The Pope freed him from this pledge.

He had promised to give Notre-Dame de Nantes his weight in gold; but as he weighed nearly two hundred pounds, he remained greatly indebted.

With all that he was able to pick up or snatch away, he quickly formed a league and compelled the house of Penthievre to buy the peace which they had sold to him.
On the other side of the Sevre, a forest covers the hill with its fresh, green maze of trees; it is _La Garenne_, a park that is beautiful in itself, in spite of the artificial embellishments that have been introduced.

M.Semot, (the father of the present owner), was a painter of the Empire and a laureate, and he tried to reproduce to the best of his ability that cold Italian, republican, Roman style, which was so popular in the time of Canova and of Madame de Stael.

In those days people were inclined to be pompous and noble.