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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8546-8.txt b/8546-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..640f1d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/8546-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9512 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Two Summers in Guyenne, by Edward Harrison Barker + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Two Summers in Guyenne + +Author: Edward Harrison Barker + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8546] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 22, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO SUMMERS IN GUYENNE *** + + + + +Produced by DP Beginners Projects, Commissioner Sleer +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +TWO SUMMERS IN GUYENNE + + +A Chronicle of the Wayside and Waterside + + + + +BY +EDWARD HARRISON BARKER + +Author of 'Wayfaring in France', 'Wanderings by Southern Waters,' ETC. + + +WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + +[Illustration: _G. Vuillies_ DOORWAY OF THE ABBEY CHURCH AT BEAULIEU +(CORRÈZE).] + + + + +PREFACE + + +Of the four summers which the writer of this 'Chronicle of the Wayside and +Waterside' spent by Aquitanian rivers, the greater part of two provided the +impressions that were used in 'Wanderings by Southern Waters.' Although +the earlier pages of the present work, describing the wild district of the +Upper Dordogne, through which the author passed into Guyenne, belong, in +the order of time, to the beginning of his scheme of travel in Aquitaine, +the summers of 1892 and 1893, spent chiefly in Périgord and the Bordelais, +furnished the matter of which this volume is mainly composed. Hence the +title that has been given to it. + +It may be thought that there is not a sufficient separation of interest, +geographically speaking, between the tracts of country described in the two +books. The author regrets that it is not possible to convey in a few words +an idea of the extent of the old English Duchy of Aquitaine as it was +defined by the Treaty of Brétigny. Still less easy would it be to deal +rapidly with its physical contrasts, its relics of the past, and its +historical associations. Surely no writer could pretend to have exhausted +the interest of such a subject even in two volumes. + +Before the final expulsion of the English, Aquitaine was gradually taking +the name of Guyenne; but when this designation came to be definitively +applied, at the time of the Renaissance, Gascony was not included in +it, nor were Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois and Limousin. Even when thus +restricted in its meaning, Guyenne still represented a very considerable +part of France, including as it did the regions or sub-provinces known as +the Bordelais, Périgord, the Agenais, the Rouergue, and the Quercy. + +If the author's work during the fifteen years that he has been living in +France has served to make the people, the scenery, and the antiquities of +this ever-fascinating country somewhat better known to those who speak +the English language, he believes that it is to his favourite mode of +travelling that such good fortune must be largely attributed. His faring on +foot has caused him to see much that he would otherwise have never seen; +it has also widened his knowledge of his fellow-men, and has helped him to +control prejudices which are not to be entirely overcome, but ever remain +an insidious snare to the traveller and student of manners. + +E. H. B. + +PARIS, _May_, 1894. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE UPPER DORDOGNE +ACROSS THE MOORS OF THE CORRÈZE +IN THE VISCOUNTY OF TURENNE +IN UPPER PÉRIGORD +IN THE VALLEY OF THE VÉZÈRE +IN THE VALLEY OF THE ISLE +FROM PÉRIGUEUX TO RIBERAC (BY BRANTÔME) +THE DESERT OF THE DOUBLE +A CANOE VOYAGE ON THE DRONNE +BY THE LOWER DORDOGNE +BY THE GARONNE + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +DOORWAY OF THE ABBEY CHURCH AT BEAULIEU (CORRÈZE) +A BIT OF AUVERGNE +THE DORDOGNE AT LA BOURBOULE +A MOORLAND WIDOW +THE VALLEY OF THE RUE +A WOMAN OF THE CORRÈZE +A PEASANT OF THE MOORS +PLOUGHING THE MOOR +A GORGE IN THE CORRÈZE +TURENNE +A PEASANT OF THE CAUSSE +CHÂTEAU DE FÉNELON +RETURNING FROM THE FIELDS +BEYNAC +CLOISTERS OF THE ABBEY OF CADOUIN +CHÂTEAU DE BIRON: THE LODGE +TRUFFLE-HUNTERS +CHÂTEAU DES EYZIES +CHÂTEAU DE HAUTEFORT +A HOUSE AT PÉRIGUEUX +THE TOUR DE VÉSONE +THE 'NORMAN GATE' AT PÉRIGUEUX +THE DRONNE AT BOURDEILLES +THE ABBEY OF BRANTÔME +CHÂTEAU DE BOURDEILLES +THE DRONNE AT COUTRAS +A STREET AT ST. ÉMILION +THE CHÂTEAU DE MONTAIGNE AFTER THE FIRE +MONOLITHIC CHURCH AND DETACHED TOWER AT ST. ÉMILION +CONVENT OF THE CORDELIERS: THE CLOISTERS +TOUR DE L'HORLOGE AT LIBOURNE +THE HILL OF FRONSAC +BAZAS +INTERIOR OF THE CHÂTEAU DE VILLANDRAUT +THE GARONNE +CHÂTEAU DE MONTESQUIEU +THE GARONNE AT BORDEAUX +THE PALAIS GALLIEN AT BORDEAUX + + + + +THE UPPER DORDOGNE. + +I had left the volcanic mountains of Auvergne and had passed through +Mont-Dore and La Bourboule, following the course of the Dordogne that +flowed through the valley with the bounding spirits of a young mountaineer +descending for the first time towards the great plains where the large +towns and cities lie with all their fancied wonders and untasted charm. + +But these towns and cities were afar off. The young Dordogne had a very +long journey to make before reaching the plains of Périgord. Nearly the +whole of this distance the stream would have to thread its way through +deep-cut gorges and ravines, where the dense forest reaches down to the +stony channel, save where the walls of rock rising hundreds of feet on +either side are too steep for vegetation. Above the forest and the rock +is the desert moor, horrible to the peasant, but to the lover of nature +beautiful when seen in its dress of purple heather and golden broom. + +[Illustration: A BIT OF AUVERGNE.] + +I had not been long on the road this day, when I saw coming towards me an +equipage more picturesquely interesting than any I had ever met in the +Champs-Elysées. It was a ramshackle little cart laden with sacks and a +couple of children, and drawn by a pair of shaggy sheep-dogs. Cords served +for harness. A man was running by the side, and it was as much as he could +do to keep up with the animals. This use of dogs is considered cruel in +England, but it often keeps them out of mischief, and I have never seen one +in harness that looked unhappy. Traces must help a dog to grow in his own +esteem, and to work out his ideal of the high destiny reserved for him; +or why does he, when tied under a cart to which a larger quadruped is +harnessed, invariably try to persuade himself and others that he is pulling +the load up the hill, and that the horse or donkey is an impostor? + +[Illustration: THE DORDOGNE AT LA BOURBOULE.] + +The width of the Mont-Dore valley decreased rapidly, and I entered the +gorge of the Dordogne, where basaltic rocks were thrown up in savage +grandeur, vividly contrasting with which were bands and patches of meadow, +brilliantly green. Yellow spikes of agrimony and the fine pink flowers of +the musk-mallow mingled with the wiry broom and the waving bracken about +the rocks. + +It was September, but the summer heat had returned, and when the road +passed through a beech wood the shade was welcome. Here over the mossy +ground rambled the enchanter's nightshade, still carrying its frail white +flowers, which really have a weird appearance in the twilight of the woods. +The plant has not been called _circe_ without a reason. Under the beeches +there were raspberry canes with some fruit still left upon them. After +leaving the wood, the scene became more wild and craggy. The basalt, bare +and sombre, or sparsely flecked with sedums, their stalks and fleshy leaves +now very red, rose sheer from the middle of the narrow valley, down which +the stream sped like fleeing Arethusa, now turning to the right, now to the +left, foaming over rocks or sparkling like the facets of countless gems +between margins of living green. + +Then I left the valley in order to pass through the village of St. Sauve +on the right-hand hill. There was little there worth seeing besides a very +ancient Romanesque archway, or, as some think, detached portico leading to +the church. + +Many of the women of St. Sauve wore the black cap or bonnet of Mont-Dore, +which hangs to the shoulders. It is a hideous coiffure, but an interesting +relic of the past. The prototype of it was worn by the châtelaines of the +twelfth century. Then, however, it had a certain stateliness which it lacks +now. It is only to be seen in a very small district. + +I consulted some of the people of St. Sauve respecting my plan of following +the Dordogne through its gorges. They did not laugh at me, but they looked +at me in a way which meant that if better brains had not been given to them +than to me their case would be indeed unfortunate. I was advised to see a +cobbler who was considered an authority on the byways of the district. I +found him sitting by the open window of his little shop driving hob-nails +into a pair of Sunday boots. When I told him what I had made up my mind to +do, he shook his head, and, laying down his work, said: + +'You will never do it. There are rocks, and rocks, and rocks. Even the +fishermen, who go where anybody can go, do not try to follow the Dordogne +very far. There are ravines--and ravines. _Bon Dieu!_ And the forest! You +will be lost! You will be devoured!' + +To be devoured would be the climax of misfortune. I wished to know what +animals would be likely to stop my wayfaring in this effectual manner. + +'Are there wolves?' + +'No; none have been seen for years.' + +'Are there boars?' + +'Yes, plenty of them.' + +'But boars,' I said, 'are not likely to interfere with me.' + +'That is true,' replied the local wiseacre, 'so long as you keep walking; +but if you fall down a rock--ah!' + +'I would not care to have you for a companion, with all your local +knowledge,' I thought, as I thanked the cobbler and turned down a very +stony path towards the Dordogne. It is always prudent to follow the advice +of those who are better informed than yourself; but it is much more +amusing--for awhile--to go your own way. I had lunched, and was prepared +to battle with the desert for several hours. It was now past mid-day, +and notwithstanding the altitude, the heat was very great. But for the +discomfort that we endure from the sun's rays we are more than amply +compensated by the pleasure that the recollection brings us in winter, when +the north wind is moaning through the sunless woods and the dreary fog +hangs over the cities. When I again reached the Dordogne there was no +longer any road, but only a rough path through high bracken, heather and +broom. Snakes rustled as I passed, and hid themselves among the stones. The +cobbler had forgotten to include these with the dangers to be encountered. +To my mind they were much more to be dreaded than the boars, for these +stony solitudes swarm with adders, of which the most venomous kind is the +red viper, or _aspic_. Its bite has often proved mortal. + +The path entered the forest which covers the steep sides of the +ever-winding gorge of the Dordogne for many leagues, only broken where the +rocks are so nearly vertical that no soil has ever formed upon them, except +in the little crevices and upon the ledges, where the hellebore, the sedum, +the broom, and other unambitious plants which love sterility flourish where +the foot of man has never trod. + +The rocks were now of gneiss and mica-schist, and the mica was so abundant +as to cause many a crag and heap of shale to glitter in the sun, as though +there had been a mighty shattering of mirrors here into little particles +which had fallen upon everything. There was, however, no lack of contrast. +To the shining rocks and the fierce sunshine, which seemed to concentrate +its fire wherever it fell in the open spaces of the deep gorge, succeeded +the ancient forest and its cool shade; but the darkly-lying shadows were +ever broken with patches of sunlit turf. Pines and firs reached almost to +the water's edge, and the great age of some of them was a proof of the +little value placed upon timber in a spot so inaccessible. One fir had an +enormous bole fantastically branched like that of an English elm, and +on its mossy bark was a spot such as the hand might cover, fired by a +wandering beam, that awoke recollections of the dream-haunted woods before +the illusion of their endlessness was lost. + +The afternoon was not far spent, when I began to feel a growing confidence +in the value of the cobbler's information, and a decreasing belief in my +own powers. It became more and more difficult, then quite impossible, +to keep along the bank of the stream. What is understood by a bank +disappeared, and in its stead were rocks, bare and glittering, on which the +lizards basked, or ran in safety, because they were at home, but which I +could only pass by a flank movement. To struggle up a steep hill, over +slipping shale-like stones, or through an undergrowth of holly and +brambles, then to scramble down and to climb again, repeating the exercise +every few hundred yards, may have a hygienic charm for those who are +tormented by the dread of obesity, but to other mortals it is too +suggestive of a holiday in purgatory. + +Having gone on in this fashion for some distance, I lay down, streaming +from every pore, and panting like a hunted hare beside a little rill that +slid singing between margins of moss, amid Circe's white flowers and purple +flashes of cranesbill. Here I examined my scratches and the state of things +generally. The result of my reflections was to admit that the cobbler +was right, that these ravines of the Upper Dordogne were practically +impassable, and that the only rational way of following the river would +be to keep sometimes on the hills and sometimes in the gorge, as the +unforeseen might determine. Hitherto, I had not troubled to inquire where I +should pass the night, and this consideration alone would have compelled +me to depart from my fantastic scheme. After La Bourboule there is not a +village or hamlet in the valley of the Dordogne for a distance of at least +thirty miles, allowing for the winding of the stream. + +After a hard climb I reached the plateau, where I saw before me a wide moor +completely covered with bracken and broom. Here I looked at the map, and +decided to make towards a village called Messeix, lying to the east in a +fork formed by the Dordogne and its tributary the Chavannon. Going by the +compass at first, I presently struck a road leading across the moor in the +right direction. I passed through two wretched hamlets, in neither of which +was there an auberge where I could relieve my thirst. At the second one a +cottage was pointed out to me where I was told a woman sold wine. When, +after sinking deep in mud, I found her amidst a group of hovels, and the +preliminary salutation was given, the following conversation passed between +us: + +'They tell me you sell wine.' + +'They tell you wrong--I don't.' + +'Do you sell milk, then?' + +'No; I have no beasts.' + +As I was going away she kindly explained that she only kept enough wine for +herself. I had evidently not impressed her favourably. Although I think +water a dangerous drink in France, except where it can be received directly +from the hand of Nature, far from human dwellings, I was obliged to beg +some in this place, and run the risk of carrying away unfriendly microbes. + +Having left the hovels behind me, the country became less barren or more +cultivated. There were fields of rye, buckwheat, and potatoes, but always +near them lay the undulating moor, gilded over with the flowers of a dwarf +broom. It was evening when I descended into a wide valley from which came +the chime of cattle-bells, mingled with the barking of dogs and the voices +of children, who were driving the animals slowly homeward. There were green +meadows below me, over which was a yellow gleam from the fading afterglow +of sunset, and in the air was that odour which, rising from grassy valleys +at the close of day, even in regions burnt by the southern summer, makes +the wandering Englishman fancy that some wayfaring wind has come laden with +the breath of his native land. Suddenly turning a corner, I so startled a +little peasant girl sitting on a bank in the early twilight with a flock +of goats about her, that she opened her mouth and stared at me as though +Croquemitaine had really shown himself at last. The goats stopped eating, +and fixed upon me their eyes like glass marbles; they, too, thought that I +could be no good. + +I hoped that the village of Messeix was in this valley; but no, I had to +cross it and climb the opposite hill. On the other side I found the place +that I had fixed upon for my night quarters. + +Very small and very poor, it lies in a region where the land generally is +so barren that but a small part of it has been ever broken by the plough; +where the summers are hot and dry, and the winters long and cruel. Although +in the watershed of the Gironde, it touches Auvergne, and its altitude +makes it partake very much of the Auvergnat climate, which, with the +exception of the favoured Limagne Valley, is harsh, to an extent that has +caused many a visitor to flee from Mont-Dore in the month of August. In the +deep gorges of the Dordogne and its tributaries, the snow rarely lies more +than a few days upon the ground, whereas upon the wind-swept plateau above +the scanty population have to contend with the rigours of that French +Siberia which may be said to commence here on the west, and to extend +eastward over the whole mass of metamorphic and igneous rocks, which is +termed the great central plateau of France, although it lies far south of +the true centre of the country. + +At the first auberge where I applied for a night's lodging, an elderly +woman with a mournful face declined to take me in, and gave no reason. When +I had left, she came after me and said, with her eyes full of tears: + +'I have a great trouble in the house, that is why I sent you away.' + +I understood what she meant; somebody dear to her was dying. A man who was +listening said his brother-in-law, the baker, was also an innkeeper, and he +offered to take me to the auberge. I gladly consented, for I was fearful of +being obliged to tramp on to some other place. Presently I was in a large, +low room, which was both kitchen and baker's shop. On shelves were great +wheel-shaped loaves (they are called _miches_ in the provinces), some about +two feet in diameter, made chiefly of rye with a little wheaten flour. +Filled sacks were ranged along the wall. In a deep recess were the +kneading-trough, and the oven, now cold. The broad rural hearth, with its +wood-fire and sooty chimney, the great pot for the family soup hanging to a +chain, took up a large share of the remaining space. I sat upon a rickety +chair beside a long table that had seen much service, but was capable of +seeing a great deal more, for it had been made so as to outlast generations +of men. Bare-footed children ran about upon the black floor, and a thin, +gaunt young woman, who wore very short petticoats, which revealed legs not +unlike those of the table, busied herself with the fire and the pot. She +was the sister of the children, and had been left in charge of the house +while her father and mother were on a journey. She accepted me as a lodger, +but for awhile she was painfully taciturn. This, however, her scanty +knowledge of French, and the fact that a stranger even of the class of +small commercial travellers was a rare bird in the village, fully accounted +for. The place was not cheerful, but as I listened to the crickets about +the hearth, and watched the flames leap up and lick the black pot, my +spirits rose. Presently the church bell sounded, dong, dong, dong. + +'Why are they tolling the bell?' I asked. + +'Because,' replied the gaunt young woman, 'a man has died in the village.' + +By pressing her to speak, she explained that while a corpse lay unburied +the bell was tolled three times in the day--early in the morning, at +mid-day, and at nightfall. The conversation was in darkness, save such +light as the fire gave. It was not until the soup was ready that the lamp +was lighted. Then the young woman, addressing me abruptly, said: + +'Cut up your bread for your soup.' + +I did as I was told, for I always try to accommodate myself to local +customs, and never resent the rough manners of well-intentioned people. The +bread was not quite black, but it was very dark from the amount of rye that +was in it. The soup was water flavoured with a suggestion of fat bacon, +whatever vegetables happened to be in the way, and salt. This fluid, poured +over bread--when the latter is not boiled with it--is the chief sustenance +of the French peasant. It was all that the family now had for their evening +meal, and in five minutes everyone had finished. They drank no wine; it +was too expensive for them, the nearest vineyard being far away. A bottle, +however, was placed before me, but the quality was such that I soon left +it. To get some meat for me the village had to be scoured, and the result +was a veal cutlet. + +I was not encouraged to sit up late. As the eldest daughter of the inn +showed me my night quarters, she said: + +'Your room is not beautiful, but the bed is clean.' + +This was quite true. The room, in accordance with a very frequent +arrangement in these rural auberges, was not used exclusively for sleeping +purposes, but also for the entertainment of guests, especially on fair and +market days, when space is precious. There was a table with a bench for the +use of drinkers. There were, moreover, three beds, but I was careful to +ascertain that none would be occupied except by myself. I would sooner +have slept on a bundle of hay in the loft than have had an unknown person +snoring in the same room with me. One has always some prejudice to +overcome. The bed was not soft, and the hempen sheets were as coarse as +canvas, but these trifles did not trouble me. I listened to the song of +the crickets on the hearth downstairs until drowsiness beckoned sleep and +consciousness of the present lost its way in sylvan labyrinths by the +Dordogne. + +At six o'clock the next morning I was walking about the village, and I +entered the little church, already filled with people. It was Sunday, and +this early mass was to be a funeral one. The man for whom the bell was +tolled last night was soon brought in, the coffin swathed in a common +sheet. It was borne up the nave towards the catafalque, the rough carpentry +of which showed how poor the parish was. Following closely was an old and +bent woman with her head wrapped in a black shawl. She had hardly gone a +few steps, when her grief burst out into the most dismal wailing I had ever +heard, and throughout the service her melancholy cries made other women +cover their faces, and tears start from the eyes of hard-featured, +weather-beaten men. + +[Illustration: A MOORLAND WIDOW.] + +Most of the women present wore the very ugly headgear which is the most +common of all in Auvergne and the Corrèze, namely, a white cap covered by +a straw bonnet something of the coal-scuttle pattern. There were many +communicants at this six o'clock mass, and what struck me as being the +reverse of what one might suppose the right order of things, was that the +women advanced in life wore white veils as they knelt at the altar rails, +while those worn by the young, whose troubles were still to come, were +black. These veils were carried in the hand during the earlier part of the +rite. Throughout a very wide region of Southern France the custom prevails. +The church belonged to different ages. Upon the exterior of the Romanesque +apse were uncouth carvings in relief of strange animal figures. They were +more like lions than any other beasts, but their outlines were such as +children might have drawn. + +I returned to the inn. The baker had come back, and was preparing to heat +his oven with dry broom. I learned that he had not only to bake the bread +that he sold, but also the coarser rye loaves which were brought in by +those who had their own flour, but no oven. Three francs was the charge for +my dinner, bed, and breakfast. The score settled and civilities exchanged, +I walked out of Messeix, expecting to strike the valley of the Dordogne not +very far to the south. The landscape was again that of the moorland. On +each side of the long, dusty line called a road spread the brown turf, +spangled with the pea-flowers of the broom or stained purple with heather. +There were no trees, but two wooden crosses standing against the gray sky +looked as high as lofty pines. I met little bands of peasants hurrying +to church, and I reached the village of Savennes just before the _grand +messe_. Many people were sitting or standing outside the church--even +sitting on the cemetery wall. When the bell stopped and they entered, +literally like a flock of sheep into a fold, all could not find room +inside, so the late-comers sat upon the ground in the doorway, or as near +as they could get to it. As the people inside knelt or stood, so did they +who had been left, not out in the cold, but in the heat, for the sun had +broken through the mist, and the weather was sultry. As I walked round the +church I found women sitting with open books and rosaries in their hands +near the apse, amidst the yarrow and mulleins of forgotten grave mounds. +They were following the service by the open window. I lingered about the +cemetery reading the quaint inscriptions and noting the poor emblems upon +wooden crosses not yet decayed, picking here and there a wild flower, and +watching the butterflies and bees until the old priest, who was singing the +mass in a voice broken by time, having called upon his people to 'lift up +their hearts,' they answered: '_Habemus ad Dominum_.' + +I had a simple lunch at a small inn in this village, where I was watched +with much curiosity by an old man in a blouse with a stiff shirt-collar +rising to his ears, and a nightcap with tassel upon his head. The widow who +kept the inn had a son who offered to walk with me as far as some chapel +in the gorge of the Chavannon. We were not long in reaching the gorge, the +view of which from the edge of the plateau was superbly savage. Descending +a very rugged path through the forest that covered the sides of the deep +fissure, save where the stark rock refused to be clothed, we came to a +small chapel, centuries old, under a natural wall of gneiss, but deep in +the shade of overhanging boughs. It was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, +and on St. John's Day mass was said in it, and the spot was the scene of a +pilgrimage. Outside was a half-decayed moss-green wooden platform on which +the priest stood while he preached to the assembled pilgrims. The young +man left me, and I went on alone into the more sombre depths of the gorge, +where I reached the single line of railway that runs here through some of +the wildest scenery in France. I kept on the edge of it, where walking, +although very rough, was easier than on the steep side of the split that +had here taken place in the earth's crust. Upon the narrow stony strip of +comparatively level ground the sun's rays fell with concentrated ardour, +and along it was a brilliant bloom of late summer flowers--of camomile, St. +John's wort, purple loosestrife, hemp-agrimony and lamium. At almost every +step there was a rustle of a lizard or a snake. The melancholy cry of the +hawk was the only sound of bird-life. Near rocks of dazzling mica-schist +was a miserable hut with a patch of buckwheat reaching to the stream. A man +standing amidst the white flowers of the late-sown crop said, in answer to +my questioning, that I could not possibly reach the village of Port-Dieu +without walking upon the line and through the tunnels. + +When I had left him about fifty yards behind, his curiosity proved more +than he could bear in silence; so he called out to me, in the bad French +that is spoken hereabouts by those who use it only as the language of +strangers: '_Quel métier que vous faites?_' + +I waved my hand in reply and left him to his conjectures. + +On I went, now over the glittering stones, now wading through the pink +flowers of saponaria, then in a mimic forest of tall angelica by the +water's edge, until I realized that the peasant's information was +sound--that it was impossible to walk through this gorge except upon the +railway. + +Presently the rocks rose in front of me and the line disappeared into the +darkness of a tunnel. I did not like the idea of entering this black hole, +for I had brought no candle with me, but the prospect of climbing the rocks +was still more forbidding. It proved to be a short and straight tunnel with +daylight shining at the farther end. After this came another short one, but +the third was much longer and had a curve; consequently I was soon in total +darkness. The only danger to be feared was a passing train, so I felt with +my stick for the wires between the rock and the metals, and crept along by +them. From being broiled by the sun ten minutes before I was now shivering +from the cold. I longed to see again the flowers basking under the warm +sky, and to hear the grasshoppers' happy song. By-and-by I saw the blessed +light flashing at the end of the black bore. When I came out again into the +sunshine, I was following, not the Chavannon, but the Dordogne. + +The gorge widened into a valley, where there were scattered cottages, cows, +sheep, and goats. Here I found a fair road on the western side of the +river, in the department of the Corrèze, and being now free of mind, I +loitered on the way, picking strawberries and watching the lizards. It +was dark when, descending again to the level of the Dordogne, I sought a +lodging in the little village of Port-Dieu. I stopped at a cottage inn, +where an old man soon set to work at the wood-fire and cooked me a dinner +of eggs and bacon and fried potatoes. He was a rough cook, but one very +anxious to please. The room where I passed the night had a long table in +it, and benches. There was no blanket on the bed, only a sheet and a heavy +patchwork quilt. Ah, yes, there was something else, carefully laid upon the +quilt. This was a linen bag without an opening, which, when spread out, +tapered towards the ends. Had I not known something about the old-fashioned +nightcap, I should have puzzled a long time before discovering what I was +expected to do with this object. The matter is simple to those who know +that the cap is formed by turning one of the ends in. There were mosquitoes +in the room, but they sang me to sleep, and if they amused themselves at my +expense afterwards, I was quite unconscious of it. + +The murmur of the rushing Dordogne mingled not unpleasantly with the +impressions of dreams as I awoke. I got up and opened the small worm-eaten +window-frame. High thatched roofs, not many yards in front, were covered +with moss, which the morning rays, striking obliquely, painted the heavenly +green of Beatrice's mantle. Down the narrow road goats were passing, +followed by a sunburnt girl with a barge-like wooden shoe at the end of +each of her bare brown legs. The pure, life-giving air that entered by the +window made the blood glow with a better warmth than that of sparkling +wine. I soon went outside to see something of the place which I had entered +in the darkness. + +I found that the village was built partly in the bottom of the gorge and +partly on one of its craggy sides. Closely hemmed in by rocks and high +hills overgrown with forest was a bright and fertile little valley, with +abundance of pear and walnut trees, luxuriant cottage-gardens, and little +fields by the flashing torrent, where shocks of lately-cut buckwheat stood +with their heads together waiting for the warm September hours to ripen +their black grain. + +Many of the houses were half hidden in leafy bowers. I threaded my way +between these towards some ivy-draped fragments of an ancient priory upon a +mass of rock much overgrown with brambles glistening with blackberries +and briars decked with coral-red hips. Before descending to the road and +beginning the day's journey I indulged for a little while the musing mood +of the solitary wanderer in the grassy burying-ground on the edge of the +cliff. + +I started for Bort ere the intensely blue sky began to pale before the +increasing brilliancy of the sun. The road ran along the bottom of the deep +valley, where there was change of scene with every curve of the Dordogne. A +field of maize showed how different was the climate here from that of the +bleak plateau above the deep rift in the rocks. I stopped beside a little +runnel that came down from the wooded heights to pick some flowers of +yellow balsam, and while there my eye fell upon a splendid green lizard +basking in the sun. Here was another proof of the warm temperature of the +valley, notwithstanding its altitude. As I went on I skirted long fields of +buckwheat upon the slope, but reaching only a little way upwards. The white +waxen flowers had turned, or were turning, rusty; but what a variety of +beautiful colour was on the stems and leaves! Greens and yellows passed +into carmine, purple, and burnt sienna. A field of ripening buckwheat has a +charm of warm colour that gladdens the eye, especially when the morning or +evening sunshine is upon it. But this glow of many tints was a sure sign +of approaching autumn; so, too, were the reddened stalks of persicaria, +filling the dry ditches by the wayside. + +The valley narrowed, and upon its rocky sides was many a patch of purple +heather--little gardens for the wild bees, but not for man. Neither peasant +nor local Nimrod ever sets his foot there. Still higher, the outlines of +the topmost crags were drawn hard against the sky, for there was no vapour +in the air. Verily, the ground seemed quite alive with brown lizards +darting along at my approach and raising little clouds of dust, whilst +blue-winged grasshoppers--which, perhaps, would be more correctly described +as locusts--crossed and recrossed the road in one flight. In the midst of +such beautiful scenery, and with such happy creatures for companions, I +felt no wish to hurry. Moreover, the blackberries sometimes tempted me to +loiter. If they are unwholesome, as French peasants often maintain, I +ought to have been dead long ago. Strange that this prejudice should be +so general in France with regard to the fruit of so harmless a tribe. But +these same peasants gather the leaves of the bramble to make a decoction +for sore throat. I passed a cottage that had a vine-trellis, the first I +had seen on this side of the Auvergne mountains, and it was half surrounded +by a forest of beans in full flower on very high sticks. In a sunny space +was a row of thatched beehives. + +After walking some eight miles, I was not unwilling to take advantage of +a village inn. Here I had a meal of bacon and eggs, haricots, cheese and +walnuts, with some rather rough Limousin wine. I soon became aware that +there was something amiss in the rustic auberge, and catching a dim glimpse +of a figure lying in a bed in a small room adjoining, I asked the young +woman who waited upon me if anybody was ill there. 'Yes,' she replied +dolefully. Then I learnt from her that her father, struck with apoplexy, +was lying in a state that was hopeless. There is no escaping the +mournfulness of life. When our minds are least clouded the shadow of death +suddenly stands between us and the sunshine. I was in no mood to linger at +the table. + +What a relief to be out again in the sunshine and the light air, to see +the Dordogne flashing through meadows where women were haymaking with bare +feet! + +It was early in the afternoon when I entered the small but active town of +Bort. The burg is only interesting by its exceedingly picturesque situation +on the right bank of the Dordogne, under a very high hill, capped by a +basaltic table, which is flanked towards the town, or rather a little to +the south of it, by a long row of stupendous columns of basalt, known as +the _Orgues de Bort_, from their resemblance at a distance to organ-pipes. +The basalt here is of a reddish yellow. The table, with its igneous +crystallizations, lies upon the metamorphic rock. + +I decided to climb to the summit of the prodigious organ-pipes, and to look +at the world from that remarkable point of view. For the greater part of +the distance the way lay up a tiresome winding road on the side of the +hill. A woman, who was tying buckwheat into sheaves, said the distance was +'three small quarters of an hour.' It would have been simpler arithmetic to +have said 'half an hour,' but the peasant thinks it safer not to be +more explicit than he or she can help. Experience has taught me that +'three-quarters of an hour,' whether they are called little or not, mean an +hour or more, and that 'five quarters of an hour' mean an hour and a half, +or even two hours. I passed a team of bullocks descending from the moor +with loads of dry broom for the bakers, headed by a little old man in a +great felt hat, with a long goad in his hand, with which he tickled up the +yoked beasts occasionally, not because they needed it, but from force of +habit. This goad, by-the-bye, is a slender stick about six feet long, with +a short nail at one end, so fastened that the point is turned outwards. +A bullock is not goaded from behind, but from the front between the +shoulder-blades, and it generally suffices for the animal to see a man in +front of him with a stick. Instead of drawing back, as might be supposed, +he steps forward at his best pace. Cows and bulls are harnessed, to the +wain and plough as well as oxen; they have all to work for their living. +English cattle are allowed to grow fat in idleness, and their troubles do +not begin until the time comes for them to be eaten. It is otherwise in +France. + +On the banks were fragrant, mauve-coloured pinks, with ragged petals; but +at the foot of the _Orgues_ was a rocky waste, where little grew besides +the sombre holly and fetid hellebore. + +The view from the top of the cliff made me fully realize the wildness, the +sterility, the desolation of nature in this region. Beyond the valley far +beneath me where the Dordogne lay, a glittering thread, was the department +of the Cantal. The whole southern and eastern prospect was broken up by +innumerable savage, heath-covered or rocky hills, with little green valleys +or dense woods filling the hollows, the southern horizon being closed by +the wavy blue line of the Cantal mountains. To the north-east the sky-line +was marked by the Mont-Dore range, with the highest peak of Auvergne, the +Puy de Sancy, clearly visible against the lighter blue of the cloudless +air. The feeling that prevailed throughout this wide expanse of country was +solemn sternness. + +I returned to Bort, and as there were still about two hours of light left, +I crossed the river and went in search of the cascades, two or three +miles from the town, formed by the Rue in its wild impatience to meet the +Dordogne. When I was skirting the buckwheat fields of the valley in the +calm open country, there was a sweet and tender glow of evening sunshine +upon the purple-tinted sheaves standing with their heads together. The +Titan-strewn rocks felt it likewise with all their heather and broom. There +was no husbandman in the plain, no song of the solitary goat-girl, no creak +of the plough, no twitter even of a bird. It was not yet the hour when +Virgil says every field is silent, but the repose of nature had commenced. + +The dusk was falling when I reached a silk-mill by the side of the Rue, +and passed up the deep gorge full of shadows, led by the sound of roaring +waters. A narrow path winding under high rocks of porphyritic gneiss +brought me to the cascade called the Saut de la Saule, where the river, +divided into two branches by a vast block, leaps fifteen or twenty feet +into a deep basin to whirl and boil with fury, then dashes onward down the +stony channel, to leap again into the air and fall into another basin. + +[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF THE RUE.] + +I reached a rock in the channel by means of a tree that had been laid +between it and the bank, and stood in the midst of the seething, broken +torrent, from which arose that saddening odour which water in wild +commotion gives forth when daylight is dying and the darkened trees stand +like mourning plumes. On either hand the forest-covered sides of the ravine +and their savage crags seemed to reach higher as they grew darker. Where +was I? There was a tree hard by that looked very like the infernal elm +beneath whose leaves the vain dreams cluster; but it was probably an oak. + + + + +ACROSS THE MOORS OF THE CORRÈZE. + + +The night being passed at Bort, the next morning I continued my journey by +the Dordogne. Again the sky was cloudless. I kept on the right bank of the +river--the Limousin side, leaving the Cantal to some future day, that may +never come. A little beyond the spot where the Dordogne and the Rue met +and embraced uproariously, the path entered a narrow lane bordered by tall +hedges chiefly of hazel and briar overclimbed by wild clematis--well termed +the traveller's joy, for it is a beautiful plant that reminds many a +wanderer of his far-away home. + +[Illustration: A WOMAN OF THE CORRÈZE.] + +Then I passed under precipitous naked rocks, with the river on the other +hand, skirted by low bushes of twiggy willow that looked like tamarisk from +a distance. The sun was now hot, and the ground was again all astir with +lizards. Looking upon the path just in front of me, I brought myself to a +sudden stop. Had I advanced a step or two more I could hardly have failed +to tread upon a serpent that lay dozing in the sun just in my way. I was +glad that I did not do so, for I recognised it, by its olive skin with +reddish patches, as the dreaded _aspic_, or red viper. There it lay +stretched out its full length, about a foot and a half, either asleep or +enjoying the morning sun so much that it was in no humour to move. I do +not kill snakes indiscriminately, like the peasants whenever they get the +chance, but this one being dangerous, I resolved that it should never +take another sun-bath. After being roused by a blow, the creature did not +attempt to run, but did battle bravely, fiercely striking at the stick. + +The path I had been following with so much confidence dwindled away and was +lost. Again the gorge became a deep rift in the rocks, which left no margin +on which one could walk. The only way to follow the windings of the stream +would have been to wade or swim. Once more I had to own myself beaten +by natural obstacles. The Dordogne is a river that cannot be followed +throughout its savage wildernesses, except perhaps in a light flat-bottomed +boat, and then not without serious difficulties. Anglers might have +splendid sport here until they broke their necks, for the trout abound +where the shadow of a man seldom or never falls. In the neighbourhood of +towns and large villages the fishing is often spoilt by the casting-net. + +Having realized the situation, I turned my back to the stream and commenced +climbing the steep side of the gorge, choosing a spot where it was well +wooded, for the sake of the foothold. For some distance the ground was +green with moss and wood-sorrel; but the tug-of-war came when the vast +banks of loose stones--hot, bare, and shale-like--were reached. On gaining +the plateau, I threw myself down upon the heather and looked at the scene +below. The mingling of rock, forest, and stream was superbly desolate. Even +the naked steeps of slate-coloured broken stone had an impressive grandeur +of their own. + +Leaving the Dordogne with the intention of cutting off a wide bend and +meeting it again the next day or the day after, I struck across the +half-cultivated open country, hoping soon to find a village; for I had +spent much time in the gorge and made very little progress, while the sun +had moved nearly up to the centre of his arc. The rays fell fiercely, +and there was no shade upon the plateau. There was a road, but it was +abominable. Only tramps understand the luxury of-walking upon a good road. + +I came to a hamlet that looked very miserable. The daily toil had scattered +the men afield, and only a few women were to be seen. Not one of them wore +a stocking, nor even a wooden shoe. Some to whom I spoke did not understand +me; those who understood told me that there was no inn in the place--that +there was no one who could give me a meal. One of them must have thought +that I was begging my way, or was exceedingly hard up, for she said: 'Ah! +mon pauvre ami, vous êtes dans un malheureux pays.' + +Continuing, I came to a village which was not shown on my map. Here I +learnt there was a single auberge, which was also the tobacco shop and +grocery of the place. It was kept by an old man who lived alone. This +inn was a cottage without any sign over it. I tried the door, but it was +locked, and nobody responded to the noise I made. It took me half an hour +to find the solitary at the farther end of the village. He returned with +me, and, opening the door, we both entered the only room of the cottage. It +was shop, bedroom, and kitchen. There was a bed against the wall, and near +the window was a small stock of tobacco, snuff, and groceries all mixed up. +My host's back was much bent and his face deeply furrowed. He wore a shirt +with a high collar, and a blue waistcoat. He was an honest, kindly man, +and seemed to take pleasure in doing what he could for me apart from the +thought of gaining by it. + +In the way of food he had only eggs, bread, cheese, and butter. It was +decided that he should fry some eggs. He lighted some sticks upon the +hearth, and there was soon a good blaze; then he laid his great frying-pan +upon it, resting the long handle upon a chair. While the butter was +melting, he opened a trap-door in the floor and went down a ladder into his +cellar. Presently he reappeared with a litre of wine, and having set +this before me, he proceeded to crack the eggs and empty them into the +frying-pan. As a cook he had no pretensions, but he knew how to fry eggs. +When my meal was ready, and he had placed everything before me upon the +bare board, he sat at a little distance eating a dry old crust with a piece +of goat cheese. This was his lunch. I insisted upon his sharing the wine +with me, and this little attention made him thoroughly confiding and +cheery. + +He was left a widower, he told me, with four children, at the age of +thirty-eight, and he would not take a second wife because, his father +having done so, he remembered the trials and tribulations of his own +childhood which came of his having 'a mother who was not a mother.' He said +to himself, 'My children shall not run the risk of going through what I +went through.' He toiled on alone, brought up his family himself, added +to his bit of land in course of years, and acquired other property. His +children were now all settled in life, and he had given them everything he +had except the cottage in which he lived. I was struck by the strong virtue +of this illiterate peasant, who had evidently no notion of his own value, +and who would not have told the simple story of his life passed amidst the +moors of the Corrèze had I not drawn it from him. + +[Illustration: A PEASANT OF THE MOORS.] + +As I watched the old man, prematurely bent by labour, eating his hard +crust, cheerful and contented, after giving to others the fruit of his many +years of toil, I thought, 'If man were nothing but an animal, such a life +would be not only absurd, but impossible.' Another glass of wine made my +host and cook still more talkative. He told me that not long ago he had +walked from this village to Tulle, distant about thirty-five miles, to +see a soldier son who was to pass through the place with his regiment. He +started at three in the morning and arrived at five in the afternoon, but +was only able to exchange a few words with his son. They could not even +'break a crust' together. The old man then turned his face towards his +village, and walked the whole night. + +'I hope your son would walk as far to see you,' I said, with a little +scepticism in my mind. + +This is what he replied, almost word for word: + +'Ah! children do not do for their parents what their parents do for them. +The commandment says, 'Honour your father and your mother'--not honour your +children. Nevertheless, it is the parents who deny themselves the most. As +soon as your children are married they generally forget you. + +Perhaps if I had married again I should be happier now. All the same, I +am contented. I can keep myself. When I am no longer able to take care of +myself, my children must do something for me.' + +I confess that I was sorry when the time came for me to leave this old man, +knowing well that I should never see again his rugged face and his kind +eyes twinkling under their shaggy brows. Perhaps he, too, had some such +regret, for we had had a long talk, and he may have tired out all his other +listeners, especially those of his own family. When a man has grown old +and is near the end, it would often be better for him to go out into the +wilderness and talk to the rocks and trees than to repeat the stories of +his life upon his own hearth-stone. Before I left the peasant fetched a +bottle, which he only brought out on rare occasions, and insisted upon my +drinking a parting glass with him. + +I passed through another hamlet where there was a high wooden cross. There +were walnut-trees, and men were knocking down the nuts. The women here wore +wide-brimmed black straw hats over white caps. I soon left these figures +behind, and was alone in a birch-wood, where there were many yellow leaves +between me and the blue sky. Then I met the road to Neuvic, and following +it came to the Artaud, a tributary of the Dordogne, threading its way +through deep ravines, amidst wild rocks, dark woods, and bracken-covered +steeps. The road crossed the ravine upon a bridge of three arches. + +The scene was one to raise the mind above common things. The stream rushed +madly down the rocky chasm with a mighty roar, now losing itself in the +leafy vaults of overhanging trees, now reappearing like a torrent of fire +where the glorious lustre of the September sun struck it and mingled with +it. + +As I ascended the opposite hill a still deeper ravine came into view, +wooded down to the water and all in dark shadow, except a rocky ridge +facing the sinking sun and bathed in warm light. + +When the top of the hill had been reached, an old man, who wore a large and +very weather-beaten felt hat, was sitting on the step of a wayside cross +with a flock of geese feeding around him. Next I passed a bare-footed +_cantonnier_ breaking stones, and he told me that if I made +haste I might reach Neuvic before dark. On the outskirts of a +village--Roche-le-Peyroux--a wandering tinker and his boy were at work +by the side of the road with fire and bellows, and I felt a trampish or +romantic desire to stay with them awhile in the cheerful glow; but thinking +of the coming night, I smothered the impulse. + +Upon the moor which I was now traversing was a very old stone cross, upon +which the figure of the Saviour was rudely carved in relief. The form was +so uncouth as to be scarcely human. The head was half as wide again as the +space across the shoulders, and the hands were nearly as large as the head. +How many centuries ago did Christian piety raise this rough image of its +hope upon the moors amidst the purple heather and the yellow broom? + +The road crossed another stream not far from the spot where it fell into +the Dordogne. There was a wooded quietude here, with an odour of fresh +grass and water that enticed me to linger; but the evening light in the +tops of the trees and the twittering of the birds settling amongst the +leaves for the night spurred me on. I had walked many miles since the +morning, but had made very little way according to the map, so full of +deception is this wild Limousin country to the wanderer who does not know +it. I had still some eight miles to walk before reaching Neuvic. + +There was a little mill at the bottom of the grassy valley, but it seemed +deserted by all living creatures save a dog. This rather large and shaggy +animal seized the rare opportunity that was now offered him for a little +excitement. Not satisfied with barking at me furiously from his own ground, +he followed me about a mile up the hill I had now to climb, but without +venturing very near. At length I thought I had had enough of his company, +so at the next bend in the road I came to a stand beside a heap of stones +that a _cantonnier_ had neatly piled up in geometrical pattern. There I +waited, and the animal came on gaily, little expecting to find himself +suddenly at close quarters with me. Just as he turned the corner he raised +a howl that said he was both surprised and shocked. Skipping with great +agility, he avoided the next stone, and the expression of his face told me +that he was already feeling very home-sick. He turned tail as quick as he +could, and used very bad dog-language as the stones followed him down the +hill. As a rule, dogs lose all their courage when they are out of sight of +their own homes, unless someone whom they know well is near at hand to give +them confidence in themselves. + +I am again upon the moor. There is a deep silence over the heather, for the +last bees have left the pink and purple bells. But there is still a wan +glow in the air, which gives a sad beauty to the quiet, mournful land. A +boy is returning with some cattle after spending the day upon the heath, +and he sings as he thinks of his poor home, the blazing sticks on the +hearth, the soup, the buckwheat cake, or the potatoes. Through a mask of +silver birches I see a solemn ruddy light as of a funeral-torch in the far +western sky. The breath of evening is made sweeter by the odour wafted from +some distant fresh-cut grass or broom that has been drying in the September +sun. A field-cricket, waking up, breaks the silence with its shrill cry +that is quickly taken up by others near at hand and far away in the dusk. +The light and colour of the day are now gone, but there is one beautiful +star flashing in front of me like a lamp of the sanctuary when the vaulted +minster is filled with shadow. + +The rest of the walk to Neuvic was by night. The first auberge I entered in +this small town of some three thousand inhabitants was a little too rough +even for me. The family were at dinner, or at supper, as they would say, +eating upon the bare board, without plates, potatoes boiled in their skins. +I do not doubt there were hollows cut in the table to serve instead of +plates, for this primitive contrivance still lingers in the wildest parts +of the Limousin. In answer to my inquiry as to bed accommodation, I was +told that I should have to sleep in the same room with others, probably the +whole family. I had sufficient taste for civilization left to decline the +proposed arrangement, and went in search of another inn. + +Happily there was one, and of a better sort. It was thoroughly rustic, but +there was not the squalor I had just encountered. In the kitchen, paved +with small pebbles, two months' accumulation of used linen had been pressed +down in an old wine-cask, and boiling water was now being poured upon it +through a cloth covered with a layer of wood ashes. In these rural places +the washing-day is usually once in two or three months. This simplifies +matters, but it needs a considerable stock of linen, which, by-the-bye, +peasants generally possess. The wash-house odour that arose from the +_lessive_ was not grateful, but I tried to accommodate myself to it. On the +floor was a baby swaddled up, and tightly fitted into a small wooden cradle +on huge rockers--a cradle that might have served for scores of babies, +and been none the worse for wear. Although the fire on the hearth looked +tempting, the proximity of the wine-cask and the linen that was being +purified with potash made me glad to hear that my meal would be served in +another room. + +Considering the region, the dinner was not a bad one. I had soup, veal, +eggs, and a fair wine. I had also a companion, but would rather have been +without him. He was a young man, whose appearance gained by the contrast of +a dusty wayfarer's, and he gave himself airs accordingly. I set him down as +a petty functionary of the place, and a _pensionnaire_ of the auberge. +All the time I was with him his mind was exceedingly restless as to my +intentions and business in those parts, and such explanations as I gave +him to appease his insatiable curiosity and awkwardly-veiled suspicion +evidently left him unsatisfied. + +The next morning the hostess brought out her police register for me to +enter my name, nationality, age, profession, destination, etc. I had no +doubt that my acquaintance of the night before had reminded her of this +little formality in order that he might afterwards see what I had written. +All innkeepers in France are liable to a fine if they do not make every +traveller who passes the night with them leave this record of himself for +inspection, but the formality is much more often omitted than observed. I +have not been able to overcome my English dislike of the practice, which +is annoying and useless, like much more that belongs to the French +administrative system. + +By daylight I found Neuvic to be a cheerful, pleasant little town, with +a venerable-looking old church, apparently of the twelfth century. It is +entered by a cavernous portal under a very massive low tower, but the +interior shows little of interest. What struck me, however, as something +quite uncommon was a small altar in the centre of the nave just below the +sanctuary. Upon it was an image of the Virgin, which a boy told me had been +found in a neighbouring wood about a century ago. + +On leaving Neuvic I noticed a woman carrying to the baker's a large dish +of edible _boleti_, known to the French as _cépes_. This excellent fungus +during the late summer and autumn is a very important article of food in +France wherever there are extensive chestnut-woods. The orange mushroom is +also much eaten in the same regions, for it likewise loves the chestnut +forest; but it may be mistaken by those who do not know the signs for +its relative, the crimson-capped fly-agaric, one of the most deadly of +cryptogams. + +After seeing the dish of _cépes_, I was not surprised to find many +chestnut-trees along the road that I now took to St. Pantaléon. The country +was less barren than that which I had passed over the day before. Although +there was much heather, broom and furze, trees and pasture broke the +monotony of the moorland. Here was the better Limousin landscape--every +knoll and mamelon covered with heather and other moor-plants, woods and +meadows in the dells and dips. The numerous clumps of silver birches, and +the gorse arrayed in its new flowers of bright gold, added to the charm of +the sunlit scene. + + +To me the weather was all the more delightful by being very warm, for I had +run away from winter on the Auvergne mountains. The whirring noise of the +grasshoppers as they flew across the road, and the tremulous sheen of +their wings, coloured like blooming lavender, brought back to me the best +recollections of other wayfaring days in the warm South, when all these +things were new, and the sight feasted upon them with the eagerness of bees +that suck the first flowers of spring. + +I passed a little field of buckwheat that had been cut some days and had +fully ripened. A woman was threshing out the grain with a flail upon a +spread canvas, surrounded by a circle of purple-tinted cones, the sheaves +leaning together. Now the wide level moor returned, but Nature was not +quite the same here as she had been before. The vast expanse was dotted +over with dark little juniper bushes. These were covered with berries which +nobody seemed to think worth the picking. Rock-cist flourished, starring +the turf all over with its yellow discs. This moor was an absolute desert. + +Long I walked without seeing another human being. At length I met a woman +carrying a distaff, and tried to get into conversation with her, but it was +impossible; she could not speak a word of French, and I knew nothing of her +Limousin patois. + +By steadfastly following the road, I came to the village of St. Pantaléon, +on the brow of a hill overlooking the Luxège, and stopped at a wayside inn. +It was a poor auberge; but there was an air of reaching toward some ideal +of superior life and softened manners that made itself felt in small +ways not to be described with any certainty, but none the less real. The +innkeeper, who was also a peasant-farmer, possessed the doubtful blessing +of a mind that rose above what the logic of his existence, sternly bound +to a plot of grudging soil and the petty needs of still poorer neighbours, +demanded of it. He was blessed or afflicted with that hunger of knowledge +and refinement which lifts and casts down, rejoices and saddens. He knew +that such ambition with regard to himself was vain, that it was his destiny +to live out his days on the edge of a moor in the Corrèze, and that it was +his duty to thank Heaven that he was sheltered and had sufficient food, +fuel, and clothing for himself and his family: all this he knew, and he +accepted his lot bravely. But the fire was only damped down; it glowed +in its hidden heart, and strove for a vent. It was not lighted without a +purpose. The peasant had a son, to whom the flame had been passed on; for +he aimed at the priesthood. This has ever been a refuge of ambitious minds +that cannot rise by any other means above the dullness of the peasant's +life, which is the more endurable the more the man is able to place himself +upon the animal level of his plodding ox. The son was being educated in a +seminary, but he was now home for the holidays. Presently he appeared. He +was a youth of about nineteen, wearing a blouse like any other peasant. +There was certainly nothing in his appearance to indicate that he +was destined for the cure of souls. The proud father said: 'He is in +philosophy.' The young man had a twinkle in his eye that might have been +philosophical. Neither of them had a suspicion of the vanity concealed in +the high-sounding phrase. + +But I am forgetting to say anything about what was more important to me +than aught else at that time. I had to eat and drink in order to look at +nature with an admiring eye, note the interwoven aims and motives and +troubled duties of human life; to be 'in philosophy' after my own humble +fashion. My meal was chiefly of fried eggs and ham, the latter nearly as +hard as leather. I ate in a small room where there was a bed with a red +curtain. No knife was given me, for in these out-of-the-way inns you are +expected to carry your knife in your pocket, which a century ago was the +case in most of the French hostelries. In the remotely rural districts the +ways of life have changed very slightly in a hundred years. But, if +the knife was overlooked, the white napkin and small tablecloth were +remembered. While talking with the _aubergiste_ over the coffee--there was +really some coffee here that was not made either from acorns or beans--he +told me, as an example of the low rate of wages in the district, that a +road--mender, who worked in all weathers, was paid forty francs a month. +In the whole commune there were only two or three persons who had wine in +their houses. He lent me his two sons--the _séminariste_ and his young +brother--to walk with me as far as the Luxège, and put me on the path to La +Page, at which village I proposed to pass the night. + +As we left, a grand expanse of chestnut forest came into view, following +the hills that bordered the curved line of the Luxège. The little river, +like all the tributaries of the upper Dordogne, runs at the bottom of a +deep gorge. Standing upon the brink of it, I perceived that I was about +to enter another sylvan solitude of enchanting beauty. The dense forest +descended the abrupt escarpments to the channel and hid the stream, and +over the leafy masses was that play of sunshine, shadow, and thin vapour +which I had so often watched in a dreamily joyous mood lying at the foot of +some pine in the Vosges. + +About half-way down the gorge was a ruinous Romanesque chapel upon a rock, +the polygonal apse being on the very edge of a precipice. At each exterior +angle of the imperfect polygon was a column with a cubiform capital. The +interior was all dilapidated; the floor of the sanctuary had fallen in, but +the altar-stone--a block of granite--remained in its place. This chapel +belonged to a priory. Little is left of the adjoining monastery except some +subterranean vaults and the gaping oven of the ruined bakery; all ferny, +mossy, given up to the faun and the dryad. The upper masonry was carried +away years ago to build a chapel upon the hill. A bit of green slope, where +the sunbeams wantoned with yellow mulleins, wild carrot, and bracken, was +the cemetery, as a few stone crosses almost buried in the soil plainly +told. These crosses doubtless mark the graves of nameless priors. And the +dust of the humble monk and serving brother, where is that? Every plant +draws from it something that it needs to fulfil its purpose. It is as good +for the nightshade as for the violet; flowers that are rank and deadly, and +others that are sweet and innocent, strive for the right of clasping with +their hungry roots the dust of men. + +The innkeeper's sons left me by an abandoned mill on the other side of the +stream, which was crossed by a rough wooden bridge. Ascending the opposite +hill by a narrow path in the shadow of chestnuts and beeches, and fringed +with gorse and heather, I passed another deserted house, the roof of which +had fallen in. The gorge was getting very shadowy when I reached the +tableland above it. I saw the small town of Laplau in the plain away to +the left, but my path did not lie through it, for I preferred the wilder +country towards La Page. When I passed a little lake in a hollow, half +surrounded by firs, the slanting rays were diving into its liquid +stillness, over which the motionless trees bent gazing at their likeness. + +When the sun left me I was upon a hilly waste, amid darkening bushes +of holly and juniper, tall bracken, heather, and gorse. The spirit of +desolation threw out broad wings under the fading sky; but from afar +towards the west, whither I was going, came through the dusk the shine and +twinkle of many fires that had been lighted by the peasants upon their +patches of reclaimed desert. They flashed to me the sentiment of the autumn +fields, of hopeful husbandry, of laying up for the winter, and preparation +for harvests that would be gathered under next year's sun. + +Tired and hungry, I reached La Page in the darkness. The village looked +very poor and dreary; but I had been told that it contained a 'good hotel,' +and I set about looking for it. It turned out to be a rather large but +exceedingly rough auberge. On opening the door I saw a great kitchen with +pebbled floor, lighted only by the glow of embers on the hearth. The figure +of a woman standing in the chimney opening was lit up by the glare. I +walked towards her, and asked her if she could give me lodging. After +scanning me very acutely for some seconds, she replied, 'Yes.' She was +puzzled, if not startled, by the apparition in front of her; but having +thrown down my pack and taken a seat in the chimney-corner like a familiar +of the house, I talked to her about the comfort of being in such a place +after a long walk in so wild a district as hers, and succeeded in making +her quite genial. She was the mayor's wife, but she was not too proud to +cook for me after lighting a flickering oil-lamp. While I was waiting for +my meal peasants came in, and had theirs at the bare tables, of which there +were several in the great kitchen. Their soup was ladled out from the +immense black pot that hung over the fire, and the noise they made as +they fell to it was very grating to the nerves. But the wanderer in the +chimney-corner had no business to be there, unless he was prepared to +accept all that was customary without wincing. My own dinner commenced with +some of this soup, which was like hot dishwater with slices of bread thrown +into it. The bit of boiled veal that followed was an improvement, although +anything but a captivating dish. Goat-cheese, hard and salt, and with a +flavour that left no doubt as to the source from which it came, made up the +frugal fare. I returned to the chimney-corner and smoked in silence, now +peering up the sooty cavern where the wind moaned, and now watching the +clear-obscure effects of the dimly-lighted room. Presently a trap stopped +outside, and in walked the aubergiste, accompanied by a sprightly little +man who I afterwards learnt was a pedlar. + +Monsieur le maire was not exactly a polished gentleman; he took no notice +of me after the first searching glance. He made an unpleasant impression, +but this wore off when I found that he was a well-meaning man, who had not +cultivated fine manners. Why should he have cultivated what would have been +of little or no use to him? These rural functionaries are just like the +people with whom they live. The young _séminariste_ told me an amusing +story of a mayor of St. Pantaléon, who had had a very narrow escape of +being caught by gendarmes when upon a poaching expedition. '_Tout le monde +est braconnier ici_,' added my informant with a sincerity that was very +pleasing. Of course, he was a poacher himself when reposing from his +theological and philosophical studies. I thought none the worse of him for +that. After all, poaching in France generally means nothing more immoral +than neglecting to take out a gun license, and to respect the President's +decrees with regard to the months that are open and those that are not. + +On my way to bed I saw in a corner of the staircase a spinning-wheel of the +pattern known throughout Europe. I was told that it had not been used +for many years. The distaff and spindle which are to be seen on Egyptian +monuments are still employed by thousands of French, peasant-women, but the +wheel invented in the sixteenth century is rarely used now, unless it be by +Martha in the opera. + +The next morning I made friends with the pedlar, who was about to start +upon my road, and who offered to give me a lift in his trap as far as La +Roche Canillac. Meanwhile, he had unpacked all his samples of cloth with a +view to doing a little business with the mayor. This personage, however, +was not allowed to have much voice in the matter; it was his spouse who +represented his interests in the bargaining battle that was now waged with +deafening din and much apparent ferocity for three-quarters of an hour. The +little pedlar was used to this kind of thing, and was quite prepared for +the fray. When the lady offered him, after much depreciatory fingering of +the chosen material, two-thirds of what he asked for the stuff that was to +be made into a pair of winter trousers for the mayor, he spun round and +jumped like a peg-top just escaped from the string. Then he raged and +swore, said he was being mocked at, dabbed his hat on his head, and made a +pretence of gathering up his samples and rushing off. The mayor watched the +scene with a quiet smirk on his face: he knew that he would somehow get the +trousers. I have no doubt that he did have them, but I walked out instead +of waiting to see the end of the battle. When I returned, the haggling was +over, the hostess and the pedlar were on the most affable terms, and there +was not a sign of the recent storm. + +Presently the pedlar, myself, and the innkeeper's son--a young man who had +received his education elsewhere, and had learnt much that did not chime +in with his present surroundings--were in a light cart, drawn by a lively +horse, speeding along the road over the moors. Here and there, near the +village, were small fields of buckwheat in the midst of the heather and +bracken. My companions explained that each commune was surrounded by a +considerable extent of moorland that belonged to it, and that any native of +the commune had the right of selecting a piece, which became his absolute +property after he had cleared it and brought it under cultivation; thus +anyone could have what land he wanted in reason for nothing. Quite an +Arcadian state of things this, were not the conditions of nature such as to +chill the ambition to acquire such freeholds. Three years of back-breaking +labour are needed before the land is fit to be put to some profitable +purpose. And then what does it yield? Buckwheat, and perhaps potatoes. +Although the peasants have the faculty of extending their landed property +in the manner described, the consideration of means generally stands in the +way. They cannot afford to work and wait three years. Their existence is +truly wretched, and if it were not for the luxuriant chestnut-woods, which +cover the sides of the narrow valleys or gorges with which the barren +plateau is deeply seamed every few miles, the population of the region +would be more scanty than it is, for the chestnut goes far to sustain the +people through the worst months of the year. + +The plough used upon these moors, on the _causses_ of the Quercy, and +in some other districts where the barrenness of the soil has kept the +inhabitants for centuries imprisoned within the circle of their old +routine, is one of the simplest that the world has known. It differs but +slightly from the one figured in the most ancient of Egyptian hieroglyphs, +and is really the same as that which was used in Gaul under the Romans. +Indeed, it has not the improvements that the Romans introduced. Two poles +forming an obtuse angle is the rough shape of it. The wedge-like share is +a continuation of the pole that is held by the ploughman. Often on the +_causses_, where loose stones are inseparably mixed with the soil, the +entire plough is of wood. + +[Illustration: PLOUGHING THE MOOR.] + +We passed through the village of Marcillac, near the head of one of the +valleys. The soil was much more fertile here, and a maize field was a sign +that the climate was warmer. There were, moreover, pleasant gardens with +fruit-trees and flowers. Oleanders were blooming outside some of the +houses. But we had no sooner risen upon the plateau again than the moor +returned, and for seven or eight miles it continued unbroken. The ground +was slightly undulating, and amongst the gorse and heather were scattered +innumerable juniper bushes. + +On approaching La Roche Canillac the road descended into a very deep valley +by so many turns and windings that I was thankful to be in the pedlar's +cart, especially as the mid-day sun smote with torrid strength. But the +scenery was of exquisite beauty, and this valley will remain in my memory +as one of the most charming I have ever seen. Luxuriant woods, flashing +water, savage rocks, emerald-green patches of meadow, little mills by the +riverside--I should add nothing to the picture by saying more. Upon the +rocky hillside was the burg of five hundred inhabitants. My companions +took me to an old auberge whose exterior was not promising, but which was, +nevertheless, well supplied with food, and had a good cellar. The meal +served there was the best that had fallen to my lot for several days. The +sun had lost all the ardour of mid-day when I took leave of the pedlar +and the mayor's son. I went away thinking that I might travel far without +finding two more kindly, honest fellows. + +[Illustration: A GORGE IN THE CORRÈZE.] + +I had hoped to reach Argentat by the Dordogne that night, but I had stayed +too long at the inn for the plan to be practicable; so I set off down the +gorge of the tributary with the intention of taking my luck at a village +called St. Bazile. I was soon in the shade of the chestnut forest, where +boars were said to be plentiful. As time went on, the scenery became +more solemn and awe-inspiring. Pines that looked very gloomy in the late +afternoon mingled with the chestnuts, while black rocks, faintly flushed +with heather towards the sky, reared their jagged outlines above the sombre +foliage. All the while the water in the gorge moaned or roared. It was +growing very dusk when the walls on either hand rose like the sides of a +pit. + +I was beginning to ask myself in no cheerful mood whether the map had not +deceived me as to the whereabouts of St. Bazile, when, to my relief, I +heard a church bell ringing not very far down the stream. It was the +angelus. How often has this clear, solemn, heart-touching, and consoling +sound been to me what a familiar beacon is to the doubting mariner! Only +wanderers in desolate places know the sentiment that it carries through the +evening air. More welcome than ever before did it seem in this black gorge. +I pushed on, and presently the gloomy walls widened out. Turning a bend +of the torrent, I stood in a glow of ruddy light that streamed from the +yawning mouth of an open-air oven that had recently been filled with dry +broom and kindled for the night's baking. Here was a fresh delight, for +there is nothing more cheering, more full of homely sentiment in the dusk, +than the view of such a blazing oven. + +This, then, was the village of St. Bazile de la Roche, to give its full +name. It could scarcely have boasted a hundred houses. There was one +miserable little inn, kept by a widow. There I had to pass the night, +unless I preferred a cave or a mossy bed under a tree. The poor woman +managed to find a piece of veal, which she cooked for me. It seemed to be +my lot now to eat no meat but veal. As I sat down to this dish and a bottle +of wine, two men at another table were eating boiled potatoes, without +plates, and drinking water. The contrast made me uncomfortable. There is +some reason in the selfishness that avoids the sights and sounds and all +suggestions of other people's poverty and pain; but those who take such +base care of themselves never know human life. I could not offer these +men wine without running the risk of a refusal, but it was different with +regard to a little hump-backed postman who came in to gossip. Half a litre +of wine that, at my wish, was set before him made him exceedingly cheerful. +He told me that he walked about twenty miles a day on the hillsides and +in the ravines, and I suppose his pay was the same as that of other rural +postmen in France--from £28 to £32 a year. The inhabitants of St. Bazile, +he said, were all very poor, their chief food being potatoes and chestnuts. +Before the vines a little further down the valley were destroyed by the +phylloxera and mildew, the people were much better off. Then there was +plenty of wine in the cellars, but now St. Bazile was a village of +water-drinkers. He spoke of the neighbouring parish of Servières, where, +at the annual pilgrimage, women go barefoot from one rock to the other on +which the chapel stands. + +Before placing myself between the canvas-like sheets, I opened the lattice +window of my meagrely-furnished room. The only distinguishable voice of the +night was that of the stream quarrelling with its rocky bed just below. +Before me was the high black wall of hill and forest, above the ragged line +of which flashed the swarming stars. + +The angelus sounded again at four in the morning. Before seven I was out in +the open air. I saw the curé go up into the tower of his small church, +and ring the bell for his own mass. He was probably too poor to pay a +sacristan. A little later he was in the pulpit catechising the children, +and preaching to the older parishioners between whiles. A boy and then a +girl would stand up, and in answer to questions put to them would recite in +an unintelligible gabble the catechism they had learnt. If one of them lost +the thread and suddenly lapsed into a speechless confusion of ideas, the +curé pointed the finger of reprobation at the unfortunate little wretch, +and made him or her--especially him--feel the enormity of having a bad +memory. While waving his arm in a moment of rhetorical excitement, he let +his book fall upon an old woman's head. '_Voilà ce que c'est de faire +des gestes!_' said he with a smile that was almost a discreet grin. The +children were delighted, and everybody laughed, including the poor old +soul, who had seated herself under the pulpit so that she might hear well. + +It was evident that the people of St. Bazile quite understood their curé, +and that he was just the one for them. He was a strong man, over sixty +years of age, and he spoke with a rich southern accent. Under his +sacerdotal earnestness there was a sense of humour ever ready to take a +little revenge for a life of sacrifice. There are many such priests in +France. + +I had no sooner walked out of this village, on my way to Argentat, than I +became aware that the Girondin climate was beginning to make itself felt. +The influence of the plains was overcoming that of the highlands. The warm +rocky slopes on each side of the valley were covered with vines--alas! dead +or dying. There was no hope for them. On the level of the river were fields +of maize, now ripening, and irrigated meadows intensely green. There were +beehives, fifteen or twenty together on the sunny slopes, and as I went on, +the signs of human industry and ease increasing, I saw petunias climbing +over cottage doors. There was a steep descent to Argentat. The town lay in +a wide valley by the Dordogne, in the midst of maize and buckwheat fields +and green meadows, the surrounding hillsides being covered here with +chestnut woods, and there with vines. I met a woman returning from market +with melons in her basket. Truly I had come into a different climate. At +the small town, made pretty by the number of its vine trellises, I lunched. +The inn where I stopped is not worth describing; but it gave me a dish of +gudgeons caught in the Dordogne that deserved to be remembered. + +I did not remain long at Argentat, for I was determined to reach Beaulieu +that night. A little out of the town some girls whom I passed on the road +looked very suspiciously at me out of the corners of their eyes, and +reminded me that another whom I had met that morning higher up the valley +took to her heels at the sight of me. An old woman who had lived long +enough to overcome such timidity, asked me if I was a _marchand_, by which +she meant pedlar--the old question to which I have grown weary of replying. +About a mile from the town I found the Dordogne again. It had grown to +quite a fine river since I last saw it in the ravines below Bort. Many an +eager affluent had rushed into it, both on the Corrèze and the Cantal side. +Here most of the grass was dried up, and the freshness of the highlands was +gone. Still the valley was shut in by steep cliffs. Brambles climbed about +the rocks, where the broom also flourished, although tangled with +its parasite, the dodder. Looking up the crags, I recognised a wild +fig-tree--the first I had seen on this southward journey. + +The valley became again so narrow that the road was cut into the escarped +side of the cliff, for the river ran close under it. A woman with bare legs +and bare chest--really half naked--trudged by with a heavy bundle of +maize upon her head, followed by a couple of red-haired children, their +perfectly-shaped little legs browned by the sun and powdered with dust. How +beautiful are the limbs of these peasant children, however disfigured by +toil and the inherited physical blight of hardship their mother's form may +be! With each fresh generation, Nature seems to make an effort to go back +to her ideal type; but destiny is strong. Old and new causes working +together are often more than a match for that most marvellous force in all +animal and vegetable life--the love of symmetry. + +Resting upon a bed of peppermint, blue with flowers, under an old wall, +whose stones were half hidden by celandine and roving briony; loitering +dreamily upon a wide waste of sunlit pebbles, watching the flashing rapids +of the river where it awoke from its calm sleep to battle with the rocks +which had resisted incalculable ages of washing, the hours glided by so +stealthily that it was evening when I reached a village which was still +eight miles or more from Beaulieu. + +Turning into an inn, I fell into conversation with a postman, who made me +the offer of his company during the remainder of the journey. I readily +assented, and gave him a glass of absinthe--his favourite drink--before +leaving. He did not need it, for, as he confessed, he had been clinking +glasses with unusual zeal that day. He was a very droll fellow, a striking +type of the Southerner, whom it was difficult to look at with a serious +face, and whom no one with any sense of humour could really dislike, +notwithstanding his immense vanity and his immeasurable impudence. He had a +thick black beard, a long, sharp nose, dark eyes full of mischievous mirth, +and cheeks the colour of red wine. He wore a stiff new blouse with a red +collar--the badge of his office--and a straw hat like a beehive. The whole +of the way to Beaulieu his tongue was not still a minute. He told me +stories of his bravery and his love adventures with a most amusing accent +and intonation. The Rabelaisian expressions, which give such a peculiar +flavour to the conversation of the 'people' in Southern France, rolled off +his tongue with a sonority that could hardly have been excelled at Nimes +or Tarascon. His swagger, his gestures, and his elocutionary power were +amazing. He would stop walking, and, placing his stick--which he called +his _trique_--under his arm, would speak in a tragic stage-whisper; then, +clutching his _trique_ and flourishing it over his head, he would burst out +into a roar of laughter that made the dogs bark in the scattered farms for +miles around. Once, when we were passing under high rocks, he shouted with +such a terrible voice that he brought some loose stones rattling down upon +the road so close to us that my head, as well as his own, nearly paid the +penalty for thus exasperating the peaceful night. This was either the +effect of vibration or of the sudden movement of some bird or other +creature that he had startled far above us. + +Among other things of which this amusing man talked to me was a visit of +archaeologists, among whom were a number of Englishmen, to Beaulieu. + +'If you had only seen them,' he said, 'outside the church, all with their +noses lifted in the air! _Grand Dieu!_ What noses!' + +Long before we reached Beaulieu I had had more than enough of the wild +spirits of my comic postman. On entering the town he insisted upon +taking me to a hotel which he said he could recommend to me with as much +confidence as if I were his brother. Then he left me; but I had not seen +the last of him. He presently returned, while I was enjoying the luxury +of a quiet and well-served little dinner. Seating himself in front of me +without waiting for an invitation, he helped himself with his fingers to +a dish of baked _cépes_, which I in consequence relinquished, but with a +complete absence of goodwill. There was no getting rid of him, short of +telling him plainly to go, and this I could not do after having accepted +his companionship on the road. He devoured all the mushrooms, expressing +his astonishment between whiles that I did not like them. '_J'aime bien +les champignons,_' he kept on repeating. '_Ça me va le soir. Ce n'est pas +lourd._' When the dessert was brought in, he picked out the only ripe +peach in the dish, and having poured another glass of wine down his really +terrible throat, he declared that it had given him great pleasure to make +my acquaintance, and left me with the hope that I should sleep well, +and would not forget the Beaulieu postman. I assured him, with perfect +sincerity, that I should never forget him. + +When daylight returned I found Beaulieu a pleasant little town lying +under hills covered with chestnut woods, and at a short distance from the +Dordogne. Its name, however, was probably given to it on account of the +fertility of the soil in this bit of valley, where the cliffs that enclose +the Dordogne on each side fall back, and, by allowing a rich alluvium to +settle in the plain, give the husbandmen a chance of growing something more +profitable than buckwheat. + +Beaulieu was once the seat of a powerful Benedictine abbey. The original +monastery was founded in 858 by Charles le Chauve, who placed it under +his protection. Although the territory was included in the viscounty of +Turenne, the Viscount Raymond II., before he went crusading, made over +his suzerain rights with regard to the abbey and its dependencies to the +abbots, who thus became temporal lords. There is nothing left of the +monastery; but much of the abbey church, which dates from the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries, has been fortunately preserved. The interior is not +remarkable, but the large and elaborate bas-relief of the Last Judgment +which fills the tympanum of the portal is considered the most precious +example of mediaeval sculpture in the Bas-Limousin. The face of the +Saviour, expressive of something above all human passions and motives, +shows a really God-like combination of serenity and severity. The fantastic +spirit of the age is well set forth in the tortured forms of the horrid +reptiles and fabulous beasts carved in relief upon the massive lintel, and +filling also the broad border at the base of the tympanum. The same +spirit finds even stronger expression in the demon figure, so grotesquely +long-drawn out, carved upon the scalloped pillar that supports the lintel. +The abbey was pillaged by the Huguenots, who lit a fire in the choir, which +destroyed much of the woodwork. Notwithstanding the religious wars and +the revolutionary convulsions of the eighteenth century, the church has +preserved some of its ancient treasure, of which the most precious object +is a silver statue of the Virgin of very curious workmanship, dating from +the twelfth century. + +[Illustration: TURENNE.] + + + + +IN THE VISCOUNTY OF TURENNE. + + +What gives us the zest to wander until the hour comes when we must fain be +content to sit in the porch, thankful if the evening sun shines warmly, is +the fascination of the unknown. As children, did we not long to get at +the horizon's verge, to touch the painted clouds of the morning or of the +sunset--ay, and to grasp with our outstretched hands that reached such a +little way the blood-red glory of the sun itself? The garden, with its +glowing tulips and its roses haunted by gilded beetles, became too small +to satisfy the mind of infancy fresh from the infinite. Surely, I thought, +when I was again in the open country beyond Beaulieu, I must have carried +something of my childhood on with me, for me to go wandering over these hot +hills exposing myself to sunstroke, weariness, and thirst for the sake of +the unknown. + +The road at first led up vine-covered slopes towards the west, where the +waysides were blue with the flowers of the wild chicory. A priest astride +upon a rough old cob passed me, his hitched-up _soutane_ showing his +gaitered legs. The French rural priests are generally rubicund, but this +one was cadaverous. He would have looked like Death on horseback, swathed +in a black mantle, but for the dangling gaitered legs, which spoilt the +solemn effect. A very curious figure did he cut upon his shaggy, ambling +steed. On the top of the hill was a village, in the midst of which stood a +little old Gothic church with a gable-belfry, and hard by was a half-timber +house, its porch aglow with climbing petunias. + +Beyond this village was a deep valley, the sides of which were covered with +chestnut-trees. On ascending the opposite hill, I took a by-path through a +steep wood, thinking to cut off a long turn of the hot and dusty road. It +led me into difficulties and bewilderment. The path disappeared, but I went +on. After climbing rocks densely overgrown with brambles, which left their +daggers in my skin, I reached the top of the hill, and saw before me a +desert of disintegrated rock or drift dotted over with low juniper bushes. +Although it was the middle of September, the sun blazed above me with the +ardour of July, and the rays were thrown back by the bare stones, on which +there was not a trace of moss, nor even lichen. These arid rocky places, so +characteristic of Southern France, have a poetry of their own that to me +is ever enticing. I love the stony wastes and their dazzling sun-glitter. +There I find something that approaches companionship in the prickly +juniper, the narcotic hellebore, and the acrid spurge. And these plants +likewise love the places where the world has remained unchanged by man. The +heat, however, was too great for me to linger upon this shadeless hill, +where every stone was warm, and the reflected glare was almost as blinding +as that of the sun itself, which seemed so near. + +Having crossed another valley, after much casting about, I found the +highroad again. The altitude was considerable here, so that the view +embraced a wide expanse of the Corrèze and the department of the Lot, which +I was approaching. The scene was everything that an English landscape is +not. No soft verdure, no hedgerows setting memory astir with pictures of +the flowering may and the pink, clambering dog-rose gemmed with dew; no +lustrous meadow crossed by shadows thrown by ancient dreaming elms; no +flash from the briskly-flowing brook: no, nothing of this, but in its place +a parched and rugged land of hills or knolls, stony, wasteful, where for +countless ages the juniper, the broom, the gorse, and the heather have +disputed the sovereignty, the intervening valleys, timidly cultivated, +producing little else but rye and buckwheat, and the deep gorges sombre +with overhanging trees. + +This road was so tedious, so hot and dusty, that, after walking a few miles +upon it, I lost patience altogether with what seemed to be its unreasonable +windings, and again made an effort to strike across country by means of +by-paths, in order to reach the spot where, according to the map and +compass, I thought Vayrac ought to be. I came to a seventeenth century +country-house, large enough to be termed a château, but now the dwelling of +some peasant-farmer. It was a dilapidated, apparently owl-haunted building, +with a dovecote tower over grown with ivy, and was half surrounded by a +wall, whose tottering, ornamental pinnacles told a story of comparative +grandeur that had come to grief in this remote spot. The farmer had been +winnowing his corn outside, and the narrow lane was ankle-deep with chaff. +The only human being that I could find here was a wild-looking girl, with a +bush of hair on her head, who made me understand, half in French, half in +patois, that I should never reach Vayrac by the way I was going. She sent +me off in another direction. I walked on, I know not how many miles, +without coming to any village or wayside auberge, over a shadeless plain in +the department of the Lot. There was no water; consequently not a bird was +to be seen or heard. But there were myriads of flies, and too many hornets +for my comfort, for some of them followed me with impertinent curiosity. + +I confess that I do not like hornets. When I see them, they remind me of +the story of a donkey told me by a man in these parts. He in his youth +saw an unlucky ass that, quietly browsing, unconscious of indiscretion, +disturbed a hornets' nest. Suddenly the animal showed symptoms of unusual +excitement, which became rapidly more violent, until, after some amazing +antics, first on his front-legs and then on his hind-legs, he rolled over +on his back, and kicked violently at the sky. His master knew what had +happened, but stood lamenting afar off, not daring to go to the rescue. In +a short time the poor donkey ceased kicking, and swelled up in a manner +horrible to behold. + +All nature now appeared to be baking. Even the blackberries, which I ate +by the handful to slake my raging thirst, were warm. A long, straight road +that I thought would never end brought me at length to Vayrac, where there +was a good inn. Oh, the luxury of rest at last in a shaded room, with the +companionship of a jug of frothing beer just brought up from the cool +cellar! + + * * * * * + +Months passed before I continued from this point my journey on foot. The +spring had come, and the face of nature was wondrously changed. Over the +valley that I had seen before so parched had spread the soft verdure of +young grass; hedges of quince were all abloom, and at their roots the +stitchwort mingled its white starry flowers with the matchless blue of the +Germander speedwell, so dear to English eyes. The roadsides were bright +with daisies and the gold of the ill-appreciated dandelion. + +A lane from Vayrac led up to the escarped sides of the Puy d'Issolu--the +Uxellodunum of the Cadurci, according to Napoleon III. and others who have +made Caesar's battlefields in Gaul their study. It was April, and from near +and afar came the warbling of nightingales. They moved amongst the new +leaves of almost every shrub and tree. A very abrupt ascent through +thickets brought me to the tableland, where the turf was flashed with +splendid flowers of the purple orchids. From the waste land the sombre +junipers rose like scattered cypresses in a cemetery. + +If this was not the site of Uxellodunum, we may pretty safely believe it to +have been that of some important _oppidum_ of the Gauls. A circumvallation +there could never have been in a strict sense, for where the plateau rests +upon high calcareous walls there was no need of a fortification. But +elsewhere, where the position was accessible from the valley, it was +protected by a strong wall. On the northern side this rampart can be +followed for a considerable distance without a break. In one spot the soil +which has collected about it has been dug away, leaving the masonry bare. +It is not composed of loose stones of various sizes, like that of the +Celtic city at Murcens, but of small flat stones neatly laid together, with +layers of mortar between; a circumstance that sets one conjecturing and +doubting. The wall appears to have been six or eight feet thick. The line +of it now only rises very slightly above the edge of the plateau. + +I met a peasant who owned the highest part of the tableland, and who +managed to grow crops upon it. Near his cottage he pointed out the remains +of an ancient structure, which he called the fort. The masonry was of the +same character as that of the wall. Near to it were fragments of ancient +pottery and tiles, which he had dug out of the ground. The tiles were +very heavy and flat, with turned-up edges, so that they could hang one to +another. There were holes, too, for the nails which held them to the roof. +Thrown on one side were human bones, which had from time to time been +turned up by the plough. The peasant told me that his father, while digging +rather deeply, had found a skeleton wearing a bracelet and part of a +helmet. A visitor to the Puy d'Issolu, many years ago, was allowed to take +these remains away, together with a quantity of iron arrow-heads, on his +promise to come back and pay 600 francs for them. He never came back. + +The view from the Puy takes in an immense expanse of the solemn Limousin +country. To the south is the stone-strewn Quercy, while to the north and +east is the still wilder Corrèze. On the west lie the forests of Black +Périgord. Looking to the east, I saw the mountains of Auvergne, the +Mont-Dore range rising beyond the Corrèze against the blue sky, as white as +the sugar towers and pinnacles upon a bride-cake. Here it was warm, like +June weather in England; there winter still reigned upon the snowy hills. +Standing against the north-western horizon were the high towers of the vast +feudal fortress of the Viscounts of Turenne. It was there that Madame de +Condé, escaping from Mazarin, planned the rising of Guyenne in 1648. I +could only distinguish the towers, but I knew that a little below them was +the small mediaeval town of Turenne, which grew up under the protection of +the Viscounts, who for centuries were virtually the sovereign princes of +this region. No lover of the picturesque would waste his time by going +there. + +Descending from the tableland on the southern side, where the rocks form a +steep little gorge, I came to the stream from which the besieged Cadurci +are supposed to have drawn their water-supply, until it was cut off by +Caesar. Looking at the spot, it is easy to understand how it all happened. +The natural fortress, selected with so much judgment by the Cadurci, was +almost unassailable. To help them, they had the cover of the wood that +still fills the gorge, but which was probably much denser then than it is +now. From his tower of ten stages, which commanded the fountain, Caesar +continually harassed with darts, thrown by the _tormenta_, those who came +to the spring; and he, moreover, tells us that he caused a gallery to be +tunnelled to the fountainhead, and thus drew off the water, to the utter +astonishment and despair of the Cadurci, who perceived in this disaster the +intervention of the gods. A tunnel such as he describes exists, and the +stream flows through it. At a point some distance higher, the sound of +gurgling water can be distinctly heard beneath the stones; and it was here +probably where the stream originally broke out, and where the inhabitants +of the _oppidum_ came with their vessels. Napoleon III. had the +subterranean gallery cleared, and its artificial character was proved by +the discovery that massive beams of wood, of which there were some remains, +had been used to prevent the soil from falling in upon the workers. It has +now been nearly filled up again by the calcareous deposit of the water. +The river mentioned by Caesar as the one that flowed in the valley beneath +Uxellodunum [Footnote: 'Flumen infimam vallam lividebat quae totum +poene montem cingebat, in quo positum erat praeruptum undique oppidum +Uxellodunum.'--'De Bello Gallico,' Lib. VIII.] is a small tributary of the +Dordogne, called the Tourmente. This is assuming the Puy d'Issolu to have +been Uxellodunum. The most convincing material proof that the two places +are the same was furnished by the discovery of the tunnel; but some strong +corroborative evidence is to be found in local names. The word _puy_ +affords no clue; for it simply means a high place. In the dialect of the +Viscounty of Turenne the Puy d'Issolu is pronounced _Lo Pê dê Cholu_. In +the word Issolu or Cholu, we may have something of the Celtic word, which +was Latinized by Caesar after his custom; but this verbal similarity would +not in itself go far to prove the identity of the height near Vayrac with +the position defended by Drappes and Lucterius. Lying in the Corrèze at +no great distance from the Dordogne is the town of Ussel--a name that +approaches much more nearly the sound of Uxellodunum. But an educated +native of Vayrac, whom I chanced to meet months after my visit to the Puy +d'Issolu, furnished me with some local testimony which appears to be +of value in connection with a subject that has given rise to so much +controversy. The stream where it issues near the base of the rocky height +has been known in the neighbourhood from time immemorial as 'Lo foun +Conino'--Conino's Fountain. Conino is a natural Romance corruption of +Caninius, the name of Caesar's lieutenant who in the first instance +directed the siege of Uxellodunum. The French name for the stream at the +bottom of the valley already mentioned is derived from the Romance one, Lo +Tourmento. Now, as Caesar made so much use of _tormenta_ as engines of war, +to prevent the besieged Cadurci from drawing water, something may easily +have occurred to associate the stream with one of these machines. It is to +be observed, however, that there are other streams in France to which the +name Tourmente has been given, and of which the explanation is much more +simple. + +[Illustration: A PEASANT OF THE CAUSSE.] + +How solemnly still seemed this spectre-haunted spot in the quiet evening! +There was the groaning murmur of the stream flowing down its subterranean +passage, and there was the low and fitful warble of a nightingale; but this +was all. Who, passing by here without foreknowledge, would suppose that on +this bit of desert the great struggle between Rome and Gaul was brought +to a close? What a wonderful thing is a book, that it should preserve age +after age, with undiminished reality, all the torment, anguish, and passion +of a siege, and give a human interest to rocks and streams, which without +such aid would tell us nothing of the horrid tumult that raged over and +around them! Now I can see the half-naked Gauls rolling down their barrels +of flaming pitch upon the Roman engineers, and hear that great clamour +of the besiegers and the besieged of which Caesar speaks. Above were the +Celtic heroes defending their last rock with the obstinacy of despair, and +ready to accept death in any form but that of thirst; and here were the +veteran legionaries exposing themselves day after day to the burning pitch, +the stones, and the arrows of the defenders, with that disciplined courage +and unwavering resolve to conquer which made Rome the mistress of the +world. But the most terrible scene must have been that in which the Gaulish +warriors, after their surrender, had their hands cut off. What frightful +business was that, and what a heap of hands must have been buried +somewhere, either upon the table-land or in the valley! A deep-ploughing +peasant may long since have come upon an extraordinary collection of little +bones, and been much puzzled by them. And poor Drappes, who, after his +capture, refused to eat, and died from starvation; he must have been buried +somewhere near. But Nature says nothing about all these things; she covers +up the traces of human ferocity with her new leaves and moss, and smiles +there as tenderly as upon children's graves. + +I passed the night at St. Denis, a modern place brought into existence by +the line to Toulouse. At the auberge the evening was enlivened by dancing. +Two maids of the inn found partners in a couple of rustic youths, and a +young soldier _en congé_ provided the music by whistling, or imitating the +hurdy-gurdy with his mouth. For it was the _bourrée_ that was danced. + +The next morning I was on the road to Martel, with nightingales and +blackcaps singing all around from blossoming quince and hawthorn and copses +filled with a gold-green glimmer, until I reached the bare upland country. +Upon the barren _causse_, besides the short turf, the gray ribs of rock, +and scattered stones, little was to be seen but dark little junipers, tall +broom, not yet in flower, hellebore, with bright tufts of new leaves and +evil-looking green blossoms edged with dull purple, and the numberless +gilded umbels of the spurge, which in springtime lend such beauty to the +Southern desert. In the dips and little dingles there were stunted oaks +with the brown foliage, that had been beaten by the winter winds in vain, +still clinging to them, but which every breath of western breeze now +scattered, because the buds were swelling and the unborn leaves were asking +to come forth. At wide distances above the undulating, sterile land a +farmhouse would appear, with high-pitched tiled roof, and a pigeon-house +rising like a tower at one end. The stranger marvels to see such +substantially-built houses in the midst of such sterility; but he finds +the explanation when he has time to consider that there are so many stones +lying about that, where it is possible to plough, the peasant heaps them up +in his field, or makes walls that are little wanted. Having reached the top +of a knoll, I saw beneath me many old tiled roofs whose lines ran at all +angles, and above these rose the massive walls of a half-fortified church, +and various towers or fragments of towers. I was looking at Martel. + +According to legend and local history, Charles Martel, after defeating the +Saracens near this spot, caused a church to be built on a piece of fertile +land a few miles from the battlefield, and dedicated it to St. Maur. A town +grew around church and monastery, and was named Martel in honour of the +founder. In the early days of the Crusades, when princes and barons +rivalled one another in virtuous zeal, a Viscount of Turenne decreed that +inhabitants of Martel who were convicted of sinning against the marriage +tie should be dragged naked through the town. The charter that contains +this enactment treats of villeinage also, and orders that whoever has a man +for sale within the limits of the viscounty shall fix the price, and shall +not change it afterwards. + +The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry Plantagenet brought the +English to Martel in the twelfth century; but it does not appear that they +obtained or cared to keep anything like a permanent grip on the place until +the fourteenth century. Inasmuch, however, as Henry Short-Mantle, the +rebellious son of Henry II., met with no resistance at Martel when he came +thither, after pillaging the sanctuary of Roc-Amadour in 1183, it may be +concluded that English influence was already established there. In the +market place is a house a portion of which was once included in a building +that has now nearly disappeared, but which is known to every inhabitant as +the 'palace of Henry II.' On the first floor, communicating with a spiral +staircase, is a room paved with small pebbles. On one side is a broad +chimney-place, just such as we see now all through Guyenne, even in the +towns. According to the tradition preserved by the family to whom the house +belongs, it was in one of the chimney-corners of this room that Prince +Henry sat on the evening of the day that he left Roc-Amadour. It is +uncertain, however, whether the Prince went to Martel immediately after the +sacrilege, or after a pilgrimage that he made to the sanctuary to atone for +his crime, when he was suffering from the disease that killed him. There +is a local legend that he was followed by two monks, who contrived to put +poison into his goblet; but whether he was poisoned or died of dysentery at +Martel, as the chroniclers maintain, is a detail of small importance. That +he did die here, and very repentantly, on a bed of ashes, and held up by +the Bishop of Cahors, is a historical fact. + +An indubitable testimony of the English occupation of Martel is the +heraldic leopard of the Plantagenets. I found it carved in stone among +the ruins of King Henry's palace, and hard by I saw it again upon a rusty +fireplate that had been thrown into a corner. There is not a native of +Martel who is not ready to talk of _le leopard anglais_. + +The English were never loved by the Martellois. The people of this district +are strong in their attachments, and perhaps even stronger in their +animosities and prejudices. Without doubt the English did not treat them +with marked tenderness; but there was very little human kindness in the +Middle Ages, and the French, or the races which now compose France, left +nothing to be invented in the arts of cruelty and oppression in the wars +that they waged among themselves before they learnt, or were forced to +learn, that it was to their interest to hold together and form one +nation. Moreover, the greater number of the so-called English who kept a +considerable part of Aquitaine in continual terror for three centuries were +natives of the soil. + +All the men of Martel who could carry arms joined the forces of King John, +who was defeated by the Black Prince at Poitiers. The consuls of Martel had +to pay heavy ransoms for their fellow-townsmen who fell into the hands +of the English. Notwithstanding the disaster at Poitiers, the Martellois +closed their gates and prepared for a siege, after having obtained from +the Viscount a company of crossbow-men to help them in the defence. But an +English garrison was soon established at Montvallent, only a few miles off, +and this fact seems to have demoralized the Martellois, who, after enduring +a few assaults, surrendered the town. The longest period of unbroken +English possession of Martel appears to have occurred after this surrender. +It is probable that the Sénéchaussée, which now exists under the name of +the Hôtel de Ville, was commenced about this time, although the King of +England must have been represented in the town by his seneschal long +before. By the treaty passed between Henry III. and Reymond VI. of Turenne +in 1223, it was stipulated that the Viscount should pay homage to Henry, +but that the English officers should exercise no jurisdiction in the +viscounty, except in the town of Martel, where the King could hold his +assizes with the consent of the Viscount. It was, moreover, provided that +in the event of resistance on the part of his fiefs, the Viscount could +apply to the English seneschal at Martel for armed assistance. The burghers +were in the enjoyment of their political franchises from the year 1256. +They had town councillors, who elected four consuls every four years, who +represented the borough in the États Vicomtains--an assembly composed of +the principal landholders and dignitaries of the viscounty. The more they +tasted freedom the more the burghers felt disposed to quarrel with the +Viscount. In 1355 they sent a deputation to the Pope at Avignon begging +him to ask their lord if it was his wish that the town should retain its +privileges. The minutes of the municipal meeting, at which this decision +was come to, are in existence, and they show how the Romance language was +written at Martel in those days: + + 'Item fo ordenat que Moss. Aymar de Bessa et P. Karti ano a + Vinho far reverensa al papa per nom de la vila eque Phi recomendo + la vila. E quelh fasso supplicacio quelh plassa far am los vescomte + se bot que nos garde nostres previleges.' + +This ancient town has suffered grievously from that spirit of demolition +which was so active during the first half of the present century, but +which in France has been somewhat checked by the Commission of Historic +Monuments. There are people who can remember when the town was surrounded +by two walls; now only a few remnants of the fortifications remain. The +church is exceedingly interesting. There are details indicating a very +early origin--they may possibly have come down from the foundation; but the +structure in the main belongs to the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. The +east end--the oldest portion--has more the character of a stronghold than +of a church. It has no apse, and the terminating wall, which is carried far +above the roof, has a row of machicolations, and the massive buttresses by +which it is flanked are really towers pierced with loopholes. At the foot +of the wall is a deep pool of water, which serves as the horse-pond for the +town; but it may originally have been part of a moat. + +In the tympanum of the twelfth-century portal is one of those bas-reliefs +representing the Last Judgment upon which the artistic ambition of the +early Gothic period appears to have been chiefly directed in this region. + +The fourteenth-century Sénéchaussée, with its embattled belfry, its little +turrets or bartizans hanging high at the angles of the wall, its dim old +court, with a deep well in the centre, speaks with a ghostly voice of +ancient Martel. This building, after the English left, was the residence of +the seneschals of the Viscounts of Turenne down to the Revolution. In two +of the rooms are chimney-pieces very artistically carved in oak. + +Notwithstanding all the demolition that has gone on, bits of picturesque +antiquity meet the eye everywhere in the old English town. Now it is a +half-ruinous watch-tower, now the Gothic doorway of a thirteenth-century +house, now a gateway that has lost its tower, but whose wounds are covered +with yellow wallflowers in spring; now a turret running up an entire front, +with little windows looking out upon the quiet street, or some high-pitched +roof curving inward under the weight of years and tiles. + +The inn where I put up was like a hostelry of romance. Entering by a broad +archway, I passed along a passage vaulted and groined, where corbel-heads +grimaced from dim corners; climbed a staircase broad enough for a palace, +and, having reached the landing, saw a great room with hearth and chimney +to match, massive old furniture, pots and pans of highly-polished copper, +and a hostess stout and cheery, who welcomed me as though I were an old +friend, and not a wanderer to whom food and shelter were to be exchanged +for money. This good woman had evidently no faith in new fashions; she +dressed as she did thirty years ago, and every dish that she cooked for me +was kept warm by a pewter brazier filled with embers from the hearth. +One of these dishes was a goose's liver half roasted, half stewed, and +sprinkled with capers. + +While at Martel I was arrested as a spy by an old _garde champêtre_, who, +seeing me taking notes of the church, wished to know who gave me permission +to 'make a plan of the town.' I did not reply to him with the politeness +that he evidently considered himself entitled to. It is probable that I +should have chosen my words with more circumspection had I guessed what an +important person he was; but as he wore a blouse, and was squatting upon +a heap of stones which he had been pulling about, I underestimated his +dignity. That he united the functions of _cantonnier_ and _garde_ did not +occur to me. He sprang to his feet, put on his official badge, and, seizing +me by the arm, shouted: 'I arrest you!' Then, when I took the liberty of +removing his hand, he called out: '_Au secours!_' + +But those to whom he appealed were women, who preferred to let him manage +his own business, and who, moreover, were too much amused to interfere. +When he had calmed down a little I walked with him to the deputy-mayor, +whose office was over a little shop. After hearing me and examining my +papers, this gentleman was satisfied that I was not a very dangerous +person, and he told me that I had better forget the incident. + +The fierce old man could not understand why I was released. He even +protested: '_Il dit qu'il est un anglais; mais il le dit!_' + +The deputy-mayor tried to calm him by observing that I had a right to be an +Englishman. The _garde_ then walked out, looking very hot and puzzled. From +his childhood he had heard of the English as the worst tyrants that +the region had known. Was not the country strewn with the ruins of the +fortresses they had built? To his mind they were more dangerous enemies +than the Germans, who never came near Martel. I bear no grudge against the +old man. He believed that he was doing his duty in arresting me, and if I +had made more allowance for his age and prejudices the unpleasantness might +have been avoided. To him the old struggle with the English was almost as +fresh as if it had taken place in his father's time. + +People who remain in the same place all their days, and who never read, +live much more in the past than others, and remember injuries done to their +remote ancestors as if they, the latest descendants, were still suffering +from them, I remember asking a woman in an inn not far from Martel how an +old gateway and other mediaeval buildings close by had been brought to such +a sad state of ruin. + +'It was you,' she exclaimed, 'who did that--_vous autres anglais!_' + +And she looked so resentful for a few moments that I wished I had let the +sleeping dog lie. + + + + +IN UPPER PÉRIGORD. + + +Leaving Martel, I crossed the valley of the Dordogne, and passed on to +other valleys southward and eastward, as recounted in the story of my +wanderings by 'Southern Waters.' Many months went by, and then one summer +day found me wayfaring again by the Dordogne towards the sea. A little +below the point where I had crossed in search of the Ouysse I came to the +small town of Souillac. This place, although fortified in the Middle Ages, +played a much less important part in the wars of the Quercy than the +neighbouring burgs of Martel and Gourdon. Its interest lies mainly in its +twelfth-century church, and here chiefly in a very remarkable bas-relief of +the Last Judgment. This astonishing work of art is to be found not where +one would expect it to be, namely, in the tympanum of the portal, but in +the interior, against a wall at the west end, over a Gothic arch, whose +transition from the preceding style is marked by a billet-moulding. The +sculpture is in a high degree typical of the uncouth vigour of the period. +The two pillars supporting the arch are so carved as to represent figures +of the damned going down into hell. The artist might have been inspired by +Dante had he not lived before the poet who collected and fixed upon the +sombre canvas of his verse all the woeful visions of eternal punishment +that haunted the mediaeval mind. A man and woman are descending to the +abyss, he holding her by the hair, and she clasping him by the waist, the +faces of both terribly expressive of horror that is new, and utter despair. +The meaning is plain, enough: each was the cause of the other's doom, and +the sentence of the Judge in the panel above has united them in hell for +all eternity. On the opposite pillar are another couple, also clasping one +another; but their faces express the blank and passionless misery of a +doom foreknown. Monk or layman, he who designed the composition felt the +necessity of giving this tragic warning to his fellow-beings. Centuries +later an English poet expressed the same idea in verse: + + 'The woman's cause is man's! they rise or sink + Together, dwarfed or god-like, bond or free.' + +One of the less conspicuous figures is going down head foremost in the +company of an animal that looks very like a pig. This beast having been +damned by ecclesiastical sculptors in France as early as the twelfth +century, and probably earlier, it is not surprising that a polite peasant, +when he mentions it by name, often excuses himself for his supposed breach +of good manners by adding: '_Sauf votre respect_.' + +Nearing a village not far from Souillac, and wondering the while what had +become of the picturesque, I saw, as if by enchantment, a few yards away, a +little old church covered with ivy, and surrounded by tombstones that were +stained with the dead colours of last winter's lichen; one leaning this +way, another that, but all going down into the grassy graves. A few chairs +and a single bench told that the people who came here to pray were not many +nor rich. Most of the flagstones were broken, and the altar was almost +simple enough to please a Calvinist. It was the simplicity, not of +intention, but of poverty. Are such churches--lost amidst the pensive +trees, or bathed by the tender evening light upon the vine-clad +hillside--doubly hallowed, or is it the poetry of old memories and ideal +pictures stored away behind a multitude of newer impressions that moves us +like the wind-blown strains of half-forgotten melodies as we pass them in +our wanderings? + +Evening found me by the Dordogne, that flowed calmly in a salmon-coloured +light, thrown down by a wasteful stony hill, itself lit up by a reflected +glow of the sinking sun. The meadows through which the little path ran were +dotted all over with golden spots of lotus, and near the water the pale, +pure yellow of the evening primrose shone against the darkening willows. +The voices of unseen peasants, labouring somewhere in the fields so long +as the daylight lasted, were carried up the valley by the breeze, just +loosened from its leash; but the sound was only a little louder than the +whispering of the poplars. + +The gloaming lingered until I reached the village of Cazoulès. At the inn +where I decided to pass the night I fell among bicyclists--quite a crowd of +them--all young, frantic with the excitement of some break-neck run, and +noisy enough to shock the dog's sense of decorum, for he slunk off with +his tail between his legs. Having slaked their thirst, the jovial band +of enthusiasts sprang upon their steel horses and dashed off into the +darkness, where their voices were quickly lost. + +While waiting for dinner, I found nothing so amusing as listening to a high +dispute between the hostess and a travelling butcher, with whom she had +long had dealings, but whom she had lately deserted because she had found +another who sold cheaper. The butcher called his rival a 'dirty sparrow,' +but at length proposed to yield the sou on each pound of meat by means of +which the 'sparrow' had scored his victory. In future all his meat was to +be sold at eleven sous, and on these terms he was restored to favour. Thus, +by playing one man off against the other, the artful woman was able to save +quite a pile of sous every week on her general expenses. The Frenchwoman of +ordinary intelligence, whether she belongs to the north or the south, the +east or the west, may be safely trusted to beat any man of her own race at +bargaining. + +For a rural inn this one at Cazoulès was good and substantial, but it +provided a little too much irritation at night to be consistent with +peaceful slumber and happy dreams. This was not, perhaps, the fault of the +inn, but of the Dordogne Valley. As soon as the day broke another enemy +entered the field. The flies then awoke, refreshed but hungry, and +determined to make the most of a good opportunity. The house-flies of the +North, when compared to those of the South, seem to have been well brought +up, and trained to live with human beings on terms of civility, if not of +friendship. The flies of Southern France must be descended from those that +were sent to worry Pharaoh, and when one has lived with them during the +months of August and September, one can quite believe that their ancestors +exasperated the Egyptian king to the point of promising anything so that +they might be taken from him. + +It was not until I had walked away from Cazoulès that I realized where I +was. I had left the Quercy while wandering through those meadows as the sun +was sinking, and had entered Périgord--once famous for troubadours, and +now for truffles. Nobody can live there today by making verses, and the +representative of the jongleur, who once sang from castle to castle to the +accompaniment of the mediaeval fiddle, and who was so heartily welcomed at +all the baronial feasts and merrymakings, is now a wandering beggar, who +gathers crusts from the peasants by his rude minstrelsy, that changes +from the pious to the obscene, or from the obscene to the pious, as the +character and taste of the audience may decide. Many persons, however, +contrive to prosper by hunting for truffles in the exhilarating company +of pigs. It is not in this fertile valley that they find them, but on the +hillsides and stony table-lands, where the oak flourishes, but never grows +tall. + +I passed almost at the foot of one of those darkly-wooded, precipitous +hills or cliffs which now approach the water's edge and now recede for +a mile or more in this part of the valley; widening or diminishing the +cultivated land accordingly as the rocky sides of the fissure resisted the +washing and mining of the ancient waters. + +On the top of the cliff stood a high round tower--the keep of a small +feudal stronghold. It is called the Tour de Mareuil. Its position leaves +little doubt that in old times its owners, like so many other nobles whose +ruined castles crown the heights on both sides of the Dordogne, levied toll +upon the boats that came up or went down the river. Navigation must have +been always difficult on account of the strong current and the numerous +rapids and shallows; but the stream was a means of communication between +Bordeaux, Périgord, and the Haut-Quercy that was not to be despised, +and probably some care was taken to keep the channel open. According to +tradition, the English made frequent use of it. The tolls were an important +source of income to the nobles whose fortresses overlooked the river. A +sharp look-out was always kept from the towers for approaching boats. + +I was on my way to the castle where Fénelon first saw the light, and in +order to reach it I had to cross the river. An old flat-bottomed boat, +built for conveying men, asses, and other animals from one side to the +other, lay off the bank, and two girls, who were in charge of a flock of +geese as well as of the ferry, were willing to take me across. While the +elder ferried, the younger examined me carefully at close quarters, +and apparently with much interest. Presently she asked me if I sold +writing-paper. After landing, I soon reached the village of St. Mondane. +Here I halted at an inn in the shadow of old walnut-trees. A few yards off, +under one of the great trees, was a high wooden crucifix, around which some +twenty or thirty geese were standing or lying down, all in a digestive or +contemplative mood, and through the openings between the boles and the +branches were seen the sunlit meadows sloping to the low willows and the +flashing river. + +From St. Mondane a charming road or lane between very high banks that are +almost cliffs leads upward to the Château de la Motte-Fénelon, where, in +1651, was born François de Salignac de la Motte, known to the world as +Fénelon. Having reached the top of the hill, I soon came in view of a +picturesque mass of masonry with round towers capped with pointed roofs, +and with Gothic gables hanging lightly in the air over dormer windows; the +whole rising out of a dense grove of trees in the midst of a quiet sunny +landscape. When quite near I found that the grove was a sombre little wood +of ever-green oaks. The same wood, if not the actual oaks, may have been +there in Fénelon's time, for the ilex is one of the commonest trees in +Périgord on the hills about the Dordogne. As a boy, while climbing here, +he may have torn his hose into tatters, notwithstanding his precocious +knowledge of Greek. The future churchman may even have robbed a jay's nest +on this very spot. What quietude and what deep shadow! Not a leaf stirred; +only a fiery shaft of sunshine forced its way here and there through the +dark roof of unchanging green to the brown soil and the rampart's mossy +wall. + +Although the present castle was raised when feudalism was nothing more than +a tradition and a sentiment, the outworks, consisting of two walls, the +inner one standing on ground considerably higher than the other, were of +exceptional strength, and as they were originally, so they remain at the +present day. I passed through the outer and then the inner gateway, and, in +my search for a human being, accident led me to the kitchen, which was very +large and entirely paved with pebbles. Here I found the cook, who, I had +been told, was the only person in authority at that time. Surrounded by +four great walls, on which hung utensils that were rarely handled except +for the periodical scouring, she looked as solemn as a cloistered nun. She +consented, however, to show me the interior of the castle, with a pathetic +readiness which said that the appearance of an occasional visitor kept her +from sinking into hopeless melancholy. + +[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DE FÉNELON.] + +The most interesting room is the one in which Fénelon slept. Here is to be +seen his four-post bedstead, each of the posts a slender twisted column, +the silk hangings and fringe looking very worn and faded after being +exposed to the light of over two hundred years. Adjoining this room is the +_salle à manger_, the immense hearth, with seats at the ingle corners, +being covered by an elliptical arch. Most of the furniture here and +elsewhere is of massive oak, carved in the style of the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries. The family into whose possession this castle has +passed, although distinct from that of Salignac de la Motte, which has now +no representative, reverently preserves all that associates the spot with +the memory of the illustrious author of 'Télémaque.' + +From the top of one of the machicolated towers I saw a vast expanse of +country, singularly grand, but very solemn. From each side of the Dordogne +Valley rose and stretched away into the distance a seemingly endless +succession of hills, broken up by narrow gorges and glens. Over all, or +nearly all these hills lay a dark and scarcely varying mantle of forest. +This tract of country is well named Périgord Noir. It is one of the few +districts of France which still draw a sum from the Government yearly in +the form of prize money for the wolves that are killed there. + +I returned to St. Mondane and continued my journey westward by the valley, +which brought me every day a little nearer to the sea--still so far away. +As I had no need to hurry, I sat awhile in the late afternoon upon a low +mossy wall, in the deep shade of a dripping, whispering rock, from which +hung delicate green tresses of the maiden's-hair fern. Above, the rock was +lost in a steep wilderness of trees and dense undergrowth, which met the +radiant sky somewhere where the eye could not follow. The bell-like tinkle +of water out of sight was the only sound until I heard a patter-patter of +webbed feet coming along the road. A flock of geese were moving homeward, +followed by a woman, whose feet were as bare as theirs, and whose eyes were +fixed upon her distaff and spindle. She would not have noticed me had not +the birds, true to their ancient reputation, given the alarm. + +A little later I had left the shadow of the wooded rocks and was on the +margin of the river, which spread out broadly here between its shelving +banks of pebbly shingle. Then, to reach by the shortest way the village +where I intended to pass the night, I had to turn once more from the water +and cross some wooded hills. Here the jays mocked at the solemnity of the +evergreen oaks, and the dark forest echoed as with the laughter of fiends. + +Groléjac was the curious name of the village I was seeking, and which I at +length found partly on a hill and partly in the valley of the Dordogne. +Chance taking me to a house that bore the sign of an inn, although it +was at the back of a farm-yard, I thought I might as well stop there as +anywhere else. + +I am waiting for dinner-seldom a cheerful way of killing time. I do not, +however, expose myself to the risk of being irritated by the sight of my +willing but mechanical hostess scraping the white ashes from the embers, +parcelling out these into little heaps of fire upon the hearth, throwing +salt into the swinging pot with a hand the colour of which may be +distressing to the imagination, then tasting the soup: all this, and much +more, I leave her to accomplish in the gathering darkness of the kitchen, +and, sparing her the pain of lighting lamp or candle while there is still +a gleam of day, I wander out beyond the houses of the village to a quiet +woodside, there to watch the coming of night, which, whether it be +accompanied by wailing winds and storm-rack brimming with tears, or by that +grand serenity which grows in beauty as the light fails, is always like the +coming of death. + +In the clear obscure, the brown and yellow rocks of bare limestone, at +the foot of which is the small inn, seem to be drawing nearer. All their +details become luminously distinct as the air grows darker, while the +caverns gape like the black mouths of some stealthily approaching, +monstrous, many-headed form. Two men are still working in a field of +tobacco, and they go on until lights flash forth from all the houses in the +valley. Then they slowly move off into the dusk with their ox and waggon. + +All about the fields, where the night crickets are now chirruping and the +flying beetles are droning, there is a general movement of life towards the +village--of men carrying their mattocks on their shoulder or walking in +front of the ox that has done his long day's ploughing, of women and +children, geese, turkeys, and sheep. + +[Illustration: RETURNING FROM THE FIELDS.] + +I wonder if the wooden cross beside the tobacco-field was put there to +mark the spot where somebody died, in accordance with an old and beautiful +custom still much practised in these rural districts of France; but the +thought of the laid table at the auberge changes the train of ideas, so, +following in the wake of the last goose, I, too, take refuge from the night +in the now animated village. + +Sitting alone at a great table in a room large enough for a marriage feast, +ill-lighted by an oil-lamp, whose flame appears to be afflicted with St. +Vitus's dance--a room quite free from ornament, with furniture responding +exclusively to the purposes of resting, eating, and drinking, with +curtainless windows looking out upon the moonless night that is beginning +to sigh and moan at the approach of a storm--my dinner is not a very +cheerful one. Not that I am necessarily unhappy when I take a solitary +meal. In this matter all depends upon the mood, and the mood frequently +depends upon influences too subtle to be analyzed. The dinner was as good +as I had a right to expect it to be. A dish on which the hostess had +evidently striven to use her best art was of orange mushrooms in a sauce +of verjuice; but the substantial one was a roast fowl--an unfortunate bird +that was just going to roost with an easy mind, when my coming upset the +arrangements of the inn and the poultry house. One fowl, at all events, had +had good reason to think it was an ill wind that blew me into the village. + +It is a bad custom in rural France to kill fowls just when they are wanted +for the spit. Not only is it unpleasant to think that a creature is not +allowed time to cool before it begins to turn in front of the fire, but the +art of cooking is placed at a disadvantage by the practice. It is of no +use, however, trying to convince the people of their error, even when they +kill poultry for themselves and can choose their time: they will never do +things otherwise than in the way to which they have been accustomed. The +French are stubbornly conservative in everything except politics. + +As I felt the need of talking to-night, I fetched the farming innkeeper +from his kitchen and persuaded him to drink some of his own cognac. This he +did without wincing, but he soon returned the compliment by bringing out of +a cupboard a bottle of clear greenish liquor, which he said was _eau de vie +de figues_. It was something new to me. I had tasted alcohol distilled from +a considerable variety of the earth's fruits, but never from figs before. +It retained a strong flavour of its origin, and might have been correctly +described as fire-water, for it was almost pure spirit. + +I drew this man into conversation upon the peasant's life. All that he +said was only confirmation of the opinion I had already formed from other +testimony respecting the occupation of Adam when he had to struggle with +nature outside of the terrestrial paradise. Let a man own as much soil as +he can till with his hands, let him have an ox, too, to help him: he can +only live at the price of almost incessant labour and rigorous frugality. +This is the normal condition of the peasant-proprietor's existence. + +'The peasant who works seriously,' said the farmer, 'does not sleep more +than four hours a night during the summer months. He goes to bed at ten, +and gets up at two. This would not hurt him if he were better fed, but he +eats little besides his soup, and drinks bad _piquette_.' + +The man went back to his kitchen, and then to his bed close by; the flame +of the lamp became sick unto death, for it now wanted oil, and the house +grew so quiet that the squeaking of the rats and the pattering of their +feet could be heard from places that seemed far away. But for the rumbling +of the thunder, the only sound from the mysterious world outside would have +been the scream, now like the cry of a cat, now like a puppy's bark, of +an owl flying with muffled wings up and down the valley. Very different, +however, was this little owl's cry from the madman's shout of the great +eagle owl, which I had often heard in the rocky vale of the Alzon. I +threw open the window of my bedroom and looked out upon the night. It +was illumined, not by moon nor by stars, but by lightning flashes, which +followed one another with such rapidity that there was no darkness. The +quivering flame threw an awful brightness into the great woods upon the +tops of the hills. + +A few hours later I was wandering through these woods, which were now +filled with another light that dried the dripping leaves. + +Some miles of forest, then cultivated slopes, and at length the Dordogne +again. I was growing rather weary of searching for the mediaeval town of +Domme, when I recognised it by its old ramparts upon the summit of a high +bare hill, which looked very forbidding indeed where it changed to rock, +whose naked escarpments seemed to float as inaccessible as a cloud in the +blue air far above the valley. As I climbed the shadeless stony hill in the +mid-day sun-glare, I thought that if the soldiers of five or six centuries +ago used strong language as they toiled up here in their heavy armour, it +was excusable. I was wellnigh repenting of my resolution to reach Domme, +when, by a turn of the road, I found myself not many yards in front of a +fortified gateway of the fourteenth century, with a drumtower on each side +connected by a curtain with the ramparts. At first glance nothing seemed to +be wanting. The towers, however, were ruinous in the upper part, and the +battlements had disappeared. + +With the help of a local pork-butcher, who kept the key, I was able to +enter the towers of this gateway. In each was a guard-room of considerable +size, and the men-at-arms while on duty there evidently found that in time +of peace the hours lagged, for some of them had carved upon the wall with +their knives or daggers crucifixes and representations of the Virgin and +Child, all closely imitated from church sculpture, painting or window +decoration of the Gothic period. Many names are cut in Gothic character on +the same walls; a further proof that the vanity of man has ever sprouted in +much the same way as now. The antiquary, because he has his own prejudices, +perceives an abyss between the act of the Cockney tourist of to-day who +carves his name upon an old tower or a menhir, and that of a man who five +centuries ago, for no better reason than the other, left upon a guard-room +wall a similar record of his passage. The man of the present is a vulgar +defacer of interesting monuments, whereas he of the past added to their +interest, and prepared a pleasant little surprise for the archaeologist who +might walk that way a few centuries later. + +Enough of the fortifications of Domme remains to show what a very strong +place it was in the Middle Ages. Much of the wall where the town was not +naturally defended by the high naked rock, forming a frightful precipice +that no besiegers would have attempted to scale, has been well preserved. +Standing upon some bastion of this rampart, with the deep valley far below +him and the sky above him, the wanderer may allow his fancy almost to +convince him that he is really standing upon some 'castle in the air.' +Of the many rock-perched towns of the South, this is one of the most +remarkable; although, with the exception of the fortifications, little +remains of archaeological interest. + +According to the chronicles of Jean Tarde, a canon of the neighbouring +town of Sarlat, who wrote at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the +seventeenth century, Domme was first taken by the English in 1346, but +not without the help of '_quelques traistres_.' From this stronghold they +harassed the surrounding country, 'while the armies of one and the other +party were in Normandy and Picardy, and that battle of Cressi (Crecy) was +fought to the disadvantage of the party of France. Towards the end of the +year a truce was accorded, but it was in no way observed in Périgord by the +English.' + +The correct date of the capture of Domme appears to have been 1347. The men +who treasonably delivered up the place were afterwards hanged by the French +party when they regained possession of the stronghold. In 1369 the English +again invested the rock, this time under the command of Robert Knolles. +(Tarde, who spelt all English names as he had heard them pronounced in the +country, writes Robert Canole.) The place was then so well defended, and +success appeared so far off to the partisans of Edward III., that the siege +was raised in despair at the end of a month; and the annalist goes on to +say that the English then marched into the Quercy and took Roc-Amadour. +Domme, however, fell into the English power again; but in 1415 it was once +more in the hands of the French. Then we read that the seneschal sent +the crier into the public place to proclaim '_de par le Roy_' that every +inhabitant of Domme was forbidden to leave the town with the intention of +living elsewhere, under the penalty of having any property that he might +possess in the town confiscated. The motive of this ordinance is explained +as follows: 'The wars had already rendered the country so desolate, that at +Domme, where the ordinary number of inhabitants who were heads of families +was a thousand, there were now no more than a hundred and twenty. The +people who had left had abandoned everything, and gone to Spain or +elsewhere.' + +From the bare and windy hill I went down again into the quiet valley, +where, when a few more miles were left behind, I came to La Roque-Gageac, +a village at the foot of high-reaching rocks of fantastic outline, not far +from the Dordogne. Many houses long ago seem to have climbed far up the +warm limestone under the shelter of cornice and canopy, fashioned by the +sculptor Time, braving all the storms of centuries, and the danger of being +hurled in fragments towards the valley by some falling crag. + +In an open space, forming a little square, a man and a woman were holding +down a pig, one at each end of a board, where the animal had been stretched +out against its inclination, while a third person had the knife ready for +action. And the spot chosen for the execution was immediately in front of +a very old and interesting shrine, with gabled roof, surmounted by a rude +Gothic crucifix. I caught a glimpse of the pale statue and the flowers +before it; but only a glimpse, for the struggles of the doomed pig, and the +momentary expectation of seeing the red stream gush forth, made me turn +away. One sees much that is anything but poetical in the romantic land of +the troubadours. + +Near this strikingly-picturesque village is a cave such as one might read +of in a story of fanciful adventure. It is in a rock beside the Dordogne, +where, the river rests in a deep pool. The entrance is under water, and it +can only be reached with safety by a good diver when, the sun shining at a +certain hour, and the light striking in a particular way, the passage into +the cavern is lit up. A boy had made the dive successfully not long before +my visit to this place, but he found so much to interest him in the cave +while it was lighted a little by the borrowed gleam from the water, that he +lingered there until, the sun moving on his course, the angle of refraction +suddenly changed. The child had not the courage to take a plunge into the +dark gulf, where there was no beacon to guide him, and where he might have +struck against the rock. He therefore remained the rest of the day and all +night in the cavern. When the sun again lit up the passage leading from his +prison, the boy plunged, and a few seconds afterwards he was sitting on the +river-bank drying himself in the sun. + + * * * * * + +I have entered upon the tenancy of a small house beside the Dordogne at +Beynac, a village a few miles below La Roque, partly crouching beneath a +very high rock, and partly built upon its terraces or ledges up to the +inner wall of a feudal castle that was much modified and refashioned in +later ages under the pressure of two forces--time, that ruins, and the +eternal striving of each generation to attain its own ideal of comfort and +elegance. But the grand old keep still rears its rectangular mass behind +and far above the later masonry, and when the evening sun shines upon it, +the stones, no longer gray, wear again their bright colour of six or seven +centuries ago. Presently, as the glow moves higher, the battlements and +machicolations take a golden clearness that marks every detail against the +blue depth of sky whose fire is fading and preparing to change into the +calm splendour that mingles with the dusk. Between the base of the rock and +the river is just space enough for a road, which is dazzlingly white now, +and well powdered with dust; but in winter it not infrequently disappears +under water. + +[Illustration: BEYNAC.] + +On the opposite shore, above a shelving beach of yellow pebbles and a +broken line of osiers, stretch meadows that are intensely green in spring, +and would be quickly so again if rain were to fall; but now they are very +brown, and the long-tailed sheep that wander over them, tinkling their +bells, like to keep near the Dordogne, where they can moisten their mouths +from time to time, and thus help themselves to imagine that they are eating +grass. Beyond the reach of meadow, almost at the foot of high wooded hills +which mark the boundary of the valley on that side, is a modern château; +but the architect found his model for it in the past, when castles were +more picturesque than comfortable. When the amber-tinted towers are seen +through the haze of a summer morning against the background of wooded hill, +one thinks that in just such a castle as this Tasso or Spenser would have +put an enchantress, whose wiles, combined with the indolent influence of +the valley, few pilgrim knights taking the eastward way to Roc-Amadour +would have been able to resist. + +I found the valley so hot in the steady blaze of summer that, having +reached Beynac, I felt no inclination to go any farther. I thought I would +stop there until cooler weather came, and live meanwhile principally in the +Dordogne. Several families from different parts of Périgord had already +come here to spend a mildly exciting and not too costly river season; and +there they were, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, splashing in the +blue tepid water, with their clothes laid carefully in little heaps upon +the pebbly beach or upon the brown grass by the osiers. Despising the +shelter which in more fashionable watering-places is thought indispensable, +they lazily undressed and dressed in the open air with an appreciation of +sunshine and regardlessness of apparel that was almost lizard-like in its +freedom from conventional restraint. + +I was charmed by the spectacle as I meditated upon the opposite bank. The +more I meditated the better I liked the idea of tarrying in a spot where +Arcadian simplicity of life was so unaffectedly cultivated. I resolved that +I, too, would take a house at Beynac if there was one to be had, and that I +would have what I figuratively termed my 'caravan' brought up here. At the +auberge--the only one in the place--I learnt that there was but a single +house still vacant, and that it was not a very beautiful one. A young +fisherman started off barefoot to fetch the owner from his village, four +miles away. The country had to be scoured for him, so that it was long +before he showed himself. + +While waiting, I went out and amused the fish in the Dordogne by pointing +a borrowed rod at them, and tempting them with the fattest house-flies I +could find; but as soon as they saw the bait they all turned their tails +to it. My angling was a complete failure. And yet there were multitudes of +fish swimming on the surface; the water seemed alive with them. I concluded +that they were observing a solemn fast. + +At length the fisherman returned, looking very hot and dusty, and of course +thirsty. He was accompanied by a hard-baked man of about sixty--a peasant, +apparently, but one who had put on his best clothes in view of an important +bargain that was to be made. He had cunning little eyes, and a mouth that +seemed to have acquired from many ancestors, and from the habits of a +lifetime, a concentrated expression of rustic chicanery which told me that +no business was to be done with him without a fight. + +He led the way to his house, which was on the road just above the river. I +came to terms with him for a month, after the expected fight; but it +was not until he had gone away that I began to realize that I had not +distinguished myself by my wisdom in this transaction. Even the villagers, +who are not dainty in the matter of lodging, described the house as a +_baraque_. It gave me the same impression when I saw the inside of it; but +I closed my eyes to its drawbacks, because I had taken a fancy to Beynac, +and this was the only furnished dwelling to be obtained there. I thought +all the little drawbacks belonging to it, such as the rustic hearth to cook +upon, pots with holes in them, rusty frying-pans, deficiency of crockery, +and more than a sufficiency of fleas, would be overcome somehow, as they +had been elsewhere during my peregrinations in out-of-the-way districts, +where the traveller who nurses his dignity, and has a proper regard for the +comforts of life, never thinks of stopping. But things did not settle down +this time quite so quickly as I had expected. + +After the arrival of the 'caravan' I took to fishing--always with the same +rod borrowed of the blacksmith-innkeeper--with a zeal that I had not known +since I was a boy. I found that things settled down better when I was out +of the way. But there was something that settled down only too rapidly. +This was the kitchen floor. There was a bare rock forming the back wall of +the house, and down it a runnel of water gently trickled. In the wet season +it lost all modesty, made a lake that rose above the boards, and tried to +find an exit by the back of the chimney. This explained why the fire needed +two days' coaxing and blowing before it would burn, notwithstanding that +our servant had been reared in the knowledge of such chimney-places and +their humours. It also explained why somebody's foot went through the floor +in a fresh place two or three times a day. At the end of the first week +one had to stride or jump over half a dozen chasms to get from one side to +another. About the same time four or five of the lower stairs gave way from +rottenness, so that it needed no little agility to reach the bedrooms. +The old man had to come and mend his house, and because he had a guilty +conscience he brought a basket of figs with him; but, instead of owning +that the wood was rotten, he insinuated that it had been maliciously danced +upon. + +But the heat was the worst tribulation. The house, with all its windows +without _persiennes_--a detail I had quite overlooked--faced the south, so +that during the hottest hours of the day the sun was full upon it, and the +heat was over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. It was the most +scorching August that had been known even in the South of France for years. +The recollection of those burning hours in that shanty will be ever green. + +Nevertheless, the time spent at Beynac left some pleasant memories. The +days were fiery, and, when the south wind blew, almost suffocating; but +when the sun went down into the west there usually came a beneficent +change. During the few minutes that the golden circle lay seemingly upon +the edge of the world, a boat crossing the river appeared to glide over +unfathomable depths of splendour; then gradually over the fields of maize +and tobacco, and where the yellow stubble of the corn long since reaped had +been left, there spread the deep-toned lustre of evening. As the brown dusk +filled the valley, and under the sombre walnut-trees the wayside cross +became like the spectre of one, shrill voices of old women were heard +calling the geese and turkeys that still lingered in the fields. + +The geese were often left to come home by themselves, after spending the +day along the banks of the river. They belonged to various people, but, +being eminently sociable birds, they started off together in flocks of +fifty or more. Although there must have been causes of jealousy and rivalry +among them, they never seemed to quarrel. They knew when it was time to go +home by the failing light, and in the dusk I often met them marching along +the road like a regiment of soldiers. As they reached houses to which some +of them belonged, detachments would fall out and the others would go +on. Every bird would return to the place which had for it the sweet +associations of its gosling innocence. + +It is now night--the calm summer night without a moon, but spangled with +stars. Among those which the Dordogne reflects and holds as if they were +its own, is the planet Mars, which gleams readily in the midst of a swarm +of lesser yellow lights. The river here is broad and still; there is not +ripple enough to make a beam tremble. If the stars in the water flash, it +is because the rays are flashed from above. Just below the village there +are rapids, and a faint murmur comes up from them, but it is borne under by +the shrilling of the crickets that have climbed into the osiers and poplars +all along by the water's edge. Now and again there is a great splash in the +middle of the stream, which makes one think that a fish large enough to +swallow some unsuspecting Jonah of Périgord must be there in a playful +mood; but this is merely the effect upon the imagination of a sudden noise +breaking in upon the monotonous sounds of the night which are so much like +silence. + +Lured by the freshness of the air and the serene glory of the starlit sky, +I wander off down the valley to a spot where the river, all in turmoil, +washes and wears away the flanks of rocks rising sheer from its bed like a +wall. Looking back, I can see very distinctly the dark mass of the castle +and the church by its side high above me against the sky, and every minute +or so the lightning-flash from a storm far away in the west brightens the +sombre masonry and the rock beneath. + +Centuries ago in this light, the rock, the fortress, and its church must +have looked much the same as now. An Englishman, who had campaigned with +the Black Prince, standing where I am--the road was probably a mule track +then---would have seen against the sky the picture that sets me dreaming of +the past. But the quietude of the summer night might have been disturbed +by sounds that are not heard now. It is unlikely that so large a castle, +containing so many men-at-arms and officials as must have been deemed +necessary to its safety and dignity, would at this early hour have been +wrapped in silence more complete than that of the valley. There would +surely have been some people breathing the cool air on the platform of the +keep besides the watchman, some soldiers pacing the _chemin de ronde_, +although peaceful days may have returned to the unlucky land of Guyenne; +and the clamour of strong voices would have come down to the river. But now +the castle is quiet as its rock which was beaten by the waves of a vanished +sea, and those who still live in it are like the keepers of a cemetery. +That _donjon_, whose dark form seems to stand amidst the stars, only serves +to mark one of the many tombs of feudalism which rise above the smiling but +capricious Dordogne like menhirs--monuments of older illusions--along the +ocean-scalloped coast of Brittany. + +Animated as Beynac became late in the afternoon, when the little society, +composed of extraneous particles, met in costumes that were airy, +fantastic, elementary, anything but ceremonious, to exchange civilities in +the water, life on the whole was so mildly exciting that when one day a +small caravan, drawn by a donkey and preceded by a young man half hidden by +a great straw hat and wildly beating a drum, entered the place, there was a +great and tumultuous movement of the population. Everybody wanted to know +what the donkey and the young man proposed to do at Beynac. On the caravan +had been painted '_Théâtre de la Gaîté_,' which threw light upon the object +of the intruders. The donkey drew up in front of the inn, and the excited +crowd waited with ill-contained impatience to see the company of players +descend from the battered travelling trunk on wheels. At length a pretty +little girl of about twelve, with large and lustrous brown eyes, came out +of the box. She was the company. She was in the charge of her mother, +who superintended the artistic arrangements, as well as the culinary and +financial, but did not venture upon the stage. The young man looked after +the donkey and the drum, and filled up his time by catching fish for the +company and her mother. The stable of the auberge was hired for evening use +as a _salle de spectacle_, and at one end a very diminutive stage was set +up by means of rough planks and old pieces of carpet. + +Everybody who could afford to spend a penny or twopence upon vanity and +worldliness went to see the performance. It was quite a fashionable +gathering. The best society were by common consent allowed to take the best +seats--very hard benches--the less ambitious crowded behind, with minds +fully made up not to allow themselves to be carried by enthusiasm beyond +the expenditure of two sous when the plate went round; while favoured +children, who were not expected to pay anything, because they had nothing, +climbed into the mangers, and packed themselves as close together as aphids +on a rose-stalk. The stable had been carefully cleansed, but the horsey +odour that belonged to it could not be swept out. This, with the bad +ventilation, and a temperature almost equal to the hatching of eggs without +hens, was a drawback; but the audience was in no humour to be critical. A +small handbell was rung, two pieces of old carpet were drawn back, and the +little girl made her bow to the audience in a costume as near to that of +Mignon as she and her mother could make it. She sang: + + 'Connais-tu le pays òu fleurit l'oranger?' + +and other airs from the opera in a small, bird-like voice, unaccompanied +by any music. For three hours the child sang, acted, and danced in the +suffocating stable, lighted by two petroleum lamps. The next day I saw +Mignon sitting on one of the shafts of the caravan and gnawing the +'drumstick' of a fowl. The child-actress was the prop of her mother and the +donkey; her talent also kept the youth, who began to agitate the nerves of +Beynac with his diabolical _rataplan_ hours before each performance. + +One morning, soon after sunrise, the donkey, which had begun to think that +this time it had really been pensioned off, was put into the shafts, and +the caravan gradually disappeared upon the white road. Then the village +became quite dull again; but it was roused from its torpor by the annual +fête. This was the chief event of the year. The peasants came in from the +scattered villages and from the isolated farms lying in the midst of the +chestnut woods. All the women coifed themselves with their best +kerchiefs, the heads of most of the young girls being resplendent with +brilliant-coloured silk. This coiffure resembles that of the Bordelaise, +but it is not so small, nor is it folded so coquettishly. There was much +love-making--sometimes exquisitely comic by its rustic naïveté--and +there was a good deal of dancing to the maddening music of two screaming +hurdy-gurdies. + +At Beynac I made the acquaintance of a French-man who, after angling for +riches--a sport at which he lost much bait and caught nothing--turned all +his attention to the fish in the Dordogne. He resolved that he would run +no more risk by casting his bread upon the wider waters, but that he would +make the most of what remained to him by withdrawing to some riverside +nook, where his love of the unconventional, and his taste for a free life +in the open air, could expand, emancipated from all servitude to society, +including the necessity of keeping up what is called 'an appearance.' + +What, to my mind, helps greatly to make France such a pleasant country to +live in is the large amount of social liberty that one enjoys there. Except +in great towns, and in those places which are thronged at certain seasons +by cosmopolitan crowds, people can live as simply as they please, and they +can wear anything, however cheap or even shabby, without risk of being +diminished on this account in the opinion of others. They are liked or +disliked, respected or despised, as their conduct and dealings become known +and judged. + +The Otter--this nickname had been given to my new acquaintance by those who +were jealous of his fishing skill--when he was out in his boat never wore +anything finer than corduroy trousers, a short blue jacket of the cotton +material from which blouses are made, a straw-hat, and _espadrilles_, +into which he put his bare feet. No heavier clothing is consistent with +happiness in such a climate as that of the Dordogne Valley during the +summer months. When, by gliding over the transparent water, which revealed +the pebbles at the bottom almost in the deepest places, and the shoals of +fish as they passed up and down the stream, the temptation to plunge became +irresistible, the blue jacket and the other garments were thrown off in a +few seconds, and the fish were startled by the descent of a black head and +beard, followed by the rest of that human form which Carlyle has compared +to a forked radish. + +Sometimes the Otter made nocturnal expeditions far up the channels of the +little streams that fall into the Dordogne. Then he was after crayfish. +The ordinary method of catching these crustaceae, namely, with a piece of +netting covering a small wire hoop, and baited with meat, had little charm +for him. There was another much more in keeping with his passion for +movement. He would walk up the beds of the streams quite heedless of the +water, holding in one hand a lantern, and having the other free to make a +grab at every crayfish he might see scuttling out of harm's way over the +stones or sand. As he went slowly up the narrow valleys, the gleam of +his lantern through the osiers, the tall loose-strife and hemp-agrimony +startled the owls, the hedgehogs and the weasles; but not the sound of +water wailing in the darkness, nor the cries of disturbed animals, nor +the weird blackness of overhanging trees that hid the stars, troubled his +nerves. On he went, through water-meadows, at the bottom of gloomy little +gorges, and by the fringe of the forest, until he had wandered miles away +from Beynac. We very nearly met one night, both being out with the same +object in view. I, however, had very little of his zeal for the sport, and +was less interested by the crayfish than by the fantastic indistinctness +of trees and shrubs and flowers, which, in the light of the stars and the +lantern, seemed to belong to a world with which I was but vaguely familiar, +although I had travelled all over it in dreams. + +Sometimes I used to go out fishing with the Otter on the Dordogne. When +the casting-net was left at home (it was of little use when the water was +clear) chub-fishing with the flying-line was generally the chosen form +of sport. Here I may say that my companion, who could turn his hand +to anything, made his own rods from hazel-sticks. Where the water was +sufficiently deep, the boat was rowed and steered with a single-bladed +paddle, but where it was shallow much better progress could be made by +polling. These are the two methods invariably used by the fishermen and +ferrymen of the Dordogne, and it is astonishing with what success they can +get a boat up the rapids without having recourse to the towing-line. + +When we went chub-fishing, we took the boat a mile or so up-stream, and +then let it drift down with the current near a bank that was fringed with +willows and acacias. Although we needed only six inches of water, the depth +was sometimes miscalculated, and we went aground on a bank of pebbles. Then +the Otter, whose bare feet were always ready for such emergencies, stepped +out into the sparkling current, and hauled or pushed the boat over the +obstacle. What with rapids and banks of pebbles, the excitement of boating +on the Dordogne above Lalinde never flags. It looked very easy to throw a +line with a worm on it towards the shore, and then draw it back, but the +chub showed such little eagerness to be caught by me that I generally +preferred to steer and watch my companion pulling them out as he stood in +the prow, his face nearly hidden under the thatch of his straw hat. When +the fish were in a biting humour, he had one on his hook every time he +threw the line. + +There are few trout in this part of the Dordogne, but in tributary streams, +like the charming little Céou, they are plentiful. Carp are abundant, but +they are very difficult to take with the line, and even with the net, +except in time of flood, when they get washed out of their holes, and the +water being no longer clear, their very sharp eyes are of little use +to them. Then a lucky throw will sometimes bring out two or three carp +weighing several pounds each. The fish commonly caught are mullet, perch, +barbel, gudgeon, bream, and chub. As a food-supplying river, the Dordogne +is one of the most valuable in France, and, owing to the rapid current and +the purity of the water, the fish is of excellent quality. + +The fixed belief of all the riverside people in this and other valleys is +that fish should be cooked alive. You enter an inn and ask for a _friture_ +of gudgeon. In a few minutes you see the victims, which have been pulled +out of a tank with a small net on the end of a stick, jumping on the +kitchen table, and they are still jumping when they go into the boiling +grease. I am not among those who have grown callous to such sights, common +as they are in France. To see fish scraped, opened, and cooked while still +alive gives me disgust for it when it afterwards appears on the table. I +can imagine somebody saying: 'Why look at what goes on in the kitchen?' +That somebody does not quite understand what rural France is. In a country +inn we invariably pass through the kitchen to reach the room set apart for +guests, and it has often fallen to my lot to seek rest, shelter, and food +in a poor auberge, where the kitchen is also the common room of the family +and outsiders. + +A Beynac character that left on my memory a lasting impression was old +Suzette. Suzette might have been any age between fifty and seventy. She had +no beauty, but she must have had a little vanity left, for when I showed +her a photograph I had taken of her, she put her hard old hands together, +swayed her head from shoulder to shoulder, and actually wept. She could not +speak much French, but she said as well as she could that she did not know +that she had grown so ugly. I have noticed, however, that my photographs +have a tendency to draw tears or angry expressions from most of those on +whom I operate, which I can only account for by the reason that these +people have not the pleasure of paying for their portraits. What is +done for nothing is seldom appreciated. Suzette, not wishing to hurt my +feelings, soon wiped out her eyes with her largest knuckle, and, having +composed her countenance, thanked me for having photographed her. She +had had a rough life, but as she had known little else but hardship and +privation, she was contented with what Providence considered enough for +her. This was now a two-roomed cottage to live in, and for food a bunch of +grapes, a peach or a pear to eat with her bread in the fruit season, a few +walnuts to go with it in autumn or winter, chestnuts to boil or roast, and +a piece of fat bacon hanging to a beam, from which she cut only just enough +at a time to disguise the water which, when thickened with bread, a handful +of haricots, and some scraps of other vegetables, made her daily soup. She +was a widow now, but although whenever she spoke of her dead husband her +head began to wag and the tears to start from her eyes, she had less care +and worry and pain as a lonely woman than when she was bearing children +and working harder than any pack-mule to bring them up. Her husband was a +fisherman of the Dordogne, and she sold his fish in the Sarlat market, some +eight miles distant from where they lived by the river. In order to be +early in the market, she had to start at about two in the morning, and the +road, which was uphill all the way, ran between woods where the wolves, +descending from the vaster forests of Black Périgord, often howled in +winter. She told me it frequently happened when she reached the market that +her arms and hands were so benumbed with the cold that she could not take +the basket of fish from her head. As a widow, she had lived for a while +with a married son, but the young woman soon turned the old one out. Poor +Suzette told the story without bitterness; she recognised the law of nature +in this expulsion of the mother when she was of no further use to her +children, and accepted thankfully the ten francs a month which her son +allowed her. She managed to live by fetching and carrying for anyone who +would give her two or three sous for an hour's trudging. She used to take +my letters to post at the nearest railway-station, and no one who merely +noted how nimbly her bare feet moved along the hot, dusty road would have +supposed that she had left her youth so far behind her. Battered and +pinched and harassed as she had been by destiny, she still believed in the +working out of eternal justice, and one day before sunrise she started off +on a pilgrimage to a distant sanctuary, and did not return until after many +hours. With all this she was gay, and could tell a lively story with plenty +of Southern salt. She was a good bit of human nature, worth studying. + +Sarlat, where old Suzette went to sell her husband's fish, was a very +important stronghold of Black Périgord in the Middle Ages, and the chief +place in that Sarladais which the English kings of Norman and Angévin +descent found such a tough bone to pick. The way to it from Beynac leads up +steep valleys and gorges, covered with dense forest. Here wolves are to be +seen occasionally in winter, but the wolf country begins a little to the +north of Sarlat, and stretches towards the Limousin. The town appears to be +composed of one long street, and to be dismally uninteresting. There is, +however, an old Sarlat that lies a little off the main artery, and which a +lazy visitor who does not like the trouble of asking questions might easily +miss. There are few scenes more original and picturesque in France than +that presented by the ruinous old church, half open to the weather, and +the ancient houses that form a framework round it. Under the lofty Gothic +vaulting are wooden shops and shanties, and, looking up, you see the smoke +from bakers' ovens hanging about the ribs of the great arches, which it has +blackened. + +Of the old houses, one of the most remarkable is that which was the +residence of the philosophical writer, Etienne de la Boëtie, the friend +of Montaigne, It is an interesting example of the French Renaissance, the +exterior being richly ornamented with carvings. + +A very rough, bad time had the men of Sarlat during the long years that +they were fighting intermittently for their lives and property with the +lawless bands of so-called English, who had turned so many rocks into +fastnesses, and who issued from their fortified caverns, that they made +almost impregnable, to prey upon the unfortunate people who strove to live +by husbandry. These hardened ruffians and freebooters had no respect for +treaties, and inasmuch as peace never lasted long, and the English kings +of that epoch always liked to feel that they were ready for anything that +might happen in France, the companies of brigand soldiers who preferred to +serve under the leopards rather than under the golden lilies were left to +do pretty much what they pleased in the wilder parts of Guyenne. + +After the treaty that followed the battle of Poitiers they continued their +depredations, heedless of the orders communicated to them by the English +commissioners. They carried their raids up to the walls of Sarlat, even at +the time of vintage, although this season was much respected in the Middle +Ages by violent men, from a motive that was perhaps not disinterested. They +seized the bullocks that were harnessed to the waggons, and bore them off +to their strongholds. It is but fair to add, however, that the Sarladais +did not formally submit to English authority until 1361--five years after +the battle of Poitiers. Then Chandos went to Sarlat and received the +submission of the burghers. Soon afterwards Edward III confirmed all the +privileges they had been enjoying under the kings of France. But they did +not remain quiet long. Persuaded by Talleyrand and other nobles, they +rebelled in 1369, and the town became again French. Speaking of this event, +Tarde observes: + +'And behold how and when the salamander [Footnote: This reptile was borne +in the arms of Sarlat.] was again placed under the three fleurs-de-lys, +having carried the leopards in chief only eight years two months and a +half.' + +The people of Sarlat often boast that their town never submitted to the +English. In this matter, however, they are in error. + +September came, and I was still at Beynac, although I had found another +house. The fruit season was then at its height. Peaches were sold at three +sous the dozen, a good melon cost about the same sum, and figs were to be +had almost for nothing. On these terms quite a mountain of fruit could be +placed upon the table for half a franc. There was often no necessity to run +into this extravagance, for the people at Beynac are good-natured, and they +would frequently send a basket of their earliest grapes or other fruit. +Although the present might have been made by a woman with bare feet, her +feelings would have been hurt had money been offered in return. + +One day rather late in the month, having grown ashamed of inactivity, I +carried my knapsack down to the river and put it into the Otter's smallest +boat, which he called the _périssoire_, although it was not really a canoe. +He was the chief builder of it, and as a contrivance for bringing home +to man the solemn truth that life hangs to a thread or floats upon a +plank--perhaps the worst state of the two--it certainly did him infinite +credit. It was a flatbottomed outrigged deal boat, very long, and so narrow +that to look over one's shoulder in it was a manoeuvre of extreme delicacy, +especially where the rapids caused the water to be in wild commotion. I was +told that it would go down stream like an arrow, and so it did. There was +no need to row hard, for the current took the fragile skiff along with it +so fast that the trees on the banks sped by as if they were running +races, and every few minutes brought a change of landscape. It was very +delightful; only one sensation of movement could have been better--that of +flying. + +The water was as blue as the sky above, and over the valley, the wooded +hills, and naked rocks lay the sunshine of early autumn, tender in its +strength, mingling a balm with its burning. I seemed to be floating swiftly +but gently down some lovely but treacherous river of enchanted land. And +where is the river that lends itself better to this illusion than +the Dordogne--ever charming, changing, and luring like a capricious, +fascinating, and rather wicked woman? Now it flows without a sound by +the forest, where the imagination places the fairy people and the sylvan +deities; now it roars in the shadow of the castle-crowned and savage rock, +over which the solitary hawk circles and repeats its melancholy cry; now it +seems to sleep like a blue lake in the midst of a broad, fair valley, where +in the sunny fields the flocks feed drowsily. + +The depth of the water was as variable as the strength of the current. +Sometimes I saw the stony bed seven or ten feet below, and then quite +suddenly the boat would get into rushing water that sparkled with crystal +clearness over a bank of pebbles, and I expected momentarily to hear a +grating noise and to feel myself aground; but the little boat went over the +shallows like a leaf. I passed a bank large enough to be called an island. +The water had not covered it for months, and it was all thickly overgrown +with persicaria, which the late summer had stained a carmine red, so that +the island was all aflame. The swallows that dipped their wings in the +water, the kingfishers that flew along the banks or perched on the willow +stumps, and the graceful wagtails, were for some miles my only river +companions--excepting, of course, the fish, with which a treacherous +current or a sunken rock might have placed me at any moment on terms of +still closer intimacy. + +But time flew like the boat, and I soon came in sight of a charming little +village whose houses with peaked roofs seemed to have been piled one +upon another. Here upon stones in the water I recognised the human form +supported by two bare legs, and in the posture as of a person about to take +a dive, which is not perhaps very graceful, but is one that certainly lends +character to the riverside scenery of France. Two or three women were +rinsing their linen. + +On nearing St. Cyprien the current became swifter and the turmoil of the +rapids so great that I prepared my mind here to being swamped by the waves. +The question whether I would abandon or try to rescue my knapsack after the +wreck was distressing. The risk being over, it was with a sigh of relief +that I beached the boat, now half full of water, at the nearest spot to the +small town. Having moored it and given the sculls in charge of a man whose +house was close by, I was soon walking in the warm glow of the September +afternoon by cottage gardens where the last flowers of summer were +blooming. + +The small burg of less than three thousand inhabitants which bears the name +of the African saint was probably, like many others, much more important in +the Middle Ages than it is now. In accordance with the building spirit +of the past, so strongly pronounced throughout Aquitaine, and obviously +inspired by a defensive motive, the houses are closely packed together on a +steep hillside. A few ancient dwellings, notably one with a long exterior +gallery, show themselves very picturesquely here and there. The town grew +up at the foot of an abbey, of which the church still existing exhibits a +massive tower that might easily be mistaken at a little distance for an +early feudal keep. The lower part of this tower is Romanesque. The interior +of the church is in the very simple pointed style of the twelfth century, +but the interest has suffered much from restoration. What is chiefly +remarkable here is the carved oak of the reredoses and pulpit. + +The English in 1422 took the town of St. Cyprien and besieged the abbey, +which was a veritable citadel where the inhabitants in the last resort +found shelter. A French force coming, however, to the relief of the people, +the English, who were probably not very numerous, deemed it prudent to +retire. + +There being still an hour or more of daylight, I continued the ascent of +the hill above the houses and the solemn old church to find a certain +Château de Pages, which I knew to be somewhere in the locality. A woman +working her distaff and spindle with that meditative air which the rustic +spinners so often have, her bare feet slowly and noiselessly moving over +the rough stones, pointed out to me a little lane that wound up the +deserted hill between briars bedecked with scarlet hips and bits of ancient +wall to which ferns and moss and ivy clung, tinged by the waning golden +light. I passed through vineyards from which the grapes had been gathered, +then rose by broom and blackthorn to the level land. + +I looked in vain for the castle. I might have searched for it until +darkness came, but for the help of a boy who was taking home a goat. At +length I found it lying in a hollow, a sufficient sign that it was never +a stronghold. In feudal times it was probably a small castellated manor +belonging perhaps to a knight who could not afford to build himself a +_donjon_ on some eminence and to fortify it with walls; but centuries later +what remained of the original structure was patched up and considerably +enlarged. Now, as I saw it in the dusk, it seemed a very ghost-haunted +place. The building had not fallen into ruin; it was still roofed, and +might easily have been made habitable; but there was no glass in the +windows; all the rooms were silent with that silence so deep and sad of the +long-deserted house which is not sufficiently wrecked by time and decay +to have lost the pathos of human associations. The breath of the dying +twilight stirred the ivy leaves upon the wall of the detached chapel where +never a person had prayed for many a year, and the goblin bats came out +from the shadowy places to flutter against the pale sky. Then I felt that +I had lingered long enough on this desolate spot, and the thought of the +awaking hearths brightening the little town with the blaze of wood made me +hasten through the heather and gorse that had grown up on the grave of many +a vine. + +The next morning saw me afloat again. As I was getting away from the shore +a man called out to me: 'Your boat is worth nothing! If you try to pass the +third bridge you will go to the bottom!' + +He spoke very seriously, and I wished to take further counsel of him; but +having once got into the current, it carried me off at such a rate that +while I was thinking of putting a question I was taken out of speaking +distance. I shot through one of the arches of the first bridge, and soon +found myself in water that was a little rough for my poor skiff. Here were +the rapids again. I had been warned against these before I left the inn. +There was no turning back now, and if the commotion of water had been ever +so great I should have had to take my chance in it. The Otter's advice +when I came to rapids was to pull as hard as I could in the middle of the +current. I followed it, and my shallow boat, which had just been described +as worthless, darted into the midst of the turmoil, and went through it +all as swift as a swallow on the wing. The river, however, had risen +considerably during the night, and the strength of the current having much +increased in consequence, my belief in the _périssoire's_ worthiness was +not sufficient to make me run the risk of being swamped at the third +bridge. I therefore landed at the next one, which was close to the village +of Síorac. It seemed that I had only just started from St. Cyprien, and yet +I had travelled about six miles. With the help of a willing man the boat +was carried to the railway-station, which was not far off, and its journey +home having been paid, I ceased for awhile to be a waterfarer, and became +again a wayfarer. + +Although there was not much to interest me at Siorac, I stayed there to +lunch in a small inn, where an old woman grilled me a chop over the embers, +and then set before me a pile of grapes, another of pears, and a third of +fresh walnuts. The fruit was to me the best part of the meal, for the long +hot summer had caused me to look upon meat very much as a necessary evil in +the routine of life. While I was seated at the table, the old woman, who +now dozed over her distaff in the chimneycorner, would start up every five +minutes or so, as if from the beginning of a nightmare, and rush at the +flies, which were ravenously busy upon the grapes and pears that I had set +aside for them. She hated them with a hatred so fierce and bitter that I +thought it rather unbecoming at her time of life. + +'_On ne pent rien manger,_' she said, '_sans que ces diables y touchent._' + +This was quite true; but it was not the flies' fault that their parents +were prolific, and that they had been hatched in a climate eminently +conducive to their vigour and happiness. Their numbers and their voracity +showed that they, too, were compelled by the struggle for life to be active +and enterprising. Unlike some beings of a higher order, they did not take +this trouble sadly; but, then, they were Southern flies. + +Having driven them from the table, the aged woman nodded her head with +vindictive satisfaction, and murmured, '_C'est égal; elles vont bientôt +crever_'--unmindful of the fact that she, too, had reached the season of +life when the frost comes suddenly and catches people unawares. + +I returned to the river and crossed the bridge. On one side of it was a +high statue of the Madonna and Child, with these words on the pedestal: +'_Protectrice du pont, priez pour nous._.' The inscription further stated +that the statue was raised in remembrance of the flood of 1866. That was +in the time of the Empire; nowadays the Government despises all heavenly +assistance in the department of roads and bridges, and religious statues +are no longer erected in such places. Just before reaching a village +called Coux, I was confronted by a very large army of geese, and while the +foremost row advanced to the attack with outstretched necks and bills laid +near the ground, the others cheered them on. For a minute or so matters +looked very serious; then goose and gander courage failed completely, until +the army worked round to my rear, when the screams of defiance arose again. + +Poor wretches! their high spirits were not going to last long. They would +soon have to undergo the cramming process, which a goose detests, for, +unlike a pig, it will never of its own will eat more than it needs. In a +few weeks the livers of most of them would be made into those excellent +truffled _pâtés de foie gras_, which it is the pride and profit of Périgord +to send far and wide. + +A grand old elm, such as one does not often see in France, stood in front +of the village church--a Transition building with a Romanesque portal. +Beyond this place the land became marshy, and considerable tracts of it had +been planted with Jerusalem artichokes, each of which had now its yellow +head that tells its relationship to the sunflower. These artichokes are +much grown by damp woodsides, and on other land of little value, in the +valleys of Périgord. They are rarely used as food for man, for the French, +notwithstanding the wide range of their gastronomy, including as it does +squirrels and tomtits, and even snakes in certain localities, as well as +various herbs and vegetables seldom or never eaten in England, have not +been able to acquire a liking for the tubers of the artichoke. The plant +is cultivated for feeding cattle, the whole of it doing good service in a +region where there is but little grass. The multitude of golden flowers +floating, as it were, on sombre green waves light up the autumnal landscape +with a new flame when the skies turn gray. + +A solitary man whom I found working a loom in a cottage by the side of the +river kept a ferryboat, and with his help I crossed again to the other +bank. Wandering on with a somewhat vague purpose, I soon found myself--now +under a gray sky--on a marshy flat, which a backwater of the Dordogne had +almost made an island. Here there were many low shrubs of dwarf elder +covered with berries; pools, and wide ditches, where the dark water +scarcely moved, all fringed with tall reeds; while here and there was the +gleam of a white flower upon the erect stem of a marsh-mallow. But what +gave to this spot a strange and almost weird character was the number of +great hoary willows, thirty or forty feet high, with gnarled and twisted +boles, scattered over the dark green grass. It was a melancholy grove of +fantastic dream-haunted willows, such as belongs to the South and the +Virgilian muse: + +'Umbrarum hic locus est, somni noctisque soporae.' + +And the sad solitude, in which there was not a sound of moving leaf or +singing bird, seemed to be peopled by the ghosts of men who were waiting +and weeping out their hundred years on the Stygian shore. + +Hoary willows, dark alders, and then the road. This led me to Le Buisson--a +place possessed of the blue devils, and which exists merely out of +compliment to the railway-junction here. Having made arrangements for +returning to the inn, I wandered out again to look at the river in the gray +evening, and at the bridge where it was predicted that I should go to +the bottom if I remained in the little boat. I crossed fields from which +tobacco and maize had lately been carried, and reached the bridge of evil +prophecy. The river certainly seemed to be doing its best to sweep away the +piers, and when it escaped from the arches it raised its voice to a roar; +but it seemed to me that on one side the _périssoire_ would have gone +through gaily without being swamped. The cry of troubled water in the dusk +fascinated me. I lingered, and yet felt the strong impulse to hurry back to +the society of men, out of the sound of the angry river, whose slaty waves +flashed out strange gleams. What is it in the gloom and horror of nature +that so draws us and yet warns us to flee? The day was ending stormily. The +poplars wailed, and bent under the lash of the rising wind; dark masses of +cloud stood still in the sky, whilst others, torn and scattered below them, +rushed hither and thither madly. Every few minutes the faint gleam of +lightning, still far off, brought to the black woods along the hills a +momentary return of radiance, as though it were the fitful flashing of the +day's dying lamp. + +The roaring and wailing of the turbid flood now seemed to be repeating in +cruel mockery the despairing cries of all the drowning people who were ever +the prey of the water-fiends that draw downward in whirlpools to depths +where twilight passes into darkness, and take the form of the long waving +weeds that look so innocent, but whose grasp is deadly, or guide the +current that utters never a sound as it seizes its victim and bears him +into an unfathomed gulf under the pitiless rock. A voice within me cried +'Home!' but home had I none anywhere of the staple sort: mine was like a +home on wheels. + +As I returned to the inn across the fields, I saw some scattered peasant +figures moving slowly the same way under the wild sky; men with the ox +that was weary like themselves, women with bundles of forage on their +heads--melancholy forms or phantoms in the dusky air, at one with nature +in unconscious sympathy. Then across the dim and dreary plain, where the +narrow path was lost to sight after the first few yards, a railway lamp +flashed like the large red eye of some unimaginable monster of the +primordial marsh. + +In the morning I was on the road to Cadouin. The air was keen and a little +frosty, for the hour was early. Men were mowing the last crop of grass, +which was powdered with rime. After the meadows came the woods, for the +road went south, and was therefore carried over the hills which rise above +the valley of the Dordogne. The woods were mainly of chestnut, and, under +the action of the storm, followed by the first frost, many a nut lay +shining on the road within its gaping prickly shell. After two or three +miles of ascent the road sloped downward, and it was not long before I +entered a very neat and trim little town, which, however, was altogether +village-like. This was Cadouin, and in the centre stood its venerable +Romanesque church. I entered the building, which was silent and very dim; +not a soul was there but myself. Presently there was a moan in the tower, +which seemed so far away: the clock was striking one of the quarters. Now +the dim light brightened suddenly, for the sun had risen high enough to +dart its rays through a window, and to flash upon a column the brilliant +colours of the glass. With the exception of the apse, which is purely +Romanesque, the interior of this church is Gothic of the Transition; but +most of the capitals of the pier-columns have a plain Romanesque outline. +There is no clerestory, the light being admitted from small round-headed +windows in the aisle walls. Much of the building dates from the foundation +of the abbey of Cadouin, in the early part of the twelfth century; but the +existing cloisters, which are what is most remarkable here, date from +the fifteenth century, and owe much of their interest to the partial +transformation of their style which they afterwards underwent when the +spirit of the Renaissance set in. The Gothic tracery of the arches that +face the quadrangle unites the strength of stone with the delicacy of +pencil drawing. In the late Gothic and Renaissance part, the ceilings +are richly and floridly groined, angelic and other figures forming the +termination of the low-reaching bosses, the groins converging in fan-like +order towards elaborately-carved canopies against the wall. At one end +of this wing is a doorway, the jambs and lintels of which are heavily +over-worked with carvings very typical of the exuberant fancy of the early +French Renaissance. + +[Illustration: CLOISTERS OF THE ABBEY OF CADOUIN.] + +For centuries Cadouin was a famous place of pilgrimage, in consequence +of the claim laid by the abbey to the possession of the Holy Shroud. The +following is the history of the celebrated relic, according to Jean Tarde: + +'In the year 1100 Hugh, surnamed the Great, brother of the King of France, +and Bishop of Le Puy, in Auvergne, having gone on a voyage beyond the seas +with Godefrey de Bouillon, found means, after the taking of Jerusalem, to +recover this holy relic, and, dying in Palestine, he left it in charge of a +priest, his chaplain. The priest falling ill on board ship, and perceiving +that his end was drawing near, gave the shroud into the hands of a clerk, a +native of Périgord. He, after the death of his master, took a small barrel, +in the middle of which he placed a partition. In one half he put the sacred +sheet, and his drink in the other. In this manner he carried the relic back +to his native land, and placed it in a church near Cadouin, of which he had +charge. Fearing that someone might steal his treasure, he left it in the +barrel, which he put away in a chest near the altar, showing it only to a +few of the monks of Cadouin. But one day, while he was absent, fire broke +out and gained the whole village. All that was in the church was consumed, +excepting the chest that contained the barrel. The monks of Cadouin, +informed of the fire, hastened to the spot, and, having broken open the +chest, took away the barrel, and carried it to their own church. The clerk, +on his return, asked for what had been taken from him; but the monks said +that, inasmuch as they had risked their lives in saving it from the flames, +it belonged to them. The difference was arranged in this wise: the clerk +was received as a religious, and the keeping of the relic was entrusted to +him during his lifetime. He himself thought it safer there than in a rural +church.' + +In 1392, when the country was distracted by the dynastic wars between the +crowns of France and England, the Holy Shroud was taken for safety to +Toulouse. Subsequently, the people of Périgord wished to have it replaced +at Cadouin, and the Abbot and Chapter of St. Etienne at Toulouse resisting, +much litigation ensued. In 1455 some monks of Cadouin took it away by +stealth, and brought it back to their abbey. Tarde mentions, among other +circumstances which tended to increase the importance of the abbey of +Cadouin, '_les bienfaietz d'une reyne d'Angleterre_'. + +Had it not been for other plans, I should have continued my journey +southward from Cadouin as far as the Château de Biron, one of the most +instructive relics of the past in Périgord, and have taken on my way +Modières, one of the English _bastides_ which Edward I. farmed for ten +years; but I made my way back to the Dordogne, with the intention of +ascending the valley of its tributary the Vézère. I did not, however, +return to Buisson, but took the road to Ales, which lies a little lower +down the stream. + +While I was recrossing the hills the sun warmed the world again, and led +back the trembling summer which had been scared by the early morning's +frost. The half-benumbed butterflies opened and shut their wings many times +upon the bramble leaves before they could bring themselves to believe that +that pinch of winter was only a joke. It seemed a cruel jest while the +bloom of honeysuckle was upon the hedges. + +[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DE BIRON: THE LODGE.] + +At Ales--a mere group of houses round a little old church with a broad +squat tower--I lunched in a very wretched inn. If a pig had not been killed +at an early hour that morning I should have been obliged to be satisfied +with vegetable and egg diet; and the knowledge that the pig had met with +such bad luck only a few hours before did not dispose me in favour of the +various dishes prepared from the external and internal parts of him. The +_aubergiste_ was an old boatman of the Dordogne, who had steered many a +cargo of wine floating with him down-stream in time of partial flood; but +that was before the phylloxera had played havoc with the vines. Now he had +to get along as well as he could by combining husbandry, pig-rearing, and +innkeeping. + +On reaching the river again, I perceived that the annual descent of the +Auvergnats had commenced. All the people who live by the higher waters of +the Dordogne, whether they belong to the Puy de Dôme, the Cantal, or the +Corrèze, are called Auvergnats in Périgord, or, rather, such of them as +come down the stream with their small barges laden with wood, when the +autumnal rains have commenced, and there is sufficient water in the river +for their purpose. Sometimes, in their anxiety to turn their wood into +money, they start a little too early, and being misled by an increase of +the current which is not maintained, they go aground after a few days' +navigation. I have seen one of these boats stuck fast on a bank almost in +mid-stream, with the rapids nearly breaking over it with a roar that could +be heard a mile away. The wood is cut in the forests, which stretch almost +without a break for many a league on both sides of the Upper Dordogne, and +is seasoned, dressed, and shaped for barrel-making before it is put afloat. +The boats, which are some thirty or forty feet long, are necessarily +flat-bottomed, and are so roughly built that there are usually gaping +spaces between the planks, which are caked with moss. They are good enough +for the voyage, which is their first and last. The men return, but +never the boats. These are sold as firewood at Libourne, when they have +discharged their cargoes. Where the water is deep and comparatively quiet +the speed is increased by rowing with very long oars; but where the current +is strong the boat has only to be steered. This, however, is work that +needs thorough knowledge of the river. + +The autumn is a merry time for these Auvergnats. They look forward to it +during the long months that they are working in the woods. The annual +voyage to the Bordelais gives them an opportunity of again seeing the old +friends whom they have been meeting for years at the waterside inns where +they frequently put up at night, because the descent of the Dordogne in the +dark is rather too exciting. They always say that they will start again +in the morning at sunrise, but it often happens that the sun is very high +indeed before they are afloat. After all, an Auvergnat is a man no less +than another, and because he lives on next to nothing eleven months in the +year is perhaps a reason why he should feel that he has earned the right +to let his sentiments expand, and to light the lamp of conviviality in his +breast during the remaining two or three weeks that he may be away from +home. + +There is this, however, to be said: whatever money he may possess, +he trusts himself with very little when he goes off on his annual +river-voyage, and when he has sold his wood he is anxious to get out of +danger as quickly as possible. + +I had to return some distance up-stream before I was able to cross to +Limeuil. This is one of the most picturesque villages on the banks of the +Dordogne. It is built on the side of an isolated rock, close to the point +where the Vézère falls into the broader river. Before crossing the bridge +I lingered awhile gazing at all those high-gabled roofs with red and +lichen-stained tiles rising from the blue water towards the blue sky; vine +trellises mingling their sunny green with the red of the roofs. Where no +houses clung, the yellow rock was splashed with the now crimson sumach. + +Then I climbed the long street over the rock and cobble stones between +walls half green with pellitory, houses with high gables and rough wooden +balconies where geraniums shone in the shadow, and from which the trailing +plants hung low in that supreme luxuriance which is the beginning of their +death. A few old women sat at their doors spinning, and geese, in small +companies of three or four, waddled out of the way; but there was no sound +of any kind--Limeuil was as silent as a cemetery. And yet there were cafés, +which gave the place a false air of liveliness. Some tourists, attracted by +the caverns in the valley of the Vézère, had possibly wandered as far as +Limeuil; but where were the inhabitants now? Had there been an epidemic, +and were the old women, whose heads were bent towards their knees while +they clutched their distaffs, the few survivors? + +Taking the road to Bugues, I passed a small church with an open belfry +with a tiled roof supported by wooden pillars. It stood in a grove of tall +cypresses and weeping willows, and the gravestones lay scattered round +about. The waning sunshine seemed to fall more tenderly here than upon the +open fields where the ruddy pumpkins flamed. It was nearly dark when I +reached the little town of Bugues. + +[Illustration: TRUFFLE-HUNTERS.] + + + + +IN THE VALLEY OF THE VÉZÈRE. + + +The spring has come again, and I am now at Les Eyzies, in the valley of the +Vézère: a paradise of exceptional richness to the scientific bone and flint +grubber on account of the very marked predilection shown for it by the men +of the Stone Age, polished and unpolished. It is about five in the morning, +and the woods along the cliffs are just beginning to catch the pale fire of +the rising sun. Just outside my open window are about twenty chickens in +the charge of two mother hens, and as they have not been long awake, they +do their utmost to make a noise in the world like other creatures that are +empty. As soon as the neighbour's door is open they enter in a body, and +march towards the kitchen. A female voice is heard to address something +sharply to them in patois; there is a scuffle in the passage, and all the +chickens scream together as they rush before the broom into the road. This +is how the village day opens. + +I am waiting for a man who has undertaken to show me some caverns in the +neighbouring rocks. Meanwhile, another comes along, and makes mysterious +signs to me from the road. He is barefoot and ragged, and does not look as +if he had a taste for regular work, but rather as if he belonged to the +somewhat numerous class who live by expedients, and have representatives in +all ranks of society. He has a small sack in his hand, to which he points +while he addresses me in patois. I tell him to come in. The sack contains +crayfish, and now I know the reason of his mysterious air, for all +fishing is prohibited at this time, and he is running the gauntlet of the +_garde-pêche_, who lives close by. The poor ragamuffin has been out all +night, wading in the streams, and his wife, who looks, if possible, more +eager and hungry than himself, is waiting near, keeping watch. He offers +his crayfish for three sous the dozen, and I buy them of him without +feeling that respect for the law and the spawning season which I know I +ought to have. But I have suffered a good deal from bad example. There was +a _Procureur de la République_ not far from here the other day, and the +first thing he asked for at the hotel was fish. + +Presently the other man--the one I am waiting for--shows himself. He is +a lean old soldier of the Empire, with a white moustache, kept short and +stiff like a nailbrush. He is still active, and if he has any disease he is +in happy ignorance of it; nevertheless, he confides to me that it is in +the legs that he begins to feel his seventy-two years. His face has a very +startling appearance. It is so scratched and torn that it makes me think of +the man of the nursery-rhyme who jumped into the quickset-hedge; and, as +it turns out, this one was just such another, only his movement was +involuntary. He tells me how he came to be so disfigured. He was coming +home with some cronies, at a late hour, from one of those Friendly Society +meetings which in France, as in England, move the bottle as well as the +soul, when, owing to an irregularity of the road, for which he was in no +way to blame, he took an unintentional dive down a very steep bank, at the +bottom of which was a dense forest of brambles. As he was quite unable to +extricate himself, his companions, after a consultation, decided to haul +him up by the legs; and it was to this manner of being rescued that he +attributed most of the damage done to his ears. + +[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DES EYZIES.] + +We passed under the ruined castle of Les Eyzies, which was never very +large, because the shelf of rock on which it was built would not have +admitted of this; but when defended it must have been almost inaccessible. +The ruin is very picturesque, with the overleaning rock above, and the +clustered roofs below. The village is continued up the marshy valley of the +Beüne, which here joins that of the Vézère. In the face of the overleaning +rocks are orifices that strike the attention at once by their shape, which +distinguishes them from natural caverns. They have been all fashioned like +common doors or windows on the rectangular principle, which proves that +they are the artificial openings of human dwellings. The men who made their +homes in the side of the precipice, and who cut the rock to suit their +needs, must have let themselves down from the top by means of a rope. To +what age these Troglodytes belonged nobody knows, but it is not doubted +that they came after the flint-working savages, whose implements are found +in the natural caverns and shelters near the ground. + +We continued up the valley of the Beüne. The banks under the rocks were +starred with primroses, and from the rocks themselves there hung with +cotoneaster the large and graceful white blossoms of that limestone-loving +shrub, the amelanchier. In the centre of the valley stretched the marsh, +flaming gold with flags and caltha, and dotted with white valerian. The +green frogs leapt into the pools and runnels, burying themselves in the +mud at the shock of a footstep; but the tadpoles sported recklessly in the +sunny water, for as yet their legs as well as their troubles were to come. +I confess that this long morass by the sparkling Beüne, frequented by +the heron, the snipe, the water-hen, and other creatures that seek the +solitude, interested me more than the caverns which I had set out to see. I +nevertheless followed the old man into them, and tried to admire all that +he showed me; but there was not a stalactite six inches long the end of +which had not been knocked off with a stick or stone. The anger that +one feels at such mutilation of the water's beautiful work destroys the +pleasure that one would otherwise derive from these caves in the limestone. + +A visit, however, to the now celebrated cavern known as the Grotte de +Miremont repaid me for the trouble of reaching it. It lies a few miles to +the north of Les Eyzies, in the midst of very wild and barren country. From +any one of the heights the landscape on every side is seen to be composed +of hills covered with dark forest and separated by narrow valleys. Here and +there the white rock stands out from the enveloping woods of oak, ilex, and +chestnut, or the arid slope shows its waste of stones, whose nakedness the +dry lavender vainly tries to cover with a light mantle of blue-gray tufts. +It is these sterile places which yield the best truffles of Périgord. +Sometimes trained dogs are used to hunt for the cryptogams, but, as in the +Quercy, the pig is much more frequently employed for the purpose. A comical +and ungainly-looking beast this often is: bony and haggard, with a long +limp tail and exaggerated ears. A collar round the neck adds to its +grotesqueness. + +One has to climb or descend a steep wooded hill to reach the cavern, for +the entrance is on the side of it. The _métayer_ acts as guide, and his +services are indispensable, for there are few subterranean labyrinths so +extensive and so puzzling as this. + +Although the principal gallery is barely a mile in length, there are so +many ramifications that one may walk for hours without making a complete +exploration of the daedalian corridors, even with the help of the guide. +With sufficient string to lay down and candles to light him, a stranger +might enter these depths alone and come to no harm; but if he despised the +string and trusted to his memory he would soon have reason to wish that he +had remained on the surface of the earth, where, if he lost himself, there +would be fellow-creatures to help him. Now with the sticky and tenacious +clay trying to pull off his boots at every step, now walking like a monkey +on hands and feet to keep his head from contact with the rock, he would +grow weary after an hour or so, and begin to wish to go home, or, at any +rate, to the hotel; but the more his desire to see daylight again took +shape and clearness, the more bewildered he would become, and farther and +farther he would probably wander from the small opening in the side of the +hill. Thus he might at length hear the moan of water, and if it did not +scare him, he would see by the glimmer of his solitary candle the gleam +of a stream rushing madly along, then plunging deeper into the earth, to +reappear nobody knows where. This cavern offers little of the beauty of +stalactite and stalagmite; but the roof in many places has a very curious +and fantastic appearance, derived from layers of flints embedded in the +solid limestone, and exposed to view by the disintegration of the rock or +the washing action of water. They can be best likened to the gnarled and +brown roots of old trees, but they take all manner of fanciful forms. + +The little house in which I am living stands almost on the spot where some +particularly precious skeletons, attributed to prehistoric men and women, +were dug up about twenty years ago, when the late Mr. Christy was here +busily disturbing the soil that had been allowed to remain unmoved for +ages. The overleaning rock, which is separated from my temporary home only +by a few yards, probably afforded shelter to generations of those degraded +human beings from whom the anthropologist who puts no bridle on his +hobby-horse is pleased to claim descent. Near the base is one of those +symmetrically scooped-out hollows which are such a striking peculiarity +of the formation here, and which suggest to the irreverent that a +cheese-taster of prehistoric dimensions must have been brought to bear +upon the rocks when their consistency was about the same as that of fresh +gruyère. According to one theory, they were washed out by the sea, that +retired from the interior of Aquitaine long before the interesting savages +who made arrow-heads and skin-scrapers out of flints, and needles out of +bone, came to this valley and worked for M. Lartet and Mr. Christy. Others +say that the sea had nothing to do with the fashioning of these hollows, +but that they were made by the breaking and crumbling away of the more +friable parts of the limestone under the action of air, frost, and water. +While members of learned societies discuss such questions with upturned +noses, a rock above them will sometimes be unable to keep its own +countenance, but, simulating without flattery one of the human visages +below, will wear an expression of humour fiendish enough to startle the +least superstitious of men. + +Upon the lower part of my rock is hanging the wild rose in flower, and +above it is a patch of grass that is already brown, although we are in the +first week of May; then upon a higher grass-grown steep is a solitary ilex, +looking more worthy of a classic reputation than many others of its race. +Its trunk appears to rise above the uppermost ridge of bare rock, and the +outspread branches, with the sombre yet glittering foliage, are marked +against the sky that is blue like the bluebell, as motionless as if they +had been fixed there by heat, like a painted tree on porcelain. + +On the other side of the house is a small balcony that looks upon the road, +the peaceful valley, and the darkly-wooded cliffs just beyond the Vézère. +During the brief twilight--the twilight of the South, that lays suddenly +and almost without warning a rosy kiss upon the river and the reedy pool--I +sometimes watch from the balcony the barefooted children of the neighbours +playing upon the white road. Poor village children! As soon as a wanderer +gets to know them, he leaves them never to see them again. Living in +a great city is apt to dull the sensibility, and to close men up in +themselves. In a village you become forcibly interested in surrounding +humanity, and enter into the lives and feelings of others. A young woman +died yesterday in child-birth, and was buried to-day. Everybody felt as if +the awful shadow that descended upon the lonely house across the river +had passed close to him and her, and left a chill in the heart. When the +uncovered waggon bearing the deal coffin wrapped in a sheet, and having at +the head an upright cross of flowers and leaves that shook and swayed with +the jolting of this rustic hearse, moved towards the church, nearly the +whole of the population followed. Only the day before another woman was +carried along the same white road towards the little cemetery, but the +coffin then was borne upon the shoulders of four persons of her own sex. +Now and again fatigue brought the bearers to a standstill; then they would +change shoulders by changing places. And the white coffin, moving up and +down as a waif on the swell of the sea, passed on towards the glowing west, +where presently the purple-tinted wings of evening covered it. + +But the peasants are not sentimentalists--far from it. Always practical, +they are very quick to perceive the futility of nursing grief, and +especially the unreasonableness of wishing people back in the world who +were no longer able to do their share of its work. A young man came into +the village with a donkey and cart to fetch a coffin for his father who had +just died. + +'_Apé!_ I dare say he was old,' was the reflection of our servant--a +Quercynoise. If it had been the old father who had come to fetch a coffin +for the young man, she would have found something more sympathetic to say +than that. + +Sometimes at sunset I climb the rugged hill behind the house. Then the +stony soil no longer dazzles by its white glitter, but takes a soft tint of +orange, or rose, or lilac, according to the stain of the sky, and there is +no light in the rocky South that so tenderly touches the soul as this. Here +the spurge drinks of the wine of heaven with golden lips wide open; but the +hellebore, which has already lost all its vernal greenness, and is parched +by the drought, ripens its drooping seeds sullenly on the shadowy side of +the jutting crag, and seems to hate the sun. Higher and yet far below the +plateau is a little field where the lately cut grass has been thrown into +mounds. Here the light seems to gain a deeper feeling, and the small +vineyard by the side holds it too. It is one of the very few old vineyards +which, after being stricken nearly unto death by the phylloxera, have +revived, and by some unknown virtue have recovered the sap and spirit of +life. The ancient stocks gnarled and knotted, and as thick as a man's arm, +together with the fresh green leaves and the hanging bunches of buds that +promise wine, wear a colour that cannot be rightly named--a transparent, +subtle, vaporous tint of golden pink or purple, which is the gift of this +warm and wonderful light. A cricket that has climbed up one of the tender +shoots strikes a low note, which is like the drowsy chirrup of a roosting +bird. It is the first touch of a fiddler in the night's orchestra, and +will soon be taken up by thousands of other crickets, bell-tinkling toads, +croaking frogs in the valley, and the solitary owl that hoots from the +hills. Below, how the river seems to sleep under the dusky wings of +gathering dreams where the white bridge spans it! Beyond, where the +blue-green sky is cut by a broken line of hill and tree, the rocks become +animated in the clear-obscure, and the apparently dead matter, rousing from +its apathy, takes awful forms and expressions of life. + +My small boat had been lying on the Vézère several days doing nothing, when +I decided upon a little water-faring up the stream. This canoe had been +knocked together with a few deal boards. It had, as a matter of course, +a flat bottom, for a boat with a keel would be quite unsuitable for +travelling long distances on rivers where, if you cannot float in four +inches of water, you must hold yourself in constant readiness to get out +and drag or push your craft over the stones. This exercise is very amusing +at the age of twenty, but the fun grows feeble as time goes on. My boat +was not made to be rowed, but to be paddled, either with the short +single-bladed paddle which is used by the fishermen of the Dordogne, and +which they call a 'shovel,' or by the one that is dipped on both sides of +the canoe alternately. There being rapids about every half-mile on the +Vézère, and the current in places being very strong, I realized that no +paddler would be able to get up the stream without help, and so I induced +my landlord to accompany me and to bring a pole. He was a good-tempered +man, somewhat adventurous, with plenty of information, and a full-flavoured +local accent which often gave to what he said a point of humour that was +not intended. The voyage, therefore, commenced under circumstances that +promised nothing but pleasantness. It was a perfectly beautiful May +afternoon, with a fresh north breeze blowing that tempered the ardour of +the sun. + +The water changed like the moods of a child who has only to choose the form +and manner of his pleasure. Now it pictured in its large eye, whose depth +seemed to meet eternity, the lights and forms and colours of the sky, the +rocks, and the trees; now it leapt from the shaded quietude, and, splitting +into two or more currents, separated by willowy islets or banks of pebbles, +rushed with an eager and joyous cry a hundred yards or so; then it stopped +to take breath, and moved dreamily on again. Where the water was shallow +was many a broad patch of blooming ranunculus; so that it seemed as if the +fairies had been holding a great battle of white flowers upon the river. +We glided by the side of meadows where all the waving grass was full of +sunshine. On the bank stood purple torches of dame's violet, and the +dog-rose climbing upon the guelder rose was pictured with it in the water. +On the opposite bank stood the great rocks which have caused this part of +the river to be called the Gorge of Hell. Here human beings in perpetual +terror of their own kind cut themselves holes in the face of the precipice, +and lived where now the jackdaw, the hawk, the owl, and the bat are the +only inhabitants. In the Middle Ages the English companies turned the side +of the rock into a stronghold which was the terror of the surrounding +district. + +This fastness was called La Roque de Tayac, because the village of Tayac +faces it on the other side of the river. Although only a few fragments of +the masonry that was formerly attached to the rock remain, the chambers cut +in the solid limestone are strange testimony of the habits and contrivances +of England's lawless partisans in these remote valleys. The lower +excavations evidently served for stables, as the mangers roughly cut in +the rock testify. The horses or mules were led up and down a steep narrow +ledge. A perpendicular boring, shaped like a well, connects the lowest +chamber with those above, and there can be no doubt that the nethermost +part served the purpose of a well or cistern. By means of a hanging rope a +man could easily pull himself up to the higher stages and let himself down +in the same manner. In the event of a surprise the rope would, of course, +be pulled up. Woe to those who exposed their heads in this cylindrical +passage to the stones which the defenders above had in readiness to hurl +down! But the river flowing deeply at the base of the rock, no part of the +fortress could have been easy of access. Such was the stronghold which +obtained so evil a reputation throughout a wide district as an almost +impregnable den of bandits and cut-throats. + +We read that the English, who had fortified themselves at the Roque de +Tayac, having ravaged the country of Sarlat in 1408, the men of Sarlat laid +an ambush for them, and, taking them by surprise, cut them in pieces. But +the next year, their numbers being again largely increased, they resumed +their forays with the result that the Sarladais marched to the valley of +the Vézère and regularly besieged the Roque de Tayac. The struggle was +marked with great ferocity on both sides. The fortress was eventually +captured, but the defenders sold their lives dearly, and many of the +Sarladais, instead of returning to their homes, remained under the pavement +of the church across the water. + +Having passed the first rapids easily, we talked, and the conversation +turned upon--cockchafers! My companion had been much impressed by the +strange doings of a party of gipsy children whom he had lately passed on +the highroad. One of them had climbed up a tree, the foliage of which had +attracted a multitude of cockchafers, and he was shaking down the insects +for the others to collect. + +But it was not this that made the teller of the story stop and gaze with +astonishment; it was the use to which the cockchafers were put. As they +were picked up they were crammed into the children's mouths and devoured, +legs, wings, and all. At first he thought the small gipsies were feasting +on cherries. He declared that the sight disgusted him, and spoilt his +appetite for the rest of the day. In this I thought his stomach somewhat +inconsistent, for I knew of a little weakness that he had for raw +snails, which, to my mind, are scarcely less revolting as food than live +cockchafers. He would take advantage of a rainy day or a shower to catch +his favourite prey upon his fruit-trees and cabbages. Having relieved them +of their shells, and given them a rinse in some water, he would swallow +them as people eat oysters. He had a firm belief in their invaluable +medicinal action upon the throat and lungs. His brother, he said, would +have died at twenty-three instead of at fifty-three had it not been for +snails. He told me, too, of a man who, from bravado, tried to swallow +in his presence, and at a single gulp, one of the big pale-shelled +snails--known in Paris, where they are eaten, after being cooked with +butter and garlic, as _escargots de Bourgogne_--but it stuck in his throat, +and a catastrophe would have happened but for the sturdy blow which his +companion gave him on the 'chine.' That a snail-eater should criticise +gipsies for eating cockchafers shows what creatures of prejudice we all +are. + +After passing the Nine Brothers--a name given to nine rocks of rounded +outline standing by the water like towers of a fortress built by +demi-gods--we had our worst fight with the rapids, and were nearly beaten. +It was the last push of the pole from the man behind me, when he had no +more breath in his body, that saved us from being whirled round and carried +back. Before one gets used to it, the sensation of struggling up a river +where it descends a rocky channel at a rather steep gradient is a little +bewildering. The flash of the water dazzles, and its rapid movement makes +one giddy. There is no excitement, however, so exhilarating as that which +comes of a hard battle with one of the forces of nature, especially when +nature does not get the best of it. This tug-of-war over, we were going +along smoothly upon rather deep water, when I heard a splash behind me, and +on looking round saw my companion in a position that did not afford him +much opportunity for gesticulation. He was up to his middle in the water, +but hitched on to the side of the boat with his heels and hands. He had +given a vigorous push with his pole upon a stone that rolled, and he rolled +too. Now, the boat being very light and narrow, an effort on his part +to return to his former position would have filled it with water; so he +remained still while I, bringing my weight to bear on the other side, +managed to haul him up by the arms. After this experience, he was restless +and apparently uncomfortable, and we had not gone much farther before he +expressed a wish to land on the edge of a field. Here he took off the +garments which he now felt were superfluous, vigorously wrung the water out +of them, and spread them in the sun to dry. I left him there fighting with +the flies, whose curiosity and enterprise were naturally excited by such +rare good luck, and went to dream awhile in the shadow of the rock, on the +very edge of which are the ramparts of the ruined castle of La Madeleine. +This is the most picturesque bit of the valley of the Vézère; but to feel +all the romance of it, and all the poetry of a perfect union of rocks and +ruin, trees and water, one must glide upon the river, that here is deep and +calm, and is full of that mystery of infinitely-intermingled shadow and +reflection which is the hope and the despair of the landscape-painter. Now, +in this month of May, the shrubs that clung to the furrowed face of the +white rock were freshly green, and the low plaint of the nightingale, and +the jocund cry of the more distant cuckoo, broke the sameness of the great +chorus of grasshoppers in the sunny meadows. + +When I returned to my companion, I found that he was clothed again, but not +in a contented frame of mind. He accompanied me as far as Tursac, and then +started off home on foot. He had had enough of the river. There was still +sufficient daylight for me to continue the voyage to Le Moustier, but, +apart from the fact that I could not get up the rapids alone, I was quite +willing to pass the night at Tursac. + +Having chained the boat to a willow, I walked through the meadows towards a +group of houses, in the midst of which stood a church, easily distinguished +by its walls and tower. When I had arranged matters for the night, I passed +through the doorway of this little church, under whose vault the same +human story that begins with the christening, receives a new impetus from +marriage, and is brought to an end by the funeral, had been repeated by +so many sons after their fathers. The air was heavy with the fragrance +of roses from the Lady Chapel, where a little lamp gleamed on the ground +beside the altar. As the sun went down, the roses and leaves began to +brighten with the shine of the lamp, like a garden corner in the early +moonlight. + +At the inn I met one of those commercial travellers who work about in the +rural districts of France, driving from village to village with their +samples, fiercely competing for the favours of the rustic shopkeeper, doing +their utmost to get before one another, and be the first bee that sucks the +flower, taking advantage of one another's errors and accidents, but always +good friends and excellent table companions when they meet. I learnt that +my new acquaintance was 'in the drapery.' We were comparing notes of our +experience in the rough country of the Corrèze, when he, as he rolled up +another cigarette, said: + +'I had learnt to put up with a good deal in the Corrèze, but one day I had +a surprise which was too much for me. I had dined at one of those auberges +that you have been speaking of, and then asked for some coffee. It was an +old man who made it, and he strained it through--guess what he strained it +through!' + +I guessed it was something not very appropriate, but was too discreet to +give it a name. + +'_Eh bien_! It was the heel of an old woollen stocking!' + +'And did you drink the coffee?' + +'No. I said that I had changed my mind.' + +We did not take any coffee that evening. We had something less likely to +set the fancy exploring the secrets of the kitchen, where, through the open +doorway, we could see our old peasant hostess seated on her little bench +in the ingle and nodding her head over the dying embers of her hearth. Her +husband was induced by the traveller to bring up from the cherished corner +of his cellar a bottle of the old wine of Tursac, made from the patriarchal +vines before the pestilential insect drew the life out of them. The +hillsides above the Vézère are growing green again with vineyards, and +again the juice of the grape is beginning to flow abundantly; but years +must pass before it will be worthy of being put into the same cellar with +the few bottles of the old wine which have been treasured up here and there +by the grower, but which he thinks it a sacrilege to drink on occasions +less solemn than marriages or christenings in the family. + +'You can often coax the old wine from them,' said my knowing companion, 'if +you go the right way to work.' + +'And what is the secret?' + +'Flattery: there is nothing like it. Flatter the peasant and you will be +almost sure to move him. Say, 'Ah, what a time that was when you had the +old wine in your cellars!' He will say, '_Nest-ce pas, monsieur_?' and +brighten up at the thought of it. Then you will continue: 'Yes, indeed, +that was a wine worth drinking. There was nothing like it to be found +within fifty kilomètres. What a bouquet! What a fine _goút du terroir_!' +He will not be able to bear much more of this if he has any of the wine. +Unless you are pretty sure that he has some, it is not worth while talking +about it. Expect him to disappear, and to come back presently with a +dirty-looking bottle, which he will handle as tenderly as if it were a new +baby.' + +Those whose travelling in France is carried out according to the +directions given in guide-books--the writers of which nurse the reader's +respectability with the fondest care--will of course conclude that the +best hotels in the wine districts are those in which the best wine of the +country is to be had. This is an error. The wine in the larger hotels is +almost invariably the 'wine of commerce'; that is to say, a mixture of +different sorts more or less 'doctored' with sulphate of lime, to overcome +a natural aversion to travelling. The hotel-keeper, in order to keep on +good terms with the representatives of the wine-merchants--all mixers--who +stop at his house, distributes his custom among them. Those who set value +on a pure _vin du pays_ with a specific flavour belonging to the soil, +should look for it in the little out-of-the-way auberge lying amongst the +vineyards. There it is probable that some of the old stock is still left, +and if the vigneron-innkeeper says it is the old wine, the traveller may +confidently believe him. I have never known in such cases any attempt at +deception. + +The next morning I reached Le Moustier. Here the valley is broad, but the +rocks, which are like the footstools of the hills, shut in the landscape +all around. These naked perpendicular masses of limestone, yellow like +ochre or as white as chalk, and reflecting the brilliance of the sun, must +have afforded shelter to quite a dense population in the days when man +made his weapons and implements from flints, and is supposed to have lived +contemporaneously with the reindeer. Notwithstanding all the digging and +searching that has gone on of late years on this spot, the soil in the +neighbourhood of the once inhabited caverns and shelters is still full of +the traces of prehistoric man. + +Shortly before my coming, a _savant_--everybody is called a _savant_ here +who goes about with his nose towards the ground--gave a man two francs to +be allowed to dig for a few hours in a corner of his garden. The man was +willing enough to have his ground cleared of stones on these terms. The +_savant_ therefore went to work, and when he left in the evening he took +with him half a sackful of flints and bones. + +In a side valley close to Le Moustier is a line of high vertical or +overleaning rocks. A ledge accessible from the ground runs along the face, +and nearly in the centre, and at the back of it, are numerous hollows in +the calcareous stone, some natural, others partly scooped out with the aid +of metal implements, whose marks can still be seen. Each of these shelters +was inhabited. Holes and recesses have been cut in the walls to serve for +various domestic purposes, and on the ground are traces of fireplaces, +reservoirs for water, etc. The original inhabitants of these hollows may +have been savages no more advanced in the arts than those who worked +flints, but it is certain that the latest occupiers were much more +civilized. Rows of holes roughly cut in the limestone show where the ends +of beams once rested, and the use of these timbers was evidently to support +a roof that covered much of the ledge. It is quite certain that people +lived here in the Middle Ages, and they might do so now but for the +difficulty of bringing up water. The security which the position afforded +could hardly have been lost sight of in the days when the inhabitants of +Guyenne were in constant dread of being attacked. One must therefore be +guarded against wild talk about prehistoric man in connection with these +rock dwellings, which in many cases were used as fortresses during the +three hundred years' struggle between the English and French in Aquitaine. + +My waterfaring back to Les Eyzies was far easier than the voyage up-stream. +Nevertheless, there was some excitement in it, for when the rapids were +reached, the current snatched the boat, as it were, from me, but carried me +with it, by little reefs each marked out as an islet as white as snow, by +the floating flowers of the water ranunculus; but when its strength failed, +it left me to drift where, in the dark shadow of rock and tree, the water +rested from its race. Presently the rapids were seen again dancing in the +sun, and the boat, gliding on to just where the smooth surface curved and +the current took its leap without a ripple, darted forward like a startled +water-bird. Once a back current whirled my fragile boat completely round. +Then I remembered the good advice of the friendly Otter at Beynac with +reference to going down these streams, where the water has to be watched +with some attention if one does not wish to get capsized: '_Tenez-vous +toujours dans le plus fort du courant_.' + +Again in calm water, I recognised, beyond the still grass and the scattered +flame of the poppies, the high walls of the fortress-like church of Tayac, +with the light of the sinking sun upon them. Then a little lower down at +the ford, which was my stopping-place, a pair of bullocks were crossing the +river with a waggon-load of hay; so that the picturesque, the idyllic, and +the sentiment of peace were all blended so perfectly as to make me feel +that the pen was powerless, and that the painter's brush alone could save +the scene from passing away for ever. + +Tayac and Les Eyzies form one very straggling commune, and the church where +the slain men of Sarlat lie serves for the entire population. This edifice +of the eleventh and twelfth centuries deserves a brief description. There +is much grandeur in its vast, deeply-recessed Romanesque portal, with +marble columns in the jambs and numerous archivolts. Then its high, narrow +windows, and the low, square towers, pierced with loopholes, give to it +that air of the fortress which immediately impresses the beholder. Without +doubt it was built like so many other churches of the same stormy and +uncertain period, to be used as a place of refuge in case of danger. The +entrance to the principal tower is artfully concealed at the back of a +chapel at the east end, and can only be reached with a ladder. The very +narrow passage makes two or more right angles before it leads to the foot +of the spiral staircase--a disposition of great value in defence. + +Having heard of a cavern in the garden of the presbytery which, in the +memory of living people, was the refuge of a murderer whom the gendarmes +were afraid to follow underground, because it was believed that he would +knock them on the head one after the other while they were wriggling +through the passage, and then quietly walk out by a back way unknown to +anyone but himself, I felt a strong desire to explore this cave of evil +repute. The idea was all the more enticing because I was assured that +nobody had entered it but the murderer. I called upon the curé, and asked +him how he felt at the prospect of a little trip underground in his own +garden. He did not seem to feel very eager for the adventure; but when I +proposed to go alone, he was too polite to let me depart with his best +wishes. He decided to accompany me. When he had put on his oldest +_soutane_, we started with a packet of candles and a ball of string. + +Priests' gardens are often very interesting, and the one through which +we now passed pleased me greatly. It was a long strip, in two or three +terraces, upon the rocky hillside. Many fruit-trees, but chiefly almond, +cherry, and peach, were scattered over it. There was also a straggling +vine-trellis, from which there now spread in the June air that sweet +fragrance of the freshly-opened flower-buds of which the poet-king Solomon +sung. In the highest part was the cavern. We had to crawl in upon our hands +and knees, and in some places to lie out almost flat. As my friend the curé +insisted upon going first, I could not help thinking that the back view +of him, as he wormed his way along the low gallery, was not exactly +sacerdotal. Sometimes we passed over smooth sand--evidently left by a +stream that once issued here; at other times over small stones, which were +bad for the knees. We kept a keen look-out for the remains of prehistoric +men and beasts, but only found the shells of eggs which a fox had probably +stolen from the curé's fowl-house. There were also rabbits' bones, whose +presence there was to be explained in the same way. My companion, however, +having once entered his cave, was resolved upon returning another day and +digging conscientiously in the sand, which appeared to be very deep in +places. He may since have unearthed some pre-historic treasures there. The +cavern was interesting as showing the honeycombing effects of water on +limestone rock, but it did not lead very far into the hill. The belief that +the murderer escaped by another opening than the one by which he entered +was founded on fiction. + +After the cave exploration, the curé was so good as to accompany me to a +mysterious ruin in the neighbourhood, which he believed to be of English +origin, because it was always spoken of by the people of the locality as +William's Chapel. The English pronunciation of the name William had been +preserved in the patois. After this, I did not doubt that his supposition +was correct. Some Englishman was connected with the history of the +building; but was it really a chapel? The hill that we had to climb to it +was very high, and, although covered with herbage, almost precipitous. The +building was not on the summit, but on a ledge of rock some distance down +the cliff. The ruin consisted of only a few fragments of wall, built very +strongly of well-shaped stones laid together without mortar. Holes cut in +the rock showed where the ends of beams had rested. The position was +rather one for a fortress than for a chapel; but no doubt Englishmen of +an eccentrically religious turn appeared as early as the thirteenth or +fourteenth century, if not earlier. If the people of the valley climbed up +to William's Chapel to say their prayers, they must have been very pious +indeed. + +The strength of the current in the Vézère had turned me from my first plan, +which was to ascend the river as far as Montignac, and take the road thence +to Hautefort, the birthplace of Bertrand de Born, who was put into hell by +Dante for having encouraged Henry Plantagenet's sons to rebel against their +father. The sombre Florentine treated the troubadour baron with excessive +harshness, for it is recorded of Bertrand that his repentance for the sins +of his restless and agitated life was so sincere that he ended his days as +a monk in the monastery of Cîteaux. [Footnote: 'Mobile, agité, comme son +aventureuse existence qui commenca au donjon d'Hautefort et s'éteint +dans le silence du cloitre de Cîteaux.--'_Discours sur les célébrités du +Périgord_,' par L. Sauveroche.] + +Bertrand de Born was an evil counsellor to Henry Court-Mantel, but a +singularly attractive figure of the twelfth century was this troubadour +noble, whose life in the world was divided between the soothing charm of +the '_gai sçavoir_' and the excitement of war, and who was equally at his +ease whether he was holding the lance or the pen. He had the tenderest +friendship for the young Prince, and mourned his death in the best elegy +that appeared at the dawn of modern literature. + +[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DE HAUTEFORT.] + +Of the ancient fortress of Bertrand de Born, Viscount of Hautefort, a few +vestiges are left, which may be easily distinguished from the later masonry +of the castle with which they are combined. + +[Illustration: A HOUSE AT PÉRIGUEUX.] + + + + +IN THE VALLEY OF THE ISLE. + + +It was in the full flame of noon on a hot June day that we arrived at the +headquarters which I had chosen for my second summer in Périgord. It was +a little château, of which I was to occupy a small wing, and also a low +building that was quite detached--all very plain and rustic, as, indeed, +most of the really old châteaux that are still inhabited are. At this +burning hour the place seemed as quiet as the ideal retreat of a literary +hermit could be. In the large old-fashioned garden, where magnolias and +firs mingled with all kinds of fruit-trees, and lettuce-beds were fringed +with balsams, golden apricots hung upon the branches that were breaking +with their weight, and seemed to say: 'There is nobody here to eat us. We +are quite tired of waiting to be gathered.' + +Suddenly there was a great noise of barking, and three or four dogs that +had smelt or heard strangers rushed through the archway that led to the +court, which was so much like a farm-yard that no one would know the +difference from the description. + +'Mees! Mees! Black! Black!' cried a voice from within. + +There was nothing in the sound of these words to cause astonishment, for +most French dogs that move in good society have English names. If you were +to call out at any respectable gathering of these animals, whether in the +North or the South, 'Fox,' 'Stop,' 'Black,' 'Mees' (not Miss), the chances +are that they would all try to reply at once. + +After the dogs came bare-footed domestics of both sexes, who stared at us +wonderingly, while saluting politely, and evidently not wishing to show +their curiosity. Then, when we entered the court, we were met by a great +many fowls, ducks, and turkeys of various ages. Not a few had apparently +just jumped out of their shells. Lastly came the master and mistress of +the house, advancing in the slow and stately style of the times when the +drawbridge would have had to be lowered, but moving in the midst of the +poultry. They were gracious and hospitable, and very soon we settled down, +altogether well pleased with our new quarters. + +Here we were surrounded by trees just as Robinson Crusoe was by his grove +when it had grown tall and thick. Now, the traveller in Southern France who +lingers as I am wont to linger in my wanderings, will probably have cause +to pine, as I have pined, for trees about his house to shelter him from the +fury of the summer sun. There are few houses that are not hovels or ruins +to be found, except where the land is fertile, and wherever it repays +labour the owner loathes a tree that produces nothing but its wood. Thus +we get those wide, burning plains, where so few trees are to be seen save +poplars along the watercourses and walnuts bordering the roads. Even these +become rare, as in journeying farther south the last low buttresses of the +rocky highlands are left behind. + +Here, close to this retreat that I had chosen on the banks of the Isle, +some twenty miles below Périgueux, rose, on the opposite side of the river, +high cliffs of white limestone with wooded brows. The château was on a +small island formed by a curve of the river under the cliffs, and a short +canal drawn across the loop to facilitate the navigation of the Isle. + +A very lazy kind of navigation it was. Two or three barges would pass in a +day on their way to Périgueux or Bordeaux. They were of considerable size, +and were capable of some sea-faring, but their masts were now laid flat, +and they were towed along at the rate of two or three yards a minute by +a lean and melancholy horse that had ceased to care for cursing, and was +almost indifferent to beating. As the navigation had been nearly killed by +the railway, the canal was allowed to fill itself with water-plants, which +were interesting to me, but exceedingly hurtful to the temper of the +bargees. They vented their fury upon the engineer, who was absent, and the +horse that was present--unfortunately for the poor brute, for somehow he +seemed to be looked upon as a representative of the negligent functionary. + +'You appear to be having a bad time,' said I one day to a great dark bargee +who was streaming from every pore, as much from bad temper as from the +exertion of cracking his whip, and whose haggard horse looked as if he +would soon break off in the middle from the strain of trying to move the +barge, which was stuck in the weeds. + +'A bad time of it! I believe you. _Sacr-r-r-re!_ If I could only send that +pig of an engineer to Nouméa I should be a happy man!' + +If wishes could have wafted him, he would have gone farther than New +Caledonia long before. + +One day, far on in the summer, this engineer actually appeared upon the +canal in his steam yacht, and there was great excitement in the country. +The peasants left their work in the fields and ran to the banks to gaze at +him. He did not go very far before he got stuck in the weeds himself. Then +he reversed his engine, made back as fast as he could, and was seen no +more. + +But I am going on too fast. I have not yet described the château. The +picture of it is clearly engraved upon the memory, and a very pretty +picture I still think it; more so now, perhaps, than when the reality was +before me, for such is the way of the mind. I can see the extinguisher +roofs of the small towers through openings in the foliage rising from a +sunny space enclosed by trees. I can see the garden, with its old dove-cot +like a low round tower, its scattered aviaries, its rambling vines that +climb the laden fruit-trees, its firs, magnolias, great laurels, its +glowing tomatoes and melons, its lettuces and capsicums and scattered +flowers, all mingled with that carelessness which is art unconscious of +its own grace; its daedalian paths, its statues so quaintly placed in +unsuspected corners, its--well, the picture is finished, for now begins the +effort to recall its details. The eye's memory is a judicious painter that +never overcrowds the canvas. I can see on that side of the building, which +looks upon a much wilder garden, where peach and plum trees stride over +grassy ground adjoining the filbert-grove that dwindles away into the +wooded warren, a broad line of tall nettles in the shade against the wall. +Hard by, on the line--so it was said--of the filled-up moat, is a row of +ancient quinces, with long crooked arms, green, gray, or black with moss +and lichen, stretching down to the tall grass, where in the dewy hours of +early darkness the glow-worms gleam. + +This little château was never a stronghold to inspire an enemy with much +respect; it was rather a castellated manor-house, dating from the times +when even the residences of the small nobility were fortified. Marred as it +had been by alterations made in the present century without any respect for +the past, it was still very interesting. In one of the towers, said to be +of the fourteenth, and certainly not later than the fifteenth, century, was +a chapel on the ground-floor with Gothic vaulting, and which still served +its original purpose. A contemporaneous tower flanking the entrance +contained the old spiral staircase leading to the upper rooms. I often +lingered upon it in astonishment at the mathematical science shown in its +design, and the mechanical perfection of its workmanship. What seemed to be +a slender column round which the spiral vaulting turned was not really +one, for each of the stone steps was so cut as to include a section of the +column as a part of its own block. The contrivances by which this staircase +_en colimaçon_ was made to hold together, and to hold so well as to have +lasted several hundred years, with a promise to continue in the same way +another century or two, were deftly hidden from the eye of those unversed +in such technicalities. In the hollow at the foot of the stairs was what +I took to be a very old and rough christening font, such as I had seen in +village churches. But it was not that; it was called a _pierre à l'huile_. +Its purpose a long time ago was to receive the oil taken from the first +pressing of walnuts after the annual gathering. Then the priests came and +fetched what they wanted of it to serve for the rites of the Church during +the year. + +All this summer we lived out of doors, except at night. Even Rosalie, our +servant, did most of her cooking in the open air with the aid of a portable +charcoal stove, which she placed in the shade of some noble plane-trees +that were planted by accident on the day of Prince Louis Napoléon's _coup +d'état_. They were already tall and strong when his Will-o'-the-wisp, which +he had mistaken for a star, sank in the bloody swamp of Sedan. When the +rising wind announced a storm, the swaying branches shed their dry bark, +which was piled upon the hearth indoors, where a cheerful blaze shot up if +by chance the rain fell and the air grew chilly. But very seldom did even a +shower come to moisten the parched land and cool the heated air. Thus the +plane-trees came to look upon the stove beneath them as a fixture. + +These open-air kitchens are by no means uncommon in Southern France during +the hot months. I have a pleasant recollection of dining one scented +evening in May with my friend the Otter at Beynac in his garden +terraced upon rocks above the Dordogne. The table was under a spreading +chestnut-tree in full bloom. Not many yards away the swarthy Clodine had +her kitchen beneath an acacia. Strange as it may seem, the hissing of +her frying-pan as she dropped into it the shining fish did not mingle +unpoetically with the murmur of lagging bees overhead and the soothing +plaint of the river running over its shallows below. Nor, when the purple +flush faded on the water's face, and little points of fire began to show +between branches laden with the snow of flowers, did the fragrant steam +that arose from Clodine's coffee-pot make a bad marriage with the amorous +breath of all the seen and unseen blossoms. What is there better in life +than hours such as those? + +But now I am by the Isle. The plane-trees are on the edge of a little dell, +in the centre of which is a smooth space encircled by many trees, forming a +dense grove. A rough table has been set up here with the aid of planks and +tressels. It is our dining-table, and the centre of the grove is our +_salle à manger._ Wrens and blackcaps hop about the branches of the +filbert-bushes, and when the _métayer's_ lean cat comes sneaking along, +followed by a hungry kitten that is only too willing to take lessons in +craft and slaughter, the little birds follow them about from branch to +branch, scolding the marauders at a safe distance, and giving the alarm to +all the other feathered people in the grove. Here the nightingales warble +day and night until they get their young, when, finding that hunting for +worms and grubs to put into other beaks than their own is very prosaic +business, they only sing when they have time to fly to some topmost twig +and forget that they are married. + +When the sun is near setting, a sound very different from the warble of a +bird is heard close by. It is some leader of a frog orchestra in the sedges +of the canal giving the first note. It is like a quirk of gluttony just +rousing from the torpor of satisfaction. The note is almost immediately +taken up by other frogs, and the croaking travels along the canal-banks as +fire would if there were a gale to help it. But the music only lasts a few +minutes, for the hour is yet too early for the great performance. The frogs +are only beginning to feel a little lively. It is when the sun has gone +quite down, and the stars begin to twinkle upon the water, that the ball +really opens. Then the gay tumult seems to extinguish every other sound, +and to fill the firmament. Oh! they must have a high time of it, these +little green-backed frogs that make so much noise throughout the warm +nights of June. Sometimes I creep into my canoe and paddle by the light of +moon or stars as noiselessly as I can along the fringe of sedges and flags +and bullrushes, hoping to watch them at their gambols. But the frog is a +very sly reptile, and you must stay up very late indeed in order to be a +match for him in craft, unless you dazzle his eyes with the light of a +torch or lantern. Then he is a fool in the presence of that which is out of +the order of his surroundings, and his amazement or curiosity paralyzes his +muscles. It is in this way that those who want the jolly frog just to eat +his hind-legs _à la poulette_ or otherwise catch him with the hand, unless +they have the patience and the cruelty to fish for him with a hook baited +with a bit of red flannel. + +Now I will speak of my own hermitage, my ideal nook for writing, reading, +and doing nothing, which, after much wandering and vain searching, I found +at length here. Yes, I found it at last; and I much fear that I shall never +find another like it. It lay at the back of the château, beyond the shaded +nettles and the ancient quinces. My ordinary way to it was through a piece +of waste, which, with unintentional sarcasm, was called the 'Little Park.' +It was overgrown by burdocks, to which it had been abandoned for years--who +could tell how many?--and was rambled over by turkeys, guinea-hens, and +other poultry. Then I passed through a little gate, crossed another bit of +waste that was neither lawn nor field, skirted a patch of buckwheat, and +entered a small wood or shrubbery, where plum and filbert trees grew with +oaks and beeches, until I came to water. This was the _vivier_ of the +château--fishpond, long drawn out like a canal, and fed by a spring, but +which had been left to itself until it was nearly shaded over by alders +and other trees. At the end farthest from all habitations was a little +structure built of stones, open on one side, and with small orifices in +the three remaining walls. These could be closed, and yet they were not +windows. Their purpose was much more like that of loopholes in a mediaeval +barbican. They were to enable the man inside to watch the movements +of migratory birds, and to send his shot into the thick of them when, +unsuspecting danger, they chanced to come within range. The little building +was an _affût_. Near to it was a sort of fixed cage, intended for decoy +birds, but it had long been without tenants when I took possession of this +refuge from all the human noises of the world. The other sounds did not +worry me, although they often drew me from my work. The splash of a fish +would take me to the water's edge, where I would watch the small pikes +lying like straight roots that jut from the banks under water. The cooing +of the little brown turtles in the trees overhead, the movements of a pair +of kingfishers that would often settle close by upon an old stump, the +magpies and jays, and especially the oriels, would make my thoughts +wander amongst the leaves while the ink was drying in the pen. The oriels +tantalized me, because I could always hear them in the crests of the trees, +until, about the middle of August, they went away on their long journey +to the South, but could very rarely catch sight of their gold and black +plumage. Although they will draw near to gardens to steal fruit when they +have eaten the wild cherries, they are among the most suspicious and wary +of birds. + +The oriel is a strange singer. It generally begins by screeching harshly; +then follow three or four flute-like notes, which seem to indicate that the +bird could be a musician if it would only persevere. But it will not take +the trouble. It goes on repeating its 'Lor-e-oh!' just as its tree-top +companions, the cicadas, keep up their monotonous creaking. + +From my cabin I could see all the lights, colours, and shadows of the day +change and pass, but the sweetest music of the summer hours was heard when +the soft sunshine of evening fell in patches on the darkening water, and +on the green grass on each side of the brown path strewn with last year's +trodden leaves. + +Sometimes a hedgehog would creep across the narrow path, shaded with +nut-bushes, oaks, and alders towards the water, and at night--I was often +there at night--the glow-worms gleamed all about upon the ground, and there +were mysterious whisperings whose cause I could not trace. Yes, it was an +ideal literary hermitage, but as perfection is not to be found anywhere +on land or water, even this spot had its drawback. There were too many +mosquitoes. My friend the owner of the château often said to me, '_La +moustigue de l'Isle n'est pas mêchante;_' but on this point I could not +agree with him. I bore upon me visible signs of its wickedness; but in +course of time I and the '_mostique de I'Isle_' lived quite harmoniously +together in the little shanty under the trees. + +Where the weedy and shady avenue leading to the château made an angle with +the highroad, there was often a caravan or tilt-cart stationed for days +together. Sometimes it was the travelling house of a tinker and his family; +in which case the man was generally to be seen working outside upon his +pots and pans in the shade of a tree. Sometimes it belonged to a party of +basket and rustic-chair makers, who gathered the reeds and hazel-sticks +that they needed as they passed through the country. Some were gipsies, and +some were not; but all were baked by the sun almost to the colour of Moors. +Having a taste for nomadic life myself, I used to stay and talk to these +people from time to time; but none of them interested me so much as the +wandering cobbler and his dog, whose acquaintance I had made higher up the +country amongst the rocks. + +I can still see them both in the shade of the old gateway; the man seated +in the entrance of the little tower, where, at the top of the spiral +staircase, is the village prison; the dog lying with his nose upon his paws +just within the line drawn by the gateway's shadow across the dazzling +road. They both came one evening and took up their position here with as +much assurance as if it had been theirs by right of inheritance. They soon +set to work, the man mending boots and shoes, and the dog making himself +disagreeable to all the male members of the canine population for a +couple of miles or so around. Until the cobbler's companion settled down +comfortably, he had several exhilarating fights with local dogs that looked +upon him as an intruder and an impostor. He really was both. He had no +great courage, but he had grown impudent and daring from the day that he +had first worn a collar armed with spikes. When his enemies had taken a few +bites at this, they came to the conclusion that there was something very +wrong in his anatomy. After the first encounter they were not only willing +to leave him alone, but were exceedingly anxious to 'cut' him when they met +him unexpectedly. They approached the gateway as little as possible; but +when they were obliged to pass it, they drew their tails under them, showed +the whites of their eyes, and having crept very stealthily to within ten +yards or so of the archway where the interloper appeared to be dozing, they +made a valiant rush towards the opening. Notwithstanding these precautions, +the cobbler's dog, which had been watching them all the while out of the +corner of one eye, was often too quick for them. + +Man and dog were ludicrously alike both in appearance and character. The +beast was one of the ugliest of mongrels, and the man might well have been +the final expression of the admixture of all races, whose types had been +taken by destiny from the lowest grades of society. They were both grizzly, +thick-set, and surly. They both seemed to have reached the decline of +life with the same unconquerable loathing of water, except as a means of +quenching thirst. The dog, although some remote bull-dog ancestor had +bequeathed him short hair, had bristles all over his face just like his +master. They were a couple of cynics, but they believed in one another, and +loved one another with an affection that was quite edifying. The dog wished +for nothing better than to lie hour after hour near his master, hoping +always, however, for an occasional fight to keep him in health and spirits. +The cobbler did nothing to make himself liked by the inhabitants, but he +could afford to work more cheaply than others who were 'established,' and +who had a wife and children to keep; consequently the pile of old boots and +shoes that looked quite unmendable rose in front of him, and for three or +four weeks he remained in the same place stitching and tapping. Having +locked up his things at night in the tower--he had obtained permission to +make this use of it--he disappeared with his dog, and what became of them +until next day was a mystery. + +I admired the blunt independence and practical philosophy of this homeless +man. Although he was disagreeable to others, he was on good terms with +himself, and seemed quite satisfied with his lot. If, when he had named his +price for mending a pair of shoes, anybody tried to beat him down, he would +say, 'Take them and mend them yourself!' His incivility obtained for him a +reputation for honesty, and his prices were soon accepted without a murmur. +He talked to nobody unless he was obliged to do so, and by his moroseness +he came to be respected. I managed to draw him into conversation once by +feigning to be much impressed by the comeliness and amiable nature of his +dog, and he then told me that he had been wandering ever since he was a boy +in Languedoc and Guyenne, stopping in a village as long as there was +work to do and then moving on to another. Wherever people wore boots or +shoes--if it were only on Sundays--there was always something to be done by +working cheaply. + +The silent cobbler might have kept his open-air shop longer than he did in +the shadow of the mediaeval gateway, if his dog had not quarrelled with the +sole representative of police authority for having put on his gala uniform, +which included a cocked-hat and a sword. For this want of respect the +animal was imprisoned in the room of the tower, to the great joy of all the +other dogs, but to the intense grief of his master, who found it impossible +to turn a deaf ear to the plaintive moans that reached him from above. And +thus it came to pass that they went away together rather suddenly in search +of a gateway somewhere else, the dog earnestly praying, after his fashion, +that it might not be one with a tower. + +One June morning, soon after sunrise, twenty-seven mowers came to the +château to cut the grass in the great meadow lying between the river under +the cliffs and my moat--I called it mine because it was almost made over to +me for the time being, together with the bit of wood and the cabin. Each +mower brought with him his scythe, an implement of husbandry which in +France is in no danger of being classed with agricultural curiosities of +the past. Here the reaping and the mowing machine make very little progress +in the competition between manual and mechanical labour. In the southern +provinces, few owners of the soil have ever seen such contrivances. People +who cling to the poetic associations of the scythe and the sickle--and who +does not that has been awakened by their music in his childhood?--must not +cry out against the laws which have caused the land of France to be divided +up into such a multitude of small properties, for it is just this that +preserves the old simplicity of agriculture as effectually as if some +idyllic poet with a fierce hatred of all machines were the autocratic ruler +of the country. Whether the nation gains or loses by such a state of things +is a question for political economists to wrangle over; but that the +artist, the seeker of the picturesque, the romantic roamer, and the +sentimental lover of old custom gain by it can hardly be denied. + +Some of the mowers were men of sixty, others were youths of seventeen or +eighteen: all were contented at the prospect of earning nothing, but of +being treated with high good cheer. Now, victuals and drink are a great +deal in this life, but not everything, and these men would not have come +on such terms had they not been moved by a neighbourly spirit. They were +themselves all landowners, or sons of landowners. Had wages been given, two +francs for the day would have been considered high pay, and the food would +have been very rough. No turkeys would have had their throats cut; no +coffee and rum would have been served round. In short, this haymaking day +was treated as an annual festival. + +A goodly sight was the long line of mowers as their scythes swept round and +the flowery swathes fell on the broad mead in the tender sunshine, while +the edges of the belt of trees were still softened by the morning mist. +After the mowers, all the workers employed on the home-farm, men, women, +and boys, entered the field to turn the swathes, which in a few hours were +dried by the burning sun. On the morrow a couple of oxen drew a creaking +waggon into the field, and when the angelus sounded from the church-tower +in the evening the haymaking was over. But I have not yet described the +mowers' feast. + +At about ten o'clock the big bell that hangs outside the château is rung, +and the mowers, dropping their scythes, leave the field and troop into the +great kitchen, which has changed so little for centuries. The pots and pans +hanging against the walls, and the pieces of bacon from the beams, have +been renewed, but not much else. There is the same floor paved with stones, +now much cracked and worn into hollows, the same hearth and broad chimney +with hanging chain; and the long table and benches stretching from end to +end, although their age is uncertain, were certainly fashioned upon the +exact model of others that preceded them. Richard Coeur-de-Lion, when +campaigning in Guyenne, may have sat down many a time to such a table as +this, and to just such a meal as the one that is about to be served to the +mowers, with the exception of the coffee and rum. + +Let us take a look into the great caldrons, which appear to have come out +of Gargantua's kitchen. One contains two full-sized turkeys and several +fowls, another a leg of pork, and a third a considerable portion of a calf. +Then there is a caldron of soup, made very 'thick and slab.' Home-baked +loaves, round like trenchers, and weighing 10lb. each, are on the side +table, together with an immense bowl of salad and a regiment of bottles +filled with wine newly drawn from the cask. + +In the evening, when all the grass has been cut, there is another and a +greater feast. The work being done, the men linger long at the table. +Then all the household is assembled in the great kitchen, including the +_châtelain_ and _châtelaine_, and the young men who are known to have +voices are called upon to sing. They do not need much pressing, for what +with the heat of the sun during the day, then the wine, the coffee and rum, +their blood is rushing rather hotly through the veins. One after another +they stand up on the benches and give out their voices from their sturdy +chests, which are burnt to the colour of terra-cotta. They make so much +noise that the old warming-pan trembles against the wall. Although they +all speak patois among themselves, they are reluctant to sing the songs of +Périgord in the presence of strangers. The young men are proud of their +French, bad as it is, and a song in the café-concert style of music and +poetry fires their ambition to excel on a festive occasion like this, +whilst their patois ditties seem then only fit to be sung at home or in the +fields. At length, however, they allow themselves to be persuaded, and +they sing in chorus a 'Reapers' Song,' composed long ago by some unknown +Périgourdin poet, who was perhaps a jongleur or a troubadour. The notes are +so arranged as to imitate the rhythmic movements of the reaper: first the +drawing back of the right arm, then the stroke of the sickle, and lastly, +the laying down of the cut corn. There is something of sadness as well as +of joy in the repeated cadences of the simple song, and it moves the heart, +for now the old men join in, and the sound gathers such strength that the +little martins under the eaves must be pressing troubled breasts against +their young. + +This château had remained in the same family for centuries, and the actual +owner, although by no means indifferent to the noble exploits of his +ancestors, had long ago settled down to the life of an agricultural +gentleman, and devoted what energy may have come down to him from the +Crusaders to the cultivation of tobacco, the improvement of stock, the +rearing of pigeons and poultry, the planting of trees, and a great deal +more belonging to the same order of interest. He was a strongly marked type +of the _gentilhomme campagnard_, in whom blue blood combines perfectly with +rustic tastes and simplicity of manners. Like most men who live greatly to +themselves, he had his hobbies, and they were all of a very respectable +kind. One was to surround himself with trees; another was to have all kinds +of captive birds about him. I was never able to know exactly how many +aviaries he possessed, for I was always finding a fresh one curiously +hidden in some neglected corner. He liked to mix up all sorts of birds +together, such as pigeons, doves--tame and wild--blackbirds, linnets, +canaries, chaffinches, sparrows, tomtits--no, the tomtits had been turned +out. I asked why. + +'Because,' said M. de V., 'there is no bird so wicked for its size as the +titmouse. It pecks other birds with which it is shut up so often in the +same part of the head that at length it makes a hole and picks out the +brains.' + +He used to catch his birds by means of a long net, and his favourite place +for spreading it was along the side of the patch of buckwheat which was +sown to feed the captives. He was a true lover of birds, and by observing +them had stored up in his mind a fund of curious knowledge respecting their +characters and habits. He only worked a portion of his land with the aid +of the servants of the château; the rest was farmed on the system of +_métayage_, for which he had a very strong liking. He said it was far +preferable from the landlord's point of view to leasing, because the owner +of the soil remained absolute master of his property. He could take care +that nothing was done which did not please him, for the _métayer_ or +_colon_ was on no firmer footing than that of an upper servant. If the +landlord was not satisfied with the manner in which his land was treated, +or if he suspected his _métayer_ of trying to take an unfair advantage of +him in the division of proceeds, all he had to do was to change him for +another. But it was the interest of both to work well together, and it +was the duty of the landlord to assist the _métayer_ as much as possible, +especially when times were hard. + +On this estate the _colons_ were housed free, but they paid one-third of +the taxes. At the time of sowing, the seed was found by the landlord, but +the colon returned half of the amount when the crop was gathered. + +_Métayage_, or the system of sharing results between the landowner and the +labouring peasant, still flourishes in France, notwithstanding the severe +denunciations passed upon it by various writers. If it were a very bad +system, it would have fallen into disuse long before now, for although the +French have a tendency to keep their wheels in old ruts, they are as keen +as any other people in protecting their own interests. It is a system that +would soon become impossible without trustfulness and honesty. On both +sides there must be fair dealing. The _colon_ must feel that the landlord +will help him in time of trial and need, and the landlord must feel that +the _colon_ is not trying to cheat him. In the great majority of cases, the +man who does the ploughing, the sowing and the harvesting quite realizes +that honesty with him is the best policy, and the owner of the soil knows +that it is to his interest to support his _métayer_, and encourage him with +judicious aid when the times are bad. The _métayer_, who has hope of making +a little money over and above what is barely sufficient to support himself +and his family, and knows that results will depend largely upon his +own sagacity and industry, works with a steady zeal that it would be +unreasonable to expect of the hired labourer, who, having his measured +wage always in his mind's eye, has no incentive to do more than what is +rigorously expected of him. + +It may happen that the _métayer_, with all his labour--carried sometimes +to an extreme that degrades the man physically and mentally--and all +his frugality, which so often entails constitutional enfeeblement and +degeneration, because the nutrition is not sufficient to correct the +exhaustion of toil, obtains really less value for his work than an English +farm labourer, and is not so well housed; but, on the other hand, he enjoys +a large amount of liberty and independence, and has the hope, if he is +young, of being able to save money, buy some land, and become his own +master. A _métairie_ is seldom so large as to be beyond the working +capabilities of a man and his family. In Guyenne an estate of a few +hundred acres, if the land is productive, is often divided up into several +_métairies_. + +Farm labourers are not an overfed or overpaid class in Périgord. Food that +is almost bread and vegetables, and a wage of one franc a day, are the +ordinary conditions on which men work from sunrise to darkness. Lodging is +not always included. I have known men in the full vigour of life earning +only the equivalent of ninepence halfpenny a day, paying rent out of it, +and presumably supporting a wife and children. + +The daily life at the château was quite old fashioned in its simplicity. +Everybody rose with the sun, or very soon afterwards. At nine o'clock the +bell in the court rang for the principal meal, which was called dinner. +Kings dined at about the same hour in the times of the Crusaders. Early in +the afternoon the bell rang again. This was for _collation_, a very light +repast, which was often nothing more than salad or fruit and a _frotte_--a +piece of crusty bread rubbed with garlic. At about seven o'clock the bell +rang for supper. + +The small châteaux with which the whole country hereabouts is strewn, +notwithstanding that most of them have been partially rebuilt or grossly +and wantonly mangled without a purpose such as the rational desire of +increasing homely comfort may excuse, even when combined with no respect +for the past, nevertheless contain numerous details that call up in the +mind pictures of the life of old France. In the rat-haunted lofts and +lumber-rooms may still be seen, worm-eaten and covered with dust, the +_cacolet_--a wooden structure shaped like the gable roof of a house, and +which, when set upon a horse's back, afforded sitting accommodation for two +or three persons on each side. There are people who can still remember, on +the roads of Périgord, the _cacolets_ carrying merry parties to marriage +feasts and other gatherings. In a few of the great dining-rooms the visitor +will still notice the _alcôve volante_--a bedstead, that is a little house +in itself, put into a cosy quiet nook where a person can get into bed +without being observed by others in the room. A pretty sentiment caused it +to be especially reserved for the grandmothers, who, stretched upon the +warm feathers on the winter evenings, could rest their weary limbs while +listening to the talk of their descendants and friends, until drowsiness +began to make confusion of the present and the past, and then they would +pull the cords which closed the curtains and go to sleep. Poor old ladies, +now in their graves under the paving-stones of little churches or beneath +the grass of rural cemeteries, how happy for them that they did not dream +of the future in their snug alcôves near the fire--of a revolution that +would kill or scatter their descendants, and of the strangers to their +blood who would lie in their beds! + +The detached dovecot is seen in almost every old manorial garden. Although +pigeons are seldom kept in it, the structure has been preserved because of +its usefulness for various purposes and the solidity of its masonry. In +some of them is to be seen the old spiral ladder or staircase winding like +a serpent round the interior wall from the ground to the domed or pointed +roof. By means of this ladder the pigeons could be easily taken from their +nests as they were wanted. These great dovecots are an interesting remnant +of feudalism. Down to the Revolution the right of keeping pigeons was still +a _droit seigneurial_. To those who enjoyed the privilege, the business was +therefore a profitable one, for the birds fed largely at other people's +expense. + +It is rare to find the ancient walls and towers which stud the hills that +rise above these valleys in the hands of families who owned them even in +the last century. Terror of the Revolutionists caused most of the small +nobility of the country to forsake their homes and lands, which were +consequently sold by the State _révolutionnairement_, and they who acquired +them were thrifty, sagacious people of the agricultural, mercantile, or +official class, whose political principles bent easily before the wind that +was blowing, and whose savings enabled them to profit by the misfortunes of +those who had so long enjoyed the advantages of a privileged position. The +descendants of the men who seized their opportunity, and who purchased the +estates of the refugees--often at the price 'of an old song'--generally +cultivate anti-Republican politics, for they have the best of reasons to +be suspicious of the 'great and glorious principles' by virtue of which +property was made to change hands so unceremoniously at the close of the +last century. + +The present owners of most of the country houses in Périgord, whether they +belong to the old families or the new families, whether they put the noble +particle before their names or not, have very much the same habits and +manners. Not a few of them have never been to Paris, and in speech they +often use old French forms, which sound strange in the ears of the +modernized society of the North. Although the accent is often drawling +or sing-song, their language is more grammatically correct than that now +ordinarily used in conversation. They observe the true distinction of the +tenses with an exactitude that sounds stiff and pedantic to those French +people who move about, and who consider that they live in the 'world.' To +the unprejudiced foreigner, however, it is not unpleasant to hear this +old-fashioned literary French spoken in an easy, simple manner that removes +all suspicion of affectation. + +In the relations of master and servant, something of the old régime still +survives. The master still says _tu_ and _toi_ to his servant; but if the +latter were to take the liberty of replying with the same pronoun, his +insolence would be considered quite unpardonable. And yet no people appear +to be troubled less with false pride than the class of whom I am speaking. +Relatively large landowners, whose names count for a good deal in the +district, think there is nothing derogatory in sending a maidservant to +market to sell the surplus fruit and eggs. Those who buy are equally +practical. They haggle over sous with their friends' servant just as if she +were a peasant driving a bargain on her own account. It is the exception, +however, when to this keen appreciation of money warm-hearted hospitality +and disinterested kindness are not joined. + +There was a château combining the country house, the farm, and the ruin on +the summit of the steep hill that rose above our little island just beyond +the river. It often tempted me to climb to it, and one day at the end +of summer I wended my way up the stony path. I met with that courteous +reception which so rarely fails in France to place the visitor completely +at his ease. I was surprised to find how extensive the ramparts were, and +how easily the castle behind the modern house could have been rendered +habitable. But all the windows were open to the weather. A Gothic chapel +with groined vaulting at the base of one of the towers had been turned into +a coach-house. Following an old servant who carried a lantern along a dark +passage leading to an _oubliette_, I saw what looked like a large cattle +trough, and inquired the use of it in such a place. It was put to no +purpose now, was the reply, but it was intended for keeping a whole bullock +in salt. In the tumultuous ages it was always necessary to be prepared to +take immediate measures in view of a siege, and at no period more than +during the wars of religion, when the owners of these castles, whether they +were Huguenots or Catholics, had to be continually on the alert. When there +was fighting to be done, a salted bullock gave less trouble than a live +one. + +The old man, having tied a string to the top of the lantern, let it down +through the round hole of the _oubliette_ until it touched the ground many +feet below. Then he told me that, when the dungeon was discovered years +ago, immediately beneath the opening an old tree was found stuck about with +rusty blades and spikes, with their points turned upwards. This story was +confirmed by others. + +In the garden on the edge of the cliff the myrtle flourished in a little +Provence sheltered from the cold winds; the physalis--beautiful southern +weed--now laid its large bladders of a vivid scarlet along the edges of the +paths, and the walls flamed with the red fruit of the pomegranate. + +The most important feudal ruin in this district is that of the Château +de Grignols, the cradle of the Talleyrand family. It was raised by Hély +Talleyrand, Seigneur de Grignols, at the close of the twelfth century. Much +of the outer wall and a few fragments of the interior buildings remain. + +I lived a good deal upon the water when I was not in my hermitage under the +trees or wandering across country. I found in the water an ever-growing +interest and charm. It often drew me from my work, for my canoe was on the +canal only a few paces from my dwelling. On each side the high banks were +glorious with their many-coloured clothing of summer flowers. There were +patches of purple thyme, of blue stachys, and yellow gallium; there were +countless spikes of yellow agrimony and heads of wild carrot, and white +ox-eyes looked out from amidst the long grasses like snowflakes of summer. +Near the water's edge, mingling with sedges, flags, marsh-mallows, +bur-reed, and alisma, were the golden flowers of the shrubby lysimachia +in dense multitudes, while from the canal itself rose many a spike of +water-stachys, with here and there blossoming butomus, near the fringe of +the banks. Then there were the pond-weeds, and other true water-plants, +whose summer luxuriance nearly stopped the navigation of the canal, and +whose pollen in July, collecting near the locks, lay there upon the water +like a thick scum. As my little boat moved over them, I could note all the +wondrous beauty and delicacy of the strange foliage that lives below the +air, and preserves so much of the character of the earliest vegetation of +the earth. + +It is twilight, and I am paddling up to the river, gliding now along by one +bank and now by another. A humming-bird moth, that seems to have been just +created, for the eye cannot follow its movement in the dusky air, appears +suddenly upon the topmost flower of a stachys, and in another moment it has +vanished. Upon the broader and more open river the day appears to revive. +There is a faint lustre upon the distant chalky hills and their corn-fields +that rise against the quiet sky. But the pale moon just above them is +brightening; already the rays are glinting upon the water. A little later +the boat is moving up a long brilliant track, where small waves lap and +quiver like liquid fire. It is now night, and the forms of the alders in +the air and on the water have become weird and awful. I often come alone +at this hour, or later, to be filled with the horror of them. There is a +strong fascination in their terrible and fantastic shapes, which may be +because the sublime and the horrible are so thinly separated. Rarely does +the same tree wear the same ghostly appearance when seen a second time, and +a shape that may seem to one person appallingly life-like may convey no +meaning to another. + +Had the gendarmes met me while water-wandering at night, they would +certainly have concluded that I was a fish-poacher. All fishing by night +in French rivers and streams is illegal, but it is much practised +notwithstanding. + +There are many carp in the Isle, weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds, +but they are very rarely caught. The river is full of very deep pools, +caused by the washing away of the sand down to the solid rock, and the carp +seldom get within reach of a net except when they are stirred up and washed +out of their lairs in time of flood. Then, when an old fish gets entangled +in a net, it is almost certain to break through it, so that it is not with +a feeling of pure pleasure that the fisherman recognises by the weight and +tug that he has thrown his meshes over one of these monsters. Nor does any +better success attend the angler--at all events, the angler who is known in +these parts. It is quite an extraordinary event when a carp weighing more +than five pounds is taken with the line. The bait commonly used is boiled +maize or a piece of boiled chestnut. There is another method of hooking +these fish which I have seen practised on the quays at Périgueux. The +fisher has a very strong rod, and also a strong line many yards long, at +the end of which is fastened, not a bait, but a piece of lead two or three +inches in length. To this large hooks are fixed, which barbs turned in all +directions. The man, whose eyes have become very keen with practice, sees +some carp coming up or going down the stream, and, throwing the plummet far +out into the river, he draws it rapidly through the water, across the spot +where he believes the fish then to be. It is not often that he feels a tug, +but he does sometimes, and then follows a deadly struggle, which may result +in his landing a splendid carp that is worth more than he might earn by any +other industry in two days. + +Among the peasants in this part of Périgord there is a deeply-engrained +superstitious horror of what is called a _rencontre_. If a person falls +suddenly ill, especially if his sickness be not a familiar ailment, he will +begin to probe his memory, and to ask himself if he has lately sat upon a +stone or the stump of a tree. If he remembers having done so, he murmurs, +unless he should be free from the popular superstition, 'Ah! I thought so. +This is a _rencontre!_'--by which he means that he has met one of the three +unholy reptiles, the snake, the toad, or the lizard, although it was hidden +under the stone or stump. + +'Marie,' said I to an old farm woman who was hobbling about with a +rheumatic leg, 'what is the matter?' + +Oh, mossieu,' said she, 'it's a _rencontre_. I sat down the other day upon +a stone.' + +This made me inquire what was meant by a _rencontre_. + +I will only set down a few impressions of Périgueux, there being already +quite enough written respecting the ancient capital of the Petrocorii. +The upper part of the town commands a pleasant view of the valley of the +curving Isle, with the wooded hills that lead away towards the upper and +wilder country of Périgord; but it is in the lower town near the river, +where the odours are strong, that the interest really lies. Here is the +cathedral of St. Front, a church in the Byzantine style of the tenth +century, and closely imitated from St. Mark's at Venice. It is impossible +to see it now, however, without regret and disappointment. In many it stirs +both sorrow and anger. It is no longer one of the most precious monuments +of old France. What we see now on the site of St. Front is a new church, +scrupulously rebuilt, it is true, according to the original plan, and with +a great deal of the original material, but its interest is that which +belongs to a model: its venerable character, with all the associations of +the past, is gone. Whether those responsible for the complete demolition of +the ancient structure when it threatened to fall and become a heap of ruins +were right or wrong in their decision is a technical question on which very +few persons are now competent to give an opinion. The plan of the church is +a Greek cross, and, like St. Mark's and St. Sophia's, it has five domes; +but the building has, nevertheless, a feature of its own which makes it one +of the most original of churches. It possesses a Byzantine tower. + +[Illustration: THE TOUR DE VÉSONE.] + +In common with many towns of Southern France, Périgueux shows remarkable +vestiges of different races and dominations. Remnants of Roman or +Gallo-Roman architecture stand with others that belong to the dawn of +mediaeval art, and others, again, that are marked by the florid and +graceful fancy of the Renaissance. The ruins of the amphitheatre are +insignificant compared to those at Nimes and Arles, and there is no +beautiful example of Roman art like the Maison Carrée at Nimes; but there +is an exceedingly curious monument of antiquity, which was long a puzzle to +archaeologists, but which is now generally believed to be the _cella_ of +a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to the city's tutelary divinities. It is +called the Tour de Vésone, and, indeed, it was supposed for centuries to +have been originally a tower. Its cylindrical shape and its height (ninety +feet) give it all the appearance of one. It is built of rubble, faced +inside and out with small well-shaped stones, and has chains of brick in +the upper part. The circle of the tower is no longer complete, for about a +fourth of the wall has been broken down from top to bottom. The ground +is strewn with fragments of immense columns and entire capitals, some +Corinthian, others Tuscan. These, doubtless, were parts of the peristyle, +which, with the exception of such scattered fragments, has quite +disappeared. There is something decidedly barbaric in the fantastic +structure that has come down to us, and it is difficult to understand the +motive of its height. Such a cylinder rising far above the peristyle could +not have had a classic effect. This ruin stands in an open field, and the +foulness of the spot, although quite in accordance with the Southern manner +of showing respect for antiquities, is nevertheless a disgrace to the +ideals of modern Vesunna. + +Another curiosity of the lower town is the ruin of a very early mediaeval +castle, said to have been built by Wulgrin, surnamed Taillefer, the first +of the hereditary Counts of Périgord. Close to this picturesque ruin is +one of the ancient gateways of the town. It goes by the name of La Porte +Normande, but its slightly pointed arch disposes of the suggestion that the +Normans were in some manner concerned in its construction. + +[Illustration: THE 'NORMAN GATE' AT PÉRIGUEUX.] + +What interested me most at Périgueux was something that very few strangers, +or even townspeople, for that matter, ever see, because, it is hidden from +public view. This is a considerable fragment of one of the early walls +of the town, which, tradition says, was thrown up in great haste at the +approach of the Normans during one of the incursions of these adventurers +up the valley of the Dordogne and, its tributary, the Isle, in the tenth +century. It is a bit of wall that speaks to us in a language by no means +common. It is not built of stones such as could be found anywhere in all +ages, but is put together with the fragments of temples and palaces which +even now tell of the power and splendour of Rome. The shafts of fluted +columns, capitals wearing the acanthus, pieces of cornice and frieze, all +mortared together with undistinguishable rubbish, bear testimony in the +quiet garden of the Ursuline convent to the vanity of human works. Vesunna, +splendid city of Southern Gaul, completely Latinized, with native poets, +orators, and historians speaking and writing the language of Virgil and +Cicero, raised temples, palaces, thermae, and a vast amphitheatre to be +used centuries later as material for building a wall to keep out the +Northern barbarians! + +[Illustration: THE DRONNE AT BOURDEILLES.] + + + + +FROM PÉRIGUEUX TO RIBERAC (BY BRANTÔME). + + +From Périgueux I made my way to Brantôme in the neighbouring valley of the +Dronne--a tributary of the Isle, which nobody who has not stifled the love +of beauty in his soul can see without feeling the sweet and winning charm +of its gracious influence. Between the two valleys are some fifteen miles +of chalky hills almost bare of trees, a dreary track to cross at any time, +but especially detestable when the dust lies thick upon the white road and +the summer sun is blazing overhead. But how delightful is the contrast +when, going down at length from these cretaceous uplands, where even the +potato plants look as if they had been whitewashed, you see below the +verdant valley of the Dronne, that seems to be blessed with eternal spring, +the gay flash of the winding stream, the grand rocks that appear to be +standing in its bed, and the cool green woods that slope up to the sky +beyond! The pleasure grows as you descend, and when at length you reach the +little town you are quite enchanted with the grace and elegance, the poetic +and romantic charm, of the scene. Although the church, with its tower half +built upon a rock, dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the +influence of the sixteenth century is so strong that no other is felt. The +eye follows the terraces with graceful balustrades in the shadow of old +trees, dwells on the fanciful Renaissance bridge, that looks as if its +first intention was to span the stream in the usual manner, but, having +gone some distance across, changed its mind, and turned off at an abrupt +angle; then the little pavilion in the style of Francis I., connected with +a machicolated gateway, fixes the attention. There is something in the air +of the place which calls up the spirit of Shakespeare, of Spenser, and +of all the poets and romancers of the sixteenth century; you feel that +everything here belongs to them, that you are in their world, and that +the nineteenth century has nothing to do with it. Upon these balustraded +terraces, beside the limpid river full of waving weeds, you can picture +without effort ladies in farthingales and great ruffs, gentlemen in high +hose and brilliant doublets; you can almost hear the lovers of three +centuries ago kissing under the trees--lovers like Romeo and Juliet, who +kissed with a will and meant it, and who were afraid of nothing. But +Brantôme has clearer and more precise associations with letters than +such as these, which belong purely to the imagination. Its name has been +inextricably entangled with literature by Pierre de Bourdeilles, Seigneur +de Brantôme, author of the famous and scandalous 'Mémoires'--terrible +chronicles of sixteenth-century venality, intrigue, and corruption, written +in a spirit of the gayest cynicism. Brantôme--he is known to the world by +no other name now--was the spiritual as well as the temporal lord here, for +he was abbot of the ancient abbey which was founded on this spot in the +eleventh century or earlier. His ecclesiastical function, however, was +confined to the enjoyment of the title and benefice, for if ever man was +penetrated to the marrow by the spirit of worldliness, it was Pierre de +Bourdeilles. What he has written about the women of his time is something +more than the critical observations of a chronicler who was also a caustic +analyst of the female character. Such was his cynicism that he, the Abbot +of Brantôme, laughed in his sleeve at the horrible strife of Catholics and +Huguenots in his own and neighbouring provinces. It is true that he fought +at Jarnac against Coligny, but the admiral had met him in the court of the +Valois before these wars, and knew him to be an _abbé joyeux_, without +prejudices, if ever there was one. The astute chronicler played his cards +so well as to keep on safe terms with both sides, and it was by this +diplomacy of their lord and abbot that the inhabitants of Brantôme escaped +the sword and the rope when Coligny and his terrible German mercenaries +entered the weakly-defended place on two occasions in 1569. On the first of +these Coligny was accompanied by the young Henry of Navarre and the Prince +of Orange. They were all made very welcome by Brantôme, and treated by him +with 'good cheer' in his abbey. He was rewarded for his diplomatic talent, +for he tells us that no harm was done to his house, nor was a single image +or window broken in the church. No doubt he had turned to good profit his +distant relationship with Madame de Coligny. On the second occasion the +admiral merely hurried through Brantôme with his _reîtres_ in full flight +after the bad defeat at Montcontour. + +The abbey church of Brantôme is not without beauty, but it is the tower +that is the truly remarkable feature. It was raised in the eleventh +century, and although the architect--probably a monastic one--observed the +prevailing principle of Romanesque taste, he showed so much originality in +the design that it served as a model, which was much imitated in the Middle +Ages. It is not only one of the oldest church towers in France, but its +position is one of the most peculiar, it being built, not on the church, +but behind it, and partly grafted upon the rock. + +[Illustration: THE ABBEY OF BRANTÔME.] + +Of the old abbey little remains; but there is a cavern, formerly in +communication with the conventual buildings, which contains sculptures cut +upon the rock in relief, which are a great curiosity to ecclesiologists. +They are the work of the monks, who used this old quarry as a chapel, and, +it would appear, likewise as an ossuary in a limited sense, if the rows of +square holes cut in the rock were to serve as niches for skulls, as some +have maintained. One of the compositions in relief has given rise to +discussion among archaeologists. The first impression that it conveys is +that of an exceedingly uncouth representation of the Last Judgment, but +the Marquis de Fayolle's explanation, namely, that the idea which the +sculptor-monk endeavoured to work out here was the triumph of Death over +Life, meets with fewer objections. There are three figures or heads +symbolizing Death, of which the central one wears a diadem that bristles +with dead men's bones. Immediately below is Death's scutcheon emblazoned +with allegorical bearings. On each side of this is a row of heads rising +from the tomb, in which a pope, an emperor, a bishop, and a peasant are +to be recognised. In the middle part of the composition are two kneeling +angels blowing trumpets, and above these is a vast and awful figure, +apparently unfinished, and scarcely more human in its shape than some +stalagmites I have met underground. Are we to see here the Eternal Father, +or Christ sitting in final judgment? It depends upon the interpretation +placed upon the work of the monk, who, with slow and painful effort, gave +fantastic life to his solemn thoughts in the gloom of this old quarry, from +which stone had been taken to build the church. He was a rude artist, such +as might have belonged to the darkest age, but certain ornamental details +of the bas-relief indicate that he was a man of the sixteenth century. The +walls of the cavern have been blackened by the damp, and these awful shapes +reveal themselves but slowly to the eye, so that they look like a vague and +dreadful company of ghosts advancing from the darkness. + +A visit to this sepulchral cavern gives an appetite for lunch at the good +inn which is hard by, and at whose threshold sits or did sit a very fat, +broad-faced landlord, seemingly fashioned upon the model of an ideal +tapster of old time. Here a _friture_ of the famous gudgeons of the Dronne +is placed before the guest, whether the fishing be open or closed, and a +magistrate would feel as much aggrieved as anybody if the law were not +laughed at when its observance would lay a penalty upon his stomach. At +the hospitable board of this inn I made the acquaintance of a somewhat +eccentric gentleman who lived alone in a large old house, where he pursued +the innocent occupation of hatching pheasants with the help of hens. In +almost every room there was a hen sitting upon eggs or leading about a +brood of little pheasants. This gentleman was more sad than joyous, for he +could not take his handkerchief from his pocket without bringing out the +corpse of a baby pheasant with it--one that had been trodden to death by a +too fussy foster-mother. I owe him a debt for having led me a charming walk +by moonlight to see a dolmen--the largest and best preserved of all those I +had already seen in Southern France and elsewhere. + +It was not without a little pang that I broke away from the spell of +coquettish Brantôme and began my wanderings down the valley of the Dronne. +A few miles below the little town the stream passes into the shadow of +great rocks. I looked at these with something of the regret that one feels +when awaking from a long dream of wonderland. I knew that they were almost +the last vestiges towards the west, in the watershed of the Gironde, of +the stern jurassic desert, gashed and seamed with lovely valleys, and deep +gorges full of the poet's 'religious awe,' where I had spent the greater +part of three long summers. And now, on the outskirts of the broad plain or +gradual slope of undulating land that leads on from the darker and rockier +Périgord, through the greenness of the lusty vine--led captive from the New +World and rejoicing in the ancient soil of France--or the yellow splendour +of the sunlit cornfields, towards the sea that rolls against the pine-clad +dunes, I felt tempted to turn from my course and go back to my naked crags +and stone-strewn wastes. But I did not go back. Life being so short in this +world of endless variety, we cannot afford to return upon our path. + +A little beyond where the double line of rocks ended, I saw a round tower +of unusual height with machicolations and embattlements, in apparently +perfect preservation, rising from the midst of what once must have been a +fortress of great strength, which on the side of the river had no need of a +moat, for it was there defended by the escarped rock, to the edge of which +the outer ramparts were carried. This was the castle of Bourdeilles, the +seat of the family of which the Abbé de Brantôme was a younger son. I was +soon able to get a closer view of it. It is one of the most instructive +remnants of feudalism in Périgord, and one of the most picturesque, by the +contrast of its great gloomy keep and frowning ramparts with the peaceful +beauty of the valley below. The tall _donjon_, 130 feet high, and most of +the outer wall, are of the fourteenth century. The inner wall encloses a +sixteenth-century mansion, marked with none of the picturesqueness of the +Renaissance period, but heavy and graceless. In the interior, however, are +sculptured chimney-pieces and other interesting details. This residence was +built by the sister-in-law of Pierre de Bourdeilles. The burg itself, which +lies close to the castle and is much embowered with trees, has something of +the open, spacious, and decorative air of Brantôme. It tells the stranger +that it has known better days. The broad terrace, planted with trees so as +to form a _quinconce_, where the people stroll and gossip in the summer +evenings, is quite out of keeping with a little place that has scarcely +more than a thousand inhabitants. + +[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DE BOURDEILLES.] + +Near the castle gateway is the 'Logis des Sénéchaux,' a small building of +the fifteenth century with turrets capped by extinguisher like roofs, and +within a stone's throw of this is a small church, dating from the twelfth +century, the artistic interest of which has been lamentably deteriorated by +renovation and scraping. The influence of the Byzantine cathedral that rose +in the old Roman city by the Isle spread far, and numerous churches in +Périgord bear witness to the imitative zeal which it inspired, especially +in the application of domes to the vaulting of the nave. This arrangement +is frequently to be found in connection with the pointed arch, and such is +the case at Bourdeilles. The apse is beautiful, with its five tall windows +and its columns with Corinthian capitals in the intervening wall spaces. +Although the church is in no style that is recognised as pure, it is +typical of one that has been developed in the district, and which is by no +means without grace; but the scraping that it has undergone has robbed it +of the proper tint and tone of its age, and the ideal interest that belongs +to this. + +But here is something from which the gray mantle that the centuries have +silently spun has not been lifted. I have gone down to the waterside to +follow the stream onward, and am held by the quiet charm of a half Gothic +bridge that was thrown across it five or six hundred years ago; the +miller's house just below, with its bright little garden flaming with +flowers a few inches above the water, and two great wheels turning slowly, +slowly, as if time and change and the rush of life were the vain words of +tiresome fools. On the side of the bridge looking up-stream, each pier is +built out in the form of a sharp angle This was intended to lessen the push +of the current upon the masonry in time of flood. A great many old bridges +in Guyenne show a similar design. + +My road had now on one side the reedy Dronne, and on the other overleaning +rocks topped with trees or shrubs, whose foliage reached downward as if it +were ever troubled by the futile longing to touch the cool green water, and +every little ridge or shelf was marked out by a line of ancient moss. +Old alders had plunged their roots deep into the banks of the river, and +wherever the sunshine struck upon the upper leaves was a cicada scratching +out its monotonous note in joyous frenzy. + +A long range of densely-wooded, rocky cliffs now stretched along the right +bank; but I, keeping to the road on the other side, soon left the stream +and rose upon a hill dotted with low juniper bushes. The scene in the +widening valley below was full of summer light and gladness. Men were +mowing, and women were turning the fallen swathes in the waterside meadows, +and upon all the slopes above were patches of yellow corn ready for the +sickle. In the green depth between the hills the river flowed vaguely on in +the shadow of tall poplars, and was sometimes hidden by its reeds. + +Here and there upon the higher ground, half concealed by walnut-trees, were +small châteaux or farmhouses, with a castellated air derived from great +dovecots and towers, which last once served for the defence of the +manor-house or the little castle. When the fury of the religious wars +followed upon that tidal wave of dilettantism and sensuality which swept +over Europe from the south to the north, and which we call the Renaissance, +and when Huguenots and Leaguers gave such frequent dressings of blood to +the vineyards of Périgord, every house and church that was in any way +fortified was used as a stronghold in the event of sudden attack. + +From the broad landscape I turn to the wayside flowers: the agrimony, the +little lotus, the candy-tuft--getting rare now that I have left the arid +stony region--the blue scabious, and, pleasanter than all, the purple +patches of dwarf thyme. + +It was not yet evening when I came to Lisle, a rather large village near +the Dronne. Here I fell in with a plasterer, and he being a good-tempered +man, with some spare time on his hands, he offered to show me before dinner +the picturesque ruin of an old bridge, known in the district as the Pont +d'Ambon. On our way to the river he talked much, and especially about his +village, in which he took a very lively interest. It had not changed its +principles, he said, for a hundred years. + +'And what are its principles?' + +'Republican. We don't go to church here, although there is no ill-will +towards the curé.' + +'And is all the country about here Republican?' + +'Oh no, not at all. There is a village close by that is full of religion. +We are often called savages. When the curé asked the commune to give him +200 francs a year for saying an extra mass on Sundays, the majority of the +inhabitants signed their names to a paper offering him 300 francs a year if +he would say no mass at all.' + +I said to myself that the curé of Lisle was not to be envied the piece of +vineyard that he had been sent to look after. I had often heard stories +such as this. Faction fighting provides the chief intellectual stimulus in +many a village and small town of France. Where Republicanism is strong, the +mayor's party is often at bitter feud with those who share the views +and uphold the authority of _M. le curé_. The sign that the 'advanced' +Republicans give of their political faith is never to set foot inside the +church unless it be at a wedding or a funeral. But what is especially +worth the attention of the philosophical observer is the extent to which +prevailing ideas in politics and religion differ in the same district. +Within a few miles of a commune where Republicans and Freethinkers have +complete control of local affairs, may be another that is altogether +Royalist or Bonapartist, and where the curé is both popular and powerful. +There is, moreover, a very marked difference in the character of the +inhabitants of neighbouring places. In one the prevailing characteristic +may be mildness and affability of manners, whereas in another it may +be truculence and incivility. Neither the influence of politics nor of +religion sufficiently accounts for these differences in character. They +seem to rest rather upon obscure and remote causes, such as racial and +congenital tendencies. All this is especially observable in the South of +France, where the present population has been formed from the blood of so +many races, which is very unequally mixed even to this day. + +When my talkative plasterer left the subject of local politics, he took up +that of the moon. Like all country people, whether in France or in England, +he had the strongest faith in the influence of the moon upon the weather. +He, moreover, maintained that moonbeams had a very corrosive and +destructive action upon zinc. This fact, he said, had come under his +observation scores of times in his business, which was that of roofing as +well as plastering. + +Thus talking, we came to the bridge, or, rather, its sole remaining arch, +now almost completely hidden by ivy, briars, and other vegetation, by +which it has been gradually overgrown. The plasterer had a sense of the +picturesque, and he had not over-rated the beauty of this spot. A little +below the early Gothic arch, from which the briars reached down to the +water, was an old mill, in the shadow of a high, overleaning rock, and +great trees made a vaulting over the grassy lane, at the end of which the +turning-wheel could be seen, with just a sparkle of evening sunshine upon +the dropping water. + +The inn where I put up that night was a substantial hostelry, containing +all that was needful for the entertainment of man and beast. Had I been a +_Procureur de la République_ the law could not have been broken in a more +solicitous manner than it was in my behoof. Not only did I have gudgeons, +_en temps prohibé_, but also partridge. It was not until the bones were +carried out that I felt that I had missed an excellent opportunity of +setting a good example by declining to eat partridge in the month of June. + +I must have been put into the best bedroom, for among other works of art +which it contained was a bridal wreath of orange-blossoms under a glass. +I surmised that when it decked the head of my hostess, her form would not +have taken up so much room in the kitchen as when I saw it downstairs, +passing with a slow and dignified movement in the midst of the saucepans +and platters. I have often slept in rooms where there have been bridal +orange-blossoms under glass. They always interest me, just as the faded +family photographs do which so frequently deck the walls of the same room. +They get me on the lines of thought or sentiment which make us enter when +we are by ourselves into all that is human. + +The next morning, after seeing the church--a Romanesque and Gothic +structure of considerable beauty--I returned to the Dronne, and, after +crossing it, continued upon the road eastward until I saw the picturesque +ruins of the Château de Marouette upon a hill above me. Then I left the +road, and climbed the hill by a rocky path. This castle, dating from the +close of the sixteenth century, shows a blending of feudal architecture +with the Renaissance style. In this respect it is like many others in the +district, but it is truly remarkable in having preserved an outer wall, +strengthened with round towers at intervals, and enclosing two or three +acres of land. The fortress was raised by a Baron de Jarnac, and must +have been one of the last built to combine the double character of family +residence and stronghold. The outer and inner ramparts, and the high, +frowning, machicolated keep, perched upon the rock and overlooking the +valley, prove that it was truly a _château-fort_, and one that ought to +have been able to give a very good account of itself. A fantastic effect +has been produced by attaching a plain modern house without any character +to the best-preserved parts of the ruin. Agriculture must possess the +thoughts of those who are now living there. The wide space between the +outer and inner walls, as I saw it in the early sunshine of the June +morning, was a level floor of golden ears, nearly ready for the reaper. + +A storm overnight had moistened the earth; the breath that came from the +flowery banks and the glistening leaves of oak and chestnut was very fresh; +all the birds that could sing were singing; the sound of the sweeping +scythe and the voices of mowers rose from the valley, and the spirit of +peace and gladness was over the land. + +I took a road somewhat at random, and it led me by many windings away from +the Dronne, up hills, where there were vines but no cornfields, and where +the wayside trees were chiefly plums, laden with fruit fast purpling. And +as I looked at the plums I thought of the time when, after being dried in +the sun, they would become 'prunes,' and be scattered about the world, many +of them, perchance, in England, where children would buy them with their +pennies, as I had bought others myself, when I never supposed that I should +walk by the trees that bore them under southern skies. + +A road-mender whom I passed saluted me with the words, '_Bon soir!_' +although the hour was eight in the morning. In these parts, however, _bon +soir_ is frequently said at all hours. It is a colloquial peculiarity. +Another is to address or speak of a gentleman and a lady as '_Ces +messieurs._' + +At length I reached a plateau, where I saw not far off, in a hollow +surrounded by cornfields and fruit-trees, such a number of red roofs that +I concluded I must have come to the little town of Montagrier. A young +peasant soon undeceived me: I was near the village of Grand-Brassac. It was +clear that I had gone much farther from the Dronne than I had intended, +but, after all, it mattered little where I wandered. I now said that I +would see Grand-Brassac, and that I might find something there worth the +walk. I was rewarded beyond aught that I had expected or hoped for. + +Here I found a very remarkable Byzantine-Gothic church of the thirteenth +century, with a richly decorated front in strong contrast to the defensive +motive so clearly expressed by the solidity of the structure, the smallness +of the windows, and especially by the height of the entrance--some ten feet +above the level of the ground. It is reached by steps. Over the doorway, +which has a pointed arch ornamented with a star moulding, is a semicircular +compartment containing several figures in high relief, the central one of +which represents the Virgin enthroned. No satisfactory explanation of +the others has yet been found. Beneath the compartment is a row of very +fantastic bracket-heads, supposed to represent the Vices. Above it is +a canopy with sculptured medallions on the under-surface, where the +symbolical Lamb may be recognised amongst winged dragons and other +monsters. Close to these is a monkey playing on the violin. Above this +canopy is another, shaped like a low gable, and forming the upper frame of +a further set of figures in relief, larger than those in the compartment +below. The central and highest figure is that of Christ teaching. The +Virgin is kneeling on the right, and St. John on the left. St. Paul is +shown with the book of his Epistles, and St. Peter, wearing a bishop's +mitre, is holding his keys. Among other details of this curious façade +is the figure of a kneeling knight in a coat of mail. Upon the exterior +side-walls are Roman arches _en saillie_, resting upon corbels and very +wide pilaster-strips that are almost buttresses. In the interior, the +Byzantine influence is very apparent in the three domes, which combine with +the Gothic vaulting of the narrow, dimly-lighted nave. The main walls are +carried so high as to hide the roof of the domes, and this goes far to give +to the church that air of a mediaeval fortress which at once impresses the +beholder. + +As the fortune of the road had cast me upon this village, I made up my mind +to accept pot-luck here, for the morning was no longer young, and I knew +not how far I might have to trudge before finding better quarters. So I +resolved to take my chance at what looked like the best inn in the place, +although it was a very rustic hostelry that would have repelled a wanderer +less seasoned than myself to the vicissitudes of the highways and byways. I +had, however, a cool little back-room with whitewashed walls to myself, +and through the small square window near the table where I sat I could see +something of the sunny world, with bits of tiled roof and green foliage, +as well as the lemon-coloured butterflies that fluttered from garden to +garden. There was no lack of food in the auberge, for a pig had been very +recently killed. There were several dishes, but they were all made up +from the same animal. When something fresh came, I thought, 'This, at all +events, must be mutton or veal'; but although it may have been cunningly +disguised with tomatoes or garlic, I perceived that it was pork again. It +was long after this adventure that I could look at a pig with a lenient and +unprejudiced mind. + +When I left Grand-Brassac, I so shaped my course as to return to the valley +of the Dronne, but at a point much lower than that where I had last crossed +the river. The weather was now very sultry; not a breath of wind stirred, +and thunder-clouds were gathering in the sky. As the sun glared between the +layers of vapour, the cicadas screamed from the tops of the walnut-trees, +while I upon the dazzling white road felt that there was no need of so much +rejoicing. + +A great dark cloud with fiery fringe now stretches far up the sky from the +south, and there is a constant long-drawn-out groan of distant thunder. +This storm is no loiterer; it is coming on at a rapid pace, and it will be +a fierce one. Still, the haymakers keep in the meadow hard by the road, +working for dear life to fill the waggon, to which a pair of oxen are +harnessed, and to get it safely to the village on yonder hill before the +floodgates of heaven are opened. I hasten on to this village, and reach +it just before the rain begins to fall. It is almost deserted; everybody +appears to be in the fields. + +On the very top of the hill is a little old church surrounded by cypresses +and acacias, and as the sun, about to vanish within the folds of the cloudy +pall that is already drawn up to its flaming edge, darts burning rays upon +the still motionless leaves, the cicadas again scratch out their note with +the blind zeal of fiddlers who have made too merry at the marriage-feast. + +According to my wont, I pay a visit to the dead, who lie scattered all +around the old church. Scattered do I say? Why, the very ground on which I +walk is made up of them. When another dead villager is buried, what occurs +is merely a displacement of human remains. As one body goes down, the bones +and dust of others come up to the surface. Wherever I walk I see bones, and +if I were an anatomist I could tell the use and place of each in the human +economy. One might well suppose that in these rural districts, where land +is of so little value, there would be but slight disturbance of dead men's +bones. Observation, however, tells a very different story. These country +churchyards are very small, and nobody but the stranger seems to think that +there is any reason why they should be larger. There is little or no buying +of graves 'in perpetuity' here, and very little grave-marking, except by +mounds and wooden crosses. Years pass quickly, while the briar and the +thistle and the bindweed grow apace, like the new interests and affections +that spring up in the minds and hearts of the mourners. Who are they who +carry flowers to the graves of their grandfathers? + +Think of the population of an entire village being swallowed up every +fifty or seventy years by this patch of ground that would make but a small +garden, and of this movement going on century after century! It is surely +no matter for marvel that it has become as difficult to hide the bones as +the pebbles whenever a bit of soil has been lately turned. They lie +even about the sides of the rough path that goes round the church. Some +fragments are so honeycombed that they are as light in the hand as +touchwood; others have undergone little, if any, chemical change. Here +people must often walk upon the bones of their not very remote ancestors; +but they know, if they think about the matter at all, that their turn will +come to be similarly treated by their own descendants. There is no better +place for meditating upon all the vanities than one of these old rural +cemeteries. Turn not away, you other wanderers who may chance to stray into +these little fields consecrated to the dead, and excuse your unwillingness +to reflect by muttering, 'Horrible!' There is nothing horrible, after all, +in these poor bones. What matters it whether they are bleached by the sun +or blackened by the clay? It is good for you and for me to see them here, +and to realize how soon all men are forgotten, how quickly their bones, +mingling with others, give no more clue to the individual life to which +they once belonged than a particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does +to the matter from which it parted. + +It is not good, however, to stay moralizing in a cemetery until a +thunderstorm bursts over your head. I remained so long here that I had to +run for refuge in a manner quite out of keeping with my solemn train of +thoughts. I entered the first doorway that I saw open, and thus I found +myself in a cobbler's shop. The cobbler was seated on a stool at a low +table covered with tools and odds and ends in the middle of the room, +sewing a boot, which he held to his knee with a strap passed under his +foot. His apprentice was sitting near munching a piece of bread. Both +looked up with an astonished, not to say startled, expression when I +appeared simultaneously with a dazzling flash of lightning, followed +immediately by a terrific thunder-clap. The thought expressed in the eyes +of the cobbler as he looked up was, 'Are you a thunderbolt, or Robert the +Devil?' + +I spoke to him and calmed him; but although he was satisfied that I was +human, he evidently could not make me out. Nor was this surprising, for +the village--St. Victor by name--lies quite off the track of all but the +inhabitants of a small district. The man, however, made me welcome, +and offered me a chair. The sky was now the colour of dull lead, +the lightning-flashes were almost momentary, and the thunder roared +incessantly. Mingling with this sound and that of the splashing rain was +another--the clang and scream of the bell in the church-tower. It was rung +as the tocsin, with that quick and wild movement which had startled me +elsewhere in the depth of night with the cry of 'Fire! Fire!' The bell, +however, was not rung now to give the alarm of fire, and to summon +everybody to lend a helping hand in extinguishing the flames, but to +persuade the storm either to go somewhere else or to act with moderation. +This old custom--now dying out--is no doubt founded on the religious belief +that when the church bell is rung with faith a storm will do no harm; but +the country people join to the religious idea the notion that the vibration +of the atmosphere, caused by the ringing, dissipates the storm or turns it +in another direction. Unfortunately for the ancient custom, churches have +frequently been struck by lightning at the time when the bells were being +rung, and science is positive in declaring that the electric fluid is +attracted by an artificial commotion of the atmosphere. On the _causses_ of +the Quercy, the peasants place bottles of holy water on the tops of their +chimneys as a protection against lightning. The idea is that the evil +power will not strike the dwelling of those who put up a sign that their +habitation is blessed. These bottles on the chimney-tops puzzled me +greatly, until at length I inquired the reason why they were there. + +There was to me something exceedingly grand and elevating in this storm +that raged upon the hilltop, while the bell in the open tower, tossing like +a cask on the sea, proclaimed over all the house-tops and the fields the +fierceness of the struggle between the celestial guardians of the church +and village, and the demons that thronged the air. I felt that I might +never have such an opportunity as this again, and wished to make the most +of it. The cobbler nearly lost his temper at seeing me so wickedly elated. +Perhaps he thought that I might draw down a judgment upon myself, and that +he ran some risk of being included in it for having harboured me. He not +only looked frightened, but frankly owned that he was afraid. He was one +of those men--of whom I have known several--who can never overcome their +horror of a thunderstorm. At length the storm began to move off and the +bell stopped ringing; then the cobbler became quite cheerful. He brought +out a great jar of spirit distilled from plums, and insisted upon my +drinking some with him. He also invited me to 'break a crust,' but this +offer I declined. Before I took leave of the good-natured man, he seemed to +have fairly shaken off the bad impression I had made upon him by watching a +thunderstorm with interest and pleasure. + +The sky having cleared, I continued my journey towards Riberac, and reached +the Dronne when the stormy day was ending without a cloud. There was hardly +a breath of wind to shake the drops from the still dripping leaves, and the +last groan of distant thunder having died away, there would have been deep +silence but for the warbling of blackbirds and nightingales. + + + + +THE DESERT OF THE DOUBLE + + +I am now at Riberac--the Ribeyrac of Dante's commentators, who generally +prefer to abide by the old spelling. One might expect this ancient little +town to offer much interest to the archaeologist, but it does not. Its +interest lies almost wholly in its literary associations of Arnaud Daniel, +and of him mainly because Dante chanced to meet him in purgatory. Here +was the castle--there is nothing of it now--where the thirteenth-century +troubadour was born whom Petrarch described as '_Il grande maestro +d'amore,_' and whom Dante made Guido speak of as a poet in these words of +unqualified praise: + + 'Questi ch' io ti scerno + Fu miglior fabbro del parlar materno: + Versi d'amore e prose di romanzi + Soverchio tutti.' + +Dante having asked for the name on earth of this gifted soul, the +troubadour replied in the tongue that he had learned from his mother's lips +at Riberac: + + 'Jeu sui Arnaulz che plor e vai cantan.' + +Arnaud's modern critics admire him less than did Dante and Petrarch; but he +had a gift of sweet song, and he owed it doubtless in no small measure +to the influence of the lovely Dronne, on whose banks he must have often +rambled in childhood--that season when impressions are unconsciously laid +up which shape the future life of the intellect. No Englishman should pass +through Arnaud's birthplace with indifference, for he was the first to put +into literary form the story of Lancelot of the Lake. + +Although Arnaud Daniel's castle has quite disappeared, much of the church, +that was almost a new one in his time, still remains. It was originally +Byzantine-Romanesque, but in the sixteenth century it underwent fantastic +restoration, and was badly married to another style without a name. What +struck me most on entering was the religious darkness through which one +sees the suspended lamp of the sanctuary gleaming like a star, and behind +it the dim outline of the altar. This crypt-like appearance is explained +by the absence even of a single window in the apse, which is covered by a +semi-dome. The Romanesque tower is very low and broad, with a broach spire +roofed with stones. + +What a contrast to the deep shadow of the church was the brilliant white +light that I met outside, and to the grave-like silence the sawing sound of +the cicadas, drunk with sunshine, in the neighbouring tree-tops! + +I set out from Riberac to cross that tract of country between the Dronne +and the Isle which is known as the Double. It is still one of the most +forlorn wildernesses in all France; but, like the Camargue, it has been +much changed of late years by drainage and cultivation, and is destined +to become productive and prosperous. For incalculable centuries it had +remained a baneful solitude, overgrown with virgin forest, except in +the hollows between the low hills, which succeed one another like the +undulations of the sea; and here, almost hidden in summer by tall reeds +and sedges, lay the pools and bogs that poisoned the air and rendered +the climate abominable. In the midst of this marshy, cretaceous desert, +stretching between the Isle and its tributary, the Dronne, and close to a +wretched fever-stricken village called Échourgnac, a small community of +Trappist monks established themselves in 1868. They did not go there merely +as ascetics fleeing from the world, but also as philanthropists, prepared +to sacrifice their lives for the good of humanity. Their mission was to +drain and to cultivate this most unhealthy part of the Double, and to +improve the condition of the peasants who eked out a miserable existence +there. With what success the monks have applied themselves to their task +of changing the climate by drainage, and assisting the peasants in their +struggle, is proved by the sentiments of the people towards them. When, +under the Third Republic, the unauthorized religious orders were expelled +from France, the inhabitants of the Double threatened to resist by force +any official interference with the Trappists at Échourgnac, and the +agitation was so great that the counsel given by the local authorities +to the Government was to leave these monks alone. It was acted upon. The +Trappists, like the Carthusians, were left undisturbed in this and in other +parts of the country. + +When I had turned south-westward, on the road to Montpont, I saw nothing +for five or six miles that corresponded to what I had been told of the +Double. Yellow corn-fields and green meadows covered the fertile plain. It +was not until I had passed the village of St. Vauxains, and had reached the +top of the line of hills beyond, that the character of the country changed +decisively. Now, as I left the broad and favoured valley, and reached +the brow of the hilly range that helps to keep the water stagnant and +imprisoned in the Double, meadow and corn-field grew scarcer and scarcer, +and then passed altogether into the wooded moorland. Cultivation returned +at intervals, then vanished again. I was upon an undulating plateau with +far-off higher hills closing the horizon all around. The reclaimed land was +in the hollows or upon the surrounding slopes; but here, too, the scrubby +forest might be seen stretching for miles without a break. The heat was +intense, and the sky had become stormy. + +When I left Riberac the blue above was without a spot, but now heavy masses +of cloud were hovering in the sky. As yet there was not wind enough to +rustle a leaf, and the dwarf oaks gave little shelter from the ardent sun. +The air that rose from the heather and bracken was like the breath of a +furnace. There were a few scattered cottages and farm-buildings, lying +chiefly near the road, and the turkeys and geese that roamed around them +were a sign that they were inhabited; but I rarely saw a human being. + +I was resting awhile by a reedy pool fringed with gorse and heather, and +was listening to the oriels answering one another upon their Pan-pipes, +when I saw coming towards me a figure which might have disturbed me very +much had I been living in those days when--if there is any truth in +legendary lore--the devil only needed half a pretext for forcing his +society upon lonely travellers. This man--for man it was--had a face +so overgrown with coal-black hair that very little could be seen of +it excepting the eyes and nose. Beard, whiskers, and moustache were +inseparably mixed up. What skin was visible through the matted jungle of +hair was little less swarthy than a Hindu's. All the upper part of this +astonishing head was hidden by a large hat of black straw, shaped like +an inverted washing-basin. The rest of the figure was clad in a frock of +dark-brown serge, with hanging hood. Not expecting to see a Trappist where +I was, I was startled for a moment by the apparition, but I quickly guessed +that this was one of the brothers of the still distant monastery who had +been sent out on some little expedition into the district. As he passed, +he raised his hat just enough to show that the close-cropped black hair +beneath it was turning gray. + +The road led me through a little village where there was an old Romanesque +church. There were numerous archivolts over the broad portal, and above +these was a horizontal dog's-tooth moulding with grotesque heads at +intervals; but time had effaced most of the carving. All about the church +the long grass and gaudy mulleins stood over the bones of men and women +who, like their parents before them, had clung to their old homes in the +midst of the pestilential marshes, suffering continually from malaria, +watching their children grow paler and paler, and yet never thinking of +surrender. What a strange combination of heroism, obstinacy, and stupidity +do we find in human nature! But now things had changed here. There was an +air of prosperity in the village, and the people said that the fever had +almost left them. + +While crossing another bit of wild and deserted country, I saw the dark +gleam of poisonous pools nearly hidden by sallows and reeds. The vibration +of my footsteps disturbed the vipers that lay near the hot road; they slid +down the banks and curved out of sight amongst the roots of the heather. +These reptiles abound in the Double; conditions that are baneful to men are +healthful to them. The sighing of the pines added to the sadness of the +land, for these trees now appeared in clumps along the way-side, and the +storm-wind had begun to blow. The sun was shining obliquely through a +dun-coloured haze when I reached the village of Échourgnac in a +cultivated valley. Here the cattle and the green fields were signs of +the cheese-making industry carried on at the monastery. The conventual +buildings were now visible on the top of the neighbouring hill, with the +church spire higher against the sky than all the rest. I made my way +towards this little fortress of asceticism hidden from the world amidst the +woods and marshes. + +I had made up my mind to spend the night with the Trappists, even if I was +obliged to accept their charity and to allow myself to be classed with +those tramps who have no literary pretext for their vagabond ways. Indeed, +I had been given to understand by all to whom I had spoken on the subject +in the district, that the reverend fathers gave money sometimes to the +wayfarer, but accepted none in return for food and shelter. That part of me +in which the conventional is concentrated said: 'Stop at the inn;' but the +other part, which has the curiosity and the errantry of the man who has +never been perfectly civilized, said: 'Go on, and whatever happens pass the +night with the Trappists.' + +Having reached the monastery gate, the next thing to do was to pull the +bell. The porter opened first his wicket and then the door. The superior +could not be approached for a quarter of an hour, so I was asked to wait +in the lodge. Thus I had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the +porter. Although he was very much in religion, having been a brother at +Échourgnac since the foundation, he might be termed without disrespect 'a +jolly old soul.' He was, as he said, a man who had no pretensions whatever +to be learned. His lack of book knowledge made him all the more natural. +His age appeared to be about sixty-five, but he had a body that was still +robust and vigorous under his dirty brown frock, although he had been +living so many years on bread and cheese and vegetables, and short commons +withal. The post of porter must have helped him not a little to bear up +against the discipline, for it allowed him the use of his tongue, and the +rule of silence would have been a more severe trial to him than to many +another. He poured out some beer for me from a great stone jar that he kept +near at hand. I had heard that the Trappists of Échourgnac added to their +other accomplishments the arts of beer-brewing and wine-making, and was +therefore not surprised by the porter's kindly offer; but when I noticed +the yellow colour and soup-like consistency of the fluid that he poured out +for me, I was sorry that I had accepted it. + +'It is a little thick,' said the Trappist, whose keen eyes had noticed that +there was a lack of warmth in the manner in which I took the glass from his +hand, 'but the beer is good. It is rather new.' + +'It must be very nourishing,' I replied, after heroically draining the cup +of tribulation. + +'Have some more?' said this good-natured Trappist as he raised the jar +again. I saved myself from a second dose by an energetic '_Merci!_' and +changed his thoughts by asking him if he had been a long time at the +monastery. + +'I was one of the first lot who came here in July, 1868. There were +twenty-two of us in all, _pères et frères_, and two or three weeks +afterwards seventeen were down with fever. You can have no idea of what it +was here five-and-twenty years ago. The country was unfit for human beings. +The people went shivering about in the heat of summer wrapped up as they +would be in the depth of winter. It was pitiful to see them.' + +He then entered into details respecting the clearing of the land, the +draining of the pools, etc. Suddenly remembering the flight of time, he +disappeared with my card, and left me in charge of the lodge. Presently he +came back, and told me that the reverend father was unwell, and could not +see anybody, but that I could pass the night in the monastery if I wished +to do so. The porter led me through a great farmyard, then through a +doorway into a room, in the centre of which was a large table, and in +the corners were four very small and low wooden bedsteads with meagre +mattresses, a couple of sheets, and a coloured quilt. + +When we entered, two men were seated at the table eating bread and +cheese and drinking home-brewed beer. One was quite young, perhaps +five-and-twenty, and it was to him that the brother who parleyed with the +outer world at the gate introduced me, with the recommendation that he +should do all in his power for me, adding, with an emphasis by which he +gained my friendship for ever: '_Je réponds sur vous._' The young man said +that as soon as he had finished his own meal he would see to my supper. I +begged him to take his time, as I was in no hurry. + +The good porter, still solicitous, asked where I was going to sleep, and +the young man, who I afterwards learnt was a postulant, pointed to a bed +in one of the corners. I was then left with my two new acquaintances. The +postulant had very soon finished, and having brushed the crumbs off his +part of the bare board with his hand, he disappeared, to see what he could +find for me in the kitchen. The man who remained also brought his meal to +a close, but he did not whisk the crumbs away; he brushed them into little +heaps, and, wetting his forefinger, raised them by this means to his mouth. +He was about fifty; his chin was shaved, but he wore whiskers, and a long +rusty overcoat hung nearly down to his heels. He was very quiet, and I +thought he looked like a repentant cabman. There was something about the +man that excited my curiosity, but I felt that, considering where I was, it +would be very bad taste to put any leading questions to him respecting his +history. I nevertheless found a way of getting into conversation with him, +and he did not need much persuasion to talk. He was rather incoherent, +but I gathered from what he said that he had wandered a good deal from +monastery to monastery, now in the world and now almost 'in religion,' +without finding anchorage anywhere. + +'The world,' he said, 'is like a rotten plank, and we are like smoke that +comes and goes. If we do not think of eternity, we are shipwrecked.' + +Feeling, perhaps, that something in the world was a little more solid after +the bread and cheese and beer than it was before, he was working himself up +to a communicative humour, and I was beginning to hope that I should +soon know what sort of a character he really was, when the return of the +postulant changed his ideas as effectually as if a bucket of water had been +thrown in his face. When he ventured to speak again, the younger man told +him that it was six o'clock, and that the whole community was now expected +to observe the rule of silence. + +'Do not be angry,' he added, as he heard the other mutter something that +escaped me. + +'I am not angry,' replied the owner of the long coat as he glided softly +out of the room. + +I was now alone with the postulant, who made matters pleasanter for me by +giving a generous interpretation to the rule of silence in so far as it +applied to himself. He told me that, as I had come after the hour of the +second meal, the _frère cuisinier_ was not in the kitchen, but at _salve;_ +consequently there was no possibility of getting even an omelet made +for me. After looking, however, into all the corners of the kitchen, my +providential man had discovered some cold macaroni, which he presented to +me in a small tin plate. I do not know how it had been cooked, but its +very dark colour made me suspicious of it. Although I knew it was quite +wholesome, I thought it safer to leave it untouched, and to be satisfied +with bread and cheese. Now, this cheese, made by the Trappists of the +Double upon the Port-Salut recipe, which is a secret of the Order, is of +excellent quality, and deserves its reputation. The monastery bread, made +from the wheat grown by the monks, was of the substantial and honest kind +which in England would probably be called 'farmhouse bread,' although the +great wheel or trencher-shaped loaves of the French provinces might cause +some surprise there. My meal, therefore, might have been worse than it was, +and as it was given to me for nothing, it would have been very bad manners +not to appear pleased. The truth is, the novelty of my position--that of +a tramp taken in and fed on charity--amused me so much that I found +everything perfect. I had an idea 'at the back of the head' that I should +find a way of squaring matters financially with the holy men, but I did +not wish to tell it even to myself then. I must confess that when a black +bottle was placed beside the bread and cheese on the bare table, I was weak +enough to hope that it contained some of the excellent white wine which I +was told the Trappists made; but when the liquor came out the colour of pea +soup, I recognised the religious beer which had already disappointed me. As +I could get nothing better, and the water being distinctly bad, the most +sensible thing to do was to be reconciled to the beer, and in this I +succeeded very fairly. Necessity is not the mother of invention only. The +wine, I afterwards learnt, is only drunk at the convent in winter. Much of +it is sold to priests for sacramental use. + +When I had taken the keen edge off my hunger, I began to feel a fresh +interest in the postulant. Somehow, he did not appear to me to be of the +stuff out of which monks, especially Trappists, are made, although I know +that in all that relates to the interior workings of a man there are +no outward signs to be relied upon. There is puzzle enough in our own +contradictions to discourage us from trying to find consistency in others; +but we try all the same. We have a fine sense of proportion and harmony +when we analyze our fellow-beings, but none whatever when we turn the +faculty introspectively. The sanctimonious undertone in which this young +man spoke struck me as being false, for there was nothing in him that I +could discover which linked him to the ascetic ideal of life. But then the +question arose, Why was he there? He was strong and healthy; he had a deep +colour on his cheeks, and a humorous twinkle in his eye. He did not look as +if he had been crossed in love, or had received any of the scars of passion +such as might account for his wish to become a Trappist. He had seen +something of the world. He had been to Chili, among other countries, and +the war there had ruined his prospects, so he told me. I concluded, from +what he said, that on his return to France he had sought a temporary refuge +with the Trappists, and that he preferred to remain under the shelter that +he had found there rather than run the risk of worse in the struggle for +life outside. Becoming more confidential, he told me that what was most +difficult to be borne by those in his position was the rule of absolute +submission and obedience. + +I had not been at the table long, when this postulant glided out of the +room, saying: + +'I will see if there is a way of getting another bottle of beer.' + +Presently he returned with a bottle under his arm, and then I learnt that +the abbot had given orders that I was to pass the night _dans la chambre +de Monseigneur._ The prospect of sleeping in the bishop's bed furnished me +with a conscientious reason for not drawing the cork from the second +bottle of monastic barley-brew; but my companion, who was more or less in +religion, did not give me a chance of refusing, for he drew it himself and +filled two glasses. + +'_Nous allons trinquer,_' said he. + +We clinked glasses, and talked with greater freedom, although the postulant +still spoke under his breath--it was a habit that he had fallen into. We +were interrupted by a scuffling outside, and by the opening of the door. A +couple of monks in brown frocks were on the threshold. A small gray-bearded +brother with a bent back held in one hand a pewter plate and in the other +a little basin of the same metal. He was the _frère cuisinier_, who had +returned from _salve_, and he had come to offer me some vegetable soup +and some more macaroni, both of which I declined. Not a word did these +Trappists say, but they carried on with the postulant a conversation in +dumb show as to what my requirements would be on the morrow. They stroked +their noses, rubbed their fingers together, and grimaced so expressively +all on my account that I was much amused, and would have liked to laugh +outright; but I durst not in such company. + +When they had left I took a stroll outside, for as yet I felt no +inclination to go to bed, notwithstanding that a bishop had slept upon the +same mattress that was waiting for me. Keeping within the convent bounds, +where no woman is allowed to set her foot--that troublesome foot whose +imprint may be found on most of the paths that lead to a Trappist monastery +in the obscure forest of human motives--wandering beyond the buildings, +but still within the enclosure, I came to a bit of waste land covered with +heather and gorse that overlooked the wooded wilderness towards the west, +as a headland bluff overlooks the sea. + +The sun had set, and the wild spirits of the storm had drawn a translucent +drapery of vapour from the dark thundercloud hovering overhead to where the +fringe of the forest broke the blood-stained bar upon the horizon's verge, +and this luminous orange-coloured curtain was crossed every moment upwards +and downwards by silvery shafts of lightning. Such an effect of sunset +combined with storm was like a new revelation of nature, and the sublimity +of the spectacle would have held me fast to the patch of wild heath if the +rain had not begun to fall in splashes. The long summer day was over, and +the night came forth in trouble and with gushing tears. The roar of the +thunder grew louder, and the flash of the lightning brightened every +minute. + +I returned to the monastery, and found the postulant quite anxious to +have done with me, and to put me into the bishop's room. He was +sleepy--everybody gets sleepy in these country places at about nine +o'clock, irrespective of canonical hours, whereas I grow livelier, like +a night-bird, as the dusk deepens. All the monks must have been in their +cells snoring with the clear conscience which is the gift of the day that +has been well filled up when I reluctantly entered the only room in the +place that had any pretension to comfort, but which to me was like a +prison. I was making an effort to acquire the virtue of resignation, when +the postulant spoilt the mood by speaking again of beer. Had he picked up +in his wanderings the notion that an Englishman could not live unless he +were kept well supplied with beer, or had he formed an exaggerated idea of +the seductiveness of the strange but innocent liquor that the Trappists +brewed? Whatever his thoughts may have been, he darted away in spite of my +endeavour to stop him, and presently reappeared with another black bottle. +I knew that he had not obtained it without diplomacy, and that he had made +my unquenchable thirst the excuse; but by this time I had perceived that +his solicitude was not wholly unselfish. He muttered something about +'charity' as he filled a glass for me, notwithstanding my refusal; then +vanished with the bottle. He had promised to wake me at two o'clock for +matins. + +When left alone, I made an inspection of the bishop's room. It was spacious +enough for fifty people to dance in, and the furniture would not have been +greatly in the way. The stones which made the floor had no carpet, not even +the _descente de lit_, which in France is considered indispensable even +when the floor is of wood. In the corner was a low wooden bedstead with +dingy curtains suspended from a rafter, and a paillasse of maize-leaves +with a thin wool mattress above it. Coarse hempen sheets and a coloured +coverlet completed the bedding. By the side against the wall was a broad +_prie-Dieu_, with a lithograph just above it of the Holy Child bearing the +cross. A plain table in the centre without a cloth, a _secrétaire_ with +high crucifix attached, another bare table with washing-basin, jug, and +folded towel, with a few chairs and several religious prints, made up the +furniture. + +This room was on the ground-floor, and looked out upon a long covered +terrace, with the farmyard immediately beyond. I opened the sashes--I had +already prevailed upon the postulant not to fasten the shutters--and, +having blown out the candle, I lit my pipe. I suppose if I had had any +sense of propriety I should have refrained from smoking in the bishop's +room; but what was I to do, a prisoner there at nine o'clock in the +evening, and not a bit sleepy? If it had been a fine evening, I do not +think I could have resisted the temptation to jump out of the window and to +stroll back to the patch of imprisoned moor. First a cat and then a great +dog came sneaking along, and I tried to get on friendly terms with them +from the window; but they, too, seemed to have renounced the world, with +all its pomps and vanities, to conform to the Trappist rule, for each of +them looked at me with pity and reproach out of the corner of the eye, and +described a wide semicircle, at the risk of getting wet, in order not to +be drawn into conversation. But the storm, at all events, had not been +silenced; the thunder growled and groaned, and every half-minute the +lightning lit up all the stones and puddles of the great farmyard, beyond +which my vision was cut off by the roofs of the outbuildings. + +Notwithstanding the unpleasantness of being shut up, I felt that if the +management of the weather had been left to me I could not have arranged +things better for my first night in a Trappist monastery. Here I was in the +midst of the desolation of the Double under the same roof with men who were +driven into this shelter by the desolation of their souls. Tempest-tossed +by the conflict of the spirit and the flesh, wounded, perhaps, by secret +griefs and humiliations, strong, perchance, in the eyes of others, while +never sure of themselves from one hour to another, putting out upon the +same sea again and again only to be thrown back upon the same desert shore, +they at length settled down here, and they must have done so with the calm +conviction that they had found the medicine to suit their kind of sickness +in a life of incessant punishment of self and labour for others. + +It was about eleven when I felt tired enough to lie down. I had not been in +this position long when something bit me. I thought I knew the enemy, but +I dared not whisper its name even to myself, for I was overcome by its +condescension. From a bishop to me was a fall in the social scale that +ought to have made the most voracious insect tremble on the edge of the +precipice. Maybe it did tremble before it yielded to temptation and forgot +its dignity. + +The storm continued all night with intervals of calm. A little before two +o'clock the bell was rung for matins. The clang of the metal must have been +heard clear and shrill far over the Double, even when the storm seemed to +be rending the black sails of the clouds asunder. The postulant fetched me, +as he had promised, and he led me through a labyrinth of passages to the +church. Although the building was almost in darkness, I could see that +it was in the Pointed style, and that it was marked by a cold elegance +befitting its special purpose. The nave was divided near the middle by a +Gothic screen of wood artistically carved, although the ornamental motive +had been kept in subjection. The half that adjoined the sanctuary was +somewhat higher than the other, and here the Trappist fathers had their +stalls. The brothers' stalls were in the lower part. I was led to a +place below the screen. The office had already commenced; the monotonous +plain-chant by deep-toned voices had reached me in the corridors. Perhaps +it was half an hour later when the chanting ceased. The lamps were darkened +in the stalls above the screen--in the lower part there was but one very +small light suspended from the vault--then the monks knelt each upon the +narrow piece of wood affixed to his stall for this purpose, and for half an +hour with heads bent down they prayed in silence, while the thunder groaned +outside, and the lightning flashed through the clerestory windows. To the +Trappists, who day after day, year after year, at the same hour had been +going through the same part of their unchanging discipline, heedless +whether the stars shone overhead or the lightning glittered, there was +nothing in all this to draw their minds from the circle of devotional +routine: I alone felt as if I was going down into my grave. The gray light +that was now making the ribs of the vaulting dimly visible was like the +dawn of eternity breaking through the brief night called Death, which is +not perhaps so dark as it seems. At three o'clock the chill and awful +silence was broken by the white-robed prior, who rose from his low posture +like a dead man in his shroud, and began to chant in another tone and +measure from what had gone before. It had in it the sadness of the wind +that I heard moaning in the pine-tops on the moor before the storm broke. +The voice was strong and clear, but so solemn that it was almost unearthly; +and it seemed in some strange way to mingle with the purity of the cold +dawn that comes when all the passions of the world are still, but which +makes the leaves tremble at the crime and trouble of another day. + +When the prior stood up, the brothers left to begin their manual labour, +each one in his allotted place. The fathers remained in their stalls until +after the four o'clock mass, and then they, too, fell to work until six +o'clock--the hour of prime. I soon followed the brothers, although not so +far as the fields, the cheese-rooms, and farm-buildings. I returned to my +room; but as I had to pass on the upper side of the screen on leaving the +church, I looked at the two rows of white figures standing in their stalls. +It may have been the effect of the mingled daylight and lamplight: whatever +the reason, I thought during those few seconds that I had never before seen +such a collection of strange and startling faces. They were those of sombre +men who had walked through hell like Dante, and who bore upon their calm +and corpse-like features the deep-cut traces of the flame and horror. + +I took up my old place by the window, and watched in the twilight of +morning an aged brother, with frock hitched up above his naked ankles and +his feet in great _sabots_, fetch sack after sack of what I supposed to be +bran, and carry it away on his shoulders. He passed close to me, and looked +at me with an expression which I interpreted to mean: 'You must be a +lunatic to stare at me instead of going to bed--you, who have Monseigneur's +soft bed, and are at liberty to sleep.' But no word passed between us. At +length I did go to bed again, and slept. + +I was awakened by a noise in my room, and on opening my eyes I saw a long +figure in white two or three yards from me, and I realized that a Trappist +father was watching me. Then, when he perceived that I was awake, he glided +from the room without saying a word. Had I spoken, he would have replied, +and explained what he wanted; but I had not recovered sufficiently from my +surprise to remember the rule until he was gone. I now called to mind that +the postulant had told me over-night that a certain father would show me +round the monastery after prime. This, then, was he, and I was doubtless +keeping him waiting, for it was seven o'clock. A few minutes later he +returned. I was then at my ablutions. + +Now, although I have grown pretty well accustomed to go through this daily +duty with the aid of salad-bowls and slop-basins while living in the French +provinces, I think it good for the mind to keep up the illusion of a +thorough wash even when this is practically impossible. When, therefore, +the Trappist stalked again into my room without giving me warning, his +costume, simple as it was, was surpassed by the simplicity of mine. I told +him that I would be with him in two or three minutes, and he retired with +a slow and stately nod. I tried very hard to keep my word, for I expected +every moment to see the door open again. When I opened it myself, I found +the father pacing slowly in the passage. Knowing that there is not much to +be had in a Trappist monastery without asking, I opened the conversation +by making some delicate allusions to breakfast. The truth is that the +bread-and-cheese supper was nothing to me now but an unsatisfactory +recollection, and, with the sense of vacuum that distressed me, I was +unwilling to follow the monk upon the promised round, lest I should die of +inanition on the way. He asked me what I would like to eat, and I said, +'Anything that is near at hand.' Had I suggested that a chop or a steak +would be suitable after so light a dinner, I should not have had it; but I +might have received a large measure of silent reprobation for my bad taste +in asking for it, and also for having reminded a Trappist of such vanities +of the past. + +The father--he was becoming fatherly indeed--went to a cupboard of the +_salle à manger_ already described, and brought out what I had left of the +bread and cheese set before me the previous evening. Having placed this +on the table, with a bottle of beer--the postulant had led me to hope +for coffee and milk, but there was evidently no escape from malt liquor +here--he withdrew to a little office close by where he was wont to perform +the daily duty of keeping the cheese accounts of the monastery. I felt sure +that when he had reckoned up a few figures he would be coming round to +tear me away from the bread and cheese, so I endeavoured to hasten the +consumption with as much speed as I could decently put on. I was right in +my conjecture. I had not been seated five minutes, when he came back and +wandered half round the table. + +'_J'aurai fini dans un petit moment, mon père,_' said I, as I cut off +another piece of cheese. By-the-bye, nobody should call a Trappist +'_monsieur_,' because the monk has ceased to have even a name of his +own other than his religious one, and has become a father or brother to +everybody. He returned to his accounts; but he had not gone very deeply +into them when he saw me standing at the door of his little den. He left +his books at once, and we walked side by side where he chose to lead me. He +was a rather tall man, with a face that was an enigma. The features were +so like those of the late Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, that if the English +Freethinker had disappeared mysteriously I might have strongly suspected +him of having turned Trappist. + +This father volunteered no information whatever; it had all to be drawn out +of him. He spoke in a low voice, and, as it appeared to me, with something +of the hesitation of a man who is recalling his mother tongue after many +years of disuse. His face was large and heavy; but there was a keen light +in his eyes which at times was that of gaiety well kept under. He soon let +me see that even a Trappist may give out an occasional flash of humour. +I was questioning him respecting the help that the monastery gave to the +poor, and he told me that in addition to thirty or forty persons living +in the locality who received regular assistance every day, about the same +number of wanderers stopped at the gate and waited for the bread and cheese +which was never refused them. + +'Men looking for work?' I asked innocently. + +'Yes,' replied the monk, without moving a muscle of his stolid face; 'and +who pray to God that He will not give them any.' + +It was evident that no sentimental illusions respecting the begging class +were entertained by the community. The monk confirmed what people in the +country had already told me of the help afforded by the Trappists to +peasant agriculturists in difficulties. The sick were, moreover, supplied +with medicines gratuitously from the small pharmacy attached to the +monastery. I did not ask the question, but I concluded that at least one of +the fathers had a medical diploma. The medicine that was chiefly wanted in +the Double when the Trappists settled there was quinine. The demand upon it +was very heavy years ago, but by removing to a great extent the cause of +the fever-breeding miasma, the monks have been able to economize the drug. + +Talking about these matters, we reached the refectory. A great cold room +with whitewashed walls, and five long narrow tables with benches on each +side, stretching from end to end, was the place where the monks took their +very frugal meals. The tables were laid for the first meal. There were +no cloths, and it is almost needless to add that there were no napkins, +although these are considered so essential in France that even in the most +wretched auberge one is usually laid before the guest. Trappists, however, +have little need of them. At each place were a wooden spoon and fork, a +plate, a jug of water, and another jug--a smaller one--of beer, and a +porringer for soup, which is the chief of the Trappists' diet. Very thin +soup it is, the ingredients being water, chopped vegetables, bread, and +a little oil or butter. Until a few years ago no oily matter, whether +vegetable or animal, was allowed in the soup, nor was it permissible, +except in case of sickness, to have more than one meal a day; but the +necessity of relaxing the rule a little was realized. Now, during the six +summer months of the year, there are two meals a day, namely, at eleven and +six; but in winter there is still only one that is called a meal, and this +is at four. There is, however, a _goûter_--just something to keep the +stomach from collapsing--at ten in the morning. No flesh, nor fish, nor +animal product, except cheese and butter, is eaten by these Trappists +unless they fall ill, and then they have meat or anything else that they +may need to make them well. There is, however, very little sickness amongst +them. The living of each Trappist probably costs no more than sixpence a +day to the community. Assuming that the money brought into the common fund +by those who have a private fortune--the fathers, as a rule, are men of +some independent means--covers the establishment expenses and the taxation +imposed by the State, there must remain a considerable profit on the work +of each individual, whether he labours in the fields or in the dairy and +cheese rooms, or concerns himself with the sales and the accounts, or, like +the porter at the gate, tests with an instrument the richness of the milk +that is brought in by the peasants, lest they who have been befriended +by the monks in sickness and penury should steal from them in return. To +devote this surplus, obtained by a life of sacrifice compared to which +the material misery of the beggars whom they relieve is luxury, to the +lessening of human suffering, to the encouragement of the family, offering +the hand of charity to the worthy and to the unworthy--expecting no honour +from all this, not even gratitude--is a life that makes that of the +theoretical philanthropists and humanitarian philosophers look rather +barren. Let every man who lives up to an unselfish ideal have full credit +for it, whether he be a Trappist or a Buddhist. + +At one end of the refectory, below the line of tables, was a small wooden +bench for a single person. The monk pointed to it with half a smile upon +his face. + +'What is it?' I asked. + +'The stool of penitence,' he replied. + +Here the monk who had brought upon himself some disciplinary correction sat +by order of the abbot in view of everybody, and had the extra mortification +of watching the others eat, while he, the penitent, had nothing to put +between his teeth. I wondered if my cicerone had ever been perched there, +but I was not on such terms of familiarity with him that I could ask the +question. + +From the refectory we went to the dormitory, an oblong room with a passage +down the middle, and cells on each side--about fifty altogether. They +were very narrow, and were separated by lath and plaster partitions, only +carried to the height of about six feet. These partitions, which had been +whitewashed over, looked very fragile and dilapidated, and altogether the +appearance of this great dormitory was wretched in the extreme. A glance +into the interior of two or three of the cells deepened this impression. In +each was a small wooden bedstead about a foot and a half high, with nothing +upon it but a very thin paillasse, a black blanket (the colour of the +wool), and a little bolster. Upon a nail hung a small cat-o'-nine-tails of +knotted whipcord. + +'How often do you administer to yourselves the discipline?' I asked. + +'Every Friday,' said the monk. + +To other questions that I put to him he replied that about ten members +of the community were priests, and that fathers and brothers used the +dormitory in common. There was no distinction between the two classes as +regards the vows that were taken. + +We passed into the cloisters, which were very plain, without any attempt +at architectural ornament; but the garden that filled the centre of the +quadrangle was carefully kept, and the many flowers there were evidently +watered and otherwise tended by hands that were gentle to them. Then I +asked if it was true that the members of the community, when they passed +one another in their ordinary occupations, were allowed to break the rule +of silence only to say, 'Remember death!' + +'No,' replied the monk, 'it is a legend that originated with +Châteaubriand.' + +We reached the chapter-house, a plain room with benches along the walls and +a case containing a small collection of books. I saw nothing of interest +here excepting a genealogical tree of the order of Reformed Cistercians, +called Trappists, showing its descent from the Abbey of Cîteaux, and a +portrait of Père Dom Sébastien, Abbot-General of the Trappists, who was a +pontifical zouave before he put on the monastic habit. + +I asked to see the cemetery, and was led to an uncultivated spot a little +beyond the block of convent buildings. A small grassy enclosure, with a +wooden paling round it, was the monks' burying-place. About twelve had died +in the twenty-five years of the monastery's existence, but most of the +graves looked recent. This was explained to me by the father, who actually +smiled as he said: + +'We who came here at the commencement are getting old now, and are +following one another to the cemetery rather quickly.' + +Wearers of the white frock and wearers of the brown frock were lying in +perfect equality side by side as they happened to die, each having a +small cross of white wood standing in the grass of his grave. I read: 'N. +Raphaël, monachus----, natus----, professus----, obiit----.' The dates +I took no note of. With the exception of the name and the dates, the +inscription on each cross was the same. And the name, it need scarcely be +said, was the one taken in religion. + +'Do you know one another's family names?' I asked of the living monk by my +side, who appeared to have lapsed into meditation, thinking, perhaps, how +far his place would be from the last on the line. + +'As a rule we do not. There are only two or three monks here whose names I +know.' + +Lastly, I was taken to the farm buildings, where there were about fifty +cows and one hundred pigs. A young brother, a novice, was busy, with his +frock hitched up, cleaning out the pigsties. He was piously plying the +shovel, but his face had not yet acquired an expression of perfect +resignation. He was young, however, and perhaps he had been brought up in +better society than that of pigs. + +I was invited with much kindness and courtesy to stay until after the +eleven o'clock meal; but, grateful as I felt to the Trappists for their +bread and cheese and home-brewed beer, which had enabled me to sustain life +for more than twelve hours, I was quite content with what I had received in +that way. My curiosity being also satisfied, I gladly went forth into the +wicked world again after exchanging a cordial farewell with the genial +porter, who, when he caught sight of me returning to his lodge, looked +sharply to see if the jar of beer was safe, and his mind being made easy on +the point, he begged me to let him pour me out a glass. Then he gazed at me +with round eyes of surprise and reproach when I declined the offer. + +It was only a little past eight when I left the monastery. 'Ah,' I thought, +as I felt the gentle glow of the early sunshine and breathed the fresh air +of the wide world, 'there is time enough for me to become a Trappist.' + +I continued on the road to Montpont. It was a sad and silent land over +which I passed, with frequent crosses by the wayside, telling of the +influence of the monks. The words, '_O crux, ave!_' met me amidst the +heather and on the margin of lonely pools. I was now in the most forlorn +part of the Double, where all around the eye rested upon forest, swamp, and +moor. Not that I found it dismal: I drew delight from the lonesomeness, +and revelled in the wildness of all things. Sunshine and flowers made the +desert beautiful. The waysides were red with thyme or purple with heather, +and the blooming lysimachia was like a belt of gold around the reedy pools. +After walking some miles over this country, patches of maize, potatoes, and +vines told me I was nearing a village. At length I came to one, and it +was called St. Barthélemy. It was on the top of a bare chalky hill, and +commanded an extensive view of the wasteful Double. It had a windblown, +naked appearance, like many villages near the sea, although the ocean was +still far from here. Moreover, there was a strange quietude--the stillness +of a fever-stricken spot. The men and women looked undersized and +prematurely old, and the children were pale and thin. Although the village +was on a hill, the evil influence of the marshes reached it. I was told, +however, that it had become much less unhealthy of late years. On the +highest spot was a poor and plain little church, with a paddock-like +cemetery on one side of it. + +Although the hour was still early, I stopped for a meal at St. Barthélemy, +for it seemed to me that I had been fasting a day or more. Choosing the +only inn that looked promising, I sat down in a large room, where there +were two long tables and a bed in one corner. The shutters of the windows +were carefully closed to keep out the flies, and all the light that entered +came through the chinks and cracks. In the South, people prefer to eat in +semi-darkness rather than be tormented by flies. The only other person in +the house was a young woman, and she was very uncouth. She may have held +me in suspicion, for not a word would she say beyond what was rigorously +necessary; but, as she cooked much better than I had expected, I thought no +ill of her. She gave me, after an _omelette au cerfeuil_, a _fricassée_ of +chicken, with very fair wine of the district, red and white. Dessert and +coffee followed, and the charge was not much over a shilling. + +As I left the village, I noticed upon a low building these words in large +letters, '_Dépôt de Sangsues_,' and concluded that catching leeches in the +pools about here was a local industry. On inquiring, however, I was told +that such was not the case, but that a man here had had a quantity of +leeches sent from Bordeaux to supply the district. + +'But what is the meaning of this great liking for leeches?' I asked. + +'Well,' replied my informant, 'I should tell you that the people about here +always used to be bled when they had anything the matter with them. But the +doctors will do it no longer, consequently we do it ourselves.' + +The sad-looking peasants, with pale dark faces, whom I saw reaping their +meagre wheat on the outskirts of the village, seemed, like many more I had +met since I left Riberac, to be in much greater need of blood than leeches. +Women, wearing straw-bonnets of the coal-scuttle shape, were reaping with +men in the noonday heat. Upon all the burden of life appeared to press very +heavily. The chalky soil produced miserable crops of wheat, maize, +and potatoes that yielded no just return for the labour expended. The +luxuriance of the young vines, planted where the old ones had perished +from the phylloxera, showed that the hillsides here are better suited for +wine-growing than for anything else. + +As I went on, the country became more sombre from the increasing number of +pines bordering the road and mingling with the distant forest. Very weird +pines these were, chiefly covered with closely-packed dead foliage, with +a living tuft of dark green at the end of each branchlet. A living death +seemed to be their lot, and they moaned without moving as the light wind +passed on its way. + +But the descent towards the valley of the Isle had now begun. Huts built of +brick and mud and wood became frequent, with hedges of quince bordering the +gardens or little fields. Quite unexpectedly the river shone beneath me, +and by following its course downward I soon came to a large block of +scarcely connected buildings with high Mansard roofs. This was a monastery +of the Carthusians. I did not recognise it at once as the conventual +establishment well known in the district as the Chartreuse de Vauclaire, +nor did I show any better understanding as regards a certain human form +hoeing in a field beside the road with back towards me. + +Wishing for information, I hailed this fellow-being as 'Madame!' The figure +straightened itself immediately and turned towards me a head covered with +a broad-brimmed straw hat, such as women wear in the fields; but the face +ended in a long, grizzly beard. Then I noticed that what I had taken for a +brown stuff dress was a monk's frock. + +It was a Carthusian Brother whom I had addressed as 'Madame!' As he gave +no sign to indicate what his feelings were with regard to this mistake, I +thought it better not to make excuses, but asked him if I was on the road +to Montpont Learning that I was, I went on, and having reached the convent, +which I now recognised for what it was, I pulled the bell of the porter's +lodge. I was at once admitted to the presence of a tall and meagre +Carthusian father, with a long, coal-black beard and very dark eyes, with a +fixed expression that expressed nothing that I could be sure about. What +I fancied that I read in them was doubtfulness as to my motives, and the +necessity of being cautious. + +By far the greater number of visitors who call here ask for food. I wished +to see the monastery. After a little hesitation, this father, who before I +left him was so communicative as to tell me he was a Spaniard, made a +sign to me to follow him. He showed me the church--which contains some +interesting carvings--the cloisters, and the cemetery; but every bit of +information had to be drawn from him as if it were a tooth. This was the +kind of conversation that passed between us: + +'Are there many monks here?' + +'Not a small number.' + +'Do you make cheese?' + +'Yes.' + +'For sale?' + +'No.' + +'Do you make the _liqueur?_' + +'Oh no.' + +He would have allowed me to leave with the impression that the Carthusians +of Vauclaire did nothing beyond observing the canonical hours; but I learnt +from the peasants of the country that, like the Trappists, they laboured +industriously in clearing and draining the desert. + +My walk across the Double ended at Montpont, a small agricultural centre on +the banks of the Isle, offering no charm to the traveller, unless he be a +commercial one. It was a little fortified town of some importance in the +Middle Ages. In 1370 the Bretons in garrison at Périgueux besieged it, and +it was surrendered without a struggle by the baron, Guillaume de Montpont, +an English partisan. The Duke of Lancaster then hurried up and besieged the +place with one hundred men-at-arms and five hundred archers. For eleven +weeks the little band of Bretons held out, but a breach having been made in +the wall, Montpont again fell into the power of the English. + +[Illustration: THE DRONNE AT COUTRAS.] + + + + +A CANOE VOYAGE ON THE DRONNE. + + +Before starting upon a long-thought-of voyage down the Dronne, I resolved +to make the canoe look as beautiful as possible, so that it might produce a +favourable impression upon the natives of the regions through which it was +going to pass. I had learnt from experience that when one can take the +edge off suspicion by giving one's self or one's belongings a respectable +appearance, that does not cost much, it is well to do it. + +Therefore I sent the bare-footed Hélie, who always helped me when I had +any dirty work on hand, to buy some paint. Having first puttied up all the +cracks and crevices, we laid the paint on, and as the colour chosen was a +very pale green, the effect was anything but vulgar. When the boat was put +on the water again it looked like a floating willow-leaf of rather uncommon +size. + +Now, between the river Isle, where I was, and the Dronne, where I wished +to be, there was an obstacle in the shape of some twelve miles of hilly +country. A light cart was accordingly hired to convey the canoe and +ourselves (I was accompanied on this adventure by an English boy named +Hugh, sixteen years old, and just let loose from school) to the point at +which I had decided to commence the voyage down-stream. We left at five in +the morning, when the sun was gilding the yellow tufts and the motionless +long leaves of the maize-field. When we were fairly off--the boat, in +which we were seated, stretching many feet in the rear of the very small +cart--the most anxious member of the party was the horse, for he had never +carried such a queer load as this before, and the novelty of the sensation +caused by the weight far behind completely upset his notions of propriety. +His conduct was especially strange while going up-hill, for then he would +stop short from time to time and make an effort to look round, as if +uncertain whether it was all a hideous dream, or whether he was really +growing out behind in the form of a crocodile. + +The peasants whom we met on the road stood still and gazed with eyes and +mouths wide open until we were out of sight. They had never seen people +travelling in a boat before on dry land. When they heard we were English +all was explained: '_Ces diables d'Anglais sont capables de tout_.' + +While crossing the country in this fashion we passed a spot on the highroad +where a man was getting ready to thresh his wheat. He had prepared the +place by spreading over it a layer of cow-dung, and levelling it with his +bare feet until it was quite smooth and hard. It is in this way that the +threshing-floors are usually made. + +'You see that _type?_' said the young man who was driving, and who balanced +himself on the edge of a board. + +'Yes.' + +'Well, he owns more land than any other peasant about here, and is rich, +and yet, rather than turn a bit of his ground into a threshing-floor, he +brings his corn where you see him and threshes it upon the road.' + +I said to myself that this man was not the first to discover that one +way to get on is to trespass as much as possible upon the rights of that +easy-going neighbour called the Public. + +The hills between the two valleys were, for the most part, wooded with +natural forest, with a dense undergrowth of heather and gorse. As soon as +we began to descend towards the Dronne, the great southern broom, six or +eight feet high, was seen in splendid flower upon the roadside banks. We +found the Dronne at the village of Tocane St. Apre, and we launched the +boat below the mill about half a mile farther down-stream. Then, having +put on board a knapsack containing clothes, a valise filled chiefly with +provisions, several bottles of wine, one of rum (a safer spirit in France +than some others), and another of black coffee, made very strong, so that +it should last a long time, we took our first lunch in the boat, in the +cool shade of some old alders. + +The wine had been already heated by the sun during the journey, but the +means of cooling it somewhat was near at hand. We hitched a couple of +bottles to the roots of the alders, with their necks just out of the water. +The young peasant who had driven us was invited to share our meal, and the +horse was left at the mill with a good feed of oats to comfort him and help +him to forget all the horrible suspicions that the boat had caused him. The +meal was simple enough, for we had brought no luxurious fare with us; +but the feeling of freedom and new adventure, the low song of the stream +running over the gravel in the shallows, the peace and beauty of the little +cove under the alders, made it more delightful than a sumptuous one with +other surroundings. + +Everything went as smoothly as the deep water where the boat was chained, +until the spirit-lamp was lighted for warming the coffee. Then it was +discovered that the little saucepan had been forgotten. This was trying, +for when you have grown used to coffee after lunch you do not feel happy +without it, so long as there is a chance of getting it. It is exasperating +when you have the coffee ready made, but cannot warm it for want of a small +utensil. The peasant went to the mill to borrow a saucepan, and he brought +back one that was just what we wanted; at least, we thought so until the +coffee began to run out through a hole in the bottom. In vain we tried to +stop the leak with putty, which was brought in case the boat should spring +one; but after awhile it stopped itself--quite miraculously. Thus good +fortune came to our aid at the outset, and it looked like a fair omen of a +prosperous voyage. + +We did not linger too long over this meal, for I had not come prepared to +pass the night either in the boat or on the grass, and I hoped to reach +Riberac in the evening. The bottles were put away in the locker, and what +was not eaten was returned to the valise. Then we parted company with the +young peasant, whose private opinion was that we should not go very far. +But he was mistaken; we went a long way, after encountering many serious +obstacles, as will be seen by-and-by. + +The chain being pulled in, the boat glided off like the willow-leaf to +which I have already compared it. I sat on my piece of sliding board about +the middle, and Hugh sat on his piece of wood--which was the top of the +locker--in the stern. We both used long double-bladed paddles. In a few +seconds we were in the current, and in a few more were aground. Although +the canoe was flat-bottomed, it needed at least three inches of water to +float comfortably with us and the cargo. We were in a forest of reeds that +hid the outer world from us, and we had left the true current for another +that led us to the shallows. But this little difficulty was quickly +overcome, and I soon convinced myself that, notwithstanding the dearth of +water after the long drought, it was quite possible to descend the Dronne +from St. Apre in a boat such as mine. + +Now, as there was no wager to make me hurry, and my main purpose in giving +myself all the trouble that lay before me was to see things, I put my +paddle down, and leaving Hugh to work off some of his youthful ardour for +navigation, I gave myself up for awhile to the spell of this most charming +stream. Its breadth and its depth were constantly changing, and in a truly +remarkable manner. Now it was scarcely wider than a brook might be, and was +nearly over-arched by its alders and willows; now it widened out and +sped in many a flashing runnel through a broad jungle of reeds where the +blistering rays of the sun beat down with tropical ardour; then it slept in +pools full of long green streamers that waved slowly like an Undine's hair. +Here and there all about stood the waxen flowers of sagittaria above the +barbed floating leaves, cool and darkly green. Close to the banks the tall +and delicately branching water-plantains, on which great grasshoppers +often hang their shed skins, were flecked with pale-pink blooms-flowers of +biscuit-porcelain on hair-like stems. + +The splashing of a water-wheel roused me from my idle humour. We had +reached--much too quickly--our first mill-dam. It was a very primitive sort +of dam, formed of stakes and planks, but chiefly of brambles, dead wood +and reeds that had floated down and lodged there. Then began the tugging, +pushing, and lifting, to be continued at irregular intervals for several +days. The canoe was less than three feet wide in the middle, but it was +more than six yards long, and this length, although it secured steadiness +and greatly reduced the risk of capsizing in strong rapids or sinister +eddies, brought the weight up to about 170 lb., without reckoning the +baggage, which was turned out upon the grass or on the stones at each weir. +After passing the first obstacle, we floated into one of those long deep +pools which lend a peculiar charm to the Dronne. Usually covered in summer +with white or yellow lilies--seldom the two species together--these and +other plants that rejoice in the cool liquid depths show their scalloped +or feathery forms with perfect distinctness far below the surface of the +limpid water. + +Here, O idle water-wanderer, let your boat glide with the scarcely moving +current, and gaze upon the leafy groves of the sub-aqueous wilderness lit +up by the rays of the sun, and watch the fish moving singly or in shoals +at various depths--the bearded barbel, the spotted trout, the shimmering +bream, and the bronzen tench. Watch, too, the speckled water-snakes gliding +upon the gravel or lurking like the ancient serpent in mimic gardens of +Eden. Mark all the varied life and wondrous beauty of nature there. Above +all, do not hurry, for little is seen by those who hasten on. + +At a weir of sticks and stones forming a rather wide dam, overgrown by tall +hemp-agrimony now in flower, we met with our first difficulty. There was no +overflow to help us, for in this time of drought the mill-wheel needed all +the stream to turn it; so the boat had to be lifted over the stakes and +stones. Into the water we had to go, and boots and socks, being now put +aside, were not worn again for five days, except when we went ashore in the +evening, and had to make an effort to look respectable. + +The dam being passed, the boat shot down a rapid current; then, as the bed +widened out and the water stilled, we were hidden from the world by reeds, +through which we had to force a way while the sun smote us and frizzled us. +Countless dragonflies flashed their brilliant colours as they whirled and +darted, green frogs plunged at our approach from their diving-boards of +matted rush, or quirked defiance from the banks where they were safe; and +now and again a startled kingfisher showed us the blue gleam of a wing +above the brown maces of the bulrushes and the high-hanging tassels of the +sedges. + +The bell of an unseen church a long way off sounded the mid-day angelus, +and told that we had not drifted so far as it appeared from the peopled +world. Leaving the reeds, we passed again into the shade of alders that +stretched their gnarled, fantastic roots far over the babbling or dreaming +water, and thence again amongst the sunny reeds. And so the hours went by, +and there were no villages, or even houses, to be seen, but the little +rough mills beside the slowly toiling wheel, which in most cases seemed to +be the only living thing there. Once, however, there was a naked child, +very brown, and as round as a spider between the hips and the waist, +playing upon a flowery bank above the mother, who wore a brilliant-coloured +kerchief on her head, and who knelt beside the water as she rinsed the +little elfs shirt. I thought the picture pretty enough to make a note of +it. This caused some contemptuous surprise to my companion in the back of +the boat--not yet alive to the innocent cunning of the artist and writer, +for he asked me, in the descriptive language of the British schoolboy: + +'Are you going to stick down _that?_' + +On we went, turning and turning, gliding into nooks that seemed each more +charming than the other, and having a constant succession of delightful +surprises, interrupted only by the mill-dams, which were distressingly +frequent. + +The hot hours stole away or passed into the mellowness of evening, and the +marsh-mallows that fringed the stream were looking coolly white when +we drew near to Riberac. The water widened and deepened, and we met a +pleasure-boat, vast and gaudy, recalling some picture of Queen Elizabeth's +barge on the Thames. Under an awning sat a bevy of ladies in bright +raiment, pleasant to look at, and in front of them were several young men +valiantly rowing, or, rather, digging their short sculls into the water, +as if they were trying to knock the brains out of some fluvial monsters +endeavouring to capture the youth and loveliness under the awning. + +Having reached that part of the river which was nearest Riberac, I had to +find a place where the boat could be left, and where it would be safe from +the enterprise of boys--a bad invention in all countries. It is just, +however, to the French boy to say that he is not quite so fiendish out of +doors as the English one; but he makes things even by his conduct at home, +where he conscientiously devotes his animal spirits to the destruction of +his too-indulgent parents. + +My difficulty was solved by a kind butcher, whose garden ran down to the +water. He let me chain the boat to one of his trees, and he took our fowl, +which was intended for lunch next day, and put it into his meat-safe--an +excellent service, for the drainage of his slaughter-house, emptying into +the river by the side of the boat, was enough to make even a live fowl lose +its freshness in a single night. We were soon settled in a comfortable inn +that prided itself, not without reason, upon its _cuisine_. Here we had a +_friture_ of gudgeons from the Dronne, which is famous throughout a wide +region for the quality of these and other fish. + +The next morning I bought a saucepan, a melon, and grapes--which were +already ripe, although the date was the 9th August. Thus laden, we returned +to the boat and to the kindly butcher, who gave us our fowl wrapped up, not +in a newspaper as we had left it, but in a sheet of spotless white paper. +Having refilled our bottles, some with water, others with wine, we parted +from our hospitable acquaintance with pleasant words, and were afloat again +before the hour of eight. We had a serious wetting at the first weir, but +were dry again before we stopped to lunch. This time we landed, and chose +our spot in a beautiful little meadow, where an alder cast its shade upon +the bank. It was far from all habitations, but had the case been otherwise, +there would have been no danger of our being disturbed by a voice from +behind saying: 'You have no right to land here,' or, 'You are trespassing +in this field.' + +Now, this little meadow was, except where the river ran by it, enclosed by +a high hedge, just as one in England might be, and although it was some +four hundred miles south of Paris, and the season had been exceptionally +dry, the grass was brightly green. Just below us was the clear river, +fringed with sedges, sprinkled all over with yellow lilies; beyond this +were other meadows, and then rose towards the cloudless sky the line of +wooded hills. There was a great quietude that nothing broke, save the +splash of a rising fish and the chorus of grasshoppers in the sunny +herbage. Here we stayed a good hour and warmed our coffee tranquilly in the +new saucepan, which afterwards proved very useful for baling purposes. Then +I smoked the pipe of peace, and felt tempted to tarry in this pleasant +place; but Hugh roused me to action by talking of fishing. + +A few minutes later we were again on our voyage. Not far below was another +mill-dam of sticks and stones, and when this was passed the river widened +so that it flowed round a little island covered with alders and purple +loosestrife, and girt by a broad belt of white water-lilies. At the next +weir, which was troublesome, we were helped by the miller and his brother, +while a pretty young woman of about twenty, who stood with bare feet, short +skirt, uncovered stays, open chemise, and a linen sun-bonnet of the pattern +known in England, looked on with a fat baby in her arms. These helpful +people refilled our water-bottles, and watched us with interest until we +were out of sight. + +Reeds again--innumerable reeds--through which we had to drag the canoe, for +we had somehow lost the current. Arrow-head and prickly bur-reed, great +rushes and sedges--a joy to the marsh botanist by the variety of their +species--stood against us in serried phalanxes, saying: 'Union is strength; +we are weak when alone, but altogether we will give you some work that you +will remember.' And they did so before we left them behind. Now, above the +lily-spotted water, deep and clear, showed a little cluster of houses on a +low cliff, and below these, close to the river, an old pigeon-house with +pointed roof. + +To finish the picture, a narrow wooden bridge supported by poles stretching +downward at all angles, like the legs of an ungainly insect, had been +thrown across the stream. And here a great flock of geese, horrified at so +unwonted an apparition as the pale green boat and the paddles in fantastic +movement, were holding a hasty council of war, which we broke up before +they came to a decision. + +The flow of water in the river had been perceptibly increased by +tributaries, and now, after each mill, the current was strong enough to +take us down for a mile or two at a quick rate. The little boat danced +gaily in the rapids. The great heat of the day had gone, and the light was +waning, when we mistook an arm of the river for the main stream, and found +ourselves at length in a little gully, very dim with overarching foliage, +and where the sound of rushing water grew momentarily louder. + +It was all one to Hugh whether he got turned out or not, but I had lived +long enough not to like the vision of a roll in the stream at the end of +the day, with baggage swamped, if not lost. Therefore I chained up the +boat, and went to examine the rapids. I found the stream in great turmoil, +where it rushed over hidden rocks, and in the centre was a wave about three +feet high, that rose like a curve of clear green glass, but turned white +with anger, and broke into furious foam, as it fell into the basin below. +Having ascertained that the rock was sufficiently under water, I decided +that we would take our chance in the current after turning out the baggage. + +We kept right in the centre. It was an exciting moment as we touched the +wave. The canoe made a bound upwards, then plunged into the boiling torrent +below. A moment more and we were out of all risk. So swift was the passage +that scarcely a gallon of water was taken in. Having put the baggage back, +we continued our voyage towards the unknown, for I knew not whither this +stream was going to take us. About a mile or two farther down, however, it +joined the river, which here seemed very wide. It was marvellous to find +that the brook of yesterday had grown to this; a circumstance to be +explained, however, by the number of springs that rise in its bed. + +The scene was beyond all description beautiful. The wooded banks, the calm +water, the islands of reeds and sedges, the pure white lilies that scented +the air and murmured softly as the boat brushed their snowy petals, were +all stained with the blood of the dying sun. For a moment I saw the upper +rim of the red disc between the trunks of two trees far away that seemed to +grow taller and more sombre; then came the twilight with its purple tones. + +The colours faded, darkness crept over the valley, and the water, losing +its transparency, looked unfathomably deep, and mirrored with tenfold power +all the fantastic gloom of the leaning alders, and the weird forms of the +hoary willows. And there was no light or sound from any town or village, +nor even from a lonely cottage. I had expected to reach at sundown the +little town of Aubeterre, in the department of the Charente, but all ideas +of distance based upon a map are absurdly within the mark when one follows +the course of a winding river, and the information of the inhabitants is +equally misleading, for they always calculate distances by the road. + +When we reached the next weir there was very little light left, so, without +attempting to pass it, we paddled down to the mill. It was kept by three +brothers, who treated us with much kindness and attention. I learnt that we +were not far from the village of Nabinaud in the Charente, where there was +a small inn at which it would be possible to pass the night. + +Aubeterre was still some miles off by water, and there were weirs to +overcome. Tired out, with legs and feet scraped and scratched by stones and +stumps, and smarting still more from sun-scorch, we were glad enough to +find a sufficient reason for getting out of the boat here. + +One of the brothers carried politeness so far--I saw from the importance +of the mill that remuneration was not to be thought of--as to walk about a +mile uphill in order to show the inn and to see us settled in it. Then he +left, for I could not prevail upon him to sit down and chink glasses. +It was but a cottage-inn on the open hillside, and I doubt if the +simple-minded people who kept it would have accepted us for the night but +for the introduction. Husband and wife gave up their room to us, and where +they went themselves I could not guess, unless it was to the loft or +fowl-house. They were surprised, almost overcome, by the invasion, the +like of which had never happened to them before; but they showed plenty of +goodwill. + +All that could be produced in the way of dinner was an omelet, some fried +ham, very fat and salt, and some _grillons_-a name given to the residue +that is left by pork-fat when it has been slowly boiled down to make lard. +The people of Guyenne think much of their _grillons_ or _fritons_. I +remember a jovial-faced innkeeper of the South telling me that he and +several members of his family went to Paris in a party to see the +Exhibition of 1889, and that they took with them _grillons_ enough to keep +them going for a week, with the help of bread and wine, which they were +compelled to buy of the Parisians, Had they done all that their provincial +ideas of prudence dictated, they would have taken with them everything that +was necessary to the sustenance of the body during their absence from home. + +The best part of our meal must not be forgotten; it was salad, +fresh-plucked from the little garden enclosed by a paling, well mixed with +nut-oil, wine-vinegar, and salt. Then for dessert there was abundance of +grapes and peaches. + +The little room in which we slept, or, to speak more correctly, where I +tried to sleep, had no ornament except the Sunday clothes of the innkeeper +and his wife hanging against the walls. Next to it was the pigsty, as the +inmates took care to let me know by their grunting. Had I wished to escape +in the night without paying the bill, nothing would have been easier, for +the window looked upon a field that was about two feet below the sill. + +I opened this window wide to feel the cool air, and long after Hugh went to +sleep, with the willingness of his sixteen years, I sat listening to the +crickets and watching the quiet fields and sky, which were lit up every few +seconds by the lightning flash of an approaching storm--still too far away, +however, to blur even with a cloudy line the tranquil brilliancy of the +stars. + +Leaving the window open, I lay down upon the outer edge of the bed, but to +no purpose. In the first place, I am never happy on the edge of a narrow +bed, and then sleep and I were on bad terms that night. The lightning, +growing stronger, showed my host's best trousers hanging against the +whitewashed wall, and from the pigsty came indignant snorts in answer to +the deepening moan of the thunder; but the crickets of the house sang after +their fashion of the hearth and home, and those outside of the great joy of +idleness in the summer fields. From a bit of hedge or old wall came now and +then the clear note of a fairy-bell rung by a goblin toad. + +I lit the candle again, and elfish moths, with specks of burning charcoal +for eyes, dashed at me or whirled and spun about the flame. One was a most +delicately-beautiful small creature, with long white wings stained with +pink. Thus I spent the night, looking at the sights and listening to the +sounds of nature; which is better than to lie with closed eyes quarrelling +with one's own brain. + +We left with a boy carrying a basket of grapes and peaches, also wine to +refill the empty bottles in the boat. On my way down the hill, I stopped +at the ruin of a mediaeval castle that belonged to Poltrot de Méré, the +assassin of the Due de Guise. All this country of the Angoumois, even +more than Périgord, is full of the history of the religious wars of the +sixteenth century. The whole of the southwestern region of France might be +termed the classic ground of atrocities committed in the name of religion. +Simon de Montfort's Crusaders and the Albigenses, after them the Huguenots +and the Leaguers, have so thickly sown this land with the seed of blood, +to bear witness through all time to their merciless savagery, that the +unprejudiced mind, looking here for traces of a grand struggle of ideals, +will find little or nothing but the records of revolting brutality. + +There is nothing left of Poltrot de Méré's stronghold but a few fragments +of wall much overgrown with ivy and brambles. In order to get a close view +of these I had to ask permission of the owner of the land--an elderly man, +who looked at me with a troubled eye, and while he wished to be polite, +considered it his duty to question me concerning my 'quality' and motives. +I knew what was in his mind: a foreigner, a spy perchance, was going about +the country, taking notes of fortified places. + +It was true that this fortress, nearly hidden by vegetation, was no longer +in a state to withstand a long siege, but who could tell what importance +it might have in the eyes of a foreign Power traditionally credited with +a large appetite for other people's property? However, he was not an +ill-natured man, and when I had talked to him a bit, he moved his hand +towards the ruin with quite a noble gesture, and told me that I was free to +do there anything I liked. Had I been a snake-catcher, I might have done a +good deal there. + +We were afloat again before the sun had begun to warm an apple's ruddy +cheek; but already the white lips of the water-lilies were wide-parted, +as the boat slid past or through their colonies upon the reedy river. We +glided under brambled banks, overtrailed with the wild vine; then the +current took us round and about many an islet of reeds and rushes where the +common _phragmites_ stood ten or twelve feet high; and now by other banks +all tangled with willow-herb, marsh-mallow, and loose-strife. Over the +clear water, and the wildernesses of reeds and flowers, lay the mild +splendour of the morning sunshine. But the blissful minutes passed too +quickly; all the tones brightened to brilliancy, and by ten o'clock the +rays were striking down again with torrid ardour. + +We had lunched amongst the reeds under a clump of alders, and were paddling +on again, when the massive walls and tower of a vast fortress of old time +appeared upon the top of a steep hill, rising above all other hills that +were visible, and at the foot of the castle rock were many red roofs of +houses that seemed to be nestled pleasantly in a spacious grove of trees. +Above all was the dazzling blue of the sky. A truly southern picture, +flaming with shadeless colour, and glittering with intense whiteness. We +were reaching Aubeterre. + +We beached the canoe beside a meadow, opposite a spot where about twenty +women were washing clothes, their noses very near the water. They were +mightily surprised to see us suddenly arrive in our swift boat. All the +heads came up together, and the rest went down. + +We walked into a riverside inn, and there I made friends with the innkeeper +over one or two bottles of beer--there was an innocent liquor so called on +sale at Aubeterre. The _aubergiste_ was rather down on his luck, for some +mill at which he had been employed had gone wrong financially, and the +wheels thought it no longer worth while to turn round. He therefore +undertook to show us the way to everything that ought to be seen at +Aubeterre. + +He led us up a steep winding road where the sun smote furiously, where +there was no shade, and where the dust was so hot that it might have +roasted an egg, if the person waiting for it was in no great hurry. We had +gone a very little way, when Hugh proposed to return and mount guard over +the boat, for whose safety he had become unreasonably anxious. On reaching +the steep little town there was more shade, because the streets were +narrow, but the rough pitching of cobble-stones was very bad for feet so +sore as ours, and so swollen that the boots into which we managed to force +them before leaving the river were now several sizes too small. + +We stopped at the parish church, but not so long as I should have, had I +been a lonely wayfarer without anybody to guide me. It is a delightful +example of a Romanesque style that is found much repeated in Périgord, +Angoumois, and the Bordelais. The great interest lies in the façade, which +dates from the eleventh century. Here we have a large central portal, and +on each side of it, what the architectural design supposes to be a smaller +one, but which in reality is only a sham doorway. The slender columns +of the jambs, and the archivolts filled in with little figures, sacred, +fantastic, and grotesque, are there, as in connection with the central +arch; but all this has only an ornamental purpose. The spectator who is +at all interested in ecclesiastical architecture will examine with much +delight the elaborate mouldings and the strangely-suggestive forms of +men, beasts, birds, shapes fantastic and chimerical, which ornament these +Romanesque doorways. + +But this church has not the interest of singularity which belongs to +another at Aubeterre--that of St. John. It is, or was, truly a church, and +yet it is not an edifice. Like one at St. Émilion, it is monolithic in the +sense that those who made it worked upon the solid rock with pick, hammer, +and chisel; in which way they quarried out a great nave with a rough apse +terminating in the very bowels of the hill. On one side of the nave, enough +has been left of the rock to form four immense polygonal piers, whose upper +part is lost to sight in the gloom, until the eye grows somewhat reconciled +to the glimmer of day, which, stealing in through openings in the cliff, +is drowned in darkness before it reaches the hollow of the apse. On the +opposite side is a high gallery cut in the rock in imitation of the +triforium gallery. The row of piers separates the church proper from what +was for centuries the cemetery of Aubeterre: a vast burrow made by the +living for the reception of the dead, where they were plunged out of the +sunlight teeming with earthly illusion and phantasy, to await the breaking +of the great dawn. + +Not a spring violet nor a gaudy flower of summer gave to the air the +perfume, or to the earth the colour of sweet life, to soothe and lighten +the dreariness of the dead: such thoughts in the Middle Ages would have +been almost pagan. Then the darkness of death was like the darkness of +night here in this necropolis hewn in the side of the ancient rock, whose +very substance is made up chiefly of other and older forms of life. +Moreover, the hope that was then so firmly fixed beyond the grave was the +hope of rest--everlasting repose--after so much tossing and battling upon +the sea of life. The palmer dying of weariness by the wayside, and the +Crusader of his wounds upon the blood-soaked sand, could imagine no more +blessed reward from the '_dols sire Jhésu_' for all their sacrifice of +sleep, and other pain endured for their souls' sake, than a 'bed in +paradise.' To me it seemed that had I lived seven centuries ago, I should, +when dying, have been so weak as to beg my friends not to lay my body in +the awful gloom of this sepulchral cavern, there to remain until the end of +time. But the mediaeval mind, having better faith, appeared to be moved by +no such solicitude for the lifeless body. + +If there are ghostly people who haunt the earth, and have their +meeting-places for unholy revel, what a playground this must be for them at +the witching hour! It is enough to make one's hair stand on end to think of +what may go on there when the sinking moon looks haggard, and the owls +hoot from the abandoned halls open to the sky of the great ruin above. The +burying went on within the rock until thirty years ago, and the skulls that +grin there in the light of the visitor's candle, and all the other bones +that have been dug up and thrown in heaps, would fill several waggons. It +was with no regret that I went out into the hot and brilliant air, and +left for ever these gloomy vaults, with their dismal human relics and that +penetrating odour of the earth that once moved and spoke, which dwells in +every ancient charnel-house. + +Now we climbed to the top of the calcareous and chalky hill and made the +round of the castle wall. We could not enter, because by ill-luck the owner +had gone away, and had not left the keys with anybody. This was especially +disappointing to me, because my imagination had been worked upon by +the stories I had heard of the subterranean passages leading from this +fifteenth-century stronghold far under the hill, and which had not been +thoroughly explored since the castle was abandoned. The innkeeper assured +me that during an exploration that was being made in one of them the +candles went out, and that nobody had attempted again to reach the end of +the mysterious gallery. + +I may observe here that people in this part of France have such a strong +horror of passages underground, which they commonly believe to be inhabited +by snakes and toads--an abomination to them--that it is just possible +the candles of which the _aubergiste_ spoke may have been put out by the +superior brilliancy of the meridional imagination. + +The time spent in this interesting little town that lies quite off all +beaten tracks made the prospect of arriving that night at St. Aulaye, the +next place by the river, look rather doubtful. We re-started, however, with +the knowledge that we had still several hours of daylight before us. The +voyage now became more exciting, and likewise more fatiguing. Mills were +numerous, and the weirs changed completely in character. The simple dam of +sticks and stones, with a drop of only two or three feet on the lower side, +disappeared, and in its place we had a high well-built weir, with a fall of +eight or ten feet. Fortunately, there was generally enough water running +over to help us, and not enough to threaten shipwreck. The manoeuvre, +however, had to be quite altered. The boat had to be thrust or drawn +forward until it hung several feet over the edge of the weir, then a quick +push sent it down stern first into the water, while I held the chain, which +was fastened to the other end. Then Hugh, saucepan in hand, let himself +down by the chain, sometimes in a cascade, and baled out the water taken +in. Finally, when all the traps had been collected from the dry places +where they had been laid and were handed down, I had to get into the boat +and bring the chain with me. It was a movement that had to be learnt before +it could be done gracefully and surely, and at the second weir of this +kind, where there was a considerable rush of water, in stepping on board I +lost my balance, and rolled into the river. It was, however, not the first +bath that I had received in my clothes since starting upon this expedition, +and the inconvenience of being wet to the skin was now one that troubled +neither of us much. We were dry again in two hours, if no similar +misadventure happened in the meantime. + +It was an afternoon full of misfortune. We lost the spirit-lamp and +the best dinner knife, and, what was far more precious to me, the most +companionable of sticks--one that had walked with me hundreds of miles. +It was once a young oak growing upon the stony _causse_. A friendly baker +hardened it over the embers of his oven, and a cunning blacksmith put +a beautiful spike at one end of it, which became the terror of dogs +throughout Guyenne. + +Evening stole quietly upon us with a stormy yellow glow; then little clouds +turned crimson overhead. Onward went the boat through the reeds in the rosy +light, onward over the purpling water. It was nearly night when we caught +sight of the houses of St. Aulaye upon a hill. + +Presently the wailing of water was heard, by which we knew that another +weir was near. Instead of trying to pass it, we went on down the +mill-stream, my intention being to leave the canoe with the miller and walk +to the town. + +Now the gentle miller, after accepting the custody of the boat, held a +rapid consultation with his wife on the threshold of his dwelling, and as +we were moving off to look for a hostelry, he limped up to me--he had a leg +that seemed as stiff as a post--and said: + +'If _ces messieurs_ would like to stop here to-night, we will do our best +for them. We have little to offer, for we do not keep an inn, and are only +simple people; but _ces messieurs_ are tired perhaps, and would rather stay +near their boat.' + +Although it was dark, I quite realized what a disreputable figure I made, +with my bare red feet, muddy flannels, and my straw hat, which, after +taking many baths and being dried as often by the sun, had come to have the +shape of almost everything but a hat. I had, therefore, grave doubts of +my ability to inspire any respectable innkeeper with confidence, and I +resolved at once to accept the offer that had been so unexpectedly made. + +The spot where we were to pass the night was decidedly sombre, for there +were trees around that cast a dark shadow, and there was the incessant cry +of unseen, troubled water; but from the open door of the low house that +adjoined the mill there flashed a warm light, and, as we entered, there was +the sight, which is ever grateful to the tired wanderer, of freshly-piled +sticks blazing upon the hearth. The room was large, and the flickering +oil-lamp would have left it mostly in shadow had it not been helped by the +flame of the fire. The walls were dark from smoke and long usage, for this +was a very old mill. There was no sign of plenty, save the chunks of fat +bacon which hung from the grimy rafters. There were several children, and +one of them, almost a young woman, went out with a basket to buy us some +meat. We had not a very choice meal, but it was a solid one. It commenced +with a big tureen of country soup, made of all things, but chiefly of +bread, and which Hugh, with his ideas newly-shaped in English moulds, +described as 'stodgey.' Then came an omelet, a piece of veal, and a dish +of gudgeons. I am sorry to add that these most amusing little bearded fish +were dropped all alive into the boiling nut-oil. + +Although our bedroom was immediately overhead, we had to pass through the +mill to reach it, and the journey was a roundabout one. The lame miller was +our guide, and on our way we learnt the cause of his lameness. About a year +before he had been caught up by some of his machinery and mangled in a +frightful manner. We came to a brick wall plastered over, and a little +below a shaft that ran through it was a ragged hole nearly three feet in +diameter. + +Said the miller: 'You see that hole?' + +'Yes.' + +'You wouldn't think a man's body could make that? Mine did: and all those +dark splashes on the plaster are the marks of my blood!' + +The poor fellow had been brought within a hair's-breadth of death, and the +long months during which he could do nothing but lie down or sit in a heap +after his accident had, he said, nearly ruined him. + +This night, although we had but one room, we had two beds. I lingered at +the open window, and watched the swiftly-running mill-stream a few feet +below. It had an evil sound. Then I felt the bad power that lies in water; +above all, its treachery. Had not this small stream, by lending its +strength to a wheel that turned other wheels, taken up a man as if he +were a feather, and dashed him through a wall? When the morning light and +sunshine returned, the chant of the running water was as soothing as the +song of birds. + +We contrived, after infinite torture, to put on our boots again, and then +walked up the hill to the village-like town. Besides the church of mixed +Romanesque and Gothic, there was nothing worth seeing there, unless the +spectacle of a woman holding up a rabbit by the hind-legs, while her +daughter, a tender-hearted damsel of about sixteen, whacked it behind the +ears with a fire-shovel, may be thought improving to the mind. At a shop +where we bought some things, Hugh was deeply offended by a woman who +insisted that some rather small bathing-drawers were large enough for him, +and especially for speaking of him as the _petit garçon_. He talked about +her 'cheek' all the way back to the boat. It was on returning that I +noticed the picturesque charm of our mill, with the old Gothic bridge +adjoining it, a weather-beaten, time-worn stone cross rising from the +parapet. Fresh provisions having been put on board the boat, we wished our +friends of the mill good-bye. They and their children, with about a dozen +neighbours and their children, assembled upon the bank to see us off. A +long line of dancing rapids lay in front of us, so that we were really able +to astonish the people by the speed at which we went away where any boat +of the Dronne would have quickly gone aground. In a few minutes the strong +current had carried us a mile, and then, looking back, we saw the little +crowd still gazing at us. A turn of the stream, and they had lost sight of +us for ever. + +Under the next mill-dam was some deep water free from reeds and weeds. On +the banks were tall trees; behind us was the rocky weir, over which the +stream fell in a thousand little rivulets and runnels, and less than a +hundred yards in front rose the seemingly impenetrable reedy forest. The +spot so enclosed had a quiet beauty that would have been holy in days gone +by when the mind of man peopled such solitudes with fluvial deities. Here +the desire to swim became irresistible. What a swim it was! The water was +only cold enough to be refreshing, while its transparency was such that +even where it was eight or ten feet deep every detail could be seen along +the gravelly bottom, where the gudgeons gambolled. After the bath we +paddled until we saw a very shady meadow-corner close to the water. Here +we spread out upon the grass eggs that had been boiled for us at the mill, +bread, cheese, grapes, and pears, and what other provisions we had. Now and +again the wind carried to us the sound of water turning some hidden, lazy +wheel. Those who would prefer a well-served lunch in a comfortable room to +our simple meal in the meadow-corner under the rustling leaves should never +go on a voyage down the Dronne. + +Some time in the afternoon we came to a broad weir that was rather +difficult to pass, for there was no water running over, and a dense +vegetation had sprung up during the summer between the rough stones. The +miller saw us from the other end of his dam, which was a rather long way +off, for these weirs do not cross at right angles with the banks, but +start at a very obtuse one at a point far above the mill. After a little +hesitation, inspired by doubtfulness as to what manner of beings we were, +he came towards us over the stones and through the water-plants with a +bog-trotting movement which we, who had scraped most of the skin off our +own bare ankles, quite understood. + +He was a rough but good fellow, and he lent us a helping hand, which was +needed, for every time we lifted the boat now it seemed heavier than it +was before. The hard work was telling upon us. The sound of voices caused +another head to appear on the scene. It came up from the other side of the +weir, and it was a cunning old head, with sharp little eyes under bushy +gray brows, overhanging like penthouses. Presently the body followed the +head, and the old man began to talk to the miller in patois, but failing, +apparently, to make any impression upon him, he addressed me in very bad +French. + +'Why give yourselves the devil's trouble,' said he,' in pulling the +boat over here, when there is a beautiful place at the other end of the +_barrage_, where you can go down with the current? The water is a bit +jumpy, but there is nothing to fear.' + +For a moment I hesitated, but I saw the miller shake his head; and this +decided me to cross at the spot where we were. The old man looked on with +an expression that was not benevolent, and when the boat was ready to be +dropped on the other side, the motive of his anxiety to send us down a +waterfall came out. He had spread a long net here in amongst the reeds, and +he did not wish us to spoil his fishing. + +When we got below the mill we saw the water that was not wanted for the +wheel, tumbling in fury down a steep, narrow channel, in which were set +various poles and cross-beams. And it was down this villainous _diversoir_ +that the old rascal would have sent us, knowing that we should have come to +grief there. The boat would almost certainly have struck some obstacle and +been overturned by the current. + +Sometimes people rushed from the fields where they were working to the +banks to watch us. Dark men, with bare chests, and as hairy as monkeys; +women, likewise a good deal bare, with heads covered by great sun-bonnets, +and children burnt by the sun to the colour of young Arabs, stood and gazed +speechless with astonishment. Who were we in this strange-looking boat that +went so fast, and whence had we come? They knew that we must have come a +long, long way; but, how did we do it? How did we get over the _barrages_? +These were the thoughts that puzzled them. No boat had ever been known to +treat the obstacles of the Dronne in this jaunty fashion before. + +Several more weirs were passed; one with great difficulty, for the canoe +had to be dragged and jolted thirty or forty yards through the corner of a +wood. Then the evening fell again when we were following the windings of a +swift current that ran now to the right and now to the left of what seemed +to be a broad marsh covered with reeds and sedges. Sometimes the current +carried us into banks gloomy with drooping alders, or densely fringed with +brambles. When I heard squeals behind, I knew that Hugh was diving through +a blackberry-bush, or a hanging garden of briars. + +I was sorry for him; but my business was to keep the canoe's head in the +centre of the current, and leave the stern to follow as it might. At every +sudden turning Hugh became exceedingly watchful; but in spite of his +steering the stern would often swing round into the bank, and then there +was nothing for him to do but to duck his head as low as he could, and try +to leave as little as possible of his ears upon the brambles. Before the +end of this day he gave signs of restlessness and discontent. + +Our stopping-place to-night was to be La Roche Chalais, a rather important +village, just within the department of the Dordogne. We still seemed to be +far from it, notwithstanding all the haste we had made. While the air and +water were glowing with the last flush of twilight, myriads of swallows, +already on their passage from the north, spotted the clear sky, and settled +down upon the alders to pass the night. At our approach they rose again, +and filled the solitude with the whirr of their wings. We likewise +disturbed from the alders great multitudes of sparrows that had become +gregarious. They stayed in the trees until the boat was about twenty yards +from them, and then rose with the noise of a storm-wind beating the leaves. +One of the charms of this waterfaring is, that you never know what surprise +the angle of a river may bring. Very tired, and rather down at heart, we +turned a bend and saw in front of us a clear placid reach, on which the +reds and purples were serenely dying, and at a distance of about half a +mile, a fine bridge with the large central arch forming with its reflection +in the water a perfect ellipse. + +On the left of the bridge was a wooded cliff, the edges of the trees +vaguely passing into one another and the purple mist, and above them all, +against the warmly-fading sky was the spire of a church. That, said I, can +be no other than the church of La Roche Chalais; and so it turned out. + +There was a large mill below the bridge, where we met with much politeness, +and where our boat was taken charge of. Here we were told there was a good +hotel at La Roche, and we set off to find it. But how did we set off? +With bare feet, carrying our boots in our hands, and looking the veriest +scarecrows after our four days of amphibious life. We had tried to put on +our boots, but vainly, for they had been flooded. Now, this was the chief +cause of the unpleasantness that soon befell us, for no pilgrims ever had +more disgraceful-looking feet than ours. Fortunately it was nearly dark, +and the people whom we met did not examine us very attentively. Moreover, +they saw bare feet on the road and in the street every day of their lives +during the summer. + +At the inn, however, our appearance made an instantaneously bad impression. +It was the most important hotel in a considerable district. It lay in the +beat of many commercial travellers--men who never go about with bare +feet, or in dirty flannel and battered straw hats, but are always dressed +beautifully. We walked straight into the house, with that perfect composure +which the French say is distinctly British, and sudden consternation fell +upon the people there. Two elderly ladies, sister hotel-keepers--one of +whom had a rather strongly-marked moustache, for which, of course, poor +woman, she was not responsible--came out of the kitchen, and stood in the +passage fronting us. It was not to welcome us to their hostelry, but to +prevent us penetrating any farther, that they took up this position. + +'Mesdames,' said I, 'we want rooms, if you please, to-night, and also +dinner.' + +'Monsieur,' replied the lady with the moustache, 'I am sorry, but--but--all +our rooms are occupied.' + +'You are afraid of us, madame?' + +'Yes, monsieur, I am.' + +This I thought very frank indeed; and I was turning over in my mind what I +had better say next, when she continued: + +'We never take travellers without baggage.' + +'But,' said I, holding out my knapsack in one hand, and my boots in the +other, 'I have baggage.' Perceiving that the expression did not change, I +added: + +'I have also a boat.' + +'A boat!' + +'Yes, a boat.' + +'Where is it?' + +'On the river. I have left it at the mill just below here. We have come +from St. Apre.' + +'St. Apre! And where are you going?' + +'To Coutras, I hope.' + +By this time several persons who had collected in the passage and the +kitchen were grinning from ear to ear. I felt that all eyes were fixed upon +my red feet, and not liking the situation, I resolved to end it. + +'As you are afraid, I will give you my card.' So saying, I pushed my way +into the _salle à manger_, and pulled out a card, which, marvellous to +say, I had managed to keep dry. Now, the card itself conveyed nothing of +importance to anybody. It was the manner of saying, 'I will give you my +card,' together with the movement that meant, 'I am here, and I intend to +stop,' that broke down the resolution of the two women to turn us from +their door. + +Their confidence gradually came, and they gave us a very good dinner, +notwithstanding the lateness of the hour. We had comfortable beds, too, and +the next morning we got our feet into our boots. We bought our provisions +for the day at the inn, and to avoid the curiosity of the natives, we +escaped by a back way, and hobbled down to the boat through a rocky field. + +The stream was strong for a few miles below the mill at La Roche. The canoe +went down by itself fast enough, but the water had to be watched carefully, +for the bed was strewn with rocks. Sometimes we shot over blocks of +limestone that were only three or four inches below the surface. We could +not be sure from one minute to another that our rapid flight would not +meet with a sudden check. In this excitement of uncertainty there was true +pleasure. We chose our first spot for bathing where the current was strong, +and had our second swim in a wide and beautiful pool, where the table-like +rocks, smooth and polished, could be seen ten or twelve feet below the +surface. Then having spread out our provisions once more on the river bank +in a nook that seemed to be far from village, or even homestead, we had an +unpleasant surprise. About a dozen boys, on their way home from some hidden +school, suddenly appeared round a wooded corner, and after being brought to +a momentary standstill by their own astonishment, made straight towards +us. Having examined the canoe with much curiosity, they sat down in a +half-circle just behind us, with minds evidently made up to wait and see us +off. They watched us through our meal with much interest, and made jokes in +patois at our expense. They were not, however, so boldly bad as many boys, +and there was no sufficient reason to drive them away. Moreover, they may +have had a better right to be there than we. The field may have belonged to +the father of one of them. I suggested to them that their mothers might be +anxious, if not angry, on account of their loitering; but they were not to +be moved by any such reminders. They had made up their minds to see us off, +and this they did, to their great delight and entertainment. + +The river was charming, with its myriads of white water-lilies and forests +of reeds. Once it spread out into a lake, in which was a little island +covered with tall bulrushes and purple loosestrife. But although there was +so much pleasure for the eye, the afternoon was one of suffering. We were +blistering from the heat of the sun, and our bottles being emptied, we were +tormented with thirst. It was true that there was plenty of water always +within reach; but it had already run past a good many villages and small +towns, and, moreover, it was tepid. After leaving La Roche Chalais the +river had on its left bank the department of the Dordogne, and on its +right the Charente Inférieure. Rather late in the afternoon we entered the +Gironde, and soon afterwards heard the familiar sound of women beating +linen with their _battoirs_ by the side of the water. We came upon a crowd +of them, and learnt from them that the village of Les Églisottes was +close by. Having obtained here both water and white wine, we were able to +continue the voyage in better spirits. + +This fifth and last day on the Dronne was the most trying of all. The +distance may not have been more than twenty-five miles, but we were very +jaded. There were few weirs, but some of them were not easy to pass. Then +the boat from time to time had to be dragged a long way through reeds, +where there was not enough water to float it. For eight or nine hours the +sun raged above us; but the cool evening came at length--about the time +that we passed the last mill. The river was broad and deep, and I thought +that we could not be far from Coutras; but long reaches succeeded one +another, and the great forests of the Double on the left seemed as if they +would never end. + +The river is now running--or, rather, creeping, for it has lost its +current--under densely-wooded hills, and the water is deeply dyed with +interflowing tints of green and gold. These fade, and in the gathering +darkness without a moon the silent Dronne grows very sombre. The boat must +have received an exceptionally hard knock at the last weir, for we feel the +water rising about our feet. The wonder is that our frail craft has taken +its five days' bumping over stumps and stones so well. It would be very +annoying if it were to sink with us now that we are so near the end of our +voyage. But is the end so near? We scan the distance in front of us in +search of twinkling lights, but the only twinkle comes from a brightening +star. We see the long wan line of water, marked with awful shadows near the +banks, from which, too, half-submerged trees, long since dead, lift strange +arms or stretch out long necks and goblin heads that seem to mock and jibe +at us in this fashion: 'Ha! ha! you are going down! We'll drag you under!' +And the interminable black forest stretches away, away, always in front, +until it is lost in the dusky sky. + +Ah, there is a sound at length to break the monotonous dip, dip of the +paddles, and it is a sweet sound too. It is the angelus; there is no +mistaking it. It is very faint, but it puts fresh strength into our arms, +and revives the hope that this river will lead us somewhere. + +It led us to Coutras. There at about nine o'clock we beached the half +water-logged canoe not far above the spot to which the tide rises from the +broad Atlantic. We felt that we had had quite enough waterfaring to satisfy +us for the present. We had voyaged about eighty miles, and passed about +forty weirs. + + + + +BY THE LOWER DORDOGNE + + +[Illustration: A STREET AT ST. ÉMILION.] + +The nooks and corners where great men of the past spent their lives quietly +and thoughtfully often lie far enough from the beaten ways to provide the +romantic tramp with a motive that he may need to excuse his singularity +in faring on foot over a tract of country which lacks the kind of +picturesqueness that would mark it out as a territory to be annexed by the +tourist sooner or later. Having found myself, almost unexpectedly, in the +district of Michel de Montaigne, after crossing the Double, I reckoned +that less than a day's quiet walking would bring me to the village of +St. Michel-Bonnefare--better known in the region as St. Michel-Montaigne +(pronounced there Montagne, as the name was originally spelt), close to the +castle or manor-house where the contemplative Périgourdin gentleman was +born, and where he wrote his 'Essays' in a tower, of which he has left a +detailed description. Then there was another lure: the battle-field of +Castillon, a few miles farther south, where the heroic Talbot was slain, +and where the cannon that fired the fatal stone announced the end of the +feudal ages. We may travel over the whole world of literature without going +beyond our house and garden. Even the blind may read, and thus bring back +to themselves the life of the past; but how the indolent mind is helped +when spurred by the eye's impressions! The eye awakens ideas that might +otherwise sleep on for ever, by looking at scenes filled with the living +interest of a Montaigne or a Talbot. + +I might have got to within four miles or thereabouts of the Castle of +Montaigne, by using the railroad that runs up the valley of the Lower +Dordogne, but I preferred to start on foot from Montpont. This manner of +travelling is very old-fashioned, but it will always possess a certain +charm for two classes of people: habitual vagabonds who beg and are freely +accused of stealing, and the literary, artistic, antiquarian, or scientific +vagabonds who take to tramping by fits and starts. The latter class, being +quite incomprehensible to the rustic mind in Guyenne, are regarded by it +with almost as much suspicion as the other. + +I started at the hour of seven in the morning, which the French--earlier +risers than the English--think a late one for beginning the work of a +summer day in the provinces. I will not say that the plain on which I now +tramped for some miles was uninteresting, because all nature is interesting +if we are only in the right mood to observe and be instructed; but to me +it was dull, for I had been spoilt by much rambling in up and down country +full of strong contrasts. Here I saw on each side of me wide expanses of +field, with scarcely a hedge or tree, all dotted with grazing cattle. Not +a few of the animals were in the charge of muscular, aggressive dogs, that +interpreted their duty too largely, and made themselves a nuisance. At +intervals were patches of maize or pumpkins, or a bit of vineyard with a +house hard by facing the road--a low ground-floor house solidly built, +but its plainness unrelieved by the grace of a vine-trellis or a climbing +flower. By-and-by the land became somewhat hilly, and the pasturage changed +gradually to open wood and heath, where the gorse was already gilding its +summer green, and the bracken stood palm-like in purple deserts of heather. +Then the ideas began to warm in the sunny silence, and I fear that I +rejoiced in the sterility of the soil which had preserved the charm of free +and untormented nature. + +When I reached the village-like town of Villefranche, I perceived a +movement of men and women like that of bees around a hive. I chanced to +arrive on the day of the local fair, when everybody expects to make some +money, from the peasant proprietor or the _métayer_ who brings in his corn +or cattle, to the small shopkeeper who lives upon the agriculturist. I felt +disposed to lunch at the grandest hotel in Villefranche, and a good woman +whom I consulted on the subject led me through throngs of bartering +peasants and cattle-dealers, forests of horns, and by the upturned jaws of +braying asses, until she stopped before an inn. There all was bustle and +commotion. A swarm of women had been called in to help in anticipation of +the crush, and they got in one another's way, walked upon the cats' tails, +and raised the tumult of a boxing-booth with the rattle of their tongues. +All this was in the kitchen; but there was a side-room in which a long +table had been laid for the guests. I took a place at this rustic +_table-d'hôte_, and I had on each side of me and in front of me men in +blouses who talked in patois or in French, as the mood suited them. I had +already perceived that, as I drew nearer to Bordeaux, the Southern dialect +became more and more a jargon, in which there were not only many French +words, but French phrases. These men in blouses were rough sons of the +soil, but I soon gathered that some of them were very well off. In +provincial France dress counts for very little as a sign of fortune's +favour. There were men at the table whose burly forms and full-coloured +faces were just what one would expect to see at a market dinner in an +English country town; but their epicurean style of dealing lightly with +each dish, so that the charm of variety might not be spoilt by a too hasty +satisfaction of hunger, and the unanimity with which they asked for coffee +at the close, marked a strong difference in habits and manners. Their +politeness to me was almost excessive. As soon as the most jovial member of +the company--who had undertaken the carving had cut up a piece of meat or +a fowl, the dish was invariably passed from his end of the table to mine, +where I sat alone. + +Before leaving Villefranche, a low, square tower enticed me to the parish +church. The building was originally Romanesque, but the pointed style must +have been grafted upon the other so long ago as the English period. Outside +the walls, some steps led me into a little chapel half underground. It was +a barrel-vaulted crypt, sternly simple, and lighted only by one very narrow +Romanesque window in the apse, just above a rough stone altar of ancient +pattern, with a statue of the dead Christ on the ground beneath the slab. +In the semi-darkness, the flame of a solitary candle shone without smoke or +motion, as if it had been there for centuries, and like all the rest had +grown very old. + +I had climbed to the ruined Castle of Gurçons, where sloes and blackberries +were waiting for the birds in the feudal court strewn with stones. I had +left the village of Montpeyroux, with the sound of flails weakening on +the wind, and late in the afternoon was drawing near to the Castle of +Montaigne, when a small wayside auberge tempted me from the hot road. The +woman who waited upon me had a fat body and a hard, firmly inquisitive +face--a combination to be distrusted. Having settled down again to her +knitting, she inquired of me where I was going, and when I told her that I +was on my way to the Château de Montaigne, she asked me if I had any work +to do there. I evaded this question, not knowing, or not wishing to know, +exactly what she meant. She reflected a few minutes, then, looking at me +over her knitting-needles, she said: + +'Are you a tiler or a plasterer?' + +Now, this was a question that I was quite unprepared for. I had often been +set down as a pedlar. I had been suspected of being a travelling musician, +and also a colporteur for the Salvation Army; in fact, of being almost +everything but a tiler or plasterer. But this shrewd woman had evidently +come to the conclusion that, if I did not work upon the housetops, I must +perforce be an artist of the trowel. I assured her that I was as incapable +of fixing a tile as of making a ceiling; whereupon she said: + +'I beg your pardon. I thought you were a workman.' + +As I left, I saw by the vivacity with which she scratched the back of her +head with a knitting-needle that she was writhing mentally with the torture +of unsatisfied curiosity; and I took a malignant pleasure in her suffering. +The white flannel that I was wearing was the most agreeable reason I could +think of for being associated with plaster, but my resemblance to a tiler +continued to perplex me as I trudged along the road. + +I now left the broad highway, and took a narrower road that went for +some distance through woods up the side of a long hill. The shadows were +gathering under the trees, and I was beginning to fear that I should reach +the castle too late to carry out my pilgrimage that night, when I saw above +me, upon a knoll resting upon rocky buttresses, a modern mansion against a +background of trees. This was the very pleasant country residence built by +M. Magne, Minister of Finance under the Second Empire, upon the site of the +castle of Montaigne, which the author of the 'Essays,' with a better sense +of certain distinctions than that which is observed nowadays, preferred to +speak of as his _manoir_. This manor-house still preserved its fifteenth +and sixteenth century character, when a fire breaking out destroyed +everything but the walls, and gave M. Magne a plausible excuse for the +demolition. A part that was spared by the fire, and was therefore suffered +to remain intact, was the almost isolated tower, to which Montaigne +withdrew for the sake of quiet and meditation, and which is so well known +to all readers of his 'Essays.' Had this also disappeared, I should have +had no motive for wandering down the long avenue at nearly the end of the +day. + +I met with a courteous reception at the mansion, and obtained immediate +permission to visit the retreat of the sixteenth-century moralist who +looked with such clear eyes upon human life. + +[Illustration: THE CHÂTEAU DE MONTAIGNE AFTER THE FIRE.] + +The tower and its gateway belong to the period when feudalism had lost its +vitality, and life was troubled by the vague perception of new motives and +principles. Montaigne tells us that his family had occupied the manor +a hundred years when he entered into possession, and the style of the +fragment that is left bears out this statement: it appears to belong to the +middle part of the fifteenth century. Already manorial houses, crenated and +often moated, but, like this one at Montaigne, defensive rather for show +than the reality, were scattered over France. Speaking generally, they +belonged to the small nobility who fell under the category of the +_arrière-ban_ in time of war. In this tower Montaigne had his chapel, his +bedroom--to which he retired when the yearning for solitude was strong--and +his library. The chapel is on the ground-floor, and is very much what +it was in Montaigne's time. It is small, but there was room enough to +accommodate his household, which was never a large one. Its little +cupola connects it with the local style of architecture, to which the +high-swelling name of Byzantino-Périgourdin has been given. A small stone +altar occupies the apsidal end, and here, as in two or three other places, +the arms of Montaigne will be noted with interest by those who have read in +the essays: '_Je porte d'azur semé de trèfles d'or, à une patte de lyon de +mesme armée de gueules, mise en face_.' + +A man is often a sceptic on the surface and a believer underneath. Pascal +has called Montaigne '_un pur pyrrhonien_'; but Pascal himself has been +accused of scepticism. Living in an age when the crimes daily committed in +the name of religion might so easily have inspired a hater of violence like +Montaigne with a horror of creeds, he was no philosopher of the God-denying +sort. Moreover, notwithstanding his doubting moods and his fondness of the +words '_Que sais-je?_' he upheld the practice of religion in his own home, +and died a Christian. + +He shared, however, the eccentricity of Louis XI. in keeping himself out +of sight when he attended the religious services in his chapel. In the +vaulting near the entrance is a small opening communicating with a narrow +passage, by means of which Montaigne could leave his bedroom and hear mass +without showing himself; but in order to do so he had to grope along his +rabbit's burrow almost on hands and knees. To reach his bedroom from the +ground, he climbed up the spiral staircase as the visitor does today. The +steps are much worn in places, and the boots of the essayist must have had +something to do with this, for he probably used the tower more than any +other man. The room, nearly circular in shape, with brick floor and small +windows, looks to modern eyes more like a prison than a bed-chamber +befitting a nobleman. But independently of the great difference in +the ideas of home comfort which prevailed in the upper ranks of +sixteenth-century society, compared to those of the same class to-day, +Montaigne, like all men with large minds, loved simplicity. His father, who +rode the hobby-horse of frugal and severe training to an extent that might +have proved disastrous to his son Michel, had not the boy been singularly +well endowed by nature to correspond to his parent's wishes, had nurtured +him in the scorn of luxury by methods which would be considered very +crotchety nowadays. But this could not have been 'my chamber' in which King +Henry of Navarre slept, in 1584, when he paid a visit to Montaigne at his +fortified house. There was a better one in that part of the building which +has disappeared. Montaigne tells, with his quaint humour, that he was in +the habit of retiring to his bedroom in the tower so that he might rule +there undisturbed, and have a corner apart from what he curiously terms the +'conjugal, filial, and civil community.' And he expresses pity for the man +who is not able to 'hide himself' in the same way when the humour leads him +to do so. + +It was in the room above, however, where he enjoyed to the full the +pleasures of contemplation and quietude. Here, he tells us, he had +installed his library, in what had previously been regarded as the most +useless part of his mansion. The position had certain advantages. 'I +can see beneath me my garden and my poultry-yard, and can look into the +principal parts of my house.' It appears from this that he was so much 'in +the clouds,' that he did not occasionally find satisfaction from peeping +through windows to see what others were doing. It is in this way that the +old writers reveal themselves, and they keep themselves in sympathy with +mankind by not affecting to be above the little weaknesses common to +humanity. Here Montaigne spent the greater part of his time, except in +winter, when he often found the library too draughty to be comfortable. It +was in this room that he wrote his essays, and chiefly thought them out +while pacing up and down the floor, which even then was so uneven that the +only flat bit was where he had placed his table and chair. In common with +some other celebrated writers, he found that his thoughts went to sleep +when he sat down. 'My. mind does not work unless the legs make it move. +Those who study without a book are all in the same state.' + +Montaigne was no despiser of books; on the contrary, he was a great reader, +and one of the most scholarly men of his age; but he had his fits of +reading like other people, and the intervals between them were sometimes +long. Without a doubt, these intervals were the most productive periods. +The educational system to which he was subjected as a child was enough to +disgust him with books, and to separate him for ever from them as soon as +he had obtained his freedom. He was crammed with Latin, as a goose that +has to be fattened is crammed with maize in his own Périgord. He was not +allowed to speak even to his mother in French or in Périgourdin. Such was +the will of his father, who must have been a rather difficult man to live +with, and one whom a woman of spirit in this century would kill or cure +with curtain lectures if his interference with her in the nursery should +outrage the instincts of maternity. The very small boy was handed over to +tutors, whose instructions were to make Latin his first language, and even +his mother and servants were compelled to pick up enough Latin words to +carry on some sort of conversation with him. + +In the printers' preface to one of the earliest editions of the 'Essays,' +it is said: '_Somme, ils se_ _latinisèrent tant qu'il en regorgea jusque +à leurs villages tout autour, où ont pris pied par usage plusieurs +appellations latines d'artisans et d'outils.'_ It is just possible that +some of these Latin terms may have lingered in the district to the present +day; but it would need a great deal of patience to find them, and to +distinguish them from the patois of the people. Montaigne was more than six +years old before he was allowed to say a word in French or in the dialect +of Périgord--that of Arnaud and Bertrand de Born. He finished his austere +education at the then celebrated College of Guyenne, at Bordeaux, where, +according to local authorities, he had among his teachers the Scotch poet, +George Buchanan. + +'When young,' writes Montaigne, 'I studied for show; afterwards to grow +wiser; now I study for diversion.' He liked to have his books around him +even when he did not read them. Numerous reading-desks were distributed +over the brick floor of this circular room, and upon them he placed his +favourite volumes. He therefore read standing, according to the very +general custom of his time, which was doubtless better than our own, of +making our backs crooked by sitting and bending over our books. According +to his own admission, he had a bad memory, therefore he must have been in +frequent need of referring to his tomes for the quotations from ancient +authors which he was so fond of bringing into his text, and which make a +writer at this end of the nineteenth century smile at the thought of how +all the quills would rise upon that fretful and pampered porcupine, the +reading public of to-day, if Latin and Greek were ladled out to it after +Montaigne's fashion. + +The room is bare, with the exception of the wreck of an armchair of +uncertain history; but upon the forty-seven beams crossing the ceiling are +fifty-four inscriptions in Latin and Greek, written, or rather painted, +with a brush by Montaigne. Their interest has suffered a little from the +restoration which some of them have undergone; but there they are, the +crystals of thought picked up by the hermit of the tower in his wanderings +along the highways and byways of ancient literature, and which he fastened, +as it were, to the beams over his head, just where the peasants to-day hang +their dry sausages, their bacon, and strings of garlic. Many persons copy +sentences out of their favourite books, with the intention of tasting their +savour again and again; but if they do not lose them, they are generally +too busy or too indolent afterwards to look for them. Montaigne, however, +had his favourite texts always before his eyes. + +The curious visitor intent upon a discovery will be sure to find in these +the philosophical scaffolding of the 'Essays;' but I, who examine such +things somewhat superficially, would rather believe that Montaigne +inscribed them upon the rough wood because they expressed in a few words +much that he had already thought or felt. By the extracts that a man makes +for his private satisfaction from the authors who please him, the bent of +his intellect and cast of character can be very accurately judged. If +other testimony were wanting, these sentences would prove the gravely +philosophical temper of Montaigne's mind, notwithstanding the flippant +confessions of frailty which he mingles sometimes so incongruously with +the reflections of a sage. Most of the extracts are from Latin and +Greek authors, but not a few are from the Books of Ecclesiastes and +Ecclesiasticus and the Epistles of St. Paul. Here one sees written by the +hand of the sixteenth century thinker the noble words of Terence: + + 'Homo sum, humani a me nihil alienum puto.' + +Then one catches sight of this line by the sagacious Horace: + + 'Quid aeternis minorem consiliis animum fatigas?' + +Looking at another piece of timber, one slowly spells out the words: + + 'O miseras hominum mentes! O pectora caeca!' + +And so one follows the track of Montaigne's mind from rafter to rafter. + +Had I been left alone here while the evening shadows gathered in the tower, +I might soon have seen the figure of a man in trunk-hose, doublet, and +ruff, with pointed beard and pensive eyes, moving noiselessly between rows +of spectral desks covered by spectral books; but, as it was, even in the +most shadowy corner I could not detect the faintest outline of a ghost. +Nobody knows what has become of all the volumes which were here, and which +were said to have numbered a thousand. They were given by Montaigne's only +surviving child, his daughter Léonore, to the Abbé de Roquefort, but what +became of them afterwards is a mystery. There is a small room adjoining the +library, the one that Montaigne mentions as having a fireplace. The hearth +where he sat and warmed himself has scarcely changed. Here on the walls +may be seen traces of paintings. They are supposed to be the work of a +travelling artist, to whom Montaigne gave food and shelter in exchange +for his labour. It would appear from this that he was careful not to ruin +himself by the encouragement of art. Montaigne, however, had a good nature, +although he may not have cared to spend money on bad pictures. He has told +us of his efforts to reclaim little beggars, and to make them respectable +members of society. Before the present château was built, the old kitchen +could be seen where he warmed and fed the young mendicants, who, having +been refreshed and comforted, returned to their old ways, '_les gueux ayant +leurs magnificences et leurs voluptés comme les riches_.' + +The village of St. Michel is close to the château, but is of much more +ancient origin, as its church plainly shows. The venerable Romanesque +door-way was to me more beautiful because of the purple spots of +snapdragon, that shone in the clear dimness of the twilight like little +coloured lamps about the crevices of the old stones. It is uncertain +whether Montaigne was christened here or in the family chapel. It was a +strange christening wherever it took place, for we are told that he was +'held over the font' by persons of most humble condition, his father's +motive in this matter being, according to the printers of the early edition +of the 'Essays' already referred to, 'to attach him to those who might +have need of him rather than to those of whom he might have need.' It was +Papessu, another village in the neighbourhood, to which he was sent as +a nurseling, and where, in obedience to the injunctions of his Spartan +father, he was treated like one of the peasant family with whom he was +placed. He was reared from his cradle in frugality and philosophy, and, +considering what an unpleasant childhood he must have passed, it is truly +wonderful that he fulfilled parental expectations, and did not turn out a +hard drinker and a brawling cavalier. + +There is a tradition in Périgord which some local writers have accepted as +fact, that the Montaigne family was of English origin. It is not easy to +ascertain the ground on which it rests. The patronymic was Eyquem, and the +_chevalier-seigneur_, who settled in Périgord and took the territorial +title of Montagne or Montaigne, came from the Bordelais. + +That is about all that is really known of the family. If the Eyquem had +borne a prominent part against the French kings in the long wars which had +not ended a hundred years before the birth of the moralist, this would have +been sufficient to account for their being described as English. + +Speaking of the peasants of his district, Montaigne tells us that their +dress was 'more distant from ours than that of a man who is only clothed +with his skin.' From this we have a right to suppose that their appearance +was original, if not picturesque. To-day it is neither one nor the other. +With the exception of the kerchief tied round the back of the head, after +the fashion of the Périgourdine or the Bordelaise, by some of the women, +these peasants wear nothing to distinguish them from those who have +entirely abandoned a local costume. + +I was in no way pleased with the villagers of St. Michel-Montaigne, nor did +they seem to be agreeably impressed by me. Those to whom I spoke did not +conceal their surprise that I had been allowed to see over the castle. I +think they must have set me down for something less respectable than a +plasterer, and I began to think quite seriously that I was neglecting my +appearance. Then I thought of the knapsack, which was really getting to +look, from long usage, as if the time had come for placing it in the way of +a deserving _chiffonnier_, but I could not make up my mind to buy another. +I was anxious to pass the night in the village, for I hoped that the +inhabitants had preserved some traditions of Montaigne; but there was only +a small and very dirty-looking auberge that had any pretension to lodge +man and beast, and here the hostess rejected my overtures with vivacity. +Consequently, I was compelled to trudge on, and as I left the place I shook +the dust from off my feet at the inhabitants. There was plenty of it, but I +am afraid it did them little harm. + +The road, now descending towards the Dordogne, passed through great +vineyards, and there was enough light for the clustered bunches of grapes +to be seen on every vine. Under the calm sky, still full of the heat of the +summer day, and glowing duskily, the wide, sloping land offered up all its +myriads of broad, motionless leaves and its wealth of fruit to the god of +wine. O gentle peace of the summer night that has still the bloom of the +sun upon its dusky cheek--peace untroubled by any sound save the joyous +shrilling of the cricket that has climbed upon the darkening leaf--why do I +hurry onward upon the dusty road, instead of sitting upon a bank amid the +fragrant thyme and agrimony, and letting the mind lay in great store of +your sweetness against the cold and dismal nights to come? + +I reached the village of La Mothe by the Dordogne, and while I was casting +about for an inn that looked comfortable, and also hospitable, I met +a pretty little brunette with a rich southern colour in her cheeks, +charmingly coifed _à la bordelaise_, and tripping jauntily along with a +coffee-pot in her hand. It was pleasant to look at a nice face again after +all the ill-favoured visages that had risen up against me during the second +half of the day, and so I stopped this pretty girl and asked her to tell me +which was the best hotel in the place. She would not answer the question, +but she mentioned a hotel which she said was as good as any. Thither I +went, and found a comfortable little inn, where I was well received. I had +not been there long when the little brunette entered. She was the 'daughter +of the house.' I now understood that her hesitation was conscientious. + +The hostess was a small, sprightly woman with a smiling face, which, +together with her bright-coloured coif gracefully hanging to her black +hair, made up such a head as puts one in a good temper for a whole evening. +She was so highly civilized that she actually asked me if I would like to +wash my hands. I expected that she was going to lead me to one of those +little cisterns--'fountains' in French--attached to the wall, that one sees +throughout Guyenne, and which have come down almost unchanged in form, as +well as the roller-towels that often go with them, from the feudal castles +of the twelfth century; but I was wrong. She led me to a bucket. Filling +a large ladle with water, she fixed it lengthwise, and the handle being a +tube, the water ran slowly out from the end. I quite understood that I had +to wash my hands with the trickling water, for I had often done it before. +These ladles with hollow handles are also used for sprinkling the floors, +which are never washed in Southern France. The sprinkling lays the dust, +cools the air, and depresses the fleas for at least a quarter of an hour. + +After I had dealt with a well-cooked little dinner, plentifully bedewed +with a pleasant but not insidious wine grown upon the sunny slopes above +the Dordogne, I made the discovery that the best room in the house was +occupied by the dark-eyed damsel, except when a guest came along who +managed to ingratiate himself with her mother, and then the daughter had +to turn out. The room was not exactly luxurious, for it contained little +besides the bed, a table, and a chair, but it was bright and clean; and +when I had confided myself to the strong hempen sheets that had still half +a century of wear in them, and had passed the first quarter of an +hour, which is always critical, without being made aware by scouts and +skirmishers of the advance of a hostile force, I was very thankful that I +was not received with open arms in the village of St. Michel-Montaigne. + +The next morning I met the Dordogne again after a long separation. It was +now a great river flowing quietly through a vine-covered plain. The rapids +had all been left far away, but it had begun to feel the tide, and this +to a river is like the first shock of death. It struggles for awhile with +destiny, and a sadder sound than the cry which it made when it came forth +from the rock or the little lake is heard in the quiet evening or the more +solemn night. Although it is flowing back to its true source, the river +shrinks from the vast and mysterious ocean as we shrink ourselves from the +immense unknown. + +But at this hour of eight in the morning, with a sun so bright and a sky so +blue, only the broad and serene beauty of the water makes itself felt. As +the river goes curving over the vine-covered land, its stillness is almost +that of a lake, and it mirrors nothing but the sky, save the trees and +flowers of it's banks. The moments are precious, for the tender loveliness +of the landscape will wane as the light gains strength. + +On each side of the Dordogne, between the water and the vineyards, which +stretch away with scarcely a break across the plain and up the sides of the +distant hills, is a strip of rough field. The sunshine of four months, with +hardly a shower to moisten the earth, has made flowers scarce, but on this +long curving bend of coarse meadow the grass has kept something of its +greenness, and the season of blossoming stays by the beautiful stream. +There is a wanton tangling and mingling of the waste-loving flowers, such +as the yellow toad-flax, the bristling viper's bugloss, the thorny ononis +that spreads a hue of pink as it creeps along the ground, sky-blue chicory +on wiry stems, large milk-white blooms of _datura_, and purple heads of +_centaurea calcitrapa_, whose spines are avoided like those of a hedgehog +by people who walk with bare feet. Upon the banks, the high hemp-agrimony +and purple loosestrife, with here and there an evening primrose, flaunt +their masses of colour over the water or the pebbly shore. + +From a distant church tower that rises above the wilderness of vines +a clear-voiced bell calls through the morning air, _Sanctus! sanctus! +sanctus!_ by which all know who care to think of it that the priest +standing at the altar there has come to the most solemn part of his mass. + +Wandering on, indifferent to the flight of time, upon these pleasant banks, +which, but for a bullock-cart that came jolting and creaking along by +the edge of the vines, I might have thought quite abandoned by all other +humanity, I saw afar off a little cluster of white houses that seemed to +be floating on the blue water. I knew that this could be nothing else but +Castillon, and that the effect of floating houses was an illusion caused by +a bend of the river. And so I was nearing at length that place where the +destinies of France and England, so long interwoven, became again distinct, +and where the English nationality, which five-and-twenty years before was +in imminent danger of absorption as the fruit of victory, was decisively +saved from this fate by a defeat for which all England then in her +blindness mourned. The loss of Guyenne made an alien dynasty national, +and by stopping the outflow of the Anglo-Saxon race upon the Continent, +preserved its energies for the fulfilment of a very different destiny from +that which had almost begun when a peasant-girl dropped her distaff and +took up the sword. + +On reaching Castillon I had one of those disappointments to which a +traveller should always be prepared after being taught so often by +experience that distance idealizes a scene. How much less romantic the town +looked now than when I saw it floating, as it seemed, upon the sky-blue +water in a haze of gold-dust fired by the slanting rays! It was then like +the Castillon of some troubadour's song; now it was a mean-looking little +sun-baked town modernized to downright plainness, with no remnant of its +ramparts remaining save a sombre old Gothic gateway near the river, and no +ecclesiastical architecture deserving notice. Its site, however, is the +same as that which it occupied in the Middle Ages, namely, close to the +Dordogne, upon a ridge of rising land running up towards the hills which +close the valley on the north. On the eastern side this ridge for some +distance is so steep as to be almost escarped, but it is covered with grass +or vines; on the opposite side it is now only a little above the plain. The +battle was fought, not under the walls of the town, but somewhat to the +north-east of it in the open country. + +Talbot's mistake lay in the confidence with which he attacked an entrenched +army much stronger than his own, and especially in his contempt for Messire +Jean Bureau's guns. The old leader now belonged to a dying epoch, and +his great faith in British and Gascon archers may well have led him to +undervalue the power of artillery, notwithstanding that it was used with +terrible effect by Edward III. at Crecy more than a hundred years before. +The French had profited by that lesson, and at Castillon they turned the +tables on their tenacious adversaries. + +It may be well to briefly recall the circumstances under which this +momentous battle was fought. One after another the English had been +compelled to surrender to the victorious armies of Charles VII. their +fortresses in Poitou, Angoumois, Guyenne and Gascony; so that of their +immense province of Aquitaine, which at one time stretched from the Loire +to the Pyrenees, they possessed nothing. Even Bordeaux, after remaining +faithful to England for 200 years, was a French city at the middle of the +fifteenth century. It would probably have remained so without any fresh +appeal to arms if Charles VII. had treated the inhabitants with the same +justice, and accorded them the same liberties which they enjoyed while they +were the subjects of the English kings. It is a truly remarkable fact that, +although these kings were so intimately connected with France by blood and +ambition, they had borrowed enough of the genius of the Anglo-Saxon race +for establishing foreign possessions upon the solid basis of reciprocal +interest to make their administrative policy in Aquitaine incomparably +better by its equity, the facilities which it afforded for local +government, the assertion of individual rights, and the growth of communal +prosperity, than that of the French kings and the great nobles who, while +owing homage, to the crown, were virtually sovereigns. + +At no time was there much dissatisfaction with the rule of the English +sovereigns and their seneschals in Western Aquitaine. It was only in the +wilder parts of the country, such as the Quercy and the Rouergue, where +Celtic blood was, and still is, almost pure, and where the people were very +difficult to govern--Caesar had found that out before Henry Plantagenet, +Becket, and John Chandos--that there were frequent revolts, entailing as a +fatal consequence in those feudal ages barbaric repression. Throughout the +flourishing Bordelais the people became firmly and thoroughly attached +to the English cause, not less than the Alsatians and Lorrainers became +attached to that of France in later times--although there is no historical +parallel between the origin of the two connections. Bordeaux was like +another London when the Black Prince held his splendid but profligate court +there. Commercial interest had doubtless something to do with this fidelity +of the Bordelais, for the wealthy English soon learnt to appreciate the +delicate flavour of the wines grown upon the chalky hillsides by the +Garonne and the Dordogne, and 500 years ago ships came from London and +Bristol to Bordeaux and returned laden with pipes and hogsheads; but a +sagacious and--the times being considered--a large-minded and generous +system of government gave to the people that feeling of security which +was then so rare, and which was the beginning of all patriotic sentiment. +French writers who have studied this subject frankly admit that we have +here the true explanation of the strong attachment of the Bordelais and the +Gascons to the English cause. As an illustration, it may not be amiss to +translate the following passages from 'Les Anglais en Guyenne,' by M. D. +Brissaud: + +'The Aquitanians had reason to thank the English Government for not having +treated them as foreigners, like the inhabitants of a conquered province, +as the people of Ireland, for example, had been treated, and for having +confined its action to the development of judicial institutions, of which +the germ was found in the feudal system of France.... The kings of England +not only refrained from setting themselves in opposition to the local +justice of the _arrière-fiefs_; we have seen them, and we shall see them +again in the history of the communal movement, favour the extension of +trial by peers, while accommodating at the same time their administrative +system to the spontaneous manifestations of opinion in a continental +country. They even took care in the composition of the courts that the +Aquitanians should not feel the supremacy of the foreigner. With rare +exceptions, the _personnel_ of the courts of justice was recruited from +among the inhabitants of the province--a precious advantage at a time when +the predominance of provincial feeling caused those magistrates who were +sent from the North of France into the South by the Capetian royalty to +be regarded as foreigners and enemies. The consequence of this choice by +England of Aquitanians in preference to English in the composition of the +courts was that under Philippe le Bel or Philippe de Valois Guyenne had +a right to consider itself in possession of a milder and more impartial +system of justice than other provinces of the South already attached like +Languedoc to the crown of France.' + +When, therefore, the Bordelais fell under French rule, the exactions of +Charles and the cynicism with which he broke faith, together with the +stagnation in the wine trade, caused the people to wish very heartily that +the English would return and try their luck again with the sword. A revolt +was secretly planned, in which many of the powerful barons of Aquitaine +leagued themselves with the burghers of Bordeaux, for the nobles were as +dissatisfied with the new state of things as the commoners. The Earl of +Shrewsbury, notwithstanding his great age, came over from England with a +very small following, and placed himself at the head of the insurrection. +The name of Talbot was sufficient to fire the Bordelais and the Gascons +with enthusiasm and confidence. As the news of his landing in the Médoc +spread, men rushed to arms and raised the old battle-cries of the English +in Aquitaine. Bordeaux opened its gates immediately to the veteran leader, +and the example was quickly followed by Libourne, Castillon, St. Émilion, +and other strong places in the district. This was in the month of October, +1452. It was not until May of the following year that Charles VII. decided +to risk the fortunes of war with the two armies which he had mustered--one +on the Garonne, and the other on the Charente. By that time the whole of +Western Guyenne was again English. The plan of campaign followed was +the one laid out by the long-headed Jean Bureau, a man of figures and +calculations--a small Moltke of the fifteenth century. He had been the +King's treasurer, his _argentier_; then the Bastard of Orleans made him +Mayor of Bordeaux, and now, because he had a taste for guns, he was Grand +Master of the Artillery. He advised Charles that the best course to adopt +in order to spoil the English scheme would be to take possession of +the roads leading to Bordeaux, and thus cut off communication with the +interior. Now, Castillon was an important strategical point, commanding +one of the principal gates of the Bordelais, and it was resolved to make a +vigorous effort to snatch this fortress, which was but weakly garrisoned, +from the hands of the English. The army, which was under the nominal +command of the Comte de Penthièvre, but whose ruling spirit was Jean +Bureau, accordingly marched on Castillon, and the King's army moved in +the same direction. Talbot, having tidings of the enemy's plans, hurried +eastward with all the forces he could muster to the relief of the garrison. +His main object, however, was probably to prevent a junction of the two +armies. He was confident of being able to defeat both if he could engage +them separately. + +The French army came down the valley of the Dordogne, and drew near to +Castillon when Talbot was still far away. The plan of the leaders was not +to attack the town until their camp had been well fortified with earthworks +and palisades, for it was felt that they could not be too cautious when an +adversary like Talbot was in the country, and possibly near at hand. The +entrenched camp was laid out and ordered with a military science in +advance of the age. The position, moreover, was very judiciously chosen, +considering the impossibility in which the French were placed of selecting +high ground. The camp was in a fork formed by the Dordogne and its small +tributary, the Lidoire, which flows in a south-westerly direction, and +falls into the broad river a mile or two above Castillon. Bureau was given +ample time to raise his ramparts, dig his moats, fix his palisades, and +set up his park of artillery, on which he laid so much store. Then were +detached 800 archers--Angévins and Berrichons--who took up their quarters +at an abbey that then existed a little to the north of the town, at the +foot of a wooded hill. The fortress was therefore threatened on two sides. + +On July 16 Talbot arrived on the scene, and at the first brush obtained a +signal advantage by taking the French completely by surprise. On the march +from Libourne he did not trust himself to the broad valley, which, being +highly cultivated then as it is now, offered no cover, but followed the +line of hills to the north of it, on which much of the ancient forest still +clung. Thus he managed to conceal his advance until his men broke suddenly +upon the unsuspecting archers of Anjou and Berry, and slaughtered them with +that thoroughness which was characteristic of mediaeval warfare. Talbot +belonged to an age that gave no quarter and expected none. A man down was a +man lost, unless he had extraordinary luck. The massacre of these archers +put the English army--which, after the drafts made on various garrisons, +was now said to be about 6,000 strong--in good spirits. Not many of the +fugitives reached the camp. Talbot did not follow up this advantage by +attempting an immediate attack upon the fortified position in the plain. He +gave his men a rest after their toilsome march over rough ground, and +put off the decisive battle until the morrow. In the meantime, he placed +himself in communication with the garrison of Castillon, and arranged that +a sortie in force should take place on the signal being given for the great +tug-of-war. He made the abbey his headquarters, and it has been recorded +that the casks of wine found in the cellars of the dispossessed monks were +speedily drained. + +The momentous day of July 17 broke, and Talbot was waiting to hear mass +before risking upon the die of a battle the English cause in Aquitaine, so +wonderfully and bloodlessly redeemed in a few months. One of the last of +the mediaeval knights, the ardour of his loyalty was tinged with mysticism, +and any cause that he had espoused would have become holy in his eyes. He +therefore raised those aged eyes now to the God of battles as he knelt in +the quiet sanctuary, impatient though he was to see the vineyards and the +meadows redden again with the blood that he had been shedding with the zeal +of a Crusader for more than half a century. His chaplain was laying +the altar, when a sudden movement of armed men disturbed the kneeling +octogenarian from his devotions. Tidings were brought that the French camp +was breaking up in disorder, and that the enemy was about to escape. At +this news the blood of the old warrior began to rush through his veins, and +without waiting for the mass, he had his armour brought to him. Clad in +iron and mounted upon his white horse, accompanied by his son, the Lord +Lisle--Shakespeare's John Talbot--he rode down into the plain. The enemy +was not in disorder, but was waiting behind the entrenchments for the +expected onslaught. + +Talbot gave the order for the attack, and his thousand knights and esquires +charged down upon the camp. When they were well within range of Bureau's +artillery, the 'three hundred cast-iron pieces mounted on wheels, which +they called _bombardes_,' [Footnote: Chroniques de Jean Tarde.] broke into +a roar, and the stone balls worked terrible havoc upon horses and riders. +The ground was quickly strewn with heavily armoured men, who lay there as +helpless as turned turtles, and who were ridden over by those in the rear. +The mediaeval cavalry was shattered or thrown into hopeless confusion by +the new artillery. The infantry met with no better success in moving to the +assault of the hastily raised ramparts bristling with guns. The English +army was demoralized by this unexpected reception. In vain did Talbot ride +again and again into the thickest of the fray--the besieged had now assumed +the offensive. Even his grand old figure and his rallying cry failed to +turn back the tide of disaster. It has been written that in his wrath he +struck those of his own party who endeavoured to draw him out of the danger +to which he was constantly exposing himself. He felt that at his age it was +not worth while to survive defeat, in order that he might die in his bed +with a mind tortured by gnawing regret a few months or years later. + +But although he resolved not to save himself, he urged his son to flee. +On this point there is too much agreement between English and French +chroniclers for it to be possible to doubt that Shakespeare's well-known +scene between the old and the young Talbot, in the first part of 'King +Henry VI.,' was founded on fact. Moreover, what was more natural than that +the father, when he saw the evil turn that things were taking, should have +said to his son: + + 'Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest horse, + And I'll direct thee how thou shall escape + By sudden flight. Come, dally not; be gone'? + +What more natural, too, than that the son of such a father should have +replied in words which, although less rhythmical, would have been in +substance these?-- + + 'Is my name Talbot? and am I your son? + And shall I fly? + The world will say he is not Talbot's blood, + That basely fled when noble Talbot stood.' + +To the fact that the battle of Castillon was fought in Périgord, although +the town is in the Bordelais, we doubtless owe the interesting description +that Jean Tarde has left us of the memorable struggle. His narrative, so +far as it relates to the incident between Talbot and his son, is in the +main the same as Shakespeare's; but being told in the plain prose of a +simple annalist, it lacks the rhetorical and romantic embellishments which +the British poet thought fit to add. In the following translation of the +most interesting part of Tarde's description of the battle, an effort has +been made to preserve the style of the writer: + +'The English troops entered courageously by the passage where the artillery +awaited them, which (passage) alone could give them access to the French +army. He who commanded the artillery took his time, and at the first +discharge laid low three or four hundred. This massacre, coming +unexpectedly, troubled the whole English army, and threw it into disorder, +which pained Talbot to see; and fearing the defeat of his men, he told +the Sieur de l'Isle, his son, to withdraw and reserve himself for a more +fortunate occasion; who replied that he could not retire from the combat +in which he saw his father running the risk of his life. To this Talbot +rejoined, 'I have in my life given so many proofs of my valour and military +virtue, that I cannot die to-day without honour, and I cannot flee without +making a breach in the reputation I have acquired by so much labour; but to +you, my son, who are bearing here your first arms, flight cannot bring any +infamy nor death much glory.' [Footnote: 'J'ay pendant ma vie donné tant de +tesmoignages de ma valeur et vertu militaire que je ne puys meshuy mourir +sans honneur et ne puys fuir sans fère brèche à la réputation que j'ay +acquise par tant de travaux; mais vous mon filz qui portés icy vos +premières armes, la fuitte ne vous peut apporter aucune infamie, ny la mort +beaucoup de gloire.'] But without giving heed to this counsel, the young +lord, full of generous courage, reassured his men, made them fall again +into rank, and having ranged them with their bucklers fixed in tortoise +fashion, sped on to the attack of his enemies in their camp; for they had +not dared to leave their trenches. The French, seeing themselves pressed in +this way, entered into the battle. Great was the _mêlée_. The artillery of +the French continued all the while to fire upon the English troops, and so +well that a stone striking Talbot broke his thigh. The English seeing their +chief on the ground, believing him dead, and recognising that the French +were the stronger in artillery and in the number of men, lost courage, fell +into disorder, and only thought of saving themselves. The French, on the +contrary, took heart and fought with fury. The battle was bloody. Talbot, +his son the Sieur de l'Isle, another bastard son, and a son-in-law, were +killed with the greater part of the English nobility, and the whole army +was cut to pieces. Talbot's body was buried on the spot where it was found, +and upon his grave was built a small chapel that still exists, but open to +the sky and half ruined.' + +Jean Tarde concludes his narrative of the battle with these remarks: + +'The English army being thus defeated, Castillon surrendered, and the King +in person besieged Bordeaux, which surrendered on October 18. Following its +example, all the other towns of Guyenne again submitted to him. Thus ended +the domination of the English in Guyenne, of which (province) they were +completely dispossessed, and which at once returned to the sceptre and +crown of France, after remaining for three hundred years in the claws of +the English leopards.' + +There are some patent inaccuracies in Tarde's account--the statement, to +wit, that Talbot was buried on the spot where he fell, whereas his body was +carried from the field and taken to England. The ecclesiastical chronicler +must have accepted the story in circulation among the common people, which +is repeated to this day by the peasants around Castillon, who even point +out a mound which they call 'Talbot's grave.' Shakespeare does not fall +into this error, although he brings Jeanne d'Arc upon the battlefield, +notwithstanding that she was burnt twenty-two years before the death of +Talbot. + +According to the version accepted by French historians, Talbot was +overthrown by a cannon-shot, and was afterwards despatched on the ground by +a soldier who ran his sword through the hero's throat. His body was carried +into the French camp, where it remained all night, and it was so disfigured +that his herald could hardly recognise it. Many of the fugitives were +drowned or were killed by the archers while attempting to swim across the +Dordogne. Four thousand English, or English partisans, were said to have +been slain on this fatal day, and only a small remnant of the army managed +to retreat within the walls of Castillon. The French then besieged the +town, and the bombardment was so furious that the garrison was soon willing +to surrender on the best terms that could be obtained. Bordeaux was not +besieged until St. Émilion, Libourne, Fronsac, Bazas, Cadillac, and other +strongholds of the Bordelais had capitulated. + +After this rather long journey into the past, I must return to my wayfaring +upon the battlefield of Castillon, over which more than four centuries have +crept since the events occurred which gave it so dramatic a celebrity. + +Scorched by the now blazing sun, I took the shadeless road leading out of +the town towards the north-east, and after walking about a mile between +vineyards, I came to the commemorative monument of the battle raised in +1888 by the Union Patriotique de France. It is a low obelisk, with no +ornament save a mediaeval sword carved upon it, with point turned upwards. +Facing the road is the following inscription: + + '_Dans cette plaine le 17 Juillet, 1453, fut remporté + la victoire qui délivra du joug de l'Angleterre + les provinces meridionals de la France et termina la + guerre de cent ans_.' + +The abbey where the French archers were surprised and slain must have been +near this spot, but it was down in the valley by the Lidoire where Talbot +fell. There is no trace of a chapel such as that of which Tarde speaks, nor +any other mark to show the place. But the little stream is there as of old, +and the beautiful Dordogne that drank the mingled blood of the two armies +which its tributary poured into it flows serenely and blue as it did then +under the same summer sky. + +An Englishman who now wanders over the battlefield of Castillon can hardly +realize how his country grieved at the defeat of Talbot far away here +amidst the southern vines. To-day it seems so absurd, so contrary to the +policy of common-sense, that England, then so thinly populated, should have +striven so hard and so long in order to be a Continental power; when now, +with her dense population, half subsisting upon foreign supplies, she +blesses that accident of nature which caused the bridge of rocks that +connected her with the mainland to disappear beneath the sea. Surely if +history teaches anything, it teaches the vanity of politics. + +From Castillon I bent my course to St. Émilion on the road to Libourne; the +Dordogne, which here twists like a snake in agony, being left somewhat to +the south. The whole country, hill and plain, was clad with vineyards, but +I soon grew weary of looking at the numberless short vines fastened to +stakes in one broad blaze of unchanging sunshine. Even the hanging clusters +of grapes wearied the eye by endless repetition. + +By-and-by, out of all this sameness rose a hill in that abrupt manner which +strikes a peculiar character into this southern landscape, and upon +the hill were jutting rocks and a broken mass of strangely-jumbled +masonry-roofs rising out of roofs, gables crushing gables, feudal towers, +great walls, and one tall heaven-pointing spire. This was St. Émilion, +respected in the Middle Ages as a strong fortress of the Bordelais, and now +so famous for its wine that the locality has long ceased to produce more +than an insignificant part of that which is put into bottles bearing the +name of a saint who drank nothing stronger than water. Only the wine that +is grown upon the sides of the hill is really St. Émilion; it changes as +soon as the vineyards reach the plain. It is then a _vin de plaine_, and is +no more like the other than if it had been grown fifty miles away. + +Celtic remains point to the conclusion that, long before the foundation of +the first monastery, which was the beginning of the mediaeval town, the +Gauls had an _oppidum_ on this hill. St. Émilion became a fortified town in +the reign of King John, who signed a charter here, and it may be said to +have been thoroughly gained over to the English cause by Edward I., who +granted numerous privileges to the burghers. For a short time the place +fell into the power of Philippe IV., but it was in its collegial church in +May, 1303, that the duchy of Aquitaine was ceremoniously restored by the +Seneschal of Gascony to the King of England, represented on this occasion +by the Earl of Lincoln. To reward the inhabitants for their fidelity, and +to compensate them in some sort for the trials which they had endured in +consequence, St. Émilion was made a royal English borough, and enjoyed the +special favour and protection of the sovereign. + +It was in this fourteenth century that it rose to the height of its +importance and prosperity. We can gather to-day from the ruins of its +religious buildings and fortifications what that importance must have been. +Besides the monastery dating from the age of Charlemagne, whose monks early +in the twelfth century were placed under the rule of St. Augustin, +two great religious establishments were those of the Minor Friars or +Cordeliers, and the Preaching Friars or Dominicans. Of the vast convent of +these last nothing remains but a very stately and noble fragment of the +church wall, standing isolated on the top of the hill. + +During the Hundred Years' War St. Émilion was besieged and taken by Du +Guesclin; but although the burghers were often compelled to dissemble in +order to save their throats, they were always ready to welcome an English +army. They were among the first to follow the example of the men of +Bordeaux, who raised the English flag for the last time in 1452. + +During the religious wars of the sixteenth century St. Émilion suffered +grievously from the fury and bestiality of the vile ruffians of both camps. +The excesses of the Norman barbarians when they burnt and pillaged the +town in the ninth century were mild in comparison with those of the +sixteenth-century Christians. + +There are few spots more fascinating to the artist and archaeologist than +this ruinous old stronghold of the English kings. One might ramble a long +time over the cobble stones of its steep narrow streets, and about the +ruined ramparts draped with green pellitory and the spurred valerian's +purple flowers, with a mind held in continual tension by the picturesque. +At every angle there is a fresh surprise. The monolithic church, made by +excavating the calcareous rock, which crops out and forms a kind of table +near the top of the crescent-shaped hill, is said to have been mainly the +work of monks in the ninth century. There is no other resembling it, with +the exception of the one at Aubeterre, the idea of which was probably +borrowed here. Steps lead down into the nave, where there is an odour of +ancient death, and where the light darting through windows pierced in the +face of the cliff reveals on each side a row of huge rectangular piers +supporting round-headed arches, all forming part of the rock. These +separate the nave from the aisles, of which there are three, the one +farthest from the centre having been used chiefly for burial. All about are +numerous tomb recesses. The piers and their arches are covered with green +or black lichen, which adds not a little to the gloom and dismalness of +this subterranean church. + +[Illustration: MONOLITHIC CHURCH AND DETACHED TOWER AT ST. ÉMILION.] + +Ornamental details of the exterior, such as the doorway with its has-relief +of the Last Judgment, are of a much later period than the rude excavations +of the interior. From the platform of rock immediately above the vast +crypt rise a Gothic tower and spire dating from the twelfth century. This +structure, which lends so much character to St. Émilion, appears to belong +to the church beneath; but such is not the case. Although separated, it is +a part of the collegial, now parish, church, which is higher up the hill, +just within the line of the ramparts. It is said to have been built by the +English, but the Romanesque lateral doorway would be strong evidence of +the contrary if there were no other. English influence, however, may have +played some part in the extensive rebuilding which was carried out in the +fourteenth century. The east end, scarcely forming an apse, and pierced in +the centre with a high broad window with a narrower window on each side, +suggests this, as do also the very massive columns of the choir. + +Close to the monolithic church is the cavern where the hermit Émilion is +supposed to have dwelt. In order to see it, I had to find a little girl who +kept the key, and who led the way down the steps with a lighted candle. St. +Émilion might have looked far before finding a more unpleasant place to +live in than this cavern. It might be safely guaranteed to kill in a very +short time any man with a modern constitution, unless he were miraculously +preserved from rheumatism and other evils of the flesh. The damp oozes +perpetually from the slimy rock, and the air is like that of a well. +Indeed, there is a little well here called St. Émilion's Fountain. The +spring is intermittent; every two or three minutes the water is seen to +rise with one or more bubbles. It never fails, no matter how prolonged the +drought may be. + +The little girl pointed out to me a great number of pins lying upon the +sandy bottom of the basin. I asked her how they came there, and she said +that they were dropped into the water by people--chiefly young girls--who +wished to know when they would be married. If two pins that had been +dropped in together crossed one another upon the bottom, it was a sign that +the person who let them fall would be married within a year. As I could +distinguish none that were crossed, I concluded that all who had made +the experiment here were condemned to celibacy. This form of +superstition--doubtless of Celtic origin wherever met with--is much more +frequent in Brittany than in Guyenne. + +Close to the 'grotto' is an old charnel-house quarried in the rock with a +dome-shaped roof, at the top of which is a round hole that lets the light +of heaven into the awful pit. This opening formerly served another purpose. +There was a cemetery above, and as the bones were turned up from the +shallow soil to make room for others still clothed with their flesh, they +were thrown down the orifice. For those who did not wish to be disturbed +after death, the charnel-house was the securer place of burial. Here, as in +the underground church, one sees numerous recesses in the wall which were +made for tombs. Those who feel the need of sombre ideas will be as likely +to find the incentive to them here as anywhere. Oh, what ghostly places are +these old southern towns, with their heaps of ruins, their churches as dim +as sepulchres, their crypts and charnel-houses filled with bones! + +[Illustration: CONVENT OF THE CORDELIERS: THE CLOISTERS.] + +Fellow-wanderer, come and see with me the convent of the Cordeliers. There +are no monks here now. Since the Revolution their habitation has been open +to all the winds of heaven, and the shadow of the wild fig-tree falls where +that of their own forms once fell as they stood in the stalls of their +chapel choir. In the cloisters, the ivy and the pellitory and the little +cranesbill have crept with the moss and the lichen from stone to stone, and +in the centre of the quadrangle stands a great walnut-tree that spreads its +branches and long leaves over all the grassy ground. Birds that cannot +be seen sing aloft under the flaming sky; but here in the shadow of the +arcades and the dark foliage nothing moves except the snail and the lazy +toad at evening amidst the damp weeds. The stones that we see here in this +ruined convent bear testimony to the eternal restlessness of man's desire +to give some fresh artistic form to his religious aspiration. Some were +carved in the Romanesque period, others in the Gothic, others in the +Renaissance. Witnesses of the human mind in different ages, all are +crumbling and growing green together, sharing a common fate. + +Among the many holes and corners full of curious interest at St. Émilion, +but which have to be searched for by the visitor, is the cave where during +the Reign of Terror seven of the Girondins sought refuge, and where they +remained hidden from their persecutors several months, notwithstanding +the unflagging efforts made to discover their retreat. Their enemies were +convinced that they were somewhere in the town, or, rather, underneath the +town, for the rock on which it rests is honeycombed with quarries. These +Girondins were Guadet, Salles, Barbaroux, Petlon, Buzot, Louvet, and +Valady. Guadet was a native of St. Émilion, and he had a relative there +named Madame Bouquey. She and her husband were a brave and noble-minded +couple at a time when the craven-hearted--always the accomplices of +tyrants--were in the ascendancy everywhere. They sheltered Guadet and his +companions in a cave under their garden. The fugitives had first thought of +hiding in the old quarries, but they realized that they would be much safer +in the cave. + +Hearing that the 'Grotte des Girondins' was in the garden of the school, +now kept by Christian Brothers, thither I went. A little boy in a long +black blouse, with a leather belt round his waist, having obtained the +permission, pulled open a trapdoor in the garden, and, candle in hand, led +the way down a flight of steps into a cavern, about the same size as St. +Émilion's, but much dryer and more comfortable. On one side of it was an +opening, which was made perceptible by a very faint glimmer of daylight. I +found that this opening was in the side of a well. The water was still +far below, and the surface of the earth was about fifteen feet above. The +trap-door entrance--so the Brothers assured me--did not exist in the +last century, and the only entrance to the cave was by the well. It was, +therefore, an admirable hiding-place, for the lateral opening was not +distinguishable from above, and anybody looking down and seeing the water +at the bottom would have thought it quite unnecessary to search any further +there. The Girondins were let down by the rope, or they let themselves +down. As time went on, the position of Monsieur and Madame Bouquey, on +whom strong suspicion rested, became more and more difficult; and when +the fugitives were informed that commissioners were on their way to St. +Émilion, they resolved that, rather than expose their benefactors +to further peril, they would make an attempt to escape in different +directions. Louvet got to Paris, and was the only one of the seven who +did not come by a violent death. Guadet and Salles were captured at St. +Émilion, and were executed, as a matter of course. Barbaroux was also +taken, after making an unsuccessful attempt to blow out his brains, and he, +too, was guillotined at Bordeaux. Buzot and Petion stabbed themselves in a +field between St. Émilion and Castillon, where their bodies were found +half eaten by wolves. The seventh, Valady, was brought to the scaffold at +Périgueux. Monsieur and Madame Bouquey met the same fate. And it is with +this page of modern history that the quiet little garden of the Brothers' +school, its well and hidden cavern, are so tragically associated. + +Near a ruinous _donjon_, called the Château du Roi, and attributed to Louis +VIII., now much overgrown with herbs and shrubs, I stood on a bastion of +the town wall, overlooking the crescent-shaped hollow, covered with houses, +bits of fortification older than the outer wall, ruined convents--a chaos +of lichen-tinted stones and tiles gilded by the warm yet tenderly softened +sunshine of early evening. And as I gazed, I longed the more to be able +to carry away a picture of that scene, with all its tones and tints, that +would last in the memory, as I also wished to draw out of it all the +meaning of what I felt. I left with a sense of failure, of weakness, of +confused impressions, which was to me like a gnawing weevil of the mind, on +the road to Libourne. + +Vines, vines, nothing but vines, gradually shading down to the darkness of +the night that covers them. Then, when the dusky gauze of the cloudless +night is drawn all over it, the broad leafy land sleeps under the sparkling +stars. + +Here at Libourne I am in a town of whose English origin there can be no +doubt. It was one of the thirteenth-century _bastides_ founded in Guyenne +by Edward I. These _bastides_ were at the outset intended as places of +refuge for serfs and other non-belligerents of the rural districts in time +of war. Their character was that of free or open towns, and most of the +burgs that still bear the name of Villefranche in the South of France were +originally _bastides_. Not a few of them keep the name of _La bastide_, +in combination with some other to this day. They are to be found all over +Guyenne and a great part of Languedoc. They were often fortified with a +wall, a palisade, and a moat. Their strong peculiarity, however, the one +that has been preserved in spite of all the changes that centuries have +brought, was the rectilinear and geometrical manner in which they were laid +out. In contrast to the typical mediaeval town that grew up slowly around +some abbey, or at the foot of some strong castle that protected it, and in +the building of which, if any method was observed, it was that of making +the streets as crooked as possible, to assist the defenders in stopping the +inward rush of an enemy, the streets of the _bastide_ were all drawn at +right angles to each other. Consequently, however old the houses may be, +such towns have somewhat of a modern air. For the same reason, one of the +chief attributes of the picturesque--an accidental meeting of various +motives--is absent. To the inhabitants of these free towns a certain +quantity of land was apportioned in equal parts, for which a fixed rent was +paid to the king or other feudal lord. + +I have said that the _bastides_ were not picturesque. In their early days +they must have been quite hideous; but time, that plays havoc with human +beings, lends to such of their works as may offer to it the resistance of a +long, hard struggle an interest which becomes at length a beauty. There +is usually to be found in these towns the thirteenth-century _place_, or +square, which formed, as it were, the heart of the commune. Along each of +the four sides is a Gothic arcade, on which the first and all the higher +storeys of the houses rest. Thus, there is a broad pavement completely +vaulted over on each side of the quadrilateral, where people can walk, +sheltered from the sun or rain, These old squares, wherever they are found, +are now always picturesque. + +Libourne, from being a small _bastide_, grew to such importance, on account +of its position on the right bank of the Dordogne and the wine trade that +it was able to carry on by water, that it rivalled Bordeaux before the +close of the English domination, and the question of making it the capital +and the seat of the Prince of Wales and Aquitaine was seriously pondered. +To-day it preserves all the plainness of its line-and-rule origin; but it +has a few redeeming features, such as one side of its ancient square, +with broad pavement under Gothic arches, a picturesque town-hall of the +sixteenth century, and a curious mediaeval tower, with machicolated +embattlements, now capped with a very tall and pointed roof, and known as +the Tour de l'Horloge. It is a remnant of the fourteenth-century ramparts. + +The people of Libourne were steadfast partisans of the English to the +last, and after 1453 they did not seek to distinguish themselves by their +resignation to the rule of the French kings. When in 1542 the insurrection +against the salt-tax, commencing at La Rochelle, spread over Saintonge and +the whole of Western Guyenne, the Libournais threw themselves heartily into +the movement. When the time of repression came they were made to smart +sorely for their turbulent spirit. The Place de l'Hotel de Ville, of which +one side remains very much as it was then, bristled with gibbets, and 150 +persons were hanged in a single day. The man who had rung the tocsin that +called together the insurgents was suspended by the neck to the hammer of +the bell, as a warning to others not to ring it again unless they had a +better motive. + +[Illustration: TOUR DE L'HORLOGE AT LIBOURNE.] + +Standing by the broad river, a little above the point where the Isle is +falling into it, carrying down all manner of craft with the tide, I see at +a distance of a couple of miles or so towards the west the hill that is +known in history as Le Tertre de Fronsac. There Charlemagne built a castle, +of which nothing now remains. The hill owes its modern celebrity entirely +to its wine. It is not everybody who knows the virtue of the genuine +Fronsac, especially that which was yielded by the old vines before the +phylloxera destroyed them, but most people are familiar with the brand. +But for this, the _tertre_ would long since have ceased to be famous, +notwithstanding Charlemagne. + +The hill has a strange appearance, for it rises abruptly from the river +bank in the midst of the plain. It did not tempt me to walk to it in the +scorching heat, but as a steamboat was going there, I paid two sous and +went on board. I had never been in such a cockle-shell of a steamer before. +It rocked and tumbled like a coracle, and spat and fumed and snorted like a +veritable devil composed of an engine, a couple of paddle-wheels, and a few +boards. Helped by the tide that was pouring out, it went down stream at a +rate that was almost exciting, and in a few minutes I was landed at the +bottom of the famous hill. I made a conscientious attempt to reach the top, +but was stopped just where it began to grow interesting by a notice-board +that warned me, if I ventured any farther, I should be prosecuted and +heavily fined. Such things are not often seen in France. Vineyards are +generally open, but here they were fiercely protected with walls and fences +and notice-boards. The land was evidently very precious. I had wandered +into truly civilized country, where land and manners were too highly +cultivated to please me, and I again regretted the rocky wastefulness that +I had left behind me. + +[Illustration: THE HILL OF FRONSAC.] + +I turned back, and wandering about the village, which is a straggling one, +looked for the church, hoping that this at least would show something of +interest. Not being able to find it, I asked a man to tell me the way to +it, and he, stopping, said: + +'_L'église pour aller prier dedans?_' + +What does he mean by asking me that? I thought. Could there be a church at +Fronsac that was not used for praying? + +'Yes, that is the kind of church I am looking for.' 'Very good,' rejoined +the man. 'Now I know what you want I can inform you. I put that question to +you because there are some people here called Léglise.' + +It was to the church _pour prier dedans_ that I went, not to Mr. Church. +Originally Romanesque, it has been pulled about and changed almost as much +as the Tertre de Fronsac, which I am sure I shall never wish to climb +again. + + + + +[Illustration: No Name] + + +BY THE GARONNE + + +I have reached--I need not say how--the south-eastern corner of the +Bordelais, and am now at Bazas in very hot September weather, I am not only +as warm as a lizard of the dusty roadside likes to be, but am hungry and +thirsty. I therefore cast about for an inn that looks both cool and capable +of giving a fair meal to a tired wanderer. My choice rests with one that +swings the sign of the White Horse; for, to tell the truth, I have somewhat +of a superstitious belief in the luck that this emblem brings to the +traveller. I place it immediately after the Golden Lion, my favourite beast +on a signboard, although it deceived me once. The deception, however, +befell in the Bordelais, where the inhabitants are far from being the +most pleasant to be found in France; therefore I judged this _Lion d'Or_ +charitably, and took account of all that might have frustrated its good +intentions. + +Having made up my mind to trust myself to the White Horse, I entered a +large, _salle-à-manger_, which, after the glare of the mid-day sunshine, +seemed as dark as a cellar that is lighted by a small air-hole. The +shutters had been closed against the heat and the flies, but the rays that +broke through had the ardour and brilliancy cast by molten metal in a +smelting-house, and the sight very quickly accepted with relief the +lessened light of the room. There was one other person present, and, +although the table was long enough to accommodate fifty, my plate was set +immediately opposite his. He was a young negro gentleman, with such a +shining ebony skin that he was almost refreshing to eyes that had just left +the dazzling whiteness of the outer world. He gave me the impression of +being a rather conceited African, but this may have been because my dress +compared so unfavourably with his. He was the son of a merchant at St. +Louis in Senegal, and was just like a Frenchman in all but his colour. I +asked him if he found the weather we were having sufficiently warm, and he +replied: + +'_Regardez comme je sue!_' + +True enough, the beads of perspiration glistened upon his forehead like +black pearls. What is the use, I thought, of being an African if one cannot +keep dry in a temperature of 95° Fahrenheit? + +I soon left my dark acquaintance, and went forth to roam about Bazas, +which, like so many little old towns of Southern France, is in the early +hours of a summer afternoon as quiet and deserted as a cemetery. The stones +are so heated that a cat that begins to cross the road lazily, stopping to +stretch or examine something in the gutter, will suddenly start off at a +rush as if a devil had been cast into it. + +The interest of Bazas to the traveller lies mainly in its church, which +was formerly a cathedral. Its broad and imposing façade, encrusted with +ornament, chiefly in the florid Gothic of the fifteenth century, but +disfigured by a hideous eighteenth-century _fronton_ that crowns the gable, +stands at the top of a broad and rather steep _place_, of which some of +the houses are of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The tower built +against the northern end of the front carries a lofty and graceful +crocketed spire. Until the Revolution, this west front, ornamented as it +was with nearly three hundred statues, was considered the most elaborately +decorated in the South of France. Even now, although so many of the niches +are vacant, it is exceedingly rich in sculpture. The central doorway is so +lofty that it occupies more than half the height of the original façade, +and the doorway on each side of it is only a little lower. The central +tympanum is divided into five compartments filled with figures in relief. +The uppermost panel represents the Last Judgment. The interior admirably +combines grandeur and lightness. The nave (without transept) is very long +and lofty, and, together with its clerestory, is beautifully proportioned. +Finally, the effect of a delightful vista is obtained by the wide +sanctuary. With its lofty and airy arcade separating it from the +_pourlour_. + +[Illustration: BAZAS.] + +All the old part of the town is built upon a rocky hill, and it is still +almost surrounded by ruinous ramparts. The church is just within the wall +on the side where the rock is precipitous. Looking upward from the bottom +of the narrow valley, the view of the ramparts high overhead, tapestried +with ivy and other plants, and above these the tabernacle work, the +crocketed pinnacles and spire, and the fantastic far-stretching gargoyles +of the venerable cathedral, makes one feel that joy of the eye and the +spirit which is the wanderer's reward for all the sun-scorch and other +petty tribulations he may have to endure in searching for the picturesque. + +From Bazas I made my way to Villandraut, a neighbouring town of about 1,000 +inhabitants. I had left the vines, and was now in the _landes_ of the +Gironde. I was surrounded by pines, gorse, and bracken, which last was as +brown as if it had been baked in an oven. Ten summers had nearly passed +since I undertook my long walk through the great pine forests of the +Landes. I had wandered on and on, and was again drawing near to them. +Already the country wore much the same appearance as that farther south, +although less wild and desolate. I expected to have a return of the old +feelings when I found myself again in the midst of the pines that said so +much to me years ago; but somehow the old spirit would not come back, and I +felt little besides the heat and the weariness of the way. + +Villandraut, ordinarily a very dull place, was exceedingly animated when +I walked into it. A fair was being held there, and a fair in a village or +rural town is always a reason for being gay, and often an excuse for worse. +There was some local colour here. All the young girls wore the Bordelaise +coiffure, the handkerchief being generally of white, yellow, green, or +crimson silk. Just clinging to the back of a young head, no coif is more +graceful or picturesque than this. There was much dancing. Cheeks flushed +and dark eyes flashed as the brilliant coifs and light-coloured dresses +whirled round and round. I found more feminine beauty in this south-eastern +corner of the Bordelais than I had seen for a very long time among the +French peasants. The young women here are well and delicately formed, +and have an erect and graceful carriage. They are coquettes from their +childhood. They have fine eyes and luxuriant tresses, and the face often +shows richness of colour. A few _blondes_ are seen among the _brunes_; but +whether fair or dark they have all the same exuberance of nature. The teeth +are rarely good after early youth. The cause of this blemish is said to be +the water, which, passing through a sandy soil, contains little or no lime. + +My motive in coming to this place was to see the ruined castle of +Villandraut, the gloomy stronghold built at the commencement of the +fourteenth century by Bertrand de Goth (or Got), Archbishop of Bordeaux, +who afterwards as Pope Clement V. took the momentous step of transferring +the Papal See from Rome to Avignon. I found it a little outside the burg, +but near enough to be used by many of the peasants who had come into the +fair as a convenient place for putting up their carts and stabling their +animals. Each of the towers had been turned into a stable for horses and +oxen, and scattered over the weedy space within the walls were vehicles of +all sorts and sizes. + +The plan of the castle is a vast oblong, with a high cylindrical tower at +each angle, and two additional towers on the side of the town. The deep and +wide moat that still surrounds it, except where it has been filled up in +front of the gateway from which the drawbridge was once raised and lowered, +is like a ravine that is choked with brambles and shrubs. The exterior view +is very striking. It is impossible to approach this ruin without being +impressed by its mournful grandeur. From all these piled-up stones which +the wild plants strive to cover, there comes the sentiment of pride in +death. A very slow but a certain death it is. One after another the stones +will continue to fall as they have been falling for centuries, and will be +put to fresh uses. How many houses and pigsties at Villandraut have been +built with materials taken from the castle? Nobody knows exactly, but +everybody in the place has a shrewd suspicion on the subject. I climbed up +the dilapidated spiral staircase of one of the towers, and after passing +through two guard-rooms with Gothic vaulting, where the wind, now blowing +up for storm, moaned through the loopholes, I came out upon the _chemin de +ronde_, quite overgrown with shrubs and ivy. All around stretched the pine +forest, with tints of violet and the purple rose deepening in the misty +distance. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE CHÂTEAU DE VILLANDRAUT.] + +This bastille on the edge of the sandy desert was a queer sort of fold for +a shepherd to build. To judge the past, however, by the present is one of +the most mischievous of errors. Nothing is easier than to criticise the +actions of men in a bygone age, and nothing is more difficult than to do +justice to their motives. The militant bishop is intolerable now even, when +he is nothing more formidable than a controversialist. It may have been +necessary, however, in the Middle Ages for him to make himself dreaded as +well as respected, like the judges of Israel. This Clement V., at any rate, +must have believed in the need of the Church to be able to defend itself +behind strong walls. + +From Villandraut I turned towards the Garonne. A furious storm was now +raging southward, and after nightfall the lightning flashes kept the whole +forest seemingly ablaze. The hour was late when I reached the town of +Langon by the river, and at the inn where I put up I met with a cold dinner +as well as a cold reception. + +When the sun came again I took the road to St. Macaire, and this soon +crossed the Garonne. The broad blue river was very beautiful in the early +morning sunshine, and a mild lustre lay over the vine-clad plain beyond. +The vintagers were getting busy. Bullock-waggons were waiting with the +barrels, now empty, that were to bear the grapes to the wine-press, and +here and there amidst the green of the motionless leaves was the gleam of +a white, yellow, or crimson coif that moved with the head of the woman or +girl who wore it. + +[Illustration: THE GARONNE.] + +The morning had not lost its freshness when I reached St. Macaire. This is +one of those ruinous old towns of the Bordelais where the traveller, if +he were an artist, would find a thrilling subject for his pencil at every +street corner, and at the angle of every bastion of crumbling rampart, +where the bramble, the ivy, and the wild fig-tree strike their roots +between the gaping stones. Proud and strong in the centuries that have been +left far behind, St. Macaire is now a little spot of slow life in the midst +of a wilderness of ruins. Three walls encircled it, and although these did +long service as the quarries wherefrom the inhabitants drew such building +stone as they needed, yet have they not been demolished, but tell their +whole story still, in spite of wide gaps and breaks--ay, and with a far +more soul-moving voice than when they could show to the enemy their +crenated parapets without a flaw, when not a stone was wanting to any tower +or gateway, and when the twang of the cross-bow might have been heard from +every loophole. There are heaps of stones where the lizard runs, where the +coiled snake basks untroubled, where the dwarfed fig-tree sprouts when the +spring has come, and where the wild cucumber pushes forward its yellow +flowers that fear not the flame of summer. The fig-tree may also be seen +hanging from high walls, and the vine rambles among blooming or embrowned +wallflowers on the top of ruinous gateways, through which the people still +enter and leave the town as they did centuries ago. + +The spirit of originality that animated the mediaeval architects in +this part of France, and which has given to so many churches a distinct +character, an individual expression, that keeps the interest of the +traveller constantly alive, is strongly marked upon the church of St. +Macaire. Commenced at the beginning of the twelfth century, its earliest +portions show the Pointed style in its infancy, fearful as yet of +committing what seemed so like heresy--a departure from the Roman arch; but +in the same building a much bolder Gothic asserts itself in the parts that +were added in the thirteenth century. The west front and doorway have not +the majesty of the style as it was developed chiefly in the North, but they +have that venerable air which is not always to be found in the stately and +majestic. The low tympanum is crowded with figures belonging to the period +when the statuary's art was still swathed in the swaddling clothes of its +new infancy, and what with their own uncouthness, and the wear and tear of +time, it is no easy matter now to trace in them all the purpose and meaning +of the sculptor. + +And yet in their blurred and battered state they tell us much more than +they would if they had been restored with the best skill and learning of +our own time. The age is gone when these bas-reliefs were the religious +books of the people. To imitate them is mere aestheticism, and to restore +them is often destruction. + +A few words must be said of the old market-place of St. Macaire. Thanks to +the poverty or the apathy of the commune, three sides have retained all +their mediaeval character, the interest of which has been refined and +deepened by the artistic touch of time, the sentimental ravisher, the slow +and gentle destroyer. A Gothic arcade encloses a wide pavement, and each +bay, with its vaulting, forms, as it were, the portico of the house, whose +first and higher storeys rest upon it. Here those who are interested in +civic architecture can see thirteenth and fourteenth century houses still +retaining their wide Gothic doorways. + +I rested awhile in a café, and chance led me to one that was kept by an +Englishman. He recognised my nationality, while I supposed him to be a +Frenchman, and he seemed as glad to see me as if I had been an old friend. +He told me that when he was a boy his father brought his family from +England to Les Eyzies, where he was employed at the iron works. (The +smelting furnace has been cold for many a year.) The man who spoke was +middle-aged, and although he expressed himself with difficulty in English, +and turned his phrases out of French moulds of thought, he had kept a +strong accent of the Midland counties. The tenacity with which an accent +adheres to the tongue, even when the language to which it belongs has +been half lost, is very remarkable. I remember meeting in my roamings an +Englishwoman who had married a French cobbler, and who had been buried +alive with him in the Haut-Quercy for forty years. She had learnt to speak +patois like a native, but it had become a sore trial to her to put her +thoughts into English words; nevertheless, when she did bring out those +words that had been so long put away in the mind's lumber-room, the accent +was as pure Cockney as if she had but lately drifted away from her own +Middlesex. + +The freshness of the morning was gone, and even in the shade of the cafe +I felt the hot breath of the day. When I was again upon the powdered road +between interminable rows of vines, the glare was dazzling; but I was not +alone. Groups of people were trudging under the same fiery sky, and upon +the same dusty road, and all were moving in the same direction. When I +learnt that they were pilgrims on their way to Verdelais, I thought that I +might do worse than be a pilgrim, too. I therefore went with the stream, +which soon turned up the flanks of the vine-clad hills. + +Thus I found myself about noon in a small village, seemingly composed of +one wide street lined on both sides with cafés and restaurants. There was +also a very conspicuous modern church in a fantastic and debased, but +showy, style of architecture. It was densely crowded, and the shine of +innumerable candles was seen through the open doors. The whole street +was likewise crowded with people, who had come from various parts of the +Bordelais, and who seemed determined to spend a happy day in a sense no +less material than spiritual. There was a great rush to the restaurants, +and there was flagrant overcharging on the part of those who kept them--all +speculators on piety. + +Perhaps the grandeur of the solitude of Roc-Amadour, the antiquity of the +buildings, and the simplicity of the pilgrims had made me a wrong-headed +judge of the newer places of pilgrimage. However this may be, after the +first glance at Verdelais I wished I had not come. There was no quiet +corner here where a wayfarer could sit and refresh himself; in this +hurly-burly of eager hunger, and with this infernal clatter of tongues, +repose was impossible. + +After lunching in the midst of a noisy and vulgar throng, I regained the +open country, with the conviction that, should I ever decide to start off +upon a serious pilgrimage, the road to Verdelais would not be the one that +I would take. + +I now turned down towards the valley through the vines, the inevitable +vines, and was soon on the banks of the Garonne. Almost facing me upon the +opposite hillsides were the famous vineyards of Sauterne, and I knew +that the vintagers were busy there, every woman--women are chiefly +employed--with her pair of scissors snipping off the grapes one by one from +the gathered bunches, and rejecting all that were not sound. It is a costly +method, but the wine pays for it. + +A steamer comes panting down the river, and stops near the grove of willows +where I have been trying to hide myself from the all-searching, all-burning +sun. I go on board and take a delicious rest under an awning for two or +three hours, while the vine-covered hills on either side glide backward +with their many steeples and towers. + +I left the steamer at a place called Castres, some fifteen miles below +Bordeaux. My motive for stopping here was to see the castle where +Montesquieu was born, and where he spent the greater part of his life. +The map told me that it lay some five or six miles from Castres in the +direction of the _landes_, and as the day was already far spent, I reckoned +upon passing the night at the small town of La Brède, which is very near +the castle. The sun's rays were as yet but little calmed as I turned from +the broad, blue river. + +I had to follow the highway, on which the white dust lay thick. This road +was carried up the hills. In the vineyards were crowds of men and women, +many of whom had been drawn out of the slums of Bordeaux. Some of them were +forlorn-looking beings, whose faces told that they were glad to seize this +opportunity of earning for a few days a sure wage. Those who wish to feel +the poetic charm of the vintage should not go into the district of Bordeaux +to seek it. Here only the legend remains. It is not that the vines are +wanting. The Bordelais, except in the sandy and pine-covered region of the +_landes_, has again become one immense vineyard; but whether it be from the +struggle to live, or the lust of prosperity, the people fail to impress the +traveller with that communicative openness and joyousness of soul which he +would like to find in them, if only that he might not have the vexation of +convicting himself of laying up for his own fancy another disillusion. + +Although the hills were not steep, the long ascent was wearisome in the +sultry air that no breath of wind freshened. At length the sun went down in +a golden haze, where the vine-leaves spread to the horizon like the sea. +Then I descended the other side of the range of hills that follows the line +of the river. The vineyards gradually fell away, and scattered pines gave a +touch of sadness to the darkening land. By these signs I knew that I was on +the outskirts of the _landes_ of the Gironde. But the sand was still some +miles away, and the country here was well cultivated. A church spire that +looked very high in the clear obscure, as I saw it through an opening of +trees, led me to La Brède. + +Here I thought I should have no difficulty in finding night quarters, for +there was at least one good inn, which in its own estimation was a hotel. +But the way in which I was scrutinized when I wearily set down my knapsack +on an outside table and took a seat under the plane-trees told me that I +was not welcome. Since I had been in the Bordelais I had become rather too +familiar with such signs. The hotel-keepers here have but very slight faith +in the respectability of travellers who do not come in the usual way--that +is to say, by train or omnibus, or something with wheels, though it be but +a bicycle. To them the walking traveller, whether he carries a bundle over +his shoulder on a stick, or a knapsack on his back (the latter is very +rarely seen), is merely a tramp. If he speaks with a foreign accent, he is +doubly deserving of suspicion. These people of the Gironde are, perhaps, +all the more doubtful of the morality of others because of the little +confidence that they are able to place in their own. + +My request for a room at this inn was not refused immediately. There was +a consultation indoors, the result of which was that I was presently told +that every room was already engaged. There was nothing for it but to walk +on to the next inn, and hope for better luck there. It would seem as if +they had been prepared here for my coming, and had already made up their +minds how to act. Two women stood in the doorway, and did not move an inch +to make way for me. I had hardly asked the question about the room, when +the answer came emphatically 'No.' At the next house to which I went I met +with the same answer; but in spite of the unpleasantness of my position, I +was almost thankful for it, such a villainous-looking place it was. There +now remained but one small auberge at La Brède. If I was denied shelter +there, I should have to go to Bordeaux that night, and I was five miles +from the nearest railway-station. The prospect had become sombre, and I +began to regret that I had allowed the Château de Montesquieu to entice me +among these too civilized savages. + +The last inn was a little outside the town. A dark man, whose face, even in +the feeble light, I could see was deadly pale, was seated outside the door, +breathing the freshness that now began to be felt in the evening air. As my +previous negotiations had been with women, I was glad to perceive now an +innkeeper of the other sex. My experience of the French provinces had +taught me that, wherever people are suspicious of strangers whose +appearance is not such as they are familiar with, and where the measure of +prosperity has been sufficient to produce a cautious disinclination to move +out of the daily trodden track, it is far better to deal with men than with +women. + +The pale-faced man, after looking at me fixedly for a few seconds, said: + +'Yes, I have one spare room, and it is at your service.' + +I crossed the threshold, and took a seat in the kitchen and general room. +The surroundings were not very cheerful; but no other people would have +anything to do with me, and therefore my choice of accommodation had to be +what is termed Hobson's. After all, it would not be the first time that I +had passed the night in a little roadside inn. + +The pale man's wife did not look in a very sweet temper at her husband for +having put extra work upon her without consulting her, and there was an +exceedingly obnoxious boy of about fourteen who sat upon the corner of +a table and, with the assurance of a mounted gendarme, put all sorts of +questions to me in a voice that would change suddenly from a bark to a +bleat. I was seized with such a longing to knock him off his perch that I +presently kept my eyes fixed upon the frying-pan so that I might not be +tempted beyond my strength. The father was evidently too weak to contend +with his horrible offspring. My interest in the man was at once awakened. +He told me that he was from the Lot-et-Garonne, where he owned land, and +had been a tobacco-planter, until a disease of the spinal marrow compelled +him to seek an occupation that required less exertion. Thus he came to be +an innkeeper. He had spent much money upon doctors, who had done him little +or no good. The only treatment that had given him any relief was _la +pendaison_. + +'Hanging!' + +'Yes, hanging. I have passed hours hung up by the neck.' + +Then he explained the apparatus that is used for stretching the spinal +marrow in this manner, and how it differs from the method of hanging that +is best known in England. When I learnt what he had undergone in order to +get cured, I could understand why he looked so pale and sad. A melancholy +Jacques was he, indeed, in appearance, and he was certainly not the most +cheerful of hosts whom one might hope to find at the end of a weary day; +but I knew that I was in the house of an honest man, who was also brave and +patient, while he looked out upon the world through darkening windows. + +Before going to bed I had some talk with my host about my adventures at La +Brède before I applied to him for a night's lodging. There was actually a +sparkle of mirth in his melancholy dark eyes, and his sunken cheeks were +puckered up with a sort of smile. + +'If you had been dressed in a black coat,' said he, 'like a _commis +voyageur_, they would have all found room for you.' + +This was my opinion, too. The Bordelais believe in the respectability of no +travelling motives under heaven that are not commercial. + +My bedroom that night had much the character of an outhouse or fowlhouse. +It was on the ground-floor, and the rafters overhead sloped rapidly towards +the exterior wall. A small low window opened upon the garden. The walls +were white-washed, but the floors were very black, as all these southern +floors are. Upon the single table a heap of raw wool waiting to be spun had +been pushed back a little to make room for the doll's washing-basin and +towel that had been placed there for me. Besides the bed that had been +prepared for me, there was another, which happily was to remain unoccupied +that night. The traveller should always be thankful when he has a room, +however poor and plain, that for the few hours which he needs for rest he +can call his own. If he snores himself, he will sleep through the noise, +and have, perhaps, pleasant dreams; but if anybody else snores in the same +room, he may lie awake with clenched fists, and be tortured by the foolish +desire to throw something. + +The next morning I believe I was the earliest visitor who in modern times +has troubled the serenity of the Château de la Brède. A mist--one of the +first of the falling year--lay white and dense upon the land. It was a +fine-weather mist, such as in the opinion of the wine-grower helps to ripen +the grapes. + +I had entered the park about half a mile beyond the town, and then between +two rolling banks of vapour I saw the high walls and higher towers of the +castle looming through the grayness. A little later I distinguished the +dull water of the very wide moat, and the three connected bridges, which +were formerly blank spaces between low towers, unless the drawbridges +happened to be let down. + +[Illustration: CHÂTEAU DE MONTESQUIEU.] + +Over these the visitor must now pass in order to reach the castle. As I was +so early, I killed time to my own good by trying to fix some impressions of +the vast pile of masonry that stood here in the middle of a little lake. +It is an extraordinary block of architectural patchwork, quite without +symmetry, and yet the mass is imposing. The ground-plan approaches the +circle more than any other geometrical figure, but it is a circle with +slices cut off, and composed of angles so irregular as almost to imply +a fantastic motive. But the motive was purely utilitarian. The feudal +fortress which was built here in the thirteenth century underwent in +subsequent ages so many modifications and additions with a view more to the +comfort of the dwellers therein than to their protection from enemies, that +in course of time little of the mediaeval buildings remained besides the +great hall, the basement, and the keep. These became jumbled up with late +Gothic and Renaissance work. + +Jean de Secondat, who purchased the old fortified manor-house out of his +savings as _maítre d'hôtel_ to Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret, was +probably responsible for most of the sixteenth-century work that one +now sees. When his descendant, Charles de Secondat de Montesquieu, took +possession, the building was almost identical with that which exists +to-day. It has been exceptionally favoured, for it has remained in the +family, and for at least two hundred years it has undergone none of those +alterations which in previous times had so changed its appearance. The eye +may not be delighted with its symmetry, but the mind has the satisfaction +of knowing that this was verily the birthplace and home of him who more +than any other man made political science popular. + +The present owner of the castle, recognising the duty that the descendant +of a great man owes to society, receives with the most liberal courtesy all +those who make a pilgrimage to this spot. + +The relics of Montesquieu are numerous, and they have been preserved with +admirable solicitude. The room where he slept and wrote is almost the +same as when he finally left it; with this difference, that time has made +everything look dingier. Even the white linen curtains which hung at the +window hang there still, and they are by no means so yellow as one might +expect them to be. On the plain little table at which he washed himself +stand his basin and ewer. The basin would be called to-day a dish, for it +is not more than two inches deep. It held quite enough water, however, to +serve for the ablutions of a baron a century and a half ago. Much the same +notion of what is fit and proper in a washingbasin remains to this day +among the French peasantry, and even among the middle class in the +provinces the growth of the toilet crockery has been far from rapid since +the time of Montesquieu. + +The bed in which the political philosopher slept is a broad four-poster, +not with slender and finely carved posts, like Fénelon's, but severely +simple. Indeed, in none of the furniture of this room is there any +indication of the love of the ornamental. On the contrary, everything +tells of a mind that set no value upon aught but the strictly needful. +Montesquieu's small writing-case, divided into compartments, the borders +of the leather covering embellished with dingy, half-obliterated gold +ornament, was perhaps the finest bit of property he had before his eyes +as he sat and worked there. He always carried it about with him when he +travelled. No doubt it went with him to England, and he probably wrote +letters to his friend Lord Chesterfield upon it. And here is his travelling +trunk. It still looks fit to bear many years' rough usage; and yet, if +railway porters had to pull it about, they would not know whether to laugh +at its strange appearance or to swear at its weight. It was built for wear, +like Noah's ark, and it is entirely covered with leather, elaborately +decorated with patterns, composed of the round heads of small nails. The +high stone chimney-piece, plain and solid like the character of the man +who did so much lasting work in this room, remains, together with the +fire-dogs, as it was in his time. + +Montesquieu formed the habit when thinking alone of leaning back in his +chair before the hearth and resting his feet against one of the jambs of +the chimney-piece. The stone was much worn away by his feet; but the +marks would pass unobserved if the knowledge of their cause had not been +preserved in the family. A bust of Montesquieu made in his life-time shows +him with closely-cropped hair, and without a wig. It is a remarkably +Caesar-like head, every feature indicating the decision and positivism of +the Roman character--such a one, indeed, as ideally became the author of +the 'Considerations.' But how the face is altered when we look at it in +another portrait--a painted one, representing the writer in a great wig as +President of the Parliament of Guyenne! A head becomes another head if the +coiffure be but changed. + +A little room adjoining this one was where Montesquieu's secretary worked. +He was the drudge of a literary man, who was probably not exempt from the +constitutional irritability of those who carry a whirling grindstone within +their brains for the sharpening and polishing of thought. The unremembered +scribe may have done good service to literature while undergoing his +purgatory in this world. + +Distributed throughout this suite of apartments on the ground-floor is much +furniture of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, most of +which was here when Montesquieu was _châtelain_. + +A spiral staircase leads to the great hall of the old castle. It has +been very carefully preserved, and although the walls are now lined with +book-shelves, it keeps the air of baronial grandeur and simplicity. +Montesquieu made it his library, and had reading-desks set up all down the +middle. His books remain, as well as some of his manuscripts, including +that of 'Les Lettres Persanes.' This long hall is covered by a plain +barrel-vault, and at the far end is an immense chimney-place, the chimney +built out at the base several feet from the line of the wall, and sloping +back towards the ceiling. On the plain (not conical) surface of this +mediaeval chimney are painted figures, said to be of the thirteenth +century, but probably later. One can distinguish a king, a cardinal, and a +page on horseback. The mediaeval fireplates are still in their old place at +the back of the vast hearth. + +I have little more to add to this story of my wanderings. From La Brède +I went to Bordeaux, where I found much to admire that I had not noticed +before. The architecture of this city is incomparably richer than that of +Paris by the diversity of style and the good fortune that has protected so +many of the buildings from the destructive influences of war, fanaticism, +and the presumption of those who in all ages would abolish the past if they +could, and refashion the world according to their own ideas. The Roman +period is only represented by a fragment of the amphitheatre, now called +the Palais Gallien. But what a picturesque fragment this is, and how well +it introduces the visitor to the study of the Romanesque, the Gothic, +and the Renaissance buildings, of which he will find such characteristic +examples here! The interest of the Englishman will be increased by the +knowledge that some of the most notable of the Gothic edifices were raised +when to his countrymen Bordeaux was a continental London, and a well-known +tendency of his will probably lead him to attribute much of their grave +stateliness to the influence of the Anglo-Saxon character. + +[Illustration: THE GARONNE AT BORDEAUX.] + +The people of Bordeaux are supposed to have derived not a little of their +keen commercial spirit from the English. If this be so, they may take +credit for having in some respects surpassed their teachers. By the gift +of persuasiveness and the abundance of words, by aplomb, combined with +astuteness, they are fitted by nature to be the most successful traffickers +on earth. But in return for a little work they expect a great deal of +enjoyment, and more than most industrious cities is Bordeaux given up to +the worship of pleasure. + +[Illustration: THE PALAIS CALLIEN AT BORDEAUX.] + +From Bordeaux I continued down the river until I saw the Dordogne join the +Garonne, where both are lost in the Gironde. Here the two beautiful and +noble streams, one flowing from the Auvergne mountains, and the other from +the Pyrenees, no sooner embrace than they die on the breast of the salt +wave. They and their tributaries caused one of the sternest, and yet one +of the most smiling, of regions--a country where Nature seems to have the +passion of contrast, and where she brings forth all the best fruits of +the earth--to be named by the Celts the Land of Waters, and by the Romans +Aquitania. A little reflection explains why the English of the Middle Ages, +having once possessed it, should have clung to it with such tenacity. Less +easy is it to understand why so few of their descendants of to-day feel the +peculiar spell that almost every rood of this broad land should cast upon +them, apart from the charm of old story and of the picturesque that appeals +to all. + +[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE ITINERARY of 'TWO SUMMERS IN GUYENNE' and +'WANDERINGS BY SOUTHERN WATERS'] + +INDEX. + +AGRICULTURE in the Corrèze, + in Périgord, +Albigenses, The, +Ales, +Angelus, The, +Angling, +Architecture: + Byzantine, + Gothic, + Renaissance, + Roman, + Romanesque, +Argentat, +Arnaud (Arnaud Daniel, troubadour), +Artaud, The (River), +Aspic, The, +Aubeterre, +Aulaye, St., +Auvergnats, Descent of the, + +Barthélemy, St., +Bastides, +Bazas, +Bazile, St., +Beaulieu, +Beüne, Valley of the, +Beynac, +Boëtie, Etienne de la, +Boleti, +Bordeaux, +Bordelaises, +Born, Bertrand de, +Bort, +Bourdeilles, +Brantôme, + Abbey of, + Pierre de Bourdeilles, +Brède (La), +Buckwheat, +Buisson (Le), +Bureau, Jean, + +_Cacolets_, +Cadouin, Abbey of, +Cadurci, The, +Caesar at Uxeliodunum, +Carthusians of Vauclair, +Castillon, + Battle of, +Castres (Gironde), +Cazoulès, +Cemeteries, Rural, +Céou, The (River), +Cépes, +Chandos, +Château d'Aubeterre, + de Beynac, + de Biron, + de Bourdeilles, + des Eyzies + de Fâges, + de Fénelon, + de Grignols (Talleyrand), + de Gurçons, + de Hautefort, + de Marouette, + de Montaigne, + de Montesquieu, + de Nabinaud, + de Villandraut, +Chavannon, Gorge of the, +Christy, Mr., +Clement V., Pope, +Coiffure at Mont-Dore, + in the Bordelais, + in the Corrèze, + in Périgord, +Coligny, +Condé, Madame de, +Court-Mantel, Henry, +Coutras, +Coux, +Crayfish, +Cyprien, St., + +Denis, St., +Domme, +Dordogne, Valley of the, +Double, The, +Dovecots, +_Droit Seigneurial,_ +Dronne, Valley of the, + +Échourgnac, +Églisottes, Les, +Eleanor of Aquitaine, +Émilion, St., +English, The, at Bordeaux, + at Castillon, + at Domme, + at Les Eyzies, + at Libourne, + at Martel, + at Montpont, + at St. Émilion, + at St. Cyprien, + at Sarlat, + at Tayac, +Eyquem. _See_ Montaigne +Eyzies, Les, + +Fâge, La, +Fénelon, +Frogs, +Fronsac, +Front, St., Cathedral of, +Funeral Customs, + +Gallien, Le Palais, +Garonne, Valley of the, +Gipsies, +Gironde, The (River), +Girondins, The, +Gorge of Hell, The, +Goth, Bertrand de, +Grand-Brassac, +Groléjac, +Guyenne, English rule in, + +Hautefort, +Huguenots, + +Ilex, The, +Implements, Flint, +Isle, Valley of the, + +Jongleur, The modern, + +Knolles, Robert, + +Landes (of the Gironde), +Langon, +Laplau, +Leaguers, The, +Leopard, The English (Heraldic), +Libourne, +Limeuil, +Lisle, + The Lord, +Luxège, The (River), + +Macaire, St., +Madeleine, La, +Malaria, +Man, Prehistoric, +Marcillac, +Martel, + Charles, +Master and servant, +Méré, Poltrot de, +Messeix, +Métayage, +Michel-Bonnefare, St., +Miremont, Cavern of, +Modières, +Mondane, St., +Montaigne, Michel, +Montesquieu, +Montpont, +Mothe-Montravel, La, +Moustier, Le, +Nabinaud, +Neuvic, +Normans, The, in Périgord, + +Orgues de Bort, +Oriel, The golden, +Owls, + +Pantaléon, St, +Peasant-proprietor, The, +Périgord Noir, +Périgueux, +Plantagenet, Henry, +Plateau, Great Central, of France, +Plough, Ancient form of, +Poaching, +Politics, Local, +Port-Dieu, +Puy d'Issolu, + +Raymond II., Viscount of Turenne, +Religious Customs, +Riberac, +Roche Canillac, La, + Chalais, La, +Romance Language, The, +Roque-Gageac, La, +Rue, The (River), + +Salignac, François de. _See_ Fénelon, +Sarlat, +Saut de la Saule, Le, +Sauterne, The vintage at, +Sauve, St., +Savennes, +Sébastien, Dom, +Secondat, Charles de. _See_ Montesquieu, +Servières, +Shroud, The Holy, +Siorac, +Snail-eaters, +Songs of Périgord, +Souillac, +Spinning-wheels, +Superstition, + +Taillefer, +Talbot, +Tarde, Jean, +Tayac, La Roque de, + Church of, +Tocane St. Apre, +Tocsin, The, +Tour de Mareuil, + de Vésone, +Trappists, +Troglodytes, +Truffles, +Turenne, +Tursac, + +Uxellodunum, +Vauclaire, La Chartreuse de, +Vayrac, +Verdelais, +Vérère, Valley of the, +Victor, St., +Villandraut, +Villefranche de Longchapt, +Villeinage, +Vin de plaine, +Vins du pays, +Vintage, The, In the Bordelais, +Viper, The Red, + +Wages, +Wolves, + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Two Summers in Guyenne, by Edward Harrison Barker + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO SUMMERS IN GUYENNE *** + +This file should be named 8546-8.txt or 8546-8.zip + +Produced by DP Beginners Projects, Commissioner Sleer +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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