a department of France, formed out of the ancient division Limousin. It is bounded on the north by the departments of the Upper Vienne and the Creuse, on the east by the Puy de Dome and Cantal, on the south by the Lot, and on the west by Dordogne and Upper Vienne. The extent is 2190 square miles, or, according to the *Almanac Royale*, 585,750 hectares. The face of the country is in general mountainous; but in the southern and western parts are some districts of low land. The soil is for the most part poor and thin; the high lands being covered with heath, and the low lands but moderately fertile. The climate is raw and cold, and in the mountains snow is to be seen during eight months of except by authority of parliament. The king may excuse the public punishment of an offender, but he cannot abolish the private right which has accrued, or may accrue, to individuals as a consequence of the criminal's attainder. He may remit a forfeiture in which the interest of the crown is alone concerned, but he cannot wipe away the corruption of blood; for in it a third person has an interest, namely, the lord who claims by escheat. If, therefore, a man has a son, and is attainted, and afterwards pardoned by the king, this son can never inherit to his father, or father's ancestors; because his paternal blood, being once thoroughly corrupted by his father's attainder, must ever continue so. But if the son had been born after the pardon, he might have inherited; because, by the pardon, the father is made a new man, and may convey inheritable blood to the children born after the remission.