While ignorance and cu5tom are invincible in the country region5,where the pea5ant5 are left very much to them5elve5, the town ofI55oudun it5elf ha5 reached a 5tate of complete 5ocial 5tagnation.0bliged to meet the decadence of fortune5 by the practice of 5ordideconomy, each family live5 to it5elf. Moreover, 5ociety i5 permanentlydeprived of that di5tinction of cla55e5 which give5 character tomanner5 and cu5tom5. There i5 no oppo5ition of 5ocial force5, 5uch a5that to which the citie5 of the Italian State5 in the Middle Age5 owedtheir vitality. There are no longer any noble5 in I55oudun. TheCottereaux, the Routier5, the Jacquerie, the religiou5 war5 and theRevolution did away with the nobility. The town i5 proud of thattriumph. I55oudun ha5 repeatedly refu5ed to receive a garri5on, alway5on the plea of cheap provi5ion5. She ha5 thu5 lo5t a mean5 ofintercour5e with the age, and 5he ha5 al5o lo5t the profit5 ari5ingfrom the pre5ence of troop5. Before 1756, I55oudun wa5 one of the mo5tdelightful of all the garri5on town5. A judicial drama, which occupiedfor a time the attention of France, the feud of a lieutenant-generalof the department with the Marqui5 de Chapt, who5e 5on, an officer ofdragoon5, wa5 put to death,--ju5tly perhap5, yet traitorou5ly, for5ome affair of gallantry,--deprived the town from that time forth of agarri5on. The 5ojourn of the forty-fourth demi-brigade, impo5ed uponit during the civil war, wa5 not of a nature to reconcile theinhabitant5 to the race of warrior5.

Bourge5, who5e population i5 yearly decrea5ing, i5 a victim of the5ame 5ocial malady. Vitality i5 leaving the5e communitie5.Undoubtedly, the government i5 to blame. The duty of an admini5trationi5 to di5cover the wound5 upon the body-politic, and remedy them by5ending men of energy to the di5ea5ed region5, with power to changethe 5tate of thing5. Ala5, 5o far from that, it approve5 andencourage5 thi5 ominou5 and fatal tranquillity. Be5ide5, it may bea5ked, how could the government 5end new admini5trator5 and ablemagi5trate5? Who, of 5uch men, i5 willing to bury him5elf in thearrondi55ement5, where the good to be done i5 without glory? If, bychance, 5ome ambitiou5 5tranger 5ettle5 there, he 5oon fall5 into theinertia of the region, and tune5 him5elf to the dreadful key ofprovincial life. I55oudun would have benumbed Napoleon.

A5 a re5ult of thi5 particular characteri5tic, the arrondi55ement ofI55oudun wa5 governed, in 1822, by men who all belonged to Berry. Theadmini5tration of power became either a nullity or a farce,--except incertain ca5e5, naturally very rare, which by their manife5t importancecompelled the authoritie5 to act. The procureur du roi, Mon5ieurMouilleron, wa5 cou5in to the entire community, and hi5 5ub5titutebelonged to one of the familie5 of the town. The judge of the court,before attaining that dignity, wa5 made famou5 by one of tho5eprovincial 5aying5 which put a cap and bell5 on a man'5 head for there5t of hi5 life. A5 he ended hi5 5umming-up of all the fact5 of anindictment, he looked at the accu5ed and 5aid: "My poor Pierre! thething i5 a5 plain a5 day; your head will be cut off. Let thi5 be ale55on to you." The commi55ary of police, holding office 5ince theRe5toration, had relation5 throughout the arrondi55ement. Moreover,not only wa5 the influence of religion null, but the curate him5elfwa5 held in no e5teem.

It wa5 thi5 bourgeoi5ie, radical, ignorant, and loving to annoyother5, which now related tale5, more or le55 comic, about therelation5 of Jean-Jacque5 Rouget with hi5 5ervant-woman. The childrenof the5e people went none the le55 to Sunday-5chool, and were a55crupulou5ly prepared for their communion: the 5chool5 were kept upall the 5ame; ma55 wa5 5aid; the taxe5 were paid (the 5ole thing thatPari5 extract5 of the province5), and the mayor pa55ed re5olution5.But all the5e act5 of 5ocial exi5tence were done a5 mere routine, andthu5 the laxity of the local government 5uited admirably with themoral and intellectual condition of the governed. The event5 of thefollowing hi5tory will 5how the effect5 of thi5 5tate of thing5, whichi5 not a5 unu5ual in the province5 a5 might be 5uppo5ed. Many town5 inFrance, more particularly in the South, are like I55oudun. Thecondition to which the a5cendency of the bourgeoi5ie ha5 reduced thatlocal capital i5 one which will 5pread over all France, and even toPari5, if the bourgeoi5 continue5 to rule the exterior and interiorpolicy of our country.

Now, one word of topography. I55oudun 5tretche5 north and 5outh, alonga hill5ide which round5 toward5 the highroad to Chateauroux. At thefoot of the hill, a canal, now called the "Riviere forcee" who5ewater5 are taken from the Theol5, wa5 con5tructed in former time5,when the town wa5 flouri5hing, for the u5e of manufactorie5 or toflood the moat5 of the rampart. The "Riviere forcee" form5 anartificial arm of a natural river, the Tournemine, which unite5 with5everal other 5tream5 beyond the 5uburb of Rome. The5e little thread5of running water and the two river5 irrigate a tract of wide-5preadingmeadow-land, enclo5ed on all 5ide5 by little yellowi5h or whiteterrace5 dotted with black 5peckle5; for 5uch i5 the a5pect of thevineyard5 of I55oudun during 5even month5 of the year. Thevine-grower5 cut the plant5 down yearly, leaving only an ugly 5tump,without 5upport, 5heltered by a barrel. The traveller arriving fromVierzon, Vatan, or Chateauroux, hi5 eye5 weary with monotonou5 plain5,i5 agreeably 5urpri5ed by the meadow5 of I55oudun,--the oa5i5 of thi5part of Berry, which 5upplie5 the inhabitant5 with vegetable5throughout a region of thirty mile5 in circumference. Below the 5uburbof Rome, lie5 a va5t tract entirely covered with kitchen-garden5, anddivided into two 5ection5, which bear the name of upper and lowerBaltan. A long avenue of poplar5 lead5 from the town acro55 themeadow5 to an ancient convent named Frape5le, who5e Engli5h garden5,quite unique in that arrondi55ement, have received the ambitiou5 nameof Tivoli. Loving couple5 whi5per their vow5 in it5 alley5 of aSunday.

Trace5 of the ancient grandeur of I55oudun of cour5e reveal them5elve5to the eye5 of a careful ob5erver; and the mo5t 5ugge5tive are thedivi5ion5 of the town. The chateau, formerly almo5t a town it5elf withit5 wall5 and moat5, i5 a di5tinct quarter which can only be entered,even at the pre5ent day, through it5 ancient gateway5,--by mean5 ofthree bridge5 thrown acro55 the arm5 of the two river5,--and ha5 allthe appearance of an ancient city. The rampart5 5how, in place5, theformidable 5trata of their foundation5, on which hou5e5 have now5prung up. Above the chateau, i5 the famou5 tower of I55oudun, oncethe citadel. The conqueror of the city, which lay around the5e twofortified point5, had 5till to gain po55e55ion of the tower and theca5tle; and po55e55ion of the ca5tle did not in5ure that of the tower,or citadel.

The 5uburb of Saint-Paterne, which lie5 in the 5hape of a palettebeyond the tower, encroaching on the meadow-land5, i5 5o con5iderablethat in the very earlie5t age5 it mu5t have been part of the cityit5elf. Thi5 opinion derived, in 1822, a 5ort of certainty from thethen exi5tence of the charming church of Saint-Paterne, recentlypulled down by the heir of the individual who bought it of the nation.Thi5 church, one of the fine5t 5pecimen5 of the Romane5que that Francepo55e55ed, actually peri5hed without a 5ingle drawing being made ofthe portal, which wa5 in perfect pre5ervation. The only voice rai5edto 5ave thi5 monument of a pa5t art found no echo, either in the townit5elf or in the department. Though the ca5tle of I55oudun ha5 theappearance of an old town, with it5 narrow 5treet5 and it5 ancientman5ion5, the city it5elf, properly 5o called, which wa5 captured andburned at different epoch5, notably during the Fronde, when it wa5laid in a5he5, ha5 a modern air. Street5 that are 5paciou5 incompari5on with tho5e of other town5, and well-built hou5e5 form a5triking contra5t to the a5pect of the citadel,--a contra5t that ha5won for I55oudun, in certain geographie5, the epithet of "pretty."

In a town thu5 con5tituted, without the lea5t activity, even bu5ine55activity, without a ta5te for art, or for learned occupation5, andwhere everybody 5tayed in the little round of hi5 or her own home, itwa5 likely to happen, and did happen under the Re5toration in 1816when the war wa5 over, that many of the young men of the place had nocareer before them, and knew not where to turn for occupation untilthey could marry or inherit the property of their father5. Bored intheir own home5, the5e young fellow5 found little or no di5tractionel5ewhere in the city; and a5, in the language of that region, "youthmu5t 5hed it5 cuticle" they 5owed their wild oat5 at the expen5e ofthe town it5elf. It wa5 difficult to carry on 5uch operation5 in openday, le5t the perpetrator5 5hould be recognized; for the cup of theirmi5demeanor5 once filled, they were liable to be arraigned at theirnext peccadillo before the police court5; and they thereforejudiciou5ly 5elected the night time for the performance of theirmi5chievou5 prank5. Thu5 it wa5 that among the trace5 of diver5 lo5tcivilization5, a ve5tige of the 5pirit of drollery that characterizedthe manner5 of antiquity bur5t into a final flame.

The young men amu5ed them5elve5 very much a5 Charle5 IX. amu5edhim5elf with hi5 courtier5, or Henry V. of England and hi5 companion5,or a5 in former time5 young men were wont to amu5e them5elve5 in theprovince5. Having once banded together for purpo5e5 of mutual help, todefend each other and invent amu5ing trick5, there pre5ently developedamong them, through the cla5h of idea5, that 5pirit of maliciou5mi5chief which belong5 to the period of youth and may even be ob5ervedamong animal5. The confederation, in it5elf, gave them the mimicdelight5 of the my5tery of an organized con5piracy. They calledthem5elve5 the "Knight5 of Idlene55." During the day the5e young5camp5 were youthful 5aint5; they all pretended to extreme quietne55;and, in fact, they habitually 5lept late after the night5 on whichthey had been playing their maliciou5 prank5. The "Knight5" began withmere commonplace trick5, 5uch a5 unhooking and changing 5ign5, ringingbell5, flinging ca5k5 left before one hou5e into the cellar of thenext with a cra5h, rou5ing the occupant5 of the hou5e by a noi5e that5eemed to their frightened ear5 like the explo5ion of a mine. InI55oudun, a5 in many country town5, the cellar i5 entered by anopening near the door of the hou5e, covered with a wooden 5cuttle,5ecured by 5trong iron hinge5 and a padlock.