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diff --git a/22700.txt b/22700.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24f49a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/22700.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7165 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brittany & Its Byways by Fanny Bury +Palliser + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: Brittany & Its Byways + +Author: Fanny Bury Palliser + +Release Date: November 9, 2007 [Ebook #22700] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITTANY & ITS BYWAYS*** + + + + + +Brittany & Its Byways + + +by Fanny Bury Palliser + + + + +Edition 02 , (November 9, 2007) + + + + + + BRITTANY & ITS BYWAYS + + SOME ACCOUNT OF + ITS INHABITANTS AND ITS ANTIQUITIES; + DURING A RESIDENCE IN THAT COUNTRY. + + BY MRS. BURY PALLISER + +[Illustration: Vignette: St. Michael's Mount] + + WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS + + ------------------ + + London + + 1869 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Contents. +List of Illustrations. +Britanny and Its Byways. +Some Useful Dates in the History of Brittany. +Chronological Table of the Dukes of Brittany. +Index. +Transcribers' Notes + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + -------------- + +CHERBOURG--Mont du Roule--Visit of Queen Victoria--Harbour, +1--Breakwater--Dock-Yard, 2--Chantereyne--Hopital de la Marine, +3--Castle--Statue of Napoleon I.--Library--Church of La Trinite, +4--Environs--Octeville, 5--Lace-school of the Soeurs de la Providence, 11. + +QUERQUEVILLE--Church of St. Germain, 5--Chateau of the Comte de Tocqueville, +6. + +TOURLAVILLE--Chateau, 7--Crepes, 11. + +MARTINVAST--Chateau, 12. + +BRICQUEBEC--Castle--History, 12--Valognes, 14. + +ST. SAUVEUR-le-Vicomte--Demesne--History, 15--Castle--Convent--Abbey, 16. + +PERIERS, 17--La Haye-du-Puits, 17--Abbey of Lessay--Mode of +Washing--Inn-signs, 18--Church, 19. + +COUTANCES--Cathedral--Churches, 19--Fete of St. Fiacre, 20. + +GRANVILLE--Situation--History--Church, 21--View from the +"Roc"--Bathing-machines--Defeat of the Vendean army--Death of La +Rochejacquelin, 22--Costume of the Women--Environs--St. Pair, 23. + +AVRANCHES--Extensive View--Scene of Absolution of Henry II.--Cemetery, 24. + +PONTORSON--Story of the Lady Typhaine, 24--Government by Du Guesclin--Mont +St. Michel, 25--Chapel of St. Aubert--Visits of English kings--Pilgrimages of +Kings of France, 26--Convent of "La Merveille," 27--Isle of La +Tombeleine--Prison, 28--The Iron Cage, 29. + +DOL-DE-BRETAGNE--Street Architecture, 30--Cathedral, 31--Tomb of Bishop +James--Chapel of St. Samson, 32--Monks, 33--Dyke, 34--Menhir, 35--Chateau of +Combourg, 36--Chateaubriand, 37. + +CANCALE--Oysters, 37--Wretched public vehicles, 38--Bay, 39. + +ST. MALO--Situation, 39--Sea-wall, 40--Tomb of Chateaubriand--Memorials of +him, 41--Watch-dogs, 42--Castle--History, 43--DINARD, 44. + +DINAN--Ascent of the Rance--Statue of Du Guesclin, 44--Siege of 1359--Duel of +Du Guesclin and Thomas of Cantorbery, 45--Castle of Montfilant--Story of +Gilles de Bretagne, 46--Lunatic Asylum--Castle of Dinan, 50--Church of St. +Sauveur, 51--Museum, 52--Environs--Chateau of La Belliere, 54--Chateau of La +Garaye--Count Claude de la Garaye and his Wife, 57--Jugon, 61--Castle of La +Hunaudaye, 62--Legend of La Hunaudaye, 63--Forest of La Hunaudaye--The Chouan +War, 66. + +LAMBALLE--Jeanne la Boiteuse--War of Succession, 67--Temple of Lanleff, +68--Tradition of the blood-spots, 70. + +ST. BRIEUC--Palais de Justice--Tour de Cesson, 71--Church of Notre +Dame--Review of his army by James II. of England, 72. + +GUINGAMP--Situation--Fishing in the Trieux--Sanctuary of Notre Dame du Bon +Secours--"Frerie blanche," 72--Fountain of Duke Peter--Women of +Guingamp--Knitting and spinning--Ransom for Du Guesclin, 74--Chapel of St. +Leonard patron saint of prisoners--Curious charms against fever, 75. + +PAIMPOL--Chateau de Boisgelin, 75--Abbey of Beauport, 76--Situation of +Paimpol--Suspension-bridge of Lezardrieux, 80--Chateau of La Roche Jagu, 81. + +PONTRIEUX--Castle of La Roche Derrien, 82--"War of the two Jeannes"--Church +of Langoat--Monument of Ste. Pompee, 83--Burial customs--Excellence of roads +in Brittany, 84. + +KERMARTIN--St. Ives, 84--Inscription at his birthplace--Interior of a Breton +dwelling, 86--Church of Minihy-Treguier--Will of St. Ives, 87. + +TREGUIER--Cathedral--Burial-place of St. Ives, 88--Constable Clisson, +89--Cemetery, 90--Skull-boxes, 91. + +LANNION--Difficulty of the road, 91--Perros Guirec--Ploumanach--Roche Pendue, +92--Situation of Lannion--Fishery--Sea-weed gathering, 94--Castle of +Touquedec, 95--Chateau of Kergrist, 96. + +MORLAIX--Situation--Timbered houses, 97--History, 98--Breton characteristics, +99--Protestant Missions, 100--"Fontaine des Anglais," 102--River Scenery, +103. + +ST. POL DE LEON, 103--Religious Monuments--Character of the Leonnais, +104--Church of Notre Dame de Creizker--Legend of St. Genevroc, +105--Cathedral, 106--St. Pol and the Dragon, 109--Ursuline Convent--"Droit de +Motte," 110. + +ROSCOFF--Contraband trade with England--Vegetable produce, 111--Historic +importance, 112--Church--Island of Batz--Enormous old fig-tree, 113. + +ST. THEGONNEC STATION--Cabaret--Church, 114--Guimiliau Church--Sculptures, +115--Calvary, 116--Buckwheat, 117--Castle and Church of La Roche Maurice, +118. + +BREST--Situation, 118--Harbour, 119--Church of the Folgoet--Legend, +120--Kersanton stone, 122--Sculptures in Kersanton stone, 123--The Fool's +Well, 124--Exterior of Church, 125--Churchyard, 127--Monthly Fair of +Brest--Peasants' Costumes, 133. + +FINISTERE--Abbey of St. Mathieu, 129--Sea-fights, 130--Pont Launay and +Chateaulin, 134. + +QUIMPER, 135--Legend of St. Corentin, 137--Cathedral, 139--National costume, +140. + +CONCARNEAU, 142--Sardine Fishery, 143--Aquarium, 147--Dolmen and +Rocking-stone of Tregunc--Chateau of Rustephan, 149--Valley of Pontaven, +150. + +QUIMPERLE--Fishing, 151--Buildings--Tomb of St. Gurloes, 152--Tomb of John de +Montfort--Ruins of St. Columban, 153--Dirtiness of the Bretons--Animals and +Farm produce--Butter Indulgence, 154. + +LORIENT--Bisson and the Pirates, 155. + +HENNEBONT--Heroic defence by Jeanne de Flandre, 156--Church of Notre +Dame-de-Paradis, 157. + +STE. ANNE D'AURAY, 158--Scala Sancta--Fete, 159--Chartreuse, 160--Battle, +161--Deaf and Dumb School, 164--Massacre of Quiberon, 165--Champ des Martyrs, +168--Celtic Remains, 169. + +LOCMARIAKER--Tumulus--Celtic and other Remains, 170--Tumulus of Gavr' Inis, +175. + +CARNAC--Celtic Remains--Menhirs of Kermario, 177--Legend of St. Cornely, +178--Jade Celts, &c., at Plouharnel, 180--Dolmen of Concorro, 181. + +VANNES--History--Promenade, 183--Cathedral, 184--Chateau Gaillau--Tour du +Connetable, 185--Model Village of Korner-hoet, 187--Peninsula of Rhuys, +188--Fortress of Sucinio, 189--Abbey of St. Gildas, 192--Abelard and the +Breton Monks, 193--The Breton "Blue Beard," 194--Butte d'Arzon--Castle of +Elven, 199--Growth of Chestnuts, 203. + +PLOERMEL, 203--Church, 204--Tombs, 205--Column of the Thirty, 206--Battle of +the Thirty, 207--Chateau of Josselin, 209--Church of Josselin, 213. + +MONTFORT-SUR-MER--Forest of Paimpont--Fairy tales, 215. + +RENNES, ancient capital of Brittany--Entry of Henry IV.--Scenery of the +Loire, 216--Castle of Champtoceaux, 218. + +NANTES--Cathedral, 221--Tombs, 222--Castle--Anne of Brittany, 223--Promenades +and Boulevards--Museum, 227--Jardin des Plantes--Descent of the Loire--The +Noyades, 228. + +ST. NAZAIRE--Historical associations, 230--Le Croisic, 232--Salt-pans, +233--Costume of the Paludiers, 234--Saulniers--Chouan: origin of the name and +of the War, 241--Church of Batz, 243--Situation of Le Croisic, 244--Chapel of +St. Goustan, 245. + +GUERANDE--Church of St Aubin--Chapel of Notre Dame Blanche, 246--La Roche +Bernard, 247--Wedding Festivities, 248--National Music--Female Costume--Fete +de la Vierge and of the Emperor, 249--Scenery of the River Loch, 250. + +BELLE ISLE--Le Palais--M. Trochu's Model Farm, 251--Breton fatalism, +252--Grotte du Port Coton, 255--Historical associations of Belle Isle, +256--Fishery, 257. + +PONT L'ABBE, 257--Costumes, 258--Church, 259. + +LOCTUDY--Romanesque Church, 261. + +TORCHE DE PENMARCH, 262--Church of St. Guenole, 263--"Le filet saint"--Ruins +of the old Town, 264--Fontenelle the Leaguer, 267--Church of St. Nonna, +268--Menhirs at Kerscaven, 269. + +AUDIERNE--Lighthouse--Bathing-machines, 269--Town, 270. + +POINTE DU RAZ--Popular superstitions--Church of St. Colledoc, 271--"Enfer de +Plogoff"--Island of Sein--Druidesses, 272--Dangerous passage, 273--Baie des +Trepasses--Submerged city of Is, 274--Legend of King Gradlon and his +daughter Dahut, 275. + +DOUARNENEZ--Romanesque Church of Pointcroix, 276--Chapel of Notre Dame de +Comfort--Wheel of Sacring-Bells--Town of Douarnenez, 279--Pardon of Ste. +Anne-de-la-Palue, 280--Costume, 281--Church of Ste. Anne--Procession, +282--Holy Well of Ste. Anne, 285. + +SCAER--Old Customs and Superstitions, 285--Wrestling--"Pierres de Croix," +286. + +LE FAOUET--Chapel of St. Barbe, 287--Wedding ceremonies and amusements, +288--Fishing, 289--Old Breton superstitious still prevalent--Lavandieres de +la Nuit, 290--Church of St. Fiacre--Elaborately carved Rood-screen, +293--Painted glass--Ruined Castle of Poncallec--Plot of Cellamare, +294--Montagnes Noires, 296. + +CARHAIX--Situation, 297--Statue of La Tour d'Auvergne, 298--Fair and +Market--Church of St. Tremeur--Skull-boxes, 299. + +HUELGOAT, 300--Lead-mines, 301--Cascade of St. Herbot--Chapel of St. Herbot, +303--His tomb, 304--Patron of cattle--Offerings of horsehair and cows' tails, +304--Homeward journey, 307. + +USEFUL DATES in the History of Brittany 309 + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE of the Dukes of Brittany 310 + + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + VIGNETTE--St. Michael's Mount, Title-page. + 1. Querqueville Church, 6 + 2. Plan of Querqueville Church, 6 + 3. Chateau of Tourlaville, 9 + 4. Castle of Bricquebec, 13 + 5. Badge of the Soeurs de la Misericorde, 17 + 6. Coutances Cathedral, 20 + 7. Pilaster and Cornice from Tomb of Bp. James in Cathedral of Dol, 31 + 8. Front of the Tomb, 32 + 9. Menhir, near Dol, 35 + 10. Chateau of Combourg, 37 + 11. Peasant Girl of Cancale, 38 + 12. St. Malo and Chateaubriand's Tomb, 40 + 13. Effigy of Jean de Beaumanoir, 52 + 14. Chateau of La Belliere, 54 + 15. Chimney, Chateau of La Belliere, 56 + 16. Chateau of La Garaye, 60 + 17. Section of Lanleff Church, 69 + 18. Plan of Lanleff Church, 70 + 19. Fountain of Duke Peter, 73 + 20. Abbey of Beauport, 77 + 21. Skull-box, 91 + 22. The Creizker, 107 + 23. Calvary, Guimiliau, 116 + 24. The Fool's Well, Folgoet, 124 + 25. Abbey of St. Mathieu, 131 + 26. Peasant Girl of Ouessant, 133 + 27. Peasant Girl, Chateaulin, 135 + 28. Begger, Quimper, 141 + 29. Concarneau, with Sardine Boats, 143 + 30. Dolmen, Tregunc, 146 + 31. Rocking-Stone, Tregunc, 148 + 32. Chateau of Rustephan, 150 + 33. Scala Sancta, Ste. Anne d'Auray, 159 + 34. Champ des Martyrs, Auray, 169 + 35. Sculptured Stone, Locmariaker, 171 + 36. Hatchet-shaped Sculpture, Locmariaker, 173 + 37. Entrance to Tumulus of Gavr' Inis, 175 + 38, 39. Sculptured Stones, Gavr' Inis, 176 + 40. Dolmen of Corcorro, 182 + 41. Castle of Elven, 200 + 42. Column of the Thirty, 206 + 43. Chateau of Josselin, 212 + 44. Salt-Pans, with Le Croisic in the distance, 235 + 45. Paludier of the Bourg de Bate in his working dress, 237 + 46. Paludier of the Bourg de Bate in his wedding dress, 239 + 47. La Roche Bernard, 247 + 48. Entrance to Le Palais, Belle Isle, 253 + 49. Device of Fouquet, 257 + 50. Peasant Girl, Pont l'Abbe, 258 + 51. Apse of the Church, Loctudy, 260 + 52. Torche of Penmarch, 262 + 53. Ship sculptured on the walls, Church of St. Guenole, Penmarch, 264 + 54. Church of Guenole, Penmarch, 265 + 55. Fleur-de-lise Window, Church of St. Nonna, Penmarch, 269 + 56. Pointe du Raz, 270 + 57. Front of the Church at Pont Croix, 277 + 58. Wheel of Sacring Bells, Notre Dame-de-Comfort, near Douarnenez, 279 + 59. Costume of a Finistere Bride, 281 + 60. Well of Ste. Anne-la-Palue, 284 + 61. Cross Stones, 286 + 62. Rood-screen or Jube, St. Fiacre, 291 + 63. Carved Stalls, St. Herbot, 304 + 64. Carved Stalls, St. Herbot, 305 + + + + + +BRITANNY AND ITS BYWAYS. + + +A fair wind conveyed us in six hours from Poole to Cherbourg. It was dusk +when we entered the harbour, and so we had no opportunity of seeing its +beauty until the following morning, when we ascended a height behind the +town, called the Mont du Roule. It is reached either on foot or by +carriage, the Emperor having ordered a road to be made up to the fort +which crowns the heights, on the occasion of the visit to Cherbourg, in +1858, of her Majesty Queen Victoria. Some 1500 men were immediately set to +work, and, in a few days, an easy carriage-road was finished, up which the +Emperor drove the Queen at his usual rapid pace. The view from the fort is +lovely, commanding the whole line of the northern point of the Cotentin, +from the low promontory of Cape de la Hogue to Barfleur. The water of the +harbour, owing to its great depth, is of the most intense blue, which we +quite agreed with the guardian of the fort in likening to that of the Bay +of Naples. Across its entrance stretches, for two miles, the long line of +the breakwater, and within were anchored the fleet of our yacht squadron, +which the day before had run a race between Poole and Cherbourg. We took a +boat to visit the breakwater. It is commanded at each end by a fort, with +another in the centre, where the provisions are kept. In stormy weather +the sea washes over the breakwater, and sometimes for days prevents all +communication between the forts, and the supplies consequently are +stopped. Boys offered us for sale the silvery shells of the Venus' ear, +which inhabits the rocks of the breakwater. We afterwards saw them in the +fish-market exposed for sale, and, on expressing some curiosity as to how +they were eaten, the landlord had a dish prepared for us. These fish +resemble the scallop in taste, but are very tough, and require a great +deal of beating with a wooden mallet to make them tender enough to eat. +They are called "ormer," or "gofish." The table d'hote was very +plentifully supplied with fish, and here, as throughout Normandy and +Brittany, cider, the customary beverage of the country, was always placed +upon the table. It varies very much in quality in different districts; +that of Bayeux is most esteemed. + +The next morning we set out for the dockyard. To obtain admission, it +first requires a letter from the English Consul, who lives in a charming +spot overlooking the sea, at the foot of the Montagne du Roule. Furnished +with this, we repaired to the Prefet Maritime, who gave us an order to be +presented at the dockyard gate, where it was countersigned, and a guide +appointed to show us over the establishment. We made the tour round all +the basins and workshops, and saw the canot imperial used by the Emperor +on the visit of our Queen,--a most elegant boat, beautifully carved with +marine subjects. The model of a Roman trireme, or galley, is in one of the +basins, and in the little museum, or Salle des Modeles, are the two +flagstones that covered the grave of Napoleon, and were deposited here by +the Prince de Joinville, when he returned with the Emperor's remains from +St. Helena. The dockyard partly stands on a spot called Chantereyne. The +Empress Matilda, fleeing from Stephen, was overtaken by a tempest when +making for Cherbourg, and vowed, if her life were spared, to build a +church. The ship was in jeopardy, but the pilot cheered her spirits, and, +when gaining the port, exclaimed, "Chantes Reine! we are safe in harbour." +The place where she landed has always retained the name; and here the +Empress, in fulfilment of her vow, founded an abbey, which was destroyed +in the Revolution. The habitations of the nuns is the present provisional +Hopital de la Marine; a new one, containing above a thousand beds, being +in course of construction, and a modern church, called Eglise du Voeu, has +been erected in another part of the town in place of that of the Empress +Matilda. + +Henry II. held his court in the castle with his empress-mother in great +splendour; it had formerly been tenanted by Duke William of Normandy +before his invasion of England, and, within its enclosure, he built a +church also, in consequence of a vow made during a serious illness. There +are few objects of interest in the town of Cherbourg. The women all wear +the large Normandy cap. In the Place d'Armes is a bronze equestrian statue +of the Emperor Napoleon I., and on the pedestal is inscribed "J'avois +resolu de renouveler a Cherbourg les merveilles de l'Egypte." In the +Library is a curiously sculptured chimney-piece of the fifteenth century, +coloured and gilt, removed from a room of the abbey. The principal church, +La Trinite, is a strange jumble of architecture. There is some beautiful +tracery in the windows, and a fine boss (clef pendante) in the south +porch, now restored. On a board in the church is an inscription, setting +forth it was built in consequence of a "voeu solennel des habitans de +Cherbourg en 1450 de la delivrance de la domination etrangere"--that is, +from the English, whose defeat the same year at Formigny, by the Constable +de Richemont, expelled them for ever from Normandy. + +There is much to see in the environs of Cherbourg, which makes it a good +central point for excursions. We drove by the fort of Octeville, where a +magnificent panoramic view is obtained, equalling in extent that from the +Mont du Roule. A fisherman, who was standing by, told us the names of the +numerous forts that bristle in every direction, and related to us the +legend of the monk of Saire, who, having received the rent due to his +father for some land, appropriated the money to his own use, and, on the +tenant declaring he had paid the sum, adjured the evil one to carry him +off, if he had ever received the money. The words were no sooner uttered +than there came a flash of lightning, and the monk vanished: but he still +appears in the roads of Cherbourg floating on the sea; when he sees a +sailor, he cries "Save me, save me! I am about to sink!" but the hapless +being who approaches to assist him is immediately dragged into the water, +a peal of infernal laughter is heard, and the luckless mariner disappears +for ever. We asked our guide if he believed in the phantom monk, but he +was silent. + +[Illustration: 1. Querqueville Church.] + +From Octeville we proceeded to Querqueville, where, in the same churchyard +as the parochial church, stands a little church, named after St. Germain, +the first apostle of the Cotentin, who, in the fifth century, landed from +England on the coast of La Hogue, and preached Christianity in this +district and the valley traversed by the river Saire, which falls into the +sea near St. Vaast-la-Hogue. This tiny church, for it measures only 34 +feet by 24, and is 11 feet high, is by some supposed to have been a temple +of the Gauls converted into a Christian place of worship; the nave and +tower having been added to the old temple, which consists of a triple apse +forming a regular trefoil, each of which has a domed top. We drove on to +Nacqueville, the chateau of Comte Hippolyte de Tocqueville. The park is +prettily laid out, a stream of water runs in front of the house, and a row +of blue hydrangeas blazed forth in great beauty, with the relief of a +background of dark firs. Time prevented us from pursuing our excursion +further west, to see the famed cliffs of Jobourg. + +[Illustration: 2. Plan of Querqueville Church.] + +To the east of Cherbourg a high road leads to Barfleur and the lighthouse +of Gatteville, between which and the Isle of Wight is the narrowest point +of the English Channel, passing by Saint-Pierre-Eglise, near which is the +chateau of the late Alexis de Tocqueville, author of 'Democracy in +America;' but we did not get further on the road than Tourlaville, the +ancient chateau of the Ravalet family, upon whom tradition has heaped +every crime imaginable. One seigneur entered the church with his hounds +and stabbed the priest at the altar, because he refused to administer to +him the consecrated element; another hanged some of his vassals, because +they did not grind their corn at the seignorial mill, for "haute or basse +justice" was then among the nobles' rights. Marguerite, a daughter of this +ancient house, expiated, with her brother, their offences upon the +scaffold at Paris. Every effort was made to spare their lives; but the +King, or rather Queen Margot, was inexorable. The chateau of Tourlaville +is beautifully situated; it is in the style of the Renaissance, with an +angular tower, which recalls that of Heidelberg Castle. The ground-floor +consists of two large unfurnished rooms, and a staircase, with iron +railing, leads to the story above. In one room hangs the portrait of a +lady chateleine, in the costume of the period of Louis XIII., with the +chateau of Tourlaville in the distance. On her left are eight Cupids with +bandages over their eyes, one in advance of the others is not blinded. +From the lady's mouth is a label, with the inscription "Un (seul) me +suffit." This is said to be the portrait of the Lady Marguerite, but the +costume is of a later date. In one of the rooms is a chimney-piece covered +with a variety of amatory devices and mottoes:--a Cupid blinded, holding a +lighted torch, motto "Ce qui me donne la vie me cause la mort." Again, +another Cupid with eyes bandaged, pouring water out of a vase to cool a +flaming heart he holds in his hand, motto "Sa froideur me glace les veines +et son ardeur brule mon coeur." Six winged hearts flying at the approach of +Cupid, but which are reached by his darts, "Meme en fuyant l'on est pris." +Further is a sentiment in verse:-- + + + "Plusieurs sont atteints de ce feu, + Mais il ne s'en guerit que fort peu." + + +Again,-- + + + "Ces deux n'en font qu'un." + + +[Illustration: 3. Chateau of Tourlaville.] + +A river in the foreground, in the distance a setting sun, motto "Ainsi +puissai-je mourir." This assemblage of devices and mottoes is not +applicable to any particular individual, but may be supposed to be merely +an expression of the taste of the time. They are of the seventeenth +century, when the Ravalet had been succeeded by the Franquetot family, who +have since taken the name of Coigny. Their arms, with several others, are +in the little boudoir in one of the towers, called the Blue Chamber. Its +walls are distempered blue, and the coverlet and hangings of the bed, with +all the decorations of the room, are of the same colour. Having admired +the lovely view from the "Tour des quatre vents," we descended to the +kitchen of the farmer who rents the house, which now belongs to the +Tocqueville family. His wife was busily employed in making "crepes," a +favourite kind of cake in Normandy and Brittany. It is made generally of +the flour of the sarrasin or buckwheat, mixed with milk or water, and +spread into a kind of pancake, which is fried on an iron pan, resembling +the Scotch griddle-cakes. Another variety, called "galette," is made of +the same ingredients, but differs from the crepe in its being made three +or four times the thickness, and is therefore not so light. Though +generally made of buckwheat, wheat or oat-flour is sometimes used; and in +the towns, sugar and cinnamon and vanilla are added, and the simple +character of the crepe entirely changed under the hands of the +confectioner. The little village of Tourlaville was famous for its +glassworks, until supplanted by those of Gobain. + +On our return to Cherbourg we visited the lace school of the Soeurs de la +Providence, where about two hundred girls are employed in making black +lace like that of Bayeux, which has now completely superseded the +Chantilly; the manner of making both laces is similar. The old Chantilly +has completely died out, and the modern manufacture extends the whole +length of Normandy from Cherbourg to Bayeux. How the children can keep the +bobbins from entangling is a marvel; there were as many as five hundred on +one pillow. The lace-makers were chiefly employed in flounces, shawls, and +other large works. These are all made in separate pieces, and united by +the stitch called fine joining or "raboutissage." A half-shawl or "pointe" +was divided into thirty segments. We passed the evening at the +Etablissement, and next morning left Cherbourg. + +The railway traverses the picturesque and rocky valley of Quincampoix to +Martinvast, whose little Romanesque church stands close to the station, +and at a short distance is the chateau of Martinvast, where its late +proprietor, M. du Moncel, established a model farm. A monument has been +erected to his memory in the church by the commune of Martinvast. + +[Illustration: 4. Castle of Bricquebec.] + +At Sottevast we took the omnibus for Bricquebec, which lies nearly five +miles from the station. Its ruined castle, dating from the end of the +fourteenth century, with its lofty octagonal donjon, nearly a hundred feet +high, standing on a high "motte" or artificial mound, has a most imposing +appearance. Bricquebec, the most considerable demesne of the Cotentins, +was taken by King Henry V. from the Sire d'Estouteville, who had so +gallantly defended Mont St. Michel against him. Henry gave Bricquebec to +William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the ill-fated favourite of Queen +Margaret of Anjou, and he, on being taken prisoner by the French, sold it, +to raise the money for his ransom, to Sir Bertie Entwistle, who fought at +Agincourt, and who held it till the battle of Formigny expelled the +English from Normandy, and Sir Bertie fell at St. Albans in the +Lancastrian cause. The inn, "Hotel du Vieux Chateau," is within the +enclosure of the ruins--a most dilapidated old place; our dirty +ill-furnished room next to a hayloft, the horses passing through the house +to the stable, and every kind of litter and rubbish accumulated under the +windows. Yet in the room we occupied had once slept our gracious Sovereign +Queen Victoria. On a placard is inscribed, "Chambre de la famille royale +d'Angleterre, 18 Aout 1857;" and below stairs is another, setting forth, +"S. M. la Reine d'Angleterre, le Prince Albert, les Princesses Royale et +Alice, le Prince Alfred, sont descendus a l'hotel du Vieux Chateau le 10 +Aout 1857." About a mile from Bricquebec is a Trappist convent; but we +were not allowed admission beyond the parlour, where is sold a quantity of +cutlery, not made--as we were given to understand when offered for sale--by +the monks. + +Regaining the railroad, we went on to Valognes, which has been styled the +St. Germain of Normandy; a dull town, with worn-out houses, occupied by +worn-out aristocratic families. The grass grows in the streets. + +Here we left the rail and proceeded to Saint Sauveur-le-Vicomte. On +entering the town, the castle is on the right of the road, the Abbey +church on the left. The large demesne of Saint Sauveur-le-Vicomte passed +by marriage into the Harcourt family, and belonged, in the time of Edward +III., to Geoffrey d'Harcourt, whose fortress was one of the most +formidable in Normandy. Banished from France, he went over to England and +persuaded Edward III. to make a descent upon Normandy instead of Gascony, +assuring him he would find rich towns and fair castles without any means +of defence, and that his people would gain wealth enough to suffice them +for twenty years to come. The King landed at La Hogue, or Saint +Vaast-la-Hogue, as it is now called, where he knighted the Prince of Wales +and made Warwick and Harcourt marshals of his army. They advanced in three +divisions--the King and the Prince in the centre, the two marshals on the +right and left--ravaging all before them, and not stopping in their +victorious course till the great victory at Crecy. Harcourt subsequently +met a traitor's fate. A force was sent against him, his army was routed, +and, preferring death to being taken, he fought most valiantly until he +was struck to the ground by French lances, when some men-at-arms +dispatched him with their swords. He had sold the reversion of his castle +to King Edward III., to whom it was confirmed by the treaty of Bretigny. +Edward bestowed the barony upon that pride of English chivalry, Sir John +Chandos, in recompense for his great services in the wars. The square +donjon and inner gate were built by Chandos. The castle is well preserved, +and is now used as a hospice for orphans and aged women. The rooms are +kept beautifully clean, and on a tablet in one of the corridors is written +up "Dortoirs restaures par la munificence de M. le Comte Georges +d'Harcourt en memoire de ses illustres ayeux, anciens Seigneurs de ce +chateau, en 1838." + +The Benedictine convent also belonged to the Harcourts until the revolt of +Geoffrey. It is now the property of the Soeurs de la Misericorde, who have +rebuilt the fine Abbey church according to its former model. Originally +built in the eleventh century, it was partly burnt in the fourteenth, and +reconstructed in the fifteenth. The columns and arches of the nave are of +the first period; the form of the church is a Latin cross, having an apse +ornamented with a double row of lancet windows, richly sculptured. The +sculptures are all executed by an untaught workman of the place, who died +before he had completed the pulpit. To collect the funds necessary for the +undertaking, the foundress travelled throughout Europe. Her tomb is in the +church. "Julie Francoise Catherine Postel, nee a Barfleur, 1756. Soeur +Marie Madelaine, Fondatrice et premiere Superieure Generale de l'Institut +des Ecoles Chretiennes de la Misericorde, morte en odeur de Saintete 16 +Juillet 1846, a l'Abbaye de St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte." The badge of the +sisterhood is a cross inscribed with their motto "L'obeissance jusqu'a la +mort." Some of the party made an attempt at fishing in the little river +Douve, but without success, though rewarded for their walk by a pretty +view of the apse of the Abbey church, with its delicately-sculptured +lancet windows, from the opposite side of the river. + +[Illustration: 5. L'OBEISSANCE JUSQU'A LA MORT.] + +We hired a private carriage (_voiture a volonte_) to Periers. After +passing over a hilly road we crossed a marsh which extends from Carentan +to the sea, and reached a town called La Haye-du-Puits--a singular name +derived from the custom in the middle ages of surrounding the "motte" or +enclosure upon which the donjon was built, with a wooden palisade, or +sometimes with a thick hedge formed of thorns and branches of trees +interlaced: hence La Haye-du-Puits, La Haye-Pesnel, and others. Here is a +Norman church restored: all the capitals of the columns are of the same +pattern. + +The Abbey church at Lessay, where next we stopped, is of the twelfth +century, and considered, with Coutances and Periers, to be the finest +examples of Romanesque in the Cotentin. The arches are round, and all the +architecture of the church, which has been restored, is of the same +period. The Abbey of Lessay had transmarine jurisdiction and the right of +presentation to the Priory of Boxgrove and other endowments in the diocese +of Chichester. The Abbey house, now inhabited, is a fine modernised +habitation. At Lessay we saw the manner of washing linen practised in many +places throughout Normandy and Brittany. Being first roughly washed in the +river, the clothes are placed in layers in a large cask, with a bunghole +at the bottom, alternately with wood-ashes, and on the top is laid a piece +of coarse sacking. Boiling water is poured over the top, which, as it +passes through the linen, absorbs the soda of the ashes, escaping at the +bottom and carrying away with it all impurities. This process is repeated +several times till the clothes are perfectly white. + +Throughout this part of the country the mistletoe hangs as the sign of a +cabaret; and if cider is sold, some apples are fastened to the bush. On +the road to Periers we crossed a "lande" or common, where we met numerous +carts carrying sea sand, here used to mix with the heavy soil as manure. + +At Periers we slept at the little inn "La Croix Blanche," kept by Madame +Casimir, the widow of a Polish officer, well known for her eccentricity +and good cuisine. The entrance to the apartments in the inns is generally +through the kitchen; in many the box bedstead (_lit clos_) stands in the +corner near the fire, Breton fashion. On a barber's shop we saw painted up +"Ici l'on rajeunit." The church has a tall spire, and is one of the finest +religious edifices in this part of Normandy--painted windows, the capitals +of the columns of varied foliage, and fine groined clustered arches. + +We had a most perilous drive to Coutances, the coachman, "en ribote," +drove us at a fearful pace, and we were thankful when we arrived in +safety. The Norman cathedral is beautiful--so simple, so pure, and elegant; +its tall towers terminating in spires; and the chapels being separated by +open mullioned arches, great lightness is given to the interior. The +Bishop of Coutances was officiating at the consecration of some stones for +a new pavement; each flag was rubbed over and anointed with oil. + +[Illustration: 6. Coutances Cathedral.] + +The church of St. Pierre has a handsome square tower, pierced gallery, and +apse with a double row of columns. In the church of St. Nicholas we +particularly noticed the fine bosses of the groined arches in the chancel. +The fonts hereabouts have the serpent with the apple, and the cross carved +upon the cover. The church was filled with pots of flowers they were +employed in removing, for the day before had been the Fete of St. Fiacre, +the patron of gardeners. St. Fiacre, or Fiaker, was an Irish monk of the +seventh century, who, according to tradition, obtained from the Bishop of +Meaux a grant of as much ground out of the forest as he could dig a trench +round in one day's labour, for the purpose of making a garden and +cultivating vegetables for travellers. Long time after, the peasants would +show the ditch ten times longer than was expected, and relate how, when +the Irishman took his stick to trace a line upon the soil, the earth dug +itself under the point of the stick, while the forest trees fell right and +left to save him the trouble of cutting them down. Outside the town are +the remains of an aqueduct, with ivy-covered arches, said to be the work +of the middle ages. It is a good point of view for sketching the +cathedral, and the public gardens also command a fine prospect. + +The approach to Granville is by a sharp descent. The town is built at the +foot of a rocky promontory, the streets rising in terraces cut in the +rock, on the top of which are the citadel and the church on the +culminating point. It has been styled a Gibraltar in miniature. A fort was +built here by Lord Scales, who commanded the English forces in the +Cotentin in the time of Henry VI., and it was taken by surprise by +Estouteville, the hero of Saint Michel. The church is cruciform in plan, +the arms of the cross being equal. The axis of the nave is inclined to the +left, as we afterwards observed that of the Creizker at St. Pol de Leon. +It has been lately restored, and the painted windows are offerings of the +different families of the town. The view from the top of the "Roc" is very +extensive, including the Chausey islands and Jersey. A steamer runs twice +a week to St. Helier. A deep cutting in the rocks opens on the beach, +where the bathing-machines are stationed--curious little canvas huts +carried upon poles, like sedan chairs. The tide here rises 45 feet. It was +to Granville the Vendean army, commanded by La Rochejacquelin, appointed +generalissimo at twenty-two, marched after their fatal step of crossing +the Loire, expecting to make a junction with the English; but Granville +was vigorously defended, contrary winds retarded the arrival of the +English fleet, and the retreat from the coast, where it might have been +supported by the English, was the ruin of the Royalist army. Of the 80,000 +who crossed the Loire sixty days before, only 8000 remained to make their +last heroic resistance at Savenay, which ended the great Vendean war. A +few months after, the hero of this noble army, the chivalrous Henri de la +Rochejacquelin, fell from the bullet of a soldier whose life he had +spared(1):-- + + + "Lorsqu'en des jours trop malheureux + Palissait l'astre de la France; + Quand les coeurs les plus valeureux + Semblaient perdre toute esperance, + + L'antique honneur, la sainte foi, + Brillerent dans cette contree; + Mourir pour son Dieu, pour son roi, + Fut le serment de la Vendee." + + +The costume of the Granville women is singular. They wear long black +cloaks or mantles, edged with a frill of the same material, and on their +heads a kind of bandeau or under-cap, turned up at the ears, surmounted by +a white handkerchief, folded square and placed horizontally upon the head, +like the plinth of a Grecian capital. + +We drove to St. Pair, a small watering-place about two miles from +Granville, nicely situated in a little sandy bay. In the middle of the +church is the monumental tomb of St. Pair and another saint (St. Gault); +their effigies, with mitre and crozier, side by side. + +Next day we had a beautiful drive to Avranches. A winding road leads up to +the town, which is situated on an elevated plateau, commanding a view of +Brittany on one side and of Normandy on the other--a broad expanse of land +and sea, the former extending over the valley of the See, with its network +of small streams interlacing each other; Mont St. Michel appears in the +distance. The finest view is from the Botanic gardens. The cathedral of +Avranches fell at the end of the last century, but a model of it is +preserved in the museum. One stone remains, carefully surrounded by +massive chains, with an inscription recording that it was the spot where +Henry II. received absolution for the murder of Thomas a Becket:--"Sur +cette pierre, ici a la porte de la cathedrale d'Avranches, apres le +meurtre de Thomas Becket, Archeveque de Cantorbery, Henri II., roi +d'Angleterre, duc de Normandie, recut a genoux, des legats du pape, +l'absolution apostolique, le dimanche xxii Mai, 1172." The cemetery is at +the foot of the hill; the tombs are of granite, with the letters in +relief: among them we read many well-known English names. + +At Pontorson we could find no remains of the castle of Du Guesclin, which +was nearly surprised by the English under a captain named Felton, during +the absence of Du Guesclin, with the connivance of the "chambrieres" of +the Lady Typhaine, his wife. Already their scaling-ladders were against +the wall, when Juliana, Du Guesclin's sister, agitated by a troublous +dream, awoke suddenly, seized a sword, rushed to the window, and upset +three English who were coming up the ladder, and they were killed by the +fall. The enemy retired. Next morning Du Guesclin, on his return to +Pontorson, met Felton and his party, attacked them, and took them +prisoners. When Typhaine saw Felton, she tauntingly exclaimed, "Comment, +brave Felton, vous voila encore! C'est trop pour un homme de coeur comme +vous d'etre battu, dans une intervalle de douze heures, une fois par la +soeur, une autre par le frere." Du Guesclin caused the faithless +"chambrieres" to be sewed up in sacks and flung into the river. + +John IV. Duke of Brittany conferred upon Du Guesclin the government of +Pontorson, of which territory he was personally lord, by right of his +mother. It was here he often resided, and here he celebrated being made +Constable of France by King Charles V., and fraternised with Olivier de +Clisson, agreeing to afford each other mutual help--"contre tous ceux qui +peuvent vivre et mourir." The granite church was founded by Duke Robert, +father of the Conqueror. + +Pontorson is the most convenient place for visiting Mont St. Michel. Our +drive thither was by the banks of the river Couesnon, along a sandy road, +bordered on each side by hedges of tamarisks, which leads to the "Greve," +or sands, which have to be crossed to reach the Mount, a distance of +rather more than a mile. We met numbers of bare-legged half-clad women and +children, bringing in the produce of their fishing, shrimps and cockles +tied up in nets, and peasants with carts carrying in sea sand for dressing +the land. The appearance of Mont St. Michel is very imposing, a cone of +granite encircled by the sea. Above rises the fortress, surmounted by the +church, a height of 400 feet from the top to the water. Below, at the foot +of the Mount, picturesquely situated on an insulated rock, is the little +chapel of St. Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, the founder of St. Michel. The +Mount has been the residence of many of our English princes. Matilda, +queen of the Conqueror, visited St. Michel. It was here her son Henry I., +then only Count of the Cotentin, was blockaded by his brothers William and +Robert, and obliged to surrender. Here Henry II. held his court, and, when +Henry V. overran Normandy, St. Michel was the only fortress that held out +against him, under its gallant defender Louis d'Estouteville of +Bricquebec. Two cannons, now at the entrance of the castle, are said to +have been taken from the English at the siege. Normandy was always the +scene of the quarrels between the English Norman princes, of the disputes +between the sons of the Conqueror, between Stephen of Blois and Henry of +Anjou, and again of those between Henry II. and his sons, and of Richard +and his brother John, to the latter of whom the Normans were attached. + +Seven French kings have made pilgrimages to St. Michel; and here Louis XI. +instituted the order of knighthood, called in honour of the archangel St. +Michael, but afterwards styled the order of the Coquille, from the +cockleshells that formed the collar of the knights, and the golden +cockle-shells that bordered their mantles. The motto of the order was the +old motto of the Mount, "Immensi tremor Oceani" (the trembling of the +immeasurable ocean), being an allusion to the popular belief that when the +English approached St. Michel, the guardian archangel of the Mount raised +a tempest to drive the enemy's vessels upon the rocks. This belief may be +traced back to the time when the island was occupied by the Druid +priestesses, who were supposed to have the power of raising storms and +stilling them by their magic arrows of gold. + +We ascended by the flight of steps to the "Merveille," as the convent +building is called, and well it deserves its name, from its elegance, its +boldness, and its position, with a wall of above one hundred feet high, +and of immense length, rising from the rock and supported by fifteen +buttresses, and divided into three stories. In every point of view it is +one of the most remarkable edifices of the thirteenth century. The salle +des chevaliers, where the chapters of the knights were held, is a fine +hall, with three rows of columns, and above it are the beautiful Gothic +cloisters. The "preau" or court is surrounded by a double row of pointed +arches, interlacing each other, and filled in with flowered spandrils and +cornices, carved with the greatest delicacy and endless variety. The +church which crowns the building is supported by a circle of enormous +columns in the crypt beneath, called the Souterrain des Gros Piliers: it +has been entirely restored, and the carvings are the work of the prisoners +who were confined here. From one of the doors we went out to the platform +or terrace called Beauregard, from the beauty of its prospect, or +sometimes Sault Gautier, from a prisoner of that name, who three times +threw himself off the platform to commit suicide. The view from hence is +most extensive, the whole circuit of the bay extending to the west as far +as Cancale. In 1203 St. Michel became a royal demesne, and the buildings +were entirely reconstructed by the Abbot Jourdan, assisted by Philip +Augustus; and the works were continued by his successors to 1260. + +Beneath and adjacent to the Mount, is the little island of La Tombeleine +or tombeau d'-Helene, so called from a young lady of that name, who unable +to accompany her lover knight when he left for England with the Conqueror, +as soon as the vessel which carried him away disappeared from her sight, +laid down on the shore and died. Every year, on the anniversary of her +death, the fishermen will tell you they see a dove seated upon the +Tombeleine rock, and remain there till morning's dawn. + +The guide pointed out to us the window of St. Michel, from which Barbes +tried to escape by means of a cord made of his sheets cut into strips and +tied together; but the line was too short, and he fell upon the rock and +was taken up much hurt. The provisions for the fortress are brought in up +an inclined plane, and raised by means of a tread-wheel, formerly worked +by the prisoners. We were conducted to the spot where stood, with bars +only three inches apart, the iron cage in which so many celebrities were +immured. Dubourg, the Dutch journalist, who wrote against Louis XIV., died +within its bars, devoured, it is said, by the rats. In 1777, the Comte +d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.) desired it should be destroyed, but his +wishes were disregarded. His cousin, the Duc de Chartres (afterwards Louis +Philippe), with his brother and sister, and Madame de Genlis, subsequently +visited the Mount. All exclaimed against the iron cage, and when they +heard that the Comte d'Artois had ordered its destruction, they sent for +hatchets, and the Duc de Chartres gave the first blow towards its +demolition; but the fine old fortress is no longer desecrated as a prison. +The Emperor has restored it to its original position, and it is now placed +under the control of the Bishop of Coutances, and is used as an asylum for +orphans under the care of a few Sisters. + +Next morning we crossed the boundary between Normandy and Brittany, the +river Couesnon, which has often changed its course, once, it is said, +running beyond St. Michel--hence the popular saying-- + + + "Le Couesnon par sa folie + A mis le Mont en Normandie." + + +We had a beautiful drive to Dol or Dol-de-Bretagne, as it is styled, to +distinguish it from the fortress of the same name in the Jura, upon the +taking of which Madame de Sevigne writes in her letters with so much +enthusiasm. We were now fairly in Brittany, which though geographically +part of France still remains very distinct, owing to the Celtic origin of +its inhabitants. Brittany consists of five departments; but it is in Lower +Brittany alone, comprised in the departments of Finistere, Morbihan, and +the Cotes-du-Nord, that the true Celtic race, its language, names, +features, costumes, and superstitions are to be found. + +This is the true Brittany, the Bretagne Bretonnante of Froissart, who +calls the eastern part of the province, La Bretagne Douce, because the +French language is spoken there. Dol was the great bulwark of Brittany +against Normandy; the wall and moat surrounding the town, with some of the +towers, still remain. Many of the houses are built, as the French term it, +"en colombage" that is, with the upper story projecting some fifteen feet +over the ground-floor, forming a gallery or porch supported by oak posts +or columns with sculptured capitals of the thirteenth century. The inn we +occupied had one of these porches: Madame Barbot, our landlady, and her +maid, were both dressed in Breton costume, with lace-trimmed embroidered +caps and aprons of fine muslin, clear-starched and ironed with a +perfection which the most accomplished "blanchisseuse du fin" of Paris +would find it difficult to surpass. The people here have the Breton +physiognomy, sharp black eyes, short roundi faces and brown freckled +complexions, a contrast to the blue eyes, long oval faces, and bright +tints of their Norman neighbours. + +[Illustration: 7. Pilaster and Cornice from the Tomb of Bishop James, +Cathedral, Dol.] + +The principal building at Dol is the Cathedral, built of grey granite, in +the style of many of our English churches. On the south is the "porte +episcopale," a large projecting porch with mullioned sides, and, near it, +a smaller porch with a central column semee of hearts, the "armes +parlantes" of Bishop Coeuret who built it. The clustered columns of the +nave, consist of a central pillar surrounded by four others running up to +the roof, so slender and delicate that they are united to the centre by +small bars of iron. Over the high altar is an enormous wooden crozier, +carved and gilt, from which the Host is suspended. A beautiful Renaissance +tomb on the north side of the cathedral was raised in 1507 to the memory +of Bishop James, who died three years before. The sculpture is much +mutilated, but the arabesques are most delicately and elegantly chiselled. +It is supposed to be the work of Jean Just of Tours, sculptor of the +magnificent tomb of Louis XII. and Anne of Brittany, erected at St. Denis +by order of Francis I. + +[Illustration: 8. Front of the Tomb of Bishop James, Cathedral, Dol.] + +The chapel of St. Samson, patron saint of the cathedral, has been +restored. Mad people were brought here for cure, and placed in a recess +which still remains; the opening was covered over by an iron grating. Dol +was formerly the ecclesiastical metropolis of Brittany; the see was +founded by Samson, one of those British monks, who, with a whole +population of men and women, emigrated from England to escape the Saxon +slavery. They crossed the Channel in barks made of skins sewn together, +singing, as they went, the Lamentations of the Psalmist. This emigration +lasted more than a century (from 450 to 550), and poured a Christian +population into a Celtic country where paganism was longest preserved. St. +Samson and his six suffragans--all monks, missionaries, and bishops, like +himself--were called the "Seven Saints of Brittany;" St. Samson was what +was termed an "eveque portatif," meaning a bishop without a diocese, until +he founded that of Dol. Telio, also a British monk, with the assistance of +St. Samson, planted near Dol an orchard three miles in length, and to him +is attributed the first introduction of the apple-tree into Brittany. +Wherever the monks went, they cultivated the soil; all had in their mouths +the words of the Apostle, "If any would not work, neither should he eat." +The people admired the industry of the new comers, and, from admiration +they passed to imitation; the peasants joined the monks in tilling the +ground, and even the brigands became agriculturists. "The Cross and the +plough, labour and prayer," was the motto of these early missionaries. + + + "Sur que le Ciel maudit l'arbre sterile, + Le sage passe en operant le bien: + Vivre et mourir a l'univers utile, + C'est la devise et l'esprit du chretien." + _Chants de Piete_, MALO DE GARABY. + + +The monks of Dol were great bee-farmers, as we learn from an anecdote told +by Count Montalembert in his 'Moines de l'Occident.' One day when St. +Samson of Dol and St. Germain, Bishop of Paris, were conversing on the +respective merits of their monasteries, St. Samson said that his monks +were such good and careful preservers of their bees that, besides the +honey which they yielded in abundance, they furnished more wax than was +used in the churches during the year, but that, their climate not being +fit for the growth of vines, they had great scarcity of wine. Upon hearing +this, St. Germain replied, "We, on the contrary, produce more wine than we +can consume, but we have to buy wax; so, if you will furnish us with wax, +we will give you a tenth of our wine." Samson accepted the offer, and the +mutual arrangement was continued during the lives of the two saints. + +The marshy country round Dol has been formerly inundated by the sea; it is +now reclaimed and protected by a dyke twenty-two miles long, extending +from Pontorson to Chateauneuf. The whole tract is full of buried wood, a +submerged forest, which the people dig up, and use for furniture. It is +black, like the Irish bog-oak. They call it "coueron." In the midst of +this plain rises a mamelon or insulated granite rock, resembling in form +Mont St. Michel, called the Mont Dol. On the top is the little chapel of +Notre Dame de l'Esperance, upon which was formerly a telegraph, and near +it is a column surmounted by a colossal statue of Our Lady. Mont Dol was a +consecrated place of the Druids. The guides showed us a spring which never +dries, and also a rock upon which they point out the print of the foot of +the demon, left by him when wrestling with St. Michael. We met the cure, +who gave us a medal of the church, and told us the principal points in the +view before us, extending over the whole Bay of Cancale. + +[Illustration: 9. Menhir, near Dol.] + +On our way back to Dol, we walked to a cornfield, in the midst of it +stands a menhir(2) (they are so termed from the Breton _moen_, stone, and +_hir_, long), called the "Pierre du champ dolant," a shaft of gray +granite, about thirty feet high, and said to measure fifteen more +underground. On the top is a cross. The first preachers of Christianity, +unable to uproot the veneration for the menhirs, surmounted them with the +cross, preserving the worship but changing the symbol. In the same manner, +they did not attempt to destroy the veneration for sacred groves and +fountains, but transferred to new saints the miracles of times past. + +We drove through a pretty country to see the Chateau of Combourg, where +Chateaubriand passed his early days. It is a fine square castle of the +fifteenth century, with massive towers at each corner, surrounded by +trees, and standing proudly over the village below. The drawbridge has +been replaced by a modern "perron" or flight of stone steps, which leads +to the entrance hall. The salle d'honneur looks over a lake. We were taken +into his little melancholy room which Chateaubriand so well describes. + +[Illustration: 10. Chateau of Combourg.] + + "La fenetre de mon donjon s'ouvrait sur le cour interieure; le jour, + j'avais en perspective les creneaux de la courtine opposee, ou + vegetaient des scolopendres et croissait un prunier sauvage. Quelques + martinets, qui, durant l'ete, s'enfoncaient en criant dans les trous des + murs, etaient mes seuls compagnons. La nuit je n'apercevais qu'un petit + morceau du ciel et quelques etoiles. Lorsque la lune brillait et qu'elle + s'abaissait a l'occident, j'en etais averti par ses rayons, qui venaient + a mon lit au travers des carreaux losanges de la fenetre. Des chouettes + voletant d'un tour a l'autre, passant et repassant entre la lune et moi, + dessinaient sur mes rideaux l'ombre mobile de leurs ailes." + +The bed on which Chateaubriand died has been brought from Paris and placed +in the room. + +[Illustration: 11. Peasant Girl of Cancale.] + +The next morning we left Dol for Cancale, of such world-wide celebrity for +its oysters. We left the railway at La Gouesniere, five miles and a half +from Cancale, to which we proceeded by the mail cart. It requires to +travel in Brittany to form any notion of the detestable vehicles, whether +public or "voitures a volonte," in which travellers in this country are +condemned to ride. Uncleaned, unpainted, creaking, jolting machines--as +fully tenanted with every kind of insect annoyance, as if one were +travelling in a hen-house. The horses are good, hardy, enduring little +animals, which go their thirty to fifty miles a day without any distress +either to themselves or the traveller. The Breton drivers are gentle and +kind, making more use of their voices than of their whips in urging on +their horses. The town of Cancale is situated on the heights, a +precipitous descent leading to the village below, called La Houle, which +lines the edge of the shore, and is occupied mostly by fishermen. This is +the port, and here are the pier and the lighthouse, and also a comfortable +inn to which the people of St. Malo resort in large parties, an omnibus +running thence daily. The panoramic view of the bay of Cancale is +beautiful and most extensive, one vast crescent of sand some ten square +leagues in extent, stretching from the picturesque rocks of Cancale to +Granville, its most northern point, and including Mont Dol, Mont St. +Michel, and Avranches. The western side is lined with huts and windmills, +but the water is so shallow that no boat can land. Having walked round the +little hurdled-in oyster parks, numbering, we were told, about 600, and +made ourselves very wet and dirty, though we borrowed sabots to enable us +to wade through the mud, we returned to the inn, and next day reached St. +Malo. + +[Illustration: 12. Tomb of Chateaubriand, and View of St. Malo.] + +St. Malo stands on a small granite island at the mouth of the Rance, +connected, by a causeway called "Le Sillon," with the mainland. The space +it occupies is so small, that castle, churches, streets, and towers are +all crowded together, and the whole is nearly surrounded by a sea wall, +which makes the town appear as if rising straight out of the ocean. +Towards the sea, the bay is encircled with groups of craggy islets, many +surmounted by forts, bristling up as the tide recedes, in every direction. +Conspicuous among these island rocks is that called the Grand Be, chosen +by Chateaubriand for his last resting-place, as he wished to be buried +near the place of his birth. Singularly enough the name of the island "Be" +signifies a tomb. On his request being granted, Chateaubriand wrote to the +Mayor of St. Malo. + + "Enfin, Monsieur, j'aurai un tombeau, et je vous le devrai, ainsi qu'a + mes bienveillants compatriotes. Vous savez, Monsieur, que je ne veux que + quelques pieds de sable, une pierre de rivage sans ornement et sans + inscription, une simple croix de fer, et une petite grille pour empecher + les animaux de me deterrer. La croix dira que l'homme reposant a ses + pieds etait un Chretien; cela suffit a ma memoire." + +At low water, the island is accessible on foot. The tomb consists of a +plain stone without inscription, surmounted by a granite cross, and is +surrounded by an iron railing. It is placed on the edge of a rock, and is +the resort of crowds of pilgrims. + + + "La vaste mer murmure autour de son cercueil." + + +The Hotel de France is the house where Chateaubriand's family lived, and +the room he occupied is filled with various memorials of him. The +Chateaubriand arms hang upon the wall. They were given by St. Louis to an +ancestor who was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Massoura. The +King changed the peacock's plumes, previously borne by the family, to +fleurs de lys on a field gules, with the proud motto "Mon sang teint les +bannieres de France." The tides here rise to between forty and fifty feet +above low-water mark, so that the harbour is dry at low water, and is +crossed on foot to go to St. Servan, the suburb on the opposite side. + +We walked round the ramparts and were shown the little gate down which +were sent every night the watch dogs of St. Malo, "chiens Anglais qui +s'appelent dogues." Shut up during the day, they were let out at ten at +night, and recalled in the morning to the sound of a copper trumpet, by +their keeper, styled the "chiennetier." Enactments were made for their +maintenance, called the "droit de chiennage." When let loose at night, a +warning bell was rung to apprise the inhabitants, as they tore the legs of +every one they met. Hence it used to be said "Il a ete a St. Malo, les +chiens lui ont ronge les mollets." In 1770, a naval officer trying to +force a passage was attacked by a troop of these dogs prowling between St. +Malo and St. Servan; his sword was useless as defence, and, exhausted, in +despair he threw himself into the sea, but here he was followed by the +dogs and torn to pieces. A few days after they were all destroyed by the +municipality, and the custom of keeping them has been since discontinued. +In an old map of St. Malo, or "Saint Malo de l'isle," as it was then +styled, preserved in the Imperial Library at Paris, is laid down, near the +"Sillon" a little sentry-box marked, "Corps-de-garde de nuit pour les +chiens," and again, near the "Tour de la grande Porte," is the "Pont aux +chiens." The date of the map is 1662. The arms of St. Malo till the +seventeenth century were, on a field argent, a mastiff gules. + +The castle dates principally from the Queen-Duchess Anne, and one of its +massive towers, the "Qui qu'en grogne" is a memorial of her dauntless +spirit. Twice crowned Queen of France, she was the only one of her line +worthy of the ducal crown. The Bishop of St. Malo was temporal lord of the +town, and maintained he held it direct from the Pope, as a fief of the +Church, because it was built upon land where a convent formerly stood; and +consequently the Duke of Brittany had no authority over it, either +spiritual or temporal. Duke John V. began to build a castle, but the +Bishop opposed himself to its construction, and the contest lasted on +until the time of the Queen-Duchess Anne, who, in defiance of the Bishop, +and to shew that she was and always would be sovereign of St. Malo, +finished the fortress and caused the lofty inscription to be placed in +raised letters upon the great tower: "Qui qu'en grogne, ainsi sera, c'est +mon plaisir;"--so runs the legend, but unfortunately a similar story is +told of Louis II., Duke of Bourbon. + +On the opposite side of the mouth of the Rance is Dinard, lately become a +favourite watering-place; it has good sands, and houses and villas are +rapidly rising up in every direction, and covering its granite hills. + +The prettiest route to Dinan is by the little steamer which ascends the +Rance, a lovely voyage, occupying about two hours. The banks one mixture +of rocks, valleys, and verdure; the river now expanding into the width of +a lake, now narrowing between its forest-clothed sides. After passing +through a lock, and, winding our way through a narrow pass of rocky crags, +we reached the bridge of Dinan; above us, the gigantic granite viaduct +stretched across the valley, the town, with its feudal walls and castle, +perched on its rocky heights over the river. + +In the Grande Place is a miserable statue of Du Guesclin, who looks more +like a wandering minstrel than the hero of Brittany and Constable of +France. His life forms quite an historic romance. His future greatness was +foretold by a prophetess; his wife, the Lady Tiphaine, was herself a +fairy; his battles resemble those of the giants of old. Du Guesclin was +born at Broons, and was the eldest of ten children and of great trouble to +his parents. One day his mother dreamt she was in possession of a casket, +containing portraits of herself and her lord, and on one side were set +nine precious stones of lustrous beauty encircling one rough unpolished +pebble. In her dream she carried the casket to a lapidary, and asked him +to take out the rough stone as unworthy of such goodly company; but he +advised her to allow it to remain, and subsequently it shone forth more +brilliantly than the precious gems with which it was surrounded. The after +superiority of Bertrand over the other nine children explained the dream. + +It was in this "Place," where his statue now stands, the celebrated duel +took place between Du Guesclin and an English knight, called by the Breton +chroniclers Thomas of Cantorbery. Dinan was at that time closely besieged +by the Duke of Lancaster (1359), with the young Count de Montfort, and +defended by Du Guesclin. A truce of forty days had been agreed upon, +before the expiration of which Oliver, brother of Du Guesclin, rode out +unarmed beyond the city walls, and was made prisoner by Thomas of +Cantorbery, who demanded a ransom of 1000 florins. On this news reaching +Du Guesclin, he immediately repaired to the English camp, where he found +the Duke of Lancaster playing chess with Sir John Chandos. They received +him most cordially, and agreed that the dispute should be settled by a +combat within the walls, the Duke of Lancaster consenting to preside. +Victory declared in favour of Du Guesclin, who would have cut off the head +of his adversary, had not the Duke of Lancaster interceded for his life. +Cantorbery was dragged upon a hurdle out of the lists, and condemned to +pay 1000 florins to Oliver; his horse and armour were given to Bertrand, +and the felon knight expelled the English army. + +We drove to see the Castle of Montafilant, one of the apanages of the +Rohan family, which passed with many others to the unfortunate Gilles de +Bretagne, by his marriage with the heiress Francoise de Dinan. The castle +is approached by a steep winding path, leading to the plateau upon which +it stands. Before the use of firearms, its position rendered it +impregnable. Of its seven towers, two only remain. + +The story of Gilles de Bretagne forms the subject of a romance by the +Vicomte Walsh. Though his conduct was not free from blame, his long +captivity and tragic end have rendered this unfortunate prince an object +of pity to posterity. Third son of Duke John V., he was reared with Henry +VI. of England, and personally attached to the English; but he never was +in league with England against his own country, and his uncle the +Constable Richemont regarded him as the honour and hope of his house. His +wife Francoise was the most beautiful and accomplished woman of her time, +the "perle de noblesse, de gentilesse, et de savoir;" and moreover +possessed of the rich inheritance of her uncle Bertrand de Dinan, of the +Montafilant branch. She had been betrothed from her infancy to the Sire de +Gavre, son of Guy, Comte de Laval; but her father died when she was only +eight years old, and Gilles de Bretagne carried her off by force. +Dissatisfied with his paternal inheritance, the lordship of Champtoce, he +retired to Guildo, one of the chateaux of Francoise's dower, where he +passed his time in company with his English archers. His withdrawal from +court was represented to Duke Francis as the beginning of a revolt, by +Arthur de Montauban, his bitterest enemy and a great favourite of the +Duke. Gilles neglected his young wife, and she is reported, in an +unguarded moment, to have said to Montauban, she would marry him "if her +husband were to die." Duke Francis was determined to get rid of his +brother, and Charles VII. was persuaded to assist him in his vile design. +The King arrested Gilles on the charge of high treason, as being in +correspondence with the English; and, in proof of the charge, his enemies +produced forged letters from the King of England compromising the loyalty +of Gilles. Charles gave him over to his brother for punishment. In vain +were Gilles's supplications to the Duke, or the entreaties of the +Constable, who went to Dinan and knelt to Francis to beg for the pardon of +his brother. Equally fruitless his being acquitted at Redon, from there +being no proof of his guilt. The unfortunate Gilles was dragged from +prison to prison, and consigned to keepers destitute of every feeling of +humanity. Montauban, an Italian by descent (his mother was a Visconti), +sent for poison from Lombardy, and administered in his soup a strong dose, +which the good constitution of Gilles enabled him to resist. Starvation +was then tried, and the wretched Gilles would stand at his prison window, +calling on the passers by to give him bread: "Du pain, du pain pour +l'amour de Dieu," but no one ventured to relieve him. At last, a poor +woman dared to give him food, and placed a loaf on the edge of his grated +window, continuing for six months to share with him in secret her scanty +meal of black bread. Seeing that he could hold out no longer and that his +death was determined upon, Gilles begged the woman would fetch him a +minister of religion, that he might confess before he died. By stealth she +brought him a Cordelier monk, who confessed him across the bars of his +prison, and Gilles adjured him to seek his brother and acquaint him with +his pitiable condition. The monk started on his errand, but in the mean +time the gaolers of Gilles determined on putting an end to his life. They +twisted a cloth round his neck, and smothered him between two mattresses +while he slept. The monks of Bosquen carried his body to their abbey for +interment, and the wooden effigy that was placed over his grave is still +preserved in the Museum at St. Brieuc. The monk who had received Gilles's +confession went in quest of Duke Francis, who, on hearing of his brother's +death when at Avranches, had left for Saint Michel. The monk met him on +the Greve, and cited him in the name of his brother "de la part du Messire +Gilles" to appear within fifty days at the tribunal of Heaven to answer +for his murder. The menace was realised. Duke Francis died within the +appointed time, struck with remorse, and terrified at the summons of the +Cordelier. The monk was never seen again. On the death of Gilles, the Duke +of Brittany himself wished to marry Francoise, but she would not listen to +his proposals; and at last was obliged, in order to recover her liberty, +to marry the aged Comte de Laval, father of her betrothed, with whom she +lived peacefully thirty years, and had three sons. Duke Francis II. +appointed her to the charge of rearing his daughter Anne. + +Arthur Montauban turned monk to avoid the vengeance of Duke Peter, brother +of Gilles, and eventually became Archbishop of Bordeaux. The Pope gave him +the Abbey of Redon, but popular indignation prevented him from accepting +the appointment. + +On our return from Montafilant we stopped to visit the Lunatic Asylum +(Asile des alienes), called Les Bas Foins, kept by the brothers of +Saint-Jean-de-Dieu. There are six hundred inmates under the charge of +about sixty brethren. The buildings, with the chapel, are very handsome +and most complete in all the arrangements. Within the enclosure is a large +piece of land. The lunatics are employed in agricultural, garden, and +house occupations; they look very contented and happy. Visitors are not +allowed to speak to them. We omitted seeing the Croix du Saint Esprit, a +curiously sculptured Gothic granite cross of the fourteenth century, not +far from the asylum. + +The castle of Dinan is now a prison. It was occupied by the Queen-Duchess +Anne, when on her way to a pilgrimage to Notre Dame-du-Folgoet, in +fulfilment of a vow made during the illness of Louis XII. In the chapel is +shewn a sculptured seat, still called the arm-chair of the Duchess Anne. +Within these walls were crammed, in the last century, about 2000 English +prisoners of war, many of whom fell victims to a contagious fever. From +the platform of the keep we had a magnificent view of the surrounding +country, extending to Mont Dol and the sea. + +The church of St. Sauveur has a richly sculptured Romanesque portal. It +contains the heart of Du Guesclin, transferred from the church of the +Dominicans, where he desired it to be interred by the side of his wife +Tiphaine. His body was buried at St. Denis, in a tomb King Charles V. +caused to be made in his lifetime, and he left orders that on his death +his Constable should repose at his feet. On the dark-coloured monumental +stone now incrusted on the wall, are roughly sculptured his arms (an eagle +displayed charged with a cotice(3)), with a commemorative inscription in +gold letters:-- + + + "Cy: gist: le cueur: de + Missire: bertram: du gueaqui + en: son vivat: conetiable de + france: qui: trepassa: le: xiii^e + jour: de: jullet: l'an: mil iii^e + IIII^xx dont: son: corps: repos + avecques: ceulx: des: Roys + a sainct: denis en France." + + +Above hangs a painting representing the Governor of Chateauneuf Randon, +laying the keys of the town upon the dead body of the Constable.(4) + +[Illustration: 13. Effigy of Jean de Beaumanoir.] + +Many of the streets of Dinan preserve the character of the Middle Ages, +the houses upon columns forming a kind of porch or covered way; and most +curious of all is the dirty, steep, narrow, winding street, called the Rue +de Jerzual, a ravine extending from the top of the town, in one pitch, to +the river's edge. The Museum at the Mairie has an interesting collection +of tumulary slabs--recumbent figures taken from different churches and +abbeys, mostly from the Beaumanoir chapel of the Abbey of Lehon. There is +one of Jean de Beaumanoir, son of the hero of the "Combat des Trente," +treacherously slain by his steward. He is represented in full armour, but +with his head bare, to indicate the manner of his death. The effigy of his +wife is also in complete armour, but on the belt that encircles her waist, +like those worn by the knights, is sculptured a wreath of roses. She was a +Du Guesclin by birth, and her feet repose upon an eagle, the bearing of +her house. The statue of Roland, Vicomte de Dinan, one of the nine great +Barons of Brittany in the twelfth century, is of gigantic proportions; the +warrior is clad from head to foot in chain mail, but he holds one of his +gauntlets in his hand. In the Museum is also a clock given to the city of +Dinan by the Duchess Anne, inscribed with the name of its maker and the +date of its construction: "1498, a Nantes par M. Hainzer de cette ville." +The ancient bronze standard measures (etalons) of Dinan are decorated with +the arms of the City, and Gothic inscriptions in relief, "Cart (quart) a +gros ble pour Dinan"--"Cart a fourmant (froment) pour Dinan"--and "Bouesceau +a scel (boisseau a sel) pour Dinan." Portraits of Du Guesclin and other +Breton worthies are in one of the rooms (Salle de l'Odeon). That of the +Constable answers to the description given of his appearance. He was low +in stature, with large Breton head, broad shoulders, long arms, and large +hands. His eyes were green, and his complexion swarthy: "la peau noire +comme un sanglier." + +[Illustration: 14. Chateau of La Belliere.] + +The drives round Dinan are endless in variety,(5) and all beautiful. We +took a carriage to see the Chateau of la Belliere, about five miles and a +half from Dinan, formerly the residence of Du Guesclin's wife, the +celebrated Lady Tiphaine; her name answers probably to our English +Tiffany:-- + + + "William de Coningsby-- + Came out of Brittany + With his wife Tiffany + And her maid Manifas + And his doggs Hardigras." + + +[Illustration: 15. Chimney. Chateau of La Belliere.] + +The Lady Tiphaine was heiress and daughter of the Vicomte de Belliere; so +deeply versed was she in astrology, she was called Tiphaine la Fee. During +her husband's absence in Spain, she resided at Mont Saint Michel, having +chosen this insulated spot for the facilities it afforded her of studying +the stars. She gave Du Guesclin a calendar on vellum, containing verses at +the beginning of each month, pointing out the lucky and unlucky days; how +many she marked down as such, we know not. Tycho Brahe had thirty-two +fatal days in his calendar. Had Du Guesclin consulted this precious +volume, which is now preserved in the Library at Avranches, he would never +have risked his fortune by fighting the battle of Auray on the Feast of +St. Michel, one of the fatal days against which she specially warns him in +her book. We wished to have seen the room where she died, and where many +memorials of her are preserved; but the proprietor was at his dejeuner, +and would not grant us admittance, so we were forced to be content with +seeing the exterior of the house, a chateau of the end of the fourteenth +century. It stands on the edge of a large sheet of water, in the midst of +trees on the roadside between Dinan and St. Malo. Its principal +characteristics are its tall octagonal chimney-shafts, composed of +granite, brick, and slate. They are surmounted by pieces of slate placed +edgeways and forming a kind of capital or coronet to the granite shaft. +Some of the chimneys have two circles of these coronets, and others are +enriched with little rows of arches, of which the sombre slate background +throws out the delicate ornamentation. Recrossing the magnificent viaduct, +we proceeded to visit the Benedictine Priory of Lehon, called in the +country "Chapelle des Beaumanoirs" from the mortuary chapel of that family +attached to the abbey:-- + + + "Beaumanoir! a ce nom de glorieux prodiges + Des siecles ecoules reveillent les prestiges: + La pierre des tombeaux a paru se mouvoir + Et des trente Bretons les clameurs belliqueuses + Semblent repondre, sous ces voutes fameuses, + A ce grand nom de Beaumanoir." --AUBRY. + + +The west front, with its round-arched portal surmounted by a large Gothic +window, is very pretty. The chapel of the Beaumanoirs was ravaged at the +Revolution, the lead of the coffins sold, and the bones scattered. The +statues have since been removed to the Museum at Dinan, and the crypt +beneath, where they were buried, is inaccessible. At the Revolution, when +the monks were expelled, the priory was sold and used for a spinning +factory; and the weight of the machines crushed the floors, so as to shut +up the entrance to the vaults. In the parish church adjacent, is to be +noticed an ancient baptismal font, of cylindrical form, sculptured within +and without. We returned home by the Chateau du Chene-Ferron, approached +by an avenue of firs, and had a lovely drive along the banks of the Rance. + +Our last excursion in Dinan was to the Chateau of La Garaye, rendered +famous by the virtues and boundless charity of its last proprietors, Count +Claude Toussaint Marot de la Garaye and his wife, whose interesting story +is told in the charming poem of Mrs. Norton:-- + + + "Listen to the tale I tell, + Grave the story is--not sad, + And the peasant plodding by + Greets the place with kindly eye, + For the inmates that it had." + THE LADY OF LA GARAYE. + + +Count Claude de la Garaye and his wife were young, beautiful, and endowed +with friends, riches, and all that could make life bright and happy. They +entertained with hospitality, and enjoyed the pleasures and amusements of +the world; when one day the Countess was thrown from her horse, the +expectations of an heir vanished, and she was left a cripple for life. +Both were inconsolable for their disappointment. One day a monk came to +visit them, and tried to comfort them, seeking by his converse to turn +their thoughts from earthly affections to heavenly consolation-- + +"Ah! my father," said the lady, "how happy are you, to love nothing on +earth!" + +"You are mistaken," answered the monk; "I love all those who are in sorrow +or suffering, and I submit myself to the will of the Almighty, and bend +myself with resignation to every blow He strikes." + +He proceeded to show them there was still great happiness in store for +them, in ministering to the comforts of others. Following his counsel, +they went to Paris; for three years the Count studied medicine and +surgery, and his wife became a skilful oculist. On their return to La +Garaye, they gave up all the amusements of society, and devoted themselves +to relieving the sufferings of their fellow creatures. Their house was +converted into an hospital for the sick and the wounded, under the +ministering care of the Count and his benevolent wife:-- + + + "Her home is made their home; her wealth their dole; + Her busy courtyard hears no more the roll + Of gilded vehicles, or pawing steeds, + But feeble steps of those whose bitter needs + Are their sole passport. Through that gateway pass + All varying forms of sickness and distress, + And many a poor worn face that hath not smiled + For years,--and many a feeble crippled child,-- + Blesses the tall, white portal where they stand, + And the dear Lady of the liberal hand." + THE LADY OF LA GARAYE. + + +Nor was their philanthropy confined to their own province. In 1720, they +offered themselves to M. de Belzunce--"Marseilles' good bishop"--to assist +him during the visitation of the Plague. The fame of their virtues reached +even the French Court, and Louis XV. sent Count de la Garaye the order of +St. Lazarus with a donation of 50,000 livres and a contract on the post of +25,000 more. + +They both died at an advanced age, within two years of each other, and +were buried among their poor at Taden, but their marble mausoleum in the +church was destroyed in the French Revolution. Count de la Garaye(6) left +a large sum to be distributed among the prisoners, principally English, at +Rennes and Dinan, who were suffering pent up in these crowded gaols. The +Comte had attended the English prisoners at Dinan during a contagious +fever, called the "peste blanche," and, in acknowledgment of his humanity, +Queen Caroline sent him two dogs with silver collars round their necks, +and an English nobleman made him a present of six more. + +[Illustration: 16. Chateau of La Garaye.] + +The ruined chateau is approached by an ivy-covered gateway, through an +avenue of beeches:-- + + + "Le lierre flottant comme un manteau de deuil, + Couvre a demi la porte et rampe sur le seuil." + LAMARTINE, _Harmonies Poetiques_. + + +or, as Mrs. Norton renders it:-- + + + "And like a mourner's mantle, with sad grace, + Waves the dark ivy--hiding half the door + And threshold, where the weary traveller's foot + Shall never find a courteous welcome more." + + +It is fast falling to pieces. The principal part remaining is an octagonal +turret of three stories, with elegant Renaissance decoration round the +windows. One more quotation from Mrs. Norton, and we quit these hallowed +ruins:-- + + + "We know the healthy stir of human life + Must be for ever gone! + The walls where hung the warrior's shining casque + Are green with moss and mould; + The blindworm coils where Queens have slept, nor asks + For shelter from the cold. + The swallow,--he is master all the day, + And the great owl is ruler through the night; + The little bat wheels on his circling way, + With restless flittering flight; + And that small bat, and the creeping things, + At will they come and go, + And the soft white owl with velvet wings, + And a shout of human woe! + The brambles let no footsteps pass + By that rent in the broken stair, + When the pale tufts of the windle-strae grass + Hang like locks of dry dead hair; + But there the keen sound ever sweeps and moans, + "Working a passage through the mouldering stones." + THE LADY OF LA GARAYE. + + +From Dinan, instead of taking the customary road to the railway station of +Caulnes, we hired a carriage, in order to visit the fortress castle of La +Hunaudaye, midway between Dinan and Lamballe. The road lay by Jugon, a +town prettily situated in the cleft of two hills. On one once stood an +important castle, which gave rise to the saying:-- + + + "Qui a Bretagne sans Jugon, + A chape sans chaperon." + + +Jugon is on the edge of two ponds. One of them, the largest in Brittany, +hangs suspended over the town, as if threatening it with inundation. They +told us it was swarming with fish of every description, and with pike of +fabulous dimensions. Turning off the road to the right, we entered the +forest of La Hunaudaye, and walked in a pouring rain to the chateau, +situated a short distance from the road. It is of vast extent, has five +round towers with ramparts of cut stone, and is surrounded by walls with +machicolated parapets. It is a splendid ruin, but the incessant rain +prevented us from spending much time in its examination. It was built in +the thirteenth century by Olivier de la Tournemine, and was one of the +strongest fortresses in Brittany. Situated in the midst of a vast forest, +its lord and his retainers were the terror of the surrounding country. No +traveller passed untaxed; all were compelled to pay toll. In 1504, the +Bishop of St. Brieuc complains to the Parliament at Rennes that, +regardless of the safeguard of the Duke, the foresters of the Lord of La +Hunaudaye had carried off his horses, trunks, and baggage, and, a year +later, they had the audacity to stop the Queen-Duchess Anne on her way to +a pilgrimage to the Folgoet. The Queen was conducted to the presence of +the Lord of La Hunaudaye, who maintained to her that he had only exercised +his right of exacting a ransom from all who passed through the forest +without his permission, but that he waived his privilege in favour of his +Sovereign. Be that as it may, he received her Majesty most royally, as the +old chaplain, Oliver de la Roche recounts, and gave a splendid banquet, +which he fully describes. The table, he says, was four times covered with +thirty-six dishes of viands, and lastly, was brought in, "en grande +veneration," by eight squires, a whole calf, standing on its legs, well +seasoned, with an orange in its mouth; and, when it appeared, the trumpets +sounded so loud that it seemed as if the walls shook. On seeing the +"dainty dish" that was "set before the Queen," all wished to have a share; +and the chaplain relates, with great satisfaction, how he was served +himself twice by the Lord of La Hunaudaye. + +The dark deeds of the lords of La Hunaudaye have given rise to many a +legend. The following is a translation of one of the most popular:-- + + + LEGEND OF LA HUNAUDAYE. + _(Translation.)_ + + "When the rock eagle wakes, + And the towers of Hunaudaye + Gleam like three phantom forms + In the morning's sunlight ray; + When night her darksome wing + Folds round this desert waste, + Shun all this cursed ground-- + Traveller flee thou in haste. + + "There once--Great Heaven shield + Us all! and no ill arise-- + There once--Hush! leave me not; + Hear you, from the ground, low sighs?-- + There once--wrapped in the gloom + Of a dark and rainy night, + A man of haughty mien + Knocked at the door of might. + + "'Open!' cried he,--it turns + On groaning hinge. The rain + Pours, but the frightened guards + Mark neither spot nor stain + On his purple cloak--nor his plumes + Droop wet, yet the torrents fall + Wildly and fast to night, + Beating the castle wall. + + "The baron, stern and sad, + Was in his tower alone, + Pacing, with mailed heel, + Upon the echoing stone: + Cried he--'What stranger seeks, + This hour, my castle drear? + Ho! Oliver, Ho! Ralph, + See who intrudeth here.' + + "'Heaven shield thee, baron brave! + A strange knight in the hall + Craves audience.' 'Lead him here: + Stay thou and Ralph in call, + At need.' Silent and slow + The purple-mantled knight, + Advancing, paused--his looks + Gleaming unearthly bright. + + "'Who art thou coming thus, + Loud clamouring at my gate, + Thou truly puissant knight, + With not one squire for state? + Knowst thou at word of mine--' + The stranger knight smiled stern, + Replied in awful voice, + 'Would'st thou my name? now learn: + Here is my train--behold!' + He cried. There hideous stood + One spectre, then two more-- + A sight to chill the blood-- + Unveiled their features pale, + All three in cere-cloth dressed, + Opening all wide to point + Where blood flowed from the breast. + + "'Baron, these are my guard,' + Said the unknown--'Here, lo! + Thy father's aged form, + By poignard stroke laid low; + Here thy wife, cruelly slain + In the year thy brother fell; + They stand, pale, bleeding, stiff,-- + Their murderer, can'st thou tell?' + + "The phantoms three enlaced + The trembling baron round; + He vainly shrieked,--the walls + With demon laughs resound; + The echoing thunders rolled + Along the valley deep; + Lightnings, when pale dawn broke, + Blasted the castle keep. + + "It stands a blackened pile; + The ruined gate is there. + But the sky lowers dark, + Oh! traveller flee, beware; + At this hour the shades of night + Brood o'er the solemn gloom. + Traveller, haste, oh! haste; + Leave this abode of doom." + + +It was in the forest of La Hunaudaye that the Chouans of the Cotes du Nord +were secretly exercised and drilled by their chief, La Rouerie, under the +name of Gosselin, who died of horror on hearing of the execution of +thirteen of his confederates betrayed by the physician Chaftal. Gosselin +was succeeded by the "Cid" of the Chouan chiefs, Boishardy, called the +"Sorcier," who, after his interview with General Humbert, was betrayed and +shot by the "Bleus." For twelve years was Brittany cut off from France by +this Chouan war, an insurrection even more formidable than that of La +Vendee. The peninsular position of Brittany, its vast extent of coasts, +its forests, its mountains, its people, speaking a strange language, +entirely under the subjection of the priests, rendered it peculiarly +adapted to carry on a war against the republicans; a war, the whole object +of which was to upset all order, by preventing the citizens from accepting +office under the republic, by punishing those who acquired national +property, by stopping couriers and all public conveyances, destroying +bridges, breaking up roads, assassinating public officers, and executing +horrible punishments on those who sent provisions into the towns. + +The castle of La Hunaudaye was destroyed by order of the Commune of +Lamballe, in 1793, that it might not serve as a retreat for the Chouans. + +We arrived very wet at Lamballe, a town most picturesquely situated on the +declivity of a granite cliff, surmounted by a handsome church, rising from +the very edge of the rocks. It formed part of the territory of the Duke of +Penthievre, whose heiress, Jeanne la Boiteuse, married Charles of Blois, +the competitor with John de Montfort(7) for the dukedom of Brittany. More +tenacious of her rights than her husband, Jeanne would never listen to any +compromise. After the treaty of Bretigny, the kings of England and France +proposed a division of the duchy between the two rivals; but, intimidated +by his wife, Charles dared not consent; and again, before the battle of +Auray, when a division was agreed upon, subject to the acceptance of the +Countess, Jeanne exclaimed, "My husband makes too cheap a bargain of what +is not his own." And she wrote to Charles, "Do what you please. I am a +woman, and cannot do more; but I had rather lose my life, or two if I had +them, before I would consent to so reproachable an act, to the shame of my +family" (_des miens_). Later she said to him, "Preserve me your heart, but +preserve me also my duchy, and, happen what may, act so that the +sovereignty remains to me entire." Her pride and obstinacy cost her +husband his life. The name of Lamballe is associated with the memory of +the unfortunate Princesse de Savoie de Carignan, the sad victim of +revolutionary fury. On the death of her husband, the Prince de Lamballe, +the vast estates of the Penthievre family passed to his sister, the wife +of Philippe Egalite, and from her descended to Louis Philippe, King of the +French. + +[Illustration: 17. Section of Lanleff Church.] + +Next day we made an excursion to the famed Temple of Lanleff, in Breton, +the "land of tears," situated in a retired valley about six miles from the +sea. According to the tradition of the country, it was built by "Les +moines rouges," as they style the Templar Knights. The road was +incessantly up and down hill, as we afterwards found they are throughout +Brittany; a "pays accidente" it may be truly called. The chapel of Lanleff +is composed of two concentric circular enclosures separated by twelve +round arches, with cushion-shaped capitals, having heads, human and +animal, rudely sculptured upon them at the four angles. Its whole diameter +is about twenty-two feet. It was probably built by some Templar Knight in +the beginning of the twelfth century on his return from the Holy Land. The +number of arches may allude to that of the twelve Apostles. + +[Illustration: 18. Plan of Lanleff Church.] + +The parish church was built into the east side of the temple, the only +part which has preserved its roof, and which served as a vestibule to the +more modern building. A gigantic yew formerly grew in the central +enclosure, and overshadowed it with its spreading branches; but the parish +church has been taken down and rebuilt in another part of the village, and +the yew-tree has disappeared. + +Close to the temple is a spring enclosed by flagstones. When moistened, +they appear covered with blood-stained spots. According to the tradition, +in olden times an unnatural father sold his child to the Evil One. The +gold received for the bargain was counted out upon the side of the spring, +and the accursed money left its print upon the stones. A bare-legged +peasant who stood by with her pitcher, threw some water over the stones, +and immediately there appeared round red spots of different +sizes--indelible marks of the diabolical bargain. We went into a cottage +close by, and had some boiled eggs and cider. The inmates were at their +meal--a bowl of milk, into which they broke their buckwheat "galette." We +were much struck with the jealous pertinacity of the Breton, to show he +considers himself as of a different people and country to the rest of +France, a feeling which more than three hundred years has not dissipated. +Our driver would talk of Bretons and French as of distinct nations, and +the Normans in this part of Brittany are the special objects of hatred, +originating, perhaps, in the former subjection of Brittany to Normandy. +When Charles the Simple ceded to the fierce Northmen the province now +known by their name, their sovereignty extended over Brittany, and the +dukes of Normandy did homage for both provinces to the King of France. The +Bretons struggled hard against the supremacy of the Barbarians, but +eventually had to acknowledge the Duke of Normandy as their sovereign +lord. + +St. Brieuc, principal town of the department of the Cotes-du-Nord, has +been described as an old town with a new face. Though one of the oldest in +Brittany, it has little of antiquity to detain the traveller. The Palais +de Justice is a handsome building, in the midst of a pretty garden, +commanding a view of the Tour de Cesson, lower down the river (the Gouet), +a large circular tower built by Duke John IV., and blown up by Henry IV., +at the desire of the Briochins, as the inhabitants of St. Brieuc style +themselves. The mine split it in two, and the part that remains serves as +a landmark for the pilots between St. Brieuc and its port, about two miles +distant, called Legue. Notre Dame d'Esperance is a pretty church, rebuilt +about ten years since, with a calvary in front, and a series of painted +windows representing the principal saints of Brittany, and the most +celebrated pilgrimages of the Virgin in that province. At St. Brieuc, +1689, James II. of England reviewed his little army, and was received with +royal honours by the bishop of the place. + +We proceeded by the railway to Guingamp, next to St. Brieuc, the principal +town of the department, capital of the duchy of Penthievre. It is situated +in the richly wooded and cultivated valley of the Trieux, a favourite +fishing river of considerable size, and affording trout, salmon, and dace, +from Guingamp to Paimpol, where it falls into the sea, a distance of +twenty miles. It runs through the centre of the town, and is here a +considerable stream. + +Attached to the Cathedral is the venerated sanctuary of Notre +Dame-du-Bon-Secours, one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in +Brittany. The pardon takes place the Saturday before the first Sunday in +July, and owes its origin to the brotherhood called the "Frerie blanche," +an association of which Duke Peter accepted the title of lay-abbot. The +motto embroidered on their banner was (in Breton) "A triple cord is not +easily broken." The triple cord being emblematic of the three +estates--clergy, nobles, and laity--in whose unity consisted the strength of +Brittany. The Frerie blanche no longer exists, the triple cable is broken, +the pilgrimage alone remains. + +[Illustration: 19. Fountain of Duke Peter.] + +La Pompe, or the fountain of Duke Peter, as it is called, is of later +dater date, being in the style of the Renaissance. It consists of three +circular basins in tiers. On the lower are sea-horses, which, with their +wings, support the second basin, and Naiads uphold the third. On the top +is a figure of the Virgin with her arms extended. + +The women of Guingamp wear high muslin caps, dark petticoats, and black +stockings. Knitting-pins in hand, they work away at their stockings +whether walking, talking, or with a load of butter on their heads, as they +do throughout all Brittany. When not at work, their knitting-pins are +stuck in their hair. Knitting and spinning are the occupation of their +lives. When the Breton's idol, Du Guesclin, was a prisoner to the Black +Prince, and was asked how he could raise the large sum named for his +ransom, Du Guesclin replied, that "the women of Brittany would rather spin +for a year and ransom him with their distaffs, than that he should remain +prisoner." + + + "Quand vous etiez captif, Bertrand, fils de Bretagne, + Tous les fuseaux tournaient aussi dans la campagne; + Chaque femme apporte son echeveau de lin; + Ce fut votre rancon, messire Du Guesclin!" + _Les Bretons_, A. BRIZEUX. + + +Guingamp was given by Duke John V. to his son Peter, who resided here and +rebuilt the castle. When attacked by his mortal illness, the physicians +attributed his malady to witchcraft, and declared it could only be +remedied by counter-spells. The Prince refused to have recourse to such +means, saying, "I had rather die by the will of God, than live by the will +of the Devil."--"J'aime mieux mourir de par Dieu, que de vivre de par le +Diable." + +We walked to the small chapel of St. Leonard, picturesquely situated on a +little eminence. It was built by Charles of Blois, on his return from his +captivity in England, and dedicated by him to St. Leonard, the +patron-saint of prisoners--a contemporary of Clovis, from whom he obtained +permission to set free all the captives he should find in the prisons. In +the month of May, people who are attacked with fever repair to St. Leonard +to seek, upon the walls of the chapel or on the calvary attached to it, +snails as cures for their malady. They must gather them themselves, pound +them, and put them into little bags, which they wear round their necks. As +soon as the fever leaves them they bury their bags at the foot of the +walls of the chapel, and, if they fail to perform this ceremony, the fever +will return. We found quantities of these bags, made of coarse linen, +lying half-buried under the walls of the chapel. There is a pardon here +every year, on which occasion only the chapel is opened. + +We took a carriage to Paimpol. On our way we stopped at the Chateau de +Boisgelin, belonging to the Marquis of the same name, but could not obtain +admittance. On to the Abbey of Beauport (Sancta Maria de Bello Porto), +founded in the thirteenth century, beautifully situated on a tongue of +land at the entrance of the Bay of Paimpol, opposite the island of +Saint-Rion. In its large garden, which extends down to the sea, are +planted myrtles, figs, mulberries, and other trees of the south of Europe. +Beauport has been called the Chartreuse of Brittany. It is a lovely +secluded spot, as, indeed, are most of the sites of the old abbeys, +varying in aspect, but always beautiful. No description can give an idea +of the magnificent panoramic views from the walls of the abbey. + +[Illustration: 20. Abbey of Beauport.] + +M. Merimee justly observes, "It appears strange that, in so early a stage +of civilisation, the monks should be so alive to the beauties of nature. +The contemplative habits of monastic life must at all times have imparted +to the mind a feeling of abstract beauty, independent of any idea of real +utility. Secure of an uniform, peaceful existence, limited in his +pleasures and his ambition, sheltered by his sacred office, above others, +from the reverses of fortune, the monk of the thirteenth century was in a +position to love, and did love, beauty for itself. And while the knight, +at war with all the world, thought only on building an impregnable +fortress, the abbot embellished his dwelling, and tasted the enjoyments +afforded by imagination and the arts. "The abbey of Beauport is built in +the pointed style, and is a perfect example of the monastic architecture +of the thirteenth century--the most important and most beautiful convent +ruins in Brittany. The original disposition of its buildings may yet be +clearly traced. These abbeys were all built upon the same plan. In the +centre was the square garden (preau), surrounded by the cloisters. On the +south side the church, extending from west to east; on the north, the +refectory, with the kitchen attached. On the east was the chapter-house, +and some small apartments; above these were the dormitories. Outside was +the interior court, reserved for the brethren, and beyond, the great +court, into which the provisions were brought, and round which were the +stables and farm buildings. The garden, orchard, mill, oven, dovecote, +cider-press, &c., were all within the walled enclosure, for the abbeys +were not merely convents dedicated solely to devotional exercises. After +prayer followed labour. The Breton abbeys were quite model farms; the +woods and the commons afforded the means of rearing cattle to those who +had the privilege of pasturage in the forests. Many had also the right of +acorns and beech-mast for their pigs (_droit au gland et a la faine_). One +abbey, that of Morimond (Haute Marne), is recorded to have had twenty +piggeries, of three hundred pigs each, distributed in its forests. The +monks also reared sheep and horses, and fattened fish in their ponds. They +were the first who advanced the science of horticulture and the +cultivation of vegetables. To these agricultural pursuits were added, in +many convents, the industrial arts, and some of the brethren were brewers, +curriers, fullers, weavers, shoemakers, carpenters, and blacksmiths. Their +cultivation of the liberal arts and sciences is well known. During the +Middle Ages the monasteries were the sole depositories of learning. +Beauport is now occupied by a Polish lady, Countess Poninsky, who allows +no one to enter the abbey, as her husband was buried in the church. + +Two or three miles further we reached Paimpol, where we remained the +night, at a nice hotel. Paimpol is a seaport town prettily situated in a +cultivated country on the bay that bears its name. Its inhabitants are +employed in the mackerel and Iceland fisheries. The women about here wear +close straw-bonnets. They all, in this department, ride on horseback, "a +califourchon," like the men. + +We hired our carriage on to Treguier. At Lezardrieux we passed the estuary +of the Trieux, over a magnificent suspension-bridge, at a considerable +elevation above the water, vessels sail under it. It was built 1840, and +is 833 feet long, that is, 167 longer than the famed bridge of La Roche +Bernard (Loire Inferieure). The bridge swung frightfully when we passed +over it. In the churchyard of Pleudaniel is a pretty granite calvary, and +skulls are placed in recesses in the wall on each side of the +church-porch. + +We next came to the Chateau of La Roche Jagu, on the summit of a hill +overhanging the river Trieux and defending the entrance. It has more of +the character of a "maison forte" than of a "manoir," as was termed the +habitation of a knight, and of those who holding a fief, yet did not +possess the seignorial right to a castle with towers and donjon. The +manoir might be enclosed by walls and moats, but not with towers. The +entrance on the side opposite to the river is through a large walled court +by a low Gothic doorway, closed by an enormous iron grating of upright and +horizontal bars of great thickness, hanging on four hinges, and secured by +four locks; all the windows have gratings of the same kind. A stone +staircase leads to the one story, consisting of a suite of large rooms +half lighted by narrow windows. Some of these are occupied by the keeper +of the castle and others are reserved for the use of the proprietor, the +Marquis d'Argentre, and, when he goes there, are decorated and partly +furnished with the pieces of old tapestry lying about. At the end of these +rooms is a turret, which communicates with a covered gallery surmounting +the whole length of the facade facing the river, and commanding a +beautiful view of the windings of the silvery Trieux and of its +fir-clothed banks. This gallery is furnished with battlements, and served +the double purpose of a rampart and an observatory. The wall on the +river-side is fifteen feet thick, and a chapel hewn in the thickness of +the wall is lighted by a Gothic window looking over the Trieux. Fourteen +elegant chimney-shafts of cut stone, cylindrical in form, and ornamented +with iron spikes, give a most original character to the building. The +chateau belonged to the Marechal Duc de Richelieu, who sold it in 1773 to +the Tressan family, under the stipulation that its subterranean passages +should not be explored. They are said to extend under the bed of the river +to the Chateau of Frinandour, half a league distant. + +We next passed through Pontrieux, a pretty, small town, seated in a deep +valley, the river Trieux flowing through it. The river here is famous for +salmon, and there is a considerable commerce in its little port. + +La Roche-Derrien on the Jaudy, during the War of Succession in Brittany, +was a castle of some celebrity. It was here Charles of Blois was taken +prisoner by the English, who, under Sir Thomas Dagworth, were in +possession of the place. Charles of Blois assembled a large army, and +attacked them by night. Three times was he rescued, and three times +retaken; he had received eighteen wounds, and was at last compelled to +surrender. Jeanne de Montfort, like all women who hate, was very +vindictive, and caused her illustrious prisoner to be ignominiously +dragged to Quimperle, Vannes, and Hennebont, whence he was transferred to +London, and confined in the Tower. It was nine years before he regained +his liberty. Meanwhile his heroic wife, Jeanne de Penthievre, became head +of his party, as Jeanne de Flandre was that of the De Montfort. The "War +of the two Jeannes" continued for nine years, during which they fought +with fierceness and courage, and ruled with ability. Curious,--the history +of France was illustrated in this century by five heroines of the name of +Jeanne: Jeanne d'Arc, Jeanne Hachette of Beauvais, and the Jeannes of +Penthievre, Flandre, and Clisson, who made themselves famous in Brittany. +On his release, Charles of Blois gave La Roche-Derrien to Du Guesclin. +The castle was demolished, but a calvary has been built on the site. + +Not far from La Roche-Derrien is the church of Langoat, which contains the +monument of Ste. Pompee (1370), mother of St. Tugdual. On the granite tomb +reposes her marble effigy, and around it bas-reliefs in Gothic niches +represent the life of the saint. In all the churches in this district, +tressels are placed in the nave ready for funerals. The gravestones have +in each a little hollow well, to contain water for sprinkling over the +grave, or in some a small basin is set upon the gravestone, with a sprig +of box laid by the side, for the same pious purpose. + +Every one must be struck by the excellence of the roads in Brittany, as +indeed throughout France; in no instance does the French administrative +talent more fully display itself. The roads are of three classes: the +"routes imperiales," under the care of the Government; "departementales," +kept entirely at the expense of the department; and the "chemins +vicinaux," which belong to the communes or parishes, and which all the +inhabitants are called upon to support. To each lieue de poste (two and a +half miles), is appointed a "cantonnier" or road-keeper, who is +responsible for the condition of the length of road assigned to his care. + +We stopped at Kermartin, a farmhouse near Treguier, to see the bed said to +have belonged to St. Ives, the favourite saint of the Bretons, and whose +name is borne by the majority of the inhabitants of the district of +Treguier and St. Brieuc. Charles of Blois held him in great veneration. He +gave part of a rib of St. Ives to the church at Lamballe, and carried the +relic in procession barefooted to the church. Before the battle of Auray, +he ordered his men to march "in the name of God and St. Yves." + +St. Ives, or Yves Helory, was one of the most remarkable characters of the +thirteenth century. He studied law in the schools of Paris, and applied +his talents in defending the cause of the poor; hence he was called "the +poor man's advocate;" and so great to this day is the confidence placed in +his justice, that, in the department of the Cotes-du-Nord, when a debtor +falsely denies his debt, a peasant will pay twenty sous for a mass to St. +Yves, convinced that St. Yves will cause the faithless creditor to die +within the year. His truthfulness was such, he was called St. Yves de +Verite. He is the special patron of lawyers, and always represented in the +"mortier," or lawyer's cap, with an ermine-trimmed scarlet robe. + + + "Saint Yves etait Breton, + Avocat et pas larron, + Chose rare, se dit-on." + + +Lawyers, says a writer, take him for a patron, but not for a model. Philip +le Hardi, in acknowledgment of his worth, granted him a pension of six +deniers a day--in those times a considerable sum. + +Over this house is a marble tablet with this inscription:-- + + "Ici est ne le 17 Oct^r 1253, et est mort le 19 Mai 1303, + + SAINT YVES, + + Officiel de Treguier, cure de Tredretz et de Lohannec. Sa maison, qui a + subsiste jusqu'en l'annee 1834, ayant ete alors demolie a cause de + vetuste, Mg^r Hyacinthe Louis de Quelen, Arch^vque de Paris, et + proprietaire des domaines de Kermartin, a fait placer cette inscription, + afin qu'un lieu sanctifie par la presence d'un si grand serviteur de + Dieu ne demeurat pas inconnu (1837)." + +The house is a good specimen of a Breton dwelling; by the side of the +fire, in the one room of which most of these cottages consist, fixed +against the wall like the berth of a ship, stands the bedstead or "lit +clos" of old oak, shut in by carved and well-waxed sliding panels, often +inscribed with the sacred monogram. The two mattresses, paillasse, and +"cossette de plume," are piled up to such a height as barely to admit of +its tenants creeping into the bed. In front is the customary chest, +containing the family wardrobe, answering the double purpose of a seat and +the means of ascending into the bed. Often we have seen cupboards on each +side of the large chimney with two shelves, which served as beds for the +juvenile members of the family. Forms and a polished table complete the +furniture; the last has frequently little wells hollowed in the top, used, +instead of plates, to hold the soup. Over the table, suspended by pulleys, +are two indispensable articles in a Breton dwelling--a large circular +basket to cover the bread, and a kind of wooden frame or rack, round which +the spoons are ranged. Forks they do not use. Festoons of sausages, with +hams, bacon, candles, skins of lard, onions, horse-shoes, harness, all +hang suspended from the ceiling, which consists of fagots of hazel +suspended by cross-poles. The floor is of beaten earth. One narrow window +admits the light, and there are no outhouses. The manure-heap is generally +at the house-door, and the pigs and poultry seem on an equally intimate +footing as they are in our Irish cabins. The Breton's cottage has often no +garden, to occupy his leisure hours; and the men, after their daily work, +resort to the cabaret to spend their time and their earnings. Agriculture +is very backward in Brittany, but the land produces abundance of corn. It +is thrashed out direct from the field, on a clay floor (aire). Beet-root +and clover grow very luxuriantly, and in some fields the pretty red clover +(_Trifolium incarnatum_) carpets the country with its crimson flowers. + +Near the farmhouse of Kermartin is the parish church of Minihy-Treguier, +formerly a chapel founded by St. Ives and attached to the "manoir." The +will of St. Ives is framed and hung up in the church, and his breviary is +also preserved here; but the guide said it was now kept at the priest's +house, as people were in the habit of taking away a leaf as a relic. +Minihy, _i. e._ Monk's House, is a name given to those places which, +through the intercession of some saint, had the right of sanctuary. They +were marked with a red cross, and, how great soever the crime, were +regarded as inviolable. In 1441 the right of sanctuary was restricted to +churches; before, it was extended to towns and districts. Treguier had the +privilege within a radius of twelve miles from the town. St. Malo also +possessed the right of sanctuary. Treguier is one of the four bishoprics +that formed the ancient divisions of Brittany. The others were Leon, +Cornouaille, and Vannes. The "pays de Treguier" answers exactly to the +present department of the Cotes-du-Nord; Leon to the territory or +arrondissement of Brest and Morlaix; Cornouaille has Quimper and Carhaix +for its principal towns; and Vannes, the country of Celtic remains, is to +the south. + +Treguier is prettily situated on a hill, at the confluence of the rivers +Jaudy and Guindy; its principal building is the beautiful, imposing +cathedral, with its elegant spire, begun in the thirteenth century by St. +Yves, and dedicated to St. Tugdual, whose name, like St. Yves, is often +given in baptism to the Breton children. St. Yves is buried here, and also +Duke John V., who founded the Chapelle du Duc, and desired to be interred +at the feet of St. Yves, for whom he had a special regard, and to whom he +erected a magnificent tomb, for three centuries the object of veneration +in Brittany. The Duke paid for it his own weight in silver (389 marks 7 +oz.), in 1424, to Maistre Jacques de Hougue. The victories of his father +John the Conqueror were chased in bas-relief round the tomb, which was +destroyed in 1793. Duke John V. was a contemptible prince, who eight times +changed his party from weakness rather than policy, and on whom Margaret +de Clisson and her sons retaliated the cowardly seizure of her father, the +Constable Clisson, by Duke John IV. One of the towers of the cathedral is +called the tower of Hastings, but its date is evidently subsequent to that +of the Norman freebooter. The cathedral has preserved its beautiful +cloisters, the work of the fifteenth century, although it has been ravaged +by the Normans of the ninth century, the English in the fourteenth, the +Spaniards in the sixteenth, and by the Revolutionists of 1793. It was the +port chosen by the Constable Clisson, 1387, for the invasion of England, +an expedition proposed and projected by himself. His hatred against the +English was so great, though educated in England, he was termed the +"boucher des Anglais." When the Duke of Brittany gave Chandos the chateau +of Gavre, which was within a league of Clisson's chateau of Blain (Loire +Inferieure), "I will never," he exclaimed, "be the neighbour of the +English," and accordingly he sallied out one morning and burnt the castle +to the ground. Chandos complained to the Black Prince, who sent a letter +of remonstrance to Clisson, but it was only replied by a challenge to the +Prince to meet him in single combat. Clisson caused his own ship to be +built at Treguier, and had constructed a tower or framework of large +timber, to be put together on his landing in England, for the lords to +retreat to as a place of safety, and to be lodged therein securely in the +event of a night attack. This tower, Froissart says, was so constructed, +that when dislodged it could be taken to pieces, and many carpenters and +other workmen were engaged, at very high wages, to go with it to England +to superintend the putting of it together. Four thousand men-at-arms and +2000 cross-bowmen were in readiness for the expedition, with horses, +vessels laden with wine, salted provisions, and other necessaries. All +these formidable preparations were rendered useless by the arrest of the +Constable the day before his embarkation. We went to the Cemetery, which +has its ossuary, reliquary, or bone-house, an inseparable appendage to a +Breton churchyard. It is the custom in Brittany, after a certain time, to +dig up the bones of the dead, and preserve their skulls in little square +boxes, like dog-kennels, with a heart-shaped opening through which the +skull is visible. They are all ticketed with the names and dates of the +deceased, as "Ci git le chef de * * * D. c. D. (decede) le * * * * *. +Priez Dieu pour son ame." + +[Illustration: 21. Skull-box.] + +These boxes sometimes occupy prominent places inside the churches or +porch, on window sills, the capitals of columns, and other ledges; but +more often are ranged in the ossuaries or charnel-houses built in the +churchyards to receive them, with a row of death's-heads carved in the +stone outside. The large bones are also placed in the ossuaire. The rich +are buried in "enfeux" or arched recesses in the chapels or abbeys they +have founded. + +We continued our carriage to Lannion, our driver not very clear of his +way, and in Brittany the road is very difficult to be discerned; for on +each side are high earthen banks, sometimes eight or ten feet high, and on +the top of these are planted timber-trees, such as oak, elm, and ash, +which often meet at the top, entirely intercepting the view, making these +narrow lanes a perfect slough and most intricate to thread. Sometimes they +are cut in irregular steps in the solid rock, and serve for the bed of a +stream. Each field is also surrounded by these hedgerow-trees, which are +cut every four or five years. + +We drove to Perros Guirec, a lovely little watering-place built on a small +promontory with a safe harbour, whence wheat, hemp, and cattle are +exported to England; it is six miles from Lannion. A dangerous rock, +called Roche Bernard, is at its entrance. The view is lovely. From Perros +we scrambled over a hilly cart-road to Ploumanach, about three miles +distant--a wonderful spot, huge round erratic blocks of pink granite flung +over land and sea in the wildest confusion. The whole coast is one sea of +boulders, a chaos of rocks of all sizes cover the soil in every direction, +and in many places there is no soil at all, and the loose masses rest on a +bare bed of rock, stretching, in unbroken extent, to a great distance. "A +wanderer," says Mr. Trollope, "amid this strange and silent scene might +fancy himself the only living thing in the midst of a world turned to +stone. In every possible variety of uncouth form and capricious, strange +positions, the endless masses were around us." + + + "All is rocks at random thrown, + Black waves, bare crags, and banks of stone."" + LORD OF THE ISLES. + + +One rock, surrounded at high water by the tide, is a square block of red +granite of thirty to forty feet high, placed on the top of a still higher +mass, on which it rests upon a very small base. It is called the "Roche +Pendue," and serves as a landmark for the fishermen. We took a small boat +full of fish resembling codlings or small cod, called "lieu," and were +rowed by the fishermen through a sea of granite boulders to the opposite +side of the Tregastel estuary, to see the "pierre pendue," or +rocking-stone (Breton, _rouler_), the largest in Brittany. These stones +are so nicely poised that they can be moved with the slightest impulse by +any one knowing the exact point at which to touch them. They were used in +early times as proving-stones, and called "Pierres de verite." + + + "Firm as it seems, + Such is its strange and virtuous property, + It moves obsequious to the gentlest touch + Of him whose breast is pure; but to a traitor, + Though e'en a giant's prowess nerved his arm, + It stands as fixed as Snowdon." --MASON. + + +Or, as Sir Walter Scott alludes to them,-- + + + "Some, chance-poised and balanced, lay + So that a stripling arm might sway + A mass no host could raise, + In nature's rage at random thrown, + Yet trembling like the Druid's Stone, + On its precarious base." --LORD OF THE ISLES. + + +The council of Nantes, in the seventh century, ordered the bishops to have +the rocking-stones destroyed. The coarse rose-coloured granite of this +coast resembles the Egyptian. + +We rowed back to the little inn at Ploumanach, and had some eggs and a hot +langouste or rock-lobster. This kind is more plentiful on the coast of +Brittany than the common, but these rocky shores abound in both sorts. The +village of Ploumanach is built nearly into the sea, in the midst of rocks +overhanging the harbour. It is almost exclusively frequented by fishermen; +in the front is a group of rocks or islands called Les Sept Iles; the Ile +aux Moines, the most important among them, is strongly fortified, and is +directly opposite Ploumanach. At the inn we found a German artist employed +in making sketches in oil of this strange coast. It was late when we +reached Lannion, a town prettily situated in the valley of Leguer; it +contains no remarkable buildings except a few houses of the period of +Henry IV. and Louis XIII. in the market-place. The mackerel and other +fisheries are carried on from here, the grande and petite peche, the +"lieu" is taken in shoals and salted. The seaweed or wrack (_Fucus +vesiculosus_) called goemon, is extensively collected along the coasts of +Brittany for fertilising the lands and also for fuel, which last is so +scarce that even cow-dung is collected and dried against the walls for the +same use. The gathering of goemon takes place in March and September, and +employs the whole population of the district. Souvestre says, that on the +appointed day for gathering the crop, horses, oxen, cows, dogs, every +animal, and every machine, is put into requisition. Women and children all +are assembled in the bays, sometimes to the number of 10,000 persons; but, +to allow the poor to have the full advantage, the custom is, on the first +day, to admit only the necessitous of the parish. These borrow their +neighbours' vehicles, and collect a good crop. It is called "the day of +the poor." The goemon grows on rocks at a distance from the shore, and the +peasants not having sufficient boats to collect it tie the heaps together +with cords on to branches of trees and form a raft, on which the whole +family is launched; a barrel is attached at the end, and the unsteady +craft often rolls over and its cargo is precipitated into the water. The +fine sands of the sea shore are also carted and laid on the heavy lands to +divide the soil. Ascending the valley of the Leguer, about eight miles +from Lannion, on the opposite side of the river, we turned down a muddy +lane, and getting out into a field saw in front of us the imposing castle +of Tonquedec, perhaps the finest remains in Brittany of military +architecture, dating from the fourteenth century. It crowns the summit of +a hill, wooded down to the river's edge, with water-mills and a little +village at the foot, the bright sparkling river running through the deep +wild valley; nothing can exceed the picturesque effect of these ruins when +seen from the opposite bank. Tonquedec has belonged from time immemorial +to the Viscomtes de Coetmen, who held the first rank among the nobles of +Brittany, but one of them espousing the cause of the Constable Clisson +against Duke John IV. saw his fortress demolished. It was restored under +Henry IV., and again dismantled by order of Cardinal Richelieu, who hated +castles and their nobility. The castle is an irregular four-sided figure. +It had an outer enclosure, and was entered by a drawbridge, and furnished +with every imaginable fortification. Three sides were surrounded by +dwellings, among these a fine roofed salle d'armes remains. A flying +bridge led to the keep, which was of four stories, but the entrance on the +first story, so that in case of siege the garrison might retire to the +keep, and hold out till want of provisions or ammunition compelled them to +surrender. The towers and walls remain, the latter are ten feet thick. + +On our way to Plouaret we drove up to the chateau of Kergrist, a square +edifice with pepper-box towers at each angle, in good preservation, +occupied by a lady of the name of Douglas. Our driver could not find the +way to the "Chapelle des Sept Saints," built over a dolmen, which lay near +the station at Plouaret, whence we proceeded by rail, and, entering the +department of Finistere, shortly after reached Morlaix over its +magnificent granite viaduct, the most important among the many which occur +between Rennes and Brest. The railway runs parallel to the coast, and +traverses, not far from their mouths, the streams which abound in this +"pays accidente." This gigantic work is one-sixth of a mile (292 yards) +long, and consists of two tiers of arches, fourteen in the upper line and +nine below. + +Morlaix is picturesquely built on the sides of three ravines, so steep +that the saying goes, "De la mansarde au jardin, comme on dit a Morlaix." +It is situated on a tidal river, about eight miles from the sea, ascended +by small vessels, which give the place a lively appearance. Few towns have +so many beautiful timbered houses of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries +remaining. One of the most curious is that belonging to a miller, No. 19, +in the Rue des Nobles, a street where the houses are built one story +projecting over the other, so that the top stories of the opposite houses +nearly touch each other and exclude the light. The fronts, gable-shaped, +have their enormous beams richly carved, and supported by brackets and +statues of St. Yves or other favourite saints; some are overlaid with +lozenge-shaped slates, and finished at the point with a leaden "epi," or +ornamental terminal. All have a kind of hall, panelled and sculptured to +the roof, the staircases richly sculptured and supported by a pillar +carved from top to bottom with statues of saints or grotesque figures +superposed one over the other. Among the statuettes in the house, No. 19, +are the figures of St. Roch and his dog; St. Christopher carrying the +infant Jesus, St. Michael, and various others. On another staircase, in +better preservation, but not so richly carved (at the Veuve Perron's, No. +14, Grande Rue), are female saints,--the Virgin, St. Catherine, and St. +Barbara. + +Morlaix gave a grand reception to the Queen-Duchess Anne, when on her +pilgrimage through Brittany in 1505. The town presented her with a little +ship of gold, bearing the arms of the city, and enriched with precious +stones, and a tame ermine with a diamond collar round its neck. Anne +received the ermine, and caressed the little animal, who returned her +endearments, and, at length, suddenly concealed itself in her bosom, which +unexpected proceeding startled the Queen, when the Seigneur du Rohan, who +was by her side, exclaimed, "What do you fear, madam; is not the ermine +your cognisance?" No less enthusiastic was the reception given by the +citizens of Morlaix forty years later (1548) to Mary Stuart, then only +five years old, on her landing in France. She was lodged in the convent of +the Jacobins, and assisted at the Te Deum in the church of Notre +Dame-du-Mur. When passing through one of the gates on her way back, the +drawbridge, overloaded with spectators, gave way, and several persons were +thrown into the water. Mary's Scottish attendants cried out "Treason!" but +the Seigneur de Rohan, who was on horseback by the side of the royal +litter, indignantly exclaimed, "Jamais Breton ne fit trahison." The +loyalty and good faith of the Bretons is proverbial. "En tout chemin, +loyaute," is a Breton motto,(8) and it is one of the virtues attributed to +them by a Breton writer, who assigns to them four virtues and three vices. +Their virtues consist in a love of their country and their home, +resignation to the will of the Almighty, loyalty to each other, and +hospitality. Their vices are avarice, contempt for women, and drunkenness. +Their love of country and home is carried to an extent, rivalling, if not +exceeding, that of the Swiss. The Breton not only loves the village where +he was born, but he loves the field of his fathers, the hearth and the +clock of his home, even the bed on which he was born, and on which he +hopes to close his eyes. The conscript and sailor are often known to die +of grief when away from their native land. Brittany possesses for its +children an inconceivable attraction, and there is no country in the world +where man is more attached to his native soil. + + + "O landes! o forets! pierres sombres et hautes, + Bois qui couvrez nos champs, mers qui battez nos cotes, + Villages ou les morts errent avec les vents, + Bretagne, d'ou vient l'amour de tes enfants?" --BRIZEUX. + + +The Bretons are brave soldiers and good sailors; their disposition is +hasty and violent, and even ferocious in anger. When the people of Nantes +rose up in rebellion against Duke Francis, his brother-in-law, the Comte +du Foix, sent to pacify them, said to him on his return from his mission, +"J'aimerais mieux etre prince d'un million de sangliers que de tel peuple +que sont vos Bretons"--Brittany has always been the theatre of great +virtues and great crimes. + +On Sunday we went to the Welsh Baptist Chapel, to hear Mr. Jenkins preach +in the Breton language. He has been there thirty years zealously labouring +among the peasants, to convert whom he was sent by the Welsh Baptist +Missionary Society. From his thorough knowledge of the French and Breton +languages, he is eminently fitted for the task. He travels about the +surrounding country preaching, and establishing schools, and has revised +the Breton(9) translation of the New Testament for the Society, and +circulated, by means of colporteurs, from eight to nine thousand Bibles, +besides above 100,000 tracts. The task of acquiring the Breton language is +less difficult for a Welshman, for the similarity between them is so great +that the two people are able to make themselves understood to each other. +The labours of Mr. Jenkins have lately awakened the attention of the +Breton Roman Catholic clergy, who have publicly denounced him from their +altars, but without causing him to slacken in the good work he has +undertaken. Persecuted by a tyrannical priesthood, who hold dominion over +a peasantry bigoted in proportion to their ignorance, his position is one +of difficulty and danger; but he goes on with undrooping energy, convinced +that, though the progress is slow, the good seed has not been sown in +vain, and will, in due time, bear fruit, though those who first sowed it +may have passed away. There were about a dozen Bretons at the evening +service; they seemed to be constantly going in and out, as if unable to +keep up their attention to so long a service. There are also English +Protestant chapels at Morlaix and Quimper, and French at Brest and +Lorient. + +We saw a christening in the cathedral, of a child about eighteen months +old; the mother wore a wonderful conical cap of lace. + +A few houses from our hotel a ball was going on, given every week for the +workpeople of the town. The clatter of their iron-pointed wooden shoes +seemed quite to drown the music. + +Next day we walked to the Fontaine des Anglais, so-called from the +slaughter of a body of English at that place. Jealous of the prosperity of +Morlaix, Henry VIII. sent a fleet up the river to attack the place, and +the commander, being informed by a spy of the absence of the chief nobles +at Guingamp, and of the townsmen at the fair of Pontivy, landed with a +force which entered Morlaix, burnt it, and returned laden with booty to +their boats. Six or seven hundred men, who were intoxicated, fell asleep +in the wood, where they were attacked by the nobles, who had hastened from +Guingamp to the assistance of the town, and were all massacred. The +neighbouring fountain, said to have been tinged with the invaders' blood, +received in memory of the event the name of "Fontaine des Anglais." It was +on this occasion the town of Morlaix added to its arms, a lion (emblem of +vigilance), encountering a two-headed leopard (for England), with the +punning motto, "S'ils te mordent, mors-les" (Morlaix). + +Emile Souvestre, author of 'Le Foyer Breton,' and 'Les Derniers Bretons,' +the ablest portrayer of Breton manners, customs, and superstitions, was a +native of Morlaix; he died in the Protestant Communion, 1854. + +We were recommended to sail down the Morlaix River to its mouth, as the +scenery is very picturesque, but we had not time to effect it. The great +beauty of Brittany generally consists in its river scenery, the Rance, to +Dinan; the rivers of Quimper and Quimperle; the Aven, Elorn, and Blavet, +are all highly picturesque and worth visiting. Our next drive was to St. +Pol de Leon, partly along the bank of the river, passing under the church +of Notre Dame-de-la-Salzette and the convent below of St. Francois. The +tall steeples of St. Pol are seen at a great distance, and looking behind +is the best view of the Mene-Bre, an insulated conical mountain, one of +the Mene-Arre chain, situated near the station of Belle-Isle-Begard. A +chain of mountains runs through the Cotes-du-Nord, and, at the western end +of the department, forks off into two branches which traverse the whole of +Finistere,--the Mene-Arre, or northern chain, and the Montagnes Noires, or +southern. + +St. Pol looks like a town of the Middle Ages. "The holy city," as it is +called by the Leonnais, one of the four bishoprics(10) into which Brittany +was divided, comprising the modern districts of Morlaix and Brest. The +Pays de Leon is remarkable for the number of its religious monuments, its +fine churches, its bone-houses, calvaries, way-side crosses, and shrines. +Crosses are set up in every direction, and of every description, from the +plain unpretending simple cross of wood or stone, to the huge crosses +flaunting in green paint, with tears of gold--specimens of the taste of the +maire or priest of the district. No Breton passes the sacred symbol +without kneeling to salute it, and making the sign of the cross--evidence +that the piety of those who first raised them has not degenerated in their +posterity. The country is rich and varied. The Leonnais is tallest of all +the Breton race; his dress is generally black or blue, with a coloured +scarf round his waist, his hair is worn very long, and his broad-brimmed +hat has a silver buckle. He is grave, of a calm confiding faith, which +nothing can shake or alter, and of intense religious feeling. The church +is the place of meeting, where all his business is transacted, all his +aspirations centered. Throughout Brittany the priesthood are low and +ignorant. Like the Irish, the Breton farmer's great ambition is to make +his son a priest. In no part of France are they more uneducated than in +Brittany. + +St. Pol is still and melancholy, the grass grows in the streets, the city +looks as if it had not awakened since its palmy days of the fourteenth +century. Its churches, calvaries, cemeteries, all silent as death-- + + "A deep, still pool in the ocean of life." + +Its lively neighbour, Morlaix, offers a strange contrast: its inhabitants +may well say they are three hundred years in advance of St. Pol. + +The pride of St. Pol de Leon is the church of Notre Dame-de-Creizker. Its +steeple, nearly 400 feet high, was said by Vauban to be the boldest piece +of architecture he ever beheld. It is built in the centre of the church, +entirely of granite, cut in the shape of tiles and open work, to within +eighty feet from the base. According to the legend, on the spot where the +church now stands, there lived in the time of St. Genevroc, a young girl, +whom the saint found, when passing her house on the fete of our Lady, +employed at her needle. He reproached her gently with her impiety, yet she +went on sewing, saying "she required food on Sundays as well as on work +days." But the girl has hardly finished speaking, when all her body became +cold and motionless as a stone. She was completely paralysed. Asking +pardon of St. Genevroc, he made the sign of the cross upon each of her +limbs, and the power of motion returned. Grateful for her recovery, she +gave to the saint, her house, which was situated in the middle of the town +(as its name implies), as a site for his church. It is said to have been +built by an English architect, invited to Brittany by Mary Plantagenet, +daughter of Edward III., and first wife of Duke John IV.(11) + +The axis of the nave is inclined to the left, a mystic allusion to the +position of the head of the expiring Saviour on the cross. _Et inclinato +capite, emise spiritum_, "And He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." +The north porch of the Creizker is beautifully sculptured with leaves of +the mallow, the vine, and mulberry. It was all under repair when we saw +it. + +[Illustration: 22. The Creizker.] + +The cathedral has two fine towers with spires, and a magnificent rose +window of the fifteenth century in the south transept, with, above, the +"fenetre d'excommunication." The fine porch, lightly and delicately +sculptured, is surmounted by a balustrade, whence the episcopal +benediction was given. Over the high altar is a large wooden crosier, +gilt, from which to suspend the ciborium, similar to that we saw in the +cathedral of Dol. A black marble slab, at the foot of the steps of the +high altar, marks the grave of St. Pol de Leon, who died 570. St. Pol, the +patron bishop and founder of the cathedral, was one of the clergy of Great +Britain who emigrated to Brittany in the sixth century; he landed in the +island of Ouessant, and passed on to the country of Leon, where he founded +a monastery. The island of Batz was, at that time, infested by an enormous +dragon, sixty feet long; the saint, accompanied by a warrior, entered the +cavern of the monster, tied his stole round its neck, and gave him to his +companion to lead, St. Pol following, beating him with his stick, till +they arrived at the extremity of the island, when he took off the stole, +and commanded the dragon to throw itself in the sea, an order the animal +immediately obeyed. St. Pol is always represented with the dragon by his +side, the stole round its neck. We were shown a little bell, said to have +belonged to the saint. It appears he had repeatedly asked the king to give +him this bell for his new church, but had always been refused. When one +day some fishermen brought him a large fish taken off the island of Batz, +and in its mouth was the coveted bell. It is certainly very ancient in +form, a kind of square pyramid about four inches wide and nine high, of +beaten red copper mixed, we were told, with a considerable quantity of +silver. It is now rung over the heads of the faithful on pardons, as a +specific against headache and earache--a singular remedy! The cathedral has +a fine marble tomb of Bishop Visdelou, preacher to Queen Anne of Austria; +he is represented in a half reclining posture, in his pontifical garments. +In every part of the cathedral are the little boxes of skulls. + +Adjacent is the Ursuline convent, where is preserved a small figure of the +Virgin in jet; brought from a church in the Iles Sainte Marguerite, taken +from the Spaniards in the seventeenth century. It is supposed to possess +miraculous powers, and is sent round to the sick as a specific. + +We breakfasted at the little inn (Hotel de France), commanding a pretty +view of the coast from its windows and garden. The Leon country was +governed by Viscounts, who boasted, among several manorial rights, the +"droit de motte," which empowered them, if a vassal (they were "serfs de +motte") attempted to live out of his demesne, or to enter the service of +another lord, to bring him back to his "motte," a cord round his neck, and +inflict upon him corporal punishment. By virtue of the same right, if the +demesne of a lord was so placed that it had no natural height from which +to survey its extent, his vassals were made to bring sufficient cart-loads +of earth to raise a mound or "motte" of the requisite elevation. The other +privilege was the droit de "bris," equivalent to our flotsum and jetsum, +so lucrative that a Leon Viscount is recorded to have said, when a noble +was exhibiting his casket of gems, that he possessed a jewel more precious +than all they were admiring--alluding to a rock famous for its shipwrecks. +Duke John the Red, taking advantage of the misdeeds of one of these lords +of Leon, seized his rich possessions and united them (1276) to the crown. +The viscounty of Leon fell by alliance, in the fourteenth century, to the +house of Rohan, in whose favour is was raised in the sixteenth to a +principality. + +We continued our drive to Roscoff, three miles distant, a little sea-port +town, formerly one of the three great dens of corsairs and smugglers, all +under the protection of St. Barbe,--the other two being Camaret and Le +Conquet. Roscoff was the emporium of considerable contraband trade with +England. Tea, wine, and brandy were brought over in small casks, which the +smugglers tied together and threw into the sea, when near the coast, and +landed at night. The whole country round is now one extent of +kitchen-garden, the light sandy soil, dressed with the goemon, produces an +incredible quantity of vegetables, onions, cabbages, parsnips, asparagus, +artichokes, cauliflowers, &c. Of onions, 2,000,000 lbs. are said to be +sent every year to England alone. The people here wear black caps, those +of the men are stocking-knit. The gardeners of Roscoff will carry their +produce above a hundred miles for sale. The chief vegetable consumed by +the Bretons themselves is the cabbage, of which the quantity raised is +enormous. The kind grown is mostly the Jersey or cow-cabbage, which grows +with stalks from five to six feet high, and has large leaves at every +joint. They use them for their cattle, as well as for their own eating. +Avenues of cabbages, stacked five or six feet high, are to be seen in most +Breton markets. Bread or porridge of buckwheat (ble noir) with +cabbage-soup is the customary diet of the country. The recipe is simple, +consisting of a cabbage-leaf, over which a little hot water is thrown, and +a "soupcon" of butter added to give it a flavour. These ingredients +compose the national soup which always appears at the table d'hote, with +the inevitable "ragout," _i. e._ harricoed mutton. The little town of +Roscoff has some historic importance. It was here that John de Montfort +sailed to England to do homage to King Edward III. for the duchy of +Brittany, and returned by the same port. Here also the child-princess Mary +Stuart landed in 1548 to marry the young Dauphin, afterwards Francis II. +In commemoration of the event, she afterwards caused the little chapel of +St. Ninian to be built close on the water's edge. It is not more than +fifty feet long, and has an eastern flamboyant window, with others in the +side walls. The arches are fast going to decay, the stone altar is also +sculptured. When we saw it, the interior was filled with bundles of +broom-branches and poultry. It is strange this little chapel, built by the +Queen of two Kingdoms, should be suffered to fall to ruin for the lack of +a trifling outlay. + +Here, two hundred years later, Prince Charles Stuart landed after +Culloden, in the French frigate the 'Heureux,' sent by the French +Government to facilitate his escape, having eluded, through the chances of +a fog, the pursuit of the English cruisers; and here he knelt, in the +chapel of his ancestress, to return thanks for his deliverance. + +The church of Roscoff has a curious pierced steeple, like many of those in +Finistere, and some alabaster bas-reliefs of the fourteenth century, with +numerous boxes of skulls. A ship rudely sculptured by the porch, and +another by the east window, show that the fishermen and ship-owners +contributed to the building of the church. By the shore is a rock of +grotesque form, and opposite, about three miles from Roscoff, is the +pretty island of Batz, which derives its name--Breton "batz," a stick--from +the rod used by St. Pol de Leon to work his miracle. + +People were busily employed in boats collecting the goemon, which they +pile in heaps along the shore. The great curiosity of Roscoff is its +enormous fig-tree, in the garden of the Capucine convent, said to be two +centuries old. It is supported by stone pillars, and is, we were informed, +above 300 feet in circumference. + +We returned that evening to Morlaix: the viaduct by moonlight had a most +picturesque appearance. Next morning we proceeded by rail to the station +of St. Thegonnec, where nothing in the shape of a vehicle was to be had to +convey us to the town--nearly a mile and a half distant--but the ricketty +two-wheeled mail cart. At the little cabaret, which bears the important +name of Hotel de la Grande Maison, we procured breakfast. The church has +been restored. It is rich in carvings, spoiled by gilding, the altars and +canopied pulpit especially. Opposite to the last are two coloured +"retables." The high altar, with two side altars and two smaller ones +behind, are gorgeously carved, coloured and gilt, and extend to the roof. +The painted-glass windows are the gifts of various persons. At the +entrance of the churchyard is a Renaissance porch, or triumphal arch, +dated 1581, with a sculpture representing St. Thegonnec, a bullock and car +by his side. Adjoining, is the ossuary, or reliquary, bearing the date +1676, also in the same elaborate style, destitute of bones, but having +below a crypt containing a group of life-sized figures representing the +Entombment, with this inscription:-- + + + "Tu le vois mort, pecheur, ce Dieu qui t'a fait naitre: + Sa mort est ton ouvrage, et devient ton appui. + A ce trait de bonte, tu dois au moins vivre pour lui." + + +In the churchyard is also a calvary; the name given to those monumental +sculptures peculiar to Brittany, consisting of the crucifix, surrounded by +the chief witnesses of the crucifixion, together with minor groups +representing passages in the life of our Saviour. This calvary, executed +in Kersanton stone, is dated 1610; the numerous figures are all in the +grotesque costume of the period, with ruffs, toquets, trained gowns, and +scalloped jackets. + +[Illustration: 23. Calvary, Guimiliau.] + +We took a carriage for Guimiliau, passing on our road to the left, a +grotto. The church of Guimiliau partly dates from the Renaissance; it has +a finely sculptured porch, and contains within carvings of great beauty; +the pulpit, supported on a column, is dated 1677; the organ-loft is +enriched with splendid bas-reliefs in oak panels,--one represents a +triumphal march, after Le Brun, the others, King David and St. Cecilia. +But the grand monumental carving is the magnificent baptistery or +baptismal font, surmounted by a baldachin or canopy, supported by eight +twisted columns interlaced with vines, grapes and flowers, with graceful +little birds pecking the fruit. On the top of the canopy is a dolphin, and +above, two figures of Fame, trumpet-mouthed, surmounted by a royal crown +and the letters S. V. This baptistery and the organ-loft are both in the +style of Louis XIV., and are said to have cost 30,000 francs. In the +churchyard are a triumphal arch and a reliquary, both inferior to those of +St. Thegonnec, but the calvary of Guimiliau is one of the most extensive +in Brittany. It is of the sixteenth century. It consists of a solid +platform, ascended by a staircase, and raised upon arches; upon it, +sculptured in Kersanton stone, are the three crosses, the centre one +beautifully carved with St. John and the Virgin Mary by the side. The four +Evangelists are placed at each corner, and all the passages in the life of +Christ are represented by groups of little figures in the costume of the +sixteenth century. This singular monument bears two different dates, those +of 1581 and 1588. + +Guimiliau is close to the railway, but there is no station there. We +returned to St. Thegonnec. The peasants along the road were threshing +their buckwheat on the open ground; women as well as men were at work. +They threshed in a circle, keeping good time with their strokes, and +laughing merrily while they flourished their flails,--they appeared a most +joyous party,-- + + + "Ho! batteux, battons la gerbe, + Compagnons, joyeusement." + + +Buckwheat, their "ble noir," is the Breton's chief food, and is cultivated +to a large extent. With its coral-red stalks and snowy flowers it has a +very pretty appearance growing, and is the first care of the Breton +farmer-- + + + "Ah! que la sombre nue aux funestes lueurs, + Planant sur la campagne, + Epargne les bles-noirs, les bles aux blanches fleurs, + Ce pain de la Bretagne."" --STEPHANE HALGAN. + + +This plant, a native of Asia Minor, was evidently, from its French name, +"sarrazin," introduced into Europe by the Saracens or Moors. We proceeded +by rail to Brest, passing under the foot of the abrupt rock upon which +stand the picturesque ruins of the ancient castle of La Roche Maurice and +the church of La Roche. The rail runs along the banks of the Elorn through +a narrow wooded valley; the windings of the river are very picturesque, +and formerly a steamer ran from Landerneau to Brest, affording the +opportunity of seeing them. + +Brest, the first harbour in France, is Breton only in name and locality; +it is built in an amphitheatre on the slopes of two hills divided by the +river Penfeld, which forms the port. On the right is the suburb +Recouvrance, on the left Brest proper. This irregular site often causes +the second floor of the houses in one street to be on a line with the +ground floor of another. Brest is clean and well built, and consists of +three long parallel streets. The principal one, called the Rue de Siam, in +commemoration of the Siamese Ambassadors sent to Louis XIV., who landed +here, runs the whole length of the town, ending at the fine iron bridge +called the Pont Imperiale, the largest swing-bridge ever constructed. You +descend by a flight of steps from the Rue de Siam to the lower streets. +Running along the bay, of considerable extent, and well planted with +trees, is the magnificent promenade called the Cours d'Ajot, from the name +of the officer of the Engineers by whom it was laid out and planted a +century back. Well sheltered by its trees and refreshed by the sea +breezes, it commands a fine view over the new "port de commerce," and the +whole extent of the harbour of Brest, which is capable of containing 500 +ships of the line, and is, with the exception of those of Rio Janeiro and +Constantinople, the largest and most beautiful in the world. + +Brest harbour has only one entrance, which is to the west, through a +narrow channel called Le Goulet, less than a mile in width, and cut into +two by the Mingant rock. In the year 1796 the 'Republican' was lost here. +Sailing out of the harbour, with a contrary wind and snow, the pilot +thought he had passed the Mingant rock, when the ship struck, and went +down with 800 men on board. Brest Castle in the Middle Ages was a place of +such strength and importance that John IV., who had four times besieged it +fruitlessly, when it was under the English dominion, was wont to say "Ce +n'est duc de Bretagne, qui n'est pas sire de Brest." It had been held by +Sir Robert Knolles against the army of the King of France under Du +Guesclin, who was obliged to raise the siege. The donjon was built by King +Richard II. during the War of Succession. The making Brest an important +naval station was the thought of Richelieu, and the work of Louis XIV., +who built the arsenal. + +Next day we made an excursion to see the church of Notre Dame-du-Folgoet +or the Fool of the Wood, celebrated in legendary lore: the tale is so old +and often told, we have some scruples in repeating it. + +Towards the middle of the fourteenth century, there lived in the woods of +Lesneven, a poor idiot boy, called Salaun (Solomon), better known under +the name of the Fool of the Wood (Folgoet). He was miserably clad, had no +bed but the ground; no pillow, but a stone; no roof, but the tree which +gave him shelter. He went every day to Lesneven to seek his daily bread, +but he never begged; he uttered the simple words "Ave Maria! Solomon could +eat bread," and returned with whatever pittance was given him to his tree +near the fountain, into which he dipped his crusts, and plunged even in +the depth of winter, for his bath, always repeating the words, "Hail, +Maria!" One day a party of marauding soldiers accosted him. In answer to +their questions, he replied, "I am neither for Blois nor Montfort, I am +the servant of the Lady Mary." This simple life he led for nearly forty +years, when at last he fell ill and died, repeating his favourite words +"Ave Maria." He was found dead near the fountain, and was buried by his +neighbours. After a time, when the memory of the poor idiot boy had nearly +passed away, there suddenly sprung up from his grave a white lily with the +words "Ave Maria" inscribed in letters of gold upon its petals. The news +of the miracle spread throughout all Brittany, Duke John sent +commissioners; the grave was opened, and it was found the lily proceeded +from the mouth of Salaun,--"ceste royale fleur sortait par sa bouche du +creux de son estomach"--a testimony of the innocence and piety "du plus +beau mignon de la reine des Cieux." Duke John vowed to erect a church to +our Lady over the fountain of the poor mendicant, whose faith had been +thus recognised;(12) and, faithful to his promise, the first stone was +laid by him in 1366, as a thank-offering for his success the previous year +at the battle of Auray, which had fixed the crown upon his head. His wife, +Joan of Navarre, not only made a pilgrimage to the Folgoet in 1396, but +also contributed to the building of the church. It was completed by John +V., about 1419. The Queen-Duchess Anne of Brittany went there in +pilgrimage after the recovery from illness of Louis XIII. Anne of Austria +founded six masses at the Folgoet, in gratitude for the birth of Louis +XIV., and several popes granted indulgences to those who made pilgrimages +to this shrine. This church is one of the finest in Brittany. Its colour +is sombre; it is the oldest monument in Brittany in which the Kersanton +stone is employed. This stone is a volcanic rock called hornblende, of +very fine grain, with minute specks of mica. There is a large quarry near +St. Pol de Leon; but it is found principally on the west of the harbour of +Brest, near a village from which it takes its name. Kersanton stone is of +a dark-green colour, approaching to bronze, gives out a metallic sound +when struck, and is easily worked in the quarry, in blocks of from twenty +to forty feet cube, but hardens on exposure to the air. Time has no +destructive effect on it; the most delicate, lightest, and most ornamental +sculptures executed in it remain uninjured, while the hardest granites, +erected at the same time, are friable and decomposed. The Kersanton stone +cuts glass like a diamond. + +The architecture of the Folgoet is distinguished for the elegance and +richness of its ornamentation: the softness of the Kersanton stone, when +fresh taken from the quarry fits it specially for the deeply cut, +lace-like works of the artists of the flamboyant school, and the church is +remarkable for the skill with which the productions of the vegetable +kingdom are represented both within and without. It has no transepts, but +to the south is a projection formed by the treasure chamber. The modern +pulpit has a series of medallion bas-reliefs representing the legend of +Solomon. + +The jube, or roodloft, is a perfect lacework of stone. Above three arches, +decorated with vine-leaves, is an open-worked gallery of pierced +quatre-foils surpassing in exuberance of ornament any other known. + +To the east are five altars, all of Kersanton stone, most delicately +sculptured--the under-cutting of the foliage most wonderful. They are in +the shape of tombs or sarcophagi, the form generally adopted for altars in +the sixteenth century. Round the "autel des anges," richest of them all, +is a row of eighteen niches, filled in with the figures of angels, holding +alternately phylacteries and escutcheons; round the top is a cornice of +thistle-leaves--on the cut stalk of one hangs a dew-drop perfect to nature. + +The high altar is decorated with vine-leaves, birds pecking the grapes, +and the ermine, with its motto "A ma vie," introduced. The altar of the +rosary has also a cornice of vine-leaves modelled evidently after the high +altar. + +[Illustration: 24. The Fool's Well, Folgoet.] + +The fine flamboyant rose window at the east of the church resembles that +of St. Pol de Leon, and below it is the fountain of Salaun. The spring is +concealed under the high altar, and flows into a basin without, preserved +by a kind of Gothic porch sculptured with thistle-leaves and crockets, and +within it, on a bracket, is a delicately chiseled image of the Virgin. +Some children round the fountain offered us pins, the use of which we did +not understand. We afterwards learned that it is the custom in Brittany +for girls to take a pin from their bodice, and throw it into a sacred +well, to ascertain, by its manner of sinking, when they would be married. +If the pin falls head foremost, then there is no present hope of +matrimony, but if the point goes first, it is a sure sign of being married +that year. + +On the new year, in some parts of Brittany, pieces of bread-and-butter are +thrown into the fountains, and from the way in which they swim the future +is foretold. If the buttered side turns under, it forebodes death; if two +pieces adhere together, it is a sign of sickness; and if the piece floats, +it is an assurance of long life and happiness. + +The veneration for springs and healing wells is of very ancient date, and +was prohibited by early councils of the Church; but the worship of that +element from which suffering humanity seeks for relief in all its ailments +has passed through succeeding creeds, and that which was held sacred a +thousand years back is still the object of reverence and affection. + +Nor is the sculpture outside the church less remarkable than the interior. +The west door, now fallen to decay, has an arch with double entrance +separated by a column containing a benitier. A wreath of curled leaves +runs round the arch, and on a bracket of thistle-leaves formerly stood a +statue of John V. + +The north side has little ornament. The great richness is in the south, +where is the fine porch of Bishop Alain de la Rue, who consecrated the +building, and more splendid still, is, at the angle formed by the +projecting sacristy facing the west, the Porch of the Apostles. The twelve +Apostles are ranged on each side, under rich canopies; the whole porch one +mass of floral decoration, vine-leaves and mallows, interspersed with +dragons, birds, and insects. On the right of the porch is a crouching +figure with a label inscribed: "Bn soiez venz,"--"Bien soiez venuz" or +"Soyez les bien venus"--an invitation to the faithful to enter into the +church. On the lintel of the two doors are ermines passant, and the motto +of the Dukes of Brittany, "A ma vie," and towards the south are the +remains of a whole cornice of ermines, running through the rings of a long +scroll inscribed with "A ma vie." This motto was first taken by Duke John +IV. (who instituted the order of the Ermine) to imply that he had +conquered Brittany, and would maintain it, even at the cost of his life, +"a ma vie."(13) + +The collar consisted of a double chain, in each of which were four +ermines, and two more hung suspended from two chains, surmounted by +coronets. The motto "A ma vie" was placed round each of these ten ermines. +The Pere Lobineau quotes a history of Duke John, in which the order is +thus spoken of:-- + + + "Lors fit mander tous les Prelats, + Abbes et Clercs de tous Estats, + Barons, Chevaliers, Escuyers, + Qui tous portoient nouveaux Colliers + De moult bel port et belle guise; + Et etoit nouvelle Devise + De deux Rolets brunis et beaux, + Couples ensemble de deux fermeaux; + Et au dessus etoit l'Ermine + En figure et en couleur fine, + En deux Cedules avoit escript + _A ma vie_, comme j'ai dit; + L'un mot est blanc, l'autre noir, + Il est certain, tien, pour le voir." + + +In the churchyard is a cross erected by Cardinal de Coetivy (died 1474), +who is represented kneeling at the foot; it is said to be the work of +Michel Colomb, sculptor of the celebrated monument raised by Queen Anne of +Brittany to her parents, now in the Cathedral at Nantes. Next day, we went +to Le Conquet, returning by St. Mathieu. We crossed the swing-bridge to +the suburb Recouvrance, so called from the chapel of our Lady, to whom +shipwrecked mariners addressed their petitions to recover (recouvrir) +their property. On our left we saw the islet rock of Bertheaume, about 200 +feet high, distant from the coast 150. Until lately, the communication +with the mainland was by means of a kind of cradle drawn on two cables, +about nine metres in circumference. + +Le Conquet(14) is a little seaport built on the slope of a steep hill. +Formerly it was of some importance, and a great resort of pirates. Sir +Walter Manny took the town for the Countess of Montfort, during the war of +the two Jeannes, and it was attacked by the fleets of Henry VIII. and his +daughter Mary. Opposite is a beautiful beach, called the Blancs Sablons, +accessible at low water by walking across the harbour. Here is the point +of communication with the island of Ouessant, about seventeen miles +distant, by means of a steamer, weather permitting, as the Chenal du Four, +which separates this group of islands from the continent, is covered with +rocks and is very dangerous in rough weather. Its men are all seamen or +fishermen, the women perform the agricultural labour. They bring in their +produce to Brest at the monthly fairs, and are not so cut off from the +world as Gresset describes them:-- + + + "Sous un ciel toujours rigoureux + Au sein des flots impetueux, + Non loin de l'Armorique plage + Habitacle marecageux, + Moitie peuple, moitie sauvage, + Dont les habitants malheureux + Separes du reste du monde, + Semblent ne connoitre l'onde + Et n'etre connus que des cieux." + GRESSET.--_Careme impromptu._ + + +[Illustration: 25. Abbey of St. Mathieu.] + +We now reached the Abbey of St. Mathieu, situated on the extreme point of +Brittany and of France, on the top of a promontory, well called Finistere. +Here in the sixth century was built a monastery in honour of St. Matthew +the Evangelist, whose head had been stolen in Egypt by some Breton +navigators, and been brought to land at this point, which long bore the +name of "St. Mathieu de fin de terre" (Finistere). In the twelfth century +the monastery was converted into a Benedictine abbey, which is a beautiful +example of the Early English style. The formidable rocks at its feet are +called Les Moines. The monks of St. Mathieu kept a beacon for the safety +of mariners on these dangerous shores. The modern lighthouse quite masks +the sight of the abbey, and is a great disfigurement to the view, which, +in other respects, is most grand; the imposing granite ruins of the abbey +church on the very edge of these weather-beaten cliffs, worn and torn by +the ocean with its unwearied waves; on the right, the reefs of the Passage +du Four, which appear to unite the islands of Ouessant and its satellites +to St. Mathieu; on the left the elongated point of the Bec du Raz, which +no one, according to the Bretons, ever passed without grief and suffering. +In sight of Saint Mathieu, the English in 1504, with eighty ships, +attacked Herve de Porzmoguer, a Breton captain, with only twenty. His own +ship the 'Cordeliere,' which had been built and fitted out by Anne of +Bretagne, at her own expense, took fire; it held 1200 troops besides the +ship's company. Porzmoguer grappled the 'Cordeliere' to the ship of the +English admiral, the 'Great Harry;' and both vessels, driven by the +north-west wind to the entrance of the Goulet, were burned together, and +above 2000 men perished in the two ships. Porzmoguer mounted the mast +followed by the raging flames, and cast himself from the main-top, in full +armour, into the sea. + +In 1597, the fleet sent by Philip II. to take possession of Brittany for +Spain was dispersed in a storm off Point St. Mathieu, and, out of a +hundred and twenty ships, scarcely one remained. + +On our way home, we passed a little town called La Trinite, from three +springs all issuing from the same fountain, at which washerwomen with +their wooden bats were hard at work, beating the clothes to rags on the +stones. + +[Illustration: 26. Peasant Girl of Ouessant.] + +Next day was the monthly fair at Brest, which brought in many of the +country people in their picturesque costumes. Most conspicuous among them +were the peasants of Ouessant, last type of the Celtic women, in their +singularly Italian-looking head-dress, their hair streaming over their +shoulders; and the Plougastel men, in red caps, with coats and trowsers of +white flannel. + +Most of the market-women were furnished with enormous umbrellas, red, +blue, and green. In this rainy province, they are indispensable, and the +acquisition of an umbrella is a great object of ambition to the Breton +peasant. + +We left Brest by the steamer for Pont Launay and Chateaulin, a four hours' +sail in the harbour of Brest. On the right we passed the Point des +Espagnols, where Frobisher, sent by Queen Elizabeth to the assistance of +Henry IV., received his death wound. Leaving on our left Plougastel, where +we were unable to visit the celebrated calvary, we passed near the "Anse +du Fret," whence Joan of Navarre, then widow of Duke John IV., sailed to +England to marry Henry of Lancaster, 1403. Henry, when Earl of Derby, had +visited Nantes to ask the assistance of his uncle in returning to England, +and Joan had favoured his expedition, but Duke John died the same year +(1399). When Queen Dowager of England, she saw the children of her two +husbands arrayed against each other, and her son Arthur, who had been +invested by King Henry IV. with the Earldom of Richmond, made prisoner at +Agincourt by his half-brother King Henry V., who confined him in the +Tower, and afterwards in Fotheringay Castle. Joan received hard treatment +from her stepson. Accused of being a sorceress--a reputation she inherited +from her father, Charles the Bad of Navarre--Henry caused her to be +confined in Leeds and Pevensey castles, and deprived her of her property. +It was only on his approaching death that he restored her to liberty. She +retired to Havering Bower in Essex, where her grandson, the unfortunate +Gilles de Bretagne, was reared and educated with Henry VI. She died in +1437, and the memory of "Joan the witch queen" was long held in awe by the +people of Havering Bower. + +[Illustration: 27. Peasant Girl, Chateaulin.] + +On the left is the hamlet of Kersanton, which gives its name to the stone +so called. At the entrance of the Aulne,(15) to the right, we passed the +ruins of the abbey of Landevenec, the most ancient monastic establishment +in Brittany. At Pont Launay an omnibus took us to the railway station at +Chateaulin, celebrated for its slate quarries, a drive of three quarters +of an hour. From here we proceeded by rail to Quimper, capital of +Cornouaille. The district of Cornouaille--Cornu-Galliae, expressing its +position at the horn or extremity of France--is most varied in character. +The part on the north is enclosed between the two chains of mountains, +which, running nearly parallel with each other, traverse the department of +Finistere, the Mene-Arre, and the Montagnes Noires. A single chain passes +through the Cotes-du-Nord, and forks off, at the edge of the department, +near Callac, whence the northern range, the Mene-Arre, runs westwards to +Faou harbour; while the Montagnes Noires incline to the south-west, and +reach the sea near Crozon. The country between these chains is dreary and +bare--barren plains and black mountains; to the south it is cultivated and +productive. The stormy rock-bound coast is wild and desolate. One-third of +the department consists of landes, marshes, and sandy shores (_greves_). +The people are the Irish of Brittany. Their wants are restricted to a tub +of salted pork and a provision of cider, with rye, or black corn, to make +their "galette." They are simple in their manners, kind to the poor, and +enduring of suffering. Respect for the misfortunes of others, and patience +under their own, is one of the Breton characteristics. + +In the days of Conan Meriadec there lived a holy man, called Corentin, who +retired to a solitude for prayer and meditation, near a fountain in a +forest. Every morning a little fish came to him from the fountain; he cut +a piece off it for his daily pittance and threw it again into the water, +and in an instant the fish became whole. The miracle was repeated every +morning. One day King Gradlon, who held his court at "Kemper," was in the +forest near the hermitage of St. Corentin, with some of his suite, and +asked him if he could give him something to eat. The saint immediately ran +to his fountain and called his little fish, cut off a piece, which he gave +to the maitre d'hotel to prepare for the king and his attendants. The chef +laughed when he took the slice; but, to the surprise of everybody, the +fish multiplied so as to completely satisfy the hunger of the king and his +party. Gradlon threw himself on his knees at the feet of St. Corentin, and +gave him the forest, with a "maison de plaisance," which St. Corentin +converted into a monastery. The king afterwards erected Quimper into a +bishopric, to which he nominated St. Corentin:-- + + + "Voici dans le fond la ville de Kemper, + Asise au confluent de l'Oded et du Ster. + Comme sa cathedrale, aux deux tours dentelees, + S'eleve noblement du milieu des vallees, + O perle de l'Oded, fille du roi Grallon, + Qui de saint Corentin portes aussi le nom, + Rejouis-toi, Kemper, dans tes vielles murailles! + Vois avec quelle ardeur, o reine de Cornouailles, + Tes fils de tous les points de l'antique eveche, + Pecheurs et montagnards, viennent a ton marche! + Cornouillais! en passant pres de sa basilique, + Du bon saint Corentin adorez la relique. + Que tous ceux d'Elliant et des memes chemins + Boivent a sa fontaine et s'y lavent les mains; + Non pas les Leonards, eux de qui les ancetres, + Voici quelque mille ans, hommes jaloux et traitres, + Volerent le poisson dont notre Corentin + Coupait pour se nourrir un pen chaque matin, + Et qui chaque matin, o pieuse merveille! + Nageait dans sa fontaine aussi frais que la veille: + Eh bien! les Leonards volerent ce poisson, + Mais Kemper n'oublie jamais leur trahison; + Sans jouir de leur crime, ils en portent la peine, + Et toujours le poisson nage dans la fontaine." + _Les Bretons_--BRIZEUX. + + +Quimper, or Quimper-Corentin, is prettily situated at the junction of the +rivers Odet and Stheire; its Breton name, Kemper, signifying confluence. +It was long called Kemper-Odet. On the opposite side of the river the +hills, consisting of a mass of rocks, covered with trees, rise to some +height, and are ascended by well-kept walks. The river runs straight +through the town, like a canal, edged by stone quays and crossed by iron +bridges, with avenues of trees on each side. Trout can be seen in the +sparkling stream; and we watched a boy with a hook at the end of a reel of +black silk, hanging over the bridge, with a piece of kneaded bread for +bait. With this simple tackle he contrived to hook a trout of tolerable +size, and let it run out the length of his silk line till he had tired it +out and landed it. The scenery of the river below Quimper, flowing through +a bed of granite blocks, is, we were told, lovely, but we had no time to +visit it further down. The view from the top of the wood-covered heights +on the opposite side is very extensive, looking down upon the town, with +its cathedral towers rising above, the promenade, and the course of the +river. At the end of the town there is a manufactory of coarse pottery; +but formerly it produced ware of a finer quality. + +The beautiful cathedral is the largest of the four episcopal churches of +Lower Brittany (Vannes, St. Pol, Quimper, and Treguier), and was +principally built in the fifteenth century. On the platform over the +finely sculptured porch, rich in foliage like the Folgoet, placed between +the two towers, is the equestrian statue of King Gradlon, to whom is +attributed the introduction of the vine into Brittany. The statue was +decapitated in 1793, but restored ten years back. On St. Cecilia's day +companies of musicians used to mount on the platform. While they sang a +hymn in praise of King Gradlon, one of the choristers, provided with a +flagon of wine, a napkin, and golden hanap, mounted on the crupper of King +Gradlon's horse, poured out a cup of wine, which he offered ceremoniously +to the lips of the statue and then drank himself, carefully wiped with his +napkin the moustachios of the king, placed a branch of laurel in his hand, +and then threw down the hanap in the midst of the crowd below, in honour +of the first planter of the grape in Brittany. To whoever caught the cup +before it fell, and presented it uninjured to the Chapter, was adjudged a +prize of two hundred crowns. + +The two spires of the cathedral are modern, and were built by an annual +subscription of a sou for five years, called the "sou du St. Corentin:" +more than 600_l._ was thus raised. They have only been lately finished. + +[Illustration: 28. Beggar. Quimper.] + +The men about Quimper all wear the national costume--enormous bragou-bras, +or breeches of a kind of white sail-cloth, a broad-brimmed felt hat, long +hair, falling over the shoulders, wooden shoes, and a broad belt with +metal buckle. Their woollen jacket and waistcoat are edged with gay +colours, and have sometimes the itinerant tailor's name and the date of +the making of the garment, embroidered in wool upon the breast. On gala +days brown or blue cloth bragous are worn, tied with coloured ribbons at +the knees, black leather gaiters with buttons, and the sabots are replaced +by leather shoes and costly silver buckles. The national costume is more +preserved in Cornouaille than in the other parts of Brittany. The pen bas +or cudgel, with a large knob, like the Irish shillelah, is always ready at +hand:-- + + + "Comme une conque immense ouverte au bord des eaux, + En Cornouaille est un port, il y vient cent bateaux. + Un sable jaune et fin couvre ses cotes plates, + Mais un infect amas de rogues, de morgates, + D'ossements de poissons sur le rivage epars, + La saumure qui filtre entre ses deux remparts, + Soulevent tous les sens quand cette odeur saline + Arrive au voyageur qui tourne la colline, + Laissant derriere lui les taillis de Melven, + La belle lande d'or qui parfume Aven, + Et ces mouvants aspects de plaines, de montagnes + Que deroulent sans fin nos sauvages campagnes. + Plus de batteurs de seigle ici, plus de faucheurs, + Mais des canots charges de mousses, de pecheurs, + Partant et revenant avec chaque maree, + Et sur les quais du pont versant a leur rentree, + Des sardines en tas, des congres, des merlus, + Des homards cuirasses, de gros crabes velus; + Et, du fond des paniers, mille genres enormes, + De toutes les couleurs et de toutes les formes, + Avec leur oeil vitreux et leur museau beant, + Tous enfants monstrueux du grand monstre Ocean. + Aussitot le pressier les seche, les empile, + Et quand leur grasse chair a degorge son huile, + De Nantes a Morlaix cherchant les acheteurs, + On voit bondir sur mer les hardis caboteurs."" + _Les Bretons_--BRIZEUX. + + +[Illustration: 29. Concarneau, with Sardine Boats.] + +Thus the Breton poet describes Concarneau, a little fortified town, which +has been called the St. Malo of Cornouaille, and is celebrated for its +sardine fishery. The road lay through a wooded country, with steep hills +and valleys, intersected by streams: on the right a view of the Bay of La +Foret, where extensive oyster-culture is going on. After a tedious journey +with miserable horses, we reached Concarneau at nine, a distance of little +more than thirteen miles, having set off a few minutes after four. +Concarneau proper is on a rocky island, surrounded by fortifications, with +eight or nine towers and thick walls, and communicating with the mainland +by means of a drawbridge. This is called the "Ville Close." It consists of +only one street. When Duke John IV. embarked from here for England, he +left Sir Robert Knollys governor of the duchy. The constable Du Guesclin, +after the surrender of Hennebont and Quimperle, took Concarneau by storm +and slew all the English garrison, except the captain, who received +quarter. + +Opposite the island is the faubourg Sainte Croix, which is more populous +than the Ville Close, and where all the business of the place is carried +on. The sardine fishery, from June to November, occupies two-thirds of the +population. From three to four hundred vessels are employed with five men +to each boat. Calm weather is most favourable for fishing. The sardines +are taken in large seine nets, one side floating with corks on the surface +of the water, the other falling vertically. The sardines, attracted by the +bait, try to force themselves through the meshes of the net, and are +caught by their gills. The bait used is called "rogue:" the best is +composed of the roe of the cod-fish, pounded and steeped in salt water for +several days; sometimes the roe and flesh of the mackerel is used. Rogue +is made in Norway and Denmark, but principally at Drontheim, and is very +expensive, costing about sixpence the lb.; hence an inferior bait is +substituted, composed of shrimps and other small crustacea, with fish +salted, and the heads of anchovies, all pounded and putrified together. +But this kind of decomposed bait is forbidden by the fishery laws. The +employment of it accounts for the rareness of good sardines, as the +remaining of such a substance in the body of the animal cannot fail of +corrupting it. It is a pretty sight to behold the little fleet employed in +the sardine fishery return in the evening, laden with the results of the +day's work. The fish, when landed, are counted out into baskets, shaken in +the water, and taken up to one of the curing-houses: of these there are +about sixty in Concarneau. In the first shed we saw above fifty women +employed in taking off their heads--"deteter" it is called--an operation +they effect with great dexterity. With one cut at the back of the neck the +head is separated and the fish "eventre" at the same time. + +The sardines are next placed in little wire trays, with divisions like a +double gridiron, and fried or dipped in boiling oil, an operation +principally performed by the women of Pont l'Abbe, who are supposed, like +the Germans of our baking and sugar-refining houses, to be peculiarly +constituted to resist heat. The gridirons are then hung up to drain. The +sardines are next packed in tin boxes, cold oil poured over them, and the +boxes soldered down. From 800 to 900 boxes are placed in a boiler and +boiled for half an hour to test the boxes, and those which leak are put +aside. They are of English tin, and the making of them is the winter's +occupation. Finally, the boxes are stamped with the name of the +establishment, and packed in deal cases for exportation. The sardine is a +very delicate fish, and easily decays. It is only taken out of the net +with a rake (_raquette_); in summer, numbers are spoiled from being heaped +in the boats, and at whatever hour the boats come in the fish go through +the whole process of curing, as they will not keep till the next day. +Concarneau exports from 15,000 to 20,000 barrels of sardines annually. +Only a part are "anchoitee," that is, preserved like the anchovies of the +Mediterranean, the others are salted in casks; and quantities, only +slightly salted, are packed in baskets, to be sent to the provincial +markets. It is estimated that twelve hundred million fish have been caught +this year. The sardine fishery extends along the whole western coast of +Brittany from Douarnenez to the Loire. + +One of the curiosities of Concarneau is its aquarium, under the direction +of M. Guillon. It consists of six cisterns, made by the blasting of the +solid rock, and comprising an area of large extent, within a walled +enclosure. In these cisterns the water is renewed at each turn of the tide +through narrow openings in the wall. Three of these reservoirs are +reserved for fish, the others for crustacea--lobsters and langoustes. Of +these they keep from 10,000 to 15,000 at a time, and send them off daily, +when fattened, to Paris and the principal markets of France. It was +curious to see the dread shown by the common lobster to the langouste. +They all were adhering to the sides of the reservoirs as if afraid to +encounter their more powerful companions. Quantities of turbot, also +reared for sale, were in one of the cisterns, darting with the greatest +rapidity in the water when the keeper threw in pieces of sardines for them +to eat. At the end of these cisterns is a building, with every arrangement +for the culture of fishes--rows of little troughs, and other vessels, to +contain them. Many of the fish are so tame, they came immediately to the +keeper on his making a noise in the water with his fingers. Here are fish +of every description, and naturalists have every facility of studying +their habits. Among others, we saw the graceful little sea-horse or +hippocampus, a native of the seas of Brittany as well as of the +Mediterranean. + +[Illustration: 30. Dolmen. Tregunc.] + +From Concarneau to Quimperle is a distance of above eighteen miles. The +road runs near the sea, over a large tract of land covered with furze +(ajonc), which, in Brittany, grows from five to six feet high, forming a +solid impenetrable mass. Huge blocks of granite are scattered about in +every direction, jutting out from among the furze--menhirs, cromlechs, and +dolmens--a perfect wilderness of Celtic remains. We drove over an extent of +several miles of furze-covered hills and heathy land. Before we reached +the village of Tregunc we stopped to see a large dolmen on the side of the +road, and further to the right a rocking-stone, twelve feet long and nine +feet thick, standing about fifteen feet from the ground, the second +largest in Brittany. It is poised by a little projection, like an inverted +cone, upon another rock lying half-buried in the ground. The upper block +can easily be set in motion by the hand. It is called by the country +people "La pierre aux maris trompes," and was formerly consulted by +husbands to test the fidelity of their wives. Even now the partner of a +faithless wife is said to be incapable of giving to the stone the rocking +motion it so easily receives from another. + +[Illustration: 31. Rocking Stone. Tregunc.] + +On the left we passed the majestic ruins of the castle of Rustephan, +_i. e._ Run, mound, of Stephen, having been built by Stephen Count of +Penthievre at the beginning of the twelfth century. It belonged in the +thirteenth to Blanche of Castile, the mother of St. Louis. The present +edifice dates from the fifteenth. One of the sides remaining has a +cylindrical tower with pinnacled doorway, and the windows have stone +mullions. + +[Illustration: 32. Chateau of Rustephan.] + +Pursuing our road through blocks of granite, we descended into the valley +of Pontaven, the town of millers, according to the old saying-- + + + "Pont Aven, ville de renom; + Quatorze moulins, deux maisons;" + + +a little port built upon rocks, at the foot of two elevated mountains, +over which are scattered masses of granite boulders, obstructing the +course of the river which bounds over them. The banks are lined with woody +slopes; wooden bridges cross the river at intervals; mills are established +on the ledges of the rocks on its sides; and the noise of the mills, with +that of the sparkling river tumbling through the rocks in waterfalls, keep +up a perpetual din. Pontaven is celebrated for the quantity of its salmon: +so much is taken, that it used to be said that the millers fattened their +pigs upon this fish, which was literally true, as they took the small +salmon, called glesils, in nets (_poches_) for that purpose. Salmon now is +very dear. At the mouth of the Pontaven river was a castle, whose +proprietor had the privilege of firing upon the fishing-boats which +returned up the river without giving to the castellan their finest fish, +which his steward went down to select. Pontaven is seven and a half miles +from Bannalec, the nearest railway station. After remaining a few hours we +drove on to Quimperle--in Breton, Kemper (confluence) Elle--so called, +because it is at the confluence of two rivers, the Elle and Isole:-- + + + "Vous reverrai-je encore, o fleuve de l'Elle, + Vous, Izole, ou mon coeur est toujours rappelle! + Les eaux sombres de l'Elle, claire ceux de l'Izole; + De ces bords enchantes je dirais chaque saule." + BRIZEUX. + + +Quimperle is a great resort for fishing, the Quimperle salmon and trout +being renowned throughout Brittany, and even at Paris. This town is +beautifully situated, surrounded by high hills, in a valley, watered by +these bright rivers, the hills covered with gardens, orchards, the +Ursuline, Capucine, and other convents, and crowned by the steeples of the +Gothic church of St. Michael. Its principal building is the church of St. +Croix, formerly that of a Benedictine abbey, celebrated for its riches. +The island of Belle-Ile-en-Mer then belonged to it. It is a most singular +edifice, built in the eleventh century, after the model of the church of +the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. In 1862 it fell down, but is at present +in course of restoration, after its original plan. The old abbey buildings +are now occupied by the Prefecture. We were given permission to pass +through the convent garden--the workmen and building materials having +blocked up the other entrances--to see the crypt in which is the tomb of +Saint Gurloes, first abbot of Quimperle. His effigy, with crosier in hand, +his feet resting on a dragon, lies upon a monument, about three feet high, +with an opening in the lower part. The saint--Saint Urlose, as the Bretons +call him--is invoked principally for the gout, and persons so afflicted +crawl through the hole under the tomb, where, suspended by chains, is an +iron hook. They twist a lock of their hair round this hook, and tear it +off with violence, hoping to propitiate the saint by this +mortification--evidently a remnant of heathen times, when hair was +sacrificed to deities or to the memory of departed friends. + +At Quimperle was buried John de Montfort, rival of Charles of Blois for +the ducal crown. Sent to Paris under a safe-conduct by the Dauphin John, +Philip of Valois had him shut up in the Louvre, whence he escaped, after a +captivity of three years, to England. Edward III. espoused his cause and +granted him some troops. After an unsuccessful attack upon Quimper, De +Montfort died (1345) at Hennebont, and was buried in the church of the +Dominicans at Quimperle. He appointed Edward III. guardian of his son, and +Edward immediately occupied Quimperle and caused money to be struck in his +name. Lord Lewis of Spain, on the side of Charles of Blois, made a descent +upon Quimperle at the head of 6000 men, and pillaged the whole country. On +the news reaching Sir Walter Manny, he hastened to meet the enemy, took +possession of their fleet, and made such carnage of the soldiers, that +they were all killed or taken prisoners, and Lewis of Spain escaped with +difficulty. The country about Quimperle is beautiful--wood and water in +every direction. The department of Finistere is traversed by three hundred +streams, and has an extent of nearly four hundred miles of coast. We were +advised to go and see the rood-screen of the chapel of Rosgrand, but had +no time. We visited the ruins of the church of St. Columban. Above a +round-arched doorway is a beautiful flamboyant window, between two +canopied niches. We next walked up to the Place near St. Michel, where a +cattle-market was being held. The Breton peasants, with their long shaggy +uncombed hair hanging round their shoulders--they comb and wash only on +fete days--their dirty canvas bragou bras, patched coats, and sabots with +tufts of straw crammed in, looked more dirty than it is possible to +imagine. Cleanliness is the last of the Breton virtues. The market and the +fair are the two great events of the country, and people flock from great +distances to sell their merchandise. But of all extraordinary animals is +the Breton pig, as tall as a donkey; a lean, long-necked, ragged, bristly, +savage-looking beast, as ill kept as its master, and it runs like a +greyhound when approached. The Breton cow is very small, small as the +Kerry cows of Ireland, very pretty and very productive. The Breton butter +is proverbially good, and is given out most liberally, in lumps as big as +loaves, at the tables-d'hote. It is brought to market in jars which the +women carry upon their heads. It is to the Queen-Duchess that Brittany, +and indeed all France, owes the privilege of eating butter in Lent. It +was forbidden as animal food by the laws of the Church, and oil, a +vegetable production, ordered as a substitute. In 1491, Anne solicited of +Rome, for herself and household, permission to eat butter on fast-days, +alleging, as a plea, that Brittany did not produce oil. Encouraged by this +favour, Brittany obtained the same indulgence, and it was acquired +successively by the other provinces of France; but all are originally +indebted for the privilege to the good Queen-Duchess Anne. + +Next day, leaving the department of Finistere, we entered that of +Morbihan, and went by rail to Lorient on the river Scorff, here joined by +the Blavet. It was formerly the seat of the French East India Company; it +is now one of the five military ports of France and the residence of a +maritime Prefect. In the Place Bisson is the statue of a young officer of +the French navy, a native of Guemene-sur-Scorff (Morbihan). When +commanding, in 1827, a brig in the Greek Archipelago, he was attacked by +two pirate vessels. Nine out of his fifteen men were killed and himself +wounded; the enemy crowded on the deck. Desiring the survivors of his crew +to jump overboard, "Now," cried he to the pilot, "is the moment for +revenge!" and, setting fire to the powder-magazine, he blew up himself, +his ship, and the pirates who had boarded her. Next morning the bodies of +seventy Greeks lay on the sea-shore, showing the success of his +self-devotion. The pilot, who, with four sailors, was saved, received the +decoration of the Legion of Honour. On the pedestal of Bisson's statue is +an inscription, concluding with these words: "Mort en heros, pour son roi +et sa patrie, ses amis le pleurent, la France le regrette, et ses freres +d'armes envient son sort." + +From here we proceeded to Hennebont (Breton, "old bridge"), famous, in the +War of Succession, for its heroic defence by Jeanne de Flandre, during the +captivity of her husband, Jean de Montfort, who had been taken prisoner at +Nantes and carried off to Paris. Jeanne, who, as Froissart says, had the +courage of a man and the heart of a lion, placed herself at the head of +his party. Like another Maria Theresa, she presented herself before the +Breton lords, with her infant son in her arms, and received their oaths of +allegiance. She then joined in the defence of Hennebont, which was +invested by Charles of Blois. Clothed in armour and mounted on a +war-horse, she galloped up and down the streets, encouraging the +inhabitants. She ordered the ladies of her suite and other women of the +place to cut short their "keytels," carry the stones to the ramparts, and +transport pots of quick-lime to throw down upon the enemy. At the head of +300 horsemen, the Countess, who rode better than any squire, sallied out +of the town, attacked and burnt the enemy's camp, retreated to Auray, and, +a few days after, re-entered Hennebont, with banners flying and trumpets +sounding. But the blockade was so close that provisions were wanting, and +the garrison compelled her to agree to a capitulation, unless within three +days assistance arrived from England. The time was on the point of +expiring, and a herald had approached the gate of the city to receive the +keys in the name of Charles of Blois, when the Countess, from her window, +perceived at sunrise the English fleet entering the port in full sail. She +exclaimed, "We are saved!" The siege was raised, and the Countess, says +Froissart, kissed Sir Walter Manny and all his companions, one after the +other, two or three times, like a noble and valiant dame. "Better," +observed Charles, when he heard the news, "that Jeanne, instead of her +lord, had been shut up in the Louvre." He left the carrying on of the +siege to Lewis of Spain, and proceeded to Vannes and Auray. Some fragments +of walls are all that remain of Jeanne de Montfort's castle, which was +situated on a height on the other side of the river in the "Vieille +ville." The town on the left bank of the Blavet is called the "Ville +neuve" and the "Ville close," being surrounded by walls. Large vessels +ascend the Blavet to Hennebont. It is traversed by a light and elegant +railway viaduct of twelve arches. We saw on the quay a quantity of red +iron-ore from Bilbao. + +Hennebont is a very pretty town; the principal building is the church of +Notre Dame-de-Paradis, of the sixteenth century, with a fine square stone +tower, surmounted by a beautiful spire, and a tall porch, forming one side +of the tower. This handsome church has lately been restored. The scenery +about the Blavet is very pretty--the banks wooded, and fertile fields. We +took a boat and rowed up the river, passing the ruined Abbaye de la Joie, +where a hideous chateau has been built. This was a Cistercian convent, +founded in the thirteenth century by Blanche of Navarre, wife of Duke John +I. (_le Roux_). The chapel of Notre Dame-de-Paradis formerly belonged to +the convent; but when the parish church was demolished, the Abbey ceded +this chapel to the town, reserving the privilege of a separate seat for +the Abbess, who, on the Sunday after St. John's day, had her crosier +carried before her in state by one of her vassals at high mass and +vespers. + +From Hennebont we went by rail to Auray, and established ourselves for +some time in the Pavillon d'en Haut, a most comfortable hotel. Auray is +situated on the slope of a hill, the streets narrow and steep. + +Our first drive was to Ste. Anne d'Auray, one of the most famous places of +pilgrimage in Brittany, on account of its miraculous well and church. It +has been called the Mecca of Brittany. Here, according to the legend in +the seventeenth century, Ste. Anne appeared to a countryman, and directed +him to dig in a certain field, where he would find her image, and to build +a chapel there. Guided by a miraculous light, Nicolazic discovered the +statue, and erected a chapel on the site. + +[Illustration: 33. Scala Sancta. Ste. Anne d'Auray.] + +The spring where Ste. Anne first appeared is now enclosed in a large basin +of cut stone. Near it is the church, in course of reconstruction. It +stands in a court surrounded by covered galleries for the shelter of the +pilgrims. Two flights of steps, called the Scala Sancta (after that of St. +John Lateran), lead to a platform over the three entrance gates, upon +which is an altar surmounted by a cupola, where mass can be heard by +20,000 persons. The steps are ascended by the pilgrims barefooted, as they +do at Rome. The fete of Ste. Anne is celebrated on the 26th of July, when +pilgrims arrive from all parts of Brittany to visit the miraculous statue, +to ascend the holy staircase, and to drink or wash in the sacred fountain. +It was a fete day when we visited Ste. Anne. There was a large assemblage +of people, and booths were erected round the court, where were sold +rosaries and the wire brooches, with scarlet and blue tufts of worsted, +called _epinglettes_, worn by the Bretons in their hats as a token of +their having made a pilgrimage. We saw exhibited the photograph of a young +lady, said to have lately recovered from paralysis after bathing in the +holy well. So world-wide is the fame of Ste. Anne d'Auray that a traveller +mentions having seen at her shrine an embroidered altar-cloth of Irish +damask, with "Irlande: Reconnaissance a Sainte Anne, 1850," woven into the +pattern. The convent, with its enclosure, the Scala Sancta, fountain, and +miraculous bush, all date from the seventeenth century. There is a railway +station for Ste. Anne, within two miles of the church. + +Returning to Auray, we went to the Chartreuse, which owes its origin to +the chapel of Saint Michel-du-Champ founded (1382) by John de Montfort, +afterwards Duke John IV., on the spot where, in 1364, he gained the battle +of Auray, which obtained for him the duchy of Brittany. The chapel is +close to the railway station. In the fifteenth century it was given to the +Chartreux, and became a monastery of the order which existed until the +Revolution. The present church was built at the end of the reign of Louis +XV. + +The battle was fought on the marshy plain by the side of the muddy river +Alree. It is fully described by Froissart. In the two armies were +assembled all the chivalry of England, France and Brittany. The +Breton-English were commanded by Sir John Chandos; the French, by Du +Guesclin; with de Montfort were also Sir Robert Knollys, Sir Hugh +Calverley and Olivier de Clisson; with Charles of Blois, Du Guesclin, the +Comte d'Auxerre, the Viscomtes of Rohan and Tournemine, and Charles de +Dinan. At the moment of the battle, the white greyhound of Charles of +Blois deserted his master and ran to his rival de Montfort, who was on +horseback, and caressed him, standing on his hind paws. De Montfort +recognised the dog by his collar, ornamented with the arms of Brittany, +and this incident passed through his army as a favourable omen. The dog +was known to have been the gift of a witch to Duke John the Good, who +bequeathed it to his niece Jeanne, wife of Charles of Blois. + +Both armies heard mass, confessed themselves, and received the Communion +before they opened the battle. The war cry of Charles was, "In the name of +God and St. Ives," Montfort repeated the motto of his family, "Malo mori +quam foedari" (better to die than be sullied), and his troops advanced to +the onset to the cry of "Malo." Both chiefs wore the ermines emblazoned on +their armour and their standards; and relatives and friends were ranged in +battle array against each other. Following the tactics which had been +successful at Cressy and Poitiers, Chandos quietly awaited the impetuous +attack of the Franco-Breton army, which was unable to shake their +antagonists, who returned the charge. The melee was fearful, but the +battle was in favour of the English. Charles performed prodigies of +valour. In vain Rohan and Laval rallied round him with the flower of the +Breton knights; the prince was a prisoner, and an English soldier +despatched him by plunging a dagger into his throat. Du Guesclin sustained +all the force of the fight with his heavy steel mace, his battle-axe and +his sword; but his mace was broken, the handle of his axe carried away, +his sword shivered, and he had no other weapon left but his gauntlets, and +was nearly overpowered by numbers, when Chandos, who fought with a +battle-axe, entreated him to surrender, "Messire Bertrand, rendez-vous, +cette journee n'est pas votre; il faut ceder a la fortune, une autre fois +vous serez plus heureux." Convinced of the truth of Chandos' words, Du +Guesclin surrendered to him the handle of his sword. Beaumanoir was among +the prisoners; and Clisson, who never left the field, lost an eye in the +conflict. + +A hair shirt was found, with thick knotted cords round the waist, upon the +body of Charles, for he delighted in deeds of mortification. He often used +to place pebbles in his shoes, and once walked two leagues barefoot in the +snow to visit the relics of St. Ives, in consequence of which he was laid +up for three months. He was buried at Guingamp, and his widow and children +desired his canonisation; but de Montfort, fearing such a step would +render him unpopular in Brittany, persuaded Pope Gregory XI. to refuse it. + +Du Guesclin, after he recovered his liberty, was destined, three years +later, to be a second time the prisoner of the English at Navarrete, when +the Black Prince replaced on his throne the cruel, perfidious Don Pedro. +When Sir Hugh Calverley asked for the freedom of Du Guesclin, he was met +by the reply, "Il ne faut pas lacher ce dogue de Bretagne, si fatal aux +Anglais." It was represented to the Black Prince that report ascribed his +detention to fear or jealousy; upon which he sent for Du Guesclin, who +told him he was tired of listening to the squeaking of the mice in his +prison, and longed to hear the nightingales of Brittany. He named his own +ransom at 100,000 florins, the Black Prince reduced it to 60,000; and the +Princess of Wales contributed 20,000. It was paid by Charles V. "Had it +been ten millions," says his biographer, "France would have paid it all." +In the Musee des Archives at Paris is preserved an order of Charles V. to +his treasurer, to prepare 30,000 Spanish doublons, to be paid to the +Prince of Wales for the ransom of Du Guesclin, adding, "il touche notre +honneur grandement." This is the most ancient royal autograph in the +collection. Charles calls him Bertran de Caclin. The Constable, in a deed +of gift of the Chateau of Cachant to the Duke of Anjou, signs "Bertrain." + +A school for deaf and dumb occupies the Chartreuse, directed by the Soeurs +de la Sagesse. We were shown round by a deaf and dumb guide, who made us +write on his slate what we could not explain on our fingers, and he also +wrote his reply. He showed us a series of paintings, copies of Le Soeur's +Life of St. Bruno in the Louvre, which are said to have been executed by +the monks of the Chartreuse. Attached to the church is a sepulchral chapel +containing the bones of the victims of the unfortunate descent on +Quiberon, when the immense armament of French royalists who were landed in +British ships, perished. They were commanded by d'Hervilly, an old officer +of the Constitutional Guard of Louis XVI., and he had for lieutenant Count +Charles de Sombreuil, whose sister had rendered the name illustrious by +her heroism in the Reign of Terror. They landed at Carnac, where Georges +Cadoudal and a band of Chouans awaited their arrival. Hoche, at the head +of a republican army, hastened to meet them. Every thing depended upon +their rapidity of action, but three days were lost in disputes about the +command among the emigrant generals. They took possession of the peninsula +of Quiberon, a strip of land about six miles long by three wide, united to +the mainland by a narrow tongue of sand a league in extent, called the +Falaise. Fort Penthievre, placed on the plateau of a steep rock, and +bathed on each side by the sea between the peninsula and the Falaise, +defends the approach by land. The emigrant army was protected by the +English fleet which lay in the bay of Quiberon, one of the safest and most +sheltered on the coast. The defence of Fort Penthievre was entrusted to +some republican soldiers taken from the English prisons. In a night +encounter d'Hervilly was killed. Hoche marched upon Fort Penthievre, +which was given up to him by the traitor soldiers. La Puisaye threw +himself into a boat and gained the English fleet. The emigrant army was +thrown into the greatest disorder; the "Bleus," as the republican soldiers +were called, pressed close upon them, and Sombreuil, driven to the water's +edge, and deserted by his troops, offered to capitulate, on the condition +that the lives should be spared of all save himself. "Yes," cried the +republicans with one voice. They demanded that the fire of the English +corvette should cease, and there being no boat at hand, Gesril du Papeu +swam to the English ship, and having delivered his message, returned and +surrendered himself prisoner. It is said that Hoche considered the +capitulation sacred, but Tallien arrived armed with full powers from the +Convention to treat the emigrants according to law. The prisoners had been +conducted to Auray; Hoche, unwilling to be the witness of acts he could +not prevent, returned to Brest. Not one French officer would consent to be +a member of the military commission who were to try, or rather condemn, +the captives. It was composed of Belgians and Swiss, and it was difficult +to induce the soldiers to execute the sentence. Sombreuil and a few others +were shot at Vannes. The execution of the rest took place in a field now +called the Champ des Martyrs. They were brought out in twenties, and +placed before a trench, dug beforehand, and shot. The massacre lasted +three weeks. In all there were 952 victims. Two chapels have been erected; +the one attached to the Chartreuse, and the other on the Champ des +Martyrs. That in the Chartreuse has inscribed over the front, in letters +of gold, "France in tears has raised it." The interior walls are overlaid +with black and white marble, with two marble bas-reliefs by David of +Angers: one representing the Duc d'Angouleme praying over the bones of the +victims in 1814, when they were transferred from the Champ des Martyrs to +the Chartreuse; the other, the laying of the first stone of the mausoleum +by the Duchesse d'Angouleme in 1823. In 1829 the solemn inauguration of +the expiatory monument took place; and it must have been touching to the +spectators to have assisted at the ceremony with the Duchesse d'Angouleme, +daughter of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, niece of the martyr saint the +Princess Elizabeth, and herself long subjected to imprisonment and +indignities. Only one year after this ceremony she again took the road to +exile, where she ended her troublous life, a pattern of piety and +resignation-- + + "Sa mort fut le soir d'un beau jour." + +In the centre of the mausoleum is the vault containing the bones, and over +it a sarcophagus on a pedestal, upon which are inscribed the names of the +victims. On the sarcophagus are busts of Sombreuil and the other chiefs of +the expedition; and a profile of Monseigneur d'Herce, Bishop of Dol, one +of the victims. Of the bas-reliefs on the mausoleum, one represents the +heroic act of Gesril du Papeu, with the words "I hoped in God, and shall +not be afraid;" the other, the landing of the emigrants on the shore of +Carnac, with "All my brothers are dead for Israel;"--these inscriptions are +all in Latin. Others are round the monument:--"Unworthily slain for God and +the King;"--"Precious before God is the blood of his saints;"--"For our +lives and our laws;"--"You will receive a greater glory and an eternal +name." Our deaf and dumb guide let a light down into the vault to show us +the bones of the victims, collected in one common sepulchre. The +Chartreuse convent therefore commemorates two great tragedies of history: +in ancient times the battle of Auray, which caused the death of Charles of +Blois, the captivity of Du Guesclin, and the slaughter of the flower of +Breton chivalry by the swords of their fellow Bretons. In modern days, the +massacre of the royalists at Quiberon--both the horrible consequence of +civil war. + +We then repaired to the "Champ des Martyrs," where took place the +execution of the royalists. At the end of an avenue of silver firs is the +expiatory chapel, with a granite portico, in the Doric style. Above is +inscribed, "It is here they fell," and "The memory of the just shall be +eternal." + +On the tomb is written, "Tombeau des royalistes courageux defenseurs de +l'autel et du trone, ils tomberent martyrs de leurs nobles efforts. Quel +Francais penetre des droits de la couronne ignore ce qu'il doit a ces +illustres morts." + +The inn Pavilion d'en Haut is particularly comfortable and reasonable, and +the people very obliging. Wishing to taste the crepes we had seen before, +they procured some, and gave them to us hot--we thought they resembled a +greasy crumpet. + +[Illustration: 34. Champ des Martyrs. Auray.] + +Auray is a good central point for visiting the Celtic remains:--menhirs, +dolmens, cromlechs, all of which are as plentiful here as are calvaries, +shrines, and churches in Leon. They seem all concentrated on these dreary +wild landes, sometimes covered with furze bushes, at others strewn along +the coast. + +Next day we drove to Locmariaker, nine miles from Auray, through Crach. On +the right is the river or estuary of that name; over which a bridge is +contemplated at La Trinite, to communicate with Carnac. Locmariaker is at +the extremity of the peninsula formed by the rivers of Crach and Auray, at +the entrance of the Morbihan. It must have been a place of some importance +in the time of the Roman occupation of Gaul, as there are the remains of a +circus, whose walls now enclose the cemetery, of a Gallo-Roman house, with +baths, frescoed walls, and marble pavement. We picked up some fragments of +Roman bricks which lie strewn upon the ground in great abundance. Midst +these Roman remains are gigantic menhirs, barrows, and dolmens, vestiges +of a still more ancient race. Locmariaker has two large tumuli, both vast +tombs. + +[Illustration: 35. Sculptured Stone. Manne er Hroeck. Locmariaker.] + +We first visited the Manne-er-Hroek, the Montagne de la Fee, or de la +Femme, which bears in the marine charts the name of "Butte de Cesar," for +it was the fashion with antiquaries to attribute to Caesar and the Romans +every Celtic monument, although bearing no resemblance whatever to any +work of these conquerors. The Montagne de la Fee is a galgal or tumulus of +elliptic form, about thirty feet high, formed of dry stones. It was +opened in 1863, and found to contain a sepulchral chamber or dolmen, +outside of which lay a granite stone above three feet long, inscribed with +various figures, and, in the middle, a cartouche, with hatchet-shaped +characters. There were also found a number of celts (stone hatchets or +knives), a green jasper necklace, and some glass beads, which have been +transferred to the museum at Vannes. The guide who furnished the light +and showed us the grotto is the widow of a Polish officer. She had a +Scotch terrier, which she wanted us to accept. The legend of the mound is +this:--A widow had the misfortune of losing her only solace, her son, +compelled by law to embark for foreign lands. Years rolled by; he did not +return. All said he was lost; but the heart of a mother hopes for ever, +and the sad Armorican went every day to the point of Kerpenhir, whence she +surveyed the ocean, and searched the depths of the horizon with tearful +eyes for the purple sail(16) which was to bring joy and peace to her +dwelling. One day, when she was returning sad as usual to her desolate +home, she was accosted by an old woman, who enquired the cause of her +troubles; and, on hearing them, advised her to heap a pile of stones, so +that, mounting on the summit, she might see to a greater distance, and +perhaps discern the long looked-for vessel. During the whole night the two +women worked, and carried in their aprons the stones they gathered on the +heath. In the morning their task was finished, and the Bretonne was scared +to see the enormous heap that had been piled together; but the other +quieted her fears, and helped her to climb to the top, whence soon the +happy mother beheld the vessel of her son. The fairy, her assistant, had +disappeared. This story evidently bears a vague tradition of this tumulus +having been raised by a woman, and of some maritime expedition made by him +for whom it was probably destined. The name of fairy is attached in +Brittany to everything--mountains, springs, grottoes, rocks; every accident +in nature is explained by a fairy origin. + +The next object we saw is also attributed to the fairies, the great +menhir, called Men-er-Groach, or stone of the fairies. It is the largest +menhir known, but it has been broken into three pieces, some say by +thunder. Put together, it measures about 67 feet in length, and is 16 feet +in diameter. The wonder is how it was placed there, for it is little less +than the obelisk of St. Peter's, which took 800 to 900 men and 70 horses +nearly a year to raise,--a work which was the great triumph of Fontana the +engineer. The menhir is estimated to be one-third the height of Notre Dame +at Paris. + +Lying also prostrate on the ground, by the side of it, is a smaller +menhir, which is, however, above 30 feet long. + +[Illustration: 36. Hatchet-shaped Sculpture. Dol des Marchands. +Locmariaker.] + +Close to these gigantic menhirs is the large dolmen (Breton, _daul_, +table, and _moen_, stone), known as the "Table de Cesar," or the "Dol des +Marchands." We walked under it to see the curious hatchet-shaped figure +sculptured on one of the upper stones. The common belief is that these +dolmens or table-stones were Druidic altars, and the guides will show you +the furrows for the blood of the human sacrifice to run down; but human +bones having been found under some of these dolmens, lead one to suppose +they were tombs. In the Scandinavian countries the peasants call them +"Giants' Graves." + +The other great tumulus of Locmariaker is the Mont Heleu or Manne-Lud, +also opened in 1863, and supposed to have been the sepulchre of a number +of persons, perhaps of a whole generation. It has, like the Montagne de la +Fee, a galleried chamber or dolmen, the floor formed of an enormous slab +across the centre, on which is a sculpture resembling a celt; other +sculptured stones were found in the same chamber. At the other end of the +dolmen was an avenue of stones, some supporting the skeletons of horses' +heads. This tumulus was probably the tomb of some great warrior: the +horses' skeletons were the remains of a sacrifice, and the human bones of +beings who had been immolated to accompany the earthly remains of their +great chief to another world. + +We took a boat for Gavr' Inis, or the Goat Island, and embarked on the +Morbihan (Breton, Little Sea), an inland sea, that gives its name to the +department. Shut out from the ocean by the two peninsulas of Locmariaker +and Rhuys, which form a narrow gully between the points of Kerpenhir and +Port Navalo, this sea contains an archipelago of islands, numbering, +according to tradition, as many as the days in the year. Of these, the Ile +aux Moines is the largest. The arms of the sea forming the rivers of Auray +and Vannes run into it. The navigation of the Morbihan is very dangerous, +the ocean entering it by this narrow opening in three distinct currents; +it is an endless labyrinth of rocks and water; its granite shores, torn by +the sea, are indented with creeks, capes, and inlets. + +[Illustration: 37. Entrance to the Tumulus of Gavr' Inis.] + +[Illustration: 38/39. Sculptured Stones. Gavr' Inis.] + +Gavr' Inis is a small island, surmounted by a tumulus, which forms a +conspicuous object, seen from all the mounds and dolmens around. It is a +galgal of heaped stones, in the centre of which is a dolmen or galleried +chamber, which was opened in 1832, and is the most curious monument in the +Morbihan. The gallery, with its square sepulchral chamber at the end, is +above fifty feet long and about five wide, composed of two rows of granite +menhirs, or upright stones, which form the sides, with horizontal stones +resting on them, ending in a chamber consisting of eight menhirs, with an +enormous slab, thirteen feet long, placed over them horizontally to form +the roof, and another, nearly as large, to form the floor. These stones +are of granite, and no cement is used to unite them. They are covered +with incised figures of unknown meaning: sculptures in concentric whorls +or circles, as if tattoed like the cheek of a New Zealander; and the only +forms to be distinguished are serpent-like figures, and the representation +of an axe, similar to those to be seen in the Grotte des Fees, the Dol des +Marchands, and the Manne-Lud. In one of the side stones of the chamber are +two handle-looking projections, with a recess behind, said, probably +erroneously, to be the place where the victims were bound. No celts or +other objects of antiquity were found in the grotto, which must have been +previously rifled of its contents. These sculptures cannot have been +executed without the use of metal instruments. There are also Celtic +remains in the Ile aux Moines and other islands of the Morbihan, but our +guide did not encourage us to extend our sail to visit them. The current +between the island and Port Navalo is sometimes of great rapidity and +violence. + +Next day we went to Carnac to see its marvellous avenues of menhirs. The +Celtic remains here are of a different character from those of +Locmariaker. Here there is quantity, at Locmariaker size. The monuments of +the last are covered with strange characters and signs; in Carnac they are +all plain and silent, according to the laws of the Druids, who prohibited +writing, in the fear of thereby divulging their mysteries, and also that +the people might not neglect to cultivate their memories. + + + "Tout cela eut un sens, et traduisit + Une pensee; mais la cle de ce mystere, + Ou est elle? et qui pourrait dire aujourd'hui + Si jamais elle se retrouvera?"--CAYAT DELANDRE. + + +Before reaching Carnac, we stopped at Kermario on the left, and got out of +the carriage to inspect the army of large menhirs about the windmill. They +are arranged in eleven rows, some sixteen feet high, placed with the small +end in the ground. They are all of a sombre grey, many of them clothed +with straggling lichens of various species. This wild heathy tract was +covered with the blue flower of the dwarf gentian, and strewed all over +with menhirs. Before arriving at Carnac, the road passes the avenues of +Menec, all running in the same direction as those of Kermario, from east +to west: among these are some of the largest stones. The third large +group, at Erdeven, we saw on our way from Carnac back to Auray by another +road. + + + "D'un passe sans memoire incertaines reliques, + Mysteres d'un vieux monde en mysteres ecrits." + LAMARTINE. + + +We do not pretend to enter into the various explanations attempted of this +wonderful monument. The legend at Carnac is, that St. Cornely, pursued by +an army of pagans, fled towards the sea; finding no boat at hand, and on +the point of being taken, he transformed the soldiers into stones. + + + "Les soldats de deux rois idolatres + Poursuivaient notre saint deja l'ami des patres, + Et sur un chariot traine par de grands boeufs + Le bons vieux Corneli se sauvait devant eux; + Or, voici que la mer, terrible aussi l'arrete; + Alors, le saint prelat, du haut de sa charrette + Tend la main: les soldats, tels qu'ils etaient ranges, + En autant de menhirs, voyez! furent changes. + Telle est notre croyance, et personne n'ignore + Que le patron des boeufs c'est ici qu'on l'honore; + Aux lieux ou la charrette et le saint ont passes, + Le froment pousse encor plus vert et plus presse." + BRIZEUX. + + +St. Cornely is the patron of bullocks. When a beast is ill, his owner buys +an image of St. Cornely, and hangs it up in the stable till its recovery. +In the church of Carnac is a series of fresco paintings portraying the +principal events of his life, and outside, a sculpture representing him +between two bullocks. The head of St. Cornely is preserved here; the +pulpit is of forged iron, and in the sacristy is shown a silver gilt +monstrance of the Louis XIV. period, with a representation of the Supper +at Emmaus, chased in relief round the foot. We walked to the Mont St. +Michel, a tumulus of stones with sepulchral dolmen, opened in 1862, but +now closed. It was found to contain objects of the "Stone" age, a number +of jade celts from four to sixteen inches long, some perforated beads and +pendents for a necklace, and there were traces of burnt bones. Like most +monuments of Celtic origin, these tumuli were regarded with religious +veneration; and the first teachers of Christianity, to enlist the old +worship to the cause of truth, marked each of these monuments with the +symbol of the new faith. Thus the cross was placed on the menhir, and a +chapel built upon Mont St. Michel, and, as we have before seen, on Mont +Dol, and other high places of Druidic worship. The little chapel dedicated +to St. Michel, which surmounts the tumulus, forms a conspicuous landmark +from every point, and commands a most extensive view over the stones of +Carnac ranged in their eleven lines, on a treeless plain, the Morbihan, +and the long dreary peninsula of Quiberon. + +Returning by another route, we alighted at the inn at Plouharnel to see a +collection of jade celts, gold torques, and necklaces of beads, found in +the neighbourhood, belonging to the landlord, M. Bail, who has them all +arranged in a frame. They were discovered in a group of dolmens near the +village, opened in 1830, consisting of three grottos or allees couvertes, +a kind of triple dolmen, covered over with a mound. The central grotto and +gallery had been opened before. The second dolmen had also a grotto or +allee couverte, in which was found an earthen pot, containing ashes and +three gold necklaces. In the third were some fragments of pottery. Three +gold necklaces, composed each of a single plate of metal, an inch and a +half wide, with fragments of the earthen vessels in which they were found, +together with stone celts and some pieces of bronze, extracted from the +dolmen, we afterwards saw exhibited in the "Musee du Travail" of the +Universal Exhibition of 1867. These dolmens belong to a much later period +of civilisation than those of Locmariaker--to the "Bronze" Age. + +[Illustration: 40. Dolmen of Corcorro.] + +The number of dolmens in the Morbihan is estimated at 250. In the +department of Finistere they are set at double the number. All are +supposed to have been originally covered with earth. The bodies are more +frequently buried than burnt. The dolmens contain implements of stone and +bone, occasionally gold and bronze, but never iron. To judge from the +comparative quantities found in the different departments, it may be +assumed that they are the work of people who have entered France from the +west, and have gradually worked their way by the rivers and valleys +further up the country. In this secluded spot we found a large English +family located, ten in number; they had been living there several months. +Before reaching Erdeven, at Kerserho, on a large lande or heathy plain, we +arrived at another series of the great Carnac army of stones, of which +they are a continuation. They are arranged in nine parallel rows, as may +be clearly distinguished by standing upon one of the stones; but the lines +are rather interrupted by hedges and ditches. Some are menhirs planted +vertically on the end, others enormous blocks simply laid upon the soil. +They extend half a league from north to south, more numerous than Carnac, +but generally not so tall, the highest from ten to twelve feet, but very +large. The road is strewed with Druidic monuments. At Corcorro, between +Plouharnel and Erdeven, on a farm, a short distance off the road, is a +dolmen, the largest in the Morbihan. Its original length appears to have +been 45 feet; the part preserved is 24 feet by 12 feet wide, and is +covered with two slabs: one of these is enormous, about six feet wide. It +is used as a cart-shed, and, when we saw it, contained bundles of hemp and +a hemp-breaker. One of the top stones overhangs the others, showing the +dolmen to have been originally larger. A number of ragged children +clustered upon the top, as if they had been accustomed to group themselves +for a picture. They effectually prevented any of us sketching the dolmen, +for, as soon as we began to draw, they all, in number about forty, came +down from their height and pressed closely around us. From Auray we took a +carriage to Vannes, a tidal port, one league from the gulf of Morbihan, +and capital of that department. + +Its people, the Veneti, were the head of the Armorican confederation, and +commanded the fleet in time of war. Their vessels had sails of prepared +skins, their cables were chains of iron. They traded with the Scilly +Islands, and brought back tin, copper, skins, slaves, and dogs, objects of +traffic with other nations. The Armorican confederation made a vigorous +resistance against Caesar, who sent round for the Roman fleet and beat them +in a naval battle in the Morbihan sea. The Romans had attached to their +ships large sharp scythes which mowed down masts and rigging, and a dead +calm rendering the enemy's ships immovable, they were soon taken, burnt, +or sunk. This battle ended the war with the maritime states of the west. +Caesar showed little mercy to the conquered: all the senators were put to +death, and the rest of the population sold by auction to furnish the +slave-markets of Italy. + +We walked to the promenade, called the "Garenne," where Sombreuil, Renee +de Herce, bishop of Dol, and twenty-two others of the emigrants, were +shot. Sombreuil was about twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, a +native of Perigord. He always persisted in the same account of the +capitulation. His last words were:-"Si j'avais pu imaginer que des +militaires pussent manquer a leur parole donnee sur le champ de bataille, +je n'aurais jamais consenti a une capitulation; elle me cause des regrets +amers qui me suivront jusqu'au tombeau. Adieu, Messieurs, nous trouverons +justice et clemence devant un tribunal ou la fraude des hommes ne saurait +jamais parvenir." A republican officer offered to bandage his eyes: "Non," +he exclaimed, "je veux voir mon ennemi jusqu'au dernier instant." +Requested to kneel, Sombreuil answered: "Je le veux bien; mais je fais +observer que je mets un genou pour mon Dieu, et l'autre pour mon roi." +Thus ended the most ill-fated expedition that history has ever had to +record. + +The cathedral of Vannes has a richly-sculptured north porch of Kersanton +stone, and another, facing the Rue des Trois Duchesses. Also, a +Renaissance chapel, called the Chapelle du Saint Sacrament or du Pardon, +with a hideous roof replacing the original. Adjoining are the remains of +the elegant cloisters of the cathedral, with basket-handled arcades of the +fifteenth century. In the cathedral is also the chapel of St. Vincent +Ferrier, the great preacher of the fifteenth century, whose labours +extended over almost every country of Europe--Italy, Germany, France, +Switzerland, and Great Britain. San Vicente Ferrar, a Dominican monk, was +the son of an attorney, originally of Valencia, in Spain, of which city he +is the tutelar saint. In Spain he led the way in preaching a crusade +against the Jews and Moors, who were persecuted by the Inquisition with +the most cruel bigotry. Invited to Brittany by Duke John V., he fixed +himself at Vannes, where, after having evangelised the province, he died +in 1419. He was buried in the cathedral. The Duchess Jeanne de France, +daughter of Charles VI., was present at his deathbed, and insisted on +laying him out. By her own desire, she was buried at his feet. Philip II., +King of Spain, desired his relics, but did not succeed in obtaining them. +The little house in which St. Vincent Ferrier lived is preserved (No. 13, +Rue des Orfevres). A tiny room, up a narrow staircase, is now converted +into a chapel, in which are shown the stone which served him as a pillow, +his lamp, and other relics. + +The Maison du Parlement or Chateau Gaillau is a curious old building, with +its entrance by a stone staircase and turret. Vannes was the usual +residence of Dukes John IV. and V., and had formerly three chateaux: La +Motte, of which the Hotel de la Prefecture occupies the site; Plaisance, +half a mile out of the town, where Duke Francis I. died; and La Hermine, +scene of John IV.'s treacherous imprisonment of the Constable Clisson, +which was razed in 1614. It had two towers--one demolished in 1770, the +other still standing, called the "Tour du Connetable," because it was +within its walls he imprisoned Clisson. The Duke had resolved on his +death, to prevent the marriage of Clisson's daughter Marguerite to Jean de +Bretagne, Count de Penthievre, son of Charles of Blois.(17) The story is +well related by d'Argentre. + +The Duke of Brittany summoned his barons and knights to a council at +Vannes, and entertained them in the Castle de la Motte. He behaved in the +most friendly manner, and invited the Constable, the Lords of Laval and de +Beaumanoir, to see the castle of Hermine he was building. He led the +Constable by the hand through the chambers, and when they arrived at the +keep, said, "Sir Oliver, there's not a man who understands masonry so well +as yourself; enter and examine the walls well, and if you say it is +properly built, it shall remain." The unsuspecting Constable ascended the +staircase, when the door was closed upon him and he was seized and loaded +with three pairs of fetters. The Duke ordered him to be put into a sack, +his hands and feet tied, and to be thrown secretly at night into the sea. +But the Constable owed his life to the loyalty of Jean Bazvalen, who, like +another Hubert, did not obey his master's commands, the laws of his +sovereign being less sacred in his eyes than the dictates of humanity and +honour. Clisson was set at liberty, on agreeing to pay 100,000 livres and +to surrender the town of Jugon and some other fortresses. This perfidious +attempt occasioned a war of three years, and was retaliated by Clisson's +daughter and grandsons upon Duke John V. + +The Tour du Connetable, which formed the north-east angle of the Chateau +de la Hermine, is now used as a museum of Celtic antiquities, and contains +various objects collected in the tumuli of the Morbihan. We observed one +very large jade celt, eighteen inches long, found, we understood, in the +Butte de Tumiac. At Vannes the States of Brittany held their sittings, and +here took place the union of that province with France, 1532. + +About twelve miles from Vannes is Korn-er-hoet, demesne of the Princess +Baciocchi, cousin of the Emperor. It was formerly surrounded by woods and +the interminable lande of Lanvaux, which stretches its desolate length +along the Morbihan from Baud to Rochefort. This district had been, from +time immemorial, the abode of some eighty families of gipsies, who lived +there in clay huts under the rule of a chieftain. The sight of this barren +wilderness had so impressed the Princess Baciocchi, in a tour she made in +Brittany in the year 1857, that she obtained the sanction of the Emperor +to reclaim it. She caused a temporary chalet to be built for her +occupation at Kern-er-hoet, and, superintending the works herself, in a +few years effected a wonderful transformation. A model village has been +formed, with church and schools, a well-ordered agricultural population +organised, farm-buildings erected, roads macadamised, the barren lande +drained and reclaimed, and the chateau surrounded by a well-wooded park. + +Great attention has been paid to the details of the dairy farm; all the +disposable milk is made into Dutch cheese. The cows are those of Brittany +and Ayrshire; the pigs from England. The whole demesne comprises about +1300 acres, and the benevolent Princess resides entirely on the scene of +her labours, among the people whose condition she has so ameliorated.(18) + +From Vannes we made an excursion into the peninsula of Rhuys, on the south +of the Morbihan Sea. We first stopped at Sarzeau, where Lesage, the +amiable author of 'Gil Blas,' was born, of whom it was written on his +epitaph:-- + + + "S'il ne fut pas ami de la fortune, + Il fut toujours ami de la vertu." + + +Then on to the ducal fortress of Sucinio, situated on the borders of the +ocean. It is a magnificent ruin, built in 1250, by Duke Jean le Roux, to +deposit his treasures, in case an invasion of the French should compel him +to leave his duchy. The position is well chosen, its situation on the +seashore enabling him easily to embark his treasures. + +This formidable "coffre fort" was a favourite residence of the Dukes of +Brittany, who came here as a relief from the cares and ceremonies of a +Court. Its name, of which Sucinio is a corruption, Soucy-ny-ot, synonymous +with the Sans-Souci of the great Frederick, shows its intention. This +locality was long celebrated for its fine air, and its peaceful character. +Louis XIV. used to say to his courtiers-- + + + "Desirez vous un pays de repos et de delices? + Allez habiter l'ile de Rhuys." + + +Partly demolished, Sucinio presents a mass of now only picturesque ruins, +a curious type of the architecture of the thirteenth century. Five of the +eight enormous battlemented towers remain, and the flamboyant window of +the chapel on the upper floor of the building is still preserved. Traces +of the portcullis and drawbridge are visible. Over the gallery is an +escutcheon, with a couchant lion holding the arms of Brittany, between two +stags, also couchant, at the foot of a tree. The sea that bathed the walls +of the castle has been driven back by the accumulation of mud and the +crumbling of the walls. + +Here was born Arthur III., Comte de Richemont, Constable of France, and +afterwards Duke of Brittany. This illustrious man, equally great as a +warrior and politician, does not take his merited place in the page of +history, owing probably to the partiality of French historians, who were +always jealous of the glory of Brittany. Except Du Guesclin, no other +constable has rendered greater service to France. + +A prisoner at Agincourt, where he commanded the van, he fought with the +Maid of Orleans,(19) at Beaugeney, took Talbot captive at Patai, +reconquered almost the whole of Normandy, entered Paris in 1436, and +finally expelled the English by the crushing victory of Formigny, having +staked his honour to drive them out of the kingdom. Seven years after, he +succeeded to the ducal crown; but such was the confidence of Charles VII. +in his loyalty, that he retained the supreme command of the French army +with his new dignity. He reigned only fourteen months. Richmont always +caused two swords to be carried before him when he appeared in presence of +the King; a naked sword, as Duke of Brittany, and the other sheathed and +the point turned downwards, as Constable of France. The title of Earl of +Richmond, styled by the French Comte de Richmont, dates from the +Conqueror. Alan Rufus, son of the Earl of Brittany, accompanied Duke +William to England, and commanded the rear of the army at the battle of +Hastings. For these services, he was rewarded with the hand of the +Conqueror's daughter, and all that northern part of Yorkshire, now called +Richmondshire, where he built, on the river Swale, the town and castle of +Richmond. The title passed through Alice, daughter of Constance of +Brittany, to Pierre de Dreux, and descended through him to all the Dukes +of his house, until John IV., having gone over to the King of France, was +deprived of the earldom by Act of Parliament, in the reign of King Richard +II.; but Henry IV. again conferred the title upon his stepson Arthur, +afterwards the celebrated Constable and Duke of Brittany. + +We returned to breakfast at Sarzeau; then on to the Abbey of St. Gildas de +Rhuys, founded on this inaccessible coast by St. Gildas, an English saint, +the schoolfellow and friend of St. Samson of Dol and St. Pol de Leon, and +which counted among its monks our Saxon St. Dunstan, who, carried by +pirates from his native isle, settled on the desolate shores of Brittany, +and became, under the name of St. Goustan, the patron of mariners. + +St. Gildas built his abbey on the edge of a high rocky promontory, the +site of an ancient Roman encampment, called Grand Mont, facing the shore, +where the sea has formed numerous caverns in its rocks. They are composed +chiefly of quartz, and are covered to a great height with innumerable +small mussels. The tide was too high to admit of our entering into any of +the grottoes, but the piles of dark rocks beaten into every form by the +violence of the waves, rising sometimes to the height of sixty feet, are +very imposing. St. Gildas, in the twelfth century, had Abelard for +superior, who, on his appointment, made over to Eloise the celebrated +abbey he had founded at Nogent, near Troyes, which he called the Paraclete +or Comforter, because he there found comfort and refreshment after his +troubles, but his peace soon ended on his arrival in Brittany. His gentle +nature was unable to contend against these coarse, ferocious, unruly, +Breton monks. As he writes in his well-known letter to Eloise, setting +forth his griefs:-- + + "J'habite un pays barbare, dont la langue m'est inconnue et en horreur: + je n'ai de commerce qu'avec des peuples feroces; mes promenades sont les + bords inaccessibles d'une mer agitee; mes moines n'ont d'autre regle que + n'en point avoir. Je voudrais que vous vissiez ma maison, vous ne la + prendriez jamais pour une abbaye: les portes ne sont ornees que de pieds + de biche, de loups et d'ours, de sangliers, des depouilles hideuses des + hiboux. J'eprouve chaque jour de nouveaux perils; je crois a tout moment + voir sur ma tete un glaive suspendu." + +But if Abelard hated the monks, they equally detested him, and one day +tried to poison him, but he escaped through a gate in the garden wall, +still pointed out, to the sea shore, where his friend and protector, the +Count de Rhuys, awaited him in a boat. + +The abbey is now in the occupation of twelve sisters of the "Charite de +St. Louis," who have a school for poor girls, and, in the summer, take in +families to board who come here for the benefit of the bracing air of this +fine wild coast. There is a kind of establishment for bathing in the +little bay below the abbey. The board and lodging is moderate, three +francs and a half a day, wine, tea, and sugar, not included. Boys are +admitted up to thirteen, but the men are sent into the town. + +Part of the abbey church is Romanesque: a semi-circular choir, with three +round chapels and the transepts. The nave and tower are of modern date. +The pavement is covered with tumulary stones. Four children of Duke John +III. le Roux are buried here, and one of Joan of Navarre and John IV. In +the Treasury are several pieces of plate, among which is a Renaissance +chalice, with six canopied statuettes of Apostles forming the knop; and a +cross of the same period, a chasse of St. Gildas, his head and arm both +encased in silver reliquaries. His tomb is in the church. Encrusted in +the wall outside the church are the figures of two knights on horseback in +mailed armour, conical Norman helmets, long pointed shields, and lances in +the attitude of combat. The church and convent of St. Gildas belonged to +the family of Bisson, whose self-devotion is commemorated by a statue at +Lorient. He passed here many years of his early life, and wishing to +preserve the buildings from ruin, gave them as a present to the parish. +St. Gildas is called by the Bretons St. Feltas. There is a rude coloured +print in the church relative to the legend of Comorre, or Comor, the +Breton "Blue Beard," in which St. Gildas plays a conspicuous part. The +story, as told by Emile Souvestre, is this:--Guerech, Count of Vannes, the +country of white corn, had a daughter, Triphyna, whom he tenderly loved. +One day, ambassadors arrived from Comorre, a Prince of Cornouaille, the +country of the black corn, demanding her in marriage. Now this caused +great distress, for Comorre was a giant, and one of the wickedest of men, +held in awe by every one for his cruelty. As a boy, when he went out, his +mother used to ring a bell to warn people of his approach. He shot a child +in order to prove his gun; and, when unsuccessful in the chase, would set +his dogs on the peasants to tear them in pieces. But most horrible of all, +he had had four wives, who all died one after the other, under suspicion +of having been killed by either the knife, fire, water, or poison. The +Count of Vannes, therefore, dismissed the ambassadors, and advanced to +meet Comorre, who was approaching with a powerful army; but St. Gildas +went into her oratory, and begged Triphyna would save bloodshed, and +consent to the marriage. He gave her a silver ring, which would warn her +of any intended evil, by turning, at the approach of danger, as black as +the crow's wing. The marriage took place with great rejoicings. The first +day six thousand guests were invited; on the next as many poor were fed, +the bride and the bridegroom serving at table, a napkin under their arms. +For some time, all went on well. Comorre's nature seemed changed, his +prisons were empty, his gibbets untenanted; but Triphyna felt no +confidence, and every day went to pray at the tombs of his four wives. At +this time there was an assembly at Rennes of the Breton Princes, which +Comorre was obliged to attend. Before his departure, he gave Triphyna the +keys, desiring her to amuse herself in his absence. After five months he +unexpectedly returned, and found her occupied in trimming an infant's cap +with gold lace. On seeing the cap, Comorre turned pale; and when Triphyna +joyfully announced to him that in two months he would be a father, he drew +back in a rage and rushed out of the apartment. Triphyna saw that her ring +had turned black, which betokened danger, she knew not why. She descended +into the chapel to pray; when she rose to depart it was midnight, and she +saw the four tombs of Comorre's wives open slowly, and they all issued +forth in their winding-sheets. Half dead with fear, Triphyna tried to +escape; but the spectres cried, "Take care, poor lost one! Comorre seeks +to kill you." "I," says the Countess, "what evil have I done?"--"You have +told him that you will soon become a mother; and, through the Spirit of +Evil, he knows that his child will kill him, and that is why he has +murdered us, when we told him what he has just learned from you." "What +hope then of escape remains for me," cried Triphyna."--"Go back to your +father," answered the phantoms. "But how escape when Comorre's dog guards +the court?"--"Give him this poison which killed me," said the first wife." +"But how can I descend this high wall?"--"By means of this cord which +strangled me," answered the second wife. "But who will guide me through +the dark?"--"The fire which burnt me," replied the third wife. "And how can +I make so long a journey?" returned Triphyna.--"Take this stick which broke +my skull," rejoined the fourth spectre. Armed with these weapons, Triphyna +sets out, silences the dog, scales the wall, sees her way through the +darkness, and proceeds on her road to Vannes. On awakening next morning, +Comorre finds his wife fled, and pursues her on horseback. The poor +fugitive, seeing her ring turn black, turned off the road and hid herself +till night in the cabin of a shepherd, where was only an old magpie in a +cage at the door. Comorre, who had given up the pursuit, was returning +home that road, when he heard the magpie trying to imitate her complaints, +and calling out "Poor Triphyna!" he therefore knew his wife had passed +that way, and set his dog on the track. Meanwhile, Triphyna felt she could +proceed no further, and laid down on the ground, where she brought into +the world a boy of marvellous beauty. As she clasped him to her arms, she +saw over her head a falcon with a golden collar, which she recognised as +her father's. The bird came to her call, and giving it the warning ring of +St. Gildas, she told it to fly with it to her father. The bird obeyed and +flew with it like lightning to Vannes; but, almost at the same instant, +Comorre arrived; having parted with her warning ring, Triphyna, who had no +notice of his approach, had only time to conceal her babe in the cavity of +a tree, when Comorre threw himself upon his unhappy wife, and with one +blow severed her head from her body. When the falcon arrived at Vannes, he +found the King at dinner with St. Gildas; he let the ring fall into the +silver cup of his master, who recognising it, exclaimed, "My daughter is +in danger; saddle the horses, and let St. Gildas accompany us." Following +the falcon, they soon reached the spot where Triphyna lay dead. After they +had all knelt in prayer, St. Gildas said to the corpse, "Arise, take thy +head and thy child, and follow us." The dead body obeyed, the bewildered +troop followed; but, gallop as fast as they could, the headless body was +always in front, carrying the babe in her left hand, and her pale head in +the right. In this manner, they reached the castle of Comorre. "Count," +says St. Gildas, "I bring back your wife such as your wickedness has made +her, and thy child such as Heaven has given it thee. Wilt thou receive +them under thy roof?" Comorre was silent. The Saint three times repeated +the question, but no voice returned an answer. Then St. Gildas took the +new-born infant from its mother, and placed it on the ground. The child +marched alone to the edge of the moat, and picking up a handful of earth, +and throwing it against the castle, exclaimed, "Let the Trinity execute +judgment." At the same instant the towers shook and fell with a great +crash; the walls yawned open and the castle sunk, burying Comorre and all +his fellow partners in crime. St. Gildas then replaced Triphyna's head +upon her shoulders, laid his hands upon her, and restored her to life, to +the great joy of her father.--Such is the history of Triphyna and Comorre. + +On our way back to Vannes we saw on our left the Butte de Tumiac, or Butte +d'Arzon, the largest tumulus of the Morbihan. It was opened in 1853, and +found to enclose a chamber full of pulverised bones and various curious +objects. From Vannes we also visited the stately castle of Elven, about +four miles from the station of that name; not built on a lofty site, for, +in the fifteenth century, the barons had descended from their heights to +places more convenient of access, and where water was more easily +obtained. The Breton feudal lords of Rohan, Rieux, Clisson, and +Penthievre, no longer required fortified places as means of defence +against the French and English, but, in consequence of their own internal +divisions, to defend them in their wars with their duke or among +themselves. The castle of Elven is situated in an insulated coppice wood, +in the midst of the lande of Elven. It was the chief place of the lordship +of l'Argoet (in Breton, "upon the wood"), and is also called the fortress +of Largoet. + +[Illustration: 41. Castle of Elven.] + +The ruins, which occupy a large enclosure, consist chiefly of two towers; +the principal one, 130 feet high, is octagonal; the other, which is not +above 100 feet in height, is split from top to bottom. The battlemented +walls are nearly 20 feet thick at the base. A wide deep moat surrounded +the castle, and it was furnished with subterranean passages and everything +requisite to make it a model of the military architecture of the fifteenth +century. The donjon has two granite staircases; one leads to the top, +whence may be seen Vannes and the Morbihan, with its islands. Here, in +1793, the Royalists established signals. In the castle of Elven, Henry of +Richmond, then only fifteen, with his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of +Pembroke, were detained by Duke Francis II. for fifteen years. Fugitives +after Tewkesbury, they were thrown by a tempest upon the shores of +Brittany. Henry was claimed both by King Edward IV. and Louis XI., and was +kept by Duke Francis as a pledge of the good faith of Edward towards +Brittany. Perhaps also Francis may have entertained some ill-feeling +towards Henry from his bearing the title of Earl of Richmond, which had +been held for more than three hundred years by the Dukes of Brittany. +Francis revived the claim to the title which Henry VI. had conferred +(1452) on Edward Tudor, father of Henry. Subsequently, on the assurance of +the King of England that he only required the release of Henry to invest +him with the Order of the Garter and to give him his daughter, the +Princess Elizabeth, in marriage, Duke Francis made over the Prince to the +English Ambassador, and he was about to embark at St. Malo for England, +when the Duke's Grand Treasurer (Landais) arrived, warned Henry of his +danger, and helped him to take refuge in the sanctuary of the church, +whence he afterwards withdrew him again to place him in honourable +captivity for twelve more years, till King Edward's death. A party being +formed in England, aided by the Duchess of Brittany, Francoise de Foix, +Henry attempted a descent; but the plan being discovered, after seeing the +English coast, Henry was obliged to return to Brittany and his ships were +scattered in a storm. Again within his power, Landais listened to the +offers of King Richard III., and agreed to give him up; but Henry, +informed in time, left Vannes, threw himself into the forest, and escaped +to France, where he obtained from the regent, Anne de Beaujeu, the +assistance which enabled him to mount the English throne. + +The castle of Elven, with those of Rieux and Rochefort, belonged to the +Marechal de Rieux. Elven was rebuilt by him with the materials of the old; +but they were all dismantled by the orders of the Duchess Anne in 1496, to +punish her guardian for his revolt. Yet Rieux acted as he thought best for +the welfare of his late master and his daughter, whose cause he defended +against the interested views of the King of France. Rieux had that keen +sense of honour which is one of the characteristics of the Breton +gentleman. When he reproached Anne de Beaujeu, regent, to her brother +Charles VIII., for having instigated the King to attack Nantes, contrary +to his engagements, Anne replied, "He had no written promise." "Et quoi, +Madame!" he indignantly exclaimed; "la parole d'un roy, ne vaut elle pas +mille scellez?" Louis de Rieux, the last of the race, was shot on the +Champs des Martyrs. True to the motto of his house, "A toute heure, +Rieux," he showed himself ready "at any hour" to die for the altar and the +throne. + +Elven is the scene of M. Octave Feuillet's "Roman d'un jeune Homme +pauvre;" and the keeper who shows the ruins points out the spot whence the +"Hero of Romance" took the leap to prove his loyalty, and which gained him +the hand of the lady. + +Next morning we started early by rail to Questembert, to meet the +diligence for Ploermel, twenty miles from this station, passing through +Malestroit. We saw quantities of chestnuts on our road, and were told they +were largely exported to England. They come principally from the +neighbourhood of Redon and other places in the department of +Ile-et-Vilaine, where they grow as abundantly as described by Madame de +Sevigne, when writing from the Chateau des Roches, in the same department: +"Pour nous, ce sont des chataignes qui font notre ornement. J'en avois +l'autre jour trois au quatre paniers autour de moi. J'en fis bouillir, +j'en fis rotir, j'en mis dans mes poches, on en sert dans les plats, on +marche dessus, c'est la Bretagne dans son triomphe." + +Ploermel derives its name (plo-ermel, land or territory of Armel) from an +anchorite of the sixth century, who treated a dragon which ravaged the +country in the time of King Childebert in the same manner as St. Pol de +Leon disposed of the monster at Batz. + +The facade of the church of Saint Armel has a number of grotesque +carvings--the sow playing the bagpipes, the cobbler sewing up the mouth of +his wife, &c.; but it is principally remarkable for its eight painted +windows of the sixteenth century, lately restored, and the monumental +effigies of two Dukes of Brittany; the one, John II., who was killed at +Lyons, where he went to settle some differences with his clergy, on the +occasion of the coronation of Pope Clement V. A wall, loaded with +spectators, fell, and the Duke was crushed in its ruins; the Pope escaped +with being only thrown from his mule. + +The other effigy is that of Duke John III., or the Good, whose death was +the signal for the War of Succession. He died at Caen. These tombs were +formerly in the Carmelite convent founded by John II., who, on his return +from the Holy Land, established the first Carmelite convent in Brittany, +and brought monks from Mount Carmel to inhabit it. + +The tombs were destroyed in the Revolution, but the two statues were +saved. They are of white marble, and are placed on a monumental slab, side +by side, with this inscription: "De tous temps la fidelite Bretonne rendit +hommage a ses souverains." Duke John II. is represented in a hauberk of +mail, the hood turned back, with cotte d'armes, shield, and sword. Duke +John III. has his head encircled by the ducal crown, his hair long, his +genouillieres, cuissarts, &c., of plate armour. His shield and cotte +d'armes are seme of ermines, and by his side is the dagger of misericorde, +which served to kill the fallen enemy unless he cried for mercy. When +James II. passed through Ploermel after the Battle of the Boyne, a +fugitive and a dethroned monarch, the Carmelite monks would not take him +in; but he found in the little village of Penfra the hospitality they had +refused him. Here is an establishment, directed by a brother of Lamennais, +the celebrated author of 'Paroles d'un Croyant,' where people of all +nations--Indians, negroes from Senegambia, and others--are educated and +taught trades of every kind, and sent back to their own countries. + +[Illustration: 42. Column of the Thirty.] + +The people about Ploermel and Josselin speak French instead of Breton, the +prevailing language of the Morbihan department. It is nearly seven miles +between Ploermel and Josselin. Equally distant from each, at Mi-voie, in +the centre of a star formed by avenues of firs and cypresses, is an +obelisk set up to commemorate the famous "Combat des Trente," which took +place on this spot in 1351, and on which are inscribed the names of the +thirty who fought on the French side. It was during that period of the War +of Succession when hostilities were carried on by the two Jeannes, Marshal +Beaumanoir, the Breton commander of the garrison of Josselin for Jeanne de +Penthievre, gave a challenge to Bembro', as he is called, the English +captain who held Ploermel for Jeanne de Montfort and her infant son, in +consequence of an alleged infraction by the latter of a truce, agreed upon +between the Kings of France and England, in which it had been stipulated +that the peasants and those not bearing arms should be unmolested. In +spite of this compact, the English soldiers devastated the country and +committed every kind of excess. Jean de Beaumanoir repaired to Ploermel to +remonstrate, and it was agreed to settle the dispute by a fight between +thirty warriors from each camp. The prophecies of Merlin were consulted, +and found to promise victory to the English. The appointed place of +meeting was by a large oak, the "Chene de Mi-Voie," on a lande or large +plain, half way from each town. The battle began with great fury, at first +to the disadvantage of the Bretons, when Bembro' was killed, which threw +dismay among the English; but a German, who succeeded in the command, +rallied their courage, and the melee became thicker than ever. Beaumanoir +was wounded, and his loss of blood and his long fast produced a burning +thirst, and he asked for water. "Bois ton sang, Beaumanoir, ta soif se +passera," was the reply of Geoffroy du Bois; and Beaumanoir, forgetting +his thirst and his wound, continued the fight. The English kept their +ranks close, till Guillaume de Montauban broke them by a stratagem and +threw them into confusion. He mounted his horse and pretended to fly, then +suddenly turned upon the English with such force that he threw seven down +and broke their ranks:-- + + + "Grande fut la bataille et longuement dura: + Et le chapple (carnage) horrible est deca et dela; + La chaleur fut moult grande, chacun si tressua (sua); + De soeur et de sang la terre rosoya (rougit). + A ce bon samedi Beaumanoir si jeuna; + Grand soif eut le baron, a boire demanda; + Messire Geoffrey du Bois tantot repondu a: + 'Bois ton sang, Beaumanoir, la soif te passera; + Ce jour aurons honneur, chacun si gagnera + Vaillante renommee, ja blame ne sera.'-- + Beaumanoir le vaillant adonc s'evertua, + Tel deuil eut et telle ire que la soif lui passa; + Et d'un cote et d'autre le chapple commenca: + Morts furent ou blesses, gueres n'en echappa."--BRIZEUX. + + +Sir Robert Knollys, Sir Hugh Calverly Croquart, and others were made +prisoners, and thus ended the Battle of the Thirty; gained, however, in a +most disloyal manner, Montauban getting the aid of a horse, when all the +other combatants fought on foot. + +The Breton knights returned to Josselin, their helmets decorated with +branches of the broom-- + + + "In every basnet a bright broom flower;" + + +the place where the battle was fought running, according to the French +poem, + + + "Le long d'une genetaie qui etait verte et belle." + + +Josselin is celebrated for its chateau, where died, 1407, Olivier du +Clisson, the contemporary and brother of arms of Du Guesclin, whom he +succeeded in the dignity of Constable of France, which no one for some +time would accept, not thinking themselves worthy of replacing him. Both +differed widely in position and character. Du Guesclin, though of a noble +family, had not the advantage of fortune like Clisson, who had immense +wealth and landed possessions, which made him a kind of sovereign in the +duchy. He willed away a million of money. Clisson was a statesman, Du +Guesclin's sole glory was in arms. Clisson was cruel, intriguing, and +insatiable for riches; Du Guesclin was humane, loyal, and disinterested. +Both were equal in bravery and physical force: the lance of Du Guesclin +and the axe of Clisson(20) carried all before them. Clisson joined with Du +Guesclin in freeing the country from the "Great Companies," and his most +celebrated action was the defeat of the Flemings at Rosbecq. Few subjects +have been so powerful, or have filled so important a part, as Olivier du +Clisson. He was true to his sovereign after his reconciliation, and to his +children after him. John IV. had scarce closed his eyes when the daughter +of Clisson, wife of Jean de Penthievre, came to her father and said, "It +depends only on you that my husband receives the inheritance of Brittany." +"How?" asked the Constable. "By your ridding yourself of the children of +De Montfort." "Ah! cruel and perverse woman," exclaimed Clisson; "if you +live long, you will destroy the honour and property of your children;" and +he accompanied his words with such violent menaces, that, seized with +affright, she fled from his presence, and falling down, broke her thigh. +The prophecy of Clisson was fulfilled, as we shall later relate. The +ancient chateau in which he died was destroyed by Henry IV.; the present +building was raised by Alain IX., Vicomte de Rohan, through Alain VIII., +who married Beatrix, eldest daughter of the Constable, by which Josselin +descended to the Rohans,(21) a house yielding to none in antiquity and +illustration, being descended from the ancient sovereigns of Brittany, and +allied with all the crowned heads of Europe,--"Princes of Bretagne" they +were styled. But the Rohan family became unpopular in the duchy, when John +II. attached himself to Louis XI. and France, for the bribe of 8000 livres +to himself and 4000 to his wife. + +At the battle of St. Aubin du Cormier, which sealed the fate of Brittany, +the Vicomte du Rohan betrayed his brother-in-law Duke Francis and the +national cause, and fought on the side of France. He afterwards marched at +the head of the French troops, and besieged Guingamp, where its brave +defenders declared, "As long as there is a duchess in Brittany, we will +not give up her towns." But they took Pontrieux and Concarneau, and in +1491 the Vicomte du Rohan was appointed by Charles VIII. +Lieutenant-General in Lower Brittany. He was called by his countrymen the +"Felon Prince;" and so detested was he and his race, that it passed into a +proverb to say of a mean, treacherous, dishonest person, "Il mange a +l'auge comme Rohan,"--"He eats at the manger (that is, the table of the +King of France) like Rohan." "Un peu de jactance," therefore, justly +observes Daru, in the proud motto of the Rohans:--(22) + + + "Roi ne puis, + Prince ne daigne, + Rohan je suis." + + +[Illustration: 43. Chateau of Josselin.] + +The chateau of Josselin stands by a river, on which side it presents piles +of towers and fortifications covered with slate, a severe specimen of +military architecture; while on the other side, the cour d'honneur, we see +one of the handsomest chateaux of the Renaissance yet remaining in +Brittany. This facade is richly ornamented with sculptures of varied and +fanciful design. Immense gurgoyles, in the form of serpents, stretching +from the roof to the base, pierced balustrades or galleries of lace-like +delicacy, in which are introduced, according to the fashion of the period, +the initial letters of the Vicomte Alain, A and V interlaced. The old +Rohan motto, "A plus," and the escutcheon of gules, nine mascles or +lozenges, occur in every part of this gorgeous front, and also on the +finely-carved chimneypiece of the reception room (salle d'honneur). The +whole of the chateau is in course of restoration by the Prince de Leon. + +In the church of Josselin is the tomb of the Constable Clisson, with that +of Marguerite de Rohan his wife; both statues were mutilated in the +Revolution, but are now restored: they are of white marble on a black +slab. Clisson is in armour, Marguerite has her hair plaited and confined +in a network of pearls; she wears a long robe, with a surcoat above, +furred with ermine. The motto, "Pour ce qu'il me plest (plait)," is in an +oratory which belonged to Clisson, expressing his haughty and overbearing +will. This same motto appears on his seal, affixed to a letter preserved +in the archives of the empire, and he is recorded to have had it inscribed +upon his Constable's sword, which, like Du Guesclin, he always wore +unsheathed, to show he was ready at all times to fight the enemies of the +crown. + +There hangs in the church a picture of the finding of the image Notre +Dame-du-Roncier, of which we relate the legend:-- + +Long before Josselin was a town, a poor labourer had remarked, on the spot +where now stands the church of Notre Dame, a bramble bush, which the frost +and snow of the roughest winters never deprived of its leaves, but it +always remained fresh and green. Surprised at this strange phenomenon, he +dug the soil under the bramble, and discovered a wooden statue of the +Virgin. A marvellous light played round the head of the image. The man +carried it home; but next morning, to his surprise, he found the statue +under the same bush whence he had taken it. The miracle was repeated +several times, and soon attracted crowds of devotees. A chapel was built +to deposit the sacred image, houses followed next, and a little town +gradually formed, which the Comte de Porhoet surrounded with walls, and +Josselin, his son, endowed with his name, 1030. Such was the rise of +Josselin. A celebrated pilgrimage still exists to Josselin on Whit +Tuesday, resorted to by crowds of "aboyeuses" or barkers, people possessed +with this kind of epilepsy, said to be hereditary in several families, and +which is accounted for from the circumstance of a party of washerwomen +having refused a glass of water to the Vierge du Roncier, who went to them +disguised in the garb of a beggar. The merciless creatures set their dogs +upon the pretended mendicant, and thus brought down upon themselves and +their posterity this fearful malediction. The disease is supposed to +return periodically about Whitsuntide, and only to leave the afflicted +when they are carried forcibly to the sanctuary of Notre Dame to press +with their foaming lips the fragments still remaining of the ancient +miraculous statue which was burnt upon the public Place in the time of the +French Revolution. + +We left Ploermel at four o'clock in the morning for Montfort-sur-Mer, +passing through Plelan; while the horses baited at a little auberge we got +some hot coffee, and found a good fire in the kitchen. The landlady, shut +in her "lit clos," did not disturb herself, but occasionally put out her +head to give directions for our breakfast. On the left of the road is the +forest of Paimpont, which formerly extended from Montfort to Rostrenan, a +kind of neutral desert land, called Broceliande, and famous, under that +name, in the history of King Arthur. It was the theatre of the fairies' +most wondrous enchantments. Here was the fountain of Youth and also that +of Barenton, where they came every day to draw water in an emerald basin. +Here, too, the enchanted Merlin has lain sleeping for centuries, +enthralled by his pupil the fairy Viviana, who has cast a spell upon her +master she knows not how to break. + +Montfort, where we joined the railway, is celebrated for the legend of the +duck and its ducklings, and was the residence of the De Montfort family +until Guy Comte de Laval and Sire de Montfort married Francoise de Dinan, +widow of the unfortunate Gilles de Bretagne, when the Montforts left their +paternal demesne for the chateaux of Laval, Vitre, and Chateaubriant. + +The railway took us to Rennes, an uninteresting modern French town, the +old town was burnt down in 1720, and straight streets have risen up, with +no traces of its having been once the ancient capital of Brittany. Indeed, +so French is it altogether, that the saying runs--"Bon Breton de Vannes, +bon Francais de Rennes." It was here that Constance, heiress of the duchy, +held her court, with Geoffrey Plantagenet, who, with their unfortunate son +Arthur, were the only Plantagenets, dukes of Brittany. On the murder of +Arthur, his sister Alice carried the ducal crown to her husband, Pierre de +Dreux (called Mauclerc, from his animosity to the clergy), and from them +descended the dukes of Brittany down to Queen Anne, whose double marriage +conveyed the duchy to France and the Valois. + +When Henry IV. made his solemn entry into Rennes, the Governor presented +him with the three silver-gilt keys of the city, of rich workmanship; upon +which the King observed, "Elles etaient belles, mais qu'il aimait mieux +les clefs des coeurs des habitants." + +The following year we made a tour along the banks of the Loire, and at +Angers embarked on board the steamer for Nantes. The scenery down the +Loire is rich, and the hills covered with vineyards, islands planted with +willows, and sunny villages, or occasionally a gloomy fortress comes to +view. Ingrandes is the frontier town, half in Anjou and half in Brittany, +between the modern departments of Loire Inferieure and Maine-et-Loire. +Lower down is St. Florent (Maine-et-Loire), with its recollections of the +wonderful passage of the Loire by the Vendean army, so graphically related +by Madame de la Rochejacquelin, and near the island of Meilleraie, where +their brave General Bonchamps expired, after the fatal engagement of +Chollet; his last act being the saving the lives of four thousand +prisoners shut up in the church, and about to be executed by the +exasperated Vendeans. "Grace aux prisonniers" were his dying words. +Opposite St. Florent is Varades, where the Vendeans landed after crossing +the Loire. Only a feeble post opposed them. Had the republicans lost less +time, and sent a force after their victory at Chollet, much calamity would +have been spared to Brittany, and the Royalists themselves would have been +saved the terrible defeats of Le Mans and Savenay. + +Passing Ancenis, which rises in an amphitheatre on the vine-clothed hills, +and, with its suspension-bridge, is one of the most picturesque points in +the river, we reached Oudon, with its tall octagonal tower; on the left, +in the department of Maine-et-Loire, nearly opposite, stands the ruined +castle of Champtoceaux, where Duke John V. was kept a prisoner by the +implacable enemies of his house, the Penthievre family. + +Marguerite de Clisson, widow of Jean de Bretagne, Comte de Penthievre, +lived in retirement in her stately fortress of Champtoceaux, with her +three sons, Oliver, Count of Blois, and his brothers. Marguerite inherited +the pride, hatred, and cruelty, of her father, without his chivalrous +loyalty and magnanimity. The kingdom was filled with troubles, and she +thought it a favourable moment for reviving the pretensions of her family. +John V. held his court at Nantes. She sent Oliver there to assure the Duke +that his mother and brother were ready to do him homage; and he swore, on +his own part, "de le servir envers et contre tous ceux qui peuvent vivre +et mourir." John, delighted, made the young man share his bed, and treated +him with the greatest distinction. Oliver expressed his regret that the +age and infirmities of his mother prevented her going to court, and +timidly insinuated the honour she would feel at a visit from the Duke. The +Duke consented, and, sending off his plate to Champtoceaux, started with +his brother-in-law, Count Oliver, and his attendants. Having passed the +little river which separates Anjou from Brittany, they saw a man throwing +the planks of the bridge into the water, and thus preventing the Duke's +suite from following. At the same time, Charles de Penthievre, Margaret's +second son, issued suddenly from a wood with an escort of lances and +surrounded the Duke. There was no kind of indignity they did not make him +suffer. He was tied upon his horse like a criminal, and conducted first to +Clisson, Oliver leading him with a halter round his neck. The Penthievres, +who would not let the place be guessed where they held their captive, +conducted him at night, sometimes on foot, from fortress to fortress, from +dungeon to dungeon; at the same time circulating the report that they had +drowned him in the Loire. As a last insult, they took him to Champtoceaux, +where Marguerite visited him in prison to exult over his misfortunes. +Meantime the Breton barons, indignant at the treason of which their +Sovereign was the victim, raised an army for his deliverance, and civil +war broke out with redoubled fury. His heroic wife, Jeanne de France, +showed an untiring energy to save him. Undaunted by the threats of the +Penthievres,--who sent word to her, if she did not desist from hostilities +they would cut her husband in pieces, nor by the messages from the Duke +himself assuring her that her zeal would cost him his life,--she induced +her brother, the Dauphin, to order the Penthievres not to attempt the life +of their prisoner; she besieged, one after the other, all their castles, +and at last compelled Marguerite to capitulate to save her own life. +Finding herself and family in a perilous position, Marguerite agreed that +the Duke should be released (he was at Clisson), and that she and her sons +should retire where they wished, on their promise to appear at the summons +of the Breton nobles. Immediately on his liberation, Duke John ordered the +destruction of Champtoceaux. A parliament assembled at Vannes in 1424, +condemned Marguerite and her sons to capital punishment, and declared all +the Penthievre possessions to be forfeited to the State. But the culprits +had all escaped the kingdom, except the youngest son, William, a child +only ten years of age, who had been given as a hostage for the appearance +of his mother and brothers, and was condemned to languish for twenty-seven +years in prison, where he lost his eyesight--a victim to crimes in which he +had not been an accomplice. John had made a vow, during his detention, to +give, if he regained his liberty, to the church of Notre Dame at Nantes, +his weight in gold; and most conscientiously did he perform his promise, +for we read, "He placed himself in his war armour in the balance, and +caused the opposite scale to be filled with gold till it had attained the +weight of the first; that is to say, three hundred and eighty marks, seven +ounces"--which sum was delivered over to the church. Vows of this nature +are not unfrequently recorded. When Don Carlos, the ill-fated son of +Philip II., lay ill, he vowed to give to the Virgin, on his recovery, four +times his weight in gold plate, and seven times his weight in silver. The +vow was fulfilled; but the Prince was placed in the scale in a damask robe +and fur coat, and weighed only seventy-six pounds--so much was he reduced +by his long illness. + +Nantes is a cheerful, busy, handsome city, but wanting in the picturesque +characteristics of the towns of Lower Brittany. Quimper, Vannes, Rennes, +and Nantes, have all been successively capitals of the duchy, but Nantes +was the usual residence of its dukes. + +The cathedral contains its principal artistic monument, the tomb of Duke +Francis II. and his second wife, Marguerite de Foix, called "sein de lys," +from the beauty of her complexion. It was erected by their daughter, the +Queen-Duchess Anne, and was executed by Michel Colomb, a sculptor of St. +Pol de Leon, originally a herd-boy. This monument, considered a +masterpiece of the Renaissance, is not copied from any Italian original, +but is entirely the offspring of the artist's own fancy. There is much +simplicity in its design and execution. The tomb, about five feet high, is +of white marble, diapered with ermine and the letter F. On a black slab +repose the effigies of the Duke and Duchess, and at their feet are lying a +lion and a greyhound, holding their several escutcheons. Four large +allegorical figures are at each angle of the tomb, representing the +cardinal virtues. Justice carries the book of the laws, and the sword by +which she makes them respected. This figure is said to be the portrait of +the Duchess Anne. Temperance, in a monastic dress, is characterised by a +bit and a lantern. Prudence, double faced, holds a mirror and a compass, +and has a serpent at her feet. This figure is in the costume of a peasant +girl of St. Pol; the second face, that of an old man, is also in the dress +of Lower Brittany. Strength or Fortitude, handsome, resolute, and calm, +strangles a dragon with his grasp. + +Upon the principal sides of the tomb are the twelve Apostles, and below, +in niches, sixteen mourners (pleureuses) in monastic habits, the faces and +hands white, the rest of the body black. The beautiful attitude of these +figures is much admired. Some are kneeling, others are seated--all in the +attitude and expression of prayer. This monument was originally in the +church of the Carmelites, whence it was transferred to the cathedral. + +Besides the remains of Duke Francis and his two wives, it formerly +contained the heart of his daughter, the Queen-Duchess Anne, enshrined in +a golden case in the form of a heart, surmounted by a crown, and +surrounded by a cordeliere; but the tomb was rifled during the Reign of +Terror. It now holds the remains of the Constable Duke Arthur III. + +Duke John IV. also died at Nantes, after his long eventful reign, having +acquired a military glory which earned him the name of Conqueror, and +equalled that of Du Guesclin and Clisson. Twice he lost and twice he +regained his crown. He alienated Du Guesclin and his faithful subjects by +his partiality to England. The Bretons rose, and he fled to Edward III.; +but when Charles V. entered the duchy, with the intention of confiscating +it to the crown of France, the Bretons all united to defend their +nationality against the ambition of the French King, and recalled their +Sovereign. So great was the enthusiasm on his arrival at St. Malo, that +the nobles plunged into the water to approach his ship; and even the widow +of his rival, Charles of Blois, went to welcome him. His cowardly attempt +against the Constable Clisson again compromised his reputation, and was +disgracefully avenged upon his son by the implacable daughter of Clisson. + +The old ducal castle still rises on the left bank of the river. It was +here Anne of Brittany was born, and here she married, 1499, her old +admirer, the chivalrous Duke of Orleans, then King Louis XII., according +to her stipulation, that the King, "viendra l'espouser en sa maison de +Nantes." Left at the age of eleven, by the death of her father, a prey to +claimants to her hand, which carried with it the powerful duchy of +Brittany, Anne was a prize worth a king's seeking, even at a time when +there were so many other rich heiresses undisposed of--Mary of Burgundy, +Elizabeth of York, Isabella of Castille, and Catherine de Foix. Anne is +described as handsome, but slightly lame, generous, and gentle, but grave +and proud in her demeanour. Louis XII. called her his "fiere Bretonne," +and allowed her the uncontrolled government of Brittany, "tout ainsi que +si elle n'estoit point sa femme." + +Though the wife of two Kings of France, Anne never forgot the interests of +her duchy, whose nationality she always strove to maintain with the +pertinacity of a true Breton, and showed herself, by her spirit and +independence, to be the most worthy of all her race to wear the ducal +crown. Jean Marot addresses her as "Royne incomparable, deux fois +devinement sacree, Anne Duchesse de Bretagne." + +Like most of the ladies of her age, Anne was an accomplished linguist. She +understood Latin and Greek, and most of the European languages. She +corresponded with her husband in Latin verse. Her letters, still extant, +breathe the most tender affection. One, written to him (1499) during the +Italian wars, begins, "Une epouse tendre et cherie ecrit a son epoux +encore plus cheri, l'objet a la fois de ses regrets et de son estime, +conduit par la gloire loin de sa patrie. Amante infortunee, il n'est pour +elle aucun instant sans alarmes. Quel malheur affreux que celui d'etre +prive d'un Prince que l'on aime, d'un Prince plus amant qu'epoux." + +It was in this castle that Henry IV. signed his celebrated Edict of +Nantes, so fatally revoked by Louis XIV. + +The Duc de Mercoeur, when governor of Brittany, made Nantes a regular +fortified town. Having married Marie de Luxembourg, heiress of the house +of Penthievre, he sought to secure to himself the duchy of Brittany, while +his brother, the Duke de Guise, aimed at the crown of France. Head of the +League in that province, he looked upon it as a means of attaining his +end: his wife joined him in his plans of ambition, and they by turns +tyrannized and caressed the Nantais, amusing them with fetes, in which the +Duchess condescended to dance with the townsfolk. For twenty years Mercoeur +held the province; but a peace was eventually signed between him and Henry +IV., through the mediation of Gabrielle d'Estrees, whose son Cesar de +Vendome, then four years of age, was affianced to the Duke de Mercoeur's +daughter, then only six. When Henry IV. made his entry into Nantes after +the pacification, he observed, on surveying the fortifications, "Ventre +Saint Gris, les Ducs de Bretagne n'etaient pas de petits compagnons." + +Nantes has been the scene of many an act of vengeance on the part of the +Kings of France. + +The Place du Bouffay, the place of execution, was the scene of the tragic +death of the young Henri de Talleyrand, Comte de Chalais, executed by +Louis XIII. for his part in the conspiracy which bears his name. Its +object was the death of the Cardinal, and to place the crown on the head +of the feeble Gaston, who was celebrating his marriage at Nantes at the +time that his victim Chalais was paying the penalty of his crime. + +The restless, intriguing Cardinal de Retz was imprisoned in Nantes Castle +during the minority of Louis XIV., and made a wonderful escape by letting +himself down from the walls to the river, where a boat awaited him. It was +also at Nantes that the same monarch caused Fouquet to be arrested, not, +as alleged, for his malpractices in office, but because his ambition and +pomp offended the pride of his royal master. + +For their part in the conspiracy of Cellamare, the Marquis de Poncallec +and three other Breton gentlemen suffered on the Place du Bouffay, and the +Vendean chief, La Charette, was also there shot in 1795. + +Not far from the castle is the Rue Haute du Chateau. At the Maison Juigny, +in this street, the Duchesse de Berri was arrested, after having remained +sixteen hours concealed in an aperture behind a chimney on the third +floor, scarcely a foot and a half high and four feet long. The police, +having information of her being in the house, through the treachery of a +Jew, had made a fruitless search, but had left a watch behind. The +soldiers lighted a fire in the chimney, and the Duchess, with her three +attendants, sallied out, her dress completely scorched. They had endured +the heat, but were unable to bear the suffocation. + +Nantes has some fine promenades and boulevards, planted with trees. In the +Cours Saint Pierre and St. Andre are statues of the Duchess Anne and of +the three Breton constables, Du Guesclin, Clisson, and Richmont. + +One of the leading characteristics of Nantes is its numerous bridges: a +regular chain of them form a continuous line across the river and canals, +and others unite the islands which form the suburbs to the town itself. + +The Museum contains a large collection of pictures, which the bequest of +the Duke de Feltre (Marechal Clarke) has increased considerably. These +consist mostly of sketches by Paul Delaroche, and the charming Italian +subjects of Leopold Robert. + +"L'enfant charitable"--a nun on her deathbed embracing a child who is +standing by her side, an angel behind--is a touching composition of Ary +Schaeeffer. Another, by Paul Baudry, represents the death of Marat: +Charlotte Corday's open, handsome face, looks incapable of the crime she +has just perpetrated. There is one by Ziegler--Daniel in the lion's den--an +angel staying the lions from molesting him. The atmosphere of light +surrounding the angel is wonderful and unearthly. These two are in the +general collection, together with numerous examples of the old masters. + +Near our hotel is one of the curiosities of Nantes, the Passage de la +Pommeraye, consisting of three stories of iron galleries or arcades, +uniting the Rue de Crebillon with the Rue de la Fosse. The second arcade +communicates by a flight of stairs with the third, called the Galerie de +la Fosse, opening upon the street of that name. + +The Garden of Plants is beautifully laid out; groves and avenues of +magnolias in full flower, with rocks, waterfalls, rustic bridges, all most +picturesquely disposed, making it one of the prettiest gardens and public +promenades in France. + +We descended the Loire by steamer, passing by vast granite buildings, +built as magazines for colonial imports, called Les Salorges, in front of +which the horrible noyades of Carrier took place, and these warehouses +served as a temporary place of confinement for the victims. We next +steamed past the island of Indret, the great manufacture of steam-engines +for the State. Here we landed some market women, in caps of the same form, +with high combs, as those of clear muslin worn by the Nantaises, only of a +coarse material, and edged with black. On the right was Coueron, where +Duke Francis II. died in consequence of a fall from his horse. The battle +of St. Aubin-du-Cormier had decided his fate and that of his daughters,--a +humiliation from which he never recovered. His faithful friend Rieux, who +commanded his army, defeated by the youthful Louis de la Tremouille; the +chivalrous Louis of Orleans, a prisoner in an iron cage in the "Grosse +Tour" at Bourges; and the safety of his daughters at the mercy of King +Charles VIII., or worse, of his imperious sister, the Regent Anne de +Beaujeu, who would have committed some act of spoliation, had not the +Chancellor Rochefort saved the duchy by his integrity, declaring to Anne +that "a conqueror without right is but an illustrious robber." + +At Les Pellerins, barges were loading with hay, and heaps of it standing +on the river's edge ready for embarkation. On the left bank is Paimboeuf, +where diligences run to Pornic, a favourite little watering-place south of +the Loire. + +St. Nazaire is a bustling seaport town, now the point of departure of the +transatlantic steamers for the West Indies and Mexico. A Mexican, in his +picturesque costume, all the seams of his dress fringed with hanging +silver buttons, was living in the same hotel with ourselves. St. Nazaire +has now a large floating basin, opened in 1858, capable of holding 200 +ships of large size, and another is in course of construction. + +It was from St. Nazaire that Prince Charles, the young Pretender, sailed +on the adventurous expedition of '45, furnished with a frigate and a ship +of the line by Mr. Walsh, of Nantes. Among the noble cavaliers who had +sacrificed everything to follow the Stuarts into exile was the Walsh +family, originally from Ireland. They had shared the wandering fortunes of +Charles II., returned with him at the Restoration to find the greater part +of their property confiscated; but they did not hesitate to sacrifice the +rest when James II. abdicated the throne, and a Walsh commanded the ship +which carried the King to France. Sent on a secret mission to England, he +was recognized, denounced, and arrested. James II. created him an Earl at +St. Germain. Two of his sons had retired to St. Malo and Nantes, and +engaged in commercial speculations, endeavouring thereby to restore the +fortunes of their house. Commerce was strictly forbidden to the Breton +nobles; but, when war or misfortune had reduced their fortunes, they were +allowed to enter into commerce, or any other profession, without +derogating from their rank, provided they first deposited their swords +with the Parliament, to be again claimed when their circumstances were +improved. All will remember the anecdote in the 'Sentimental Journey.' As +a book, called 'The State of Nobility in Brittany,' published in 1681, +sets forth: "When nobles are engaged in commerce, their noble blood +sleeps; but when the derogatory works are over, it revives. It is never +lost but in death." But to return to the Walsh family. One of the brothers +had embarked the remains of his little fortune in the business of +"armateur"--a kind of shipowner, or one who fits out and charters ships, +and sometimes commands them himself--the profession of Jean Bart and Duguay +Trouin.(23) It was to this Anthony Walsh, and a banker of Dunkirk, that +Prince Charles addressed himself to fit out an old worm-eaten seventy-gun +man-of-war, the 'Elizabeth,' they had just obtained from Government for +his expedition. True to the hereditary loyalty of his family, Mr. Walsh +not only devoted all he possessed to the armament of the frigate, but also +fitted out a brig, called the 'Doutelle'--both intended as privateers to +cruise against the English--and took the command of her himself. On the +28th June, 1745, furnished with about 4000l. of money, Charles Edward +embarked on the Loire, in a fisherman's boat, to join the 'Doutelle' at +St. Nazaire, and the 'Elizabeth' at Belle-Isle. He passed for a young +Irish priest, and wore the habit of a student of the Scots' College at +Paris. The ships encountered an English man-of-war, the 'Lion.' At the +sound of the first shot, the Prince rushed on deck and asked for a sword. +Mr. Walsh, by virtue of his authority as captain, took him by the arm and +said to him sternly, "M. Abbe, your place is not here; go below with the +passengers." The Prince obeyed, night separated the combatants, and on the +18th of July he was safely landed in Scotland. On Michaelmas Day, the +following year, the disasters of Culloden again threw him an exile on the +shores of Brittany. + +From St. Nazaire we took a carriage for Guerande, to visit that remarkable +district called the Canton de Croisic, and consisting chiefly of that +place and the Bourg de Batz. We first came to Escoublac, a corruption of +Episcopi lacus, deriving its name from a lake belonging to the bishop of +the diocese. + +The old town has been entirely buried by the moving sands which have blown +over it, and, in 1779, its inhabitants transferred their houses to the +present site. Hills of sand surround it in every direction. + +Here we left the high road, and turned off to the left to Poulignan, a +little white bay, as its name implies; a charming retreat, with beautiful +white sands and picturesque rocks. This is a favourite watering-place with +the Nantais. Its whole population appeared to be in the water. A row of +small wooden chalets are built along the shore for the bathers, no +machines are used. + +From Escoublac begins the large extent of salt-pans in which consist the +riches of this country. They reach to Batz and Le Croisic, the peninsula +which forms this district having formerly been an island which gradually +has been transformed into a marsh. + +[Illustration: 44. Salt-pans, with Le Croisic in the distance.] + +These salt-pans, cut out into small squares, have the appearance of one +great chess-board, interspersed with occasional hamlets and woods. The +working of them employs the whole population of the district. + +They consist of large basins, dug at different depths, into which the +water of the sea is introduced, and are divided into squares called +"oeillets." The salt-water is turned upon the marsh by canals styled +"etiers," edged with narrow paths or roads called "bossis," elevated, some +of them, three or four feet above the marsh; on these the newly collected +salt is generally laid. The water passes by a subterranean conduit, the +"coef," into the "vasiere," where the first evaporation takes place; and +then successively into the "cobiers," "fares," and "adernemetres," until +it flows finally into the "oeillets," where the salt is definitively +formed. Each "oeillet" is about 20 feet by 30. The heat of the sun and the +wind effect the evaporation, which the paludier assists by stirring the +water from time to time. The salt which forms on the surface resembles a +kind of white cream, and exhales an agreeable perfume resembling violets. +This is the finest salt; that which falls to the bottom of the salt-pan is +of a greyish cast. The salt when formed is then scraped off, drained, and +the women collect it and stack it on the "bossis" into conical heaps, +which they cover with a coating of clay, to render them impervious to +weather. In the salting season, the salt marshes with their innumerable +hillocks of white salt have the appearance of a vast tent-covered camp. +Each "oeillet" produces about 150 lbs. of salt. The same salt-pans are +worked from century to century by the same "paludiers" or their +descendants. The proprietors may change, but the workmen remain, +considering the salt-pans their prescriptive inheritance. For payment, +they receive one-fourth of the salt. The dress of the paludier is a +smock-frock of irreproachable whiteness, with pockets, white shoes, +gaiters, and linen breeches, an enormous black flap hat turned up on the +side in a point or horn. The young man wears the point over the ear, the +married turns it behind, and the widower in front. We reached the Bourg de +Batz in time for vespers, and had an opportunity of seeing the people in +their Sunday dress. The men wear three or four cloth waistcoats, all of +different lengths, so as to let the various colours, red, white, and blue, +with which they are bound, appear one above the other in tiers, a muslin +turnover collar, full plaited breeches of fine cloth tied at the knee by +garters of floating ribbon, white woollen stockings with worked clocks and +light yellow shoes, their flap hats ornamented with a roll of chenille of +varied colours. The headdress of the women is singular and most intricate. +The hair, in two rolls, twisted round with white tape, forms a kind of +coronet across their heads; over this, a piece of net is drawn tight, +forming a sort of cap, describing a peak behind, and crossing in front +like a handkerchief. + +[Illustration: 45. Paludier of the Bourg de Batz, in his working dress.] + +The dress consists of several petticoats of cloth plaited, red body, +turned-up sleeves, and large coloured bibs or plastrons which they call +"pieces," of the same stuff as their dresses. The girls' aprons are plain, +without pockets, but the women's are of coloured silk, some of a rich +brocade. A shawl with fringed border completes the costume. Some of the +women had their heads and shoulders wrapped up in a triangular, black, +shaggy sheepskin mantle; these were widows. + +At the inn where we alighted, they keep the splendid costumes worn by the +people at weddings and other great occasions; and, by paying them for +their trouble, they will put them on for inspection. The bride's costumes +are of great magnificence; they array themselves in three different +dresses on their wedding-day. First, a gown of white velvet, with apron of +moire antique; secondly, one of violet velvet; and the third equally +costly. Embroidered sleeves, the "piece" of cloth of gold, the petticoats +looped up with a wide sash, embroidered in gold, and gold clocks to the +stockings. + +[Illustration: 46. Paludier of the Bourg de Batz, in his wedding dress.] + +We were shown a state bed, or "lit de mariage," a tall four-post, painted +red, with green reps tester and curtains, embroidered with yellow +chenille. The great sign of wealth is to have the bedding reach to the top +of the bedstead. To effect this, the base is formed of bundles of +vine-stalks, over which is spread the straw, and when this scaffolding has +been raised some feet, a paillasse is placed over it, then the +feather-bed, so that it literally requires a ladder to ascend to the top +of this mountain of bedding, and then it is difficult to crawl into it. +There were a bolster and two pillows covered with velvet, which, with the +sheets, were all trimmed with a kind of lace or cutwork. + +The houses are solidly built of granite, and slated; the windows large. +The furniture is good, generally comprising a well-waxed carved oak +armoire, upon which are arranged earthenware plates of various colours. + +The paludiers of Batz preserve their original type distinct from the +peasants of the environs; and form, like the Jews, a separate people, +intermarrying among themselves, retaining their own peculiar manners and +customs. They are supposed to descend from a Saxon colony. The paludier is +tall in stature; their women remarkable for their fair complexions, which +contrast strongly with their sunburnt neighbours. They are loyal and +devout, true to their word, courageous and enduring; though the paludier +is miserably poor, from the oppressiveness of the salt-tax, he never +complains. Begging is unknown. Their food consists of rye bread, porridge +of black corn, potatoes, and shellfish. They are sober, and drink wine in +small quantities. + +Formerly the salt was distributed over the adjacent provinces by means of +"saulniers," the journeymen labourers of the paludiers. Dressed in their +picturesque costume, with a train of mules, whose tinkling bells announced +their arrival, the saulnier was welcomed in every village where he sold +his salt or exchanged it for other merchandize. "Le sucre des pauvres," as +salt has been aptly called, was severely taxed under the old regime; +distributions of the "sel royale" were yearly made by the Government among +the gentry of the provinces, but the poor, who had no such privileges, +severely felt the oppression, and smuggling was consequently extensively +carried on, and the "faux saulnier," with his double bag across his +shoulders, secretly sold salt upon which the gabelle had not been paid. +With a faux saulnier originated the great peasant rising in Brittany, the +Chouan war; a war to which Napoleon said, "All preceding wars have been +but games." Jean, father of the four brothers Cottereau, was a maker of +wooden shoes, and lived in a forest near Laval (Maine). From his solitary +life he had acquired such sombre, wild, melancholy habits, that people +gave him the name of Chouan, Maine patois for Chat-huant, and his family +received the sobriquet long before the insurrection of 1792. Jean +Cottereau was the most celebrated faux saulnier of Maine; he had +accidentally killed a revenue officer in one of his encounters, and his +heroic mother made a journey to Versailles, barefooted, "sur le cuir de +ses pieds," to obtain his pardon. Jean's master and patron was +guillotined, his two sisters shared the same fate, and one of his brothers +died of his wounds, and his body was disinterred by the Revolutionists. +These personal wrongs, the treatment of the King, the interdiction of the +Catholic religion, its processions, its bells, the persecution of its +ministers, all goaded the Breton peasantry to revolt; and Jean was the +first to fire a gun against a Republican at the cry of "Vive le Roi." The +rising began with a few peasants, armed with a gun or a stick, dressed in +short breeches open at the knee, with leather gaiters, and coloured +garters; their long hair streaming over the shoulders, their heads covered +with a wide-brimmed hat, or brown or red cap, sabots tipped with iron, +and, in cold weather, a loose coat of goatskin. The Chouans assembled in +small bands and attacked the Republicans at night in ambuscade, and when +they had killed a few "Bleus" disappeared among the corn-fields or the +furze-bushes. Simple peasants, they fought against the Republicans in +defence of the altar and the throne. Their "commandements" ran thus:-- + + + "Ton Dieu, ton Roy, tu serviras + Jusqu'a la mort fidelement. + Docile a tes chefs tu seras, + Afin de vaincre surement. + Sobre et discret te montreras, + Buvant peu, parlant rarement; + De ton chef jamais n'agiras + Attendant le commandement; + Violemment rien ne prendras, + Mais en payant exactement. + Age et sexe respecteras, + Etant soldat et non brigand. + Les comites corrigeras, + Et les mouchards chretiennement; + Ne Breton, tu n'oublieras, + Afin d'agir loyalement. + Dans le succes clement seras; + Dans le malheur, ferme et constant. + Chaque jour ton Dieu tu prieras; + Que peux tu sans son bras puissant?" + + +Such were the first Chouans: they had no organisation until they followed +Larochejaquelin and the Vendean army to Granville, and accompanied them in +their retreat; when their numbers were materially increased and their +character completely changed by the deserters and brigands, who joined and +eventually succeeded the peasantry. + +The church of Batz is of cut stone. It has a square tower, surmounted by a +cupola steeple, which with that of Le Croisic serves as a landmark to +vessels having to steer between the two dangerous rocks Le Four, in front +of Le Croisic, and Les Blanches, situated near the mouth of the Loire. + +The choir is inclined, like that of St. Pol and others in Brittany. On one +of the bosses in the interior is a grotesque carving of a man torn to +pieces by the seven capital sins. On others are the Santa Veronica, the +Good Shepherd, Ste. Barbara, &c. Near the church are the pretty ruins of +the chapel of Notre Dame-du-Murier. + +We drove on to Le Croisic, in Breton, "Little Cross;" so called from the +small chapel of the Crucifix, built to commemorate the baptism by St. +Felix, Bishop of Nantes, in the sixth century, of the Saxon colony who +occupied the peninsula. Le Croisic was one of the first towns in Brittany +which received Christianity, and bears for its arms a cross between four +ermines. Along the road-side are cisterns or wells dug in the sand, and +girls were filling with water the classical stone pitchers they carried +upon their heads--quite an Eastern picture, suggestive of Rebecca and the +damsels of her country. Le Croisic is almost surrounded by the sea, low, +and without shelter, which renders it cold, damp, and exposed to the +winds; turf is almost the only fuel used. + +It is much frequented as a watering-place, and has an Etablissement. It is +also a sea-port, with a rocky entrance to the harbour, and the dangerous +rock with its lighthouse, called Le Four, extending for a league in front. +The inhabitants of Le Croisic are principally engaged in the sardine +fishery, and the curing of these fish consumes much of the salt of the +marshes. The people complain this year they have no large orders for +sardines, and there is but little white salt. + +The chapel of St. Goustan, on the edge of the harbour, is singularly +built; its western gable perched upon a little rock, half of which is +inside and half outside the building. The church is no longer open for +Divine service; but the peasant-girl who desires to know if she will be +married this year, tries to pass a pin through the bars of the northern +window without touching the wall. On the opposite side of the estuary are +Periac and La Turbale, both seats of the sardine fishery. Returning the +way we came, we stopped at the Plage Valentin, another bathing-place in a +pretty little bay; with dressing-rooms and a small Etablissement. An +omnibus conveys the bathers from Le Croisic, for two sous. The sea looks +more inviting here and at Poulignan than at Le Croisic, where there is so +much seaweed in the harbour. We returned through Batz; the cathedral tower +of Saint Aubin at Guerande is to be seen at a great distance, and is a +prominent object in the scenery; the whole country is covered with +salt-pans. Guerande stands on a height, and turning back, the view of the +whole district is most extensive. We passed through Saille, where Duke +John IV. married Joan of Navarre, afterwards the second wife of Henry of +Lancaster. + +Guerande, built on a vine-covered granite slope, is a singular old feudal +town of the fifteenth century. It was fortified by Duke John V., and is +nearly surrounded by granite walls, with ten towers and four old gateways, +placed at the cardinal points of the compass. St. Michel, the principal +gate, or rather a fortress, is flanked by two high towers, and contains +the prison, archives, and hotel de ville. A moat formerly surrounded the +walls; but it has long been filled in, and boulevards substituted. From +the battlements hang festoons of honeysuckle and ivy, and the moat is full +of the yellow iris and water-lilies; nevertheless, Guerande has an +austere, sombre aspect. There is a fine terrace walk, called the Mail, +commanding a view of the whole country over Poulignan, Batz, and Le +Croisic--a tented plain of salt. + +[Illustration: 47. La Roche Bernard.] + +The church of St. Aubin has Romanesque columns, with grotesque capitals. +In one, two persons are sawing a third, stretched upon a wheel. On the +left of the double-arched porch, is a pulpit outside the church, and there +is some good painted glass within. Notre Dame Blanche, a chapel of the +fourteenth century, is a pretty little building with stone pulpit and a +sculptured group of Notre Dame-de-la-Salette with the two peasant children +of Alsace. Next day, we took a private carriage for La Roche Bernard; the +road lying over a wide extent of land through Herbignac to La Roche +Bernard (Morbihan), which is most picturesquely situated on a rocky height +overhanging the Vilaine, here traversed by an elegant suspension-bridge, +opened in 1839, about 666 feet long and above 108 feet above high-water +mark--a terrible dizzy height to cross even in calm weather. A few years +since, the postman, his cart, and horse were all blown over into the +river, and nothing more was ever heard of them. We went fishing several +days in a large etang close to La Roche Bernard, and one evening took a +pretty walk over the hills to another pond situated in a lovely secluded +valley near a water-mill. La Roche Bernard was an early Protestant colony, +founded by the Sieur d'Andelot, Seigneur of La Roche Bernard, brother to +Admiral Coligny, and one of the firmest supporters of Calvinism. The +Calvinists used to assemble at his chateau of Bretesch, where the minister +of La Roche Bernard came to preach to them. D'Andelot and his sister, who +was equally zealous in the cause, are, it is said, interred at La Roche +Bernard. Near the Halles is a square block of houses; one of timber, with +"Voie au Duc" inscribed upon it. These houses are said to have belonged to +a Protestant community, and all to communicate with each other. + +The evening of our arrival there was a wedding supper given at our hotel, +the grand dinner having taken place elsewhere. The bride wore a white +sash, with wreaths of white flowers round her Nantais cap. After supper +the party danced Breton "ronds." The dancers form a large ring (grand +rond), holding each other's hands, which they swing violently as they +sidle round in a kind of hop-skip-and-a-jump step, accompanied by singing +in a most monotonous tone. This went on until midnight. This kind of dance +dates, they say, from Celtic times. The music consists of the biniou or +bagpipe, and the flageolet or hautboy, sometimes with the addition of a +drum. The biniou, cornemuse, or bagpipe, is the national instrument of +western and southern France. How it came to be introduced into Scotland +and expel the harp--which was as much the original music of Scotland as of +Wales and Ireland--is a mystery. But, as in the sixteenth century the harp +went out and the bagpipes came into fashion, it may be surmised that it +was brought in, with other French novelties, on the return of Queen Mary, +perhaps by the Queen herself, or, maybe, some itinerant player of the +cornemuse may have accidentally been in her train, and his music set a +fashion which has now become national. + +On market-day numbers of the women from Muzillac, a place about ten miles +distant, came in with their fruit. They all wear an enormous plaited black +cap, which looks like the cowl of a friar. The graceful form of the +earthenware pots attracted our attention: probably they came from the +adjacent town of Herbignac. The 15th August, Fete de la Vierge, and also +that of the Emperor, was kept as a general holiday. An immense concourse +of people arrived from the neighbourhood, and attended the six o'clock +mass. We walked to the quay, to see the sports on the water; the +spectators picturesquely grouped on a mass of bare rocks, commanding a +pretty view up and down the river. + +The amusements consisted of some races, and a mat de cocagne, or greased +pole, placed horizontally over the river; the feat being to walk safely to +the end, where the prize was fixed, without falling into the water. In the +evening "ronds" were danced, and every house had illuminations, in the +shape of a candle stuck in a potato, and placed on each end of the window +sill. + +Next day we left by diligence for Vannes, passing through Muzillac and on +to Auray, where we took the steamer for Belle Isle. + +A steamer sails daily from the quay at Auray. The banks of the River Loch +are very picturesque, the pine-trees (_Pinus maritima_) growing to the +water's edge. On the left, the islands of the Morbihan; on the right, +Locmariaker; the view extending to Carnac and Mont St. Michel, over the +whole sweep of the bay formed by the peninsula of Quiberon. + +At Port Navalo we emerged from the Morbihan, and, on our right, passed the +little rocky island of Teigneuse, with its lighthouse; and, on the left, +those of Houat and Haedik (the duck and the duckling); the former famous +as the retreat of St. Gildas, who leaped from here with one bound, a +distance of ten miles, to the peninsula of Rhuys, where he built his +monastery. From Auray to Belle Isle is in all forty-eight miles--ten miles +of river to Port Navalo, the rest open sea. After eight hours' sail we +reached Le Palais, the port and principal town of Belle Isle, built on the +north-east side, and overhung by the citadel, the work of Vauban. The town +consists of one principal street--the Rue Trochu--so called after the +General of that name and his brother, who were the first, at the beginning +of this century, to introduce agriculture into the island. We passed, at a +distance to the right, the model farm of M. Trochu fils, on our way across +the island to the lighthouse,--a cheerless drive, as there are no trees to +be seen except near Le Palais. When M. Trochu commenced his labours, +agriculture was little attended to in France, but he persevered in his +exertions, beginning by clearing about sixty acres of granite rock, a land +covered with heath and furze, setting at defiance the Breton saying, +"Lande tu fus, lande tu es, lande tu seras." This same district is now +covered with rich meadows, fine woods, productive arable fields, and +magnificent pasture land, on which horses are extensively reared. + +[Illustration: 48. Entrance to Le Palais, Belle Isle.] + +We gathered on the heathy moor three kinds of heath, the Cornish among +others. The artichoke grows wild in the waste grounds. Wheat, turnips, +beetroot, Indian corn, and potatoes, are the chief produce of the land in +cultivation. This last vegetable was introduced by the families from Nova +Scotia (Acadia), who settled in Belle Isle, after that province was ceded +to England by the Treaty of Paris, in 1766. This was several years before +Parmentier had extended the use of the potato, or "truffe rouge," as it +was first called, over other parts of France. Indian corn was probably +also brought in by the Nova Scotians. The leaves are constantly cut during +its growth as fodder for the cattle, so that the cob hardly attains a foot +in height from the ground. On the left of our road we saw in the distance +the village of Bangor, which gives its name to one of the four districts +into which Belle Isle is divided. A little south is the fine granite +lighthouse, of the stupendous height of 450 feet. We toiled up 255 steps +(223 stone and 32 iron) before we gained the lantern, and, though the view +was very extensive, we were rejoiced at finding ourselves safe down. One +of the guardians had been waylaid, kicked, and beaten, a few evenings +before, for some slight grudge. He seemed in great suffering, but had no +doctor; the Breton, in his simple confiding faith--that with the Almighty +are the issues of life and death, and that illness will end according to +His decree--considers the calling in of a medical adviser but an +unnecessary expense to his family. From the lighthouse we walked to the +sea-shore. Belle Isle is a table-land, surrounded by steep cliffs, +averaging 130 feet in height, which can only be descended to the shore in +particular places. We walked to the Grotte du Port Coton, where begins the +"Mer Sauvage," as it is called, an extent of five to six miles of most +picturesque rocks, some elevated from 130 to 160 feet above the level of +the sea, jagged and torn into most fantastic forms by the ceaseless +dashing of the waters of the Atlantic, which have formed various grottoes +in the cliffs. We descended into one of these caverns by a narrow gulley, +but could not proceed far, as the tide was entering fast, and would soon +have surrounded us, cutting off all means of retreat. + +[Illustration: 49. Device of Fouquet.] + +It reminded us of the description in the 'Vicomte de Bragelonne' of the +grotto at Locmaria, which was blown up, and crushed the mousquetaire +Porthos, at the moment of his and Aramis' triumph over the soldiers of the +King. So great at times is the fury of the waves, that our guide at the +lighthouse told us he had seen on several occasions the spray driven over +to Le Palais, nearly five miles distant. Continuing our walk along the +cliffs, we came to an enormous mass of rock, standing far out detached +from the cliff, and covered with screaming sea-gulls. We again descended +by another fissure into a pretty sandy cove, surrounded by the same wild +granite rocks; but in most places there is no beach at all. It was now +high water, so it was useless to attempt the Grotte des Apothecaires,--the +finest, they say, of them all, and we returned to Le Palais well pleased +with the remarkably wild coast we had seen. Belle-isle forms now a canton +in the department of Morbihan. In ancient days it belonged to the Abbot of +Saint-Croix, at Quimperle, who sold it, in the time of Charles IX., to the +Marechal de Gondi, and, in 1573, it was erected into a Marquisate. +(Cardinal de Retz lived here after his escape from the castle of Nantes.) +One of his successors, Henri de Gondi, being overwhelmed with debt, sold +the island to Nicolas Fouquet, the ill-fated Superintendent of Finance, on +whose disgrace, and his being subsequently consigned to the fortress of +Pignarol, his grandson, the Marquis de Belle Isle, exchanged it with Louis +XV. for the Comte of Gisors, erected into a duchy in 1742. Fouquet built a +palace and completed the citadel, for which he employed Vauban. He also +projected fortifications to enclose the town, which are now in course of +completion by the Emperor, after Vauban's plans. Several guns had just +been landed, the day before we visited the citadel, to see which an order +is requisite. Near the citadel is the "Maison centrale des detenus," now +only containing a few old men, too feeble for hard labour. We were too +tired to walk to look at the celebrated cistern of Vauban, which holds, we +were told, above thirty thousand imperial gallons of water. Fouquet's +palace was, it is said, destroyed to complete the line of fortifications. +A house was pointed out to us as having formed part of the original +building. Some years since, a stone was picked up in the harbour bearing +his ambitious device--a squirrel, with the motto, _Quo non ascendum?_ "To +where shall I not rise?" The greater number of the population of Belle +Isle are employed in the fisheries; of these the sardine and the tunny are +the chief. There are large establishments for curing sardines, which are +very abundant, and lobsters, taken in the rocks of Belle Isle and the +little islands of Houat and Haedic, are sent to London and Paris. The boats +go as far as Spain, to the coast of Catalonia, for the tunny fishery, +which extends from August to the beginning of October. These fish are +taken by lines hung along the sides of the vessel, with a bell attached to +each to give notice of a bite. The most esteemed part of the tunny is the +underneath, or "panse." The next morning we sailed back to Auray. The +nearest point to Belle Isle is Quiberon, only ten miles from Le Palais. +From Auray by rail to Quimper, where we took the diligence to Pont l'Abbe, +an old town formerly of some importance, in the midst of a fertile, rich +country. The costume worn at Pont l'Abbe and along the Bay of Audierne is +very singular. The cap, or "bigouden," is composed of two pieces: first, a +kind of skull-cap, or serre-tete, fitting tight to the head over the ears, +then a little round bit, resembling, the young people said, a "pork-pie" +hat, made of starched linen, pinched into a three-cornered peak, the +middle peak embroidered and tied on by a piece of tape fastening under the +chin; the hair is turned up, "en chignon," over the skull-cap. The body of +the dress has a large "piece" of red or yellow, and sleeves to match. The +men wear several very short coats, one over the other, the shortest +trimmed with fringe; sometimes sentences are embroidered with coloured +woollens round the edge. It was market day; the women were sitting, with +distaff and spindle, on each side of the entrance to the Halle. Some of +them have short bead-chains with a ring, attached to the left shoulder, to +stick their distaffs in when not at work. There was abundance of fruit and +vegetables, potatoes, and sardines, which, with bigoudens and other +articles of dress, formed the principal commodities for sale. Pont l'Abbe +and its Port, Loctudy, carry on an extensive trade with Jersey, and large +quantities of potatoes are exported to that island. There were some Jersey +merchants at the table-d'hote. + +[Illustration: 50. Peasant Girl. Pont l'Abbe.] + +The church of Pont l'Abbe has only one aisle. There is a fine rose window +over the west entrance, of great lightness and richness, with a smaller +one at the left; at the east end is another rose window of larger +dimensions, the mullions forming geometric patterns, but differing in +design from the other. The French architects always took great pains in +the decoration of this part of the church, and these wheel windows really +rival those of Rouen. + +[Illustration: 51. Apse of the Church, Loctudy.] + +Attached to the church, are the cloisters of the Carmelite convent to +which the church formerly belonged, built in the beginning of the +fifteenth century by Bertram de Rosmadec, who had so much contributed to +the completion of the cathedral at Quimper. The square is surrounded by an +interlaced circular arcade, forming trefoiled pointed arches, all in +excellent preservation. The access to the cloisters is through the +conventual building, now a private house and garden, the proprietor kindly +granting us permission. + +We drove to Loctudy, on the mouth of the Pont l'Abbe river opposite the +little island of Tudy, called after an English saint of that name. Fleeing +from the persecutions of the Picts and Scots who desolated his country, he +founded here, at the end of the fifth century, a considerable monastery, +afterwards destroyed by the Normans. + +At Loctudy is a curious Romanesque church, one of the best preserved in +Brittany, which dates from the Templars of the twelfth century. It has a +nave with aisles going all round the choir, and three round apsidal +chapels at the end. The five arches on each side of the nave are +horse-shoe shaped, and the choir is surrounded by the same number of high +narrow arches, resting on columns with grotesque capitals of complicated +design. The three chapels behind are seen through the opening; on one of +the capitals is sculptured the cross of the Templars. The whole building +is spoiled by whitewash. + + + "Chevaliers en ce monde cy + Ne peuvent vivre sans souci; + Ils doivent le peuple defendre, + Et leur sang pour la foi espandre." + EUSTACHE DESCHAMPS. + + +[Illustration: 52. Torche of Penmarch.] + +We engaged a rough kind of vehicle, much like a butcher's cart, to visit +the Torche de Penmarch, a rocky promontory, so called from its fancied +resemblance to a horse's head, forming the southern extremity of the +department of Finistere. The Torche is a mass of rocks separated from the +mainland by a chasm called the "Saut de Moine," because an Irish saint, +named Viaud, jumped across it on his landing. In rough weather, the noise +made by the sea dashing against its sides and rushing through the crevices +of the rocks, is said to be heard at Quimper, a distance of twenty-one +miles. A line of rocks runs all along the coast, marked by a lighthouse at +Penmarch; we proceeded to another group of rocks near which M. de +Chatellier, a proprietor and antiquary of this country, has built a house +for painting and enjoying the scenery. One of our party clambered down to +see the "Trou d'Enfer," a tremendously deep hole in the rocks, the bottom +covered with a pink sort of sea-weed, and the water as clear as crystal. +The whole country is a dreary sandy level, with salt-marshes, over which +we passed to the ruined church of St. Fiacre, and close by is that of St. +Guenole, both situated near the sea. The countryman who showed us the +church, knelt reverently down at the threshold and put up a short prayer +before he entered the sacred building. The general devoutness and strong +faith of the Bretons is most impressive and genuine, mixed, no doubt, with +great superstition; but, as Wesley says, "Heaven makes allowance for +invincible ignorance, and blesses the faith notwithstanding the +superstition." + +[Illustration: 53. Ship Sculptured on the Walls. Church of St. Guenole, +Penmarch.] + +St. Guenole consists of an unfinished square tower, with crocketed +pinnacles and a porch of considerable size, under a large mullioned window +of the fifteenth century. On each side of the porch are rude sculptures of +ships and fishes, not uncommon in these parts, set there to show the +church has been built with the thank-offerings of the fisher population of +the district. In our tour we met with several churches with this sign, +evidences of the piety of the fishermen; indeed, at Dunkirk, when the +church was burned down in the sixteenth century by the French, it was +entirely rebuilt by the contribution called "le filet saint," from an +ancient custom among the fishermen of having one net so called, the +produce of which was set apart for the church. + +[Illustration: 54. Church of St. Guenole, Penmarch.] + +Towards the lighthouse are the ruins of the old town of Penmarch, much +celebrated in the maritime history of the fourteenth to sixteenth +centuries; its commerce extended even to Spain, and the riches of its +inhabitants were so surpassingly great, that they drank out of silver +cups, and the lords of a manor near the Torche furnished the silk required +to line the road traversed by religious processions, their wealth being +due to the "viande de careme," that is to say, to the cod fishery. But the +discovery of Newfoundland deprived them of this lucrative monopoly, and +the ravages of Fontenelle le Ligueur completed their ruin. All now is a +scene of desolation. Penmarch has been called the Palmyra of Brittany. + +Guy Eder Fontenelle, the Leaguer, who spread terror and devastation +throughout Brittany in the sixteenth century, was a member of the +Beaumanoir family; the name he adopted was that of one of the family +estates. He was born in the Chateau of Beaumanoir (near Evran), and his +elder brother early foresaw his guilty career. He escaped from college and +united himself with a set of young men as lawless as himself; they formed +themselves into a band, which soon became the dread of all Brittany. They +ravaged the whole of Treguier and Cornouaille, surprised the chateaux of +Coetfrec and others, took the church of Carhaix, which they fortified, and +the towns of Paimpol, Lannion, and Landerneau, which they pillaged, +Penmarch and Pontcroix, whence they carried off an immense booty and 300 +vessels, with which they scoured the seas; and lastly, Douarnenez and the +Island of Tristan (in 1595), whence fruitless attempts were made to +dislodge them. For three years Fontenelle made this island his +head-quarters, issuing from his stronghold to devastate the country. He +murdered above fifteen hundred peasants at Plougastel, sank an English +ship, without allowing her crew a moment to save themselves, imprisoned +and tortured at Douarnenez all who fell into his hands. His victims never +survived his cruelties more than three or four days, when their bodies +were cast out into the bay to the fishes. These were only a few of his +atrocities. As he called himself one of the leaders of the League in +Brittany, the Duke de Mercoeur, its chief, indignant at the barbarities +perpetrated in its name, caused Fontenelle to be imprisoned, but he was +liberated on paying a ransom; and, fearing he would give Douarnenez over +to the Spaniards, Fontenelle was included in the pacification of Mercoeur +with Henry IV. But four years later he was implicated in the conspiracy of +Biron; on which occasion all his old crimes were raked up against him, and +he was condemned to be dragged on a hurdle, and broken alive upon the +wheel, which sentence was executed on the Place de Greve at Paris in 1602. +In consideration of the illustrious house to whom he belonged, the king +granted that in the act of condemnation he should not go by his own name. +We next went to see the church of Saint Nonna in the town, the largest of +the numerous churches in the parish of Penmarch. Ships are sculptured in +front of the tower, as at St. Guenole. On the left of the porch is a +pretty window, the mullions formed by three fleur de lis. In the church is +a curious old painting styled, "Procession du voeu de Louis XIII." +Portraits of the King, the Dauphin (Louis XIV.), Anne of Austria, and +Cardinal Richelieu, are introduced, and a view of the church of St. Nonna +is in the background. + +[Illustration: 55. Fleur-de-Lise Window, Church of St. Nonna, Penmarch.] + +On our way home we passed, on the left, at Kerscaven, two menhirs, one +curiously furrowed and shaped like a half-opened fan. + +We had a pretty drive from Pont l'Abbe, with occasional views of the Bay +of Audierne, extending from Penmarch to the Pointe du Raz. Midway the +horse, going down a steep hill, fell, and we all found ourselves upon the +road, but happily unhurt. We met numbers of peasants returning from the +fair at Pontcroix; and our driver, a butcher by trade, coolly stopped the +vehicle, to discourse with them on the price of stock, and to handle the +sheep they had bought. Our drive was enlivened with occasional peeps of +the Bay of Audierne till we reached the little port of that name, the view +of which is very pretty. Audierne is approached by a bridge across the +river or estuary. At its entrance is a lighthouse, and on the right a +sandy bay, with bathing-machines in the season. + +[Illustration: 56. Pointe du Raz.] + +The town consists of three streets of cut granite houses, with the name of +the builder and the date of their construction inscribed over the door. +Fishing is the occupation of the inhabitants, and the table-d'hote at our +comfortable, clean, little inn was plentifully supplied with magnificent +john dorys, large red mullet, langoustes, and fish of every description. + +From Audierne we took a carriage to visit the Pointe du Raz, a promontory +so famous for its rocks and wrecks. We went through a treeless country; +near a pretty bay, on the left, is the chapel of Notre Dame-de-Bon-Voyage, +destined chiefly for sailors, after which the country becomes more wild, +barren, and cheerless. We passed over a bridge which no Breton would dare +to cross at night, for fear of being flung by the spirits into the river. +According to their belief, a hare appears on the bridge, and terrifies the +horses, who throw their rider, and the traveller is dragged by the phantom +into the muddy river, where he is kept till morning's dawn, when he is +allowed to pursue his way, exhausted with cold, and half dead with fright. +They are very superstitious here, as in all Cornouaille. A writer says, +"every nation of the earth has its superstitions and absurdities, but +Brittany has those of all other nations united." An old woman in a village +hard by, said our driver, has never been seen inside the walls of a +church; the people say she has sold herself to the evil one, and no one +dares go near or speak to her. + +On the left is the pretty steeple of the church of Plogoff, situated on an +eminence, and dedicated to Saint Colledoc, a Welsh bishop of the sixth +century, contemporary of King Arthur, and associated with many of the +doings of Queen Guinevre and the knights of the Round Table. Lescoff is +the last village we passed through before--after driving over a barren +plain--we arrived at the lighthouse, built thirty years back at the Pointe. + +We walked thence to the Pointe, a gigantic and magnificent mass of rocks, +eighty feet above the level of the sea. We met with a good-natured woman, +who led the young people over the rocks to look down the "Enfer de +Plogoff." They had a slippery scramble to reach the hole, a kind of tunnel +through which the sea rushes with great violence, so much more terrible +than that of Penmarch, that the noise has been compared to the distant +roaring of some thousands of wild beasts issuing from the depths of a +forest. In the mean time, we remained seated on the bank enjoying the +view. On the south lay the Bay of Audierne, extending in the form of a +crescent, the promontories of Penmarch and Raz forming the extreme points. +The currents, and the numerous rocks of the bay, render it a dangerous +coast, formerly peopled by barbarous wreckers, who despoiled the +shipwrecked mariners as our Cornish men of old. Opposite the Raz, about +seven miles distant, is the Island of Sein, and to the right, the Baie des +Trepasses. The island of Sein was anciently the seat of an oracle, +interpreted by nine Druidesses, who were versed in every art and science. +Moreover, they appear to have been accomplished needlewomen; for a Breton +chronicler, giving an account of the coronation of an early king (Erech) +at Nantes, describes his mantle as embroidered by these priestesses with +figures of Arithmetic, Astronomy, and Music. Their skill in divination +caused them to be associated with the fairies; and Morgan--_i.e._ "born of +the sea"--one of these priestesses, who lived in the first century of the +Christian era, was famous among the British fairies. + + + "Avec succes cultivait la magie, + Morgan de plus, etait assez jolie." + + +Chateaubriand celebrates Velleda, the last of the Druidesses of Sein, tall +in stature, her eyes blue, with long fair floating hair, dressed in a +short black tunic, without sleeves, bearing a golden sickle suspended from +a brazen girdle, and crowned with a branch of oak. Here King Arthur was +brought by Merlin to recover of his wounds. The inhabitants of the island +were celebrated for their ferocity as wreckers. + +The passage between the island and the point or Bec du Raz--"qu'aucun n'a +passe sans mal ou sans crainte"--is very dangerous, owing to the number of +rocks and the violence of the currents; hence the well-known prayer of the +Breton sailor, "Mon Dieu, secourez-moi pour traverser le Raz, car mon +navire est petit et la mer est grande." Having no wish to run the risk of +being detained at the island by rough weather, we did not attempt the +passage. + +The Baie des Trepasses, over which we looked on the right, is so called +from the Celtic legend that the Druids embarked in this bay after their +death, to be buried in the island of Sein:-- + + + "Autrefois, un esprit venait, d'une voix forte; + Appeler chaque nuit un pecheur sur sa porte; + Arrive dans la baie, on trouvait un bateau + Si lourd et si charge de morts qu'il faisait eau, + Et pourtant il fallait, malgre vent et maree, + Les mener jusqu'a Sein, jusqu'a l'ile sacree." + BRIZEUX. + + +The bay also derives its name from the numerous shipwrecks that have taken +place on its rocks, and from the number of corpses that have been floated +there by the currents from ships foundered in the gulf comprised between +the entrance of Brest, the Ouessant Islands, and Sein. The whole extent of +the coast of Brittany is one long wall of rocks, placed as it were to +protect it from the inroads of the sea and from foreign invasion. Heaped +one over the other, they resemble the bastions of a citadel, the advanced +rocks extending out to sea, jutting up in every direction in endless +reefs. Or its line of coast may be compared to the jagged teeth of a comb, +with a second line of defence in the rocks further out to sea. + +On the desolate shore of the Baie des Trepasses is a piece of water, the +etang de Laoual, site of the city of Is--submerged by Divine vengeance, +according to popular tradition, in the fifth century--a place of great +commerce, arts, riches, and also of luxury. Gradlon, or Grallo, the king, +alone attempted to stem the torrent. Built in the vast basin which now +forms the Bay of Douarnenez, it was protected from the ocean by a strong +dyke, the sluices only admitting sufficient water to supply the town. King +Gradlon kept the silver key (which opened, at the same time, the great +sluice and the city gates) suspended round his neck. His palace was of +marble, cedar, and gold; in the midst of a brilliant Court sat enthroned +his daughter Dahut, a princess who "had made a crown of her vices, and had +taken for her pages the seven capital sins." Taking advantage of the sleep +of her father, Dahut one night stole the silver key, and instead of +opening the city gate, by mistake unlocked the sluices. The King was +awakened by St. Guenole, who commanded him to flee, as the torrent was +reaching the palace. He mounted his horse, taking his worthless daughter +behind him. The torrent was gaining upon him fast, when a voice from +behind called out, "Throw the demon thou carriest into the sea, if thou +dost not desire to perish." Dahut felt her strength failing her; the hands +that convulsively grasped her father's waist relaxed their hold; she +rolled into the water, disappeared, and the torrent immediately stopped +its course. The King reached Quimper safe and sound, and that town became +afterwards the capital of Cornouaille. + +So runs the legend. That a great city once existed in the Bay of +Douarnenez admits of no doubt. Besides the religious chronicles of the +country, which have preserved the memory of its existence, in the +sixteenth century, remains of old edifices were standing at the entrance +of the bay, old paved roads have been traced, and walls found under water +near the Pointe du Raz. + +The tradition of a town thus swallowed up is common among the Celtic race. +In Wales, the site of the submerged city is in Cardigan Bay; in Ireland, +in Lough Neagh:-- + + + "On Lough Neagh's banks, where the fisherman strays, + At the hour of eve's declining, + He sees the round towers of other days + Beneath the waters shining."--MOORE. + + +One of our party went out fishing to the Pointe, and returned well laden +with his spoils. + +[Illustration: 57. Front of the Church, Pontcroix.] + +The road from Audierne to Douarnenez passes by Pontcroix, a little town on +the same river (Goazien) as Audierne, along which the road runs--a charming +drive. It has a magnificent Romanesque church of the twelfth (probably of +the fifteenth) century, with a remarkable porch, richly embroidered in +quatrefoils and trefoils. A tower in the centre, with octagonal spire is +second to none in Cornouaille, except that of Quimper. The arches of the +nave are horseshoe, the transepts very narrow. Under the altar of the Lady +Chapel is a "Cene," half the size of nature, sculptured in ivory and +marble, of marvellous workmanship. + +[Illustration: 58. Wheel of Sacring Bells, Notre Dame de-Comfort, near +Douarnenez.] + +Eleven miles from Douarnenez we stopped to see the pretty little chapel of +Notre Dame-de-Comfort, in a hamlet of that name, with light open-work +steeple. Attached to one of the arches, on the left of the choir, is a +wooden wheel, hung round with bells, to which is attached a long string. +It is erroneously called "the wheel of fortune;" but is, in fact, the old +wheel of sacring bells in use before the single bell was adopted. The boy +who showed us the chapel pulled the string which was fastened to a hook +near the altar, and the wheel revolved and rang a merry peal. Formerly +there was a little wooden figure attached to the wheel, which performed +the same office. The road runs round a hill, along an estuary formed by +the river, and suddenly the beautiful lake, called the Bay of Douarnenez, +bursts on the sight, of a blue as lovely as the Italian seas. + +The dirty little town of Douarnenez is charmingly situated to the south of +the bay, the hills clothed with trees to the water's edge. The Pointe du +Raz forms the western boundary of the bay, and it is shut in to the north +by the peninsula of Crozon; its extreme point, Pointe de la Chevre, +advancing nearly midway into the bay. The tide here falls eighteen feet. +The triple peaks of the Mene-Hom, one of the Montagnes Noires, is a +prominent feature in the view. Islands are scattered over the gulf, and +the island of Tristan, retreat of Fontenelle le Ligueur, is so close to +Douarnenez, that it may be reached on foot at low water. + +The hotel was crammed, gentlemen sleeping on the billiard-table, or +littered down in the room of the table-d'hote: the place was crowded. All +the world had flocked in to assist at the Pardon of Sainte Anne-la-Palue, +which was to take place the following morning. No vehicle was to be had, +and we were in despair of being able to go, when a good-natured voyageur +kindly offered to drive us in his carriage--a proposal we thankfully +accepted. In all our wanderings we had hitherto never been so fortunate as +to see a Pardon, and we were very anxious to go. + +The Pardon of Sainte Anne-la-Palue takes place the last Sunday in August, +continuing three days, and is one of the most frequented in Finistere. + +[Illustration: 59. Costume of a Finistere Bride.] + +At Plonevez-Porzun we turned off the Crozon road, and about two miles +further arrived at the chapel. The road all the way was lined with +peasants walking to the Pardon. The young men of Douarnenez wear blue +jackets, embroidered in colours, with rows of plated buttons, the sleeves +and waistcoat of a darker blue than the jacket, scarlet sashes, some with +plaited bragou bras and shining leather gaiters; but most of them wore +trowsers, their hair long, and their hats with two or three rows of +coloured variegated chenille. The women had square caps, and aprons with +bibs. Those who were in mourning wore light yellow caps, called +"bourladins," stained that colour with beeswax or saffron. + +St. Anne is a newly-built church, standing on the slope of a down which +separates it from the sea, in a perfectly insulated situation. It is only +opened once a year for the Pardon. Round it were erected numerous stalls, +with toys, epinglettes, and rosaries (chapelets), in heaps for sale; for +rosaries must always be purchased at the Pardon, to preserve the wearer +from thunder and hydrophobia. The great fabric for them is at Angers, +where they are made in immense quantities. In the principal manufactory a +steam-engine is used for turning the beads; in the others the common +lathe. One maker told us she sent annually into Brittany alone rosaries to +the value of 800_l_. There were tents and booths erected for the +accommodation of the pilgrims who had arrived the preceding day. They eat, +drink, and dance in the tents by day, and sleep on the tables at night. + +At ten o'clock, at the ringing of a bell, a procession was formed, +consisting of a long line of peasants, preceded by priests and banners, +which made the round of the church; the penitents, en chemise to the +waist, barefooted, carrying wax-tapers in their hands. The penance is +sometimes executed by proxy: a rich sinner may, for a small sum, get his +penance performed by another. One woman made the round of the church on +her knees, telling her beads as she hobbled along. This was in performance +of a vow made for some special deliverance. + +We proceeded to the top of the hill, from which the beautiful Bay of +Douarnenez presented a most lively appearance; fleets of small boats +arriving from every direction, and a huge steamer from Brest, which was +obliged to land its passengers in small boats, on account of the +shallowness of the water. + +The appearance of the downs now became very animated, covered with +gaily-dressed peasants arranged in groups, sitting or lying on the grass, +in every kind of attitude. + +At four o'clock the grand procession took place. First came the priests of +all the surrounding districts, with the banners and crosses of their +parishes; then followed five girls (three and two) in white, carrying a +banner, and eight more in similar attire, bearing a statue of the Virgin. +Next appeared the banner of Sainte Anne, carried by women in the gorgeous +costume of the commune--gowns of cherry-coloured silk, trimmed half the way +up with gold lace, a silver lace scarf, and aprons of gold tissue or rich +silk brocade. Under their lace caps was a cap of gold or silver tissue. +Four more of these superbly-dressed bearers ("porteuses") carried the +statue of Ste. Anne. + +[Illustration: 60. Well of Ste. Anne-la-Palue.] + +Girls carrying blue flags walked by their side. Troops of barefooted +penitents and shaggy-headed beggars closed the procession, which was +followed by a countless train of the peasants. It slowly wound its way +over the hill, and again descended to the church, where it mingled among +the crowds of assembled spectators, which filled the churchyard and were +seated on the steps of the calvary. + +Not far from the church is the holy well of Ste. Anne, where devotees were +engaged pouring the holy water over their hands and backs, dipping their +children, and testing its miraculous efficacy by various other ablutions. + +We proceeded next morning to Quimper, having had no opportunity of seeing +Douarnenez itself. In the season it is a favourite watering-place, the +bathing being about two miles from the town. It is a great place for the +sardine fishery. From Quimper we went by rail to Rosporden, whence an +omnibus runs to Concarneau. The church of Rosporden is situated on a +little promontory, jutting out into a large etang fed by the river Aven, +which runs through it and flows on to Pontaven. + +We took a carriage at Rosporden for Le Faouet, passing by Scaer on the +Isole, a stream which rises at the foot of the Montagnes Noires, takes a +curve round the town of Scaer, and joins the Laita. It is full of trout +and salmon. + +Scaer is a town remarkable for having preserved many old customs and +superstitions; among others, the bees are considered to be entitled to +share in the joys and sorrows of the family. Their hives are surrounded +with a red stuff on the occasion of a marriage; with a black on that of a +death. This custom is still preserved in Wales. In all parts of Brittany +bees are treated with special affection. As the redbreast is sacred, +because she broke a thorn from the crown of our Lord that pierced His +brow, so are the bees revered because, as we learn from the code of Hoel +the Good, though they were sent from heaven to earth after the fall of +man, the blessing of Heaven has ever followed them in their exile. This, +too, is the reason the wax they produce has the privilege of lighting the +altars for the divine office. + +[Illustration: 61. Cross Stones.] + +It was the day of a Pardon, and the peasants were all in gala dresses. A +wrestling match unfortunately had just been finished; for throughout +Cornouaille wrestling has been, from time immemorial, as favourite a game +as in our county of the same name. Our driver tried without success to +procure for us some of the little double crystals, intersecting each other +at right angles, called "pierre de croix"--by mineralogists grenatite--found +in the Coatdry, a small affluent of the Aven, washed out of the mica slaty +rocks in which they abound. The peasants assign to them a miraculous +origin, and wear them in little bags round the neck as charms against +headache, blindness, shipwreck, and hydrophobia, being, as they allege, +signed with the cross. According to tradition, a pagan chief, having, in +his impious rage, thrown down the cross in the chapel of Coatdry, Heaven, +in memorial of the outrage, placed the sacred symbol upon the stones of +the river. + +At Le Faouet we again entered the department of the Morbihan. This pretty +little town is situated between the Sterlaer and the Elle. We first walked +to see the chapel of Ste. Barbe, perched, in the most singular manner, in +the cleft of a high rock, about a mile from the town. + +After a steep climb we reached the plateau of the hill, where is the +monument of a M. Berenger, who desired to be buried in this elevated spot, +which commands a charming view of the surrounding country, the silvery +waters of the Elle winding at the base of the mountain. We then descended, +by a flight of handsome, broad, granite steps, with balustrades, to the +chapel, placed on so narrow a space that it was impossible to give it the +usual inclination to the east. The entrance-porch is to the southwest, and +the high altar opposite, against the walls of the chapel, to the +north-east. On the top of the steps is the belfry, consisting of a roof, +supported by four columns. The day of the Pardon each pilgrim rings the +bell. The chapel was built in this singular spot, according to tradition, +by a knight, who was overtaken by a storm in the valley of the Elle +beneath. He saw an enormous mass of detached rock on the point of falling +down and crushing him, when he invoked the intercession of Sainte Barbe, +the guardian saint against thunder, promising to build her a chapel, if +delivered from the danger. His prayer was heard; the rock was stayed in +its descent and rested on the cleft, where, next day, the grateful knight +began building the chapel, as a thank-offering for his escape. Above Ste. +Barbe, stationed on an insulated rock, one of the highest peaks in +Brittany, is a small chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, also approached by +a flight of stone steps, like Ste. Barbe, with bridge built over an +archway. The rock on which it stands is so abrupt, that rings are placed +along the sides of the chapel for the pilgrims, when creeping round, to +hold on by. Many have perished in the attempt; none, they say, have ever +succeeded in making the circuit. + +There was a wedding at Le Faouet during our stay there. Guests, invited +from all quarters, to the number of 250, arrived in their gala costumes, +some of them magnificent: one woman wore a gown entirely of gold tissue; +it was her wedding-dress. The musicians, with biniou and hautboy, went +round to summon the guests. We saw the procession going to church. The +bride was prettily dressed, with a high cap, beautifully "got up," pointed +in form, and trimmed with lace, and embroidered; a muslin apron, also +lace-trimmed, and a double muslin shawl, similarly trimmed, the lace +beautifully plaited; a violet silk dress, white moire sash, and a small +bunch of white flowers. The bridegroom was "en bourgeois." Outside the +church door were tables, laid out with cakes; after the service the bride +and all the party took each a cake and put money in the plates, as an +offering for the poor. They next adjourned to the Place, where they danced +three "gavottes" under the trees. The ceremony of stealing away the bride +then took place; that is, she was chased by some dozen of the youths of +the company, and he who had the good fortune to capture her she treated to +a cup of coffee at a cafe. Dinner followed, and then they returned to the +interminable gavotte. They hold each other's hands "en grand rond," then +wind themselves round the centre couple, executing most elaborate steps, +and uncoil again to return to the grand rond. We counted as many as thirty +couples in one gavotte. These festivities last two, or sometimes three, +days, during which time all the wedding party are entertained free of +expense. + +Le Faouet is a great fishing quarter. The Elle, which flows round the +town, is a stream of considerable size; and, four miles below Le Faouet, +it is joined by the Laita, and before Quimperle unites its waters with the +Isole, whence its mingled streams flow into the Atlantic, under the name +of the Laita. We were told that large fish were taken in a pond in the +grounds of the Abbey of Langonnet, not far from Le Faouet, but it is +strictly preserved. + +The people of this district retain all the old Breton superstitions; they +believe in the Car of Death, drawn by six black horses, driven by the +"Ankou," or Phantom of Death, with an iron whip. They also have full faith +in the Washerwomen of the Night (Lavandieres de la Nuit), who wash the +shrouds for the dead, and fill the air with their melodious songs:-- + + + "Si chretien ne vient nous sauver, + Jusqu'au jugement faut laver: + Au clair de la lune, au bruit du vent, + Sous la neige, le linceul blanc." + + + "If no good soul our hands will stay, + We must toil on till judgment-day: + In strong wind or clear moonlight, + We must wash the death-shroud white." + + +They engage the passer-by to help them in wringing the linen; if he +refuses, they drown him in their washing trough, or suffocate him in a wet +sheet. Should he show himself ill-disposed, after having agreed to help +them, they dislocate his arm. If he wrings the wrong way, his fate is +inevitable; but if docile and obliging, they give him some clothes and +dismiss him. + +[Illustration: 62. Rood-Screen or Jube, St Fiacre.] + +A mile and a half from Le Faouet, on a height a little off the Quimperle +road, is the beautiful church of Saint Fiacre, dating from the middle of +the fifteenth century, celebrated for its carved wooden jube, or +rood-screen, and its painted glass. The church is falling to decay. It +would be tedious to enumerate all the figures, and describe the details of +this beautiful jube. The carving is a perfect tracery of lace-work. Three +large figures represent our Saviour and the two thieves. Then there are +the Virgin and St. Joseph; the latter, with carpenter's plane and hammer. +Below, Adam and Eve, and the Angel with the flaming sword. Two angels hold +cartouches, on one of which is inscribed, "L'an mil C/IIII XX/IIII (1480) +fut fait cette sculpture par Olivier de Loergan;" and, on the other, +"Cette passion fut peinte l'an 1627. Yves Perez fabricant. Tous repaint en +1866." Below are panels carved in the flamboyant style, of exquisite +workmanship. The two middle panels have the sacred monogram, those on the +east side ermines surrounded by cordelieres. + +The side of the rood-loft facing the choir has pendents with grotesque +carvings of allegorical signification. + +A man in an apple-tree, gathering the fruit, symbolizes theft. Next comes +a disgusting representation of gluttony: a man relieving himself of a pig +he has swallowed, the tail alone remaining in his mouth. Then follow a +young man and woman, gaily attired, emblematic of luxury. So far, three of +the "sept peches capitaux" are represented; but after these comes a +national subject: a man playing on the bagpipe. The figures throughout the +rood-screen are all boldly executed, and the tracery most elegant and +delicate. + +The painted glass in the church is considerable, and represents the Life +of Our Saviour, that of St. Fiacre, the Feast of Herod, and the Martyrdom +of the Baptist, figures of the Prophets of the Old Testament, with many +others. In most of the subjects, the figures are much mutilated. On one +window is inscribed, "Pierre Androuet ouvrier demeurant a Kemperle 1552." +Over one altar is a sculpture, representing the Martyrdom of Saint +Sebastian, between two archers, in the quaint costume of the sixteenth +century. + +About six miles from Le Faouet, is the ruined castle of Poncallec, with +its forest, etang, and forge; once the demesne of the young marquis of +that name, who was implicated in that conspiracy to transfer the Regency +from the Duke of Orleans to Philip V. of Spain, called the plot of +Cellamare. Of the hundred and forty-eight gentlemen included in the +accusation, all escaped to Spain, except Poncallec and three others. +Poncallec refused to accompany them from a superstitious fear, a +fortune-teller having foretold he should perish by the sea, "par la mer." +They took refuge in a church, but were surprised by a party of cavaliers +who had muffled the feet of their horses to reach them unheard. They +escaped through a subterranean passage, and, for fifteen days, lay +concealed in the hollow of a yew-tree, fed in secret by faithful peasants. +Poncallec traversed France in the disguise of a priest, but was arrested +at the Pyrenees. He with the three others were all convicted of high +treason, and, a few hours after their condemnation, were beheaded at +Nantes. Poncallec was the last to suffer. When ascending the scaffold, he +asked the executioner his name; on his answering "La Mer," Poncallec felt +the witch's prophecy was fulfilled. + +The estates of the four victims were confiscated, their arms effaced from +the fronts of their houses, the moats of their castles filled in, and +their trees (hautes futaies) cut down, "a hauteur d'infamie," that is, +within nine feet of the ground, in like manner as were those of Moor Park, +after the execution of the Duke of Monmouth. A list was presented to the +Regent Philip of other offenders, but he tore the paper, and published an +amnesty. The story of Poncallec is dramatically told by Alexandre Dumas, +in his novel, called 'Une fille du Regent.' The Bretons honoured the +victims as martyrs, and M. de la Villemarque, in his 'Chansons Bretons,' +gives a touching elegy which shows the sympathy excited by the tragic fate +of Poncallec: + + + "Quand il arriva a Nantes, il fut juge et condamne, + Condamne non par ses pairs, + Mais par des gens tombes de derriere les carrosses. + Ils demanderent a Poncallec: + 'Seigneur marquis, qu'avez vous fait? + --Mon devoir; faites notre metier.' + Il est mort, chers pauvres, celui qui vous nourissait, + Qui vous vetissait, qui vous soutenait; + Il est mort celui qui vous aimait, habitants de Berne + Celui qui aimait son pays et qui l'a aime jusqu'a mourir. + Il est mort a vingt-deux ans + Comme meurent les martyrs et les saints; + Que dieu ait pitie de son ame! + Le seigneur est mort {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Ma voix s'eteint, {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + Toi qui l'as trahi, sois maudit, sois maudit; + Toi qui l'as trahi, sois maudit." + + +We left Le Faouet and its comfortable primitive inn, the "Lion d'Or," with +much regret; the country around is beautiful, and we had arranged to set +out early that we might cross the Montagnes Noires by daylight; but we +were disappointed in procuring a carriage, and it was not till late in the +afternoon that we were able to leave in a diligence, of which the coupe +alone was reserved to us, the interior being occupied by Breton farmers, +returning from a horse-fair. From the elevated wooded ground of Le Faouet, +the road makes a precipitous descent, and crosses the little stream of +Moulin-au-duc, after which it again rises, in a winding direction, along +the side of a mountain with a valley and little stream beneath. Then a +rapid descent brought us to Gourin, where we would gladly have risked +staying the night, and waited till morning to pursue our road over the +mountains, but we had paid our fare to Carhaix. Up hill and down again, +like all the roads in mountainous Finistere, from Gourin we ascended again +and passed a crest of the Montagnes Noires, which separates the three +departments of Finistere, Morbihan, and Cotes-du-Nord; and proceeded +through a valley to Carhaix, where we arrived at midnight, and therefore +had no opportunity of seeing the beauties of the mountain scenery. + +Carhaix is a dirty, unpaved, dull town of the middle ages, much decayed +from its ancient importance when capital of the country dismembered from +Cornouaille, in the sixth century, by Comorre the Breton Bluebeard. It is +situated on an eminence, commanding an extensive view of the barren +monotonous surrounding country, bounded by the Arre mountains, the Alps of +Finistere. It is the centre of Lower Brittany, and the Duke d'Aiguillon, +Minister of Louis XV., caused six roads to be made from it to Brest, +Quimper, Morlaix, St. Brieux, Vannes, and Chateaulin, with the hope of +introducing commerce and civilisation into this barren district, "le +dernier trou du monde," as it is styled by the Parisian. + +La Tour d'Auvergne, Premier Grenadier de France, was born here, and a +bronze statue of him, by Marochetti, has been erected to his memory. He is +in the uniform of a private soldier, and presses to his heart the sword of +honour just presented to him by the First Consul. Round the pedestal are +four bas-reliefs, representing scenes in his life. In the first, he saves +a wounded soldier; in the second, he forces the gates of Chambery; in the +third, he takes leave of the parents of a youth, for whom he goes as a +substitute into the army. The last represents his death; he was killed by +a lance at Ober-hausen (Bavaria), fighting against the Austrians. The +monument bears this inscription on its four sides:-- + + "La Tour d'Auvergne, 1^er Grenadier de France, ne a Carhaix le 23 + Decembre, 1715; mort au champ d'honneur le 27 Juin, 1800. + + "Ecrivain, Citoyen, Soldat, sa vie toujours glorieusement remplie ne + laisse que de sublimes exemples a la posterite. + + "Tant de talens, et de vertus, appartenaient a l'histoire et au premier + Consul, de les devancer. + + "Celui qui meurt dans une lutte sacree trouve pour le repos une patrie + meme sur la terre etrangere." + +Preferring the title of "Premier Grenadier de France" to higher honours, +La Tour d'Auvergne remained as a private soldier to his death; but in a +decree of Buonaparte, then First Consul, preserved in the Musee des +Archives, he orders that La Tour d'Auvergne's name should still be kept on +the muster-roll of his old regiment; and, when called, the corporal should +answer, "Mort au champ d'honneur!" + +The moderation and absence of ambition in the character of La Tour +d'Auvergne is expressed in a letter to Le Coq, Bishop of Ille-et-Vilaine. +He writes,--"Je me prosterne bien plus volontiers devant la Providence pour +le remercier que pour rien demander; du pain, du lait, la liberte; et une +coeur qui ne puisse jamais s'ouvrir a l'ambition, voila l'objet de tous mes +desirs." + +La Tour d'Auvergne had a learned dog, which he educated as a soldier; he +went through the whole drill, and his master made him always wear boots. +He marched in them, on one occasion, the whole distance from Paris to +Guingamp. + +A horse fair and market were going on at Carhaix. Some of the women wore +curious flannel hoods, edged with colours. There were baskets of burnt +limpet shells and lime, used in washing as substitutes for soap. In the +porch of the church dedicated to St. Tremeur (son of the Bluebeard +Comorre) are some of the little skull-boxes so common in the north of +Brittany. One was labelled, "Ci git le chef de Mr. Thomas Francois Nonet, +ancien notaire et maire de la ville de Carhaix le 28 J^ier 1776, decedee +le 8 7^bre 1842." The curfew bell rings at Carhaix at a quarter to ten. + +We left next day for Huelgoat, fifteen miles distant, the road up and +down, wild and dreary. At Pont Pierre, about nine miles from Carhaix, we +crossed the Aulne, even here a considerable river, with a beautiful thick +forest on our right. At a place called La Grande Halte, we turned off the +road to the right for Huelgoat, about a mile and a half off. It is +prettily situated on a large pond or lake, nearly a mile and a half in +circumference, and of great depth (20 feet). It was market day; the men +wore brown serge coats, close white breeches and black gaiters, with straw +hats bound with black. The countrymen from Saint Herbot were there in +their black shaggy goat or sheepskin overcoats, the hair turned outwards +(there are flocks of black sheep throughout Finistere), without sleeves, +and the white breeches, black gaiters, and straw hats. The women of +Huelgoat wear large white turnover collars and caps with long ends turned +up. + +We first walked to the rocking stone on the slope of a steep hill, +considered the third largest in Brittany; the block forming a kind of +double cube, that is, about twice the length of its height. It requires a +very slight impulse to make it rock. This "fairy stone" is often consulted +by the peasants. In the ravine close by, below the path, is what is called +the "Cuisine de Madame Marie," but termed in the guide-books the "Menage +de la Vierge;" a recess formed of large masses of fantastically shaped +granite rocks, through which a small stream of water flows, arriving +thither from the pond, by a subterranean course. One stone, hollowed out, +is called the ecuelle of the Virgin, and others have each the name of some +different utensil requisite for the "Menage" of our Lady. The young people +managed to scramble to the bottom. + +Huelgoat (Breton, "high wood") is celebrated for its lead-mines, which are +now no longer worked. A well-kept path, cut on the top of the ridge, leads +to the mines, about two miles and a half distant, along a neat little +canal, three feet wide, issuing from the great pond, and supplying the +hydraulic machine used to pump the water out of the mine. The deeply +wooded valley, along the ridge of which it runs, is traversed by a rushing +stream, which runs over rocks; and at a place called Le Gouffre, the +rounded granite masses are piled in the wildest confusion, like those of +the Menage de la Vierge, forming a large dark cavern, at the bottom of +which the imprisoned river foams and roars, and has forced itself an +escape through a gorge at some distance from the place, where it is lost +to view. A young girl is said, about a century back, to have fallen down +this gulf. Attempting to gather some of the mosses that line the sides of +the rocks, she slipped in and perished in the sight of her intended. Her +body never reappeared, but our guide assured us that her ghost was seen +four years since, and that sighs and groans are to be heard at eve issuing +from the fatal chasm. + +The pretty little ivy-leaved campanula was growing here in abundance. We +visited in succession the "robber's cave," the "Pierre cintre" (a natural +archway), and other wonders, and returned much pleased with the infinite +variety of fantastic rocks, rushing waters, and hanging woods, which form +this charming scene. + +The lead-mines of Huelgoat have been worked since the fifteenth century +for the silver which the lead-ore (galena) contains. + +The right of working these mines and those of Poullaouen was given by +Louis XIII. to Jean du Chatelet, Baron of Beausoleil, and his wife. He was +at that time General of the Mines in Hungary, and inspector of the French +mines. They were accompanied by German miners, but their mysterious +researches caused them to be accused of sorcery and magic. Richelieu had +them imprisoned in the Bastille, where they both died, victims of the +fanaticism of the age, and the works were abandoned till the eighteenth +century. They are now no longer in operation, but it is said are about to +be re-opened. + +Retracing our steps to La Grande Halte, on the Carhaix road, we turned off +to the left to see the cascade of St. Herbot. We left our carriage, and +walked up a hill covered with underwood, opposite the fall. The cascade is +formed by the little river Elez falling through a mountain gorge about 650 +feet in length, filled with granite rocks of every shape and size, the +sides overhung with woods of oak. The height of the fall is 230 feet. + +There was no water in the cascade. At the best, it must be only a +succession of small falls. The river tumbles from rock to rock, forming on +some of the ledges pools of water, filled with small trout, some of which +were caught by our party. + +According to the legend, a giant of the country, wishing to clear the +fields of his friend, a Druid, from the rocks that encumbered them, rolled +them down the torrent. + +We descended the hill to the road where we had left our carriage, and went +to the chapel of St. Herbot, a building of the sixteenth century, on the +side of a rushing brook. It has a high square tower opening into the +church, and a rood-screen of wood beautifully carved in the style of the +Renaissance, which forms three sides round the altar. Two angels are +represented with cups, the "sainte graal" receiving the blood of Christ. +The entrance to the church is up a flight of steps. It has a beautifully +sculptured south porch, with statues of the Apostles, and some fine +painted-glass windows. One part of the church has the windows with iron +bars, as if for defence. + +[Illustration: 63. Carved Stalls, St. Herbot.] + +Near the altar is the tomb of the anchorite, St. Herbot; his effigy +reposes under a Gothic canopy, upon a granite sarcophagus, represented in +his hermit's gown, the hood thrown back, flowing hair, long beard, his +breviary suspended to his girdle, and his pilgrim's staff by his left arm. +His feet repose on a recumbent lion. St. Herbot is the great patron of +cattle; the three days of the fair and pardon all the bullocks rest; and +when an animal is ill, an offering of his hair is made to the saint. We +saw a heap of horsehair and cows' tails lying on one of the altars. These +are annually sold for the profit of the church, and the proceeds amount to +a considerable sum. Our guide gravely assured us that on the first of May, +day of the Pardon of St. Herbot, the cows "d'elles memes" walk three times +round the church. + +[Illustration: 64. Carved Stalls, St. Herbot.] + +We returned late to Carhaix, and left next day for Guingamp, passing, +about two miles out of the town, through the village of St. Catherine on +the Hierre, where the church has fleur-de-lise windows, like that of +Penmarch. We here entered the department of the Cotes-du-Nord through +Callac, where we changed horses; the country was hilly and wooded. On the +left we saw the spire of the church of Notre Dame-de-Graces, where repose +the remains of Charles of Blois; on the right appeared the cathedral +towers of Guingamp. At this last place we took the rail to Caulnes-Dinan, +and on, by diligence, to Dinan, whence we proposed returning by St. Malo; +but, finding the time of the boat's sailing did not suit our arrangements, +we returned by Paris and Dieppe to London. + + + + + +SOME USEFUL DATES IN THE HISTORY OF BRITTANY. + + + 1320. Du Guesclin born. + 1338. Marriage of Charles of Blois and Jeanne de Penthievre. Du + Guesclin at the tournament. + 1341. Death of John III. Beginning of the War of Succession. + 1342. John de Montfort, prisoner in the Louvre, 1345. Escape to England + and death. + 1346. Siege of Hennebont defended by Jeanne de Flandre. + 1347. Charles of Blois taken prisoner at La Roche Derrien. + " War of the two Jeannes. + 1351. Combat of the Thirty. + 1356. Charles of Blois liberated. + 1359. Siege of Dinan. + 1364. Battle of Auray. + 1365. Treaty of Guerande. + 1370. Du Guesclin, Constable of France. + 1375. John IV. flees to England. + 1380. He is recalled. + 1387. Death of Du Guesclin. + 1387. Clisson marries his daughter to Jean de Penthievre. + 1407. Death of Clisson. + 1420. Seizure of John V. by the Penthievres. + 1488. Battle of St. Aubin du Cormier. + + + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE DUKES OF BRITTANY. + + + [] + + + +1. GEOFFROY II. CONSTANCE +3rd son of Henry II.,--------=--------Heiress of Britanny + 1175 | + Arthur, + 1196. + +CONSTANCE,------------=-----------2. GUY DE THOUARS +Heiress of | +Brittany. Alix, + 1213------=-----Pierre de Dreux. + | + John II., 1286. + Beatrix, daughter of Henry III. + | + | +1. Maria,-------------=------Arthur II., 1305----------------------------------=-----2. Jeanne de Montfort. +Vicountess | | +de Limoges | | + | +--------------+--------+ + +-----------+----------+ | | + | | Jean Comte de Montfort + 1345. Beatrix. +Jean III. (Bon), 1313. Gui Comte de Penthievre.........Jeanne de Flandre........Gui de Laval. +Isabelle de Valois. | | | + | | Beatrix de Laval + Jeanne la Boiteuse. Jean IV. (Vaillant), 1366. | + Charles de Blois + 1364 ....... 1. Mary of England. Richard de Bretagne. + | 2. Joan Holland.........Marguerite d'Orleans. + +----------------------+--------------+ 3. Joan of Navarre. | + | | | | | +Jean Comte de Penthievre. Gui. Henri. | | +Marguerite de Clisson. Died in captivity. | | + | +-------------+-----+ Francis II., 1458 + +------+-------+ | | + | | | John V., 1439 Arthur III., 1457...1. Marguerite de Bretagne. +Olivier Charles Guillaume ................ Jeanne de France Constable. 2. Marguerite de Foix. + | | + +----------------------+------------------+--------+ | +Francis I., 1442. Pierre II., Maria. Gilles. Anne, 1488. +1. Yolande d'Anjou. 1450. Francoise de Dinan.......1. Charles VIII. +2. Isabeau d'Ecosse. Francoise d'Amboise. 2. Louis XIII. + | + +----+----+ + Claude. Renee. + + + + + +INDEX. + + +Abelard, 192. +Ancenis, 217. +Angouleme, Duke and Duchess, 167. +Anne, of Austria, Queen, 122, 269. +Anne de Beaujeu, Regent, 203, 229. +Anne of Brittany, Queen-Duchess, 42, 50, 62, 98, 121, 153, 221, 222, 223. +Arre, mountains, 103, 136, 297. +Arthur and Geoffroy Plantagenet, 216. +Arthur III., Duke of Brittany, Constable of France, 190. +Artois, Comte d', 29. +Auray, 157. +Auray, battle of, 161. +Auray, Ste. Anne d', 158. +Avranches, 23. +Audierne, 269. + +Baciocchi, Princess, 187. +Baie des Trepasses, 274. +Barbes, 28. +Barkers (aboyeurs), 214. +Bas-Foins, 49. +Beaumanoir Chapel, 56. +Beaumanoir, Jean de, 52, 206. +Beauport, Abbey of, 76. +Belle-Isle-en-Mer, 250. +Belliere, Chateau of, 54. +Berri, Duchess, 226. +Bertheaume, Island, 128. +Bigouden, 258. +Biniou, 249. +Bisson, 155, 194. +Blanche of Castille, 149. +Blue Beard, Breton, 194. +Boisgelin, Chateau, 75. +Bonchamps, 237. +Bourg-de-Batz, 217. +Brest, 118. +Bretesch, Chateau of, 248. +Breton bed, 239; +-- butter, 153; +-- character, 99; +-- chestnuts, 203; +-- cow and pig, 153; +-- distaffs, 259; +-- farmhouse, 86; +-- knitting, 74; +-- soup, 112; +-- threshing, 117; +-- vehicles, 37. + +Cancale, 39. +Carnac, 177. +Cesson, Tour de, 71. +Carhaix, 297. +Chalais, Comte de, 226. +Champ des Martyrs, 166. +Champtoceaux, Chateau de, 218. +Chandos, Sir John, 16, 46, 89, 162. +Chateaubriand, 36, 41. +Chateaulin, 135. +Chatelet, J. du, 302. +Chene-Ferron, Chateau of, 57. +Cherbourg, 1. +Charles the Bad, 134. +Charles of Blois, 67, 75, 82, 161. +Charles V., 223. +Charles VI., 185. +Charles VII., 47, 191. +Charles VIII., 203, 229. +Clisson, Constable, 25, 89, 186, 209. +Clisson, Marguerite, 89, 218. +Colomb, Michel, 127, 221. +Combat des Trente, 206. +Combourg, Chateau de, 36. +Comorre, 194, 297. +Concarneau, 142. +Conquet, Le, 128. +Constance of Brittany, 216. +Cornouaille, 135. +Costume, 23, 133, 140, 234, 249, 258, 283, 288, 298. +Coueron, 34. +Couesnon, 29. +Courcorro, 181. +Coutances, 19. +Crepes, 11, 169. +Croisic, Le, 232. +Crosses, 104. + +D'Andelot, Sieur, 248. +Dinan, 44, 50. +Dinan, Francoise de, _see_ Francoise. +Dinan, Roland de, 53. +Dinard, 44. +Dogs of St. Malo, 42. +Dol, 30. +Douarnenez, 276, 279. +Dubourg, 29. +Du Guesclin, 24, 44, 45, 51, 53, 74, 143, 162, 209. + +Elven, Chateau of, 199. +Edward III., 15, 112, 153, 223. +Edward IV., 201. +Escoublac, 232. +Estouteville, Sieur d', 13, 26. +Epinglettes, 160. +Ermine, Order of, 126. + +Filet, saint, 264. +Faouet, Le, 287. +Folgoet, Le, 120. +Fouquet, N., 256. +Francis I., Duke of Brittany, 47, 126 _note_, 185. +Francis II., Duke of Brittany, 221, 229. +Francoise de Dinan, 46, 215. +Fontenelle le Ligueur, 267. +Frerie Blanche, 72. +Frobisher, 134. + +Gavr' Inis, 174. +Gesril du Papeu, 166, 167. +Gilles de Bretagne, 46. +Goemon (wrack), 94. +Grallo, King, 139, 275. +Guerande, 245. +Guimiliau, 115. +Granville, 21. +Guingamp, 72. + +Haedic, Isle, 250, 257. +Haye du Puits, La, 17. +Harcourt, G. d', 15. +Hennebont, 156. +Henry II., 4, 24, 26. +Henry IV., 71, 134, 191. +Henry V., 13, 26, 134, 201. +Henry VI., 201. +Henry VII., 201. +Henry VIII., 128. +Henri IV., 216, 225. +Herce, 167, 183. +Hoche, Gen., 166. +Hunaudaye, Chateau de la, 62. +Huelgoat, 300. + +Indian corn, 251. +Inclined axis of church, 106. +Is, City of, 274. +Ingrandes, 217. + +James II., 72, 205. +Jean de Montfort, 67, 112, 153. +Jeanne d'Arc, 190. +Jeanne de Flandre (Montfort), 83, 156. +Jeanne de France, 185, 219. +Jeanne de Penthievre, 83. +Jeanne (Joan) of Navarre, 106, 121, 134, 194, 246. +John I. (Roux), 189, 194. +John II., 204. +John III. (Bon), 67, 160, 205. +John IV. (Victorieux), 25, 67, 71, 119, 121, 126, 160, 185, 223, 246. +John V., 88, 121, 185. +Josselin, Chateau, 211. +Jugon, 61, 187. + +Kergrist, Chateau, 96. +Kermartin, 84. +Kermario, 177. +Kersanton stone, 122, 135. +Kerserho, 181. +Kerscaven, 269. +Knights Templars, 69. +Knollys, Sir R., 119, 143. +Korn-er-Hoet, 187. +La Foret, Bay, 143. +La Garaye, Chateau of, 57. +Lamballe, 67. +Lanleff, 68. +Langoat, 83. +Langoustes, 94, 147. +Lannion, 94. +Lanvaux, Lande de, 187. +Larochejaquelin, 22. +La Tour d'Auvergne, 297. +Lehon Abbey, 56. +Lavandieres de la Nuit, 290. +Lesage, 188. +Leonnais, 103. +Leon, Viscounts, 110. +Lezardrieux, 80. +Lessay, 17. +Locmariaker, 170. +Loctudy, 261. +Lorient, 155. +Louis XI., 26, 201. +Louis XII., 32, 223. +Louis XIV., 119, 189. + +Manny, Sir W., 128, 153, 157. +Manoir, 81. +Martinvast, 12. +Matilda, Empress, 3. +Mary, daughter of Edward III., 106. +Mercoeur, Duke de, 225. +Menhir, 35. +Mingant Rock, 119. +Minihy (sanctuaries), 88. +Mivoie, Chene de, 207. +Montafilant, Chateau, 46. +Montfort, 215. +Mont St. Michel, 25. +Motto of Dukes of Brittany, 126, 161. +Morbihan Sea, 174. +Morlaix, 97. + +Nacqueville, Chateau, 6. +Nantes, 221. +Napoleon I., 3, 4. +Notre Dame-de-Comfort, church, 279. +Notre Dame-du-Roncier, 213. + +Octeville, 5. +Ouessant Isle, 128, 133. + +Paimboeuf, 229. +Paimpol, 80. +Palais, Le, 251. +Penmarch, 263. +Penmarch, Torche de, 262. +Penthievre, 149, 210, 225. +Periers, 18. +Perros Guirec, 92. +Peter, Duke, 72. +Philip Augustus, 28. +Pierre de Dreux, 216. +Pierres de Croix, 286. +Pleudaniel, 81. +Ploermel, 203. +Plouaret, 96. +Plougastel, 133. +Plouharnel, 180. +Ploumanach, 92. +Pointe du Raz, 271. +Pole, W. de la, Earl of Suffolk, 13. +Pontacallec, Marquis de, 226, 294. +Pontaven, 150. +Pontcroix, 276. +Pont l'Abbe, 257. +Pontorson, 24. +Port Navalo, 250. +Potatoes, 251. +Poulignan, 233. +Porzmoguer, 130. + +Querqueville, 5. +Quiberon, 165. +Quimper, 138. +Quimperle, 151. + +Rance River, 43. +Richelieu, Cardinal, 96, 119. +Richelieu, Duke, 82. +Rennes, 216. +Retz, Cardinal, 226. +Rieux, Marshal, 202. +River scenery, 103, 216, 250. +Roads, 84, 91. +Roche Bernard, La, 247. +Roche Derrien, La, 82. +Roche Jagu, La, 81. +Rochefort, Chancellor, 229. +Rocking stones, 93, 149, 300. +Rohan family, 98, 99, 111, 210. +Rosaries, 282. +Roscoff, 111. +Rosgrand, 153. +Rosporden, 285. +Rustephan, Chateau, 149. + +Sacring bells, 279. +Saire, Monk of, 5. +Ste. Anne la Palue, 282. +St. Armal, 204. +-- Aubin du Cormier, 229. +Ste. Barbe, 287. +St. Brieuc, 71. +-- Corentin, 137. +-- Cornely, 178. +-- Fiacre, 20. +-- " church, 293. +-- Florent, 217. +-- Genevroc, 105. +-- Germain, 5, 34. +-- Gildas, 192. +-- Guenole, 263. +-- Herbot, 303. +-- Ives, 85, 88. +-- Leonard, 75. +-- Malo, 39. +-- Mathieu, 129. +-- Michael, Order of, 26. +-- Nazaire, 230. +-- Pair, 23. +-- Pol de Leon, 103. +-- Samson, 32. +-- Thegonnec, 114, 117. +-- Urlose, 152. +-- Vincente Ferrar, 184. +Salt, 233. +Sardine fishery, 144. +Sarzeau, 192. +Scaer, 285. +Scales, Lord, 21. +Sein, Isle, 272. +Sevigne, Madame de, 203. +Skull-boxes, 91. +Soeurs de la Misericorde, 16. +Soeurs de le Providence, 11. +Sombreuil, Comte de, 164, 183, 184. +Stuart, Charles, 113, 230. +Stuart, Mary, 98, 112. +Sucinio, Chateau, 189. + +Teigneuse, Isle, 250. +Thomas a Becket, 24. +Tocqueville, A. de, 7. +Tombeleine, Isle, 28. +Touquedec, Chateau, 95. +Tourlaville, Chateau, 7. +Treguier, 88. +Tregunc, 149. +Trieux River, 80. +Trinite, La, 130. +Tumiac, Butte de, 199. +Typhaine, the Lady, 24, 44, 54. + +Valognes, 14. +Vannes, 183. +Varades, 217. +Vendean army, 217. +Veneti, 183. +Venus' ear, 2. +Victoria, Queen, 1, 3, 14. + +Walsh, 230. +War of the two Jeannes, 83. +War of Succession, 67 _note_. +Washing, 18. +Wells, holy, 125, 285. +Welsh Baptists, 100. +William the Conqueror, 4. + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES + + +The following substitutions were applied to the text by Project Gutenberg +proofers and transcribers-- + +On page 7: "recals" --> "recalls" +On page 25: "John IV Duke of Britanny" --> "Brittany" +On page 93: "slighest" --> "slightest" +On page 104: "calvarys" --> "calvaries" +In Ill. 22: "Creisker" --> "Creizker" +On page 144: "mackarel" --> "mackerel" +On page 149: "out out" --> "out" +On page 167: twice "d'Angoulme" --> "d'Angouleme" +On page 178: "Erdevan" --> "Erdeven" +On pages 196/197: several extra double quotes removed +On page 212: "ballustrades" --> "balustrades" +On page 270: "promonotory" --> "promontory" +On page 272: "corronation" --> "coronation" +On page 303: "in in" --> "in" + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITTANY & ITS BYWAYS*** + + + +CREDITS + + +>November 9, 2007 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 02 + Ralf Stephan + +November 9, 2007 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 01 + Ralf Stephan and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at + http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images + generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale de + France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr) + + + +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 22700.txt or 22700.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/7/0/22700/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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