he was
conducted to the study in the grove, where
his host was wont to write, and, prostrating
himself on the threshold, kissed the steps
which so often gave support to his feet.

"What a pity a man of such exquisite notions
Should send his poor brats to the Foundling, my
dear!"

Both the Countess Betsy and her beloved
Sophy are no more; and the episode of this
friendship between the English and French
woman is at an end. Two more amiable,
faithful, and true-hearted beings never
exsted. The memory of their virtues should
add another charm to the locality.

CHIPS.

HIGHLAND EMIGRATION.

IN alluding to the special instance of the
Isle of Skye, we have already called attention
to the subject of emigration from the
Highlands and Islands of Scotland. That families
should hunger on one side of the world, while
on the other side mutton for want of mouths
goes to the tallow-boiler, is an absurd fact in
social economy. On one side of the world
men cry for labour, and on the other side men
cry for labourers. The work cannot come to
the workmen by the very nature of the case;
and the workmen, starving here, cannot get
over to the work without assistance. In our
present modes of furnishing assistance of this
kind, there are many things fairly calculated
to excite discussion, but while we are talking
we need not be idle: we may keep our hands
employed. Whatever ought to be done by
the mother country, and whatever ought to
be done by the colonies, whatever ought to
be done by the government, and whatever
ought to be done by private enterprise, it is
quite certain that there now exists among us
a great deal of wretchedness that will
continue to be wretchedness for years to come if
private energies be not exerted.

In the Scotch Highland and Island districts
the breaking down of the system of small
holdings, and the failure of potato cultivation,
have left a large part of the population in a
destitute condition, dependent upon charitable
gifts during a considerable part of the year,
or hungrily searching for cockles on the shore.
With strong predilection and complete fitness