' And perhaps not
without effect; for salmon are there still; and will be more and more
as French 'pisciculture' develops itself under Government
supervision.
Here we touch again the line of that masterly retreat of Soult's
before the superior forces of Wellington, to which Napier has done
such ample and deserved justice.
There is Berenz, where the Sixth and Light divisions crossed the
Gave, and clambered into the high road up steep ravines; and there is
Orthez itself, with the beautiful old Gothic bridge which the French
could not blow up, as they did every other bridge on their retreat;
and the ruins of that robber den to which Gaston Phoebus, Count of
Foix (of whom you may read in Froissart), used to drag his victims;
and there overhead, upon the left of the rail and road, is the old
Roman camp, and the hill of Orthez, and St. Boes, and the High Church
of Baights, the scene of the terrible battle of Orthez.
The Roman camp, then 'open and grassy, with a few trees,' says
Napier, is now covered with vineyards. Everywhere the fatal slopes
are rich with cultivation, plenty, and peace.
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