young’s TRAVELS in FRANCE.

161

fee the remains of his improvements. The news, however, that he died infolvent, hurtme very much ; it was a bad commentary on his book, and i forefaw, that whoever I.fhould find at Tourbilly, would be full of ridicule on a hufbandry that proved the lofsofthe efiate on which it was praftifed.-30 miles.

The 29th. This morning I executed my project; my guide was a countryman witha good pair of legs, -who conduced me acrofs a range of fuch ling waftes as the Mar-quis fpeaks of in his memoir. They appear boundlefs here; and I was told that I couldtravel many—many days, and fee nothing ell'e : what fields of improvement to make,not to lofe eftates! At laid we arrived at Tourbilly, a poor village, of a few fcatteredhoufes, in a vale between two rifing grounds, which are yet heath and wafte ; the cha-teau in the midft, with plantations of fine poplars leading to it. I cannot eafily exprefsthe anxious inquifitive curiofity I felt to examine every ferap of the efiate ; no hedge ortree, no bulh but what was interefting to me : I had read the tranflation of the Mar-quis’s hifiory of his improvements in Mr. Mill’s hufbandry, and thought it the mollinterefting morfel I had met with, long before I procured the original Memoire fur lesdefrichemens ; and determined, that if ever I fhould go to France , to view improvementsthe recital of which had given me fo much pleafure. I had neither letter nor introduc-tion to the piefent owner, the Marquis de Galway. I therefore ftated to him the plainfact, that I had read Monf. de Tourbilly’s book with fo much pleafure, that I wi/liedmuch to view the improvements deferibed in it; he anfwered me directly in good Eng-lifii, received me with fuch cordiality of politenefs, and fuch expreflions of regard for thepurport of my travels, that he put meperfeftly in humour with myfelf, and confequentlywith all around me. He ordered breakfaft a l’Anglois —gave orders for a man to at-tend us in our walk, who I defined rm'ght be the oldeft labourer to be found of the lateMarquis de Tourbilly’s. I w r as pleafed to hear that one was alive who had worked withhim from the beginning of his improvement. At breakfaft Monf. de Galway intro-duced me to his brother, who alfo fpoke Englilh, and regretted that he could not do thefame to Madame de Galway, who v'as confined to her chamber : he then gave me anaccount of his father’s acquiring the eftate and chateau of Tourbilly. His great-grand-father came to Bretagne with King James II . when he fled from the Englifli throne;fome of the fame family are ftill living in the county of Cork , particularly at Lotta.His father was famous in that province for his fkill in agriculture ; and, as a reward foran improvement he had wrought on the landes, the ftates of the province gave him awafte traft in the ifland of Belleifle, which at prefent belongs to his fon. Hearing thatthe Marquis de Tourbilly was totally ruined, and his eftates in Anjou to be fold by thecreditors, he viewed them, and finding the land very improveable, made the purchafe,giving about 15,000 Iouis d’ors for Tourbilly, a price which made the acquifition highlyadvantageous, notvithftanding his having bought fome lawfuits with the eftate. It isabout three thoufand arpents, nearly contiguous, the feigneury of two pari files, with thehaute juftice, &c. a bandfome, large, and convenient chateau, offices very compleat,and many plantations, the work of the celebrated man concerning whom my enquirieswere directed. 1 was almoft breathlefs on the queftion of fo great an improver beingruined ! “ You are unhappy that a man fhould be ruined by an art you love fo much.”Precifely fo. But he ealed me in a moment, by adding, that if the marquis had donenothing but farm and improve, he had never been ruined. One day, as he was boringto find marl, his ill ftars difeovered a vein of earth, perfe&ly W'hite, which on trial didnot effervelce with acids. It liruck him as an acquifition for porcelain—he Ihewed it to amanufacturer—it was pronounced excellent: the marquis’s imagination took fire, andhe thought of converting the poor village of Tourbilly into a town, by a fabric of chinavol. iv. y —he