T RAV

THE CITY 'O'l? LAON AND ITS CA8'J'LE.IlUl@l;ltsof.awreck ofnature which afford so much scope to thought, andwhere it i8 very probâblegeological investigations would reward thosewho have time for them.'rhe superficialsoil hereabouts is powerful; adeep argil, tinged with ferruginous substance, and capable of producingheavy crops.It appears to have 'been the palladium of the Latobrigiia powerful Kehic danof the primitive population of Europe.Bac sur d'Aire, a post station on the littleriver Aire.-On this routethe lQns, not situated in the principal town8, are small; their supplieslight; still the'traveller will find sufficiency to satisfy his wants ; perfectlycJean, and the neatnesswith which things are served up compensatesfortbeabsence of redundancy. The wine that is produced is grateful tothe,'ptMftte,ànd no apprehension need he suffered, fi'om its body, ofdanger.tothe,heador COllstitutiou.The walls of the apartmentsare bare.anarrator of travelsmay be told his mind is not allowed to digress anymore than his post-horses are.-Are men to be found who will subscribe to thisdictation? This place is a residue of a wreck of nature.Itisa proofi.patch of·former level. But who would have thought it should have presented theinterestiidOElS .at thehour,March the 18th, 1814, that these aqditional notes (dissertations an,itpleasesotb callthem)arewritten.By the coincidences.ofchanceto:be,sure, but trueitis, this ele­:vatedmass bearsastrongresemblance to a lion couchant, (there is a featllreon theWye which isconside'rably like it,j and here,on the 19thof this instant, couches the Prussian lion Blücher, after acontin1.jousbàttleQfforty-two,daysand,nights in aforeign cOllntry. Has the .human mind broken theshackles of superstition to harness onthoseof virtue? Ifit has not, let disquisition befree! There i8no.point;ofview inwhich'a country, new to an observer, can presentitself destitute ofinterest or un­;worthy,ofrecord;,,",,~forthetaleht of'himwho playsitherecorder, thatis another question. But letthe:military:man;s, description be here taken of the local features of a place which must even now havecelebrity iIi histo?; whichmust class with Crecy, Agincom't, Fontenoy~ and Maubeuge." rrhe city of Laon is situated on an elevated plateau, with dee,p [steep] shelving banks, which commandan extensive plainaroùnd; the town covers th!:l greater part of the 'plateau, the remainder iscrowned by an oldeastleand'by several windmiHs, built on highterrace waUs." .This now occupies asituation, as distinguished in nature, as in the military history of Europe. Twenty thousand men occupiedthe post (it docs notamounttoia pGsition), which this boM and escarpéhiH affords. "The remainderof F. M. B1üchel"s army was posted onj;he plain Qelow, to the right and left of the town, frontingtowards Soissons, and the cavalry was in rcserve in the l'car.""The villages of Semilly and Ardon are dose underthe town, and may be regarded as its suburbs."By M. Blücher'S' letter of the eighth, convêying information of the concentration of his whole force ofnil1cty thousand inenon that day, "his lcft occupiedLaon, and his right was at the smaU fort of Lac2