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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 Theodore Stanton 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DC 801.M47M47 
 
 3 1924 028 317 984 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this bool< is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028317984 
 

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FIRST WELCOME FROM THE PRESS TO MAYVILLE. 
 
 — — ^5iiSSKa«a»=~-— 
 
 DAILIES. 
 
 " DAILY CHRONICLE ":—" Will offer a unique combination of international 
 attractions." 
 
 " DAILY GRAPHIC" : — "With its pine woods and scientific drainage, Mayville 
 should attract visitors equally from London and Paris." 
 
 "DAILY NEWS": — "Mayville is said to enjoy great advantages in the way of 
 sea air and pine woods." 
 
 " DAILY TELEGRAPH ":—" French Artists have known its attractions for a 
 long time." 
 
 " FINANCIAL NEWS ":—" The new Eesort ought soon to become what those 
 interested in the scheme hope to make it — the most popular of fashionable 
 Resorts in Prance." 
 
 "GLOBE": — "The attraction of 2,000 acres of pine woods close to the sea is 
 certainly one that no other French Eesort can oSer." 
 
 " MORNING POST " : — "The French are sadly in need of a watering-place 
 organised on a more modern and civilised system than the majority of those 
 that exist at present." 
 
 "NEW YORK HERALD" iParis Hdition') :—" MajviRe bids fair to become a 
 first-class Pleasure Resort-. It has been suggested that the British Embassy 
 establish a summer succursale there." 
 
 " PALL MALL GAZETTE " :— " Open sea, beautiful sands, bathing, pine woods, 
 and good railway communication." 
 
WEEKLIES. 
 
 "ARCHITECT": — "The Company is as much deserving of support in England 
 as in France, and it is likely to be most prosperous." 
 
 "BUILDER": — "A name the compound character of which, half-English and 
 half-French, seems to typify the equal relations of the new Resort with each of 
 the two countries." 
 
 " LADY " : — " Our French neighbours have gallantly christened it " Mayville," out 
 of compliment to the Duchess of York." 
 
 " LADY'S PICTORIAL" : — " It is charmingly situated and speculations in 
 
 land are already rife." 
 
 "OBSERVER": — "A resting place worthy of the site and the scene will be 
 realised for the common advantage of London and P^ris." 
 
 "PUNCH";— The country round Mayville is full of historic association.... 
 Certainly there is fruitful grotind to till. To begin with, Mayville has 
 the rare advantage of combining pine forest and sea air. The story 
 of the forest is a romance . . . . " 
 
 "QUEEN" :— " Etaples is a perfect treasure for those who combine seascape with 
 landscape, figure with quaint architecture. A better all-round village so near 
 England, vid Calais or Boulogne, for artistic uses, does not exist." 
 
 " REFEREE " : — '' A delightful combination of seashore, sands and pine woods," 
 
 "SKETCH": — "Mayville, with its splendid seashore and its background of 
 lovely woods, will have charms unrivalled on the coast of France." 
 
 " TRUTH " : — " The immensely tall twin lighthouses of Le Touquet, snowy-white, and 
 placed at the comer, of land between the Canche and the sea, are most efifective 
 items in the picture." 
 
MAYYILLE^ 
 
 9in 'MnQlo-fttnt'^ pirasauna: 
 
 ITS ATTRACTIONS AND AIMS, 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY PHIL MAY. 
 
 Thither continual pilgrims crowded still 
 
 From all the roads of earth that pass thereby: 
 
 For, as they chanced to breathe on neighbouring hill, 
 The freshness of this valley smote their eye. 
 And drew them ever and anon more nigh. 
 
 "Castle of Indolence." 
 
 PRICE: TWO SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE, 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 T. FISHER UNV^IN, PATeRNOSTER SQUARE, E.C. 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONEKS' HALL.] [ALL RISHTB RESERVED. 
 
LA COMPAGNIE DE MAYVIULE (Limited). 
 
 HEAD OFFICES - - - Staples (Pas-de-Calals). 
 LONDON OFFICES - - 14, Cookapur Street, S.W. 
 PARIS OFFICES - - - 25, Rue de la Palx. 
 
TABLE OF OONTEK'TS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Etaplbs 1 
 
 A Paradise of the Picturesque 13 
 
 Shooting and Fishing 15 
 
 Boating, Yachting and Skating 16 
 
 Cycling and Riding 18 
 
 Golf 20 
 
 The Woods at Mayville 21 
 
 Maytille 25 
 
 The Estate 30 
 
 The Environs 33 
 
 The Chateau d'Hakdelot 34 
 
 Montreuil-sue-Mbr 39 
 
 The Chartreuse of Notre Dame des Pres 46 
 
 St. Josse 50 
 
 The Abbey op Valloirbs 53 
 
 Various Points op Interest 56 
 
 Agincourt 57 
 
 CHiCY 57 
 
 CuCQ 56 
 
 Frencq 66 
 
 La Oalotterie 56 
 
 Merlimont 56 
 
 EuE 56 
 
 Tbepied 56 
 
 Valley op La Codbsb 56 
 
 Quentovic « 68 
 
ILLTJSTEATIOIirS AISTD PLAINS. 
 
 The Future Matville. 
 
 Plan ov Matville, by Mr. Charles Garaier. 
 
 Btaplbs and its Fishing Fleet from 
 Matville Woods 1 
 
 Etaplbs prom Matville Woods ... 2 
 The " Toilers op the Sea," Etaplbs ... 3 
 Fishermen on the Canche 13 
 
 Prom a Painting by Eugtoe Chigot. 
 
 A ChIlet at the Mouth op the 
 Canche 14 
 
 Etaples Fishing Smack 
 
 16 
 
 CouNTT Road theough the Matville 
 Woods 21 
 
 Matville Woods ... 
 
 ... 22 
 
 The Lighthouse Gardens at Matville 24 
 
 Walks in the Matville Woods 
 
 On the Matville Dunes 
 
 25 
 
 26 
 
 The Two Lighthouses AT Matville... 27 
 
 Plan op the Matville Estate ... 30 
 A Sunset at Matville 32 
 
 Le ChAtbau d'Hardblot 
 
 [Looking Westward.] 
 
 Le ChIteau d'Hardelot 
 
 [Looking Northward.] 
 
 Market Dat at Monthbuil 
 The Ramparts — Montrbuil 
 
 The Ramparts — Montreuil 
 
 page 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 39 
 40 
 
 41 
 
 The Oourttard, Hotel de France, 
 Montreuil 42 
 
 La Chaktebusb de N6tre Dame des 
 PRfe 46 
 
 Feeding the Poor at Noon. 
 
 La Chartreuse de N6tee Dame des 
 
 Pb^s 
 
 The Great Cloister. 
 
 The Abbbt op Valloires 
 
 The Garden. 
 
 The Abbet OF Valloires 
 The Abbbt op Valloires 
 The Mator's Farmtard, Cucq ... 
 La Chapbllb du St. Esprit, Rue 
 
 47 
 
 53 
 
 54 
 55 
 56 
 57 
 
 Roman Map op the Site op Matville 
 AND Neighbourhood 58 
 
 Plan op the Capitainheriede Verton 59 
 
 Railwat Map. 
 
1 
 
ETAPLES. 
 
 [N the year 1875, M. Villemessant, the celebrated founder and first 
 editor of the " Figaro," wrote : — " At less than three miles distance 
 from Etaples, near the mouth of the Canche, there is a stretch of 
 beach sheltered by a forest of 800 hectares, and lovelier than that of 
 Trouville. If God grants me life, I should like to make of this beautiful 
 region an Arcachon of the North, which might adopt the ancient device : 
 ' Beri, solitudo ; liodie, civitas ' (Yesterday, a desert ; to-day, a community). 
 In a short time this place would become the favourite resort of our 
 Parisians, and I should then have solved the famous problem of where 
 to create a Paris-on-Sea." 
 
 And yet about five and thirty years before M. Villemessant so 
 wrote, another writer, M. Harbaville, had thus described the same 
 locality : " On the left bank of the Canche, almost opposite Etaples, 
 there is a desert beach of sad and savage look." Q) 
 
 In the interval, how had this dreary waste, which repelled one writer, 
 become converted into the sylvan paradise which so charmed the other? 
 Who had effected this marvellous change ? Monsieur Alphonse Jean 
 Baptiste Daloz, the late owner of the domain of Le Touquet, who, in 
 the year of Queen Victoria's accession (1837), conceived the idea of 
 raising the value of his bare and sandy property by planting it with pines ; 
 and at the time of his entertaining at his charmingly situated chateau 
 a party of Parisian friends, including M. Villemessant, the seeds he 
 
 (I) In the " Memorial Historique et Archtologique du Dipartement du Pas-de- Calais," 
 published 1842. 
 
— 2 — 
 
 sowed around it had already shot up into a picturesque and fragrant 
 pine-forest covering an undulating area (2,000 acres) as large as that 
 of the Bois de Boulogne or of Richmond Park. It was this 
 magnificent pine-wood and its hard, sandy beach which was 
 destined to become the site of Mayville^ that London and Paris 
 " Half-way House," for business and pleasure, which Mr. John 
 Whitley set himself to create, and determined to call Mayville in 
 honour of the Duchess of York. 
 
 Thus in less than fifty years the face of the earth here about had 
 undergone a wonderful change. But the immediate neighbourhood of 
 MayyiUe had already, in the course of the centuries, been rich in trans- 
 formation scenes of a similar kindj and as it was affirmed of the New 
 World that it had been called into existence in order to redress the 
 balance of the Old one, so it may also be said of Mayville that it 
 has been created by way of compensation to the district for the 
 destruction of Quentovic ; and of Quentovic there now only remains a 
 dim historic memory. Stat nominis umbra, it is but a mere name, 
 historians not even being agreed as to its very site. Some — as, for 
 example, the learned and acute Abb6 Jean Gournay, Cur6 of St. Josse, as 
 well as the laborious compiler of the *' Memorial Historique et Arch6ologique 
 du D^partement du Pas-de-Calais " — argue in favour of the left bank of the 
 River Canche, near St. Josse itself, as the site of the utterly vanished 
 town ; while others, like M. Louis Cousin and M. Souquet, have each 
 written researchful treatises to show that the situation of Quentovic was 
 not far from, if not nearly identical with, that of the present little town 
 of Etaples on the right bank of the River Canche ; and the balance of 
 historical evidence, on the whole, appears to be all in favour of the 
 latter theory. 
 

 
 
 
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— 3 — 
 
 " Canche " is the French form of the Latin " Quanta" which was 
 the name given to the river by the Romans ; and " Quentovic," or 
 " Quentovich " — the "vich," or "wich," being the same root as in many- 
 English place-names of the same ending — was the vicus, or chief commanity 
 of dwellers, on the *' Quanta " ; though it must be owned there are some 
 who hold that the name may have been derived from the Norman, or 
 Norwegian, invaders, and that the "vie" in Quentovic is not the Latin 
 '^ vicus," but the ScandinaAdan " vik" which signifies a bay (hence 
 Vik-ing, a bay-man) ; so that, according to this reasoning, Quentovic 
 would mean the Bay or Port, not the town, of the Canche. In any 
 case Quentovic was preceded by a place to which the Romans gave 
 the name of Gravinum, though the question of the chronological and 
 topographical relations of Gravinum, Quentovic, and Stapulae (the original 
 of Staples) is one of extreme obscurity, and is still to some extent an 
 open one. 
 
 But at any rate the town at the mouth of the Canche was always 
 one of great commercial and military importance even in Roman times, 
 so much so that some writers have supposed, and ingeniously argued, that 
 the ancient representative of what is now Etaples was the much debated 
 " Portus Itius " from which Caesar embarked with two of his Legions 
 for the conquest of Britain. But it has now been placed beyond all 
 doubt— -and the evidence on the subject will be found summarised in the 
 most lucid and convincing form in the Emperor Louis Napoleon's " Life 
 of Csesar "-*lhat Boulogne {Gesoriamm) was the Roman conqueror's point 
 of departure across the Channel — the very same point as was also selected 
 by the modem Caesar for the projected Conquest of England in 1803. 
 
 By the Romans, Gravinum was accounted a point of naval and 
 strategical importance second only to Boulogne j and for many years — 
 
 B 2 
 
_ 4 — 
 
 up, indeed, to 400 A.D.— it was the station of the Clasds Samhrica 
 (Fleet of the Sambre, so to speak), which formed part of the Clasds 
 Britannica that was maintained on the North and Eorth-east coast of 
 Gaul to protect it from the descents of Northern pirates and marauders. 
 Of these barbarians a great swarm alighted at the mouth of the Oanche 
 about the middle of the fifth century ; and from this time onward to 
 the end of the ninth century the estuary formed a favourite landing-place 
 for the Northern invaders of France — a peculiarity which it may still be 
 said to retain in view of the pleasure-seekers who flock to the site 
 of the future Mayville. 
 
 But sometimes the Canche gave more than it received in the process 
 of international development. Thus, for example, it was at Quentovic, 
 in 596 A.D., that the Homan Abbot Augustine, afterwards first 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, embarked for Ebbesfleet, Thanet, Kent, to 
 convert the people of that kingdom to Christianity, and he baptized King 
 Ethelbert on June 2nd, 597 ; as it was also from the mouth of the Canche 
 that Theodore of Tarsus, whom the Pope Vitalian had consecrated Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, set sail (in 669) for England with an imposing retinue. (}) 
 
 Hitherto the rising tide of Christianity had flowed to England from 
 the estuary of the Canche, and it was also through this very same channel 
 that the refluent waves of true religion found their way to the other 
 Pagan parts of Europe. For what says the old BoUandist chronicler of 
 Saint Boniface, the English Apostle of the Teutons, who had resolved 
 
 (1) A orosB is to be erected at the mouth of the Canche, to commemorate Saint Augustine's 
 departure thence for England, thirteen centuries ago, and it wiU bear the foUowing inscription :- 
 
 " From this place St. Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, sailed for England 
 " A.D. 596, to convert the kingdom of Kent to Christianity." ' 
 
 The Pan-Anglican Synod, which is held in England every ten years, is to meet in July 
 1897, a year before its time, in order that it may synchronize with the celebration of the 
 thirteenth centenary of St. Augustine's consecration as "first Archbishop of the English race," 
 by Pope Gregory the Great. 
 
to cross the sea and convert the heathen tribes of Germany ? " After 
 a short passage he came to the mouth of a river called the Oanche, where, 
 having escaped all peril of shipwreck, he disembarked at Quentovic and 
 remained there till he began to feel the first rigours of winter." 
 
 It would seem, indeed, that at this time Quentovic was to England 
 what Calais became later, though it is not so easy to understand why 
 it was considered a more favourable port of passage between the two 
 countries than Boulogne, on which all the Roman roads converged. 
 Quentovic certainly involved a longer sea-voyage than Boulogne, but 
 perhaps in those days travellers either had a keener stomach for the 
 sea than in these degenerate times, or they honestly preferred the perils 
 of the ocean to the dangers of the road. Between Quentovic and 
 Boulogne, the Romans — ^those master road-makers — had certainly made 
 commodious routes ; but the Northern invaders who succeeded to them 
 in Gaul may possibly have allowed those roads to fall into disrepair, 
 or, what was worse, to become infested with robbers who would thus 
 naturally enough divert the tide of travellers between France and 
 England from Boulogne to Quentovic, though the distance between these 
 two ports is only about sixteen miles. 
 
 The robbers in question, however, must have lain low when Charle- 
 magne, in the course of his progresses through his vast Empire, came 
 to Quentovic in the year 787 — to Quentovic where there was a mint 
 which made his coins. Later on (in 799) he returned to the place and 
 was so struck by its natural advantages as a port that he gave orders 
 for the carrying out of certain naval and military measures against 
 the renewed incursions of the Northern pirates. 
 
 To these Scandinavian sea-reivers Quentovic had always offered a 
 peculiarly strong temptation, seeing that it formed a central mart, or 
 
_ 6 — 
 
 emporium, where the merchants from all parts of France sent or brought 
 their wares— making it a kind of Leipzig or Nijni-Novgorod fair of the 
 time, and it was on the dates of these periodical fairs that the rapacious 
 Northmen ever tried to time their unwelcome visitations. On one ot 
 these occasions they glided up the Canche and, glaive in hand, fell 
 upon the unsuspecting town, seizing all its stores of wealth, and reducing 
 to ashes what of the place they did not hold to ransom. It was in 
 consequence of these repeated visitations of fire and sword from the 
 plundering Norsemen that, by the end of the ninth century, Quentovic 
 had practically ceased to exist, and on the bed of its ashes, or near 
 it, there had arisen a new town called " Stapula," or " Stapulae," now 
 known as Etaples, the circumstances of whose origin are still dimmed 
 by the mists of an obscure antiquity. 
 
 How had the renovated relics of Quentovic come by the name of 
 Stapula, or Stapulae? The answer offered by archaeologists is that 
 " Stapulae " is the Latin equivalent of the Romanised Greek word 
 " Emporium," which had been applied to Quentovic as a mart Q) ; and 
 it is certain at any rate that, in the time of Charlemagne, the manage- 
 ment of this mart had been confided to an oflBcial, termed "Praefectus 
 Emporii," "President of the Chamber of Commerce" at Quentovic, so 
 to speak. In the time of Charles the Bald this oflSce had become so 
 high and honourable that its holder, one Grippon, was sent by his 
 Sovereign on a special embassy to the King of England, probably to 
 negotiate a commercial treaty. But when Quentovic finally fell before 
 the brands and the fire-brands of the ravaging Norsemen, the only 
 thing about it which seems to have survived, and to have passed to 
 
 (1) The word is the same as the English "Staple," which is used in the same sense- 
 wool-staple, &c. 
 
— 7 — 
 
 its successor, was the name of " Stapulae " — the popular equivalent of . 
 ^'■Emporium Quentovici." This explanation is not without its superfine 
 subtleties and obscurities, but it is all that historians have hitherto been 
 able to offer us as to the origin of the present little fishing town of 
 Etaples. 
 
 For many years Stapulae, or Etaples, as we shall now call it, 
 continued to play an important part in the troubled drama of the tenth 
 century ; but for Englishmen perhaps the most interesting fact in its 
 further history ■ was the founding of the Church of St. Michael in the 
 year 1004 — just sixty-two years before the Norman Conquest. That this 
 Church was built by Englishmen is beyond all doubt, seeing that the 
 fact is commemorated in Eoman characters on the first leff>hand pillar 
 of the nave, thus : — ANO- MIL°- qAtO- BEG || FVit- ECCSA- Ab- || 
 ANgLiS" EDIFTA* ; or, in full : Anno millesimo quarto haec fuit 
 Ecclesia ab Anglis edijicaia ; that is to say : " In the year one thousand 
 and four this Church was built by Englishmen." But what kind of 
 Englishmen ? Exiles or architects ? For there are two theories of the 
 Church's origin — one being that the English in question were political 
 and religious refugees — Huguenots, or Pilgrim Fathei's of the tenth 
 century, so to speak — who had fled from their country about the year 
 983 to escape the persecutions of the Danes, and formed a British 
 colony on the Canche ; while others will have it that, being skilful 
 artisans in stone, they were merely invited over to France (as German 
 and Italian builders were in the Middle Ages to England) in order to 
 raise a religious structure for the Stapulanians. Be that, however, as 
 it may, there stands the Church of these itinerant " Angli " to this 
 very day, and the style of its architecture bears an indubitable 
 likeness to edifices of the same age which still survive in England. 
 
seem 
 as 
 
 Whatever their genius for commerce, the Stapulanians in question 
 to have been singularly devoid of any talent for architecture, for 
 
 their Church had to be built for them by the English, so also 
 Matthew of Alsace, Count of Boulogne, had to call in foreign builders 
 to construct their castle (in 1172), which stood near the site of the 
 present cemetery, though not a single vestige of it now remains. 
 
 But not only had the English been constructively active at Etaples. 
 For if they built its principal Church, they also burned and pillaged 
 the town six times at least in thirty-two years, beginning with 1346 — 
 the date of Cr^cy ; and probably also it was the similar object of 
 their fury after Agincourt. Lying as it did in the very middle 
 of the region which served as the battle-arena of France and England 
 throughout their Hundred Years' War, Etaples formed the key of the 
 military position ; and as it had ever been the chief victim of war, 
 so it was also accorded the principal honour of peace. For it was 
 here that, on 3rd November, 1492, there was signed a treaty between 
 Charles VIII. of France and Henry VII. of England, whereby peace 
 was secured between the two countries for the remainder of the lives 
 of their respective Sovereigns, and —curiously enough — for a year after 
 the death of the survivor of the two. 
 
 And yet in 1546 the English were again busy at their old and 
 Imntifiil ti-ttdo, for in the chronicle of that yeai- we find this oft-repeated 
 oiiliy : " i'AopUs br^Ue par les Anglais." In the following year, 
 iv^iiiii 111. lOLiiplt-H, "ratification of the treaty of peace between France 
 mid Knultiiul, wliioli Imd been signed at London." Bat these treaties 
 111' |Hiiu'« iit<vor soiim to have lasted very long. For again in 1580 
 wo roiul I " lOliipltw, forming as it does the frontier to Artois and 
 lilii^lrniil, ilM iiiliiil'ilimls iiro compelled to be on the alert on all occasions" 
 
— 9 — 
 
 Being thus on the outlook in the year 1588 they testified that '•'the 
 coast from Dunkerque to Etaples was strewn with corpses and 
 wreckage" — the d^ris of the Spanish Armada. And, by the way, the 
 records of Etaples are curiously rich in their mention of English vessels 
 which had been wrecked and lost on its sandy coast, especially during 
 the last hundred years, though that was before the two lofty lighthouses 
 (completed in 1852), which now tower above the forest of Le Touquet, 
 threw their electric beams far out on the dark, nocturnal sea. 
 
 The records of Etaples are full of interesting enough episodes of 
 the local kind ; and one at least of her sons, Jacques Lef^vre (b. 1436), 
 played a most important and even history-making part in the intellectual 
 and religious movement of his time. But it was only at the beginning 
 of the present century that the little place again threatened to become 
 the cradle of world-historical events such as it had been in the time 
 of Julius Osesar, and the reiving Norsemen, and Charlemagne, and 
 Charles VIII. of France. For another Cassar had arisen in the person 
 of Napoleon Buonaparte, and, like his great B.oman prototype, he 
 contemplated the conquest of England as a coping-stone to the glorious 
 edifice of his victories. For this purpose, in the year 1803, he began 
 to assemble a huge army of invasion at Boulogne, and to mass a left 
 wing to this army between Etaples and Montreuil. 
 
 Under the Revolution, Etaples had lost all its ancient privileges ; 
 and thus it was that, when Napoleon reached this place (29th June, 
 1803) in the course of a tour of inspection of his preparations for 
 the invasion of England, he was received by the inhabitants with the 
 greatest enthusiasm and lauded as a Divine genius who was at once 
 to restore peace to the world and prosperity to the town of Etaples. 
 In his address to the First Consul, the Mayor of the town— after 
 
— 10 — 
 
 reciting all the glories of his military career— prophesied that Napoleon 
 would still add to the blessings which he had already conferred on 
 mankind by " avenging the crimes of a perfidious Government, and by 
 soon proclaiming from the ruins of the Tower of London the eternal 
 freedom of the seas and the repose of the world." 
 
 Napoleon was much impressed by the strategical possibilities of 
 the Bay of JEtaples, and gave orders for its immediate protection by 
 earthwork batteries on either side of the Canche, as well as for the 
 collection of 400 various vessels of light draught which should be 
 ready to embark the left wing of his invading army, consisting of 
 24,000 men who lay encamped, under Marshal Ney, from Etaples to 
 Montreuil. "We can never do without this port," wrote Napoleon to 
 Admiral Bruix (1803). At the beginning of the following year (1804), 
 he again returned to Etaples ( i ) and made a careful inspection of all 
 the military preparations which had been carried out in the interval. The 
 various camps had been constructed of wood taken from the forest of 
 Hardelot, while even the Churches of Etaples had readily been yielded up 
 by the townspeople to the imperious ruler whom they hailed as a "Second 
 William the Conqueror." One of these Churches — Notre Dame de Foi — 
 was converted into a naval hospital, while Saint Michel (which, as we 
 have seen, had been built by the English at the beginning of the 
 eleventh century) was partially utilised as a forage-magazine. 
 
 Never in the course of its long and varied history had Etaples 
 presented such a picture of warlike preparation as now, the population 
 
 (^') On the occasion of his visit to Etaples, Napoleon was the guest of the Maire, 
 M. Souquet, the room in which he slept heing still kept as it was then. The present 
 owner of the mansion, the grandson of Napoleon's entertainer, is a great authority on 
 all questions connected with the history of Etaples, and he has -a most interesting 
 collection of local antiquities, dating from Roman times, which he is always willing 
 to show to visitors. 
 
— 11 — 
 
 of the town having been quintupled by the higher functionaries of the 
 First Consul : and Napoleon himself had a hut (baraque) built on the 
 right bank of the Oanche for his personal accommodation. Either 
 bank was fringed with batteries ready for the reception of any audacious 
 English war-ships which might seek to come and interfere with all 
 these bellicose arrangements ; but they do .not appear to have ever 
 been called upon to give voice save when, in May, 1804, the First 
 Consul was decreed an Imperial Crown, the event being acclaimed 
 with a salvo of 200 guns ; while " on cilebra cet dvhnement par une 
 fdte splendide dans une pdture du Putts d^ Amour, oil se riunirent lea 
 troupes de terre et de mer" 
 
 A year later (21st August, 1805) these troops indulged in a kind 
 of dress-rehearsal of their embarkation for England, which only took 
 them an hour and a half — "ore procMa au simulacre de Veinba,rquement 
 qui fut escdcuti en une heure et demie." But alas 1 for the hopes of 
 the " Second William the Conqueror," this brilliant army, a few days 
 . later, received orders to avert its wistful gaze from the cliffs of Dover, 
 and to make for the banks of the Rhine. The invasion of England 
 was abandoned for the present, and " the troops quitted their camps, 
 singing gaily as they went : — 
 
 " Adieu, p^niches, plats bateaux, 
 
 Primes et canonnieres, 
 Qui deviez porter sur les eaux 
 
 Nos vaillants militaires. 
 Vous, ne soyez pas si contents, 
 
 Messieurs de la Tamise : 
 Seulement pour quelques instants 
 
 La partie est remise." 
 
 Devoted as they had been to Napoleon I. the Stapulanians were 
 also second to none in their loyalty to his nephew 5 for out of 509 
 electors, 493 joined to vote him an indemnity for his famous coup d'Etat, 
 
— 12 — 
 
 -while an equally large number subsequently declared themselves for the 
 restoration of the imperial dignity in the person of Louis-Napoleon. It 
 was partly, perhaps, in recognition of this loyalty to his person and 
 policy that the Emperor, in 1858, presented to the Parish Church of 
 Staples "a fine statue of Saint Peter — the patron Saint of sailors," and 
 that five years later, bis Government decided to " canalise " — that is, 
 regulate the course of — the River Canche through the estuary, a measure 
 of which the utility and importance may best be judged of at low tide, 
 and one which has been of the greatest value to the fishermen of the 
 place. 
 
 For whatever its size and importance in past times, as the successor 
 of Gravinum and Quentovic, Etaples — "un simple chef-lieu de canton de 
 V arrondissement de Montreuil-sur-Mer" — is now little more than a mere 
 fishing village with a population of about 4,500. Fishing certainly is 
 the staple industry of the place, and this is represented by about 70 
 smacks and boats, of which the daily going out and the coming in forms 
 one of the most interesting features of the landscape. Etaples fish fetch 
 a much higher price in Paris — to which the town consigns several tons 
 daily — than those supplied to the Capital by Boulogne, seeing that, while 
 the boats of the latter place generally remain at sea for at least forty- 
 eight hours, their Stapulanian rivals content themselves with an outing 
 of a night and a day at a time, and that thus their draughts are fresher 
 on reaching the shore. 
 

 o c 
 
 y. 
 
— 13 — 
 
 A PARADISE OF THE PICTURESQUE. 
 
 'UT while fishing is thus the staple industry of Staples, the little 
 town may also be said to have become the seat of another 
 industry — of the exotic kind. For in their search for " fresh woods 
 and pastures new" the artists, as well of the New World as of the 
 Old, were quick to discover the advantages offered by Staples and its 
 neighbourhood as a picturesque scene of their peaceful activity, and in 
 recent years the quiet, idyllic, little place has witnessed the formation of 
 an artist colony recruited from France, England, Australia, America, 
 Belgium, Germany and other countries. To realise the existence 
 of this colony in the midst of the fishing population of the place it is 
 only necessary to enter one or two of the chief restaurants of the 
 town, of which the snug dining-rooms set apart for the international 
 confraternity of the brush — ^like the "Auberge des Artistes," at Barbison, 
 in the Forest of Fontainebleau — have been converted into the quaintest 
 and most interesting of picture-galleries by the emulous efforts of their 
 frequenters in their social hours. Or a stroll through the pine woods 
 of the neighbourhood may suddenly bring you to a little clearing where 
 a snug cottage, of simple but most artistic interior, betrays the settle- 
 ment of an American painter, well known to the frequenters of the Paris 
 Salon, who has found the light nowhere purer or more favourable to 
 the practice of his art than in the forest around the future Mayville. 
 
 Not only are the light . and air in the highest degree dry and 
 favourable to the painter ; but he also finds that the country between 
 
— 14 — 
 
 sylvan Montreuil-sur-Mer — perched upon its Yauban-walled hill-top — 
 and the sandy beach at Mayville, by way of La Calotterie and Yilliers, 
 is one continuous paradise of the picturesque -which it would take an 
 artistic life-time to exhaust. And as for models of both sexes — are they 
 not most cheaply procurable in any numbers and variety among the 
 unsophisticated population of Staples ? Thus it is no wonder that 
 French artists like Daubigny, Jules Breton, Japy, and Eugene Chigot, 
 the well-known and popular artist, have made Staples and its 
 neighbourhood their creative home ; and that their English confreres 
 like Whistler, Phil May, Linley Samboume, Dudley Hardy and others 
 have also found their way repeatedly to this painter's paradise. 
 
 But in addition to all its attractions for the artist, Staples and its 
 neighbourhood also offer a field of engrossing interest to the archsBologist, 
 as must be clear from the history of the place which we have 
 endeavoured to outline. In the course of that history, as we have 
 seen. Staples was repeatedly ruined by the English ; and now it 
 promises to be restored to something of its pristine prosperity by the 
 employment of English capital and enterprise in its near vicinity. That 
 will be an act of historical justice of the best kind, and one which 
 will strengthen the claim of Mayville, as a common pleasure-ground for 
 the peoples of France and England, to act as a powerful means of 
 promoting and extending the good feeling already existing between the 
 two nations. 
 
w 
 K 
 O ■ 
 
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 O <; 
 
 f-' d 
 O *-" 
 
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 H 
 
 W 
 
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 o 
 
— 15 — 
 
 SHOOTING AND FISHING. 
 
 PARADISE of the picturesque for artists, as well as an interesting 
 field of historical research for the antiquary, the neighbourhood of 
 Mayville also offers attractions to the sportsman. In the fields and woods 
 around may be found hares, quail, grey partridges, rail, snipe, pheasants, 
 woodcock, and rabbits. At certain seasons, too, December in particular, 
 the estuary of the Canche is visited by flocks of wild duck, which afibrd 
 excellent sport to the gunner ; wild swans, too, are frequently to be met 
 with, whUe the Mayville woods and the fine sandy beach from the Oanche to 
 the Authie — a distance of ten miles — are haunted by a great variety of gulls 
 and other birds (i). It is necessary to explain that the ground on either 
 side of the estuary of the Oanche is State property, and that the French 
 law permits anyone who has a gun licence, which is procurable for a 
 small sum, to go in pursuit of game on such unreserved or unlet Govern- 
 ment domains. Otherwise special arrangements must be made with private 
 landowners, as in England. But the sea-beach is free to all, and in 
 addition to the fur and feathers above enumerated, seals are occasionally 
 to be met with at the mouth of the Canche, while the river itself, with 
 its overhanging willows, osiers and alder-bushes, is tenanted by the 
 lurking otter. This is a proof that there is toothsome enough prey for 
 the otter in the placid stream, and in truth it contains trout, salmon- 
 trout, and other fish affording sport to the angler. Nor would our 
 enumeration of the contents of the Oanche be complete without allusion 
 to the oyster-beds which have been established at its mouth with the view 
 of adding to the seasonable table-delicacies of the frequenters of Mayville. 
 
 (1) Among these may- be mentioned the Teal, Plover, Lapwing, QralUc, Sandpiper, EufE, 
 Dunlin, Sea-lark, Turnstone, Godwit, Spoonbill, Heron, Black-tern, Cormorant, Curlew, 
 O^Bter-Catcbei, &c. 
 
16 
 
 BOATING, YACHTING AND SKATING. 
 
 ^HILE thus the Canche from Mayrille to Montreuil — a distance 
 of over ten winding, wooded miles — offers a very fine boating 
 stretch for the aquatic sportsman pure and simple, it also presents 
 attractions to the English oarsman superior in some respects even to those 
 of his own native Thames. For while the scenery of the Oanche is just 
 as picturesque, in its own " nature-unadorned-by-art " way, as that of the 
 Thames, the course of the oarsman between Mayville and Montreuil is not 
 interrupted, as between, say, Richmond and Henley, by occasional locks ; 
 and thus, if he chooses, he may have a steady spell of pulling for over 
 ten miles, unless, indeed, he prefers to ship his oars at such a picturesque 
 riverside village as Enocq, or Beutin, or Attin, and refresh himself at the 
 estaminet with an omelette and a rabbit hash accompanied by a flask of 
 wholesome ordinaire. 
 
 Every bend of the winding river will bring him to some new and 
 ever charming point of view, and as he swings along he will forget his 
 fatigue in the pleasure of gaziag at the undulating landscape which 
 stretches from the lighthouse towers of Mayville to the fortressed heights 
 of old-world Montreuil. Arrived there he can moor his boat at the most 
 romantic-looking of- water-mills and mount the narrow, rugged streets, 
 strongly redolent of the historic past, to the quaint old inn, with its 
 cobbled courtyard trellised with vines and creepers, whose charms even 
 tempted Laurence Sterne to take his ease in it for several days in the 
 
ETAPLES FI 
 
 SHING S.MACK AT TMH MOUTH OF THE CA^XHE. 
 
— 17 — 
 
 course of his " Sentimental Journey " from London to Paris. Then, when 
 the tide begins to ebb — for at certain times the tide mounts the river as 
 far as Montreuil — he can re-enter his boat and return to Mayville with 
 the double force of oar and current. 
 
 But not only to the boating man will the Canche prove a virgin 
 stream. For his more ambitious brother in aquatic pleasure, the yachtsman, 
 will have to seek well before he finds on the North-west coast of France 
 better and more commodious harbourage for his craft than in the estuary 
 of the river. Here he can come ashore and taste of pleasures and pursuits 
 which are not within his reach at many other watering-places in the North 
 of France, or indeed in the South of England ; and the Isle of Wight 
 ought to prove but a^ stepping-stone, or point of departure, to Staples. 
 There is, indeed, no reason why Mayville should not become a kind of 
 French Cowes, where the yachtsmen of England, France and America 
 may indulge in the annual contests which are meanwhile, as far as 
 France is concerned, mainly confined to Nice. 
 
 That the estuary of the Canche ofiiers good accommodation for yachts 
 may be inferred from the fact, previously referred to, (p. 10) that, when 
 preparing for the invasion of England in 1803, Napoleon collected at Staples 
 a very large fleet of vessels of light draught ; and the estuary will soon be 
 better than ever for the purpose of anchorage. For the French Government 
 has authorised the Ministry of Public Works to extend the breakwater and 
 open out the mouth of the Canche, and this improvement wiU be 
 carried out in 1897. 
 
 Mayville, too, claiming to be a winter as well as a summer resort, 
 will offer facilities to the Skating as well as the Yachting Clubs of 
 England and France; and the drier air of this part of the French Coast 
 wiU doubtless prove a great attraction to those skaters who have at 
 present to be satisfied with the more humid atmosphere of England. 
 
— 18 
 
 CYCLING AND RIDING. 
 
 "^ND then where will the cyclist find such a splendid field for the 
 gratification of his healthy pastime as in the region round about 
 Mayville? For the scenery is everywhere as charming as it is ever 
 changing, and in no country are the roads more numerous or better kept 
 than they are in France. While the district, too, is undulating, it presents no 
 stiff gradients, and the wheelman need seldom get off his machine in the 
 course of a long day's ride. From one particular point of view also the roads 
 in France are very much better fitted for cycling than those in England, 
 seeing that they are but rarely lined with hedges ; and it must be owned 
 that, although our English lanes are very lovely, they are also rather 
 lungless, and do not permit of that free respiration of the air which may 
 be enjoyed on a hedgeless road. Soldiers on the march are well aware of 
 the difference, and in route-marching lanes are always avoided as much as 
 possible. 
 
 It may also be safely averred that nowhere on the coast of England 
 is there such a stretch of hard sandy beach— devoid of shingle— suitable 
 for cycling, as that which extends between Mayville at the mouth of the 
 Canche and Berck at the mouth of the Authie — a distance of about ten 
 miles. With a fair wind the wheelman can skim along this broad expanse 
 
— 19 — 
 
 of smooth and solid sand like a sea-bird, and perhaps even he will 
 develop a novel form of his pastime in the shape of a cycle equipped 
 ■with sails. 
 
 But what is said of the attractions of the beach for cyclists equally 
 applies to horse-back riders, who may enjoy a morning or afternoon's 
 gallop along the sands between the Canche and the Authie at once of the 
 safest and most invigorating kind. 
 
 2 
 
— 20 ~ 
 
 GOLF. 
 
 'OR is the neighbourhood of Mayville less suitable for the game of 
 golf, for which a four-mile course is being laid out among the 
 dunes that lie between the pine-wood and the beach ; so that the golfer 
 can here pursue his eager rounds while inhaling a fragrant and bracing 
 blend of sea and forest air. There are but few four-mile golf courses in 
 all England where the lines between the holes do not cross ; but this one 
 at Mayville will be entirely free from this defect with all its attendant 
 drawbacks. While abounding in natural bunkers, the Mayville course is 
 one of the best available for English golfers, and as it may be reached in 
 less than five hours from Charing Cross or Victoria Stations, it ought to 
 offer a powerful attraction to lovers of this game. (^) 
 
 (1) On this subject, Mr. Whitley receired the following reports from Mr. J. H. Taylor, 
 of Winchester, who held the Golf Championship during two successive years, -and from 
 Mr. WiUiam Fernie, of Troon, N,B., another Bx-Champion, who_is now laying out the course : — 
 
 Mr. Fbbnie's Bbport. ,,„ , „ j -ion,. 
 
 " November 2nd, 1896. 
 
 " I can make as good a Links at Mayville as any I know. The Links will be as la,rge as, 
 
 and if necessary they could be made larger than, any I have seen, as there is more ground 
 
 than is required for an 18-hole Course. The MayviUe Golf Links, which are situated on the 
 
 main line of Calais — Boulogne — Paris, can be reached within five hours from London and four 
 
 hours from Paris. The bracing and invigorating character of the air ought to make the Links 
 
 a favourite spot for Golf -players. The Links itself has the right sort of turf, and the hazards, 
 
 waterbrooks and large natural sand-bunkers of beautiful sands are all that could be desired." 
 
 Mr. Tatlob's Kbpoet. ,, „ ,. k^, , „„„ 
 
 " November 5th, 1896. 
 
 " Having inspected the ground for the proposed Golf Links at Mayville, I am 
 strongly of opinion that, if properly laid out, it will make one of the largest and very 
 best courses I know, as the natural conformation of the ground is admirably adapted 
 for the game — having plenty of hazards, consisting of water brooks and big natural sand- 
 bunkers, whilst the turf itself is of the right sort for Golf Links. 
 
 " The course is splendidly situated between the Sea and Pine Woods covering over 
 2,000 acres, on the main line from Calais — Boulogne to Paris, and I have no hesitation in 
 saying that, when the Links are known, Mayville will be a favourite resort for Golfers." 
 
 " The London and Paris Golf Glut," with Links at Mayville, is in course of formation ; 
 and, when constituted, it will be aiBliated to the "British Club" at Paris, whose rooms are at 
 the Grand Hdtel there. The latter Club was organised by Mr. Austin Lee, C.B., of the British 
 Embassy, assisted by Mr. John Whitley, the founder of the "Welcome Club," which formed 
 one of the most attractive social features of his Four National Exhibitions at Earl's Court, 
 London, 
 

 
 ^^m. 
 
 
 ■^■■tin' 
 
— 21 — 
 
 THE WOODS AT MAYVILLE. 
 
 'LTHOUGH the open sea and beautifiil sands afford some of the 
 finest sea-bathing to be had anywhere, yet the pine -woods are the 
 special feature of attraction which will give value to the site, as they 
 lend themselves to treatment which must result in making the resort 
 a very charming one. The domain is believed to be the only one on 
 the Northern coast of France which possesses so extensive a sea-front, 
 backed the whole way by pine woods. It is this combination of sea-air, 
 with the hygienic effect of the pines, which renders the site unique, 
 and explains why no epidemic has ever visited it. The owners of the 
 estate have stipulated that no hospital shall be erected thereon. A hard 
 sandy beach, walks and drives through 2,000 acres of woods, and no 
 hospitals, are factors which indicate this spot as a paradise for children. 
 
 The woods at Mayville are as remarkable as they are almost unique 
 along the coast-line of the Atlantic. Nature left to itself, seldom, if 
 ever, favours spontaneous forest growth along the shores of a stormy 
 sea, and so man comes to her aid. What Bremontier did in the 
 Landes of Gascony during the latter part of last century, in clothing 
 the desolate wastes of that coast with tree growth, the late owner 
 of Le Touquet domain essayed to do fifty years later, the result being 
 the extensive and beautiful woods that we see at Mayville to-day. It 
 is difficult to imagine, as we wander through the shady woods of fragrant 
 pines that, when Queen Victoria began to reign, the present delightful 
 
— S2 — 
 
 Mayville woods were the barren ramparts of restless sand dunes, such 
 as may still be seen in the immediate neighbourhood. The planter of 
 Mayville followed the lead of Bremontier in planting the only pine that 
 can withstand the fury of the Atlantic storms. This pine, being so deep- 
 rooting, fixes the sand, and by its dense growth gives grateful shelter 
 both winter and summer. It is pinus pinaster, the pinastre or pin 
 maritime of the French, the most resinous of all the pines, the most 
 productive of turpentine, and consequently the most fragrant. It is one 
 of the pines to which the salubrity of Bournemouth is attributed, but 
 where one tree of it exists at Bournemouth there are a thousand at 
 Mayville, as it is the chief component of a wood several square miles 
 in extent. 
 
 When the outer barrier of pines became sufficiently established to stay 
 the force of the sea winds, the shelter aflfbrded by the pines invited colonies 
 of deciduous trees, native to that part of France, so that now there are 
 intermingled, with the pines the familiar silver birch (bouleau blane), 
 white and black poplar (^peuplier hlanc et noir), the alder {aulne), 
 willows (saule) of many species, besides various other trees that are less 
 gregarious, forming themselves into picturesque natural groups, and with 
 their foliage greens of various shades serve as a foil to the sombre hues 
 of the pines. The planters have added a host of others, such as the 
 black Italian poplar, white beam, spruce, mountain ash, and bird 
 cherry, which mingle with the natural growth in a charming way. The 
 wood has a rich flora of its own, a veritable paradise for the botanist 
 and painter, and a fauna such as one would expect to find in the 
 solitudes of a great wood. All night and even through the day, one hears 
 the music of the nightingale, and a multitude of other birds find a home 
 in the quietude of the place. 
 
O 
 O 
 O 
 
 w 
 l-l 
 
 > 
 
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— 23 — 
 
 In the open glades the wealth and variety of wild flowers charms 
 everyone. On the hills one sees delightful colonies of violas, 
 veronicas, lychnis, epilobiums, and chrysanthemums. In the 
 
 valleys one comes upon rich meadows of moisture lovers, such as 
 the marsh orchis (0. latifolia), which here grows a foot and a half 
 high, the fly trap (drosera), water irises, willow herb, marsh marigold 
 (caltha), and others too numerous to make a list of. In the shade 
 of the woods the mossy banks are in many places clothed with 
 that delightful and rare plant, pyrola rotundifolia, very seldom found in 
 England, and considered a treasure by anyone who finds it in the woods 
 of the Engadine. The variety here is called arenaria, as it only affects 
 sandy shores. It is even more beautiful than the type, bearing throughout 
 June tall scented spikes of Lily-of-the- Valley-like flowers. The shade 
 flower is almost as rich as the open, and at every turn one comes upon 
 some plant that arrests attention. As we pursue noiseless tracks in the 
 woods our carpet is of vervain, mint and margolaine, which, when crushed 
 give out their rich and pungent penetrating perfumes, adding to the 
 charms of the walk. 
 
 At various high points in the woods, a bird's-eye view of the sur- 
 rounding country may be enjoyed. Beyond the woods there is on the one 
 hand the broad expanse of smooth sands and the sea, on the other, 
 extensive views of one of the most beautiful parts of France, charming in 
 its diversity of hill and dale, river and wood, town and homestead, varying 
 constantly in colour from the ever-changing light one enjoys along a 
 coast, so that one does not ask why this delightful spot is the home or 
 rendezvous of artists from all parts of the world. 
 
 " Argenteuil is the most famous place in France for asparagus culture, 
 but it must have a close rival at Le Touquet, for the asparagus I ate 
 
— 24 — 
 
 there, for size, flavour and succulency, dwells in my memory. This is not 
 surprising, seeing that asparagus is a native of this part ; one sees it 
 everywhere in the woods by the shore, and the soil and climate are 
 conducive to its finest growth," (}) while the gardens of Le Touquet are 
 celebrated for their asparagus, green peas, potatoes and other vegetables, 
 and the woods for their delicious strawberries. 
 
 (1) The above description of the Mayville Woods is based on a report by W. Goldring, Esq., 
 Fellow of the Eoyal Horticultural Society of England, Kew. (See ^. 28.) 
 
25 
 
 M A Y V I L L E. 
 
 (PICARDY.) 
 " Ille terrarnm mihi prseter omnes 
 "Angulus ridet," — Horace. 
 
 I UCH then is the historical and natural setting of the sea-side region 
 where Mr. Whitley intends to create for the inhabitants of 
 London and Paris, with their eight millions of inhabitants, within a 
 morning's journey of each city, a health and pleasure resort, with 
 a sufficient number of advantages and improvements to justify the 
 appellation of a new departure. (}■') 
 
 He proposes to lay out the new resort with such regard to the 
 rules of sanitation on the one hand, and artistic effect on the other, 
 that those visiting it once will wish to return. A seaside home 
 and summer and winter pleasaunce will be founded which shall be 
 truly hygienic, and also pleasing, in construction, affording a choice of 
 manly sports and pastimes such as no place on the coast of France 
 can now offer. With its fine exposure to the bracing air of the Atlantic, 
 its open sea and sands, with the nerve-strengthening tonic of 2,000 
 acres of pine woods, with fertile inland country abounding in provision 
 for the sustenance of large numbers of visitors, this beautiful coast is 
 admirably fitted to accommodate the many thousands of persons in 
 England and France, and even America, to whom its geographical 
 situation renders it convenient. 
 
 (1) Mayville can be reached from London either by way of Boulogne (S. E, Railway) 
 or by Calais fL. C. & D. Kailway), the former three-quarters of an hour and the latter 
 one and a half hours distant, and a pleasant break can thus be made for refreshments 
 at Calais or Boulogne by visitors from England. Under the arrangements to be 
 entered into, an accelerated service of trains will permit of the distance between London and 
 Mayville being accomplished in about four hours and a half, thus adding to the unique advantages 
 to be offered by the new resort that of being the nearest foreign pleasaunce to London. 
 The sea-passage from Dover is only seventy minutes, and from Folkestone about half an 
 hour more. ( To Ostend, Dieppe and Trouville the journey is much longer.) The two Light- 
 houses at Le Touquet are visible from Folkestone and Hastings, 
 
— 26 — 
 
 As a rule fashionable seaside resorts are the reverse of hygienic, 
 owing to the close proximity of some badly-drained old fishing village. 
 Mayville (Le Touquet) is well removed from all such insalubrious neighbour- 
 hoods, situated as it is between the sea and pine woods. It is well known 
 that the reaction consequent upon the return of convalescents from a 
 high Alpine climate to the lower levels in and about London often out- 
 weighs the good effects obtained. Attention is therefore drawn to the 
 fact that more permanent benefit may be assured by a temporary residence 
 between pine woods and the sea, in the invigorating climate of Mayville. 
 
 The French have adopted the healthful custom of an annual migration 
 to the sea, and are joined in their pilgrimage by those to whom the 
 national gaiety, combined with French cookery and excellent organisation, 
 renders delightfal a sojourn in this favoured land. Many Englishmen 
 and Americans who prefer to enjoy a complete change, not only of air, 
 of language, and of diet, but also freedom, for a time, from many of the 
 irritating conventionalities of English life, habitually cross the Channel 
 to spend a holiday on the Continent. They wiU be happy to have the 
 opportunity of paying " la belle France " the compliment of selecting a 
 site for pleasant gatherings within her borders, and it is gratifying to 
 reflect that this cannot but tend to cement the friendly relations already 
 existing between the French and Anglo-Saxon races, relations which, at 
 Mayville in Picardy, should be characterised by the spirit expressed in 
 the proverb of that province : " Franc comme un Ficard." 
 
 The open sea, [the bracing air, the beautiful sands, the fine sea- 
 bathing, the pine woods and the picturesque surroundings are natural 
 features, which in themselves give very great value to Mayville ; and the 
 intention of La C»«- de Mayville is, by giving access to and developing 
 these features, to establish an Anglo-French Pleasaunce, combining all the 
 
— 27 — 
 
 best amenities and attractions of the most favourite English and 
 Continental fashionable pleasure-resorts within about four hours' journey 
 of London and Paris. 
 
 Mayville has already been referred to as a "Half-way House," no 
 less of pleasure than of business ; and by this it is meant that it will 
 offer facilities to business men in Paris and London to save half the 
 transit between the two Capitals by meeting half-way and transacting 
 their affairs under the most agreeable conditions. To summarise : — 
 
 (a) The sea beach is as good as that of Biarritz or Ostend. 
 
 (b) The woodlands and pine forest are much more extensive 
 
 than those at Bournemouth. 
 
 (c) It will be an easy task to reproduce in the woods some of 
 
 the most pleasing features of Aix-les-Bains, Spa and 
 Homburg. 
 
 (d) The Atlantic frontage and sea breezes are as fine as those 
 
 of Ilfracombe. 
 
 (e) The railway service, with the short line to be made 
 
 forthwith, from Etaples to Mayville, will be equal to 
 that of any seaside town in England or France, (i) 
 (/) Mayville will be a half-way meeting place for Paris and 
 London business men. 
 
 (g) The water is excellent, as certified by Government 
 
 analysts. 
 (A) The tovina will be a model of sanitation. 
 (i) Sports and amusements will be organised by the Company. 
 (J) Hotels, restaurants, &c., of the best modern type only, will 
 
 be erected by concessionnaires and subsidiary companies. 
 
 (1) The Provisional Order from the Council-General of the Pas-de-Calais, authorising the 
 construction of this line, has been obtained by the co-operation of the North of France Railway 
 Company, with which an understanding has been come to for the working of the line on 
 terms satisfactory to La Com^agnie de MayviUe. 
 
The walks and drives in the pine woods of Le Tonquet would alone 
 suffice to render Mayville a favourite resort, but other attractions will 
 be forthcoming, viz. : — Several handsome and well managed hotels ; a 
 club and casino, containing theatre, concert hall, and ball room (with 
 moveable roof permitting of al fresco entertainments) ; zoological pleasure 
 grounds and lake ; a " pr^-catelan " like the one in the Bois-de- 
 Boulogne ; an Anglo-French circulating library and reading room ; a 
 " Louvre " bazaar and market ; a race-course, available also for trotting 
 matches ; golf links ; cricket field ; football and baseball ground ; tennis 
 courts ; polo ground ; a ride through the woods for equestrians ; riding 
 school ; cycling track ; gymnasium and salle d'armes ; Turkish baths ; 
 &c. Excellent orchestral music will of course be provided. A picture 
 gallery in the casino will be opened to artists and sculptors, who 
 will, doubtless, obtain many commissions from visitors. A miniature 
 pony-tramway, like the one in the Bois-de-Boulogne at Paris, will be 
 provided in certain parts of the domain. The general architectural 
 supervision of MayviUe has been entrusted to Mr. Charles Gamier, 
 architect of the Paris Grand Opera House, and of the Casino and 
 Gardens at Monte Carlo, &c., and to Mr. Thomas W. Cutler, Fellow 
 and Member of Council of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 
 Fellow and Member of Council of the Sanitary Institute of Great 
 Britain, &c., assisted by other well-known French and English colleagues. 
 
 The plans for the laying out of the whole estate are being settled 
 by a committee of well-known English and French authorities and 
 experts, assisted by Mr. W. Goldring, of Kew, Fellow of the Royal 
 Horticultural Society ; Landscape and Garden Architect to the Baroda 
 State Government, and one of the leading specialists in park and 
 garden design in England. 
 
— 29 — 
 
 The •'' Regulations " will ensure that the town shall be as beautiful to 
 look at, as it will be good to live in. 
 
 La Oompagnie de Mayville propose to construct a promenade and 
 carriage-drive, planted with tamarisk, facing the sea. This and the one 
 at Paris-Plage will provide a continuous promenade of over three miles 
 along the sea-front. Subsidiary companies will be licensed by 
 La C»'«- de Mayville to erect a promenade pier and provide other amenities 
 and attractions. 
 
 Prizes will be ofiFered at international competitions connected with the 
 various sports above mentioned, and as many as possible of these will be 
 held in the pine woods, as is the case in the Bois-de-Boulogne at Paris. 
 
— 30 — 
 
 THE ESTATE. 
 
 ;HAT portion of the Mayville Estate which fronts the sea comprises 
 1,633,500 square metres [about 400 acres] of freehold land, having 
 a sea frontage of 3;^ kilometres (2 miles), and a depth of 500 metres, 
 or half a kilometre, in addition to the woods behind, which cover several 
 square miles. The adjoining beach to the North is that of Paris-Plage, 
 and it already contains about 250 chllets, villas, &c. (i) To the 
 South, several miles distant, is the seaside resort of Berck, with about 
 2,000 chalets, villas, &c., although a few years ago there were not 50 houses 
 in Berck. The Paris Municipality have one of the best hospitals for children 
 in France there ; and Baroness James de Rothschild has her summer 
 residence also at Berck, owing to the purity of the South-western winds 
 from the Atlantic, which do not touch either the South of England or the 
 North of France. 
 
 If any argument were needed to show why Mayville cannot help 
 becoming a success from every point of view it would be found in a 
 study of the circumstances connected with the rise and prosperity of 
 the neighbouring watering-places of Berck and Paris-Plage. Without any 
 of the natural embellishments of Mayville in respect of woods and scenery, 
 Berck, within the last few years, has attracted a large number, not only 
 of casual, but also of annual visitors, who have purchased plots of ground 
 
 (^) Curing the season of 1894, as far as can be ascertained, Paris-Plage was the only 
 French watering-place where there was an increase in the number of visitors, notwithstanding 
 the inclemency of the weather, oyer that of 1893, and during the summer seasons of 1895 
 and 1896 the number of visitors was unprecedentedly large. 
 
— 31 — 
 
 for the erection of private ch&lets ; while the demand for building ground 
 at Paris-Plage has now become equally great, (i) 
 
 What was wanting to make this p6rtion of the coast the most 
 favoured spot in the North of France was a full-gauge railway, 
 connecting it with the system of the Ohemin de Fer du Nord ; and 
 at the instance of Mr. Whitley, the preliminary Order in Council for 
 the construction of such a line from Staples to Mayville — a distance of 
 about three miles through the Mayville woods — has been obtained for a 
 period of fifty years, from the Conseil-G6n6ral of the Pas-de-Oalais. On 
 the completion of the line, which will be worked by the North of 
 France Railway Co. on terms satisfactory to La C^- de Mayville, visitors 
 will be conveyed from Paris, Calais, Boulogne, Arras, Lille, Amiens, and 
 other large towns direct to Mayville, without the delay and inconvenience, 
 which is now experienced by visitors, of being compelled to take omnibuses 
 and carriages at Etaples. On the contrary, they will be able to book 
 direct to Mayville, from London, Paris, Lille, and other centres, without 
 having to change carriages at Etaples. 
 
 (^) In this connection it may be well to quote a letter written (in April, 1896) to 
 Mr. Whitley by M. Godin, Mayor of Cueq, the rural commune in which the Mayville estate is 
 situated : — 
 
 " On all aides I hear that your splendid scheme of Mayville is about to be realised. I 
 wish it every success. It cannot be otherwise, if we consider the prosperity of Paris-Plage, 
 where the land increases in value from day to day, the present price being 35 francs to 40 francs 
 per square metre on the sea-front, 10 francs to 15 francs in the second zone, and in the same 
 proportions for the third and fourth zones. These prices are within my own knowledge, and 
 therefore I am able to certify them. Furthermore, I am assured that an owner of land on the 
 sea-front at Paris-Plage has had an offer of 45 francs per square metre and has refused to sell 
 under 50 francs. All this is an excellent augury for the success of your — I was going to say 
 our — Mayville, since this so much to be desired resort will form part of the Commune of Cucq." 
 
 The above may be supplemented by an extract from a report by Messrs. Geo. TroUope and 
 Sons, Contractors and Estate Agents, 7, Hobart Place, Eaton Square, London :— 
 
 "From enquiries which we have made we find that the land at Paris- Plage, immediately 
 adjoining Mayville, is now selling on the sea-front at from 35 to 40 francs per square metre, 
 with proportionate prices for the back land, and we are of opinion, when the short branch 
 line into Mayville is completed, and the other proposed developments have been carried out 
 that land at Mayville should certainly command higher prices than those at Paris-Plage." 
 
32 — 
 
 That the construction of this branch line from Staples— an important 
 junction on the main line of the North of France Eailway, the whole of 
 the traffic between Calais — Boulogne and Paris passing through this 
 station — must greatly enhance the value of the Mayville property, need 
 scarcely be pointed out. But there is another fact which also ought to weigh 
 with intending purchasers of land ; and this is the fact that Mayville will 
 practically be self-creating. It will, in truth, be possible to construct it out 
 of the sand which is there. For Mr. Whitley has secured from the 
 inventor — Mr. William Owen, of London — the right of using the " Owen " 
 Stone process (which Messrs. Wemher, Beit & Co., by the way, have 
 purchased for South Africa) within a radius of ten miles of the Mayville 
 Estate — a process which has been proved to convert sand into solid, 
 durable and finished building material, costing much less than natural 
 stone, and without the added expense of transport. 
 
w 
 
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 W 
 
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 en 
 
— 33 — 
 
 THE ENVIRONS. 
 
 In its present natural state nothing could be finer than the appear- 
 ance of the undulating pine forest of Mayville with its wealth of 
 fragrant wild flowers. What, then, wiU be its charms when its mazes are 
 diversified with a race-course, polo, cricket, tennis and golfing grounds ; 
 when its bowery hillocks and leafy nooks are studded with kiosks, 
 grotto-restaurants and chMets ; and when, above all, its seaside front 
 is fringed with graceful villas, hotels, casinos, promenades and pier, and 
 all the other adornments and amenities of a first-class pleasure-resort. 
 Certainly no other seaside place in. England, Belgium or the North of 
 France will present a better combination of natural and artistic attractions — 
 a place where the best social elements of France and England may meet 
 and mingle as they have never done before. 
 
 But if thus the seaside attractions of Mayville will be as engrossing 
 as unique, the interest of its environs is also of a very charming kind. 
 It was the Germans who first invented the theory that the State which 
 appropriates a section of sea-board is also entitled to extend its influence 
 to a corresponding depth into the interior ; and thus it is that 
 Mr. Whitley, on the strength of this Hinterland doctrine, has likewise 
 extended his "sphere of interest" far "into the bowels of the land" — 
 to the famous battlefield of Cr^cy in the South, to the stiU more 
 famous plain of Agincourt in the East, and Northwards to the historic 
 Chateau of Hardelot, where peace negotiations were conducted between 
 the Ambassadors of France and England three and a half centuries ago. 
 
— 34 — 
 
 THE CHATEAU D' H AR DELO T: C) 
 
 'his historic place, so intimately associated with the memory of 
 Henry VIII., is, from the pictorial point .of view, perhaps the 
 most attractive of any in all the neighbourhood. It is beautifully 
 situated between Etaples and Boulogne, about one and a half miles from 
 the sea, and invites a most charming drive from Mayville. Standing in 
 an undulating, almost hilly country, the Chteau is very striking and 
 picturesque. 
 
 From the lodge gates the main building is approached by a winding 
 avenue, at the end of which is the old gateway, completely hidden by 
 ivy, opening on to a circular drive up to the castle terrace, round garden 
 and tennis lawn, the whole completely surrounded by high walls and 
 ancient towers. From the old tower of the chateau a most extensive and 
 beautiful view is obtained. 
 
 The Chtoau stands on the site of a Roman fortification, concerning 
 which we have no definite particulars, but it is probable that some 
 
 (') Several gentlemen who are interested in the development of Mayville, and who 
 consider that Hardelot would serve admirably as an interesting and historical annex to the new 
 Eesort, propose purchasing the Ch&teaa, with its 56 acres, and converting it into a high-class 
 Eestaurant. The intention is to run four-in-hand coaches from Boulogne-sur-Mer, and later 
 from Mayville, to the Chateau d'Hardelot, which is to be luxuriously furnished as a Club, 
 Pleasure-Kesort and Eestaurant, for the very best class of wealthy and fashionable members 
 of French, English and American society. The Chef, the Maltre d'H6tel, and the servants 
 will be selected by connoisseurs of repute. The furniture, decorations, cutlery, silver, linen, 
 &c., will, as far as practicable, be those of the time of Francois 1". Orchestral Music 
 and Concerts of a high-class character will constitute one of the principal features. The 
 out-door attractions wiU include Cricket, Lawn BiUiaids, Tennis, Boating, and Fishing. The 
 roads for mUes around are excellent for cycling. 
 
H 
 
 O 
 
 <: ^ 
 ffi 
 
 Q 
 
 u 
 
 s ° 
 o 
 
— as- 
 sort of post of defence was erected on the spot previous to Caesar's 
 invasion of Britain, i.e., about 70 B.C. After this, for a time, we have 
 no information whatsoever ; the first eight centuries of the Christian 
 Era were, in the fullest sense, dark ages, and it is only from the age of 
 Charlemagne that documents exist which permit us to assign final and 
 accurate dates. Contrary to the common idea that Hardelot was built in 
 1231, it is certain that it took its rise more than four centuries earlier 
 under the supervision of the great Charles himself. In 811 Charlemagne 
 personally superintended the completion of defensive works, intended to 
 check the inroads of the Norsemen, and as we know that a small harbour 
 was then in existence "under Hardelot," and that the Normans frequently 
 landed towards Etaples, and lastly that it was used as a place of con- 
 finement in the last ten years of the ninth century, it becomes reasonably 
 certain that Hardelot was one of Charlemagne's seashore fortresses. The 
 reference to Hardelot is curious and definite, so that it is worth while 
 to give it in full : " Mercuritios plectitur, Columbaribus oner at et in 
 Hardrei locum incarcerat." "He (that is Count Eegnier) harasses the 
 people of Marok, loads them with chains, and imprisons them in the 
 stronghold of Hardelot." Eegnier, it should be observed, was Count of 
 Boulogne from 890 to 916. 
 
 Two centuries later we find two important documents dated from 
 Hardelot, or, as it is termed therein, Ardrelo. These are two charters, 
 the first a grant of land to the Church of Andres, the second a magna 
 charta to the people of Boulogne, both made by Count Reinaldus and 
 his wife Ida, at their castle of Hardelot. The first is dated 1194, the 
 second 1203. In 1205, the rebellion of Count Reinaldus led to the 
 destruction of the castle by order of Philip Augustus— this was after the 
 death of Richard I. of England, during the troubles of John's reign, 
 
 D 2 
 
— 36 — 
 
 It was not long, however, before this fine position was for the third time 
 turned to good account. A few years afterwards Hardelot was rebuilt 
 and enlarged by Philippe Hurepel, Count of Boulogne. It is owing to 
 this circumstance that the Flemish chroniclers assign the date 1228 to 
 the building of Hardelot. Yperius says of the Count, whose praises he 
 is telling : " Ipse mdificavit castrum Ardello " (He built the Castle of 
 Hardelot), but Philip, as we have already seen, was not the founder. 
 
 In 1261, Hardelot is referred to by name and described as a town 
 (or district) in a deed executed between Arnold, of Wezemale, and his 
 wife Alix, Countess of Duras, of the one part, and Gui of Chatillon, Count 
 of St. Paul, and his wife Madame Mahaut, Countess of Artois, of the 
 other part. In 1380, the English threatened to make a descent upon 
 France through Boulogne, and the then Grovernor of Hardelot, Jean de 
 la Gaurie, made special preparations to resist the inroad. From the 
 time of Jean de la Gaurie for a period of four hundred years, that is 
 till long after Hardelot had ceased to have any political importance, the 
 list of Governors is complete, with one exception. Rymer (^Fcedera) omits 
 the surname of the Governor who surrendered the Castle to Sir Thomas 
 Poynings, and who ruled (nominally) from 1544 to 1550. The events of 
 these six years are very interesting and require a more lengthy treatment. 
 
 In 1544, Henry VIII. of England attacked France on the Western side, 
 through the Boulonnais, while Charles V. invaded it through Champagne. 
 Francis I. gave orders to fortify Boulogne and Hardelot, but these orders 
 were inefficiently or insufficiently obeyed, and on the 29th July, 1544, 
 Hardelot capitulated to Henry without resistance, not from any weakness 
 in the defences of the place, but because it had been left without 
 provisions and ammunition. Boulogne, meanwhile, was being besieged, 
 
— 37 — 
 
 but both Henry and Francis were desirous of ending the useless warfare, 
 and Cardinal du Behay, who had previously been Ambassador to England, 
 was directed to superintend the negotiations. It was contrary to the 
 understanding between Henry and Charles that either should treat 
 separately with France, nevertheless each was prepared to make terms with 
 France on his own account. Accordingly, on the 9th of September, a 
 conference was opened at Hardelot, the English representatives being 
 Lord Hertford, the Bishop of Winchester, Sir William Paget and 
 Sir Richard Riche. The conference continued for some time, but Boulogne 
 surrendered on the 14th of September, and negotiations were finally broken 
 off. Henry wrote a very interesting letter on the subject to Catherine 
 Parr, which is preserved in the Cottonian MSS., in which he mentions 
 that he had appointed " our Castle of Hardelowe, whereof yowe have been 
 advertised heretofore," as the meeting place of the Ambassadors. Henry 
 died in 1547, and Hardelot was lost to England with our other 
 possessions in Picardy in the reign of his daughter. 
 
 During the wars of the Tjeague, Hardelot was held by the King, 
 then by the Leaguers, and again by the King, as the Governor de 
 Roupel went over to the Royal side in 1589, and was confirmed in his 
 office by the Due d'Bpernon. The destruction of the Castle by Philip 
 Augustus has already been mentioned. Louis XIII. ordered its destruction 
 for the second time for the same reason — the fear of a turbulent nobility. 
 Thenceforth Hardelot has no political importance ; the Governor was 
 deprived of his authority, and, though the title did not lapse, the holder 
 thereof did not even live at Hardelot. Du Wicquet, writing in 1830, 
 remarks that under the ancien regime the Dukes of Aumont had been 
 Governors of Hardelot, but that the post was merely a sinecure worth a 
 few thousand francs. The title of " Governor" requires some explanation : 
 
— 38 — 
 
 it is not strictly speaking applicable till 1550, although the use of the 
 ■word is justifiable. Jean de la Gaurie and his successors till 1550 are 
 more properly termed chatelains : a governor was appointed at the time of 
 the re-conquest, and in 1580 Governor was the official designation ; then 
 the next governor is styled portier, but the next, in 1587, again received 
 the title of gouverneur, and it was continued till the fall of the Monarchy 
 in France. 
 
 Within the last century the castle became the property of Sir John 
 Hare, from whom it was purchased in 1864 by the late proprietor, who 
 erected the building as it now stands, the fourth Ch§,teau d'Hardelot, 
 with a lineage of twenty centuries. 
 
 Trt/«. ^1*7 
 
39 — 
 
 MONTREUIL-SUR-MER. 
 
 7HERE are certain towns in France, now buir rarely visited, wMch 
 in earlier epochs have played a conspieuous part in the history 
 of the world. Of these, Montreuil-sur-Mer, twelve miles inland by road, 
 via, Etaples, and rather less by river, from Mayville, is one of the most 
 remarkable. (}) Few Capitals have entertained within their walls so many 
 royal and illustrious guests as this very small town of Picardy (now the 
 Chef-lieu d'Arrondissement of the D^partement of the Pas-de-Calais), 
 which in our days surveys sleepily from over its crown of decaying 
 walls one of the loveliest sylvan prospects poet or painter could desire 
 to sing or paint. These crumbling bastions, once sufficiently formida,ble 
 to resist the armies' of our Edwards and our Henries, are now 
 mere ivy-draped ruins, picturesquely suggestive of the strength once 
 theirs, but adding to a splendid landscape that touch of 
 romance which hoar antiquity alone can impart. Sometimes, too, 
 this sense is emphasized by an accident, as when, for instance, in 
 contrast to these now useless vestiges of an iron age, a peasant is 
 seen ploughing in the fields stretched at their feet, or a little child 
 plucks gilly-flowers from among their fallen crests. These aesthetic 
 charms and interests of a scene which combines the remains of the 
 stateliest of man's achievements with the gentlest aspect of nature convert 
 the half-hour's walk round the ramparts of Montreuil into a lasting 
 
 (1) But the prettier route from Mayville is by way of Tripled and Villiers— about fifteen miles. 
 
— 40 - 
 
 memory, especially so if the pilgrim is in some measure acquainted with 
 the extraordinary vicissitudes of the little city which these fortifications 
 once guarded so faithfully as to render it for over a thousand years 
 impregnable even to the combined forces of Spain and England. 
 
 The views vary at every turn, but always remain enchanting. On 
 one side the River Canche glides peacefully along under trees, then 
 emerges to freshen .certain velvety pastures, and thence, to lose itself in 
 the valleys which recede gradually to the undulated liorizoii. The fine 
 Priory of the Chartreuse of N6tre-Dame-des-Fres, built on the slope of 
 a neighbouring hill, reminds us that if feudality is now as prostrate as 
 the dismantled walls originally built to protect its system, the Church 
 it vainly tried to make its hand-maid survives majestically even in its 
 most medieval form— contemplative monasticism. 
 
 Turn we seaward, and the scene is, if anything, more exquisite, the 
 
 shadows more tender, the greens and greys in spring more varied, 
 
 whereas in summer the gold of the cornfields is surpassingly rich and 
 
 conspicuous, for in this part of France the" fashion of cultivating the land 
 
 in sub-divided scraps, like a patchwork quilt, is almost unknown, and the 
 
 fields and pastures have that breadth which forms the most admirable 
 
 characteristic of our own glorious landscapes. Villages and homesteads 
 
 nestle pleasantly in the dales, and the whole prospect is one of peace and 
 
 prosperity. The jagged fragments of walls are, in places, all that remain 
 
 of the rampart, which has been planted with avenues of lime trees on the 
 
 innermost ring closest to the town, but in others the impressive 
 
 procession of tower and bastion, preserved by the restorations of Vauban 
 
 in the last century, is still intact, and at the time of the Franco-Prussian 
 
 War the strengthening of this place was seriously contemplated as a 
 
 means of additional defence against the encroachments of the Germans, 
 

— 41 — 
 
 already as near as Amiens. That capricious but delicious vegetation 
 which usually claims venerable ruins as its own, decorates profusely, and 
 tenderly, too, this crumbling circle of masonry, edging it with cascades 
 of clematis and honeysuckle, or protecting it by sturdy hedges of 
 wall-flower and wild thyme. 
 
 Nor is the scene less striking if we turn our gaze townward. Here a 
 labyrinth of quaint roofs, gable ends and picturesque chimney stacks 
 zigzag up and down towards the old Parish Church, formerly a royal 
 abbey, but now shorn of its twin towers, re-placed of late years by a 
 queer Dutch-looking cupola. This sturdy old monastic fragment seems 
 to entreat us to forgive its present poverty and only remember its quondam 
 grandeur. It is the survivor of eight other great churches, once its pious 
 neighbours, which in olden times sent up from the soil a perfect forest 
 of spires and towers, whose bells for hundreds of years joined in jubilant 
 peal for victory or mournful knell when defeat desolated the country and 
 the little city, whose pulse of life once beat so feverishly, but now only 
 with the drowsy regularity of time — beaten age anchored in the gentle 
 shadow of a peaceful retreat. 
 
 How old is Montreuil? one asks over and over again when reading 
 its strange story. The answer of the learned historian is vague. Ossar 
 may have stood on these ramparts, part of which still bear trace of 
 Roman skill in masonry, as, for example, the foundations of the colossal 
 tower known as the prison of Queen Bertha. But the early history of 
 this singular fortified city is mythical and, being lost in the mist of 
 age, is correspondingly nebulous — the imagination may, if it will, conjure 
 up figures of Romans, Gauls, Yandals, Huns, Kings and Queens, 
 Carlovingian. Plantagenet, Valois and Bourbon, saintly or otherwise, who 
 
— 42 — 
 
 doubtless of a moonlight night pass round the venerable bastions in 
 a sort of ghostly state which the cock-crow dispels sooner than the 
 rising sun. 
 
 The interest of MontreuU for English people, independent of its 
 remarkable position, is its singular connection with our OT^n history. 
 Throughout the whole of the Middle Ages it was considered impregnable, 
 on account of the strength of its fortifications, which protected both the 
 town and castle, and was therefore frequently chosen as a royal residence. 
 The province of Ponthieu, extending as far as Boulogne-sur-Mer on the 
 one side, and almost to Amiens on the other, was created by the 
 Carlovingian kings into a feudal county which remained fairly independent 
 until the end of the thirteenth century, when it passed into the hands of 
 an heiress, the Countess Marie de Ponthieu, who married a simple squire. 
 Her daughter and heiress, Jeanne de Ponthieu, married Ferdinand, King 
 of Oastille. At her death, this Princess bequeathed the county of Ponthieu 
 to her celebrated daughter, Blanche of Oastille, who subsequently became 
 Queen of England, as Consort of Edward I., " and to her heirs for ever." 
 The inhabitants of Ponthieu, and especially those of Montreuil, refused to 
 submit to British rule, and hence rose that series of celebrated wars 
 rendered so gloriously memorable in our annals, as Cr^cy, Poitiers and 
 Agincourt. Needless to say that after the death of Henry V., and mainly 
 through the almost superhuman efforts of Joan of Arc, we lost Ponthieu and 
 the rest of our French provinces, Calais alone remaining in our possession. 
 For nearly two hundred years Montreuil was frequently besieged by the 
 English under Edward I., Edward II. and Edward III., and Henry IV. 
 and Henry V. In the sixteenth century it beheld our forces united to 
 those of the Emperor Charles V. under its walls; but Montreuil never 
 once fell into our hands, although, it is true, several of our kings spent a 
 short time here, and the funeral procession of Henry V. passed through its 
 
— 43 — 
 
 streets. Amongst the illustrious visitors Montreuil has received within 
 her walls we may mention Edward II., Edward III., Henry V., 
 Louis XI., Francis I.,Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Anne of Austria, 
 Louis XIV., and, in 1718, Peter the Great. 
 
 In 1804, the Emperor Napoleon I. visited the town and gave orders 
 for the immediate repair of the fortifications. Odd to tell, he came 
 accompanied by four gentlemen who rejoiced in the uneuphonious name of 
 Cochon, so the wits of the Anti-Buonapartist Party declared that the 
 Emperor had been brought thither by "four pigs." 
 
 In our time more peaceful visitors have come in flocks to admire the 
 extreme beauty of the view from the walls, and to saunter about the 
 old-world place. Victor Hugo, in 1830, for instance, who describes 
 Montreuil in a chapter of " Les Mis&ables"; Michelet, too, and later 
 A. Dumas and Pierre Loti, beside many a contemporary English author 
 and artist,' In the last century the excellent hostelry the "Hdtel de 
 France" was graced by the presence of Laurence Sterne, who made here 
 the acquaintance, if we are to take the "Sentimental Journey" for 
 granted, of his immortal valet. La Fleur. Young, too, was here late in 
 1789, just before the Reign of Terror, and gives his usual jaundiced 
 description of the place in his " Travels." 
 
 The Church of St. Saulve is, as already stated, but a fragment of the 
 old abbey. The nave, however, is handsome, and the carving above the 
 pillars remarkable. The west front is exceedingly beautiful, and has been 
 well restored, thanks to the energy of the present learned Dean, who 
 intends, when he has collected sufiBcient funds for the purpose, to 
 re-build the chancel, destroyed by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. 
 In the sacristy is an extremely interesting collection of church plate 
 
— 44 — 
 
 saved from the greed of the revolutionists by the last abbess of 
 St. Aiistreberthe, who hid them in the garden. The most beautiful 
 specimen is a small coffer in the shape of a tomb containing the jaw of 
 St. Eloy. It is certainly one of the best preserved specimens extant of 
 Limoges enamel of the eleventh century. The abbatial staff of 
 St. Austreberthe is also a beautiful specimen of silver chasing of the 
 tenth century set with uncut gems. A reliquary of the sixteenth century 
 is probably of Italian origin. The two Gothic reliquaries of the fifteenth 
 century are also Ti\'orthy of close study, their proportions being admirable. 
 
 Of the eight other churches, scarcely a vestige remains. Possibly 
 the once famous Church of St. Austreberthe occupied the site of the 
 chapel of a private school which has been formed out of a part of 
 the abbey buildings, the rest being incorporated in the modern Artillery 
 barracks. The old church and convent were burnt down in 1782, it 
 was reported by an Englishman, named Seymour, who was in love 
 with one of the novices. They escaped and went to the West Indies, 
 Many years later they were discovered living quietly at Calais. In all 
 probability the convent caught fire on the night of the elopement. 
 The Abbess, in a long letter, still extant, relates the calamity, but makes 
 no allusion to the romance. 
 
 The "H6tel Dieu" possesses an exquisite chapel of the fifteenth 
 century in the best period of the flamboyant Gothic. The interior 
 contains some fine oak carving of the seventeenth century, and a 
 handsome altar, which, however, is entirely out of keeping with the 
 style of the church. The " H6tel Dieu " is a modern building, admirably 
 managed by a community of Augustinian nuns, who treat the paupers 
 with exceeding kindness. There are one or two good pictures in the 
 council chamber : a Crucifixion by Van Dyck — more probably by Van Loo 
 
— 45 
 
 —and a Descent from the Cross by Rubens in his early tnanner. The 
 portrait of the founder, the Count de Mainteny (fifteenth century), would 
 be interesting had it not been so thickly re-painted. A register on 
 vellum, with miniatures and illuminations by the Carthusian artist, 
 Dom Hanin, of the fifteenth century, is well worthy of inspection. 
 
 ' Rich, therefore, in historical memories, and exceedingly picturesque, 
 this delightful little town offers many a summer day's rest to the 
 visitors to Mayville. A d^je-dner at the " Hotel de France," followed by 
 a walk round the ramparts, a visit to the old church and a 
 pilgrimage to the Chartreuse, is a day, not only very well spent, but 
 a memorable one, and not likely to be forgotten in a life-time. 
 
— 46 — 
 
 THE CHARTREUSE 
 
 OF 
 
 NOTRE DAME DES PRES. 
 
 • > • c m oQ omt n I 
 
 )HE Chartreuse, or as we should call it, Charterhouse, of Our Lady 
 of the Fields near Montreuil, forms the object of an excursion of 
 the most profound interest, but unfortunately it is one in which ladies can- 
 not join, women being rigorously excluded from monasteries of the 
 Carthusian Order. A cordial welcome, however, is extended to the 
 sterner sex, and if the visit is so timed that the party arrives at mid-day — 
 the hour of the distribution of food to the poor at the monastery gates — 
 ladies will find much to interest them in the picturesque scene (indepen- 
 dently of the Lady Chapel to which they are admitted), whilst the gentle- 
 men make the tour of the buildings, which does not take very long. 
 
 There was a charterhouse on this site as early as the beginning of 
 the fourteenth century, founded by Eobert VII., Count of Boulogne and 
 Auvergne, which remained in the hands of the Carthusians until the 
 Revolution, when it was sold and pulled down. In 1870 the few 
 remaining walls and the fine surrounding estates were purchased by the 
 Carthusians of the Grande Chartreuse at Grenoble, and presently a mag- 
 nificent building, designed by M. Le Normand, re-placed in a measure the 
 once famous monastery which for over eight huiidred years had been in 
 the possession of an unbroken line of priors. The style selected was that 
 generally known in England as Early English, and therefore the visitor 
 
w 
 a; 
 a, 
 
 tn 
 
LA CHARTREUSE DE NOTRE-DAME DES PRES. 
 The Great CLor-^"" 
 
— 47 — 
 
 has the privilege of seeing an exact re-production of a monastery of the 
 twelfth century, inhabited by monks who follow without the slightest 
 deviation in detail the kind of life led therein eight hundred years back. 
 Nothing is changed either in costume or custom, even the drinking .vessels 
 are modelled after those which were in common use in the days of our 
 earliest Plantagenet Kings. 
 
 The life of a Carthusian is one of exceeding severity and regularity. 
 He is bound to be a strict vegetarian — meat may not be tasted even in 
 case of sickness — only one substantial meal is allowed each day, and once 
 a week there is a rigid fast. Lent is observed during eight weeks of the 
 year. Three times a day the monks assemble in the choir of the church 
 for Mass, Vespers and Matins. They retire to rest at seven in the 
 evening, and rise at 11.30 each night to proceed to the chapel, where 
 Matins are sung. At 2 o'clock they go to bed, to rise again at 5.30 
 in winter and summer alike, when they hear Mass. 
 
 The monks only eat in common on Sundays and holidays, otherwise their 
 food is brought to them in their cells. Each week they take a walk or 
 Spatiament together in the woods, on which occasion they are allowed to 
 speak, but only on religious or mystical subjects. Certain hours of the 
 day are devoted to manual labour, others to some intellectual occupation, 
 and the rest to prayer and meditation. In a sense this is a busy life, 
 for not a moment of time is wasted, and the result appears conducive 
 both to happiness and health. The Carthusians are said usually to Uve to 
 a very advanced age. 
 
 There is a large and very fine printing and book-binding establish- 
 ment annexed to this monastery which is in the hands of the monks, who 
 produce superb specimens of both arts. This and their agricultural 
 
— 48 — 
 
 industries bring in a handsome return, and enable them to do an immense 
 amount of good in the neighbourhood, where they enjoy unbounded and 
 deserved popularity. 
 
 The buildings are handsome and spacious— the cloisters being remark- 
 ably long and beautiful— but the magic hand of time is needed to subdue 
 their present rather garish appearance. 
 
 The first place of interest shown is the church, which is divided into 
 three sections, one for the monks, another for the friars and servants, and a 
 third for strangers. Although not particularly spacious, it is very hand- 
 some, and furnished with great simplicity and good taste in the purest 
 style of the twelfth century. The windows are particularly good, and the 
 general effect is elegant and devotional. 
 
 The refectory is plain but lofty, and contains a pulpit from which the 
 lessons are read while the monks are at their meals ; such a one is still 
 to be seen in the ruined refectory of Walsingham Priory in Norfolk, and 
 at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. The prior occupies a seat at the 
 upper end, whilst the monks sit at two long side tables. The plates and 
 drinking vessels are of the coarsest earthenware, and fashioned after 
 original designs of the time of St. Bruno, who, in the tenth century, 
 created the Carthusian Eeforna of the Benedictine Order. 
 
 Each monk inhabits a little house or cell of his own, which consists of 
 an ante-room and store-house for wood, &c., a bedroom, and a study ; these 
 two latter being on the upper floor. The chambers are scrupulously 
 clean and furnished with the utmost simplicity. A small garden is allotted 
 to each monk, which he is expected to cultivate as best he knows how. 
 
 The chapter-house, and several small chapels, one of which is 
 the only remaining portion of the older house now existing, are also 
 shown. They are exceedingly plain, but in perfect harmony with the 
 
49 — 
 
 rest of the building. The library is spacious and well lighted. It 
 
 contains some 50,000 volumes, but none of great importance — the 
 
 archives of the house, kept at Grenoble, being all the historical MSS. 
 of any value. 
 
 Visitors, Protestant as well as Catholic, are allowed to attend the 
 night services— but they must enter the monastery at 7 o'clock p.m. 
 They will be provided with supper and bed." They are naturally 
 expected to rise with the rest of the house at 11, and proceed with the 
 monks to the chapel and remain there until the service is concluded. 
 
 .(-r ^ W' <> 
 
50 — 
 
 ST. JOSSE. 
 
 'MONG the many pleasant and interesting excursions in the 
 neighbourhood of Mayville, none has greater charm than that to 
 St. Josse, now a village, but once a town of considerable importance and still a 
 popular place of pilgrimage. The surrounding country is extremely beautiful, 
 well wooded, and remarkable for its evidence of unusual prosperity. St. Josse 
 is full of historical interest. A great many learned antiquaries — among them 
 the Abb6 Jean Gournay, the Our6 of the village, a gentleman who has devoted 
 his leisure to the study of the history of the parish he directs vnth so 
 much kindness and zeal — consider that the important Eoman ciiy of 
 Quentovic, which was destroyed in the seventh century, was situated in 
 this neighbourhood, as well as the Portus Itius which Caesar used as a 
 naval yard for the building of the ships intended for the invasion of Great 
 Britain. A great many Roman coins, horse-shoes, fragments of armour, 
 &c., are often found in rich abundance^ in this parish, and although it is 
 usually believed that the two important Eoman stations in question were 
 situated on the right bank of the Canche, towards Staples, there is, 
 however, some evidence in favour of the less popular theory. 
 
 The village owes its present fame to a Saint of British origin of the 
 seventh century, St. Josse, or Judoc, who died here in 654. It is a 
 curious fact that the Northern provinces of France were mainly Christianised 
 by British missionaries, whose relics are still venerated by the people. In 
 the first decade of the sixth century, Riuval, a Cornish prince, was driven 
 
— 51 — 
 
 from his country by the Danes, and took refuge in Southern Brittany, of 
 which province he was in due time elected Chief. The sixth in succession 
 from Eiuval was Jathael, who had fourteen sons and six daughters, of whom 
 three sons and one daughter were subsequently canonised. Of these holy 
 personages St. Judoc, or Josse, is the best known. Kefusing the Crown 
 oflfered to him by his eldest brother, who retired to a monastery, St. Josse 
 devoted himself to the interests of Christianity, then spreading rapidly 
 throughout Brittany and Normandy. He settled in the village which still 
 bears his name, and was renowned for many miles round for his extras- 
 ordinary virtues and exceeding charity. In 652 he went on a pilgrimage 
 to Kome, whence he brought back certain relics of the Prince of the 
 Apostles, presented to him by the Pope. He died shortly after his arrival 
 home, at St. Josse, in 654, and was buried there, his tomb soon becoming 
 a great attraction to generations of pilgrims. Endless miracles were 
 wrought through his intercession, and about a hundred years after his death 
 a splendid abbey, dedicated to him, was built by the Benedictines, and 
 eventually included by Charlemagne among the twenty-four royal abbeys of 
 his Empire. In the course of centuries this monastery became very rich, and 
 on two days of the year was frequented by thousands of pilgrims eager 
 to " pass " under the shrine of the Saint, which was raised sufficiently high 
 to permit of them so doing. This monastery, which had become pecuniarily 
 embarrassed, was suppressed some years before the Revolution. In 1793 
 it was so completely levelled to the ground that not a vestige of it remains, 
 not even a wall. The body of St. Josse was saved through the zeal of 
 the parish priest, but the magnificent shrine which once contained it was 
 sent to Paris and melted for the benefit of the nation. A handsome bronze 
 shrine, an exact copy of the original, which, however, was in silver, is now 
 in the parish church. Every year, on the 27th June, a great pilgrimage 
 takes place here, and the shrine of St. Josse is processionaUy carried 
 
52 - 
 
 through the village, street to La Croix Coupde, a wayside cross which marks 
 the spot upon .which St. Josse restored to life ihe daughter of the Lord of 
 Cliron. The throng of pilgrims is still very great, and consists of persons 
 of all ranks,, from the highest to the lowest. The huge shrine is carried 
 on the shoulders of sailors, and as it passes along, high over the heads of 
 the multitude, it seems sailing over a sea of human heads. This pilgrimage 
 is one of the most remarkable in the North of France, and only last year 
 attracted 18,000 persons, a proof, if one were needed, that faith is not 
 dead in these districts. 
 
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— 53 - 
 
 THE ABBEY OF VALLOIRES. 
 
 JHE excursion to Valloires from Mayville takes a whole day. 
 Leaving early in the morning, one can lunch at Montreuil, and 
 thence go by carriage through a beautiful sweep of country to this once 
 famous abbey, which is situated on the limit-line dividing the 
 departments of Somme and Pas-de-Oalais. 
 
 The Abbey of Valloires, built in the twelfth century by the Bernardines 
 — a reformed branch of the Benedictines which eventually, in the eighteenth 
 century, transformed itself into the Trappistine Order — was originally of 
 great importance, and the chm-ch of extraordinary dimensions, possessing a 
 nave with five aisles, a very unusual feature in this part of France. 
 During the Anglo-French wars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it 
 was so terribly damaged that about a hundred and eighty years ago it was 
 found impossible to continue restoring it, the foundations being utterly unsafe. 
 However much one may regret the destruction of a noble Gothic abbey, 
 in this case, at least, one has the consolation of seeing it re-placed by a 
 church of such astonishing beauty, that possibly in the whole of Europe 
 there is no other specimen of the roccoco style at once so delightftd 
 and artistic. It is a church which would have enchanted Madame de 
 Pompadour without offending St. Bernard, for it has all the elegance 
 affected by the Marquise and all the needed austerity to render it 
 unobjectionable in the eyes of the sesthetic founder of the most severe 
 Order of contemplative monks. Rarely, if ever, have the lavish decorations 
 
— 54 — 
 
 of the eighteenth century been introduced into a sacred edifice with so 
 much discretion. The church is Greek cruciform, the choir and transepts 
 being used by the monks, who are divided from the congregation by an 
 iron grating of superlative beauty, the masterpiece of the Baron de Paflt, 
 the Eaphael of designers in wrought iron. The absolute perfection of the 
 details of the wondrous lacework screen cannot be exaggerated, and although 
 rich in elaborate and symbolic decoration, the whole design is so light as not 
 to interfere with the view of the choir and altar. But even more remarkable 
 is the wrought iron tabernacle which hangs pendant from the roof over 
 the High Altar. It is in the shape of a gigantic horn of abundance 
 depending from a palm tree, both symbolical of human life and of Divine 
 prodigality. The altar itself is magnificent, and no less beautiful and in 
 keeping with the rest of the church are the other altars, which are adorned 
 by admirable life-sized statues of saints and angels in white marble. So 
 lavish is the decoration of this marvellous church that even the choir stalls 
 and the organ case are unique specimens of the finest decorative wood- 
 carving of the last century in which the fancy of a very great artist has 
 surpassed itself in the judicious use of symbolism. The picture over the 
 High Altar is by Fragonard, and represents the Crucifixion— another master- 
 piece of the period, as artificial as you please, but still in perfect keeping 
 with the richness of the building, and even devotional. The altar of the 
 Lady Chapel has a curious picture representing Mgr. de Lamotte and a 
 group of Bernardines in prayer before the Virgin and Child, possibly by 
 Phillippe de Champagne. The efiigies in white marble of the founders of 
 the abbey, the Sieur de Ponthieu and his consort the Countess Marie, 
 were rescued from the ruins of the older building. They are of the 
 fourteenth century, and admirable of their kind. In order to utilize them 
 with efiect in this brilliant but slightly worldly-looking church, a scheme 
 of decoration of the purest Lo^J^is XV. surrounds them with excellent effect. 
 
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— 55 — 
 
 This abbey is now in the possession of the Little Brothers of 
 St. Vincent de Paul, who educate as farm labourers about fifty orphans. 
 The system of education is admirable, the lads being greatly sought 
 after by the neighbouring farmers, and many of them have risen to 
 fortune— thanks to the kindness and judicious training they received 
 from these Fathers. 
 
 There is an interesting museum of antiquities here, formed by the 
 present Superior. The sacristy of the chapter-house and the bishop's 
 parlour are lined with oak, richly carved by the same master hand which 
 so lavishly decorated the chapel. In the chapter-house are some very 
 fine pictures by masters of the eighteenth century, notable being a 
 St. Jerome in the Desert, by Bouchier. 
 
 The gardens are beautiful in the extreme, and the cloister, with its 
 fine bronze figure of our Lord, most picturesque. When to these manifold 
 attractions are added the courtesy and intelligent ciceroneship of the 
 Eev. Rector, it is easy to imagine that a visit to Valloires is calculated 
 to be of interest and pleasure combined. A small voluntary fee towards 
 the noble charity, which now occupies the whole attention of the Fathers, 
 is expected, but not demanded, and ladies are freely admitted to the 
 monastery, which is no longer in the hands of a Contemplative Order, but 
 of one of the busiest and most up-to-date of any. 
 
~ 56 
 
 VARIOUS POINTS OF INTEREST. 
 
 'EARER to Staples, on the right bank of the Oanche, is also the 
 charmingly situated ch§,teau of Frencq, -which, standing as it 
 does on an island in the centre of a lake, forcibly reminds one of Leeds 
 Castle in Kent, one of the most picturesque spots in the county which 
 has Tightly been called the " Garden of England ; " while there are few 
 districts even in rural England that surpass in natural beauty the Valley 
 of La Course with its embowered chateaux, nestling water-mills, quaint 
 old villages, and peaceful farmsteads peeping from their elm or poplar 
 groves. On the left bank of the Canche, also, behind the Mayville woods, 
 most agreeable walks and drives may be had to St. Josse, the two 
 chMeaux of Pr6mont and Longeville, La Calotterie, Merlimont, Tripled 
 and Cucq, where the Mayor of the rural Commune of that name has a 
 farm well worth the inspection of English visitors. From here the 
 road leads through a charmingly sylvan country to the battlemented 
 heights, looking like an Indian hill-fort, of ancient and historic Montreuil. 
 
 But if the tourist proceeds to the south instead of to the east, he 
 wiU soon come to a place almost as ancient and interesting in its way 
 as Montreuil, though not nearly so large. This is the quaint little old 
 town of Rue, with its town hall and belfry, which lies on the right of 
 the main line from Boulogne to Paris. It is now the mere shadow of 
 its former self. The church is a comparatively modern one, though 
 containing a confessional of the sixteenth century ; but adjoining it is 
 

 
 
- 57 — 
 
 the "Chapelle du St. Esprit"— the remnant of a church, dating from 
 the tliirteenth century, which was destroyed many years ago by the 
 falling of its steeple. The north side of this chapel is most beautifully 
 sculptured (as will be seen from our illustration), the fagade containing 
 statues of several French Kings. The interior, too, is a marvel of the 
 sculptor's artj and the painter also has done his best for it on the 
 subject of Dives. 
 
 Between the upper courses of the Authie and the Maye, 
 to whose encroachments are partly attributed the decay of Rue, 
 lies the battlefield of Cr^cy, which is reached by a branch line from 
 Noyelles ; while Agincourt, lying eastward of Montreuil, may be reached 
 in a couple of hours from Mayville, the tourist going by rail to 
 Blangy-sur-Ternoise. 
 
— 58 
 
 QU ENTOVI C. 
 
 Where it was: What it was: and What remains of it. 
 
 'T the beginning of the seventh century we find mentioned 
 for the first time a town called Wicus Porto [629]. A 
 little later we find the name changed into Quentowich [668] ; this form 
 remains in use down to A.D, 961, although its spelling varies greatly : 
 Quentovicus, Cuentowic, Quintavich, &c. 
 
 Where was Quentowich ? Up to the middle of this century no 
 one knew exactly where to look for it. Some proposed Quend-le-vieux ; 
 in Latin, Quentovetus. Others St. Josse, and others Etaples, like 
 Maibrancq or Henry, But in 1841- the question acquired a new interest : 
 the " Soci^t^ des Antiquaires de Morinie " caused excavations to be made 
 about half a mile to the north of Etaples, in a field called "Za pi^e a 
 lAards " (i.e., farthing-field). Forty-three small stone houses, seven 
 wells, and a paved street were dug up on this site. In these ruins 
 were found vases, tiles, Eoman pottery, coins innumerable, and, lastly, 
 several thousand Merovingian bronze brooches or fibulae. It was at once 
 proposed to locate this as the real site of the defunct and mysterious 
 Quentowich. But the Abb^ Laurent and the Abb6 Robert tried to prove 
 that this ancient city was at St. Josse or at La Oalotterie, on the left 
 bank of the Oanche. M. Cousin, of Dunkerque, however, refuted their 
 arguments, and proved that Quentowic was undoubtedly at Etaples, or 
 rather at la pUce a Liards, 
 
ROMAN MAP OF THE SITE OK MAYVILLE AND NEIGHBOUROOD. 
 
- '•■^''- '■■ifi -,- 
 
 PLAN OF THE CAPITAINNERIE DE VERTON. 
 
 :st 
 
— 59 — 
 
 Quentowich was on the right bank of the River Canohe ; a 
 decree by which Louis the Pious divided his empire between his 
 sous [A.D. 835], proves it conclusively : To Charles he gave, among 
 other provinces^ Amhianensis et Pontium, the Amiens country and the 
 Ponthieu (i.e., the land between the Somme and the Oanche). To 
 Lothaire Terwanensis, Bohnsis, Qrientovico, — the T^rouanne country, the 
 Boulogne country and Quentowich, showing thus that this port was not 
 in Ponthieu, but on the right bank of the River Oanche. 
 
 Quentowich was at Etaples. The same piece of land is said in 
 867 to be at Quentowich : In Quintvico Mansum ; and in 1026 to be 
 at Stapulae, or Etaples. Item aliam terrain in villa quae dicitur Stapulae. 
 (^Cartul. Bertin, p. 165.) 
 
 These arguments seem to be quite irrefutable. The only possible 
 objection is that the ruins dug up are more Roman than Merovingian, 
 but one may say — 
 
 1. That the brooches are mostly Merovingian. (Rocquigny and 
 Souquet collections.) 
 
 2. That there was also a Roman town called Gravinum. (Peutinger 
 Map.) 
 
 3. That there was near there, at Mayville itself, a Roman station 
 called thus in the Notitia Dignitatum Imperii : — Praefectus classis 
 8amhri.eae in loco Quartensi sive Hornensi. Quartensis, or rather Quantensis, 
 is a name derived from the word Quantia, the Canche river ; while the 
 present pointe de Lomel, or Hornez, has brought down to us the memory 
 of the locus Homensis. The amateur archaeologist occasionally picks up 
 on the sands of Mayville, in front of the semaphore, fragments of red 
 or black Roman pottery, or even pieces of a thin yellowish Merovingian 
 
- 66 - 
 
 pottery, which is found nowhere else in France, We can also recommend 
 excursions to la pibce a Liards at Staples, and especially to Brimeux, 
 where in close proximity to the railway station one may occasionally pick 
 up ornate fragments of varnished red Koman pottery, a Roman town called 
 Lirvtomagus having once occupied that site. (Peutinger Map.) 
 
" The Great Cloister " is published by permisBion of the Director of the Carthusian 
 printing works of N6tre Dame des Pr&. 
 
 The two photographs of the Roman map of the site and neighbourhood of the future 
 Mayville and of the Capitainnerie de Verton, are published by permission of the Abb6 B. J. 
 Thobois, Curd of Alette, near Montreuil, Member of the Antiquarian Society of Kcardy, who 
 owns the interesting originals. 
 
 Several of the illustrations are from photographs taken by Mr. L. Oordonnier, Lille. 
 
 "La Chapelle du St. Esprit" Is from a photograph by Messrs. Merridew, of Boulogne- 
 sur-Mer, and "Fishermen on the Canche " is from one by Mr. A. Lormier, of the same place. 
 
 The Railway Map is printed by permission of Mr. Oberthiir, Rennea. 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 CHARLES SKIPPER & EAST, 49, GREAT TOWER STREET, E.G. 
 
 MOST OF THE VIEWS PHOTOGRAPHED AND REPRODUCED BY 
 
 CURZON, ROBEY ifc CO., 7, NEWMAN STREET, OXFORD STREET, W. 
 
 THE ILLUSTRATIONS BY PHIL MAY WERE REPRODUCED BY 
 
 VAUS, CBAMPTON & Co., Limited, BALDWIN GARDENS, GRAY'S INN ROAD, E.C. 
 

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