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diff --git a/42899-0.txt b/42899-0.txt index fdbdf43..6ad597e 100644 --- a/42899-0.txt +++ b/42899-0.txt @@ -1,39 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in Normandy, by Francis Miltoun - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Rambles in Normandy - -Author: Francis Miltoun - -Illustrator: Blanche McManus - -Release Date: June 9, 2013 [EBook #42899] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN NORMANDY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42899 *** [Every attempt has been made to replicate the original book as printed. @@ -10414,366 +10379,4 @@ dit-on, les Diables s’égara {pg 390} End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in Normandy, by Francis Miltoun -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN NORMANDY *** - -***** This file should be named 42899-0.txt or 42899-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/8/9/42899/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Rambles in Normandy - -Author: Francis Miltoun - -Illustrator: Blanche McManus - -Release Date: June 9, 2013 [EBook #42899] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN NORMANDY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - -[Every attempt has been made to replicate the original book as printed. - -Some typographical errors have been corrected. A list follows the etext. -No attempt has been made to correct or normalize the French orthography -of the printed book. - -The images have been moved from the middle of paragraphs to the closest -paragraph break for ease of reading. (etext transcriber's note)] - - - - -RAMBLES IN NORMANDY - -_WORKS OF FRANCIS MILTOUN_ - -_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely -illustrated. Net, $2.00; postpaid, $2.16_ - -_Rambles in Normandy_ _Rambles in Brittany_ _The Cathedrals and Churches -of the Rhine_ - -_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely -illustrated. Postpaid, $2.50_ - -_The Cathedrals of Northern France_ _The Cathedrals of Southern France_ - -_L. C. PAGE & COMPANY New England Building, Boston, Mass._ - -[Illustration: _Mont St. Michel_ - -(_See page 385_)] - - - - - Rambles - in - NORMANDY - - BY FRANCIS MILTOUN - - _With Many Illustrations_ - - BY BLANCHE MCMANUS - - [Illustration: colophon] - - BOSTON - L. C. PAGE & COMPANY - 1906 - - _Copyright, 1905_ - BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY - (INCORPORATED) - - _All rights reserved_ - - Published October, 1905 - - _COLONIAL PRESS - Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. - Boston, U.S.A._ - - - - -APOLOGIA - - -The following pages are not intended to be a record of all the historic -and picturesque features of the ancient province of Normandy. The most -that is claimed is that they are the record of a series of ramblings in -and off the beaten tourist track, with the addition of a few facts of -history and romance, which could not well be ignored. - -The scheme of the book as set forth in the table of contents will -explain this plan far better than any author's apology; and will also -explain why a more ample guide-book treatment is not given to the cities -and large towns such as Rouen, the ancient Norman capital; Caen, the -capital of Lower Normandy; and Dieppe, and Evreux. All this, and more, -with much information of a varying nature from that set forth herein, is -given by Joanne, Baedeker, and the local guide-books, which in France -are unusually numerous and trustworthy. - -These rambles, of the author and artist, extending over some years of -wanderings and residence within the province, are, then, merely the -record of personal experiences, of no very venturesome or exciting -nature, combined with those half-hidden facts which only come to one -through an intimate acquaintance. - -To this has been added a certain amount of practical travel-talk, which, -for some inexplicable reason, seems to have been omitted from the -guide-books; and a series of appendices, maps, and plans, which should -furnish the stay-at-home and the traveller alike with those facts of -relative importance in connection with a favoured land often not at hand -or readily accessible. Nor is there any attempt at exhaustiveness. On -the contrary, the matter has been condensed as much as possible. - -The illustrations are not so much a complete pictorial survey of this -delightful part of old France, as an effort to depict the varying moods -and characteristics which will best show its contrast to the other -provinces; always with an eye to the picturesque and pleasing aspect of -a landscape, a detail of architecture, or the quaint dress and customs -of the people. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER PAGE - -PART I. - -I. INTRODUCTORY 3 - -II. THE ROADS OF FRANCE 20 - -III. THE FORESTS OF FRANCE 38 - -IV. A TRAVEL CHAPTER 49 - - -PART II. - -I. THE PROVINCE AND ITS PEOPLE 73 - -II. NORMAN INDUSTRIES 101 - -III. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 113 - -IV. THE CHÂTEAUX OF OTHER DAYS 136 - -V. SOME TYPES OF NORMAN ARCHITECTURE 150 - - -PART III. - -I. THE SEINE VALLEY--PREAMBLE 157 - -II. THE SEINE BELOW ROUEN 171 - -III. THE SEINE FROM ROUEN TO PONT DE L'ARCHE 203 - -IV. THE SEINE FROM PONT DE L'ARCHE TO LA -ROCHE-GUYON 229 - -V. IN THE VALLEY OF THE EURE 262 - -VI. THE PAYS DE CAUX 286 - -VII. THE COAST WESTWARD OF THE SEINE 314 - -VIII. THE COTENTIN 361 - -IX. THE NORMAN COUNTRY-SIDE 393 - -APPENDICES 427 - -INDEX 443 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - -MONT ST. MICHEL (_See page 385_) _Frontispiece_ - -A DILIGENCE 21 - -ROAD PLACQUES, TOURING CLUB DE FRANCE 28 - -ROAD SIGNS IN FRANCE 30 - -A BERLINE DE POSTE 33 - -EXPLANATION OF THE MAPS OF THE ETAT MAJOR 36 - -LYONS-LE-FORÊT facing 44 - -CHAPELLE STE. CATHERINE 47 - -MAP OF NORMANDY facing 48 - -A WOMAN OF NORMANDY facing 84 - -HARVEST-TIME IN NORMANDY facing 104 - -NORMAN HORSES facing 106 - -RAISING THE SUGAR-BEET 111 - -A NORMAN FARMHOUSE facing 128 - -A PEASANT'S CART 134 - -DONJON OF ARQUES (DIAGRAM) 138 - -CHÂTEAU GAILLARD, LES ANDELYS facing 138 - -ANCIENT MANOR D'ARGOUGES 146 - -AN INN BY THE SEINE facing 158 - -CAPE DE LA HÈVE 173 - -TOWBOATS ON THE SEINE 181 - -QUAY OF CAUDEBEC-EN-CAUX facing 184 - -JUMIÈGES facing 188 - -THE ARMS OF AGNES SOREL 189 - -A ROUEN CAFÉ 199 - -ROUEN FROM BON SECOURS facing 210 - -SOME SEINE SKETCHES 214 - -PONT DE L'ARCHE facing 222 - -ANCIENT PLAN OF CHÂTEAU GAILLARD 239 - -THE SEINE AT PETIT ANDELYS facing 240 - -COLLEGIATE CHURCH, ECOUIS facing 244 - -GISORS facing 246 - -A SEINE HAMLET 249 - -THE TWO CHÂTEAUX OF LA ROCHE-GUYON facing 260 - -HÔTEL DU GRAND CERF, LOUVIERS facing 264 - -GARENNES facing 272 - -SONG OF THE PAYS DE CAUX (MUSIC) 287 - -A PIGEON-HOUSE 289 - -THE HARBOUR OF FÉCAMP facing 294 - -THE CLIFFS OF YPORT facing 296 - -TRÉPORT facing 304 - -A CAUCHOISE OF YVETÔT 312 - -HONFLEUR facing 318 - -IN THE CIDER-APPLE COUNTRY 323 - -A NORMAN CIDER-PRESS facing 326 - -DIVES-SUR-MER facing 334 - -TOWER OF GENS D'ARMES 338 - -CLOISTER OF THE CAPUCIN CONVENT, CAEN facing 340 - -TINCHEBRAY 343 - -WALLED FARM 346 - -PORT-EN-BESSIN 348 - -OLD WOODEN HOUSES, LISIEUX facing 350 - -CHÂTEAU OF FALAISE (PLAN) 351 - -DONJON OF FALAISE facing 352 - -STREET UNDER THE CHURCH OF THE TRINITY, FALAISE 356 - -A COTENTINE facing 360 - -MILLET'S HOME, GRUCHY 365 - -THE ROCK OF GRANVILLE facing 380 - -BAY OF MONT ST. MICHEL (MAP) 384 - -MONT ST. MICHEL IN 1657 385 - -PORTE DU ROI, MONT ST. MICHEL facing 386 - -CLOCK TOWER, VIRE 392 - -IN THE CHURCH OF STE. FOY, CONCHES facing 400 - -RUGLES 403 - -THE APIARY OF LA TRAPPE facing 408 - -CHÂTEAU D'ALENÇON 413 - -ARGENTAN 416 - -MARKET-PLACE, NEUBOURG 417 - -ABBEY OF BEC-HELLOUIN 420 - -INTERIOR OF ABBEY OF BERNAY 424 - -THE PROVINCES OF FRANCE (MAP) 427 - -ITINERARY OF NORMANDY, I. (MAP) 433 - -ITINERARY OF NORMANDY, II. (MAP) 434 - -PROFILE MAP OF NORMANDY 435 - -THE COAST OF NORMANDY (MAP) 436 - -NATURAL CURIOSITIES OF NORMANDY (MAP) 437 - -ARCHITECTURAL CURIOSITIES OF NORMANDY (MAP) 438 - -ROAD MAP, NORMANDY COAST 439 - -ROAD MAP, THE SEINE VALLEY 440 - -ROAD MAP, ACROSS NORMANDY 441 - - - - -PART I. - - - - -RAMBLES IN NORMANDY - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -INTRODUCTORY - - -"One doubles his span of life," says George Moore, "by knowing well a -country not his own." - -_Un pays aimé_ is a good friend, indeed, to whom one may turn in time of -strife, and none other than Normandy--unless it be Brittany--has proved -itself a more safe and pleasant land for travellers. - -When one knows the country well he recognizes many things which it has -in common with England. Its architecture, for one thing, bears a marked -resemblance; for the Norman builders, who erected the magnificent -ecclesiastical edifices in the Seine valley during the middle ages, -were in no small way responsible for many similar works in England. - -It is possible to carry the likeness still further, but the author is -not rash enough to do so. The above is doubtless sufficient to awaken -any spirit of contention which might otherwise be latent. - -Some one has said that the genuine traveller must be a vagabond; and so -he must, at least to the extent of taking things as he finds them. He -may have other qualities which will endear him to the people with whom -he comes in contact; he may be an artist, an antiquarian, or a mere -singer of songs;--even if he be merely inquisitive, the typical Norman -peasant makes no objection. - -One comes to know Normandy best through the real gateway of the Seine, -though not many distinguish between Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. -Indeed, not every one knows where Normandy leaves off and Brittany -begins, or realizes even the confines of the ancient royal domain of the -kings of France. - -Rouen, however, the capital of the ancient province, is, perhaps, better -known by casual travellers from England and America than any other city -in France, save Paris itself. This is as it should be; for no mediæval -city of Europe has more numerous or beautiful shrines left to tell the -story of its past than the Norman metropolis. Some will remember Rouen -as a vast storehouse of architectural treasures, others for its fried -sole and duckling _Rouennais_. _Le vin du pays_, _cidre_, or _calvados_ -goes well with either. - -How many Englishmen know that it is in the tongue of the ancient Normans -that the British sovereign is implored to approve or reject the laws of -his Parliament? This is beyond dispute, though it appears not to be -generally known; hence it is presumed that the land of the Conqueror is -not wholly an overtilled field for Anglo-Saxon tourists. - -The formula for the approval of the laws promulgated by the British -Parliament to-day is: for the laws of finance, "_Le Roy remercie ses bon -sujets, accepte leur benevolence, et ainsi le veult_"; for laws of -general purport, "_Le Roy veult_"; for a law of local interest, "_Soit -fait comme il est desiré._" And finally, when the royal endorsement is -withheld, the formula is, "_Le Roy s'avisera._" - -In the House of Commons, only within the last year (1905), the First -Lord of the Treasury rose to abolish this inexplicable usage, the -employment of a foreign tongue. Mr. Balfour replied with a refusal -based on historical tradition: "French was the language of state in -England by right of the Norman Conquest." It was in 1706 that the House -of Lords forbade the use of French in parliamentary and judicial -debates. The only chief of state in England who used the English tongue -exclusively was Cromwell. - -The full significance of the spirit of relationship between Normandy and -England to-day is admirably brought out in the expression of sentiment -which was advanced on the occasion of the Norman fêtes held at Rouen in -the summer of 1904, when the following address was despatched to King -Edward at Buckingham Palace by the society that had the fêtes in charge: - - "TO HIS MAJESTY, EDWARD VII.: - - "With the deepest joy the 'Souvenir Normand' respectfully begs your - Majesty to accept its greetings from the banks of the Seine, the - river whence your glorious ancestor, William, of the stock of - Viking Rollo, set out to found the great British Empire under - Norman kings. We thank Providence for the happy tokens of your - royal efforts to bring about an understanding between the two - Normandies, to secure the peace of the world through the Normans. - May God preserve your Majesty; may God grant long life and - prosperity to the King and Queen of England and to the English - Normandy." - -Normandy is by no means limited to the lower Seine valley, but for the -purposes of the journeys set forth herein it is the gateway by which one -enters. Normandy is the true land of the cider-apple, though there are -other places where, if it is not more abundant, it is of better quality, -or at least it has more of the taste of those little apples which grow -on trees hardly larger than scrub or sagebrush. - -All so-called _cidre_ in Normandy is not cider; most of it is _boisson -Normande_. You buy it in little packets, at a comparatively small price, -and add water to suit the taste; only you don't do it yourself--the -landlord of your hotel does it to suit his taste, or his ideas of good -business. - -A little farther south, on the confines of the plain of Beauce, where -Normandy ended and the ancient royal domain began, you get another sort -of _vin du pays_. - -"_Du cidre, ou du vin?_" says the _garçon_, or more likely it is a -_bonne_ in these parts. "_Du vin, s'il vous plait_," you answer, -anxious to see what the new variety may be. When you get it, you find it -a peculiar concoction, resembling the wines of Touraine, Bordeaux, -Burgundy, or the Midi not a whit. Yet it is not _cidre_, though it well -might be from its look, and somewhat from its taste. "_C'est petit -cousin de la piquette et certainement cousin du cidre_," volunteered an -amiable commercial traveller, in reply to a query. - -A small boy was once asked by a patronizing elder what books he used in -studying geography and history, and he answered, curtly, "I use no -books, I go to places." That boy was very fortunate. - -If the traveller is looking for information and incidental pleasure, he -is in a class quite apart from the mere pleasure-seeker; and he ought, -if he would profit from his travels to the fullest extent, to be able to -increase his power of observation as he widens his horizon. He is often -unable to do so, and goes about deploring the absence of pie and -buttered toast. - -With visitors to Normandy, the case is in no wise different, in spite of -the fact that the well-known roads from Havre or Dieppe to Paris, via -the Seine valley, are a little better known than any other part of -France. - -There are still but two wholly unspoiled spots in all the Seine valley, -Les Andelys and La Roche-Guyon; and it is doubtful if they ever will -become spoiled by tourists within the lives of the present generation. -The railway has only recently come to Les Andelys, and the two pretty -little towns, with their stupendous Château Gaillard, are even now not -popular resorts, though the French, English, and American travellers are -coming yearly in increasing numbers, while La Roche-Guyon--a few miles -farther up the river--is even less well-known. - -Mention is made of this simply because it serves to emphasize the fact -that all highroads are not well-worn roads, and that there is a wealth -of unlooked-for attraction to be gathered wherever one may roam. - -Of the theorists who have attempted to class the Normans with the Danes, -the least said the better. To rank the Norman-French and the Dane -together, as the pioneers of feudalism, is to ignore the fact that it -was the Normans who were the real civilizers of Britain. - -The fact stands boldly forth, however, that the ancestors of Norman -William, who afterward became England's king, came direct and undiluted -from Scandinavia, while the Norman Frenchman of later times was a -distinct development of his own environment. - -It is well enough to claim that the English nobility is descended from -the Norman barons. At any rate it seems plausible, and one may well -agree with those who have said that no Upper House of Lords could ever -have been conceived by the Anglo-Saxons. History demonstrates the fact -that the idea of the English House of Lords, as an appointment by the -Crown, was of Norman conception, and alien to Anglo-Saxon tendencies. - -It seems, perhaps, superfluous to reiterate these facts here, but they -are so commonly overlooked by the traveller in France that it is well to -recall that it was the Norman who governed Britain, and not members of -the Saxon hierarchy who afterward became kings of France. - -It is with reason that the Norman speaks so fondly of Jersey, Guernsey, -and their sister isles. This is explained, of course, by the -geographers, and one should, perhaps, be charitable, and allow for the -spirit of patriotism, when the Frenchman calls the Channel Islands _Les -Iles Normandes_. - -The people there are in many ways as French as French can be. Their laws -and their courts make use of the French tongue, and in most, if not -quite all, respects the common characteristics are French. - -The Frenchman himself, too, is often very fond of them, in spite of -their alien allegiance. He calls them "_très curieusement pittoresques, -féodals, sauvages, en même temps que très civilisées, les Iles Normandes -sont un anachronisme, loyales à la couronne anglaise, mais avec une -autonomie une véritable paradoxe de l'histoire politique_." - -From this he generally goes on to say that "they are the Canada of -Europe, a province of France, which continues the life of the French -under the Protectorate of the English." - -The law of Jersey is that of the "_Coutume Normande_." In Jersey the -King of England reigns not; he is Duc de Normandie; the magistrates -condemn or acquit "_en parler Normand_"; the code is Norman; the -administration Norman. To London the _habitant_ comes only as a -resident, as does a Maltese, or a Canadian. - -The _Journal Officiel_ of Jersey is written in Norman. In it one reads -such announcements as follows: - -"_A vendre, une vache, ainsi qu'une piano, les deux en bon état._" - -Or again: - -"_On demande une institutrice, et on céderait un vieux cheval, pour un -prix peu élevé._" - -Throughout the islands the sentiment is decidedly republican, or if not -republican is at least Norman. - -It is the English king who is duke, but it is the descendant of Rollon -who reigns. - -All French _provinciaux_ are patriotic beyond belief to the outsider. -The Gascon is always a Gascon, and the Norman is always a Norman. - -They were masterful folks, those early Normans and the Northmen before -them. Rollon, the first Duke of Rouen; Rurik, the first Czar of Russia; -Eric le Roux, the first colonizer of Iceland and Greenland; Leif -Ericson, the first discoverer of America and the colonizer of Vineland. - -Of the Normans, Guillaume, son of Herleve, Robert le Diable, and Robert -Guiscard de Hauteville were kings of Sicily. Cabot of Jersey was the -discoverer of Canada, and Jean Cousin of Honfleur was the pilot of -Christopher Columbus. Binot Lipaulmier de Gonneville and Jean Denys were -the discoverers of Newfoundland, of Brazil, and of the Canaries; the -Chevalier de la Salle was the discoverer of the Mississippi; and -Champlain was the founder of Quebec. - -Among other great discoverers and navigators are Jean de Bethencourt, -Jean Ango, Duquesne, Dumé, Tourville de Bricqueville, and Dumont -d'Urville. - -In letters and art Normandy has held a proud position. - -In poesy stand forth the names of Pierre Corneille and his brother -Thomas, Alain Chartier, Olivier Basselin, Jean Marot, Jean Bertand, -Malherbe,--sometimes called "the father of modern poetry,"--Segrais, -Malfiatre, Castel, Madeleine de Scudéry, Benserade, the Abbé de -Chaulieu, Bernardin St. Pierre, Casimir Delavigne, and his rival in -dramatic verse, Ancelot. The historians and savants, Fontenelle, Huét, -and Mezeray, St. Evremond, Dacier, and Burnouf, Armand Carrel, Octave -Feuillet, Louis Bouilhet, Gustave Flaubert, and Guy de Maupassant. - -Among others of Normandy's great names are: Fresnel, the inventor of the -lenticular lanterns for lighthouses, and Conté, the inventor of crayons -bearing his name. - -Among the artists are Jouvenet, Restout, Nicolas Poussin, Gericault, -Millet, and Chaplin, and the sculptors, Anguier and Harivel-Durocher, -the composers, Boïeldieu and Auber, and the actor Melingue. - -A great man in industry and statesmanship was Richard Waddington, while -still greater and more ancient names, famed in history, round off the -list: William the Conqueror, the Minister Le Tellier, Maréchal de -Coigny, Charlotte Corday, Le Brun, the Duc de Plaisance, and Dupont de -l'Eure. - -Canada was discovered and colonized by the Norman fishermen, sailors, -carpenters, and masons of the fleet of Champlain from Honfleur, Dieppe, -and Havre. - -The regard which the Norman has for things American has generally been -overlooked. But one need not go so far as to say, as has been done by -Norman writers, that the present cosmopolitan population of America is -made up mostly of the Scotch, the Irish, and the Normans of England and -France--the descendants of the people whom William and his sixty -thousand companions organized in social order. - -M. Hector Fabre has said that, while all the colonists of New -France--actually Canada--were not Normans, it was a curious phenomenon -that all the children born in Canada were Norman. - -The St. Lawrence, which the French still call the Saint Laurent, is to -them as Norman as the Mississippi or the Seine, and it is reasonable to -presume that they still regard North America as _"La Normandie -Transatlantique."_ - -All this is with some justification, if we go back as far as the -Northmen, as the good people of Boston, in America, well know, for it is -they who have supplanted the Genoese admiral by Leif, the son of Eric, -and have even erected a statue to him. - -With all this, then, in view, may the writer be pardoned for presuming -that Normandy is not a worn-out touring-ground, nor one of which there -is nothing new to tell. The author wishes to repeat, however, that no -more has been attempted herein than to gather together such romantic and -historical facts as have readily suggested themselves to him and to the -artist, who have each of them lived many months in the very heart of -that old province between Paris and the sea. - -Normandy is in many respects the ideal of a delightful tour for those -who would not go further afield, or who wish to know still more of those -conventional touring-grounds of which, truth to tell, but little is -known by those tourists personally conducted in droves, who do a -watering-place in the morning, take their lunch at some riverside -shrine, and get to a cathedral town in time to nibble at its masterpiece -before the hour of opening, which in Normandy, Rouen in particular, is -early. - -The great rhomboid which bounds the France of to-day, enclosed, before -the Revolution, thirty-three great provinces, of which, save Guyenne, -Gascogne, Languedoc, and Bretagne, Normandy was the largest, and -certainly the most potently strenuous in the life of the times. - -Surrounded by Picardy, the _Ile de France_ (the _domaine-royal_ of the -Capets), by Maine, and Bretagne, and bordered on the north by La Manche, -it was only joined to France by confiscation by Philippe-Auguste, from -Jean Sans-Terre, some two hundred or more years after the advent of the -third race of kings. - -To-day it forms the Department of the Lower Seine, Eure, Le Calvados, La -Manche, and a part of L'Orne. - -Normandy was once doubtless a land of the Celts, who gradually withdrew -to Bretagne. In time it became a part of Roman Gaul. The part once known -as Neustria was ceded by Charles the Simple in 911 to the Norman -descendants of Rollon, from whom it took its new name, Normandy. - -The Dukes of Normandy became, after the conquest, Kings of England, and -in 1154 the Counts of Anjou and of Maine inherited, through Henry -Plantagenet, the throne of England, thus giving that country a line of -Angevine kings. - -This strong-growing power of the Norman dukes was broken by -Philippe-Auguste, who conquered Normandy in 1204. - -During the Hundred Years' War the English many times invaded Normandy, -but were finally driven out by the redoubtable Duguesclin. - -Henry V. invaded France and took Harfleur in 1415, occupying all of the -north and northwest of France. Charles VII. victoriously entered Rouen, -and at Formigny again achieved the conquest of Normandy by the French. -Louis XI. ceded Normandy to his brother. - -Many ancient _fiefs_ were contained in this great province, but the -Comté d'Evreux, Comté d'Alençon, Comté d'Eu, and the Duché de Penthièvre -were united definitely with the kingdom in 1789. - -Previous to 1789 the ancient military government of the province was -divided into Rouen, Caen, and Alençon. - -By its reconstruction into departments the province lost two -bishoprics, which were not reestablished by the Concordat, Lisieux and -Avranches; and the latter lost, as well, nearly all vestiges of its -former beautiful cathedral, before which Henry II. of England expiated -his crime of the murder of Becket. - -The Land of the Conqueror, trod by some of the greatest men the world -has known in mediæval and modern times, has not, even now, in spite of -its associations and accessibility, become a world-worn resort. - -Students of art, architecture, and history, and a few tourists from -London, who demand a change of scene in a near-by foreign land, reach -its shores between Whitsun and the August Bank Holiday; but, popular -supposition to the contrary, the traffic receipts of the steamship and -railway companies do not indicate anything like a generous patronage of -this ideal land for a present-day sentimental journey. - -Normandy stands to-day as it stood in the middle ages, with many -memorials and reminiscences of its feudal pomp and glory, with here and -there a monument to Rollon, William the Conqueror, or Richard the -Lion-hearted. - -As it was three centuries or more ago, teeming with many a monument, -cathedral, abbey, fortress, and château, so Normandy is to-day, except -for the ruin wrought by the bloody hand of revolution. In spirit -Normandy is still mediæval, and here and there are evidences of the even -more ancient Roman or Celtic remains. - -History gives the facts, and the guide-books conventional information. -The most that the present work attempts is to recount the results of -more or less intimate acquaintance with the land and its people, now and -again bringing to light certain matters not to be met with in a briefer -sojourn. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE ROADS OF FRANCE - - -One of the joys of France to-day, as indeed it ever has been, is travel -by road. The rail has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages, -whereas the most luxurious traveller by road, even if he be snugly -tucked away in a sixty-horse royal Mercédes, is nothing more than an -itinerant vagabond, and France is the land above all others for the -sport. - -As an industry to be developed and fostered, France early recognized the -automobile as a new world-force, and the powers that be were convinced -that the way should be smoothed for those who would, with the poet -Henley, sing the song of speed. - -With their inheritance of magnificent roadways, this was not difficult; -for the French and mine host--or his French counterpart, who is really a -more up-to-date individual than he is usually given the credit of -being--rose gallantly to the occasion as soon as they saw the return of -that trade which had grown beautifully less since the passing of the -_malle-poste_ and the _diligence_. - -The paternalism of the French government is a wonderful thing. It not -only stands sponsor for the preservation and restoration of historical -monuments,--great churches, châteaux, and the like,--but takes a genial -interest in automobilism as well. - -[Illustration: DILIGENCE] - -Hills have been levelled and dangerous corners straightened, level -crossings abolished or better guarded; and, where possible, the dread -_caniveaux_--or water-gullies--which cross the roadway here and there -have been filled up. More than all else, the execrable paved road, for -which France has been noted, is fast being done away with. It is perhaps -worth mentioning that the chief magistrate himself is not an -automobilist; which places him in practically a unique position among -the rulers of Europe. - -At Bayeux, at Caen, at Lisieux, and at Evreux, in Normandy, one is on -that great national roadway which runs from Paris to Cherbourg through -the heart of the old province. This great roadway is numbered XIII. by -the government, which considers its highways a national property, and is -typical of all others of its class throughout France. - -The military roads of France are famous, and automobilists and some -others know their real value as a factor in the prosperity of a nation. - -It is not as it was in 1689, when Madame de Sévigné wrote that it took -three days to travel from Paris to Rouen. Now one does it, in an -automobile, in three hours. - -From Pont Audemer she wrote a few days later to Madame de Grignan: "We -slept yesterday at Rouen, a dozen leagues away." Continuing, she said: -"I have seen the most beautiful country in all the world; I have seen -all the charms of the beautiful Seine, and the most agreeable prairies -in the world.... I had known nothing of Normandy before.... I was too -young to appreciate." - -Certainly this is quite true of Normandy, now as then, and to travel by -road will demonstrate it beyond doubt. - -The roads in France were, for several centuries after the decline and -fall of the Roman power, in a very dilapidated state, as the result of -simple neglect. Louis XIV., in the latter part of the seventeenth -century, made some good roads in the vicinity of Paris; but it was not -until the end of the eighteenth century (1775) that the real work of -road-making throughout the country began. It was in the time of Napoleon -I. that most of the great national roads, which run through the country -in various directions, were constructed. These roads were made largely -for military purposes, and connect the chief towns and the French -frontiers with Paris. - -Besides the leading roads, there are also many other roads varying in -degrees of importance, classed as follows: - -(1) _Routes Nationales._ Constructed and maintained by the national -government. - -(2) _Routes Départmentales._ Constructed and maintained by the several -departments at national expense. - -(3) _Chemins Vicinaux de Grande Communication._ Passing through and -connecting two or more communities, maintained and served by them, aided -by government grant. - -(4) _Chemins Vicinaux de Moyenne Communication_. Similar to Class III., -but of less importance, and maintained at the cost of the people, but -controlled by the department. - -(5) _Chemins de Petite Communication._ Of still less importance, -maintained by the communities separately under the supervision of -government engineers. - -(6) _Chemins Ruraux._ Roads of the least importance, and wholly -controlled and maintained by the people without any interference from -the government officials. - -The art of road-building in France is only excelled by that of the -Romans, and they unfortunately lived before the days of high-speed -traffic and rubber-shod wheels. - -The great national roads, usually tree-bordered, average but three in -one hundred grade, the departmental roads four in one hundred, and the -_Chemins de Grande Communication_ five in one hundred. In all except -very hilly districts, where of course there are deviations, this is the -rule. - -Napoleon's idea was that these national highways were essentially a -military means of communication, and as such they were laid out with a -certain regularity and uniformity. Formerly they were largely paved with -stone blocks. Who, among those who have travelled extensively by road -in France, does not know the execrable pavements of the populated -neighbourhoods through which these highways run? To-day these are -largely disappearing. The roads in France suffer more from drought than -from wet. They dry quickly after rain, and, in order to shade and -protect the surface from the dry heat of summer, the planting of trees -on the sides of the roads has been largely adopted. As showing the -importance that has been attached to this matter, royal decrees were -formerly passed, determining the manner of planting, the kind of trees -to be used, and the penalties to be imposed on those who injured them. - -Most of the roads of France, even the national roads, cross the railways -on the level instead of over bridges. There are gate-keepers and gates -for the protection of the public. At many of them the signalling is of a -very primitive kind, and yet there are few accidents. - -The history of the roads of France is the history of the nation since -the conquest of ancient Gaul by the legions of Cæsar. - -The _Voie Auguste_ was the first, and bound Lyons with Italy by the _Col -du Petit St. Bernard_, which to-day is actually National Road No. 90. - -Agrippa made Lyons the centre of four great diverging roads; the first -by the valley of the Rhine and the Meuse; the second by Autun to the -port of Genosiacum, to-day Boulogne-sur-mer; the third by Auvergne -toward Bordeaux; and the fourth by the valley of the Rhône to Aix and -Marseilles. - -From the decadence of the Western Empire and the invasion of the -Barbarians, these fine roads were practically abandoned. Many good -bridges were destroyed, and the work of road-building ceased completely, -the people finding their way about by mere trails. - -With the advent of Christianity in Gaul there was a partial renaissance -of these Roman roads, thanks to great fairs and pilgrimages. The -monastic orders became in a way the parents and protectors of bridges -and roads, with St. Bénèzet at their head, who in the twelfth century -constructed the wonderful Pont d'Avignon, which still stands. - -The general system of the present-day national roads follows largely the -old Roman means of communication, as well as those traced by nature, -along the banks of rivers and on the flanks of mountains and in the -valleys lying between. The great national roads of France form a class -by themselves, independent of the departmental and communal roads. They -approximate forty thousand kilometres, and run at a tangent from the -capital itself and between the chief cities of the eighty odd -departments which make up modern France. - -In general, the designation of the road, its number, and classification -are indicated on the kilometre marks with which every important road in -France is marked. - -The national roads, having their origin at Paris, have their distances -marked from Notre Dame, and certain of the secondary cities are taken -for the point of departure of other great roads. - -A ministerial decree, put forth in 1853, decided that the national roads -should have their distances marked from their entrance into each -department, a regulation which has been followed nearly everywhere, -except that distances are still reckoned from Paris on most of the great -highroads of Normandy and Brittany. - -Guide-posts are placed at all important cross-roads and _pattes-d'oie_ -(a goose-foot, literally). - -An iron plaque, painted white and blue, beside the road, shows without -any possibility of mistake the commune in which it is situated, the -next important place in either direction, and frequently the next town -of considerable proportions, even though it may be half a hundred -kilometres distant. - -[Illustration: _Road Plaques_ - -_Touring Club de France_] - -French roads are indeed wonderfully well marked; and these little blue -and white plaques, put up by the roadside or fastened on the wall of -some dwelling at the entrance or the exit of a village or town, must -number hundreds of thousands. - -In these days of fast-rushing automobiles a demand has sprung up for a -more striking and legible series of special sign-boards along certain -roads, in order that he who runs may read. And so the Touring Club of -France, on the great road which runs from Paris through Normandy, to -Havre and Dieppe, for instance, has erected a series of large-lettered -and abbreviated sign-boards, which are all that could be desired. - -Besides these, there are other enigmatical symbols and signs erected by -paternal societies of road users which will strike a stranger dumb with -conjecture as to what they may mean. - -They are all essentially practical, however, as the following tableau -will show. It is very important indeed for an automobilist or other road -user to know that a railway-gate (like enough to be shut) awaits him -around a sharp curve, or that a steep hill is hidden just behind a bank -of trees. - -[Illustration: Descente rapide. Montée. Passage à niveau. - -Virage à droite. Virage à gauche. Mauvais pavé. - -Virage avec montée. Virage avec descente. Rails en saillie sur route. - -Dos d'âne. Caniveau. Passage en dessous. - -Croisement dangereux. Descente sinueuse avec mauvais virages. Village. - -_Road Signs_ - -_in France_] - -Still another class of signs met with by road users in France is most -helpful. They, too, shoot out a warning which one may read as he -rushes by at high speed; printed in great staring letters, one, two, or -three words which one dare not, if he values his life, ignore. - -Truly one who goes astray or contravenes any law of the road in France -has only himself to blame. - -The chief national roads crossing Normandy are as follows: - - No. 192 { Paris to Havre, by the right bank of the - and { Seine, passing Poissy, Melun, La Roche-Guyon, - " 14. { Les Andelys, and Rouen. - - " 190. {Paris to Rouen and Honfleur, by the left - " 182. { bank of the Seine. - " 180. { - - " 13. Paris to Cherbourg, via Evreux and Caen. - - " 26. Paris to Fécamp by Yvetot. - - " 14. Paris to Dieppe. - - " 14, _bis._ Paris to Tréport. - - " 155. Paris to St. Malo, via Mayenne. - - " 24, _bis._ Paris to Granville by Verneuil. - - " 13 { - and { Paris to Coutances by Bayeux and St. Lô. - " 172. { - - " 10. { - " 12. { - " 24. { Paris to Vannes, via Ploërmel. - " 166. { - - " 10. { - " 12. { Paris to Quimper, via Rennes and Lorient. - " 24. { - " 165. { - - " 10. { Paris to Brest, via Versailles, Alençon, - " 12. { Laval, Rennes, and St. Brieuc. - - " 10. { Paris to Nantes and Paimboeuf, via Versailles, - " 23. { Chartres, Le Mans, Angers, and - { Nantes. - -After the fall of the Roman Empire the magnificent roadways which -threaded Gaul in every direction all but disappeared, and for a time the -horse was employed only with the saddle, the more or less indolent -nobles travelling mostly by vehicles drawn by oxen. - -By the middle ages the horse had come to be admired as a noble animal by -virtue of his usefulness in war; but the routes of communication were -hardly more than simple tracks and by no means replaced the great -rivers, which Pascal had called "_ces chemins qui marchent_." Indeed the -"_coches d'eau_" had not entirely disappeared from the waterways of -France until 1830. - -The first carriages at all approaching the modern fashion were imported -from Italy in the sixteenth century, doubtless by the Medicis. In 1550 -there were three, only, in Paris, but under Louis XIV. the roads became -more carefully guarded and increased greatly in number. - -The great _carrosses_ and _calèches_ of the early days were ponderous -affairs, a _calèche_ known as a _litière_, the precursor of the modern -sleeping-car, it would seem, having a weight of 2,500 kilos. - -The following lines well describe it: - - "C'est un embarras étrange, - Qu'un grand carrosse dans la fange, - C'est presque un village roulant...." - -[Illustration: BERLINE _de_ POSTE.] - -Under Louis XV. the _carrosse_ became lighter and the chaise on two -wheels came in. Then followed _cabriolets_, _berlines_, and the -_poste-chaise_, and finally the _malle-poste_ and the _diligence_. - -The most familiar of all, to those of a few generations ago, and to -readers of travel literature, is the _diligence_. - -These great carriages apparently had a most respectable lease of life, -many having been in service for a great many years. To-day they have -mostly disappeared, and in Normandy and Brittany practically exist not -at all, so far as the tourist traveller is concerned, though once and -again they may be useful on a cross-country road in order to connect -with the railroad. - -It was only as late as 1760, however, that a public service of these -diligences was established. At that time the coaches left Paris on -stated days and travelled with unwonted regularity. The diligence to -Rennes, in the heart of Bretagne, was timed for four days' travelling, -and five days was employed for the journey to the old Breton capital of -Nantes, on the Loire. - -These great carriages, commonly known as "Royales," were hung on springs -and drawn by eight horses. They did not travel as quickly as the -_malle-poste_, but their rates were somewhat less, and they performed -the common service before the advent of steam and the rail. - -There was nothing very luxurious or grand about them, but they were -majestic and picturesque, and they sometimes carried a load, including -passengers and luggage, of five thousand kilos. - -Closely allied with roads is the general topography of a country as -shown by its maps. - -No country has such a marvellous series of maps of its soil as has -France. The maps of the Minister of the Interior and the _Etat Major_ -are wonders of the art, and no traveller in Normandy or Brittany, or -indeed any other part of France, should be without them. They are -obtainable at any bookseller's in a large town, and the prices are -remarkably low; ranging from thirty centimes a sheet for the map of the -_Etat Major_, printed only in black, to eighty centimes a sheet for the -map of the Minister of the Interior, printed in colours. - -The following conventional signs will show the extreme practicability of -the maps of the _Etat Major_, which are made on four different scales, -the most useful being that of 1-80,000. The maps of the Minister of the -Interior are made only on the scale of 1-100,000. - -Now and then on these great highroads of France, of which those of -Normandy and Brittany are representative, one passes a headquarters or a -barracks of the _gendarmerie_, those servitors of the law, the national -police, an organization which grew up out of the men-at-arms or _gens -d'armes_ of Charles VII. - -These great barracks are veritable monasteries, where the religion of -faithful duty to the public and the nation reigns supreme. One never -passes one of these impressive establishments without a full -appreciation of the motto of the knightly Bayard, so frequently graven -over their doors: "_Sans peur et sans reproche_." - -[Illustration: _Explanation of the Maps of the Etat Major_] - -The Assembly, in 1790, first instituted this almost perfectly organized -police force, and Napoleon himself thought so highly of them that he -wrote to Berthier in 1812: "Take not the police with you, but conserve -them for the guarding of the country-side. Two or three hundred soldiers -are as nothing, but two or three hundred police will assure the -tranquillity and good order of the people at large." - -To-day, in times of peace, twenty-seven legions of police assure the -security of the country-side; an effective force of about twenty-five -thousand men and 725 officers, of whom a comparative few only are -mounted. - -A colonel or a lieutenant-colonel is placed at the head of a legion, a -company being allotted to each department. The company is commanded by a -major; then comes the district, placed under the orders of a captain or -a lieutenant; the section, commanded by a junior officer; and finally a -squad with a non-commissioned officer or corporal at its head. - -Independent of crime and its details, the police are responsible as well -for the maintenance of order in general. - -The pay for all this, it is to be regretfully noted, is not at all -commensurate. An unmounted policeman receives but 2 _fr._ 81 _c._ per -day, and if he is mounted but 3 _fr._ 23 _c._ per day. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE FORESTS OF FRANCE - - -The forests of France are a source of never-ending interest and pride to -the Frenchman, of whatever station in life. - -They are admirably preserved and cared for, and a paternal ministerial -department guards them as jealously as a fond mother guards her -children. - -No cutting of trees is allowed, except according to a prescribed plan; -and, when a new road is cut through,--and those superlative roadways of -France run straight as the crow flies through many of the finest forest -tracts,--as likely as not an old one is replanted. - -The process of replanting goes on from day to day, and one sees no -depleted forests of a former time, which are to-day a graveyard of bare -stumps. - -If there is any regulation as to tree-planting in these great forests, -it would seem, to a casual observer, to be that where one tree has grown -before two are to be made grow in its place. - -There is a popular regard among all travellers in France for -Fontainebleau, Versailles, and perhaps Chantilly, but there are other -tree-grown areas, quite as charming, little known to the general -traveller: Rambouillet, for instance, and Villers-Cotterets, of which -Dumas writes so graphically in "The Wolf Leader." - -Normandy has more than its share of these splendid forests, some of them -of great extent and charm. Indeed, the forest domain of Lyons, in Upper -Normandy, one of the most extensive in all France, is literally covered -with great beeches and oaks, surrounding small towns and hamlets, and an -occasional ruined château or abbey, which makes a sojourn within its -confines most enjoyable to all lovers of outdoor life. - -Surrounding the old Norman capital of Rouen are five great tracts which -serve the inhabitants of that now great commercial city as a summer -playground greatly appreciated. - -Game of various sorts still exists; deer in plenty, apparently, together -with smaller kinds; and now and then one will hear tales of bears, which -are, however, almost unbelievable. - -In some regions--the forests of Louviers, for instance--the wild boar -still exists. The chase for the wild boar, with the huntsmen following -somewhat after the old custom (with a horn-blower, who is most -theatrical in his get-up, and his followers, armed with lances and pikes -in quite old-time fashion), is, as may be imagined, a most novel sight. - -The forests of Roumare and Mauny, occupying the two peninsulas formed by -the winding Seine just below Rouen, are remarkable, and are like nothing -else except the other forests in France. - -There are fine roadways crossing and recrossing in all directions, -beautifully graded, with overhanging oaks and beeches, and as well kept -as a city boulevard. - -Deer are still abundant, and the whole impression which one receives is -that of a genuine wildwood, and not an artificial preserve. - -In the picturesque forest of Roumare is hidden away the tiny village of -Genetey, which has for an attraction, besides its own delightful -situation, an ancient _Maison de Templiers_ of the thirteenth century, a -well of great depth, and a chapel to St. Gargon, of the sixteenth -century, built in wood, with some fine sculptures and paintings, which -was at one time a favourite place for pious pilgrims from Rouen. - -Not far away is Henouville, with a sixteenth-century church, lighted by -five great windows of extraordinary proportions. The choir encloses the -remains of Legendre, the almoner of Louis XIII., who was curé of -Henouville, and whose fame as a horticulturist was as great as that -brought him by his official position. - -The near-by Château du Belley and its domain is now turned into a farm. - -La Fontaine, a hamlet situated directly on the Seine bank, is -overshadowed by a series of high rocks of most fantastic form, known as -the chair, or pulpit, of Gargantua. - -The forest of La Londe, of 2,154 hectares, on the opposite bank of the -Seine from Rouen, is a remarkable tract of woodland, its oaks and -beeches quite reminiscent of Fontainebleau. The trees as a whole are the -most ancient and grand of those of any of the forests of Normandy. Two -which have been given names are known respectively as _Bel-Arsène_, a -magnificent beech of eleven great branches, planted in 1773, and the -_Chêne de la Côte Rôtie_, supposed to have the ripe old age of 450 -years; and it looks its age. - -The forest of Londe is what the French geographer would describe as -_pittoresque et accidentée_. It is all this would lead one to infer; -and, together with the forest of the Rouvray, exceeds any other in -Normandy, except the forest domain of Lyons. - -At the crossing of the Grésil road is the _Chêne-à-la-Bosse_, having a -circumference of three and a half metres; and, near by, one sees the -_Hêtre-à-l'Image_, a great beech of fantastic form. - -Amid a savage and entirely unspoiled grandeur is a series of caves and -grottoes, of themselves of no great interest, but delightfully -environed. - -Near Elbeuf, on the edge of the forest of Londe, are the _Roches -d'Orival_, a series of rock-cut grottoes and caverns,--a little known -spot to the majority of travellers in the Seine valley. Practically the -formation begins at Elbeuf itself, onward toward Rouen, by the route -which follows the highroad to the Norman capital via _Grand Couronne_. -At Port du Gravier, on the bank of the Seine, is a sixteenth-century -chapel cut in the rock, like its brethren or sisters at St. Adrien on -the opposite bank, and at Haute Isle, just above Vernon. - -At _Roche-Foulon_ are numerous rock-caverns still inhabited, and at the -_Roche du Pignon_ begins a series of curiously weathered and crumbled -rocks, most weird and bizarre. - -On a neighbouring hill are the ruins of Château Fouet, another of those -many riverside fortresses attributed to Richard Coeur de Lion. - -The forest domain of Lyons is the finest beech-wood in all France, and -its 10,614 hectares (rather more than thirty thousand acres) was in the -middle ages the favourite hunting-ground of the Dukes of Normandy. It is -the most ample of all the forests of Normandy. - -There are at least three trips which forest-lovers should take if they -come to the charming little woodland village of Lyons-le-Forêt. It will -take quite two days to cover them, and the general tourist may not have -sufficient time to spare. Still, if he is so inclined, and wants to know -what a really magnificent French forest is like to-day, before it has -become spoiled and overrun (as is Fontainebleau), this is the place to -enjoy it to the full. - -The old Château of Lyons, and the tiny hamlets of Taisniers, Hogues, -Héron, and the feudal ruins of Malvoisine, are a great source of -pleasure to those who have become jaded with the rush of cities and -towns. - -The château of the Marquis de Pommereu d'Aligré, in the valley of the -Héron, can be seen and visited, or rather the park may be (the park and -château together are only thrown open to the public on the _fête -patronale_--the first Sunday of September). Croissy-sur-Andelle is -another forest village, and the Val St. Pierre, a sort of dry river-bed -carpeted with a thick undergrowth, is quite as fine as anything of the -kind at Fontainebleau. - -At Petit Val is a magnificent beech five and a half metres in -circumference, and supposed to be four hundred years old. - -At Le Tronquay there is a great school, over whose entrance doorway one -reads on a plaque that it is-- - -"_Commemorative de la délivrance des paroissiens du Tronquay admis à -porter la fierté de St. Romain de Rouen, le 5 mai, jour de l'ascencion, -de l'anne 1644._" - -At the end of a double row of great firs, lie the ruins of the Château -de Richbourg, built by Charles IX. - -La Fenille is a small market-town, quite within the forest, where one -may get luncheon for the modest price of two francs, cider and coffee -included, if he wanders so far from Lyons-le-Forêt as this. - -[Illustration: _Lyons-le-Forêt_] - -Here there are the remains of some of the dungeons and the brick walls -of a château built by Philippe-le-Bel. The tiny church dates from -1293, and in the cemetery is a sculptured cross of the time of Henri IV. - -In the canton of Catelier are found the most remarkable trees of the -whole forest. One great trunk alone, which was recently cut down, gave -over thirty _stères_ of wood; which means nothing as a mere statement, -but which looked, as it was piled by the roadside, to be a mass of -timber great enough to fill the hold of a ship. - -At the source of the Levrière, a limpid forest stream, is the -manor-house of the Fontaine du Houx, of the sixteenth century, belonging -to a M. Hebert. If one is diplomatic he may get permission to enter to -view the bedroom of Agnes Sorel, that royal favourite of other days -whose reputation is a bit higher than those of some of her -contemporaries. - -The doorkeeper will gladly accept a tip, so the visitor need have no -hesitancy in making the demand, though he will have to choose his words. - -The old manor is a fine representative of a mediæval house, surrounded -by a great moat and garnished with a series of turrets. The chief -features, outside of the apartment in which slept the gentle Agnes, are -a fine staircase, a tower with a drawbridge over the moat, and, in the -vestibule, a fine tapestry from the Château de la Haie. - -The Château de Fleury, at Fleury la Forêt, is a fine structure, dating -from 1645, and at Croix-Mesnil is the Château Louis XIII., which formed -the dwelling of the grand master of rivers and forests in that monarch's -time. - -By no means are these all of the interesting attractions of this great -national forest, but it ought to be sufficient to inspire the true -forest-lover to seek out other beauties for himself. - -The road of the _Gros Chêne_, called also the "Chêne de la Londe," and -"l'Homme Mort," and aged perhaps four hundred years, leads to the -Carrefour des Quatre Cantons, near which is the Chapelle Ste. Catherine; -a famous place of pilgrimage where, according to popular belief, any -young girl who brings a bouquet to the shrine, and says a mass, is -assured of marrying within a year. After this there is another act of -devotion to be gone through--or is it a superstition in this case? She -must bring thither the pins from her marriage veil. - -The Abbey of Mortemer, founded in 1134 by the monks of the order of -Citeux, is another architectural monument with a remarkably picturesque -woodland site. The living-rooms (seventeenth century) have been -restored, but the church, of three centuries before, is quite in a -ruinous condition, though a great open-ended transept remains, as well -as a fine rose window and some of the beautifully arched walls of the -old cloister. - -[Illustration: _Chapelle Ste. Catherine_] - -The Ferme des Fiefs, and the Château de Rosay, situated in a charming -park, where the Lieure falls in a series of tiny cascades, about -completes the list of the forest's attractions; but its hidden beauties -and yet undiscovered charms are many. - -Perhaps some day the forest domain of Lyons will have an artist colony, -or a number of them, such as are found in the encircling villages of the -forest of Fontainebleau, but at present there are none, though it is -belief of the writer that the aspect of nature unspoiled is far better -here than at the more popular Fontainebleau. - -[Illustration: _Map of Normandy_] - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -A TRAVEL CHAPTER - - -To those upon whom has fallen the desire to travel amid historic sights -and scenes, no part of France offers so much that is so accessible, so -economically covered, or as interesting as the coasts and plains and -river valleys of Normandy. - -If possible they should lay out their journey beforehand, and if time -presses make a tour that shall comprise some one distinct region only; -as the Seine valley from Havre to La Roche-Guyon; the coast from Tréport -to Caen, or even Granville, or Mont St. Michel; or following a line -which runs more inland from Rouen by Lisieux, Falaise, and the valley of -the Orne, to the famous Mont on the border of Brittany. They may indeed -combine this last with a little tour which should take in the north -Breton coast and even cross to the Channel Isles; but if it is the -Normandy coast or the Norman country-side of the Seine valley which they -desire to know fully, and if time be limited, they should confine -themselves to either one route or the other. - -Normandy divides itself topographically into the three itineraries -mentioned: "The Coast," "The Seine Valley," and the "Inland Route." They -may be combined readily enough, or they may be taken separately; but to -nibble a bit at one, a little at another, and still less at a third, and -then rush on to Paris and its distractions, or to some seaside place -where brass bands and a casino form the principal attractions, is not -the way to have an intimate, personal, and wholly delightful experience -of "la belle Normandie." - -A skeleton plan of each of these itineraries will be found, and further -details of a practical nature also, elsewhere in this book. - -One's expenses may be what they will. By rail, twelve to fifteen francs -a day will amply pay the bill, and by road, on bicycle or automobile, -they can be made to approximate as much or as little as one's tastes -demand; nor will the quality of the accommodation and fare vary to an -appreciable degree in either case. Even the automobilist with his -sixty-horse Mercédes, while he may be suspected of being a millionaire -American or an English lord, will not necessarily be adjudged so, and -will be charged according to the tariff of the "Touring Club," or other -organization of which he may be a member. If he demands superior -accommodation, a sitting-room as well as a bedroom, or a fire and a hot -bath, he will pay extra for that, as well as for the _vin supérieur_ -which he may wish instead of the _ordinaire_ of the table d'hôte, or the -_café_ which he drinks after his meal. - -The old simile still holds good. The franc in France will usually -purchase the value of a shilling in England. There is not much -difference with respect to one shilling; but an appalling sum in a land -of cheap travel, when one has let a thousand of them pass through his -hands. - -The leading hotels of the great towns and cities of Rouen, Havre, and -Cherbourg rise almost to the height of the charges of those of the -French capital itself; and those of Trouville-Deauville or Dieppe to -perhaps even higher proportions, if one requires the best accommodation. -The true peripatetic philosopher, however, will have naught to do with -these, but will seek out for himself--unless some one posts him -beforehand--such humble, though excellent inns as the "Trois Marchands," -or the "Mouton d'Argent." - -These are the real hotels of the country, where one lives bountifully -for six to eight francs a day, and eats at the table d'hôte with an -informative commercial traveller, or a keenly mindful small landholder -of the country-side, who, if it is market-day, will as like as not be -dressed in a black blouse. - -One criticism may justly be made of many of the hotels in Normandy, -though mostly this refers only to such tourist establishments as one -finds at Dieppe or Trouville. It is that the table wine is often charged -for at two francs a bottle, while it ought to be served without extra -charge, and is elsewhere in France. In many commercial hotels this is -not the custom, but too frequently it is so, and, considering that the -_hôteliers_ of Normandy buy their wine in a much more favourable market, -by reason of its cheap transport by sea, than their brethren of Lozère -or the Cantal, where wine is never thought of as an extra, it seems -somewhat of an imposition to one who knows his France well. - -The beef and mutton of Normandy is of most excellent quality, coming -from fine animals who are only used if they are in the best condition. - -This statement is made with a knowledge based upon some years' -residence, to allay the all too prevalent opinion that French meat is -of inferior quality, and is only palatable because well disguised in the -cooking. This is a fetish which ought long ago to have been burned. The -fish one gets in Normandy is always fresh and remarkably varied, as well -as the shell-fish (_crevettes_, meaning usually shrimp or prawns). The -oysters are of course famous, for no one ever heard of a Courseulles -bivalve which had typhoid tendencies. - -The railway has proved a great civilizer in France, and everywhere is -found a system of communicating lines which are almost perfect. - -The great artery of the Western Railroad reaches out through all -Normandy and Brittany, and its trunk lines to Dieppe, Havre, Cherbourg, -and Brest leave nothing to be desired in the way of appointments and -expedition. - -The only objection, that the economical traveller can justify, is that -second and third class tickets are often not accepted for distances -under a hundred or a hundred and fifty kilometres; and, accordingly, he -is forced to wait the accommodation train, which, truth to tell, is not -even a little brother of the express-train. If it is any relation at -all, it is a stepchild merely. - -At all events, the railway service throughout France is well -systematized and efficient, and Ruskin's diatribe against railways in -general was most unholy. Lest it may have been forgotten, as many of his -ramblings have, and should be, it is repeated here. "Railways are to me -the loathsomest form of devilry now extant, animated and deliberate -earthquakes" (we know what he thought of bicycles, and we wonder with -fear what may have been his strictures on the automobile had he lived a -few years longer), "destructive of all wise, social habits and possible -natural beauty, carriages of damned souls on the ridges of their own -graves." This, from a prophet and a seer, makes one thank Heaven the -tribe _was_ blind. - -Travel by rail is a simple and convenient process in Normandy, as indeed -it is in all France. There is no missing of trains at lonesome -junctions, and the time-tables are admirably and lucidly planned. - -In the larger towns all the stations have a bureau of information which -will smooth the way for the traveller if he will not take it upon -himself to consult that almost perfect series of railway time-tables -found in every café and hotel throughout France. He registers his -baggage and gets a receipt for it, like the "checks" of the American -railways, by paying two sous; or he may send it by express (not by -freight, for there is too little difference in price), or as -unaccompanied baggage, which will ensure its being forwarded by the -first passenger-train, and at a most reasonable charge. - -The economical way of travelling in France, and Normandy in particular, -is third class; and the carriages, while bare and hard-seated, are -thoroughly warmed in winter, and are as clean as those of their kind -anywhere; perhaps more so than in England and America, where the stuffy -cushions harbour much dirt and other objectionable things. - -Second class very nearly approaches the first class in point of price, -and is very nearly as luxurious; while first class itself carries with -it comparative exclusiveness at proportionately high charges. - -More important, to the earnest and conscientious traveller, is the fact -that often, for short distances between near-by places, a convenient -train will be found not to carry third-class passengers; and to other -places, a little less widely separated, not even second class; although -third and second class passengers are carried by the same train for -longer distances. This is about the only inconvenience one suffers from -French railways, and makes necessary a careful survey of the -time-table, where the idiosyncrasies of individual trains are clearly -marked. - -Excursion trains of whatever class are decidedly to be avoided. They -depart and return from Paris, Trouville, Dieppe, or some other popular -terminus at most inconveniently uncomfortable hours, and are invariably -overcrowded and not especially cheap. - -The attractions of Normandy for the traveller are so many and varied -that it would be practically impossible to embrace them all in any one -itinerary without extending its limit of time beyond that at the -disposal of most travellers. - -From Tréport, on the borders of Picardy, to Arromanches, near Bayeux, is -an almost uninterrupted line of little and big seashore towns whose -chief industry consists of catering to summer visitors. - -From Arromanches to Mont St. Michel, the seaside resorts are not so -crowded, and are therefore the more enjoyable, unless one demands the -distractions of great hotels, golf-links, and tea-rooms. - -In the Seine valley, beginning with La Roche-Guyon, on the borders of -the ancient royal domain, down to the mouth of the mighty river at -Havre, is one continuous panorama of delightful large and small towns, -not nearly so well known as one might suppose. Vernon with its -tree-bordered quays; Giverny, and its artists colony; Les Andelys with -their "saucy castle" built by Richard Coeur de Lion; Pont de l'Arche -with the florid Gothic church dedicated to Our Lady of the Arts; the -riverside resorts above Rouen; Elbeuf with its busy factories, but -picturesque and historic withal; Rouen, the ancient Norman capital; La -Bouille-Molineux; the great abbeys of Jumièges, St. Wandrille and St. -Georges de Boscherville; Caudebec-en-Caux; Lillebonne; Harfleur; -Honfleur, and Havre form a compelling array of sights and scenes which -are quite irresistible. - -On the northeastern coast are Etretat, famed of artists of generations -ago; Fécamp with the associations of its ancient abbey; Dieppe; the -Petites Dalles; St. Valery-en-Caux; Eu with its château; and Tréport and -its attendant little seashore villages. - -Inland, and southward, through the Pays-de-Caux, are Lyons-le-Forêt, -which, as its name bespeaks, is a little forest-surrounded town, quite -unworldly, and eight kilometres from a railway; Gournay; -Forges-les-Eaux, a decayed seaport town; Gisors; and the charming -little villages of the valleys of the Andelle and the Ept. - -Follow up the Eure from its juncture with the Seine at the Pont de -l'Arche, and one enters quite another region, quite different from that -on the other side of the Seine. - -The chief towns are Louviers, a busy cloth-manufacturing centre with an -art treasure of the first rank in its beautifully flamboyant church; and -Evreux with its bizarre cathedral, headquarters of the Department of the -Eure; while northward and westward, by Conches and Beaumont-le-Roger to -Caen and Bayeux, lies a wonderful country of picturesque and historic -towns, such as Lisieux; Bernay, famous for its horse-fair; Falaise, the -birthplace of William the Conqueror; and Dives, where he set sail for -England's shores,--names which will awaken memories of the past in a -most vivid fashion. - -Westward of the valley of the Orne lies the Cotentin, with the cathedral -towns of Avranches, Coutances, and St. Lô, and Mont St. Michel, which of -itself is a sort of boundary stone between Normandy and Brittany. - -The monumental curiosities of the province and the natural attractions -are all noted in the plans which are here given; and from them, and -this descriptive outline, one should be able to map out for himself a -tour most suitable to correspond to his inclinations. - -There is this much to say of Normandy, in addition: it is the most -abundantly supplied of all the ancient French provinces with artistic -and natural sights and curiosities, and above all is compact and -accessible. - -There is one real regret that will strike one with regard to the -journeyings in the valley of the Seine. There is no way of making the -trip by water above Rouen. From Havre to Rouen, one may journey in a day -on a little steamer, a most enjoyable trip; and at Rouen one finds the -little "fly-boats,"--reminiscent of the _bateaux mouches_ of -Paris,--which will take one for a half a dozen miles in either direction -for astonishingly low fares. - -Pont de l'Arche, however, and Muids, and that most picturesquely -situated of all northern French towns, Les Andelys, onward to Tosny, and -still up-river, by Port Mort to Vernon, there is no communication by -water for the passenger, though the great barges and canal-boats pass -and repass a given point scores of times in a day, carrying coal, wine, -cotton, and other merchandise, through the very finest scenery of the -Seine. - -A few words on the French language are inevitable with every author of a -book of French travel, and so they are given here. There is a current -idea that English is the language for making one's way about. Try it in -Normandy or Brittany, in the average automobile garage, the post-office, -or the railway station, or on the custodian of some great church or -château, and you will prove its fallacy. - -At Rouen, Havre, or Dieppe, and at the great tourist hotels it is -different; but in the open country seldom, if ever, will you come across -one who can speak or understand a single word of English; save an -occasional _chauffeur_ who may have seen service on some titled person's -motor-car in England, and knows "all right," "pretty soon," and "go -ahead" to perfection. - -The writer notes two exceptions. Doubtless there may be others. - -At the quaint little Seine-side town of Vetheuil, near La Roche-Guyon, -which fits snugly in the southeast corner of Normandy, one enters the -tobacco-shop to buy a picture post-card, perhaps, of its quaint little -church, so loved by artists, and there he will find an unassuming little -man who retails tobacco to the natives and souvenir postal cards to -strangers while chatting glibly in either tongue. - -At the Hôtel Bellevue in Les Andelys is a waitress who speaks excellent -English; though you may be a guest of the house for months and talk in -English daily with your artist-neighbour across the table, and not know -that she understands a word of what you say,--which surely indicates -great strength of mind on the part of this estimable woman, though the -circumstance has proved embarrassing. - -In this connection it is curious to note the influx of English words -into the Gallic tongue. Most of these words have been taken up by the -world of sport and fashion, and have not yet reached the common people. - -One can, if he is ingenious, carry on quite a conversation with a young -man about town, whom one may meet at table d'hôte or at a café, either -at the capital or in the larger towns, without knowing a word of French, -and without his realizing that he knows English. - -"_Gentleman_," "_tennis_," and "_golf_"; "_yacht_," "_yachting_," and -"_mail-coach_"; "_garden-party_," "_handicap_," and "_jockey_,"--all -these are equally well-known and understood of the modern Frenchman. -"_Very smart_" is heard once and again of a "_swell_" turnout drawn by -a pair of "_high-steppers_." - -For clothing the Frenchman of fashion affects "_waterproofs_," -"_snow-boots_," "_leggings_," and "_knickerbockers_," and he travels in -a "_sleeping-car_" when he can afford their outrageously high charges. -When it comes to his menu--more's the pity--he too often affects the -"_mutton-chop_" and the "_beefsteak_" in the "_grill-room_" of a -"_music-hall_." - -The fact is only mentioned here as showing a widespread affectation, -which, in a former day, was much more confined and restricted. - -In the wine country, in Touraine and on the coast, you will hear the -"_black rot_" talked of, and in Normandy, at Havre, you will see a crowd -of "_dockers_" discussing vehemently--as only Normans can--the latest -"_lockout_." - -All this, say the discerning French, is a madness that can be cured. -"_Allons, parlons français!_" that is the remedy; and matters have even -gone so far as to form an association which should propagate the French -tongue to the entire exclusion of the foreign, in the same way as there -is a patriotic alliance to prevent the "_invasion étrangère_." - -The Norman patois is, perhaps, no more strange than the patois of other -parts of France. At any rate it is not so difficult to understand as -the Breton tongue, which is only possible to a Welshman--and his numbers -are few. - -The Parisians who frequent Trouville revile the patois of Normandy; but -then the Parisian does not admit that any one speaks the real French but -he and his fellows. In Touraine they claim the same for their own -capital. - -Henry Moisy claims the existence, in the Norman's common speech of -to-day, of more than five thousand words which are foreign to the French -language. - -The Normandy patois, however, is exceedingly amusing and apropos. The -author has been told when hurrying down a country road to the railway -that there is plenty of time; the locomotive "hasn't laughed yet," -meaning it had not whistled. Again at table d'hôte, when one has arrived -late, and there remains only one small fish for two persons, you may be -told that you will have to put up with "_oeufs à la coque_" instead, -as there is only "_une souris à treize chats_." It is not an elegant -expression, but it is characteristic. - -Victor Hugo had the following to say concerning Norman French: - -"Oh, you brave Normans! know you that your patois is venerable and -sacred. It is a flower which sprang from the same root as the French. - -"Your patois has left its impress upon the speech of England, Sicily, -and Judea, at London, Naples, and at the tomb of Christ. To lose your -speech is to lose your nationality, therefore, in preserving your idiom -you are preserving your patriotism." - -"Yes, your patois is venerable and your first poet was the first of -_poètes français_: - - "Je di e dirai ke je suis - Wace de Jersuis." - -The following compilation of Norman idioms shows many curious and -characteristic expressions. The definitions are given in French, simply -because of the fact that many of them would quite lose their point in -translation. - - _Amuseux._--Fainéant, qui muse: "C'est pas un mauvais homme, - seulement il est un brin amuseux." - - _Annuyt._--Aujourd'hui. "J'aime mieux annuyt qu'à demain." - - _Andouille à treize quiens_ (chiens).--Petit héritage pour beaucoup - d'héritiers; on dit aussi "une souris à treize cats (chats)." - - _Apanage._--Possession embarrassante; "Ma chère, c'est tout un - apanage de maison à tenir." - - _Chibras._--Paquet, monceau, fouillis, amas de choses en désordre. - Se trouve dans Rabelais. - - _Quant et._--En compagnie de, "j'm'en vais à quant et té." - - _A queutée._--Rangée à la queue leu leu, "une à queutée de monde." - - _Assemblée._--Fête villageoise. - - _Assiette faîtée._--Assiette dont le contenu s'élève au-dessus, en - faîte, littéralement en forme de faîte: "C'est un faim-vallier, il - ne mange que par assiettes faîtées." - - _Du feur._--Fourrage, vieux mot d'origine Scandinave, d'où vient le - fourrier. - - _D's'horains._--Mot honfleurais; dans l'ancien langage des marins - de Honneur, on appelait des _horains_ les plus gros câbles des - navires. Par image, le mot est entré et resté dans le langage - usuel, pour amarre. D'où la très jolie locution honfleuraise, dont - quelques vieilles gens font encore usage, sans trop en savoir le - vrai sens original. "Il a queuq'horain." Il est amoureux, il a - quelques fortes attaches. - - Et simplement: "Chacun a ses horains."--Chacun a ses habitudes (en - mauvaise part). - - _Crassiner._--Pleuvoir d'une petite pluie fine qui a nom _crassin_ - ou _crachin_ et ressemble à du crachat qui encrasse les objets. - - _I's ont té el'vés commes trois petits quiens_ dans un' manne - auprès du feu. - - _I' li cause._--D'un amoureux, il lui fait la cour. - - _I's parle._--Se dit d'un paysan qui cherche à parler le langage de - la ville. - - _Le temps est au conseil._--Jolie expression maritime pour dire que - le temps est incertain.--Le "conseil" délibère s'il fera beau ou - vilain. - - _Se démenter._--Se donner du trouble d'esprit, pour quelque chose. - - A Villerville, les pêcheurs sont tous des _maudits monstres_ et des - _maudits guenons_, termes d'amitié.--Les femmes sont des "por'ti - coeurs." - - _Pouchiner._--Caresser un enfant comme une poule son poussin. - - _Adirer._--Perdre, égarer. - - _Espérer_ quelqu'un.--Attendre. - - _Capogner._--Chiffonner avec force, déformer. - - _Se chairer._--S'asseoir en prenant toute la place, se carrer. - - _Mitan._--Le milieu, le centre (tout au mitan). - - _Le coupet._--Le sommet (au fin coupet de l'arbre). - - _Binder._--Rebondir. - - _Patinguet._--Saut. - - _Un repaire._--Se dit d'un homme vicieux. "Ne me parlez pas de - celui-là, c'est un repaire." - - _Atiser, ratiser._--Corriger par des coups: "j't' vas ratiser." - - _Atourotter._--Enrouler autour; "l'serpent l'atourottit et - l'étouffit." - - _Attendiment._--En attendant que; "soigne le pot au feu, - attendiment que j'vas queri du bois." - - _A c't'heure._--Maintenant: A cette heure, vieux français employé - dans Montaigne. - - _D'aveuc._--Avec. - - _Barbelotte._--Bête à bon Dieu, coccinelle. - - _Bavoler._--Voler près de terre; "i va ché d'qui (il va tomber - quelque chose), les hirondelles bavolent." - - _Qu'ri._--Quérir, chercher. - - _D'la partie._--En partant de là, depuis; "d'la partie de - Pont-l'Evêque, j'sommes venus à Honfleur." - - _A l'enrait._--A cet endroit. - - _Piler._--Fouler aux pieds; "ne m'pile pas su le pied." - - _S'commercer sur, s'marchander sur._--Faire des affaires; "i - s'marchande su' les grains." - - _Aloser._--Louanger, dire du bien de. - - _Allouvi._--Avoir une faim de loup: "j'sommes allouvis." - - _Détourber._--Déranger, détourner. - - _Crépir._--"I's'crépit d'su'ses argots." Se dit d'un coq. - - _A ses accords._--A ses ordres. "Si tu cré que j'sis à ses - accords." - - _A ses appoints._--Même sens. - - _Demoiselle._--Petite mesure de liquide. Ce qu'une demoiselle peut - boire d'eau-de-vie ou de cidre. - - _Dans par où._--Laisser tout dans par où; commencer un ouvrage sans - l'achever. - - _Goublain._--Revenant, fantôme, diable des matelots; ils - apparaissent en mer sous la forme des camarades noyés. En passant - "sous Grâce" ou quand on fait le signe de la croix, le goublain se - jette à l'eau; _Kobold_ des conteurs du Nord. - - _Décapler._--S'en aller, mourir. "Le pauvre bougre est décaplé." - Terme maritime. - - _Itou._--Aussi. - - _Une bordée._--Compagnie nombreuse. - - _Eclipper._--Eclabousser. - - _C'est un char de guerre._--Se dit d'une personne brutale. Même - signification que _Cerbère, porte de prison_. - - _La terre est poignardée._--La terre est corrompue. - - _Le monde tire à sa fin._--Pour exprimer l'étonnement d'un fait - rare, extraordinaire, une découverte. - - _Où Dieu baille du train, il donne du pain._--Dieu protège les - nombreuses familles. - - _Cramail._--Le con, "prendre au cramail." - - _La belle heure._--"Je ne vois pas la belle heure de faire cela!" - Ce ne sera pas commode. - - _J'va pas voulé ça._--Oh! mais non, par exemple. - - _Pièce._--"J'nai pièce:" je n'en ai pas. - - _Heurer._--"Il est heuré pour ses repas." Il a ses heures - régulières. - - _Heurible._--Précoce. Un pommier "heurible." - - _Ingamo._--"Avoir de l'ingamo," avoir de l'esprit. - - _Coeuru._--Qui a du coeur, dru, solide. - - _Faire sa bonne sauce._--Présenter les choses à son avantage. - - _Pas bileux._--Qui ne se fait pas de bile. - - _D'un bibet il fait un eléphant._--Il exagère tout. - - _En cas qu'ça sé._--En cas que cela soit, dubitatif ironique, pour: - cela n'est pas vrai. - - _Cousue de chagrin._--Une fille cousue de chagrin, elle ferait - pleurait les cailloux du chemin. - - _Suivez le cheu li._--On dit que c'est un brave homme; avant de le - croire, suivez-le chez lui. Dans l'intimité, l'on se montre ce - qu'on est. - - _Plus la haie est basee, plus le monde y passe._--Plus vous êtes - malheureux, moins on a d'égards pour vous. - - _Les filles, les prêtres, les pigeons,_ - - _No sait ben d'où qu'i viennent._ - - _No n'sait point où qu'i vont._ - - _N'y a cô qu'sé à ses noces._--Il n'est rien de tel que soi-même - pour veiller à ses intérêts. - - _L'ergent ça s'compte deux fé._--L'argent se compte deux fois. - - _Veux-tu être hureu un jour?_ Saoule té! - - _Veux-tu être hureu trois jours?_ Marie té! - - _Veux-tu être hureu huit jours?_ Tue tan cochan! - - _Veux-tu être hureu toute ta vie?_ Fais té curé! - -With the English tourist, at least, the Norman patois will not cause -dissension, if indeed he notices it at all--or knows what it's all -about, if he does notice it. - -Every intelligent person, of course, is fond of speculating as to the -etymology of foreign words and phrases; and in France he will find many -expressions which will make him think he knows nothing at all of the -language, provided he has learned it out of school-books. - -Many a university prize-winner has before now found himself stranded and -hungry at a railway buffet because he could not make the waiter -understand that he wanted his tea served with milk and his cut of roast -beef underdone. - -French colloquialism and idiom are the stumbling-blocks of the -foreigner in France, even if he is college bred. The French are not so -prolific in proverbs as the Spanish, and the slang of the boulevards is -not the speech of the provincial Frenchman. There are in the French -language quaint and pat sayings, however, which now and then crop up all -over France, and as an unexpected reply to some simple and grammatically -well-formed inquiry are most disconcerting to the foreigner. - -A Frenchman will make you an off-hand reply to some observation by -stating "_C'est vieux comme le Pont Neuf_," meaning "it's as old as the -hills," and "_bon chat, bon rat_," when he means "tit for tat," or -"sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." - -If you have had a struggle with your automobile tire, or have just -escaped from slipping off the gangplank leading from a boat to the -shore, you might well say in English, "That was warm work." The -Frenchman's comment is not far different; he says, "_L'affaire a été -chaude_." "Business is business" is much the same in French, "_Les -affaires sont les affaires_," and "trade is bad" becomes "_Les affaires -ne marchent pas_." "He is a dead man," in French, becomes, "_Son -affaire_ (or _son compte_) _est fait_." The Frenchman, when he pawns -his watch, does not "put it up" with his uncle, but tells you, "_J'ai -porté ma montre chez ma tante_." "Every day is not Sunday" in its French -equivalent reads, "_Ce n'est pas tous les jours fête_." - -"He hasn't an idea in his head" becomes "_Il a jeté tout son feu_," and, -paradoxically, when one gets a receipt from his landlord that individual -writes, "_pour acquit_." - -A fortune, in a small way, awaits the person who will evolve some simple -method of teaching English-speaking people how to know a French idiom -when they meet with it. Truly, idiomatic French is a veritable pitfall -of phrase. - - - - -PART II - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE PROVINCE AND ITS PEOPLE - - -Gaul in the time of Cæsar included Normandy in its general scheme, as is -shown by the ancient names,--that of the Lexovii, at Lisieux; the -Bajocasses, at Bayeux; the Unelli of the Cotentin; the Ambivariti, at -Avranches; the Veliscasses of Vexin and Rotomagus (Rouen), and the -Caletes of the Pays de Caux. - -It was many centuries before all these peoples were welded together -under one stable government, the Franks only predominating toward the -end of the fifth century, after they had vanquished the Romans at -Soissons, in Belgica, in 486. - -Normandy formed one of the four ancient provinces of transalpine Gaul -known to their founder, Augustus, as Lyonnaise. Since it bordered upon -the Manche, or what is otherwise known as the English Channel, the -"ancient land of Lyonnese" is known to geologists as forming a fragment -of what was one day the mainland of Europe. - -In our later day the only attempt at the preservation of this ancient -name was in the distribution of the ecclesiastical provinces of France -previous to the Revolution, when the archbishop who had his throne at -Rouen exercised his rights through all the northern province of the -Lyonnaise of Augustus. - -Later ancient Gaul became again divided, so far as the present limits of -France are concerned, into four great divisions, of which Neustria, a -vast triangle between the mouth of the Escaut, the source of the Seine, -and Bretagne, which included the whole of Normandy, was one of the most -important. - -The Neustri Kingdom (_ne-ost-reich_, the kingdom which is not of the -east) was further distinguished from the _Ostrasien_ by manners and -customs which were climatically influenced to differ from those of the -_ost reich_, which were manifestly Germanic. - -In 1789 the Assembly reconstructed the map of France--the great rhomboid -of France, as the French school geographies put it--into eighty-three -departments, when Normandy was dismembered to form the Departments of -Calvados, Orne, Manche, Eure, and the Lower Seine. - - DÉPARTEMENTS. PRÉFECTURES. SOUS-PRÉFECTURES. - - Lower Seine. Rouen. Havre, Yvetot, - Dieppe, Neufchâtel. - - Eure. Evreux. Bernay, Pt. Audemer, - Louviers, Les Andelys. - - Manche. St. Lô. Cherbourg, Valognes, - Coutances, Avranches, - Mortain. - - Orne. Alençon. Domfront, Argentan, - Mortagne. - - Calvados. Caen. Vire, Bayeux, Falaise, - Pont l'Évêque, - Lisieux. - -Normandy, as a powerful independent state in the middle ages, was -greatly helped by its natural advantages. - -Its great spread of territory, along the Channel coast between the -Bresle and the Couesnon, for a matter of six hundred kilometres, has its -shore lined with numerous creeks and valleys and marked by jutting fangs -of rock, with here and there a sand-spread shore lying beneath a chalky -cliff. - -Upper Normandy was the name given to that portion of the province lying -to the eastward, and Lower Normandy to that lying to the westward; the -dividing line being the Pays d'Auge, lying between the valleys of the -Touques and the Dives. - -Upper Normandy is a series of plateaus, not unlike Picardy and Artois. -The streams run through deep valleys which divide these plateaus into -distinct blocks, each with a striking individuality. - -To the west is the Pays de Caux, which has for a subdivision a -restricted region between the Bresle and Dieppe known as the Petit-Caux. - -Dieppe, Havre, and Rouen are the three angles of this elevated plain, -which, on its western boundary, is bordered by the Seine, where a great -promontory known as the Nez de Tancarville juts out into the river. - -To a great extent these plateaus are deprived of water, but the valleys -have a super-abundance. - -Along the coast of Upper Normandy are the famous seaside resorts of -Tréport-Mers, Dieppe, Veules, St. Valery-en-Caux, Petites Dalles, -Fécamp, Yport, and Etretat. - -In the interior is the curious Pays de Bray, between the valleys of the -Ept and the Andelle. This is a part of the ancient Vexin, of which the -Isle of France also held a portion as well as Normandy; the old -divisions being known as "Vexin Français," and "Vexin Normand." - -Westward of the Seine is the Plain of St. André, and between the Eure, -the Avre, and the Iton is the Campagne du Neubourg. - -The Roumois lies between the Eure, the Iton, and the Risle, and the Pays -d'Ouche between the Iton and the Charentonne, while the Lieuvin borders -on the Risle and the Touques. - -The Pays d'Auge, between the Touques and the Dives, is also a fragment -cut from the same plateau which lies to the eastward. - -Throughout Upper Normandy are innumerable forests, preserved to-day from -reservations of a former time and guarded carefully by a solicitous -government. - -These are principally the forests of Eu, Arques, Bray, Lyons (an -enormous tract), Les Andelys, Vernon, Bizy, Louviers, Pont de l'Arche, -Londe, Roumare, and Rouvray (opposite Rouen), Jumièges, Trait-St. -Wandrille, Beaumont, Ivry, Evreux, and Touques. - -In Lower Normandy the topography and configuration change completely. It -contains innumerable little streams and rivers, and it is more uniformly -elevated than in the east; the plateaus averaging between one and two -hundred metres above sea-level. - -The Orne and the Vire are the chief waterways among this multitude of -rivulets, very few of which, except the two former, are navigable to any -extent. - -The chief districts here are: The Campagne de Caen, the Pays du Bessin, -the Bocage, the Cotentin, and the Collines de La Perche--whence come the -Percherons. - -The whole region is most delightful, abounding in charming river -scenery, valleys, and wooded tracts of oak, beech, and pine. - -The coast of these parts is more sombre and austere than that to the -eastward, though none the less delightful, the Nez de Jobourg and Cape -de la Hague being as unpeopled and as little known to tourists as if -they were in Labrador. - -For the most part the climate of Normandy is the same as that which -prevails throughout the lower Seine valley; in general moderate and -without extremes of heat or cold, and yet quite different from the -climate of America, which Reclus, the geographer, has apportioned to -Brittany. - -Frequently, in the valley of the Orne, the early mornings are thick with -mist which makes those charming views which artists love; while, in the -valley of the Auge, and in Bessin, there is undoubtedly too much rain, -as there is in some parts of the Seine valley, while at Les Andelys, -thirty miles away, there is a notable absence of it. - -Generally speaking, it rains more frequently on the coast than in the -interior of Normandy. The Cotentin peninsula possesses the mildest -climate of all, favouring that of Brittany to a great extent, owing to -the proximity of the Gulf Stream. So mild is it here that myrtle, -camellias, and fuchsias grow in the open air, which they do not in other -parts of the province, unless well sheltered and cared for. - -Properly speaking, France has no northern frontier, though the coast -which borders the Strait of Calais and the Channel is quite as -vulnerable and open to attack as it has been in times past, and as is -the German frontier of Alsace and Lorraine. - -The mementos of war along the shores of the English Channel are numerous -indeed. From St. Malo to Dieppe, the corsairs frequently attacked. At -Dives the fleet of William the Conqueror set sail for the shores of -England, and Harfleur was the place of landing of Edward III. of England -in 1346. The English occupied Cherbourg for a long period, and in 1415 -Henry V. disembarked at Harfleur, near the mouth of the Seine, at the -beginning of that campaign which terminated at Agincourt. - -At the mouth of the Seine, François I. founded Françoisville, later -Havre de Grâce, which for a time was in the hands of the English, and -was three times bombarded during the wars of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. -St. Malo, Cherbourg, and Dieppe also suffered in the same way. - -The dividing of the old historical provinces of France into -administrative departments, after the Revolution, was a most ingenious -work. The idea was then, and always has been, to foster local pride and -love of country, province, and district, and for this reason the -nomenclature of the new departments, carved out of the old provinces, -was most convenient and suitable. - -It could not have been better done, for the names of local, physical, -and topographical features, such as rivers, mountains, and plateaus were -used to distinguish them. - -Thus, whilst he is a Breton, and a Frenchman, the native of the Morbihan -may have quite different emotions and sentiments from one of Finistère; -and the peasant of the Pays de Caux, known as a Cauchois, is quite a -different person from the peasant of the Cotentin. - -These political divisions are now as familiarly impressed upon the -French mind as were the old names of the provinces, and a son of the -Aube or the Eure will fraternize to-day with none of those jealousies -which formerly rankled between the Bourguignon and the Norman. - -After the division into the old provinces, of which the residents of -Normandy and Brittany were as proud as any, came the kneading together -after the Revolution of those widely divergent influences which go to -make up modern France. - -The affairs of the departments--of which the ancient Normandy, as we -have seen, made five--are administered by a Préfet appointed by the -President on the suggestion of the Minister of the Interior. - -Each department is made up of many districts, of which the smallest -number is four, if one excepts the poor, rent fragment known as the -Territory of Belfort--all that is left of the former Department of the -Upper Rhine. - -The district, of which there are 362 in France, has its affairs -administered by a Sous-Préfet. He is nominated by the President of the -Republic and is subordinate to the Préfet of the department. - -The district is made up of many cantons, the smallest number being -eight. The canton comprehends, usually, many communes, the smallest -number being twelve. It forms a group, which, popularly speaking, enjoys -a certain form of self-government, under a commissioner, who is, of -course, directly responsible to the Sous-Préfet of his district. There -are, throughout France, 2,865 cantons. - -The commune represents the smallest territorial division recognized in -the economic conduct of the French governmental affairs. There are in -the neighbourhood of 36,000 in France, and they usually comprise a city -or large town, with its surrounding villages, hamlets, isolated -dwellings, and farms. - -The affairs of the commune are administered by the mayor and common -council. In the capitals of the department, district, or canton, the -mayor is nominated by the President of the Republic, and in the other -communes by the Préfet. - -The city of Paris, however, has a special administration of its own. - -The ancient province of Normandy, after it had been confiscated and -welded to the royal domain of Philippe-Auguste (1204), enjoyed many -unique rights; of which the chief was the privilege of its inhabitants -to be judged on appeal to their own supreme court, which sat at Rouen. - -The peasants of the country-side had always rebelled against royal -despotism, for which reason their individuality was most pronounced. - -Upper Normandy had Rouen for its capital, and Lower Normandy, Caen. This -last city possessed a university and long remained the intellectual -centre of the province. - -To-day its five departments, the Lower Seine, Eure, Calvados, Orne, and -Manche, have their ecclesiastical metropolis and archbishop at Rouen, -with suffragans and bishops at Evreux, Bayeux, Sées, and Coutances. - -From "The French Drawn by Themselves," of Bedollière, one learns that -"the Normans are the _Anglais_ of France, but in industry only." - -Jal says briefly: "The peasants of Normandy have a great love for the -bonnet of cotton." - -Bedollière continues with the statement that "the costume of the Norman -women is varied to the infinite, but all, down to the _fille d'auberge_, -have the instructive science of _coquetterie_." - -"The Norman will never answer you directly," says another; "yes and no -are difficult replies for him to make to one's question." - -"The Norman is the Gascon of the north and the Gascon is the Norman of -the Midi," one reads, also. - -La Fontaine carried the simile still further, though it is difficult to -follow his argument exactly: - -"_Les serments des Gascons et des Normands passent peu pour mots -d'Evangile._" - -A similar vein is the following Norman supplication which some cynical -Frenchman has invented or unearthed from a hidden source: - -"O Lord, I ask you not to favour me with good things. I merit not that -which thou would'st give; but tell me only where they are and I will go -and take them." - -The inhabitants of Normandy have unquestionably a strong individuality, -"above all," says a local chronicler, "good sense and good judgment." -The one would seem to include the other, but that is the way it is put. - -[Illustration: _A Woman of Normandy_] - -The Norman is always serious and always practical. Some call him an -evil-doer, but he is hardly that. He is, however, exceedingly -economical. He deplores exaggeration of all sorts; is seldom or ever gay -with that abandon one sees in the Midi or even in Touraine; he adores -the sentiments of the old régime, even though it may have been his -grandfather who lived under them; and he never ceases to struggle to -defend the reputation of his country in all things. To-day he lives in a -political hatred of change, something akin to the spirit which feared -not Richelieu when provincial liberties were in danger. - - "Est ce le loyer attendu - Pour avoir si bien défendu - La couronne des rois de France, - Et pour avoir par tant de fois - Remis et lys en assurance - Contre l'Espagnole et l'Anglais?" - -With the Revolution it was much the same. Whatever may have been Norman -sympathies, she demanded less of those responsible for the overthrow -than any other of the old provinces of France. - -All that Normandy stood for in the past, liberty and equal rights, were -offered; but the province remained faithful in spirit during the sombre -days of the Terror--and to-day the native will emphasize the fact by -recalling to your memory the heroism of the young girl of Caen who -stabbed Marat. - -"The Normans," it has been said,--by a Parisian, of course,--"are -tolerant; the Bretons fanatical;" and in a way this describes the two -peoples very well. - -Most geographies, and many guide-books and histories, omit all mention -of the etymology of place-names. This is greatly to be regretted; from -the former and the latter they ought never to be omitted, and they -should be included in the guide-books as well. - -In a work like the present it is interesting to know something of the -early nomenclature of a place whose present name bears at least some -resemblance to its former appellation. Not always has such information -been included, from lack of space. But it might well be made a part of -every work which attempts to purvey topographical or historical -information. - -Every one knows, or may be supposed to know, that the Breton is from -Brittany, and the Gascon from Gascony; but how many among the -untravelled can put their finger on that spot on the map of France where -live the Cevenoles, the Tricastins, or Cauchois; or, for that matter, -can locate with exactness the country of the Comminges, the Caux, or the -Cotentin? - -With France, more perhaps than any other nation on the globe, names of -places have a great romantic and patriotic significance. Little by -little geography and history have given circulation to some which -perhaps are indissolubly impressed upon the mind; but the -foreigner--meaning, of course, those who are not of France--never, until -he has delved below the surface, knows a tithe of the meaning of the -well-nigh sacred devotion which the native has for these glorious titles -which have become so identified with the national and life history of -the people of France. - -With the Frenchman it is something more than local pride and patriotism. -It is the country first, his town or place of birth next, then his -present domicile, and, lastly, his own person. - -As with the topographical aspect, so with the inhabitants themselves. -Great diversity obtains; and, in "these little lands of strangers," as -it has been delicately and suggestively put, the Frenchman of one -locality is, except for a general likeness of speech and manner, almost -as much of a stranger as the foreigner in race. - -The Norman has little or nothing in common with the Provençal; the -native of French Flanders still less with the men of the Midi; and -those of the north not much of the feeling and spirit which actuates the -life of those in the south. - -This is, perhaps, unique among modern nations; and, while to-day this -diversity does not exist on such lines of stringent demarcation as -formerly, the difference is still there in a lesser degree. - -Even though all are Frenchmen, they still pride themselves in proudly -asserting their right to be called a Norman, a Gascon, a Bourguignon, or -a Languedocian; without confounding, at the same time, their love of -France, the great mother country. - -It is interesting to note that it is perhaps a survival, rather than a -modern interpolation, which accounts for most peculiar local customs met -with in a journey across the country. Normandy has two neighbours which -in former warlike times loved her but little, the Parisian and the -Breton. To-day the Parisian no longer fears that Rouen may become the -capital of France, but the Breton still feels some of the old rancour of -contempt for him he calls the "wicked Norman." Furthermore, the peoples -of the two neighbouring provinces of Normandy and Brittany resemble -each other not at all; nor ever will so long as old customs and -traditions endure. - -Normandy was divided into Upper Normandy and Lower Normandy. There were -formerly many separate districts, and are still, for tradition has by no -means wholly left these parts. - -The country of Caux, between Rouen and Dieppe, which took its name from -its first inhabitants, is the chief. The etymology of the word is -considerably mixed. Caex, Cauex, and the Celtic Kalet all come to the -fore. The earliest inhabitants were known as Caletes, which in later -times became Cauchois. To-day one mostly sees the Cauchoises in their -quaint cloaks and head-dresses on the quays at Caudebec, or in the -markets at Yvetot or Duclair. - -A physiological memorandum is found in the fact that the Cauchoises of -eighteen years, when they open their mouths, show very bad teeth; which -in all other lands is an indication of decrepitude. - -Here in Caux, however, it is supposed to come from the abundant -indulgence in _cidre_, which, by its corrosive properties, attacks the -enamel of the teeth. - -France has never been considered a prolific country, but here in this -corner of Normandy the contrary seems to be the case. A Rouen daily -journal published recently a notice of a matter which was just then -attracting the attention of the Society for the Protection of Children. -It seems among eight mothers of Yvetot, whom in recent years it had -helped, there were forty-nine children. When interviewed, one fond -mother made the following statement: - -"Yes, monsieur, I have eleven children all brought up by myself and all -living. I expect a twelfth! As you see, they are all blonds. Here is my -eldest. Eighteen in the month of May. Is it not fine? She works with me -in the fields. The three boys work at the forge with their father. There -is another an apprentice to a saddle-maker, and there are six at -school." - -The society makes a gift of forty francs upon each birth. Surely a -patriotic encouragement. - -The chief of the separate districts of Lower Normandy is the peninsula -of the Cotentin. - -The Cotentin was the ancient _pagus Constantinus_. Its capital was -Constancia, which by process of evolution readily became Coutances. It -is celebrated for its rich pasturage and the fine cattle which it -breeds. The inhabitants are known as Cotentins or Cotentines. - -"The Cotentin race with regard for all reason is the type _laitier par -excellence_," wrote Arthur Young in 1789, who was mostly taken with the -milk-giving qualities of the Cotentin cow, but who was an astute -observer of many things, nevertheless. - -The Avranchin is another district of Lower Normandy, known anciently as -the _pagus Abrincatinus_. Its inhabitants are known as Avranchais. They -were further qualified by the sobriquets of Bouiderots and Bouilieux, -probably because they were employed for the most part in the salt-works -built on the shores of the bay of Avranches, where they boiled the salt -water dry of its moisture and recovered the salt from great cauldrons of -copper. - -There is an old proverb which says: "Let the Auvergnats return to their -pastures, the Normans to their fishing, the soldiers to their warfare, -and the children to their games." - -Bocage is a separate district in the Departments of the Orne and -Calvados. Its capital was Vire. Bocage took its name in a roundabout way -from the German word _Busch_, which in Norman French is _bosc_, which -comes from _bois_, meaning, in this case, a forest, from which in turn -becomes _bosquet_ (sort of arbour), _bûcheron_ (a wood-chopper), and -finally _Bocage_. - -From a French source one learns that Bocage is the least productive part -of all Normandy, and its workmen and peasants, known as Bocains, are the -most laborious. - -There is a charming little tale of the Bocage, by Anatole France, called -"The Curé's Mignonette," which tells the story of a dove who came to a -curé and brought untold blessings upon his parish. It is but a slight -tale, but quite worth looking up for its charming sentiment. - -Of the women of this part of Normandy the following remark by Arthur -Young, the agriculturist, who wrote a century and a quarter ago, is -pertinent. Writing from Caen, he says: - -"I could not but remark an uncommon number of pretty women. Is there no -antiquarian that deduces English beauty from the mixture of Norman -blood?" He was a profound agriculturist, Arthur Young, and he wrote -mostly of cabbages, departing occasionally into the realms of kings, but -pretty women seem to have pursued him, or he them, for a bit farther on -in his delightful "Travels in France," he says: - -"Supped at the Marquis d'Ecougal's at his château La Frenaye" -(Calvados). "If that French marquis cannot show me as good crops of corn -and turnips as I would wish, there is a noble one of something else--of -beautiful and elegant daughters, the charming copies of agreeable -mothers." - -Robert Wace, the Norman poet (1120-80), put the following words into the -mouth of William the Conqueror as he lay on his death-bed. They -characterize the Norman of those times as faithfully as do the romances -of Flaubert and the _contes_ of Maupassant to-day. - - "En Normandie è gent moult fière, - Je ne sai gent de tel manière - Normant ne sunt proz saint justise - Foler et plaisier lor convient; - Se reis soz piez toz tems les tient, - E ki bien les defalt et poigne, - D'els parra fare sa besoigne. - Orgueillos sunt Normant é fier - Evantéor é bombancier; - Toz tems les devreit l'en piaisier - Kar mult sunt fort a justisier." - -The _gent moult fière_ of Normandy proved his ancient strength eight -hundred years later at Bernay, when three hundred of the National Guard -stopped the advance-guard of the Prussian army under General Bredow -three leagues from the town. It was a daring thing to have done, since -the Prussians were in overwhelming numbers, and the town was mulcted to -the tune of a hundred thousand francs for the valour of its citizens, as -a contribution of war. - -The French coast is ever a source of joy and pride to the Frenchman; and -no part in all its twenty-nine hundred kilometres is more frequented by -summer dwellers by the sea than the strip along the Channel and the -Strait of Calais from Dunkerque to Brest. - -Picardy, Normandy, and Brittany all have their partisans; but the shores -of Normandy and Brittany are the ideal spots wherein the Frenchman loves -to while away a summer's day. - -No country of Europe, unless it be Greece, has its coast-line more -deeply serrated than France. Brittany is rocky, Normandy high with its -chalk cliffs, and Picardy populous with wind-swept dunes of sand and -shingle. Each presents a distinct variety of attractions. - -The downs of the north are the real lower country; but all this changes -as one comes up with the Norman border. Then come great chalk cliffs, -grass-crowned, and at their feet a pebbly strand. Occasionally granite -ledges crop out, as they do in Brittany, until one reaches the Bay of -Mont St. Michel, where the real Breton coast-line begins. - -Cap de la Hève, which shelters Havre on the northeast, is one of those -freaks of nature which have a great interest for the geologist and the -geographers. It is the same great chalky cliff that we find on the south -coast of England, and eastward toward Etretat, where are those -wonderfully carved picture-rocks, so loved of painters of a former day. - -Here on the northern edge of the ancient district of Caux, the -vociferous waves and currents of the British Channel eat up the -coast-line at the rate of a couple of metres a year, sometimes in one -place and sometimes in another. - -These great, chalky cliffs continue westward to the Cotentin peninsula; -or would continue did not the Seine estuary rend them in twain with its -mighty flow. - -At Trouville advantage has been taken of the formation, and a modern -roadway built which, in its way, quite rivals the celebrated arch of the -Riviera. At present it serves merely the purpose of the gay life of -Trouville, and automobiles, omnibuses, and motor-cycles rush around its -death-dealing curves and sharp descents, to their great risk, and -causing an occasional death. - -There is a flaring red danger-board, a guide-post and telephonic -communication with a red cross hospital plainly set out in view, but -even this does not check the recklessness of the road-users in these -parts. - -Just beyond Trouville is Dives, from whence departed the fleet of the -Conqueror in his descent upon England. To-day, the port is choked by the -débris thrown into it by the sea. - -Gradually the chalk cliffs give way to sand-dunes or high-rolling -greensward, until Granville is reached on the other side of the -peninsula. - -Throughout all this extent the coast-line is dotted here and there with -long stretches of sand and pebbles, which once and again have been -turned into popular resorts, where inland France comes to enjoy the -sea-breezes. - -How many French affect this sort of a holiday it is impossible to say; -but they seem to have a decided preference for the northern shore, and -are quite as great devotees to the seaside--as it is known to Americans, -and watering-places, as the English call it--as those of other -nationalities. - -Trouville and Deauville, with perhaps Cobourg, are the most brilliant -and fashionable of these resorts in Normandy, though there are many -others of lesser repute and decidedly quieter. - -The western coast of the Cotentin peninsula has for its chief centre the -picturesque old and new towns of Granville, which face the great islands -of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, the Channel Isles of the -English, and the _Iles Normandes_ of the French. - -This western shore-line of the peninsula marks the boundary between -Normandy and Brittany at Pontorson, the gateway to Mont St. Michel; of -blessed memory to tourists for its old fortress-abbey--and Madame -Poulard's chickens and omelets. - -"The granite isles of La Manche," as the French geologists call them, -comprise the Channel Islands, which belong to Great Britain, and the -Iles Chausey, a hideously terrible formation of jagged toothlike rocks -which would prove a veritable ocean graveyard, were they but in a line -of direct travel. A few miserable fishermen's huts are the sole -habitations on this bleak, wind-swept island; but the picturesque -desolation of it all will quite make up for the lack of other features, -if one is venturesome enough to make the journey by sailboat from -Granville, and is prepared to rough it in the same manner as do the -Cotentin fishermen themselves. - -The Rocher des Moines and the Roches du Rhinocéros are quaint and gaunt -indeed, but one wonders--as usual with regard to such fantastically -named topographical features--where the resemblance comes in. - -The coast-line of Normandy is generally high, cut once and again into -canyon-like valleys, the chief of which are those of the Ault, Bresle, -Arques, St. Valery-en-Caux, Fécamp, and Etretat. - -Tréport lies at the mouth of the Bresle, and Dieppe at the mouth of the -Arques. - -To-day the commerce of other days on this coast is threatened. Dieppe -has held its own as a fishing port, perhaps, and in a way, so has -Tréport; but there is no deep-sea traffic now of any size between Havre -and Boulogne, save the cross-channel passenger traffic between Dieppe -and New Haven, and the Terre Neuve fisheries of Fécamp. - -There have been rumours from time to time of the establishing of a -deep-sea canal between Dieppe and Paris, but the project is too -visionary for serious consideration, and the great waterway of the Seine -is certainly all-sufficient. - -From the Cape of the Hève to Cape Barfleur extends the delta of the -Seine, or the Bay of Calvados as it is sometimes known,--the vast delta -of the Seine. - -The Bresle is a lively little river which purls away the seventy -kilometres of its length between the hills of Picardy and Normandy, and -passes Aumale and Eu, to finish its course in the Channel at Tréport. - -The Arques flows gently down fifty kilometres of one of the richest -valleys of Normandy, and enters the sea at the busy cross-channel port -of Dieppe. Its confluence is made up of the streams of the Varenne, -Bethune, and Eaulne. Between the mouth of the Seine and Cape of the -Hague is the Touques, which comes down by Lisieux and Pont l'Evêque, for -a hundred kilometres, and finishes at Trouville; the Dives, with a -waterway of a hundred kilometres also ending on the coast at Dives; the -Orne, which comes to the sea at Caen, after 150 kilometres through rich -pasture-lands; the Seulles and the Drome, two tiny rivers of Calvados, -and the Vire, of 130 kilometres; the Douves; the Taute; the Divette; and -the Sée and the Sélune of the Cotentin. - -From St. Malo, eastward to the north of the Somme, is a particularly -vulnerable coast-line, which, in times past, was frequently attacked by -the cross-channel brethren of the Normans. To-day, however, with strong -defences at Cherbourg and the forts at Hogue and Havre, and others at -Dieppe, there is little likelihood of its being again invaded without -warning, though the memories of Gisors (1119), Crécy, (1346), and -Agincourt (1415) die hard. - -The gateways to the rich Norman country-side are both numerous and -ample, however; and it may be depended upon that the distribution of the -French army is such that ample protection is afforded to such important -entrances as Granville, Caen, the little rivers Dives and Touques, and -the galaxy of towns and cities lying above and below the cliffs at the -mouth of the Seine, to say nothing of Dieppe and Fécamp, and the cities -of the Seine valley itself. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -NORMAN INDUSTRIES - - -Normandy is still a land fertile and rich, as well by nature and the -product of the soil, as by the industry of her people. - -The following charming lines by Frédéric Berat are appreciative. - - "J'ai vu les champs de l'Helvétie, - Et ses chalets et ses glaciers; - J'ai vu le ciel de l'Italie - Et Venise et ses gondoliers! - En saluant chaque patrie - Je me disais: aucun séjour - N'est plus beau que ma Normand - C'est le pays qui m'a donné le jour." - -Not alone from this does one infer the prominence which the province -holds, and has held in industrial and economic affairs since the time -when Henry II. really broke the power of the Norman barons; but there -are self-evident intimations at every turn of one's footsteps, whether -by the highroads or by the by-roads. - -It is difficult to imagine what France would have been to-day had it not -been for the disaster of the Franco-Prussian war, the rebuff of Fashoda, -and the unrest attendant upon the Dreyfus affair. - -France has held her own remarkably, when one considers the depression -which periodically falls upon other European nations. - -Still, there is a great influx of foreign influences to France which, in -all but individual manners and customs, is making itself felt. - -The English who have settled here in the great woollen industries in -Normandy, at Louviers, Elbeuf, and in the neighbourhood of Rouen, are a -notable indication of outside influence; but still more so is the recent -advent of things American, to say nothing of the forty thousand persons -who form the permanent American population of Paris. - -American farming machinery is seen everywhere, and if the American -automobile has found no place in France, American machine tools are -greatly in use in the manufacture of the horseless carriages of France. -The French are to-day wearing and copying the fashions in American boots -and shoes almost exclusively, and are imitating the Americans in their -habits and customs of travel. - -A universal English innovation one sees everywhere is tea; but it is not -the afternoon variety, except in the case of the "_five o'clocks_" of -the Paris boulevards. Your Frenchman drinks his tea--and likes it very -much, apparently--after his dinner. Other folk have the idea that this -tends to sleeplessness, but not so the French. - -In a recent number of a French journal devoted to travel an admiring and -appreciative Frenchman says: - -"The English and Americans come in great numbers to our land, and travel -hither and thither over our great railway lines. They spend their money -liberally, and to them we owe the opportunity of doing all that we can -to facilitate not only their travel, but to make pleasant their stay -amongst us. We should reconstruct the sanitary arrangements of our -hotels, and encourage the circulation of information with regard to -places of interest." - -And all this the French are doing, and if it is coming but slowly, so -far as the country-side is concerned, it is most surely coming, and -to-day no more delightful travel-ground is to be found in all the world -than France, and Normandy and Brittany and Touraine in particular. - -This, then, is one of the industries that is an important one in France, -and the coming of the automobile and the revival of travel by road will -do much for the increased prosperity of the genuine market-town inns of -Normandy. - -In the Seine valley, in the heart of Normandy, has sprung up a cotton -and woollen manufacturing industry of immense proportions. Much of the -wool is a local product, but large quantities of it in the raw state are -brought from the river Plata; while at the wharves of Rouen are vast -warehouses filled with cotton from the Southern States of America, ready -to be worked into cloth by the busy looms of France. - -The woollen mills of Elbeuf and Louviers are now turning out worsteds -and cloth for men and women's clothing of a quality and quantity quite -rivalling that of Bradford, in England, in the olden times. - -As far back as 1780-90 Arthur Young wrote of a visit to a great woollen -manufacturer of Louviers, where he saw "a fabric unquestionably the -first woollen in the world, if success, beauty of fabric, and an -inexhaustible invention to supply with taste all the cravings of fancy -can give the merit of such superiority. Perfection goes no farther than -the Vigonia cloths of M. Decretot." This, from an Englishman born and -bred in the Midlands, is praise indeed. - -[Illustration: _Harvest-time in Normandy_] - -The country to the west of Evreux forms the very heart of Normandy. It -is a region of rich farms, great prairies, and apple orchards, in which -apple-trees are set out twenty-five or thirty to the acre. Nowhere more -than in the Plain of St. André and the country district of Neubourg, -which immediately environs Evreux, is there to be found anything more -characteristically Norman. - -Little by little great pasture-lands have been made into tilled fields, -to the prosperity of the individual and the nation as well. Were the -English farming peasants able and willing to work small holdings in -England in the same way, who knows but what prosperity might come to the -small farmer there? - -Through these rich lands of the Departments of the Eure, Orne, and -Calvados flow the Eure, the Iton, the Risle, the Touques, the Dives, and -the Orne, which nourish them abundantly, and give a thriving aspect to -the towns and country-side alike. That Normandy is so plentifully -watered, accounts for its bountiful pasture-lands and prairies; which, -by a process known to all the world, produces most abundant supplies of -butter and cheese, to say nothing of such by-products as the cattle -themselves. It is doubtful if the cattle-raising industry of itself has -a tithe of the economic value and importance of the trade in milk -products, which in some parts of Normandy is of tremendous proportions. - -The butter of Gournay (Lower Seine), of St. Lô, and Isigny is famous -throughout England and France, while the savoury cheeses--above all the -Camembert and the Pont l'Evêque--are exported to all ends of the earth. -A good cow in the Pont l'Evêque country produces cheese to the value of -350 francs a year; and at Lisieux, the centre of the Camembert industry, -as much as five hundred francs worth in value. - -Agricultural machinery is coming fast into use, and increased crops are -the result. In 1862 there were but 10,850 reaping-machines in France, -but their number is now more than quadrupled. In a country where nearly -fifty per cent. of its inhabitants follow agricultural pursuits, this -may be considered as of some significance. - -[Illustration: _Norman Horses_] - -The Cotentin cow gives as much as twenty-five litres of milk per day. -With the cows of the Cotentin and the horses of La Perche lies the chief -glory of the product of Normandy to-day. The industry of -horse-raising in Normandy is most prosperous in the valley and -Department of the Orne. Northwestern France produces three races of -horses, the Percheron, the Merlerault, and the Breton. The Percheron is -mostly raised in La Perche, the Merlerault is a crossing of the Norman -with English stock; and the Breton is a hardy little animal, not at all -beautiful to look at, but, nevertheless, a most useful and economical -animal to own, which is saying a good deal in its favour. The chief -horse-trading centres in Normandy are Alençon, Vernon, Bernay, and -Mortagne. - -In general, the cattle of Normandy are famous for the quality and -richness of their flesh none the less than for their products, and the -Norman beef and mutton are much in demand in the markets of Paris. - -The market-towns of Normandy are very numerous and important, but they -are by no means so picturesque as are those of the south of France, or -even of the cities and towns along the Loire, or in Brittany. Market-day -is more of a matter-of-fact, hard-headed commerce, with the Norman -peasant, than it is an opportunity for a day in town. - -To the market the Norman peasant and his wife come to sell and to buy, -in a tilt-cart, usually attached to an ancient-looking, though not -decrepit, white horse, who is used to only moderately long journeys. As -a matter of business the peasant leaves his home by nine in the -morning--the height of the market usually being just before midday. By -nine, then, all is ready,--the eggs in the pannier, the chickens in -their baskets, and the cheeses and butter between crisp, cool leaves of -beet-root or cabbage. Crossing the courtyard, a door is opened, -disclosing the old harness hung on its iron nail. Soon it is on the back -of the old white horse, and he is marched forth to be attached to the -shafts of the great, high, two-wheeled tilt-cart, which seems very -unsteady. When the baskets are all finally disposed, and the peasant and -his wife are seated, it seems even more so; but as no one has ever seen -it overturned, the Norman peasant's cart must be a most satisfactory -vehicle. - -There is one event which comes off periodically in Normandy, which has -never had much prominence given to it from the outside, and that is the -fair at Guibray,--a suburb of Falaise, the birthplace of the Conqueror. -Next to the great fair at Beaucaire, of which Dumas writes in "Monte -Cristo," the fair at Guibray is the greatest in all France; and is of -the popular order of the trading-fair at Nijni-Novgorod in Russia. - -At Guibray the event has been held for many, many years, though of late -its importance has fallen somewhat away. A hundred years ago merchandise -was sold to the value of 100,000,000 francs, while at Beaucaire the -sales sometimes totalled 500,000,000. - -Besides this, Normandy has the great horse-fair of Bernay, held at the -_Fête des Rameaux_ (Palm Sunday), the most famous and largest of its -kind in France. - -These great fairs of Normandy are one of the most interesting of all the -attractions to the stranger. - -No one should expect to find a town at its normal aspect on one of these -occasions, and sightseeing of the conventional order is out of the -question at such times; but, on the other hand, one's gain is great, if -he is a lover of such assemblages. Oftentimes the whole town will be -found to be given over to the great local event, with the churches and -musées closed, and the tables d'hôtes overcrowded. - -Artists and lovers of new sensations, especially, will not mind this, -for these local fairs and holidays will furnish much amusement and -edification that would otherwise be missed. Colour and noise and life -is everywhere. Everything smacks of gaiety and good nature, and for the -most part it is distinctly local. Parisian costumes and manners have no -place here, and one must be prepared to take things as he finds them. - -The almanacs and local journals will give particulars of these events, -and one can avoid them or not as is his mood. One cannot, however, claim -to have really seen Normandy unless he has attended at least one fair. - -Normandy is one of the greatest wheat-growing sections of France. Every -plain, valley, and hillside is literally covered with it. - -In the midst of all this agrarian industry are set many towns and -villages alive with an industry of another sort. On the Avre, at -Nonancourt, are the great spinning mills of M. Waddington, whose name -and fame as a naturalized Frenchman are world-wide. At Evreux are great -establishments which manufacture linen, cotton-stuffs, hosiery, and -kindred products in vast quantities; while at Bayeux, Alençon, Argenton, -and Caen lace is manufactured on a large scale. Again, cotton and -woollen stuffs are produced at Elbeuf, Louviers, and Rouen; leather at -Pont Audemer and Evreux; yarn and thread at Bernay, Alençon, Mortagne, -Lisieux, and Vire, and pins and needles at Rugles and Laigle. - -In addition, the fisheries and oyster cultures of Normandy are very -great; likewise the coastwise shipping, to say nothing of the -trans-atlantic traffic of the great liners from the ports of Havre and -Cherbourg. - -[Illustration: _Raising the Sugar-beet_] - -Out of Fécamp go many deep-sea fishermen bound for the Newfoundland -banks; and Tréport, Yport, Dieppe, and Granville are important home -ports for the mackerel and herring fleets of the North Sea and the North -Atlantic Ocean. - -There is a great and still growing interest in France, and indeed in -many other parts of Continental Europe, in the sugar-beet industry. - -In Normandy it is very considerable, and "potato spirit" and "beet -sugar" are two products of the soil which of late have added much to its -prosperity. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE - - -Whereas England is a country whose land is owned by a comparative few, -France is owned by the many. Of its population of forty odd millions -there are nearly six million land-owners, almost, it would seem, one to -each family. - -The plots are small, not more than ten acres, perhaps, on an average, -for the peasant landholder; but the degree of cultivation which they -have attained is remarkable to one who comes from the far West of -America, where only farming on a gigantic scale is pursued. - -For a long time the Norman farmer held out against any ideas of progress -with regard to machinery. He did not exactly plough with the proverbial -crooked limb of Biblical times, but the implement with which he laid out -his astonishingly straight furrows was, until recently, an antiquated -piece of iron, which he handled in a most laborious manner. - -To-day American sowing and reaping machines, or Continental imitations -of them, are everywhere making their way, and the laborious, patient -work of a former day is now being accomplished much more handily. - -The French are great lovers of their land, the Normans in particular. -They do not emigrate like the Germans or the Italians, and they are not -great travellers, out of their own bailiwick. - -The dwellers of the country-side of France are about the richest per -capita of any nation on the earth. The enormous Franco-German war debt -was promptly paid, and, stowed away in small parcels, there are -doubtless hundreds of millions of francs which are never put into -circulation. - -French farming is carried on most assiduously, and a single plot of land -becomes wonderfully productive under the hands of its devoted peasant -proprietor. - -One is wont to commiserate with the European peasant, who is supposed to -be taxed to death, but, as a matter of fact, the French peasant is taxed -very little. The recent tax exemptions of French farmers have caused a -decrease in the revenue of 25,000,000 francs, and this sum has been -saved to the very smallest of taxpayers. Nevertheless, some taxes -exist, though they are almost infinitesimal. There are more than -8,000,000 persons who each pay a land tax ranging from ten to twenty -sous only; more than 3,000,000 who pay from five to fifteen francs; and -more than 2,000,000 land-holders who each pay from twenty to thirty -francs per annum. If a farmer pays a rent of 250 francs or under he is -untaxed; if he pays eight hundred francs, he is taxed only on a part, -but if he pays more than eight hundred francs, he is taxed nine per -cent, on the whole sum. - -Almost all taxes here are based on incomes or rents. Business property -is taxed eight per cent, of the amount for which it is rent, and if it -is idle it is not taxed at all. If a store or house burns down the tax -on the land stops from that moment, and if a factory stops work its tax -stops. Every loom in the silk, cotton, and woollen mills of -Normandy--where they are very numerous--pays a tax while it is working; -but if it is broken or becomes idle, the tax officials are notified, and -the tax is not collectible. - -There is money in trees in France; and in Normandy, quite as much as in -any other part, one sees those long, regimental rows of poplars which -make walled alleys of the great national highways and the banks of -rivers as well. - -The French appreciate the commercial value of their forests. There are -vast woodlands belonging to the government, and private holdings in -which the trees are as well cared for as in a city park. - -Only matured trees are ever cut in a national forest, and every piece of -fallen wood is saved. - -Normandy has one of the finest and most celebrated of these great -national forests in the forest domain of Lyons, a few miles southeast of -Rouen, just north of the ancient district of Vexin. - -Some of the trees are a hundred feet high and bare of branches, with -only a tassel left on the top. Others are full-limbed, and others are -just sprouting new growth on all sides. Poplars are grown for their -branches, and are finally cut down for wood or furniture. The branches -grow rapidly. They are cut off year after year, put into bundles, and -sold to the bakers, to make the hot fires necessary for the crisp crust -on the French bread. There is such a demand for them that raising them -is one of the chief industries of France. The poplars are planted in -places which are good for nothing else; and after five years each will -annually produce at least twenty sous in value in mere trimmings. Later -on, the trees are thinned out and cut down and sold. Willows are grown -in the same way, their sprouts being used for baskets, and the -basket-maker is a familiar figure in nearly every town and village in -the river valleys of Normandy. - -Market-gardening in France is no inconsiderable industry. Not only does -it supply the markets at Paris, but a vast product is sent across -Channel to help nourish old England; potatoes and onions from Brittany, -and cauliflowers, lettuce, radishes, etc., from Normandy, to say nothing -of cheese, eggs, and butter, which are usually a product of the same -farmyard. - -The French have one million acres devoted to gardens and fruits; and, -throughout the country, one sees fields of hotbeds and glass frames -propped over plants outside the beds. In many places glass bells are -used to cover the individual plants, and there are some sections which -raise early potatoes under glass for export to London. Apparently, about -the only vegetable or fruit crop which Normandy does not export is the -cider-apple. - -The French study the soil and the sun, and they coax both to work. They -feed the crops rather than the land, and in places get three crops a -year through intensive cultivation. Near Cherbourg, cabbage is raised -early in February. After it is taken off a crop of potatoes is planted, -and a third crop comes on in the autumn, and this is on land that has -been used for generations without becoming impoverished. - -The farming peasant of the Seine valley is in every way a kindly person. -He will pose for the artist, does not object to being snap-shotted while -at work by the amateur photographer, and will courteously help the -automobilist who is in trouble to set himself to rights. - -For all this, he wants and expects nothing, save that perhaps he will -take a glass of wine or cigar at the nearest public house if there -happens to be one near by. An inquiring stranger is not _persona non -grata_, and the Norman peasant-farmer is more than glad to stop and -discuss the good or bad times, or the state of the crops and the cattle -market; his _quid pro quo_ seeming usually to be your opinion about the -state of things in the adjoining competing community which may send its -products to the same market as he does himself. - -Certainly a close-mouthed, ill-natured Norman farmer is a rare thing in -the Seine valley, or indeed in any other part of the province. Not so -in some other lands, where every civil advance of the stranger is met -with a taciturn reply or a miserable whine against a presupposed unjust -fate which permits a landholder to expect the tenant to pay rent. - -Normandy, where it borders upon the Seine, comes very near being the -artists' ideal sketching-ground. It has all the attributes of the open -country, as well as great industrial centres with picturesque -chimney-stacks, and possesses a part of the most charming seacoast of -France. Etretat and Honfleur are famous, Caudebec-en-Caux, in a way, is -one of the reputed paradises for artists, while Les Andelys, Giverny, -and La Roche-Guyon are--well, spots which as soon as they shall become -popular with tourists will lose much of their charm, which is to-day -natural, simple, and characteristically local. Throughout the open -country in the Seine valley one may contemplate a succession of -farmyards, orchards, and great brown and green patches of cultivated -land which will make him envious of the genius of a Daubigny or a -Millet. - -The great walled farms of Normandy are ever a source of surprise to the -stranger and of pride to the occupant, who, like enough, is the fifth -of his line; for the peasant-proprietor is a power in the land to-day, -as he has been since before the Revolution. - -Usually, however, the peasant-proprietor, in Normandy at least, is not -of the ambitious order that aspires to more than a small area to work as -his own, compared with his apparently more opulent neighbour, who, -perhaps, farms his land on shares with the actual land-owner, a practice -known throughout France as _métayage_. Besides the two smaller classes -of farmers, those who hire or work on shares, or those who own small -tracts, there are the large landed proprietors who farm their own land -on a scale known as high farming. The three together have made possible -the prosperity of the greater part of the France of to-day; and in no -other country can such a forcible economic lesson be learned of the -power of a country to be self-sustaining. - -Before now it has been said that Normandy is monotonous, but this is not -true. Writers have compared its angularities, so to speak, with the -nicely rounded _contours_ of the South Downs of England; and its sturdy, -soil-grown villages with the undeniably picturesque hamlets of Surrey -and Sussex. One is characteristic of France and the other of England; -but wherein is one more monotonous than the other? - -Really, Normandy is one of the most diversified sections in all France, -and while quite different, in almost every way, from Brittany, Maine, -and Anjou, its neighbours, it forms with them a region where one learns -more of the varying conditions which go to make up the life of the -nation than in any other parts of France as it is known to-day; for -Burgundy and its people are still Burgundian, Provence, Provençal, and -the Midi, Spanish--or something very akin to it. - -The Normandy of to-day, its people, and their manners and customs, -however, breathes the very spirit of history of feudal and even more -ancient times, from the days of Rollon, the Dane, down through Norman -William and Richard Coeur de Lion, to the times when Normandy finally -became attached to the Crown. - -"High farming," as the working of the great estates is called, is, of -course, a very different thing from the working of small farms or -vegetable gardens. Two and a half acres of land within a half a dozen -miles of a city like Havre or Rouen, or even a town like Louviers or -Vernon, will support a family of five, if the wife carries the produce -to market herself, which she generally does, leaving the men-folks to -gossip in a café and to hitch up the mare and the family cart when the -day's trading is finished. - -It is only as one reaches the great plain of La Beauce, just across the -southern border of Normandy, that one comes upon grain culture on a -large scale, though, to be sure, the farm product of Normandy is by no -means limited to vegetables. One must not forget the cider-apple and its -product, the true wine of the country. - -Olivier Basselin, who died in 1419, wrote in old Norman French an -"Apologie du Cidre," which as near as may be is translated as follows: - - "Though Frenchmen at our drink may laugh, - And think their taste is wondrous fine, - The Norman cider, which we quaff, - Is quite the equal of his wine, - When down, down, down, it freely goes - And charms the palate as it flows." - -Mere diffusion of property is no indication of the wealth of a nation, -but a general prosperity is; and if we except a few departments where -the shepherding and grazing of flocks is the principal occupation, there -are very few parts of France where one notices any lack of actual -necessities. - -France was poorest as a nation, and her working classes most prosperous, -under Charles-le-Sage. France was richest, and her poor the most -miserable, under Louis XIV. - -Erasmus in his "Adages" has said: "Open your purse and pay, for you -enter a port; pay, for you cross a bridge; pay, for you use a ferry;" -and in general and with much elaboration there is still something more -than a vestige of feudalism left in the life of to-day. What it was in -former times, in France, is no more, but the single-taxer and the -socialist--and some strangers from a supposedly freer land--will -complain at the octroi, and the tax on matches and tobacco, as if a -revenue from some source were not necessary for the conduct of the -state. Whatever may first appear to the contrary, France is not -overtaxed to-day, and no evidences of oppressive taxation are actually -to be seen in the lives of the peasants of the rich hillsides, or the -workers of the busy towns of Normandy. - -Normandy must always have been a wealthy province; for, in Leopold -Delisle's "Study of the Condition of Agriculture in Normandy in the -Middle Ages," is made the astounding--and authenticated--statement that -"the monks of Montdaie fed their pigs on meat." - -Up to within the last half-century, if we are to believe the -chroniclers, a Norman peasant might visit any parish in the province and -note but little change from the aspect it bore in mediæval times. - -In our day this would hardly prove to be the case: what with -cream-separators, throbbing, mechanical sowers and reapers, -traction-engines, and light-railways, all but the face of nature itself -is changed--and in many parts not a little of that. - -In some of the depths of Brittany, the heart of the Cantal, or the -wastes of Lozère, this may be true. There indeed one might find little -changed the wooden-pronged plough and rough flails, and hand labour -throughout still continues its round of pastoral life as of yore; but in -Normandy and the more prosperous north things have changed greatly, and -always for the better. - -A bird's-eye view of the history of the provinces of France furnishes -many surprises, as many, if not more, than would a résumé of the affairs -of the capital, which has always reflected much more the sentiments of -the country-side than has the capital of any other world power. - -In spite of the more or less vulgar show of the wealth of the cities, -it is in the country that the great prosperity of France lies, and in -Normandy this aspect is very much to the fore. - -The peasant-proprietor has always been a factor in the life and history -of France. True enough, he was often suppressed and doubtless quite -miserable at times; but from Martin's history we learn that the land -transfers of the time of even the Crusades were notable for their -magnitude. - -Between the seigneur and the serf were two classes, known as -_tenanciers_ and _mainmortables_. The former could bequeath their lands -to their children, while the latter "lived a freeman, but died a serf," -as the saying goes, his heirs being compelled to purchase their right to -inherit the land. - -Just previous to the Revolution, curious as it may seem, one-third of -French territory, according to Arthur Young, belonged to the -peasant-proprietor. - -In 1789 four millions of French subjects were land-owners, but to-day -there are over eight millions, quite a fifth of the population. - -Fénélon and La Bruyère drew sombre pictures of the French peasant of a -former day; but they must have had in mind individual cases, or at -least examples far from representative, taking into consideration the -figures above given and the following statements. Foville cites the -Commune of Paroz in the Department of the Seine et Marne as showing in -1768, and again more than fifty years later, that the land-holdings -corresponded precisely, both in number and extent. In an article in the -_Contemporary Review_ (May, 1886) M. Baudrillart gives many more -examples in a similar vein. Even during the reign of Louis XIV., when -the monarchy and aristocracy were at their height, the farming peasant, -in his own right, had begun to prosper. - -Bois Guillebert wrote in 1709: "It would be impossible to find here a -square foot of ground which does not produce all that it is capable of -producing. No man is so poor that he is not decently clothed and who has -not plenty of bread and drink." (Meaning wine or drink made of fruit -juices, as, for instance, the cider of Normandy--and, sometimes, an -imitation of it known as "Boisson Normand.") - -In 1738 the Abbé St. Pierre wrote: "Almost all day-labourers possess a -garden or a plot of ground." - -A half-century later Arthur Young, in turn pessimistic and optimistic, -tells of a general prevailing prosperity of all that part of France -through which he travelled. He goes particularly into details with -regard to Normandy with credit to that province; while with Brittany his -estimate is almost the reverse. - -Balzac, that great delineator of French character, sets forth, in "Les -Paysans," the somewhat equivocal statement that the time would come, -owing to the steady progress of the French peasant, when France would -have neither horses nor cattle. In those days it is hardly likely that -he anticipated the automobile, so we may infer that he had in mind that -every peasant would be his own producer, and would accordingly not need -the horse as a beast of burden to carry him and his produce to market. - -The population of Normandy is in general of a full-blooded, blond type, -with blue eyes, and of a good height. Misery and poverty are quite the -exception throughout the farming communities, and the long blue blouse -and the black bonnet, which one sees so frequently on the fair days, -usually covers a wealth that at first glance is quite undiscernible. - -Enter any of the ordinary farmhouses, which you may come across in a -day's travel by road, and you will see preserved many of the usages of -olden times. - -Your Norman of the old régime will not discard an ancient custom for -another merely because it is new--sometimes he won't even think of it in -favour of a better one. - -It is the hour for the repast; in the kitchen one sees a long, narrow -table covered only with a simple napkin, more often none at all, but -scrubbed to such a degree of whiteness as only old oak can attain. - -The farmer and his household seat themselves about the table, frequently -on a long bench, and the conversation is simply that of the -country-side, tempered with occasional rallies as to the state of crops -or the weather. There is never a word of outside interest; for as likely -as not the old peasant-farmer has never left his native village, giving -to his sons or his daughters' husbands the burden of whatever -intercourse may be necessary with the outside world. - -[Illustration: _A Norman Farmhouse_] - -In the Cotentin there were, and still are, though they are not built -to-day, numerous mud houses and barns, quite like the adobe homes of the -Mexican Indians. Some of these structures, in the Cotentin peninsula, -before reaching Cherbourg, are of three stories in height, with not a -rock in their make-up, being simply straw and mud strung together with -beams and rafters. - -The earth used for the purpose was a thick brown loam into which straw -had been kneaded, after which it was cut into cakes (though not baked, -as are bricks) and built into walls by layers simply. The walls are -sometimes two feet thick. All the houses need is a periodical coat of -whitewash to become as good as new. - -France has been commonly thought to be a non-meat-eating nation, but the -consumption is steadily rising. Only so late as the reign of -Louis-Philippe the consumption per capita was but twenty kilos, but -thirty years later it had risen forty per cent. - -Lest any one should think that the peasant of Normandy knows not how to -eat, let him read Gustave Flaubert's description of a wedding-breakfast, -which, in part, runs as follows: - -"It was under the roof of the great wagon-shed that the table was laid. -It had upon it four joints of beef, six fricasseed chickens, stewed -veal, three legs of mutton, and in the middle a whole roasted suckling -pig. At the corners were placed brandy in _carafes_ and sweet cider in -bottles, and all the glasses on the board were already filled to their -limits. There were great dishes of yellow cream which shook at the least -shock given the table, and from Yvetot came the cakes and the tarts. A -great wedding-cake completed the repast. The base was a sort of temple -with porticos, colonnades, and statuettes. On the second layer was a -'keep' composed of sweetmeats from Savoy, garnished with almonds, -grapes, and oranges, while above the whole was a cupid." - -It has been a commonplace to revile French cooking for a long time, but -the custom is going out of fashion. - -Perhaps the English and American palate is becoming accustomed to a -ragoût of mutton, rabbit garenne, or chicken chasseur, and it no longer -looks "messy." As a matter of fact, it is far more palatable than boiled -fowl or the eternal boiled mutton of the average English country hotel. - -In France one notes one difference, at any rate, in the country fare. -The old-time inn, if it has not wholly disappeared, and there are at -least a dozen reminiscent examples in Normandy which prove that it has -not,--at Les Andelys and Louviers, for example,--has become more modern -in the excellence of its cuisine. - -There is the eternal chicken, of course, which is, however, better than -eternal boiled mutton; there is a surprising frequency and variety of -omelets, but they are excellent. There is always a stew of some sort, -but it is not made of left-over scraps of some one else's dinner, as is -popularly supposed; and there is the roast with its salad, which is, of -course, the principal dish. The crisp, green, and, above all, -_well-dressed_ salad is an infinitely better combination than best -English beef and Yorkshire pudding or mutton and dumpling. - -In France, too, there is always soup, which is always good--more than -can be said for the feeble imitations of England and America. And there -are no sticky cloying English puddings or abominable American pies to -wind up with. A light, tasty cheese is served throughout Normandy, Petit -Bondon, Coeur de la Crême, Pont l'Evêque, or Camembert, and a biscuit -which one dips in his wine and munches thoughtfully, as he speculates as -to what the price may be for all this, or how it can be done profitably -at the price. The cost is not over three francs, and perhaps only two -francs, fifty centimes, or even two francs. - -It is a curious fact that on the beaten track in Normandy, in the Seine -valley for instance,--though not all of its highroads and by-roads are -well worn by English-speaking people as yet,--the patron of your hotel -thinks nothing of it if you want the regulation Anglo-Saxon ham and eggs -for breakfast. He only marvels if you drink _café au lait_ with it, and -then top off with jam or marmalade. If it is the former you want, you -ask for _confiture_, but if nothing but marmalade will do--by which, in -the English-speaking world over, is meant orange marmalade--you ask for -"Dundee," and you will get it, if your inn is in a town above ten -thousand inhabitants. - -Until recently Englishmen and Americans have had a great contempt for -the out-of-door pleasures of the French, but matters have changed -considerably during the past decade. - -The sport of society is passed over here; horse-racing, golf, tennis, -etc., and only such as form a part and parcel of the life of the common -people is considered. - -The French tendency in physical exercise is toward gymnastics and -military drill--not quite to the German extent, but a nearer approach -thereto than is found elsewhere. All this makes for a general physical -improvement, class for class, throughout France. Fencing is still -greatly in vogue, though, of course, it is practised, in its duelling -aspect, only in the higher walks of life. When it comes to walking, the -endurance of the French inhabitant of the country-side is astonishing. -The peasant will trudge slowly thirty, forty, or fifty miles in the -round of the clock and think nothing of it. There is not much horseback -riding in France, particularly among the poorer classes, though the -influence of the army has kept it from dying out entirely. - -The French peasant can carry his whole family behind one horse in his -light, high-wheeled cart; and, on any market-day, near a large town, you -will see a cavalcade of country carts filled with a large proportion of -the suburban population, all wending their way, for a dozen, fifteen, or -twenty miles round about, to the market-town. - -"As a nation," says Hamerton, "the English are incomparably the finer, -but the English industrial system of increasing the concentration in -large towns is rapidly diminishing their collective superiority. The -French generally are of small stature, so that a man of middle height in -England is a tall man in France, and French soldiers in their summer -fatigue blouses look to an Englishman like boys." - -[Illustration: _A Peasant's Cart_] - -Still, though the average Frenchman is short in stature, he is often -muscular and capable of bearing great fatigue. His shortness is mainly -in his legs, yet he strides vigorously in marching. Sometimes one finds -a tall, powerful man in a French village, such as the men of -Louis-Napoleon's famous "Cent Guards," and more often in Normandy than -elsewhere, whereas in Brittany, even the inland country peasant has -manifestly the cut of the sailorman whose ranks he mostly fills. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE CHÂTEAUX OF OTHER DAYS - - -The art and architecture of Normandy with respect to religious edifices, -and not less with regard to its feudal châteaux, is of a peculiar -variety, quite apart from the other types seen in France. - -The birth of Norman architecture, as it is commonly known, was -undoubtedly an out-growth of the older Romanesque. - -The Scandinavian conquest of Neustria left no arts or evidences of art -that would demonstrate to the least degree that these peoples brought -any innovations of building with them. - -The Merovingian period itself has left but few remains which are -characteristic of any development of artistic taste. Hence such -monuments as exist of Merovingian or the prehistoric civilizations are -very meagre, and comprise no structures of any magnitude. - -The Romans, however, coming between the two, have left very visible and -splendid remains of their sojourn here,--though to-day in a ruinous -condition,--the great theatre at Lillebonne being perhaps the chief and -the most magnificent. Other important remains of this period are found -near Lisieux, and Valognes, in the Cotentin. - -The Romans built many defences in the region, particularly Limes, near -Dieppe, and Chatelliers in the Department of the Orne. Generally the -Roman defences in Lower Normandy were disposed in a double range of -walls; and from these developed on a smaller scale the feudal château of -later times. - -Rollon and his companions had given a great impetus to the feudal régime -in the duchy, and rival seigneurs built themselves strongholds, if -possible, more formidable than those of their neighbours. By the ninth -century this fortress-building gave way to establishments endowed with -more comforts and luxuries of a domestic nature, but they continued to -be fortified, as they were for a long time after. - -The remains of the Châteaux of Arques, Domfront, Falaise (the birthplace -of the Conqueror), Gisors, and Gaillard (the "daughter of a year" of -Richard the Lion-hearted) were all wonders of their time. - -All travellers for pleasure or edification have a lively interest in -châteaux, whether they be of the feudal variety of fortress, or the -comparatively modern domestic establishments of the Renaissance period. - -Normandy had quite a representative share of both classes of these -mediæval monuments, and their existing remains to-day are numerous and -admirably cared for, ruins though many of them be. - -[Illustration: _Donjon of Arques_ (_diagram_)] - -According to Viollet-le-Duc, the Normans were the first to apply -defensive works to a residential château, that is, an edifice which was -primarily something more than a fortress. - -[Illustration: _Château Gaillard, Les Andelys_] - -Such strongly defended châteaux as that of Arques near Dieppe, whose -donjon was the last to surrender to the French king after the -conquering of the province, were exceedingly rare. - -In general, the Norman châteaux of the eleventh and twelfth centuries -were little more than a rectangular or round donjon, surrounded by -exterior works of relatively little strategic importance. They were -always defended by a deep fosse, and by subterranean passages which -would allow the defending forces to move under cover from one point to -another; and in addition, they were frequently placed upon the summit of -a hill or rocky promontory, as was the case at Les Andelys, La -Roche-Guyon, Falaise, and Domfront. - -The Norman influence of château-building spread widely. England, of -course, followed speedily; but their keeps or donjons were more often -rectangular and seldom circular. - -In the Vendée at Ponzanges, at Beaugency, on the Loire at Montrichard, -and at Loches, the Norman influence prevailed, but still the most -complete and successful examples were confined to Norman soil. - -In the thirteenth century the châteaux throughout France all began to be -built on one specific plan and arrangement, keeping, meanwhile, to the -best traditions of Merovingian and Carlovingian times. - -By the end of the thirteenth century the feudality, more or less ruined -by the Crusades, were no longer in a position to build great independent -fortresses; and the château by the middle of the century following had -been shorn of many of its former fortifying attributes and became merely -the great luxurious habitation of the seigneurs who, in other days, -would have made war, or been attacked on their own account. - -Some sort of defences they always retained, at least until a much later -date; a fortified gateway, perhaps, a crenelated battlement, partly for -use and partly for decorative purposes, and a moat, though oftentimes it -was a dry one from the absence of near-by water. - -By the time the fifteenth century had dawned many of the old châteaux of -Normandy had been repaired, restored, or rebuilt, and many new edifices -were erected; but with the Renaissance a distinctly new type was -created,--that of a palatial country-house, which to all intents and -purposes may be classed generally as modern châteaux, even though they -may have been built up from ancient foundations. - -Of this class in Normandy the most prominent were the magnificent -establishment of the Archbishops of Rouen at Gaillon, the Château -Inférieure at La Roche-Guyon, the Châteaux d'Eu, d'Anet, and Fontaine -Henri. - -If one could trace the history of all the châteaux of France, or even of -Normandy and Brittany, to which are attached facts of historical or -romantic purport, or which are endowed with artistic tributes, or are -picturesquely environed, the results would make a formidable and most -interesting work. - -In France by the end of the ninth century there were some twenty -thousand châteaux, so recognized by their own individual names. - -The châtelain, or feudal lord, was a veritable king in his own domain, -with his standard, his court of justice, and his vassals; and, quite -rightly, in many cases he said to his people, "I will defend you against -the enemy, and give you the right of refuge behind the thick walls of my -château; at the moment of danger the pont-levis will lower for you, your -wives, and your children." - -The discussion of the rights or wrongs of the feudal system is too big a -subject to have place here; and, while the serfs of a former day may -have suffered in many instances, there was a certain paternal care which -doubtless more than overshadowed the ill deeds of the comparatively few -overbearing and tyrannical lords. - -Not every tenantless and ruined château or seigneurial manor of Normandy -is a monument of greed and rapacity, and one need not conjure up a -picture of other days, with peasants' fields trampled and uptorn, and -cattle and grain seized, in order to draw disparaging contrasts as -compared with the times in which we live. - -The history of feudalism is a long and lurid one in many respects; but -there is much of the domestic life of the times which points again and -again to the fact that the overlord and his serfs were not in far -different relations than the king and his vassals, or the landlord and -tenant of to-day. - -Time was when a certain class of feudal barons were robbers who lived in -moated and turreted castles and raided on the peasants beneath their -walls, or compelled them to bring to their castles the products of the -fields; but this was not so common in Normandy as elsewhere, and was -more German than French. If one is to believe the chronicles of the -feudal lords of Normandy and the northwest of France, there were a great -many who promulgated a law much more charitable and fair than that in -force in many a "boss-ridden" community of to-day, in England or -America. - -When the Franks became masters of Gaul they were quite content to let -the old system of administration still obtain, and to confide to some -count the governorship of the cities. He was usually a person who was -subservient to the governor of the district, who, on his part, deferred -to the heads of the province and the kingdom. - -The office was hereditary in most cases; and, as the possessors of -benefices which were withheld from the masses, they at first demanded an -allegiance which, in later times, came to be greatly abridged. - -This was the beginning of the feudal system in France. It became -complete when Charles the Bold consecrated the hereditary offices by the -"_Capitulaire de Kiersi-sur-Oise_," in 877. - -Each seigneur reigned in his fief over his serfs and vassals; and he in -turn was subordinate to the count or duke, a rank higher up, the count -himself regulating his movements and actions according to the will of -the king. - -Under the feudal system the government offered great opportunities for -irregularities, and the Roman law and rulings practically disappeared -from all but the ecclesiastical divisions. - -From the tenth to the fourteenth centuries France was divided into as -many petty states as there were cantons or châteaux; and, so far as -intercommunication for purposes of commerce were concerned, the only -relations with the outside world were by the aid of great periodical -fairs, such as were held at Beaucaire in Provence, the most celebrated -of all, where the volume of trade was second only to that of -Nijni-Novgorod in Russia. In the north this great fair found its -counterparts at St. Denis, near Paris, and at Guibray, near Falaise in -Normandy, which was next to Beaucaire in magnitude and importance. As to -other outside communications, it developed largely along the line of -raids and warlike incursions into neighbouring territory, as a result of -jealousy and envy between the various seigneurs. The only other -opportunities offered for the lower classes to mingle with the great -world, beyond the feudal territory which claimed them for its own, was -through the means of religious pilgrimages and the Crusades. - -This description to a great extent applies only to the châteaux of the -powerful and wealthy seigneurs. - -One then comes to the small nobility and their manor-houses, which were -only less grand and luxurious in degree, not in kind. They were not -fortified, save by an encircling wall, often of great height and -thickness, which enclosed the whole domestic establishment and its home -grounds. The manor-house of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries took -frequent root in Normandy, and was often very splendid in its -appointments and proportions. - -The château of to-day, as one finds it in France, that is, the strictly -modern edifice, which often bears the high-sounding name of château, is -nothing more than a country-house of a small manufacturer or merchant; -who, after thirty or forty years of a strenuous life, has married off -his daughters and sons, and wishes to settle down in the country, and -surround himself and his wife with the comforts of life and amid a -glamour which, he fancies, somewhat approaches the splendour of the -olden times. - -All this is commendable enough, of course, and it is much better that -such a châtelain should build a brand-new red brick and green-and-yellow -tiled pompous edifice, with a plaster cat on the ridge-pole, than that -he should buy and seek to remodel in new style a really good old-time -edifice. - -[Illustration: _Ancient Manor d'Argouges_] - -With the inherent good taste undoubtedly possessed by the French, it is -astonishing how ugly and bizarre their modern country-houses are, -examples of which one often sees in Normandy, along the Seine in the -suburbs of Rouen, or in the neighbourhood of Dieppe or Trouville. - -In the blazonry of the arms of the nobility of France, the château has a -supreme significance. Wherever it is seen incorporated in quarterings, -whether with a single tower or three, it signifies that the châtelain -thereof has rendered some signal service to the state of France in its -royal days. - -Renaissance architecture in Normandy never achieved the magnitude that -it did elsewhere in France, albeit certain notable structures yet exist -to tell of the excellence of its comparatively few examples. - -In the beginning Pierre Fain and Guillaume Senault built the -archiepiscopal château at Gaillon, truly one of the wonders of the -Renaissance. Roland Leroux erected that highly ornate tomb of the -Amboise cardinals in Rouen's cathedral, which, however, must be -considered as merely a decorative, and not a constructive, work. In Caen -and its environs Hector Sohier and a truly great unknown exercised -their genius between 1515 and 1545. At Gisors, three generations of -architects by the name of Grappin, Jean I., Robert, and Jean II., proved -their originality. - -This was the start made which culminated in the Hôtel Bourgtheroulde and -the Palais de Justice at Rouen. - -If the notable examples of early Renaissance in Normandy are not so -numerous as elsewhere, they are certainly as beautiful, and reflect -great credit upon their designers. - -Throughout the Caux, in Normandy, there are innumerable seventeenth and -eighteenth century châteaux. They do not rise to the splendour of the -great Renaissance edifices of the Loire, neither in point of grandeur, -excellence of their artistic embellishment, nor in their historical -reminiscence. They are not so very large; their architecture is in -general a great fall from that of the Renaissance beauties of the -preceding centuries, and only infrequently were their associations -intimately related with the court. - -In spite of all this they exhibit many excellencies of detail, and, if -simply built, are at least in much better taste and more appealing form -than seventeenth-century architecture in general. Many of them are of -brick, and are of imposing aspect, when considered from the point of -view of great country-houses alone. Frequently they are preceded by -flower-gardens, which are in turn faced with greensward, in most -delightful fashion. Great avenues of trees lead from the highroad, and -generally the aspect is one of great comfort, if not of extravagant -luxury. - -To-day, in many instances, these great domains are simply what are known -as "high-farms," where the gentleman farmer who lives in the great house -is in far better odour than the country squire in England, principally -from the reason that he often rents, sells, or works in shares such a -part of his land as he does not work direct. This is an admirable -system, which works wonderfully well throughout France, and should be -studied by agriculturists and economists elsewhere. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -SOME TYPES OF NORMAN ARCHITECTURE - - -The religious architecture of Normandy, from the tenth century onward, -with regard to abbeys, cathedrals, and parish churches alike, was so -abundant and splendid as to merit the naming of the style as Norman. - -The monkish builders of these early days, following in the wake of the -Conqueror, went throughout the length and breadth of Britain, sowing the -seed that was to develop the Anglo-Norman variety which, truth to tell, -differs in many instances not at all from the parent style, seen at its -best in such great edifices as the abbey churches of Jumièges and St. -Georges de Boscherville, near Rouen. - -Normandy did not fall under the sway of the ogival or Gothic style, -which had established itself in the Ile de France and Picardy, until -quite a hundred years after it made its appearance there (1150). - -The Norman-Romanesque, for such the local style really was, was -distinguished by a relative strength and grandeur which ranked it far -ahead of the pure Romanesque in its general interest. Its walls were of -great thickness, and frequently of great height, and the demi-rond -arcatures, often interlaced for decorative effect, were distinctly -characteristic. - -The capitals were richly decorated, but seldom, if ever, in the style -imported by the Romans from the Greek, and the geometrical, and zigzag, -and lozenge decorations of the walls were, if bizarre, a departure from -anything heretofore seen. Seldom, if ever, were plant-forms made use of, -and statuary and effigies were, in the beginning, excessively rare. - -Frequently in the early Norman churches there was no ambulatory to the -choir, and the easterly termination took the form of a flat chevet -rather than that of the trefoil or fan-like arrangement which had to -some extent obtained in the pure Romanesque type, and was undergoing a -high development through the interpolation of the flying buttress or -_arc-boutant_ in the newly innovated Gothic of the Ile de France. - -The towers frequently numbered three, a great central tower and two -smaller members flanking the façade, or perhaps one of the transepts. -This great central tower gave rise to the lantern, which, for the -purpose of lighting alone, proved a most desirable feature, and which, -for long after the advent of Gothic, was retained in many Norman -edifices in England. - -From the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries the distinct Norman style -developed rapidly before it was entirely crowded out by the onrushing -wave of Gothic. In its rudimentary forms it is found as early as the -ninth century, and some details lingered even after the wholesale advent -of Gothic, but practically its reign was but three hundred years. - -It was between 1180 and 1200 that Normandy received the first Gothic -inspiration from the Ile de France. It resulted, at first, only in the -interpolation of certain details of decoration, differing from the -severer lines of the Normanesque; colonnets piled themselves up on -columns, and instead of great cylinders and octagons, the ploughed and -channelled Gothic piers slowly crept in. The windows gradually took on -the pointed arch, and the tracery became more elaborate. Finally the -triforium came, and balustrades, rosaces, and fleurons, and sculptured -capitals, after the form of leaves and branches, completed the -transition to pure Gothic forms. - -At the end of the third ovigal period, when the Gothic was losing its -individuality of character elsewhere in France, it was still flourishing -in Normandy, and produced such marvellous examples as the south façade -of Notre Dame de Louviers, the porch front at Alençon, and St. Maclou at -Rouen, to say nothing of the more elaborate façade of Rouen's cathedral. - -In the Department of Manche one encounters frequent village churches -with massive rectangular central towers after the manner of the large -parish church in England, and once and again one comes upon a -squared-off east end, such as is so greatly in vogue in England, and so -infrequently seen in France,--the great parish church of Notre Dame at -Grand Andelys, on the Seine, being one of the most notable Norman -examples. - -During the reign of Charles VII. and Louis XI. there was a great -building revival wherein the principles of the Renaissance--brought from -Italy, doubtless, by the nobles in the train of Charles VII.--flourished -to the exclusion of any other style. - -Here in Normandy, as elsewhere in France, the Renaissance architecture -came to its greatest glories with respect to domestic establishments and -civic buildings, though once and again there were manifestly good -Renaissance details incorporated into the fabric of a great church, the -most successful and notable example of such in Normandy being Hector -Sohier's work at St. Pierre in Caen. - -The great château of the Archbishops of Rouen at Gaillon was a notable -example of the other class, also the Hôtel Bourgtheroulde at Rouen, and -such smaller works as the tomb of the Cardinals of Amboise in Rouen's -cathedral, and the Hôtel d'Escoville at Caen. - -It is commonly thought that the beauties of the Renaissance in the lower -Seine valley came as a result of the influence of the Cardinals of -Amboise, who built the great château at Gaillon. So far as religious -edifices went, it was mostly with respect to interpolated details or -restorations that the style took on any very great proportions, though -the evidences that one sees in the cathedral at Evreux and in the great -hybrid church at Gisors are by no means slight in bulk. - -The Towers of St. Eloi and St. Martin at Rouen are notable examples, and -some parts of the parish church at Jumièges and the three chapels of the -church of St. Jacques at Dieppe complete the list of really prominent -religious Renaissance works in Normandy. - - - - -PART III. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE SEINE VALLEY--PREAMBLE - - -Three great gateways to Paris, from England's shores, lie through -Normandy: via Cherbourg and the Cotentin, via Dieppe and the Pays de -Caux, and via Havre and the Seine valley, by the old Norman capital of -Rouen. - -All three routes traverse a lovely country, but it is probable that the -one by the great silent highway of the Seine is the most picturesque and -historically interesting of its length in the whole world. - -If the Seine be truly a great highway--the main street--of that -elongated metropolis which extends from the Ile de la Cité, at Paris, to -Havre, it is equally true that the roadways along either bank become its -footpaths or sidewalks, and that the parallel highroads, running along -either side not far from the river-bank, are as busy with wheeled -traffic as any other of the great national roads of France. - -"The Seine," says Michelet, "is the most civilized and the most perfect -of the rivers of France. It bears the spirit of Paris to Normandy, to -the sea, to England, and to far-away America." - -"The valley," say the geographers, "is monotonous up to Paris, varied to -Rouen, and picturesque to Havre." Deep-sea navigation is possible from -its mouth to Paris, and above all as far as to Rouen, to which point -great ships come and go with the same regularity that would obtain in a -seacoast port. The tide of the ocean rises and falls as high up as Pont -de l'Arche, where the first dam and lock are built. - -The affluents of the Seine below Paris are the Oise, its principal -tributary, which has its birth in the distant Ardennes in Belgium; the -Epte, a "pure water" stream which flows through a charming valley, from -Forges-les-Eaux to Giverny near Vernon; the Andelle, less important, but -a wonderfully picturesque little river, which joins the parent stream -near Pont de l'Arche. The Eure also comes to its confluence with the -Seine at the same point, and the Risle, which rises near La Perche, -after 140 kilometres, finally reaches the sea through the Seine at -Quillebeuf. - -[Illustration: _An Inn by the Seine_] - -The populous and charmingly situated towns of the Seine valley, its -wooded banks and forests, and the delightful roads along its banks, with -here and there a château half-hidden by trees, to say nothing of the -bosom of the stream itself, which forms a greatly travelled highway of -another sort, all combine to present a continually changing scene, which -is not excelled in all France. - -There is a little village on the banks of the Seine below Vernon, where -everything save the grand old ruin near by dates from the time, a dozen -or more years ago, when a well-known American millionaire stopped there -in his long, low-built steam-yacht, and requisitioned all the resources -of the town's not very ample supplies in provender for himself and his -"suite," as the native will tell you. The party did not remain -long--over one night only, and for the _petit déjeuner_ the next -day--but they must have strewn their pathway with gold, for the memory -of the event still lingers. - -Strange to say, this little old-world town has not become spoiled, and -is not yet a popular resort, though now that an "artist colony" of a -dozen or more young ladies descended upon it the last summer, in charge -of a patriarchal old gentleman and his wife, its popularity appears to -be on the increase. - -The great highway of the Seine which connects the capital of France with -the capital of Normandy forms, for the most part of its course below -Paris, a broad, silvery band, which winds its way around numerous small -islands until it comes well up to Rouen, when for fifty or more -kilometres--as marked by the broad, white, and plainly visible stones -along its banks--it flows through deep-cut cliffs of chalk crowned with -greensward. - -Below Rouen, after La Bouille is passed, the banks flatten out, until at -Caudebec they take on quite a low-country aspect, from whence the Seine -makes its way to the sea through the shifting sand-bars at its mouth. - -For forty kilometres above Havre the estuary is a broad, lagoon-like -expanse which looks little enough like a channel to the sea, though the -country round about is not wholly flat, at least not in the distance. - -Havre many travellers know as a port of embarkation or debarkation for -the great Atlantic liners under the subsidy of the French government. -Trouville, to the westward from Havre, across this broad bay of the -Seine, is a genuine resort of rank and fashion, not dull, to be sure, -but as stale and unprofitable a place in which to linger as one can well -imagine. It is the abode of the fashionable world and of millionaires -who are unable to take their pleasures except to the accompaniment of -details which are not even luxuries to many others, but which to them -are necessities of prime importance. - -Etretat, practically equidistant eastward, offers much the same -attractions, with this difference: it has, or had a half-century ago, a -great vogue among artists. Its sea and sky and chalk cliffs are still -there, all, it would seem, in a more superlative degree than elsewhere -along the coast, but casinos, de luxe hotels, and "five o'clocks" have -eliminated all the idyllic foreground, or at least thrust it -paradoxically into the distance. - -There are a dozen or more similar seashore resorts in the immediate -neighbourhood, but when one turns the prow of his motor-boat upstream, -or starts his automobile on the road which follows either bank of the -Seine for the greater part of the distance from sea to source, he enters -immediately upon associations of history and romance that are linked -with an unbreakable silvery thread, which never allows one to forget or -ignore the fact of its presence or the part it has played in the past. - -Eastward lies the province of Caux, of the ancient peoples known as the -Calétes, while westward, and onward through the valley of the Eure, the -chief tributary of the Seine on the left bank below Paris, is the real -Normandy, whose junction with the Isle of France--the ancient domain of -the third race of kings--and the fertile plain of La Beauce is marked by -the village of Houdan. - -It was Napoleon, as first consul, who said that in time to come, Havre, -Rouen, and Paris would be one and the same city, and the Seine would be -the grand highway. - -There is generally to be found lying at the Quai de la Hôtel de Ville, -at Paris, a dumpy-looking little steamboat, with stubby masts and a -collapsible funnel, which, when all is in order and shipshape, has quite -the look of a deep-sea craft. In a way it performs much the same -functions, for the passage of some twenty hours from Tower Bridge on -London's river to the entrance to the Seine at Havre is more often than -not of a boisterousness quite the equal of the far-away briny deep -itself. - -Writing a hundred years after the great consul passed his observations -on the great highway of the Seine, one realizes still more that its -entire course, from Paris to Havre, in no small way resembles a great -business thoroughfare, with its marts of trade on either hand, its -green open places, its populous centres, its more bare and less -pretentious areas, and its cross-roads represented by the inflowing -streams, which empty into it from all directions. - -In addition, the progress of the ages has multiplied the earth-roads -along its banks, and the boats upon its bosom, and the iron rails which -connect it with the uttermost corners of the land, bind and protect its -permanent value as a great highway of trade. - -One other aspect to-day, of which the majority of English-speaking folk -know but little, is that the river is greatly given over, on certain -occasions and on all fête-days, to sports. - -The oarsman has come in the last half-century in great numbers, and in -all the large centres on the banks of the Seine he is found, as often as -occasion permits, in his racing boat, or shell, a name he has adopted -from the English vocabulary. He may not go about his sport as -scientifically as his American or English brother, but he is quite as -enthusiastic. - -To-day, also, the Seine is the true home of the automobile-boat. As an -innovation of the times it has had some success elsewhere, but nowhere -has the practice of the sport been achieved with the success that it -has in that broad, though sinuous stretch of water between the islands -below Paris. - -Following again on the lines of Napoleon's words, one appreciates that, -if Havre, Paris, and Rouen have not yet become one, Rouen and Havre have -come very near to it, for between the principal city of Normandy and the -seaport city on _La Manche_--as the French prefer to call the English -Channel--are a succession of villages and towns, one scarcely out of -sight of the other, all swarming with industry and life, from the -artists who throng Caudebec in summer to the peasants who, on a -fête-day, crowd into the nearest centre of population to stare at -townfolk and drink a particularly vile brand of the native -cognac--_calvados_--known in parts of America as "applejack" or hard -cider. - -As a patriotic and observing Frenchman from the Midi told the writer: -"Nowhere else in France may one see so grand a succession of charms and -beauties, nowhere receive so live and varied impressions--the splendours -of the arts of other days surrounded by the wonders of modern -activities--as here in this beautiful stretch of the Seine through -Normandy." - -This is not fulsome praise, but enthusiasm merely, bred of intimate -acquaintance. - -One dreams of the time when Paris was but a tiny bourg: then Rouen was -already a great city, having all the prerogatives of a capital. Indeed, -capital she was, in effect, under the Romans, who made their way along -the Seine and established their country along the banks of the majestic -river. - -On a certain occasion it was a great question with the author of this -book as to whether a journey through the Seine valley in Normandy should -be made by means of the novel and speedy motor-boat, or some other small -water-craft, or by the better known motor-car. - -A covered wagon, too, was thought of, with two small horses and a gipsy -driver, but the thing had been done before, and it was not wholly with -equanimity that we contemplated jolting over the many miles of the rough -streets for which French towns are noted. - -For more reasons than one the motor-boat would not do. So the decision -ultimately came to the land automobile. - -This offered great possibilities for exploration, in a well-known land, -to be sure, but as an enthusiastic automobilist once said, it was vastly -more satisfactory to him to discover a new and picturesque route from -some Channel port to the south of France, than it would be to cleave a -new path through trackless Africa. - -The towns and places of historic interest or romantic beauty, if not of -the river itself, were on its banks or near them, and were properly -enough always considered in connection with the Seine. - -The itinerary of the Seine occupied the whole of one long, bright -summer, and when one adds to this the numerous excursions out of the -Seine valley proper into those of its watershed,--up the Eure to Anet, -the Ept to Gisors, or the Andelle to Lyons-le-Forêt or beyond,--one -rounds off a considerable number of miles or kilometres to one's credit, -besides accomplishing much more than could possibly be achieved were the -journey attempted by boat. - -We progressed beautifully for the greater part of the journey. -Occasionally, off the beaten track--while trying to discover that new -route across France, or rather across Normandy from one river valley to -another--we came upon a hill too stiff for us to surmount at the top -speed. There is one in the Forêt du Rouvray near Grand Couronne, and -another at La Thuit near Les Andelys; but in France such ungraded hills -are few and far between. Even the dreaded Côte de Gaillon, of -hill-climbing fame, paled before our machine, and we took it flying at -twenty kilometres an hour. - -Only one thing could have made our journey more delightful,--and that -unfortunately was not possible,--the possession of a sort of amphibious -automobile which, when occasion required, would take to water for a -space,--we did take to water on one occasion, but the circumstance is -too reminiscent of misery to recount here,--or to go one better, some -sort of a machine constructed by the ingenuity of man which should -travel by land, by water, or through the air; then bad stretches of -_pavé_ would truly be eliminated and all hills levelled. But this would -indeed be in the millennium, and this book deals only with facts. - -One enters the Seine from the sea at Havre by rounding a veritable -graveyard of rocks. When we entered Havre on this occasion--the artist, -the automobile, and the author, it was a dull, misty morning in May, and -the hour, 5 A. M. - -The cross-channel boat progressed slowly through the basin to its dock, -swung its length as slowly around, and finally tied up with its deck -some eight feet below the level of the wharf pavement. - -The process of disembarking an automobile under these conditions was -complicated. With true British conservatism of tradition, the captain, -his mate, quartermaster, and crew of engineers and stokers declared that -the automobile could not be landed "until the tide served,"--and it was -still going down. - -Meantime the patron of the local garage, having been advised of our -coming, was on the wharf thoroughly equipped to receive us. Accompanying -this thoughtful individual was a rubicund, genial-looking gentleman who -afterward proved to be the representative of the _Département des -Mines_, who had come from Rouen sometime during the still hours of the -night, to put us through our paces. Clambering the steeply pitched -gangplank, the author--who in this case was also the -chauffeur--interviewed the before-mentioned gentlemen, thinking -meanwhile that it was more or less astonishing that they should have put -in an appearance at such an early hour. - -It was suggested that a half-dozen stalwart Frenchmen could lift the -automobile and all its twelve hundredweight on their shoulders. It -seemed incredible, but it was worth trying--otherwise, four hours delay. -It was tried, to the contempt of the crew of the steamer, and to their -chagrin the feat was accomplished at a cost of three francs, which was -immediately expended in _calvados_ at the little _cabaret_ opposite. - -With the aid of the Automobile Club membership card, the custom-house -was passed without difficulty or delay. The tanks were filled with -naphtha, water, and oil, and forthwith the test was made--before the -rubicund gentleman from Rouen--upon the outcome of which our certificate -of fitness was to be granted or refused. - -There was nothing formidable about the process, though we came to grief, -or rather to a standstill, in the midst of a flock of sheep just around -the corner, and, in returning, stopped only within the proverbial hair's -breadth of a flock of geese who had flutteringly escaped from a near-by -market stall. - -All this seemed to demonstrate a high and efficient degree of ability, -and "_un certificat de capacité pour la conduite des voitures -automobiles à pétrole_" was given us forthwith, and long before the hour -of high water we were in full cry at the French legal limit for -traversing the streets and boulevards of a large and populous city such -as Havre. - -The bad effects of the exceedingly bad coffee, and equally unpalatable -"cottage loaf," purveyed to us at that early hour on board ship, had now -been dissipated in air, and another coffee and rolls taken at a café on -the tree-shaded Place Gambetta proved to be so appetizing that we -lingered on for _déjeuner_. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE SEINE BELOW ROUEN - - -Havre is one of those neglected tourist points through which travellers -frantically rush _en route_ to--well, almost anywhere you like, Paris, -Switzerland, or the Riviera. It is, accordingly, not so well known as it -might otherwise be, a distinction it shares with Boulogne and Calais. -Havre is a typical example of the "large modern city." It has not the -abounding wealth of historical association of Rouen. It is a city of new -houses and new streets, laid out after the geometric manner in favour in -America. But if the monuments of the past are rare, Havre is none the -less an attractive and gay city, and the inhabitants are justly proud of -their Rue de Paris and their Place Gambetta, which, truly, would dignify -the capital itself. But one's admiration never loses the key-note. The -chief joy of Havre is its gigantic port, which controls the fifth part -of the commerce of France. - -The great strength and value of the port of Havre is that, as it stands -to-day, it is modern. - -When Napoleon, in his prophetic words, linked the city with Paris and -Rouen, it had but twenty thousand souls. Fifty years later it had risen -to thirty thousand, and more recently, since the efforts of the -engineers Colbert and Vauban and the solicitations of statesmen have -provided it with a grand port of entry, it maintains a steadily rising -population above 130,000 souls, all practically dependent upon the -commerce of the city for their support. As French cities go, this is an -astonishing percentage of growth. - -Mounting the heights of Ingouville, one sees unrolled at his feet, in an -imposing panorama, the city of Havre to its uttermost confines, its -port, its ten docks, its wharfs, its suburbs, the immense estuary of the -Seine, Cape de la Hève, and the sea, with the white and brown sails of -the ships and fishing-boats, and the parti-coloured funnels and hulls of -big steamers. In thirty years the movement of ships in and out of the -port has swelled from 2,600,000 tons to more than six million. Of -passengers by sea, long voyages and short ones taken together, Havre, -within a single year, has embarked and disembarked a total of 550,000 -persons. Think of this, ye who suppose France an effete and untravelled -nation; and this is only the normal business of a city of 130,000 -inhabitants. - -[Illustration: _Cape de la Hève_] - -The expense of all this vast equipment was of course considerable. It -may convey nothing to many passers-by to know that Havre, in the last -ten years, has spent some forty-one millions of francs on these -improvements, whilst the Chamber of Commerce has been directly -responsible for perhaps twenty-five millions more, all of which ought to -be a sufficiently tangible and plausible endorsement that the work is -being well done. When the work is complete the port of Havre will rival -the greatest in the world in magnitude and convenience. The historical -remains of Havre may not equal those of many other of the important -cities of France, and the Rue de Paris and the café-bordered Place -Gambetta may be poor substitutes, but, nevertheless, Havre's past is -historic, though the ancient Havre de Grâce has disappeared entirely. - -It was here, in 1514, that Leroy, the commandant of Honfleur, carried -out the orders of François I. to "excavate and construct a port suitable -and convenient to receive, provide for, and equip large ships, not only -of our own kingdom, but of our allies." From this may be said to have -grown the present great port. The name of the city itself grew out of a -chapel founded a few years before by Louis XII. (1509). - -Primarily François I. may have desired to make it a great home-port, but -no less did he have in mind that here was a most suitable place to -assemble his fleet, which some day he would put forth against England. - -In 1545 he actually did get together nearly two hundred ships of all -sorts and conditions of fighting capacity for a descent upon England at -the Isle of Wight. The expedition was repulsed, and in return, in a few -years' time (1562), the port was occupied by an English garrison. - -Henri IV., the great Cardinal Richelieu, and Colbert were responsible in -no small measure for the great prosperity and strength which soon -settled down upon the city, though by the end of the seventeenth century -it dawned upon the English that here, at their very doors, was a -maritime rival which looked as though it were to outdistance all others -in the north of Europe. - -As a precautionary measure, presumably, the English fleet made an attack -upon the port, but they in their turn met as fierce a repulse as did the -French in England under François I. Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, in a vain -attempt to capture a French vessel close under the guns of the fortress, -was captured and held a prisoner by the French in the old citadel built -by Charles IX. It was here, too, by the way, that the crafty Mazarin -imprisoned the Princes of Condé, Conti, and the Duc de Longueville. It -is recorded, in the annals of the city, that in the year 1535 the -greater part of the newer portions were swept away and large numbers of -persons drowned, by an extraordinary tidal wave--the ancestor, perhaps, -of those which periodically ascend the Seine, to the joy of the tourist -and the incidental profit of the innkeepers at Caudebec. - -Large numbers of persons were drowned, mostly farmers who had gathered -in the town "_pour la populer_," as the chronicle gives it. - -In general, matters of artistic and archæological interest are wanting -in this city of commercialism, of great hotels, and the hum and echo of -the workaday world. - -The Art Museum, to be sure, has examples of the masterpieces of Poussin -and Carrache, and even a Rubens, a Murillo, and a Van Dyck, but, on the -other hand, the public monuments of the city are not artistic. - -Pilgrims to literary shrines should remember that Havre was the -birthplace of Bernardin St. Pierre, whose "Paul and Virginia" is as -immortal to the Frenchman as "Locksley Hall" to an Englishman. St. -Pierre's statue, by David d'Angers, as well as another of Casimir -Delavigne, stands before the Art Museum. Another monument on the cliff -above the city, to Lefevre Desnouettes, once and again comes into view -as one strolls about. It is one of the most atrocious monuments ever -erected to the memory of man. - -Havre is splendid and elegant in its way, but it is not picturesque, -except possibly in the low streets near the wharfs, frequented by -sailors, which have a cosmopolitanism reminiscent of Marseilles, itself -the most thoroughly cosmopolitan of all the ports of the world. - -Here are strange, perhaps dangerous, _cabarets_, _cafés-concerts_, and -questionable amusements of all sorts, where strange and uncouth customs -shoulder each other in a veritable babel of tongues; mulattos from the -Caribbean Sea, Maltese, Greeks, Lascars, Chinamen, and above all -Portuguese, with an occasional English or American sailor down on his -luck,--all are here. _Calvados_, and dirks, and sharp knives all play -their part, and clearly the quayside of Havre is no place after dark. - -From the heights of Ingouville, of Cape de la Hève, or of Graville, the -illuminated effect of the city at night is wonderfully soft, -picturesque, and beautiful, the houses of all ranks twinkling with -lights, the streets and wharves luminous with orbs of electricity and -the reds, greens, and whites of the semaphore, the ships beyond flashing -out to each other signals and commands inexplicable to a landsman,--all -blend wonderfully into what the great Whistler would have called a -nocturne. - -Once and again one will hear the infinitely sad wail of a siren whistle -on some vessel outward or inward bound, which will suggest the -mutability of all things, and the strain and stress under which we live. - -But on the whole, a midnight reverie on the heights above the old Havre -de Grâce should awaken as pleasant emotions as the same view in broad -day--perhaps more so. - -The Seine, at its mouth, has as many whims as a stricken hare. Its -channel turns about on itself in truly bewildering fashion, and what was -this year deep water and a fairway, next year becomes, perhaps, dry -land, or at least damp sand or swamp. In 1886 the channel followed -somewhat the shore of the north bank from Tancarville to the sea, but by -1889 it had shifted to the south bank, and two years later seemed likely -to engulf the ancient town of Honfleur, which was prosperous in the -fifteenth century, before Havre was even thought of. Indeed its harbour -is now so silted up that most of its commercial prosperity, though not -its picturesqueness, has disappeared. - -It is written in the books of travellers with tourist tickets that they -may journey Paris-ward from Havre by Rouen either by boat or rail during -the summer months. Many avail themselves of the alternative water route, -and many do not. Those who do not miss a unique trip which is well worth -the extra hours _en route_, though there is no very grand scenery until -one comes well up with suburban Rouen, at, say, Molineux-La Bouille. - -From the harbour at Havre runs the Tancarville Canal, which is a smooth, -straight waterway which enables craft proceeding up river to avoid the -shifting sands of the estuary and, at certain seasons of the year, to -escape the tidal wave or _mascaret_. - -As a waterway of the rank of the deep-sea canals of Holland, the -Tancarville Canal looks, at first glance, wofully inefficient; but its -almost constant use precludes any doubt as to its value. - -It runs straight as the crow flies from Havre to Harfleur, and thence to -Tancarville itself, where it joins the Seine, through the first lock, at -the twenty-third kilometre mark from Havre. - -The section of the Seine between Havre and Rouen forms what is known -officially as the "Ninth Section," though the application is properly -given as one descends the stream, the section above, from Rouen to the -mouth of the Oise, being known as the "Eighth Section." - -From the five hundred and sixty-third kilometre mark, at Havre, counting -from Méry in the Department of the Aube, near Troyes, to Rouen, is 125 -kilometres. - -Up to the latter point, the rules of navigation as known upon the deep -seas are applicable, and those which apply to the navigation of rivers, -canals, lakes, and ponds of fresh water cease to apply. - -The law on this subject is very explicit, and was promulgated in 1890, -because of the lack of uniformity existing in the laws relating to -navigation on French waterways. On the Seine the actual line of -delimitation is at the curious, though not ungainly, Bridge du -Transbordeur at Rouen. - -The entire ninth section of the Seine is officially recognized as -navigable for the whole of its 338 kilometres from Havre to the -confluence of the Oise, its most important tributary below Paris. - -Below Paris freight is carried largely by towboats. But there are some -steam-carriers of curious design and build with a pair of twin -stern-wheels revolving like a squirrel-cage, the pilot or helmsman -perched upon a little platform between. These quaint craft carry from -150 to 280 tons of package freight, the _péniches_ from 200 to 400 tons, -and the barges perhaps as much as 650 tons. Recent improvements in -dredging have given a depth of water which has of late allowed the -development and use of a new type of steamer. - -The steam-coasters carry a maximum of 750 tons at sea, from Havre to St. -Brieuc or Morlaix, or to Dunkerque, and five hundred tons in the river. - -[Illustration: _Towboats on the Seine_] - -Another sort of large barge has a carrying capacity of one thousand -tons, on a significantly shallow draught, and finally, there are the -steam-coasters, already mentioned, making the service between Paris and -London, which are in reality ocean-going steamers, in spite of their -collapsible masts and funnels. - -Opposite Havre and connected by frequent boat journeys during the day is -the most ancient port of Honfleur. One frequently enough reaches it via -Havre, but, properly speaking, it belongs to that little group of -coastwise cities and towns which stretches from the mouth of the Seine -to the Cotentin. - -Just above Havre on the Seine is the florid spire of the noble church of -Harfleur,--not to be confounded with the now dormant port of Honfleur on -the opposite bank,--one of the most imposingly placed spires in -Normandy, if not in France. - -Harfleur was besieged in 1415 by Henry V. of England, and fell after -forty days, when sixteen hundred families were transported to England, -"without having any belongings except the clothes they stood in and five -_sols_ each." - -The superb spire of St. Martin's Church dates from the fifteenth century -and dominates the fifteenth and sixteenth-century houses at its base -quite like an angel guardian. The sixteenth-century château of the Comte -de Labédoyère is an imposing edifice in the style of Louis XIII. - -To-day this old seaport of Harfleur--which, like Honfleur across the -estuary, has lost its former pride and glory--is scarcely more than a -suburb of Havre, a half-dozen kilometres distant. - -On an isolated cliff on the Seine above Harfleur, one sees the two great -towers of the Château of Tancarville. This fortress-château was first -built in the eleventh or twelfth century, on the plan of a triangle, -having at each of its angles a great tower, and, on the intervening -walls on each side, intermediate towers to the number of seven. - -Within the walls was the castle of the seigneurs of Tancarville, of -which more or less fragmentary ruins still remain. - -On the terrace masking the ruins is the new château, a cold, modern -edifice which no one could possibly be in love with, but for the -admirably imposing outlook from its windows. - -Lillebonne, on the Seine midway between Rouen and Havre, is known to -have the remains of one of the most northerly--if not the most -northerly--Roman amphitheatre extant. - -Supposedly this little Seine-side town was named for the great Roman and -bore the name Juliabona, from which was derived its present -nomenclature. - -Numerous Roman antiques have been discovered here from time to -time,--most of which are to be seen in the museum at Rouen,--which marks -it as having been a city of importance, indeed only such ever had a -great open-air theatre such as is indicated by the remains visible at -Lillebonne to-day. - -Lillebonne was also the capital of the Province of Caux, but fell into -decadence after the invasions. The Norman William resuscitated the place -and made it a strong fortification. Remains of his château, also -restored in the thirteenth century by the Comtes d'Harcourt, who in turn -possessed the town, are yet to be seen. For the most part the edifice is -in fragments, but enough remains of the old walls,--now forming a -terrace,--a crenelated low tower, a hexagonal tower, and a cylindrical -donjon--with walls a dozen feet in thickness--to suggest that the town's -former importance under the Norman dukes was quite the equal of that of -its Roman days. - -Lillebonne has also a most interesting mediæval church, dating from the -fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. - -At last one reaches Caudebec-en-Caux, a picturesque old town, with a -most magnificent parish church and a little tree-bordered quay which is -charming. But in season all is spoiled by the general attitude of lying -in wait for unwary trippers and excursionists from London, which seems -to have set its mark upon the inhabitants of this otherwise delightful -stopping-place. - -[Illustration: _Quay of Caudebec-en-Caux_] - -That great wonder of nature, the _mascaret_, is the great -drawing-card of Caudebec, even more than the artistic pretensions of its -flamboyant fifteenth-century church, with its wonderful spire, the old -houses of the town, its famous market, and the quaint costumes of the -Cauchoise women. - -The great wave comes suddenly, as if the flood-gates were let loose, to -a height of two or three metres above the normal surface of the water, -and during May or June, when the _mascaret_ is at its best, it is the -chief magnet of attraction to scores of travellers who have timed their -itineraries so as to witness this freak of nature. - -The market-place of Caudebec is most delightfully situated, extending -from the base of the old church to the tree-bordered quays, where also -are the town's two chief hotels, with delightful little balconies, on -which one may dine and watch the throng below and the water-borne -traffic of the Seine. - -The banks of the Seine itself at Caudebec begin to rise and narrow, and -the generally flat lowland aspect takes on more of the nature of wooded -hills, with an occasional château or church peeping out from among the -trees. - -Next above Caudebec is one of the most celebrated abbeys in the north of -France, St. Wandrille's. It keeps company, or rather its ruin does, -with those other grand remains of Jumièges and St. Georges de -Boscherville, all of which lie within a twenty-mile square plot of -ground on the two peninsulas made by the windings of the Seine just -north of Rouen. - -The cloister of St. Wandrille, which, in ruins, may yet be seen, was one -of the most beautiful of the middle ages. - -The founder of the abbey, in 648, was St. Wandrille, a disciple of St. -Columba and a member of one of the most distinguished families of -Austrasia. St. Wandrille exercised the most important functions at the -court of Pepin, but subsequently retired to the monastery of Montfauçon -in Champagne, ultimately to come to Normandy, where he founded the -monastery of Fontenelle, or St. Wandrille, as it afterward became known. - -In a little time the establishment came to a flourishing prosperity, -with over three hundred monks. - -St. Wandrille evangelized the entire Province de Caux and sent out many -colonies of monks to carry on the work. - -From the Abbey of Fontenelle came St. Lambert, Bishop of Lyons, St. -Ansbart, the Bishop of Rouen, St. Gennade, and St. Agathon. In all, -forty personages coming from the abbey were subsequently honoured in the -French calendar by the title of saint. - -The structure itself, splendid and magnificent, and its church, above -all, was only to be compared to the gems of its era. - -Nothing, or nearly nothing, remains of all this splendour to-day; some -fragmentary piers and arches, or a bit of wall set shrine-like in the -midst of the wooded valley on the right bank of the Seine, tell the -story, but they tell it well. - -There is a record of an old _bénitier_ or holy-water font here which had -engraven upon its rim the following admonition: - -"He who takes the holy water without having immersed the hand, does a -thing dishonest, and must demand a pardon from his God." - -It does not exist to-day, but the precept seems to be one which might -find a useful place in twentieth-century churches. - -Just above St. Wandrille is Duclair, a market-town of mean enough -pretensions as to population except on market-days. On those occasions -its principal streets and tiny place are encumbered with many varieties -of live stock, from sucking pigs to crowing hens. For an automobile to -pass through its restricted streets and not decapitate something (a -fowl costs two francs, a duck five, and so on) would be a feat of skill -indeed. - -The town has no great artistic attractions, though its church is a queer -composition of Norman fourteenth-century and Renaissance attributes. -Beneath the steeple are also some ancient Gallo-Romain columns with -sculptured capitals. - -In the peninsula lying to the south of Duclair, where the river turns -into one of those wonderful serpent-like bends, such as one used to see -on the cashmere shawls of our grandmothers, are the remains of the -ancient Abbey of Jumièges. Its two sombre towers, square at the base, -but dwindling to an octagon, enflank an enormous shell, now dismantled -and all but dismembered. - -Jumièges was the most ancient monastery in Normandy. It was founded in -the seventh century by St. Philibert, and had at one time nine hundred -monks. - -It endured for many centuries rich, powerful, and renowned; its abbots -were beatified and many of them made bishops and archbishops. The Dukes -of Normandy and the Kings of England and of France had the right to -lodge there when passing in its neighbourhood. - -[Illustration: _Jumièges_] - -The abbey declined with the reformatory ideas which went abroad through -the Calvinists, who pillaged it of its riches. - -Afterward a few monks were sheltered there, but these, too, were -dispersed when the fabric finally suffered demolition during the -Revolution. - -[Illustration] - -The remains, with the fine surrounding gardens, are now the property of -a Madame Lepel-Cointet, who herself inhabits one of the dependencies of -the ancient monastery. - -Lovers of French history will do well to recall the fact that Charles -VII., and that paragon Agnes Sorel, frequently lodged here. It was at -Jumièges, on the ninth of February, 1450, that the "_gentille Agnes_," -the beautiful mistress of Charles VII., died, some say of poison. She -had the good fortune to merit far more approbation than most of the -royal mistresses of France, and whether one pauses before the shrine of -her birthplace at Fromenteau near Bourges, her tomb at Loches, or at -Jumièges, their memories will unconsciously echo the following lines: - - "Gentille Agnès, plus de loz tu mérites, - Ta cause étant de France recouvrer, - Que n'en pourrait dedans un cloistre ouvrer - Close nonain, on bien dévot hermite." - -The "_gentille Agnes_" had a manor-house in the neighbourhood, but died -within the walls of the monastery itself in 1450, to the monks of which -she bequeathed her heart. - -In the Art Museum is still to be seen the stone which originally covered -this relic, as well as the stone tomb of Nicolas Léroux, the fifty-ninth -abbé, one of the judges of Jeanne d'Arc. - -From the country round about are exported considerable quantities of -early summer fruits and vegetables to England, the soil and the climate -of the Seine country being particularly suitable to the early -advancement of garden-crops. - -Before one finally draws up on Rouen and its down-river suburbs there is -still another ecclesiastical monument, St. Georges de Boscherville,--the -third great church of other times still remaining to tell its story. -St. Georges de Boscherville was more fortunate than Jumièges or St. -Wandrille as to its enduring qualities. Its abbey church is to-day one -of those marvels which one continually comes across in the -out-of-the-way places of France; admirably preserved, of wonderfully -excellent design, and immense in size--as compared with the functions -which it performs to-day. It is one of the architectural wonders of a -region distinctly prolific in treasures of the kind. Its strong, -Norman-arched nave and walls, its chapter-house, its portal, in fact the -whole structure, is of that long-lived Romanesque-Norman variety of -building which gave its name and style to the far-heralded Norman -architecture. It is a monument to the genius of one man: its builder, -Raoul de Tancarville, the chamberlain of William the Conqueror. He posed -the crowning stone of the edifice in 1066, the year of the Norman -invasion of England, in the domain of Boscherville, of which he was -governor. - -The abbey was first devoted to the canons regular of St. Augustin, but -in 1114 it was occupied by monks of the order of St. Benoit. - -St. Georges de Boscherville is a grand church edifice, with a -chapter-house. It could easily hold five thousand people, whereas the -present population of the parish cannot be over a couple of hundred -souls. - -It is commonly accredited as one of the best preserved examples of -Norman religious architecture extant. Over its doorway one may yet read -this inscription to its founder. - - "A la pieuse munificence de Raoul de Tancarville, - grand chambellan de Guillaume II. le Conquérant, - duc de Normandie." - -Toward Rouen the Seine describes a triple bend, its contours enveloped -with high, wooded plateaus, of which the Roumare, Londe, and Rouvray -forests are most charming, and are to the Norman capital what -Fontainebleau and Rambouillet are to Paris. - -Thickly set for many miles along the river-bank are villages and towns -blending industrial and country pursuits in inextricable fashion, with -here and there the luxurious villa of a wealthy manufacturer of Rouen -peeping out from among the sheltering trees. - -The Seine, both above and below Rouen, makes a series of snakelike -curves which encircle a half-dozen or more forest-grown peninsulas, -which appeal particularly to one who, judging only from the appearance -of the dunes of the seacoast or the faintly outlined, tree-bordered -roads which run tangently in various directions, had made up his mind -that France is a barren, treeless land. - -Back of St. Sauveur, but within full sight of a person standing on the -water-front at Rouen, are the oak-clad hills which form the forest of -Rouvray. The next peninsula contains the forest of Londe; and, across -the river, on the same side with Rouen itself, is the forest peninsula -of Roumare, which has for a neighbour another thumblike neck of land, on -which is the forest of Jumièges and the ruins of its ancient abbey. - -These taken together form the down-river environs of Rouen. The panorama -along the banks of the Seine is a great treasure-house of natural -beauties and historical relics. - -There is a great deal of smoke near Rouen, but the chimneys from which -it belches forth are, nevertheless, picturesque. Farther down the river -are the busy manufacturing and ship-building towns of Petit and Grand -Quévilly; while on the Rouen side at this point are a series of -picturesque hamlets along the riverside road which extends for a score -of miles around the flank of the peninsula to Duclair. - -The foliage along the river-banks here, except for the high-grown -forests behind, is much the same as elsewhere,--slim, light larches, -with here and there a clump of low-lying willows and an undergrowth -which runs to the water's edge. - -At Bouille-Molineux, the terminus of the ferry-boats from Rouen, is the -famous monument to the French combatants who perished here in 1871; -which reminds one of the bronze and marble effigies with which the -Germans have decorated the Rhine. Here also is the suggestively named -_Maison Brulée_, famed for its fried eels, which are really a delicacy -as they are served in France. - -The chief and only attraction of Petit Couronne is the home of -Corneille, surely a literary shrine of the first rank, although -frequently neglected by the tourist birds of passage who flock to the -continent of Europe in summer. Why this should be so is inexplicable. It -is scarce five miles from the Norman capital, and a plea is here made to -hero-worshippers and lovers of literary landmarks for a better -acquaintance. - -The house dates from 1554, and was bought by the poet's father in 1608, -from whom Pierre inherited it in 1639. Two years after the poet's death, -in 1686, it was sold for 5,100 livres. The Department of the Lower -Seine bought it in 1874 and transformed it into the _Musée Corneillen_, -an art museum devoted to Corneille. - -Within are many personal relics of the poet and a vast collection of -contemporary works of art. Among the chief are a bust of Corneille after -that in the Comédie-Française, some Louis XIII. chairs, portraits of the -poet by Lebrun and Mignard, an engraving of Meissonier's portrait -retouched by himself, a statue by David d'Angers, and a manuscript -letter bearing the signature "P. Corneille." - -The construction of the building is ingenious and peculiar. It is of the -old timbered style, now grown so scarce, with an elaborately roofed -garret. - -The care with which such monuments are preserved is expressive of the -fondness of the French for the memories of their great men; and, though -it was wholly through local pride that the _Musée Corneillen_ was -established, it may well be considered a monument of national interest. - -Petit Quévilly has a few memorials of other days which are perhaps of -interest to the archæologist, if not to the general tourist: a chapel -dedicated to St. Julien dating from the twelfth and thirteenth -centuries, the somewhat scanty fragments of a hospital for lepers, -founded in 1183 by Henry II. of England, some ruins of an ancient -cloister, and an old Carthusian convent of the seventeenth century, -which has since been turned into a factory. - -Grand Quévilly still preserves the Château of Montmorency, built in the -eighteenth century, when ornamental domestic architecture fell far below -the height it had reached two centuries before. The château is -beautifully situated in the midst of a fine park. Here, too, is the farm -of Grand Aulnay, belonging to the hospital at Rouen, a gift to the old -foundation by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1197. - -By this time the traveller up the Seine is well in sight and sound of -Rouen's chimney-stacks, and the roaring traffic of its quays and -streets. - -At Croisset, on the banks of the Seine three kilometres below Rouen, is -a literary shrine which is little known. It is the home of Gustave -Flaubert. Maupassant, De Goncourt, Daudet, and Zola frequently met there -for luncheon with the author of "Madame Bovary." - -When Flaubert died the house was for a long time deserted; but a -committee has recently been formed to preserve its associations, as was -done for the home of Corneille at Grand Couronne, on the opposite bank -of the river. - -"Truly a fair estate, here beside this great river up and down which the -masts of ships pass before one, ..." wrote Edmond de Goncourt in 1830. - -It was an appropriate home for a man of letters; for in the eighteenth -century it housed a colony of Benedictines, and is destined to become -one of those haunts of literary people, of which there are so many -throughout France. All who go to Rouen should make a pilgrimage to the -home of Flaubert. - -No one who knows Rouen, the city of the Northmen, the Conqueror, and of -Jeanne d'Arc, will for a moment contest its right to be ranked as one of -the liveliest, if not one of the biggest seaports of the world. One -marvels at the size and number of deep-sea ships at its wharfs. Here you -will see colliers from Sunderland and Wales, of great depth and beam; -lumber ships from Norway, of equally sturdy girth; and occasionally a -full-rigged ship which has been towed up from Havre, where perhaps it -has unloaded a part of its South Sea cargo. Across the _Pont Corneille_, -just off the quay which separates the _Grand Cours_ from the river, is -the harbour of the great canal-boats which carry coal from Newcastle and -Sunderland to Paris and the upper Seine, the Eure, and their branches, -between the city of great churches and the metropolis of Paris. They are -huge craft, built as if they were expected to cross the ocean. There are -none as large as they, except their sister ships of Holland which ply on -the lower reaches of the Maas and Neder Rijn or the great trunk-line -canals. All other barges, canal-boats, and lighters pale before the -splendour and magnitude of these great coal-carrying craft, which form a -fleet of a hundred or more at a time tied up in their harbour in Rouen. - -Besides these, there are the local _bateaux mouches_, which ply up and -down to near-by suburbs, much as they do in Paris, as well as a more -splendid craft which carries passengers on alternate days from Rouen to -Havre. Last, but not least, the spider-like _Pont Transbordeur_ is -visible from every direction as evidence of progress. - -Rouen, moreover, is about the only city of France which has its -water-front flanked by first-class cafés. From the _Pont Corneille_, -down-stream to the _Pont Transbordeur_, is one long succession of wicker -chairs and marble-topped tables, where on a summer's afternoon there is -as much gaiety and splendour of life to be seen as on the most crowded -of the boulevards of Paris. - -[Illustration: _A Rouen Café_] - -There is this distinction, however. Instead of the tables being crowded -with _boulevardiers_ and their female companions of more or less vulgar -raiment, they are occupied by substantial merchants and men of affairs, -officers of the army, and, on Sundays and holidays, by many of their -families, to say nothing of the numerous tourists both English and -American. - -All of this is in strong contrast to the workaday aspect of the ships -which lie along the wharfs, and the long trucks and drays of wine-casks -which form their cargo. - -The Douane, the Bourse, the Grande Poste, and the Cours Boïeldieu, with -its most excellent bronze statue of the composer, all combine to give an -air of great prosperity to all Rouen. - -The tourist in general, as well as the antiquarian and the artist, often -overlook these components which make for the well-being of a great -centre of population. But they are of vital interest to the genuine -travel-lover, and indicate in an unmistakable way the real social and -economic aspects of its life. - -A capital city Rouen always was. May she continue to flourish as one of -the artistic capitals of France, if not of Europe. She is truly the city -of the best Gothic art. Nowhere else, indeed, can one see so complete an -exposition of the development of this architectural style as in Rouen, -with its three great and famous churches, its half-dozen half-demolished -and desecrated ones, its court-house, and old-time buildings. - -Again the art of the Renaissance is here seen in its very best domestic -application, in the old timbered and stone shop fronts and houses, in -the Hôtel Bourgtheroulde, or the Tour de la Grosse Horloge, and the -Porte Guillaume Lion, almost unknown to the hurried traveller. - -The magnitude of the harbour of Rouen and of Quévilly as a ship-building -centre is comparatively unknown to most strangers. - -The real port of Rouen, that part of the Seine flanked by imposing -warehouses and luxurious quays, shows more plainly than in any other -inland town or city of France the spectacle of modern activity which -comes from commercial association with the cities of other lands. It was -built at a great expense; and to-day allows access to ships drawing as -much as twenty-four feet of water and of a burden of six thousand tons. -The shipping of the port amounts to over two million tons a year. - -From Havre to Rouen the depth of the Seine varies from 6.0 to 7.5 metres -and it is unobstructed by locks or bridges. - -Just above the entrance to the Tancarville Canal, where rises the -Aiguille de Pierre Gant, and less loftily the ruined towers of the -thirteenth-century Château of Tancarville, is a bend in the river which -offered the guardians of the safety thereof an opportunity to install a -wonderful lighthouse, which at night is weirdly kaleidoscopic in its -functions, to say the least. Here it is that salt-water navigation -practically ends, and the coast pilot turns over his great cargo -steamer, bound perhaps from Norway, America, or the Antipodes, to Rouen, -to the tenderer mercies of the river pilot. The pilot station is at -Quillebeuf, a quaint old town on the left bank. Quillebeuf is the port -of the lower Seine; but, though its active history goes back to the -thirteenth century, and it was one time known as Henricopolis, because -it was one of the first cities of Normandy to acknowledge the French -king, there is little of interest in its streets and quays except for -the painter of long-shore marines. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE SEINE FROM ROUEN TO PONT DE L'ARCHE - - -Rouen is truly celebrated for its art; but above all it interests the -tourist by reason of the multiplicity and accessibility of its sights. - -One can well call it to mind by these lines of Victor Hugo's: - - "Rouen, la ville aux vieilles rues, - Aux vieilles tours, débris des races disparues, - La ville aux cent clochers carillonnant dans l'air, - Le Rouen des châteaux, des hôtels, des bastiles - Dont le front hérissé de flèches et d'aiguilles - Déchire incessamment les brûmes de la mer." - -All the city's monumental glories cannot be described here. The most -that is attempted is the record of various rambles here and there in -nooks and corners often not covered by the general traveller; -practically leaving Rouen's magnificent cathedral, its great churches -and their appointments, its architectural monuments such as the Palais -de Justice, to the guide-books of convention. - -Time was, though difficult of belief now, when Rouen was called by an -eighteenth-century traveller "an ugly, stinking, close, and ill-built -town." To-day no provincial city of France is more visited by tourists -of every degree of wealth than the ancient Norman capital, and certainly -none is more liked. - -Its general aspect is that of a city of modern appointments and ancient -architectural treasures, and its municipal governors are keenly alive to -all that makes for the betterment of life within the city limits. - -In spite of all this, some of its back streets and alleys are badly -cared for, even to-day; and the condition of nodding, leaning, old -timbered houses which artists love, does not by any means tend to purify -the atmosphere. - -There are some things in regard to which the French are still behind the -times. Their streets are not in the immaculate condition of cleanliness -in which they ought to be. There is always some sort of municipal -scavengering, but often this does not reach to the far corners, and -often individual effort itself, in the poorer quarters, does not go -beyond sweeping refuse into the gutter or some byway. This is perhaps no -more true of Rouen than of Amiens, of Lyons, or of Marseilles; but, -nevertheless, there is a great opportunity for a new effort with -respect to some of the older quarters, such as the streets running -immediately back of the Church of St. Maclou. - -That "Rouen is dearer than Paris" is a saying which has come to us from -a century-old traveller; and there is certainly some truth in it. - -The history of Rouen's bridges is most interesting. To-day there are but -three, and only two of them are of the conventional order. The -celebrated _Pont Transbordeur_, while being essentially practical, is a -weird exotic, not entitled to be classed with those masterpieces in -stone built throughout France in the middle ages, many of which exist -even to-day. - -The first bridge at Rouen was probably not built before the year 1000, -and the first document which makes mention of any bridge here is an -_acte de donation_ of Richard II. in favour of the Abbey of Jumièges, -dated at Fécamp in 1024. Therein was conceded to the monks at Jumièges, -the right to fish _from Pont de l'Arche up to the Pont de Rouen_. At -this time the _Pont de Rouen_ was a stone structure. A bridge of boats -replaced this early stone bridge, and was considered one of the marvels -of its time. - -The monks, it seems, were always endowed with certain talents for -bridge-building; and like the brothers of the bridge of St. Bénézet's -day at Avignon, took a certain guardianship over travellers by road who -were obliged to make use of these conveniences. The monks established -shelters near the bridges, or even on them in some instances, as in the -case of the establishment kept up by "_Les Frères du Pont_" at Avignon. - -It was an Augustinian monk, Père Nicolas, who had furnished the plans -for this bridge of boats at Rouen. In 1630 it was begun, but five years -later it was, in part, carried away by a flood, which misfortune induced -the authorities to rebuild it with improvements, permitting certain -sections to be opened to allow the passage of floating ice. However, it -met with disaster again and again,--in 1669, in 1741, 1777, and 1799. -To-day, besides the _Pont Transbordeur_, Rouen's bridges are the _Pont -Corneille_, named for the great dramatist, and the _Pont Boïeldieu_, -named for his brother in arts--this time for a great music master. - -Above the Ile Brouilly, the Western Railroad crosses the Seine on an -iron structure held aloft on stone piers. The newest of Rouen's bridges -is the unique and essentially practical _Pont Transbordeur_, opposite -the Boulevard Cauchoise, not a wholly beautiful structure, though -certainly a marvel of interest to the stranger. - -It belongs to the workaday world of docks and shipping, and is nothing -but a mass of wire rope and suspended car, or cradle, like that of a -travelling crane; but it was economical to build, and is equally so to -run, and it serves the purposes of those whose business takes them among -the shipping of the really great port of Rouen. - -At any rate this marvel is no less beautiful than the Tower Bridge on -London's river, which serves the same purpose. - -After all, the standard of beauty by which one judges the things of this -world is a variable one, and the same person may decry the ugliness of -the _Pont Transbordeur_ at Rouen, and yet think a full-rigged ship -beautiful. As a matter of fact they are each a collection of struts and -ties, and each is best adapted to the end in view; so the standard of -judgment becomes a more or less artificial one, based simply on what we -have been accustomed to see. - -Not every visitor to Rouen searches out the delightful Hôtel -Bourgtheroulde, one of the most brilliant Renaissance domestic -establishments yet enduring in Normandy. It was built at great expense -in the earliest years of the sixteenth century by Messire Guillaume -Leroux, the seigneur of Bourgtheroulde. The exterior to-day shows little -of luxury, but its interior court has the finely preserved decoration of -other days, still left for us to marvel at. A series of bas-reliefs -representing the triumphs of Petrarch and the famous interview of the -"Field of the Cloth of Gold" are the chief of these admirable works of -art. - -In the desire to absorb all of the momentous historical attractions of -Rouen one is apt to overlook a certain literary shrine, hidden away -behind the old market. - -In the Rue Pierre Corneille is the house where the father of the two -poets by the name of Corneille lived. One reads upon a tablet placed -upon the house: - - "Ici étaient la maison - où sont nés les deux Corneilles - Pierre le 6 juin 1606, Thomas le 24 Août 1625." - -One of Rouen's great attractions for many is Notre Dame de Bon Secours. -As a place of pious pilgrimage its virtues may be all that are claimed -for it, but as an artistic religious expression of an artistic and -devout people it is about as low and vulgar a one as it is possible to -see. No pagan ever erected a temple so hideous; and the church itself is -set about by a burial-ground wherein are as offensive, ill-assorted a -lot of tombstones as ever spoiled one of nature's masterpieces. It is a -masterpiece of landscape,--the winding Seine, the busy city of Rouen -with its church towers and its bridges, and the forests of Rouvray, La -Londe, and Roumare. - -In addition there are curio shops for the sale of "_objets du vertu et -du piété_," the quality of which would be a disgrace to a fifth-rate -watering-place. - -A huge bell, too great to be hung in the tower of the modern Gothic -Church of Our Lady, protrudes into the foreground surrounded by a clumsy -iron cage. A placard requests the public not to throw pieces of stone at -the bell, though why this should be necessary it is hard to say. - -Another sort of a pagan temple, in triplicate, is supposed to -commemorate the memory of Jeanne d'Arc; but it fails utterly to attract, -and is merely to be counted as another of the side-shows of this -splendid natural landscape, now utterly spoiled. - -The simple marble square in Rouen's old market-place, which presents -only the plain statement that "on this spot, tied to the stake, was -burned alive Jeanne d'Arc," etc., is much more satisfactory. - -An old-time traveller has said: "The first view of Rouen is sudden and -striking." He had come by road from Gisors. "The road again doubled in -order to turn more gently down the hill, and presents the finest view of -a town I have ever seen. The city, with all its churches and convents, -and its cathedral proudly rising in the midst, fills the whole vale." - -The scene from the height of Bon Secours, where the great national -highway from Paris drops down on Rouen, is in no way different to-day, -and indeed it is doubtful if there be a finer view of a town in all the -world than that same prospect. - -What is the finest view in the world will, doubtless, always be a -question for dispute; but those who have seen wide-spread Rouen, from -the road which winds around to the back of Bon Secours,--not from the -plateau or terrace of the church, or the Jeanne d'Arc monument,--have -often reversed their previous judgments. - -[Illustration: _Rouen from Bon Secours_] - -It is indescribable, unpaintable, impossible to photograph in all its -glories; so one must see it for himself to really know it. The -spectacle is so magnificent that it seems unreal and fairylike,--the -great city and its faubourgs, with its apparently innumerable church -spires, chimney-stacks, and roof-tops, and the broad, brilliant Seine, -busy with its puffing tugs, great six-thousand-ton steamers, and an -occasional four-masted ship, flowing through its midst. - -Rouen is so admirably supplied with tramways and steamboats, that a week -might well be spent in exploring its suburbs by any one who has the time -and inclination. - -Ossel, practically a suburb of Rouen, as one goes Paris-ward, has the -look of an important manufacturing town; and so it really is, although -it has one architectural treasure in the manor-house of Chapelle, dating -from the sixteenth century. In its enclosure is a curious Renaissance -work in the form of a pyramid held aloft by four columns, beneath which -is sheltered an ancient well. - -There are numberless small towns and villages throughout the length of -the Seine which are nameless to the majority of summer travellers to -Normandy. Caudebec they know, but Elbeuf, Pont de l'Arche, Les Andelys, -St. Pierre de Vouvray, Bonniers, Giverny, and La Roche-Guy on are -unknown ground to most of them. - -Just above Rouen are innumerable riverside villages, many of which have -their chief source of income from catering to those who like to dine _al -fresco_ in the country, in a garden overlooking the Seine. - -These resorts are more or less of the country-fair or rural holiday -order, to be sure; but hidden away here and there in snug little nooks -are innumerable delightful gardens and many hundreds of arbours and -groves where one may eat a meal in the open air, or while away a sleepy -afternoon. And this is precisely just what does take place, not only -throughout the length of the winding Seine, but on every other waterway -in France. - -There is no limit to the self-respecting capacity for enjoyment of those -who fill these riverside resorts on Sundays and holidays. There is no -drunkenness, no maudlin riot, no blasphemy, and apparently no satiety. - -The games which amuse the French middle class on such occasions may, to -Anglo-Saxons, seem absurdly childish; but no one will deny that the very -simplicity of them is wholesome, and far less detrimental to -self-respect than the faro and three-card monte games which are usually -set forth under like conditions elsewhere. Grown men, sane fathers, and -portly matrons join with the younger folk at such juvenile sports as -swings, tilting-boards, "Aunt Sally," and ninepins, not forgetting the -ever-present ring and cane games. - -In contrast to this are the more luxurious, if less moral, resorts of -the wealthy class; or, at least, of that class which keeps more money in -circulation. - -The dwellers in the Seine valley, like those along the countless other -streams of France, are great fishermen; not so much for the sport or the -quarry it may provide, nor for sociability, since the fisherman's art is -the least sociable of sports, as, it would seem, for the purpose of -meditation. There is good fishing in the Seine, as all who partake -thereof well know. From the Paris bridges and quays down the river to -Rouen are many famous fishing-grounds. - -Here it is that you see the true fisherman in all his glory. He sits -beneath his big hat, or under an umbrella if the sun shines strongly, in -a low-backed chair in a punt, and patiently holds his rod or line from -early morn to late at night. - -[Illustration: SOME SEINE SKETCHES] - -When he lays down his line for a time the French fisherman begins to -think of eating and drinking. None of your ordinary picnic lunches -either, of cold ham and hard boiled eggs; but most likely a cold fowl, -washed down with good wine; and he prefers cold coffee to weak tea as an -afterthought. This if he is not within hail of a waterside inn, in which -case he will find provided a variety and a quantity of well-prepared -food to suit both his taste and his appetite. - -One has heard of chapels in rocks before now. Indeed, if memory serves -truly, there are several in various parts of Europe that are remarkable -not only for the manner of building, but often for local tradition and -legend as well. There is nothing remarkable about the rock-hewn, -cliff-cut Chapel of St. Adrien, near Rouen, to give it any great -distinction, except its manner of building; and in this respect it is -far more interesting than many already more famous. There is no pretence -at architectural splendour, and the size of the edifice precludes the -possibility of any vast utility. Still there is something more than a -mere curio-value to this little chapel cut in the limestone cliff above -the Seine, and as an ecclesiastical monument of note it is far more -worthy than the pilgrim shrine at Bon Secours. - -The cafés and open-air restaurants at its feet somewhat savour of the -frivolous. But what would you? They are there simply because it is a -beautiful spot accessible to the busy city of Rouen; and are withal -orderly and well-conducted, well-patronized places. Between Pont de -l'Arche and Rouen is Elbeuf, perhaps as famous to-day for its -cloth-manufactories as for its storied past. This, however, will not -interest the seeker of historic shrines, nor will the miles of execrable -pavement and the tram-tracks which line its five kilometres of main -street please automobilists. These detractions account for the absence -of the tourist from the busy but picturesque town of Elbeuf. Nor is -there much to admire here except its curious, conglomerate old church -and the general picturesqueness of its surroundings, heightened even by -the commonplaceness of the busy little industrial city itself. The tall -chimneys of its cloth-factories, and the streamers of black smoke -continually belching therefrom, soften and tone down the tints of sky -and landscape in the real symphonic fashion set by Whistler. - -The streams which ripple through the town are all shades of the rainbow, -on account of the refuse of the dye-works; and the very atmosphere is -charged with an odour which bespeaks the industry of a manufacturing -town, such as one comes across only in France or Germany, picturesquely -situated on a river's bank, and literally humming with the whir of many -wheels. - -All manner of cloths are made here, especially those finer qualities -used in the make-up of officers' uniforms, carriage cloths, and the -coverings of billiard-tables. There are at least twenty-five thousand -men and women employed here, and all the shops of the town are supported -by them. The combined industries turn out a product to the value of -ninety millions of francs per year. - -It was at an inn here that Arthur Young, that astute observer of matters -agricultural, learned at _table d'hôte_--a matter of common knowledge -among the guests there assembled--that the wine provinces of France were -actually the poorest in all France. With some exceptions this is true -to-day, and is plausibly explained elsewhere. Times have truly changed -since Young wrote that he had not found one decent inn in all France. - -It must be recalled that the fashionable, or rather the modern -up-to-date hotel, with its elaborate _table d'hôte_, is much the same -wherever found; and that an inland spa or a watering-place on the -Mediterranean coast of France, or at Ostend, Dieppe, or Trouville, does -not differ greatly from an establishment of the same class in Paris, -London, or New York. - -The genuine traveller will have none of this, however, with its ever -recurring mutton served under the name of _agneau de Pauillac_, and the -eternal rag-time music of an alleged Hungarian band whose only claim to -the title is the more or less incorrect copy of a Magyar uniform in -which the players are dressed. The hotels _de luxe_ have their place in -the scheme of things as ordained to-day, no doubt, but they offer -absolutely nothing to the lover of travel for its own sake, and are -accordingly dreaded by most. - -The inns of France which one meets in touring the country are so much -better than similar establishments in England that the comparison is -odious. - -This may be disputed. Yet where in England, in a village of 1,500 -inhabitants, will you get a five-course dinner or luncheon splendidly -cooked, bountifully served, and with a seasoning and garnishing which it -is impossible to duplicate elsewhere, for a modest two francs and a -half, and at practically a moment's notice? To be sure, it is always -omelet, chicken, and salad; but that is surely better than the eternal -bacon and eggs and cold boiled mutton of the English country inn. - -The roadside inns are not becoming spoiled, either. On the beaten track -where tourists throng they still possess the sentiment of good cheer in -a more substantial manner than is implied by a few churchwardens and -Brummagem pewter plates stuck up over the mantel; and if they lack -"visitors' books," with sorry verses and weak platitudes about being -"home from home," they make up for it in good food and clean beds; and -for what else does one go to a hotel? - -Once and again, in the larger towns where there is an English quarter, -and tea-and-bun-shops exist, there also may be found a "_Hôtel des Iles -Brittaniques_" which caters, apparently, solely to _milords_ and -millionaires; and, is quite different from the _Hôtel du Pays_, around -the corner on the market-place, where you may drink your bock, or dine, -or play dominoes with a smock-frocked peasant from the country-side. - -The following incident happened in one of these great hotels situated in -the principal city of a Norman department. At least, a righteously -indignant Frenchman assured us that it did happen; and there was no -reason to doubt his word: - -He was touring in an automobile of modest size, not loaded down with -luggage, four people in the tonneau, a mechanic, and the driver. The -hotel _clientèle_, for the time at any rate, was composed of what the -French call "_Milliardairs Americains_." This is the universal name -given those who make a vulgar show of money, others are merely "_Les -Anglais_." - -Upon applying at the desk for a room, our Frenchman was met with an -astonished stare and a curt reply that they had none such; and that the -house was full except for a "_chambre à mécanicien_" over the scullery. -Our friend bowed his apologies and regrets, and departed, but with true -Gallic ingenuity brought up within an hour at a small town twenty -kilometres away, and telephoned the before mentioned hotel in this wise: - -"_Allô! allô! je souis lord Whisky, oune cliente anglèse, auriez-vous -cinq chambres confortébles pour môa et mon souite et garage pour mes -deux automobiles?_" - -The reply came back over the wire satisfactorily enough: - -"_Mais comment donc, Excellence, tout ce que son Excellence voudra!_" - -Then our friend had his turn. - -"_Non, cher monsieur, je me contenterai de la chambre à mécanicien que -vous avez offerte il y a quelques heures à un français!_" - -In the main the inns of the Seine valley are no better or no worse than -in other parts of France. They may not rival the Hôtel de Metz at St. -Menehould, the fame of which was in part made by Victor Hugo's charming -description in "_Le Rhin_"; and in Normandy they have not the same -splendid abundance of good things of the table as in Burgundy, where the -wine and the blood is rich; but they are amply endowed with creature -comforts, and since the Touring Club of France and the Automobile Club -have taken it upon themselves to counsel more care in sanitation, the -inns of all France are infinitely to be preferred to those of any other -country. - -Of all the near-by towns more or less intimately associated with Rouen, -the most prominent and attractive of all is the little town of Pont de -l'Arche. It is known to most travellers as a railway junction with -little or nothing of attractiveness about it. There is the usual -warehouse for freight, signal-house, and the "_Bifur à Gisors_," a -station hotel, and an unpretentious café or two; but that is all, if we -except a long, tree-lined avenue which leads to a more ambitious group -of houses, a mile or so away. - -This is Pont de l'Arche. Its church and its few hundred houses lie -mostly hidden from the railway by the screen of poplars on the long -avenue leading from the station. Incidentally this adds additional -attraction; and to-day there is nothing save the distant shriek of a -locomotive to remind one its inhabitants are not living in another age. -The river glides by as in olden times, and there is much boat and barge -traffic. The town is not so especially decrepit, nor dirty, nor -unwholesome; but it has a certain lackaday air of aversion to modernity -which a town of its size seldom lacks in this part of France. - -Those who know this charming little town admire it the more because of -its somnolent air. It sits high on the escarpment of the river bank, one -roughly paved street running indirectly to the water, which is crossed -by the usual conventionally designed bridge. On the very brink is its -stately, dignified Church of Notre Dame des Arts; and something more -than scanty remains of the town's ancient ramparts are still visible, -notably in what is known as the Citadel. - -[Illustration: _Pont de l'Arche_] - -It is from this citadel that the etymologists derive the name of Pont de -l'Arche, from Pontarcy, which evolved itself from _Pont arcis meæ_ -(_pont de ma citadelle_), given to it by Charles the Bald, who had -sojourned there. - -Pont de l'Arche was one of the first towns of Normandy to open its gates -to Henri IV. during his strife to reconquer his kingdom. At this time -the ramparts were an effective protection against outside interference. -Doubly so, in that its machicolated walls and towers were ably supported -by the natural escarpment of the river bank. - -The Church of Notre Dame des Arts is doubtless the only one of its name -in Christendom. The reason for this singularly appropriate nomenclature -will be obvious; and already, though the fabric is an unfinished one, -and in still other parts has suffered the decay of time, the edifice -itself proudly proclaims its right to the name. As a species of -architectural art itself, Notre Dame des Arts comes well within the -third ogival period (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries), with some good -carvings in wood of the seventeenth century, and some acceptable glass -of the same century or possibly of that preceding. - -The restoration of this fine church has been most lovingly undertaken; -and a most difficult piece of work it has proved not to debase the -florid ornament beyond its original conception, which among neighbouring -churches ranks it with the collegiate church at Eu, and St. Vincent's at -Rouen, if not actually with St. Maclou itself, the richest and most -florid of all the Gothic churches previous to the Renaissance. - -Though contracted, the interior likewise displays that profusion of -ornament which characterizes the flamboyant style, notably in the keys -of the vaulting, which show a remarkable strength. Its fenestration is -good, as well as the glass, and such auxiliary features and furnishings -as the _retable_ and the organ _buffet_, which are acceptable, if -somewhat debased from Gothic forms. Indeed, these features are seldom -seen in anything but the more or less heavy Renaissance treatment of -large masses. - -Pont de l'Arche is the birthplace of Hyacinthe Langlois, architect and -antiquary. His monument, erected through the beneficence of a little -group of Norman archæologists, is on the little public square before the -house in which the accomplished and versatile man was born. The fact is -mentioned here in order to emphasize the regard which all French towns -hold for the memory of any deserving person and his work. Langlois, the -Norman antiquary, was perhaps not so very great a personage, but in the -eyes of his fellow townsmen his was at least a fame which deserved a -memorial which should outlive man. - -The name Notre Dame des Arts is singularly appropriate to a finely -planned church. One defines art as "the realization of a conception," -which in most cases is God-given, so far as the individual effort is -concerned. Art is truth, therefore art is elevating, and it is chosen as -the instrument that shall echo the grand truths which ennoble and purify -mankind. - -An eloquent plea is made to the artists of France to contribute their -aid in glorifying the fabric of Notre Dame des Arts by the Abbé -Philippe, vicar-dean of Pont de l'Arche. - -The dean makes a most convincing plea, which is printed in a little book -and presented to visitors. It is all very dogmatic, but still its object -is commendable enough, one must admit. It smacks, too, of personal pride -in the possession of this beautiful church, which again is surely -pardonable. Most of us will admit that it is altogether a charming idea -that a church should be built and beautified and dedicated to art, -leaving others to cavil at dogma. - -The plea of the devoted dean of the church ends with the intimation that -it is proposed to erect mural tablets which shall emblazon in letters of -gold the names of all who may contribute to the preservation and -enrichment of the fabric. Future generations will then see that in the -early years of the twentieth century the friends of art were not -oblivious to its higher expression, and were devoted enough to further -it in this noble monument. - -The dean's garden, just before the westerly end of the church, is -charming in its unworldliness. From it one enters the sanctuary in a -roundabout way along gravelled walks, box-covered hedges, -bright-flowered beds and small garden trees loaded with plums, apricots, -and pears. Nothing here is suggestive of the onrush of time; there is no -hum of the electric-car to be heard; no rush of the automobile, no smell -of gasoline, and no grime of the workaday world. The church itself -towers above to the eastward, and opposite is the modest house of the -dean, all suggestive of peacefulness and content. - -Next to the Church of Notre Dame des Arts, the _Pons Arcis_ of the days -of Charles the Bald has its chief historical and artistic shrine in the -old Abbey of Bon Port, now scarcely more than a riverside ruin. - -It belonged originally to the monks of the order of Citeaux, and was -founded by the Lion-hearted Richard in 1190 as the outcome of a vow made -while pursuing a _cerf_ across the river, to the effect that if his -horse ever reached the other bank--"_un bon port_"--he would erect a -monastery on the spot. - -To-day the ruins belong to a M. Lenoble, who has spent much care and -expense in preserving what is left of this interesting relic. Of the -abbatial church nothing remains but the foundations. The refectory is in -a fine state of preservation, with an admirably designed series of -windows. - -The cloistral buildings still exist in something more than mere ruins. -The capitulary hall has been reëstablished after its original lines, and -its library, with its high wood ceiling of the time of Louis XVI., is -admirable. - -The remains of the old abbey are reflected in the Seine, which winds -about its feet and forms cool, shadowy pools now frequented by fishermen -from Rouen, as they doubtless were by monkish anglers in days gone past. - -After this contemplative trip about Pont de l'Arche one is quite ready -to resort to the charming hotel of Guennord's--"La Normandie"--near the -bridge and partake of the unusually good luncheon served in a room -overlooking the river. This dining-room, like those of many another spot -in France beloved of artists, is panelled with sketches donated by -them. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE SEINE FROM PONT DE L'ARCHE TO LA ROCHE-GUYON - - -Up the river from Pont de l'Arche the beauties of the Seine are truly -irresistible to the true traveller of artistic proclivities. At every -kilometre stone along its banks the view has that charm of majestic -simplicity that might be expected of a great inland waterway. - -Not that it has no variety at all. It is an ever-changing panorama of a -silvery sheet, reflecting the sky and clouds and the green and white of -the chalk and tree clad river banks, in truly mystical fashion. - -Just above Pont de l'Arche, the Eure and the Andelle join the Seine. The -former is given a chapter by itself in this book, but the Andelle is -merely one of those winsome little streams which in many other lands -would hardly have arrived at the dignity of being called a river. Not -every traveller in France knows the little river Andelle which rises in -the district of Bray and flows southwesterly fifty kilometres or more -until it mingles with the Seine at Pitres, near Pont de l'Arche, and -almost exactly opposite the mouth of the Eure. - -Forges-les-Eaux, near which the Andelle rises, first became celebrated -for its chalybeate springs in the time of Anne of Austria, mother of -Louis XIV., who, with many other celebrities of royal and noble birth, -went there to take the waters. - -To-day its fame has not wholly departed; but those who go to such places -usually find that they are the more beneficial, the more fashionable -they are, and the more alluring its amusements. Forges-les-Eaux is not -one of the most fashionable, hence the virtues of its waters are now -somewhat negatived. This is a pity, for it is in the midst of a charming -country, and the sylvan attractions round about are doubtless as good an -antidote to the excessive imbibing of water as "_Petits Chevaux_" or -"_Trente et Quarante_." - -There are, however, no very splendid architectural remains in the town -itself. A few old houses, some far more interesting ones in the country -near by, a conventional "_Etablissement_" and a modern Gothic church, -after the old-time manner, complete the list of attractions of -Forges-les-Eaux, in addition to the springs themselves. - -Southwesterly until one reaches the forest of Lyons, nearly four hundred -square miles in extent, there is naught in this beautiful river valley -but a succession of typical French villages, with high stone walls -enclosing farms, red-roofed cottages, and outbuildings; and an -occasional _pigeonnier_, and wayside cross. - -At Lyons-le-Forêt, the little forest town of perhaps half a thousand -inhabitants, one comes immediately into touch with a civilization -strangely out of keeping with its idyllic setting. There is a hotel -there with all the improvements of our own time: enamelled baths, -running water, an automobile omnibus to the station, seven kilometres -distant, ice for cold drinks, Scotch whisky, and many other luxuries -which discount one's enjoyment of real country travel. - -It is pleasant enough, however, on a hot summer's day; and the town -itself is delightfully unspoiled, with its crooked, winding streets, its -picturesque though not beautiful market-house, its pretty little church, -and the tiny river Lieure, a tributary of the Andelle, where one may -take fish if he likes. - -Being in the midst of this great forest, it is but natural that the -church of Lyons-le-Forêt should have a shrine to St. Hubert, the patron -of the hunt. It is there on the north wall of the single nave of the -church, with all its well-recognized symbolism; though, truth to tell, -it is rather a tawdry shrine of no great artistic merit, and horribly -desecrated by a coat of dirty yellow paint. - -Menesqueville is the station for Lyons-le-Forêt, and from here to the -Seine the banks of the Andelle are settled with little -cloth-manufacturing villages and towns which form a curious contrast to -their more peaceful wooded backgrounds. - -Near by are Rosy, with its Renaissance château; Charleval, with its -towering chimney-stacks; Fleury-sur-Andelle, with its steep hill, so -dreaded by automobilists; Radepont, with its eighteenth-century ruined -château, abbey, and tower; Pont St. Pierre, which is simply a -picturesque, paintable, and lovable little town; and, finally, as one -draws even nearer the Seine, Pitres, known formerly as Pistes, where -archæologists have told us was an ancient Gallo-Romain city which came -to great prosperity under the first and second races of kings. - -The emperors after Charlemagne had their houses here, as one learns from -the fragments of buildings which remain and the scraps of history which -have come down to us. Charles the Bald ordered the principal feudal -lords to build, each in his fief, citadels strong enough to arrest the -Normans. A formidable one is known to have been built here, though but -scanty remains exist to-day. - -It is a curious, and contradicting history that is to be evolved from -the topography of the river Andelle. Throughout the valley one receives -emotions varying from those of sylvan and idyllic surroundings on the -upper river, to those aroused by the busy little towns peopled with -yarn-spinners and cloth-weavers of both sexes, who are supremely happy -at their work, which lasts for a dozen hours each day. - -The middle ages covered this contented valley of to-day with numberless -fortresses, which are now scarcely recognizable even as ruins. The tower -of Jean-Sans-Terre which remains at Radepont, together with the earlier -work of Richard Coeur de Lion, is the exception. These sit on the side -of a profound and luxuriant gorge environed with the remains of the -Abbey of Fontaine-Guerard, and should be searched out if one has the -time. - -At Douville, between Radepont and Pont St. Pierre, are the ruined walls -of the Château of Talbot. South of the Andelle was what is known as -Norman Vexin, one of those little districts of the olden time which even -unto to-day has kept its name. - -At Ecouis, not far from the banks of the Andelle, is a magnificent -church built at the highest point of Vexin, amid a country wholly given -over to wheat-fields. The church was founded by Enguerrand de Marigny -and consecrated in 1313. In the interior is a magnificent mausoleum of -Jean de Marigny, a former Archbishop of Rouen, the brother of the -founder. It is a wayside shrine of quite the first rank, though seldom -visited or seen except by travellers through Normandy by road. - -Near the juncture of the Andelle is St. Etienne du Vauvray, the chief -and only attraction of which is its curiously _outré_ church, with a -conventional central tower, slated, and capped with a singularly light -and graceful iron cross, which in turn is surmounted by a representation -of a cock, dear to the French as a symbol of the ancient Gauls. - -The really great and most curious feature of this ancient church is the -peculiar round tower which rises on the south side midway along the nave -and is joined to its more modern neighbour by a ligature which is, in a -way, inexplicable. One can understand the desire to preserve so ancient -and curious a relic, and even evolve for himself its original use, -though it looks for all the world like the round towers of Ireland, -which many a savant has declared were pagan. - -The easterly portion of this curious church--the more ancient -part--extending from this flanking round tower is a wonderfully massive -structure considering its size. Its portal is bare and gaunt and devoid -of ornament; but it is typically Norman, with that strength of -proportion which even in the best of Gothic often fell short of the -earlier style. The western end is modern, shockingly so, with pepper-box -exaggerated apse and no transepts. - -There is elaborate glass throughout, though apparently of no great -value. It is a charming ensemble of reds, greens, and browns that -composes the view of this tiny church which one gets from before the -astonishingly ample _mairie_, on the road to St. Pierre-du-Vauvray, the -railway junction for Louviers and Les Andelys. - -Muids, _en route_ from St. Pierre to Les Andelys, is ordinary enough -looking, at first glance, to justify travellers by road--automobilists -and cyclists--to rush by without stopping, in spite of its beautiful -situation on the banks of the Seine. Travellers by train will hardly -give it a glance, for the outlook therefrom is not inspiring. It has, -however, a church which dates from the twelfth century, and in its -churchyard is a sixteenth-century memorial cross which is indeed an -admirable art treasure. - -An artist will fall in love with the ancient mill, picturesquely planted -on the river's bank; and, if it were not that the proudly set Château -Gaillard, to be seen in the distance, draws one to it in a magnetic and -inexpressible fashion, many pages of his sketch-book would undoubtedly -reproduce some of the charm of the environment of this otherwise -unattractive village, which it may be said possesses no accommodation -for the traveller save the roadside tavern. - -The road to Les Andelys runs from St. Pierre, by the left bank of the -Seine, for nearly a dozen kilometres. - -Above are the great towering crags of chalk, cut in fantastic forms; and -beside one, almost upon the same level, is the great boat and barge -traffic of the Seine. One sees great barges, some coal-laden from -Belgium and others with cargoes of wine, cotton, or lumber from Havre -and Rouen, all bound for Paris. - -The twin towns of Les Andelys are famed--if famed they are in the minds -of the casual travellers--for the "Saucy Castle" of Richard Coeur de -Lion,--the Château Gaillard, his "daughter of a year," as he himself -called it. - -The great Continental strength of the Kings of England--the Angevin -kings, not English kings, mark well--who were the Ducs de Normandie, -gave to the France of Philippe-Auguste no little concern. They held -nearly, if not quite all, the coast of ancient Gaul, from the -northernmost limits of Normandy to the Pyrenees; and were virtually -masters of Bretagne, Anjou, Maine, and Aquitaine, which encircled the -France of Philippe-Auguste like a vast belt and struck to the heart the -new empire. - -The great Philippe-Auguste, who hoped to do so much toward welding new -France, had professed a great fondness for Richard Coeur de Lion, and -had even undertaken the Third Crusade in company with him. This did not -prevent him, however, from assailing the English possessions in France, -ultimately occupying Normandy, Maine, and Poitou. - -Among the heritages which had come down to Richard Coeur de Lion from -the Angevin Henry II. was the desire, as far as possible, to protect -his fair province of Normandy from the political outbreaks and warlike -invasions which might happen at any time. - -Richard was not as great a political power as Philippe-Auguste; but he -was more than his equal in military skill. He cared not so much to -possess the sceptre of his brother king as his sword. Accordingly he -erected the redoubtable fortress at Les Andelys, which to-day, ruin -though it is, charms the thousands that have appreciated its majesty and -its all dominant situation high above the cobble-paved main street of -Petit Andelys; so distant from the surface of the river which washes its -very haunches that the river boats and barges look like crawling, -creeping things endowed with crude animal forces rather than steam or -manpower. - -When the historian writes of Château Gaillard and the siege which it -withstood against Philippe-Auguste he writes of one of the most decisive -and memorable events in the annals of French history; and for this -reason it is not recounted here. All histories give it in full. - -As a monument of military architecture Château Gaillard, putting aside -the interest in the events of its history, holds, without contradiction, -the premier place among all structures of the same class which to-day -exist throughout Europe. - -Whoever wishes to know what a mediæval château--in this case a fortified -castle of great size, and as near as possible, perhaps, to -invulnerability--was really like, should study the Château Gaillard of -Richard Coeur de Lion in detail. - -[Illustration: _Ancient Plan of_ CHATEAU GAILLARD] - -It was Richard Coeur de Lion, an English king, who built this -stronghold to guard his dominions on the Seine, but the whole fabric, as -is the case with English history of the period, was built upon a -foundation manifestly not English. - -Artists have often limned the outlines of this great fortress both in -detail and in conjunction with its charming environment; but justice has -hardly been done. Perhaps it was not possible, for certainly Château -Gaillard must be seen to be appreciated. - -Cotman, Turner, and, in more recent times, Alfred East, R. A., have all -painted it and its proud position; and scores of lesser artists have -tried their hand. Certainly no mediæval monument existing in modern -times has a more commanding or magnificently picturesque situation. - -The Seine at Petit Andelys amplifies itself at the bend across which the -lion-hearted Richard spread his chains in defence of his château. Above, -scarce five hundred yards, the river is narrower than at any other part -along its length between Paris and the sea. - -The tiny islands just below the bridge dot the stream quite in the -manner of the wooded islets elsewhere, but the background, the -château-crowned height, the winding river road to Vernon, flanked by -forest-clad hills, the woods above Vacherie, and the chalky stratified -formation off toward Muids,--all combine to make an ensemble which can -only be seen in Normandy, along the valley of the Seine. - -[Illustration: _The Seine at Petit Andelys_] - -The twin towns of Les Andelys are quite the most delightful and charming -towns in all the Seine valley. None are so beautifully situated, so -characteristically unworldly, and yet so gay with local life and -colour on a national holiday. - -Petit Andelys, on the river bank, is a sort of watering-place suburb for -the larger town, which lies "_un bon kilometre_" away, the native tells -you, up a long, straight, tree-shaded boulevard, which would add glory -to a much greater city. - -Each of the towns possess a magnificent and delightful mediæval church. -That of Grand Andelys is the more elaborate and is truly a grand affair, -with very good late Gothic, some good fifteenth-century glass, curious -aisle vaultings and arches in its interior; and, finally, a north façade -in the ugliest of Renaissance workmanship which ever disgraced an -otherwise beautiful Gothic fabric. - -The Hotel du Grand Cerf, a sixteenth-century tavern, which has come down -to the present day still possessed of some of its ancient furnishings of -old oak, stone, and plaster, is another great attraction in Grand -Andelys. - -The present café shows most of these: a great Renaissance fireplace with -its accessories, an overhanging mantel, and a couple of corner cupboards -which are delightful. The entrance from the courtyard is also -elaborately carved. Walter Scott and Victor Hugo have both sung the -praises of the house and graced its board, and it should be seen by -travellers. - -St. Sauveur's at Petit Andelys is in quite a different class from its -sister church at Grand Andelys. It is smaller, and a thoroughly -consistent twelfth-century fabric, wholly delightful in its plan and -execution. In short, it is one of the most perfectly designed and -preserved edifices of its kind in all France. - -The fêtes of the patron saints of Les Andelys, Ste. Clotilde at Grand -Andelys (June) and St. Sauveur at Petit Andelys (August), are events -which draw great crowds from round about, and are the cause of much -gaiety of a truly local nature. - -Grand Andelys has, moreover, a miraculous fountain dedicated to Ste. -Clotilde. It is the centre for a pilgrimage on the second of June of -each year, the date on which the saint, who was the wife of Clovis, -caused the water to be turned to wine. The same thing has not happened -since; but the fountain is still a venerated shrine. - -The national fête on the fourteenth of July brings out crowds of people -from the inland towns and villages, to bathe and go boating in the -river, and eat and drink in the gardens of Petit Andelys's two charming -riverside hotels. - -The Anglo-Saxon tourist will not want for company here at Petit Andelys, -though it is not a very popular tourist resort. But if he drifts into -the garden courtyard of the Hôtel Bellevue, in mid-July or August, or -indeed at most any time between May and November, he will find a joyous -crowd of artists gathered about a long table set beneath the trees. At -night the electric lights--the one worldly note of it all--twinkle out -from among the trees, and the talk on art, literature, _and automobiles_ -which goes from mouth to mouth, would fill any one with interest, and -hold his attention no matter how blasé he may think himself. - -In the ancient district of Vexin lying back of Les Andelys, in the -valley of the Gambon, and beyond, are many little farming villages and -towns which are a delight to the artist and the traveller who is also a -seeker after local colour: Ecouis, with its great collegiate church; -Etrepagny, with a fourteenth-century church and a fine hotel in the -style of Louis XIII.; Gamaches, with some underground remains and other -traces of an old fortress-château; Thilliers-en-Vexin, with the Château -de Boisdenemetz, built under Louis XIII., the building and grounds -having been laid out by Mansard; and Fontenay, with the Château of -Beauregard, where was born the Abbé de Chaulieu, celebrated as much by -his Anacreontic poems as by his churchly qualifications. - -As one draws near to Gisors one passes the ruined donjon of -Neufles-St.-Martin (1182), built by Henry II. of England, and the -ancient Château de Vaux, built also on the plans of Mansard, but now -forming the manor-house of a great farm. - -Gisors is not often visited by casual travellers in Normandy. They -usually make for Evreux, when they leave the Seine valley, in order to -visit its cathedral, they will tell you; certainly not for anything -else, for Evreux does not possess many tourist attractions. - -As a matter of fact, they would do better to leave Evreux out of their -itinerary and visit Gisors, which has a great mediæval Gothic and -Renaissance church, quite as grand and bizarre as Evreux Cathedral. The -Church of St. Gervais at Gisors dates from the year 1240, and is called -by the native, with unwarranted pride, "_la cathédrale_." - -[Illustration: _Collegiate Church, Ecouis_] - -To a great extent its foundation was due to Blanche of Castile; and it -is one of those highly interesting works occasionally to be found in -France, which has no architectural style in particular and is -accordingly, in the eyes of the critical experts, an ungainly thing. -But St. Gervais de Gisors is a remarkable work. It possesses two -elaborate late Gothic portals, though for the most part its details are -frankly Renaissance. Again, the still earlier period of its foundation -crops out bare and unadorned. In the sacristy is a rare bibliographical -treasure, a register on parchment of the brothers and sisters of the -_Confrérie de l'Assomption Notre Dame_. Heading the list are the names -of Charles V., his queen, and his suite, the Duc de Bourgogne, the Duc -de Berri, the Duc d'Orleans, the Duchess d'Orleans, the Comte d'Etampes, -etc. This fine piece of work is admirably ornamented with miniature and -armorial blazonings and continues the roll of names up to 1776. -Altogether it is a manuscript of great interest and worth. - -Gisors itself is rather a smug town with a characteristically good hotel -(l'Ecu de France) and the usual collection of country shops. - -The Ept and two smaller branches run through the town; and here and -there the picturesque wash-houses on their banks group themselves most -picturesquely, with the roof tops of the houses round about and the -church steeple or the donjon of the old château rising high above. - -The history of Gisors has been most vivid, and there are many remains of -its past activities and glories in warfare and strategy. Before the -tenth century, Gisors was but the site of a small château held as a fief -from the Church of Rouen. Ultimately it was acquired by -Guillaume-le-Roux, who made Gisors the key of the eastern frontier -between Normandy and the royal domain of the Kings of France. - -The remains of the fortress-chateau, built by Guillaume-le-Roux in 1097, -show plainly that it was one of the wonders of the military architecture -of its time. Additions and reinforcements were made in turn by Henri I. -and II.; and, from the conquest of Normandy by Philippe-Auguste until -to-day, its ruins, though fragmentary and widely separated, form one of -the greatest collections of details of a mediæval fortress to be seen in -the north of France. It does not form a unit as does the château at Les -Andelys, nor is it a mere tower or donjon, as at Arques, Falaise, or -Conches, but it presents a convincing indication of its former strength -and magnitude. - -Within its confines are the remains of a chapel dedicated to St. Thomas -of Canterbury; but the chief feature is the great Tour des Prisonniers, -some sixty odd feet in height. - -[Illustration: _Gisors_] - -This great cylindrical tower was erected by Philippe-Auguste, and for a -long time served as a prison of state. Many will remember an old steel -engraving of a painting called "The Prisoner of Gisors," which depicts -the interior of this great tower. - -In 1527 François I. gave the domain of Gisors to Renée de France, on the -occasion of her marriage to the Duke of Ferrara. - -In 1718 it was given to Fouquet, in exchange for Belle-Ile-en-Mer, and -later, in turn, to the Comte d'Eu, and the Duc de Penthièvre. - -On the little bridge which crosses the Ept, between the station and the -church, is a statue of the Virgin, which perpetuates the thanks of -Philippe-Auguste at having been saved from drowning in the stream below, -when he had fallen with his mounted escort through the rotting timbers -of an old-time bridge. The inscription thereon tells the story in -detail. - -At Dangu is still a splendid château, and at St.-Clair-sur-Ept are the -remains of a fortified castle, where, in 911, was signed the treaty by -which Charles the Simple ceded Neustria to the pirate Rollon, whom -Normans to-day so proudly revere. - -At this time the Norman territory was bounded by the Manche, the extreme -limits of the Cotentin, and, probably, by the rivers Mayenne, Sarthe, -Eure, Andelle, and Bresle; leaving Vexin, in the southeast, a debatable -land which was to be the scene of future struggles between -Philippe-Auguste and Richard Coeur de Lion and Jean-Sans-Terre. - -Rollon at this time embraced Christianity, and the Archbishop Françon, -who baptized him, obtained from his new convert large donations in -favour of many monasteries and churches; among others the cathedrals of -Rouen, Bayeux, and Evreux, and the abbeys of St. Ouen, Jumièges, and -Mont St. Michel. - -From this time on the fierce pirates, the former companions of Rollon's -dangers and glories, were so tractable under his will and the new laws -which were promulgated, that they soon became rich and opulent. Thieving -and brigandage disappeared, and in their place law and order reigned in -these parts for the first time. - -The "Echiquier" was only permanently established at Rouen in 1499, -however, and took the name of the Parliament of Normandy. - -Chaumont-en-Vexin, on the national road to Pontoise, is a delightfully -picturesque hillside town, once a residence of the French kings who -built a castle here to aid them in their struggles for the possession -of Normandy. There is also a fifteenth-century church. - -Down the river valley, below St. Clair, are Berthenouville, with the -remains of a mediæval château; Dampsmesnil, to be classed in the same -category; and Bray, the nearest railway station to Ecos, which has a -fine Renaissance château of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. - -[Illustration: _A Seine Hamlet_] - -Some of these small towns have a remarkably busy appearance on account -of the manufacture of zinc, which appears to be the principal industry -of a neighbourhood otherwise given over solely to farming and grazing. - -On the Seine above Les Andelys, until one reaches Vernon, are a -succession of tiny villages and hamlets, each with its weather-worn -church, smoking-room, and tobacco shop, with an occasional large estate -on its outskirts. Vezillon, with its bare, tumble-down, and deserted -church; Bouafles, on the flank of the hillside running up to the Forêt -des Andelys; Courcelles, with its church-spire and pigeon-loft -inextricably mixed; and Port Mort, with its great _menhir_ of untold age -and uncertain origin, all surrounded by straight-furrowed wheat-fields, -form one of the most delightful parts of the Seine valley. - -Opposite Les Andelys is Tosny, a riverside market-garden town on a hill, -with a remarkably picturesque little aisleless church bearing a date -over its front portal of 1817; but which in its framework, as one can -see from an occasional uncovered arch and pillar, is distinctly Norman -of many centuries ago. - -Just beyond Tosny, on the same bank, is the military prison-town of -Gaillon, with its long steep hill, one of the most terrible in France to -travellers by road; while still further to the westward is Louviers, -with its beautiful flamboyant church, and rival hotels of more than -ordinary provincial excellence. One is the "show place" of the town, -with its old timbered front and its polished kitchen utensils. The -other, the hotel of the travelling salesman, in the Grande Rue, is less -picturesque, but no less comfortable. - -There is little enough of interest at Gaillon to-day, though the origin -of the town dates from the foundation of the Gallo-Romain fortress here. -Gaillon was given to the Archbishop of Rouen by Philippe-Auguste after -the conquest of Normandy. In 1500 Cardinal d'Amboise, the minister of -Louis XII., laid the foundations of a great country-house here upon the -foundation of the earlier fortress-château. It was one of the most -splendid examples of the Renaissance in France, with a beautiful extent -of sculptured decorations and furnishings, before it fell at the -Revolution. Little remains to-day except a small part now built into the -military prison. Its admirable entrance façade was preserved, and has -now been reërected in the courtyard of the Ecole des Beaux Arts at -Paris. - -One great event Gaillon has in the course of each year, and that is the -now famous "Courses de Gaillon" for the hill-climbing championship of -the automobile world. The great annual event excites more interest than -any other similar affair. It is solely for racing machines, unlike the -Château Thierry event or the international motor-cycle race at Dourdan. -Even more so than the great Gordon-Bennett race itself, do the races at -Gaillon hold the attention of the leaders in automobile sport; for it is -there that the real test of power and reliability takes place among -makers and drivers alike. - -The hill of Gaillon is tremendously steep, almost like the side of a -house. It is not of great length compared to some of the mountain roads -of Dauphiné and Savoie. It is not even a poor, rough, winding road, as -is Ventoux, where a competitive affair was held during the present -summer; but it is by far the stiffest climb of three kilometres, or a -trifle more, on any of the great national roads of France. Usually such -abrupt ascents or descents in France have been avoided, or at least -lengthened and made less steep. - -The Gaillon hill has come to be accepted as the severest test an -automobile can be put to on the main roads of France; but the rest of -the twenty kilometres from Vernon to Pont de l'Arche is a superbly -levelled highway. - -The roadways of France may not have that dainty picturesqueness of those -of the southern counties of England, but their vistas are much more -sublime and grand, and there is really nothing at all monotonous in -long stretches of tree-lined, straightaway highways, such as abound in -all the departments which go to make up modern France. - -The Frenchman when he visits England, as a party of automobilists did -during the present year, puts it more strongly even and, of course, more -picturesquely, when he writes: - -"_Des routes bien indiquées, mais qui, par leur peu de largeur en -certains points et leurs virages brusques et à angle droit nous -faisaient encore parfois regretter nos belles routes françaises droites -et larges._ - -"_L'aspect du pays n'en est cependant pas moins fort attrayant, -rappelant avec ses verts cottages, ses delicieuses prairies, et les -nombreux troupeaux de moutons qui sillonnent les routes, certains coins -de notre Normandie._" - -It is always "our beautiful France" with a Frenchman, and rightly, too. - -The real hill of Gaillon begins in the town itself, which is not very -attractive, with its huge military establishment and its not very -well-kept main street. Half-way up this main street, which is about as -bad a bit of paving while it lasts as one is likely to meet in France, -past the curiously ugly Renaissance church, and the one or two -picturesque timbered houses which the town possesses, winds the first -stages of this famous hill. - -Singularly enough, there is no way of going around Gaillon, which is -often the case in a French town which has narrow, tortuous streets; and, -incidentally, the observation is here set forth that, without doubt, the -next question with regard to civic improvements, which ought to occupy -the attention of the authorities in all lands, is the consideration of -some system of encircling roads or boulevards, which shall enable -automobilists to go around a town. Automobilists are unquestionably the -coming road-users, for whom legislation should be made. - -Continuing through the town, this great national highway flattens itself -out for a space, on a little plateau from which the hill takes a fresh -start. For something over a kilometre it rises straight and bold; then -dips, as if to give one an opportunity to take breath. Finally it rises -for a short, straight length in an ascent which must be dangerously near -a twenty-five per cent. grade, something really astonishing when -achieved by an automobile; for few railway lines in the world are laid -out to accomplish more than one in ten. - -On the occasion of this great event last year the start from the Hôtel -Bellevue at Les Andelys was something in the nature of a pious -pilgrimage to the shrine of this comparatively new force--the gas -achieved from the carburation of _essence à pétrole_. It was an early -hour,--all tried and true automobilists know, like fishermen, the value -of the hours just after daybreak,--the hotel garage was all astir, and -empty _bidons_, old rags, and greasy oil-tins littered the very -dining-tables of the inn's pretty garden. - -It is but a short ten kilometres to Gaillon, and one thence to the hill; -but garage accommodation is limited, and the first start is at seven in -the morning. Hence it is necessary to "Speed! speed! with the wings of -the morning," as Henley puts it. - -Out by the back entrance, along the quay, thence to the highroad and -across the bridge to Port Morin, which the Prussians destroyed in '71; -and, climbing the slope toward Tosny, with nothing remarkable about it -but its grand view of the Seine and its church with the Norman doorway -and pillars,--which even the natives don't know are Norman, because the -restored façade bears the date of 1817,--one soon leaves the sight of -Petit Andelys behind, though the quaint but beautiful shell of the -Château Gaillard can be seen long afterward. - -Soon there is a drop down a long gentle slope, another flight of that -same great hill on whose crown is St. Barbe, only reached by the direct -road known as the big hill, and one comes at once to the little group of -ordinary, mean little road-houses, dignified with the pretentious name -of hotels, known to all travellers by the highroad. - -A piercing hoot and an ominous rumble--an automobile, of course--is -heard; and the roadway is magically cleared, awaiting what is naturally -supposed to be one of the participants of the races. But it proves to be -only the local station omnibus, whose conductor has adopted this -up-to-date and efficacious but misleading means of making himself heard. - -As for the great hill climb itself, a report of it here would not--could -not--differ greatly from those one has read of similar affairs -elsewhere, save to recall that it is all up-hill work, and when a -hundred and twenty odd kilometres per hour are recorded it means a speed -of between seventy-five and eighty miles an hour, which on the level -might be almost any believable rate of speed. - -The day of the hill climb is Gaillon's great day of the year, and when -the crowd departs it again subsides into its usual somnolence. -"_Gaillon! elle est morte_," is a saying which one hears in the -neighbouring towns, and it is not hard to believe. From here to Vernon, -by either bank, one passes nothing of note. - -United with the pretty little town of Vernon, with its tree-bordered -quays and cafés and a certain restaurant famous for its _matelote_, is -Vernonnet, interesting only for the relic of an old-time, -twelfth-century château with two great coiffed towers. - -Vernon is not amply endowed. Its situation is nearly all it has to -recommend it; but its church is fine, and there is a cylindrical, -ivy-hung tower that will prompt a question. It is the "_tour des -archives_," the only remains of a fortified château built here by that -Duke of Normandy who was Henry I. of England. - -The Château de Bizy, one of the most imposing Renaissance châteaux of -Normandy, was built by the Maréchal de Belisle; and ultimately passed to -the Comte d'Eu and the Duc de Penthièvre. It was mutilated during the -Revolution, as were most of the other monuments of France; but General -Suir restored it, when it was presented to the Duchess d'Orleans. -Through the forest of Bizy, on the way to Evreux, one comes upon one of -those bits of forest-road which lend so much variety to travel by road -in France. Literally as smooth as if sandpapered, almost free from dust, -and lined on either side by trees, which shelter one from the sun, they -form a pleasant interlude in the day's journey. - -Crossing the Seine, one comes to Giverny, a not very attractive little -village of itself, but greatly affected by the school of impressionist -painters who have foregathered under the banner of Claud Monet, who -lives there. This influx of artist life has made the prosperity of the -natives who dwell in this little waterside town. It is really upon the -Ept, a tributary of the Seine, distant half a mile. A hotel of more than -ordinary pretensions has sprung up; and its dining-room and café are -amply decorated with sketches by many whose names are already great in -the world of art. - -From Vernon, the metropolis of the Seine between Paris and Rouen, it is -but four kilometres to Giverny, and even here one may see the effect of -the influx of Englishmen and Americans who annually spend the four -summer months here. - -La Roche-Guyon forms a sort of boundary sentinel between the ancient -domain of the Dukes of Normandy and that of the Kings of France. Here -the Seine leaves Normandy, and the ruined donjon tower of the old -château, and the Renaissance edifice at its base, the home of the La -Rochefoucauld family, is the first of Normandy's châteaux on the way to -the sea. It sits proudly upon the chalky promontory in quite an idyllic -castled-crag fashion. - -The donjon of the ancient château was built in 998 by a seigneur named -Guy or Gyon. This curious structure is approximately triangular on the -outside, and cylindrical in its interior. There are also vast -subterranean passages, cut into the rock upon which the donjon is built. - -In 1419 the English, under the Earl of Warwick, besieged the ancient -Château of Roche-Guyon and obtained its capitulation, after having -undermined a portion of its walls. - -"_Guy le Bouteiller lui conseilla s'avancer jusqu'à sous les -ramparts..... de faire miner sécrétement ces grottes pour faire écrouler -toutes les constructions qui les surplombaient, et écraser les habitants -sous un monceau de ruines._" (Chron. du Religieux de St. Denis.) - -One may visit the new château in the absence of the La Rochefoucauld -family, and truly it is worth seeing, though it has none of the really -gorgeous appointments of its Loire compeers. - -At the entrance one reads on an iron plaque, which dates from 1597, and -is surmounted by the armorial bearings of the Dukes of Roche-Guyon, -certain articles concerning "_Les droits d'acquit et plage deubs aux -seigneurs de Roche-Guyon_," and beside a doorway a little further on, as -if it were a voice of welcome, an inscription which reads "_C'est mon -plaisir_." - -Near La Roche-Guyon is Haute Lisle, with a curious rock-cut church or -chapel, like that of St. Adrien near Rouen, but rather more elaborate. - -This completes a list of the chief sights and scenes of the Seine valley -as it crosses Normandy on its way from its source in the Côte d'Or to -its juncture with salt water at Havre. - -Dumas, in "The Vicomte de Bragelonne," describes the Seine as "the -beautiful river which encloses France a thousand times in its loving -embraces, before deciding upon joining its waters with the ocean." - -This is a true enough description, particularly with respect to its -convolutions between Vernon and Caudebec, where the stream sweeps in -long untrammelled curves of a radius which makes the barge traffickers -wish for an occasional portage of a mile or two which would cut off a -score by river. - -[Illustration: _The Two Châteaux of La Roche-Guyon_] - -Let us pray nothing will ever happen which will enable the river -trafficker to cut the corners. It has been estimated that an exceedingly -moderate amount of canalization would reduce the distance, from Paris to -the sea through Normandy, one-half; but by the process the charm of the -Seine would be despoiled. Instead, the long, sinuous tows of many-hued -barges would be supplanted by high-speed express-boats, perhaps run by -an overhead trolley from an electrical current transmitted from the -shore. - -Where, then, would be the recollection of the vast river-borne traffic -of days gone by, when kings and princes made their way to the coast -cities by galleys and sailing boat, or travelled in carriages along its -pleasant banks? Instead of châteaux to crown its hilltops, we would have -towering chimney-stacks of the "power stations," and everything would be -regulated by clockwork and machinery. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -IN THE VALLEY OF THE EURE - - -The busy little villages which lie in the course of the Eure from Pont -de l'Arche to Louviers are unheard of in the school geographies and -conventional guide-books. They have little appealing interest for the -general traveller. Arthur Young, a hundred or more years ago, knew them -when he journeyed from Rouen to Louviers, and they have not greatly -changed since that day. - -By no means are they mere hamlets, though St. Pierre du Vauvray, St. -Etienne du Vauvray, and one or two others are straggling enough in their -way. With an important local railway junction at St. Pierre, however, -there has grown up a traffic which has perhaps had less effect on the -general topography round about than it has on the somnolence which once -must have existed to a far greater degree than to-day. - -At St. Cyr du Vaudreuil one sees sawmills and flour-mills grouped along -the banks of the Eure, which here spreads itself into numerous branches -with tree-grown islets, forming natural piers for the bridge which -belongs to that great national highway from Rouen to Nantes, known as -National Road No. 162. - -From the first span of this long bridge, one sees, up or down stream, a -succession of groupings of poplars and locusts growing up from the river -bank, a tiny orchard or two, the long, wooded alley of larches which -forms the entrance to the private park on the Ile l'Homme, the curiously -spired church of Notre Dame du Vaudreuil, a sluice, and a weir. There -are innumerable "motives," as artists love to call them, for a day's, a -week's, or a month's work of brush or pencil. - -The church of St. Cyr itself is a severe little building, with no -decoration or ornament worthy of remark, though its interior is by no -means bare or ugly. It has, furthermore, a charming roof of -barrel-vaulted brickwork, which would be the pride of a more pretentious -building. Its chief charm, however, is its modern but exceedingly -picturesque spire which towers above the western portal. Its slated -peak, its ornate iron arrow, and its corniced shaft, all group in -delightful fashion among surroundings which, if not in any way -luxurious, are exceedingly lively and interesting. Pigeons, and even -crows and swallows apparently, fly in and out quite in the romantic -fashion of sentimental poetry. The wonder is that they have not stopped -the functions of the clock, which in this case, with its four dials -facing each of the four quarters, is decidedly less offensive than -usual, and forms a charming high light in a landscape of tender greens -and grays. - -The two artistic and architectural glories of Louviers are its -magnificently florid church and the Hôtel du Grand Cerf. The Church of -Notre Dame is a curiously hybrid structure in spite of the almost -universal admiration bestowed upon its specific ornateness; for most -people view it from only one side, that which has all the liveliness of -the late Gothic era, or even later, for Renaissance details have crept -in here and there, which will not allow it to rank with St. Maclou at -Rouen, the peer of its class. - -[Illustration: _Hôtel du Grand Cerf, Louviers_] - -Renaissance details are seldom beautiful in conjunction with Gothic of -any form, and when mixed with the latest variety which took -distinguishable form are the more to be regretted, if one admires it -in its purity, as it sometimes does exist, though very infrequently. - -Some will not admit the beauty of Renaissance details at all. Certainly -it is open to objection in a northern clime, regardless of how -successfully the importation has been developed in architecture other -than great churches. Here, however, in this singularly effective church -at Louviers, it hangs like a parasite on buttress, lintel, and wall; not -obtrusively, indeed, at a distance it is hardly distinguishable, but it -is there, nevertheless, and taints the whole structure like the blight -on a blossoming tree. Notre Dame de Louviers is a conglomerate -structure, with the palm going to its severe, simple north tower and -façade, in spite of the effectiveness of the more florid south front. - -Not even in the Low Countries, or at Noyon in Picardy, where is that -dignified and imposing early Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame, is there to -be found a more impressive and elegant flanking west tower than here. -Its graceful windows look bleak, boarded up or filled with stonework; -but this was not for ornament, or they might as well have been left -bare. It was probably for strength, temporary or permanent, in the -expectation that some day an ornate spire would be added, which might -rival even that of Texier's at Chartres. Such was not to be, however. -Nothing happened but a sudden desire to ornament the western porch and -façade, in the sixteenth century; and so the edifice stands to-day, not -a solitary example of such work; for one must not forget the cathedral -at Evreux or that astonishing and freaklike Church of St. Gervais at -Gisors near by, but one which is all the more sympathetic and agreeable -because of the juxtaposition of the contrasting styles. The interior is -interesting, but by no means to the same extent as the exterior, though -the general effect is one of genial warmth and luxury. - -The Eure, though not a great river, is a very beautiful one; and, in -spite of being not well-known, is a very useful stream to the -manufactories along its banks. It is tributary to the Seine, and -properly belongs to the watershed of its larger parent. It flows nearly -northward through Anet and Acquigny, and the little metropolis of -Louviers, till its juncture with the Seine at Pont de l'Arche makes them -one, so far as navigation is concerned, from Pont de l'Arche to -Louviers. - -One remarks the many tall chimneys of the cloth-factories of Louviers, -of which Arthur Young wrote in the year 1787. With letters of -introduction he had come to visit one of the leading manufacturers of a -cloth then thought to be the superior of any woollen in the world. -"Perfection goes no further than the Vigona cloths of M. Decretot," said -the genial traveller. - -At Louviers the Eure divides into many branches and flows through the -town in quite a Dutch-canal fashion. Louviers is both a new and an old -town. The first in stone and brick housing the great cloth-factories on -the water's edge; while the second in stone and wood surrounds the -magnificent Church of Notre Dame, and the old market-place where on -Saturdays is to be seen a most extensive and picturesque display. - -Louviers suffered greatly in the "Hundred Years' War"; and the English -invaded it in 1418, condemning to death 120 merchants chosen from the -wealthy residents of the town. Even then it sheltered many -cloth-manufacturing establishments whose products were in great repute -and demand at all of the great fairs of the middle ages. In later days -the prices of the manufactured goods have lowered; but the quality of -the product of Louviers has always remained of the best. A trip up the -valley of the Eure, from Pont de l'Arche to its rise near the southern -boundary of Normandy and on up the valley of the Avre, will be wholly a -new experience to many. It is not a magnificent stream, but it is a most -industrious one, and turns numerous mill-wheels and waters a -considerable section of the plain of Upper Normandy west of the Seine. - -Damps, St. Cyr, Louviers, Acquigny, and Pacy are comparatively -well-known, at least by users of the roadway, even if they do not stop -over. The rich charms of many of the smaller places are, however, quite -generally ignored. - -Acquigny has in its church some remarkable wood-carvings and some -valuable reliquaries. In the cemetery is a chapel, built over the tombs -of St. Maure and St. Venerand, who were martyrized in the sixth century. -There is also a château of the time of François I. - -Next is Heudreville, with a diminutive church in part Romanesque; and at -Croix St. Leufroy are the remains of the Abbey of Croix, founded in 788, -and built into the fifteenth and sixteenth century parish church, in -which are also the ancient baptismal fonts from the same edifice. - -At Autheuil-Authouillet is a church with some good wood-carvings and -ancient statues. It has, too, a fifteenth-century churchyard cross. - -Chambray is of little enough note historically, except for an unimposing -château of the time of Henri IV.; but its modern-looking, though -undeniably and romantically environed, mill is one of those reminders of -times, all but disappeared, before the advance of steam and electricity, -which will appeal to artists and all lovers of travel. - -If an artist could find accommodation in some wayside tavern, which is -doubtful, as Pacy-sur-Eure, ten kilometres away, is the nearest centre -of population--if a tiny place of two thousand souls can be so -called--where such might be found, he would find view-points and -colour-schemes enough to last him a fortnight, unless he worked with the -rapidity of a Turner. - -Just before reaching Pacy-sur-Eure one comes to Jouy-Cocherel,--and most -likely passes it with a rush; for the roadway, though not a national -road, is of that superlative excellence which often induces the -traveller, if on a motor-car, to keep the pace until some untoward thing -stops him. - -The fifteenth-century church is all that it should be, but the -near-lying hamlet of Cocherel claims the predominant historical -interest. It was here in 1364 that the redoubtable Duguesclin vanquished -the combined troops of the Kings of England and Navarre, and made -prisoner the great captain, Jean de Grailly, after his rear-guard was -cut to pieces by the French cavalry. - -This feat of arms is commemorated by a monument erected near the banks -of the Eure. - -Menilles, almost up with Pacy, has an attractive church whose portal -bears some most acceptable statuettes of the time of Louis XII. There is -also a sixteenth-century château, most delightfully placed high above -the roadway. - -Pacy-sur-Eure is in itself hardly an attraction for the tourist; but it -is his only chance for a square meal such as automobilists and cyclists -demand, between Louviers and Evreux; and its hotel, the Lion d'Or, is -writ down in the books of many as one of those enjoyable and unexpected -_tables d'hôte_ which one so frequently comes across in the open country -of France. - -Pacy is the head of canal-boat and barge traffic on the Eure, and -achieves something of importance from this enterprise; but otherwise, -save for a most excellent automobile garage and a book-store which -would delight the inhabitants of an English or American town of twenty -times the size of Pacy, there is not much else of commerce to be noted. - -The church dates from the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, -and was built upon a still more ancient foundation, so far lost in -antiquity that its date is unknown. - -In July, 1793, General de Puisaye, at the head of the Revolutionists, -was defeated in a battle here by the troops of the National Convention. - -Onward, toward the source of the Eure, one passes, by a gently rolling -highroad, Hécourt, Breuilpont, and Lorey; unremarkable except for the -natural beauties of their situation and the surrounding country. Where -the roadway rises just beyond Pacy one gets a delightful view of the -river valley known as the "Circuit of the Eure." Here the not very ample -stream winds in and out among the tall poplars in the same sinuous -curves made famous by the memories of the celebrated vale of Cashmere, -the broad river-bottom itself stretching out on either side a half-dozen -miles, and leaving the silver stream a tiny thread running through the -centre. It is a truly idyllic picture, and full of the sentiment which -artists love. - -Bueil is hardly more than a railway junction, where the line for -Cherbourg and Brest divides; and at Garennes, an unassuming little -village, the highroad crosses to the opposite river bank by a small -bridge, from which one gets a delightful outlook up and down stream. -Numerous water-mills are scattered here and there through the -meadow-land, and there is an aspect of mechanical industry, which is -astonishing to one whose conception of a factory is a great building of -brick, with many windows and a towering chimney-stack as its chief and -visible signs of usefulness. At Garennes one may see the trenches of the -camp occupied by the Duc de Mayenne at the battle of the Ligeurs, at -Ivry, in the last years of the sixteenth century. - -Before one reaches Anet is Ivry-la-Bataille, a place name that conjures -up much of history, though the great battle itself took place five -kilometres away, in the neighbourhood of Epieds. - -A column, first erected by Henri IV. and rebuilt by Napoleon I., marks -the spot where the battle was fought on March 4, 1590. In the chronicles -one reads specifically that it marks the exact location of the tent -of the victor "_au panache blanc_." - -[Illustration: _Garennes_] - -Ivry-la-Bataille has a thousand inhabitants, and a mere roadside tavern -which rejoices in the grand name of Hôtel St. Martin. There are still -remains of its ancient triple moat and fortifications, which date from -the time of Louis the Fat and Philippe-Auguste, when the town was of -vastly more importance than it has ever been since. - -In 1418 the place was taken by Talbot, in 1424 by the Duke of Bedford, -and in 1449 by Count Dunois, who demolished the fortifications. - -Up to his time the name was Ivry-la-Chaussée, but since the great -victory here of Henri IV. against the League, in 1590, it has been known -as Ivry-la-Bataille. - -Near the southern boundary of the ancient province of Normandy, in the -valley of the Eure, is the Château of Anet, Delorme's famous -masterpiece, built for the winsome Diane de Poitiers, whose husband was -once Seneschal of Normandy, in spite of the fact that her own name was -evolved from the family estates in Poitou. - -It was in 1552 that Delorme laid out the general plan of this -magnificent Renaissance work, of which the wonderful portal and one -wing yet remain. The rest was destroyed in the fury of the Revolution. -Jean Goujon, the most famous of the Renaissance sculptors of France, -lent his aid; and the arabesques and window decorations of Jean Cousin -are, like the contributions of his contemporaries, incomparable. - -This château was the pet and pride of the attractive and unfortunate -Diane. It was also a favourite resting-place of Henri II., who often -sojourned here. La Fontaine wrote, presumably on the strength of having -been invited there: - - "par l'ordre d'Apollon - Transportent dans Anet tout le sacre vallon; - Je le crois; puissions-nous chanter sous les ombrages - Des arbres dont ce lieu va border ces rivages." - -The susceptible Henri II. gave the new structure to the winsome Diane -after her fascinations had been rejected by his father, François I. -Diane must have had a sincere attachment for the family, or was able to -convince the son that she had, to have acquired this magnificent -establishment, now greatly remodelled, but still showing the outlines of -the original château and many remains which are more than fragmentary. -It is one of the best works of the architect, Philibert Delorme. The -portal, which is magnificent, one wing of the present château, and the -chapel are the relics left to-day of the original structure. - -Art lovers will recall the celebrated statue known as "La Diane," by -Jean Goujon, one of the few authenticated works of this -sixteenth-century genius of sculpture. This statue formerly occupied the -centre of the Court of Honour of the Château d'Anet. It was all but -destroyed when the rest of the château suffered at the Revolution; and, -though in fragments, was sold to some one who placed it for safe-keeping -in the _Musée des Petits-Augustins_ at Paris. In 1818 the group was -inherited by the Duc d'Orléans, but Louis XVIII. acquired it for the -Louvre by giving in exchange the statue of "Ajax Defying the Gods." - -The group, of course, had its inception in the mythological story of -Diana; but since the court charmer herself was a huntress of repute, it -was but natural for Goujon to have modelled the features upon that of -Henri's favourite. This has frequently been denied or ignored, though it -seems plausible; and, when one notes the features and the coiffure, he -finds them distinctly French, not Greek. - -Diane, nude, is posed nonchalantly, her right arm around the neck of a -superb deer whose antlers have six branches and who crouches on the -ground beside her. In her left arm Diane bears a golden bow, and her -hair is garlanded with pearls. The two dogs, Procion and Syrius, are -playing beside her; and the whole grouping and execution is of a superb -fidelity to nature, and must undoubtedly always remain as the most -typical example of the best of French sculpture of the epoch of the -Renaissance. - -The daughter of Jean de Poitiers, Comte de St. Vallier, of the -Valentinois counts, was born Sept. 3, 1499. Her biographers have in the -main been flatterers, but it is generally admitted that she was a -precocious child. At any rate, her education was considerable even for -her time. - -Diane married Louis de Brézé, whose paternal home was at Anet and who -had previously espoused Catherine de Dreux, at the tender age of sixteen -years. De Brézé, or De Dreux-Brézé as he had become by his former -marriage, was then fifty-five years of age, so perhaps there is some -cause for the winsome Diane's lack of constancy. She had secured from -François I. the release of her father, who had been imprisoned for -complicity in the Bourbon affair,--a circumstance unknowingly, it has -been said, brought about by Diane's husband himself. - -It was on a certain occasion at Amboise, when the nobles attached to the -court were awaiting the pleasure of François as to whether or not he -would hunt that morning, that we read one of the earliest references to -Diane. The Comte de Saint-Vallier had just given the signal for -departure when Marguerite d'Alençon addressed the father of Diane as -follows: - -"M. le Comte, tell me, when is the court to be graced by the presence of -your incomparable daughter, Madame Diane, Grande Seneschale of -Normandy?" - -"Madame," said Saint-Vallier, "her husband, M. de Brézé, is much -occupied in his distant government. Diane is young, much younger than -her husband. The court, madame, is dangerously full of temptations to -the young...." - -"We lose a bright jewel by her absence," replied Marguerite. - -Saint-Vallier had by no means any business to mix himself up in the -Bourbon mêlée, and sorry enough he was for it ultimately. - -Bourbon had fled to Spain, ultimately to take the field against his -royal master, François, in Italy, and the Comte de Saint-Vallier was the -principal aid in his flight and his chief accomplice. What his reward -was to be no one knows. - -"Saint-Vallier a conspirator, too!" said François, when told of the -affair. "What! the captain of my archers? That strikes us hard. Well, I -am sorry for Jean de Poitiers." - -"Are the proofs certain?..." - -"Jean de Poitiers, my ci-devant captain of the guards, is the father of -a charming lady. Madame Diane, the Seneschale of Normandy, is an angel, -though her husband, De Brézé,--why, he is a monster. The old story, my -lords,--Vulcan and Venus." - -In due time Diane appears at the court. "A lady, deeply veiled, who -desires to speak with his Majesty alone," she is announced. - -"By St. Denis," says the king, "who is she?" - -"I think, Sire," says the page, "it is the wife of the Grand Seneschal -of Normandy." - -"Well, it does not surprise me," says the king. "When her father got -himself into this mess, I assumed she would intercede for him." - -"Diane entered,"--quoting from a contemporary account,--"her head -covered with a deep veil." She weeps, but her beauty shines radiantly -through her tears. She is exquisitely fair and wonderfully fresh, with -golden hair and dark eyebrows. - -"Pardon, Sire," she cries, "pardon my father. He is too old for -punishment, and has hitherto been true to your Majesty." - -"At any rate, madame," said François, "he is blessed with a most -surpassing daughter. Mercy, Madame Diane, is a royal prerogative, but -beauty is most potent. Will you, fair lady, exercise your prerogative -and lend your presence to my court?... Then I declare your father -pardoned, even though he had rent the crown from off my head." - -Diane thus left Normandy and became one of the shining lights of the -beauty-loving court of François I., though, as history tells, she was -not able to exercise her wiles to any great extent upon the monarch -himself. Indeed he soon forsook her when she laid herself out to -fascinate the feeble Henri, the king's son,--a task which was not -difficult or slow of consummation. - -Her devotion to François was not returned, at least not ardently, though -François is known to have visited the De Brézé home on three occasions, -as royal ordinances were signed or dated from there in 1528, 1531, and -1543. - -If Diane did not succeed to her liking with the father, she made a quick -progress with the son, the Duc d'Orleans, who later was to become Henri -II.; for he "broke a lance in her honour" at a tourney, thus -constituting himself her chevalier, though at the time the youth owned -to but fifteen years. - -It was in 1536 that Diane de Poitiers almost literally captured Henri, -who had become the husband of Catherine de Medici. Catherine could do -nothing except ally herself with the Duchesse d'Etampes, who, even at -the time of the lance-breaking, was a self-constituted rival of Diane. -It was indeed the tragedy of Catherine's position that it was considered -beneath the dignity of tragedy. She, the wife of the future King of -France, hardly acknowledged herself worthy of rivalry with this -huntress, who was also able to woo with all the artifice of that -terrible new Platonism. The Duchesse d'Etampes, with her "_Petite -Bande_" and her alliance with the Guises and the Connétable Montmorency, -was able to give battle to this upstart, but Catherine herself could -only look on. There was a time, some ten years after her marriage, when -François actually meditated her divorce from Henri. Catherine, now -Dauphine, still remained without children, and, at a great family -council, Diane de Poitiers persuaded the king that a separation of the -husband and wife was the only wise course. - -Catherine appealed to François I. She had, she said, heard of what had -been proposed. It was for François to decide. Catherine wept during this -appeal, and the king, who disliked tears, decided in her favour. Diane -was defeated, and the Dauphine won one of her few triumphs against her -insolent rival. Curiously enough, however, when, in 1543, a son was at -last born to Catherine, it was Diane de Poitiers, robed in the black and -white of her widowhood,--De Brézé having died at Anet, aged seventy-two -years,--who received the little being into the world, and constituted -herself the nurse of the mother. It was surely no wonder that Catherine, -in spite of all her verbal gratitude, retained "_une plaie fort -saignante au coeur_." - -A considerable advantage had already accrued to the fair Diane; for, -when the Dauphin died in 1536, the Duc Henri d'Orleans, lover of Diane, -became the heir presumptive to the crown. - -Finally, in 1547, François I. died, and Diane first came into her real -power. Catherine was neglected, and the vindictive Anne de Pisseleu, -Duchesse d'Etampes, exiled to the Château of St. Bris. The historians -speak of the death of François "as having released one long-suppressed -individuality, that of the Dauphin." The case of Catherine, however, was -even harder than before. The sullen boy, her husband, had become a man -under the tutelage of Diane, and silently Catherine had noted his mental -growth. - -She wrote to the Connétable Montmorency: "I know full well that I must -not have the happiness of being near him, which makes me wish that you -had my place and I yours so long as the war lasts; and that I could do -him as much service as you have done." Catherine served her husband well -as a diplomatist in Paris, and Henri learned to respect her -intelligence, though he never gave her a fraction of his heart. Always -between him and her there was one woman, Diane de Poitiers, Grande -Seneschale de Rouen, Duchesse de Valentinois. Diane was seventeen years -older than Henri II., but the spell that she held over him had always -been extraordinary. - -The favours to come to Diane were meantime not long delayed. Her -seigneury at Anet was contested, and Henri, by the right of kings, -decided it in her favour. He gave her the magnificent château at -Chenonceaux on the Loire, and the duchy of the Valentinois, to which he -added "sums considerable," say the chroniclers. - -With this money Diane set about to construct the Château of Anet anew. -Bearing in mind the memory of her former husband, Diane permitted only -decorations in black and white, and Henri himself was led to adopt the -same as his own colours. Henri came frequently to Anet, where one part -of the château was reserved for him, and decorated, curiously enough, -with the cipher and arms of himself and his queen Catherine. - -These visits of her royal master were the cause of great expenditures on -the part of Diane. In one year alone they rose above four hundred -thousand francs. When one adds to this the expenditure of the -construction and ornamentation of the château, one gets some idea of the -disbursements of the public treasury on behalf of a royal favourite. -Henri refused nothing to his mistress. - -Diane by this time possessed ten estates in France, besides the duchy of -Etampes and a hotel in Paris, which had also been the property of her -ancient rival. - -It was the curse of Catherine, whose own life was one long period of -dissimulation, to see her husband's mistress successful mainly by reason -of sincerity. It was terrible for this woman, who, however decadent, -stood for the culture and the traditions of the Italian Renaissance, to -be set aside easily, contemptuously even, by one whose pose it was to -stand for what was national in the French offshoot of the Renaissance. - -Around Diane at Anet there circled a brilliant group of poets and -architects and sculptors, who were all Frenchmen. Such men as these made -Anet a resplendent citadel of the French Renaissance; and Diane, the -typical Frenchwoman, was well equipped to play the part she had chosen. -Her palace was indeed a kind of Thelema,--the home of nature and of -intellect, of beauty and of ease. Rabelais would have wandered there -content, nor would Diane have been too refined to laugh at his jokes -with the true Gallic spirit. To her, as to her fellows, gaiety was more -necessary than delicacy. - -The later history of Diane all students and lovers of French history -well know, but the Château of Anet stands to-day as a monument to her -memory, more closely identified with her personality than even -Chenonceaux on the Loire. - -One may visit its apartments on Thursdays and Sundays in July of each -year, through the courtesy of the present proprietor; and a personal -acquaintance therewith is a thing to awaken a new interest in the life -and times of Diane de Poitiers, one of the most famous of all the -favourites of Kings of France. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE PAYS DE CAUX - - -The whole coast-line northeast from Havre to the borders of Picardy is a -delightful succession of villages and towns where the salt smell of the -sea mingles with the odours of wild flowers. - -Along the fringe of the coast itself the watering-places crowd close one -upon the other, from the more ambitious resorts of Dieppe, Fécamp, -Etretat, and Tréport, with their casinos and conventional amusements, to -the quiet and tranquil little villages such as Yport, Petites Dalles, -St. Valery en Caux, and Berneval, which possess quite all the advantages -of the larger and more frequented resorts, so far as the charm of -prospect goes, with none of their drawbacks. - -From Havre to Etretat one rises to a grass-grown, chalky height, which -extends quite all the distance to the famous "picture-rocks" of the -latter place. - -[Illustration: _Song of the Pays de Caux_] - -Just after leaving Havre, on the heights which seemingly hang so -perilously above the city itself are the Phares de la Hève, two great -quadrangular towers which were built in 1775. The larger of the towers -has a flash-light in its lantern which is visible at sea a distance of -fifty-one miles in clear weather. Between the two is situated one of -those gaunt, long-armed semaphores, like Don Quixote's windmill, with -which the coast of France is so plentifully supplied. They are the -forerunners of the wire-less telegraphy of to-day, and certainly serve -their purpose admirably. - -To Montivilliers, somewhat back from the coast, one passes the modern -Château of Colmoulins, built after the style of the Renaissance, whose -chatelain possesses, it is said, many fine pictures by old masters and -the canopied bed in which hath once slept France's great admiral, Jean -Bart. Through the valley runs a charming little river called the -Légarde. - -The old-time pigeon-house attached to a great house or in a barn-yard is -a frequent sight in Normandy. Usually it was a great, isolated round -tower, large enough, one would think, to shelter thousands of pigeon -families. That of the manor-house of Ango at Varengéville is one of the -most curious of all, while St. Ouen at Rouen had, in the sixteenth -century, one cruciform in shape, whose lower regions formed a cellar, -the ground floor a poultry-house, and above was an open hanger or place -for storing hay and grain. - -[Illustration: _A Pigeon-house_] - -Montivilliers, which is reached by electric cars from Havre, possesses a -church which is a relic of a strong foundation dating from 682. The -abbey was instituted by St. Philibert of Jumièges, and still other of -the conventual buildings have now been incorporated into a local -brewery, if such a degradation may be mentioned. The Cemetery of Brise -Garet, with its surrounding galleries in sculptured wood representing -funeral subjects, is decidedly unique, and quite well worth making the -journey from Havre to see. The library of this small and wholly -unimportant town of Caux has a collection of ten thousand volumes, all -relating to the history of Normandy, as well as many precious -manuscripts of the middle ages. It should form a vast treasure-house for -some modern historian. - -At St. Jouin, which is almost a suburb of Etretat, is the Hôtel de -Paris, whose chatelaine was, in the days of the elder Dumas, known as -"La belle Ernestine." In 1865, Dumas fashioned the following portrait of -her in verse, which, to say the least, seems rather free speech: - - "Son esprit est comme ses hanches - Il est souple et toujours bondit, - Et comme elle a les dents blanches - Elle rit de tout ce qu'on dit." - -Dumas _fils_ followed with: - - "Mais si vous croyez qu'elle m'aime - Vous vous trompez complètement." - -Finally, Wallon, the Minister of Public Instruction, wrote ten years -later: - - "Griffoner ici quelque chose - Pour la belle Ernestine oh! non! - Il y faudrait mettre une rose. - Je n'y puis mettre qu'un." - -The town itself is but a little fishing village of a thousand or more -inhabitants, but luncheon in the dining-room of Madame Ernestine -Aubourg's little inn is to enjoy a feast for the eyes and mind as well -as the inner man. The walls are hung with paintings, sketches, and -autograph letters. Among the latter are those of Isabella II., Queen of -Spain, Castelar, Offenbach, Suzanne Brohau, and Dumas. The paintings are -by Lambert, Picou Hamon, Maurice Courant, Corot, Yvon, Becon, Olivié, -Landelle _père_, and many others. - -Etretat, with its _falaises_, its _bains de mer_, and accessory -attractions, has lost some of its former vogue with the throng of rank -and fashion, but it is still as charming as ever, and, though solitude -is a scarce commodity there to-day, there are really grand outlooks to -be had, which might inspire poets and painter alike, as of yore, did -they not mind the rush of automobiles and the distractions of the casino -and its crowds. - -The history of Etretat points to the fact that it was once the most -famous resort on the north coast of Europe; but it is now surpassed by -Trouville-Deauville and Ostend, which have been taken up by society, to -the financial, though not artistic, detriment of Etretat. - -The first bathers, the local chronicles will tell one, arrived 1803. In -1844 the old Maréchal de Grouchy came to Etretat, and Alphonse Karr -contributed to the popularity of the place at about the same time by -laying there the scene of his romances, "Vendredi Soir" and "Le Chemin -le Plus Court." Karr really was responsible for the great popularity -which Etretat had as a watering-place at one time. He wrote further in -its praises thus: - -"Etretat is a new province which either I or the painters Le Pottevin -and Isabey have discovered. I am as Americus Vespucius to Christopher -Columbus or Daguerre to Niepèce. I nearly called it by my own name.... I -talked so much about Etretat that I made it the mode, ... but to-day it -has become merely a branch of Asnières." - -Isabey may be said to have been the first painter to discover Etretat. -After him came Le Pottevin and Mozin; then an Englishman named -Stanfield, and since then no one shall say how many artists have made -its chalky cliffs and pebbly beaches their own. - -From all this one might think that Etretat was essentially modern in all -respects; but it existed in the _epoque romain_, and its name appeared, -in a charter of 1024 given to the abbey of St. Wandrille, as Estrutat. - -The chief attraction of Etretat, outside its delightful situation and -its conventional amusements, is its fine Church of Notre Dame of the -eleventh to thirteenth centuries; really a delightful old edifice, -which, taken in conjunction with the gaieties of the summer life of the -town, seems sadly out of place. - -The whole neighbourhood round about abounds in delicious wooded hills -and valleys running through openings in the cliff to the sea, often with -a tiny, transparent rivulet clasped closely in its embrace. - -Here is Guy de Maupassant's charming description of one of these -delightful Norman valleys, which for fidelity and picturesqueness of -phrasing could hardly be improved upon: - -"From Dieppe to Havre the coast presents an uninterrupted face of cliff -about three hundred feet high and as straight and smooth as a wall. Now -and then, where there is an abrasure in the cliff, a little valley -descends from the well-wooded and perhaps cultivated plateau behind. -Sometimes this little ravine resembles the bed of a torrent; and -sometimes a little village settles itself in one of these self-same -valleys. - -"I have passed a summer here in one of these ravines which faced the -sea, lodged at the house of a peasant. From my windows I could see a -vast triangle of blue framed by the green sides of the valley, dotted -now and then with white sails glittering brilliantly in the sunlight." - -There is a very considerable portion of the Normandy coast (and that of -Brittany as well) which has just this aspect. The rivers, curiously -enough, with the exception of the Seine, are not navigable. They are -simply little rivers which carry off a certain amount of surplus water -from the table-land above. Some of these have gone dry; hence the gorges -or ravines which exist so very numerously along the Norman coast. They -are truly delightful, and by no means have they become tourist-worn or -denuded of idyllic charm. - -From Etretat to Fécamp, which is a veritable metropolis compared to the -former, is but a dozen kilometres as the crow flies, though the -windings of the road as it nears Fécamp add six or eight more. - -[Illustration: _The Harbour of Fécamp_] - -Yport lies between, and is what the French call a "_petit bain -familial_." It is a picturesque fishing port as well, and much nicer -than either Etretat or Fécamp, the first of which smells of automobiles, -and the second of Benedictine. It has a casino, too, but it is not -pretentious and offers a sort of homoeopathic amusement quite suited -to French mammas and their strictly guarded daughters. - -Fécamp is a historic town and the first deep-sea fishing port in France. - -Sixteen hundred men and sixteen thousand tons of shipping are engaged in -the Newfoundland fisheries out of Fécamp. The ships depart for the Grand -Banks in March and return in September, when their crews lay up their -great schooners, and equip their two hundred odd boats for the herring -and mackerel season in the North Sea. And so the round of the year goes -on in the fishing port of Fécamp, ceaselessly but profitably, and -whether the Fécampois is hailing a Gloucester schooner on the banks, or -passing observations on the weather with a Yarmouth trawler in the North -Sea, he is always the good-natured, hard-working Frenchman that one sees -in all the Norman and Breton seaports; for there is none of the -_laisser-aller_ of the Mediterranean fisherman in his make-up. - -In the middle ages the belief that the relic of the Precious Blood of -the Saviour had been brought here by a mysterious craft, and landed on -the coast at the ancient settlement which bore the Latin name of -Fiscamnum, was the cause from which grew up the ancient monastery for -women founded by St. Waneng in 660. In time this establishment became an -abbey for men, through the means of the monk Guillaume of Dijon. - -To this abbey was attached a great and flourishing school which endured -until the thirteenth century. - -The Maison Morillon in the Quartier de l'Hospice is built up of relics -from the old abbey demolished in 1802, and the Abbaye de la Trinity, -with its church dating from 1125-75, is indeed of quite the first rank, -though modern restorations have vulgarized it almost beyond belief. - -The name Fécamp is also familiar to lovers of Bénédictine, that subtle -liqueur invented by the monk Wincelli. - -[Illustration: _The Cliffs of Yport_] - -Leaving the coast, one finds Cany, a leading town of the district, at -the mouth of the little river Durdent, a dozen kilometres from -Veulettes. The little town sits in a delightfully wooded valley and -possesses a fine sixteenth-century church. In the kitchen of the Hôtel -du Commerce is one of those rare architectural or decorative accessories -that one comes across now and then in out-of-the-way places,--a great -armorial chimneypiece which dates from 1624. - -The market is one of the most lively in all the Pays de Caux, and is -frequented by large numbers of folk from the country-side and -neighbouring towns. - -On the coast are Grandes and Petites Dalles, small places where the -bathing is the chief attraction of the visitor. They are surrounded, -however, by the most beautifully rustic woodland country it is possible -to imagine. - -Veulettes partakes of much the same characteristics, except that this -little town of three hundred odd inhabitants possesses a somewhat -apocryphal legend all its own. "Formerly," according to the legend, -"there existed here an important town built upon the sands, at the mouth -of the river Durdent, known as '_la grande ville de Durdent_,' which one -day was engulfed by the sands or overflowed by the waves, and so -disappeared from view." - -St. Valery-en-Caux is a veritable metropolis for these parts. It -contains, perhaps, four thousand souls, and has grown up from an ancient -settlement which surrounded a monastery founded here by St. Valery, who -also erected another similar establishment, some leagues up the coast at -the mouth of the Somme in Picardy, known as St. Valery-sur-Somme. - -Both the ancient fishing port, which was also established here, and the -town which hugged the old monastery in its grasp, grew to some -considerable prominence, but were stunted by the wars of the fourteenth, -fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, only recovering their prosperity by -the aggrandizement caused by the accession of the fisherfolk of Veules, -who had been driven away from their own homes by the encroachments of -the sea. - -Of late years the usual watering-place tendencies have developed; and a -casino has sprung up which draws a floating summer population of some -hundreds of strangers from June to September. - -Notre Dame de Bon Port is St. Valery's chief ecclesiastical monument. It -dates from the sixteenth century only, but has a remarkable wooden -vaulted roof and two thirteenth-century pillars, and arches built into -its portal. - -The Maison Henri IV. (1549), so called because of having been the -lodging-place of that turncoat monarch, is perhaps the other chief -architectural curiosity. It is a typical Renaissance house with some -finely sculptured woodwork. In the quarter known as the town is a -Renaissance cross and a slate roofing over the ruins of the priory -founded, perhaps, by St. Valery. - -On the road to Dieppe, beyond St. Valery, is Veules-les-Roses, most -picturesquely and euphoniously named. It has but 760 inhabitants, many -of its fisherfolk having removed to Dieppe, where they settled in the -quarter known to-day as Petit Veules. - -Dieppe all cross-channel travellers well know. It is a great port of -entry, a watering-place, a fishing port, and a city of shops and -industries, all of considerable magnitude. Its attractions for all -classes are many and varied, and no attempt is made to catalogue them -here. To the eastward of the town the great promontory which juts out -into the channel is strongly fortified; and at all times since the days -of Philippe-Auguste, the town and its environs have been considered of -great strategic value. - -The Dieppois as seafarers were in the old days, and to some extent are -still, the rivals of the Malouins of St. Malo in Brittany. In the -fourteenth century explorers from Dieppe scoured the seas as far as Cape -Verde and the African coast; and fished for cod off the coasts of -Iceland and Norway. - -Names of Dieppois famous to those who know the early discoverers and -explorers of the new world are Jean Ango, the armateur (1480-1551), Jean -Cousin, the pilot of Columbus, who discovered the Brazilian coast -(1488), the Admiral Duquesne, one of the glories of the reign of Louis -XIV. (1610-88), and many others. - -Dieppe's two great churches, St. Jacques and St. Remi, are wonderfully -preserved monuments of their respective classes, and are rich in those -accessories and details which make a great church truly beautiful. The -chapel of St. Yves in St. Jacques served as the oratory of Jean Ango, -Vicomte de Dieppe, the benefactor of the church. - -The town hall is of modern construction, but it houses a library of -twenty-five thousand volumes, including many rare works and maps and -plans of the coasts of Europe. - -The museum has many curios of town and country, which have come down -from other days, and a fair collection of paintings, including works by -Isabey, Le Pottevin, Colin, Lemaire Cugnot, Garnier, Falguière, and -others. On the stairway leading to the second _étage_ is a curious and -valuable _carte cosmographique_ by Jean Cousin (1570), near which are -placed several of the nautical instruments made use of by him. - -Dieppe, with its casino and its lawns, and the whole establishment -devoted to baths and open air and indoor pleasures, places the town -quite in the first rank of watering-places, though by no means is its -situation as grand as that of Etretat; nor is it so greatly in vogue as -Trouville-Deauville. - -The château is a picturesque edifice high on the hillside, overlooking -the shore, with four great towers, a donjon, and a pont-levis. It was -built in 1435, but has been disfigured by various additions. To-day it -forms the Ruffin barracks, and accordingly may not be visited by the -curious. - -Near Dieppe is Arques-la-Bataille and the forest of Arques. - -The château of Arques was erected by William, the uncle of the -Conqueror, about 1040. Its donjon was divided according to the usage of -the time into two parts, though the second was doubtless a later -addition. The history of this great fortress-château, one of the most -formidable in all Normandy, is very vivid and extensive, and is known to -all lovers of French history. - -It was held successively, after its builder's time, by the Conqueror, -Stephen, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Coeur de Lion, Philippe-Auguste, and -Jean-Sans-Terre. Finally it reverted to the French Crown. Louis XIV. -visited the château of Arques in 1648; but the Bernardine monks took -from it in the seventeenth century much material for the construction of -their convent, at which time it became practically a vast quarry of -stone. In 1793 the ruins were sold for 8,300 livres; but in 1869 it -again became the property of the state, and a guardian was installed to -prevent further ravage. - -The sixteenth-century church of Arques-la-Bataille is an elaborate -building, far more grand than one usually expects to find in a town of -eleven hundred inhabitants; but, after all, the town's chief attraction -is the great rectangular donjon, practically all that remains of the old -château. - -The manor-house of Ango, also near Dieppe, is one of those reminders of -the olden time which has reached us quite unspoiled. It was built by a -celebrated ship-owner of Dieppe (1530-45), and is a great country-house -surrounding a rectangular courtyard, to which one penetrates by two -opposing entrances. - -The very beautiful pigeon-house is quite the most elaborate of its kind -anywhere to be seen. - -Near Dieppe, also, is Puys, a sort of suburban watering-place for Dieppe -itself. It owes its popular existence to Dumas _fils_, who made his -residence there in summer. It was here that the elder romancer died in -1870; for which reason Puys may be said to be a true literary shrine. - -"Monte Cristo" has something to say of the charms of Normandy. -Addressing his companion, Bertuccio, Dantes says: - -"I am desirous of having an estate by the seaside in Normandy, for -instance, between Havre and Boulogne. You see I give you a wide range. -It will be absolutely necessary that the place you select shall have a -small harbour, creek, or bay, into which my vessel can enter and remain -at anchor." - -Possibly Dumas may have had in mind the little Norman village of Puys, -where he died, when he wrote the above lines; though more probably not, -as the "Count of Monte Cristo" was written at an early period of his -life, while he died only in 1870. - -Eastward toward the boundary of Normandy and Picardy, one passes -Varengeville-sur-Mer, Sainte Marguerite and Quiberville, all delightful -little seaside towns with a touch of the _beau-monde_ in summer, and a -dull, quiet, but none the less entrancing, life in winter, when the -natives gossip about their last season's visitors, and speculate as to -what the harvest may be the coming year, meantime catching a few fish -and going weekly to the nearest market-town. - -Tréport and Mers are the last two resorts on the Norman coast. - -There are the usual summer attractions, of course, but there is much -more also, and the life of the fisherfolk of Tréport and Mers forms a -pleasant antidote to the observer of men and things who may become tired -of watching bathers and red umbrellas. - -Tréport was the Ulterior Portus of the Romans; but it came to no great -importance until well along in the middle ages. Robert I., Comte d'Eu, -founded here in 1059 an abbey of the order of St. Benoit; and Robert -Courte Heuse garnered his forces here to set out in battle against Henri -Beau Clerc, King of England. - -[Illustration: _Tréport_] - -The affairs of the ancient Comté d'Eu, in which Tréport was situated, -were many and varied in the middle ages, and it was but natural that -the seaport of the fief should speedily have grown to respectable -proportions. - -The Church of St. Jacques dates from the fourteenth to sixteenth -centuries; and, though reconstructed in the Renaissance period, has many -attractive and beautiful details. The ancient presbytery is a charming -Renaissance building with a façade of sculptured wood. - -Mers, on the opposite bank of the Bresle, is usually linked with -Tréport, and is of itself a seaside resort of no mean pretensions. - -Next, perhaps, to the Château d'Anet, Normandy's most celebrated -Renaissance château is that of Eu in the Department of the Lower Seine, -just south of Tréport on the river Bresle. Eu itself is a town of -considerable rank; and has, besides its historic château, a remarkable -church,--St. Laurent's. It is an ancient collegiate church and one of -the most beautiful in all Normandy. - -The church was built 1186-1230 and reconstructed in the fifteenth -century, but it ranks with the cathedral at Rouen, St. Maclou, and the -choir of La Trinité of Fécamp as one of the greatest and most typical of -the florid Gothic church edifices of Normandy. - -It should interest Hibernians from the fact that it is dedicated to St. -Laurence O'Tool, one time Archbishop of Dublin. Behind its fine -retro-choir is a casket containing the personal relics of this great -man. - -In its actual state the Château d'Eu is of modern construction; but its -souvenirs of the middle ages are numerous, nevertheless, and the names -of its counts are not without honour in the annals of Normandy. The -precise period of its foundation is unknown, but it dates perhaps from -the period which preceded the arrival of the Normans into the Comté -d'Eu, when it was probably simply a feudal fortress. - -The hereditary Counts of Eu do not date back before the eleventh -century. The first who bore the title was Guillaume, son of Richard Sans -Peur, Duc de Normandie, and grandson of Rollon. When he died, in 996, he -left the estates to his son, Richard le Bon, whose reign was apparently -a troublous one, beset on all sides by turbulent seigneurs, who envied -his security of tenure and wanted it for themselves, as was the way in -those days. - -Robert, Comte d'Eu, played a great part in the Conqueror's invasion of -England, and indeed aided greatly in the preparations which went on -previous to the actual descent upon England's shores. At the battle of -Hastings he commanded the right wing of the invading army, and, as a -recompense for his bravery and ability, was given Hastings Castle and -its domains in the counties of Kent and Sussex. He died in 1080 and was -interred in the Abbey of Tréport, founded by his father, where reposed -already the remains of his wife Beatrix. - -Guillaume, the next heritor, had nothing of the good qualities and -abilities of his father, and was "of an unquiet spirit and a -pusillanimous heart," as the annalist has it. His _mauvais passions_ -inspired him to ill deeds; and altogether he was an unpopular sort of a -person. - -Jean de Bourgogne, Comte d'Eu, promised to deliver up the château to -Edward IV., the English king, but Louis XI. ordered its destruction -instead. - -From a document of the time one reads the following, written in the -picturesque old French of the time: - -"_Dix-huictiesme jour de juillet, an mille quatre cent soixante et -quinze, environ neuf heures du matin fut la ville de Eu et chastel ars -et bruslés par les gens de guerre, par le commandement et ordonnance du -roi._" - -Five years after this event, in 1480, a modest manor-house was erected -on the ruins of the old castle. A century later the present splendid -château was begun, but, unfortunately, in the second year of our new -century it suffered so greatly by fire that somewhat of its former -magnitude has been impaired. - -The sixteenth-century château was begun after the marriage of Catherine -of Clèves, Comtesse d'Eu, with Henri de Guise (Le Balafré). It was never -wholly completed as planned, but the notorious De Guise (or famous, if -one chooses to think so) spent some time here, "always absorbed and -preoccupied." - -Charles de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, and son of Henri de Guise, inherited -the title, but never visited his château or the town. - -On June 26, 1641, Louis XIII., returning from Dieppe, stayed at the -château; and his successor, Louis XIV., and the famous Montpensier -sojourned there for a time; of which circumstance one may read at some -length in that lady's "Mémoires." Shortly after she became Countess of -Eu herself. - -In 1660 Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans came into possession. The Duc du -Maine came in turn to occupy the estates, but, though he sent a -deputation to take formal possession, he himself never inhabited the -château. - -The Duc de Penthièvre inherited the domain and occupied the château -from 1776 up to 1791. Louis-Philippe made much of the Château d'Eu. His -court was frequently held here; and a most splendid fête was given on -the occasion of the visit of Queen Victoria, who came to return a call -from the French king. Some years later, in 1848, the prince became an -exile in England, demanding a refuge from the young queen whom he had -entertained so graciously. To-day the château belongs to the Duc -d'Orléans. - -On the little river Bresle just south of Tréport and Eu are Aumale and -Blagny. The former possesses a remarkable sixteenth-century church, with -a tower attributed, somewhat doubtfully, to Jean Goujon. Blagny has the -Church of Notre Dame of the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries; and near -by, at Séry, are the remains of a Premonstratensian abbey, founded -toward 1120. - -Neuchâtel-en-Bray, across country toward Yvetôt and Bolbec, is in the -very midst of one of the richest pasture-lands of Normandy. The town -dates from Merovingian times, and was called Driencourt before the -construction of its château in 1106 by Henri I., Duke of Normandy and -King of England. Thus its importance was early established. - -The Church of Notre Dame dates in part from the twelfth century, and, -with its later additions, forms an admirable expression of the -architecture of its period, though in reality it is a work yet -unfinished. It has been sadly mutilated. - -An ancient abbey of the Bernardine monks is now occupied by the town -hall, library, Board of Trade, and school. - -The library contains many rare works, among them a manuscript Bible of -the thirteenth century, a polyglot Bible from the old Abbey of -Foncarmont, a collection of ancient royal bells, dating from their -origin, and a fine silver seal and _contre scel_ belonging to Louis II., -who was Duc de Longueville and Comte de Dunois. - -Situated in so rich a pasture-land, Neuchâtel is famous for its butter -and cheese, as is Gourney, its neighbour on the west. The Suisse cheese -of Neuchâtel is also a variety of light, sweet cream cheeses, and is -often confounded with Neuchâtel in Switzerland, which really originated -here in the midst of these Norman pastures. - -Yvetôt, between Rouen and Havre, has not much fame with general -travellers, though occasionally there is one who remembers Béranger's -verses on "Le Roi d'Yvetôt," and thinks it warrants a call. - -The history of Yvetôt does not offer anything of remarkable interest -except the memory of the Kings of Yvetôt, which Béranger's satire so -well recalls. - -The title of "Roi" was given to the seigneurs from the fifteenth to the -seventeenth centuries, and was first popularized--perhaps in a vein of -cynicism, too--by Henri IV. - -Dumazet traced the succession of the title down to 1688, when it -belonged to the illustrious family of Albon of Lyonnaise, the head of -which was the Marquis d'Albon. - -Tradition has preserved a certain style of buildings which crops out -occasionally here. When the houses are not of wood, they are frequently -built, or at least decorated, with little square cakes of quarried -stone, in much the same manner as the Romans made use of decorative -brick. Some of the old-time houses of Caux are indeed reminiscent of the -Roman, with horizontal bands of stone or brick running across the -façades in three or four rows. - -The Cauchois have some distinctive customs in dress and manners of -living, and Yvetôt is a good place to observe them. - -Weaving is an important industry at Yvetôt, and it employs about a -thousand workmen and women. - -[Illustration: _A Cauchoise of Yvetôt_] - -Near Yvetôt is Allouville-Bellefosse, which possesses a phenomenal -oak-tree celebrated throughout Normandy. It is the grandest tree in the -province. Its trunk is entirely hollow for a great distance above the -ground and is nearly ten metres in circumference. It enfolds in its -branches two _chêne-chapelles_, as they are known. The lower is -dedicated to Notre Dame de la Paix and the upper is known as the -"Calvaire." - -A French savant has figured out the age of this remarkable tree to be -approximately eight hundred years. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE COAST WESTWARD OF THE SEINE - - -Westward of the mouth of the Seine is a little strip of coast-line which -in a restricted sense may be said to be the resort of the Parisian world -of fashion during the summer months. Trouville-Deauville, -Beuzeval-Houlgate, Dives-Cabourg, and Arromanches have their own -especial attractions and their own _clientèles_; but they are all much -alike, and it is only in the old towns, such as Honfleur, Pont l'Evêque, -Ouistreham, Ruys, or Port-en-Bessin, that one sees anything at all -characteristically Norman. - -"To Honfleur seven and a half miles, which we made in an hour in a -strong north wind, the river being rougher than I thought a river could -be." So Arthur Young wrote in the eighteenth century, as he journeyed -from Havre de Grâce across the Seine bay to the still important port of -Honfleur. "A small town, full of industry," he continues, "with a -harbour full of ships, and even some Guinea-men as large as at Havre." - -All this is true as far as a reminiscence of Honfleur's former glory is -concerned; but its commerce to-day is fishing and the tourist's trade, -and no deep-sea ships frequent its crumbling quays. Instead of casks and -bales and other evidences of traffic beyond the seas, you will find -white umbrellas and artists' easels set about on the wharves, with their -owners all trying to catch the fleeting picturesqueness of the old town, -which has heretofore been successfully done by Eugène Boudin and his -fellows in art of a half-century or more ago. The name of this great -painter is much revered in France, and it stands for much that is best -in the modern French school of painting. Boudin's work forms the bridge -which links the romantic style with the frankly impressionistic. Monet -was one of Boudin's pupils; but he did not continue simply a preacher of -his master's tenets, but ran riot with colour in a way which Boudin -himself could never have conceived. - -Boudin chiefly worked in those towns and villages which fringe the north -coast of France, as indeed Monet has done since. But Havre and Honfleur -and the Trouville of other days claimed his best and most prolific -work. - -Through the generosity of his brother, M. Louis Boudin,--still a dweller -on the Norman shore,--the important art museum of Havre has lately been -endowed with over two hundred of Boudin's brilliant sketches; and at the -smaller gallery of Honfleur (where Boudin, the son of a sailor, with the -sea in his blood, was born) there are more than a dozen of his -characteristic paintings. - -One reason why the art of Boudin is specially to be enjoyed at Havre and -Honfleur (though, indeed, the public galleries of those places contain -nothing of his that is so important individually as the great "Port de -Bordeaux" in the Luxembourg) is that there, within sight of its windows, -are the elements, in depicting which with poetic realism Boudin won his -title to fame. His are the fishing-boats riding the restless sea, his -the infinite variety of the rolling waters and the changeful sky. - -Boudin's characteristic was not of colour alone, but of motif as well. -He painted Breton "_Pardons_," Belgian towns and scenes in the -market-place, and drew also the cattle of the valley of Touques. He -"placed" his cattle perfectly in those fat meadows,--they became, as he -was, a part of the country. He drew the fashionable world of 1868, -crowding the beach of Trouville. Without wishing it, he was the -historian of the crinoline and the beau monde of his time. But one -always comes back to those scenes which were the inspiration of his -life. Boudin set down, in unexampled vigour and vivacity, his impression -of the Channel, its vessels and its ports, its waters, winds, clouds, -and sunshine; the weather of every hour of each day. - -To-day one reaches Honfleur from Havre after much the same procedure as -did the old-century traveller, whose description of the voyage might -well apply even now, except that one makes the journey by steam-packet -in a considerably less time. The latter part of the old account is, -however, only too true. The mouth of the Seine is almost a replica of -the boisterous Straits of Dover; but it is the only way to get to the -decayed old port, Honfleur, from Havre without going thirty miles or -more around and crossing the ferry at Quillebeuf. - -Honfleur, the seat of a departed commercial glory, is to-day all the -more attractive because of its dry-as-dust decrepitude; and the contrast -with the busy metropolis of Havre, across the Seine, does not exaggerate -this, it only emphasizes it. - -Here the sea, as it mounts at break of day, finds the people already -awake, and one sees a medley of fisherfolk and their craft, with which -familiarity is needed for appreciation. The _picoteux_ are a style of -fishing-boat seen only out of Honfleur. These fishing-boats are very -nearly yachts, for the modern science of construction, as to this type -of craft, has not improved upon the provincial simplicity. - -It was the ancient town of Honfleur that once held the bulk of the trade -with New France in America; but its real commercial glory is now gone, -stolen by its more opulent and successful neighbour. The activity on its -quays to-day among passengers, stevedores, and fishermen is but a -comic-opera travesty on the more magnificent activities which once -obtained. - -The beauties of Honfleur are to be found in its curiously appealing -ensembles. All that remains of its thirteenth-century ramparts is the -Quai Beaulieu, whence the boat for Havre leaves. Porte de Caen the -ancient harbour was first called, and later _La Lieutenance_. Eastward -lie the _quartiers_, as they exist to-day; and, though they are but a -mimicry of their former selves, they are still characteristic of the -olden time. - -[Illustration: _Honfleur_] - -The denominations of the ancient parishes were Notre Dame des Vases, -practically non-existent to-day; St. Etienne des Prés, called to-day the -town; St. Leonard des Champs, to-day really a suburb; and Ste. Catherine -de Bois, rising up the sides of the Côte de Grâce. - -Honfleur has, in its Cours de la République, a sort of miniature -Cannebière which fronts upon the old harbour. On the Quai St. Etienne is -the old Church of St. Etienne, the most ancient in the city, though -to-day it has been converted into a sort of local pantheon, which was -commendable as an act of civic pride, but does not appeal to the -outsider. - -From Honfleur, by the Trouville road, Puits is reached, one of the most -extraordinary and most lovable of all the little towns in Normandy. Here -is the Church of St. Leonard, an isolated church surrounded by a sea of -flagstones. It is not strictly beautiful as old churches go, though it -is undeniably picturesque. On the other hand, all its charms are -negatived by the heavy, meaningless tower or cupola which caps its -façade. - -The curious timber Church of Ste. Catherine de Bois is perhaps the most -appealing and picturesque feature which Honfleur possesses; and, when -seen in conjunction with the still more curious wooden steeple, one -wonders that one has never been smitten by its charm before. - -The church is separated from the tower by a narrow street, on which -faces a most ungainly and ugly Renaissance portico. The main building -dates from the fifteenth century, and its rare and mellow timbered -side-walls have worn well. These enclose the aisles, which have curious -little square windows with small leaded lights; while above rises a row -of clerestory windows, also squared, but with good flamboyant mullions -which would be the pride of many a more substantial and grander edifice. - -More daintily environed than any other of Honfleur's churches is the -little sailor's chapel of Notre Dame de Grâce, on the Côte de Grâce, on -the west side of the harbour. There is nothing very splendid about its -surroundings or its appointments; but on a day of pilgrimage, when the -sailors and their wives, their sweet-hearts and their daughters, flock -hither, it presents a sight comparable only with the _pardons_ of -Brittany. Indeed, after its sailors and artists, Honfleur would seem to -be noted for religious processions. - -The houses of Honfleur are, in general, less lofty and ornate than in -many other regions of Normandy; but their narrow timbered fronts and -irregular gables render them no less picturesque. - -A half-dozen or more kilometres from Honfleur is a little stream, not -marked on many maps, known as the Risle. On its banks, about the same -distance from its juncture with the Seine, is Pont Audemer, another -beautiful town, given over, however, to industrialism. Its tanneries and -cider-presses give employment and sustenance to several thousand people. - -The Parisian calls Pont Audemer the capital of the "_royaume de -chicane_," and goes on to say that this district comprises nearly all -Normandy. This is manifestly an exaggeration and unfair; but it is -claimed further that the municipal court-house at Pont Audemer is the -most frequented of all its buildings, and that to be a notary, a lawyer, -or a sheriff here is to become immediately rich. - -The town is picturesquely disposed on the banks of the Risle, which -furnishes an abundant supply of water to the tanneries which line its -banks. - -It has a really great church in St. Ouen, which makes it a place not to -be omitted from one's itinerary, if it can possibly be included. It -dates from the eleventh, the fifteenth, and the sixteenth centuries, and -still possesses fragments of early stained glass and some curious -Renaissance wood-carvings. - -Between Pont Audemer and the juncture of the Eure with the Seine one -comes upon one of the most lively and interesting parts of agricultural -Normandy. Here the fields are literally covered with apple-trees, -planted more closely than elsewhere, to the number of a hundred to the -acre, but the trees thrive exceedingly. The peasant cultivates his trees -with great regard for their well-being, and is quite as deft and -painstaking as his brother of the vineyards farther south. There are no -vineyards which are celebrated north of a line drawn from the mouth of -the Loire to where the Oise joins the Seine, just south of the confines -of Normandy. - -The Norman grower of cider-apples is assiduous in his devotion to his -work. To gain an advantage of his competitor he will rent more ground, -economize and borrow to buy other land, and wait patiently, working -meanwhile early and late for the fifteen years to pass before he may -gather a maximum crop. - -[Illustration: _In the Cider-apple Country_] - -When the fruit is abundant all the Norman country-side is a land of -fulness and plenty, which in other times is wanting. Sometimes it -happens that the cider crop is good when the wine crop is bad. Then all -the more profit for Normandy; but the failure of the apple crop -elsewhere--in England, for instance--does not affect the market in -Normandy. The French do not export cider as they do wine. - -None the less assiduously do the growers of cider apples in the north -tend their harvest than the vine-dressers of the south; and the white or -blond nectar of Normandy is as highly valued in its own land as are the -ruby vintages of the south. - -Savants have before now attempted to trace the origin of the apple-trees -which so plentifully besprinkle Normandy, but they have generally fallen -back upon the old excuse, "_L'origine s'en perd dans la nuit des -temps._" Some, again, have claimed that the first trees were brought -from Italy by a Gauloise legion, a part of which penetrated into the -north and settled in the land between Evreux and Caen; while still -others of the older writers have said that the first apple-trees came -from the north of Spain, in the time of Charlemagne. - -For three hundred years at least the process of cider-making has not -changed in Normandy. It is a simple one, and doubtless does not vary -exceedingly from the practice elsewhere, except that it is made here -from the distinctive cider apple, of which there are three varieties, -the bitter, the bitter-sweet, and the sweet. As made in Normandy, it is -the pure juice of the apple, purer doubtless than most wines alleged to -be made of the juice of the grape. There is no sugar or spice added, and -no marble dust to simulate a carbonated drink. Since the apples are not -eaten, there is an abundance of all the varieties, which are usually -mixed in equal proportions. - -The actual making of cider in Normandy is a sort of a home occupation. -One does not take his apples to an established press in some centre of -population, if he has not one of his own, but arranges for a sort of -travelling brewer to come to his own house. The various disjointed -elements of a press, differing only in details from the usual form known -throughout the world, are brought up on a cart, unloaded and dumped down -in the courtyard at an early morning hour. - -The process of erecting the press is not a long one, as the operation is -astonishingly simple. A heavy square or circular platform is surmounted -by the latticed cylindrical or square box into which the apples, -previously mangled by a sort of gigantic coffee-mill, are emptied until -it is filled to the brim. The long capstan-like arms, propelled by the -master cider-maker and his press boy, complete the operation, and, two -hours after sun-up, the end is in sight. By nine of a summer's morning -he is on his way to the next customer, leaving behind the débris of two -or three hundred kilos of apples, which have been turned into 150 or -more litres of the luscious brown juice, which only needs its eight days -of fermentation to evolve itself into a sure cure for the gout and -rheumatism. - -There is very little variation in the process, though often it is -carried out on a larger scale; and one progressive patron of an -ambulating cider-mill has ingeniously attached a petrol motor by a -simple system of shafting, which completes the preliminary process of -mashing the apples in an astonishingly short while. - -There is another method somewhat in vogue, and, though it is not so -commonly practised, it is supposed to produce finer cider. - -After a first crushing or bruising, the apples are left in a great tub -open to the air for a day. Then the free juice is drawn off and the rest -left to dribble out, after tepid water has been added to hasten the -process. It is then left to ferment very slowly in a temperature of -about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Small cider--the common variety, one might -call it the _vin ordinaire_ of Normandy--is a mixture of apple juice -and river water; the muddier the better, it would seem. - -[Illustration: _A Norman Cider-press_] - -The consumption of cider is apparently increasing throughout France. -Statistics show that it is made in over half the departments, and in -Picardy, Normandy, and Brittany all classes drink little else. - -It is popularly supposed that the increase in the consumption of cider -was originally due to the invasion of the phylloxera in the wine-growing -districts of the south some years since. Whether this is so or not, it -does not much matter; the real Normandy cider forms a welcome summer -drink after the heavy beer of England and the glucose-like compound of -the Low Countries. - -The cider industry is one in which the profits fluctuate, because it is -almost wholly an article produced for home consumption. When the -fruit-growers and the cider merchants' receipts are less, the money in -circulation in the neighbourhood is correspondingly less; and in some -sections this produces much hardship. The cider of commerce is of two -varieties, that drunk by the peasants and labourers of the towns--a -rather weak mixture of cider and water--and that usually served at the -better class of inns and hotels. - -Beyond Pont Audemer is Touques, a most ancient town of about 1,200 -souls; possessing, in its Church of St. Thomas, the first stone of which -was laid by Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, a shrine which no -English tourist should omit from his itinerary of Normandy. In the -middle ages Touques enjoyed a great and growing importance until the -Revolution stunted its growth. - -Between Pont Audemer and the Seine, at Quillebeuf, is a patch of morass, -like nothing so much as the _polders_ of Holland. Here it is known as -the _Marais Vernier_; but it has a real, genuine Low Country dike -encompassing it, known as the "Digue des Hollandaise." An artist can -here paint black and white spotted cows, windmills, houses on stilts, -and most of the local colour of Holland without leaving the Seine -valley. - -At Beuzeville is a fine public square surrounded by quaint old houses, -with a church in the ogival style of the thirteenth century, and a -charming market-house which, undoubtedly, if transferred to canvas with -the proper amount of skill, would make a picture worth buying. - -Pont l'Evêque, just south of Trouville, enjoys the reputation of being -one of the most picturesque towns in Normandy. This is due, -principally, to the aspect of the life of its streets and squares in -conjunction with its backgrounds of old houses, the great square tower -of its church, and the usual surroundings of a quaint market-town. At -any rate, it is typically Norman and is directly on the line between -Trouville and Lisieux, or across country by road from Rouen to Caen; so -there is not much excuse for real travellers to pass it by, although -they frequently do so. Moreover, it is blessed with an excellent country -inn, the Bras d'Or, where one is served a bountiful and excellent meal -at a most modest price. - -_Bons vivants_ will revere Pont l'Evêque for its cheeses. Situated in -the midst of the District of Auge, its pastures are very fertile, and -accordingly its milk products are justly celebrated. Rich pasturage and -great orchard enclosures, with hedges of willow so thick as to form a -barrier as impassable as barbed wire, indicate the source of prosperity -round about, with here and there a modest château half-hidden by the -trees. - -In the neighbouring Château of Bonneville William the Conqueror -frequently resided. - -The ancient market and the old houses of wood lend an air of antiquity -to the general aspect of this rather more than usually lively country -town. - -In the Touques forest, which is an exceedingly fashionable driveway in -summer for the gay folk of Trouville, is the Château d'Agnesseau, which -dates from the reign of Louis XIII. At the cross-roads of Croix-Sonnet -one comes to a vast plateau set out with orchards and fruit-gardens, -while the forest itself, as one enters it by road from Trouville, offers -thirty or more kilometres of beautiful tree-lined roadways, which must -be refreshing to those dulled and jaded with the stone pavements and hot -sands of Trouville-Deauville. - -At the St. Philibert is a statue framed with verdure, erected by the -wood-choppers of the forest to Notre Dame des Bois. - -One makes his way from Honfleur to Trouville by a _corniche_ road, which -is a marvel among all similar roads in the north of Europe. - -In a way, it reminds one of the famous _corniche_ from Nice to Cape -Martin on the Riviera, but so far as it goes it is a superb, though -perilously planned, roadway running along the very face of the cliff, -which blankets the coast-line for so great a part of the Norman shore. -Its fifteen kilometres make an exceedingly picturesque drive, with -charming snap-shots of sea and shore at nearly every turn. - -The Hôtel St. Simon and its ancient farm and _cour_, which has been so -often painted by artists (immortalized, one may say, by Monet), is -passed on the right, and for a half-dozen kilometres or more one is -within sight and sound of the sea and its sands. - -The only town of any magnitude whatever passed is Cricqueboeuf, which -has a celebrated vine-grown church dating from the twelfth century, and -an old manor-house which is unusually pretentious. - -From this point, on by Villerville, one reaches Trouville via the _Jetée -Promenade_ and the _Terrasse_ which faces the square, below the -dominating hills which run inland to the woods of Touques. - -Trouville is principally the resort for society, for millionaire -yachtsmen and horsemen; but, for all that, it is, in a way, a typical -Norman fishing village. - -Lovers of Dumas will recall that it was the scene of the early life of -Gabriel Lambert, in the romance of that name. Gabriel, the counterfeiter -who finished his life in the galleys at Toulon, spent his early days at -Trouville, whence he made his way to Paris by way of Pont -l'Evêque,--just the route that record-breaking automobilists take -to-day. The story of Gabriel Lambert and Marie Granger is an interesting -one, albeit a sad one, and there is a wealth of local colour woven into -it. - -Trouville is also the scene of another of Dumas's little-known tales, -"Pauline." Dumas's own description of the little fishing village, as it -then was, has a semblance of a likeness even to-day, when rococo villas, -great hotels, electric-cars, and golf links have added an air of -modernity to it which is anything but peaceful. - -"You know the little town," said he, "with its population of fisherfolk. -It is one of the most picturesque in Normandy. I stayed there a few days -exploring the neighbourhood, and in the evening I used to sit in the -chimney-corner with my worthy hostess.... There I heard strange tales of -adventures which had been enacted in Calvados and the Manche." - -Dumas also describes, though more or less superficially, many another -quaint historic Norman town: Caen, Lisieux, Falaise, blessed with the -memory of "the Conqueror's birth," Pont Audemer, Havre, and Alençon. - -Trouville has two interesting, though not architecturally great, -churches in Notre Dame des Victoires and Notre Dame de Bon Secours, -which latter has an _ex voto_ chapel as its great attraction. - -The town hall is a modern structure, but it has two fine landscapes by -Charles Mozin and Isabey hung in its board-room. - -The public square is of course the rendez-vous of Trouville's -fashionable element, and, if they are not "_five o'clocking_" at the -neighbouring tea-shops _à l'Anglais_, they may be found strolling on the -boulevard which flanks the sands "_quatre à six_," as the local -expression goes. - -It is impossible to catalogue society's attractions here; nothing is -missing; and those who are looking for the distractions of a modern -watering-place will find them all. - -Deauville is Trouville's more exclusive and aristocratic neighbour, and -has its polo field, golf links, tennis-courts, and automobile -race-course. It is an impossible place for the man of moderate means, -and is as Parisian as the boulevards themselves. - -The "_Terrasse_" may be called its chief sight, though hardly any but -mammon worshippers seek it out. Along its length and breadth, for it is -a vast seashore boulevard sixty or more feet in width, are the villas of -many whose names are famous in the society columns of the journals of -France, England, and America; and, though Deauville's season is short, -it is very lively. - -Villers-sur-Mer and Beuzeval-Houlgate each possess, in a minor way, the -villa attractions of Trouville-Deauville. - -From Villers to Houlgate extends a line of sombre cliffs called the -"_Vaches Noires_," from which fishermen may fish in June and July with -almost invariable good luck. Its seaweed-strewn rocks are covered with -mussels and other less edible shell-fish. - -Dives-Cabourg is another of those hyphenated resorts of the Calvados -shores which possess delightful aspects of sea and sky. - -Dives-sur-Mer is the old town, the very old town, from which set sail -William the Conqueror, in his descent upon England, with his two hundred -thousand varlets and fifty thousand gens d'armes. Accordingly Dives and -the country round about should prove of an interest to all lovers of -historic shrines. The Church of Notre Dame is of the fourteenth and -fifteenth centuries; but built up from the ruins of an edifice which -existed in the eleventh century, and was destroyed in 1436 by Edward -III. of England. - -[Illustration: _Dives-sur-Mer_] - -The old market-house of Dives, like many another in these parts, is an -admirable construction in wood, and covers a part of the vast Place du -Marché, where was formerly situated the ancient abbatial of St. Marie du -Hibou of the twelfth century. The police now occupy an old Benedictine -convent. - -Dives's really great curiosity, for those who marvel at personal relics -of other days, is the "Hostellerie de Guillaume le Conquérant," in part -dating back to the sixteenth century at least, which has been preserved -and restored with considerable care and skill by its proprietor, M. Le -Remois. - -It is a veritable museum of ancient relics, too numerous to be more than -hinted at here. It is decidedly the great attraction for the visitor, -and whether he is impressed the more with the relics of the days of the -Conqueror, or by those of the accomplished Madame de Sévigné, he will be -assured of comfortable quarters, a warm welcome by the landlord, and a -bountiful repast. A stay at this old-time hotel is decidedly one of the -pleasures which all travellers in Normandy will afterward cherish. - -Cabourg it is impossible to describe; and in spite of its proximity to -Dives and its association therewith, one will not come away from it -with any feeling of regret. It is new, painfully new, with its shop-, -café-, and hotel-bordered Avenue de la Mer, its casino, and its beach -covered with bathing-machines, red umbrellas, and white tents. - -The lay-out of this "_station balnéaire_" is unique. It opens itself out -like a fan from the centre, where is the casino, with long, radiating -streets and avenues bound together with semi-circular avenues in most -symmetrical and dull fashion. There are fine sands, to be sure, and the -attractions are all irreproachable of their kind; but the true lover of -Normandy will much prefer to make his stay at Dives than at its seaside -neighbour of Cabourg. - -Caen, the old capital of Lower Normandy, is one of those conventional -tourist points which ten-day travellers from across the Channel usually -"do" in an afternoon, and hasten on to Bayeux for the night. With the -beautiful "Abbaye aux Dames," with its crypt of the thirty-four closely -set pillars, at one end of the town, and the "Abbaye aux Hommes," with -the one-time tomb of William the Conqueror at the other end, to say -nothing of the various churches lying between, it is hard to see why a -tourist should hurry away. However, there is much available information -on this paradoxical city of the present day Department of Calvados to -be gathered from many sources; and, save to observe that its modernity -and its ancient decrepitude are so strongly contrasted that it is -bewildering, not much space can here be given to it. - -The chief sights are its eight magnificently planned mediæval churches, -of which the "Abbaye aux Dames," founded by Mathilda, the wife of the -Conqueror, and the "Abbaye aux Hommes," founded by the Conqueror -himself, are the most celebrated architecturally and historically. - -The Manor-house Gens d'Armes, so called from two curious statues which -flank its tower, is situated somewhat away from the beaten track of -tourist promenades, and is quite worth the hunting out, if only to -snap-shot its remarkable disposition of parts. It is an admirable -example of sixteenth-century French domestic architecture. - -With the same regard for architectural beauties, one must remark the -admirable Renaissance apse of the Church of St. Pierre, mainly a Gothic -fabric, but with the interpolation of one of the most elaborate and -successful Renaissance adaptations in all French ecclesiastical -architecture. This portion of the edifice dates from the early -sixteenth century, while the main body goes back to three hundred years -before. It was the masterpiece of Hector Sohier, one of the leaders in -the art of the Renaissance in France. - -[Illustration: _Tower of Gens d'Armes_] - -A bibliographical note which is often ignored is the fact that Caen was -the birthplace of two men whose names are very great in French -literature. - -The first is he who has been called the father of French poetry, though -perhaps a truer name would be the father of French critics; for -Malherbe's title to the name of poet seems to rest mainly on those -beautiful verses he wrote to console his friend Du Perier on the loss of -his daughter, in which are the oft quoted lines: - - "Et rose, elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses, - L'espace d'un matin." - -François de Malherbe was born in 1555 and died in 1628, and to French -litterateurs he is known as the reformer (modernizer?) of the French -tongue and of French poetry. The Malherbes seem to have belonged to -Caen, for the father of the critic held the position of counsellor for -the king in its magistracy. - -The other celebrated litterateur born at Caen was even a more -interesting man, Huet, Bishop of Avranches, the preceptor of the -Dauphin, son of Louis XIV.,--he who has been called the last of those -encyclopædic and massive scholars of whom France has produced so many. -To-day one admires Huet most, perhaps, for the breadth of mind with -which he united philosophy and orthodoxy. Malherbe and Huet are only two -out of many of whom one must needs think, if one thinks of the past at -all, in Caen, but they are probably among the cleverest of her sons. - -Here, then, is something more than six hours' work already laid out for -the tourist. He will find innumerable facts and details set forth in the -red-covered books with which tourists of all nationalities arm -themselves; and Caen, for many reasons, will prove a vast and edifying -treasure-house. - -At Caen lovers of architecture should hunt out the Hôtel d'Escoville, an -elegant edifice accounted one of the best of Renaissance domestic -establishments. It was built between 1532-38 by an architect whose name, -but not his fame, was buried with him. - -Two other similar structures exist at Caen of value in the study of -architectural art, but frequently overlooked by tourists in general. -They are the Hôtel Mondrainville and the great pavilion of the Château -of Fontaine-Henri. - -[Illustration: _Cloister of the Capucin Convent, Caen_] - -On the keystone of an arch of the church of Ifs, near Caen, may be seen -a curious device, presumably that employed by the master builder of -olden times as a sort of a trade-mark. In form it is readily recognized -as a stone-worker's hammer or _marteau_, and, like the curious -cryptogrammic and "Bill Stumpsian" marks on the cathedral at Cologne, -doubtless means nothing more or less than the stamp of approval of the -builder or his workmen, or the insignia of the work actually put into -place by some particular individual. - -Running due south from Caen there is a pretty bit of river--the Orne. On -leaving the town, the road keeps close to the river, running through a -charming valley interspersed with rocks and wooded banks, and in the -midst of a country-- - - "Richly set - With châteaux, villages, and village spires." - -To continue up the valley of the Orne, and its smaller tributary, which -is hardly more than a babbling brook, is to leave the well-worn roads -behind and to strike out for oneself. - -The valley of the Noireau is one of these. The towns are not as populous -or as famous, perhaps, as those that fringe the coast; but they have at -least so much to offer that one would regret not having known them. - -Condé is a bustling little factory town, which is idyllic as to its -situation, though the place itself is unattractive enough. Tinchebray, -where Henry I. of England defeated and captured his elder brother, Duke -of Normandy, in 1106, has a curious church, overburdened with -clock-faces; for it has two, an ancient one which looks not out of -place, and a modern one which looks as though it might belong to a -cotton factory. Sourdeval is a charming old-world little town, though by -no means a dull one, and when it celebrates the fête of its patron saint -in the summer, it is as gay as the gayest resort on the coast. - -The Brouains, which rises beyond Sourdeval, is a busy little working -river which turns countless mill-wheels, and also waters many square -kilometres of meadow-land. Above is Chérence, which is not found on many -maps, and here the valley widens into a more ample vista. Brecey is a -small town with a large public square; and, ten miles away, the coast of -the bay of Mont St. Michel at Avranches is reached through the Cotentin, -after a journey of some forty miles by road. - -Not every one will perhaps make the journey, but the way is given here -because of the fact that it embraces a region of the country-side of -Normandy which is unfamiliar and certainly very beautiful and quite -unspoiled. - -[Illustration: _Tinchebray_] - -Bayeux, Balleroy, Ryes, Port-en-Bessin, and the coast-line from -Arromanches to the "Roches de Grand Camp" might well occupy a lazy week. -Most tourists rush into Bayeux by train or automobile, have luncheon, a -look at the famous tapestry and the cathedral, and take the road again -to St. Lô, another cathedral town, and so to Coutances for the night. -The thing is possible by either road or rail, but it is most -unsatisfactory. - -Of Bayeux but little need be said here. The guide-books do it ample -justice; and the hand-books and various accounts which have been written -concerning the now time-worn and rather dingy _tapisserie_ have made it -almost a familiar spot to "armchair travellers" as well as tourists. - -Near Bayeux is the charming Château of Balleroy, built by the elder -Mansard, the originator of the "Mansard" roofs, in 1626. On Wednesday -one may visit its great apartments, good pictures, tapestries, and rare -old furniture. Although it does not rank with the great Loire château, -it approaches it. - -The façade is handsomely disposed, if one admires Mansard's manner, and -the ensemble view just before one reaches the little village of Balleroy -is quite on the grandiose order. - -The château dominates the village and stands high above even the top of -the parish church. There is a chapel attached to the château, or rather -situated within the park. - -Near by is the forest of Cérisy, planted closely with young birches like -so many French forests. Nowhere does one see any old trees, and therein -lies one of the reasons why the French forests are so well preserved. - -Northward from Bayeux to Ryes one passes at Sommervieu the old-time -château formerly belonging to the Bishops of Bayeux, which to-day is -reconstructed and used as a seminary. - -Normandy abounds in "fortified farms." On the road to St. Lô from Bayeux -there are several which one passes by road, and one of the best examples -of its class is the farm of the Pavillon at Ryes. It has three great -protected gateways, which to all intents and purposes are quite on the -lines of a fortification. - -Ryes is daintily situated on the little river Gronde, and possesses also -a remarkable church of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. - -Asnelles, on the coast, four kilometres from Ryes, is a tiny -watering-place whose population doubles itself during the summer months. - -Offshore, a distance of a mile or more, is a series of great rocks known -as the rocks of the Calvados, from which the name of the department was -originally taken. It is presumed that the name Calvados was originally -the name of one of the ships of the invincible Armada, _Salvador_, which -was wrecked here at the time of the coming of the Spaniards to invade -the north. - -[Illustration: _Walled Farm_] - -Arromanches-les-Bains is very pretentious, but of no interest whatever -to the general traveller; though the artist, in spite of the -distractions of the little resort, will get some good bits of life and -colour among the mackerel fishermen of the town. - -Port-en-Bessin, lying to the westward of Arromanches, just before the -Cotentin peninsula is reached, is a fishing port at the mouth of the -Drome which has not yet become overrun by tourists of the watering-place -kind. Many who know its fame come here from neighbouring towns to enjoy -the luncheons and dinners of the town's fine _tables d'hôtes_, but this -is all. - -It is yet quite an unspoiled bit, not accessible by railway and not on -the direct road to anywhere, though but eleven kilometres from Bayeux. -For this reason it may retain for some time to come some measure of its -present unworldliness and the charm of its local manners and customs. - -South of the actual coast towns of mid-Normandy, and before one reaches -the plateau region of the upper valleys of the Touques and the Orne, -from Rouen to Mont St. Michel via Lisieux, Falaise, and Avranches, are -innumerable roads which are unknown to most tourists. - -[Illustration: _Port-en-Bessin_] - -Since this book does not pretend to survey the old province minutely, -not all of these byways can be outlined here. Suffice to say that the -chief towns of what one may be allowed to call South Normandy and those -of the Cotentin peninsula and their characteristics are treated of in -the chapters which follow. - -For the rest, any who will linger on the way in a trip across Normandy, -from the Seine to the Bay of Mont St. Michel, in a line drawn -practically midway between the coast and the southern border of the old -province, will meet with a succession of old-world spots which are -comparatively little known. - -Lisieux, St. Pierre, Falaise, Argentan, Domfront, and Mortain point the -way in a comparatively straight line between the two points before given -and form the chief places of interest; but the country which lies -between is inexpressibly charming, and has only to be threaded in any -direction to prove the unexpected wonders of days long gone by. The -survival of many manners and customs which have not yet died out or -become worldly by contact with railways, telegraphs, telephones, and -great metropolitan newspapers will also be revealed. - -If there ever was a city of wood it is Lisieux. All its buildings, -however, are not wood; for there is a not very beautiful, but -astonishingly complete, Gothic cathedral, and numerous other civil and -domestic structures which are of stone; but wooden houses are -everywhere, and in every state of hoary and tumble-down -picturesqueness. Occasionally, even to-day, a salon exhibitor will show -a painting of a street of those old lean-to houses of Rouen, which -tourists and buyers of picture post-cards know so well. If he would -paint some of those to be found at Lisieux, his fame would be made, for -a more decayed, disreputable-looking, but altogether lovely, lot of -mediæval houses it is not one's good fortune to find elsewhere. - -As a local Frenchman has sung: - - "Dans nos vieilles maisons de bois, - Le beurre est d'or, le cidre est d'ambre; - Juin rit aux éclats; mais Novembre - Me semble aussi gai, quand je bois - Dans nos vieilles maisons de bois." - -To Lisieux one passes through Normandy's most flowering farm-lands, but -the thought of Falaise and its associations as the birthplace of the -Conqueror will not allow one to linger by the way once he has got within -fifty kilometres of it. - -[Illustration: _Old Wooden Houses, Lisieux_] - -To-day Falaise has eight thousand inhabitants who live around its -ancient historic château, one of the most important military -constructions of mediæval times. The town sits upon a sort of isolated -promontory in a most superbly imposing situation. Its history is so -momentous and interwoven with that of the early days of the Normandy -dukes and English kings that it were futile to attempt to review it -here. - -[Illustration: Plan Chateau of Falaise] - -The château is built of gray quartz, and its entire surrounding moat, -with its twelve towers and two great gates each flanked by towers, is -preserved to this day. The twelfth and thirteenth century remains are -admirably preserved; and the donjon, which in this case was perhaps the -residential portion as well, is situated high upon a great cliff -overlooking the valley at its base. This great, grim square mass has -been restored in recent years (1869), and worthily, for its aspect has -not changed from what it was when the great Norman William first saw the -light within its walls. - -The Talbot Tower, a great cylindrical donjon, was an addition during the -English occupation in 1415-18. One may stroll through the whole château -under the leadership of a most capable guide, and the usual half-day -given to Falaise will pass only too quickly. - -The troubadours of the south have their celebrated heroines of whom they -sing praises, but those of Normandy sing of Arlette of Falaise, the -mother of the Conqueror. - -Historians of olden times have given her the name of Arlette, Arliette, -Herline, Hélaire, Aluiève, Arlet, and Arlot; but to the Latin -chroniclers she was mostly known as Herlève. Thiérry has traced the name -from its Scandinavian root as follows: _Her_--noble; _lève_--love. "A -fine name," says a Frenchman, "for a fine woman." - -Benoit de Saint More said: "She was wise, modest, and generous, to which -virtues she added a rare devotion." - -[Illustration: _Donjon of Falaise_] - -All good Normans, and some others as well, know the legend of the -peasant maid, the gentle Herlève, when she was surprised by -Robert-le-Diable on his return from the chase at the fountain of the -Château of Falaise. - -Vauquelin de la Fresnaye recounts it thus: - - "Des piès et des jambes parurent - Qui si très beaux et si blancs furent - Que ce fut bien au duc avis - Que neige est pale et flor de lys - Emerveille, li torna s'amor." - -The story moves rapidly enough, and ultimately a son, William the -Conqueror, was born to Herlève and Robert the Magnificent. - -After the death of Robert, Herlève married the Comte de Conteville, who -took the name of Herlevin. Two sons were born to the pair, Odon, Bishop -of Bayeux, and the Comte de Mortain, who fought gallantly at Hastings in -the train of his stepbrother. There was a daughter, too, Muriel, who -became Duchess of Albemarle. - -Herlève and Herlevin were interred at the old Abbey of Grestain, whose -ruins are yet to be seen near Honfleur. - -It is a well-recognized fact in history that Edward VII. is a direct -descendant, the twenty-ninth in the line, of William the Conqueror, the -illustrious son of Herlève of Falaise; but it is not so widely known, -apparently, that a number of the reigning sovereigns of Europe are -equally of the blood of the duke-king, William of Normandy. - -The Bourbons of France, Spain, Italy, and Brazil descended from -Guillaume by the _reine-l'impératrice_ Mathilde, daughter of Henri I., -likewise the Bourbons-Orleans. - -The Emperor Joseph of Austria, of the house of Hapsburg, and Victor -Emmanuel of Savoy follow, the latter in the thirtieth degree. - -Finally, the Kaiser Wilhelm II. is a descendant, also the twenty-ninth -in line, of the Norman Herlève. - -All these illustrious sovereigns are proud indeed of their Norman blood, -and when President Loubet visited the court of the Quirinal recently, he -presented to the little Princesses of Italy a family of dolls dressed -after the Norman fashion, a delicate sentiment apparently much -appreciated by their elders, besides being held a political move of the -first importance. - -When the Kaiser, a few years since, made his celebrated journey to the -Holy Land, it was with the avowed intention of visiting the great -religious monuments of Sicily, erected by the kings of the family of the -Guiscards of the Norman Cotentin. - -The learned work of Bellencontre of Falaise on the genealogy of the -ruling European houses traces all of the following directly in descent -from the peasant maid of Falaise: - -"Angleterre, Anhalt-Dessau, Autriche, Bade, Bavière, Belgique, Bresil -(Dom Pedro), Brunswik, Cobourg-Gotha, Danemark, Deux Siciles, Espagne, -France (Bourbon et Orleans), Grece, Hanovre, Hesse, Leuchtenberg, -Lucques, Mecklembourg-Schewerin, Modene, Naples, Parme, Pays Bas, -Portugal, Prusse (Allemagne), Russie, Sardaigne, Savoie-Carignan -(Italie), Saxe-Royle, Saxe-Altenbourg, Saxe-Weimar, Suède, Toscane, -Wurtemberg." - -The Church of St. Gervais, an eleventh-century edifice which was begun -by Henri I., Duke of Normandy, is a fine work of its era, though there -have been many later additions, notably those after the style of Hector -Sohier, one of the chief of Renaissance architects in these parts. - -[Illustration: _Street under the Church of the Trinity, Falaise_] - -The Church of the Trinity dates from the thirteenth century, and is a -very elaborate and graceful work, though showing many Renaissance -interpolations which rankle the critics. At Falaise is held the great -fair of Guibray, which has been held annually in August of each year -since the ninth century. This great institution, so justly celebrated -for its magnitude and importance, is one of the sights of Normandy, and -is quite in a class by itself. Formerly it was a great mart for all -sorts of wares, which ultimately were distributed through all the north -of France; but to-day it takes prominence with the fair of Bernay as a -great horse-market. - -From Falaise, southwesterly to Domfront, the country-side is -delightfully and picturesquely rolling, and deeply cut with river -valleys, finally rising to the highest elevation in Normandy, where one -crosses the forest tract of Andaine, just before Domfront is reached. - -Normandy has a mineral spring of importance at Bagnoles de l'Orne, -situated in a deep gorge near Domfront. It is not a fashionable spa, as -great Continental watering-places go, but the baths accommodate a -quarter of a thousand bathers, and there are the usual conventional -amusements. - -The following legend connects the waters with mediæval times, and shows -that they must have some desirable properties for those who affect that -sort of a cure. - -An old seigneur of Bagnoles, of the name of Hugues, who regretted the -rapidity with which he had lived the life of his youth, became -transformed by bathing in these salt waters. He tried them on his horse -as well, and it, too, regained its early agility. All of which seems as -good an endorsement of the efficacy of a mineral spring as one could -wish, and the popularity of Bagnoles de l'Orne has steadily increased. - -François I. affected them, as well as his sister Marguerite of Navarre -and Henri IV. Louis XIV. tried the waters on his soldiers, and, so -satisfactory was the result that, up to 1840, the spring was used as a -sort of auxiliary treatment at the military hospital at Paris. The -old-time sixteenth-century bath-houses are still to be seen half-buried -in the soil. - -After all, the Bagnoles de l'Orne will not offer much inducement for the -lover of architecture, or even of the highways and byways, to linger for -long in their immediate neighbourhood. He will be impatient for the -grand panorama of Domfront, but fifteen kilometres away, through the old -forest of Passais, where the hermit St. Front established himself in the -sixth century. - -Those familiar with the church history of France will recall that this -holy man finally came to the distinction of having the great cathedral -of Périgueux dedicated to his honour. This magnificent structure marks -the dividing line in the development of the Gothic architecture of -France from the warmer-blooded styles which were born of Mediterranean -surroundings. - -St. Front built a chapel here in the forest, and gradually he and his -disciples formed a village, the name of which, Domfront, was readily -enough evolved from Dominus Frons. - -At Domfront William of Bellême, seigneur of Alençon, built a fortress in -1011, and the place became one of the strongest defences of Normandy in -the middle ages. - -The Château of Domfront, situated a couple of hundred feet above the -Varenne, served the Empress Mathilde as a retreat, and became the -birthplace of the Queen of Castile. There are yet remaining two walls of -its memorable donjon, reminiscent of the struggles of the Duke of -Montgomery, but the ancient fortress-château itself was dismantled in -1598. - -The panorama from the height of Domfront's donjon tower is one of the -most remarkable in France. - -Of the twenty-four ancient towers with which the old town was -surrounded, but fourteen remain, and they for the most part are built -into various structures of the town. One alone has been restored and -fitted with a new upper story,--the Tower of Gondras. - -To the southward one sees Mount Margantin above the forest of Mortain. -It is the most considerable eminence in Normandy, and rises to a height -of 370 metres. - -[Illustration: _A Cotentine_] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE COTENTIN - - -The Cotentin peninsula is a great jutting finger of land which runs out -into that part of the Atlantic which Frenchmen know as La Manche, and -which Anglo-Saxons know as the English Channel. - -It terminates in the Nez de Jobourg, a rocky formation which in its -detached fragments makes up the Chausey Islands and the northernmost of -the Channel Islands. - -The chief places of note in the Cotentin are Cherbourg, Valognes, and -the ancient cathedral towns of St. Lô, Coutances, and Avranches, which, -with Vire, Mortain, Pontorson, and Granville, and on the north coast -Isigny, Carentan, and Harfleur, form a practical list of its important -towns and cities. It is a great grazing and pasture-ground, and the -little cows of the Cotentin, like those of Alderney, Jersey, and -Guernsey, are held in great repute. - -The military port of Cherbourg, as it is known to-day, is a lively -up-to-date gateway for visitors to France, resplendent with hotels and -all modern conveniences. It was not so in a former day, when a travelled -Englishman said: "Cherbourg is not a place for residence longer than -necessary. I was obliged to go to a vile hole, little better than a -hogsty, where, for a miserable, dirty, wretched chamber, two suppers -composed chiefly of a plate of apples and some butter and cheese, with -some trifle besides, too bad to eat, and one miserable dinner, they -brought me a bill of nearly thirty shillings." - -Things have indeed changed, if there was no exaggeration in the -statement. Even the most modern and up-to-date hotel of a great -provincial town in France now seldom charges one more than twelve francs -per day. - -There is not much of sentimental or romantic interest to be gleaned from -a contemplation of Cherbourg, which, in the minds of most new-world -travellers, is merely a landing-place whence one takes the train for -Paris. - -As a matter of fact, Cherbourg is a great military port, which had its -inception a couple of centuries ago, when the French had no port for -war-vessels between Dunkerque and Brest, the former capable only of -receiving frigates. The deficiency was fatal to the French on more than -one occasion in their little wars with England, so admirably supplied -with a base at Portsmouth, inside the Isle of Wight, directly opposite -the peninsula of the Cotentin. - -To remedy this defect, a môle was planned to be thrown across the open -bay to Cherbourg, but this proved so great an undertaking that the plan -was modified in favour of a system of artificial banks or bars. There -were two entrances for ships, each commanded by a fortress which it is -said was equipped a century ago with an apparatus for launching forth -red-hot shot. - -On one of these bars, ultimately covered by the sea, was placed the -following inscription: - - "Louis XVI.--Sur ce premier cone échoue le 6 Juin 1794, a vu - l'immersion de celui de l'est, le 23 Juin 1786." - -With the completion of the new harbour works, the hitherto dull city of -Cherbourg took on a new lease of life. New streets and new houses were -built; but, in spite of the present-day signs of progress and activity, -there is little here to appeal to the imaginative person. - -The undertaking was a prodigious one for the time, and the famous dike -or breakwater was only recently completed, at a total cost of 62,500,000 -francs. It took more than fifty years of constant labour, and four -million cubic feet of stone, and encloses an area of a thousand -_hectares_. - -Cherbourg has one valuable architectural monument, the -fourteenth-century Church of the Trinity. It was consecrated in 1504 and -restored in our own day. The interior has really fine decorations. - -The Henry Art Museum, named after its founder, contains a rather bulky -and ill-assorted lot of paintings of no particular merit or fame, except -a Van Eyck, a Poussin, an alleged Murillo, and a few minor works of the -Dutch and Italian schools. - -The suburbs of Cherbourg, toward the tip of the peninsula, form one of -the most unspoiled and little travelled corners of modern France. - -Near Cherbourg on the peninsula of the Hague, in the parish of Greville, -is the hamlet of Gruchy, the birthplace of the painter Millet. The house -bears an inscription on a tablet and is not difficult to find, if one -can only thread his way through the tangle of by-roads which lie -westward beyond Landemer, eleven kilometres from Cherbourg. It is an -artistic shrine of real interest; and tourists, when at Cherbourg, are -advised to explore this wonderful "land's end" of Normandy, and pay -homage to the birthplace of Jean François Millet. - -[Illustration: _Millet's Home, Gruchy_] - -Perhaps no modern picture is really so familiar to our eyes as "The -Angelus" of Jean François Millet, the struggling peasant painter of -Normandy. Those two figures, man and woman in the bare field, with the -village church peeping over the horizon, are "hung on the line," so to -speak, in the mind of every one who has seen them. - -Millet waged a long battle for art against poverty. At times he would -exchange six drawings for a pair of shoes, or a picture for a bed. He -faced starvation, and was not moved from his purpose of painting the -truth as he saw it. Even his greatest pictures left him in poverty. He -said: "They wish to force me into their drawing-room art to break my -spirit. But, no, no; I was born a peasant, and a peasant I will die. I -will say what I feel." - -Certainly when one is before his birthplace at Gruchy, it is not -difficult to realize that at least there were no foppish or foolish -influences at work in his youth, and that it was natural perhaps for him -to carve out his future from the bald truth, as he saw it, in such -pictures as "The Angelus" and "The Man with the Hoe." - -There is a neglected corner of France in the extreme northwest of the -Cotentin peninsula, beyond Cherbourg even, and known locally as the -Hague. Cape Hague, the Hague lighthouse, and the Nez de Jobourg form a -trinity of attractions for the traveller jaded with the stock sights of -conventional watering-places. - -It is but a short thirty kilometres from Cherbourg, _en route_ to -nowhere, unless one is heading for America, and is known to Frenchmen as -the most isolated spot of all the mainland of France. "One must not look -there," they say, "for the wonders of art or civilization, for -vegetation, the life of the casino, or the _tables d'hôte_ of the -towns." - -Instead all is rock and sand and cliffs and zigzag paths cut in the -steep escarpment, against which the sea batters tumultuously throughout -the year. - -The landlords have not spoilt this region with Restaurants de Paris or -Hôtels d'Angleterre, and, accordingly, it is one of the few accessible -and delightful spots where the lover of nature sees it as God made it. -What accommodation there is in the neighbourhood does not rise above the -dignity of modest tavern; but one will get such repasts of sea foods as -would make the fortune of the proprietor of a Parisian restaurant could -he but serve them as well and as cheaply. - -Habitations of all sorts are rare, and roads and railways less prolific -here, perhaps, than in any other part of France. No railways, -post-offices, or telegraphs, save the line that runs to the -signal-station at the Hague lighthouse. But it has its advantages as a -place of resort, nevertheless. - -The beautiful meadows of Urville and St. Martin are brilliant with their -carpets of flowers in spring-time, as green and fresh as if they were in -the south, and the hills between which tiny rivers flow into the -Atlantic or the Manche are as shady with leaves as Vallombrosa. Suddenly -all this changes as if by magic. The little river valleys become -shelving red and brown rock and yellow sand; and the prairies end in a -sheer fall of chalk-white cliff, tremendous to contemplate. - -Cape Hague is the name of all of that tiny peninsula which forms the -northwest extremity of the Cotentin; and its minor topographical -formations, the cliffs of Gréville, the Creeks St. Martin, Jobourg, and -Vauville, are only known to the native. - -The great highway stops abruptly at a height of 180 metres above -sea-level, just above the immense moors of Ste. Croix-Hague and Jobourg, -with a view of the sea on three sides. - -In clear weather one may see the English coast through the glass of the -keeper at the lighthouse, and at one's very feet, almost, are the -jagged fangs of rocks which surround the Channel Isles, showing plainly -how intimately they were once connected with the French mainland. - -This highroad runs straight away from Cherbourg to the Nez de Jobourg, -which is itself a high promontory of granite, carved curiously by the -waves into grottoes, which are one of the principal curiosities of the -region. - -After one leaves the highroad, the only progress is on foot; even -bicyclists had best leave their machines behind, and, as for -automobilists, why, the chauffeur will doubtless not object to a repose -in the tonneau, with nothing but the lap of the waves and the cries of -sea-birds to disturb him. - -The little zigzag paths and tracks will require all the attention and -energies of the most sure-footed as he explores the region. But so much -the better; for the picturesqueness and desolation of it all will amply -repay one for his pains. - -Between Cherbourg and the extremity of the cape is Querqueville. The -road undulates, with occasional views of the great harbour and shipping -of Cherbourg until one passes the fortifications on the moor of Ste. -Anne. - -Here in the open country one may see a tiny church, one of the oldest -places of worship yet standing intact in all France. The choir is in the -form of a _tréfle_, and is a rare archæological curiosity. - -To the right, half-hidden in a deliciously shaded vale, is the Château -of Nacqueville. Its amiable guardian will permit you to examine it if -you happen to be a member of the Touring Club of France. - -The little village of Urville is hardly more than a score of -coquettish-looking little houses, charmingly disposed along the shady -roadway. Here on a great sandy beach the English disembarked in 1758, -when they besieged Cherbourg and invaded the Cotentin. Certainly they -chose a most suitable spot; but all is peaceful now, and the only -invader one is likely to see is an American or an English artist, who -has set up his easel far away from the madding throng. - -A little farther on, beyond the village of Laudemer, is a little hotel, -all white and high up above the rocky escarpment which pares off toward -the sea. It is the Hôtel Millet, founded by the brother of the painter -of "The Angelus." Truly we are now in an artists' paradise, and, if not -wholly an undiscovered land, it is a region not yet overrun with the -conventional tourists. True, Barbizon is better known than Hague, but -it is no more entrancing. In mid-August you will hardly find a dozen -guests at the _table d'hôte_ of Hôtel Millet. - -Far away extends Cape Levi, and the Gatteville lighthouse is just -discernible. - -The isolated villa of Valtelles is camped securely upon a rock -dominating the sea below, and a little thread of a foot-path marks the -daily tramp of the coast-guard and the custom-house officer. - -At the opposite corner of the Cotentin peninsula is the little maritime -port of Barfleur, of 1,200 inhabitants. It would perhaps hardly be -remembered to-day were it not for the celebrated naval battle of -Barfleur. The town is quite worth the visiting for its own quaintness -and charming situation, but is usually passed by. - -The Gatteville lighthouse is one of those wonderful monumental -lighthouses which the French are so fond of erecting. This really great -work lies just to the northward of Barfleur, and is a vast granite pile -some ninety feet in circumference at its base, half that at its summit, -and has a height of two hundred odd feet above its already imposing -foundation. - -The rays of its great electric lamp shine out over the waters of the -Channel for ninety kilometres, over fifty-five miles. - -From the top of this great tower the view is of great extent, embracing -the whole peninsula of the Hague; and, at night, one may clearly see the -great light at St. Catherine's on the Isle of Wight. - -At Brix, a small town of two thousand inhabitants, between Cherbourg and -Valognes, is a fine church built from the remains of an old fortress. -This will, or should, recall the fact that Brix was the native town of -the illustrious family of Bruce which gave to Scotland Robert the Bruce. - -Valognes, the ancient Alaounia of the Romans, and a strong fortress in -the middle ages, is a small town, though it is the principal one of its -district. It possesses a library of twenty thousand volumes and a -handsome church of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which is said -to have the only Gothic dome in France. - -There are a number of magnificent old houses which have come down from -the time when Valognes was a viscounty. - -A great cattle market is held here every Monday, and the great -establishment which packs and exports the butter, eggs, and cheese of -the neighbourhood is a sight worth seeing. - -The remains of the old fortress-château of the middle ages, now -moss-grown, still exist in the suburbs of Alleume. - -Carentan is an unassuming little town in the midst of the butter farms -of the Cotentin. With Isigny it leads the butter market of France so far -as its first blends are concerned. Due to the prosperity arising from -its milk products is a fine, rebuilt fifteenth-century church, and there -are many memories of the ancient importance of the town. Edward III. of -England burned it in 1346, some days before the eventful battle of -Crecy, and in 1679 a conflagration destroyed over five hundred houses. -Besides being the greatest centre for the trade in butter in all -Normandy, it is also the centre of the region which raises the -half-breed trotting-horse. - -Carentan is connected with the sea by a canal eight kilometres in -length, and there is considerable small coasting trade with neighbouring -ports. - -Isigny, like Carentan, is noted for its cream and butter. Isigny butter -is the name given to the product of all that region of Normandy lying -between Bayeux, Barfleur, and Coutances. - -The grain elevators and the cattle market are truly the sights of the -town on market-days, and all else pales before the importance of this -trade. - -Grandcamp, beneath which are the celebrated Rocks of Grandcamp, is a -summer resort and a tiny fishing port. - -It has a real artists' resort in its Hôtel de la Croix Blanche, whose -dining-room is a veritable picture-gallery, with landscapes and -seascapes by Boutigny, Gagliardini, Mathon, Bonne Maison, and others. - -In reality there is no port here at Grandcamp, only a sloping beach upon -which boats are drawn as they fetch and carry from the vessels which -anchor at some distance from the shore, beyond the bank of wild -fairylike rocks at the base of the little cliffs. - -St. Lô is of ancient Gallic origin, and was once called Briovera, which -in the Celtic tongue signified Bridge-over-the-Vire, as the little -stream which passes by the foundations of the town is called. St. Laud -or St. Lô, Bishop of Coutances, came here to preach evangelization. Soon -after his death personal relics of the saint were brought here, and -finally the ancient town took his name. - -The religious history of the town is most profound, and as a place -celebrated in warfare St. Lô ranks among the most important in Lower -Normandy. The Catholics captured the town in 1574, after the Calvinists -had been its masters for a dozen years, and massacred three thousand of -its inhabitants. - -During the Revolution St. Lô was called the "Rock of Liberty." - -The very beautiful Church of Notre Dame, the _ci-devant_ cathedral, is -admirably placed on the edge of the table-land overlooking the valley of -the Vire. Before it became a cathedral it was an ancient collegiate -church, but this fine Gothic edifice as seen to-day dates only from the -fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. - -Its towers quite rival, and are reminiscent of, those of either -Chartres, Séez, or Senlis, and are far more beautiful and imposing than -those of any church of its rank in all Normandy. - -There is also a fifteenth-century open-air pulpit, almost a unique -attribute of a great French church, which is artistically charming. From -it were, and still are, read publicly the acts of episcopal -jurisdiction. - -In the Rue Poids-de-Ville, at No. 4, is the fifteenth-century Maison -Dieu, a fine stone structure richly ornamented with stone sculptures. - -On the square before the cathedral one notes a charming statue of a -water-carrier, depicting the local custom which has not yet died out -here. To-day even one may see these sturdy Cotentin maidens carrying -their picturesque water-jugs in exactly the same pose as depicted in the -statue itself. - -From St. Lô to Coutances is thirty kilometres by road. The city is an -ancient bishopric, and its great cathedral is one of the most imposing -and celebrated of those of the second rank in all France. - -Anciently known as Cosedia, the city became in time known as Constantia, -after, it is believed, Constance Chlore, who fortified it and made of it -a stronghold long before the end of the Roman occupation of Gaul. - -The city was taken and retaken in the course of the wars which continued -during the lives of the sons of Norman William, in the Hundred Years' -War, and in the other religious wars. - -During the massacres of St. Bartholomew it was saved through the -moderation of its governor, the Count of Matignon. - -The cathedral sits upon the crest of a hill three hundred feet above the -surrounding plain, and is, in every respect, an exceedingly beautiful -structure, with its two great towers rising to a height of nearly 250 -feet. There is also a great octagonal tower at the crossing, from which -may be had a magnificent view of the surrounding country, south to -Avranches and Granville and, perhaps, on a clear day to Mont St. Michel, -and westward to the isles of Jersey and Guernsey. - -Coutances has another remarkable old church in St. Pierre, fitted with -pews, seldom seen in Normandy or indeed in France. It is a rebuilt -fifteenth-century structure showing many Renaissance interpolations; -but, on the whole, it is imposing and pleasing. - -St. Nicholas is another ecclesiastical shrine with a tall square tower -reminiscent of an English parish church. Its chief distinction lies -perhaps in the great monocylindrical columns which divide the arcades of -the nave. - -The public garden of Coutances is an exceedingly ample and beautifully -disposed park for a town of but seven thousand inhabitants. - -The aqueduct of Coutances, to the west of the town, was one of the most -remarkable works of its time. The Romans built more magnificent ones, -and many have been constructed in later days; but the pointed and -buttressed arches of the thirteenth-century Coutances aqueduct, now -almost entirely disappeared, must remain always one of the chief works -of its kind. - -On the coast, midway between Coutances and Avranches, is Granville. It -once had the reputation of being a vile, ugly, ill-built hole, whose -only gaiety was due to the triflers on market-day. To-day the -description does not fit, though it is gay enough in all conscience, and -at all seasons, with its steamer traffic, its fishing, and summer -visitors, for four months of the year. Before one is the Bay of Cancale, -noted for its oysters; and in the far distance is St. Michel's rock, -with its satellite of Tombelaine. Down at the head of the bay is the -gateway into Brittany, through the episcopal town of Dol, itself a -queer, sleepy old place, with a street of decrepit houses, over which -artists rave, and a grim weather-beaten cathedral, which looks like the -bastion of a fortress. - -Just off the shore from Granville is a group of nearly three hundred -fanglike rocks which protrude toward the sky at low water, and are known -as the Chausey Isles. - -They seem a worthless pile of rocks at first glance, but when one -recalls that Paris draws its supply of flagstones for its sidewalks from -these granite protuberances their mission is seen to be an economic one. - -To the west of the Chausey Isles are the very rocks described by Victor -Hugo in his "Toilers of the Sea." Still further from the mainland are -the Minquiers and the Grelets, which at high water are, for the most -part, hardly more than pin-heads above the level of the sea. - -On the principal isle of the Minquiers, scarce a dozen feet above -sea-level, is a little hamlet of a few huts and cabins of refuge built -by the fishermen of Jersey and Guernsey. - -Granville is indeed a city of sturdy sailors and men of affairs. It is -situated at the very tip of an abrupt promontory, picturesque in the -extreme, known as the Rock of Granville. The upper town and the lower -town each adds its own variety of life; and there is no city in Normandy -where one may observe more contrasting features than here on this -rock-cut town overlooking the blue waters of the Manche. - -The place is a summer resort of the very first rank, and its hotels are -all that the most fastidious could require, in spite of which there -still hangs about it all an atmosphere that has not yet become vitiated -by the conventions of society. The tides of the ocean here rise and fall -to greater heights and depths than on any other part of the European -coast, and the sea is the great and abounding attraction of the city, -which has twelve thousand inhabitants. - -As early as the twelfth century a chapel was built upon the projecting -rock; and from it and its influences grew up the present city. For many -years the city was held by the English, but was retaken by the Normans -in 1441, at whose head was Louis d'Estouteville, governor of Mont St. -Michel. In 1695 it was bombarded by the English, and Louis XIV. ordered -the fortification to be demolished. - -In 1793 Granville opposed, with a courageous resistance, the Vendean -army of twenty thousand men, commanded by La Rochejacquelin, who was -forced to raise the siege. - -Again, in 1803, the English bombarded the town, but with little effect. - -Granville was the port of departure for a great number of privateers, -who did considerable damage during the struggles between the French and -English. - -The Church of Notre Dame is Granville's most interesting monument. It is -built upon the point which culminates in the celebrated Granville Rock, -and preserves many details of its ancient Roman construction. In its -ensemble, however, it is highly florid Gothic, its later additions -coming well down into the seventeenth century. In the interior is the -Chapel of St. Nicholas, containing numerous donations of fishermen -and sailors,--gilded anchors, models of full-rigged ships, and similar -gifts. - -[Illustration: _The Rock of Granville_] - -There is an unobtrusive casino and the usual watering-place -appurtenances, but all is subservient to the life of the port and the -town. - -The port itself is a wonder of what one might call marine architecture, -were the term not applied to ships themselves. It has two great basins -and a superb _môle_ considerably over a quarter of a mile in length. - -For the most part, the activity of the port is due to the local -fishing-boats, the coasters or _caboteurs_, and the deep-sea -fishing-craft which sail to far-away Newfoundland and St. Pierre de -Miquelon. - -There is some ship-building and considerable industry in fish-curing and -the production of cod-liver oil. - -Avranches was once an old cathedral town, but the Revolution made away -with its cathedral, along with many another ecclesiastical monument of -France; but since the ancient bishopric of Avranches was in existence -from 511 to 1790, it may be inferred that its importance was -considerable. - -To-day it is a most interesting tourist point, though manifestly its -position is not as proud as it once was. - -A single shaft surrounded by a few poor, broken fragments is all that -now remains of the edifice before which Henry II. of England did penance -for the murder of Becket. - -The ancient episcopal palace is now the court-house, a modern -reconstruction built upon remains which date from the fifteenth century. - -The public library contains fifteen thousand volumes and some valuable -historical manuscripts of as early a period as the twelfth century. - -The Jardin des Plantes is the ancient garden of a former Capucin priory -(1618), now actually occupied by a community of Ursulines. The remains -of a fortified gateway and an ancient tower and some moss-grown -fragments of an ancient donjon are still left to suggest the aspect of -other days from a military and strategic point. - -The view from the height of the upper town, the plateau on which once -stood the former cathedral, and indeed where all of the modern town is -situated, is one of great and wonderful beauty, particularly out toward -the bay of Mont St. Michel, through the estuary of the river See. Indeed -it is the altogether remarkable situation of the modern city on the -summit of a great promontory plateau that constitutes its chief charm. - -One may eat of the best of sea and shore, including the famous oysters -of Cancale, at any of Avranches's inns, so there is every excuse for not -omitting it from one's itinerary. - -From the height of Avranches is the first clear view of the famous Mont -St. Michel, so well known that one almost forbears attempting to write -of its somewhat terrible historical memories. It is indeed wonderful, -but is difficult to enjoy properly, owing to the number of people sent -around with one guide, and the touts who throng the single street, and -who do not leave you a moment's peace. - -Impossible as it is mentally to plunge back into the past, as ought to -be done when at such a place, there is always a remembrance to take -away, and the gaps can be filled up afterward. - -One can imagine how grand the place must look at neap tides, when the -sea rushes in faster than a horse can gallop, or in winter in a storm, -for it has been justly called "_St. Michel au Peril de la Mer._" - -Tombelaine, the island from which the English made their gallant attack -on St. Michel, offers a curious instance of the delusiveness of space. -It looks to be within a stone's throw of Avranches and the mount -itself, but it really is quite an hour's hard walking, if one has the -temerity to brave the always possible danger of the quicksands which -surround it. - -[Illustration: BAY of Mt. ST. MICHEL] - -The bay of Mont St. Michel of a moonlight night, when seen from the -causeway leading to Pontorson, or, better yet, from a boat on the bosom -of the bay itself, is indeed enough to have inspired the verses of Jean -Richepin, entitled: - - "LES ECUS DE LA LUNE - - "La lune au ras des flots étincelants - Casse en morceaux ses jolis ecus blancs. - Bon sang! que de pécune! - Si ton argent, falle, t'embarrassait, - Pourquoi ne pas le mettre en mon gousset, - Ohé, la Lune?" - -It is a fine road that runs from Avranches via Pontaubault to Pontorson, -whence one makes his way along the causeway to the mount itself. - -It seems futile to attempt to describe one's emotions at first sight of -that stupendous and wonderful fortress-abbey of Mont St. Michel. To know -this wonderful place is to love it; but no one can become intimately -acquainted with it in a few hours, or even in a few days. - -[Illustration: _Mont St. Michel in 1657_] - -A rampart of walls and towers surrounds the little cluster of houses at -the base of the mount; and before its ancient barbican the steam-cars, -omnibuses, and automobiles set down their hordes of visitors of all -nationalities, to say nothing of the countless hundreds who come on -foot and on bicycles over the causeway from Pontorson. The year's -visitors are supposed to approximate fifty thousand. - -These ancient walls enclose a population of 250 souls. Where they all -live, and what they all do when tourists are few and far between, is a -question. Viewed from a distance of a mile, the great rock with its -crowning abbey does not look as if it had any other attribute save that -of a vast mediæval religious establishment. As one draws nearer, he sees -the few score of houses huddled about the abbey's haunches; but even -then he doubts as to whether a quarter of a thousand people can stow -themselves comfortably away, and wonders where they find room for the -visitors. - -The Porte du Roi, the Claudine and the Châtelet towers, and the -fortified bridge all prove the fact that the abbey was also a great -fortress. These, however, together with the Michelette and the home of -Duguesclin, are but minor attractions. The real and overpowering feature -of it all is the great abbey itself, which rises tier upon tier, its -statue-crowned pinnacle seeming literally to pierce the sky. - -[Illustration: _Porte du Roi, Mont St. Michel_] - -In entering, one crosses the guard-hall, and goes up fifty steps to the -court of the church, that tiny plateau from which one gets so wide a -view of sea and shore and sky that he wonders if it is not the most -ample and interesting in all the known world. Pontorson, Avranches, -Granville, Dol, and St. Malo, on the mainland, are all spread out in the -vast panorama. Near by is Tombelaine, a little brother to the mount -itself, while on the dim horizon are the Chausey Isles, the Minquiers, -and, if the day be clear, perhaps Jersey. - -Within the sanctuary one remarks all eras of mediæval architecture, from -the Roman nave to the flamboyant Gothic choir. - -A narrow staircase to the right leads to a little terrace cut from the -rock itself, which supports the Crypt of the Gros-Piliers. On this same -little terrace the great supporting buttresses of the upper works find -their foundations, and one may climb a story, if he choose, on the -charming _Escalier de Dentelle_. - -To enter the Merveille one descends again, and passes through the -cloister, one of the most originally and gracefully disposed of any of -its kind extant, surrounded by 120 svelt little columns forming the -arcade. The refectory is a wonderfully brilliant apartment, and the Hall -of the Chevaliers beneath, supported by three ranges of columns, will -awake the memories of other days in the minds of all who know the -romanticism of historical details in the least degree. It was here, in -this wonderfully old abbey, that the order of St. Michel was first -instituted. - -To one side is the visitors' room, a remarkably graceful, though much -smaller chamber than any of the foregoing. - -The next lower floor is occupied by the cellar and the armory, all in -the most sober architectural display. - -Crossing the walk and the crypts, one comes to the "_Roue -monte-charges_," a great machine turned by the hands of prisoners of -other days, by which materials and supplies were brought to this vast -height from the sea-level below. - -In the thick granite of the walls of the old fortress-church were many -dungeons and caves, where were hidden away criminal and political -prisoners of all ranks. Here Barbés, Blanqui, and Raspail were -imprisoned. - -In returning across the Hall of the Chevaliers it is necessary to -descend some steps graven in the rock itself; following respectfully -behind the guardian, who jingles his great bunch of keys, as if to hurry -along the unwilling ones, which is practically what it amounts to, for -he is a much overworked individual, this guardian. If you wish, you may -make another round, for he will not leave you behind, and he journeys -through these silent, untenanted halls and chambers many times a day, -with the precision and routine of a soldier on sentry duty, or a -corporal inspecting the guard. - -If one spends the night on the mount, he may see the most splendid -sunrise he has ever witnessed. One need not rise, for his chamber, if it -is on the water side, faces the east. It is incomparable to anything to -be seen elsewhere. It is as if one were in mid-ocean. The Normandy -coast, not so very far distant, is silhouetted against the sky as the -refulgent sun breaks through the clouds and mists of early morning. -Suddenly the sea reflects it with mirror-like brilliancy,--another day -is born. - -West of Avranches is Mortain, situated in the midst of the most -picturesque country-side of the Cotentin. It sits high on the flank of -what, in Normandy, may well be called a mountain, and below it runs the -tiny river Cance. - -The chief artistic monument of Mortain is the Church of St. Evroult, -erected during the early part of the thirteenth century, with a Roman -portal thought to belong to an ancient collegiate church of three -centuries before. There is a series of fifty-eight elaborately -sculptured stalls of the fifteenth century, and, altogether, it is quite -as worthy of enthusiastic admiration as many a more famous one -elsewhere. - -To the northward, a half-hour's brisk walk, is the ancient Abbaye -Blanche, or a reconstruction of it, founded in 1105 for the -Benedictines, and some years later affiliated with the order of Citeaux. - -The Cance below Mortain is one of those rocky river-beds that awaken -one's admiration and surprise. It does not resemble in any way the Grand -Cañon of the Colorado or the Gorges of the Tarn, but it is an unspoiled -bit of nature, quite as God made it. - -A Norman poet--Pontgibault--has eulogized it thus: - - "Combien j'eusse aimé mieux m'en aller avec vous - Parcourir ces vallons dont un Suisse est jaloux, - Jouir (comme on jouet lorsqu'on est en vacance) - Des méandres charmants que dessine la Cance; - Voir ce 'Pas,' où, dit-on, les Diables s'égara, - La 'Cascade' aux flots bleus, petit niagara, - La 'Grotte aux Sarrasins,' dont la fraicheur sinette - Le dispute à ses eaux Fontaine Perrinette!" - -Vire is another town of the Cotentin which, like most of its brothers or -sisters, sits high upon an escarpment of surrounding hills. It occupies -a veritable amphitheatre, and it is most curiously, if not beautifully, -planned. It was an ancient feudal settlement which grew in time to some -importance as far as its military history is concerned. - -It is the birthplace of Olivier Basselin, the "_satirique_" of the "Vaux -de Vire" and the inventor (in the fifteenth century) of that form of -dramatic representation which we of a later day have come to know as -"vaudeville." The evolution of the term is thus made simple enough, -though what such representations themselves have actually become in -these days is perhaps not so easy to define. - -The great Clock Tower and its ogival gate of the thirteenth century is -Vire's chief architectural curiosity. - -Its greatest and most artistic architectural attribute is the Church of -Notre Dame, which dates from the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth -centuries. Its interior appointments are marvellously elaborate, -including a fine sculptured pulpit in wood dating from 1643. - -The town hall, a seventeenth and eighteenth century edifice, encloses a -library of forty-four thousand books and 240 manuscripts, including a -rich collection of works relating to the country. There is also a very -considerable collection of paintings. - -[Illustration: _Clock Tower, Vire_] - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE NORMAN COUNTRY-SIDE - - -It is difficult to apportion to any part of the Norman country-side -characteristics which are common to the whole province. - -Indeed, save for the fact that wine is not grown in Normandy, the whole -region is given over to the growing of much the same crops, which seem -to thrive in so many parts elsewhere. There is also the crop of -cider-apples, of pears, and of many other fruits, including a delicious -_white_ strawberry, and the raising of sheep, cattle, and even -horses,--all seem to flourish here in this great province. - -Perhaps it is that Norman thrift and hard labour account for much of the -prosperity attendant upon its bountiful crops; for certainly the Norman -farmer, be he peasant or proprietor, has the faculty of getting abundant -crops from comparatively restricted plots of land. - -The Norman country-side may be properly said to lie to the westward of -the Seine, beginning with the district of Neubourg and extending to the -Breton border through the base of the Cotentin peninsula. This is the -true Normandy,--Lower Normandy,--and it had for its capital in the old -days the much bechurched city of Caen, as distinct from Rouen in Upper -Normandy, the capital of the entire province. Rouen had early absorbed -French manners and customs; and its inhabitants spoke the French tongue -long before the speech and religion of the Northmen had died out of the -mouths and breasts of their descendants in the lower province. - -This is a fact advanced by historians, and may mean much or little. It -is supported, however, by the statement that William Longsword, the -first Rollon's son, sent his son to Bayeux to learn Danish; for which -reason it is argued that the lower province withstood the march of -transition the longest. - -Everything in Normandy has an attitude of palpable prosperity. There are -occasional tumble-down outhouses, to be sure, and now and then a -deserted hamlet, but this is no sign of a prevalent poverty or an -increasing indolence, and Normandy, without doubt, is one of the most -industrious and wealthy sections of all France. - -The figures of population in France are ever full of surprises when -regarded in comparison with those of another day. Many a French -department has remained stationary as to its population for a hundred -years, while occasionally one has decreased, as, for instance, the -Department of the Eure, lying just west of the Seine, which has lost -within the past decade something over five thousand of its children. - -The population of France, as a whole, increases of course, but it is -mostly the urban centres that show an increase. The country-side remains -at its dead level, and that, perhaps, is why it is prosperous. - -The men and women of Normandy are of rather larger stature than most of -the population of France; they live and dress in a more comfortable, if -not a more luxurious, manner, and they generally exhibit an air of -thrift and prosperity which in the neighbouring province of Brittany is -notably lacking. - -As astute an observer as Professor Freeman--and he was an Oxford -conservative of the most conservative type--had nothing but praise for -Norman fare as compared with that of Paris. He said picturesquely and -forcibly: "Any one with an old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon stomach--a man who -would have liked to have dined off roast meat with Charles the Great, -or breakfasted off beefsteaks with Queen Elizabeth--will find the Norman -diet coming far nearer to his ideal than the politer repasts of Paris." - -In the matter of eating, Rouen, except in the little market-farmers' -_tables d'hôte_, has become corrupted and Parisian; but at Evreux, -Louviers, Conches, and at Avranches and Bayeux, one eats only the native -fare, and is not glutted with beefsteak, mutton-chops, and ham and eggs, -and, worst of all, ham omelets, which every hotel in a large city in -France seems to think is a specially palatable dish to English-speaking -folk. - -In the very heart of a wide-open bit of country lies Evreux, a pretty -little commercial town. As a manufacturing centre it produces the -hosiery, woollen stuffs, and the other products of the province. As -auxiliaries to the great factories are innumerable public-houses and -wine-shops of such diminutive proportions that one wonders that they can -carry enough stock in trade to satisfy a reasonably thirsty baker's -dozen of workmen. They drink large quantities of cider, the innocuous -wine of the country, and relatively smaller quantities of the more -dangerous "applejack," which the French call _calvados_. - -It is difficult to place Evreux in the category of those places tourists -in general love to visit. - -Take away its bizarre Renaissance cathedral, and most travellers would -know it not. But it is the typical chief city of a prosperous -department, nevertheless, and is the centre from which radiates much -local influence. The préfecture is here, and here is the headquarters of -the Inspector of the Mines, both of whom one interviews if he lives in -the Department of the Eure, and desires to possess an automobile or -steam-engine to pump water for his garden. - -There is nothing very formidable about these interviews with French -officials. They are all most civil and obliging, but very formal. If you -have any communication to make, you must first put it in writing on -"stamped paper," which you buy for sixty centimes at a tobacco shop, and -forward it by post. - -In due time a reply comes back to you, delivered by the hand of the -_sous-commissaire_ of the commune in which you live, making an -appointment for an interview, or giving the desired information. It -seems a roundabout way of doing it, but it serves to keep the under -officials of the préfecture of a canton or a commune up to their work, -thereby always having in the routine of office any number of -well-trained subordinates, who recognize the will and power of a higher -administration. - -It is the military discipline over again, and it works very well indeed, -in spite of the fact that it is not time or labour saving, two -conditions of life which have not yet made much headway in France. - -The cathedral at Evreux is an interesting _mélange_ of good, bad, and -indifferent Gothic and Renaissance architecture, and forms, as before -said, its chief sight. It by no means takes rank among the secondary -cathedrals of France as an artistic expression, but there is an -inordinate amount of most excellent Renaissance woodwork to be seen in -the chapel railings of its interior, which give it a much higher rank -than it would otherwise take. - -There is a frightful portrait of Charles the Wicked in the choir of the -cathedral, which would be interesting if it were in an art museum or a -picture-gallery; but it is so hideous that it is quite out of place in a -religious edifice. - -More interesting for the antiquarian is the Church of St. Taurin, all -that remains of the old abbey of the same name built in 1026 by Richard -II. - -The bishop's palace, to the rearward of the cathedral, has quite a -feudal aspect, and, while not architecturally beautiful, has -magnificently disposed surroundings. - -There are the usual civic monuments that one sees in an important French -town, the most beautiful, modern though it is, being a fine fountain -ornamented with statues symbolical of the Eure and its tributaries, the -Iton and the Rouloir. In the local art museum are shown an admirably -arranged exhibit of medals, and some specimens of ancient pottery made -here. The pictures are quite of the ordinary variety. - -The civic belfry at Evreux is the chief curiosity of the town after the -cathedral. It is one of those quaint minaret-like towers one sees in the -lower country; nothing but a lone pile pierced with a portal on its -ground floor, and ascended by a spiral stairway until one reaches an -octagonal outside gallery, above which there is a pinnacle in which -hangs the great bell. - -The alarum-bells of a former day had some useful purpose to serve; but -to-day, unless the belfry of Evreux should be used as a curfew, its -utility has long since passed. - -Just beyond Evreux, following the banks of the Iton, is Conches, a -typical Norman country-side town, with a historic past. It has a -beautiful church, a charming situation on the top of a hill, and a -typical and astonishingly good country inn, but little else. - -Conches had its origin in the foundation of an abbey here by the -seigneur of the region, named Roger, in 1035. In 1355 King John gave the -county of Conches to his son-in-law, Charles, Count of Evreux and King -of Navarre, from whom it was taken some time afterward by force. The -troops of the Duke of Lancaster and Philippe of Navarre delivered to the -flames the old château and abbey; and to-day all that remains of the -former is the great round donjon in the gardens of the town hall. - -This old donjon turret is the most interesting memorial in Conches -to-day, and is quite as representative of the manner of building these -great circular defences as any extant. It is surrounded by a deep fosse, -now herbage-grown and half-filled, and its walls are crumbled and -covered with lichen and moss. - -The Church of Ste. Foy is a charmingly spired fifteenth-century edifice, -not so ancient nor so rich in treasure as are many churches in an -important town such as Conches; but, in spite of all this, it is as -lovable as any and more picturesquely disposed than most. - -[Illustration: _In the Church of Ste. Foy, Conches_] - -The ruins of Vieux-Conches, two kilometres distant, point out in a more -or less halting manner the story of a past that is well-nigh lost in -oblivion. There is here and there a pile of débris, some remains of old -walls, indicating an old-time faubourg now overgrown and wiped out by -its more ambitious parent. - -A word as to the excellent hotel, the Croix Blanche. It sits -unobtrusively enough to one side, just beyond the Church of Ste. Foy, on -the opposite side of the street, its courtyard literally filled to -overflowing with those great two-wheeled, high-hooded carts so -characteristic of Normandy. The stable, too, is full to its limit, as -well as the country people's smoking-room, where, on an oilcloth-covered -table, is served a bountiful bill of fare, with unlimited cider, for the -modest sum of a franc a head. - -The dining-room proper, which you enter through the kitchen, where the -patron himself presides as chef, is not an ample apartment, but it seats -perhaps two score of people, and here, of all places _en route_ across -Normandy, you will get as typical a country meal, with asparagus and -strawberries and such generally liked eatables, as will make you marvel -how it is all done at the price; for some of these stalwart Normans, to -say nothing of the omni-present travelling salesman, have astounding -appetites. All this costs but a modest fifty sous. They make it up -perhaps on the coffee, for they charge you fifty centimes for it, though -they do give you a small glass of _calvados_ with it, which after all -leaves no ground for complaint. - -West of Conches is a grand forest tract, the road through which runs -up-hill and down dale for fourteen kilometres. It is not a level road by -any means, but it is a beautiful one. As one leaves this fine forest -region and strikes the highroad again on the way to Laigle, he passes -numerous little agricultural towns, set about here and there in a -delightful rolling country, whose great charm is invariably their -picturesque disposition. - -Rugles is one of these, and it has a grand old church, or, rather, two -of them, which dominate the road for a half-dozen kilometres at either -entrance to the town. Curiously enough, Rugles, a little country-side -place of less than two thousand inhabitants, in the midst of a frankly -agricultural region, shares with Laigle, twelve kilometres distant, and -a metropolitan town compared to Rugles, the honour of being the chief -centre for the manufacture of pins in all France. - -[Illustration: _Rugles_] - -Laigle is a quaintly picturesque town. Its Church of St. Martin is a -magnificent monument of the fifteenth century, frankly Renaissance with -respect to most of its details, but with a most engaging great bare -tower which dates from at least the twelfth century. - -The old brick château which faces St. Martin is now given over to -mundane commercial affairs; but it is a fine example of the work of the -younger Mansard, and a contemplation of its exterior details will place -his work on a much higher plane than does his rather _outré_ invention, -the Mansard roof. - -The tiny river Risle--tiny in its breadth, though not in its -length--cuts Laigle in twain on its way to the sea. - -Between Laigle and Mortagne is Tourouvre, with a fine church in St. -Gilles, with its wooden vault covered with paintings, its -fifteenth-century choir-stalls, and many other accessories which any -church should be proud to possess. - -This church of Tourouvre contains many reminders of the connection of -Normandy with New France in North America. One of the great coloured -windows represents Julien Mercier and eighty families of the -neighbourhood, who left here for the new world in 1650. Another window -shows Honoré Mercier, the first minister of Canada, praying within this -same church. - -From those who went from Tourouvre and its environs to Canada in the -seventeenth century, a notable portion of the French-Canadians have -descended. - -This emigration took place in the most opulent epoch of the reign of -Louis XIV., when Colbert was minister. As the French authority Verrerie -has said: - -"_Ces familles percheronnes, arrivées en nombre quand la colonie sortait -à peine de l'enfance, ont fortement influé sur les moeurs, habitudes, -aptitudes, sur le langage et l'accent de cette nation._" - -It was during the administration of Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV., -that the France of overseas first came to its full bloom. Jacques -Cartier had already journeyed to the new world; and the foundation of -Quebec by Champlain and his people in 1608 gave the first real strength -to colonial ambitions. - -Canada became a prosperous colony indeed, flanking both banks of the St. -Lawrence and the northern shores of the Great Lakes, thanks to the -discoveries of the intrepid voyager, the Cavalier de la Salle (1682), -whose tomb in Rouen's cathedral has become one of those shrines much -favoured by visiting Americans. - -The great tract afterward taken into the United States first received -the name of Louisiana, after the kingly patron of the discoverer, while -Newfoundland and all of New France furnished an impetus to French -exploration and development across the seas, which in later years was -not sustained. - -Back of all this, a century before, appears the name of John Cabot, the -discoverer of Newfoundland and Canada. - -The question has often been discussed in Italy as to whether or no John -Cabot was a Venetian, or, rather, a Venetian citizen. They evidently -believe he was, for certain records claim the existence of one Ioani -Caboto as a resident of that city. - -The French, and the Normans more particularly, give this no credit. They -claim that Jean Cabot, which certainly sounds as French as John Cabot -does English, or Ioani Caboto does Italian, was of Normandy. "He may -have been Venetian by adoption," says your patriotic Frenchman, "and it -was in the service of Henry VII. of England that John Cabot, then -settled in Bristol, left upon that voyage of discovery in 1492, -accompanied by his three sons, which resulted in the skirting of the -American continent from Labrador to Florida; but Jean Cabot, -nevertheless, _was_ a Frenchman." - -The claim is not very fully substantiated, to be sure, but as the -English claim him as an Englishman, and the Italians as an Italian, and -inasmuch as he could not be both, perhaps he _was_ a Frenchman. The -French have evolved the word _cabotage_ in marine nomenclature, which -means navigation along the coast, showing at least the regard they have -for the memory of _Jean Cabot_. - -Before one reaches Mortagne there is the Abbey of La Trappe to be -visited, an experience which will live long in the memory of the -traveller. - -You may get nourishment and shelter for a surprisingly small sum, and -you will be served and waited upon by brown-robed monks, with all the -mystery which surrounds the accounts of such hospitality which have come -down to us from other days. But ladies must not be of the party. At -least they may not enter the inviolate precincts of the monastery -itself. They may go only as far as the lodge at the gate, where one may -buy picture post-cards and little boxes of chocolate from a garrulous -old _frère_, who looks and acts as if he hugely enjoyed female society. -He appears to be the only one of the community who mixes with the -outside world, and is gracious, kindly, and good-natured, and will even -arrange to have a simple meal cooked within the hallowed walls and sent -out to the hungry ladies of the party. The men may enter and eat in the -refectory. - -The fare is simple--exceedingly simple--a bit of preserved fish, an -omelet perhaps, some boiled rice, and black bread with wine or cider. -The price is also simple. You may give what you choose, or, if you can -induce the happy, toothless old monk, who is the go-between of the world -within and without, to set a price, he will probably tell you two -francs for all, regardless of the size of the company. - -This is truly an idyllic way of conducting an inn for the clients, but -it is hardly good business. The old monk fares much better when he -leaves the price to the visitor. - -The monastery buildings are fine, but not strikingly beautiful from the -outside, though set amid beautifully cultivated fields. The domain is -over three hundred _hectares_, and is well stocked with cows, sheep, and -swine. There is also a large apiary, the conduct of which seems to be -particularly suited to a monastic life. - -The brown-robed brother who mixes with the world seems to think so, too, -and takes a pardonable pride in showing his beehives and beautiful cows -to any one who will give him the opportunity. - -The present establishment occupies the site of an abbey founded in 1140, -the ancient oratory of which now serves as a bake-house. Later the abbey -became associated with the order of Citeaux, and finally the Trappists -installed themselves here in 1815, and commenced the construction of the -present buildings. - -All the principal structures within the walls are strictly modern. The -chapel dates from 1890, the Capitulary Hall from 1891, and the -cloister from 1892. - -[Illustration: _The Apiary of La Trappe_] - -Within the walls of the little garden is a fine statue of the Virgin in -white marble, given in 1847 by Madame Adelaide, the sister of -Louis-Philippe. - -The library contains twenty thousand volumes, including a very beautiful -missal in a folio format on parchment, written in German script, and -ornamented with miniatures and grotesquely decorated initials. - -Mortagne is an eminently dignified district capital of four thousand -inhabitants, admirably situated for defence, as was proved in the olden -time when it was long held by the Counts of Perche against all invaders; -but is withal a sleepy, dull town, with really very little of interest -in it to-day for the traveller by road or rail, unless he happens to get -here for the great Percheron horse-fair in December of each year, when -transactions covering the buying and selling of two thousand head or -more take place within a single day. - -The church dates from 1495-1535, and is in no way remarkable except for -its pretentious portal of the sixteenth century. There are numerous old -houses of wood of the conventional rural Norman style, but, on the -whole, beyond a general air of smugness and prosperity in the town, -there is little visible to endear it even to the inhabitant himself. - -Of feudal origin, Mortagne was the ancient capital of La Perche. - -The traveller by road from Mortagne to Alençon and Domfront, or to -Mayenne, will think he has struck a genuine mountain trail. - -Not that the roadway is not good, for it is most excellently laid and -graded. But, except for some mountainous parts of Brittany, this -"_Suisse Normande_" is the hilliest region in France. - -One should make a by-tour from Mortagne to Bellême and Mamers, if only -to see what an unspoiled little old world a Norman hill-town looks like -to-day. Bellême is all this and much more. It owns to nearly three -thousand inhabitants, and sits upon a height two hundred metres above -the valley of the Huisne. - -There are many fine great houses in the town of the seventeenth and -eighteenth centuries, when everything was at the height of its -prosperity. - -Of ancient feudal origin, Bellême was one of the most strongly fortified -places in Normandy in the eleventh century. The Counts of Bellême, more -famous for their crimes than their virtues, were the possessors of -nearly all of La Perche in the olden days. In 1082 they took the title -of Counts of Alençon as well, but Bellême remained the capital of their -domains. - -Robert of Bellême was one of the most celebrated château builders of his -day, being possessed of so great an ability that he was known as a most -famous military engineer under Philippe I. He built the Château of -Bellême, Nogent le Rotron, and Gisors. - -Henri Martin, the historian, was born at Bellême. - -The Church of St. Sauveur dates from the fifteenth century, and is a -splendidly appointed and decorated church of its time. There is a great -modern window therein to the memory of the mother of Aristide -Boucicault, the founder of the great store at Paris known all over the -world as the "Bon Marché." There are also paintings here by Poussin, -Isabey, and Oudry. - -In the Square of St. Sauveur is an old fortified gate, a fragment left -from the ancient château. - -Alençon is first called to the minds of most women travellers as the -original home of the lace known by its name. It is a great, overgrown, -gone-to-sleep, old-world town, with a gorgeously ornate church, some -remains of a feudal château, and the memory of its siege by Geoffroy -Martel, Count of Anjou, in 1040. Under the Cardinal Richelieu the place -became the seat of a district, the administration of which embraced over -1,200 distinct parishes. - -The lace industry of Alençon in the olden time was justly celebrated. -Working after the Venetian manner, a woman named Gilbert, a native of -Alençon, first made this lace here. She obtained the exclusive privilege -of making it up to 1685. The industry prospered up to 1812, since which -date it has fallen sadly, though it is hoped, and even claimed, that a -phoenix-like revival may be expected at any time since the school of -lace-making has been established. - -Alençon has its horse-fair on the January twenty-fifth and the February -fourth of each year, and also a remounting post for the army,--all of -which gives a certain air of prosperity, which at other times of the -year is lacking. - -The Church of Notre Dame of the fifteenth century is the chief -architectural feature, and its magnificently sculptured portal is of the -best of late Gothic workmanship. - -The court-house and the prison occupy the site of the ancient château; -in its façade are preserved two of the great crenelated towers of the -portal, dating from the fourteenth century. - -[Illustration: _Château d'Alençon_] - -The art museum contains numerous paintings of little except local -interest; but the public library has a superb series of decorations set -about its walls in the twenty-six magnificently blazoned armorial -bearings in oak, coming from the ancient library of the Val Dieu. The -bas-reliefs are attributed to Germain Pilon and Jean Goujon. The library -contains twenty thousand volumes, including various incunabula and 177 -manuscripts. - -Argentan lies fifty kilometres or so north of Alençon, and on the way -there is the tiny cathedral town of Séez, which has one of the most -perfect of Gothic cathedrals of its size in all France. The little city -has a most unworldly aspect, silent but not sad. A Frenchman has called -it a _véritable ville episcopale et monastique_. - -There is, moreover, a hotel--the Cheval Blanc--at Séez which is -something more than a mere rest-house. It is a typical, unspoiled -old-time hostelry, where you are well served with the products of the -farmyard and the fields. It is decidedly an inn to be noted; and, if one -stays overnight, he will be put to bed in an old oak-raftered room, with -a highly waxed, red-tiled floor, which will make him dream of the days -of long ago. - -Argentan, though it boasts but two thousand more inhabitants than Séez -and has no cathedral, is a veritable metropolis compared to the latter. - -The Church of St. Germain is a fine building, sadly blocked and crowded -by the surrounding houses which huddle around its walls and leave only -the north façade and the apse open to the day. The decorated Gothic -tower (1638) is a fine achievement, and the interior arrangements are -altogether charming. - -The Château of Argentan is the most satisfying building in Argentan. It -has two great square towers of the fourteenth century, which to-day form -a part of an adjoining edifice used as a prison. - -The library, while not so extensive as that in many other of the little -capitals of Normandy, has six thousand volumes relating to Norman -history and affairs, which should make it of value to any one of -antiquarian tastes. - -[Illustration: _Argentan_] - -Northward from Evreux one follows the valley of the non-navigable, but -utilitarian, little river Iton through the farm-lands of Evrecin and -Neubourg, until finally one realizes that he is quite in the midst of -the open Norman country. The apple-trees are everywhere; and the crop of -cider-apples is here, as elsewhere in Normandy, of first importance. -Prairies that once were only grass-land have been made into orchards and -workable farms, and the big and little farmers, by a constant and -well-paid effort, have made it a veritable land of plenty. - -The little industrial town of Neubourg lies between Evreux and Bernay, -in the great Neubourg district, an ancient _petit pays_ where was once a -vast château, the property of the Marquis de Sourdeac of Rieux, which -dominated all the neighbourhood. - -[Illustration: _Market-place, Neubourg_] - -Like its more noble compeers in the Loire valley, it occasionally -sheltered great companies of people who affected art and letters. As -Molière and Rabelais frequently attended upon the court, when in -residence at some gorgeous château in Touraine, so Sieur Pierre -Corneille--who himself lived not far away, at Grand Couronne, near -Rouen--was commanded to present a new piece at this little court of -"_Neufbourg_" in 1661. - -Here was presented for the first time the "Toison d'Or" by the royal -company from Paris, in celebration of the marriage of the king and the -conclusion of peace with Spain. - -"The prologue was applauded generously," say the accounts of the time. -This prologue, to a great extent, proved a prophecy of things to come, -as the following lines will show: - - "A vaincre si longtemps mes forces s'affaiblissent, - L'état est florissant, mais les peuples gemissent; - Leurs membres décharnés courbent sous mes hauts faits - Et la gloire du trône accable mes sujets." - -The château is in ruins to-day, but a contemplation thereof serves to -recall this unfamiliar page of the life of the times. - -Brionne is another charmingly situated little town of this fertile -country-side which is little known, except to stranger-travellers by -road. It shows industry, too, in its yarn and thread works, has had -considerable of a historical past, and possesses the rather scanty ruins -of a twelfth-century château. - -Above Brionne is Le Bec-Hellouin, all but forgotten, even by those who -ever knew that the two Archbishops of Canterbury, Lanfranc and Anselm, -were inmates of its old abbey before they came to their greater -dignities. - -The Abbey of Bec was founded in the eleventh century, and, as a great -institution of learning, drew scholars from England, France, and Italy. - -It was on account of the doctrines and dogma inculcated in his mind here -that Lanfranc, when he came to be made Archbishop of Canterbury, -summarily deposed the Saxon bishops throughout England and filled their -places with Frenchmen and Italians. - -Of the remains of the old abbey to-day, the church, which is best -preserved, guards, as if by some miracle, some fine statues and -remarkably beautiful enamels. The rest of the conventual buildings, or -such as remain, have been turned into a military station for cavalry -mounts. This desecration still goes on throughout France, which seems a -pity, of course; but, since the Concordat turned over Church property to -the state, the state was naturally bound to make some use of it if -possible, regardless of how unpicturesque and unromantic the results -might be. - -[Illustration: _ABBEY of BEC-HELLOVIN_] - -Bourgtheroulde, between Brionne and Rouen, not far to the westward of -Rouen, and just on the edge of the forest of Londe, is a chief town of -a commune, but a very tiny chief town. It numbers but seven hundred -souls, and has a Hôtel de la Corne d'Abondance, which lives up to its -name with respect to its fare, which is excellent. Once the town -possessed a Renaissance château, which disappeared during the -Revolutionary fury. To-day only an entrance pavilion and a _colombier_, -one of those great pigeon-houses which one sees so frequently in -Normandy, remain. The church dates from the fifteenth century, and has -some good Renaissance glass. - -Bourg-Achard is another small town of the neighbourhood, and, while it -is in no sense grandly picturesque, it is a charming little town, set -amid a most beautiful country. Its Hôtel de la Poste is above the -ordinary, and there is a remarkably beautiful fifteenth-century church, -once a dependency of an Augustin priory, with an unusual amount of -elaborate accessories, including a twelfth-century baptismal font and a -prior's seat in sculptured wood. - -To the westward is Bernay, greatly noted for its horse-fair, held -annually in the fifth week of Lent. It is the home of the Norman sire, -which has been interbred with most of the high-class varieties -throughout Europe and America, always to the advantage of the race. - -Locally known as the _Foire Fleurie_, because of its being held on Palm -Sunday, one sees here--as he sees only here--throng upon throng of -peasants,--breeders of horses in silk caps and blouses, and -horse-dealers in round hats and caps. - -One never sees the type in such profusion elsewhere, and if one has an -automobile at hand, so that he may get far away from the madding throng -when it is all over, a visit to Bernay's horse-fair will be put down as -one of the enjoyable experiences of life. - -There is very little direct voicing of yes or no, much _blague_ and good -humour, and not a little of simulated anger, as is the custom among -horse-traders elsewhere. But the Norman traders are keen, and seldom -does a year pass but that the tenor of the trading has been satisfactory -and profitable to all. - -Often there will be very little difference between the offer of the -dealer and the demand of the breeder; but a difference of twenty sous is -enough to make or break a bargain, not so much for the sum itself, but -as matter of principle. - -Sooner or later the matter is arranged, and the interested parties -repair to the nearest wine-shop to conclude the bargain. When it is all -over, there is the drinking of a great quaff of cider: "_La vrai bon -bere_," the Norman calls it in his patois. - -All this time it is "blowing hot and blowing cold" on other bargainings, -and much time is lost over superfluous contentions, but it is all in the -day's work. "_Eh! que voulez-vous? L'z'affé sont l'z'affé, maintenant -aboulez mé vot' argent, m'n ami._" - -Yes, truly, "business is business," and no spectacle of its kind is more -amusing to the stranger or, apparently, to the participants themselves. - -The ancient abbey at Bernay, whose church keeps company with the parish -church as the chief ecclesiastical monument of the town, is still -standing on the market-place. - -The abbey was an ancient conventual establishment for women, and their -church is celebrated for its typical characteristic Norman details, -though it has practically been desecrated by the untoward uses to which -it has been put in our day. - -The Château of Broglie and the town of the same name is near Bernay. -There is a daintily attractive church, with its façade in brown -pudding-stone and a modern _flèche_ of wood. It has also an arcade in -the Norman-Romanesque style of the twelfth century. - -[Illustration: _Interior of Abbey of Bernay_] - -The Château of Broglie has an imposing and pompous façade of the -questionable style of Louis XIV., solemn and cold and not appealing to -the finer sensibilities. It is framed between two great towers of feudal -times, which were originally a part of the stronghold of the ancient -fief of Chambrois. - -Since the seventeenth century the château has belonged to that -illustrious family of Italian origin, the Broglis, who furnished three -marshals to France; an ally of the colonists of America in their -revolution against the chafing of the English yoke; a prince of the -name, who married the daughter of Madame de Staël; and his son, a -politician and man of letters, who died as recently as 1901. - -Up to the time of the French Revolution, the possessor of this splendid -domain spent much care and means on its up-keep and appointments. There -is left to-day a great library and a gallery of family portraits, -including a brilliant _chef d'oeuvre_, the portrait of Madame de Staël -by Gerard. A somewhat gaudily painted chapel is attached to the château, -which sits in the midst of a beautiful park of some sixty _hectares_. - -All these attractions are open to the inspection of visitors under -certain conditions; and, if the building and its contents do not rival -that other more famous château of the Loire-Chaumont, now belonging to -the Brogli family as well, it is at least liberally endowed with -interest. - - -THE END. - - - - -APPENDICES - - -I. - -THE PROVINCES OF FRANCE - -Up to 1789, there were thirty-three great governments making up modern -France, the twelve governments created by Francis I. being the chief, -and seven _petits gouvernements_ as well. - -[Illustration: _Provinces of France_] - -In the following table the _grands gouvernements_ of the first -foundation are indicated in heavy-faced type, those which were taken -from the first in italics, and those which were acquired by conquest in -ordinary characters. - - NAMES OF GOVERNMENTS CAPITALS - 1. =Ile-de-France= Paris. - 2. =Picardie= Amiens. - 3. =Normandie= Rouen. - 4. =Bretagne= Rennes. - 5. =Champagne et Brie= Troyes. - 6. =Orléanais= Orléans. - 7. _Maine et Perche_ Le Mans. - 8. _Anjou_ Angers. - 9. _Touraine_ Tours. - 10. _Nivernais_ Nevers. - 11. _Berri_ Bourges. - 12. _Poitou_ Poitiers. - 13. _Aunis_ La Rochelle. - 14. =Bourgogne= (duché de) Dijon. - 15. =Lyonnais, Forez et Beaujolais= Lyon. - 16. _Auvergne_ Clermont. - 17. _Bourbonnais_ Moulins. - 18. _Marche_ Guéret. - 19. =Guyenne et Gascogne= Bordeaux. - 20. _Saintonge et Angoumois_[1] Saintes. - 21. _Limousin_ Limoges. - 22. _Béarn et Basse Navarre_ Pau. - 23. =Languedoc= Toulouse. - 24. _Comté de Foix_ Foix. - 25. =Provence= Aix. - 26. =Dauphiné= Grenoble. - 27. Flandre et Hainaut Lille. - 28. Artois Arras. - 29. Lorraine et Barrois Nancy. - 30. Alsace Strasbourg. - 31. Franche-Comté ou Comté de Bourgogne Besançon. - 32. Roussilon Perpignan. - 33. Corse Bastia. - -[1] Under Francis I. the Angoumois was comprised in the Orléanais. - -The seven _petits gouvernements_ were: - - 1. The ville, prévôté and vicomté of Paris. - 2. Havre de Grâce. - 3. Boulonnais. - 4. Principality of Sedan. - 5. Metz and Verdun, the pays Messin and Verdunois. - 6. Toul and Toulois. - 7. Saumur and Saumurois. - - -II. - -The following are the names of the principal _pays_ and _pagi_ of -ancient Normandy: - - PAYS DÉPARTEMENT - Campagne de St. André Eure - Pays d'Auge, the _Pagus Algiensis_ Calvados - Avranchin La Manche - Bessin, the _Pagus Bogasinius_ Calvados - Bocage (Le) or Pays de Vire Calvados - Bray (Le), near Elbeuf Seine Inf. - Caux, _Pagus Caletensis_ Seine Inf. - Cotentin La Manche - Pays d'Eu Seine Inf. - Pays d'Evreux Eure - Pays de Plains (Caux) Seine Inf. - Rouennais Seine Inf. - Roumois Seine Inf. - Pays du Val Seine Inf. - Vexin Normand Eure - - -III. - -DUKES OF NORMANDY - - Rollon 912-927 - Guillaume (Longsword) 927-945 - Richard I. (Sans Peur) 945-996 - Richard I. (le Bon) 996-1026 - Richard III. 1026-1028 - Robert (le Magnifique or le Diable) 1028-1035 - Guillaume (le Conquérant) 1035-1087 - Robert (Courte-heuse) 1087-1106 - Henri I. 1106-1135 - Mathilde 1135-1150 - Henri II. (Plantagenet) 1150-1189 - Richard (Coeur de Lion) 1189-1199 - Jean-Sans-Terre 1199-1204 - - -IV. - -THE METRIC SYSTEM - -METRICAL AND ENGLISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - - Mètre = 39.3708 in. = 3.231. 3 ft. 3½ in. = 1.0936 yard. - Square Mètre (mètre carré) = 1-1/5th square yards (1.196). - Are (or 100 sq. mètres) = 119.6 square yards. - Cubic Mètre (or Stere) = 35½ cubic feet. - Centimètre = 2/5ths inch. - Kilomètre = 1,093 yards = 5/8 mile. - 10 Kilomètres = 6¼ miles. - 100 Kilomètres = 62-1/10th miles. - Square Kilomètre = 2/5ths square mile. - Hectare = 2½ acres (2.471). - 100 Hectares = 247.1 acres. - Gramme = 15½ grains (15.432). - 10 Grammes = 1/3d oz. Avoirdupois. - 15 Grammes = ½ oz. Avoirdupois. - Kilogramme = 2-1/5th lbs. (2.204) Avoirdupois. - 10 Kilogrammes = 22 lbs. Avoirdupois. - Metrical Quintal = 220½ lbs. Avoirdupois. - Tonneau = 2,200 lbs. Avoirdupois. - Litre = 0.22 gal. = 1-3/4 pint. - Hectolitre = 22 gallons. - -[Illustration: _Comparative Metric Scale_] - - -ENGLISH AND METRICAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - - Inch = 2.539 centimètres = 25.39 millimètres. - 2 inches = 5 centimètres nearly. - Foot = 30.47 centimètres. - Yard = 0.9141 mètre. - 12 yards = 11 mètres nearly. - Mile = 1.609 kilomètre. - Square foot = 0.093 mètre carré. - Square yard = 0.836 mètre carré. - Acre = 0.4046 hectare = 4,003 sq. mètres nearly. - 2½ acres = 1 hectare nearly. - Pint = 0.5679 litre. - 1-3/4 pint = 1 litre nearly. - Gallon = 4.5434 litres = 4 nearly. - Bushel = 36.347 litres. - Oz. Troy = 31.103 grammes. - Pound Troy (5,760 grains) = 373.121 grammes. - Oz. Avoirdupois = 8.349 grammes. - Pound Avoirdupois (7,000 grains) = 453.592 grammes. - 2 lbs. 3 oz. = kilogramme nearly. - 100 lbs. = 45.359 kilogrammes. - Cwt. = 50.802 kilogrammes. - Ton = 1,018.048 kilogrammes. - - -V. - -1. Itinerary of Normandy by Chemin de Fer de l'Ouest, from Paris, Gare -St. Lazare. - -[Illustration: First-class, 90 frcs.; Second-class, 70 frcs.] - -Paris (St. Lazare), Louviers, Rouen, Dieppe, Rouen, Cany, -St.-Valery-en-Caux, Fécamp, Le Havre, par chemin de fer ou Rouen, Le -Havre, par bateau(1). Honfleur(1) ou Trouville-Deauville(1), -Villers-sur-Mer, Beuzeval (Houlgate), Dives-Cabourg, Caen, -Isigny-sur-Mer, Cherbourg, - - St-Lo - -Port-Bail, Carteret(1), Coutances, Granville(1), Bagnoles-de-l'Orne(1), -Briouze, Dreux, Paris (Montparnasse). - -2. Itinerary of Normandy by Chemin de Fer de l'Ouest, from Paris, Gare -St. Lazare. - -[Illustration: First-class, 50 frcs.; Second-class, 40 frcs.] - -Paris, Les Andelys, Louviers, Rouen, Dieppe, Rouen, Barentin -(_Caudebec-en-Caux moyennant supplément_), Le Havre, Honfleur ou -Trouville-Deauville, Villers-sur-Mer, Beuzeval-Houlgate, Dives-Cabourg, -Caen, Évreux, Paris. - - -VI. - -[Illustration: _Profile Map of Normandy_] - - -VII. - -[Illustration: _THE COAST OF NORMANDY_] - - -VIII. - -[Illustration: NATURAL CURIOSITIES _of NORMANDY_] - - -IX. - -[Illustration: ARCHITECTURAL CURIOSITIES _of NORMANDY_] - - -X. - -[Illustration: _ROAD MAP NORMANDY COAST_] - - -XI. - -[Illustration: _Road Map The Seine Valley_] - - -XII. - -[Illustration: _ROAD MAP ACROSS NORMANDY_] - - - - -INDEX OF PLACES - - -Acquigny, 266, 268. - -Agincourt, 80, 100. - -Agnesseau, Château d', 330. - -Aix, 26. - -Alençon (and Château), 31, 107, 110, 153, 332, 410, 411-414. - -Alleume, 373. - -Allouville-Bellefosse, 312-313. - -Amboise, 277. - -Amiens, 204. - -Anet (and Château), 141, 166, 266, 272, 273-285, 305. - -Angers, 32. - -Ango, Manor-house of, 302-303. - -Argentan (and Château), 110, 349, 414, 415. - -Arques-la-Bataille (and Château), 77, 98, 137, 138, 246, 301-302. - -Arromanches, 56, 314, 346, 347. - -Asnelles, 345. - -Ault, 98. - -Aumale, 99, 309. - -Autheuil-Authouillet, 268-269. - -Autun, 26. - -Auvergne, 24. - -Avignon, 206. - -Avranches, 18, 58, 91, 342, 347, 361, 377, 378, 381-383, 384, 385, 387, -389, 396. - - -Bagnoles de l'Orne, 357-358. - -Balleroy (and Château), 344-345. - -Barfleur, 371, 373. - -Bayeux, 22, 31, 56, 58, 110, 248, 336, 344, 345, 347, 373, 394, 396. - -Beaucaire, 108, 109, 144. - -Beauce, Plain of, 7. - -Beaugency, 139. - -Beaumont-le-Roger, 58, 77. - -Beauregard, Château of, 243. - -Bec, Abbey of, 419. - -Bellême, 410-411. - -Belley, Château du, 41. - -Bernay, 58, 93, 107, 109, 110, 357, 417, 421-423. - -Berneval, 286. - -Berthenouville, 249. - -Bessin, 78. - -Beuzeval, 314, 334. - -Beuzeville, 328. - -Bizy (and Château), 77, 257. - -Blagny, 309. - -Boisdenemetz, Château de, 243. - -Bolbec, 309. - -Bonneville, Château of, 329. - -Bonniers, 211. - -Bon Port, Abbey of, 227. - -Bon Secours, 210, 215. - -Bordeaux, 26. - -Boscherville, St. Georges de, 150, 186, 190-192. - -Bouafles, 250. - -Boulogne-sur-mer, 26, 98, 171, 303. - -Bourg-Achard, 421. - -Bourges, 190. - -Bourgtheroulde, 420-421. - -Bray, 77, 249. - -Brecey, 342. - -Bresle, 98. - -Brest, 31, 53, 94, 272, 362. - -Breuilpont, 271. - -Brionne, 418, 419, 420. - -Brix, 372. - -Broglie (and Château), 423-426. - -Bueil, 272. - - -Cabourg, 314, 334, 335-336. - -Caen, 22, 31, 49, 58, 83, 85, 92, 99, 100, 110, 147, 154, 324, 329, 332, -336-341, 394. - -Calais, 171. - -Cantal, 52. - -Cany, 296-297. - -Cape Barfleur, 99. - -Cape de la Hague, 78, 99, 366-371, 372. - -Cape de la Hève, 95, 99, 172, 177. - -Cape Levi, 371. - -Carentan, 361, 373. - -Carrefour des Quatre Cantons, 46. - -Catelier, 45. - -Caudebec-en-Caux, 57, 89, 119, 160, 164, 175, 184-185, 211, 260. - -Cérisy, 345. - -Chambray (and Château), 269. - -Chantilly, 39. - -Chapelle, Manor-house of, 211. - -Chapelle Ste. Catherine, 46. - -Charleval, 232. - -Chartres, 32, 266, 375. - -Châteaux (_See_ under separate names). - -Chatelliers, 137. - -Chaumont-en-Vexin, 248. - -Chenonceaux, 285. - -Cherbourg, 22, 31, 51, 53, 79, 80, 100, 111, 118, 128, 157, 272, -361-364, 366, 367, 369, 370, 372. - -Chérence, 342. - -Cobourg, 96. - -Cocherel, 270. - -Colmoulins, Château of, 288. - -Conches (and Château), 58, 246, 396, 400-402. - -Condé, 341-342. - -Courcelles, 250. - -Courseulles, 53. - -Coutances, 31, 58, 90, 344, 361, 373, 376-378. - -Crécy, 100, 373. - -Cricqueboeuf, 331. - -Croisset, 196-197. - -Croissy-sur-Andelle, 44. - -Croix-Mesnil, 46. - -Croix-Sonnet, 330. - -Croix St. Leufroy, 268. - - -Damps, 268. - -Dampsmesnil, 249. - -Dangu, 247. - -Deauville, 51, 96, 314, 330, 333-334. - -Dieppe, 8, 14, 31, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 60, 76, 79, 80, 89, 98, 99, 100, -111, 137, 138, 147, 154, 157, 218, 286, 293, 299-303, 308. - -Dives, 58, 79, 96, 99, 314, 334-336. - -Dol, 378, 387. - -Domfront (and Château), 137, 139, 349, 357, 358-360, 410. - -Dourdan, 251. - -Douville, 233. - -Duclair, 89, 187-188, 193. - -Dunkerque, 94, 181, 362. - - -Ecos, 249. - -Ecouis, 234, 243. - -Elbeuf, 42, 57, 102, 104, 110, 211, 216-217. - -Epieds, 272. - -Etrepagny, 243. - -Etretat, 57, 76, 95, 98, 119, 161, 286, 290, 291-294, 295, 301. - -Eu (and Château), 57, 77, 99, 141, 224, 305-309. - -Evrecin, 415. - -Evreux, 31, 58, 77, 105, 110, 154, 244, 248, 258, 266, 270, 324, -396-399, 415, 417. - - -Falaise (and Château), 49, 58, 108, 137, 139, 144, 246, 332, 347, 349, -350-357. - -Fécamp, 31, 57, 76, 98, 100, 111, 205, 286, 294-296, 305. - -Ferme des Fiefs, 47. - -Fleury la Forêt (and Château), 46. - -Fleury-sur-Andelle, 232. - -Fontainebleau, 39, 41, 43, 44, 48, 192. - -Fontaine du Houx, 45. - -Fontaine-Guerard, Abbey of, 233. - -Fontaine-Henri, Château, 141, 340. - -Fontenay, 243. - -Fontenelle, Monastery of (_See_ St. Wandrille). - -Forges-les-Eaux, 57, 158, 230-231. - -Formigny, 17. - -Fouet, Château, 42. - -Fromenteau, 190. - - -Gaillard, Château, 9, 57, 137, 236, 237-240, 246, 256. - -Gaillon (and Château), 141, 147, 154, 167, 250-257. - -Gamaches, 243. - -Garennes, 272. - -Gatteville, 371-372. - -Genetey, 40. - -Gisors (and Château), 57, 100, 137, 148, 154, 166, 210, 244-247, 266, -411. - -Giverny, 57, 119, 158, 211, 258. - -Gournay, 57, 106, 310. - -Grand Andelys (_See_ Les Andelys). - -Grand Aulnay, 196. - -Grandcamp, 374. - -Grand Couronne, 166, 196, 418. - -Grandes Dalles, 297. - -Grand Quévilly, 193, 196. - -Granville, 31, 49, 96, 97, 98, 100, 111, 361, 377, 378-381, 387. - -Grésil, 42. - -Greville, 364, 368. - -Gruchy, 364-366. - -Guibray, Fair of, 108-109, 144, 355-357. - - -Harfleur, 57, 79, 179, 182, 361. - -Havre, 8, 14, 31, 49, 31, 53, 56, 59, 60, 62, 76, 80, 95, 98, 100, 111, -121, 157, 158, 160, 162, 164, 167-181, 182, 183, 197, 198, 201, 236, -260, 286, 288, 289, 290, 293, 303, 310, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 332. - -Havre de Grâce (_See_ Havre). - -Hécourt, 271. - -Henouville, 40-41. - -Héron, 43. - -Heudreville, 268. - -Hogue, 100. - -Hogues, 43. - -Honfleur, 14, 17, 31, 57, 119, 174, 178, 181, 182, 314-321, 330, 353. - -Houdan, 162. - -Houlgate, 314, 334. - - -Ifs, 340-341. - -Inférieure, Château, 141. - -Ingouville, 172, 177. - -Isigny, 106, 361, 373. - -Ivry-la-Bataille, 77, 272-273. - - -Jean-Sans-Terre, Tower of, 233. - -Jobourg, 368. - -Jouy-Cocherel, 269. - -Jumièges, 57, 77, 150, 154, 186, 188-191, 193, 205, 248. - - -La Beauce, 162. - -La Bouille, 57, 160, 179, 194. - -La Fenille, 44. - -La Fontaine, 41. - -La Haie, Château de, 45. - -Laigle, 402, 403-404. - -La Londe, 41-42, 77, 192, 209, 420. - -La Perche, 158. - -La Roche-Guyon (and Château), 9, 31, 49, 56, 60, 119, 139, 141, 211, -258-260. - -La Thuit, 166. - -La Trappe, Abbey of, 406-409. - -Laudemer, 364, 370. - -Laval, 31. - -Le Bec-Hellouin, 419. - -Le Mans, 32. - -Les Andelys, 9, 31, 57, 59, 61, 77, 78, 119, 130, 139, 153, 166, 211, -235, 236-243, 246, 249, 250, 255. - -Le Tronquay, 44. - -Lillebonne, 57, 137, 183-184. - -Limes, 137. - -Lisieux, 18, 22, 49, 58, 99, 106, 111, 137, 329, 332, 347, 349-350. - -Loches, 139, 190. - -Lorey, 271. - -Lorient, 31. - -Louis XIII., Château, 46. - -Louviers, 39, 58, 77, 102, 104, 110, 121, 130, 153, 235, 250, 262, -264-268, 270, 396. - -Lozère, 52. - -Lyons, 25, 26, 204. - -Lyons, Forest of, 39, 43-48, 77, 116, 231. - -Lyons-le-Forêt (and Château), 43, 44, 57, 166, 231-232. - - -Mamers, 410. - -Marseilles, 26, 177, 204. - -Mauny, 40. - -Mayenne, 31, 410. - -Melun, 31. - -Menesqueville, 232. - -Menilles, 270. - -Mers, 76, 304, 305. - -Méry, 179. - -Molineux, 57, 179, 194. - -Montivilliers, 288, 289-290. - -Montmorency, Château of, 196. - -Montrichard, 139. - -Mont St. Michel, 49, 56, 58, 95, 97, 248, 347, 377, 378, 383, 385-389. - -Morlaix, 181. - -Mortagne, 107, 110, 404, 406, 409-410. - -Mortain, 349, 360, 361, 389-390. - -Mortemer, Abbey of, 46. - -Muids, 59, 235-236, 240. - - -Nacqueville, Château of, 370. - -Nantes, 32, 34, 263. - -Neubourg (and Château), 105, 415, 417. - -Neuchâtel-en-Bray, 309-310. - -Neufles-St.-Martin, 244. - -Nez de Jobourg, 78, 361, 366, 369. - -Nez de Tancarville, 76. - -Nonancourt, 110. - -Noyon, 265. - - -Ossel, 211. - -Ostend, 218, 292. - -Ouistreham, 314. - - -Pacy-sur-Eure, 268, 269-271. - -Paimboeuf, 32. - -Paroz, 126. - -Petit Andelys (_See_ Les Andelys). - -Petit Couronne, 194-195. - -Petites Dalles, 57, 76, 286, 297. - -Petit Quévilly, 193, 195-196. - -Petit Val, 44. - -Pitres (Pistes), 230, 232-233. - -Ploërmel, 31. - -Poissy, 31. - -Pontaubault, 385. - -Pont Audemer, 22, 110, 321-322, 328, 332. - -Pont d'Avignon, 26. - -Pont de l'Arche, 57, 58, 59, 77, 158, 205, 211, 216, 221-228, 229, 230, -252, 262, 266, 268. - -Pont l'Evêque, 99, 106, 314, 328-329, 332. - -Pontoise, 248. - -Pontorson, 97, 361, 384, 385, 386, 387. - -Pont St. Pierre, 232, 233. - -Ponzanges, 139. - -Port du Gravier, 42. - -Port-en-Bessin, 314, 344, 347. - -Port Morin, 255. - -Port Mort, 59, 250. - -Puits, 319. - -Puys, 303. - - -Querqueville, 369. - -Quévilly, Harbour of, 201. - -Quiberville, 304. - -Quillebeuf, 158, 202, 317, 328. - -Quimper, 31. - - -Radepont, 232, 233. - -Rambouillet, 39, 192. - -Rennes, 31, 34. - -Richbourg, Château de, 44. - -Rosy (and Château), 47, 232. - -Rouen, 4-5, 6, 16, 17, 22, 31, 39, 40, 41, 42, 49, 51, 57, 59, 60, 74, -76, 77, 83, 88, 89, 90, 102, 104, 110, 116, 121, 141, 147, 148, 150, -153, 154, 157, 158, 160, 162, 164, 165, 168, 169, 172, 178, 179, 180, -183, 186, 190, 192, 193, 194, 196, 197-211, 212, 213, 215, 216, 221, -224, 236, 248, 258, 260, 262, 263, 264, 288, 305, 310, 329, 347, 350, -394, 396, 418, 420. - -Roumare, 40, 77, 192, 193, 209. - -Rouvray, 41, 77, 166, 192, 193, 209. - -Rugles, 402. - -Ruys, 314, 315. - -Ryes, 344. - - -Séez, 375, 414, 415. - -Senlis, 375. - -Séry, 309. - -Sommervieu, 345. - -Sourdeval, 342. - -St. Adrien, 42, 215, 260. - -St. Barbe, 256. - -St. Brieuc, 31, 181. - -St. Clair-sur-Ept, 247, 249. - -St. Cyr du Vaudreuil, 262-264, 268. - -St. Denis, 144. - -Ste. Anne, 369. - -Ste. Croix-Hague, 368. - -Ste. Marguerite, 304. - -St. Etienne du Vauvray, 234-235, 262. - -St. Jouin, 290-291. - -St. Lô, 31, 58, 106, 344, 345, 361, 374-376. - -St. Malo, 31, 79, 80, 99, 387. - -St. Martin, 368. - -St. Menehould, 221. - -St. Ouen, 248. - -St. Pierre du Vauvray, 211, 235, 236, 262, 349. - -St. Sauveur, 193. - -St. Valery-en-Caux, 57, 76, 98, 286, 298-299. - -St. Wandrille, Abbey of, 185-187, 191. - - -Taisniers, 43. - -Talbot, Château of, 233-234. - -Tancarville (and Château), 178, 179, 183, 201, 202. - -Thilliers-en-Vexin, 243. - -Tinchebray, 342. - -Tombelaine, 378, 383, 387. - -Tosny, 59, 250, 255. - -Touques, 77, 328, 330, 331. - -Tourouvre, 404. - -Trait-St. Wandrille, Forest of, 77. - -Tréport, 31, 49, 56, 57, 76, 98, 99, 111, 286, 304-305, 307, 309. - -Trouville, 51, 52, 56, 63, 95, 96, 99, 147, 160, 218, 292, 301, 314, -315, 317, 319, 328, 329, 330, 331-333, 334. - -Troyes, 180. - - -Urville, 368, 370. - - -Vacherie, 240. - -Valognes, 137, 361, 372-373. - -Val St. Pierre, 44. - -Valtelles, Villa of, 371. - -Vannes, 31. - -Varengeville, 288, 304. - -Vauville, 368. - -Vaux, Château de, 244. - -Ventoux, 252. - -Verneuil, 31. - -Vernon, 42, 56, 59, 77, 107, 121, 158, 159, 240, 249, 252, 257, 258, 260. - -Vernonnet, 257. - -Versailles, 31, 32, 39. - -Vetheuil, 60. - -Veules-les-Roses, 76, 298, 299. - -Veulettes, 297. - -Vezillon, 250. - -Villers-Cotterets, 39. - -Villers-sur-Mer, 334. - -Villerville, 331. - -Vire, 91, 111, 361, 390-392. - - -Yport, 76, 111, 286, 295. - -Yvetôt, 31, 89, 90, 130, 309, 310-312. - - * * * * * - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Finally, in 1847, François I. died=> Finally, in 1547, François I. died -{pg 281} - -L'espèce d'un matin=> L'espace d'un matin {pg 339} - -isle of the Miniquiers=> isle of the Minquiers {pg 379} - -Voir ce 'Pas,' on, dit-on, les Diables s'égara=> Voir ce 'Pas,' où, -dit-on, les Diables s'égara {pg 390} - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rambles in Normandy, by Francis Miltoun - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RAMBLES IN NORMANDY *** - -***** This file should be named 42899-8.txt or 42899-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/8/9/42899/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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