Eithne Jordan, whose new paintings of Dublin are to be exhibited in November at the RHA, lives in France forsome monthseach yearatMontpeyroux, a village of the Languedoc. Three converging streets, each following its own wandering underground watercourse, decided Montpeyroux’s loose, strung-out form. Where they meet is the marketplace and a wine bar, the Terrace de Mimosa. The village houses, dating for the most part from the early 17thand 18thcenturies, are tightly terraced, each with its own internal well. Though all were designed to have cool cellars and dry lofts and living quarters principally on the first floor, they come in a variety of internal arrangements, many times revised over the centuries. Most are modest in scale with a couple of bedrooms and a kitchen; but packed in among these narrow houses are a few that have more spacious proportions, with rich internal plasterwork or perhaps an ornate balcony. These appear, long ago, to have combined the family home, workshop and storerooms of merchants or larger landholders.