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diff --git a/old/53600-0.txt b/old/53600-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 47d06fc..0000000 --- a/old/53600-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5636 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Breton Folk, by Henry Blackburn - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Breton Folk - An artistic tour in Brittany - -Author: Henry Blackburn - -Illustrator: Randolph Caldecott - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53600] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRETON FOLK *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, Suzanne Shell and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -[Illustration: CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEAD.] - - (_See page 108_) - - - - - Breton Folk - _AN ARTISTIC TOUR IN BRITTANY_ - - -[Illustration] - - BY - - HENRY BLACKBURN. - - _WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY_ - - R. CALDECOTT. - - BOSTON. - - JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY - - 1881. - -[Illustration] - - - - - PREFACE. - - -The following notes were made during three summer tours in Brittany, in -two of which the Author was accompanied by the Artist. - -_Breton Folk_ is not a description of the antiquities of Brittany, nor -even a book of folk-lore. It is a series of sketches of a -“black-and-white country” under its summer aspect; of a sombre land -shrouded with white clouds, peopled with peasants in dark costumes, wide -white collars and caps, black and white cattle and magpies. - -The illustrations, one hundred and seventy in number, have been drawn by -the Artist from sketches made on the spot, and, apart from their -artistic qualities, have the curious merit of truth. They have been -engraved with the utmost care by Mr. J. D. Cooper. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I.— THE WESTERN WING 1 - - II.— ST. MALO—ST. SERVAN—DINARD—DINAN 6 - - III.— LAMBALLE—ST. BRIEUC—GUINGAMP 27 - - IV.— LANLEFF—PAIMPOL—LANNION—PERROS-GUIREC 45 - - V.— CARHAIX—HUELGOET 58 - - VI.— MORLAIX—ST. POL—LESNEVEN—LE FOLGOET 69 - - VII.— BREST—PLOUGASTEL—CHÂTEAUNEUF DU FAOU 83 - - VIII.— QUIMPER—PONT L’ABBÉ—AUDIERNE—DOUARNENEZ 100 - - IX.— CONCARNEAU—PONT-AVEN—QUIMPERLÉ 123 - - X.— HENNEBONT 143 - - XI.— LE FAOUET—GOURIN—GUÉMÉNÉ 152 - - XII.— STE. ANNE D’AURAY—CARNAC—LOCMARIAKER 171 - - XIII.— VANNES 190 - - - MAP OF BRITTANY, AND POSTSCRIPT FOR TRAVELLERS, _at end_. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - PAGE - - Cavaliers and Roundhead _Frontispiece_ - - Vignette _Title page_ - - A Breton Gate iii - - Sketching iv - - Carrying Corn v - - Vignette vi - - Old Château vii - - Sheep sheltering from the Wind xii - - - CHAPTER I. - - Hill and Dale 1 - - On the Road 5 - - - CHAPTER II. - - Caps of Côtes-du-Nord 6 - - Map of the Mouth of the Rance 7 - - Peasants of Côtes-du-Nord 11 - - Fruit Stall at Dinan 15 - - A Loaded Hay Cart 16 - - On the Place, Dinan 17 - - Outside the Walls 18 - - Old House near Dinan 20 - - Old Woman of Dinan 21 - - Porte de Brest 22 - - A Little Beggar 23 - - “The Hour of Repose” 24 - - Farmhouse of Côtes-du-Nord 25 - - Farmer meditating on his Stock 26 - - - CHAPTER III. - - Caps of Côtes-du-Nord 27 - - The Buckwheat Harvest 30 - - A Road Scraper 31 - - Sketch of Château 32 - - On the Sands near St. Brieuc 33 - - Winnowing near St. Brieuc 34 - - Mathurine 35 - - Corner Turret at Guingamp 38 - - Going to Market 39 - - The Market-place, Guingamp 40 - - Waiting-maid at Hôtel de l’Ouest 41 - - The Ossuary at Guingamp 42 - - By the River 44 - - - CHAPTER IV. - - Cap of Côtes-du-Nord 45 - - Three Children 50 - - Riding to Market 53 - - Returning Home 57 - - - CHAPTER V. - - Cap of the Monts d’Arrée 58 - - Peasant in Sabots 60 - - Girl tending Sheep 61 - - Old House at Carhaix 62 - - On The Road to Market _face_ 62 - - A Cart Party 63 - - Trotting out a Horse 64 - - Cattle Fair at Carhaix _face_ 64 - - A Gentleman Farmer 65 - - A Family Party 66 - - Waiting for Dinner, Huelgoet 67 - - Shepherd of the Monts d’Arrée 68 - - - CHAPTER VI. - - Cap of Morlaix 69 - - Washing in the River 70 - - Women of Morlaix 72 - - Potato-getting near St. Pol de Léon _face_ 75 - - Three Men of St. Pol de Léon 76 - - Children in Cabbage Garden 77 - - Gurgoyle at Roscoff 78 - - An Owner of the Soil 79 - - “The Fool of the Wood” 80 - - In the Church of Le Folgoet _face_ 80 - - On Horseback 82 - - Horse Fair at Le Folgoet _face_ 82 - - - CHAPTER VII. - - Cap of Finistère 83 - - Map of the Bay of Brest 84 - - “Every Dog has his Day” 87 - - Wayside Cross 89 - - Going to the Pardon at Châteauneuf du Faou _face_ 90 - - Calvary at Pleyben 91 - - Street Musicians 92 - - Races at Châteauneuf du Faou 94 - - Two Spectators 95 - - Stewards of the Fête 96 - - Dancing the Gavotte _face_ 96 - - Pleased Spectator 97 - - Threshing { 98 - Corn { 99 - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - Caps of Finistère 100 - - A Promenade 101 - - On the Place, Quimper 102 - - Towers of Quimper Cathedral 103 - - Waitress at Hôtel de l’Épée 104 - - At a Well 105 - - Professional Beggar 106 - - A Domestic Scene 107 - - Two Heads; sketched at Audierne 108 - - Prize-giving at Quimper 109 - - Two Heads; sketched at Audierne 110 - - A Domestic Interior 111 - - River below Pont l’Abbé 112 - - Landscape in Finistère 114 - - Inhabitants { 116 - of { 117 - Audierne { 117 - - Cutting the Corn 118 - - Harvesting in Finistère _face_ 118 - - Waiting for the Sardine Boats at Douarnenez 120 - - Waitress at Douarnenez 121 - - Beggar on the Road 122 - - - CHAPTER IX. - - Woman and Child, Finistère 123 - - Concarneau: Coming from Church 124 - - On the Place at Concarneau _face_ 124 - - The Last Touches 125 - - On the Quay at Concarneau 126 - - A Boating Party 127 - - Old Man and Child 128 - - Pont-Aven: Washing at a Stream 129 - - Pont-Aven 131 - - Returning from Labour, Pont-Aven 133 - - Models 135 - - At Quimperlé Station 136 - - Old Woman at Quimperlé Station 137 - - Gathering Sticks 138 - - On the Place at Quimperlé 139 - - A Big Load 140 - - Augustine 141 - - Evening: Near Quimperlé _face_ 142 - - Drawing Water 142 - - - CHAPTER X. - - Little Cap of Morbihan 143 - - In the Ville Close, Hennebont 144 - - The High Street of the Ville Neuve 145 - - Poverty and Riches 146 - - Reapers returning _face_ 147 - - Opposite the Old Inn 147 - - At the Well 148 - - Carrying Water 149 - - Washing Parties 149 - - Old Doorway in the Ville Close 150 - - A Conversation 151 - - - CHAPTER XI. - - Cap of Morbihan 152 - - Reaping near Hennebont 153 - - Street In Le Faouet 155 - - A Breton Propriétaire 156 - - Le Faouet _face_ 156 - - Bed-time 157 - - The Man on Two Sticks 158 - - Stairs leading to the Chapel of Ste. Barbe 160 - - Gourin 161 - - “Montez, s’il vous plait, Monsieur!” 162 - - Bullock Cart on the Road 163 - - Waitress at the Inn 164 - - High Street of Guéméné 165 - - A Meeting 166 - - En Promenade 167 - - Sunday Morning at Guéméné 168 - - A Conversation 169 - - The Bottle 170 - - Betrothal Party _face_ 170 - - - CHAPTER XII. - - At the Hôtel Pavillon d’en Haut 171 - - The Tower on the Belvédère at Auray 172 - - Evening on the Belvédère 173 - - At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 174 - - At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 175 - - At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray _face_ 176 - - At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 177 - - At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 180 - - Map of Carnac 182 - - Sketch on the Fields of Carnac 183 - - In the Kitchen of the Hôtel des Voyageurs at Carnac 185 - - On the Road 186 - - In the Wind 187 - - The Great Menhir 188 - - Scavengers 189 - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - Caps of Morbihan 190 - - Vannes from the River _face_ 190 - - An Old Inn 192 - - In a Café 193 - - Three Hot Men of Vannes 194 - - Side-spring Boots 195 - - Some Inhabitants 198 - - A Chase 200 - -[Illustration] - - - - - BRETON FOLK: - - AN ARTISTIC TOUR IN BRITTANY. - - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - THE WESTERN WING. - - -In an old-fashioned country-house there is often to be found a room -built out from the rest of the structure, forming, as it were, the -extreme western wing. It has windows looking to the west, its door of -communication with the great house, and, in summer-time, a southern -exterior wall laden with fruit and fragrant with clematis, honeysuckle, -or jasmine. The interior differs from the rest of the mansion both in -its furnishing and in the habits of its occupants. It is a room in which -there is an absence of bright colours, where everything is quiet in tone -and more or less harmonious in aspect; where solid woodwork takes the -place of gilding, where furniture is made simply and solidly for use and -ease, where decoration is _the work of the hand_—holding a needle, a -chisel, or a hammer. The prevailing colours in this quaint old room, -which give a sense of repose on coming from more highly decorated -saloons, are blue, grey, and green—the blue of old china, the grey of a -landscape by Millet or Corot, the green that we may see sometimes in the -works of Paul Veronese. - -This “western wing” is haunted, and full of mysteries and legends; its -furniture is antique, and has seldom been dusted or put in order. Nearly -every object is a curiosity in some way, and was designed in a past age; -on the high wooden shelves over the open fireplace there are objects in -wrought metal work, antique-shaped pots and jars. About the room are -fragments of Druidical monuments, menhirs and dolmens of almost fabulous -antiquity, ancient stone crosses, calvaries, and carvings, piled -together in disorderly fashion, with odd-shaped pipes, snuffboxes, -fishing-rods, guns, and the like; on the walls are small, elaborate, -paintings of mediæval saints in roughly carved gilt frames, and a few -low-toned landscapes by painters of France; on shelves and in niches are -large brown volumes with antique clasps, and perhaps a model in clay of -an old woman in a high cap, a priest, or a child in sabots. - -The room is a snuggery, well furnished with pipes and tobacco, and -hitherto evidently not much visited by ladies; but the door is open wide -to the rest of the mansion, through which the strains of Meyerbeer’s -opera of _Dinorah_ may sometimes be heard. The lady visitor is welcome -to this out-of-the-way corner, but she must not be surprised to find -herself greeted on entering in a language which, with all her knowledge -of French, she can scarcely understand; to be asked, perhaps, to take a -pinch of snuff, and to conform in other homely ways to the habits of the -inhabitants. - -Such a quiet, unobtrusive corner—pleasant with its open windows to the -summer air, but much blown and rained upon by winter storms—is Brittany, -the “western wing” of France, holding much the same position -geographically and socially to the rest of the country, as the room we -have pictured in the great house, to the rest of the mansion. - -The Brittany described in these pages is comprised principally of the -three departments of CÔTES-DU-NORD, FINISTÈRE, and MORBIHAN, the -inhabitants of these districts standing apart, as it were, from the rest -of France, preserving their own customs and traditions, speaking their -own language, singing their own songs, and dancing their own dances in -the streets in 1879. In these three departments is comprehended nearly -all that is most characteristic of the Bretons, and the district forms -itself naturally into a convenient summer tour of three or four weeks. - -Brittany is essentially the land of the painter. It would be strange -indeed if a country sprinkled with white caps, and set thickly in summer -with the brightest blossoms of the fields, should not attract artists in -search of picturesque costume and scenes of pastoral life. Rougher and -wilder than Normandy, more thinly populated, and less visited by the -tourists, Brittany offers better opportunities for outdoor study, and -more suggestive scenes for the painter. Nowhere in France are there -finer peasantry; nowhere do we see more dignity of aspect in field -labour, more nobility of feature amongst men and women; nowhere more -picturesque ruins; nowhere such primitive habitations and, it must be -added, such dirt. Brittany is still behindhand in civilisation, the land -is only half cultivated and divided into small holdings, and the fields -are strewn with Druidical stones. From the dark recesses of the -Montagnes Noires the streams come down between deep ravines as wild and -bare of cultivation as the moors of Scotland, but the hillsides are -clothed thickly in summer with ferns, broom, and heather. Follow one of -these streams in its windings towards the sea, where the troubled waters -rest in the shade of overhanging trees, by pastures and cultivated -lands, and we may see the Breton peasants at their “gathering-in,” -reaping and carrying their small harvest of corn and rye, oats and -buckwheat; the women with white caps and wide collars, short dark -skirts, and heavy wooden sabots, the men in white woollen jackets, -breeks (_bragous bras_), and black gaiters, broad-brimmed hats and long -hair streaming in the wind—leading oxen yoked to heavy carts painted -blue. Here we are reminded at once of the French painters of pastoral -life, of Jules Breton, Millet, Troyon, and Rosa Bonheur; and as we see -the dark brown harvest fields, with the white clouds lying low on the -horizon, and the strong, erect figures and grand faces of the peasants -lighted by the evening sun, we understand why Brittany is a chosen land -for the painter of _paysages_. Low in tone as the landscape is, sombre -as are the costumes of the people, cloudy and fitful in light and shade -as is all this wind-blown land, there is yet a clearness in the -atmosphere which brings out the features of the country with great -distinctness, and impresses them upon the mind. - -To the antiquary who knows the country, and is perchance on the track of -a newly discovered menhir, long buried in the sands; to the poet who -would seek out and see that mystic island of Avilion, - - “Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, - Nor ever wind blows loudly”; - -to the historian who would add yet other links in the chain of facts in -the strange eventful history of Brittany; to the resident Englishman and -sportsman, who knows the corners of the trout streams and the best -covers for game, scanty though they be, the tour suggested in these -pages will have little interest; but to the English traveller who would -see what is most characteristic and beautiful in Brittany in a short -time, we should say— - -Enter by the port of St. Malo from Southampton (or by Dol, if coming -from France), and take the following route, diverging from it into the -country districts as time and opportunity will permit. From St. Malo to -Dinan by water; from Dinan to Lamballe by diligence (or railway), thence -to St. Brieuc, Guingamp, Lannion, Morlaix, Brest, Quimper, Quimperlé, -Hennebont, Auray, Vannes, and Rennes. - -Thus, then, having set the modern tourist on his way, and provided for -the exigencies of rapid holiday-making, let us recommend him to diverge -from the beaten track as much as possible, striking out in every -direction from the main line of route, both inland and to the coast, -travelling _by road_ as much as possible, and seeing the people, as they -are only to be seen, “off the line.” - -In _Breton Folk_ the reader will be troubled little with the history of -Brittany, with the wars of the Plantagenets, or with the merits of -various styles of architecture, but some general impression of the -country may be gathered from its pages, and especially of the people as -they are to be seen to-day. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - ST. MALO—ST. SERVAN—DINARD—DINAN. - - -[Illustration] - -On a bright summer’s morning in July the _ballon captif_, which we may -use in imagination in these pages—our French friends having taught us -its use in peace as well as in war—floats over the blue water-gate of -Brittany like a golden ball. The sun is high, and the tide is flowing -fast round the dark rock islands that lie at our feet, pouring into the -harbour of ST. MALO, floating the vessels and fishing-boats innumerable -that line the quays inside the narrow neck of land called Le Sillon, -which connects the city with the mainland, and driving gay parties of -bathers up the sands of the beautiful Baie d’Écluse at Dinard. - -On the map on the opposite page, we see the relative positions of St. -Malo, St. Servan, and Dinard, also the mouth of the river Rance, which -flows southward, wide and strong, into innumerable bays, until it winds -under the walls and towers of Dinan. Looking down upon the city, now -alive with the life which the rising tide gives to every sea-port; -seeing the strength of its position seaward, and the protection from -without to the little forests of masts, whose leaves are the bright -trade banners of many nations, it is easy to understand how centuries -ago St. Malo and St. Servan were chosen as military strongholds,[1] and -how in these later times St. Malo has a maritime importance apparently -out of proportion to its trade, and to its population of not more than -14,000 inhabitants. - -Footnote 1: - - St. Servan is built on the site of Aleth, one of the six capitals of - ancient Armorica; there was a monastery here in the sixth century. - -[Illustration] - -From a bird’s-eye point of view we may obtain a clearer idea of St. Malo -and its neighbourhood than many who have actually visited these places, -and can judge for ourselves of its probable attractions for a summer -visit. It seems unusually bright and pleasant this morning, for the -light west wind has cleared the air, and carried the odours of St. Malo -landward. There is to be a regatta in the afternoon, the principal -course being across, and across, the mouth of the Rance, between St. -Malo and Dinard, and already little white sails may be seen spread in -various directions, darting in and out between the rock islands outside -the bay. On one of these islands, Grand Bé, marked with a cross on the -map, is the tomb of the illustrious Châteaubriand, a plain granite slab, -surmounted by a cross, and railed in with a very ordinary-looking iron -railing. This gravestone, which stands upon an eminence, and is -conspicuous rather than solitary, is described by a French writer as a -romantic resting-place for the departed diplomatist, characteristic and -sublime—“ni arbres, ni fleurs, ni inscription—le roc, la mer et -l’immensité”; but as a matter of fact it is anything but solitary in -summer-time, and it is more visited by tourists than sea-gulls. The -waves are beating round it now, but at low water there will be a line of -pedestrians crossing the sands; some to bathe and some to place -_immortelles_ on the tomb. - -The sands of Le Sillon are covered with bathers and holiday crowds in -dazzling costumes, the rising tide driving them up closer to the rocks -every minute. Everywhere there is life and movement; the narrow, winding -streets of St. Malo pour out their contents on the seashore; little -steamers pass to and from Dinard continually, fishing and pilot boats -come and go, and yachts are fluttering their white sails far out at sea. -Everything looks gay, for the sun is bright, and it is the day of the -regatta. - -Looking landward, the eye ranges over a district of flat, marshy land, -that once was sea, and we may discern in the direction of Dol an island -rock in the midst of a marshy plain, at least three miles from the sea. -On the summit of this rock is a chapel to Notre Dame de l’Espérance, and -near it, standing alone on the plain, is a column of grey granite nearly -thirty feet high, one of the “menhirs” or “Druid stones” that we shall -see often in Brittany. Eastward there is the beautiful bay of Cancale, -famous for its oyster-fisheries; the village built on the heights is -glistening in the sunlight, and the blue bay stretches away east and -north as far as Granville. Cancale is also crowded this morning, for it -is the fashion to come from St. Malo on fête days, to eat oysters, and -to _pay_ for them. A summer correspondent, who followed the fashion, -writes: “The people of Cancale are amongst the most able and industrious -fishermen in Brittany, and the oysters from the parcs of Cancale are -famous even in the Parisian restaurants; but in the cabarets of Cancale -the charges resemble those of Paris.” We mention this by the way because -travellers who have taken up their quarters at the principal hotels at -St. Malo, finding the charges higher than they expected, might, without -a caution, take wing to Cancale. They may be attracted thither, for the -day at least, to see the fishing operations, to study costume, to -explore the coast by boat, or to visit the island monastery of St. -Michel. The water is smooth in the shallow bay of Cancale, and the view -extending over miles of blue sea to the green hills beyond Avranches -makes a charming picture. - -The aspect of St. Malo from the sea is that of a crowd of grey houses -with high-pitched roofs, surrounded with stone walls and -sixteenth-century towers, and with one church spire conspicuous in the -centre. At high-water the waves beat up against the granite rocks and -battlements, and St. Malo seems an island; at low water it stands high -on a pediment of granite, surrounded by little island rocks and wide -plains of sand; the spring tides rising nearly forty feet above -low-water mark. - -But the chief interest of St. Malo is undoubtedly outside of it. In the -narrow, tortuous streets, shut in by high walls, we experience something -of the sensation of dwellers in modern Gothic villas; we have -insufficient light and air, we are cramped for space, but we know at the -same time that, outwardly, we are extremely picturesque. “Rien de triste -et de provinciale comme la ville de Saint-Malo, où tout le monde est -couché à 9 h. du soir; rues noires et tortueuses; pas de soleil, ni de -mouvement; enfin une ville morte.” Such is the popular French view of it -in the height of the season, when prices at the hotels are nearly as -high as in Paris. - -The fortifications and towers of St. Malo are interesting as examples of -military architecture of the sixteenth century; the castle with its four -round towers was erected, it is said, by Queen-Duchess Anne to assert -her power over the bishops of St. Malo, who had held it from the time -when it was an island monastery. From the ramparts and quays we can best -see many of the old houses and residences of the wealthy traders of the -last century, now dilapidated or turned into barracks or public offices; -and we may also note here and there, in narrow streets, remnants of -carved timber beams and wooden pillars which formed the frontage of some -of the oldest houses. We can walk upon the ramparts all round the town, -from which there are extensive views over sea and land; and we can -inhale, on the western side, the fresh breezes of the sea, and, on the -other, the odours rising from innumerable unwashed streets and alleys. -The church, the spire of which was completed by order of Napoléon III., -has little architectural interest. The structure dates from the twelfth -century, but its present aspect is modern and tawdry, with a huge -high-altar, candlesticks, gilt furniture, relics, and artificial -flowers. The most noteworthy objects are some carved woodwork in the -chancel, and a stained-glass window. - -The principal streets of St. Malo are modernised, and the shops are full -of wares from Paris and Rennes. The appearance and manners of the people -are French rather than Breton, and—although the strange patterns of the -white caps worn by the peasants and fisherwomen, and the curiously -uncouth intonation of voices which already greets our ears, remind us -that we are very far from the capital of France—there is little here of -distinctive Breton costume. - -St. Malo from its position is an important maritime station. It is busy, -and busier every year, with shipbuilding, for it has a large fishing -population and an export trade with all parts of the world. Brittany is -a food-producing land, and St. Malo is its principal northern port; but -its manufactures are comparatively unimportant, and its retail trade is -largely dependent on the influx of visitors. - -In the suburb of ST. SERVAN, where a few English people live quietly, -there is less appearance of commercial activity than in St. Malo. It is -in fact a faubourg, comparatively unprotected by walls, and undisturbed -by much traffic. Its population of 12,000 have their principal business -in St. Malo, and there is a constant stream of pedestrians passing to -and fro, crossing on a movable bridge worked by steam, the supports of -which are on rails under water. The principal street of St. Servan is -wider than Wardour Street in London, but it resembles it somewhat in -dinginess, and in the fact that its shops are full of tempting baits for -the _bric-à-brac_ hunter; old wood carvings, pots, and stones, which -should be purchased with caution. - -The Bretons, both in St. Malo and St. Servan, are a little demoralised -in summer, and wish to be “fine.” To-day being a fête day, they are _en -grande toilette_, and the wonderful white caps worn by some of the women -are trimmed with real old lace. In the shops and on the promenades the -majority of women are dressed as in Paris, and they wear kid gloves -“like their betters”; the country people and the fishing and poorer -class of Malouins, only, wearing any distinctive costume. The fishermen -of Cancale make money and save it, and send their children to school by -train to Rennes, and the fisherman’s daughter comes back in a costume -that makes her neighbours envious. Every year more white caps are thrown -aside, for Mathilde will not be outdone by Louise; and so the change -goes on, and each year the markets of St. Malo and St. Servan have less -individuality of costume. - -Nevertheless, groups such as are sketched are to be seen to-day in St. -Malo, St. Servan, and Dinard: the women in white caps, dark stuff gowns, -and neatly made shoes; the men in blue serge and sabots. The women’s -caps vary in pattern according to their district. They generally wear a -close-fitting under cap, with a small high-crimped crown, and a wide -lappet pinned on the top of the head. In St. Malo we may see Normandy as -well as Brittany caps, and it is not until we get farther into the -interior that the costume of the district is strongly marked.[2] - -Footnote 2: - - The caps peculiar to different parts of Brittany are indicated at the - head of each chapter. - -[Illustration] - -DINARD—once a little fishing-village, now a fashionable -watering-place—the position of which we see on the map on page 7, is a -delightful residence in summer, and nearly as dear as Trouville, in -Normandy; but the air is bracing and exceptionally good, the walks in -the neighbourhood shady and delightful, and the bathing in the sheltered -Baie d’Écluse as good as any in France. In Dinard there are about 800 -houses and villas in pleasant gardens, most of which are let for a short -summer season of three months. There is a well managed “Établissement -des Bains” and casino, and several good hotels. Dinard is the -starting-point to reach Dinan by road; also for the little -fishing-villages of St. Briac and St. Jacut, on the coast, westward. At -St. Briac the visitor who does not care to be fashionable will find an -inn, good bathing, and summer quarters of a rougher kind than at Dinard; -and at St. Jacut there is a convent standing almost out at sea, where -the nuns take boarders in summer for a very small sum. At Dinard you -play at croquet on the sands; at St. Briac you scramble over granite -rocks, and fish in the pools under their shadows; at St. Jacut you -wander over the sands with a shrimp-net, and in the evening help the -nuns to draw water from the convent well. - -But we have come to Brittany to sketch and to note what is most -characteristic and picturesque. So far, on the threshold as it were, -what have we seen? Coming from England, and sailing southward into its -blue bay on a summer morning, there was an impression of brightness and -colour unusual on our own shores. In St. Malo itself three pictures -remain upon the memory. The first is the sunset between the islands and -across the sands, near the bathing-place of Le Sillon; the second the -moonlight view of its cathedral tower at the end of a narrow street, -filling it and towering above it with a grandeur of effect almost equal -to that of St. Stephen’s at Vienna; the third picture is in the small -courtyard of the Hôtel de France. This house, or part of it, belonged to -the family of the Vicomte de Châteaubriand, and it was here, in a room -facing the sea, that the celebrated author and diplomatist was born. In -the hotel the family arms (the peacock’s plume) are emblazoned, and just -outside its gates, in the little dusty square called “La Place de -Châteaubriand,” a new bronze statue, bright and shining, has lately been -erected to his memory. Travellers imprisoned between the narrow streets -and dingy walls of St. Malo, fortified and barricaded against the fresh -breezes of the sea, may perchance seek the cool courtyard of the Hôtel -de France as a place of refuge during the heat of the day, and, if not -quite tired of hearing of Châteaubriand, may dwell in imagination upon -the historic associations of this house. In a corner of the courtyard, -now used as a café, there is an old stone staircase leading to the first -_étage_, such as we may see in the courtyard of many a French château, -and upon it there lingers this afternoon an English girl in the costume -most affected by society in 1878. She wears a rich, dark, close-fitting -dress in simple folds, spreading where it trails upon the rough granite -steps with the stealthy grandeur of a peacock’s tail upon a ruined wall. -As she turns her head and leans over between the pillars of the covered -balcony, her “Rubens hat” and fair hair are framed in antique carved -stone. The effect is accidental, but the harmonious combination of -costume and architecture brings out suddenly the beauties of each, and -gives us a glimpse, not to be forgotten, of the graces of a past age. - - - THE RANCE. - -The tide is now flowing fast up the Rance, filling its numerous bays and -inlets, floating odd-shaped little boats and rafts that are moored off -the villages on its banks, running up here and there inland between -rocks and trees and forming miniature lakes, which will disappear as the -tide goes down. The little steamer for Dinan starts from the Quai -Napoléon, and goes up on the flood in about three hours, having just -time to reach Dinan and return to St. Malo before the water has -subsided. The foredeck is crowded with market-women and small -merchandise, and on the afterdeck, which is but a few yards square, -there are some French and English tourists under a canvas awning, which -is useful alike for shelter from sun, rain, or cinders. Steering -south-east by south, we steam gently up the Rance, getting a fine view -of St. Servan in passing (a view which we should have missed altogether -by the land route to Dinan); a river that, near its mouth, seems to have -no boundaries or banks, that flows in and out amongst cultivated fields, -then suddenly through narrow defiles of rocks and under the shadow of -forest trees that might be Switzerland. Once or twice we sail, as it -were, in an inland lake, or, as the French call it, “une petite -Mediterranée”; we can neither see where we entered nor any outlet on our -route. There are fishing and market boats, lying in quiet corners, and -one or two pleasure yachts with flags flying, moored in the prettiest -spots near modern summer châlets, the slate roofs of which appear above -the trees. We pass one considerable village, St. Suliac, on the east -bank, behind which is the ancient fort of Châteauneuf; and, on the west, -the grey walls of more than one old château are visible. The water is -blue and tidal until we arrive at a lock a few miles from Dinan, when -the little steamer ploughs through a narrow canal-like stream, and sends -the water flowing over the banks, washing the stems of the poplar trees. - -[Illustration: FRUIT STALL AT DINAN.] - -We are entering Brittany now, and are far out of hearing of the waves -that beat upon St. Malo, and of the band of the casino on its sands. On -either side the valleys are rich with verdure and with orchards of -fruit. There are farmhouses and villas dotted about, and peasants at -work in the fields. We pass close to the banks during the last mile, and -are shut in by rocks and trees; but all at once the view enlarges, and -there rises before us a scene so grand and, at the same time, so -familiar that we feel delighted and rewarded at having approached Dinan -by water. The prevailing tone of landscape during the last few miles has -been sombre, and the valleys in shadow with their dark granite rocks and -gloom of firs have contrasted picturesquely with the sunshine on distant -fields. As we reach Dinan in the afternoon, the valley of the Rance is -in shadow, whilst above and before us, crowning a hill, are the old -roofs, towers, and spires of Dinan shining in the sun. The sides of the -valley here are almost precipitous, and across it, high above our heads, -is a plain modern viaduct, reaching to the suburb of Lanvallay. Dinan is -on the west or left bank of the Rance; and near the bridge where we land -the steep streets of the old town reach to the water’s edge. Above our -heads are feudal towers, and parts of old walls, and the grey roofs of -houses between the trees, and away southward the valley of the Rance -winding out of sight. We said it was a familiar picture, for the -approach to Dinan by water and the view from the hills on the opposite -bank of the Rance, seen under summer suns, have been perpetuated in -brightness by many an English artist. It is well to see Dinan thus, _en -couleur de rose_, and to remember it in its most bright and attractive -aspect, for on a nearer and longer acquaintance our impressions may -change. Dinan—situated on the summit and slopes of wooded hills, their -dark granite sides appearing here and there through the trees, its -mediæval towers and terraces, and its old grey houses with pointed -roofs, and its handsome white modern houses—forms a good background to -the market-women, with their stalls of fruit and vegetables, peasants in -blue blouses, and the usual summer crowd of tourists, including -Parisians in suits of white, with broad straw hats and blue umbrellas, -thronging on the quay waiting for our little steamer. There are several -hundred English residents in Dinan, and the voices in the streets have a -familiar sound, neither French nor Breton. But the population, including -English, scarcely exceeds 10,000 even in summer; and the inhabitants, -who are not given up to trading with visitors, are principally occupied -in agriculture, or working in their dark dwellings at hand looms. - -[Illustration] - -As we climb up a steep, dirty street, leading from the quay, called the -Rue de Jersual, and under a Gothic gateway—past old houses, with -high-pitched roofs and leaning timbers, rising one above another in -irregular steps—we hear the sound of the loom in the darkness on either -side, and the inhabitants come out to stare as usual; shining red faces, -under white caps, lean out from little latticed windows and from -doorways, and in the gutters many a little pair of sabots stuffed with -hay is rattling on the stones. It is a ladder of cobblestones and dirt, -cool and slippery, sheltered by projecting eaves from the afternoon sun; -the principal approach from the river a century ago, up which a stream -of pilgrims files into the upper town. They pause to take breath at the -top, and then disperse on the _Place_, where, in front of dusty rows of -trees, the omnibuses and carts, which have come round by the broad, -circuitous road, are setting down travellers. The entrance to the inn is -blocked by a loaded hay cart, stuck fast in the archway of the house, as -in the sketch. We have ascended at least 300 feet to the _Place_, and -take up our quarters in one of the hotels in the wide open square, -looking as dusty and uncared for as usual in French provincial towns, -and commanding, as usual also, no view of the country round. - -[Illustration] - -In a few minutes the bustle caused by the arrival of travellers has -ceased, and the principal square of Dinan resumes its ordinary aspect on -a summer’s day. Nurses, in white caps, sit knitting under the shadows of -stunted trees, while the children play in the dust; cavalry officers of -all grades play at cards and drink absinthe at little tables half hidden -by trees planted in boxes at the hotel doors; ladies and children, a -priest, a workman in blue blouse dragging a load of stones, a woman -coming from market, and an Englishman or two, on pleasure intent, with -draggled beard and grey knickerbockers, as is the fashion of the time. -Above the trees, the houses across the square rise in irregular lines, -their steep roofs, old and sun-stained, are full of variety and colour; -behind them tree tops wave, and great masses of white clouds drive -northward to the sea. - -[Illustration] - -Dinan is full of interest both for the artist and the antiquary. The -cathedral of St. Sauveur, with its fine carved doorway and Romanesque -architecture, the old clock-tower in the Rue de l’Horloge, the mediæval -gateways, and the old houses in the narrow streets, form a succession of -pictures worthy of study. It is well to examine the castle, once -occupied by the Queen-Duchess Anne and now a prison, and to ascend the -tower, from which there is a magnificent view. In the museum at the -Mairie there are several interesting monuments and ecclesiastical -relics. And yet perhaps the chief interest of Dinan is in the variety -and beauty of its environs; on every side will be found charming wooded -walks and valleys, from which we can see its position, set high on green -hills, the sky-line a fringe of trees and towers. The walks on the -ramparts, with their lines of poplars and the views across the deep -fosse below will give an idea of the military architecture of the middle -ages, and especially of the natural strength and importance of Dinan as -a fortified city when besieged by the Duke of Lancaster in 1359 and -defended by the brave Du Guesclin. In St. Malo, Châteaubriand was the -hero; in Dinan it is Du Guesclin, constable of France in the fourteenth -century. In the cathedral of St. Sauveur they have burned candles before -the jewelled casket containing his heart, for centuries, and on the -_Place_ there is a poor statue of him in plaster; but the more lasting -monuments are the records of his deeds and the songs of the people, -which we shall hear often on our travels. - -Whichever way we turn in Dinan, we find some new view and point of -interest, and the inhabitants are so accustomed to the incursion of -strangers, and reap so many benefits by their coming, that we are -allowed to sketch almost undisturbed. There is an old woman with -deformed hands and feet, who sits knitting on the _Place_, whose -familiar figure will be recalled by the sketch on page 21. - -The ramparts are comparatively deserted by day, and form a promenade by -moonlight worth coming far to see. If ever there was a spot on earth -prepared for lovers, it is surely the broad walk on the southern -ramparts of Dinan, where the moon shines upon the path between tall -waving poplars and silvers the distant trees, where there is scarcely a -sound to break the stillness, where there is room for every Romeo out of -hearing of his neighbour, and where the sounds of the city are hushed -behind granite walls. It is naturally romantic and beautiful, and, with -the associations which cling around its towers, has a charm which is -almost unique; but we must tell the truth. There are clusters of white -roses clinging to the old masonry above, which have scattered their -full-blown leaves at our feet, and below, in the deep dell which formed -the ancient fosse, there is honeysuckle in the straggling garden; but -the odours that rise on the evening air are not of roses nor of -honeysuckle, nor from the broad champaign around. There surely was never -a beautiful spot so defiled. As a picture, the general aspect of Dinan -will remain in memory—a picture not to be effaced by the erection of -large new barracks, or by the railway now constructing in the -valley—stately Dinan with its ancient groves and terraces, its hanging -gardens, and sylvan views. - -[Illustration] - -We must not linger in such a well-known part of Brittany, or we would -take the reader in imagination to one or two of the old houses in the -neighbourhood, like the one sketched below; also, a little way up the -river, to the picturesque ruins of the abbey of Lehon. This last is a -spot especially to be visited, and where, if we are wise and have time, -we should take apartments for a week in summer. Another favourite walk -is on the opposite side of Dinan, leaving the town by the ramparts -towards the north. Here in the midst of a tangle of briars and bushes, -hemmed in on every side, run over with ivy and every variety of creeper, -shut off entirely from some points of view by an orchard laden to the -ground with fruit and by a garden of flowers, is the one tower left of -the famous château of LA GARAYE The grey octagonal turret, with its -crumbling Renaissance ornament, stands high above the surrounding trees, -and catches the evening sunlight long after the avenue of beeches by -which it is approached is in gloom. The place is as solemn and quiet, at -the end of a long avenue, as any poet could desire; but as we approach -the gates of the château of “the lady with the liberal hand,” whom Mrs. -Norton has immortalised in her poem, there are the usual signs of -demoralisation. There are pigs about, and tourists; and the show is -charged for in the usual way. We pay our money and take away some -souvenir of the place. Americans who have read (and recited often in -their own homes) “The Lady of La Garaye” sometimes make Dinan the -extreme western point of their tour in Europe, and have trodden the -ground into a deep track to the château with their pilgrim feet; but the -position is inconvenient for tourists who have much to see, and so, it -is understood, they are going to buy the turret and take it home. The -idea is not as absurd as it may sound; it is a very pretty ruin as it -stands, but it will fall soon if not cared for, and the low wall on -either side of the turret will disappear behind the fruitful orchard. -The old hospital is now used as a farm-shed, but wants repairing to be -habitable; and the ancient cider-press, with its massive wooden beams, -lies rotting in the sun. The farm children are gathering blackberries -from the bushes which grow between the hearthstones of the old -banquet-hall, poultry swarm in my lady’s boudoir, and there is a hum of -bees and insects about the ruin. - -[Illustration] - -We have said nothing of the English colony and church at Dinan, of the -convent of the Ursulines and their good works, or of the people to be -seen on market-days, because Dinan is well known to travellers, and -there is very little to distinguish it from other French towns. To see -the people, and sketch the Bretons in their most picturesque aspects, we -must go farther afield. - -As we leave Dinan by diligence with much cracking of whips and jingling -of bells, through the wide square tenanted as usual by white-capped -nurses and idlers; rolling in the high _banquette_ down past the old -gateways, out into the country road towards the west, we see the last of -Dinan and its towers. Whether in its autumn beauty with rich surrounding -woods, or with its winter curtain folded softly, with tassels and -fringes of frost, Dinan leaves a brilliant impression upon the mind. We -forget the modern incursion of tourists, and the demoralisation amongst -the poorer inhabitants caused by the scattering of sous, we forgive its -dingy, neglected streets, its ill-kept boulevards and squares, and its -slow, unenterprising ways; we remember only its grandeur and -picturesqueness. - -[Illustration] - -As we pass out by the Porte de Brest, we meet a Breton _propriétaire_ -and his wife in a cart, whom we must not take for peasants because of -the black stuff gown and white cap of the bright-faced woman, and the -broad-brimmed hat and blouse of the man. - -We drive through a straggling suburb of houses, where the peasants stare -at us from their dark dwellings; we stop at wayside inns—unnecessarily, -it would seem—and are surrounded by beggars of all ages and sizes. Here -is one who comes suddenly to earth at the sound of wheels, and peers -from the darkness of her home underground with the brightness and -vivacity of a weasel; her black eyes glisten with astonishment and with -the instinct of animal nature scenting food; she transforms herself in -an instant from the buoyant youth and almost cherub-like beauty in the -sketch to a cringing, whining mendicant. “Quelque chose, quelque chose -pour l’amour de Dieu,” in good, clear French, nearly all the words that -her parents would have her learn, in the intervals of playing and -road-scraping—the latter her only serious business in life. But the -schoolmaster is abroad in Brittany; the edict has gone forth that every -child of France shall henceforth learn the French tongue; and this -little creature will be caught and tamed, and civilised into ways that -her parents never knew. - -[Illustration] - -One more picture on the road, an incident common enough, but -characteristic and worth recording. It is a sultry afternoon, with a -deep blue sky and a burning sun. So fierce is the heat that it has -silenced for a time the barking of dogs and the arguments of some of our -passengers. Just outside a village the straight road, unsheltered even -by poplars, is fringed with low brushwood and long grasses withering -under a curtain of dust. There is nothing stirring but a little -yellowhammer and a magpie on the road, a _cantonnière_ in wide straw -hat, chipping at a heap of stones, and the lumbering diligence in which -we travel; no shelter but in a wood hard by. - -Presently we come to a halt in a narrow part of the road, for M. Achille -Dufaure’s cart of charcoal stops the way. It is a suggestive picture, -which we may call “The Hour of Repose.” In the foreground, in the -burning road, is a tall white charger, encumbered, now in his old age, -with a great wooden collar and clumsy harness, chained to a dark blue -cart with dirt-encrusted wheels, half smothered on this summer’s day -with a blue woolsack over his shoulders, foaming at the mouth, and -streaming with the wounds of flies and other injuries, but pricking his -ears as of old at the sound of approaching wheels. In the background, -but a few yards off, is a cool wood of beech and elm, dark in its -shadows, green in its depth with ivy and fern, and fringed against the -sky with tops of waving poplars. This broad mass of green, which comes -between the brightness of sky and the burning road, with its foreground -of dry grasses, is relieved on one spot by a cool ripple of blue—it is -Achille lying on his face asleep, his blouse just lifted by a breeze; he -will repose for two or three hours, whilst his horse stands in the sun, -and the hot shadows lengthen from his heels. No amount of shouting on -the part of our driver will waken the sleeper; blessings and curses, -cracking of whips and blowing of horns, are all tried in vain, and the -monotony of our journey is relieved by the diligence being dragged, as -it might have been at first, over the field at the roadside, and we -resume our way. - -[Illustration] - -As we travel westward, the aspect of the land becomes suddenly changed; -it is clouded over and rained upon, and is a sombre contrast to the -former brightness. After the glare of the sun the senses are grateful -for quiet tones; but the sight is strange, almost mournful. The district -is only a few miles from busy towns and sea-ports, and on the main line -of railway from Paris to Brest, but it is out of the world, and seems, -under its cloudy aspect, farther than ever removed from civilisation; we -pass substantial-looking farmhouses, but the dwellings of the peasants -are generally hovels, with tumble-down mud walls and immovable windows; -in their gardens are dungheaps and stagnant pools of water. We see women -at work in the fields, girls tending cattle, and the men, generally, -looking on. - -[Illustration] - -The distance from Dinan to Lamballe by road is twenty-five miles, a slow -and sleepy journey of about five hours by the direct route; a journey -seldom taken by travellers since the completion of the railway westward. -Everything we pass on the road looks comparatively untidy, rough, and -poor, with the poverty of ignorance and neglect rather than of means, -for the soil, as we approach Lamballe, is rich, and yields well. The -country is really fruitful, but an acre of land is often divided into -twenty different lots, in each of which there are separate crops of -hemp, buckwheat, or potatoes, or they are filled with gorse for winter -fodder for cattle. The hedges are made of mud-banks, gorse, and ferns, -and the gates between them are formed of felled trees, the stem forming -the upper bar, the roots being left as a counterpoise to lift the gate -on its rough, wooden latch. - -The rain ceases as we approach Lamballe; the air is fresh with the wind -coming from the bay of St. Brieuc, and as the sky clears, we obtain, at -intervals on the undulating road, views over finely wooded valleys, with -high hedgerows, banked up and planted with elms and oaks. The chestnut -trees, wet with the rain, are rich in colour, and the fields of -buckwheat lighten the landscape again. Another turn in the road, and we -are in evening light, there is open pasture land, and the cattle are -winding home; at another, a farmer is meditating on his stock in the -corner of a field. Thus we pass from one picture to another, quaint and -idyllic, the last reminding us more of Troyon than of Rosa Bonheur. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - LAMBALLE—ST. BRIEUC—GUINGAMP. - - -[Illustration] - -It is half past five o’clock on a summer’s morning at LAMBALLE, and the -deep-toned bell of Notre Dame resounds through the valley of The -Gouessan. The sun is up, and gleams upon the roof tops, and upon the -heads of the old women who are sitting thus early in the market-place, -surrounded with flowers, taking their morning meal of _potage_. It is -market morning, and the open square in the centre of the town is filling -fast with arrivals from the country. Everything is fresh from the late -rains, and the air is laden with the scent of flowers, butter, and milk. -On every side carts are unloading, and itinerant vendors are fitting up -stalls for the sale of provisions and goods. There are rows of stalls -for the sale of cloth stuffs, shoes, and wooden sabots, for pots and -pans, and for innumerable trinkets of small value to tempt the -peasantry. The shops are opening one by one, displaying less -fashionable, if more useful, wares than we have seen at St. Malo and -Dinan; agricultural implements, and all articles for the use and -temptation of the country people who come from far to make purchases, -bargaining in a rather uncouth tongue, but with a certain dignity and -determination of manner which we shall find peculiar to the Bretons. -Both buyers and sellers speak in a language apparently half French and -half Welsh, and the majority dress in plain, dark, home-spun stuffs, the -men with their blouses, the women with their caps, all put on clean for -the day. This market-place at Lamballe is a sight, if only to see the -fowls and the flowers. It is full of the killed and wounded, bright -plumage and delicate leaves; beauty led captive by vigorous hands, -hustled out of the market-place by rosy, unsentimental housekeepers; -carried heads downwards, both fowls and flowers! - -The noise and chattering of a market morning have begun in earnest, but -the great bell of Notre Dame resounds above all; two other churches soon -join in the concert, and the clatter of sabots over the rough -cobblestones up to the church doors adds to the clamour. It is time to -follow the people up the streets, almost too steep for wheels, which -lead to the great church of Notre Dame, built oh the site of the ancient -castle of the counts of Penthièvre. - -Travellers, especially summer tourists coming from Dinan or Rennes, on -their way westward by railway, seeing the beautiful position of this -town, with its church above the valley, pause sometimes to consider -“whether Lamballe is worth stopping at for a night.” As we are writing -for all, we may tell them, as we pause to take breath on the ladder of -stones which leads to Notre Dame, that the Gothic pile which crowns the -hill before them, whose granite walls almost overhang a precipice, and -from the rocks of which its pillars and arches seem to spring, is not -only full of historic interest, but has a grandeur of effect in the -interior which we shall seldom find equalled in Brittany. The original -structure was a castle chapel, built early in the sixteenth century, but -the present building does not present many special architectural -features of interest, excepting the remains of an ancient rood-loft and -some stained glass. The building has undergone several periods of -restoration down to the present time, when workmen are busy repairing -its outer walls. But the interior, on Sundays and fête days, is a -picture to be remembered, and is especially full of human interest. The -nave is less obstructed with modern ornaments than usual, and there is a -quietness about the services which we do not find in larger towns. There -are the usual wooden cabinets set against the side wall with green -curtains in place of doors; in the centre compartment there is a dark -object concealed, and on one side the skirt of a woman’s dress peeps -from under the curtain; it is only Marie in a new gown telling some of -her sins. There are several women kneeling on chairs, dressed in dark -green or brown shawls, stuff dresses, and neat strong shoes; all heads -turn one way as we enter, the old women, especially, scanning us from -head to foot and mentally taking our measure as they pray. Here, on this -summer morning, crowded with men, women, and children on their knees, -their figures just distinguishable in the subdued light, the proportions -of the lancet arches supported by clustering pillars, and the -stained-glass windows, have a fine effect. - -Before leaving Lamballe, a sketch should be made, from the valley, of -the church of Notre Dame, with its surrounding houses, walls and rocks -in evening light. The drawing, if accurate, will be considered -exaggerated, on account of the extraordinarily picturesque and -commanding site. The views from the terraces and old ramparts of -Lamballe form an almost complete panorama of the country round. It is a -view of rich cultivated land, covered with crops of cereals, and cattle -grazing in the valleys. Over all this land the great bell of Lamballe -makes itself heard in company with the whistle of the locomotive which -hurries travellers on to St. Brieuc, a distance of twelve miles -westward. - -In ST. BRIEUC we find ourselves in a busy city of 15,000 inhabitants, -apparently too much occupied with trade and agriculture to think about -beautifying their houses and streets. There are many narrow, irregular -streets, in which the old houses have been replaced by others generally -modern and mean; “une vraie ville de rentiers qui aurait besoin d’être -‘hausmannisée.’” There is a large square _Place_ for the military, and a -market-place near the cathedral, where the old women congregate. St. -Brieuc, as will be seen on the map, is the principal town in the -department; it carries on a large export trade in the produce of the -country, especially in butter and vegetables, for the English and -European markets. Cattle are exported largely from Légué, the actual -port, about two miles off, in the centre of the bay of Brieuc, hidden -from the town by intervening hills. - -[Illustration] - -In the country round and on the hills overlooking the sea, there are men -and women at work in the fields, girls carrying milk on their heads from -the neighbouring farms, and others busy in the farmyards. The buckwheat -harvest has commenced, and the fields are being robbed of their rich -colour; but the scene is bright with fresh green and yellow mustard, and -rich here and there with clover. The sombre figures are the peasantry -with their dark costumes. Here we feel inclined, for the first time, to -stay and sketch, wandering along the coast to the fishing villages on -the western shore of the wide-spreading bay of St. Brieuc, visiting the -farms and homesteads, and making studies of the interiors of dwellings. -The rough, wasteful method of husbandry, the old farmhouses with their -one living-room with massive furniture and mud floors, and the simple -manners of the peasants, remind us irresistibly of Ireland, whilst the -names of people and places and the intonation of voices are altogether -Welsh. - -[Illustration] - -Everyone is at work near St. Brieuc in the summer months, every man, -woman, and child, in the fields, on the roads, or on the shore; a -bright, quick-witted population, accustomed to the inroads of strangers. -The inhabitants are superintended in their occupations by some officers -of the line, whose regiments are quartered near the town. The soldiers -are sprinkled over the streets, and dot the hillsides with colour. The -rattle of drums and the smoke of innumerable bad cigars make a lasting -impression in this city. - -St. Brieuc, or St. Brioc, is the site of a very ancient bishopric, whose -chapter was loyal and powerful to the last. Its history is told best in -the strength of its cathedral walls, and especially in the ruins of the -tower of Cesson, a castle once commanding the entrance to the bay and -the approach to St. Brieuc from the sea. There is little that is -remarkable in the churches, and, unless it be some old overhanging -houses near the cathedral, little to sketch in the town that we shall -not find of a better type elsewhere. The business of nearly everyone at -St. Brieuc is to prepare ox hides, tallow, hemp, and flax, to sell -stores for the ships that fit out here for the Newfoundland -cod-fisheries, and generally to provide the agricultural population with -the necessaries of civilisation. The town is as noisy as any French -market-town where soldiers are quartered. In the evening come the carts -from the country, and the clatter of sabots over the stones; at sundown -the regimental drums, at midnight the evacuation of the cafés, and the -songs of warriors going to their rest; at dawn a market generally begins -under our windows. When do these people find rest? The answer comes -laconically from the _femme de chambre_ at our inn. “There is the winter -for rest”; and there is the French saying, applicable enough in this -land of noises, that we have “l’éternité pour nous reposer.” - -[Illustration] - -In the neighbourhood of St. Brieuc is a picturesque château, part of -which is shown in the sketch; on the sky-line fringing the roof are -metal figures of horses, men, and dogs, typical of the chase. - -There are modern innovations of high white houses, factories, steam -ploughs, plate-glass windows, and smooth pavements to walk on, and the -majority of people one meets in St. Brieuc are dressed in modern -fashion, but there are odd corners, and very odd old men and women in -the by-streets. There is an old woman who sits in the market-place -surrounded by earthenware pots, rather disconsolately, for trade is bad; -but who, facing the last rays of the setting sun, unconsciously makes a -picture which for colour is a delight to the eye; a comfortable old -woman in dark blue dress, with dazzling white cap, bronzed hands and -wrinkled face, all aglow under its snowy awning; a background of brown -and blue earthenware piled in straw, a distance of dark shadows, and -half defined leaning eaves. - -[Illustration] - -St. Brieuc is much visited in the summer for sea bathing. The large -buildings near the sea, surrounded by high walls and gardens, are -convents or seminaries, where several hundred children are boarded and -educated for about £20 a year. In the summer the children give place to -adult _pensionnaires_, who come from all parts of France for the bathing -season, and the convents are turned into lodging-houses, reaping a good -harvest in spite of the apparently moderate terms of five or six francs -a day. These _pensionnaires_ spread over the cliffs and sands like -summer flies, to be discerned sometimes in the distance as in the -sketch. - -[Illustration: WINNOWING NEAR ST. BRIEUC.] - -It is at a village on the cliff near Fort Rosalier that we first see men -and women winnowing, their arms extended in the breeze, a bright and -characteristic scene recorded exactly in the sketch; a picture soon to -vanish before patent winnowing-machines and other improvements. -Mathurine, one of the party—who has pinned a clean white band of linen -over her flowing hair and under-cap, and put on a dark brown embroidered -shawl—takes the opportunity, during the midday meal of _potage_, to -stand for her portrait. - -[Illustration] - -About midway between St. Brieuc and Guingamp, on the north side of the -railway, is the quiet little town of Châtelaudren. It is washed and -watered by the Leff, the “river of tears,” which, coming from the -mountains that we see to the south, winds its way through rich valleys, -seaward. In its course, and in its time, the Leff has done much havoc in -this peaceful valley, inundating and destroying Châtelaudren in 1773, -and still occasionally overflowing its banks. To-day it is to the angler -a capital trout stream, if he will follow its course southward to the -mountains; to the artistic eye it is a sparkling river of light, set in -a landscape of green and grey. In the town of Châtelaudren, with its one -wide and rather dreary-looking street, there is not much to detain the -visitor, but it is a good starting-point from which to explore the -country and the Montagnes Noires. The land is thickly cultivated, and -well grown with crops almost down to the sea; and on every side in this -autumn time there are signs of industry. From the fields we hear voices -of women at work; in the farmyards there is the dull thud of the flail -and the burr of the winnowing-machine. Across the sloping fields from -the sea come sounds of singing and laughter, disconnected and weird -sometimes, from being caught up by the wind, then dropped and taken up -again. - - * * * * * - -Eight miles from Châtelaudren, in a green valley watered by the river -Trieux, is the quiet old town of GUINGAMP. Its past history, like that -of nearly every town in Brittany, has been so eventful that its present -normal state may well be calm; but once a year its inhabitants neither -work nor repose. In the month of September they hold their annual Fête -de St. Loup, and pilgrims come from all parts of Brittany by excursion -trains to the famous “Pardon” of Guingamp. - -These religious festivals which are held once a year in nearly every -town in Brittany, and are generally combined with dancing, fireworks, -and other festivities, are the occasion of a great gathering of the -people from remote parts of the country; excursion trains bring tourists -and pilgrims from all parts of France, and during the week of the fête -it is difficult to find a resting-place in Guingamp. The three principal -Pardons are generally held at Ste. Anne d’Auray in Morbihan, in July, at -Ste. Anne de la Palue in Finistère, in August, and at Guingamp, in -September. The Pardon at Guingamp is held on Sunday and Monday, when -processions are formed to the shrine of a saint a mile and a half -outside the town, indulgences are granted, relics and crosses are -distributed, trinkets are blessed, and sermons preached by the bishop of -the diocese to the people assembled in the open air. After the services -there is a fête in the town, of which the programme on the next page -will give the best idea. - - PROGRAMME OF THE FÊTE AT GUINGAMP AT THE TIME OF THE “PARDON.” - -[Illustration: - - VILLE DE GUINGAMP - - FÊTE DE S^TLOUP - - PROGRAMME - - - DIMANCHE ET LUNDI MATIN, DE ONZE HEURES À MIDI - - Musique Militaire sur la Place du Centre - - À DEUX HEURES APRÈS MIDI, CHAQUE JOUR - - _DÉPART DU CORTÉGE, MUSIQUE EN TÊTE, POUR SAINT-LOUP_ - - À SIX HEURES DU SOIR - - RETOUR, EN VILLE, DES DANSEURS ET DE LA MUSIQUE - - - LES DEUX SOIRS, À HUIT HEURES, SUR LA PLACE DU CENTRE - - BAL À GRAND ORCHESTRE - - BRILLANTE ILLUMINATION - - - _À LA FIN DU BAL_ - - EMBRASEMENT DE TOUTE LA PLACE - - _Aux Feux de Bengale de diverses couleurs (Effets de Jour, Effets - d’Incendie)_ - - GRANDE RETRAITE VÉNITIENNE - - AUX PYRAMIDES DE LANTERNES ET FEUX DE BENGALE - - Illuminations et Décors, par M. Kervella, de Rennes -] - -The religious aspect of these Pardons, and the gathering of the -pilgrims, is sketched in Chapter XII.; we will therefore speak of -Guingamp as it is seen every day. Whether it be from the interest -attaching to the great annual fête, or from reports of the miraculous -cures that have been effected by the patron saint, Guingamp has always -attracted travellers, and has been written of in terms of rapture which -may astonish a visitor when he sees it for the first time. It is a town -of not more than 8000 inhabitants, with one principal street, which -winds irregularly down like a stream, spreading and overflowing its -banks at one point, in triangular fashion, in what is called the -market-place, then narrowing again, and working its way through a suburb -of small houses into the great high-road to Morlaix. It has two -monuments—the church of Notre Dame, and a bronze fountain in the -market-place. The timbered houses are old, and many of their gables -lean; the cobblestones in the streets are rough, and the public square -of dust, with withering trees, built on the old ramparts, looks as -dreary as any we shall see on our travels. But it is surrounded by green -landscape, and the view from the walks on the ramparts, seen through the -tops of poplars, is of a green valley with trees and grey roof-tops, -between which winds the river Trieux, slowly turning water-wheels. - -[Illustration] - -The church was built between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, and -represents several styles of architecture—Romanesque, Gothic, and -Renaissance. It was originally founded as a castle chapel, and part of -the structure is as early as the thirteenth century. It has three -towers, the centre one having a spire. The interior is impressive, on -account of the simplicity of arrangement for services and the -comparatively uninterrupted view of the nave and aisles; an effect more -like that on entering a cathedral in Spain than in France. - -[Illustration] - -Brittany is a land of lasting monuments; and of its buildings it has -been well said, “ce que la Normandie modelait dans le tuf, la -Basse-Bretagne le ciselait en granit”; but remembering the magnificent -churches we have seen in Normandy, we need not detain the reader long in -Notre Dame de Guingamp. If we were asked by tourists if the church of -Notre Dame at Guingamp was worth going very far to see, we should -answer, No. It is only as a picture that it attracts us much. We shall -see finer buildings in other parts of Brittany, but nowhere a more -characteristic assembly. The most curious feature is a chapel forming -the north porch, which is open and close to the street, lighted at night -for services, and separated only from the road by a grille. This -_portail_, as it is called, forms the chapel of Notre Dame de Halgoet, -and is the sacred shrine to which all come at the fête of Guingamp. It -is ornamented by rich stone carving and grotesque gurgoyles. The people -of Guingamp love the chapel of Notre Dame de Halgoet; it is a retreat -for them by day and by night, a place of meeting for old and young, with -a perpetual beggars’ mart at the door. This north porch with its open -grille is a house of call for rich and poor of both sexes, and placed as -it is in the centre of the town, abutting upon the principal street, it -forms part of their everyday life to go in and out as they pass by. It -is one of the many welcome retreats in France; in a land of perpetual -noises and glare, of shrill, uncouth voices and latch-less doors, it is -the church that gives us peace and shade. - -[Illustration] - -In the centre of Guingamp is its market-place, and in the centre of the -market-place is a fountain, consisting of a circular granite basin with -a wrought-iron railing. There is a second basin of bronze, supported by -four sea-horses with conventional wings, and a third by four naiads; the -central figure is the Virgin, her feet resting on a crescent. This -fountain was constructed by an Italian artist, and its waters played for -the first time on the night of the annual Pardon, in 1745. The history -of Guingamp is not complete without recounting the story of the -construction of this fountain; but regarded from a picturesque point of -view, the smooth green bronze with its Renaissance ornamentation -harmonises neither with the surrounding houses, with their high-pitched -roofs and pointed turrets, nor with the towers of Notre Dame. We are -more interested with the living groups which furnish the wide -market-place in the morning sun. - -[Illustration] - -A few yards from the cathedral, on the opposite side of the street, is -the old Hôtel de l’Ouest, where travellers are entertained in rather -rough but bountiful fashion. - -“Take a little trout or salmon, caught this morning in the Trieux, a -little beef, a little mutton, a little veal, some tongue, some -omelettes, some pheasant, some fish salad, some sweets, some coffee, and -then—stir gently,” is the prescription for travellers who stay at the -Hôtel de l’Ouest. As this is an average hotel, it may be worth while to -state that the bill presented (by the young lady in the sketch) to -_three_ English travellers, who spent a night and part of a day there, -was 12 fr. 80 c. - -Excepting at the time of fêtes, Guingamp is almost as quiet and -primitive in its ways as in the days of the Black Prince. Our notes of -days spent in this city in different years are the most uneventful in -our records. On one summer’s morning we hear an unusual sound from the -great bell of Notre Dame, and find a procession of priests and -choristers winding up the principal street, followed by hundreds of the -inhabitants. What is the occasion? “The mother of the Maire is dead; she -was a bountiful lady, beloved by all, and we are to bury her this -morning.” And so the inhabitants turn out _en masse_, and march with -slow steps, for about half a mile, to the cemetery. It is a dark, silent -stream of people, filling the street, and carrying everything slowly -before it; the only sounds being the chanting of the choir, and the -repetition of prayers. We follow to the cemetery, which is crowded with -graves, each headed by little iron or wooden crosses, hung with -immortelles. The procession divides and disperses down the narrow paths, -a few only of the friends of the deceased standing near the grave. - -[Illustration] - -At one corner of the cemetery is a shabby little wooden building, like a -gardener’s tool-house, which seems to excite much interest. A girl, with -shining bronzed face, in a snow-white cap, holding a little child by the -hand, is coming out of the door; we venture to ask the reason of her -visit. “Just to see my father for a minute,” is the ready answer. - -In a little wooden box, about the size of a small dog kennel, is her -father’s skull or _chef_, as it is called; he is tumbling over with his -friends in other boxes exactly as in the sketch, which, rough as it is, -has the grim merit of accuracy. The sight is a common one in Brittany, -but it is startling and takes us by surprise at first, to see at least -fifty of these shabby boxes, some on shelves in rows, but generally -piled up in disorder and neglect. The lady who is being buried so -solemnly this morning will some day be unearthed, and her _chef_, in a -box duly labelled and decorated with immortelles, will take its place in -the ossuary of Guingamp. - -From the high ground near the cemetery, and especially from a hill a -little farther from the town in a north-easterly direction, we obtain a -good view of Guingamp and of the country round. There is a mound, -covered with smooth grass, clumps of gorse, and tall fir trees, through -which the wind moans on the calmest day; a spot much favoured on summer -evenings by the youth of Guingamp. Looking round over the thickly wooded -but rather sombre landscape, and on the old grey roofs of the town, one -is a little at a loss to account for the rapturous descriptions which -nearly all travellers give of Guingamp. On a fine summer’s morning the -landscape is seen to perfection; but to tell the truth about it, the -scene is not very striking either for beauty or for colour. Guingamp has -been described as “a diamond set in emeralds,” and we read of its -landscape “riant,” and so on. “Guingamp m’a pris le cœur,” says another -traveller; but their interest is in the past, they people it with -memories, and with the events of past years. - -Our business is with the present aspect of Brittany, and we are bound to -record that Guingamp, excepting at the time of the Pardon, is a very -ordinary place indeed. The artist and the angler may linger in its -valleys, and make it headquarters for many an excursion. If we might -suggest one walk to them, we should say— - -Go out of the town in a south-easterly direction, following the course -of the river Trieux on its right bank for half an hour, and you will -come to a suburban village, with a rough wooden cross (like the one -sketched on page 89) raised aloft in the centre of the street, and the -bright and trim new stone spire of a chapel conspicuous amongst its -irregular roof-tops. - -Turn round to the right hand, just by the cross, and enter a large -farmyard; the women are busy winnowing, not with hands upraised in the -wind, as we have seen them at St. Brieuc, but twirling by hand a new -patent blue-painted rotatory winnowing-machine with a burring sound, in -a cloud of choking dust. They are storing their harvest in a large barn, -the remains of an ancient Gothic church, the abbey of Ste. Croix, with -its choir window piled up with straw. Immediately in front are the farm -buildings, part of a round tower and a corner turret standing, and much -of the old woodwork and massive interior fittings is still preserved. -The garden reaches to the river, where ancient and historic trout -disregard the angler of to-day. The farm and its surroundings are as -picturesque as any painter could desire. - -The inhabitants of this suburb have a real grievance; they had lived for -generations in familiar sight and sound of the cathedral of Guingamp; -they saw its spire and towers at evening, standing out sharp and clear -against the western sky, and were in feeling living almost in the town -itself, when suddenly the engineers of the “Chemin de Fer de l’Ouest” -threw up a mountain of earth in their midst, and shut out the town and -the sunset light from them, and from their children, for evermore. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - LANLEFF—PAIMPOL—LANNION—PERROS-GUIREC. - - -[Illustration] - -Twelve miles north-east of Guingamp is Lanleff—“the land of tears,” -celebrated for one of the most curious architectural monuments in -Brittany, the circular temple of Lanleff. Leaving Guingamp, we pass -through a solitary wooded country, the undulating road soon rising high -above the valley of the Trieux. The air is fresh and invigorating, and -the views from the summits of the hills extend over a wide range of -land. At Gommenech we enter the valley of the Leff that we passed at -Châtelaudren. There is no prettier river, or one that should more truly -delight an artist’s eye, than the Leff in its long, winding journey from -the mountains to the sea. - -Sheltered by woods, shut in here and there by granite walls, with ruins -crowning the heights, between green banks and through sloping fields, it -is one of those picturesque rivers which are peculiar to Brittany of -which we seldom hear mention, but which many an English angler knows -well. The view of Gommenech is to be remembered as we cross the valley -on our way to the temple of Lanleff; the temple is in ruins, and -partially unroofed, but enough remains of the original nave supported by -pillars, and its outer circle of aisles, to give us a perfect idea of -the structure, which resembles closely and has, doubtless, the same -origin as the round churches in England built by the Crusaders on their -return from the Holy Land. The diameter of the church to the walls of -the outer aisles is not more than 20 feet; in the inner circle, or nave, -the twelve arches are round and Romanesque in style, with rude carvings -on the capitals. A chancel was afterwards built into the original -structure, so that the unroofed walls of the temple formed, as it were, -a vestibule to the parish church, and in this circular open porch, under -the shadow of a yew-tree, the congregations used to kneel. But the -people now assemble in the new parish church on the hillside, and the -temple is kept for show. The “holy well with its blood-stained stone” is -pointed out to visitors; the pieces of oolite, that encircle the well, -show shining red spots when wetted, to mark the place where, according -to tradition, “an avaricious priest received money from a father who -sold his child to the Evil One.” - -We listen to the story gravely, and certainly no sign of doubt, or of -levity, passes over the grave face of the Breton woman who tells it; we -are in a land of historic monuments and traditions of the past, and the -people who live at Lanleff are too wise even to smile at the interest -travellers take in these things. The story has been handed down from -father to son, from mother to daughter, and is now passed on to tourists -who can master a little of the Breton tongue. - -Continuing our journey northward, we soon arrive at the summit of a hill -overlooking the bay of Paimpol and the thickly wooded country round; we -have passed good country-houses on the route, with flower-gardens -skirted by hanging woods; and as we approach Paimpol, there are houses -scattered in sheltered bays, with fishing and pleasure boats aground; an -old church surrounded closely by houses, a little _Place_, a custom -house, a quay, boatmen, and fisherwomen; but—where is the water? It has -retreated for more than a mile, and the long bay or estuary and the port -of Paimpol are a desolate waste of mud. Paimpol is a small but busy -fishing village, much frequented in summer by the French for bathing. It -is not fashionable, but the inns are comfortable, and the country is -full of attractions for the summer visitor. The houses on the _Place_ -and in the narrow streets are old and weather-worn; some are dark and -mysterious-looking, and have that peculiar smuggling aspect with which -we soon become familiar on this coast. - -In a corner of the quiet churchyard of Paimpol there reposes at full -length, in stone, “L’Abbé Jean Vincent Moy,” many years _curé_ of this -place and honorary canon of St. Brieuc; and round about him, placed -thickly in rows, the former inhabitants of Paimpol rest under black -wooden crosses. The _curé_ is carved in dark green stone, from which -time has taken the sharpness of the chiselling; but the expression is -life-like, representing him in the popular act of blessing. There is a -cup of holy water at his feet, supplied by an old woman who kneels -before the tomb on the damp ground. It is her pious office to guard the -tomb of her pastor, and brush off the leaves which fall thickly from the -grove of elms overhead. They move slowly and die leisurely at Paimpol; -this old woman’s time is not yet, for she “has only eighty years.” In -four newly made graves there repose Eugénie, Marie, Mathilde, and -Hortense, and their respective ages are eighty-two, eighty-four, -eighty-eight, and eighty-nine! - -At Paimpol in summer every one seems to take life easily, the French -visitors driving about, bathing, boating, and living perpetually in the -fresh, pure air; the native inhabitants getting up boat-races, and -dancing the “gavotte” at night, in streets lighted by paper lanterns in -old Breton fashion, as we see sketched at Châteauneuf du Faou. There is -unusual brightness on this sombre, storm-washed shore; there is the -dazzle of a crimson pennant, and the flashing of a snow-white sail; -there are green banks, in contrast to water of the deepest blue, for in -these little inlets of the sea the summer sun clothes everything with -brightness in a moment. Perhaps we have seen Paimpol _en couleur de -rose_, for there has been blue sky overhead nearly every day for a -fortnight, and the sun is so hot at midday that the market-women put up -their red umbrellas, and the men descend into cool cellars for shelter -and refreshment. - -There is a favourite walk, of about a mile, to a promontory on the south -side of the port, by a pathway skirting fields of corn and buckwheat, -which brings us to high ground and a shady plantation of firs, where we -lose sight of Paimpol itself, but obtain the best idea of the -surrounding scenery. We choose this walk a little before sunset on a day -when there is a high tide. At our feet, on the left hand, is a steep -bank with tree-tops _below_, their dark foliage contrasting with the -blue of the water and the orange stems of weather-worn firs. Looking far -away northward and eastward across the water, dotted with white sails -coming in with the tide, the island rocks light up brilliantly in the -setting sun. The air is so clear seaward that we can distinguish little -houses on the island which guards the port, and on more distant rocks -far out to sea, all glittering in the sun. Turning southward, to the -real bay of Paimpol, which we cannot see from the town, the opposite -banks are in shadow, and the foliage which reaches to the water’s edge -takes a rich purple tinge. The outlines are soft and indistinct, -excepting on a tongue of land in the middle of the bay, where in the -midst of a garden of fruit-trees, and surrounded by ivy-grown walls, we -can just trace the Gothic lines of the abbey of BEAUPORT. - -It is a shaded walk of about a mile and a half from Paimpol to Beauport. -The road and the by-paths are shut in by high banks, so that we come -upon it rather suddenly, looking down upon the ruins, through the bare -windows of which we can see the sea. The Gothic chapel is a complete -ruin, but part of the abbey building is in good preservation, and -inhabited. One room is turned into a school-house, and a great roofless -hall, once the refectory, is used as a threshing-floor. The romantic -aspect of the ruins of Beauport, with its surrounding scenery, has been -described in every book on Brittany, and the view of it by moonlight -over the bay of Paimpol is as famous as that of “fair Melrose.” To this -ancient abbey come pilgrims of the nineteenth century to study and -wonder at the art of life shown by the monks of the thirteenth. If ever -there was a spot where nature and art seem combined for man’s special -enjoyment, it must have been at Beauport. Here the fruitful land meets -the bountiful sea, and there is no arid line of demarcation; the corn -waves at the water’s edge, and the flowers bloom and shed their leaves -into the water. The soil is rich, and the air is soft, and in this -autumn time the harvest seems everywhere ready to man’s hand—a harvest -of fruit and grain on land, a harvest of fish and rich seaweed spread at -every tide upon the shore. - -The abbey of Beauport is considered by M. Merrimée to be “the most -perfect example of the monastic architecture of the thirteenth -century”—in fact, the most important and beautiful ruin in Brittany. - - “It lies - Deep-meadow’d, happy, fair with orchard-lawns - And bowery hollows, crown’d with summer sea.” - -As we wander round the gardens and through the avenues of trees that -line the raised walks on the breakwater, or under the shadow of high -brick walls, laden with old fruit-trees, it is easy to realise in our -minds the lives of its former occupants. The picturesqueness of -Beauport, especially the view, from the eastern side, of the -chapter-house and other dwellings, should attract artists. This -afternoon there is one large white umbrella planted firmly in the gravel -of its deserted walks, and one canvas spread with a green landscape in -which old, grey, mullioned windows, and the stems of weather-beaten -trees, form prominent features. - -From Paimpol to Lannion is twenty miles by the road, crossing the river -Trieux by a lofty suspension bridge at Lézardrieux, and halting at the -ancient cathedral town of Tréguier by the way. - -TRÉGUIER, as will be seen on the map, is well situated for exploring the -coast and for visiting a variety of places of interest in the -neighbourhood; and it is a town in which the artist and the antiquary -would desire to stay. The cathedral with its graceful spire, “percée au -jour,” and its old market-place, with the streets leading from it, form -pictures more characteristic and interesting than anything we have seen -in Dinan or Guingamp. Tréguier, which was one of the four original -bishoprics of Brittany, abounds in historical associations. Everywhere -we hear of “St. Ives,” or “St. Yves” (the lawyers’ patron saint), who -lived here in the thirteenth century, and who is buried in the cathedral -by the side of Duke John V. From Tréguier to the sea there is a wide -estuary, capable of floating, at high tide, vessels of large tonnage; -and it was here that the famous expedition against England by “Constable -Clisson” in the fourteenth century was to have embarked. The -shipbuilding which is carried on at Tréguier and the views on the banks -of the estuary are not the least picturesque points to notice. The -cathedral is in a variety of styles; it has a north porch of Norman -work, and a square tower, “the tower of Hastings,” of the eleventh or -twelfth century, and some beautiful cloisters of the fifteenth. It might -be worth while to stay at Tréguier if only to examine and sketch the -interior of an old Breton farmhouse in the neighbourhood, containing the -bed of “St. Ives,” and other relics of the patron saint; here too we are -within easy reach of the remains of the castle of “La Roche Derrien,” -with its fine views northward over the sea. - -[Illustration] - -It is near Tréguier that we make the discovery of a watering-place, -Perros-Guirec, where we can live in the height of the summer season for -five francs a day, and where it is difficult to spend more. The bay of -Perros-Guirec is just sufficiently off the track of tourists to make it -delightful in summer. There are two small inns on the shore, one at -either extremity; but the actual village of Perros-Guirec is situated -amongst the trees which crown the northern promontory of the bay; there -are a few summer-houses and gardens, an old church, and near it a -convent, where in July and August strangers may board for a small sum. - -It seems hard to break up the peace of this retreat by printing a -description of it, but here, we are bound to record, is a spot where we -can spend our summer days with the greatest delight. We can live as we -like, dress as we like, bathe in the water at our feet, sit and sketch -in the shade of woods, through the branches of which we see the shining -sea. The air, so fresh and bracing, sweet with the breath of pines, is -more grateful in the hot summer months than at Dinard or Trouville, and -the sights and sounds are certainly more healthful and restful. - -It is evening as we return from a walk by the sea north of -Perros-Guirec; before us is a wide and beautiful bay, extending for -nearly half a mile in a noble curve of shore; it is shut off from the -land by sloping hills, and bounded at either extremity by rocks. The -tide is nearly out, and the sand is as pure, smooth, and untrodden, as -on Robinson Crusoe’s island. There are no projecting rocks or stones on -this wide plain, nothing to be seen on its surface but our long dark -shadows and two little crabs, behind their time, making hard for the -retreating water. We cross the bay leisurely, treading lightly on the -carpet of sand, and watching the sunset light on the rocks and on the -little islands which make this coast such a terror to navigators. They -are smiling this evening in that roseate hue which storm-washed red -granite rocks put forth on gala days, and their purple reflections in -the water are as deep and glowing as from the steep walls of the Lago di -Garda under an October sun. - -The two crabs soon disappear in the water, but as we cross the bay, two -other little spots appear at some distance on the sand. The sight is so -unusual here that the thought of Crusoe on his island occurs again, and -we approach cautiously. The objects are larger and farther off than at -first appeared, in fact nearly a quarter of a mile; they consist of two -neat little bundles of clothing, one of which appears to be a silk dress -surmounted by a white straw hat! There is nothing near them but sand, no -sign of human creature; but, presently looking seaward, the mystery is -explained by two heads appearing suddenly on the surface of the sea, one -with long hair floating from it. We beat a retreat and learn afterwards -that an evening walk in “ce pays ici” is often supplemented by an -evening bath. Thus Monsieur and Madame, strolling together on the sands, -make a diversion without ceremony or “machines,” and without the -slightest “mauvaise honte.” - -A little to the north of Perros-Guirec is the village of Ploumanach, -almost built out into the sea. It is a place to be visited above all -others on this coast for its wildness, and to see the hardy fishing -population, living amongst a loose mass of rocks, nearly surrounded by -water. Looking northward, on a clear day, we may see a group of islands -that form, as it were, outworks of granite protecting the land from the -waves that break upon this shore. One of these islands, the abode of -innumerable wild-fowl, is said, with doubtful authority, to be the -Island of Avalon, or Avilion, where King Arthur was buried. - -All round these rocky promontories the inhabitants live more on the sea -than on the land; they look to the sea for their harvest, and glean on -the shore rather than in the fields. The children of this seafaring -community, when tired of the earth, take to the water naturally, and it -is not an uncommon thing to see the mother of a family rush from her -cottage, lift up her skirts deftly, and jump into the sea to the rescue. - -The principal town in this neighbourhood is LANNION; it is a natural -commercial centre for the surrounding districts, collecting and -dispersing the produce of the sea and of the shore, and busy also in -providing and fitting out vessels for the mackerel-fisheries. It is a -busy town, with a fixed population of about 7000, but apparently with -accommodation, and occupation in the busy seasons of spring and autumn, -for a much larger number. Lannion dates from the twelfth century. It is -picturesquely situated on the steep slope of hills above the river -Guier. The market-place in the centre of the town, from which steep -streets descend to the river, is remarkable for its curious old houses, -but nearly all traces of local costume have vanished. So, too, has -vanished the antique tapestry representing the story of Coriolanus, and -“a staircase up which a regiment of grenadiers could march in double -columns,” which used to be shown at the Hôtel de l’Europe. In their -stead we find plate-glass shop fronts, good pavements, and little -children seated on dirty doorsteps dressed _à la parisienne_. On -market-days the country people come in wearing their old costumes, and a -few well-to-do farmers and their wives, who put up at the best inns, are -dressed in the old homely fashion of the Bretons of the Côtes-du-Nord. - -[Illustration] - -Lannion, at the time of writing, may be said to be one of the outposts -of French tourist civilisation in the Côtes-du-Nord. Hither come in -summer-time a few Parisians, and families from the interior, for the -bathing; driving to and from Perros-Guirec and other places on the coast -daily, but seldom actually staying on the seashore. In their train come -the latest fashions, both in manners and in dress, and it is here we may -notice, especially on Sundays and fêtes, the strange contrasts in -costume between the Bretons and “the French,” as the natives persist in -calling their visitors. - -It is on their way down to the Jardin Anglais one Sunday morning that a -gay Parisian and his wife walk through the market-place and down one of -the old steep streets; behind them come nurse and _bébé_, all “en grande -toilette de l’été.” The lady wears a white dress, which trails over the -cobblestones; the gentleman is in brown holland, with white shoes, white -tie, and a new straw hat shaped like a Prussian helmet and decorated -with a crimson band; the baby is decorated in as much of the fashion of -the day as its size will permit; the nurse, the neatest of the party, -wears a spotless white cap and dark short dress. An old dame, seated at -her doorstep, taking a bountiful pinch of snuff, emits a harsh sound, -more like “Jah!” or “Yah!” than the customary approving “Jolie!” which -comes so trippingly on every French tongue. The Breton woman, in her -old-fashioned gown, black stockings, and neat stout shoes, who owns the -house she lives in, and perhaps half a dozen others, regards the -fashionable visitors with anything but pleasure, and resists the advance -of fashion into Lannion as an evil almost equal to an inroad of -Prussians. - -In Lannion the most interesting buildings will be found in the -neighbourhood of the Grande Place, where some curious slated “hoods,” -and projecting roofs, break up the perpendicular lines of the modern -buildings; enough remaining even now to account for the frequent -descriptions of its picturesqueness. The church of St. Jean, with its -high terrace overlooking the valley, is interesting principally from its -commanding position above the town. From its terraces and between the -stems of its dusty trees there is a pretty sight on Sunday morning when -the people crowd to the neighbouring church of Brélévenez. - -Looking northwards across a deep ravine—through which a once clear, -rapid stream rushes full of soap into the river Guier—we see that in -course of time it has worn its way through rocks, washed the slight -covering of earth from the roots of trees that grow on its steep sides, -that it has been utilised to turn water-wheels, dashing in and out of -holes in wooden houses built over its banks. It has “washed” for Lannion -for hundreds of years, and every summer’s evening down by the bridge, -the women, old and young, may be seen on their knees at work on wet -boards. On the opposite side of the ravine the houses rise one above the -other in a series of steps to the church of Brélévenez with its fine -spire cresting the hill; and it is up and down these steps that on -Sundays and fête days the people crowd in a dark procession all day. The -ascent is steep indeed, and the young have to help the old to make the -pilgrimage. - -If we follow the crowd across the ravine and up this narrow way, we find -that it has been selected by suffering and poverty-stricken humanity as -a public mart. The path is so narrow and steep that there is no escape -from the beggars that line the way. In the churchyard at the top it is a -pretty sight to see the country people meeting and chatting together -under the trees, standing in groups waiting for the service. They are -evidently accustomed to the beggars; but it seems hard upon Marie and -Mathilde, coming on a summer’s morning through the fields to church, to -have to run the gauntlet of so much misery and disease, to have hideous -deformities thrust upon their sight, and curses hurled at them if they -do not give. A stranger is of course fair game—he is Dives, and Lazarus -is waiting for him at the gate; but all are importuned alike, and every -hideous artifice is used to extract alms under the protection of the -church. The women and children push their way bravely, slipping over the -stone stiles modestly one by one, their neat short skirts being suited -to the work. The air is fresh and sweet, blowing through the churchyard; -but inside the church the crowd is great, and the heat almost -insufferable. The beggars do not go in, at least not many of them, but -they lie in wait and line the descent of this ladder of life, sunning -themselves in corners until the pilgrims pass down. - -Before leaving Lannion, a word should be said about the inn -accommodation, because it is exceptionally good. They may be small -matters to record in print, but it will be useful to travellers to know -that in Lannion they will find at the principal inn the comforts of -civilisation, including an excellent cup of tea. After a few days’ stay -at the Hôtel de l’Europe the illusion will be dispelled that in -travelling in Brittany, away from railways, it is necessary to “rough -it,” as the saying is. In all the principal towns on our route the -hotels will be found as good as in Normandy and other parts of western -France; and throughout Brittany we get abundance of good meat, bread, -butter, milk, and wine. At the Hôtel de l’Europe at Lannion, English -families come to stay, it being quieter and less crowded than Dinan, as -well as a convenient centre for visiting some of the most interesting -spots in Brittany; interesting to English people especially for their -historical and romantic associations. - -Everyone makes a short stay at Lannion, in order to visit the -thirteenth-century castle of Tonquédec, in a lovely valley about eight -miles south of the town. It is easy to reach it by taking one of the -diligences on the road to Guingamp to a point about five miles from -Lannion, or by taking a carriage direct. At the time of writing, this -castle is one of the best preserved specimens of military architecture -in all France, and it is to our mind one of the beauty spots in -Brittany. Time has covered its towers and walls with thick and luxuriant -foliage, graceful in line, and altogether picturesque from its untrimmed -aspect; in autumn time it is as rich in colour as a pheasant’s wing, and -the lines of the landscape which surround it are as varied as the waves -of the sea. - -The castle of Tonquédec was one of the ancient strongholds of Brittany; -the present structure is in great part the restoration of Henry IV., and -the ruin the work of Cardinal Richelieu; time and ivy having done the -rest. It is rare to find, as at Tonquédec, so “complete a ruin,” if we -may use the word, showing the plan and structure of its different -courts, its fortifications, and surrounding dwellings, as used in the -thirteenth century. We must not dwell upon architectural details, but we -may mention the views that are to be obtained from its windows and -towers, the adjoining park and avenues of old trees, and the lake with -its ancient carp asleep under the banks, who—according to the women in -charge of the castle—“have lived so long that their tails are worn out”! - -At Lannion and Tonquédec we are on the border-land which divides the -departments of the Côtes-du-Nord and Finistère. The little river Douron, -which takes its source in the Monts d’Arrée, and falls into a bay -between Plestin and Lanmeur, marks the boundary of the departments and -also of the ancient bishoprics of Tréguier and St. Pol de Léon. There is -a natural division between the two departments in the general aspect of -the country and demeanour of the people. From the hanging gardens of -Beauport and the sleepy orchards and cornfields which surround Lannion -and Tonquédec we shall shortly pass to a wilder and sterner part of the -coast, dominated by the cathedral spires of St. Pol and Le Folgoet. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - CARHAIX—HUELGOET. - - -[Illustration] - -Thus far we have spoken of the northern coast, where the busy -inhabitants of the Côtes-du-Nord come most in contact with French -traders, and travellers of different nations. Let us now turn towards -the mountains, where the country is less fertile, the people are more -isolated, and there is more character and local costume to be seen. - -If we leave the Western Railway at Guingamp or Belle-Isle-en-Terre, we -may follow the course of the streams which take their rise in the Monts -d’Arrée, and, passing through Callac, reach Carhaix the same evening. We -cross the purple mountains where the solitary shepherd in goat’s-skin -coat (sketched on page 68) tends his flocks on poor pastures, and where -the, almost equally solitary, Englishman is busy with a fly-rod. At -Callac, where comfortable quarters are to be obtained, many Englishmen -stay for the fishing and shooting seasons; the streams are well stocked -with fish, and there is little difficulty in getting permission for -fishing. - -The game laws are very strict in France, as is well known; the opening -and closing of the shooting season varies every year, the prefect -deciding the day in September when shooting may begin. The _chasse -courant_, which includes hunting the wolf and the wild-boar, commences -about a month later. The seasons close at the end of January, and -whenever snow is on the ground. Altogether there is more attraction for -the angler than for the sportsman in Brittany, and there is no better -centre for the angler than Callac. - -The aspect of the people and their dwellings in this neighbourhood is -more simple and primitive than we have yet seen; and the features of the -peasants are more strongly marked with the privations of generations. It -is the same dull round of life, labour, and hardship, with a few gleams -of sunshine in summer; and a Pardon and a blessing from the priest at -the annual fête. There is the same story everywhere. “We move slowly; we -do as our fathers did, and live contentedly as they lived.” - -How did they live sixty years ago? An Englishman who spent some time in -Brittany in 1818 says of the peasants:—“They are rude, uncivilised, -simple, and dirty in their habits; they live literally like pigs, lying -upon the ground and eating chestnuts boiled in milk as their principal -food. Their houses are generally built of mud, without order or -convenience, and it is a common thing in Brittany for men, women, -children, and animals to sleep together in the same apartment, upon no -resting-place but the earth covered with straw.”[3] This was written -sixty years ago, but the mud houses are before us, and the description -holds good to-day. Forty years later a writer in an English newspaper is -sent to report upon the state of the agricultural labourer in Brittany; -what does he find? “The Breton peasant,” he says,[4] “is still isolated -from the towns by his language. He has kept himself apart, and mistrusts -the outer world. His fare is black bread, made of buckwheat, or rye, -oats or barley, boiled with milk. If he have a change in his diet, it is -in the shape of potatoes. His life is an unbroken monotony. He never -changes his manners, his habits, or his dress. He is a stranger in the -large towns, where even his language is not understood, save by a few -people who deal with him. He is as patient and quiet as a beast of -burden; his daily hard labour seems to subdue even his affections, it -leaves him no time for grief, no hours for the indulgence of remorse, no -moment for despair.” - -Footnote 3: - - Stothard’s _Brittany_, 1820. - -Footnote 4: - - Blanchard Jerrold’s Letters to the _Morning Post_, 1853-60. - -[Illustration] - -Twenty years later, what do we find? Excepting in a few districts, such -as that near Lannion, where there is a considerable advance in -agriculture, and where the peasant’s position is better, we find the -same figure wearing the same coat, standing just where he did; his life -the same weary round of labour by day, and rest in an old mud hovel at -sundown. The problem of a life of labour and monotony is yet unsolved; -he is just where he was in 1850, and where his father was in 1820. The -great Chemin de Fer de l’Ouest, that was to do so much for the owners of -the land and the tillers of the fruitful soil of Brittany, which has -been driven through the heart of the country, with its enormous viaducts -and its trains of cattle trucks; which has thrown up embankments of -earth that shut him off from the rest of the world, appear to have done -little good. A train rushes past his patch of land several times a day, -and perhaps his priest is in it, on his way to Paris or Rennes; it no -longer startles his children or his pigs, for it has passed now for -years; but “traffic,” or what is generally understood by the term, -scarcely exists, and passengers, excepting in summer, are few and far -between. - -A step higher than the peasant, and we find the farm people, all working -on in the old grooves, and, excepting in the matter of sending their -children by train to be educated (which to a certain extent is -compulsory), and in the gradual use of modern agricultural implements, -showing little signs of change. Nearly all the farms are worked on a -small scale, and with the least employment of capital. “Thrift, thrift!” -is the watchword with them all; early and late they labour, man, woman, -and child, and year by year gain a little on the past; a piece more -land, a few hundred francs put by; but they live on in the same humble, -penurious way, with little care or trouble about the outer world, and -knowing little of its movements. Their very charities are an investment -by the teaching of their own church: a sou is given to a beggar without -grudging, for shall it not be repaid? Thus on the one side we may -contemplate a life of work and thrift, which is admirable, and a -conservatism which keeps the soil in the hands of the labourer; but on -the other, the view is of a race behindhand in civilisation, wanting in -knowledge and in sympathy with the rest of mankind. - -[Illustration] - -We descend the hills from Callac, following the course of the river Aven -to CARHAIX, the ancient capital of a province and the centre of a large -agricultural district, owing its present importance to its cattle fairs. -At ordinary times life is peaceful enough at Carhaix; in the principal -square is the Hôtel de la Tour d’Auvergne, where visitors can live as -comfortably as in any country town in France, and where the days -resemble one another very closely. Every afternoon the people sit and -sun themselves in the principal square, as in the sketch below, and pigs -lie down undisturbed in the middle of the street; every evening the -inhabitants walk under the trees on the dingy _Place_, with its avenues -of limes, where there is a fine view over the country, and where is -Marochetti’s bronze statue of La Tour d’Auvergne, “le premier grenadier -de France.” - -[Illustration] - -Between two and three o’clock in the afternoon there is the only -communication with the outer world, when, with much cracking of whips -and rattling over stones, a crazy vehicle called “the courier,” with its -lame and battered horse, covered with dust and foam, comes lumbering in. -It brings a packet of newspapers, chiefly local; for Carhaix cares -little for the doings of the world beyond that of which it is the -centre. But we must now speak of the fair. - -Six roads converge upon Carhaix, and upon these roads, and across the -open land, on a summer’s morning, comes a stream of horses, cattle, -pigs, and people. It is the day of the cattle fair, a day for meeting -and marketing for all the country round; a day of rejoicing, bargaining, -and of cruelty to animals scarcely to be paralleled elsewhere; the day -and the place to see the Breton farmers and cattle-dealers, to study the -costumes and the ways of the peasants from some of the most primitive -districts of Brittany. - -[Illustration: ON THE ROAD TO MARKET.] - -It is only four o’clock in the morning, but the sounds of shouting (in -strong Breton tones, which seem to Englishmen a perpetual echo from the -Welsh hills), the lowing of cattle, the shrieking of pigs, and the heavy -thud of sabots resound upon the roads. On the rising ground just outside -Carhaix, on the western road, we can see them through an avenue of trees -coming across the country in narrow defile, like the commissariat train -of an army on the march; the men leading cattle, the women on horseback -and on foot, laden with provisions; and others in holiday attire, -arriving in country carts. - -[Illustration] - -The sun shines full on the wrinkled faces of the men, and on the white -caps of the women, and lights up the group with unwonted brilliancy; -even the sober costumes of the people with their blue and brown stuffs, -and the black, and white and fawn-coloured, cattle which they lead, -would, if recorded faithfully by a painter, stand out in high accents of -colour against the low-toned land; a rustic picture so fitful and -vanishing that only the rapid artist, who has presented Brittany to us -in these pages (as it has never been pictured before), could depict. It -is the sunny side of Brittany in all its quaintness, the pastoral aspect -of life which those who dwell in cities seldom see. There is nothing to -mar the beauty of the morning, for the noise of the market is as yet a -distant sound, mingled with the bells of Carhaix for early mass; there -is nothing to suggest a change but the gathering of the clouds towards -the west, and the stout umbrellas and cloaks carried by the women. - -[Illustration] - -Let us follow them, later in the day, to a large square where the fair -is held, and where there are wonderful sights and sounds; under the -trees a crowd of men and women, in the dust and heat, horses, cattle, -and pigs, in perpetual movement, with much drinking and shouting at the -booths which line one side of the enclosure. There are a great many -horses for sale, which do not find buyers, although the government -agents are here from the neighbouring _haras_ at Callac, and -horse-dealers have come from all parts. The cattle market is -overstocked, and the little black and white cattle, a cross between -Alderneys and Bretons, go for very small sums to reluctant purchasers. -The pig market is more active, as every Breton peasant likes to possess -a pig, and the noises proceeding from this part of the square are -deafening. The gentleman farmer in blue blouse to keep off the dust is -the portrait of a prominent figure moving amongst the crowd. - -[Illustration: CATTLE FAIR AT CARHAIX.] - -[Illustration] - -The meetings of the country people, and the groups sitting under the -trees to rest, are as suggestive pictures as we have seen, and the -costumes are full of variety and interest; the whole forms a scene of -which the full-page sketch gives an accurate idea. These markets are -held several times a year, and for a few hours disturb the quiet of the -sleepy town of Carhaix. - -We could well stay at Carhaix, for the scenery is varied and -interesting, and there is much to observe in the farmhouses in the -neighbourhood; old furniture, old carved bedsteads, cabinets, and -clocks; old brass-work, old lace and embroideries. - -Pictures come to us at every turn, pictures of domestic happiness and -content, only to be seen in byways far removed from cities and their -troubles; family groups, in which our presence seems sometimes an -intrusion. Brittany, like Spain, is a country that should be travelled -through cautiously; the inhabitants live out of doors in summer-time, -and perform various domestic operations in the roads, regardless of -traffic. Turn a corner suddenly and you may come upon a scene of family -discord, or affection, where you are of necessity _de trop_; take a walk -in the evening in the outskirts of a town, and the mute aspect of the -people, one and all, is that the road belongs to them, that the dirt and -the dunghills of the poorest are heirlooms which no invading sanitary -inspector shall reform. - -[Illustration] - -In the farmhouses in the neighbourhood we shall often find but one -living and sleeping room—kitchen, sitting-room, bedroom, all in one; the -bedstead of carved oak, the cupboards and chests with brass handles and -bosses, the copper cooking utensils bright and shining, the floor at the -same time being of bare earth. There is often a dungheap outside, and a -shed for cows opening into the living room, which is common alike to -pigs, fowls, and children. We see the women coming out of their dark, -unhealthy dwellings on fête-days, looking bright and clean, with old -lace in their caps, embroidered shawls, and the neatest of shoes. We see -them thrashing corn and scattering the grain wastefully on the ground, -and farming on a small scale in primitive fashion. But the Bretons who -live thus are nearly all prosperous and thrifty in their own way; they -own most of the land they farm, paying rent, for a portion perhaps, at -the rate of twenty or twenty-five francs an acre, but adding to the -extent of their ownership year by year. Nearly everyone we meet at -Carhaix is engaged in agriculture, and the majority are well-to-do. The -land yields well, and there is the Canal de Brest passing through the -town to take the produce to the coast. - -[Illustration: WAITING FOR DINNER, HUELGOET.] - -Turning northwards towards Morlaix, we pass through somewhat dreary -scenery, until we come to a gorge near Huelgoet, which, with its rocks -and rushing streams, will remind us of Switzerland; here are some -ancient lead and silver mines, which were a source of considerable -wealth in the fifteenth century. - -There is a silent and deserted air about the streets of Huelgoet, seldom -disturbed by the sound of wheels; at the inn where we rest our dinner is -cooked in the _salle à manger_ at the open fireplace, and from the -manner of the people it is evident strangers are rare, even in summer. -We are asked by the taciturn landlord to take up our abode here “for the -sake of the fishing,” and a book is shown containing the names of -visitors who have staid at the inn. - -The road between Huelgoet and Morlaix, passing over a spur of the Monts -d’Arrée, is again wild and desolate; we see flocks scattered over barren -pastures, and men and women at work on open ground far away from -habitations. It is a suggestive part of Brittany for the landscape -painter, a dark lonely land of rugged outline, full of poetry and -mystery. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - MORLAIX—ST. POL—LESNEVEN—LE FOLGOET. - - -[Illustration] - -From the quiet of Carhaix and the solemn landscape which surrounds -Huelgoet to the bustle of Morlaix, only sixteen miles to the north, -seems a rapid transition. If we arrive at Morlaix by railway, we cross a -lofty viaduct over a deep ravine, and, far below, see clusters of grey -roofs, white houses, rocks and trees, church towers, and factory -chimneys. Descending to the town, we find ourselves in the centre of -more commercial activity than we have seen since leaving St. Malo. -Morlaix is a prosperous town, containing about 15,000 inhabitants, -busily engaged in trade. It is built at the confluence of two streams, -the Jarlot and the Queffleut, which meet in the centre of the city, and -(arched over for some distance in their course) wind down the valley to -the sea, six miles away. On either side of this canal-like stream are -quays, and rows of houses, old and new, strangely intermixed. - -The commercial traveller, the shipper of native products, and the -importer of foreign goods is ever busy at Morlaix. But its aspect is -still essentially old; its outward characteristics are primitive: -weather-worn gables with carved beams, steep streets and rough pavements -with open gutters, and, in the centre of the city, a dingy river, with -washerwomen on its banks. The sketch gives an exact idea of the scene as -enacted every day in the principal street; but the old architecture of -Morlaix is best indicated on page 72. A few demolitions take place every -year, but, visiting Morlaix for the third time in 1878, we find the most -interesting buildings standing and leaning against each other as of old. -Tradition is strong in this city, and many new shops preserve over their -doors their old signs, the ancient insignia of the trades of the -merchants of Morlaix. Some are grotesque figures carved in wood, painted -and gilt; there is one little figure, for instance, at the corner of the -Rue Notre Dame, “Au Sommeur Breton,” in cocked hat and curled wig, which -carries us back in imagination several centuries. - -[Illustration] - -In the “Rue des Nobles,” where the high-pitched roofs and overhanging -eaves nearly meet across the street, we may see the actual dwellings of -the nobles of Brittany in the fifteenth century, whilst above on the -steep hillsides, and all around, are the modern, meaner, and more -healthy dwellings of the traders of the nineteenth. - -The approach to Morlaix by water in the old days, when at the last turn -of the river the pointed gables and towers came into view, must have -been very picturesque. Its aspect in 1505, when the nobles received the -Queen-Duchess Anne on her pilgrimage through Brittany, and later—when -Mary Queen of Scots landed here on her way to Paris to espouse the -Dauphin in 1548—we may picture to ourselves, with some regret, as we -walk down the new wide Rue de Brest, and see above us the great railway -viaduct. It is a strange medley of grey roofs, trees, rocks, towers, -factory chimneys, quays lined with stores, precipitous streets, -tottering dwellings, and defaced churches (one turned into a granary), -arched over by the modern railway viaduct, from the view of which there -is no escape, but which, from its very height and solidity, has a -certain grandeur of effect. But the old is quite overwhelmed by the new, -and even the steep hillsides seem dwarfed by the giant proportions of -the viaduct. There is not only more movement, but there is more colour -in Morlaix, than we are accustomed to in Brittany; down on the quay, for -instance, there are red sashes, and clothing of bright Oriental hues, -drying in the wind; and there is a certain Eastern air about the open -shops in the old quarters which tells of distant commerce. But the -present prosperity of Morlaix is in its tobacco manufactories, in its -trade in butter, grain, fruit, &c., and in its position as the natural -place of export for the products of a fruitful part of Brittany. - -It is well to stay at Morlaix to make sketches of some of the lofty -interiors with their carved staircases, some of which are quite unique; -and it is well to see it on Sundays, for nowhere shall we see pleasanter -faces or a happier and brighter-looking population. On market mornings -the country people crowd the _Place_, and, in the morning and in the -evening, five or six hundred factory hands, men and women, pass up and -down the Rue de Brest. It is a familiar sight, but the neat caps and -dark homely attire of the women are again delightful to see. The -brightness, style, and vivacity, of the women of Morlaix leave a -distinct impression on the mind. - -[Illustration] - -In the neighbourhood, in the direction of Brest, are two of the most -famous calvaries and churches of the Renaissance, St. Thégonnec and -Guimiliau. It is half an hour’s journey by train to the little deserted -station of St. Thégonnec, on the railway to Brest, and a mile to the -north is the village. There is no one at the station but the -station-master, and no communication with the village of St. Thégonnec -excepting by a covered cart, which meets the morning train. The fine -church, which stands in the midst of a straggling village of dilapidated -houses, pigsties, and dirt, is rich in sculpture and gilding in the -style of the Renaissance; on the high-altar, on the pulpit, and in the -side chapels are elaborate carvings, much overdone with gilding and -restoration, but grand in general effect. In the churchyard all is grey, -sad-looking, and dilapidated; the ancient calvary, erected in 1610 in -dark Kersanton stone, is injured and time-stained; the quaint figures, -elaborately carved, representing passages in the history of Christ -(dressed in ruffs and gowns of the sixteenth century), are roughly -propped up and stuck together, for the benefit of pilgrims who come to -the shrine. - -The calvary of St. Thégonnec, like most others in Brittany, depicts -scenes in the life and Passion of Christ. In the centre is a group of -three crosses, representing the scene of the Crucifixion, with figures -of the centurion and soldiers, angels, and the Virgin and St. John, and -on either side are the two thieves. Below, round the base of the -structure, are figures in Breton costume, representing the judgment of -Pilate, Christ bearing the cross, the Entombment, and the Resurrection. -Some of the figures are remarkable for animation, and, in spite of the -state of the monument, appeal more powerfully to the imagination than a -group of coloured life-size figures representing the Entombment which is -shewn to visitors in the crypt.[5] - -Footnote 5: - - For a sketch of one of the calvaries, see page 91. - -The church and calvary of Guimiliau is in a quiet village a few miles to -the south-west, a short drive from St. Thégonnec, crossing the railway. -The church dates from the Renaissance, and is rich in carving and -decoration; the interior is loaded with ornament, the eastern end being -a mass of crude colours and florid decoration. In the south porch is -some elaborate carving, and in the organ loft are some bas-reliefs on -the oak panels. There is a baptistry of carved oak, consisting of a -canopy with allegorical figures, supported on eight spiral pillars, -around which are twisted vine leaves, fruit, flowers, and birds. The -pulpit, dated 1677, is also a remarkable work of art. But in the -churchyard, time-stained and crumbling to decay as usual, is the great -object of our visit, a solid stone structure raised upon arches, upon -which is a crowd of little carved figures in the costume of the -sixteenth century, representing the various scenes of the Passion. There -are saints in the niches at the corners, and high above is a crucifix, -with the figures of Mary and St. John on either side. This monument -dates from 1580, but many of the figures have been restored at a later -date. - -Altogether the calvaries of St. Thégonnec and Guimiliau, whether -regarded from a picturesque or antiquarian point of view, are the most -interesting monuments we have yet seen; interesting in their very -loneliness, the object of so much thought and labour in the middle ages, -left thus neglected and in ruin. The calvaries of Brittany seem little -cared for, excepting as curiosities; but once a year, at Easter time, -there are religious ceremonies connected with them, when special -services are performed, and the various scenes depicted on the monuments -are explained to the people. Then is the time to visit St. Thégonnec and -Guimiliau, when the people are seen gathered round the sculptured -crosses, in the same costumes and in the same attitude of faith as their -forefathers. - -From the time we left St. Thégonnec station until our return in the -evening, after visiting these two calvaries, we have seen few people in -the fields or on the roads. The busy city of Morlaix absorbs all -available hands, and leaves the country towns almost deserted. When the -railway was advanced at an enormous cost through a difficult country to -the port of Brest, it was thought, naturally enough, that it would open -up traffic _en route_; but here at St. Thégonnec no one comes. “I live,” -says the station-master, “in a vast solitude, the monotony of which is -only broken by the passing of five or six trains a day; scarcely any one -comes near me; a stray tourist or two in the summer, and an occasional -visit from a wolf in winter, one of which has killed my favourite dog.” -This station-master, whose daughter was being educated at Morlaix, kept -a brood of turkeys for distraction; but it was “a lonely life,” as he -said, a solitude the more keenly felt because he was connected by a -telegraph wire with the headquarters of the administration of the Chemin -de Fer de l’Ouest. “It was solitude without peace, for at any moment, -day or night, the bell might ring.” It is difficult to realise that this -is on the main line of railway between Paris and Brest! - -[Illustration: POTATO-GETTING NEAR ST. POL DE LÉON.] - -There is no stranger or more suggestive contrast for the traveller in -Brittany than to leave Morlaix on a summer’s morning and drive twelve -miles in a north-westerly direction to St. Pol de Léon. It takes only -three hours, but in that short journey we pass, as it were, from life to -death, from the commercial activity of to-day to a stillness which -belongs to the past. The passage is from wharves and warehouses, from -crowded factories and the shrieking of steam, to open country, hill and -dale, to the sea. In Morlaix the monuments are to commerce, in St. Pol -de Léon to the church; in Morlaix there is activity and a certain amount -of civilisation, in St. Pol de Léon, by contrast, there is stillness, -poverty, and degradation. Our last view of Morlaix is of a stupendous -railway viaduct, of comfortable villas and trim gardens; our first view -of St. Pol de Léon across the open land is of three noble church spires -standing out sharply against the sky. Ancient stone crosses and images -of saints in glass cases are passed as usual on the roadside, before we -approach Léon, “the Holy City,” which five centuries ago, when Morlaix -was unknown, was an important bishopric and the centre of great -ecclesiastical wealth. To-day its aspect is poor and dreary, even in -sunshine; grey and cold in colour, and generally dirty. - -But the cathedral with its spires and the tower of the church of Notre -Dame de Creizker (nearly 400 feet high) are the absorbing points of -interest, the reason of our journey to St. Pol. - -The inhabitants, numbering about 7000, are principally agricultural, or -are employed at the port; fishermen and knitting women, reserved and -dignified in manner, living rough homely lives, disdaining many of the -modern ways of Morlaix, but having a keen eye to commerce, which they -carry on actively with far-away places, including Norway and Greenland. - -[Illustration] - -As we saunter up the rough, ill-paved streets of the cathedral square, -the men come out of the cafés and _débits de tabac_, and give us a rough -but not unkindly greeting, as in the sketch. The principal occupation of -our three friends is to cultivate potatoes, cabbages, onions, asparagus, -and other vegetables for foreign markets; for this part of Brittany -forms one vast market-garden, whence the cities of Western Europe are -supplied. The inhabitants who live in the cathedral square have grown up -in perpetual wonderment (expressed in their faces) at the summer -procession of pilgrims to St. Pol de Léon; pilgrims in strange costumes, -who dispense sous to their children, inquire for the keys of the tower -of the Creizker, and then mount several hundred feet above them in the -wind. - -[Illustration] - -The cathedral dedicated to St. Pol is a fine example of early Gothic -architecture, noble in proportions, rich in carving and sombre in -colour, the dark green Kersanton stone giving a fine effect to the -interior, in which some white-robed nuns are generally to be seen on -their knees. The nave is thirteenth-century work, there is some florid -carving on the south porch, and a fine rose window; above are two -towers, with lofty lancet windows, and spires which remind us of -churches in Normandy. - -But the spire of Notre Dame de Creizker—literally, “Our Lady of the -Middle Town”—which is higher than the cathedral towers, is the most -interesting object in St. Pol; the central point round which the lives -of the Léonnais radiate, a landmark seen far and wide by land and sea. -This spire, built in the fourteenth century, in the reign of John IV., -Duke of Brittany, is supposed to be the work of an English architect. -The tower is of granite, richly ornamented with a projecting cornice, -and its spire is pierced through to the sky. The beauty and magnificence -of the churches of St. Pol de Léon are out of all proportion to the -present importance—or unimportance—of the place. The inhabitants have -little sympathy with the art of the sixteenth century, or with the -Druidical remains they find in their fields, but they welcome travellers -gladly in the nineteenth. - -It is a wide plain round about St. Pol, from which the Gothic spires -seem to reach to heaven, and where a human figure, standing in a field, -points upwards with strange emphasis against the sky; a district peopled -by classic-looking market gardeners, whose children walk in groves of -cabbages five feet high, and play at hide and seek in their shadows. - -[Illustration: GURGOYLE AT ROSCOFF.] - -Three miles north of St. Pol is the little sea-port of Roscoff, -historically interesting as the landing-place of the child princess Mary -Queen of Scots, who passed through Roscoff on her way to Nantes in 1548. -There are the ruins of a chapel founded by her, still standing on the -seashore; in the church, with its open belfry tower, are some curious -alabaster reliefs; and in the neighbourhood, in a convent garden, is a -gigantic fig-tree, said to be two centuries old. Roscoff is now used as -a bathing-place, and there is a constant passing to and fro in summer -between this port and a little island three miles farther north, the Île -de Batz, where a hardy population of fishermen and women ply their -dangerous trade, with hardly any communication with the shore in winter. -It is almost worth while to cross to the Île de Batz to see the -“Druidesses,” as the women of the island are called, assembling on -Sundays in their island church; and it might be worth while for a -painter to make a longer stay in this neighbourhood, to make studies (if -only for colour) of some of the curious figures to be seen in such -out-of-the-way corners as Roscoff. Here is one of an old man with long -hair and semi-nautical aspect, who sits in the evening on a stone seat -in front of the cottage which he owns, facing the sea; a poor man to -outward appearance, but an owner of the soil; his face is screwed and -weather-worn, his clothes are patched in various shades of brown; his -blouse is of a dark and greasy tinge; his working life has been spent in -the fields or down at the port, but his final cause is undoubtedly to -smoke; he has coloured by degrees, like a good old pipe, and his sabots -have caught the true meerschaum tinge; he has smouldered at Roscoff for -many years, and seems ready for burning, stacked against the wall like -the fagots collected for winter fires. There is no difficulty in making -a sketch, for this rich-toned “owner of the soil” of Finistère has a -perfect contempt for strangers, and is as immovable as the gurgoyle -sketched on the preceding page. - -[Illustration] - -Let us now turn westward in the direction of Lesneven and Le Folgoet, to -see one of the finest churches in Finistère. There are two roads to -Lesneven, of which we would recommend the traveller to take the one to -the north, near the sea. The country is for the most part dreary in -aspect, but there are some curious wayside crosses on the route. There -are a few fields of buckwheat, corn, and rye, banked up by high hedges, -and skirted by pollard trees. It is one of those drives which should be -taken leisurely by the antiquary or the archæologist; a route where -there is little to remind us of the present, and much to bring before us -the habits of the past. Every monument we pass on the road, every hovel -at the roadside, and nearly every peasant in the fields, is of the -pattern of a past age. - -[Illustration] - -As we skirt these quiet shores of northern Finistère, we may listen for -a moment to a story just five hundred years old, a story that every -Breton peasant that we pass on the road knows by heart: how a poor idiot -named Salaun, who lived in the neighbourhood of Lesneven for forty -years, and begged for his bread in the name of the Virgin, uttering only -the words, “Ave Maria,” was found dead by a fountain and buried on the -spot; how a white lily grew upon his grave, with the words, “Ave Maria,” -inscribed upon the leaves; and how John of Blois, then fighting for the -dukedom of Brittany, hearing of the “miracle,” vowed that, if successful -in battle, he would erect a church to Notre Dame de Folgoet, _i.e._ -“Fool of the Wood.” - -[Illustration: IN THE CHURCH OF LE FOLGOET.] - -The church was completed by his son, John V., about 1420. It was built -like most of the churches and monuments of Finistère, of the dark -Kersanton stone found near St. Pol de Léon, and at the village of -Kersanton, near Brest. The church consists of a lofty nave and aisles -under one roof, with a long projecting transept on the south side. The -great beauty of the church is in its carving, that on the south porch -being perhaps the finest. The great west door, now falling into ruin, is -elaborately ornamented with wreaths of the vine and other devices, and -above it is a bas-relief representing the Nativity and the Adoration of -the Shepherds. In the beautiful south porch, which is supposed to have -been added by the Queen-Duchess Anne, are the arms of Brittany and -figures of the twelve apostles in niches, and round its roof are traces -of a richly carved parapet. In the interior there are five altars, with -carved figures of angels, birds, and flowers; and on the rood-loft, -between the choir and nave, supported upon elaborately carved pillars, -is some open tracery cut in stone, in good preservation. There is a fine -rose window, as at St. Pol de Léon. - -The spring, or Fool’s Well, is under the high-altar, and the water flows -into a basin _outside_ the church. It is here that the sick and needy -come and kneel before a statue of Our Lady set in a Gothic niche, and -bathe their limbs in the water of the miraculous well; a retired spot, -where, at all hours of the day, peasants are to be found on their knees -in prayer. - -We have given but slight descriptions of the churches of St. Pol de Léon -and Le Folgoet, but enough to indicate that here at least the traveller -will be rewarded for going out of the beaten track, and that in -Brittany, owing to the wonderful durability of the Kersanton stone, we -can still see the handwork and judge of the skill of the sculptors of -the fourteenth century. - -The church of Le Folgoet stands, as guide-books tell us, on “a silent -spot, unvisited save on certain festivals, and removed a mile and a half -from any town.” We find it the centre of a tumult impossible to -describe. There is a large horse-fair being held, which has collected a -crowd almost equal to that at Carhaix; but here there is more variety in -the costume of the men, the red Phrygian caps and sashes lighting up the -crowd with unusual colour. It is a scene strangely in contrast with the -quiet of the cathedral, where under its cool arcades men are kneeling, -whip in hand; they have come to pray for a special blessing from St. -Cornély, the patron saint of cattle. - -The men, in light canvas trousers and blue jerseys, standing on the left -in the picture of the fair, are horse dealers and agents for the -government, who attend every cattle fair and market throughout the -country. The men on the right, watching a horse being trotted out, are -thoroughly characteristic figures, portraits of well-to-do Breton -farmers and dealers. - -The boy on the horse is a good example of the Breton _gamin_, or -hanger-on at fairs, who trots out the horses with untiring energy, and -with a freedom and grace of limb delightful to behold. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: HORSE FAIR AT LE FOLGOET.] - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - BREST—PLOUGASTEL—CHÂTEAUNEUF DU FAOU. - - -[Illustration] - -At Landerneau we are once more on the high-road to Brest. We have left -for a time the dreary wind-blown promontories of the coast, and find -shelter in a pleasant valley, surrounded by trees and gardens, and -watered by a river which opens out westward into the bay of Brest. - -The railway from Landerneau to Brest is carried for the most part at a -high level, and from the windows on the _left hand_ we obtain beautiful -views of the scenery of the bay. Below we can see the stores of timber -for naval use, and are otherwise reminded of our approach to a sea-port -by the company which collect at the small stations _en route_. In the -crowded carriage are old weather-beaten fishermen and countrywomen with -market baskets, and, in one corner, two boys with fair fresh faces, set -in wide straw hats, bearing upon them the inscriptions of _Vulcan_ and -_Vengeance_. - -Brest is a naval station of such importance that even travellers in -search of the picturesque should not pass it by without a short visit; -the arsenal, docks, and harbour are on a scale of completeness second -only to Cherbourg; moreover, Brest is the most convenient point from -which to visit other parts of the coast of Finistère, especially the -fishing village of Le Conquet, the abbey of St. Mathieu on the extreme -western point of Brittany, and the island of Ouëssant. Brest is situated -on an elevated position on the north side of one of the finest natural -harbours in the world, commanding good views from its ramparts and -promenades. The population is about 70,000, exclusive of soldiers and -sailors; a busy cosmopolitan maritime city, in which there is little of -the Breton character to be studied. - -[Illustration] - -In order to realise the beauty of the inland bay of Brest, we must look -down again from our imaginary _ballon captif_, and see its blue waters, -green banks and woods coming down to the water’s edge; the country -dotted with white villas and little wooden châlets belonging to the -wealthy traders of Brest, and here and there the sombre avenues of a -château with grey, high-pitched roofs and pointed turrets peeping -through the trees. - -Across this inland sea, traversed by little steamers and dotted with -white sails—raised high upon the heath-clad hills which form the western -spur of the Monts d’Arrée—is the little town of Plougastel. - -It is too late to cross the bay on the occasion of our visit to -Plougastel, and so we take the last train to Kerhuon station, where -there is a ferry. A vessel has just been paid off at Brest, and in the -railway carriage are several sailors on their way home. One of them gets -out with us at Kerhuon, and we go down together to the river. By some -mischance the ferry-boat is missing, and all is darkness at the little -boathouse. The young sailor, ready at expedients, puts down his pack, -collects some furze, and lights a fire as a signal. We sit and wait and -shout at intervals, burning the fuel until just about midnight, when we -hear the plash of oars, and a dark object glides past; it is a -fishing-boat with one mast, with three men in the stern, and two women -rowing. After a little parleying they agree to take us across for thirty -centimes each, and the women turn the boat round, running it heavily -against the stones of the causeway. We get in quickly and stand in the -bows, whilst we silently cross the Landerneau river. It is a strange, -mysterious boat-load; not a word is uttered, there is no sound but the -heavy plodding and working of the oars, and the night is so dark we -cannot see the faces of the men or the nature of the packages that weigh -down the stern. The moon, rising through the clouds, just illumines the -darkness as we near the shore; it shines on the smooth, wet mast, on the -waterproof hat of the marine standing up in the boat, and reveals close -to us the strong, stout arms of a girl, bared to the shoulder, her head -concealed in a dark, tight-fitting headdress, with lappets like an -Egyptian sphynx; the head is raised for a moment, and eyes are turned -upon us as we leave, but no word is uttered, scarcely a “Bon soir!” as -the boat drifts away into the night. - -The moon shines as we ascend the hill—winding up a path between great -rocks and under the shadow of stunted trees, to Plougastel—revealing a -poor-looking town of plain stone houses, silent and deserted at this -midnight hour. At a corner of two streets our companion points out the -inn and takes leave, having to go to his home at the further end of the -town. We knock for admittance, but without avail; heads are put out of -various windows, but the answer is that every house is crowded, for -“to-morrow is the fête”; and, truth to tell, curses are heaped upon the -strangers for disturbing the dogs, who begin to howl as they trot by on -their midnight errands. There is nothing to be done until daybreak, and -so the night is spent in the open air. - -We have come to Plougastel to see the people, and also its famous -calvary, which stands in the middle of a desolate churchyard strewn with -newly cut stone. As the day begins to dawn, we make our way to the -church, and to the spot where we can just discern the calvary, with its -carved figures standing darkly against the sky. There is a flutter at -our approach, for birds have been nestling behind the headless horsemen, -and sheltering in the nooks and corners of the ancient pile. We leave -them to silence a little longer, and stroll out to the highest ground to -see the sun rise. Soon there is a streak of light from the east, which -gives shape and outline to the church tower and the grey roofs of -Plougastel, and, as we reach the high ground outside the town, the -landscape southward is lighting in the morning sun; we see cultivated -valleys and parklike views, with pleasant green slopes leading down to -the sea. But beautiful as is the foreground, with its undulating green, -interspersed with granite boulders, with dew upon gossamer webs and -little clouds of vapour stealing between clumps of grass, the view -across the bay, where the distant headlands (indicated on the map -overleaf) take a pearly tinge, is the best sight of all. A little -northward and westward are the masts, chimneys, and church spires, and -the smoke and steam, of Brest, for the morning is breaking over a busy -scene at the arsenal and dockyards; but here, as the sun shines out, the -sound in the long grass are of grasshoppers, birds, and bees. - -It is the morning of the fête; the thrush clears his throat, and so do -the peasants in their own way, as they come slowly up the hill. Let us -leave the view and go into the streets of Plougastel, which are already -alive with people, some of whom might be the descendants of Eastern -races, wearing Egyptian or Phrygian headdresses, caps from Albania, -embroideries from Greece, and sashes from Arabia. Here, then, for the -first time in our travels, we find colour predominating in the costumes -of the people. Some of the women wear close-fitting dark green caps -embroidered with gold thread, their dark skirts also bordered with -embroideries or stripes of colour; some wear white stockings and -neat-fitting, red or black, slippers or shoes. But the prevailing -headdress of the women is the white cambric _coiffe_ with large side -lappets and wide collars which we see elsewhere in Finistère; the men -have broad-brimmed hats with embroidered strings or ribbons. Some of the -men who come from the south wear striped trousers with a red sash, and -spare blue jacket with numerous silver buttons, as in the sketch -opposite. Some are dressed entirely in blue cloth or serge, with sashes -and red caps, but others have broad white trousers and belts, their -jackets and blouses embroidered on the shoulders and sleeves. There is -colour everywhere, subdued by the dark blue of blouses and the sober -brown and green stuff gowns of the older women. - -[Illustration] - -It is said that the people of Plougastel, preserving their old costumes -and traditions, still live much apart from their neighbours; a life half -seafaring, half agricultural, whose origin is traced to some early -immigration of Eastern races. By ten o’clock hundreds of people have -come in from the neighbouring villages, and as they all crowd together -at the church door and in the square round the calvary, we see the -strangest medley of costumes in all Brittany. They collect round the -calvary, some praying, some quarrelling or bargaining for small wares; a -general place of rendezvous on fête-days, especially on the 24th of June -(the Feast of St. Jean, called the “Pardon of Birds”), when a large -number of birds are offered for sale. This is a good day to see the -costumes of the peasants, to hear their songs, and to see the dances in -the streets of Plougastel. - -The calvary was erected about the year 1602, and some of the figures are -as sharp and clear as if carved yesterday; some are headless, and -otherwise injured or destroyed. Around the three elevated crosses are a -series of bas-reliefs, full-length figures cut in Kersanton stone, -depicting various incidents in New Testament history—the Entry into -Jerusalem, Christ teaching among the Doctors, the Offerings of the Magi, -the Baptism of St. John, the Entombment, &c. On the south side is a -representation of the Bearing of the Cross, on the north is the Judgment -of Pilate, and so on. Some of the figures are very expressive, some have -a certain quaintness and humour, and here and there we detect the same -anachronisms in costume as at St. Thégonnec, where the Breton costume is -introduced. - -Altogether we must regard the calvary of Plougastel as a curiosity -rather than as a great work of art; a grotesque group which, in its dark -rugged outline set against the sky, will be remembered by travellers as -something peculiar to Brittany, something which, in this land of strange -mediæval monuments and relics, is yet perhaps the strangest sight of -all.[6] - -Footnote 6: - - See sketch of a calvary on page 91. - -Returning to Daoulas, we join the high-road between Landerneau and -Quimper, and pass southwards along the inland shores of the bay of Brest -to Châteaulin. As travellers speed through this district by railway, -they get glimpses, on the left hand, of the forest of Guimerch, and on -the right, through the tree-tops, of inlets of the bay, and of the -ancient little town of Le Faou, lying as it were at their feet. - -On the railway we pass over an estuary at a great elevation, and on a -greater part of the route to Châteaulin are on the spurs of the Monts -d’Arrée. Travellers from Brest to Quimper should not be deterred from -stopping at Châteaulin by the one line devoted to it in guide-books, -viz. “a dirty little town in parklike scenery, with no good inns.” - -[Illustration] - -The shores of the bay of Brest and the bay of Douarnenez are districts -to be lingered in when the sun shines, for the days are really few when -we may see the country to advantage. The luxuriance of foliage on the -hills, the height of the grasses, the deep green in the valleys, and the -enormous umbrellas carried by the peasants, should remind us that fine -days are few. - -Châteaulin is crowded once a year to visit the Pardon of Ste. Anne la -Palue, a ceremony that generally takes place on the last Sunday in -August. The modern chapel of Ste. Anne stands alone upon high ground, -overlooking the bay of Douarnenez, near Plonévez-Porsay, a small village -about eight miles west of Châteaulin. Crowds of people come from Brest -by boat, and every road and pathway leading to the chapel is lined with -people on the morning of the Pardon. The ceremonies are nearly the same -as at Guingamp and at Ste. Anne d’Auray, but the camping-out of the -people on the hillside above the sea (sometimes 10,000 in number), the -processions of pilgrims, bare-footed, to the Holy Well of Ste. Anne, and -other customs, are more curious than any to be seen elsewhere. - -It is at the Pardon of Ste. Anne la Palue that the ceremonies of the -church are rendered most picturesque from the surroundings, and where a -greater variety of the ancient costumes of Cornouaille are to be seen. -The trinkets, rosaries, and ribbons which are blessed and sold to the -peasants are a modern importation from Angers or Lyons, but the -embroidery round the dress of a beggar woman may be rare in colour and -design. Nowhere else, excepting at Plougastel, shall we see such -embroidered caps and bodices; nowhere, not even at Auray, such bronzed -and wrinkled human creatures. - -The procession of the priests and people takes place on Saturday, about -three in the afternoon, when the banner of Ste. Anne la Palue is carried -across the hills by girls dressed in crimson, gold-embroidered robes, -with scarves of silver thread and headdresses of lace and tissue of -gold. - -These are pictures in sunshine which are rare at Pardon times, and of -summer nights when camping under tents is no hardship; but what must the -scene be at Ste. Anne la Palue in storm and rain, when thousands of -pilgrims, old and young, have no shelter, when all colour and brightness -has vanished, and the wind sweeps over the hills? - -Let us now turn inland a few miles, following the course of the Canal de -Brest, to Châteauneuf du Faou, a small town where Mr. Caldecott made -sketches at a Pardon which was held in the rain. This visit, made in -1874, will be best described in the artist’s own words:— - -“The courier for Châteauneuf du Faou left Châteaulin at 3 A.M. So we -hire a phaeton, and proceed up the hilly road towards Pleyben. On the -left is a beautiful vale with a pretty village by the side of the river -which runs towards Brest. The scenery is like the borders of Wales, and -the weather like that of Scotland; but the clean, elderly girls coming -down the road are like themselves only. - -[Illustration: GOING TO THE PARDON AT CHÂTEAUNEUF DU FAOU.] - -[Illustration] - -“We reach Pleyben in about two hours, a small deserted-looking town with -a wide _Place_, at one end of which is a curious calvary (date 1670) -undergoing repair, and an old church, partly Gothic, partly Renaissance. -The painted window over the altar is apparently old, but part is -replaced by plain glass. The ceiling is blue with gold stars, and there -are large painted effigies of the apostles in the porch. - -“In about two hours after leaving Pleyben, the phaeton rattles into the -little town of Châteauneuf du Faou, knocking about the umbrellas of the -people crowding the streets on the occasion of a pardon. The Hôtel du -Midi, where we put up, is at the farther end of the town, and is -conducted in a simple manner. Ladies would not like its arrangements. -Several inhabitants, and a visitor or two, dine at the table d’hôte, but -all are unable to carve a duck except the English visitor, who is -accordingly put down as a cook. There is music in the streets, and the -town is full of people, some of whom dance a kind of quadrille, called -the ‘gavotte,’ in the market-hall; others attend a large booth to see -acrobatic and other performances. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -“The next day is still wet, and there are many people again in the -streets, some from far away. The races come off on the high-road. I go -to see the finish of one; four horses, strong and about fourteen hands -high, gallop up a hilly length of a high-road; a pink, a red, a yellow, -and a green and white jacket, dash by with a flourish of gaily tied up -tails. I join the admiring crowd which encircles the winner, and we all -go in procession to the Hôtel de Ville. I notice as the rider dismounts -and enters the building to receive the prize (twenty francs) that he -uses no saddle, wears his usual trousers, and has his coloured cap and -jacket made of calico. - -“In the large timber-built market-hall is a vast crowd of extensively -linened, many-buttoned men—some with rosettes, the stewards of the -fête—joined hand in hand in one long serpentine line with clean, -red-faced, large-capped, big-collared girls. They jig along the earthen -floor in shoes, clogs, and sabots to the music of a flageolet and a -bag-pipe, varied by an occasional few bars of the voice. This is called -the ‘gavotte,’ as the waitress of the hôtel, who is dancing, informs me. -A farmer in blouse, with a collar (sketched overleaf), beats time with -his sabots. One soldier, two town bonnets, and a few gendarmes relieve -the costume of the peasants, which is, however, full of variety.” - -[Illustration] - -The Breton _ronde_ or round dance, of which the gavotte is a good -example, is one of the most characteristic scenes to be witnessed in -Brittany. At nearly every fête and gathering—in the streets, in the -fields, or in the town-hall—we see the peasants dancing the gavotte, the -musicians being generally two, one with the ancient Armorican bag-pipe -(_biniou_), the other with a flageolet. Frequently, as in the sketch, -one of the musicians puts down his instrument to sing. - -[Illustration] - -The dancers keep good time, going through a variety of figures, but -always returning to the _ronde_, dancing together, hand in hand, with -great precision and animation, and a certain kind of grace. The gravity -of manner and the downward look of the women in certain figures, as they -advance and retire with hands down, give a peculiar quaintness to the -gavotte, which, apparently rollicking and unrestrained, is, in fact, -orderly and regular in every movement. The circular motion of the -dancers, now revolving in several circles, now in one _grande ronde_, is -traced by M. Emile Souvestre, and other writers, to Druidic origin and -the movements of the stars. - -[Illustration] - -But as the dancers come swinging down the centre of the hall, hand in -hand, now meeting, now parting; as fresh couples join and others fall -into the rear; as we hear the measured tread and the voices which never -seem to tire, we should be content to describe the “gavotte” as a good -old country dance of singular animation and picturesqueness; a scene of -jollity and at the same time of good order, of which the sketch gives an -admirable idea. - -[Illustration] - -There is one figure dressed in the latest fashion of Quimper, who is -looked upon with doubtful admiration by the other dancers, but who will -serve to remind us that distinctive costume, even in these -out-of-the-way places, is a flickering flame, and that in a few years -such scenes as the above will have lost their character. - -We give a few bars of a favourite air, played with great spirit, which -seemed to give the performers intense enjoyment, for they returned to it -again and again. - -[Illustration] - -At dusk oil lamps are lighted, a crowd fills the hall, and, when far -away down the wet streets of Châteauneuf du Faou, we can see the steam -rising between the rafters and hear the clatter of the dancers. - -[Illustration] - -Four years later, on the 8th of August 1878, we arrive on a quiet, -sultry evening at the same little inn at Châteauneuf. There is no one in -the house but two little children and some fowls, and the streets are -silent and almost deserted; but at a little distance from the inn we -hear the heavy thud of flails, and going up a little green pathway -across the road, where a grey cloud of dust rises between the trees, we -come upon a scene of energy and determination which defies description. -It is the last evening for threshing out a little patch of corn, and the -whole strength of the establishment has been enlisted in the service, -including the waiter, _chef de cuisine_, stable-boy, a farm labourer, -and one or two professional “batteurs”; four on one side, five on the -other, swinging and letting fall their heavy flails in turn, close to -each others’ heads, with a precision and desperate energy wonderful to -behold. Mr. Caldecott’s sketches, taken at the moment, in a cloud of -dust, bring the scene before us most vividly; the _garçon_ of the inn, -the second in the row, all energy and excitement, putting his face into -his work so to speak, urging on the rest by shouts and gestures, but -still keeping steady time with his flail; opposite to him, last but one, -is “Madame,” her face tied tightly over with a veil, as a protection -from the dust; and, last in the line, the _chef de cuisine_, working as -hard as the rest. - -In the second sketch the leaders have changed position, the pace is -quickened, and, from where we stand, the flails seem to fly dangerously -close to the heads of the women. But no one flinches, and the strokes -come down together as if from two operators instead of nine. - -The grain is beaten out wastefully on the ground, and gathered into -sacks by two old women, who put the straw afterwards into the pillows of -the Hôtel du Midi. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - QUIMPER—PONT L’ABBÉ—AUDIERNE—DOUARNENEZ. - - -[Illustration] - -In the fruitful valley of the Odet and the Steir, where two rivers join -in their southern course to the sea, there rise the beautiful spires of -Quimper, the present capital of Finistère; a town containing about -13,000 inhabitants, now the centre of the commerce and industry of -southern Finistère, and, it may be added, the most pleasant -resting-place on our travels. If we approach Quimper for the first time -by road over the hills, we shall form the best idea of the beauty of its -situation and of the picturesqueness of its buildings. The first -impression of the traveller who arrives by train, and is hurried in an -omnibus along the straight quays lined with trees, to the Hôtel de -l’Épée, on the right bank of the river Odet, is one of slight -disappointment at the modern aspect of the town; but let him glance for -one moment from above out of one of the back windows of the inn (opened -for him by the bright-faced maiden sketched on page 104), and the view -of old roofs and cathedral towers will reassure his mind that neither in -architecture nor in costume is this city likely to be wanting in -interest. Quimper, the ancient capital of Cornouaille, with its warlike -and romantic history of the middle ages, the centre of historic -associations in the times of the War of the Succession, preserves many -landmarks and monuments that will interest the traveller and the -antiquarian. The fine Gothic cathedral has a richly sculptured porch -with foliated carving of the fourteenth century, such as we saw at Le -Folgoet. Above and between the two towers is an equestrian statue of the -somewhat mythical King Gradlon, who held a court at Kemper in the fifth -century, whose prowess is recorded in the early chronicles of Brittany, -and in the romances of the Round Table. The episode of his hunting in -the neighbouring forests, being miraculously fed by one Corentin, a -hermit, and finally converted to Christianity, is recorded continually -in song and story; and from this incident (related by Souvestre and sung -by Brizeux) dates the foundation of the ancient bishopric of St. -Corentin. The statue, like nearly every monument in Brittany, was partly -destroyed during the Revolution in 1793. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -In spite of railways, telegraphs, and newspapers, and the bustle of -commerce that fills the streets and market of Quimper, some of the -inhabitants of the neighbouring valleys find time, on St. Cecilia’s Day, -to perform a pilgrimage to the cathedral and to sing songs in honour of -St. Corentin. Thus we see how lovingly conservative Brittany clings to -its monuments and legends, and how its people still dwell in the past. -The story of King Gradlon may be a myth, but, like all legends and -traditions, it has its origin in fact; and we who are not historians may -be fascinated with the thought that the battered horseman, the object of -so much interest to pilgrims in the past and to tourists in the present, -is a link in a chain of facts, pointing backwards to a far-off time -when, a little westward of the site of the present city of Quimper, on a -promontory near Pont Croix, stood the ancient Celtic city of Is, remains -of which are to be found to this day upon the shore. - -The cathedral of Quimper was founded in the thirteenth century, but was -principally built in the fourteenth and fifteenth. It has no very -remarkable architectural features, but there is a grandeur in the lofty -aspect of the interior, lighted by some fine stained glass, which leaves -an impression of beauty on the mind. It is the centre and rallying-point -for all the country round, the home of Catholicism, the “one church” to -the inhabitants of Finistère. No picture of the wide _Place_ by the -river, where the great gatherings take place on fête-days, and where so -many curious costumes are to be seen together, is complete without the -two modern spires of the cathedral rearing high above the town. The -procession of people passing up the wide street on a Sunday morning -leading to its doors—a dense mass of figures, fringed with white caps, -like foam on a heaving sea, the figures framed by projecting gables -nearly meeting overhead—forms another picture which has also for its -background the two noble spires.[7] The old houses in the market-place -in the cathedral square, and the old inn, the Hôtel du Lion d’Or (this -last well worthy of a sketch), are overshadowed by the pile. The people -that come in by the old-fashioned diligences and the country carts and -waggons go straight to the cathedral on arrival in the square. - -Footnote 7: - - We believe it was to M. Viollet Le Duc, whose architectural taste and - energy are so well known in France, that the completion of these - towers is principally due. - -[Illustration] - -The interior of the cathedral, which is the largest in Brittany, is very -striking; there is a handsome chapel dedicated to Ste. Anne, the patron -saint of Brittany, to St. Roch, and other saints. There is high-mass at -half past ten, and a sermon by an ancient ecclesiastic preached from the -handsome carved pulpit in the nave. It is an eloquent discourse, -apparently, for along the aisles and between the pillars -familiar-sounding phrases are poured fluent and fast. But the dense -crowd of men and women with upturned faces on the pavement near the door -can hear little of what is passing; the words take an upward curve of -sound, and are heard more distinctly by the spiders and the flies. The -loss may not have been great if we take the testimony of a writer[8] in -1877, who says:—“I attended mass one morning at Quimper, and the -following is the substance of a sermon preached to a large and attentive -congregation mostly of working men and women: ‘There are three duties,’ -said the preacher, ‘imposed by the church on the faithful: first, to -confess at least once a year; secondly, to confess in one’s own parish; -thirdly, to confess within the fifteen days of Easter.’ The omission of -the first of these is regarded by the church as a sin of such gravity -that it is condemned to be punished by the withholding of Christian -burial. Not one word, throughout a long discourse to simple, devout, -careworn peasant folk, of moral teaching, religious counsel, or -brotherly love!” - -Footnote 8: - - _A Year in Western France_, by M. Betham-Edwards. - -[Illustration] - -In some of the chapels there are services during the day, and there is a -continual movement of white caps in and out of the confessionals; and, -occasionally during the day, some poor, weather-worn man is doing -penance, going round and round the cathedral on his knees, making a -curious slouching sound on the pavement (as grotesque a figure as -sketched on page 106). He is dressed in rags, and carries his sabots -under his arm during his long journey; thus, several times round the -pavement, dragging his weary limbs and—according to the enormity of his -sins—paying his sous as he goes. - -The character of the people of this part of Cornouaille seems less -reserved, and there is a gay, genial aspect about them which is -refreshing when coming from the north. The bright face and figure of the -girl whose portrait Mr. Caldecott has caught exactly is one of a flutter -of five, who wait at table at the Hôtel de l’Épée in the costume of the -country, which, by the way, is worn here for the especial benefit of -travellers. It is probable that every one of these bright-faced women -would discard it to-morrow if they had the chance (as their mistress and -her children have done); but there is still plenty of local costume to -be seen in Quimper. We have only to go out into the gardens, to visit -the farms, by-roads, and lanes, and we shall come upon some of the most -picturesque scenes in our travels. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -In the corner of a field just outside the town, where a lively -discussion is going forward between a farm labourer and three girls at a -well, there is a picture which for colour alone is worth remembering. It -is one of those everyday scenes in which costume and the surrounding -landscape harmonise delightfully. We give few sketches of architecture -because photographs of the best examples may always be obtained, -preferring rather to give the life of the people. There are more figure -subjects in the streets of Quimper than there is time to note. Thus, for -instance, as we pass through a poor, dirty suburb at the lower end of -the town, a woman comes to the door of a dark dwelling, and gives alms -to a professional beggar, so grotesque and terrible in aspect that he -hardly seems human; but the woman standing at the stone doorway wears a -costume that might have been copied from an Elizabethan missal. She -gives, as every one gives, to the poor in Brittany, but her husband’s -small wages at the pottery works hard by leave little margin for -charity, and he will want all his spare money at this time of year for -the fêtes. The fêtes are an occasion for universal feasting and -rejoicing, in which the drinking propensities of the holiday makers are -only too apparent in the streets, leading in the evening, sometimes, to -domestic interviews like the one sketched below. - -[Illustration] - -At the time of the Fête of the Assumption there is a crowd at Quimper -from all parts of Finistère, and there is an amount of festivity which -must be bewildering to the quiet inhabitants; it is then that we may see -sometimes in the streets the splendid type of Breton woman sketched at -the head of this chapter, and, by contrast, some others much more -grotesque. - -But perhaps the most interesting group of all, and the most complete and -characteristic of Mr. Caldecott’s sketches, is the one which forms the -frontispiece to this volume—a scene in a _cabaret_, or wineshop, where -the farmers who have come in to market, whose carts we may see on the -cathedral square, meet and discuss the topics of the day, amongst which, -after the state of trade and the crops, the term of Marshal McMahon’s -government and the results of the annual levy of “les conscrits” are -uppermost. Soon after harvest-time, generally early in September, the -annual levy of reserves for the army takes place, and Quimper, being the -centre of a populous district, is the rallying-point for lower -Finistère. - -[Illustration] - -It is the nearest approach to an open political discussion that we may -witness on our travels, and a good opportunity to see the conservative -Breton farmer, the “owner of the soil,” one who troubles himself little -about “politics” in the true sense of the word, and is scarcely a match -in argument for the more advanced republican trader and manufacturer of -Quimper, but who, from hereditary instinct, if from no other motive, is -generally an upholder of legitimist doctrines and a royalist at heart. - -Seated on the carved oak bench on the left is a young Breton clodhopper -or farm help, whose ill-luck it has been to be drawn this year; who -leaves his farm with regret—a home where he worked from sunrise to -sunset for two francs a week, living on coarse food and lodging in the -dark with the pigs. As he sits and listens with perplexed attention to -the principal speaker, and others gather round in the common room to -hear the oracle, we have a picture which tells its story with singular -eloquence, and presents to us the common everyday life of the people of -lower Brittany with a truthfulness and vivacity seldom, if ever, -exceeded. The only bright colour in the picture is in the red sashes of -the men and in one or two small ornaments worn by the women. - -[Illustration] - -Other scenes should be recorded if only to show, by way of contrast, -that Quimper is very like other parts of France. At one of the _lycées_ -the annual prize-giving is going forward, and there is a fashionable -gathering, in which military uniforms are prominent. It is an -opportunity for seeing some of the _élite_ of Quimper both on the -platform and in the crowded hall, and a great chance for a sketch. The -boys come up one by one, and stand on a raised platform to be decorated -with a paper wreath, to receive a book and a salutation on both cheeks. -It is interesting to note that, before joining his applauding friends in -the hall, the boy takes off his wreath and throws it away. There is -scarcely a Breton costume in the hall. - -[Illustration] - -In Quimper we are in a pleasant valley, surrounded by gardens, orchards, -and fields, and sheltered from the wind by clustering woods. The sun -shines so warmly here that it is difficult to realise that a few miles -to the west and south there are stretches of broad moorland leading to -the boldest coast on the west of France. It is true that the people that -come in from Pont l’Abbé, Audierne, and Douarnenez bear the impress of a -seafaring life, and are different in style and costume to any that we -have yet seen. - -It is worth while for every one who stays in Quimper to see something of -the coast, and to make a tour of at least two or three days to Pont -l’Abbé, Penmarc’h, Pont Croix, the Pointe du Raz, and Douarnenez. In -this short journey the traveller will see some of the finest coast -scenery in Brittany, and people differing in character and costume from -other parts of Finistère; a hardy fishing population, tempted to dangers -and hardships by the riches to be found in the sea. - -If the scenery which we have passed through on our way to Quimper -resembled Wales, the district west of Quimper will remind us of -Cornwall. We are, in fact, on the extreme edge of Brittany, -corresponding to the Cornwall of England, _Cornouaille_, the _Cornn -Galliæ_ of the ancients, a dangerous, storm-blown coast, wild, desolate, -and picturesque. We may go down the river from Quimper to Pont l’Abbé, -or a shorter route by road a distance of twelve miles, the first part -over hills and through cultivated lands, in the latter part over wide -moorland, covered with gorse and edged with pines. This is a beautiful -drive, but, to judge of the quiet, almost mediæval stillness of Pont -l’Abbé, it should be approached by water on a summer’s evening, when, -after a long and sometimes rather boisterous passage from the mouth of -the river Odet, the little fishing-boat is rowed up the Pont l’Abbé -river under the tower of its ancient castle. On the left, before -entering the river, the little port of Loctudy is passed, where there is -an ancient Romanesque church, well preserved, said to have been built by -the Knights Templars in the twelfth century. - -[Illustration] - -Pont l’Abbé with its dull, straight streets and deserted-looking houses, -has no striking architectural features; but the costumes of the people -are altogether unique in Brittany, and the interiors of their dwellings -are as quaint and curious as any painter would desire. The women wear -close-fitting caps of red or green, embroidered with gold thread, the -hair being turned up at the back and fastened at the top; they wear -skirts of blue or green with a border of yellow, and the men, short blue -jackets and sashes. - -In Pont l’Abbé we may see, what is so rare in these days, an old street -in which the costume of the people harmonises with the date of the -buildings, and in which the quiet of a past century seems never to have -been disturbed. Walk down a narrow grass-grown street to the open square -above the river, at the end of which is the western porch of the fine -church of Pont l’Abbé, and the only two figures visible in the afternoon -are a girl carrying a basket coming from the Carmelite convent, and a -priest in black robes crossing the square. The church and convent were -founded in 1383, and there is little here to mark the passage of years. -The church has been completed and beautified since those early times, -and afterwards wrecked by the Revolution; but the aspect of the square -and of the cloisters of the convent are little altered. The interior of -the church is remarkable for the grace and lightness of its pillars, and -for the richness of its stained glass; the rose windows are said to -rival in beauty those of Rouen. Notwithstanding that the church has but -one aisle, that the ceiling is now painted blue, and that the carvings -in stone and wood are sadly mutilated, it is an architectural monument -of great interest. - -[Illustration] - -Six miles south-west of Pont l’Abbé, across a dreary, marshy plain is -the poor fishing town of Penmarc’h, built upon the dark rocks that form -a barrier against the sea, on one of the wildest promontories of -Cornouaille; a city whose riches in the fifteenth century were so great -that, according to historians, “she could equip her three thousand -men-at-arms, and shelter behind her jetties a fleet of eight hundred -craft.” The original prosperity of Penmarc’h arose from the -cod-fisheries, which were the source of immense wealth before the -discovery of Newfoundland. The history of its invasion by the English in -1404, and the disasters in the sixteenth century, when the town was -partly destroyed by an inroad of the sea, and afterwards sacked by Guy -Eder Fontenelle at the time of the Wars of the League, is one of the -most romantic and terrible in the history of Brittany. It is a place to -see if only to mark the traces of this wonderful city, once containing -10,000 inhabitants. A few ruined towers and the foundations of streets -mark the site of the ancient city, which is now inhabited by a scattered -fishing population numbering in all about 2000, the men braving the -elements in their little fishing-boats, the women and children -collecting seaweed and tilling the poor soil. There is a mass of rocks -separated from the land, called the Torche de Penmarc’h, which all -visitors are taken to see, and where the waves break upon the shore with -the sound of thunder. - -We have said little of the ruins of the church of St. Guénolé and of the -parish church of Ste. Nonna at Penmarc’h, with its stained glass and -quaint stone carving, or of other relics of the ancient city, because in -nearly every town in Cornouaille there is some object of interest to -examine. Antiquarian travellers should stay at the Hôtel des Voyageurs -at Pont l’Abbé, where they will be very comfortably housed, and can -explore this district, interesting not only for the historic -associations connected with Penmarc’h, but for Druidical remains which -the winds of the Atlantic are laying bare every year on this coast. It -is a dreary, wind-swept promontory, from which the quiet superstitious -inhabitants are only too glad to retreat. No wonder they flock into -Quimper, and sun themselves on the _Place_ during the summer days! - -On the road between Pont l’Abbé and Audierne we obtain fine views of the -open landscape, with solitary figures here and there working in the -fields, and occasional glimpses of the sea. It is a windy drive; the -colour is sombre, and the clouds which come up in heavy masses from the -sea cast deep shadows over the land. - -[Illustration] - -If we try to recall the impression of the scene, it is principally of -clouds, as in landscapes by Ruysdael or Géricault. The land for miles is -without sign of habitation, the highest point of interest is a bank of -furze, a stunted tree, or a heap of broken stones, chipped perhaps from -a fallen menhir; a solitude that seems more hopeless and remote from the -tumultuous aspect of the heavens. - -But as we approach the town of Pont Croix, and, turning westward, -descend the hills to cross the estuary of Audierne, the view over the -bay is more luxuriant. Below us, through the stems of pine trees that -line the steep road, cut in granite rocks—as we descend to the right -bank of the river Goayen where it widens into an estuary—is the little -fishing village of Audierne, consisting of two or three straight streets -of granite houses, one or two large wharves and warehouses, a -lighthouse, and nearly a mile of protecting sea-wall. The evening is now -fine and calm, and the tide is coming in without a ripple, bringing a -few fishing-boats up to the quay, and attracting the inhabitants on to -the _Place_ in front of the principal inn, the Hôtel du Commerce, where -the portly Père Batifoulier receives us, and provides us with excellent -accommodation. It is a sheltered, sunny spot, surrounded by cultivated -hills, where people come from Quimper to bathe in summer; but if we walk -upon the downs behind the town, we shall get glimpses of a coast almost -as exposed and dangerous to mariners as at Penmarc’h, where the sardine -fishermen are spreading their nets on the grass. - -Audierne is within six miles of the famous Pointe du Raz, the Land’s End -of Brittany, beyond which, stretching out into the Atlantic, is the Île -de Sein, inhabited by a poor population of fishermen and seaweed -gatherers. A glance at the map will show the position of the island, and -the “Bec du Raz,” the dangerous channel which divides it from the shore, -through which the fishermen of Audierne and Douarnenez, with many -prayers and crossings of the breast, pass and re-pass in their frail -boats. - -It is a dreary road from Audierne to the Pointe du Raz, passing the -villages of Plogoff and Lescoff. At this point the rocks are higher -above the sea than at Penmarc’h, and the scene is altogether more -extensive and magnificent. We are on an elevation of eighty or ninety -feet, and almost surrounded by the sea. To the south and east is the -wide bay of Audierne, to the west the Île de Sein, the ancient home of -Druidesses, and the horizon line of the Atlantic; to the north and east -the bay of Douarnenez, across which is the jutting headland of La -Chèvre. - -A cloud of sea-birds rises from the rocks below, and floats away like a -puff of steam, there is an orange tint in the seaweed piled upon the -shore, and a purple tinge upon the distant hills across the bay of -Douarnenez; but the green upon the scanty grass in the foreground is -cold in colour, and almost the only flowers are yellow sea-poppies and -the little white bells of the convolvulus. On every side are piles of -rocks stretching out seaward as barriers against the waves of the -Atlantic; a dangerous, desolate shore, on which many a vessel has been -wrecked. To the north is the Druids’ “Baie des Trépassés,” where, -according to ancient legends, the spirits of the departed wait on the -shore to be taken in boats to the Île de Sein. It is a Celtic legend, -recounted in every history of Brittany. - -[Illustration] - -The exposed position of the Pointe du Raz, the strange, fantastic -grandeur of the rocks, and the wildness of the waves that beat upon the -shore in almost all weathers, are alone worth a visit. The numerous -artists who stay at Quimper, Douarnenez, and Pont-Aven, in the summer -months would do well to pitch their tents for a time near the Pointe du -Raz, if only to watch from this elevation the changing aspects of sea -and sky, to see the sea, calm and blue in the distance, but dashing -spray in sunshine over walls of rock, and seaweed gatherers on a summer -evening getting in their harvest, as deep in colour as the corn. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -Leaving Audierne, and turning eastward towards Douarnenez, following the -course of the river Goayen, we come in about an hour to Pont Croix, an -ancient town of 2500 inhabitants. The church is a fine Romanesque -building of the fifteenth century, with a curious porch and some good -carving in the interior. It is a quiet, rather deserted-looking town, on -an eminence above the river, reminding one in its position and its air -of faded importance of the ecclesiastical city of Coutances, in -Normandy. - -[Illustration] - -It is a fine drive over undulating hills to Douarnenez, with views of -landscape more fertile than any we have seen since leaving Quimper; -landscape with open moorland, interspersed with fields of corn, where -harvesting is being actively carried on, as in the sketch. Here we get a -glimpse of one of the old farmhouses of Finistère, and (on a very small -scale) of the farmer himself approaching in the distance to superintend -operations. - -A few miles farther, and the landscape is again bare and uncultivated, -we see peasants in the fields at rare intervals; flocks of black and -brown sheep feeding on the open land. There is a charm of wildness and a -peculiar beauty about the scenery here that we who write for artists -should insist upon with all the power of the pen. It is the fashion to -stay at Douarnenez and at Pont-Aven, but we have few records of the best -scenery in Cornouaille. - -[Illustration: HARVESTING IN FINISTÈRE.] - -Douarnenez, the headquarters of the sardine-fisheries, has a population -of about 9000, almost entirely given up to this industry; the men in -their boats, and the women and girls in the factories. It is a busy, -dirty, and not very attractive town, with one principal street leading -down to the port; but walk out of it in any direction, so as to escape -the odours of the sardine factories, and the views from the high ground -are most rewarding. - -There is no prettier sight, for instance, than to watch the arrival of a -fleet of several hundred fishing-boats rounding the last promontory, -racing in whilst they are eagerly watched from the shore. At the point -where the sketch was taken, the little fleet divides, to come to anchor -at different inlets of the bay. Of the scene down at the port, where the -boats unload; of the massing of a forest of masts against the evening -sky, with rocks and houses high above as a background, we can only hint -in these pages. - -[Illustration: WAITING FOR THE SARDINE BOATS AT DOUARNENEZ.] - -At Douarnenez, in summer, the inhabitants are accustomed to an inroad of -visitors who come for the bathing season, and there is a little colony -of artists who live comfortably at the principal inns (_en pension_ for -five or six francs a day), but it is not as quiet as Pont-Aven, of which -we shall speak in the next chapter, for the streets are closely built -and badly paved, and the busy inhabitants wear sabots which are rattled -down to the shore at all hours of the day and night, according to the -tide. Moreover, the inhabitants of the town are scarcely typical -Bretons; they are a little demoralised by success in trade, a little -inclined to smuggling, and decidedly fond of drinking. The men, living -hard lives, facing the most fearful storms of the Atlantic in their -exposed little boats, out sometimes for days without a take, are apt to -be uproarious when on shore. The hardy, bright-featured women of -Cornouaille, whose faces are becoming so familiar to us in these pages, -have a rather sad and reckless look at Douarnenez; their homes are not -too tidy as a rule; the little children play in streets which steam with -refuse from the sardine factories, where their elder sisters are working -in gangs, with bare feet and skirts tucked up to their knees, sifting, -and sorting, and cooking sardines, and singing snatches of Breton songs -the while. The lower streets, steep and narrow, are blocked with -fish-carts, and the port is crowded with boats with nets drying in -festoons. But the view of Douarnenez seen at a little distance out at -sea, with its high rocks and overhanging trees almost reaching to the -water’s edge, and above, the spire of the old church of Ploaré standing -sharp against the sky, will remain best in the memory. There is no end -to the beauties of the bay of Douarnenez, if we explore the -neighbourhood, starting off early for the day and not returning until -sundown. - -[Illustration] - -In the evening there is a great Bohemian gathering at the Hôtel du -Commerce; its artistic visitors overflow into the street, and make -themselves heard as well as seen. There is a clatter of tongues and a -cloud of smoke issuing from the little café presided over by the neat -figure in the sketch. Those who have been to the Hôtel du Commerce at -Douarnenez will recognise the portrait at once; those who have not must -picture to themselves a girl with dark hair and brown complexion, a -headdress and bodice in which scarlet and gold are intermingled, a dark -skirt with a border of yellow or orange, and a spotless white apron and -sleeves. In soft shoes she flits silently through the rooms and supplies -our clamorous wants in turn; neither remonstrance nor flattery will move -her, or cause her to raise her eyes. - -The children of Douarnenez have learned to beg, and along the broad road -which leads to Quimper, beggars are stationed at intervals to waylay the -charitable. Driving home in the little covered carriage shown in the -sketch, a dark object appears before us on the way. Near it, at the side -of the road, is a little shed roughly made with poles and brambles, and, -protruding from it, two sabots filled with straw, two sticks, and a pair -of _bragous bras_. The rest of the structure consists of dried ferns, -and a poor deaf human creature propped up to receive the alms of the -charitable, a grim figure watching and waiting in the sun and wind. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - CONCARNEAU—PONT-AVEN—QUIMPERLÉ. - - -[Illustration] - -Fourteen miles south-east of Quimper is Concarneau, another important -fishing station of Cornouaille. It is well to go thither by road, in -order to see the view of Quimper and the valley below, when a few miles -out of the town; a view which few travellers see in these days. The old -town of CONCARNEAU, with its fortifications and towers, called “Ville -Close,” which in its position somewhat resembles St. Malo, is approached -by a drawbridge from the mainland, and at high tide is surrounded by -water; it consists of one long irregular street with old houses shut in -by dark walls, through the loopholes of which we see the sea. The -nominal population of Concarneau is 5000, but in the Faubourg Ste. -Croix, where the fleet of fishing-boats come and go at every tide, the -population is upwards of 10,000. There is a fine modern aquarium, and -there are several interesting monuments in the immediate neighbourhood, -but there is nothing very remarkable in the situation of the town -itself, and it is certainly not a place for visitors to stay in; the -work of life at Concarneau is to catch and cure little fishes, and the -odours of the dead and the dying, the cured and the fried, pervade the -air. The hedges are made of the cuttings of sardine boxes. - -[Illustration] - -We happen to see Concarneau at its best on a fine summer’s morning, when -the wide quay of the Faubourg Ste. Croix, where the sketch is taken, is -alive with people, the majority on their way to church across the -drawbridge in the Ville Close. The little fleet of fishing-boats is -moored in a cluster at the quay; the nets are drying in the sun _en -masse_, and the cork floats hang from the masts in graceful festoons. -Everyone is in holiday attire, and seems bent upon going somewhere—to -church, for a drive in the country, or for an excursion out to sea. The -fishermen and workmen have for the most part disappeared into the -wine-shops, whence their hilarity overflows into the streets. The girls -employed in the sardine factories have put on their best dresses and -neatest shoes, and go in companies of six or eight together to the -church. Their smooth white caps and lappets glisten in the clear air -which blows lightly from the south-east, and the odours of sardines are -for the time forgotten. It is the time and the spot from which to take -away an impression of Concarneau, for its ordinary everyday aspect is -not romantic. The procession of people coming from church down the -old-fashioned street, shut in by walls and towers, makes a good picture. -The majority wear their proper costume, as sketched on opposite page; a -few only have fallen into temptation, and carry bonnets, trains, and -high heels across the _Place_. - -[Illustration: _Concarnean Sunday morning_] - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: ON THE QUAY AT CONCARNEAU.] - -There is a wide, open space in front of the Hôtel des Voyageurs, on the -quay Ste. Croix—where, at a window overlooking the quay, the _femme de -chambre_ is putting the last touches to her toilet—but behind it are -narrow, dirty streets, crowded cafés and estaminets, where the husbands -of these white-capped women have disappeared for the day. The majority -of the well-to-do inhabitants are _en promenade_ under the trees, and -nearly everyone is bent upon pleasure of some sort. Here is a party just -starting for a boating excursion across the bay, singing a Breton air to -the time of the rowers, which we can hear on the quay. The sketch gives -the exact picture: the heavy fishing-boat built for rough weather and -stormy seas; the rowers standing four abreast, the heavy oars plashing -in the sunlight, the boat down at the stern with its holiday load; -whilst the _gamin_ of Concarneau sits on the edge of the quay, over the -principal drain of the town, with a string to catch little fishes. - -[Illustration] - -The sketch on the quay when the tide is out, with people waiting for the -ferry-boat, gives the aspect looking seaward, on a quiet evening, as we -drive away towards PONT-AVEN. - -To reach Pont-Aven, we ascend and descend some gently sloping hills, in -an easterly direction, for about eight miles. On the left hand of the -road, near the village of Trégunc; we pass one of the largest rocking -stones in Brittany, a block of granite 12 feet long by 9 feet, poised -upon a second slab half buried in the ground. Little children lie in -wait for travellers, and move this stone, which is known far and wide as -“La pierre aux maris trompés,” a stone by which husbands are said to -test the fidelity of their wives. All the heath-covered land on the way -to Pont-Aven is strewn with granite boulders; there is a celebrated -dolmen, or “table stone,” in the neighbourhood, and, near at hand, at -Rustéphan, are the picturesque remains of a fifteenth-century castle, -which may be reached through a wood by leaving the road at the village -of Nizon, two miles from Pont-Aven. - -[Illustration] - -At a point where the river Aven—breaking through its narrow channel, -dashing under bridges and turning numerous water-wheels—spreads out into -a broad estuary, is the little port of Pont-Aven, built four miles from -the sea. The majority of the houses are of granite, and sheltered under -wooded hills; the water rushes past flour-mills and under bridges with -perpetual noise, and a breeze stirs the poplar trees that line its banks -on the calmest day. The widest part of the village is the _Place_, -sketched (looking northwards) from the stone bridge which gives -Pont-Aven its name. A small community of farmers, millers, fishermen and -peasant-women, is its native population, supplemented in summer by a -considerable foreign element. - -[Illustration] - -Pont-Aven is a favourite spot for artists, and a _terra incognita_ to -the majority of travellers in Brittany. Here the art student, who has -spent the winter in the Quartier Latin in Paris, comes when the leaves -are green, and settles down for the summer to study undisturbed. How far -he succeeds depends upon himself; his surroundings are delightful, and -everything he needs is to be obtained in an easy way that will sound -romantic and impossible in 1879. Pont-Aven being set in a valley between -two thickly wooded hills, opening out southwards to the sea, the climate -is temperate and favourable to outdoor work. In the centre of the -village is a little triangular _Place_, and at the broad end, facing the -sun, is the principal inn, the Hôtel des Voyageurs, which, at the time -of writing, has an excellent hostess, who takes _pensionnaires_ for -about five francs a day, “tout compris,” and where the living is as good -and plentiful as can be desired. This popular hostelry is principally -supported by American artists, some of whom have lived here all through -the year; but many English and French painters have stayed at Pont-Aven, -and have left contributions in the shape of oil paintings on the panels -of the _salle à manger_. - -We have mentioned the Hôtel des Voyageurs; but there are other inns; -there is the Hôtel du Lion d’Or, also on the _Place_, frequented -principally by French artists and travellers; and down by the bridge, a -quaint little auberge (with a signboard painted by one of the inmates), -the Pension Gloanec. This is the true Bohemian home at Pont-Aven, where -living is even more moderate than at the inns. Here the panels of the -rooms are also decorated with works of art, and here, in the evening, -and in the morning, seated round a table in the road, dressed in the -easy _bourgeois_ fashion of the country, may be seen artists whose names -we need not print, but many of whose works are known over the world. The -resources of these establishments are elastic, accommodation being -afforded, if necessary, for fifty or sixty _pensionnaires_, by providing -beds a few yards off in the village. The cost of living, board and -lodging, at the Pension Gloanec, including two good meals a day with -cider, is _sixty francs_ a month! When we add that the bedrooms are -clean and bright, especially those provided in the neighbouring -cottages, we have said enough about creature comforts, which are -popularly supposed to be unknown in Brittany. The materials for work and -opportunities for study are similar to those in Wales, with fewer -distractions than at Bettwys-y-Coed. - -[Illustration: PONT-AVEN.] - -At Pont-Aven the presiding genius at the Hôtel des Voyageurs is one -Mademoiselle Julia Guillou. At this little inn, as at the Hôtel du -Commerce at Douarnenez, the traveller need not be surprised to find that -the conversation at table is of the Paris _Salon_, to find bedrooms and -lofts turned into studios, and a pervading smell of oil paint. It is -said of Pont-Aven that it is “the only spot in Europe where Americans -are content to live all the year round”; but perhaps the kind face and -almost motherly care of her _pensionnaires_ by the portly young hostess, -Mademoiselle Julia Guillou, has something to do with their content. - -The views in the neighbourhood of Pont-Aven are beautiful, and the cool -avenues of beeches and chestnut trees, a distinctive feature of the -country, extend for miles. From one of these avenues, on the high ground -leading to an ancient chapel, there is a view over the village where we -can trace the windings of the river far away towards the sea, and where -the white sails of the fishing-boats seem to pass between the trees. The -sides of the valleys are grey with rocks, and the fields slope steeply -down to the slate roofs of the cottages built by the streams, where -women, young and old, beautiful and the reverse, may be seen washing -amongst the stones. - -[Illustration: RETURNING FROM LABOUR, PONT-AVEN.] - -Pont-Aven has one advantage over other places in Brittany; its -inhabitants in their picturesque costume (which remains unaltered) have -learned that to sit as a model is a pleasant and lucrative profession, -and they do this for a small fee without hesitation or “mauvaise honte.” -This is a point of great importance to the artist, and one which some -may be glad to learn through these pages. The peasants, both men and -women, are glad to sit for a franc for the greater part of a day; it is -only at harvest time, when field labourers are scarce, that the demand -may be greater than the supply. and recruits have to be found in the -neighbouring fishing villages. Once or twice a week in the summer, a -beauty comes over from Concarneau in a cart, her face radiant in the -sunshine, the white lappets of her cap flying in the wind. Add to these -opportunities for the study of peasant life and costume the variety of -scenery, and the brightness and warmth of colour infused into everything -under a more southern sun than England, and it will be seen that there -are advantages here not to be overlooked by the painter. - -[Illustration] - -The picturesque town of QUIMPERLÉ on the rivers Ellé and Isole, from -which so many English travellers have been scared, in years gone by, by -Murray’s laconic admonition, “No good inn,” is a most pleasant and -comfortable resting-place. It is approached on a high level when coming -by railway from Quimper, the road from the station winding round the -hills down to the _Place_, where there is the comfortable Hôtel des -Voyageurs. On arriving at Quimperlé, the aspect of the people is more -cosmopolitan, for we are approaching the borders of the province of -Morbihan, and are on the highway between Nantes and Brest. - -[Illustration: at Quimperlé Station] - -The people at the station are not numerous, and they are nearly all -third-class travellers. The quiet, almost taciturn company consists of a -tourist, a _sergent de ville_, a commercial man of Quimperlé, the same -old woman that we meet everywhere on our travels, in the comfortable -dark hood and cape of the country, and a peasant-woman taking home her -sack of meal, sketched on the opposite page. - -Quimperlé contains about 6500 inhabitants, principally occupied in -agriculture. It is surrounded by hills covered with orchards and gardens -shut in by high walls; an old and sleepy place, full of memories of the -past, and with, apparently, little ambition for the future. There is an -ancient abbey church, built in the eleventh century, on the plan of the -Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem; in the crypt is the tomb of St. Gurloës, -one of the early abbots of Quimperlé. The large grey-roofed building on -the _Place_ adjoining this church, now used as the Mairie, was formerly -a convent of Benedictine nuns; and other buildings, such as the old inn, -the Lion d’Or, were originally used by the abbots of St. Croix. - -[Illustration] - -But Quimperlé, in spite of its railway, is a town where grass grows -between the paving-stones of its streets; a place which owes much of its -attraction to its picturesque site and its ancient buildings, to its -market-days, its weddings and fêtes. In the lower town there are some -old narrow streets, with most picturesque wooden gables, and there is -one dilapidated square, called “the Place of Revolution,” where there -would seem little left to destroy. - -[Illustration] - -A painter might well make Quimperlé a centre of operations, for its -precincts are little known; the gardens shine with laden fruit-trees, -and the hills are rich in colour until late in autumn; and in the -evening there is no better place for rest than under the trees on the -Place Nationale. Here the people pass to and fro, as in the sketch on -the opposite page; there are more women than men to be seen, for the -latter are resting from their labours, in the cafés. Beyond, and high -above this group, are the houses of the old town, surmounted by the two -square Gothic towers, with spires covered with lichen, of the church of -St. Michel. Under the trees near the river are women selling sardines -and fruit. The position of the bridge over the Ellé is indicated by the -man leaning over the stone parapet. The man with the cart has just come -in with wood for winter fires. - -[Illustration: ON THE PLACE AT QUIMPERLÉ.] - -The great attraction to Quimperlé is in the country round; in the beauty -of the woods and the windings of the streams. In this neighbourhood the -artist and the angler may settle down together and spend the summer -months delightfully. - -[Illustration: A BIG LOAD.] - -We said that Quimperlé, a town with a railway station, on the great -highway between Nantes and Brest, owes most of its life and picturesque -attraction to women, weddings, fêtes, and flowers. Let us picture a -prominent personage at the old Hôtel du Lion d’Or. She had a beautiful -name, _Augustine_, pronounced with enviable accuracy by all the -household. She hovered about us like a fairy, attending to our wants in -the most delicate way; to outward seeming a ministering angel with pure -white wings, but, in truth, a drudge, a methodical housewife, massive, -and hard to the touch. She did the work of three Parisian _garçons_, and -walked upstairs unaided with portmanteaus which it would require two men -to lift, anywhere out of Brittany. She slept in a box in the kitchen, -and dressed “somehow” in five minutes. She ate what was left, -contentedly, at the end of the day, and rose at sunrise to do the -laborious work of the house; helping also at harvest-time in the fields. -She had the sweetest of smiles (when she liked), an unconquerable habit -of taking snuff, and a murderous way of killing fowls in the early -morning which we shall not easily forget. - -How it comes to pass that this girl of nineteen occupies such an -important position in the household is one of those things which are -peculiar to Brittany. The strong individuality, industry, and force of -character of the women make themselves felt wherever we go. Whilst the -men slumber and smoke, the women are building little fortunes or -propping up old ones. All through the land, in the houses, in the -factories, and in the fields, the strong, firm hand and arm of a woman -_does the work_. - -[Illustration: AUGUSTINE.] - -The pedestrian or sportsman, in his wanderings through Brittany, will, -if he knows the country, seek, at the end of a long day, the country -_auberge_ where a “household fairy” presides. The land is full of -legends and tales of gnomes and witches, but the reality is a -white-capped figure, that welcomes the traveller at the inn door the -modern representative of “mine host.” Her brightness and attraction, and -at the same time her whole armour and coat of mail, are her stiffly -starched cap, epaulets, and apron of spotless white. She presides at the -fêtes and weddings which are celebrated at the inns, and joins in the -frolics at the end of the day, dancing with the rest up and down the -street, and submitting with modest but hearty goodwill to some rather -demonstrative tokens of esteem. “How is it that these widespread collars -are never crumpled?” some one asks. “Oh, we just turn them round and -throw them over the shoulder for a minute!” is the quick answer. - -Let us refer to our notebook to see how one of these weddings is managed -in Quimperlé in 1878. It is just after harvest, and the time for rest -and festivity in many a village round. Coats and gowns that have been -laid by for months are brought out, and many an antique-shaped garment -sees the light for the first time for a year. Two or three weddings are -arranged for the same day, and at early morning all meet at Quimperlé. -The girls come on foot, dressed in their local costumes, excepting a -little innovation of finery here and there; the “boys,” for they are -little more in age, have modernised themselves, and wear a clumsy -imitation of the conventional suit of black, being especially proud of -Parisian hats. But excepting in the matter of costume, they do as their -forefathers did; they spend the day in the streets of Quimperlé, -parading arm-in-arm with their brides, stopping to take, and to give, -refreshment at every inn-door and at the homes of all their friends. We -meet them early in the morning crossing the principal square; they have -registered their marriages, and have taken the sacrament in the church -of St. Michel, in the upper town, and for the rest of the long summer -day and half into the night they dance the “De Rober” up and down the -streets, hand in hand together, to the music of the bag-pipe and the -flageolet. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: _Evening: near Quimperlé._] - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - HENNEBONT. - - -[Illustration] - -From Quimperlé to Hennebont by road or railway, we pass Pont Scorff, -where is the boundary line which divides the departments of Finistère -and Morbihan. We enter now the district of Bas-Bretagne, the Arcadia of -Brittany, of which so much has been written and sung by French writers, -and of which only those who have lingered in its byways have discovered -the charm. It is the part of Brittany most interesting from its historic -associations, the land most strewn with dolmens and menhirs, and -mysterious Druidical remains. - -Holiday travellers from Quimper to Vannes pass by the large and busy -town of L’Orient because it is described, truly, as “an uninteresting -modern town with straight streets and quays,” and many also pass by -HENNEBONT. There is no historic interest in L’Orient, whose 40,000 -inhabitants are busy in shipping and trade—the trade, amongst other -things, of importing foreign spirits and tobacco, and of planting in -every village in Brittany the cheap manufactured cottons and fineries -which stamp out individuality in costume, the last stronghold of -self-respect amongst the peasants, both men and women. In every remote -village, on church walls and on mediæval towers, is posted in glowing -colours the announcement of a Grand Magasin des Modes at L’Orient, and -every afternoon there comes by train to Hennebont the _Petit Journal_ to -complete the work of civilisation; a little journal, distributed by hand -to all who possess a sou, giving in its daily sheet little beyond -Parisian gossip, but containing sometimes some strange paragraphs like -the following, which would seem of doubtful interest to Bretons:— - - “—On adoucit les mains et on les habitue à des mouvements - aristocratiques.” - - “—On communique aux jeunes ladies le nom et la profession de leur - futur mari.” - - “—On enseigne l’élégance et la grâce en douze heures, succès - garanti.” - - “—On loue et on échange de petits enfants.” - - “—On coupe les oreilles et la queue aux chiens d’après la dernière - mode.” - -[Illustration] - -Hennebont is only five miles from L’Orient, and of course some of the -inhabitants wear the modern dress, but it is still very -primitive-looking, being seldom visited by strangers. Sloping southward -towards the river, where ships are loading and unloading at the little -port, is the chief street, shown in the sketch opposite. Hennebont is an -old historic town, containing about 5000 inhabitants, and is the natural -outlet for the produce of the surrounding country. At the upper end the -street widens into a grass-grown _Place_, where is the church of Notre -Dame de Paradis, with its square tower and lofty recessed portal, the -work, it is believed, of an English architect in the sixteenth century, -a structure not in any way very remarkable. The town is divided into the -comparatively modern Ville Neuve, sketched above, the Ville Close, and -the Vieille Ville on the right bank of the Blavet, memorable for its -sieges in the War of Succession in Brittany, and for the exploits of the -Countess of Montfort in defending the city in the fourteenth century, of -which Froissart gives a spirited account in his Chronicles. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -In the high-street of the town, the Ville Neuve, are the two principal -inns, we can hardly call them hotels, outside one of which a traveller -reposes after the midday meal; and a little below are the older -hostelries, where there have been numerous arrivals during the day. -Opposite, on a low wall, is a shelter of trees, a favourite lounge, -whither come in the afternoon the old and the young to talk, to quarrel, -and to flirt. - -[Illustration: REAPERS ON THE ROAD.] - -Sit down on the wall and watch the passers by. First a cart, drawn by -diminutive bullocks, heavily laden with field produce, comes lumbering -down, the driver in broad-brimmed hat and heavy sabots; next, a clatter -of hoofs and a troop of high-bred horses, led or ridden by riders in -scarlet coats and white trousers, pass down to the river; they come from -the _haras_ in the neighbourhood, one of the government breeding -establishments; this gives a dash of colour and a style to Hennebont -quite foreign to its ordinary aspect. Next, with heavy, measured tread, -comes a procession, half solemn, half grotesque, of reapers and -professional _batteurs_ changing their quarters. Next comes out and -stands at the door of the Hôtel de France the innkeeper, dressed, unlike -most of his neighbours, in a frock-coat and hat; a slim man in dandy -Parisian attire, almost the only black figure to be seen in Hennebont. - -[Illustration] - -Women pass busily up and down, carrying heavy loads, some with the white -lappets of their caps thrown backward, treading heavily like beasts of -burden. Excepting for a short time in the heat of the day, when the men -rest and the women knit, there are few unemployed hands in Hennebont. - -[Illustration] - -The evening brings more activity, the farmers and their wives pack up -and depart in their country carts, shutters open in the dark grey-stone -houses on the _Place_ near the church; the _maire_ and the _avocat_ take -a walk, or a drive with their families; and women and children emerge on -various errands. It is then that out of side streets, and doorways in -walls unlocked with heavy keys, issue, one by one, the fairest -inhabitants of Morbihan, some especially erect, bearing earthen vessels -on their heads, wending their way up the town to a road beyond the -church, where, under the cool shade of trees, and partly shut in by -walls, is the fountain which supplies Hennebont with water. It is a -rendezvous for old and young, men, women, and cattle, a place to see and -to sketch, charming in its sheltered aspect after a midday sun; women -coming and going with their pitchers; men helping or bringing cattle to -water, and numerous washing parties on their knees. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -Every way we turn there is a picture of some sort to be sketched; if we -follow the narrow, winding streets of the Ville Close, sheltered by -trees and overshadowed by walls, we come suddenly upon an old -time-stained doorway like that below; and, amongst the people that crowd -the poorer quarter, are many quaint and interesting groups. - -[Illustration] - -Here we may notice again the harmonious combinations of costume and -buildings, and how the women, tall and straight, clad in draperies of -soft material, seem to give dignity to the most squalid surroundings. - -They are a pleasant, homely people at Hennebont; a town worth visiting -before simplicity, individuality, and local costume have passed away. - -But the air is close in this valley, and we are too near the main line -of railway; let us turn northward to see something more of the interior -of the province of Morbihan. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - LE FAOUET—GOURIN—GUÉMÉNÉ. - - -[Illustration] - -It is a pleasant change, even from the quiet of Hennebont, to wind -slowly up the hills covered thickly with ferns and woods, to disturb the -magpies on the roads, and the yellowhammer and the lizards on the rough -stone walls; to see the silent peasants knee-deep in the fields, the -little black and white cattle tethered to pasture, the black and brown -sheep grazing in the open land, and the pigs at the cottage doors. It is -a considerable ascent from the town through an undulating landscape of -woods and streams and ferns; the valleys green in their depths, the -trees turning gold and brown where they fringe the hills. - -[Illustration: REAPING NEAR HENNEBONT.] - -As we approach Le Faouet, the scene changes gradually to a sterner -aspect, the trees are less luxuriant, and the soil is less fruitful. -Here and there we pass on the road a busy harvest scene, the people -turning round at the sound of approaching wheels to watch the travellers -pass. It is the farmer himself that gazes at us, half amused; the time -for harvest is short on these rainy hills, and so master and man, and -every available help, work early and late to get in the crops. The sun -that shines so brilliantly to-day, and lights up the harvest field with -a golden glow, will disappear in a few hours, and the fields may be a -wreck from the wind and rain. Every now and then a deep shadow is thrown -over the land from the clouds that drift eastward from the sea, but they -are high in the heavens to-day, and the sky is of an almost Eastern -blue. Before us northwards the horizon is of a colder hue, and as we -ascend the last long hill to Le Faouet, the cupola on the church tower -and the grey roofs of the houses with their backgrounds of firs have by -contrast a sombre tinge. - -[Illustration] - -On the road from Quimperlé to Le Faouet a stream is crossed that divides -the two provinces of Finistère and Morbihan; it is a stream well stocked -with trout; in fact, in most of these rivers there is excellent fishing, -and there are no better headquarters for sport than Le Faouet. The town, -which is well situated and has fine views of the country, contains not -more than 3000 inhabitants, nearly all but the oldest and the poorest -being engaged in agriculture. It is a great centre on certain days, when -the people collect under the eaves of the market-place shown in the -full-page sketch. - -But excepting the visits of a few sportsmen and tourists in summer, Le -Faouet is scarcely ever visited by the outer world. The houses are built -of stone, old and covered with lichen; the covered market-place has -heavy wooden eaves, and is protected by ancient elms; the inhabitants -are dressed for the most part in rough and primitive fashion, the men in -white cloth jackets, loose breeches, and sabots, and the women in dark -comfortable cloth hoods, as in the sketch at the head of this chapter. - -[Illustration] - -It is a quiet, self-contained, dignified population at Le Faouet, -approached at intervals by the commercial traveller, and a few cattle- -and horse-dealers, but holding otherwise little communication with -towns. Here, in this neighbourhood, we may contemplate the typical -Breton, who, braced physically to withstand the shocks of the tempest, -resists with an almost irresistible _vis inertia_ the advance of French -civilisation; whom neither the progress of steam nor compulsory -education has much disturbed. He has, for trading purposes, acquired -some knowledge of French, but he keeps this knowledge to himself, and -never displays it unnecessarily; he has thus an advantage over -strangers, who may imagine he cannot understand a word. - -[Illustration: LE FAOUET.] - -To come into a quiet village like Le Faouet with no purpose but -observation requires a certain amount of courage, and, if it were not -that a little more than a mile north of Le Faouet there is the famous -chapel of Ste. Barbe, and southward about two miles, in an old church, -there is an elaborately carved rood-screen, we might hesitate to take up -our quarters here. Unless a man has business in Le Faouet unless he is -an antiquary, a fisherman, or a painter, he would leave it the day he -entered. It is not, however, uncommon for the landlord of the Hôtel du -Lion d’Or to have _pensionnaires_ who stay for the summer. - -[Illustration] - -In spite of the grandeur of its situation, the solidity of its -buildings, and the evident industry of the inhabitants, there is a -dreary, ruinous look about the _Place_ of Le Faouet even on a summer’s -day. What must it be in winter winds? On the brightest and driest day of -the year many of the houses are dark and unhealthy-looking, built close -together, with narrow lanes of mud and filth between them. What must -they be when the rains begin? - -We have seen in Le Faouet some of the finest types of Bretons, both men -and women. Let us record one figure which will never be effaced from -memory. Passing down a street leading from the principal square, we meet -coming up the hill bareheaded, in the full blaze of the sun, in the dust -and heat, the strange, wild-looking figure in the sketch; his clothes -are patched, his hair is white, his face red; with crutches, and one -leg, he drags (with the help of a dog and one or two charitable -children) his house, with him about the town. It is a strange conveyance -made of sticks and dried ferns, but it is _home_. Travellers see strange -sights, but surely no sight more grotesque was ever seen than “the man -on two sticks” of Le Faouet, whose portrait is given to the life. - -[Illustration] - -Before leaving Le Faouet, a visit should be made to the -fifteenth-century church of St. Fiacre, to see the fine rood-screen -elaborately carved with figures representing scenes in the life of -Christ, panels of elaborate and grotesque workmanship. The work on this -screen was partly executed in 1480 and in 1627, and the whole was -restored, painted, and gilt in 1866. There is also some fine stained -glass, dating from 1552. - -To the chapel of STE. BARBE is a shaded walk of about a mile and a -half—first through narrow lanes and broad avenues, then up a steep -ascent where the path is sometimes cut in steps in the rock. It brings -us in half an hour to a high plateau fringed with furze and wind-blown -pines. The view from the eminence is magnificent: the eye wanders -eastward and southward, over a broad valley with a mountain stream, the -Ellé winding first through beds of rocks, then into pastures, and -disappearing in cultivated fields. As we walk to the edge of this -mountain-side, where there is only a small hut visible, the panorama -increases in extent over the country, and the variety of colour, from -the grey of scattered boulders and blue of pines, to the deep green of -the meadows and woods, forms a scene of such natural beauty that we -almost forget the object of our mission. - -The chapel of Ste. Barbe, approached down a flight of steps, is actually -close to our feet; it is built of granite under the hillside, sheltered -from the winds by enormous rocks and trees, and with a steep declivity -below; a solid granite structure fitted into the hillside, so to speak, -the space not permitting the nave of the chapel to be in the usual -position. In the interior—which is shown by an old man in tatters who -kneels at the altar whilst we walk round—is a gallery with carved -panels, supported by seraphim holding shields, and grotesque animals on -the mouldings; there is also some old stained glass. - -There is a tradition attaching to this chapel, that a knight, hunting in -the neighbourhood in the fifteenth century, was overtaken by a storm in -the valley below, and, being preserved from falling rocks by the prayers -of Ste. Barbe, erected this chapel to her memory. From that day there -has been an annual pilgrimage to Ste. Barbe, when some of the devotees -creep round the precipitous exterior walls as an act of penance. Before -leaving, we pass up the rough stone steps in the sketch to even higher -ground, where there is a small chapel dedicated to St. Michel. It is -fortunate to have seen the view from Ste. Barbe on a clear day, for the -clouds, which gather in the distance, as white as snow, through the tree -tops, come up in a few hours and shroud the land. - -[Illustration] - -Ten miles in a north-westerly direction, in some of the finest scenery -of the Montagnes Noires, is GOURIN, a small town in the centre of a -district of old iron mines, stone and slate quarries. Mr. Caldecott, who -visited this district in a previous year, in bad weather, speaks of the -“wide, dirty, uninteresting-looking street of Gourin, at the top of -which is the Hôtel du Cheval Blanc,” but he has made a sketch of the -women washing at a stream just outside the town, which only wants colour -to be one of the most picturesque of our series. - -[Illustration] - -Excepting for fishing, shooting, or perchance to record the forms and -colours of the mountains in a sketch, few visitors will find their way -to Gourin, even in summer; but the following notes by the artist may be -interesting to travellers:— - -“The dining-room of the inn at Gourin opens on to the public _Place_, -and is frequented by commercial travellers and two or three residents; -one of the latter, being a _chasseur_, is followed through the glass -door by a pack of hounds, the large sporting spaniels of the country, -and at each guest’s elbow a dog stations himself to receive gratuities.” - -“After resting for the night in a comfortable room, separate from the -main premises, I hire a vehicle to take me to Le Faouet, as the morning -is wet; a long-bodied cart, drawn by a white horse, with the wheels set -forward and a shifting seat, on which is a large pillow. We drive -through a hilly, wooded country in a high wind.” - -[Illustration: “MONTEZ, S’IL VOUS PLAIT, MONSIEUR!”] - -The storm is so severe at Le Faouet that “slates are blown from the -roofs of the houses, men grasp their hats, women tack hither and thither -across the square, and geese take advantage of the breeze and try to -fly.” On the way to Ste. Barbe, “a tall tree crashes across the path, -which is strewn with unripe acorns, chestnuts, apples, fir cones, -leaves, and twigs.” - -The hurricane that was experienced here swept over the whole of Brittany -with great violence, and, according to the _Journal de Rennes_, “laid -low at least a thousand trees.” - -Up and down again on a good road, a drive of seventeen miles from Le -Faouet takes us to GUÉMÉNÉ, meeting a few reapers, and a cart drawn by -bullocks in charge of men who have succumbed to thirst and heat. - -[Illustration] - -We halt halfway at the poor village of Kernascléden, where there is -hardly an inhabitant to be seen, but where, abutting on the high-road, -is a beautiful Gothic church, rich in carving and grand in proportion, a -striking contrast to the hovels which immediately surround it. It is a -good example of fifteenth-century work, built at the same time as the -church of St. Fiacre, and by the same founder. There is a legend here -too curious not to repeat, that angels aided in the building of these -two beautiful churches, carrying the tools, which were scarce in those -days, backwards and forwards from one church to the other, to aid the -workmen. - -At Guéméné, a little town on the river Scorff, we are still in the -interior of the country. It is in some ways more civilised than Le -Faouet, but as far removed from railways, and with as little -communication with the outer world. - -[Illustration] - -Let us first give our experiences of the principal inn, which is on the -left, looking up the street in the sketch, where travellers are driven -under an archway into a wide stable-yard, and enter the house by the -kitchen. The beds are clean and comfortable enough, the fare is homely -but plentiful, and there is nothing to scare away the most fastidious. -At the midday meal we have trout, caught a little way down the river -Scorff, one or two dishes of meat, an omelette if desired, and, as -usual, very good bread, butter, and cider. The dinner, or evening meal, -is rather more elaborate, especially if a fresh traveller has come in. -The view, across the table at breakfast time, of the presiding genius of -the inn, the bottle of cider, the large wineglass, and the half cut -loaf, are all depicted exactly. The vacant chair is soon to be occupied -by a commercial traveller, who has been busy all the morning in the -town, doing more havoc in the one day that he devotes to Guéméné than we -like to think of. He represents a cheap clothier’s house at L’Orient, -and has tempted many of the quiet inhabitants to change their simple -stuffs and white caps for the more fashionable dresses and hats of the -town. It should be remembered, however, that it is to this very _commis -voyageur_, whom we travellers are apt to treat with scant courtesy and -whose proceedings we often regard with anything but pleasure, that we -owe the comforts of these inns, and the possibility of travel in remote -places. The commercial traveller, coming from Vannes or L’Orient is the -pioneer in such towns as Guéméné; he teaches the Breton innkeeper the -mysteries of civilised life, and the art of living differently from the -lower animals. It is a heavy penalty to pay, from the artistic point of -view, that he should bring his patterns and his sham jewellery, and -leave so much of it behind in Guéméné. But our little waiting-maid is -not yet converted to the policy of adopting modern ways. Her spotless -white cap and sleeves, neat dress, and rows of pendent coins, are of a -pattern as old and characteristic as the gables of the houses of -Guéméné. - -[Illustration] - -So bright and charming is our little maid this morning that it is -difficult to believe that she came out of a carved wooden bedstead let -into the wall of the kitchen (a bed of two stories, holding four!), that -she does most of the work of the hotel, and helps in the stable. It is -enough for us to record that travellers are well cared for; that -Englishmen come here for the fishing, and sometimes stay for weeks, -living at the rate of four or five francs a day, including everything. - -[Illustration] - -The streets of Guéméné are full of people on Sunday morning—men in short -jackets, wide trousers, and black, broad-brimmed hats, old women in the -comfortable _coiffe_ sketched above, girls with white caps and -stomachers, short dresses, and neat shoes, all coming into the church -and afterwards meeting in the street. These are principally country -people; but the inhabitant of Guéméné, the small _propriétaire_ or -_employé_, who lives in the town, often wears a semi-nautical attire, as -sketched overleaf. - -[Illustration] - -Five old women sit together in the road, their chairs drawn together for -company, and to make an inclosure for two or three little tottering -inhabitants of Guéméné, who at the age of three are dressed in the -costume of their ancestors. Here the harmony of costume and -architecture, both in form and colour, strikes the eye at once, and we -want nothing to complete the picture. There is nothing, it seems, to -add, nothing to leave out; let us stay for a month (we are inclined to -say) and sketch in the high-street of Guéméné such figures as are -standing talking together at an old-fashioned doorway, opposite to our -inn. But the scene soon changes, and out of one of the old houses, dark -in the interior, with a floor below the level of the street, comes a -lady with a nurse and child; she has a light dress with a train, a hat -with scarlet feathers, and a parasol. She is going for a promenade, and, -as she passes down the street, is greeted by the old women thus: “See -they carry their tails in their hands, these fine demoiselles!” - -The Café du Nord is a favourite house of call, and thither the men -resort to play at cards or billiards, whilst the women bring out their -chairs and sit under the eaves, knitting, gossiping, and watching the -passers-by. - -[Illustration] - -There is no traffic in the streets, and no fear of being disturbed. A -newspaper may arrive in the evening to inform the inhabitants of the -last market prices, or that a workman has fallen out of a window in -Paris. A very few items of local intelligence suffice for Guéméné, which -is too much occupied with its own interests to care for what the rest of -the world calls news. The sun and moon rise and set for Guéméné alone; -it is the “boss” of _their_ wheel of life. - -[Illustration] - -We have seen only the high-street of Guéméné, but the town should be -viewed from above, with its grey roofs, its church tower, and the ruins -of a castle eight hundred years old, in the midst of beautiful hills, -bright with gorse, and grey with granite boulders; and a view reaching -far away over a wooded valley with the river Scorff winding towards the -sea. - -On one evening there is a great gathering at the old café with -high-pitched roof, at the division of the two streets at the top of the -sketch on page 165. The daughter of the popular hostess has been -betrothed at the presbytery, and in a month she is to be married. She -has her _dot_, or portion, of a few hundred francs, and her husband that -is to be, his little farm; they have met to celebrate the occasion, and -their immediate friends make merry until far into the night. They all -sit together round a rough table in the little room, the lamps lighting -the girls’ faces, the men in blouses or white jackets, with bright -buttons; a background of timbered ceiling, smoke, laughter, songs, and -jollity, continued long after the lights go out in the street and the -moon rises over the valley. All will go well with them if the bottle -which first drew them together does not scatter their happiness too -soon. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: Guéméné July 1878.] - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - STE. ANNE D’AURAY—CARNAC—LOCMARIAKER. - - -[Illustration] - -On the 24th of July we take up our quarters at the comfortable Hôtel -Pavillon d’en Haut, at Auray. To-morrow is the great day of the Pardon -of Ste. Anne, the occasion of the annual pilgrimage to the miraculous -well, whither from far and near, on foot and on horseback, in carts and -other strange road conveyances, and by excursion trains, come pilgrims -to the shrine of Ste. Anne. Like the great annual gatherings at Guingamp -and at Ste. Anne la Palue, of which we have spoken, the Pardon of Ste. -Anne attracts a strange medley of people, and thus it is that the -ordinarily quiet little town of Auray, situated four miles from the -shrine, is crowded to overflowing. - -The town of Auray, which contains about 5000 inhabitants, is finely -situated above the river which bears its name. It was formerly a port of -commercial importance, but its trade has drifted to Vannes and L’Orient, -and it is best known to travellers as a starting-point for visiting the -fields of Carnac and Locmariaker; also as a pleasant and healthy place -of residence, where fishing and shooting can be obtained. There are no -objects of great antiquity to be seen at Auray itself, its historic -castle has disappeared, but there is much to interest the traveller in -the old streets with timbered houses, leading down to the river. - -On a wide _Place_ a few yards off, called the Belvédère, is a column to -ascend to see the view, looking northward and eastward, in the direction -of Vannes, over a wide stretch of cultivated land, pastures, and woods, -dotted with white houses and church spires, one of which is Ste. Anne -d’Auray. Immediately beneath is a rocky, precipitous path down to the -river, with small vessels loading and unloading, and the grey roofs of -toy-like houses and warehouses on the quay. A sudden cloud of smoke, -which curls through the gorse and bushes which conceal the greater part -of the river from view, comes from a little steamer which has arrived -from Belle-Île with the evening tide, and has brought another crowd of -pilgrims for Ste. Anne. All is quiet and beautiful from this -vantage-ground; the air is soft, and slowly waves the tree-tops in the -avenue which skirts the Belvédère on its southern side; there is nothing -to indicate the tumult of to-morrow. - -[Illustration] - -The morning of the 25th of July is bright, and the gilt statue of Ste. -Anne glitters above the trees. If at this moment we could look down from -the spire of its church, upon the country round, we should see on every -road, and across the open land, little dark specks which are pilgrims -all tending one way—to the shrine. They have been coming all through the -night, camping in the fields and sleeping at the roadside. The broad -Roman road from Vannes is covered with carts and carriages, and more -people are arriving by the river. - -[Illustration: EVENING ON THE BELVÉDÈRE, AURAY.] - -The crowd that has assembled in the open square near the church of Ste. -Anne at six in the morning numbers several thousands, and increases -every hour. They are pilgrims of every grade, from the marquis and his -family, who have driven from Vannes the evening before, and stay -comfortably at the large hotel, to the solitary herdsman in goatskin -coat and wooden shoes stuffed with straw, who has walked for two days -and nights from his home in the Montagnes Noires. But they have come on -the same errand, and will stand side by side before an altar in one of -the side chapels, and burn their candles together. They both believe, or -are taught to believe, in a legend that some time in the seventeenth -century a saint appeared to one Nicolazic, who rented a farm near this -spot, and commanded him to dig in a field for her image, and to erect a -chapel to her memory. They both have heard of the miraculous cures at -the well of Ste. Anne, and believe that no household can prosper, no -ships are safe at sea, no cattle or crops can thrive, unless once a -year, at least, they come to burn candles to Ste. Anne; and they both -have wife, mother, or sister christened _Anne_, the name in fact of -nearly every child we see to-day. - -[Illustration] - -The miraculous well of Ste. Anne is in a large inclosure at the western -end of which is the Scala Santa, a small, raised chapel, open to the air -and covered by a cupola; a modern wooden erection about twenty feet from -the ground, approached on either side by a covered flight of steps. It -is from this platform that the opening ceremony of the Pardon takes -place in the afternoon of the 25th of July, when after a procession -round the town with a brass band and banners, the bishop of Vannes, or -other dignitary, addresses the people in the open square. The procession -is a long one, gay with the green-and-gold-embroidered vestments of the -priests, and bright with the white robes of the acolytes with their -crimson sashes; a quickly moving procession of bareheaded men singing -the litany of Ste. Anne, with banners (representing different -departments and communes) waving above them, and silver crosses and -relics carried high in the air. The crowd presses forward to see, and -forms a narrow lane to let them pass to the Scala Santa, where the head -of the procession comes to a standstill, and as many of the priests and -attendants as can crowd on to the steps stand as a sort of bodyguard, -whilst the bishop addresses the multitude assembled in the square -beneath. - -[Illustration] - -Then the outsiders of the crowd get up and watch the proceedings -(including a cook in white cap and apron, who sits upon the hotel wall), -some eagerly from curiosity apparently, some with devotion, and some, it -must be confessed, with an easy, jaunty air more appropriate to a show -in a country fair. There are several hundreds on the grass before us in -the bright sun, in the glare of which the sketch was taken, sitting -together in parties, kneeling in prayer, or standing close together -intent upon the scene. - -What those upturned faces were, and what the good bishop saw beneath him -in the crowd, as he rolled forth a discourse full of earnestness and -eloquence, the pencil has recorded in the sketch. It gives, as no words -could describe, the mingled expression of feeling on the faces of the -pilgrims, and tells more eloquently than any argument that the influence -of the Church is on the wane in Brittany. The words spoken are the old -story: first the history of “the miracle of Ste. Anne,” then an -exhortation as to the importance of confession and of works of charity -and masses for the dead. The costume of the people that listen is nearly -the same as in 1623, when Ste. Anne appeared in a wheat-field to a -peasant; and yet—and in spite of all accounts of the earnest devotion of -the people—if we look at the aspect of the crowd, we seem to understand -the matter better than we ever did before. - -They stand bareheaded in the sunshine, old and young, rich and poor; on -the left, the pretty _bourgeois’_ daughter, from Auray, in plain cloth -dress, with velvet body, dark green shawl, and neatest of shoes; behind -her, in the background, a contingent from more remote districts, farmers -and small traders, the majority being comfortable people who have come -by train. The spare old woman with eccentric expression and worn hands, -holding purchases, or plunder, in her apron, is not a pauper, but a -hanger-on at a large household, who has saved money. Next, nearer to us, -is a peasant farmer, with long grey hair, in white jacket and breeches -and leathern girdle, who has come on foot from his home in the interior. -He has walked all through the night to be present at the Pardon, as he -has done every year, going through the round of services and exercises, -contributing several francs in money to the church, buying a few charms -and trinkets, and then plodding home. Behind him, with stick and -umbrella under arm, holding beads in her hand, with fat red face, a -white hood and apron, is a comfortable farmer’s wife from Baud; on her -right an old woman in dark green _coiffe_, framing a screwed-up face, a -study of colour in bronze and green. Behind them is a tall, bareheaded -man with his daughter, two of the best types of Bretons in the crowd. On -the right in the sketch is a pretty figure with a cross on her breast, -with shining face, in the white cap and wide collar so common in -Finistère; and, next, three peasants, old and wrinkled, bronzed with sun -and grime, the common type at Pardons. Thus—leaving out some of the more -hideous aspects of deformity and disease—this sketch gives an exact -picture of the crowd, and a true idea of the strange mixture of -curiosity, amusement, and religious awe with which the celebration of -Ste. Anne is received in the present day. - -[Illustration: _At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray._] - -[Illustration] - -Let us add a few notes of the scene on Sunday, the second day of the -Pardon, when the crowd is greatest, and when there must be collected at -least 10,000 people; when, besides the peasants and country people, -visitors from Paris and other parts of France have filled to overflowing -the large modern hotel, the courtyard of which is full of carriages and -conveyances of all kinds. In the streets and round the open square there -are booths for the sale of trinkets and toys, rosaries, tapers, -statuettes, and medals of Ste. Anne, besides the more common objects for -sale at a country fair. In the roadway women cook fish and cakes -(_galettes_) at charcoal fires; there are itinerant vendors of gigantic -wax candles, there are peep-shows and other amusements, skittles and -games like quoits, played with leaden counters of the size of a -five-franc piece. There is every kind of amusement in honour of Ste. -Anne, and the family meetings and gatherings, that take place round the -cafés and in the open fields, suggest a picnic more than a pilgrimage. - -But it is in the street leading to the church door, and in the adjoining -cloisters of a convent, that the more serious aspects of the Pardon are -to be witnessed, some of which it would be impossible to record in a -sketch. - -From four o’clock in the morning masses have been said, and in and out -of the church there has been a continual stream of people, all in -holiday attire, and nearly all wearing strings of beads, crosses, or -silver ornaments bearing the image of Ste. Anne. They form in groups on -the grass in the centre of the cloistered square, close together, some -kneeling, some standing erect, with eyes strained upwards at a cracked -and weather-worn statue of the Christ; they tell their beads, and drop -sous into a box at the foot of the cross, the poorest contributing -something. - -They pass round the cloisters in a continual stream, missing nothing set -down for them, but stopping and kneeling at each “station” with -expressions of devotion and awe at some grotesque paintings on the walls -representing the Passion. They stop and pray, some on one knee only with -beads in hand, some kneeling low on the pavement, sitting on the heels -of their sabots for rest. They have come a long and weary march, they -are at the end of their pilgrimage, and so it happens that sitting and -praying they fall asleep. A heavy thwack from a neighbour’s umbrella -falls upon the shoulders of the sleepers, and again they go the round. - -By midday the crowd has increased so that movement in the road is -difficult. Coming slowly up the narrow street—blocked by carriages, by -vendors of “objets de dévotion,” and by the crowd that passes up and -down—is an, apparently very poor, old man with long dark hair, a white -sheepskin jacket and _bragous bras_, a leather girdle and sabots, -holding in his hand a hollow candle three feet high; it has cost him six -sous, and he will place it presently at the altar in the church with the -rest. Following him is a farmer and his wife, well-to-do people, who -have come by train, and combine a little marketing with their religious -observances. Following them are two young married people with their -child, all dressed in the latest costumes of Paris, the father manfully -taking off his light-kid gloves, and carrying his candle to the church -with the rest. - -The scene in the church, where services have been held at intervals all -day, and the people crowd to burn candles at the side altars, is of -people handing up babies, beads, and trinkets to be blessed; of the -flaring of candles, of the movements of tired priests, and the perpetual -murmur of prayers. - -We have spoken often of the simple, practical, and graceful dress of the -women; but here at Auray we must confess that many of the country people -in full holiday attire are anything but graceful in appearance. At a -side altar of the chapel there is a young face, very fair, with large -devotional eyes, deepened in colour and intensity by her white cap; but -below it is a stiff, shapeless bodice as hard as wood, and a bundle of -lower garments piled one upon the other, till the figure is a rather -ungainly sight; her large capable hands hold her book, her rosary, and a -stout umbrella; she is encumbered with clothing, but she differs from -her modernised sisters in one thing: her dress is not on her mind when -she says her prayers. She is on her knees nearly all day at Auray; but, -working or praying, half her young life has been spent in this position. -In spite of the grotesque element, which is everywhere at Pardons, the -sight is often a sad one; sad, especially, to see so many young faces -clouded by superstitious awe. The saying would seem to apply to -Brittany, that “national piety springs from a fountain of tears.” - -We have purposely said little of the repulsive side of the spectacle; of -the terrible-looking men and women who have come out of their -hiding-places to kneel at the shrine and to beg from strangers; who -wander about like savages, and are propitiated with beads. Figures -strange, weird, and grotesque, the like of which we shall see nowhere -else in the world, pass round the cloisters of St. Anne d’Auray for two -days in the year. - -There is one half witted man from the sea-coast, evidently soon “going -home”; as he drags himself along, the shadows seem to deepen, and the -light from human eyes to burn more fiercely in their tenement. Fed with -seaweed, thatched with straw, exposed to the wildest winds of the -Atlantic, his home little better than a hole in the rocks, what wonder -that he comes across the hills once a year to the Pardon of Ste. Anne -for a blessing; that he prays for a land beyond the sea, visioned in his -mind by innumerable candles, and paid for in advance through weary years -in his Passage to the Cross! - -[Illustration] - -Many of the pilgrims go through other religious observances before -leaving Auray, including washing in the well, going step by step up the -Scala Santa on their hands and knees; and all—the poorest and most -pitiable—leave _something_ in the coffers of Ste. Anne. - -And so the long day passes, and at last the tide recedes. What if a -strong north wind and the running river Auray could bear them away -seaward to be seen no more? What if all the wretchedness, dirt, and -disease, collected, as if by a miracle, at Ste. Anne for two days, -could, by another miracle as great, be swept away for ever! - - - CARNAC. - -Turning southward and westward from Auray, a drive of eight or nine -miles across a dreary-looking district, with patches of pasture -interspersed with gorse and ferns, and here and there a peasant leading -a cow, driving a cart, or digging in the poor soil—on reaching a rising -ground, we see before us a wide stretch of open land, grey and -monotonous in colour, and beyond, in the far distance, the horizon line -of sea. Leaving the carriage-road, about a mile before reaching the -village of Carnac, and turning off to the left, we come rather suddenly, -as it seems, upon a stubble field strewn with large grey rocks or -stones, some of them six or eight feet high, standing on end, upright, -or leaning against each other, but the majority lying _pêle-mêle_ on the -ground, some half buried in the earth, or hidden by gorse or long grass. -They are for the most part smooth and time-worn blocks of, apparently -unhewn, granite, of all shapes and sizes, some covered with moss and -lichen. - -Is this, then, the famous field of Carnac, with its “avenues of -menhirs,” the object of so many pilgrimages, the origin of so many -theories, the birthplace of so many legends? The first impression, we -need hardly say, is disappointing, and fills the traveller with that -feeling of blank dismay which comes upon him on the first sight of the -“Court of Lions” at the Alhambra in Spain. But in a little while, -looking westward, and tracing a certain order and method in the position -of “the Stones,” he begins to realise that by no ordinary forces of -nature, but by some unknown hands in past ages, these pillars must have -been raised. But how raised, and by whom brought and strewn on this -desolate shore? That they were monuments of the dead, or that they mark -the spot where burials took place, forming a consecrated ground for the -ancient inhabitants of Armorica, is the commonly received opinion. We -are told also that these irregular rows of unhewn stone are relics of -serpent worship, that they represent serpents’ teeth and the waving -lines of its body; also that they mark the places of sacrifice of the -Druids; bones and ancient remains of human beings having been found to -support this theory. - -The “menhir,” or “long stone of the sun,” will suggest the form of -monument used in all ages in religious worship, and the “dolmen,” or -table stone (which we see in the neighbourhood of Locmariaker), -consisting of a chamber formed by placing one large flat stone -horizontally on two or more upright blocks, points to the theory of a -place of sacrifice in Druidical times, or at any rate to a place of -burial.[9] All else seems vague and mysterious, leading men of -succeeding ages to surround the scene with legends and traditions. It -has been said that “the ancient temples of aboriginal races are -generally to be found where nature wears her saddest and most funereal -aspect,” and certainly Carnac is no exception to the rule. - -Footnote 9: - - The forms of the menhir and the dolmen are indicated on the - title-page. - -It is a summer’s day, and the light south wind that comes over the sea, -and gently sways the trees inland, here blows up the sand into our -faces, and moans between the stones. It is such a wild and dreary -place—where, excepting for a farm and an oasis of a few trees, there is -no welcome colour presented to the eye—that the mind leans naturally to -the mysterious side, and clings rather to legend and tradition than to -historic facts; thus we may see in this confused array an army of pagan -warriors turned into stone, and cling, like the present inhabitants of -Carnac, to the story of the patron saint of their herds and flocks (St. -Cornély), who, pursued to the sea by a host of armed men, and finding no -means of escape, cursed his pursuers and turned them into stone. - -If, by the aid of the map below, we look down upon the fields of Carnac, -we shall discern a certain order and method in the arrangement of the -stones, and carry away a more definite impression. Thus we see the -menhirs (or _peulvens_, “pillars of stone,” as they would be more -accurately described) arranged in three avenues extending from east to -west, commencing irregularly at Kerlescant, continuing in a second group -called Kermario, and ending abruptly near Carnac. These avenues form the -principal groups, but there are two others, one at Erdeven and one at -Ste. Barbe, in a north-westerly direction, besides separate menhirs or -_peulvens_, scattered about for miles, half buried in the soil or -standing in the long grass. It is estimated by old chroniclers that on -these fields there once were 12,000 or 15,000 Celtic monuments; at the -present time there are not 1000 to be found upon the fields of Carnac, -so many having been destroyed or taken away for building or other -purposes. - -[Illustration] - -The most prominent object on the field of Carnac is a mound of stones, -once a burial-place, on which there is a chapel and a calvary dedicated -to St. Michel. Every traveller ascends this mound to obtain a view, on -the one side, of the plains of Carnac, and, on the other, of the -peninsula of Quiberon and of the distant islands of Belle-Île, Houath, -and Hoedic. From the mound we can also see the spot where the ruins of -Roman houses and baths have been found. On the right, as we look -seaward, is the little village of Carnac close at hand, with its grey -spire and cluster of houses, and here and there in the distance are -trees, farms, and patches of cultivation. But all looks dreary and -wind-blown, even in summer-time and the inhabitants that stop in their -work in the fields to stare, or pursue the tourist through the day, have -a wild and weary look that is infinitely sad. - -[Illustration: SKETCH ON THE FIELDS OF CARNAC.] - -In the church of Carnac are some curious relics, and frescoes -descriptive of events in the life of St. Cornély, and in a house -opposite is a collection of ancient ornaments, weapons, bone implements, -and the like, which have been unearthed from time to time, and are now -exhibited for a small fee. Visitors to Carnac should make enquiry for -the site of recent excavations made by Mr. Miln, a Scotch gentleman who -has devoted some years to archæological labours in the neighbourhood. - -Descending to the village of Carnac, the traveller finds a comfortable -resting-place at the Hôtel des Voyageurs, and a pleasant contrast to the -prevailing sadness of the outer world. In this old-fashioned inn a -sumptuous breakfast is prepared in summer for visitors; and here -assemble, at midday, the more prosperous part of the community, -including priests of antiquarian taste, small farmers, traders in fish, -travelling merchants, carriage drivers, and others. The kitchen should -be seen by all visitors, with its old fireplace and furniture, ancient -clock, and comfortable beds; the pleasant faces and homely welcome of -the people giving colour and character to the picture. For a few weeks -in summer-time, and at the time of the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray, this -little inn is a centre of attraction; it is close to the church, where, -round its walls in grave procession, peasants still bring their cattle -to be cured—kneeling and praying, in the road, for miraculous aid. - -[Illustration: IN THE KITCHEN OF THE HÔTEL DES VOYAGEURS AT CARNAC.] - -Turning to the north-west, about two miles on the road to Erdeven, is -Plouharnel, a village somewhat poor in its surroundings, but giving -comfortable accommodation to travellers who come to see the dolmen of -Corcorro, one of the largest in Brittany. It consists of three chambers, -or “allées couvertes,” which were opened in 1830 and found to contain -fragments of earthen vessels, and an urn containing ashes, gold -necklaces, &c. The enormous slabs which rest upon and project beyond the -upright stones, measured originally, it is supposed, about forty-five -feet; the dolmen now measures twenty-four feet by twelve; it was -formerly underground, but now stands in the open moorland. - -[Illustration] - -The landlord of the inn at Plouharnel formed a collection of relics in -1849, including celts of jade and bronze, taken from this and other -dolmens in the neighbourhood. It should be noted that these relics -belong to a much later period than others found near Locmariaker, some -of which are to be seen at the Museum of Antiquities at Vannes. - - * * * * * - -The second principal excursion from Auray is to LOCMARIAKER and the -island of Gâvr Innis. Locmariaker, or “the place of the Virgin Mary,” is -situated nine miles in a southerly direction from Auray, and the island -of Gâvr Innis (Goat Island) is one of a cluster of little islands two -miles east of Locmariaker. At the extremity of the peninsula are two -large mounds or tumuli, where various implements and relics have been -found, pointing to the time of the Roman occupation of Gaul; and side by -side with these, remains of dolmens and menhirs of a much earlier date. - -The Montagne de la Fée, a tumulus of stones about thirty feet high, was -excavated in 1863, and in the vaulted chamber or grotto were found -necklaces, beads, and other ornaments which may be seen in the museum at -Vannes. There is a guide who shows the interior to visitors, and points -to the hatchet-shaped inscriptions on the stones. In the Mané Lud, the -second great tumulus opened in 1863, was found a large chamber, supposed -to have been a sepulchre, containing the skeletons of horses’ heads, as -well as other bones. - -[Illustration] - -After visiting the tumuli, we cross the fields a little way from -Locmariaker, following upon the track of three priests, to see the great -fallen menhir, called “Men-er-Groách,” or “Stone of the Fairies.” It is -as wild and wind-blown here as at Carnac; in every direction, excepting -due north, is the sea, and beyond the sea is a strong south-west wind. -The sun that shines upon the islands, and light up the colours of the -lichen on the rocks out at sea, scarce illumines the foreground; there -is no relief upon the low land but mounds of earth covered with long -grass and furze, and here and there, half buried in the ground, grey -rocks, strewn about as if by some convulsion of nature. There is no -trace of man’s handling, as far as we can see; nothing to suggest a -monument, and nothing, by contrast, to give an idea of size. But all at -once, as we descend a little behind some clumps of heather, there loom -up before us against the sea and sky the dark rounded sides of two -enormous stones, half buried in the ground, but raised once, as history -and tradition tell us, in the form of an obelisk seventy feet high and -sixteen feet in diameter! All is silent but the wind coming through -distant pines, scattering the gorse blossom on the ground, and bending -the long grass. There are rooks floating in the air, and presently there -is a flapping of black garments as three pilgrims appear upon the more -distant portion of the menhir, clambering down its side. It is an -undignified contrast, but valuable to us for the impression of size and -grandeur it gives to the fallen monument. - -[Illustration] - -Two miles off, on the inland sea of Morbihan—approached easily by boats -at certain times of the tide, but often with great difficulty owing to -the currents—is the small island called Gâvr Innis. This island is about -three quarters of a mile in length, and is green and cultivated, but so -difficult is the approach that it is only in summer-time that there is -much communication with the mainland. On a summer’s day a few -adventurous tourists come scrambling up the wet rocks from boats, to -visit the tumulus or mound of stones which has been excavated of late -years, and in which there have been found various Celtic remains and -inscriptions. It is, outwardly, a mound or heap of stones about 300 feet -in circumference, and not more than 30 feet high. - -Of the origin, or use, of these tumuli, of which the one on Gâvr Innis -is the most remarkable in Brittany, neither antiquaries of the past nor -the present owner, M. Closmedenc, who lives on the island in summer, can -give a satisfactory account. Like the island of Avalon, it sleeps in an -atmosphere of romance and mystery; the most searching of modern -antiquaries speaking of the “circular and serpent-like waving lines” cut -on the stones of Gâvr Innis as “unaccountable,” and of the inscriptions -as of “unknown meaning.” - -Here we may pause, wondering no longer at the superstitions of the -peasants, or the romances and legends of the people of Morbihan. - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - VANNES. - - -[Illustration] - -A few miles from Auray and Carnac is the ancient city of VANNES, the -chief town of the department of Morbihan and the capital of -Basse-Bretagne. This city, from its position, is the natural point of -departure for travellers entering Brittany from the east, as it is also -the natural place of rest when coming from the west. - -There is not much to attract the traveller at first sight, but the -result of several visits is to leave an impression of great interest on -the mind. One of _the_ oldest, perhaps the oldest, of the cities of -ancient Armorica, its very name and its position carry us back to early -history, when the fleets of the Veneti commanded these seas, and were -finally conquered by Cæsar in the sea of Morbihan, their leaders put to -death, and their people sold for slaves. - -The part of Vannes of most interest to travellers is the old city with -its narrow streets and overhanging houses, and the remains of its walls -and gates. In the narrowest part, near the Place Henri-Quatre, there -rises between the eaves of the houses the square tower and spire of the -cathedral of St. Peter, a structure dating from the eleventh century, -altered and almost rebuilt in the fifteenth. The interior of the -cathedral is gloomy, and the streets which surround it are dark and old. -There are some cloisters and a finely sculptured porch of dark stone. -The principal chapel in the interior is dedicated to the Spanish -Dominican monk St. Vincent Ferrier, who evangelised the province in the -time of Duke John V., and died at Vannes in 1419. The relics of this -saint are once a year carried in procession round the town. - -[Illustration: SKETCH OF VANNES FROM THE RIVER.] - -There is one side chapel with an altar, on which are three glass cases, -in one of which are relics, and, apparently, some wax models of bones -and imitation jewels; above these, between the folds of a curtain half -drawn aside, is a painting of Ste. Marie de Bon Secours, to whom the -chapel is dedicated. The light through a narrow stained-glass window -falls upon the figure of an old woman, holding beads in her worn hands, -who kneels upon the scagliola steps before the altar. There is nothing -uncommon in the sight; but there is a romantic story that this old woman -and the beautiful Madonna are one and the same; that she had sat in her -youth as a model for the Holy Virgin, and that she kneels every day -before the portrait of her old self. - -We have spoken of the cathedral and of its patron saint, because Vannes -is an ecclesiastical city of importance, the see of an ancient -bishopric, and a radiating point for the church in Morbihan; but, as a -matter of fact, we see and hear very little of the church at Vannes; and -it seems by contrast with the country—where every wayside has its cross -or holy fountain, every district its little chapel or altar with saints -and relics amongst the trees, every group of peasant-women a pastor—that -the country people have more than their share of homilies and -exhortations. - -Coming from the interior, we miss the attitude of religious awe amongst -the women, which seems to be put off at the city gates; and we miss, -also, the individuality of costume which vanishes fast in towns. If we -were to picture the people as we see them on Sunday in Vannes, they -would be very ordinary indeed, with just a sprinkling of white caps, and -a few touches of embroidery on a shawl or a blouse, to remind us that we -are in Morbihan; and in their general attitude they would seem as much -at a loss for occupation as in other centres of civilisation where -galleries and museums are closed on Sundays. - -There is a museum of Celtic antiquities at Vannes, containing a -collection of ornaments, flints, &c., found in the cromlechs at Carnac -and the neighbourhood, which is well worth visiting; and there are -various shows and amusements for the people on the _Place_ and in the -public gardens; but the fact remains that the majority of the working -inhabitants sidle off on Sunday morning as we see them in the sketch, -gravitating one by one towards every house outside of which hangs a -bunch of dried mistletoe or broom. - -[Illustration] - -There are many picturesque old houses such as the above; there is a walk -by the river under the old walls and towers, and another in the upper -town with a view far away towards Nantes and the sea; and there is -almost southern warmth and colour under its sunny walls, where we are -sheltered from the winds of the Morbihan. - -The people that we see are for the most part pleasant and -prosperous-looking, busy in commerce or in agriculture. There is, it is -true, more than one regiment of the line quartered here, and the cafés, -bright with plate-glass and gilding, are full of warriors of various -sizes; in the morning and in the evening the air vibrates with -regimental drums, but there is little else to remind us that the -inhabitants are the direct descendants of a warlike nation, and that -barons and knights once defended the battlements and towers of Vannes. -The morning is spent at billiards in most of the cafés, and in some, -especially frequented by the townspeople, there are such groups as the -above. - -[Illustration] - -Outside the café, seated on a bench, is a French commercial traveller, -dressed like a common dandy from L’Orient, with blue frock-coat, white -trousers, very narrow at the bottom, hair cut close to the head, and a -portentous moustache; and he does with it what every human creature -seems to do with an artificially contrived tuft of hair on his upper -lip, he twitches it round and round and pulls at it without ceasing; he -has done this every day for many years, and the action, apparently, -relieves his mind. The sight is familiar in civilised communities, but -this figure contrasts so strongly with the clean-faced, dignified -Bretons that it seems time to pack up our sketchbooks and depart. - -[Illustration: THREE HOT MEN OF VANNES.] - -Are the fashions changing in Brittany? or is it only the usual tourists’ -cry, the complaint of those who resent all change in costume and -dwellings in order that villages should remain “picturesque,” who look -upon their brother living in a hovel as they do upon an old door-knocker -or a china plate? Let us think of the influences at work in -out-of-the-way places, where the travelling _marchand des bottes_, who -has followed us through nearly every village in Brittany with his -caravan of side-spring boots, plies his terrible trade; and let us -remember the expression on the faces of the dancers in the booth at -Châteauneuf du Faou, at the arrival from Quimper of the “fine lady,” who -stands up with her relations to dance the gavotte in the latest fashion -of the towns. - -[Illustration] - -Before leaving Vannes, we should go down at night to the old Place -Henri-Quatre, where the roofs of the houses meet overhead, where, in -moonlight, the gables cast wonderful shadows across the square, and -above our heads rise the towers of the cathedral with a grandeur of -effect not to be seen at any other time, or from any other point of -view. It is then that the cathedral precincts look most mysterious in -their darkness; narrow, irregular streets with open gutters, lighted -only by a glimmer from latticed windows, and where, from old doorways, -figures are dimly seen to pass in and out. It is a poor quarter, where a -Dutch painter would find work for a lifetime. - -We said that there was no light in the streets, but, passing round the -cathedral, there is a strong light from a lantern held close to the -ground; it is the _chiffonnier_ of Vannes (who, like his Parisian -_confrère_, has learned the art of pecking and discrimination from the -fowls) wandering through the night with his basket and iron wand. - -One more note made in Vannes in stormy autumn-time. We go down to the -port, sheltered from the wind by a high wall, through which narrow -passages have been made to reach the sea. It is nearly dusk, and the -rough-hewn edges of the stone wall stand out sharply against the sky. As -we pass one of these, facing the west, the narrow opening to the shore -is illumined by a blood-red sunset light, so bright by contrast that -three figures coming towards us from the seashore step, as it were, out -of a furnace. They have men’s voices, but as they approach and pass us -hurriedly, we see that their heads are bare, and that their robes touch -the ground. Upon their shoulders they carry a “dear brother” to his -rest—the drift of last night’s storm-tide. Next morning a rough stone -cottage-door just outside the town is hung round with black—the drapery -giving an appearance of height, and almost grandeur of dimensions, to -the little interior—and resting upon the step is the projecting end of a -wooden coffin painted white. There are candles burning on either side; a -metal crucifix is placed on the doorstep, and on a little table on the -ground in the road is a vase of flowers. The neighbours pass up and down -crossing themselves, and muttering Latin words of prayer for the dead, -and the little children stand and stare. Two days after there is a -bright procession, headed by a priest and acolytes in white robes, with -hymns and incense, followed by a little crowd bareheaded, all struggling -against the wind, to a plot of ground on a promontory near the seashore, -where the poor Breton is taken to his rest. - -There is a crowd of his forefathers here before him, with black wooden -crosses where their heads should be; they are planted out in rows, and -labelled with wooden sticks to mark their species, and the garden is -walled in with stones and great rock boulders to keep out the wind. But -it is a dreary place; the wind finds it out from behind the stones, -blows down the wooden crosses, and strews the ground with seaweed and -dead leaves; nothing resists the havoc of the wind over the graves, but -some bright yellow _immortelles_ and some metal images of the Christ. - -In the neighbourhood of Vannes there are numerous interesting excursions -to be made, especially southward to the peninsula of Rhuys, on the south -side of the sea of Morbihan, to Sarzeau (where Lesage, the author of -_Gil Blas_, was born), and to the abbey of St. Gildas, also to the ruins -of the fortress of Sucinio, built in 1250 by Duke Jean de Roux. A few -miles to the north-west is the military town of Pontivy, now called -Napoléonville, to be reached easily by railway from Vannes; and near it -the village of St. Nicodème (_see map_), where on the first Saturday in -August one of the largest gatherings of the people takes place. The -Pardon of St. Nicodème is as interesting as any described in this book, -but the customs and ceremonies are too similar to others to be described -without wearying the reader with repetition. - -A little farther south, and we should enter the department of the -Loire-Inférieure; we are in fact but a few miles from the city of -Nantes, so well described by Miss Betham-Edwards, in _A Year in Western -France_. In this neighbourhood are the sunny vineyards of St. Nazaire, -the salt districts of Croisic where the costumes of the inhabitants are -again most curious, and the little sea-coast villages pictured by Mr. -Wedmore in his _Pastorals of France_; but there is enough in the -Loire-Inférieure for a separate book, peopled by Breton folk of an -altogether different type. - -We have said little of the ancient châteaux of Brittany, many of which -are in good preservation, and are inhabited by direct descendants of the -barons of the fifteenth century; but we would suggest to the traveller, -before leaving Vannes, to visit the picturesque castle of Elven, where -Henry of Richmond, afterwards king of England, was confined for fifteen -years; and, if possible, to go by road to Josselin, where there is one -of the finest châteaux of the Renaissance. The numerous sketches, of -Breton folk, in this book have prevented us from dwelling more at length -on the architectural features of the country, which have been described -in many books of travel. - -[Illustration] - -What clings to our recollections of Brittany? Some things that are not -beautiful, and which by no stretch of fancy can be described _en couleur -de rose_. The public exhibition of disease and human deformities -permitted by the church are sights to which English eyes are -unaccustomed, and of which the young and untravelled part of our -community have happily little knowledge. But no wise determination to -see only the “bright side” of things, no infusion of otto of roses -amongst these leaves, can take away the stain that clings to many things -in Brittany. - -It would seem a consideration of some consequence to the numerous -English residents abroad, though we seldom hear it touched upon, that -their children must of necessity be brought in contact with so much that -is cruel and repulsive. Some may think it salutary and right to see -these things; at any rate it is part of the bargain with those who live -abroad, and the habits of the people can scarcely be interfered with; -but it is a source of wonder to visitors to the principal towns that the -residents cannot persuade the authorities to keep more decently their -streets and public ways. - -We will not dwell upon the cruelty to animals, upon the sights to be -witnessed in every market-town, such as tortured calves and half -suffocated pigs, because cruelty is everywhere, and we as strangers are -helpless in a land where it is not considered a sin to inflict suffering -upon animals. It is true that any very flagrant acts can be dealt with -by law, but the law is seldom enforced. - -What does it matter about _les animaux_? asks the kindest-hearted, most -motherly of Breton women, whose children drag live birds through the -dust as playthings, and whose husband, if he be of a scientific turn, -may perchance keep a grasshopper with a pin through his head, _living_, -for days in a glass case! - -But our lasting impressions of Brittany are of a people and of a -country, interesting for their isolation from the rest of Europe: of a -people who are, as has been well said, “dwelling in an heroic past that -possibly never existed, consoling the failures of their destiny by -beautiful fancies, and throwing a grace over their hard, unhopeful lives -with romantic dreams and traditions”; of a people who invest every road -and fountain with a holy name—for wherever two roads meet, there is a -cross or a sign, and wherever three streams meet, they are called La -Trinité;—of a land that stands alone in Western Europe, its rocks -unmoved by the shocks of tempest from without, and its manners -unpolished by advancing civilisation from within; of a land where men -look to the sea as well as to the earth for their harvest, where the -plough comes down to the water’s edge and the nets of the fishermen are -dried upon fig-trees, where laden orchards drop their fruit over -weather-worn walls on to the sands, and fish, leaping from the sea, -alight sometimes in a field of corn; of a land brightened for a few -weeks in summer with the flower of buckwheat, and coloured with the -coral of its stems, where the wind sweeps over waves of grass and grain, -and scatters the harvest over the sea. - -[Illustration] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration: BRITTANY] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - _POSTSCRIPT FOR TRAVELLERS._ - - -_The expenses of a journey to and from Brittany and England are limited -to a return ticket (£2 12s.) from London to St. Malo, viâ Southampton, -which lasts two months. All other travelling expenses on the routes -indicated on the map need not exceed five pounds, by taking the public -conveyances. Carriages at the usual posting rates. Small and inferior -one-horse carriages can be hired nearly everywhere._ - -_The average cost of living at the hotels (which are tolerable in all -the towns) is 10 fr. (8s.) a day; or by the week, 6 fr. and 7 fr. -Pedestrians spend very little anywhere._ - -_The principal rivers for fishing are the Blavet, the Trieux, and the -Aven. Anglers should stay at St. Nicolas du Pélem in Côtes-du-Nord, and -at Rosporden in Finistère. (See map.)_ - -_The most convenient guide-book is the_ Guide Diamant, _by Ad. Joanne, -published by Hachette. There is a good road map of Brittany published by -Aug. Logerot, 55 Quai des Augustins, Paris._ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Inserted ‘as’ between ‘tone’ and ‘the’ on p. 4. - 2. Changed ‘or’ to ‘for’ on p. 4. - 3. Changed ‘above’ to ‘below’ on p. 107. - 4. Silently corrected typographical errors. - 5. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - 6. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Breton Folk, by Henry Blackburn - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRETON FOLK *** - -***** This file should be named 53600-0.txt or 53600-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/6/0/53600/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, Suzanne Shell and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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