^.SiSSi ;m ^^jj^i^]^\}^0M l!^ fftgmimg' ■— n: '•TfTr--rir --— -^■— ' i.i.»«m.i.mimm« -Um MEK: ilOLI DAT S SUMMER HOLIDAYS BRITTANY. THOMAS J. HUTCHINSON, VICE-PRESIDENT d'hONNEUR DE l'iNSTITUT d'aFRIQUE, PARIS; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE LIVERPOOL LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY SOCIO ESTRANJERO DE LA SOCIEDAD PALEONTOLOGICA DE BUENOS AIRES, &C., &C. AUTHOR OF " IMPRESSIONS OF WESTERN AFRICA ;" "BUENOS AYRES AND ARGENTINE GLEANINGS;" "THE PARANA," &C. "two years IN PERU," &C., &C. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON CROWN BUILDINGS, iS8, FLEET STREET. 1876. All rights rese^n'ed .1 LONDON : GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. John's square. 'CCELUM, NON ANIMUM MUTANT. Horace, Epis. xi. MRS. S. C. HALL, AS A TRIFLING TRIBUTE FOR THE MANY PLEASANT HOURS ENJOYED, AND WEARISOME ONES ASSUAGED, — WHEN ON FOREIGN SERVICE, — IN PERUSING HER TRUTHFUL DELINEATIONS OF IRISH CHARACTER, W)i9i Moxk IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY HER ADMIRING FELLOW-COUNTRYMAN, AND OBEDIENT, HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. 2015138 PREFACE. Y preface shall be very brief, — and only to make a couple of explana- tions. First — That a portion of the contents of this volume has appeared during the past Summer in the " Liverpool Weekly Albio7i" under the title of "Holiday Letters from France.'" But all the materials from these letters have been revised. Some of them are omitted altogether — others, where amalgamated with this, are cur- tailed — whilst occasionally more has been added from my note-book. The whole has been re- written, and corrected, where needful. Second — That in spite of the Guides, Tours, Rambles, and Itineraries already published, with PRE FA CE. vii reference to Brittany, there are still high\va}-5 and bye-ways in that historic land, about which little or nothing is known to the outside world. I therefore trust that the account of some of these in the following pages will prove of sufficient interest to justify me in presenting them to the public. BALLINESCAR LODGE, CURRACLOE, WEXFORD, March I, 1876. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. rAGE London to Brittany in seventeen hours — Roadstead of St. Malo— Chateaubriand— The ubiquitous Gendarme— Classic pose — Irreproachable uniform — Hotel de la Paz — Ramble through the city— St. Maclou— The A lethians— Pell-mell of streets— Cathedral — Deficiency of light — Military all over — Disagreeable odours — Hotel without baths — Sani- tary motto— St. Servan— Dinard-Old town and new- Ancient priory .....••• ' CHAPTER H. Starting from St. Malo— To Dol and Rennes— Projected railway to Brest from St. Malo— Resemblance of Dol to Chester— St. Samson— St. Michael's Jump — Rennes — Capital of Bretagne— Solemn and serious— Great fire of 1720— Distracting regularity of architecture — Ancient name of Candate— Traces of Roman occupation — Battle of St. Aubin de Cormier— Treaty of the Orchard— Drow- siness and education — Mordelaise Gate — Obliterated inscription — Museums — From Rennes to Redon . 11 CHAPTER HI. Prcparez vos billets, sHl vous plait ! — Breton white caps on platform— Pilgrimage to St. Anne d'Auray— Comfortable H6tel de Bretagne— Cheery aspect of Redon — St. Con- woion— Dolmens, Menhirs, and tumuli of Druids— Church of St. Sauveur— Square tower — Sparrows and swallows — CONTENTS. ix PA(jK Taking time by the forelock — Human chattering at rail- way bureau — Passengers in pens — Clatter of talk — That blessed baby — Double squint — Crammed to convulsions — Appeals of Corkscrew glances — Juvenile Breton martyrdom — Pernicious feeding of children in France— Vannes — Capital of Venetians — Naval battle in Conclusum Bay — Scene at St. Anne station — Gendarmes again — Dress of Bretons — Embroidered clothes — Quaker's cut of garments i8 CHAPTER IV. Omnibuses and beggars — Mediocrity of hotels — Shop ele- ment near the shrine — Stalactite-looking bread — Miracu- lous fountain — Seven cups of water, and seven sous — The Scala Sancta— Congregation of 20,000— The church of St. Anne— Shelves of the Renaissance— The Carmelite Friars — Devotion of the Bretons to their patron Saint — Ex voto offerings — Crown of emeralds— Thanksgiving for birth of Louis XIV. — Visit of Queen Henrietta Maria — Napoleon III. at St. Anne — Offerings of ships' models — Stoiy of 700 sailors from Vannes — Rich offerings — First discovery of statue — Yves Nicolazic — Early pilgrimages — Simple faith of the Breton people — 200,000 visitors in one year— Pilgrimage from Granville in Normandy — On foot to St. Anne for 180 miles — Burning of ancient statue — Steadfast devotion of Bretons . . . . . . -31 CHAPTER V. Round and about Auray — Curious rocking-stone — Horse named Bismarck — How it was made by the coachman to travel — Valley of Tre-Auray — La Chartreuse — Battle of Auray in 1364 — College of St. Michael— Erected on account of a vow^ — St. Bruno, founder of La Chartreuse — The precious liqueur — Damage done by Revolution in 1793 — Austere lives of Carthusian monks — Dispersion of goods and chattels — Les Sonirs de la Sagesse — Deaf and dumb porter — Invention of substitute for bell — Monu- ment of Quiberon — 952 martyrs — "Droits de la con- CONTENTS. PAGE ronne'" — History of St. Brano — Car\'cd oak in Chapel — Umbrageous tree — ^^ Champ des Martyrs" — IIu ari- derunt — Valley of Kerso — Poor Bismarck. . . -47 CHAPTER VI. The city of Auray — Likeness to Chester and to Dol — Sleepy town — Antiquity of Cathedral and of Chateau — JI6tel de Ville — Chapel of Cordeliers — Gloomy castle of Treulan — Inhabited by bats or toads — Bismarck en route for Camac — -Barren and savage country — Village of Car- nac, with nothing to speak of like a street — Church of St. Comeille — Church of St. Michael — Built on Druidical tumulus — Explorations in 1862 — Dolmens found — Mr. Milne's diggings in the Roman Villa — What he has turned out — Avenues of large stones — Stretching to Kerlescan and Plouharnel — Sonorous stone masses — 15,000 in six- teenth century — Modern Vandalism — Guesses about the monuments — Dolmen at Corcoro — Oyster parks — The Baron de Wolbock — Enormous profit — Curious grottoes — Old town of Locmariaker — Visit of London Anthropolo- gists — Analogies of Archaic Anthropology between Bom- bay and Carnac — Embarras des riclusses about Auray . 59 CHAPTER Vn. A trip to Basse Bretagne — Red petticoats in the fields — From Auray to Landernau — Junction to Pontivy and St. Brieuc — Pretty view of Hennebont —Ships amongst the houses — Lorient and the river Scorff — Large water basins — Old East Indian company — Gestel and Guidel — Limits of Morbihan and Finisterre — Dolmens and Menhirs — Quim- perle — UArcadie de Basse Bretagne — Mail phaeton — Where are the letter-bags — Abbey of St. Croix — St. Gur- loes — Cure of the gout — Galloping madly — Charming country — Vile huts of peasants — Fancy ploughing by pigs — Church of St. Fiacre — Dirty town of Faouet — Church of St. Barbe and the "Pardon " — Apparition round the comer — T\\q gendartfte again — Spurs and white gloves — Fibrous apples and old men of same class — Capot and CONTENTS. xi PAGE coif — Gourin — -The Black Mountains — Chateau de Ker- biguet — More Dolmens and Menhirs — To Scaer and through the Landes . . . . . . • 7 ' CHAPTER VIII. One of the conscripts — Talk about past and future German wars — Bannalec to Redon — St. Gildas des Bois — Pont- Chateau — Savenay Junction — " Sillon de Bretagne" — "La Grande Briere" — Salt making at Guerande — Isola- tion still existing — Egalite et FraternitS — Stand-offishness in the church — Varieties of dialect — To Donges, and across the Loire — Druidical remnants at Donges — Old priory — Paimboeuf— Relation to the Sea — Derivation of name — Formation of sand-banks blocking up the Loire — Change of scene — -The Qnenoitille and /ttseau — Ugly Due de Guesclin — From Paimbceuf — Architecture of churches — Through St. Brenin, St. P^re Retz, and La Plaine to PrefaiUes — Pomic and Kirouard ..... 88 CHAPTER IX. Nooks and comers of Brittany — Topographical position of PrefaiUes — Outside of Mrs. Grundy's territory — "Deport- ment," and "the proprieties"^ — Geographical divisions of France — Noirmoutier and the Pillar Rock — Away, over the Bay of Biscay, oh ! — London to PrefaiUes in twenty- four hours— Jl/thiage at Hotel des Voyageurs — " La Source" — The Chalybeate well — Pleasant and homely scene at the spring — Varieties of company — Analysis of Source water — Gasifying it — Good only when drunk at the fountain— Other hotels — Lodgings of entire cottages or of chambers — Artistic grouping of houses — " Etablissement Hydrotherapiqtie"—~V>x&tox\ English — Ancient use of Pre- faiUes chalybeate — No paradise for the Artist at PrefaiUes — Tranquil beauty everywhere . . , . . 99 CHAPTER X. What about the sea-bath ? — The season at PrefaiUes — On the strand and amongst the dressing-boxes — The Marquee — xii CONTENTS. I>ACS Traditional night-caps— Flopping up and down — Le Bai- gneur—Ov). the bank to St. Gildas— Quadrapeds of I're- failles — Jerusalem pony — Comment s'ttppelle-t-Wt — Va- ^•ieties of titles — Classical, historical, and mythological — Sexual difference not regarded— Chatty little market-place — "/)(?;« C«? " or " Z>a/« Non" — Derivation — Emotion at arrival of fish-boat — Breton coif— Increase of kid-glove- ology — Ozone and wild camomile — Agreeable recollec- tions — General hybernation — Close of bathing season — Melancholy ocean — Au revoir to Prefailles . . .113 CHAPTER XI. Picnic to Noirmoutier — Beautiful morning — " Le par ad is des ^;;t'j'"— Charming programme - General success of im- promptu pleasure parties — Terrific whistling of steamer's pipe— Delay of getting passengers on board — Doubts of the propriety of such a trip before breakfast — " They do not manage these things better in France" — At the island — Tediousness of going on shore— Clamour at the hotel — Hurrying to and fro — Is it a fire, or a revolution ?— No breakfast for anybody — Frantic gabble — Improvised cookery — Foray on bread-basket — " Poidet pour trois" — Scrap of liver and shaving of leg — Asses and mules— Pro- gress to capital of island — Aspirations for oysters— Chateau — Church and Paludiers — Dirty water in the streets— Bad smells — Double tnorale . . . . . . .121 CHAPTER XII. Prefailles to Nantes— Three different routes— Beauty of the old city — Hide-and-go-seek style of architecture — The Chateau— Cathedral— The railway station — Pearly foun- dation of Nantes— At what epoch ?— Primitive Chris- tian teaching and martyrdom here — Anne de Bretagne — Famous prisoners in the Chateau — Visit to Cathedral — Begun in Fifteenth Century and not yet finished — Deficient in harmony of proportions — Reign of Terror in Nantes — The Noyades, or Republican marriages — Narrative by one of the employes — Ivnocking the victims on the head — Le CONTENTS. xiii PAGE manage civujne — Five girls sent for execution with their mother — Motherly feelings of fisher woman— Reward for Carrier— Clisson and its Inquisition memories — Tivoli de V Occident 133 CHAPTER XIII. Departments in Brittany — Chateau Villegontier— Hospitality of Baron d'Arthuys — Cande — A considerable barony - The Feudal period— A mother-in-law in these days — Fete at Cande — The town in its normal state— Grand names of hotels— Dead-and-alive commerce — Squealing of young pigs — Melancholy-looking shops — Comfortable farm- houses — Elegant chateaux — Cattle Show and Agricultural Exhibition — Merry-go-rounds— Monsieur de Falloux — Philanthropic Frenchmen — Les Prix de Vertu— Dr. Le- tort's speech — Anne Tessier — Her history— " God's ladies and gentlemen" — Tlie prize for filial piety well earned . 143 CHAPTER XIV. Disregard of punctuality — " Tout de suite" not zlvfzys "right away !" — Waiting for historic cavalcade— Champ des Foires — Site of Old Priory — Musty, medireval-looking Cande— Three gendai-mes— Splendid fellows — Horses well trained— Noble Crusader smoking a meei-schaum — Pages and equeiTies sucking gigaritas — Fran9ois I. and Jean IV. of Brittany — Mounted tnmipeters — Gaulois chief and soldiers — "Char d'Agriculture " — Franks — "Char des Fleurs" — "Char de I'lndustrie" — Perfect order and dis- cipline of cavalcade— Doubtless due to presence of the Ubiquitous — Illuminations at night — Music and jollifica- tion at Prairie de la Porte— Source of paying expenses — Menhirs — Bourg d'Ire — Segre — Eaval . . . ■ ^S~ CHAPTER XV. Visit to Angers — The second capital of England in the Plan- tagenet period — Originally peopled by Andes tribe — Their chief Dumnacus — Roman curia — Dispute between Francs and Saxons — Expulsion of Roman paganism — The first Bishop Defensor — Visitandine Nunnery, now a barracks xiv CONTENTS. PAGE — Cathedral on the site of a temple of Apollo — Tradition of foundation — Solemn light inside— Chief attractive fea- tures — Presentation by King Rene — The Logis Barrault — Tower of St. Aubin — Museums and Library — Awe- inspiring cocked-hats — Sculptor David — Ruins of Tous- saint Abbey — By moonlight — Effects of age on ruins — Place de Railliement and Theatre — Chateau and its gloomy aspect — Birthplace of King Rene — His statue in the Place du Chateau 164 CHAPTER XVI. Disagreeable water of the Maine — Waterworks at Pont de Ce — Holiday town — The bridges of Angers — First bridge in sixth century — Those made by Foulques Nerva IH. and Henry H. — 223 soldiers killed by falling of Suspension Bridge in 1850 — Doutre side of the river — " Ecoledes Arts et des Metiers" — Abbey de Ronceray — Hotel Dieu of Henry II. — Churches of St. James and LaTrinite — Com- fort and luxury in King Henry's Hospital — Granary and caves cut in the rock — Now used as a brewery — The Mall and its pleasures — Cleanliness of Angers city — Interesting objects of antiquity — Great field for explorers . . .178 CHAPTER XVII. Sable and its marble quarries — Chateau of Duchesse de Char- treuse — The river Sarthe — To the Abbey of Solesmes — Famous for works of Art — Gracious courtesy— Accommo- dation for strangers — Thorn from our Saviour's Crowm a relic here — Anachronisms and anomalies — -Statue of St. Peter — Beautifully carved stalls — The Sepulture of Christ — Sepulture of Blessed Virgin — CrowTiing of the Virgin in Heaven — Christ amongst the Doctors — Figures of sublime Majesty — Divine aspect of the Saviour — King Rene Icnvering the winding-sheet — Prior Jean Bougler doing like office with that of the Virgin — Soldiers' faces battered and smashed — Figures of Luther and Calvin representing the Doctors in the Temple — Foundation of Abbey in eleventh century — Strange reading during dinner — Chateau Juigne 187 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE To Notre Dame du Chene — Miraculous statue of A.D. 1494 — Charming prospect — Valley of Sarthe — Shops at the Church door — Scaffolding around the building — Ex vote offerings and bannerets — Ancient traditions — Of wild pigeons as of starry lights — Statue placed in an oak-tree- Miracle subsequently occurring — Crick in the neck — Other prodigies — Oak held in veneration after it fell down — Pre- servative against thunder and lightning — Large pilgrimages in 1515 — Results of the Calvin heresy — The Iluguenots laying the country waste — Sable pillaged — Farms despo- liated — Monasteries destroyed — Pilgrimages suspended — New miracles — Reign of Terror here — Sale of Church of Notre Dame — Purchaser broke his leg — Statue concealed iDy Mayor of Vion — Restoration in 1866 — New chapel and new wonders — Latest of those in October 1874 . 198 CHAPTER XIX. Pardo ns and pilgrimages in Brittany — Universality of the ceremonies — Half fair, half festival — Hereditary sentiment in religious devotions — Statues and fountains — Guingamp — Wrestling matches, and Armorican bagpipes — Martyr- dom of St. Lawrence — -Muscular Christianity — Old Breton costume — The Bragou-bras — Pardon des Oiseaux — Danse Macabre- — Mixture of Druidical M-ith Christian ruins — St. Jean du Doigt — Legend of Notre Dame de Folgoet — The idiot Salaun — The Ave Alaria lily^Highest Druidical Menhir — Strange superstition connected with it — Pagan cemeterj' — Bread turned into stones — .Setting dogs at the Virgin — Punishment for this offence — Church of St. Her- bot — Showers of oxen tails and horns thrown in as offer- ings— Zf^ Vies des Saints de Bretagne — Canonized in the heai-ts of the people ....... 209 CHAPTER XX. Cathedral of St. Pol — Deep religious feeling — Seriousness and sincerity versus Irreligion and impiety — From Quim- per to Vannes — So-called "trashy" legend — Nature's CONTENTS. nobility — Les prix dc Verdi — The locksmith of Rennes — His wonderful charities — Madame Besnard — Remarkable self-denial — Rescuing unfortunates — In the field of battle — Madlle. Prudhomme — Nursing the cancer patient^Cancer developed in the Nurse — Stinted resources — Marie Grosbois of Paimboeuf — Noble sacrifice to self-imposed duty — Rosin Cherin, the sempstress — Supporting three families by her needlework — Great privations — Assiduous industry — The Paris locksmith — Extraordinary filial piety — Yearly prizes through French Academy — M. Montyon and philanthropic confreres — Such deeds need to be exalted — High-souled development— Deficiency in organic laws 223 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. St. Malo Part of Vannes with Cathedral . Interior of Church of St. Anne d'Auray Breton Peasantry passing a Cross Valley of Tre-Auray .... Druidical Menhirs at Carnac Interior of a Breton Peasant's House (Morbihan) Saint Fiacre Church .... Inside of a Breton Cabin near Faouet Ancient Breton House at Quimper Wandering Musicians in Lower Brittany Pardon Dance at Larmoor Breton Peasant Costumes of the Bragou-Bras Frontispiece To face 27 32 35 49 65 78 80 82 84 85 209 213 J M ^ s ^^f ^S^S^ffiH^S P^M^^^^ ^^^ m \yf^ 1 i^^^ ^» SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN BRITTANY. CHAPTER I. London to Brittany in seventeen hours — Roadstead of St. Malo — Chateaubriand — The ubiquitous gendarme — Classic pose — Irreproachable uniform— Hotel de la Paz— Ramble through the city— St. Maclou— The Alethians— Pell-mell of streets- Cathedral— Deficiency of light— Military all over— Disagree- able odours — Hotels without baths — Sanitary motto — St. Servan — Dinard — Old town and new— Ancient priory. ROM Waterloo station, by any train to correspond with one of the commodious and well-arranged steamers, carrying her Majesty's mails to St. Malo, we can run over from London to Brittany in about seventeen hours. So, after selecting a fine evening for the cross- ing, and taking our tickets at the terminus on the Surrey side, we get through the journey bravely. In rough weather there are nasty breezes, and 2 SUMMER HOLIDA YS a rolling sea in the neighbourhood of the Jersey and Alderney Islands. The average voyage from Southampton to St. Malo is fourteen hours : and with people, (of whom the world holds a large number,) that have an unconquerable pro- clivity to sea-sickness, it is always expedient, if possible, to choose calm weather for the traverse. As morning comes on, and we go up to deck, we find the steamer in perfectly smooth water, in a bay that washes part of the coast of Nor- mandy as well as Brittany, and into which flows the river Ranee. We are in the roadstead of St. Malo, gliding on between the charmiing bathing place of Dinard on the right, and on the left the city, with its frowning forts, batteries, and big walls. At the entrance here on a rocky islet, called the Grand-Bey, is the grave of Chateau- briand, to whose memory, all the world knows, a statue was erected in the course of last summer, in front of the house where he was born — now part of the Hotel de France in the principal Plaza. It appears that the desire to be interred here was expressed by the author of " Le Gaiie die Christiaiiisme" in a letter to the Alaj-or of St. Malo in the year 1828. We can see nothing of the tomb except the iron railings as the .steamer passes by. But I am told by the chief IN BRITTANY. 3 steward, that there is no inscription on the sim- ple stone — that the waves wash over it in stormy weather — and that it is much visited by pil- grims, when the water is low, and the sea is smooth. Rounding a corner, now at diminished speed, we get alongside of a quay, which abuts from a grim, dungeon-like wall. " Haul in ! " here and there — " let go hawser ! " — *•' stop her ! " The usual accessories to the arrival of a steamer in any part of the world, with the ordi- nary crowd close to the gangway ! No ? " Hardly the coimnon crowd on this occasion," I hear a reproachful voice observing. For looking upwards I see a figure there, such as will be before me on every arrival or departure of mine as long as I am in France, and whether my journeys are made by steam-boat, railroad, or diligence! The ubiquitous and irrepressible gendarme! Although in the middle of the throng, not bending himself in the smallest possible degree from his normal pose of a classic statue. With cocked-hat, white cotton gloves, silver cord in festoons on his left breast, yellow- belt, light blue trowsers, dark blue coat, spurs and sword ! He is the same wherever you meet him. On the boulevards at Paris — at a country B 2 4 SUMMER HOIJDA YS iail\va}'station — in a littlcvillage where theyknow nothing of steamboats or railways — through the bourgs of Basse Bretagne — under shadow of the Black Mountains. The cocked-hat, white gloves, spurs, and sword are out in all weathers. I have often wished to penetrate the mystery of whence he comes, or whither he goes, after the passengers depart .-' He is never absent from his post on arrival or gathering of travellers, or any other class of multitude. But as I have not, at any time, seen him enter, or make exit through door of a railway station, (though invariably recognizing him among the group on the platform,) I am almost inclined to believe he has some magic way of coming and going, Hke the fiends that start up and fall down through the stage in a Christmas pantomime. Of course not with their vulgar flash, noise, and clatter. A stranger, at first sight, must find it difificult to believe he is only a policeman. For common sense puts in a pro- test against the possibility of that majestic cocked-hat, falling during a scufifle into the gutter : or those spotless gloves employed in hauling along a draggle-tailed party in petti- coats, such as our force is occasionally obliged to patronize in Wapping, St. Giles's, the New IN BRITTANY. 5 Cut, or down Whitechapel way. Policeman indeed ! Shame on the comparison ! As you see him when you land from, or enter, a steamer, get out of or go into a railway carriage, or a diligence from one village to another, — in fact wherever is a gathering, be it ever so small, — he appears the concentration of universal and official admi- nistration. Telling to the world in every gleam of his buttons, his silver cord and epaulettes, as in every rattle of his spurs and sword, " I am France." Yet if a rambler going through the interior of the country arrives late at night, either atdiligence office or railway station,and is in Mant of direction to a good hotel, I would advise him, before going outside the gates amongst the touters, to ask the guidance of the gendarme, who is as certain to be there as the platform itself. This is invariably given without the slightest appearance of interest, or of any emotion, tending to derange that military and imposing tout-en- semble. But the traveller may be satisfied that it is always trustworthy. We, however, are not needful of such inquiries. Therefore, after giving upour tickets, and having our luggage examined, we proceed in an omnibus through one of the dungeon-looking gates to the Hotel de la Paz. There is a large number 6 SUMMER HOLIDAYS of excellent hotels at St. Malo, of which that just mentioned is our favourite. After breakfast we set out for a ramble through the old city. Very old it must be considered too — in spite of its few new houses, and other modern improvements. For so far back as the sixth century, Adolphe Joanne tells us,' on this granite isle lived an old cenobite, named Aaron, who was Abbe of a Monastery here at the period. Into that convent he received at the time mentioned Malo, or Maclou, a Welsh bishop {Evcgue Cambric?!) who succeeded Aaron in A.D. 545, and afterwards became bishop of the Alethians, whom he had converted to Chris- tianity. The Alethians were people of the city of Aleth — which to-day is called St. Servan— on the same side of the river Ranee, but higher up than St. Malo. In the twelfth century Jean de la Grille transferred (A.D. 1 144) the episcopal seat to the island of Aaron, which then got the name of " St. Malo of the island." There is a large field in St. Malo for archaeo- logical study, if our holiday rovers are inclined thereto, with the knowledge that they have to work for themselves. • " Guide de Bretagne." Par Adolphe Joanne. Paris : Hachette & Co, 1874. Page 97. JN BRITTANY. 7 The Museum, which is installed in a de- pendence on the Hotel de Ville, has only pictures, statues, and a large collection of ornithological specimens in it. A search after any records of the epochs when Paganism flourished in Aleth, and the Armorican cities set up separate govern- ments, would be futile. The district of Aleth is reputed to have been one of the last refuges of Druidism. But we cannot find any traces of even the Gallo-Roman period. So we must take St Malo as it is. " A pell-mell of streets and alleys," as Joanne describes it, "with a decided parsimony every- where of space and light." An equally decided parsimony I might add — in the summer time at least — " of pure air and sweet smells." Not far from our hotel is the Cathedral. This appears quite a busy part of the town. But as we enter the side door of the sacred edifice we go in out of a street, where the holy building is so crowded and hustled up with shops, that at a distance of ten yards from the door, we see people buying cabbages at a greengrocer's counter. I can tell nothing of the exterior aspect of the pile, as from the passage here whence we go in being so narrow, it gives me a crick in the neck to look upwards. Inside its chiefest characteristic is 8 SUMMER HOLIDA YS deficiency of light. It was therefore next to im- possible to have a good view of three fine marble statues that are here — one representing Faith — another, St. Benoit, and the third, St. Maur. These were formerly the property of the convent of English Benedictines* — most probably in the period of the Plantagenet dynasty. Besides these are several paintings. Amongst them St. IMalo preaching to the Druids, by Monsieur Uuveau. Behind the grand altar, too, are pre- served the remains of St. Celestin. The earliest church built on the spot, which is the highest point of the island, was burned down by the soldiers of Charlemagne in A.D. 8i I. On the foundations of that was erected the chapel of St. Vincent in the ninth century by Bishop Helocur ; and the different fortunes through which it went since the first cathedral was built here in the twelfth century cannot be discussed by a holiday seeker. The Chateau — the Fort de la Cite — the Fort Royal, La Conchee, Harbourg Island, La Varde, and some others — together with the towers, batteries, citadels, ramparts, high walls, and huge gates, proclaim St. Malo to be military all over. Of the gates there are five. Going through the narrow and tortuous streets of the city for any distance, we find it difficult to be impressed with IN BRITTANY. 9 the balmy atmosphere, which in rural districts and by the seaside is one of the chief charms of France. Here, as at Angers and Nantes — even in some portions of Paris — I could not escape the disagreeably ammoniacal odour, which, by the peculiarity of its nastiness, leaves no doubt of the source whence it comes. I may add, that the English tourist will not be very long in this country — and I believe it to be the same over much of the Continent — before he is made to feel the discomfort of hotels without baths, and with badly arranged W.C.'s. As I mention my having put up at the Hotel de la Paz, I must in justice say that with regard to the latter point it is very well regulated. But here, as elsewhere, no bath can be got in the house. I trust mawkish prudery will not object to the record of my experience that "Reform your W.C.'s" ought to be impressed on the proprietors of nine out of every ten hotels to be found in Frapce. To St. Servan — the site of Aleth — the traveller may take a trip whilst he is at St. Malo, Either by steamer or diligence, and for a few sous, this journey can be made. It is only about three quarters of a mile from St. Malo, and is quite close to what is considered the embouchure of the river Ranee. Although there may probably be some relics of the old Roman occupation, or lo SU.\nrER HOLIDAYS IN BRITTANY of the time of the Druids, we are told that no buildings exist here of a period anterior to the reign of Louis XIV. If, however, time can be spared, I should recommend a run across the bay to Dinard, taking one of the steamers, reputed to ply every half- hour. You can get a first-class ticket for five sous, or a second-class return for the same price, the distance being three miles. Dinard possesses two towns, the Old and the New. The principal attractive feature of the Old is in the ruins of a priory, founded in A.D. 1321, by the brothers Oliver and Geoffry de Montfort. I believe it has been transformed into private- dwellings. The vault-roofed chapel, partly de- stroyed, contains the well-preserved tombs of its founders. The new town of Dinard, which has a Protes- tant church amongst its buildings, is the fashion- able bathing-place, and owns some elegantly constructed mansions, chateaux, and villas. In the neighbourhood are the villages of St. Enogat, St. Lunaire, and St. Briac. On the roads around Dinard are many walks perfectly shaded overhead by umbrageous foliage ; and several picturesque views are to be had from the high clifTs. CHAPTER 11. Starting from St. Malo — To Del and Rennes — Projected railway to Brest from St. Malo — Resemblance of Dol to Chester — St. Samson — St. Michael's Jump — Rennes — Capital of Bre- tagne — Solemn and serious — Great fire of 1720 — Distract- ing regularity of architecture — Ancient name of Candate — Traces of Roman occupation — Battle of St. Aubin de Cormier — Treaty of the Orchard — Drowsiness and education — Mor- delaise Gate — Obliterated inscription — Museums — From Rennes to Redon. EFORE starting from the station at St. Malo, I would advise the excur- sionist to provide himself with one of the railway guides — '' U Indicatcur General"' — which can be bought at the bookstall for about twelve sous, or sixpence. This is applicable to all France — has very good maps of the lines — is an excellent index to correspondence of trains one with another, and to many people is more easily understood than the itineraries of Cook or Bradshaw. From St. Malo to Rennes is a journey of 12 SUMMER HOLIDAYS sixty-five miles. At Dol, the third stopping- place, there is a line of railway projected, that when finished, will bring the traveller, after passing Dinan, along the coast by St. Brieuc, Guingamp, Morlaix, and Landernau to Brest. At present from Dol to St. Brieuc the district is accessible only by diligences or mail calkhes. But from Rennes passengers can go via St. Brieuc per rail to Brest. A much larger tract of country may, however, be embraced by the journey I am about to take— past Dol, Rennes, Redon, Vannes, Auray, Lorient, and Quimperle, whence back by rail to Nantes and Angers. My rambles through such parts of Brittany as I have visited during three months of last year are comprised within the larger portion of the peninsula that extends westward of a straight line drawn from St. Malo to Nantes. Dol de Bretagne, its orthodox name, is a very curious old town, and well worthy of a visit by lovers of the antique and picturesque. Many of its ancient houses, particularly in La Grande Rue, have their gable-ends to the street, and are marked by the projection of the first story, so as to allow a passage underneath. This last is fronted by pillars with various forms of capitals. These dwellings date from the twelfth century. IN BRITTANY. 13 and are on the same models as those of Auray to be visited hereafter, as of our own old city of Chester, when I saw it thirty years ago. Although Dol has only a little over 4000 inhabitants, it owns a Cathedral dedicated to St. Sam- son, who is reputed to have come hither from England. This is a building of many epoch-stages, yet begun so late as the thirteenth century. Its predecessor was burned down in A.D. 1203. The church of Notre-Dame-sous-Dol is now used as a corn-market. On the extensive moors northward of the town is another village with 2000 inhabitants^ and bearing the name of a hill close by. This is Mount Dol. It is said to have been a sacred place of the Druids in old times. At the top of the granite rock here, about 150 feet high, is a fountain that never dries up, and believed to have resulted from the imprint of the Archangel St. Michael's foot, when he made a bound, from this Dol to the rock which bears his name in the bay between St. Malo and Granville. The latter may be seen on any map to the north- east of St. Malo. When one thinks of the distance of this jump, we must dread that the Saints of our time have degenerated in their acrobatics. At the sixth station farther on, we turn out on the platform of Rennes, the capital of Bretagne, 14 SUMMER HOLIDAYS in the olden times. The Villaine river, cuttincj the town in two, is met at the corner of the Mall by a canal, which is formed out of the waters of the Ranee and Ille. The territory of which Rcnnes is now the capital, is simply the department of Ille et Villaine. No longer a metropolitan city, it nevertheless retains much of its ancient gran- deur, whilst being one of the most solemn and serious places it is possible to conceive, — solemn and serious even to grimness and melancholy. I find it difficult to avoid regretting, that the whole city, instead of a considerable part, was not burned in the great fire of 1720, which lasted for seven days. There is a distracting regularity in the architecture of all the houses that have been built since that fire. Gloomily monotonous in their sombre colours of granite and sandstone, with a persistent aspect, even in the bright sun- shine, as if they were all in mourning. In its primitive days Rennes bore the name of Candate. It was the capital town of the Redones, one of the peoples of Armorica when the Romans came here, and the latter changed its title to that which it now bears, as more appropriate, in regard of the tribe whose chief town it was at the period. Traces of Roman occupation have been dug up and are treasured in its Museum. Medals of Nero, IN BRITTANY. 15 of Aurelian, and of many others from the City of the Seven Hills, were excavated when they were laying the foundations of the station. After expulsion of the Romans, Rennes was held by the Franks up to the reign of Charles the Bald, A.D. 840. He was conquered by Nomenoe, who took in A.D. 843, the title of King of the Bretons. The kingdom was, however, soon dismembered by the quarrels of Counts Pasquiten and Gur- vaud. From them commenced the terrible civil strifes, including the wars of succession, that went on till the marriage of Anne of Brittany with Louis Xn. A. D. 1 501, which united the Breton territory to the crown of France. Near to Rennes was fought the great battle of St. Aubin de Cor- mier, A. D. 1488, when Brittany lost its indepen- dence. In the succeeding year was ratified at Redon what is called the Treaty of the Orchard, between Francis H. and Charles VHI., the latter being the first husband of the celebrated Anne de Bretagne. The quiet and silence, amounting almost to a perpetuity of drowsiness, that pervade the streets of Rennes, are given as reasons for its being the central focus of civil, military, and ecclesiastical education. Besides its Cathedral — dedicated to St. Peter — and many churches, some i6 SU.]JAf/;j^ HOIJDA VS of which have been destroyed, and rebuilt over and over again, it has a number of schools and barracks. The only thing approaching to a cha- teau or fort which we find here is the Mordelaise Gate, which stands between the Cathedral and the Place des Lices. It is supported on each side by a large tower with slits for shooting through. By this gate the Dukes of Bretagne, and the bishops always made their solemn or triumphal entries. But there is something of the grotesque about it, with all that stateliness. For on the left as you come out of the Cathedral and in one of the projecting elbows of the tower, is a stone with an inscription on it. This is said to be taken from some very old monument, and to have on it the date A. D. 238. Although the words are now almost illegible — the stone is so placed that the letters appear upside down. One must there- fore stand on his head to decipher them. The several museums — of painting, sculpture, and antiquities — in the Palace of the University are open to the stranger at any time on present- ing his card at the conciergerie. The public are admitted from noon to 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays. Within the city walls as well as round the suburbs are many interesting places to visit. IN BRITTANY. 17 But if the holiday -seeker desires to stay here for a few days, he can buy for a franc at the book- stall in the station a guide to the city and its surroundings. From Rennes to Redon there are half a dozen stoppages of the train, and the journey generally occupies two hours. In this transit we cross the river Villaine twice or three times, so tortuous is its course. Through the country as we go along, there is little noticeable save the rurality of fields, farms_, and houses. CHAPTER III. Preparez vos billets, s'il iwus plait ! — Breton white caps on plat- form—Pilgrimage to St. Anne d'Auray — Comfortable Hotel de Bretagne — Cheeiy aspect of Redon — St. Conwoion — Dol- mens, Menhirs, and tumuli of Druids — Church of St. Sauveur — Square tower— Sparrows and swallows — Taking time by the forelock — Human chattering at railway bureau — Passengers in pens — Clatter of talk — That blessed baby — Double squint — Crammed to convulsions — Appeals of Corkscrew glances — Juvenile Breton martyrdom — Pernicious feeding of children in France — Vannes — Capital of Venetians — Naval battle in Con- clusum Bay — Scene at St. Anne station — Gendarmes again — Dress of Bretons — Embroidered clothes — Quaker's cut of purments. \REPAREZ VOS billets, sil votes plait ! — Prepare.':: vos billets, sil vojis plait!'' — each syllable drawled out in a monotonous chant, as the man in uniform strolled along by the side of the carriages on our stopping at the ticket-collecting place out- side of Redon. Such a contrast as it was to the lively — " Tickets ready — tickets, tickets please ; ALL tickets ready! " — which was spoken so rapidly a few days back at Southampton. But the vision SUMMER HO LI DA YS IN BRITTANY. 19 I had seen at the landing-place in St. Malo had prepared me for this. So I began to feel myself on my way to naturalization. As soon as we had got to the platform I observed a large number of clergymen, and a greater quantity still of white-capped Breton women. Mingled up with them were several old men — thin, slender curls hanging from heads covered with broad-brimmed, low-crowned hats, and stand-up collars to their coats. They were just arriving by a train which had come in at the same time as ours, — although from another direc- tion. For Redon is an extensive junction station. Anxious to know what M^as the occasion of such a presence, one of the porters, in reply to my inquiry, informed me that next morn- ing, 26th July, would be the feast of SL Anne d'Auray, and that these were pilgrims on their way thither. So fellow-rambler (who was my wife) and self at once made up our minds to pay a visit to the shrine. As the train by which we had come did not go farther that night than Redon we had to stay for the first on the day succeeding. Within ten yards of the station, in fact, across the street from the outside gate, is the clean and comfortable Hotel de Bretagne, where we put up, and at which the charges are very moderate. c 2 20 SUMMER HOLIDA YS When I rose up next morning very early, I was much pleased with the cheery aspect of everything here; — an impression that I cannot account for, but which I have always felt on my subsequent visits to Redon. This is more in- explicable, when one comes to think of its antiquity. In the early ages the town bore the name of Rotho or Rothomun. Here an abbey was founded in the ninth century by a saint, with the peculiarly Breton name of Conwoion. Even before that period it was inhabited by the Romans, of whose presence relics have been turned out on the banks of the Villaine. This is the river, of which we made acquaintance at Rennes, crossed on our rail journey yesterday, and that flowing to the eastern side of the town, empties itself into the sea near Penestin. But these relics of the Romans, or of the middle- age saint are new things, compared to what the traveller can see, if he visits the Cromlechs, Dolmens, Menhirs, and tumuli of the Druids (?), Celts (?), Gaels (?), or Kymri (?) which are to be found in plenty around Cojoux, St. Just, Treal, and Cresiolan — all within a carriage drive of Redon. Even so near as Renac, barely nine miles distant, many of these can be seen. Only a few minutes in the early morning could IN BRITTANY. 21 be available for me to look about, as we had to start by the 6 a.m. train, which goes on to Brest, and frequently takes passengers who have come by the night-trains from Nantes. Not far from the hotel, down to the left, and in a spacious open plot, on which the railway works are creep- ing in, is a grand square tower of great height and massive architecture. This, though belong- ing to the neighbouring church of St Sauveur, is perfectly detached from the latter. It seems to have been the belfry and clock-tower. The church itself dates from the end of the twelfth century. Many of the carved stone figures, that were on corners and elbows of this tower, are battered and disfigured. The doorway of en- trance to the steps mounting up to the clock is rotten and decayed. An aspect of lifelessness pervades the whole, church and tower included, — save from the chirupping of sparrows and the twittering of some swallows, that seemed to mock me as I went into the sacred building. A scream from one of the engines at the station added emphasis to the chatter of the birds. A solemn edifice it is ! with exqusitely carved pulpit, lofty arches, very spacious nave and transept, colossal pillars, oaken doors of great strength and magnitude. I walked round behind 22 SUMMER IIOLIDA ) S the grand altar, past the monuments of the many great men, who are buried here; — amongst them, Fran9ois I" Due de Bretagne. All these have their inscriptions defaced and mutilated — not so much (I am informed) by the hand of time, as by the profanity of visitors. As I came out, a luggage-train was passing in front, and within a few yards of the tower. Again the engine whistled, whilst the sparrows and swallows were as active as ever, and the sun was brightly coming up. Opposite to me was the Post-Office, whilst some short distance to the right, and behind a boulevard was a Mansion- House-looking building with the word " Tri- bunal " in golden letters above its peristyle. But hark ! there is the first bell, announcing the' train by which we are to start for St. Anne. And although I bought this morning one of those guides of " Redon and its Environs," I am afraid the engine will not wait till I can make use of it. Even my reflections about the anomalies and incompatibilities of the church, tower, sparrows, swallows, locomotive, and the sunshine are nipped in the bud by the ringing of that bell. I had begun to ask myself, " If I were a few days resident in that old tower, or amongst the for<7otten dead in the venerable IN BRITTANY. 23 church, and listening to the engine screeching, or to the sparrows and swallows in their joyful chirruping? But ciii bono ? Perhaps I may finish it in the train as we go along ! At the station we found a large gathering of people, the white Breton cap, as on yester-even- ing, being in the ascendant.' The greater number of these consisted of passengers and pilgrims, who had just arrived by two trains, one from Nantes, the other from Rennes. A much larger crowd than that here now, had gone in two specials to St. Anne's on the previous day, which was the eve of the feast. In matters of this kind, if in no other, the French, Italians, and Spaniards invariably " take time by the forelock," their grand festivities, processions, and rejoicings being commenced after mid-day preceding the actual die de fiesta. In South America I remember Good Friday is always commemorated by the burning of Pontius Pilate in effigy, the crossing of ship's yards, the half-masting of flags, and other signs of mourning begun as soon as the clock strikes twelve on Holy Thursday, 1 I may here mention, that besides the 26th of ^viS-Y, the feast-day of St. Anne, there is a pilgrimage made to this shrine at Pentecost, that of St. .Louis, and all the feasts of the Blessed Virsrin. 24 SUMMER HOLIDA YS On an occasion like this the bureau of the railway, both inside and out is such a Babel of liuman chattering as is not to be heard in many parts of the world. Redon is a junction ; and when a train comes in, passengers are expected to get off the platform as soon as they can. Then they have to wait with the other new-comers till tickets are given out at about twenty minutes before the next train starts. P'urnished with the billet^ you are admitted into a square pen — first, second, or third as the case may be — where though looking out on the platform, you are locked in till six or seven minutes before starting time. Such an arrangement as shutting people out from the platform of a railway station would hardly be tolerated in England. But it suits- admirably here. In France, and especially in the summer time, the tourist who wishes to observe all he can, should not confine himself to one class of carriage. I sometimes went in the first — occasionally in the second — but more frequently, on account of its superior coolness, in the third. In the last named, on an occurrence like the pilgrimage to St. Anne d'Auray, you can see the Breton peasantry in their most interest- ing peculiarities. We had some difficulty in getting two places IN BRITTANY. 25 amongst the third class— for which I had taken tickets — and as soon as we were seated all possi- bility of continuing the reflections, alluded to in my last chapter, completely vanished. Nine- tenths of the passengers in the large waggon were females. The clatter of talk was fearful. The idea of " a voice ever soft, gentle, and low — an excellent thing in woman," does not yet seem much developed amongst the fair sex in those parts of Brittany through which I have travelled. It is, however, nearly as bad with the conflicting sex — if that be a consolation. For almost every man talks — be it at a table d'hote, or in thestreets, with a voice as loud, and shrieky as if he were making a speech or delivering a sermon. Yet this gabble soon faded into insignificance, in sight of a horror that I observed in the next compartment to ours, and directly in front. A woman having on her lap a baby, with a most hideous squint in both eyes ! During the whole of our two hours' journey from Redon to St. Anne, and for what I know many hours before— the mother not only kept up her share in the general palaver, but stuffed " that blessed baby " in a way that was horrible to look at. She crammed him first with a lump of bread, that she had moistened in her mouth ; then with a piece of 26 SUMMER " HO LI DA YS green apple. To which succeeded some liard- boiled egg. On the first occasion I saw this series of doses repeated four times in the order enumerated — all the items being masticated by the mother previous to pressing them into the infant's mouth. The child begins to wriggle ! Perhaps some of those corkscrew glances at his parent's face were an appeal to her mercy. If so, they utterly failed in their aim. For she, with a face beaming in the most perfect happiness and contentment, as of a consciousness that she was giving him gratification, administered a drink from her breast. Only a moment's pause to arrange hei clothes ! The wriggling is suppressed ! But he is again hove down on his back across her knees, and once more he is charged with bread — apple — and hard ', with Count Villcmorgcs (since dead) as president. Amongst IN BRITTANY. 149 the gentlemen in the marquee from which the prizes are given to-day is one of great fame in France — whose Chateau of Bourg d'Ire is only a few miles off. This is Monsieur de Falloux — member of the French Academy — a celebrated orator, and Minister of Public Instruction in the Government of the late Emperor Napoleon III. As soon as M. Le Cadire, who is President of the Agricultural Exhibition for this year, had delivered the prizes, the mayor, Dr. Letort, then rose, and called the name of Anne Tessier. Whereupon, a middle-aged woman, dressed as Breton servants usually are — with an irreproach- ably white cap — advanced to the table. After a speech, brief though practical, the mayor handed her a medal and a sum of money, of which I shall explain the raison d'etre. More than a century ago, a legacy of 80,000 francs was left to the administration of the P'rench Academy in Paris, by a philanthropic gentleman named Monsieur de Montyon, to found a yearly gift of some hundreds of francs, together with silver medals, to be given as a recompense for domestic virtues — applicable to all parts of France — awarded, in preference, to the poorest, and as much as possible to those who had mani- fested striking evidences of filial piety. Since ISO S UMMER HO LI DA I ' 9 that time a Monsieur Saurian and Madame Marie PalmyreLasne have willed sums — though smaller in degree — to the same administration, and with a like benevolent object. Every year one of the directors of the Academy delivers in Paris an oration on these legacies, with an account of the different acts of virtue that have earned the prizes. By the discourse of Monsieur Cuvillier- Fleury, on the 13th of August last year, I find there were of the Montyon rewards, three of two thousand francs, four of one thousand, and seven- teen of five hundred francs each. Of the Saurian there was one of a thousand, whilst of the Marie Lasne, there were two of three hundred each. Every one of those specimens of" Nature's nobi- lity," or as an esteemed friend of mine designates them, " God's ladies and gentlemen," to whom a prize was awarded, affords materials for a bio- graphy, the interest of which is most wonderful. The Breton white cap of the woman before me at Cande seemed as if it ought to have a radiant halo of filial piety about it when Dr. Letort gave her history. Anne Tessier, aged thirty-four, and a spinster, is servant of all work, with a druggist in the town of Cande. For seventeen years she has been daily and nightly doing — what she does still — IN BRITTANY. 151 namely, toiling from morning till evening at her vocation in her master's house, whilst at night she walks home to her father's — distant a little over a mile from Cande. This is done whether it hails, rains, or snows. There she plies her faculties of a ministering angel. For her father is blind, — step-mother paralyzed, — and sister to that adopted mother in the same helpless condition as the last. All Anne's wages, except what is essential for her plain and unpretentious clothing go to the sup- port of these afflicted relatives ; and a large por- tion of the time at night, which with other people is passed in refreshing sleep, serves only to this devoted creature in looking after the wants and necessities of those under the parental roof But she never fails to be back at her post as soon as there is light in winter time ; and never later than six o'clock in summer. Whilst she is always gay, cheerful, and contented. The prize for " filial piety " was therefore well bestowed on Anne Tessier. CHAPTER XIV. Disregard of punctuality — " Tout de suite'''' not always "right away !" — Waiting for historic cavalcade. —Champ des Foiies — Site of Old Priory — Musty, mediaeval-looking Cande — Three gendaiTnes — Splendid fellows — Horses well trained — Noble Crusader smoking a meerschaum— Pages and equerries sucking 9igaritas — P'ranfois I. and Jean IV. of Brittany — Mounted trumpeters — Gaulois chief and soldiers — "Char d' Agriculture" — Franks — "Char des Fleurs " — "Char de I'lndustrie" — Perfect order and discipline of cavalcade —Doubtless due to presence of the Ubiquitous — Illuminations at night— Music and jollification at Prairie de la Porte — Source of expenses — Menhirs— Bourg d'Ire — Segre — Laval. S two o'clock approached — the hour men- tioned in the programme — I .strolled down to the Field of the Fairs; but there ^\•a.s no sign of lvcu preparation for the caval- cade. So I began to ruminate on the fact, how I have always found it a rule in France — that time is rarely kept to the period for which it is indi- cated. Even at railway stations you seldom start to the minute indicated in the bills. This, however, may be excused from the record of SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN BRITTANY. 153 railway accidents being so rare in that country, I have observed the same disregard of punctuaHty with Spaniards and ItaHans wherever I have met them. In France — be it at a hotel or elsewhere — the words tout de suite, which ought to be syno- nymous with the Yankee " right away," is no sooner uttered than it is forgotten. Thence, whenever a garcon or a bonne promises anything asked for that it shall be ready tojit ae suite, I always ask a definition of how many minutes are meant } Sometimes the answer is " Five minutes, Monsieur," or as frequently ten. Yet in no case have I had experience of the five being shorter than fifteen — or of the ten being less than half an hour. Whilst recording these experiences in my note- book I am seated on an empty cart in the shade of a stone wall opposite the Post Office. Perhaps not far from where the monks of St. Nicholas Abbey used to chant their hymns more than a thousand years ago. The sun is pouring down its hottest rays, In such musty, mediaeval-look- ing towns as Cande, the solar heat always feels to me intensified in its sensation — as if everything was too much dried up to take in any of the hot air that is about. Half-past two — quarter to three — and two quarters after go by ! Odd horsemen 154 SUMMER HOLIDAYS dropping into the open space — which by the way is not a field, as its title of the " Champ des Foires " would indicate, but is a macadamized piece of ground. These are dressed in their several uniforms of Gauls, Franks, Crusaders — pages, equerries, and other state officials. Now coming on with the crowd — but in the proper place to use the spurs, namely, on horseback — are three gendarmes. Splendid-looking fellows they are too, in what is the correct sphere for cocked- hat, epaulettes, sword, spurs, white gloves, and the other contingencies of their authoritative presence such as I have described it in my first chapter. Mounted on magnificent steeds, and not dawdling on the platform of a railway station. How they manage their horses in clearing a passage with so much skill and dexterity as if the animals had been trained at Astley's ! Some thousands of spectators are gathered by this time — half-past three — prominent amongst them being the white caps of the women. Some- thing of the grandeur looked for in the coming spectacle is damped to me by observing a noble- looking Crusader, decked out with a highly- polished brass crown, — quite as good as gold though — a long scarlet cloak, that swept behind IN BRITTANY. iS5 him from under the back of the crown, down over the horse's tail ; — coat of mail, glisten- ing in the sunshine, red cross on breast — steed caparisoned with red velvet bound by ermine ; — sword, saddle, and bridle appurtenances all in exquisite trim, and the truth must be told — smoking a dark-coloured and dirty-looking meerschaum — as vigorously as if he were doing it for a wager! I cannot help wondering if meerschaums were invented in the times of the Mission to the Holy Land ? But whether or not, the use of the weed is very general here to-day. Running about to find their places I see a number of pages, and other courtiers, dressed in caps with plumes, velvet tights, and much spangled embroidery, yet sucking paper cigarettes. I confess the sight made me feel queer. Particularly as I afterwards recognized some of these to be the pages of Fran9ois I., the great King of France who was called the Restorateur des Lettres (A.D. 15 15), and who after the battle of Pavia wrote to his mother an epistle, in which was included the memorable sentence — " Toiit est perdu fors rhonneitr. Is there not something of an anachronism in putting these incidents together } the Iwnneuy and the cigar it as ? 156 SUMMER HO LID. I VS As half-past three had come and gone, a shout arises ; the gendarmes bustle about with renewed fuss ; and turning towards the side from whence the cheer came, I see approaching, one after another, three triumphal cars that are to take part in the procession. Only ten minutes are needed to put them in their proper places, when the cavalcade moves on, as nearly as it could do, to the order laid down in the pro- gramme. At the head went half a dozen mounted trumpeters from the loth regiment of Cuirassiers, now stationed at Angers. Vigorously they blew as they marched along. To them succeeded a Gaulois chief, with twelve to fifteen soldiers — all on horseback. These Gauls were dressed in brass helmets, having small wings at the sides of this head-covering as we see it in Mercury, white frocks, with tight crimson trowsers, and a skin of some animal round the loins — no doubt as repre- senting the period "when wild in woods the noble savage ran." Each held in the left hand a shield on which was emblazoned that chubby round face, usually depicting Sun worship. Then came a large four-wheeled cart, " Char de T Agri- culture,'' drawn by four bullocks, each body of which was covered over with nets and tassels. IN BRITTANY. 157 The car itself was decked out with agricultural indispensables in the shape of tree branches, sheaves of corn, rakes, scythes, reaping-hooks, wheelbarrows, and so forth. From the centre went up a mast, at the top of which were half a dozen tricolor flags nailed on to a curved stick. The car also held about a dozen boys and girls, — all dressed in the best style of rural coquettcrie. To these succeeded the Franks — a chief and soldiers. The first named had a long sweeping white cloak and a white metal helmet ; but the latter seemed more like acrobatists for a circus than soldiers, as they wore bright blue, skin-tight pantaloons, that had a glaring scarlet stripe round the leg, of the fashion wherein it is seen on a barber's pole. They had white frock coats, white metal helmets, and spears. Next came a most tastefully decorated car, the " Char des Fleurs," drawn by four horses, a driver walking at the head of each, and seeming on its four wheels like a moving garden. Another 'bevy of children here ; all young girls, decked out in the gayest of garlands, and freshest of bouquets. After these succeeded the group of Crusaders, the chief of whom was a very fine- looking fellow, and indeed would have appeared to me the most chevalier-like of the procession- 1 58 SUMMER HOLIDAYS ists had it not been for the memory of the meer- schaum. But he was at present sans pipe, and passed on with his red-cross knights. Another large car, drawn Hkewise by four horses, held musicians, the village band of Cande. Now appears Fran9ois I., followed by pages, equerries, nobles, guards, — the suite being, like the grand Crusader, sans cigarettes. The King was dressed in the traditional flat beaver hat of the monarchs of the middle ages, with velvet coat, short breeches, silk stockings ; his horse's trap- pings resembling those of the Crusader chief, pur- ple velvet fringed with ermine. After the royal group follows the " Char de I'lndustrie," drawn by six horses, each horse having a plume of white feathers at his head, and being ridden by a postilion. In this vehicle blacksmiths were forging iron, whilst carpenters plied the saw and plane. The fifth and last corps comprised John IV., Duke of Brittany, followed by a number of nobles, pages, and guards on horseback. He looked every inch a king — a fact in which I hope to be pardoned for having a little vanity, when I remembered this was the Englishman Jean de Montfort, who won the battle of Auray in A.D. 1264^ — who erected the College to St. Michael where now stands La Chartreuse in Auray, — and IN BRITTANY. 159 who afterwards came into power as John IV., Duke of Brittany. The cavalcade went through every street in the town, round about, backwards and forwards, continuing the marching, the blowing of trumpets, and the music of the band till half-past five o'clock, in the most perfect order and discipline. Although this last was not observable in its minutiae, still no one could doubt its being due to the four gendarmes who came out in their usual stately ubiquitousness wherever the procession wound its way. Were a collection of people too crowded at a corner .'' — there was a gendarme so politely but effectively dispersing them. Did a block occur in the procession itself .''— the same magic influence at once set it right again. A car, carriage, or horse coming unwarily from a street crossing, was removed as nimbly as a scene-shifter would do his slides in a theatre .? — for the cocked-hat was always hard by. About 5 p.m. the various sections of the cavalcade separated by divisions, going off at respective tangents. At night the town was illuminated with lamps, candles, and Chinese lanterns, for gas has not yet penetrated to Cande. The trumpeters, after a few hours' rest, appeared on the grounds i6o SrMM/-:R HOUDA YS of the Agricultural Exhibition at the Prairie de la Porte. The village band likewise came out with energy. In some of the booths dancing was got up, whilst the merry-go-rounds and other spectacles did a roaring trade. All the expenses of this festival are made up from two sources. That of the Cattle and Agri- cultural department is effected by each farmer of the canton paying thirty sous (a franc and a half), and the proprietors contributing such larger sums as may be expedient. The cost of the cavalcade is defrayed by a subscription amongst the towns-people, and any surplus beyond what is needed for actual expenditure is handed over to the hospital. This institution in Cande is a very useful one, and is well managed. Much to the credit of the town, it is one of their ancient establishments that has not been done away with. For although in feudal times Cand6 had " a salt granary, Seignorial jurisdiction, almshouse, hospital, and college of secondary instruction ;" none of these exist now-a-days except the hospital. On one day during my stay at the Chateau Villegontier I paid a visit to the little bourg of Chalin, six miles off, and quite close to the majinificent Chateau of the Rochefoucault IN BRITTANY. i6i family. The object of this was to see a Dolmen that is on a farm called La Mauxionnaie, about half a mile outside the village. There it lies im- bedded in a ditch, without any of the several rich proprietors around taking the slightest in- tei^est to have it examined. Going out of Cande on the opposite road towards Laval, we pass by the Chateau of Mon- sieur de Falloux, at Bourg d'lre, and of Le Comte Henri d'Armaille, at La Douve. These are almost opposite to one another near to the hamlet, which doubtless was an appanage of the old Chateau de la Bijotiere hard by. The mansion of Monsieur de Falloux is built in the style of the Louis XIII. period, and withfn a neat chapel, which it contains, are several sculp- tures of the fifteenth century. La Bijotiere, — of which only a few fragments remain, that are covered with ivy, — belonged to the family of Monte Clert in the fifteenth century. Afterwards it passed into the hands of the Montmorencies. To this castle often came Fenelon (of whom we have such remembrances at school with his " Telemachus "), the celebrated Archbishop of Cambray, to visit his cousin the Marquis of Laval. Between Bourg d'lre and Segre is the college of Combre, not the least important of M 1 62 SUMMER HO LI DA VS the educational establishments in this part of France. Segre, one of the first baronies of Lower Anjou, and only three miles beyond Bourg d'Ire, was a fortified city in the middle-ages, belong- ing in A.D. 1097 to Jean de I'Espinay, who gave the church to the Abbaye of Nyoiseau, not far distant. In A.D. 1201, it passed into the hands of Berang^re de Castille, widow of our English Richard Cceur de Lion. Of its chronicles in those fighting times, I learn from M. de la Bessiere, that towards the end of the thirteenth century it was possessed by the Counts de La Gucrche. To these succeeded the house of Creon, as holders of its feudal rights. The strong castle of Segre was almost destroyed by an attack of English marauders, headed by John de La Pouille in A.D. 1422. But it was rebuilt in 1 591 by some of the Leaguers of the period in question. However, the Count of Rochefort, Governor of Anjou, very soon after had it al- most entirely knocked down. So that at present very few traces of its ancient fortifications are remaining. Situated on the river Verz^e, not far distant from where that stream unites with the Oudon and the Argos, is Segre, a very quiet, pretty /A' BRITTANY. 163 little town :— in every feature of its aspect, to a stranger suggestive of having seen better days. It has a quay, and its river is navigable for boats communicating with the river Mayenne, before the latter joins the Sarthe, and becomes the Maine as it passes by Angers. There are many umbrageous walks outside the town. Besides these, Segre has a savings-bank, some philan- thropic societies, printing-office, newspaper, and a very handsome parish church. This last has been constructed on the ruins of St. Sauveur, which was erected in the eleventh century. Very shortly, — perhaps in a year or two, — it will have to turn itself out of the sleep of cen- turies; for a railway line has been surveyed, that is to cut across the country from Laval to Angers. M 2 CHAPTER XV. Visit to Angers— The second capital of England in the Plan- tagenet period — Originally peopled by Andes tribe — Their chief Dumnacus — Roman curia — Dispute between Francs and .Saxons — Expulsion of Roman paganism — The first Bishop Defensor — Visitandine Nunnery, now a barracks — Cathedral on the site of a temple of Apollo — Tradition of foundation — Solemn light inside — Chief attractive features — Presentation by King Rene — The Logis Barrault — Tower of St. Aubin — Museums and Library — Awe-inspiring cocked-hats — Sculptor David — Ruins of'Touissant Abbey — By moonlight — Effects of age on ruins — Place de Railliement and Theatre — Chateau and its gloomy aspect — Birthplace of King Rene — His statue in the Place du Chateau. SHARP and pattering shower, such as they frequently have in France during the autumnal equinox, was falling on the glass roof of the railway station at Angers as I turned myself and carpet-bag on to the plat- form, and out of a train (from Nantes to Paris) which I had joined at Varades. The old city here must be considered doubly interesting to British tourists from what we are told of it in Adolphe Joanne's Itinerary; namely, SUMMER HOLTDA YS TN BRITTANY. 165 that, under the Plantagenets, Angers was the second capital of England. At the death of Richard Cceur de Lion, his brother, John Lack- land, usurped the rights of Arthur, seized on Angers, and with his own hand killed his nephew — the said Arthur. He did not remain long in possession of the place, for he was soon turned out by Philip Augustus, who reunited the An- jevin territory to the crown of France (A.D. 11 80 to A.D. 1 1 89). But to me the most interesting incidents in the history of Angers are those that by more than a thousand years preceded the last men- tioned. Little or nothing is known of it previous to the invasion of the Romans. Julius Caesar mentions, without designating their cities, the tribe of the Andes, who peopled the district at that period, and of whom Dumnacus was chief. Whether Angers held a civic position in those days we are not certain. But as soon as the Romans came into possession, they gave it the name of Julio-Magus — constituted it the capital of a Curia (or Senate House) and surrounded the settlement with walls. Of these there remains only a trifling relic to-day, inclosed within an iron railing quite close to the Academy. They built a Capitol on the spot where novv the t66 SUMMER HOLIDAYS bishop's palace stands; — they constructed a curial ])alacc over the site where we find the Chateau. And on that of the existing Cathedral of St. Maurice once stood, in the Roman period, a temple sacred to Apollo. Besides these, they made walls and constructed roads, of which vestiges — in the grand style, adopted by the Romans in everything they did — are still visible in many places. " The invasion of the barbarians," as the Northmen were styled, " came to put an end to the brilliant civilization of the Romans," says Monsieur L. I. La Bessiere. But he seems to have forgotten that the Christian religion came in at the same time. The Francs and Saxons dis- puted about the Curia of the Andes, The Saxon Odoacertook possession of it inA.D. 464. Chil- deric I. chief of the Francs, made himself mas- ter of it in 475, when he killed Paul, the Roman Governor. Under the domination of the Francs, the principal city of the Andes tribe took the name of Andegavi, from which we have now the modern name of Angers. Hand in hand with the expellers of Roman paganism came the introducers of the Christian faith. The first bishop of Angers who had the excellent name of Defensor (A.D. 338), was the founder of reli""ious establishments here. On the IN BRITTAN\ . 167 site of the temple of Apollo he raised a chapel in wood, the actual position of the Cathedral. Soon after he had erected two other churches, one to St. Peter, and the other to St. Maurille. Both of these were in the Place du Railliement, where to-day we find a vegetable market, with a card- board-looking theatre hard by. Passing from the station into the street, when the shower has ceased, I leave to my left a very large barracks, the exterior aspect of which by its architectural details, is at once recognized as having been a convent in its early days. It was, in fact, an institution of the Visitandine Nuns, erected in A.D. 1636, — spoliated by the Revolutionists in 1791, — and now secularized for the military. In its primitive condition it had room for only 500 inmates ; but the War depart- ment has made considerable additions. So that it can accommodate 1000 soldiers. Five minutes' walk brings us to the Cathedral, — so shut in by high houses, of streets and lanes around, — that it is difficult for a stranger at first sight to recognize its holy character. This refers to coming on it as I did from behind, through the Chaussee St. Pierre. For the mag- nificent fa9ade at the grand entrance, with the two towers of the twelfth century, at once pro- 1 63 SUMMER HOLIDAYS claim its sanctity. The history of its dedication is thus chronicled.' It appears that St. Maurice, formerly chief of a legion of Thebans, was, under Diocletian, called into France by Maximilian to aid in fighting the men of the new faith. The Roman chiefs, whilst staying at Martigny-cn-Valais, having ordered a sacrifice to the gods, Maurice and his com- panions declared themselves Christians, and re- fused to join in the pagan ceremonies. Twace their troop was decimated, but they still refused. Maximilian then ordered a general massacre. This occurred in A.D. 286, or fifty-two years pre- vious to the Episcopacy of Bishop Defensor. All of them perished in martyrdom at Agannum, since then styled St. Maurice of Valais. The sacrifice at the time made a great noise through the Christian world, small as was the latter at the period indicated. According to tradition this Cathedral was founded by Charlemagne (A.D. ^6%), or by his father Pepin the Short (A.D. 752), who was the first of the Carlovingian race that reigned over France. It was rebuilt and consecrated in A.D. 1030 by Hubert de Vendome, — the forty-first bishop of the diocese, and who died in A.D. 1047. > "Guide to Angers," p. 88. IN BRITTANY. 169 I have rarely been inside a building where the light through the stained glass window has such a solemn and soothing influence as that in the cathedral of Angers. The chief attractive fea- tures within are — i. a most elaborately carved oak pulpit ; — 2. a stretch of tapestry high up on each side of the nave ; — 3. a very large chair, on which are allegorical figures; — 4. a massive organ supported by four colossal Caryatides — and a font of green marble, supported by two lions in white. This last was presented by King Rene — Ren6 the Good — who was Duke of Anjou in A.D. 1434, and whose memory is held in the highest repute in his native city. For he was born in the Chateau, and as some say baptized in the very font now before us, at that time placed in the little chapel there,which was erected by his mother, Yolande d'Arragon. It is a chapel no longer — but is to-day converted into a fencing-room for the soldiers garrisoned in the old castle. Ren^ was the last of the hereditary sovereigns of Anjou. Not more than two minutes' walk from the Cathedral, one of the most interesting localities of Angers is in the neighbourhood of the Logis Barrault, in the Rue Courte. Here up a street, which ought to be styled narrow as well as short, and behind the tower of St. Aubin,— built in 170 SUMMER HOLIDA YS A.D. 1495 by Oliver Barrault, the treasurer of Brittany, I pass under a lofty archway into a courtyard, to find myself in the presence of a pair of cocked-hats, with plush knee-breeches, white stockings, coats trimmed with scarlet on the cuffs and collars — corresponding with the two majestic presences before me. I hesitated a little before proceeding in — chiefly to examine if the spurs, white gloves, and sword were there. But the last named military decorations being absent I took heart, and went on. These officials are the guardians, as well as demonstrators of the three museums, and the public library inside. The last mentioned inaugurated in A.D. 1798, at the bishop's palace, and since transferred here, con- tained beyond forty thousand volumes and manuscripts. There is a museum of painting as well as of sculpture. Under the latter head there is one specially devoted to the works of the celebrated Angers sculptor, J. David— consisting mainly of his own works that he willed as a legacy to his native town. There is also a Museum of Archeology, founded in 1841, which owes its origin as well as excellent organization to the good taste of Monsieur Godard. It has been enriched with many Celtic, and Roman relics turned out at the time — some few years ago — IN BRITTANY. 171 when they were excavating for the foundations of the raihvay station. Out of the David Gallery I step on to a plateau, nicely gravelled over — along the exit part and sides of which run the walls and windows of museums and library. Whilst walking in front to a distance of about twenty yards, I am stopped by a low bastion wall of about two feet in height. From this I look down into a large garden, that is flanked on the right side by the Prefecture, now domiciled in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Aubin ; — this is of the oldest religious houses, next to Le Ronceray at the other side of the river. It was founded by Childebert, whose father Theodebert was King of France in A.D. 534, when the Abbey was consecrated. The tower of this building, which I passed when coming to the Barrault Museums, is of the twelfth century, and about eighty feet high. Round the corner from the St. Aubin cloisters are the ruins of the Toussaint Abbey — the most graceful-looking architectural debris it is possible to conceive. From where I am standing now is an end wall with one of those ogival stone wheel- shaped window-frames, like that of Holyrood Palace — or the same form in Holy Cross Abbey, county of Tipperary. Through the apertures of 172 SUMMER HOLIDAYS the wheel window, I can sec trees growing up within the sacred precincts, and have rarely felt so much regret as at not having time to go through the broken relics. I am told that on a moonlight night the view of these is charming in the extreme. During my single day in Angers, I have experi- enced more than one sight, which impressed on me a conviction, that I have frequently thought over in my five and twenty years journeying through the world. It is, that age treats castles, churches, houses, and other edifices, to a certain extent as it does men. On some the hand of time is laid with softened touch, that is gentle to the end. Whilst others are smitten down with sharp strokes, expressive of a hapless fate. We find ruins, that, in spite of the anachronism, seem as if they never had been anything but ruins. Some wrecks of buildings have about them an air of parveim origin and intention. Whilst there are deserted castles, churches, and palaces, which though dating back several centuries beyond either of the last two classes, still preserve a majesty and dignity of bearing. Of this species I have seen some at Redon — at Nantes — at Quimperlc. But I have observed more of them at Angers than any place else. IN BRITTANY. I73 The same narrow Chaussee St. Pierre takes me back again behind the Cathedral, and down an incline into the Place du Railliement. This is now a market-place for the sale of fruits and vegetables sold out of baskets, which the women squat around upon the ground. On the spot where stands that gimcrack-looking theatre was the early Christian burying-ground. Is it too used-up a quotation to read in fancy on every figure outside that building the reflection : " To what base uses shall we come at last, Horatio " } From its first use as a cemetery, it was changed in King Rene's time to an institution called " Les grandes £coles," where the faculties of law and medicine delivered their lectures and held their examinations. The first theatre here was erected in 1820. Amongst the stars who appeared in it were the names of Rachel and Ristori. It was burned down in December, 1865, and rebuilt be- tween 1869 and 1 87 1. In spite of having all its front crowded with statues — allegories of Truth, Calumny, Eloquence, Lyric Poetry, and several others, it is but a shoddy building after all. And so consulting my Guide Book I am off to see something better worth looking at. Instead of turning up through the Rue d' Al- sace to the Boulevard, I hie my way to the 174 SUMMER HO LI DA YS Titanic Chateau by the water's side. Dark, frowning, and prison-Hke is that old building, seeming by the massiveness of its immense towers, and the depth of the fosse surrounding, that it was only meant for giants. This grand old fort was erected by Louis IX. King of France, who ascended the throne, some say in A.D. 1226, others in 1230, at the age of fifteen. He was the son of Louis VI I L who was called the Lion, and who had driven John Lackland out of France in A.D. 1203. The immense mass of masonry in this work is wonderful. The founda- tion is on a rock — the site of the Roman curial. Contemporaneous with the erection of this castle was erected by the young king a third inclosure of walls to protect the town. Of the last-named colossal work, the part on the left side of the Maine stretched for 2500 yards, — was supported by twenty-four round towers, from which armed men could fight, — and had six gates of entrance. Some of these are still standing. On the right side of the river, called the Doutre, the walls extended for 1500 metres, with nineteen towers and two gates. These protecting high works were furnished ^ith small towers, and machicoulis (slits to fire through). The walls, being built of dark schist, gave to the town the title of " Ville Noir," which IN BRITTANY. 17S it held for many years. The public is not admitted into the Chateau ; — therefore the modern visitor can see nothing of it except the walls, towers, and deep fosse, which surround it. The entire demolition of this grand old build- ing was ordered by Henry III., king of France, in 1574. What has been destroyed must have been restored again as I could not see any evi- dence of a* breach. The chronicles tell us, that all the towers were partly broken up, except that on the north side, which was respected because it had a mill on it. The complete destruction of the castle was arrested by the valiant Captam Dunnadieu Puycharic (A.D. 1587), afterwards made Seneschal, whose statue in white marble, and on his knees, is found in the Museum. He not only stopped the work of demolition, but had it restored to the condition in which it is found to-day. From this castle to the opposite side of the river there is reputed to be a subterranean passage, which in old times reached to the suburb of St. Nicholas. It is now said to be shut up. With it was also connected the chain which stretched across the river in the position at present occupied by the Bridge of La Basse Chaine. Higher up in the river was another chain put across, but these must have been 176 SUMMER HO LID A YS placed ill their respective sites long after Hast- ings and the barbarian Northmen had come up the river Maine with their flotilla,— subsequent to ascending the Loire, and sacking Nantes. Hastings occupied Angers for six years, and was only driven out after a long siege by Charles the Bald, helped by Solomon, king of Brittany. The grand operation by which this was achieved, was effected by turning the river Maine from its natural course, and leaving the bed of the river which flowed by the town to be perfectly dry. " This old fortress," says a recent writer,'^ "with its towers uncrowned, its bastions over- turned, its fosses filled up to half their size, still presents an aspect full of majesty and grandeur. The elevation of its black walls, which the rock sustains as well as begins — the aerial supports, which stick close to the flanks of the towers, receive on their narrow platform the sentinel, charged to survey the feet of the fortress, where the enemy could glide in silently ; — the memories of so many combats, labours, splendours, and ruins, make by good right this edifice one of the * "Angers, Ancien et Moderne, Guide de I'fitranger. Par E. L., Membre de la Societe d' Agriculture, Sciences et Arts d' Angers." P. Lachesse, 13, Chaussce Saint Pierre. TN BRITTANY. 177 most interesting in the city to attract the eyes of the stranger, and to speak to his spirit." In the centre of the roadway outside the Chateau, between it and the Place de 1' Academic, is a statue of the good King Rene, executed by the sculptor David, and put up here in 1853. There is a grace and a finish about this, joined to simplicity, that appeared to me very pleasing. It comprises a synopsis of the history of Anjou, in the small statuettes with which the base- ment is decorated. The King and the Sculptor here prove excep- tions to the axiom that a prophet rarely finds honour in his own country. The latter, born in 1789, and died in 1856, is held in the highest reverence. His statue holds the most prominent place in the Museum to which the town has given his name. Since 1806, the old walls of the city have been demolished, through the solicitation of permission from the Government, under the mayoralty of Monsieur de la Besnardiere. They are now re- placed by handsome boulevards. N CHAPTER XVI. Disagreeable water of the Maine — Waterworks at Fonts de Ce — Holiday town — The bridges of Angers — First bridge in sixth century — Those made by Foulques Nerva III. and Henry U. — 223 soldiers killed by falling of Suspension Bridge in 1850 — Doutre side of the r\.\er — *^Etole des Arts ei des Metiers" — Abbey de Ronceray — Hdtel Dieu of Henry H. — Churches of St. James and La Trinite — Comfort and luxury in King Henry's Hospital — Granary and caves cut in the rock — Now used as a brewery — The Mall and its pleasures — Cleanliness of Angers city — Interesting objects of antiquity — Great field for explorers. jHE river Maine, which flows through Angers, and is here as wide as the Thames at London Bridge, joins with the Loire, near the village of La Pointe, some mi'les lower down, and on the way to Nantes. Yet despite of its volume in front of the city, it is of disagreeable taste, and has little power of dissolving. These bad qualities are said to pro- ceed from much of its course being over a bed of schist hereabouts. The water used at Angers for domestic purposes is, therefore, brouglit from the Loire by the action at the Ponts de Ce, about SUMMER HOLIDA YS IN BRITTANY. 179 three miles distant, of two engines, which send it up through large pipes to a reservoir, wherefrom the city is supplied, at the corner of the Rue Madeleine. Fonts de Ce is the chief attractive holiday place for the people of Angers. On Sundays and feast days crowds of omnibuses and all kinds of vehicles, crammed with excursionists, are con- stantly on the road to and fro. I have not visited it, and therefore cannot tell of its attractions ; save that it is a town of a single street, nearly three quarters of a league in length ; — that it has three or four bridges, necessitated by so many divisions of the Loire, with the canal of Anthion in the neighbourhood. Relics have been found here, dating back to the period of Roman occupa- tion. There are likewise many interesting asso- ciations, connected with its Chateau. Crossing the Maine, to join both sides of the city, I find three bridges, to each of which historical recollections of very deep interest are attached. In order to see these as well as the Hotel Dieu and its accessory buildings, erected by our King Henry H., in A.D. 1153, I must take a coach. For I find rambling about on foot in the autumn heat to be more fatiguing to me N 2 i8o SUMMER HOLIDAYS than it was twenty-five years ago. These wonderful works of our Plantagenet monarch were done on the hillock of St. Lawrence, and chiefly through the superintendence of Etienne de Math las, at the period Seneschal of Angers. The renowned Archaeologist, M. Godard, informs us, that so far back as the sixth century, under the temporary ruler. Count Beppolen, when the Francs were almost cut in pieces by Waroch and his Bretons ; "the fugitives ran away towards Angers, in order to reach the bridge placed over the torrent of the Maine." Thus leading to the supposition, that, even at the early period indicated, there were inhabitants on the right side of the river, and communication between the two. Those ruins sticking out of the water are relics of that which was constructed by orders of Henry, when he had caused to be made weirs for the benefit of the hospital. But this latter was not put up till the weirs and bridge were finished. Yet before Henry's time, — indeed in A.D. 987, — a substantial bridge had been erected here by Foulques Nerra HI., at the period Count of Anjou. He was founder of the Abbey of Ronceray. I find by a chart of Angers, dated 1028, which was laid before the Archaeological IN BRITTANY. iHi Congress held at this city in 1841, that certain fisheries and tolls levied on mills were made over by Foulques to the Prior of the Abbey for its use and benefit. So far as can be learned, I believe the smaller bridge, which debouches from the Rue Bourgeoisie, to be on the site of that first built by the Count. Not more than a hundred feet from this is the Pont Grand. Up to the end of last century there was a row of houses on piles at each side of the former, resembling what was on London Bridge in ages not long gone by. The lowest down the river of these in Angers, — the position of the Basse Chaine in early days, — has very sad memories connected with its location. Many of my readers may remember, that up to 1 850 there was a chain-suspension bridge here, attached to two stone pillars — one at each side of the river, and that on the city bank, abutting from the lowest tower of the Castle. On the 1 5th of April, in the last mentioned year, a battalion of the nth regiment of infantry had arrived at the Doutre side, and bivouacked there for the night. Next morning, after a pleasant breakfast and all in high spirits, they set out to march across to their barracks. Going over the bridge with a swinging step — the structure snapped in two, and i82 SUMMER IIOLIDA YS the wliole detachment, except the Colonel lead- ing, fell into the river. He, escaped, as it were, only by the merest chance. For his horse's fore- legs were on the solid ground, whilst the hind on'es were on the broken chain. The animal's agility in jumping saved him. The men being in marching order, and with fixed bayonets, it can scarcely be wondered at, that 223 perished on the occasion. The funeral procession of all the bodies recovered was one of the most melancholy sights ever witnessed by the population of Angers. The late Emperor, who was at the period Prince President, sent down an Aide-de-Camp to represent him at the burial ceremonies. In a few days after Napoleon himself came, and was most solicitous in his attentions to the wounded, who had been rescued. Like all the others, the bridge across here is now of stone. By one of the upper two the coach takes me to the Doutre side. And then through streets so narrow, there is scarcely room for a mouse to creep between the carriage wheels and the foot- way. This latter is barely a slice of trottoir. Nearly all the houses by which we pass here are "antiquest of the antique." On several I see square blocks of sand-stone in the walls, with what seems, in the rapid transit, only hierogly- IN BRITTAKY. 183 phics. But I know these to be family escutcheons of the old nobility, in the days of feudalism, and of whom little or nothing is left but these and a few such-like " insubstantial pageants." In a large open space, facing the river, I pass a grim and prim-looking mass of white-washed building, on which are painted in large let- ters — "■ Ecole dcs Arts et des Metiers!' This was originally founded by Napoleon I. in 1807, at Beaupreau, about sixty miles to the south- east (in the same department of Maine et Loire). In 181 5 it was transferred to Angers, and located where it stands to-day. It contains now beyond 300 pupils, and has turned out some very eminent men. But it has swallowed up, or coalesced with, in the fashion of an octopus, the old Abbey of de Ronceray, of which I have already spoken as founded by Foulques Nerra, Count of Anjou at the end of the tenth century. The name is said to have been derived from a bronze gilt statue of the Virgin found amongst some roots {an milieu dcs rojices) in a crypt here. Adolphe Joanne ' tells us these were discovered in A.D. 1527, whereas the Angers Guide ' dates the finding of the statue to the period of Foulque's reign. From which 1 Op. p. 122. 2 P. 24. 1 84 SUMMER HOLIDAYS I am obliged to draw a pair of inferences. First, that if Monsieur Joanne be correct, the monas- tery must have had some other name during the interval between its foundation in A.D. 938 and discovery of the statue in 1527. Yet he gives no explanation of other title. Second, if E. L. be right, we may suppose a more ancient church to have stood here (before the Ronceray period), of which the statue in question was one of the relics. Not having much time at my disposal, I was obliged to pass on without going inside. For my mission was to see the Plantagenet Collection, as I may entitle them; — the Hotel Dieu, with its gra- naries and vaults; — the chapel of St. John which was attached to the hospital ;— the churches of St. James and La Trinitc close by. I had but a cursory glance at these solemn ruins. The Hotel Dieu, erected in A.D. 1153, shortly after Henry ascended the throne of England, is said by some malicious people to have been built by the monarch as an expiation for the murder of St. Thomas a Becket. Rut as it was finished nearly eighteen years before that event took place, such a deduction is simply prepos- terous. It was not only a hospital for the aged, and IN BRITTANY. 185 infirm of both sexes, and of all conditions, but principally for the poor. And yet, whilst chiefly designed for the destitute of this world, it was built, fitted up, and furnished in the comfort and spaciousness of a palace. The great room, in which there are twenty-four arches, supported by pillars, and divided into three large segments, is now occupied by beer vats, — for the place is desecrated by a brewery ! Wandering through the chambers without a guide, it is difficult to recog- nize the peculiarities of its former viMage. But one can see what wonderful labour and expense must have been laid out in their erection. A workman at the brewery — a Barclay and Per- kin's model of humanity — came with me up a nar- row ladder to the granary^ where we find more beer vats. Thence descending, and having obtained a light, we went into the caves. These, although cut in the solid rock, have their floors on a level with the outside road. I groped through six or seven of them, and there may be more. Beer vats here, — likewise water trickling down every- where, — and a large spring well in the centre of one vault-chamber. The new church of La Trinite, in connexion with, and alongside the old one, was barely looked at. Returning to the hotel in time for dinner, I 1 36 SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN BRITTANY. afterwards spent a delightful evening, listening to a military band that played on the Mall, quite close to the Hotel d'Angers where I was staying, and opposite to the Mayoralty. This Mall is a favourite promenade in summer evenings, and a most charming spot. It is full of flower-beds and pretty walks, — having also a profusely- showering fountain, that, in these warm even- ings, spreads a delicious coolness around. I have left few places with greater regret at not being able to see more of it than Angers. It is a most agreeable old city, as well as one of the cleanest and freshest that I have visited in France. Of interesting subjects for the tourist, who is fond of antiquities, it is overflowing. CHAPTER XVII. Sable and its marble quarries — Chateau of Duchesse de Char- treuse — The river Sarthe— To the Abbey of Solesmes— Famous for works of Art— Gracious courtesy — Accommodation for strangers— Thorn from our Saviour's Crown a relic here— Anachronisms and anomalies— Statue of St. Peter— Beautifully carved stalls— The Sepulture of Christ — Sepulture of Blessed Virgin— Crowning of the Virgin in Heaven— Christ amongst the Doctors— Figures of sublime Majesty— Divine aspect of the Saviour— King Rene lowering the winding-sheet -^Prior Jean Bougler doing like office with that of the Virgin— Soldiers' faces battered and smashed— Figures of Luther and Calvin representing the Doctors in the Temple — Foundation of Abbey in eleventh century— Strange reading during dinner — Chateau Juigne. IDWAY between Angers and Le Mans— or twelve leagues distant from either — again I get out of the train at Sabl^ — a place famous for its marble quarries. The town is about a quarter of a mile from the station, and like the greater number of those in Brittany is very old. It is built on the side of a declivity, sloping down to the river Sarthe, which falls into the Maine, — a short distance before the latter 1 88 SUMMER HO LID. I YS reaches Angers, and receives into its waters the river Erne, not far above Sable. There is not much to be seen in passing through Sabl6, and it is difficult to imagine where can be stowed away the 5000 inhabitants which it is reputed to contain. As we cross the bridge, and look up to the right — although on the left bank of the stream — I see a very spacious, and solemn-looking Chateau, the property and residence of the Dowager Duchesse de Chartreuse. This has all the appearance of a comparatively new building. Remnants of the old Chateau are still about in the shape of a few large towers behind, and one in front, surmounted by a belfry. As I get along and pass out of the town, I pass on the left a church and a considerable-sized Hotel Dieu — both as antiquated and used-up looking as it is possible to imagine. Perhaps I should have already explained that I am mounted along- side the driver on an omnibus, which I have all to myself. For I hired it at the station to take me out to the Abbey of Solesmes — distance two miles — fare one franc. The mining for marble, — with machineries for polishing this, as well as a few high chimneys con- venient to coal-shafts,— points out the industry of the place as we go along. To the little bourg IN BRITTANY. 189 of Solesmes, in the centre whereof is the large monastery, so celebrated through France for some superb works of art, and to see which was the chief object of my visit. Sending in my card from the conciergcrie, I was invited to enter, and after a few minutes' waiting in the guest's room, the Hotelier of the Abbey, the Rev. P. Fontaneau came in. With the most gracious courtesy I was asked to remain for dinner, as well as pressed to stay for the night. The round tower detached from the main building is fitted up with from sixteen to twenty beds for strangers, who visit this place. Sometimes they are entertained here — of course gratuitously — for a week. But this only takes place when they come on retreat, or religious . devotion — or are known to the community. No fem.ales are admitted inside the convent walls. The Reverend Hotelier sent at once for a countryman of mine, temporarily resident there, — Mr. Patrick O'Leary, of the Irish Col- lege at Paris, — who chaperoned me through the grounds, the chapel, and the monastery. Before commencing my tour, I may explain that this Abbey was founded somewhere about the beginning of the eleventh century.^ It was 1 Adolphe Joanne, Op. p. iii. IQO SUMMER HOLIDAYS consecrated in A.D. loio, as a Priory dependent on the Benedictine Abbey of La Couture at Le Mans. On the return from the Holy Land of the first crusade in the twelfth century, there was brought here as a gift one of the thorns, taken from the crown, that w^as put on our Saviour's head by the Jews before His crucifixion. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, a silver-gilt case was procured for it by the Prior Cheminart, and it is still preserved in the church as a highly- prized relic. When the Revolutionists came here in A.D. 1791, the Abbey was sold, and the sacred thorn stolen, but it was again restored in 1801. It is sometimes exposed for devotional purposes ; but I do not know on what occa- sions. Much as this place is spoken of for its famous works of Art, in my whole progress through it, I could not avoid being impressed with what seemed to me their anachronisms and anomalies. Here in the Square Arcade — on one side of which is the dinner room — I find Indian corn, and scarlet oleander flowers, springing up amongst cabbages and potatoes. On the side buttresses are several broken statues — one of a saint on horseback, and the rider having but a sincile leer — venerable-looking bearded figure with IN BRITTANY. 191 nose smashed — and a general aspect of disloca- tion amongst them all. Entering the church, in front of the door is a statue of St. Peter, wearing the tiara, and the bunch of keys at his side. On the basement of this is an inscription of something Greek — though done in Roman alphabet. The upper end of the nave, where the great altar stands, is quite new — as if the plaster were scarcely dry upon it. Yet on either side, between the altar and transept, are beautifully-carved oak stalls, of the sixteenth century. On these the genealogy of our Saviour's parents is demonstrated. In the transept, and at both sides, we see the works of Art, for which Solesmes has attained a celebrity. Of these the chief are the Sepulture of Christ, and the Sepulture of the Blessed Virgin — the former being on the right side, and the latter on the left. On the side where the Saviour's monument exists, there is no other. But over that of the Virgin, there is one group representing her in the moments of dying, and our Saviour administering to her the Sacraments — with St. John and St. Peter supporting. Six of the Apostles are also present, together with St. Hierothee. The crowning of the Blessed Virgin in Heaven is another group — whilst a 192 SUMMER HO LI DA YS fourth represents the Holy Mother and St. Joseph finding our Saviour disputing with the Doctors in the Temple. Several of the figures in these scenes are expressive of the most sublime majesty of out- line, and finish of Art. In the first-mentioned we view the wonderfully impressive and Divine appearance of our Saviour, recumbent on the winding-sheet as He is about to be lowered into the tomb. The woe-stricken attitude and ex- pression of the Virgin mother, supported by St. John, are very fine. At her left we see two women, dressed in the costume of the fifteenth century, one of whom holds in her hands a vase of incense. These are known to be likenesses of persons who were benefactors to the Abbey. The figure of Mary Magdalen, seated at the side of the sepulchre, is considered — apd with justice — to be the pearl of the monument. But amongst the personages holding on the shroud, and lower- ing the Saviour into the grave, we notice the figure of Joseph of Arimathea, dressed in a cos- tume of the period of Louis XI., and a collar of some order of chivalry round his neck. The two soldiers, guarding the tomb, have had their lances taken away — noses battered so that not a vestige of nasal appendage remains— arms broken off — IN BRITTANY. 193 helmets smashed — and presenting a general mutilation. This was done from time to time, by the peasantry, who came on pilgrimages to the tomb, and who would not recognize that soldiers had any right to be on their desecrating watch. In the group at the burial of the Blessed Virgin there are fifteen figures. Of those four are posed like these at the Saviour's — each holding a corner of the winding-sheet to lower the body recumbent on it into the tomb. The face of the dead Virgin is as the mother of God may be supposed to have appeared — mild, placid, angelic, divine, and resigned. St. Peter, with his hands clasped in an agony of grief, is a very striking figure. St. John holds one corner of the shroud, and near him, to the -'ght of St. Peter is St. James the Less, lean- ing downwards as if in an attitude of grief, towards the Virgin. Another corner of the wind- ing-sheet is held by a priest in the garb of a Benedictine monk. This is the portrait statue of Jean Bougler, who was Prior here about A.D. 1550 when the work of this Sepulture was executed. That of our Saviour had been ac- complished under the Priorship of Bougler's predecessor nearly fifty years previously. One of the figures seated near the tomb of the Virgin O 194 SUMMER HOLIDA YS is fearfully mutilated by the country people. They supposed it to represent the Devil search- ing in a book for the sins of the blessed Virgin and disconcerted at not finding any. The group, representing the crowning of the Virgin in Heaven, is too high to permit me to get a good view of it. Opposite to it we see ten personages, representing the scene of our Saviour found in the Temple disputing with the Doctors. There can be no doubt that in these last named are put portrait figures of Luther, Calvin, and the prin- cipal leaders of the Reformation ; for the like- nesses are said to be life-like. I hope I shall not be considered a vulgarian in taste, or a know-nothing in the Fine Arts, for confessing that these works did not impress me very favourably. I look upon Art to be most sublime when it is most truthful. Therefore putting King Rene — though he was Rene the Good — in the position of holding the mortuary sheet at the burial of our Saviour, or placing Prior Jean Bougler, to perform the same office at the burial of the Blessed Virgin, seemed to discord with my ideas of the truth of Art. So that I left them much disappointed. It was in A.D. 1833 that this Abbey came into the possession of its present occupants, the /iV BRITTANY. 195 Benedictine Monks. There is a statue of St. Benoit at the end of the garden, and where the recreation promenade is made, under shelter from the rays of the sun by a row of beech-trees. Through a brief of Pope Gregory XVI. in 1837 this was created an Abbey of Benedictines. At the present time its community consists of forty priests, fifteen novices, some of whom are priests, and fifteen brothers, a total of seventy, under the charge of the Abbe Dom Couturier, who was absent on the day of my visit. In the chapel I was curious enough to go down into a crypt, where repose the remains of the last Abbe, Dom Gueranger, who was a native of Sable — held in high frien'^ship by Pope Pius IX. — and who died on 31st January last, 1875. On the opposite side of the road, and a few hundred yards distant, is a convent of Bene- dictine Nuns, to which is attached a very large church. The bell now rings for dinner, and I accompany Mr. O'Leary to the Refectory, where I am pre sented by the Rev. Hotelier to the Rev. P. Piolin, acting Prior in the absence of Dom Couturier. After the introduction, the Prior, locum tencns, poured water on the hands of each of the strangers — of whom there were four beside mj^self — whilst O 2 196 SUMMER HOLIDAYS an attendant held a basin and towel for us. The dinner was an excellent one. During its pro- gress one of the priests was up in a pulpit read- ing a lesson from a book. This after some time grated upon my ears ; as the words " Oligarchy," •' Aristocracy," Democracy," and " Bourgeoisie," were repeated over and over again, and had the changes rung upon them to a most distressing extent. After dinner on inquiring what the reading was, I learned it was an extract from a famous work, of which a chapter is read every day at meal times : " Les Lois de la Societe Chretienne, par Charles Perin ;" one of the Pro- fessors at Louvaine. The Abbey is quite close to the left bank of the Sarthe, and overhanging the river, On the opposite side are some marble quarries, and polishing houses for the stone that is taken from them. Looking up the stream we can see the woods and ruins of the old Chateau Juigne. In this neighbourhood was a Roman settlement. For there still remain ruins of a church and vestiges of a camp, both Roman. The thick woods hide the view from the Abbey, of the new Chateau, which is rich in family portraits. The last eventful occurrence connected with this place was the visit of President Le Marcchal 2^Iac- IN BRITTANY. 197 Mahon, to it in August 1874, when he was received in Royal State by the authorities of Sable, as well as by the Marquis de Juigne at the mansion of the latter. CHAPTER XVIII. To Notre Dame du Chcne- Miraculous statue of A.D. 1494 — Charming prospect — Valley of Sarthe— Shops at the Church door— Scaffolding around the building — Ex voto offerings and bannerets — Ancient traditions — Of wild pigeons as of starry lights — Statue placed in an oak-tree— Miracle subsequently occurring — Crick in the neck — Other prodigies — Oak held in veneration after it fell down — Pi-eservative against thunder and lightning — Large pilgrimages in 15 15 — Results of the Calvin heresy — The Huguenots laying the country waste — Sable pillaged — Farms despoliated — Monasteries destroyed- — Pil- grimages suspended — New miracles — Reign of TeiTor here — Sale of church of Notre Dame — Purchaser broke his leg — Statue concealed by Mayor of Vion — Restoration in 1866 — New chajjel and nev.- wonders — Latest of those in October 1S74. xWING engaged a one-horse phaeton to come out for me from Sable at two o'clock, I directed the driver to take me over to the Church of Notre Dame du Ch^ne, a distance of six kilometres, or about four miles from Solesmes. All I had previously known about this spot was that it had been at one time a place of large pilgrimages, and wonderful miracles in connexion with a statue of the blessed Virgin, dating back to A.D. 1494. SUMMER H OLID A YS IN BRITTANY. 199 There is a charming prospect over the valley of the Sarthe as we drive down a sloping road in view of the chapel of Vion to our destination. I find Notre Dame du Chene situated in a wild camp district, and not yet finished ; as the tower is covered over with scaffolding. There is no house in the neighbourhood save the spacious dwelling of the priests. Save also — I should say — half a dozen wooden structures, evidently for shop-py purposes. In those I see exposed for sale small statues, rosaries, medals, and such things as are generally used in their devotions by the peasantry. Strangers coming to these shrines are always importunately solicited to buy something before entering the chapel ; — not so much for a sort of toll-rate, as that every one is accredited to travel hither with the same intention, i. e. of devotion. Several large blocks of cut stone are about, though no workmen are visible either below or on the scaft"olding. Only one woman was in the chapel when I entered, and a priest passed through on his way out from the Sanctuary, during the quarter of an hour that I sat there making my observations. The building is a very ordinary one, with a scant and unfinished appearance about the in- side as well as the outside. Not more than half 200 SUMMER HOLIDA YS a dozen ex voto bannerets are on the walls. But a considerable quantity of offerings, in the shape of silver crucifixes, medals, and small pictures, was nailed up on each side of the nave at its upper end. These all seemed very trifling com- pared to what I had seen at St. Anne d'Auray. On the altar, amidst a quantity of new-looking candlesticks and ecclesiastical furnishings, I recognize the statue— brown and discoloured v.ith age, and its vicissitudes— about which we are told an extraordinary story by the Pere Dom Paulo Piolin,' — the acting Abbe of the Solesmes Priory, — and by whom I have had the honour of having water poured over my hands before dinner a few hours ago. Nearly as far as tradition or history records of the spot where the Chapel of Notre Dame du Chene now stands, it has been always considered a place worthy of veneration. For here the shepherds, looking after their sheep, and the labourers, cultivating the soil, used frequently see flocks of wild pigeons careering about the locale. Nobody knew the whereabouts of their • "La Miraculeuse Chapelle de Notre Dame du Chene. " Par le R. P. Dom Paul Piolin, Benedictin de la Congregation de France. (Sixieme Edition.) Le Mans. Imprimerie Lechigeux-Gallienne, iS75- IN BRITTANY. 201 nests or abiding-places ; and they were so timid, they would fly away if any one attempted to approach them. Often too during the night time did the people observe flames in the form of stars rising up from the earth, and remaining for some time suspended in the air, when they vanished like the light of a candle on blowing it out. To such a simple people as the Breton peasantry of this part, these signs were not only awe-inspiring, but unintelligible. At length, in the year 1494, a holy priest named James Buret placed in an oak, which was growing in the vicinity, a small statue of the Blessed Virgin carrying the Divine infant in her arms. We are not told, — but we may suppose from the simple act of the holy man, — that there was no house of God — no edifice of church or chapel in the neighbourhood. This sacred