The ancient Chateau de Clisson is built on a rock, on the bank of the Sevres, facing the mouth of the river, called Le Moine, which empties itself into the Sevres at this place, so that the town of Clisson stands between the two rivers at their junction.  An ancient bridge, from whence this view is taken, joins one part of the town to the other, and leads to the castle, which was once considered the barrier of Bretagne.  The two rivers run over a bed of granite rock, which, in some places, forming a cataract, adds considerably to the surrounding scenery:  large masses of this rock in many parts seem as if piled up by nature for the purpose of giving it a more romantic effect.  The whole forms a most picturesque object, when viewed from the opposite shore, from whence the sketch of the temple erected on the ruin of St. Gilles is taken; and the remembrance of its recent fate throws over the scene a strong and melancholy interest.

[Illustration:  RUINS OF CLISSON.]

The castle is supposed to have been first erected by the Romans, as the Province formed a part of the Gaule Aquitanique, under the Emperors Augustus and Adrian.

The French repaired it during the reign of Louis VIII. in 1223, under Olivier I. Sire de Clisson, as he is styled; and it was made a regular fortification, and surrounded by a wall a century after, by the Connetable:  in 1464 the Duc de Bretagne, Francis II. entirely finished it.

The Sire de Clisson, Olivier I. who had served during one of the Crusades in Palestine, was knighted with several others, in 1218.  “Un nombre prodigieux de Seigneurs Anglais, Normands, Angevins, Manceaux, Tourangeaux, et Bretons, prirent la Croix; Le Pape, Innocent III. envoya en Bretagne, en 1197, Helvain, Moine de St. Denis, pour y precher une croisade.  Une grande quantite de Bretons se laisserent conduire en Syrie par ce Moine; et, en 1218, plusieurs Seigneurs Bretons suivirent leur exemple, entre autres, Herve de Leon, Morvau, Vicomte du Fou, et le Sire de Clisson”.

From the construction of the towers and bastions, it is supposed that at his return from the Holy Land, he had copied the Syrian style of building; and one of the towers, which is represented in the sketch of the gateway of the Chateau de Clisson, is still called La Tour des Pelerins.

This tower, which has been used as a dungeon, is the most perfect of any remaining.  In it are subterranean galleries, anciently used as a prison, and appropriated by the republicans to the same purpose.  It is dreadful to think of the horrors that have been practised within its walls, in our own time.

[Illustration:  TOUR des PELERINS.]

From the top of this tower the prospect is very extensive, and, during the year 1793, when the republican army quartered themselves in it, a sentinel was placed there to give notice in case of the approach of an enemy.  The historian of that period, speaking of the entrance to this tower, observes, in reference to the cruelties committed there in the Vendean war: