At length, the relation of his cruelties and rapines found a hearing with the King, who, without consulting any one, had the detested lord of Argilimont, as his stronghold was called, arrested and condemned; his sentence was executed at Bordeaux the day after he was taken, and his castle and estates were bestowed on the Sire d'Estourville.
If half the castles which once bordered this river existed now, the scenery would be wonderfully improved; but they live in memory alone, and their sites are all that remain.

Gontaud and Tonneins, where proud towers once frowned, are but insignificant villages now; at the first, a _patois_ song is said still to be popular, the chorus of which commemorated the loss of all the people of Gontaud, put to the sword by Biron, in revenge for the death of one of his best officers: it runs thus:-- "Las damos, que soun sul rempart Cridon moun Diou! Bierge Mario! Adiou, Gountaou, bilo jolio!" Perhaps that which is most worthy of remark on the Garonne, is the number of _flying bridges_ which cross it, replacing many an old stone or wooden one, or a ferry, with which the inhabitants of these parts were so long contented.

It is to the Messrs.

Seguin that France is indebted for these beautiful constructions, the hint of which they are said to have taken in England.

I had seen few of them when I visited his _family of beauties_ in the valley near Montbard, whose accomplishments and singular attractions furnished me with a romantic chapter in my _last pilgrimage_.[16] [Footnote 16: "See Pilgrimage to Auvergne," chap.xiii.p.