THE BOURG OF LIMAY.

THE road from Mantes leads across its two bridges to the right bank of the Seine, when we find ourselves in the ancient bourg of Limay. The origin of this place is carried by some authors as far back as the time of the Celts; but, at any rate, its name occurs in historical documents from the tenth to the fourteenth century. In 1376, Charles V founded here the convent of the Célestins, which, at a later date, became more famous for wine than for devotion. The holy brethren, at the sacrifice of much money, labour, and ingenuity, at length arrived at the pitch of equalling the finest produce of Burgundy; and their total disinterestedness is proved by the fact, that the wine grown on their own hill-sides, owing to the expensive process of manufacturing it, cost them quite as much as Burgundy itself. The poet Regnard, in his 'Voyage de Normandie,' celebrates this capital wine, and cries out in ecstasy :

"Que sur le clos Célestin

Tombe à jamais la rosée!"

"These poor Célestins," says he, "made a vow, I know not for what reason, to drink the wine that grew in their own fields; and at length, out of obedience and mortification of the flesh, they contrive to swallow it without grimacing. God grant the patience requisite to enable them to bear such a penance!"

The hermitage of Saint Sauveur is also in this neighbourhood, dug out of the rock, to which a pilgrimage is made twice a year.