There is none of the mass and grandeur here that we see
in our forest trees, none of the suggestive groups with which we are so
familiar, even in the parks of London, planted 'by accident' (as we are
apt to call it), but standing together with clear purpose of protection
and support,--the strong-limbed facing the north and stretching out
their protecting arms, the weaker towering above them in the centre of
the square; whilst those to the south spread a deep shade almost to the
ground. French trees are under an Imperial necessity to form into line;
the groves at Fontainbleau are as straight as the Fifth Avenue at New
York. There are no studies of trees in all Normandy like the royal oaks
of Windsor, there is nothing to compare in grandeur with the stems of
the Burnham beeches, set in a carpet of ferns; and nothing equal in
effect to the massing of the blue pines--with their bronzed stems
against an evening sky--in Woburn Park in Bedfordshire. We may bring
some pretty studies from Avranches and from the country round, but we
should not come to France to draw trees.
But there are studies which we may make near Avranches, and of scenes
that we shall not meet with in England. If we descend the hill and walk
a few miles in the direction of Granville, we may see by the roadside
the remnants of several wayside 'stations' of very early date. Let us
sit down by the roadside to sketch one of these (A.
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