BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE. 
 
 Now ready, crown Svo, 10s. 6d. per volume. 
 With Maps and 500 Illustrations. 
 NORTH-EASTERN FRANCE. 
 SOUTH-EASTERN FRANCE. 
 SOUTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Complete list of Works by same Author at end of 
 this Volume. 
 
 lonuon: 
 
 GEORGE ALLEN, 1 56, CHARING CROSS ROAD, W.C. 
 AND SUNNYSIDE, ORPINGTON. 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/northwesternfranOOhare 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE 
 
 (flormanty? an& JBrittans) 
 
 AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE 
 
 AUTHOR OF u PARIS," u WALKS IN ROME," " WALKS IN LONDON," ETC. 
 
 GEORGE ALLEN 
 T56, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON 
 
 AND 
 
 SUN NY SIDE, ORPINGTON 
 1895 
 
 [All rights reserved] 
 
Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. Paris to Dieppe by Pontoise, Gisors, Forges-les- 
 Eaux, and Neufchatel. From the Gare 
 S. Lazare i 
 
 II. Paris to Havre, by Mantes, Vernon, Gaillon, 
 Rouen (Jumieges, Cauuebec), and Yvetot 
 (Etretat, Fecamp), (Lillebonne). From the 
 Gare S. Lazare 21 
 
 III. Paris to Cherbourg by Evreux, Lisieux (Trou- 
 
 \tlle) (Falaise), Caen, Bayeux, and Valognes. 
 From the Gare S. Lazare 79 
 
 IV. Paris to Granville, by Dreux, Argentan and 
 
 Vire. From the Gare Montparnasse . .134 
 
 V. Paris to Chartres, Nogent le Rotrou, Le Mans, 
 Laval, Vitre, Rennes, Lamballe, Morlaix and 
 Brest. Chemin de Fer de L'Ouest : from the 
 Gare Montparnasse . . . , . .158 
 
 VI. Bayeux to Lamballe by S. Lo, Coutances, 
 
 Avranches, Mont S. Michel, Dol, S. Malo, 
 and Dinan . 304 
 
 VII. Paris and Le Mans to Quimper, by Chateau- 
 
 Gontier, Segre, Chateaubriant, Redon, 
 Vannes, L'Orient, and Quimperle. Chemin 
 de Fer de L'Ouest 339 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 PARIS TO DIEPPE BY PONTOISE, GISORS, FORGES- 
 LES-EAVX, AND NEUFCHATEL. FROM THE GARE 
 S. LAZARE. 
 
 I ^OR this route see North Eastern France, ch. ii., as 
 
 1 far as 
 
 32 k. Pontoise inclusive. 
 
 42 k. Ws-Marines. 5^ k. S. is Marines, with the chateau 
 of Chancellor Sillery, and the remains of a monastery of 
 Oratorians, which he founded here in 16 18. 5 k. (omnibus) 
 is Vigny, with its fine gothic chateau : see ch. ii. 
 
 50 k. Chars, with a church chiefly xiv. c. Here the 
 line to Magny (see ch. ii.) branches off on 1. 
 
 The line passes (r.) the fine xi. and xn. c. church of 
 Villetertre. 
 
 57 k. Liancourt-S.- Pierre, on the Roman road called 
 Chaussee Brunehaitt, has a church with tower of xn. o, 
 nave and S. transept xm. c, choir and N. transept xvi. c. 
 
 63 k. Chaumont-en-Vexin has some remains of an xi. c. 
 castle. The church (xv. and xvi. c.) has a rich portal and 
 flamboyant galleries. In the principal street is a good 
 timber xvi. c. house. 5 k. W. is Chambors, with an old 
 chateau turned into a farm and a church of 1532. To 
 the r. of the line is the hamlet of La Bertichere, with 
 
 x 
 
2 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 a chapel of xi. c. or xn. c. and chateau of xv. c. or 
 xvi. c. 
 
 08 k. Trie-Ch&teaU) had an important xv. c. fortress, 
 of which the gothic gateway remains, crossing the Gisors 
 road. The church has a splendid gothic facade. The 
 Hotel de Ville, which was once the Maison de Justice 
 Seigneuriale, is xn. c. 2 k. S.E. is the dolmen called 
 La Pierre des Druides. 
 
 71k. Gisors 1 (Hotel : de rAcu de France — very good, but 
 horrors), which, ruled in its early existence by the Comtes 
 de Vexin, who had the privilege of bearing the oriflamme 
 of S. Denis before the kings of France, became a constant 
 source of dispute between the kings and the dukes of 
 Normandy. As Philippe Auguste was rushing for refuge 
 to the fortress after the battle of Courcelles, the bridge 
 fell, and the king, who seemed to escape by a miracle, gilt 
 the gate above it all over in his gratitude. 
 
 The earliest part of the church of Gervais and 
 Protais, the choir and aisles, are due to Blanche of Castille, 
 1240; the nave, chapels, and towers are xiv. c, xv. c, and 
 xvi. c. ; the W. portal is a curious specimen of the 
 Renaissance. The N. portal is splendid flamboyant. The 
 interior has five aisles. The first pillar r. — le Pilier des 
 Marchands (1526) — has six sides, each showing different 
 sculptures typical of the guilds who paid for its erection. 
 The fourth pillar of the same aisle — le Pilier des Dauphins 
 — is a beautiful wreathed column ornamented with sala- 
 manders. In the third chapel (r.) is a skeleton in stone, 
 attributed to Jean Goujon. At the end of the r. aisle is a 
 
 ; There are three stations at Gisors. Those leaving by any of the branch 
 linos should be careful to be taken to the right one. 
 
G/SORS. 
 
 3 
 
 beautiful flamboyant doorway. The baptistery has a huge 
 tree of Jesse. It was this church to which Henri IV. was 
 refused admittance by the cure till he had publicly adored 
 the cross. £ Ventre-saint-gris,' exclaimed the king, as he 
 entered the sanctuary, ' me voila done enfin roi de Gisors.' 
 Opposite the E. end of the church, a passage under the 
 houses on the other side of the principal street, leads 
 
 CASTLE OF GISORS. 
 
 up through the postern gate to the Chateau, the remains 
 of which are amongst the finest in France. It was built 
 in 1097 for Guillaume le Roux by Robert de Bellesme, a 
 great architect of fortresses. Henry I. strengthened it by 
 outer walls and towers, and more towers were added by 
 Henry II., who held here the conference (1175) with 
 Louis VII., in which they agreed to take up the cross. 
 The enclosure is formed by a wide and deep entrench- 
 ment, now laid out in gardens, and a wall flanked by 
 
4 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 twelve towers, most of them square. It had four gates, 
 of which three exist, besides the postern. In the midst, 
 on a high artificial mound, rises the octagonal keep, begun 
 xii. c, which is the earliest part of the existing building. 
 It is surrounded by a circular rampart, flanked by flat 
 buttresses, and with strengthening beams incrusted in the 
 masonry. This encloses a deep well and the remains of a 
 romanesque chapel dedicated to S. Thomas of Canterbury. 
 The keep is flanked by a xv. c. tourelle, enclosing a 
 staircase. The principal buildings for residence occupied 
 the space between the walls and the mound. Where the 
 ramparts of the castle meet those of the town stands the 
 Tour du Prisonnier, built by Philippe Auguste, and con- 
 taining three stories of single-vaulted chambers. In the 
 lowest are preserved a number of rude wall sculptures, 
 supposed to have been executed by the Chevalier Poulain 
 ( c Le Prisonnier de Gisors ') in the reign of Louis XL, 
 from the inscription — 'O mater Dei, memento mei Poulain.' 
 The JTal/es, built by the Due de Penthievre, who was lord 
 of Gisors at the time of the Revolution, are within the 
 enclosure of the castle, at the upper end. 
 
 The town has several xvi. c. wooden houses : one in 
 the Rue des Tanneurs bears an inscription to the Virgin. 
 The Hotel de Ville was the xvn. c. Couvent des Carmelites. 
 
 [For the line S.W. from Gisors to Vernon see ch. ii.] 
 
 [A line leads W. from Gisors to Pont de l'Arche. Descending 
 into the valley of the Epte, it passes 1. the Chateau de Vaux, 
 then a stone cross — Croix percee — which commemorates the 
 oath of fidelity taken by the Norman barons to Richard Cceur de 
 Lion before he left for the Crusades. 
 
 Farther, on ]., is Neaufles-S -Martin, which had an important 
 
FOREST OF LIONS. 
 
 5 
 
 xii. c. fortress of the Archbishops of Rouen, destroyed by 
 Mazarin. 
 
 8 k. Bezu-S.-Eloi, has a church, partly xii. c, and a tower 
 called Tour de la Reine- Blanche, built into a mill. 
 
 9 k. Bernouville. The line passes the ruins of a xii. c. priory, 
 turned into a farm, 
 
 i6k. Etrepagny, on the Bonde. The church has a good 
 xiv. c. tomb. 
 
 24 k. Saussay-les-Andelys (a railway in progress to Les 
 Andelys). 6 k. hence, on the road to Les Andelys, is the fine 
 church of Ecouis, founded by Enguerrand de Marigny (1311-13), 
 who was once represented, with his wife Alips, on the pillars 
 of the principal portal. In the interior is the tomb of his brother, 
 Jean de Marigny, Archbishop of Rouen. 
 
 29 k. Lisors. 2 k. N. are the ruins of the (xii. c.) Abbaye de 
 Mortimer. 
 
 32 k. Menesqueville-Lyons. The romanesque church of 
 Menesqueville contains the tomb of Jacques le Court, 1660, and 
 his wife Renee Bigot. The name commemorates the famous 
 Forest of Lions. 9 k. (omnibus) is Lyons-la-Foret (' nemus de 
 leonibus ' — ' silva leonum '), where Carloman received, from a 
 wild boar, the wound of which he died at Les Andelys. It 
 was the favourite hunting ground of the dukes of Normandy, 
 where Guillaume Longue-Epee, second of the race who became 
 dukes of Normandy, had a hunting lodge. Near this the monks 
 of S. Denis built a church, which they dedicated to their patron 
 saint, and which was afterwards replaced by a great ducal castle 
 (now destroyed), in which (Dec. 1, 1 1 3 5) Henry I. died, and 
 whence his embalmed body was taken for burial in England at 
 the abbey which he had founded at Reading. The church is 
 flanked by a huge square tower coated with slates. Outside 
 Lyons are remains of a convent, with an inscription recording 
 its foundation by Louis XIII. in 1624 in honour of S. Louis. 
 
 36 k. Charleval. The church has a romanesque portal. 
 
 38 k. Fleury-sur-Andelle. A road leads hence to (23 k.) 
 Rouen, by (5 k.) Bowg-Beaudouin, near which the Girondist 
 minister Roland died by his own hand under a tree, Nov. 15, 
 1793; and (13 k.) Boos, with a very interesting manor-house 
 (now farm) of the xm. c, which belonged to the abbesses of 
 
6 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 S. Amand-de-Rouen. The very curious xvi. c. pigeon-house is 
 decorated with inlaid tiles. 
 
 40 k. Radep07it has a chateau and a much-restored castle of 
 xii. c. Its church contains a fine retable from the Abbey of 
 Fontaine Guerand, founded in 1 198. Turning left on leaving 
 the station, a path through the delightful park of the Marquis 
 de Radepont, richly wooded and watered by the rushing Andelle, 
 leads in 2 k. to the Abbaye de Fontaine Guerand. The beautiful 
 ruined church and the neighbouring building are xiii. c. The 
 former contains the tomb of Marie de Ferrieres. Opposite the 
 ruins is a xv. c. chapel above a xn. c. crypt. Following the path 
 which leads hence to the forest, we find the xvi. c. Chateau de 
 Bonnemare, adorned with medallions and reliefs representing 
 Charles VII. and Agnes Sorel. 
 
 44 k. Pont-S.-Pierre. The imposing xv. c. chateau is ap- 
 proached by a long avenue. There are some small remains 
 of a xii. c. castle which played an important part in the wars of 
 Philippe Auguste with John of England. The road from hence to 
 (10 k.) Boos (see above), passes through Neuville-Champ-d'Oisel, 
 which has a fine church, chiefly xiii. c, with xviii. c. stall 
 w r ork. 
 
 47 k. Romilly-sur- Andelle, overhung to the S.W. by the Cote 
 des Deux-Amants, so called from the legend that the lord of a 
 neighbouring castle refused the hand of his beautiful daughter 
 to any one who should be unable to carry her to the top of the 
 hill without stopping. This her lover had almost accomplished, 
 when he sank down and died, and the maiden instantly threw 
 herself from the rocks. 
 
 48 k. Pitres. Some early remains discovered here are sup- 
 posed to belong to a palace of Charles le Chauve, who assembled 
 several councils here between 861 and 869. 
 
 54 k. Pont de l'Arche (see ch. ii.).] 
 
 75 k. Eragny. The church has some interesting frag- 
 ments of romanesque work. In the xvi. c. chateau is a 
 good brick staircase. 
 
 79 k. Serifontaine. The church (xi. c, xiii. c, andixvi. c.) 
 has good glass, pendants, and a Passion in gilt wood. 
 
GO URN AY. 
 
 7 
 
 88 k. Neufmarche. The romanesque church is xn. c, 
 with a sculptured portal. There are some remains of the 
 castle built in 1115 by Henry I. of England, and in which a 
 council of Anglo-Norman bishops and barons met, in 11 60, 
 to decide between the popes Alexander III. and Victor III. 
 The remains of a camp made by the English, when be- 
 sieging Neufmarche in 1419, are to be seen at the Mont des 
 Boulards. 
 
 S. HILDEVERT, GOURNAY. 
 
 Neufmarche is on the edge of the Pays de Bray, a 
 curious district, all the upper soil of which has been 
 carried away at an early period, rendering it useless for 
 corn-growing, but admirable for grazing purposes. 
 
 96k. Gournay Ferrieres (Hotel: duLiond'Or). The 
 ancient town of Gournay was formerly walled, but little re- 
 mains of its fortifications except the xvm. c. Porte Ibert and a 
 few towers. The church of S. Hildevert is xi. c. and xn. c, 
 
8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 and was a magnificent building till its interest was destroyed 
 by recent restoration. The common masons'-work which 
 has replaced the original capitals in the principal nave 
 serves as a foil to some grand untouched capitals in the side 
 aisles. The choir remains of the romanesque leper-chapel 
 of S. Madeleine. The xvn. c. Convent of Capucins is now 
 a gendarmerie and prison. The aged Hugh de Gournay, 
 who fought in the battle of Hastings, left his name to 
 Barrow-Gurney in Somerset, and other places in England. 
 The numerous family of Gurney in England claims Gournay 
 as its ancestral home. 
 
 Gerberoi) near Gournay, which had the right of sanctuary, 
 was a refuge to Robert, eldest son of the Conqueror, who 
 ravaged Normandy from thence (1078) with his band of 
 freebooters. The castle was besieged by William, and a 
 regular battle took place under its walls, in which not only 
 Rufus was wounded, but William himself was in the utmost 
 danger when in combat with a single knight, who proved 
 to be his own son. 
 
 [A line leads E. to (29 k.) Beauvais by (7 k.) 5. Germer. 
 Turning r. on leaving the station, by the high road, and then 
 1. to the village buried in trees, we reach at 2J k. {Hotel S. 
 Germer 1 ) a green surrounded by cottages in front of the immense 
 cruciform church, which belonged to the famous Abbey founded 
 by S. Germer in 650. It is approached by a fortified gateway of 
 xiv. c. The church is one of the finest specimens of transition 
 in France. The narrow pointed arches round the apse have 
 zigzag mouldings. The romanesque triforium is blocked in the 
 nave, but still open in the choir and transepts. Chapels radiate 
 round the choir, but the E. chapel was destroyed in the xiii. c. 
 to make way for the beautiful passage leading to the Sainte 
 
 1 S. Germer is more interesting to the architect than the artist. 
 
& GERMER. 
 
 9 
 
 Chaftelle, which recalls that of Paris, and may be anterior to 
 it. Some of its windows bear the arms of S. Louis. The chapel 
 has remains of colour, and contains many incised gravestones ; 
 from the principal one the abbot's crozier was stolen by an 
 English traveller. Several of the abbots have been canonised. 
 S. Eustache, who is buried in the centre of the nave, is said 1 to 
 have restored the use of Sunday in England. S. Domana, wife 
 of S. Germer before he became a priest, is buried in the S. 
 transept, where there is a fine S. Sepulcre ; and the remains 
 of his son, S. Amalbert, have been brought here from a neigh- 
 bouring village : both are greatly venerated in the diocese of 
 Beauvais. It is worth while to ascend to the stone corridor 
 which surrounds the roof of the Sainte Chapelie, to see the 
 extraordinary gargoyles, many caricaturing Benedictine friars. 
 It was in the abbey here that William of Normandy met Philip 
 of France, and besought his aid for the invasion of England, 
 promising, if he gave it, to hold England as well as Normandy 
 as a fief of the French crown.] 
 
 [A road leads S.W. from Gournay to (32 k.) Menesqueville, on 
 the line from Gisors to Pont de l'Arche, and a railway is in 
 progress. The road passes (at 10 k.) to the 1. of Mont-Roty, which 
 is the point of a great pilgrimage to the image of S. Jean du 
 Temple, and (at 29 k.) reaches Lyons-la-Foret (see p. 5).] 
 
 Following the valley of the Epte, the line passes on 1. 
 City-S. -Fiacre, with a xn. c. church and beautiful cemetery 
 cross, then the (xl c, xvi. c, and xvn. c.) church of Beuvreil 
 and the (xm. c.) Chateau des Huguenots, transformed 
 into a farm. The neighbouring (2% k. W.) church of 
 Dampierre has curious timber vaulting and a fine xvi. c. 
 cemetery cross : close to the church is the old Manoir de 
 .Rambures. 
 
 103 k. Gancourt-S.-Etienne. At S. Etienne (1.) is a 
 xn. c. choir and a xvi. c. farmhouse. The line passes on 1. 
 
 1 Breviarium Romanum. 
 
[O 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Menerval, with a (xn. c, xm. c, and xvi. c.) church with 
 good timber vaulting. 
 
 ink. Saumont-le-Poterie. The village church (2 k. 1.) 
 has a good xvi. c. choir with a chapelle seigneuriale of the 
 same date. The church (r.) of Pommereux is xn. c. and 
 xm. c. 
 
 116 k. Forges- les-Eaux (Hotels : des Thermes ; des Bains) , 
 a prettily-situated mineral watering-place, which was very 
 fashionable in the reigns of Louis XIII. and XIV., and 
 which was frequented by 1 La grande Mademoiselle.' 
 
 'La vie de Forges est fort douce et bien differente de celle 
 que Ton mene ordinairement : on se leve a six heures au plus 
 tard ; on va a la fontaine ; pour moi je n'aime pas prendre mes 
 eaux chez moi ; on se promene pendant qu'on les prend ; il y a 
 beaucoup de monde'; on parle les uns aux autres ; le chapitre 
 de regime et de l'effet des eaux est souvent traite aussi bien que 
 celui des maladies qui y font venir les gens, et du progres qu'on 
 fait a les detruire. On sait tous ceux qui sont arrives le soir ; 
 quand il y a des nouveaux venus on les accoste ; c'est le lieu du 
 monde ou Ton fait le plus aisement connoissance. Quand on a 
 acheve de boire, ce qui est ordinairement sur les huit heures, on 
 s'en va dans le jardin des Capucins, qui n'est point ferme de 
 murailles. Forges est un lieu ou il vient toutes sortes des gens, 
 des religieuses de meme, des pretres, des ministres huguenots 
 et les grands de tous pays, de toutes professions, cette variete 
 est assez divertissante. Apres qu'on s'est promene on va a la 
 messe, puis chacun va s'habiller ; les habits du matinee et ceux 
 de l'apres-midi sont fort differens ; le matin on a de la rature 
 et de la fourfure, et l'apres-diner du taffetas. La meilleure 
 saison pour prendre les eaux, c'est la canicule, qui, pour l'ordi- 
 naire, est assez chaude ; quand on a bu beaucoup d'eau, on a 
 grand froid. On dine a midi avec beaucoup d'appetit, ce qui 
 m'est nouveau : excepte lorsque je prends les eaux et que je 
 suis fort longtemps sans manger, je n'ai jamais faim. L'apres- 
 diner on venoit'me voir ; a cinq heures j'allais a la comedie, une 
 des troupes de Paris etait a Rouen, je la fis venir a Forges, ce 
 
FORGES-LES-EA UX. 
 
 1 1 
 
 qui etoit d'un grand secours pour le divertissement. A six 
 heures on soupe, et Ton va se promener aux Capucins, ou Ton 
 dit les litanies ; presque tout le monde les entend avant la 
 promenade, puis a neuf heures chacun se retire. Les eaux me 
 firent grand bien.' — Memoir es de Mile de Montpeiisier. 
 
 An excursion may be made to (2^ k.) Riberpre, an old 
 moated chateau (5 k.) : the church of Thil-Riberpre, partly 
 xiii. c, with stalls and an altar from the Abbey of Clair- 
 Ruissel ; and (7 k.) the abbey of Beaubec, founded 11 28, 
 restored, after a fire, in 1450, and ruined at the Revolution : 
 the Chapelle S. Ursu/e, built 1266, was restored in 1780. 
 Another excursion is that to (3^ k.) the church of La Ferte- 
 S.-Simon, whence there is a wide view. The apse is the 
 remnant of a collegiate church founded (x. c.) by Gautier 
 de Gournay. Behind are ruins of a fortress. The hamlet 
 of S. Samson has a xiii. c. font. At 10 k. is Argueil, 
 with a chateau of xiii. c, xvi, c, and xvii. c. At 12 k. 
 Sigy, with a monastic church, possessing a noble xn. c. 
 choir, with timber vaulting of xviii. c. 
 
 121 k. Serqueux, a junction station. 
 
 [A line runs E. to (72 k.) Amiens, and west to (45 k.) Rouen 
 by- 
 
 18 k. Monterollier-Buchy. Near the church of Mo?itero liter 
 (3 k. N.) is a tower of the ancient chateau, and in the cemetery 
 a good xvi. c. cross. At Bosc-Bordel (4 k. E.) is a good xiii. c. 
 church, with a fine porch. 5. Martin d ' Omonville (6 k.) has 
 good xv. c. alabaster reliefs. The romanesque church of 
 Estonteville is passed on the 1. before reaching — 
 
 25 k. Longnerue-Vieux-Manoir. 
 
 29 k. Morgny. 5 k. distant is the fine xv. c. collegiate church 
 of B lainville-Crevon, founded by Jean d'Estouteville.] 
 
 After leaving Serqueux, the line passes (r.) Beaubec la- 
 
1 2 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Rosiere, where the church (xi. c, xn. c, and xin. c.) is 
 preceded by a square called La Prek, with a xm. c. cross. 
 
 130 k. Nesle-S.-Saire. Nesle-Hodeng (r.) has a xn. c. 
 and xin. c. church, a beautiful xvi. c. cross, and remains 
 of an abbey of 1140, turned into a farm. Below the church 
 of S. Saire (1.) with xiv. c. glass, is an ancient crypt con- 
 taining a well. The line now passes (1.) Neuville-Ferrieres, 
 where the church has a xm. c. choir. 
 
 136k. Neufchatel-en-Bray (Hotel: du Grand Cerf) was 
 the ancient Driencourt. 
 
 ' But a castle, erected in comparatively modern times by 
 Henry Beauclerc, subsequently caused Driencourt to obtain the 
 denomination of Neufchatel, which it still retains, like its Helvetic 
 congener. You smell the cheese in every room of your inn. 
 The region is the dairy of Paris.' — Palgrave. 
 
 Robert, eldest son of the Conqueror, in rebellion against 
 his father, found a refuge here. 
 
 The church of Notre Dame (xn. c, xv. c, and xvi. c.) 
 has a xvi. c. tower, a late xv. c. portal. A S. Sepulcre, of 
 149 1, is full of expression. Only the apse and a xvi. c. 
 aisle remain of the church of S. Pierre. The Abb aye des 
 Bernardines is now a Hotel de Ville, and contains a small 
 Musee dAntiquites. Entered by a passage from the 1. 
 of the Grande Rue, where it opens on the church, is the 
 very picturesque and curious Maison des Temp Hers y with 
 much carved timber-work. The cheeses for which the 
 place is famous are called bondons de NeuchdteL 
 
 Historians should make an excursion (carriage 6 fr.) on 
 the road to Aumale to (n k.) Mortemer {tnortuum mare — 
 stagnant pool), which had a famous castle under the 
 Norman dukes. It lies, embedded in thick foliage, below 
 
MORTEM ER. 
 
 13 
 
 a low line of hills. The first settlement here originated 
 in the hermitages of Tascio, Guiard, and the noble 
 Guillaume de Fresquiennes, near which a monastery arose, 
 giving an impulse to clearances, which have continued 
 
 MAISON DES TEMPLIERS, NEUFCHATEL. 
 
 through seven centuries, till the Forest of Lions has lost 
 all general sylvan character, though wooded portions are 
 called forests of Bray, Andelys, Gournay, Vernon, Long- 
 boel, etc. The remains of the castle — a mere rag of wall 
 surrounded by a tremendous entrenchment — are approached 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 through the garden of a little mansion on the left of the 
 village lane. When William the Conqueror burnt Mortemer, 
 in the xi. c., he gave the fortress to William de Warrenne, 
 who afterwards married his step-daughter Gundrada. 
 
 ' The castle rises above the surrounding country ; the tall 
 dungeon tower, whose walls still crown the rock, became the 
 head station of the French troops, and they filled the fortress 
 with the booty they had gained. The field of Mortemer, and 
 the scattered farmhouses representing Mortemer, are standing 
 immediately beneath that grim grey donjon tower. The Normans 
 diligently dogged the enemy, and when the day emerged from 
 the night, which the French had passed in drunken debauchery, 
 they assailed the fortalice and fired the town. The dark, 
 cavernous, ancient church still exists, in good repair; a score of 
 straggling farmhouses are dotted in the surrounding pastures, 
 and the charred timbers, turned up by the ploughshares, still 
 testify the original extent of the town. . . . The French, 
 thoroughly routed, fled from the field bestrewed with corpses, 
 every pit and dungeon was crowded with captives, and amongst 
 them the Count of Burgundy, his ransom worth a king's.' — 
 Pa/grave. 
 
 Roger de Toeni, climbing up a tree on a hill above 
 the French camp, told the French of their defeat, as was 
 long commemorated in song and lay : — 
 
 j Franceiz, Franceiz, levez, levez, 
 Tenez vos veies, trop dormez ; 
 Allez vos amis enterrer, 
 Ki sunt occiz a Mortemer/ 
 
 Near the church is La Ferme du Prieure, a remnant 
 of a Cluniac Priory, founded by Henry I. The church 
 itself was begun by Henry II. in 1154, and consecrated 
 1209. 
 
 [A road runs N.E. from Neufchatel to (30 k.) Blangy (on the line 
 from Beauvais to Treport), by (19 k.) Foucarmont, where there are 
 
ARQUES LA BA TAILLE. 
 
 15 
 
 considerable remains of the minor buildings of an abbey founded 
 by Henry I. in 11 30. The Chapelle de V Espinette is flamboyant. 
 At 3jk. is the (xvi. c.) church of ►S. Leger anx Bois, surrounded 
 internally by a sculptured garland interrupted by statues.] 
 
 141 k. Mesm'eres, has a fine and important renaissance 
 Chateau now turned into an orphanage. The Galerie des 
 Cerfs is named from six stags in stone. The old chapel 
 has ancient glass and statues. In the Church the (xm. c.) 
 Chapelle de la Vierge communicates with the choir by a 
 renaissance arcade of 16 18. 
 
 145 k. Bures. The fine church is xn. c. and xm. c. In 
 the N. wall of the choir a Latin inscription relates its conse- 
 cration in 1 168. The choir windows deserve notice. The 
 font is xiv. c. A brick house is late xv. c. The old Manoir 
 de Tourpes, turned into a farm, is said to have belonged to 
 Gabrielle d'Estrees. The line passes (r.) the (xi. c, xm. c. 
 and xvi. c.) church of Osmoy : on the 1. is the old Manoir 
 de la Valouiite (1602). 
 
 152 k. S. Vaast d ' Equiqueville. The church is xi. c, 
 xm. c, and xv. c. The house called La Doyennee is xm. c. 
 
 159 k. Dampierre. The Chdteau de Senarpont is late 
 xvi. c. On r. is the church (partly xm. c.) of S. Aubin le Cauf. 
 
 164 k. Arques la Bataille (Hotel: du Chateau — good), 
 on the little river Arques, with a very picturesque church of 
 1515-83, where the Chapelle S. Nicolas^ which has a good 
 renaissance portal, contains a bust of Henri IV. and an 
 inscription relating to the battle of Arques. A convent of 
 Bernardines is turned into a private house. Many who 
 frequent the sea-baths at Dieppe have their lodgings at 
 Arques, and the hotels are full during the season. From 
 the top of the village a steep ascent leads to the Castle^ 
 
1 6 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 occupying a tongue of land, with its donjon on the neck of 
 the isthmus. It was built in the middle of the XI. c. by 
 Guillaume, Comte d'Arques, half-uncle of William the Con- 
 queror, 1 and fortified by a very deep fosse between the castle 
 
 CHURCH OF ARQUES. 
 
 and the natural cliffs, so that assailants, who ascended the 
 latter, would only find themselves on a narrow ledge, exposed 
 to the fortress, but far removed from it. Count William 
 turned his castle into a nest of robbers, from which he 
 ravaged the country, so the Conqueror besieged him there 
 
 1 Son of Richard le Bon by his third wife, Papia. He claimed to be the 
 legitimate descendant of Rollo. 
 
DIEPPE. 
 
 17 
 
 and starved him into surrender, He was banished, and 
 Arques was bestowed upon Helie de S. Saens, but it was 
 reclaimed by Henry I., who fortified it afresh. It was seized 
 by Philippe-Auguste during the captivity of Richard Coeur 
 de Lion, who recovered it in 1196. In 1204 it was the last 
 Anglo-Norman fortress to open its gates to the French. 
 In the last century it was used as a granary for building 
 materials, and its huge indestructible walls, stripped of 
 their hewn stone, are now shapeless masses. The inner 
 enclosure of the castle is divided into two courts, the outer 
 occupied by the buildings of Frangois I., and flanked by 
 enormous towers of brick and stone, which defended the 
 entrance. This court communicated with the second, of the 
 xi. c, by a triple gate fortified with portcullis, containing the 
 xi. c. keep, opposite which is a modern relief representing 
 Henri IV. on horseback. 
 
 The neighbouring hamlet of Archelles, which has a 
 xvi. c. manor-house, is overlooked by the wooded hill 
 which was the scene of the famous battle of Arques 
 and the great victory of Henri IV. over the troops of 
 Mayenne. 
 
 170 k. Dieppe (Hotels : Royal ; de Bristol ; des Bains ; 
 du Rhin ; de la Plage), which rose to importance under the 
 Anglo-Norman rule as a principal point of communication 
 with England, suffered terribly in the wars of religion, and 
 from the English bombardment of July 1694. Its reputa- 
 tion as a marine bathing-place has restored some of its 
 prosperity, and its Chateau (built in 1435) gives it a certain 
 dignity. Several streets are rather picturesque, but the 
 town contains no especial objects of interest except the 
 (xn. — xvi. c.) church of S. Jacques, which has a splendid 
 
 2 
 
IcS 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 rose-window and a rich open flamboyant balustrade in the 
 choir. 
 
 Beyond the faubourg of Pallet, near the hamlet of Puys, 
 is the curious enclosure called La Cite de Limes, containing 
 a number of little tumuli. It was probably one of the 
 opfiida which were the last refuge of the ancient inhabitants 
 at the time of the Roman invasion. 
 
 The principal excursion from Dieppe is that to (6 k.) Arques, 
 which may be reached either by rail, by road, or by a boat upon 
 the Dieppette. 
 
 2 k. from Dieppe by the shore is Puys, where Lord Salisbury 
 has a villa. 
 
 6 k. is the pleasant village Varengeville, with interesting re- 
 mains of the manor-house (1530-42) of Jean Ango, the Jacques 
 Coeur (merchant prince) of the time of Francois I., who fre- 
 quently lent large sums of money, and even a fleet to his sovereign, 
 but was ruined by jealous cabals after the death of Francois. 
 In the medallions of the facade Francois L and Diane de Poitiers 
 are represented. The picturesquely situated church is ofxni. c. 
 and xv. c. 2 k. hence is the Lighthouse of Ailly, on the Cap 
 des Roches. 
 
 An excursion may be made to (15 k.) Envermeu, passing 
 (7 k.) Ancourt, where the xvi. c. church has a xiii. c. tower and 
 good glass ; and (8 k.) Sauehay-te-Bas, with a restored roman- 
 esque church. Only the mound called Le Cdtel remains to mark 
 the site of the castle which William the Conqueror built at 
 Envermeu. The fine (xvi. c.) flamboyant church of Notre Dame 
 is a rich and beautiful specimen of the period : in the cemetery 
 is a renaissance cross. 
 
 [A road leads N.E. from Dieppe to (30 k.) Treport, by (8 k.) 
 Graincourt, where the church has a romanesque portal and 
 xvi. c. font ; (1 1 k.) 5*. Martin en Campagne, where the cemetery 
 has a xvi. c. cross ; (15 k.) Seville sur Mer, where the church has 
 a graceful xv. c. choir: and (21 k.) Criel (Hotel : de la Plage), a 
 small bathing-place.] 
 
EXCURSIONS FROM DIEPPE. 
 
 *9 
 
 [A road leads W. to (34 k.) S. Valery en Caux by (15 k.) Le 
 Bourg Dun, with a rather interesting church of many dates ; 
 the S. transept is of delicate renaissance of the time of 
 Francois I.; and (21 k.) Ouville-la-Riviere, where the church 
 has an xi. c. tower. 6 k. from Ouville is Hautot sur Mer, with 
 remains of an old fortress: the church choir is XIII. c, the 
 cemetery cross of 1520. Near the old house called La Cohue 
 is a fine xvi. c. cross called La Croix d la Dame.'] 
 
 [A road leads E. to (69 k.) Nointot, on the line from Paris to 
 Havre by (21 k.) Bacqueville, with a xvi. c. church containing 
 a curious painting representing the legend of a Sire de Bacque- 
 ville ; and (31 k.) S. Laurent en Caux, with a remarkable yew 
 tree and a cemetery cross of 1603.] 
 
 [For the line to Rouen by Malaunay see ch. ii.] 
 
 The country is full of farmhouses, which recall Alphonse 
 Karr's description of a Normandy farm : — 
 
 'La masure etait une charmante habitation. Le chaume 
 qui la couvrait etait tapisse de mousse du cote du nord. Des 
 iris elevaient sur sa crete leurs feuilles aigues et leurs fleurs 
 violettes ; il y avait dans la cheminee un nid dans lequel des 
 hirondelles venaient pondre et couver leurs oeufs tous les ans. 
 Un vieux chevrefeuille couvrait en partie la facade de la 
 chaumiere, et poussait avec un tel luxe de vegetation qu'il fallait 
 chaque annee couper quelques branches qui auraient obstrue 
 les fenetres. La cour. ... on appelle ainsi en Normandie toute 
 autre chose que ce qu'on appelle cour a Paris. Une cour nor- 
 mande est un grand carre de terre couvert d'herbes et entoure 
 d'une haie d'epines entre des chenes et des ormeaux plantes 
 sur un fosse. II faut ouvrir ici une nouvelle parenthese pour 
 dire que le mot fosse a egalement, en Normandie, un sens tout 
 different de celui qu'il a, je crois, partout ailleurs. 
 
 ' On appelle fosse precisement le contraire de ce qui s'appelle 
 d'ordinaire un fosse, c'est a dire un talus haut de quatre a six 
 pieds, en forme de petites murailles, qui entoure une cour et sur 
 lequel on plante des arbres. Je disais done que la cour etait 
 remplie de pommiers, vieux arbres rugueux et moussus, qui, tous 
 
20 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 les ans, se chargeaient au mois de mai de fleurs blanches et 
 roses d'une fraicheur et d'un eclat enchanteurs. Une grande 
 mare servait d'asile a des canards dont Ie col vert miroitait au 
 soleil. Outre les pommiers, il y avait dans la cour des groseilliers 
 a maquereaux et des grossilliers a grappes appeles galadiers ; 
 l'herbe etait parsemee de violettes, les unes de la couleur ordi- 
 naire, les autres blanches, et de bassinets jaunes, sorte de boutons 
 d'or a petales pointus qui couvrent presque entierement la terre 
 au printemps.' — Alphonse Karr, ' Clovis Gosselin.' 
 
 The apple-orchards give a radiant appearance to the 
 country in spring and autumn, and are very profitable to 
 their owners ; though Normandy cider-makers, seldom 
 satisfied with their crops, generally say, when asked what 
 sort of season it is with them, ' Pour une annee ou il n J y a 
 pas de pommes il y a des pommes ; mais pour une annee 
 oil il y a des pommes, il n'y a pas de pommes.' 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PARIS TO HAVRE, BY MANTES, VERNON, GAILLON, 
 ROUEN {JUMIEGES, CAUDEBEC), AND YVETOT 
 (ETRETAT, FECAMP), ( L ILLEB ONNE) . FROM THE 
 GARE S. LAZARE. 
 
 T EAVING the Gare S. Lazare, the line reaches — 
 
 1 j 8 k. Colombes, where Henrietta Maria, widow of 
 
 Charles I. of England, died, August 31, 1669, in her 
 chateau. Here also, was the convent of Chaillot, where 
 both Henrietta Maria and Mary Beatrice often took refuge, 
 and to which their hearts were bequeathed. 
 
 17 k. Maisons-Laffitte. The magnificent chateau of 
 Maisons was built by Francois Mansart for Rene de Lon- 
 gueil, Surintendant des Finances. Voltaire frequently stayed 
 there with the President de Maisons, and nearly died there 
 of the small-pox. On his recovery, he had scarcely left 
 the chateau to set out on his return to Paris, when the 
 room he had occupied and the adjoining chambers were 
 destroyed by fire. In 1778 the chateau was bought by the 
 Comte d'Artois, and an apartment was arranged there for 
 each of the royal family. Maisons was sold as national 
 property at the Revolution, and has since belonged to the 
 Due de Montebello, and to the banker Lafrltte, by whom 
 part of the park has been cut up for villas. 
 
 21 
 
22 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 As Maisons is approached by the railway, there is a fine 
 view (on right) of the stately chateau rising above the west 
 bank of the Seine, with a highly picturesque mill of the 
 same date striding across an arm of the river in the fore- 
 ground. 
 
 At ij k. is Sartronville, where the church has a central 
 romanesque octagon, with a stone spire of later date. The 
 nave piers are cylindrical, the arches pointed transitional. 
 
 22 k. Conflans-S. -Honorine. This place receives its 
 first name from its situation at the confluence of the Seine 
 and Oise; its second from the shrine of S. Honorine, 
 brought hither by a native of Graville for protection from 
 the Normans in 898 : her relics are still carried in 
 procession on Ascension Day. The parish church of 
 S. Maclou has an admirable romanesque tower of the xn. c. 
 In the choir is the tomb of Jean L, Seigneur de Mont- 
 morency, and near it the xiv. c. statue of Mathieu IV. 
 de Montmorency, Admiral and High Chamberlain of 
 France, 1304. A tower, called La Baronnie^ marks the 
 site of the priory of S. Honorine. 
 
 27k. Poissy (Hotel: de Rouen^ right of station — very 
 humble), on the left bank of the Seine, was the seat of a 
 very ancient royal residence, destroyed by Charles V. If 
 S. Louis was not born he was certainly baptised here, and 
 was wont to sign himself ' Louis de Poissy.' 
 
 Close to the railway, in the centre of the tiny town, 
 rises the noble Church. Late romanesque, with flamboyant 
 additions, it has a most striking outline. The older por- 
 tions — the nave, the apsidal choir with its two apsides, and 
 the west and central towers, date from the XL c, though 
 
POISSY. 
 
 23 
 
 the massive west tower, supporting a conical stone spire, 
 and the two first bays of the nave, were rebuilt, on the 
 old lines, in the xvn. c. The nave chapels are xvr. c, 
 
 WEST TOWER, POISSY. 
 
 The west tower formerly served as a porch, but this is now 
 blocked up, and the principal entrance is by a magnificent 
 early xvi. c. porch on the south, with open arches on two 
 sides. The exterior has been injured by coarse restoration, 
 but the interior is exceedingly beautiful and has been well 
 
24 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 restored. A number of early statues of saints are full of 
 quaint character. The romanesque chapel on the north 
 of the choir contains a fragment of the font in which 
 S. Louis was baptised; a considerable part at least of the 
 rest has been taken as dust in glasses of water by the 
 faithful as a cure for fever. In the same chapel is a 
 tombstone, with a very curious epitaph, recording how 
 Remy Henault, T630, was twice dead and twice alive; 
 how, after having been consigned to the tomb, he was 
 resuscitated by the devotion of his son, expressed in ardent 
 prayer to S. Genevieve, and rose again a second Lazarus, 
 to be called £ Le ressusciteV His son, a second Remy, who 
 ordained special worship to S. Genevieve for her favour, 
 now rests with him. 
 
 In the opposite chapel, of S. Louis, are relics of the 
 sainted king. This chapel formerly had a stained-glass 
 window representing the birth of S. Louis, and beneath 
 were the xvi. c. lines — 
 
 ' Saint-Louis fut un enfant de Poissy, 
 Et baptise en la presente eglise ; 
 Les fonts en sont gardes encore ici, 
 Et honores comme relique exquise.' 
 
 The apsidal chapel, filled with ex-votos to the Virgin, 
 has modern stained-glass illustrative of the life of S. 
 Louis. 
 
 A little behind the church is a fine old gateway, flanked 
 by two round towers, the principal existing remnant of the 
 famous Abbaye de Poissy^ which Philippe le Bel founded 
 in 1304, in the place of an earlier Augustinian monastery 
 founded by Constance of Normandy, wife of King Robert. 
 
MEDAN, TRIEL. 
 
 25 
 
 In its refectory, Catherine de Medicis convoked the Colloque 
 de Poissy in 1560, when thirty Protestants, with Theodore 
 de Beze at their head, disputed upon religious subjects with 
 the papal legate, sixteen cardinals, forty bishops, and a 
 number of other theologians. Nothing remains of the mag- 
 nificent abbey church, a marvel of architectural beauty, 
 begun by Philippe le Bel and finished by Philippe de 
 Valois, which was pulled down in the beginning of the 
 xix. c. It contained the tombs of Queen Constance, 
 Philippe le Bel, Agnes de Meranie, and of Philippe and 
 Jean of France, children of Louis VIII. and Blanche of 
 Castille. A pewter urn, containing the heart of the founder, 
 Philippe le Bel, was found during some repairs in 1687. 
 Reached by the abbey gate is the house occupied, through 
 thirty years, by the famous artist Meissonier. 
 
 On the right of the station is the entrance to the Bridge 
 (originally of thirty-seven arches) built by S. Louis, but 
 all its character is destroyed by its being lowered and by 
 the substitution of a cast-iron parapet for the original of 
 stone. 
 
 The famous Cattle-market of Poissy, founded by S. Louis, 
 is still held every Thursday. 
 
 The line passes (1.) Medan, with a chateau dating from 
 the xv. c, and in which pavilions of that date are connected 
 by galleries of the time of Henri IV. In the xvn. c. 
 church is the font of the famous royal church of S. Paul 
 in Paris, in which many kings and princes have been 
 baptised. 
 
 35 k. Triel. A considerable place under the hills, on 
 the right. The village of Vernouillet (1. of the station) 
 has a steeple of good outline rising from a romanesque 
 
26 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 tower. A number of ruined emigres on their return to 
 France after the Revolution united to buy its chateau, and 
 spent the rest of their lives there in happy harmony ! The 
 adjoining village of Verneuil has a central romanesque 
 tower with late additions. The cruciform church of Triel 
 itself is chiefly of the xiv. c, with a plain central tower : 
 a street passes beneath the lofty choir. Vaux (i k.) has a 
 romanesque tower and transept, and an elegant semicircular 
 early pointed apse ; the nave, w T hich has aisles, but no 
 clerestory, is xiv. c. 
 
 41 k. Meulan-les-Mureaux. The station is at Mureaux, 
 where the modern church contains six curious xin. c. 
 columns ; of these, four, at the entrance, support a kind 
 of triumphal arch of three openings. A stone bridge 
 connects Mureaux with Meulan, once the chief town of a 
 countship, which was united to the crown of France by 
 Philippe Auguste in 1203. Louis XIII. established a 
 convent of the Annunciation here for Charlotte du Puy de 
 Jesus-Maria, whose prayers were believed to have removed 
 the barrenness of Anne of Austria. The church of Notre 
 Daine^ in the lower town, is xiv. c. and xv. c. ; that of 
 S. Nicolas ', on the hill (Le Haut Meulan), has a xn. c. 
 ambulatory. Near Notre Dame is a good xiv. c. house. 
 On the island called Le Fort are remains of a xv. c. chapel 
 of S. Jacques, and of a castle, of which Du Guesclin 
 overthrew the donjon, when it was defended by the parti- 
 sans of Charles le Mauvais. 6 k. N., occupying a square 
 eminence, is the interesting late xv. c. Chateau de Vigny\ 
 built by Cardinal Georges d'Amboise. 1 
 
 49 k. Epone. The chateau belonged to the family of 
 
 1 See page i. 
 
MANTES. 
 
 27 
 
 Crequi. The church has an octagonal romanesque tower, 
 containing an xi. c. portal : two other portals are xn. c. 
 
 [An omnibus runs from the station of Epone to that of Villiers- 
 Neanphle, on the line from Paris to Dreux, by the valley of the 
 Mauldre, passing (12 k.) Anlnay, where the church contains an 
 ancient tabernacle beautifully sculptured; and (20k.) Maule, 
 where the church was built 1070 — 11 18, has a tower of 1547, 
 and covers an XI. c. crypt : a beautiful xv. c. chapel serves as a 
 sacristy. The chateau dates from Louis XIII.] 
 
 57k. Mantes (Hotel: du Graitd Cerf, a good old- 
 fashioned inn, with comforts ; du Soleil d'Or). 6 Mantes la 
 jolie ' of the old topographers is a charming and interesting 
 old town. It was in 1087, after burning Mantes, which 
 he had reclaimed from Philippe I. of France, that William 
 the Conqueror, whilst riding proudly round the town, 
 received the injury of which he died a few days after at 
 Rouen. 
 
 ' Comme il galopait a travers les decombres, son cheval mit 
 les deux pieds sur des charbons accouverts de cendre, s'abattit, 
 et le blessa au ventre. L'agitation qu'il setait donnee en courant 
 et en criant, la chaleur du feu et de la saison rendirent sa blessure 
 dangereuse. On le transporta malade a Rouen, et de la dans 
 un monastere hors des murs de la ville dont il ne pouvait sup- 
 porter le bruit. II languit durant six semaines, entoure de 
 medecins et de pretres, et son mal s'aggravant de plus en plus, 
 il envoya de l'argent a Mantes pour rebatir les eglises qu'il avait 
 incendiees.' — Augustin Thierry. 
 
 The noble church of Notre Dame was built with the 
 money sent by William the Conqueror, and was again 
 rebuilt at the end of the xn. c, at the same time as 
 Notre Dame de Paris, to which it has a great resemblance. 
 
28 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Its facade shows what that of Paris would have been 
 if its completion had not been delayed till the middle 
 of the xin. c. Of the three grand portals, two are 
 admirable examples of the xn. c. ; that on the right 
 was rebuilt in 1300, with a gable copied from the south 
 portal of Rouen cathedral, which adds to the effect of the 
 building by variety. Above the three portals are seven 
 
 MANTES. 
 
 arches, of which four light the first floors of the two towers. 
 Higher, is a large window in each tower, and in the centre 
 a beautiful rose-window. The graceful gallery above, of 
 slender lancet arches, is comparatively modern. The upper 
 story of the towers, of open arches, is indescribably light 
 and beautiful. The retired space, shaded by trees, in 
 which the church stands, recalls an English cathedral close 
 in the charm of its seclusion. 
 
 The church has no transept, and originally it had only 
 
MANTES. 
 
 29 
 
 a simple ambulatory, with no radiating chapels ; the five 
 chapels which surround the choir only having been added 
 in the xiv. c. The clerestory is exceedingly light, and 
 the triforium, covering the whole space of the aisles, of 
 great width. Two leaden coffins recently discovered are 
 supposed to contain the heart and entrails of Philippe 
 Auguste, who died at Mantes, July 14, 1223. Viollet le 
 Due mentions the Chapelle de Navarre on the south of the 
 choir, with its four arches meeting at a central pillar, as 
 one of the finest examples of the xiv c. in the lie de 
 France : its four great windows are beautiful in design, 
 have grand fragments of stained glass, and are supported 
 by a graceful arcade. Against the wall of the north aisle is 
 the curious incised gravestone of Robert Gueribeau, 1644, 
 founder of the Ursuline convent. 
 
 Below the church, 1 the Grande Rue presents that 
 precipitous descent which sadly, sorrowfully, and ignobly 
 terminated the Conqueror's earthly career.' 1 
 
 An artist will find attractive subjects in the noble tower 
 of 1340, which is all that remains of the great church of 
 S. Maclou, destroyed in the Revolution, and in the gothic 
 entrance (1344) of the old Hotel de Ville (which has a stone 
 staircase of the time of Charles VIII.), with a pretty 
 renaissance fountain in front of it. Many picturesque 
 fragments remain of the ancient walls and towers with 
 which Mantes was surrounded by Charles le Mauvais and 
 Charles le Sage, especially the Tour de S. Martin and 
 an old postern gate on the Quai des Cordeliers. Of the 
 other gates, the Porte Chante VOie still exists. There is 
 a very picturesque half-ruined bridge connecting the right 
 
 1 Palgrave. 
 
30 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE 
 
 bank with the island in the Seine, whence there is the 
 best view of Notre Dame, rising in grey grandeur above 
 the broken outline of the old houses, while the whole is 
 mirrored in the Seine. 
 
 Beyond the island, with its pleasant promenades, a 
 second bridge leads to the suburb of Limay, which has 
 a modern Mairie, of good design, and a church chiefly of 
 the xiii. c. and xv. c, but possessing a very beautiful 
 tower and spire of the xn. c, with a romanesque 
 chapel beneath. On the left of the west entrance is the 
 tomb of Jean le Chenet, grand-ecuyer to Charles II., and 
 his wife, brought from the chapel of S. Antoine, which 
 they founded at the Celestine Convent ; behind it is a Pieta 
 in coloured relief, on either side of which are the founders 
 presented by their patron saints. The low wide font is of 
 the xiii. c. 
 
 On the hill above Limay is Le Chateau des Ce/estins, on 
 the site of a convent founded in 1376 by Charles V. ; and a 
 little below the white walls of its vineyard terraces a path 
 leads to the Hermitage of S. Sauveur (4 k. from Mantes). 
 The way winds along the edge of the limestone hills, which, 
 ugly in form, especially lend themselves to vineyards, and 
 the views of the windings of the Seine are beautiful. A 
 stone cross stands at a point where there is an exquisite 
 view of Mantes — the noble towers of Notre Dame rising 
 above rich woods and a graceful bend of the river, and the 
 wavy hills, in soft succession of pink and blue distances, 
 folding behind them. The hermitage is very quaint and 
 picturesque — a little establishment enclosed by walls, and 
 a church of considerable size caverned out of the rock 
 and containing a curious old S. Sepulcre, with a number 
 
MANTES. 
 
 3i 
 
 of other figures full of character, brought from the 
 Celestins ; also the effigy of Thomas le Tourneur, secretary 
 of Charles V. and canon of Mantes, who died in that 
 convent. 
 
 Those who wish for a longer walk may cross the Seine 
 by a ferry to the church of Gassicourt (3 k. from Mantes), 
 partly of the xi. c. and xin. c, which belonged formerly 
 
 HERMITAGE OF S. SAUVEUR. 
 
 to a Cluniac priory, and of which Bossuet always held the 
 living. The portal is curious. The choir windows have 
 remains of stained glass given by Blanche of Castile. A 
 singular sculpture represents Jesus offering to the Queen, 
 as the Virgin, the portrait of S. Louis as a child. There 
 are considerable remains of mural paintings, and, in the 
 Chapelle S. Eloi, a sculptured lavabo. 
 
 A road runs north-west from Mantes, evading a wide bend 
 of the river, by the Chateau de Mesnil to (12 k.) Velheuil, 
 
J 2 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 which has an important collegiate church, partly gothic and 
 partly renaissance, to the ornamentation of which many kings 
 and queens of France have contributed. The porch bears 
 the monograms of Francois I. and Henri II. The south 
 and west doors are sculptured with scenes from Scripture 
 history. The west portal, surmounted by a triple gallery, 
 has statues of royal benefactors ; the central column bears a 
 figure of Charity. The unfinished tower is of 1350. In the 
 interior are considerable remains of mural paintings. The 
 xii. c. choir has good stall-work. At the end of the Cour 
 de lEglise is a little crypt, a relic of the primitive church of 
 Vetheuil. 
 
 At 19 k. from Mantes is the famous castle of La Roche-Gnyon 
 (see later). 
 
 To the south of Mantes is (10 k.) Rosay, where the picturesque 
 brick chateau of the Comtesse de Jobal dates from Henri III., 
 and between Rosay and Septeuil, the little village of 6*. Corentin, 
 which possessed an abbey where the heart and entrails of Agnes 
 de Meranie, wife of Philippe Auguste, and of Blanche of Castille 
 were buried. 
 
 63 k. Rosny. The xvi. c. Chateau (approached by a turn 
 on the r. of the village street, opposite the fountain), was 
 built by the famous Sully (Maximilien de Bethune), to 
 replace an earlier chateau in which he was born, Decem- 
 ber 13, 1550. It was left unfinished in 1610, as he had 
 no longer spirit to continue the work after the murder of 
 his beloved master, Henri IV. The Duchesse de Berri, 
 daughter-in-law of Charles X., inhabited it as a summer 
 residence; and a funeral monument remains behind the 
 altar of the church, which once supported the heart of 
 the murdered Due de Berri. The chateau, with its high 
 dormer roofs, red brick walls and stone ornaments, has a 
 singularly cheerful aspect, and its beautiful park and 
 brilliant gardens, most courteously thrown open by its 
 
CHATEAU DE ROSNY. 
 
 33 
 
 generous owner M. Lebaudy, are a great delight to the 
 people of the little town on summer evenings. 
 
 The line passes by a tunnel under the hill of Rolleboise, 
 which bears the remains of a castle taken (1364) by Du 
 Guesclin and destroyed by Charles V. 
 
 80 k. Vernon (Hotel : cPEvreux), which has a great state 
 factory of military equipments. The church has a choir of 
 xii. c, a nave of xiv. c, and chapels of xv. c. • In the second 
 
 CHATEAU DE ROSNY. 
 
 chapel 1. is the tomb of Marie Maignard, wife of the Sieur 
 Imbert d'Harcquency. In the r. aisle is a Resurrection by 
 Annibale Caracci. Six fine tapestries are of the xvn. c. 
 Of the ancient fortifications, the Tour des Archives is 
 preserved. The castle of Vernonnet, on the r. bank of the 
 Seine, was built by Edward I. of England. Only the stables 
 remain of the Chateau de Bizy, destroyed in the Revolution, 
 which was the property of the Due de Penthievre. 
 
 [A line runs N.E. from Vernon to (42 k.) Gisors, by — 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 12 k. Gas7iy. This is the station for La Roche Guy on, i\ k. 
 distant. Beyond the last house in the village of Gasny, pedes- 
 trians may take a footpath on 1. which leads over the brow of 
 a hill to a declivity above the Seine, whence the village is seen 
 by the river, with the castle on a chalk bluff above it. There is 
 a small hotel near the suspension-bridge. 
 
 The famous Chateau de la Roche Guyon was founded by 
 Guy de Guyon in 998 (though the existing buildings are of the 
 xiii. c), and taken by the English in 1418, after a gallant defence 
 
 CHATEAU DE LA ROCHE GUYON. 
 
 by Perrette la Riviere, widow of Guy VI. de la Roche Guyon, 
 who fell at Agincourt. Old ballads tell the story of the lord of 
 the castle murdered in 1097 by his father-in-law, together with 
 his wife, who vainly tried to protect him. The immense sub- 
 structions are hewn out of the rock. The principal remaining 
 building is the keep. The later chateau of the Due de la Roche 
 Guyon — a great building like a barrack at the foot of the cliff — has 
 some traces of the xin. c. and an entrance gate of the xv. c. 
 The Salle des Gardes, inscribed with the family mottoes, * Cest 
 mon ftlaisir] ' In Deo confido,' is filled with armour. In the 
 
GAILLON. 
 
 35 
 
 Chambre de Henri IV. are the king's bed and bureau. The MS. 
 of La Rochefoucauld's 1 Maximes ' is preserved here. Lamartine's 
 Meditation, entitled ' La Semaine Sainte a la Roche Guyon,' was 
 written when the beautiful xiv. c. chapel was restored. The 
 xv. c. church contains on r. of the altar the tomb of Francois de 
 Silly, Due de la Roche Guyon, 1627, with his kneeling statue, 
 1 Le monde est le tombeau de sa gloire parfaite.' A number of 
 members of the families of La Rochefoucauld, De Rohan, and 
 De Montmorency repose in the vaults. A fountain, below the 
 church and the chateau, was erected by Due Alexandre de la 
 Rochefoucauld in 17 17. 
 
 19 k. Bray- E cos. The village of Bray, near the station, is 
 overlooked by the church and ruined castle of Baudcmont. 
 5 k. N.W. is the xiii. c. church of Ecos, on the spot where 
 SS. Nicaise, Querin, and Scubicule were martyred. The xv. c. 
 Chateau dit Chesnay near this has been recently rebuilt. 
 
 27 k. Bordeaux-S. -Clair. The village of S. Clair has the 
 ruins of a castle built by Henry II. of England. 6 k. N.W. is 
 the Chateau de Boisdenemetz, built under Louis XIII., and 6 k. 
 S. W. of this is the Chateau de Beauregard, where the poet Abbe 
 de Chaulieu was born in 1639. 6 k. E. of the station of Bor- 
 deaux is the fine church of Fames, partly xi. c. and xn. c, and 
 3 k. S.E. of this the Chateau d ' Halaincourt, of xv. c. and xvi. c. 
 
 32 k. Dangu. Here was a famous fortress of the xi. c, one 
 of the principal places of defence on the frontier of Normandy. 
 The present chateau (Comte F. de Lagrange) is of 1567, and is 
 well known from its haras.~] 
 
 [A line leads S.E. to (17 k.) Pacy-sur-Eure, on the line from 
 Dreux to Louviers by (9 k.) Drouains-Blaru, near which is the 
 Chateau de Brecourt, of the time of Louis XIII.] 
 
 94 k. Gaillon (Hotel : d'Evreux). 2 k. 1. is the town, 
 surmounted by the remains of its Chateau, now transformed 
 into a prison. This once magnificent building was begun, 
 on the site of an earlier castle, by Guillaume d'Estouteville 
 in 1454, and continued in the xvi. c. by Cardinal Georges 
 d'Amboise, minister of Louis XII., and Cardinal de 
 
36 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Bourbon, and finished by Colbert, Archbishop of Rouen. 
 All the great renaissance architects and sculptors of the time 
 were employed upon it ; but it was sold, and the greater 
 part of it demolished at the Revolution. The portions 
 which remain are the entrance gate built by Georges 
 d'Amboise, the Grande Galerie, the clock-tower, and a 
 tower of the chapel, in which the Bishops of Normandy 
 met in conclave to condemn the Maximes des Saints of 
 Fenelon. The magnificent portico which separated the 
 two courts of the chateau has been removed to the court 
 of the Palais des Beaux Arts at Paris. 3 k. S. is the 
 hill-set village of S. Aubin-sur-Gaillon^ where Marmontel 
 is buried in the cemetery. 
 
 [Omnibuses (1 fr.) ply between Gaillon and (8 k.) Les Andelys 
 (carriage 8 fr.). The road runs across an exposed plain to Le 
 Petit Andely, a picturesque and ancient village on the r. bank 
 of the Seine, which contains the fine xn. c. church of 51 Sauveur. 
 The interior is remarkably striking and majestic. At the foot of 
 the Roche S. Jacques is the Hospice S. Jacques, founded in 1784 
 by the Due de Penthievre. 
 
 Above Le Petit Andely the massive ruins of Chateau 
 Gaillard rise boldly from chalk cliffs. It was founded by 
 Richard Coeur de Lion in 1197. 'Quelle est belle, ma fille 
 d'un an!' exclaimed the king, after its three lines of defence 
 were finished. But under John (1204) the castle was taken by 
 Philippe-Auguste. In 13 13 it served as a prison to Marguerite 
 de Bourgogne, wife of Louis X., and Blanche, wife of Charles 
 le Bel (accused of adultery), the former of whom was strangled 
 here by order of her husband when he wished to marry again, 
 and the latter removed to lifelong imprisonment in the Abbey 
 of Maubuisson. In 1334 the chateau was inhabited by David 
 Bruce during his exile. Charles le Mauvais was imprisoned 
 there in 1355. 
 
 There is a fine view of the windings of the Seine from the 
 ruins, of which the keep is the principal feature. It is almost 
 
chAiea u-gaillard. 
 
 37 
 
 circular, but has an angle towards the E., and is supported 
 externally by 1 buttresses like huge stone quoins.' 1 
 
 ' Le donjon du Chateau-Gaillard etait pour le temps une 
 oeuvre tout-a-fait remarquable. Ce donjon, dont le pied est 
 entierement plein et par consequent a l'abis de la sape, se com- 
 posait d'une salle ronde, au rez-de-chauss6e de laquelle il fallait 
 descendre d'un premier etage au niveau d'une poterne, d'un 
 second etage au niveau des machicoulis, chemin de ronde crenele, 
 
 CHATEAU GAILLARD. 
 
 d'un troisieme etage en retraite, ferme, propre aux approvisionne- 
 ments de projectiles, et d'un quatrieme etage etendu et couvert, 
 commandant les chemins de ronde et les dehors au loin. Rien 
 de trop, rien d'inutile, rien que ce qui est absolument necessaire 
 a la defense.' — Viollet le Due. 
 
 The tower has an elliptic outwork, offering through three 
 parts of its development, seventeen segments of towers, which 
 are only separated from each other by two feet of curtain wall. 
 
 1 Deville, Histoire du Chateau Gaillard. 
 
33 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 In the river, opposite Le Petit Andely, is He Contant, with 
 remains of an octagonal tower called Boutavant % built by Richard 
 Coeur de Lion in 1196.] 
 
 At Le Grand Andely (1 k. farther) the Hotel du Grand Cerf 
 occupies a richly sculptured black-and-white timber building of 
 the beginning of the xvi. c. In the restaurant, formerly the 
 kitchen, is a huge and splendid decorated chimneypiece. The 
 courtyard of the hotel is picturesque. 
 
 In the Place du Marche is a statue of Nicolas Poussin, who 
 
 was born June 1, 1594, at the hamlet of Villers ) 3 k. S.E. of the 
 town. One of his best works, ' Coriolanus yielding to his 
 mother,' and an Adoration of the Shepherds, from his hand, are 
 in the Hotel de Ville. 
 
 'Vers Les Andelys, les rives de la Seine, si riantes et si 
 fleuries autour de Rosni et de Mantes, si luxuriantes de vegeta- 
 tion sur les pentes des fieres collines qui commandent Rouen, 
 prennent un caractere plus serieux et plus austere ; de grands 
 rochers nus et vigoureusement dessines reflechissent dans le 
 
For an accidental omission on this page (38), see 
 Addenda at the end of this Chapter. 
 
38 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 In the river, opposite Le Petit Andely, is lie Contant, with 
 remains of an octagonal tower called Boutavant, built by Richard 
 Coeur de Lion in 1196.] 
 
 At Le Grand Andely (1 k. farther) the Hotel du Grand Cerf 
 occupies a richly sculptured black-and-white timber building of 
 the beginning of the xvi. c. In the restaurant, formerly the 
 kit 
 
 coi 
 
 HOTEL DU GRAND CERF, LES ANDELYS. 
 
 was born June 1, 1594, at the hamlet of Fillers, 3 k. S.E. of the 
 town. One of his best works, 1 Coriolanus yielding to his 
 mother,' and an Adoration of the Shepherds, from his hand, are 
 in the Hotel de Ville. 
 
 * Vers Les Andelys, les rives de la Seine, si riantes et si 
 fleuries autour de Rosni et de Mantes, si luxuriantes de vegeta- 
 tion sur les pentes des fieres collines qui commandent Rouen, 
 prennent un caractere plus serieux et plus austere ; de grands 
 rochers nus et vigoureusement dessines reflechissent dans le 
 
LOUVIERS. 
 
 39 
 
 fleuve leurs masses severes, et dominent ces iles ou jadis les 
 pirates scandinaves abritaient leurs nids d'orfraies, ou tomba, plus 
 tard, le boulevard de la puissance anglo-normande, le fameux 
 Chateau-Gaillard, sous la hache de Philippe-Auguste. C'est la 
 que naquit, en 1594, Nicolas Poussin, et qu'il recut ces premieres 
 impressions dont la pensee de l'artiste garde toujours la trace.' 
 — Henri Martin , ' Hist, de France' 
 
 1 k. from Les Andelys is the village of Radeval, once cele- 
 brated for the Manoir de Radeval, known in the neighbourhood 
 as 'Le Grand Maison.' This magnificent house was built by 
 Jean Picard, Bailiff of Gisors, Lord of Radeval, and Controller of 
 the Household to Francois I. His arms constantly appeared in its 
 decorations. In 1820 it was sold to a company of 'vendeurs des 
 monuments en detail,' who pulled it down, and sold its grand 
 oriel window and all its richly sculptured stones, each marked 
 with its price, to Lord Stuart de Rothesay, then British Am- 
 bassador at Paris, who used them in building Highcliffe, near 
 Christchurch, in Hampshire. 1 
 
 107 k. S. Pierre-du-Vauvray. 
 [A branch line turns W. to — 
 
 3 k. Le Vaudrenil, at the confluence of the Seine and the 
 Reuil, which gave its name of ' Vallis Rodolii,' to the home of 
 Sperling, the rich miller, whom Espriota, widow of Richard le 
 Bon, had taken as her second husband. The castle, built by 
 Fredegonde, became the home of William the Conqueror's boy- 
 hood, when, in accordance with his father's will he was separated 
 from his mother Arlotta, and educated here by his guardians, 
 Gilbert Crespin, Comte de Brienne, and Thorold. Here he was 
 besieged by William de Montgomery, and his guardian Thorold 
 and his connection Osborne (son of Herfast, brother of the 
 Duchess Gunnora) were murdered by his side ; but he was 
 himself saved by his uncle Gontier, and found refuge in a 
 peasant's cottage. 
 
 8 k. Louviers (Hotels : du Monton ; du' Grand Cerf), sl town 
 'grosse et moulte marchande ' in the time of Froissart, but 
 now without commercial consequence. 
 
 1 See Brossard de Reville, Hist, dc la Ville des Andelys. 
 
4o 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 The older part is built of timber. It had long a certain 
 importance from its cloth manufactures, but they have fallen into 
 decadence. The rich gothic church of Notre Dame is chiefly 
 xiii. c. The S. aisle of the nave and a most magnificent S. porch 
 are splendid specimens of the rich decoration of the xv. c. — 
 completely lace-work in stone — in which flamboyant architecture 
 reaches its apotheosis. The central nave, which is of great 
 height, is lighted by beautiful stained glass. A S. Sepulcre has 
 life-size figures. At the end of the two r. side aisles is a double 
 chapel, with a central pillar bearing a statue of S. Hubert with 
 his legendary stag. A gothic tomb commemorates the Sire 
 d'Esternay, Governor of Normandy, who was sewn up in a sack 
 and drowned in the Eure by order of Louis XL 
 
 A line connects Louviers with (26 k.) Evreux. 
 
 For the line from Louviers to Dreux see ch. iii. 
 
 A line connects Louviers with (20 k.) Elboeuf : see later.] 
 
 On the 1. of the line is Notre Dame du Vaudreuil^ with 
 a fine xn. c. portal. Here Fredegonde had a palace. 
 Further 1. is Lery, with some small remains of a palace of 
 Queen Blanche, widow of Philippe de Valois, and a little 
 church of xi. c. and xn. c. On the r. is the xv. c. and 
 xvi. c. church of Alisay. 
 
 119 k. Pont de TArche. The village is 2 k. distant on 
 the 1. Here Charles le Chauve had a palace, and here 
 the council met (in 13 10) in which the Templars were 
 condemned. The unfinished church, chiefly xv. c, has a 
 great deal of fine contemporary stained glass. The stall- 
 work comes from the Abbey of Bon-Port. The arabesques 
 of the font are attributed to Jean Goujon, and the organ 
 is said to have been the gift of Henri IV. One of the 
 curious old timber houses has a wooden porch of the xiii. c, 
 supported by five pillars. By a pleasant path along the 
 
ABB AYE DE BON-PORT. 
 
 4i 
 
 r. bank of the Seine (or by the Elboeuf road) we may reach 
 the remains of the Abbaye de Bon-Port, founded in 1190 
 by Richard Coeur de Lion. Its glorious church is entirely 
 destroyed, but its noble refectory still stands, with the 
 ancient kitchen used as a cellar, and several other buildings 
 of the abbey. It is a very picturesque spot. To the 
 
 ABBAYE DE BON-PORT. 
 
 S. of [the abbey extends the Forest of Bord or Pont de 
 PArche. 
 
 [For the line from Pont de l'Arche to Gisors see ch. L] 
 
 The line passes (r.) Sotteville-sous-le-Val, which has a 
 xii. c. cross in its cemetery. 
 
 126 k. Oissel. The Manoir de la Chapelleh&s a curious 
 old well, surmounted by a renaissance pyramid. 
 
 130 k. Etienne-du-Rouvray. The church is xvi. c. 
 and xvii. c. At Belboeuf, on r. of the Seine, the church has 
 
42 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 a xiii. c. font. The cavern chapel of S. Adrien is a place 
 of pilgrimage. 
 
 140k. Rouen (Hotels: d' Angleterre — good but dear, 
 and very noisy ; d' Albion — dear ; du Nord — very good 
 and reasonable, well situated near the Grosse Horloge ; de 
 la Poste — good and quiet), formerly the capital of Nor- 
 mandy, still the seat of an archbishopric and capital of 
 the Departement de la Seine-Inferieure, and the seventh 
 town of France as to its population. In the xi. c. 
 Rouen was called Ratuma, and was the capital of the 
 Veliocasses. Under the Romans it became important as 
 Rotomagus. Christianity was preached here in the in. c, 
 and in 260 an oratory of the Virgin, on the site of the pre- 
 sent cathedral, was built by S. Mellon, first bishop of Rouen. 
 Several of his successors were canonised, and S. Paulinus, 
 in one of his letters, speaks of Rouen as a town ' famous 
 for its holy places.' In 876 Rollo seized Rouen, 1 and built 
 a new city, with the castle long known as Vieux Palais. 
 Normandy was made an independent duchy for him, being 
 only reunited to France under Philippe- Auguste in 1193. 
 Successive sovereigns — Richard Sans Peur, Philippe Au- 
 guste, S. Louis, and Philippe de Valois — surrounded Rouen 
 in turn with six ever wider circles of walls. In 14 18 the 
 town was besieged for six months, and eventually taken 
 b,y Henry V. of England. In 143 1 the English were dis- 
 graced at Rouen by the execution of Jeanne Dare. In 
 1449 they were driven out by Charles VII. 
 
 Old Rouen, till recently one of the most interesting 
 
 1 1 Quand Roil a Roen arriva, 
 Qui de North hommes amena, 
 Cil furent Normans appelles, 
 
 Por ceu que de North furent nes.' — Roman de Rou. 
 
ROUEN. 
 
 43 
 
 towns in France, has been improved away of late years by 
 its municipal council, and the principal streets are now a 
 feeble and dull imitation of those of Paris. Still there is 
 much to visit, the best points being the Grosse Horloge, 
 the Hotel de Bourgtheroude, Cathedral, Vieux Halles, 
 S. Maclou, the Aitre S. Maclou, and S. Ouen. 
 
 For the benefit of sight-seers who are content with a 
 glance, the buildings of Rouen may be taken in the 
 following order. 
 
 From the principal station of the Rive Droite, the Rue 
 E. Leroy leads to the modern Rue Jeanne Dare, one of 
 the three great modern streets which have recently pierced 
 and completely altered the character of the ville aux 
 vieilles rues of Victor Hugo. By a side street on r. we 
 may visit the restored church of S. Patrice (1535), which 
 contains a quantity of very fine xvi. c. glass, especially 
 (1. aisle) the magnificent window representing the Triumph 
 of the Law of Grace, attributed to jean Cousin. 
 
 L. of the Rue Jeanne Dare is the Square Solferino, with 
 the Musee de Peinture, open to the public daily from 12 
 to 5. It contains three of the little pictures by Perugino, 
 which once, in the church of S. Pietro at Perugia, surrounded 
 the great picture of the Ascension, now at Lyons. 
 
 The church of S. Godard, at the back of the square, is 
 partly xvi. c, and has a good deal of (restored) xvi. c. 
 glass. S. Laurent^ in the Rue Thiers, was built 1444 — 1554. 
 It is now turned into shops. The external balustrade of 
 the nave is of letters forming the verse of a psalm : the fine 
 tower is of 1501. 
 
 Farther down the Rue Jeanne Dare to the 1. is the 
 magnificent Palais de Justice, built by Louis XII. for the 
 
44 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Echiquier de Normandie, which was formed into an in- 
 dependent sovereign court of permanent magistrates, recog- 
 nised as a parliament by Frangois I., and which held all 
 the powers of communal administration, civil and military. 
 The oldest portion of the building is the 1. wing, erected in 
 1493 as a meeting-place for merchants. The r. wing (which 
 only dated from the xvm. c.) was rebuilt 1842-52. The 
 splendid central facade, begun 1499, i s due to Roger Ango 
 and to Laurent Leroux, architect of the central portal of 
 Notre Dame. The statues, representing all the different 
 classes of society of the time of Louis XII., are modern 
 additions by Le Brun. A staircase (of 1607) leads to the 
 Salle des Procureurs or des Pas Pet 'dues ', which has bold 
 simple timber vaulting. A marble table of 1555 is shown 
 as that where the jurisdiction of the rivers and forests was 
 executed. The parliament chapel, which adjoined the hall 
 and overhung the Rue aux Juifs, was demolished in 1794. 
 A door at the end of the hall (r.) communicates with the 
 restored hall of the Cour d' Assises, possessing a beautiful gilt 
 and sculptured chestnut ceiling of the time of Louis XII. 
 The Chambre du Conseil contains portraits of the Coun- 
 sellors of the Parliament of Normandy, and a Crucifixion 
 given by Louis XII. 
 
 Farther down the Rue Jeanne Dare, the Tour de la 
 Grosse-Horloge (of 1389) is seen spanning the first street on 
 1., with its picturesque arch of 15 11. The great clock dates 
 from 1447. The arch unites the tower with the old Hotel 
 de Ville of 1680, but the latter is broken up into dwellings, 
 and has lost all character, except a portion towards the 
 Rue Thouret. 
 
 Turning the other way, down the Rue de la Grosse- 
 
ROUEN. 
 
 45 
 
 Horloge (r. of Rue Jeanne Dare), we reach (on r.) the 
 Hotel du Bourgtheroude (6, Place de la Pucelle), begun by 
 Guillaume le Roux, lord of Bourgtheroude, at the end of 
 the xv. c, and finished under Frangois I. The S. and W. 
 facades (upon the court) are exceedingly rich in sculpture. 
 The W. facade is covered with reliefs, those in the attic 
 being in higher relief, as suited for more distant view. This 
 facade is flanked by a tower decorated with reliefs of pastoral 
 scenes, and enclosing a cabinet, which retains its carved 
 wooden (xvi. c.) ceiling with pendants, and walls with 
 pictures in the style of Primaticcio. Under the lower 
 windows of the S. fagade are five celebrated reliefs of the 
 Field of the Cloth of Gold, representing the interview of 
 Frangois I. and Henry VIII. in 1520. 
 
 A little behind is the church of S. Eloi, now used as a 
 protestant chapel, ending in a three-sided (xvi. c.) apse. 
 A xvi. c. tomb bears the inscription — ' Ici gist ung corps 
 sans ame, Priez Dieu qu'il en ait Tame.' 
 
 In the Place de la Pucelle^ a fountain by Paul Slodtz 
 
 (replacing a beautiful xvi. c. fountain, destroyed in 1750), 
 
 commemorates the execution of Jeanne Dare, though the 
 
 exact site of her scaffold was more to the W., on the site 
 
 now occupied by the Theatre-Francais. 
 
 ' Dix mille hommes pleuraient ! . . Quelques Anglais seuls 
 riaient ou tachaient de rire. Un d'eux, des plus furieux, avait 
 jure de mettre un fagot au bucher ; elle expirait au moment ou 
 il le mit ; il se trouva mal ; ses camarades le menerent a une 
 taverne pour le faire boire et reprendre ses esprits, mais il ne 
 pouvait se remettre : " J'ai vu," disait-il, hors de lui-meme, "j'ai 
 vu de sa bouche, avec le dernier soupir, s'envoler une colombe.'' 
 D'autres avaient lu dans les flammes le mot qu'elle repetait, 
 " Jesus ! " Le bourreau alia le soir trouver frere Isambart ; il 
 etait tout epouvante ; il se confessa, mais il ne pouvait croire que 
 
46 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Dieu lui pardonnait jamais. Un secretaire du roi d'Angleterre 
 disait tout haut, en revenant : " Nous sommes perdus ; nous 
 avons brule une sainte." 
 
 ' Cette parole, echappee d'un ennemi, n'en est pas moins grave. 
 Elle restera. L'avenir n'y contredira point. Oui, selon la re- 
 ligion, selon la patrie, Jeanne Dare fut une sainte.'— Michelet, 
 1 Hist, de France! 
 
 Returning to the Rue Jeanne Dare, on the r. at the 
 corner of the Rue de l'Ours, is the Tour S. Andre, which 
 belonged to a xvi. c. church, and is surmounted by statues 
 of SS. Andre, Adrien, Pierre, and Jean Baptiste. Close 
 by, is the reconstructed renaissance fagade of a house 
 called Maison de Diane de Poitiers, destroyed in making 
 the Rue Jeanne Dare. Farther, on r., is the unfinished 
 xvi. c. church of S. Vincent. It is of the xvi. c, except 
 the tower (1669) and two modern chapels. The west 
 porch is of the richest flamboyant. The church contains 
 a great deal of exceedingly fine xvi. c. stained glass, 
 especially (on the r. of the apse) Le vitrail de Chars 
 (1515), representing the triumph of Religion in the town 
 of Rouen. 
 
 On reaching the quay, it is best to turn 1. to the 
 Pont de Pierre of 1812-29, whence there is a good view. 
 Crossing the bridge, we reach, opposite the suspension 
 bridge, the Place S. Sever, containing a bronze group by 
 Falguiere and Legrain, in honour of the Abbe de la Salle, 
 founder of the Institut des Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes 
 (17 19), whose epitaph (removed from an earlier church) is 
 to be seen in the modern renaissance church of S. Sever 
 (1858-61), by Vachot. S. Sever was formerly Hermonde- 
 ville, where Thibault le Tricheur pitched his camp, and 
 saw his army massacred by the Normans whilst attempting 
 
ROUEN, CATHEDRAL. 
 
 47 
 
 to besiege Duke Richard Sans Peur, stepson of his wife 
 Luitgarda. 
 
 Returning by the suspension bridge, the Rue du Grand 
 Port will bring us to (r.) the Place de la Cathedrale, at the 
 angle of which is the ancient Bureau des Finances^ a beauti- 
 ful renaissance building of 1509. 
 
 The glorious Cathedral of Notre Dame is believed 
 to occupy the site of a basilica erected in the in. c. by 
 S. Mellon. This was rebuilt in 400, doubled in size by 
 S. Ouen in 650, and destroyed by the Normans in the 
 ix. c. The cathedral was rebuilt by Duke Rollo (baptised 
 there in 913 and buried there in 931) and his grandson 
 Richard I. ; and in 945, Richard Sans Peur, the thirteen- 
 year-old sovereign of Normandy, returned public thanks 
 there for the marvellous victories w r hich his Danish allies 
 had enabled him to gain over the French ; but this 
 cathedral also was burnt (with the town) in 1200. 
 
 The existing church (except the earlier base of the Tour 
 S. Romain) was entirely built by the architect Enguerrand, 
 in the first twenty years of the xm. c. The main entrance, 
 flanked by (1.) the Tour S. Romain and (r.) the Tour de 
 Beurre, has three portals decorated with reliefs, mutilated 
 by the Calvinists in 1562 : the principal was rebuilt by the 
 Cardinals d'Amboise (1507-30), from plans of Jacques and 
 Laurent Leroux. A tree of Jesse decorates the tympanum 
 of the central portal, and above are a gallery and gable of 
 open work. The tympanum of the 1. portal has scenes 
 from the life of S. John Baptist. The daughter of Herodias 
 is represented (as in a fresco at Brunswick) as dancing on 
 her hands and throwing up her legs into the air. The 
 xm. c. ironwork of the door on r. deserves notice. 
 
48 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 i The great western facade exemplifies the corruption of taste 
 in later times. It is viciously florid. It looks like a piece of 
 rockwork, devoid, as it is, of windows, and rough, and incrusted 
 with images and tabernacles and ornaments from top to bottom ; 
 yet there is an expanse and grandeur about it which cannot be 
 viewed without admiration.' — Gaily Kiiight, 1 Arch. Tour in 
 Normandy! 
 
 The Tour de Beurre (1485 — 1507) has a sixth flam- 
 boyant story of 1465-77. At the foot of the tower, on L, 
 is the Cour de VAlbane, on the r. of which is a xv. c. 
 hall, used for theological lectures. 
 
 The N. transept is entered by the Portail des Libraires 
 (1280 — 1300), reached from the Rue S. Romain by a 
 kind of corridor, with a stone screen towards the street, 
 surmounted by a beautiful open gallery. The corridor 
 was formerly occupied by bookstalls, whose name clings 
 to the portal, which has reliefs partly biblical, partly 
 from pagan mythology. In the seventh bay of the nave, 
 on N., is a simple door with xm. c. ironwork. Some of 
 the windows on the S. of the nave are round-headed 
 (though xiv. c). The xm. c. Porte des Mcifons has the 
 Presentation of Christ in the Temple in its tympanum. 
 The Portail de la Calende (S. transept) is sumptuously 
 decorated with statues and sculpture : the ironwork is 
 xm. c. The great central Tour de Pierre (xm. c. and 
 xvi. c.) was formerly surmounted by a noble spire, 
 destroyed by lightning in 1822 ; this has been unhappily 
 replaced by a hideous cast-iron pyramid (by Alavoine), 
 482 feet in height, which throws everything else out of 
 proportion. 
 
 The noble interior is 435 ft. in length, and the height 
 of the nave is 89^ ft. The cathedral is lighted by 130 
 
ROUEN, CATHEDRAL. 
 
 49 
 
 windows, many of them filled with beautiful xvi. c. glass, 
 some of which, especially that over the Portail de la Calende, 
 is attributed to Jean Barbe, to whom the Chateau de Gaillon 
 owed many of its best decorations. 
 
 The stall-work of the choir is xv. c, and has very curious 
 misereres. The sanctuary formerly contained, with others, 
 the tomb of William, son of Geoffrey Piantagenet and 
 grandson of Henry II., and of Charles V., but the graves 
 were violated by the protestants of 1562, and the remains 
 of the monuments removed by the canons, when a heavy 
 jube (now removed) was put up at the entrance of the 
 choir, in 1774. The beautiful gothic staircase in the corner 
 of the N. transept was erected in the latter part of the 
 xv. c. by Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville, as an approach 
 to the cathedral library of 1424. 
 
 The last chapel on the S.E. of the nave (Chapelle du 
 Petit S. Romain) contains the xin. c. Tomb of P0//0, the 
 Danish jarl who was the supposed founder of the Norman 
 duchy, of which the true founder was Richard Sans Peur. 
 Rollo was first buried in the sacristy : he was moved to 
 the chapel of S. Romanus when Archbishop Maurice rebuilt 
 the cathedral. 
 
 ' The recumbent statue which represents the Danish Jarl, 
 clad in ducal robe, may date from the reign of S. Louis. The 
 sculptor has happily succeeded in embodying the notion con- 
 veyed by tradition and history : the once mighty man of war, 
 thoroughly worn out, — the sunken lips, — the furrowed brow, — 
 the strength of fourscore years come to labour and sorrow.' — 
 Palgrave. 
 
 The splendid glass of the Chapelle du Grand S. Romain^ 
 which opens from the S. transept, tells the story of S. Romain. 
 
 4 
 
So 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN TRANCE. 
 
 In the S. choir aisle is a modern monument to Richard 
 Coeur de Lion (buried at Fontevrault), with a statue simply 
 and severely treated, and with a larger head than in that 
 at Fontevrault. His heart is preserved here. 
 
 In the Chapelle de SS. Pierre et Paul is the wooden 
 coffin which contains the remains of Matilda, daughter of 
 Henry L, and lawful Queen of England, who died at 
 Rouen, Sept. 10, 1167, widow first of the Emperor Henry V. 
 of Germany, by whom she was childless, and afterwards 
 of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, by whom she was 
 the mother of Henry II. 
 
 The Chapelle de la Vierge contains the noble renaissance 
 Tomb of Cardinal Georges d' A mboise, minister of Louis XII., 
 and his nephew (also cardinal), who erected this monument 
 in 1520-25, from designs of Rouland Leroux, master-mason 
 of the cathedral. The cardinals are represented on their 
 knees : the head of the second cardinal is attributed to 
 Jean Goujon. 
 
 ' Dans les derniers moments de sa vie, le cardinal legat disait 
 a un religieux qui se trouvait aupres de lui : "Ah! frere Jean! 
 frere Jean, mon ami, que n'ai-je ete toute ma vie frere Jean !" 
 Puis il ajouta, en se tournant vers les membres de sa famille qui 
 entouraient son lit: " Mes amis, ne vous mettez jamais jusque- 
 la ou je me suis mis." Ce cri du repentir pouvait se rapporter a 
 l'elan ambitieux qui avait fait rechercher la tiare au cardinal 
 d'Amboise, par le sacrifice de Tor et surtout du sang des 
 Francais ; mais la posterite a du l'absoudre, en reconnaissant 
 que jamais le peuple ne fut plus menage, la fortune des citoyens 
 plus respectee, la police du royaume plus exactement observee 
 que sous le ministere de cet homme d'etat. 
 
 'Georges dAmboise mourut a Rouen, le 25 mai 15 10. On 
 raconte que deux cents gentifhommes, douze cents pr6lats, et 
 onze mille pretres assisterent a son enterrement, qui fut accom- 
 
ROUEN, CATHEDRAL. 
 
 5i 
 
 pagne d'une pompe jusqu'alors sans exemple, et d'un concert 
 de regrets et de lamentations. On peut douter, sans trop de 
 scepticisme, de la presence a ce cortege funebre, d'nne armee 
 ecclesiastique qu'il eut ete presque impossible de reunir.' 1 — 
 Touchard-Lafosse, 1 Hist, de Paris' 
 
 'The two life-size figures are kneeling, robed in splendid 
 long flowing garments, on a black marble slab, supported by 
 consoles. The elder has a characteristically conceived and 
 brutal priestly countenance ; the younger is likewise repulsive, 
 but full of energetic life ; both are attired in pompous mantles. 
 Under the consoles are pilasters, and between these, niches, 
 containing seated statues of the Virtues. The whole work 
 possesses great decorative beauty, but the figures are unequal ; 
 the drapery of several is excellent in style, that of the others 
 displays restless folds. The heads also are occasionally full of 
 animation ; others, on the contrary, are insipid and constrained. 
 The splendid wall at the back, which is radiant with gold and 
 colour, exhibits S. George and other saints, likewise unequal 
 in value. The vaulting is adorned with charming gilt cassettes, 
 and above it rises a rich crowning member with statuettes in 
 niches and graceful friezes of children, all in playful renaissance 
 forms, which are repeated in the airy pyramidal points, with 
 which this luxuriant and splendid work terminates in the gothic 
 manner.' — LUbke. 
 
 A simple stone, below the tomb, covers the remains of 
 Cardinal de Cambaceres, 18 18. Opposite is the tomb of 
 the Cardinal Archbishop Prince de Croy, 1844. The 
 altar-piece of the Adoration of the Shepherds is by Philippe 
 de Champaigne. 
 
 The magnificent Tomb of Louis de Breze (1.), erected 
 by his widow, Diane de Poitiers, is one of the marvels of 
 the Renaissance. Diane kneels at the head of the figure 
 of her dead husband, full of wonderful expression. He is 
 
 1 See Les Loisirs d'un Minisire d'Elat of M. de P^ulny, and Daru, Hist, de 
 Venise, iii. 520-21. 
 
52 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 represented again as an infant in his mother's arms, and a 
 third time on horseback, at the top of the monument which, 
 executed 1535-44, is attributed to Jean Goujon, or Jean 
 Cousin. The adjoining tomb (1488-92), of the transition 
 from gothic to renaissance, commemorates Pierre de Breze, 
 Comte de Maulevrier, seneschal of Anjou, killed at the 
 battle of Montlhery in 1465, and Jeanne de Bec-Crespin, 
 his wife. 
 
 In the 1. aisle of the choir is a modern monument to 
 Henri Courte Mantel, brother of Richard I., who died at 
 Martel en Quercy, 11 83 ; and against the N. wall, surrounded 
 by small coloured figures of angels, within a niche, behind 
 three pointed arches, the very beautiful xin. c. Tomb of 
 Archbishop Maurice, the oldest in the cathedral. 
 
 The xiv. c. sculptures in the galleries of the transept 
 and upper parts of the facade, as well as the figures at 
 the portal of the S. transept, are very inferior to earlier 
 works. 
 
 ' The pedestals on which the figures stand are very different 
 in character, their rectangular surfaces being covered with an 
 innumerable quantity of small reliefs in indented medallions, 
 containing, it appears, scenes from the History of Joseph and 
 other Old Testament subjects, with corresponding incidents from 
 the Life of Christ. We here perceive plainly, from the contrast, 
 how the masters of this period had lost all vigour of style in the 
 treatment of large statues, and tried to compensate for this in 
 smaller works by natural, and often charming, touches of actual 
 life.' — Lilbke. 
 
 The first chapel in descending the N. aisle of the nave 
 {Chapelle de S. Anne) contains the Tomb of Guillaume 
 Longue-Epee, son of Rollo, murdered on an island in the. 
 
ROUEN, S. MAC LOU. 
 
 53 
 
 Somme in 943, 1 and the epitaph of the great regent, John, 
 Uuke of Bedford, 1435. 
 
 In a chapel off the north choir aisle is the striking Tomb 
 of Cardinal de Bonnechose^ 1883. 
 
 From the S. entrance to the cathedral a street leads 
 S.E. to Les Anciennes Halles, of the end of the xin. c. 
 They are entered by a most graceful little building of the 
 Renaissance, known as Le Monument de S. Romain — a little 
 domed portico with staircases, erected in 1512. The Haute 
 Vieille Tour behind this was part of the ancient palace in 
 which Prince Arthur was imprisoned and murdered by John. 
 
 Returning to the cathedral, turning r. and passing the 
 stately walls of the Archeveche, chiefly built by Cardinal 
 d'Estouteville, T461, but with a portal by Mansart, we reach, 
 a little E. of the cathedral, the church of S. Maclou, rebuilt 
 
 1 All the descendants of Rollo, from Guillaume Longue-l^pee downwards, 
 except the sons of Richard II. and Judith, were born out of wedlock, and 
 legitimised by an after marriage, till William the Conqueror, who was not 
 legitimised at all. 
 
 Rollo, = Gisela 
 bur. at Rouen. I 
 
 Guillaume _ Espriota, who afterwards 
 
 Longue-£pee, 
 bur. at Rouen. 
 
 married Sperling, the 
 miller of Ivry. 
 
 I I 
 
 Richard I., = Emma, d. of Cunnora. 
 
 sans Peur, Count Hugh, of 
 
 bur. at Fecamp. Paris. 
 
 E. 2. 3. 
 
 Richard II., — Judith of — Estritha — Papia. 
 
 le Bon, Brittany, of Denmark, 
 bur. at Fecamp. bur. at Bernay. 
 
 Richard III., Robert le'Magnifique^Arlette. Guillaume, Mauger, 
 poisoned 1027, or le Diable, 
 
 bur. at Falaise. bur. at Nicea. 
 
 Comte Abp. of 
 
 d'Arques. Rouen. 
 
 William the Conqueror. 
 
54 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 from designs of the architect Pierre Robin, 1437 — 1520. 
 The W. front has a beautiful flamboyant porch, which once 
 had five entrances (now three) opening upon the five aisles 
 of the church. The wooden doors are sculptured with 
 designs by Jean Goujon, as well as a much mutilated 
 fountain at the N.W. angle of the building. The portal 
 of the N. transept has a central Corinthian pillar, twined 
 with vine tendrils, and supporting a statue of the Virgin. 
 The spire, by Viollet le Due, is of 1868, The interior has 
 fine but mutilated glass of xv. c. and xvi. c, but the most 
 interesting object it contains is the beautiful tourelle of open 
 flamboyant work, like the most delicate lace in stone, contain- 
 ing a staircase leading to the organ by Arthur Fillon, 152 1. 
 The columns supporting the organ are by Jean Goujon. 
 
 L'Aitre 1 S. Maclou, entered by the gate at 188, Rue 
 Martainville, is a beautiful cloistered court, encircled by 
 buildings of stone and timber of 1526-29. Upon each of 
 the Corinthian columns which surround it is sculptured 
 a scene from the Dance of Death (Danse macabre), forming 
 singular contrast with the joyous pagan sculptures near 
 them. One of the galleries, of coarser sculpture, is (1640) 
 later in date than the others. The court, once a cemetery, 
 is now used for a number of schools. 
 
 The Rue de la Republique leads (r.) from the west front 
 of S. Maclou to S. Ouen — matchless in its exquisite beauty. 
 
 Here a monastery was founded by S. Victrice (393 — 417), 
 and restored by S. Clotilde (524 — 530). Having been 
 transformed (630) by S. Ouen into an abbey for men, 
 it took the name of its second founder in the xi. c. 
 Nothing now remains of the romanesque church, repeatedly 
 
 1 L'Aitre = atrium. 
 
ROUEN, S. OUEN. 55 
 
 burnt and ruined, except the circular apside at the N. 
 transept of the church called Chambre-aux-Clercs> which is 
 of the beginning of the xn. a, and probably a remnant of the 
 third of the five churches on this site. The existing church, 
 begun in 13 18, was not finished till 1846. The W. facade, 
 which has a glorious rose-window, is covered with statues of 
 the kings and saints connected with Rouen ; that of S. Ouen 
 occupies the summit of the gable. The statues on the front 
 of the S. transept are those of the principal benefactors of 
 the abbey : its Portail des Marmousets is of marvellous 
 beauty. On the N. of the church part of the xvi. c. cloister 
 remains. The magnificent central tower (xiv. c. — xvi. c.) 
 is surmounted by a ducal crown of open-work. 
 
 The entire church (453 feet in length, 83 in breadth, 
 106 in height), in the form of a Latin cross, is surrounded 
 by side aisles : eleven chapels radiate round the choir. 
 The glorious glass has been well restored, and the ancient 
 pavement preserved. The nave has ten bays, and the 
 triforium is all glass. In the 2nd chapel 1. of choir are 
 the tombs of an unknown architect (xm. c. or xiv. c.) and 
 of the master mason Alexander de Berneval (xv. a). 
 
 On the S. side of the pretty public garden which surrounds 
 the E. end of the church an ancient Necropolis was discovered 
 in 187 1, with tombs extending from the vi. c. to the xiv. c. 
 It was here that Jeanne Dare was compelled to make a 
 solemn abjuration of her supposed errors. 
 
 At the corner of the Rue de FHopital (opposite the W. 
 front of S. Ouen) and the Rue des Cannes is a copy (1870) 
 of the beautiful ancient gothic Fontaine de la Crosse (xv. a), 
 now pulled down. 
 
 Continuing to follow the Rue de la Republique, we reach 
 
56 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 (r.) the Fontaine S. Marie (1879) an d (1.) the Musee d'An- 
 tiquites (open 12 to 4), which occupies part of the ancient 
 Convent of the Visitandines (1680-91) which also contains 
 the Museum of Natural History and Collections of China 
 and Pottery. Amongst the autographs are charters signed 
 by William the Conqueror — with a cross, for he could not 
 write. 
 
 Transported to the garden is the beautiful ancient 
 Fontaine de la Croix de Pierre (15 15) recently brought 
 hither from the Carrefour S. Vivien, where it has been 
 replaced by a copy. 
 
 Hence, by the church of -5. Godard, chiefly xvi. c, 
 covered with modern mural paintings, and the Tour de 
 Jeanne Dare, a remnant of the old chateau of Philippe- 
 Auguste, said to have been the prison of the heroine, we 
 may regain the railway station. 
 
 Near the W. extremity of the city and the railway 
 station is the church of S. Gervais, with a very curious 
 crypt, probably built in the iv. c. from Roman materials, 
 and if so, the oldest piece of architecture in Normandy. 
 Here S. Mellon, the first bishop of Rouen, was buried. 
 To the adjoining priory William the Conqueror, after he 
 had received his death-wound at Mantes, was removed 
 from the palace at Rouen for the sake of greater quietude \ 
 here he made his will, disposing of his treasure to the 
 church for the good of his soul; hence he sent William 
 Rufus to England and released all his captives, and here 
 he died (Sept. 9, 1087). 
 
 1 He had striven to make peace with God and man, and to 
 make such provision as he could for the children and the subjects 
 whom he left behind him. And now his last hour was come. 
 
SUBURBS OF ROUEN. 
 
 57 
 
 On a Thursday morning in September, when the sun had already- 
 risen upon the earth, the sound of the great bell of the metro- 
 politan minster struck on the ears of the dying king. He asked 
 why it sounded. He was told that it rang for the prime in the 
 church of Our Lady. William lifted his eyes to heaven, he 
 stretched forth his hands, and spake his last words : " To my 
 Lady Mary, the holy mother of God, 1 commend myself, that 
 by her holy prayers she may reconcile me to her dear Son, our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." He prayed, and his soul passed away.'-- 
 Freeman. 
 
 When the Conqueror had breathed his last, his nobles 
 and servants plundered his room and fled, and he remained 
 unburied, till the faithful knight Herlwin, at his own cost, 
 undertook the embalming of the body and its removal to 
 Caen. 
 
 Omnibuses leave the Place des Arts every two hours for 
 (3 1 k.) the Chapelle de Bon Secours (1840-42), whence, and 
 from the neighbouring heights of Mont S. Catherine, there 
 is a most beautiful view over Rouen, the islands and wind- 
 ings of the Seine, and the verdant meadows, once the field 
 where the famous Edeline, nephew of Otho of Germany, 
 fell in single combat with Richard Sans Peur, in that 
 important battle (946) before the walls of Rouen in which 
 the Normans were victorious. Below Mont S. Catherine is 
 the little romanesque church of S. Paul. 
 
 4 k. E. of Rouen is the manufacturing village of Darnetal, 
 which has the fine xvi. c. Church of Long Paon ) and (at the 
 opposite end of the village) the Tour de Carville, used as an 
 observatory by Henri IV. when besieging the Fort S. Catherine. 
 
 It was at Chevilty, near Rouen, that the Conqueror heard of 
 the death of Edward the Confessor, and that Harold had occupied 
 the throne. 
 
 At the Mont aic Malades, a priory founded by Henry II. in 
 
58 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 expiation of the murder of Becket, is an admirable xiii. c. 
 gravestone of a lady. 
 
 Above the suburb of Deville is the Wood of Roumare, where 
 for many years hung the bracelet, which showed that the prince of 
 the district had taught his subjects to respect rights of property. 
 
 An excursion should be made from Rouen to (ro k.) the 
 famous Abbey of 6*. Georges de Boscherville, 1 which is a 
 little to the 1. of the high road to Caudebec. Its splendid 
 Church remains intact, and was built, as the inscription over the 
 portal tells us, by the munificence of Raoul de Tancarville, grand 
 chamberlain of William the Conqueror, 1050-66. The portal, 
 adorned with a triple zigzag moulding, is surmounted by two 
 ranges of round-headed windows, and flanked on either side 
 by a square tower, crowned by a campanile with four gothic 
 arcades, surmounted by a hexagonal stone spire, with pinnacles. 
 All round the exterior of the church runs a bold cornice, sup- 
 ported by heads of men and animals. The interior was covered 
 with whitewash, intersected by yellow lines, in 1876, and its 
 beauty entirely destroyed. What it was before that date may 
 be seen by the fragment of a chapel left untouched because 
 covered with frescoes. The three naves are divided by eight roman- 
 esque arches. Above, a gallery runs round the whole. Several 
 piscinas are xiii. c. Entered from the orchard on the north of 
 the church, where the old well, formerly in the centre of the 
 cloister, remains under the apple-trees, is the Chapter House, 
 of 1 1 57 — 1200, surmounted by a construction of the xvn. c. : the 
 mutilated portal is of great beauty. The other buildings of the 
 abbey are only of the time of Louis XIV. It is difficult to get 
 any good general view of the abbey, which is much hemmed in 
 by walls and houses. A little restaurant near the west portal 
 can supply luncheon. 
 
 [A pleasant excursion may be made in calm weather 2 down 
 the Seine to (135 k.) Havre. There is a daily service of boats 
 from June 1st to Sept. 30th from the Quai du Havre, opposite 
 la Douane (1st class, 6 fr. 50 c. ; 2nd class, 5 fr. 50 c. The passage 
 occupies seven hours, and there is a cafe-restaurant on board. 
 
 1 It may be reached by public carriage from 145, Rue des Charrettes. 
 - The sea is often rough at the mouth of the river. 
 
ROUEN TO HAVRE BY WATER. 59 
 
 The boat passes : r. the chateau and church of Canteleu ; r. 
 Croisset; r. Dieppedalle, opposite the He S. Barbe\ r. Val de la 
 Haye, where a monument commemorates the shifting of the 
 coffin of Napoleon I. from the steamer La Normandie to La 
 Dorade ; r. Hautot-sur- Seine, where the church has good xm. c. 
 glass ; r. Soquence, with a modern chateau ; 1. (20 k.) La Bouille. 
 The Seine now makes a great bend, skirting on 1. the hills 
 covered by the Forest of Mauny, to 1. Bardouville, with xi. c. and 
 xm. c. church. L. Berville-siir- Seine, where the river bends 
 again. R. Duclair (see later). R. >S. Pierre de Manneville, with 
 a fine xvi. c. church ; r. .SI Martin de Boscherville. On r. the 
 hills are now clothed by the forest of Jumieges. R. Mesnil sous 
 Jumieges, with a xni. c. manor of Agnes Sorel, 4 k. from the 
 famous abbey. L. Yville-sur-Seine, with a xn. c. church tower, 
 a xm. c. cross in the cemetery, and an xviii. c. chateau. After 
 another wooded bend of the river is 1. Heurteauville, with a 
 church built by the monks of Jumieges in 1730. Passing the 
 Bac de la Mailleraye, we reach 1. Notre Dame de Bliquetuit, where 
 the church has a good xm. c. choir. L. kS. Nicolas de Bliquetuit, 
 with a church of xi. c. altered in xvn. c. R. Caudebec (see 
 later). R. the Chateau de Villequier. L. Vatteville, with a 
 xvi. church containing good xvi. c. and xvn. c. glass, a ruined 
 xi. c. castle, and xvi. c. houses. L. The village of Aizier, with 
 a romanesque church. L. Vieux-Port, and, under the wooded 
 hills, the admirable xv. c. tower and xn. — xvi. c. church of 
 Norville. R. 6*. Maurice d'Etelan, with a xv. c. church and 
 another in ruins. R. The Chateau dEtelan (xv. a), with 
 a graceful xv. c. chapel. L. Quillebeuf (see later). R. Notre 
 Dame de Gravenchon, with a xn. c. and xm. c. church. R. 
 Port Jerome, some distance inland from which is Lillebonne 
 (see later). R. the wooded promontory of Tancarville, with its 
 fine chateau (see later). Beyond this the river almost becomes 
 sea. On 1. we pass Berville-sur-Mer ■; r. Cap du Hode, the 
 Chateau de Gonfreville-F Orchcr, and the Pointe du Hoc below 
 Harfleur, with Havre beyond it. L. The Chapelle de Notre 
 Dame de Grace is seen above Honfleur.] 
 
 [For the line from Rouen to Port Audemer and Serquigny see 
 chap, hi.] 
 
6o 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Leaving Rouen by the station of the Rue Verte, we 
 reach — 
 
 146 k. Maromme, a manufacturing suburb, connected by 
 a tramway with Rouen. 
 
 149 k. Malaunay. 
 
 [A line branches N.E. to (52 k.) Dieppe, by (6 k.) Monville, 
 where the church has a massive XI. c. tower and a xvi. c. choir. 
 An excursion may be made by (8 k.) Fontaine-le-Bourg to (14 k.) 
 Caitly, an ancient town once fortified, 4 k. S. of which is the 
 village of 6*. Andre-sur-Caitly, where remains of an amphitheatre 
 and many relics of Roman occupation have been found. 
 
 22 k. 61 Victor VAbbaye. Only a chapter-house (xin. c.) 
 remains of the abbey, to which a pilgrimage was made by 
 William the Conqueror, of whom there is a statue in a niche 
 outside the chevet of the church. The neighbouring church of 
 6*. Maclou de Folleville contains the ancient banc seigneurial 
 of the family of Giffard de la Pierre, whose old brick xvi. c. 
 manor stands on the opposite hill. 
 
 26 k. Auffay. The collegiate church is mostly xin. c. 
 
 35 k. Longueville, formed into a duchy under Louis XII., has 
 a ruined castle, and a church of xi. c. and xvi. c. Only some 
 buildings of 1700, used as a factory, remain of the Priory of 
 6*. Foy, founded in 1093. 
 
 45 k. 5". Aubin-Offranville. S. Aubin-sur-Seine has an inter- 
 esting xvi. c. church. The Chateau de Miromesnil is xvi. c. 
 and xvii. c. The church of Tourville-sur-Arques has a xvi. c. 
 font and a good benitier of the time of Francois I. Offranville 
 has a xvi. c. church, where the Chape He S. Barbe, now the 
 sacristy, has remarkable xvi. c. glass.] 
 
 157 k. Barentin. 
 
 [A branch line leads S.E. to — 
 
 15 k. Dnclair. A little town with a quay on the Seine. 
 The church has a romanesque tower, a xiv. c. choir, a renaissance 
 portal, and xin. c. statues. In the garden of the CJidteait de 
 Taillis is the tomb of an abbot of Jumieges. 
 
 20 k. Gainville. 3 k. distant is the famous Monastery of 
 
MONASTERY OF JUMIEGES. 
 
 61 
 
 Jumieges (Hotel de l'Abbaye, Cafe de la Place, both tolerable), 
 founded in vn. c., and ruled, during its 1 120 years of existence, 
 by eighty-two abbots, including SS. Philbert, Aichaire, Hugues, 
 Thierry, and Gontard. It at one time contained above nine 
 hundred monks. 
 
 The original church, as built by Lanfranc, Abbot of Bee 
 (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), was destroyed by Raoul 
 Torta, prime minister of Louis d'Outre Mer (940), till ' the wise 
 clerk Clement' reclaimed the towers, which remain. Rebuilt, 
 but pillaged by the Calvinists, and destroyed by the Revolution, 
 the abbey is now only a picturesque and beautiful ruin, in the 
 private grounds of Mme Lepel Cointet, to which strangers 
 (accompanied by the portress) are always admitted. The gate- 
 way and les communes form the present residence. The arches 
 under the gateway are used as a museum for relics found in the 
 ruins, including the tombstone of Nicolas Leroux, the fifty-ninth 
 abbot, who was one of the judges of Jeanne Dare, and the stone 
 which covered the heart of Agnes Sorel (Saurelle), Dame de 
 Beaulte, the beloved mistress of Charles VII., who died at 
 Mesnil, in 1449, an( ^ whose body was buried at Loches. Two 
 much-broken statues are called Les Enerves, and are believed 
 to commemorate the two sons of Clovis II., who, in his absence, 
 revolted against their mother Bathilde, and were punished by 
 having the sinews of their arms and legs cut and being sent 
 adrift thus in a boat upon the Seine. They were landed at 
 Jumieges, and being kindly received by the monks, remained in 
 the abbey till their death. 
 
 The remains of the enormous abbey-church of Notre Dame 
 — beautiful in their pink-grey colouring — consist chiefly of the 
 west front, with its flanking towers, the aisles of the nave (that 
 on the left retaining its vaulting), the great romanesque arch 
 which supported one side of the tower, and some exquisitely 
 beautiful fragments of the xiii. c. choir. In the S. transept 
 are a number of remnants of statues, etc., found in the abbey. 
 Hence a passage communicates with the church of 61 Pierre^ 
 built under Dagobert, ruined by the Normans in 840, and rebuilt in 
 930 by Guillaume Longue-Epee, son of Rollo, who, in his youth, 
 would willingly have become a monk of Jumieges. Under the 
 romanesque arcade on the N, wall of this church are medallions 
 
62 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 with remains of x. c. paintings. From the r. of the church we 
 enter the Chapelle S. Martin, where the central boss of the 
 vaulting represents S. Philbert, abbot of Jumieges, with the wolf 
 which is his attribute. At the foot of the S. tower of Notre 
 Dame is the ruin of the gothic Salle des Gardes de Charles VII. 
 In the Salle capitulaire are tombs of priors. The (destroyed) 
 cloister communicated on the W. with the Library, of which 
 three romanesque arches remain. In the house of the pro- 
 prietress are some vaulted gothic halls. 
 
 Many picturesque legends hang about Jumieges. It is said 
 
 CAUDEBEC. 
 
 that when the second abbot, Alcadre, was dying, he was anxious 
 about leaving behind him too many monks— nine hundred, more 
 than the abbey could support. But, in a vision, he saw an angel 
 mark four hundred and sixty of these with a palm branch, 
 saying : 1 Be at rest ; I have marked those whom the Lord has 
 found most worthy, and who shall stand in His presence on the 
 third night from this.' Then those monks prepared for death, 
 and on the third night, as ' Amen ' was said at the midnight 
 prayers, they passed into eternal peace. 
 
 At the nunnery of S. Philbert, where the nuns washed for 
 the monks of Jumieges, a wolf ate the donkey that drew the 
 washing to the river; but the wolf was compelled by the holy 
 
CAUDEBEC. 
 
 63 
 
 monks to take his place, in which it served peacefully for the 
 rest of its life. 
 
 The parish church of 6\ Valentin, of XI. c. and xu. c, com- 
 memorates in its dedication the deliverance of Jumieges from 
 
 RCE DES CORDCNNIERS, CAUDFBEC. 
 
 an invasion of rats by the intervention of S. Valentin. In a 
 neighbouring wood is the pilgrimage chapel of La Mere de 
 Dieu. 
 
 31 k. Caudebec (Hotels : de la Marine— excellent ; du Siecle) is 
 supposed to occupy the site of the Roman Lotum. It is a most 
 delightful resting-place and centre for excursions. The charming 
 
64 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 little, quiet, comfortable hotels are on the little quay of the 
 broad, swiftly flowing Seine, and have a view of green pastures 
 and richly wooded hills. With its fine trees, quaint buildings, 
 and broad reaches of water studded with white sails, it has 
 been painted by Horace Vernet and a thousand later artists. 
 Scarcely any town in France of its size contains more picturesque 
 buildings. The Rue des Cordonniers and the Rue de la 
 Boucherie are almost entirely of xv. c. and xvi. c. houses, bulging, 
 broken into a thousand quaint outlines against the sky, and with 
 an infinitude of quaint projections. An artist will not fail to 
 paint the Caux and another clear rushing stream, which are 
 entirely overarched by old timber houses, glorious in colouring. 
 One stone house, formerly monastic, is xin. c. ; other houses 
 have all their mouldings wreathed in flowering creepers, or are 
 a mass of pink and white roses in their season. The Church is 
 an exquisitely beautiful building of the xv. c. and xvi. c, begun 
 from plans of Guillaume Letellier (whose house is close by), in 
 the gothic style, and finished in that of the renaissance. The 
 principal portal (xvi. c.) has three arches, with a veil of richest 
 sculpture ; above is a balustrade with caryatides of the time of 
 Henri IV., surmounted by a gallery in gothic letters (from the 
 anthem of the Virgin), the continuation of that which surrounds 
 the roof. In the gable is a rose-window, with two ranges of 
 statuettes of the kings of Judah. The exquisite little portal 
 towards the Place du Marche is xv. c. The noble central tow T er 
 has a beautiful octagonal spire ; it has now only two of its 
 eleven ancient bells. 
 
 The interior consists of a vast central nave, with aisles which 
 encircle the choir also, and of nineteen chapels. A doorway on 
 the right, surmounted by a figure of the ( Weary Christ,' is a 
 beautiful artistic subject. In the side aisles is much rich stained 
 glass. The sculpture of the upper part of the S. door represents 
 the Last Supper, the lower a xvi. c. procession in honour of the 
 Sacrament. Behind the choir is the Chapelle de la Vierge, with 
 a beautiful pendant. The adjoining chapel has a S. Sepulcre of 
 marvellous expression under a beautiful xv. c. canopy. A rich 
 bracket bears a canopied Descent from the Cross. Much of the 
 glass in the chapels deserves attention. |The wood-carving of 
 the sacristy comes from the abbey of S. Wandrille, 
 
CAUDEBEC. 
 
 C»5 
 
 In a house on the Route d'Yvetot (25 — 27) is a staircase 
 formed by xm. c. tombstones from the abbey of Jumieges. 
 
 The immediate neighbourhood of Caudebec has every charm 
 which wooded terraces above the broad expanses of the river, 
 villas and cottages embosomed in flowers, and endless drives 
 and excursions can give. It is one of the best places in France 
 to choose for a few months' stay, and there are generally many 
 villas to be let for the summer. 
 
 An excursion should be made to (3 J k.) £*. Wandrille, 
 following the Duclair road, and turning to the 1. at Caudcbecqnet, 
 where the Grotte Milon was once inhabited by the saint of that 
 name. A fine renaissance portal admits to the grounds of the 
 Abbey of 5*. Wandrille, inhabited by monks since it was founded 
 by the saint — a pupil of S. Columban — in 670, except during a 
 hundred years succeeding the Revolution (1793 — 1893), after 
 which it was repurchased by Benedictines from the Marquis de 
 Stackpoole, who had done much to mutilate the monastic build- 
 ings. Strangers are most kindly admitted and received. The 
 abbey first bore the name of Fontenelle, from the rushing brook 
 in its grounds. The buildings which are still inhabited are 
 chiefly due to monks of St. Maur in the xvn. c. But the 
 noble cloister, communicating with the dwelling-house, is of 
 xiv. c. and xvi. c. At its N. W. extremity is a beautiful renaissance 
 lavabo, which stands at the entrance of the refectory, a noble 
 vaulted hall, XII, c. in the lower, xv. c. in the upper part, lighted 
 by eight flamboyant windows. This communicates with the 
 kitchen built under Louis XIV. Beyond the cloister are the 
 remains of the church of 1248 — 1342, the S. door of which led 
 to xii. c. buildings, comprising the dormitory. 
 
 On' the wooded hill opposite the abbey is the very curious 
 Chapelle S. Saturnin of the xi. c, with a low tower and three 
 apsides somewhat resembling the Chapelle S. Croix at Mont- 
 majour. In the rock are several cells inhabited by hermits in 
 the ix. c. 
 
 ' It is a perfect cross church of the transverse triapsal form, 
 and has a central tower. The semicircular apses spring directly 
 from the tower, and internally have a semi-domical roof. The 
 masonry is rough, some having a herring-bone appearance. 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 The windows, where they have not been altered, are narrow and 
 round-headed. The nave is without aisles.' — -J. L. Petit. 
 
 The Parish Church has tower and S. transept of xi. c, choir 
 of xii. c, and Lady chapel of xiii. c. Several reliquaries were 
 brought from the abbey. 
 
 A pleasant walk may be taken from Caudebec by following 
 the r. bank of the Seine to the fisherman's pilgrimage chapel of 
 Notre Dame de Barre-y-Va, founded xn. c, rebuilt under Louis 
 XIV., and then by a path on r. to Villequier } with its chateau 
 of temp. Louis XV., its xv. c. church with splendid stained glass, 
 and a curious equestrian statue* of S. Martin, and its cemetery, 
 where Mme Vacquerie, daughter of Victor Hugo, is buried, 
 with her husband and child, all lost in a shipwreck near this 
 in 1843. 
 
 Another excursion may be made (by leaving the Yvetot road 
 to the 1., 2 k. from Caudebec) to (4 k.) >S. Gertrude, which has a 
 beautiful xvi. c. church, with a central tower, noble portal, and 
 flamboyant windows filled with glorious glass. The choir has 
 a beautiful pendant, a curious xvi. c. gravestone, and a stone 
 tabernacle of exquisite grace. 
 
 Allouville (see later) is only 6 k. from Caudebec. Lillebonne 
 (see later) is about 10 k.] 
 
 159 k. Pat illy, where S. Philbert of Jumieges founded 
 a monastery in the vn. c, replaced in the xi. c. by an 
 abbey, of which the xiii. c. church remains. The priory 
 Chapel of S. Austreberte is xn. c. The chateau of the 
 ancient Comtes d'Esneval is of 1460-78. 4 k. N.E. are 
 the village and holy well of S. Austreberte, who was abbess 
 of Pavilly in the vn. c. 
 
 170 k Motteville has a chateau of the time of Henri IV. 
 
 [A line leads N. to S. Valery en Caux by — 
 
 5 k. Gremonville, with an unfinished chateau of temp. 
 Henri IV. 4k. is Ouville I'Abbaye, with some remains of an 
 abbey founded in the XII. c. 
 
 12 k. Doudeville. In the church (xiii. c. and xvi. c.) is the 
 
5. VALERY EN CAUX. 
 
 67 
 
 heart of the Marechal de Villars. An omnibus leads by (n k.) 
 Bretteville, with a chateau of 1730, which belonged to the Marquis 
 de Miromesnil, keeper of the seals under Louis XVI., and where 
 four candles perpetually burn in the church — two for Mme 
 Lebret, daughter of the Marquis, and her husband, and two for 
 Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette — and (14 k.) Brametot, which 
 has a cross of 1550, to (18 k.) Fontaine-le-Dun, which has a 
 church of xn. c, xni. c. and xvi. c, and a cemetery cross of 
 1547. At Notre Dame la Gaillarde, near this, are a cross of 
 1540, and a chapel of 6*. Marguerite du Dun (xi. c), used as 
 a barn. 
 
 20 k. S. Vaast-Bosville. 
 
 (A branch line leads to — 
 
 7 k. Cany (Hotel : du Commerce), a pretty town with a xvi. c. 
 church. 2 k. distant, in the valley of the Durdent, is the prettily 
 situated chateau built by Mansart in the xvn. c. From Cany, a 
 road leads (9 k.) to Veulettes (see below) by (5 k.) Paluel, near 
 which rises the (xni. c, xvi. c. and xvn. c.) Chapelle de Notre 
 Dame de Janville, a great place of pilgrimage with sailors. 
 12k. from Cany is Vahnont (Hotel: du Commerce), with the 
 interesting old Manor-house of the Sires d'Estouteville and de 
 Valmont. The keep dates from the xi. c. ; the chateau is xv. c, 
 and is united on N. and S. to the renaissance Galerie de 
 Franfois I. The chateau belonged at one time to Du Guesclin, 
 who received Francois I. there. On the opposite side of the 
 river are interesting remains of the Abbey, founded xn. c. and 
 mostly rebuilt xvn. c, now a private house. Strangers are ad- 
 mitted to see the ruins of the abbey church, which are chiefly 
 renaissance. The xvi. c. Chapelle de la Vierge is intact, and has 
 a retable representing the Annunciation, attributed to Germain 
 Pilon, and tombs of the Sires d'Estouteville. Cany is 8 k. by 
 road from Les Petites Dalles : see later.) 
 
 27 k. Neville has a cemetery cross of 1582. 
 
 32 k. 6*. Valery en Caux (Hotels : de la Paix ; de la Plage ; 
 des Bains), a small seaport and bathing place, which takes its 
 name from the Picardy saint who is said to have dried up here 
 the source of a little river, which was a source of idolatry in 
 the early inhabitants. The church is of xv. c. and xvi. c. The 
 
68 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 xvi. c. Convent des Penitents, now used as an arsenal, preserves 
 its cloister. The Maison de Henri IV. is xvi. c. At I k. is the 
 ruined (xvn. c.) Chapelle S. Leger. At 4 k. is Manneville-es- 
 Plains, with a small xvi. c. chateau. At 4 k. is the modern 
 Calvaire d Pngouville. At 5 k. is S. Sylvain, wh«re the xm. c. 
 church has a xvi. c. font and a beautiful churchyard cross of 
 1 519. At 8 k. (on the road to Dieppe) is Veules (Hotels: de 
 Rouen ; de la Place; du Casino), a small sea-bathing place, with 
 a xvi. c. church of S. Martin, a very fine xvi. c. cemetery cross 
 and a xvi. c. house called Le Presbytere de S. Martin. The 
 neighbouring xvi. c. church of Blosseville-es-P lains (2 k. S.) 
 has good stained glass.] 
 
 178 k. Yvetot (Hotel : des Victoires). 
 
 1 II etait un roi d'Yvetot 
 
 Peu connu dans Fhistoire. 
 Oh ! oh ! oh ! oh ! Ah ! ah ! ah ! ah ! 
 Quel bon petit roi c'etait la \' Beranger. 
 
 The origin of the ' kingdom of Yvetot ' is said to lie in 
 the story that Gauthier, lord of Yvetot and chamberlain of 
 Clotaire L, falling into disgrace with his master, was 
 forced to fly to foreign lands, where he distinguished 
 himself in war. After ten years he returned, protected by 
 a recommendation from the pope, and flung himself at the 
 feet of Clotaire as he was attending mass on the Good 
 Friday of 536. The king, infuriated by seeing him, regard- 
 less of the holy place, drew his sword and killed him on 
 the spot. Then the pope, enraged at the contempt shown 
 for his safe-conduct, threatened to excommunicate the 
 king, and he only purchased forgiveness by erecting Yvetot 
 into a kingdom for the descendants of his murdered 
 chamberlain. 
 
 1 On sait seulement avec quelque certitude, que ce fief se 
 composait en plusieurs terres : que la principale, celle d'Yvetot, 
 
YVETOT. 
 
 69 
 
 etait positivement tranche de toute servitude longtemps avant 
 l'annee 1370, et que les autres se trouverent egalement affran- 
 chies soit par l'usage, soit par quelque transaction ignoree 
 aujourd'hui.' — Guibert, 1 Villes de France.' 
 
 The ugly brick church has good woodwork from the 
 Abbey of S. Wandrille. The hospice bears the name of 
 its founder, Asselin. An excursion may be made (carriage 
 5 frs.) to (6 k.) Le Chene d'Allouville, with a very 
 famous churchyard oak of immense size, in which two 
 chapels have been established, the lower dedicated to 
 Notre Dame de la Paix, the upper called the Cellule de 
 I'Ermite. This is one of the most curious trees in France, 
 and is believed to be more than nine hundred years old. 
 
 The road from Yvetot to (njk.) Caudebec passes (3 k.) 
 Auzebosc, with a ruined castle and interesting church with hand- 
 some altars of Louis XVI., and (8 k.) Maulevrier, with a little 
 xii. c. church of 5*. Leonard. The road from Yvetot to (22 k.) 
 Lillebonne passes (13 k-) Trouville en Caux, with a xm. c. 
 church. 
 
 The line leaves to r. the remains of the chateau of 
 Ecretteville-lh-Baons, to the 1. the church of Valliquerville^ 
 with a fine xvi. c. tower. 
 
 189 k. Foucart-Alvimare. At Alvimare (1 k. 1.) is a 
 renaissance manor-house, now a farm, with the Chapelle 
 des Blanques of 1518. Two stone crosses in the hamlet 
 are said to commemorate knights who fell in battle here in 
 the xiv. c. or xv. c. ' 
 
 197 k. Nointot. On the walls of the church are seen 
 the mutilated arms of a seigneur de Nointot who, having 
 threatened the life of the aged cure of the parish, was 
 imprisoned in the sacristy till he had promised to respect 
 
7o 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 him, to pay a large sum to the poor, and to efface his 
 arms. The line passes (r.) the xin. c. and xvi. c. church 
 of Mirville. 
 
 203 k. Beuzeville-Breaute. The church of Beuzeville 
 le Grenier has an xi. c. tower. The church of (3 k.) 
 Breaute is xi. c. and xn. c. 
 
 [A line runs N. to Fecamp by — 
 
 12 k. Les-Ifs-Etretat. There are diligences from this station 
 by (11 k.) Les Loges, with an old manor-house and xvi. c. church, 
 to (15 k.) Etretat ( Hotels: Blanquet, Hauville), a fashionable little 
 sea-bathing place, which owes its reputation to the writings of 
 Alphonse Karr. The church is mostly xn. c, with a xin. c. 
 lanthorn. Under the Falaise d'Aval is the cavern called Trou 
 a V Homme, then the natural arch known as Porte d'Aval, near 
 which is the isolated rock called E Aiguille d' Etretat. Beyond 
 this (sometimes known as le Petit Port), is the larger chasm 
 called La Manneporte. There is a wide view from the Falaise 
 d'Amont, beneath which the Porte d'Amont may be reached at 
 low water. In the cliff is the platform called La Chambre des 
 Demoiselles, from the legend of three beautiful sisters, carried off 
 by the knight of Filleville, who, refusing to yield to his blandish- 
 ments, were rolled by him over the cliff in a barrel full of spikes, 
 at a point where their harmless apparition is frequently seen. 
 At the end of the cliff on the right is La Roche de S. Olive ; with 
 a hidden spring, where a poor washerwoman of that name, about 
 to be carried off by pirates, vowed a chapel if God would deliver 
 her, which He did, driving the boats of the pirates out to sea. 
 Excursions may be made by carriage to the little bathing-place 
 of >S. Jouin (Hotel : de Paris), or on foot to Cap Antifer. 
 
 19k. Fecamp (Hotels: in the town, Canchy — good; Chariot 
 d' Or— -good ; Grand Cerf, a curious old house opposite the 
 abbey : on the shore, des Bains, du Casino, de la Plage), a 
 popular sea-bathing place, which is said to owe its origin to 
 a monastery for women founded in 658 by S. Waninge, on the 
 spot where the waves had thrown up a fig tree, in the trunk of 
 which one Isaac had concealed the precious blood of our Saviour, 
 collected and bequeathed to him by his uncle, Joseph of 
 
FECAMP. 
 
 7i 
 
 Arimathea. Richard Sans Peur, husband of the Danish Gunnora 
 and grandfather of the Conqueror, magnificently rebuilt the 
 abbey — ' miro opere, quadris lapidibus, gothica manu,' 1 intending 
 it at once as a minster and a palace — the residence of his 
 later years. Then an angel is said to have transferred the relic 
 to the altar of the new church, with the words 1 The price of 
 
 TOWER OF S. TRINITE, FECAMP. 
 
 the redemption of the world, which comes from Jerusalem.' 
 After the death of Richard the Fearless, in 996, Fecamp con- 
 tinued to be the especial home of all those descendants of the 
 ducal house of Normandy who embraced the monastic life. 
 Here also Nicolas, son of Richard III., was forced by his uncle, 
 Duke Robert, to become a monk. William Longue-Epee added 
 a palace to the monastery, with a little chapel erected on the 
 site of an earlier shrine of S. Eulalie. 
 
 1 Dudo de S. Quentin. 
 
72 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 The great monastic church of 6*. Trinite, dating originally 
 1082 — 1107, was almost entirely burnt, and rebuilt 1170 — 1200. 
 But the E. end of the present fabric probably retraces the lines 
 of the basilica of Duke Richard, whose monastery was colonised 
 with Benedictines from Cluny, under the guidance of S. Mayolus. 
 After his buildings were finished — 
 
 ' There was one object which excited much speculation. It 
 was a large block of stone, placed right across the path which 
 led to the transept doorway, so close to the portal as to be 
 beneath the drip of the eaves ; or, at all events, within the splash 
 of the stream gushing on rainy days from the queer wide mouth 
 of the projecting gurgoil, stretching out his long neck. Fashioned 
 and located by Duke Richard's order, the stone was hollowed 
 out so as to form a huge, strong chest, which might be used 
 either as a coffin or a sarcophagus. Its first employment, how- 
 ever, was for the living, not for the dead. On the eve of every 
 Lord's day, the chest, or whatever it might be called, was filled 
 to the brim with the finest wheat-corn — then a cate, or luxury, as 
 it is considered now in many parts of France. To this recep- 
 tacle the poor resorted, and each filled his measure of grain, 
 and into each open hand were dropped five dulcet-clinking 
 pennies ; while the lame and the bedridden were visited by the 
 almoner as he made his rounds through Fecamp town, and by 
 each was the dole received.' — Palgrave, 1 Hist, of England and 
 Normandy! 
 
 When Richard Sans Peur was seized with his last illness, at 
 Bayeux, in 996, he desired to be carried back to Fecamp — which 
 was at once minster and palace — and there, after his death, he 
 was laid in this stone sarcophagus, though his remains were 
 afterwards removed to the interior of the building, where Ware 
 saw his coffin. The central tower of the church is of great 
 beauty. The modern facade was added in 1696. The interior 
 has the splendour of a cathedral, though it has been terribly 
 spoilt by whitewash and restorations. The S. transept contains 
 the Chapelle de la Dormition de la Vierge, with a representation 
 of her death by the monk Robert Chardon. A lovely little xv. c. 
 tabernacle contains a stone said to be marked by a footprint of the 
 angel who assisted at the dedication of the church, and was pre- 
 
FECAMP. 
 
 73 
 
 sented by Gilles de Duremont, one of the judges of Jeanne Dare. 
 Opposite the apsidal chapel is the xvi. c. marble tabernacle for 
 the relic of the precious blood, which is still a great object of 
 pilgrimage. Several of the chapels have beautiful renaissance 
 screens. In the Chapelle S. Andre, which has an exquisite 
 screen, are the very fine tombs of Abbot Guillaume de Putot, 
 1297, and Abbot Robert de Putot, 1329. In the Chapelle S. Jean 
 is the tomb of Thomas, twelfth abbot, 1297. • Several tombs 
 of abbots are seen in other chapels, the most ancient being that 
 of Abbot Richard I., who died in 1223. Several even more 
 important tombs were destroyed in the Revolution, especially 
 that of Robert, second son of Richard Sans Peur and the Duchess 
 Gunnora, 1 which was the earliest certificated sepulchral monu- 
 ment in Normandy, and interesting as exhibiting a lion, employed 
 as device or bearing. 2 Marguerite, Comtesse du Maine, who was 
 betrothed to Robert, eldest son of the Conqueror, and died before 
 her marriage, was also buried here. 
 
 Of the monastery — where William the Conqueror, with great 
 state, kept the first Easter after the conquest of England — 
 little remains except xviii. c. buildings, now used for public 
 offices. 
 
 The (xvi. c.) Church of S. Etienne has good gothic side- 
 portal. In a street to the N.E. of the town is the Fontaine du 
 Precieux-Sang, where the sacred fig-tree is said to have been 
 deposited by the waves, and into the cold waters of which 
 children ill with eruptions are often plunged, to their great injury. 
 The Maison de S. Waninge (at the end of La Retenue) has a 
 xiii. c. portal. 
 
 From the port a steep path leads to the pilgrimage Chapelle 
 Notre Dame du Salut, xi. — xiv. c, near which are a lighthouse 
 and the Fort de Noire Dame de Bourg-Baudouin. 4 k. S.W. of 
 the town is Ganzeville, with a xiii. c. font and xvi. c. cross ; 
 the chateau is xvn. c. 
 
 Gunnora was probably the third wife of Richard Sans Peur, but her sons 
 were born during the lifetime of his other wives. Her children were Richard 
 le Bon ; Robert, buried at Fecamp ; a second Robert ; Maude, Countess of 
 Tours and Champagne ; Havisa, Duchess of Brittany ; and Emma, twice 
 queen regnant and twice queen dowager of England. Gunnora had a brother, 
 Herfastus, and three sisters, Sainfrida, Gueva, and Adelina. 
 
 a See Palgrave, Hist, of England and Normandy. 
 
74 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 i k. farther is Notre Dame de Toitssaint, a romanesque church 
 partly rebuilt (xvi. c.) in the style of the renaissance. In the 
 cemetery is a magnificent cross of 1560. 
 
 5 k. W. of Fecamp is the dull little bathing-place of Yport 
 (Hotels : de la Plage; des Bains), 3 k. from which is the xn. c. 
 church of Vatletot sur Mer } with an octagonal stone spire.] 
 
 [A line runs S. to — 
 
 6 k. Bolbec, a great centre of protestantism in the xvn. c. 
 It possesses two fountains which once ornamented the gardens 
 of Marly. At Fontaine- M artel is an old castle of great antiquity* 
 and near it the (xi. c.) Chapelle S. Martin. At Val aux Gres is 
 a leper hospital of the xn. c, rebuilt xvn. c. and turned into a 
 private house. 
 
 1 1 k. Gruchet la Valasse has some remains of a Cistercian 
 abbey, built c. 1 1 57, and suppressed 1790. 
 
 14 k. Lillebo7tne (Hotels : de France — good, clean, and reason- 
 able ; du Co?nmerce). This hot little town, embosomed in wooded 
 hills, once the capital of the Caletes, received the name of 
 Juliobona from Augustus in honour of his daughter Julia. It 
 became the central point of many Roman roads which diverged 
 hence over this part of Gaul. On one side of the Place de 
 l'Hotel de Ville, an iron railing allows you to look down upon 
 remains of a Roman theatre and baths. Above, in the garden 
 of a modern chateau, are a fine circular xiii. c. tower and other 
 remains of the castle built by William the Conqueror. In its 
 great hall (1065) all that was wisest and best in the duchy of 
 Normandy collected to listen to and ponder his scheme for the 
 conquest of England. The xvi. c. church of Notre Dame has a 
 rich flamboyant spire and a fine portal ; the stalls come from the 
 abbey of Valasse. 
 
 It is 11 k. from Lillebonne to Tancarville — carriage 8 frs. 
 The road crosses marshy meadows, and then skirts the foot of 
 wooded escarpments of chalk to the pretty little hamlet (Hotel : 
 du Havre — sometimes closed) in the hollow between the castle 
 hill and that called La Pierre Gante. Till 1320 the chateau 
 belonged to the family of Tancarville, then to the houses of Har- 
 court, Longueville, la Tour d'Auvergne, and de Montmorency. 
 Charles VI., Talbot, Dunois, Charles VII., and Agnes Sorel have 
 inhabited it. At one time it was possessed by the speculator Law. 
 
HARFLEUR. 
 
 75 
 
 Under the Empire, the Due d'Albufera resided in the chateau, 
 and Pierre Lebrun, as his guest, wrote his tragedies of Ulysse 
 and Marie Stuart there. A winding road, lined with fine trees, 
 leads from the village to the chateau, which has a gateway 
 flanked by round towers. Passing this, we find a triangular space 
 guarded by towers (de l'Aigle, Coquesart, Carree) at the angles. 
 In the inner space are ruins of the earlier manor-house. The 
 Chateau Neuf 'was built (1709-17) by Louis de la Tour d'Auvergne. 
 Tancarville will probably be found disappointing by artists : the 
 white walls and rich green are too violent in contrast. 
 
 The railway is continued to — 
 
 20 k. Port Jerome. This is opposite Quillebeuf (to which 
 there is a ferry), the ancient capital of the Roumois, one of the 
 primitive subdivisions of Normandy. It is a prosperous fishing- 
 port, with a lighthouse. The church of Notre Dame de Bon- p ort 
 has some portions dating from xi. c. The choir windows have 
 curious glass, representing a procession of a charitable confra- 
 ternity in costume of Henri IV. At Quillebeuf a betrothal confers 
 all the rights of a marriage, but if a swain deserts his affianced 
 bride afterwards he is an outcast from society.] 
 
 211 k. S. Romain de Colbosc has a fine cemetery Cross 
 of 1528, brought from Grosmenil. The Lepers' Chapel is 
 now a barn. 6 k. N. is Angerville-V Orcher, with a church 
 of xi. a, xii. a, and xiv. c. S. Romain is 14 k. from 
 Tancarville. 
 
 222 k. Harfleur, once a place of great importance, 
 ruined by the filling up of its port with sand and by the 
 existence of Havre. The xvi. c. church of S. Martin has 
 a noble W. tower, with an octagonal stone spire : it is by 
 a French architect, though Casimir Delavigne has written — 
 
 ' C'est le clocher d'Harfleur, debout pour nous apprendre, 
 Que l'Anglais l'a bati, mais n'a su le defendre.' 
 
 In front of the high altar is a fine sepulchral stone of a lady, 
 
76 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 1499. P art °f tne fortifications still exist, by the aid of 
 which Harfleur was bravely defended against the English in 
 T415 and 1443. The Chateau, on the bank of the Lezarde, 
 is of xvii. c. The Hotel de Ville has a staircase of 1489. 
 At 6 k. is Gonfreville d'Orcher, with a xvii. c. chateau built 
 on the ruins of an ancient fortress. 
 
 [A branch line leads N. to 4 k. Montivilliers, an ancient town 
 which rose round an abbey founded in 682, which existed till 
 1 79 1, and of which the abbess had her dean, canons, vicars- 
 general, and all the rights of a bishop. The abbey church, 
 which remains, is xi. — xvi. c. It has a central tower, with an 
 octagonal spire of xn, c. The W. portal is of great richness. 
 A crypt contained 130 skeletons of nuns. Most of the town 
 walls have perished. The Cimetiere de Brisc-Garet, outside the 
 town, has a xvi. c. cloister, and a stone cross mutilated in the 
 Revolution.] 
 
 The ruins of the Abbey of Graville S. Honorine (see 
 later) are seen on the r. before reaching — ■ 
 
 228k. Le Havre (Hotels: Frascati ; de P Europe ; 
 Continental ; de Bordeaux ; d' Angle terre), originally called 
 Havre de Grace, from a chapel of Notre Dame de Grace, 
 which only dates from the xv. c. The chapel is much 
 frequented, especially on the Whit Monday festival. 
 
 1 In the chronological table of French trade and commerce, 
 the date of Havre's foundation ranges even with the planting 
 of the drapeau blanc on the shores of the S. Lawrence.' — Pal- 
 grave. 
 
 The bastard-gothic church of Notre Dame is xvi. c, 
 and contains the graves of Isaac, Pierre, and Jacques Raulin, 
 murdered by the jealousy of the governor Villars in 1599. 
 It is worth while to ascend from the Place de THotel de 
 Ville (by the Rue Thiers, Grande Rue, and Rue de Monti- 
 
LE HAVRE. 
 
 77 
 
 villiers) to the heights of Ingouville for the sake of the view, 
 though no one will agree with Casimir Delavigne (who was 
 born on the quay which is named after him), — ' Apres Con- 
 stantinople, il n'est rien d'aussi beau.' 
 
 ' Ingouville est au Havre ce que Montmartre est a Paris, une 
 haute colline au pied de laquelle la ville setale, a cette difference 
 pres que la mer et la Seine entourent la ville et la colline, que le 
 Havre se voit fatalement circonscrit par d etroites fortifications, et 
 qu'enfin l'embouchure du fleuve, le port, les bassins, presentent 
 un spectacle tout autre que celui des cinquante mille maisons 
 de Paris. 
 
 \ A sa crete, Ingouville n'a qu'une rue ; et, comme dans toutes 
 ces positions, les maisons qui regardent la Seine ont necessaire- 
 ment un immense avantage sur celles de l'autre cote du chemin 
 auxquelles elles masquent cette vue, mais qui se dressent, comme 
 des spectateurs, sur la pointe des pieds, afin de voir par-dessus 
 les toits. Neanmoins il existe la, comme partout, des servitudes. 
 Quelques maisons assises au sommet occupent une position 
 superieure ou jouissent d'un droit de vue qui oblige le voisin 
 a tenir ses constructions a une hauteur voulue. Puis la roche 
 capricieuse est creusee par des chemins qui rendent son amphi- 
 theatre praticable ; et, par des echappees, quelques proprietes 
 peuvent apercevoir ou la ville, ou le fleuve, ou la mer. Sans 
 etre coupee a pic, la colline fiuit assez brusquement en falaise. 
 Au bout de la rue qui serpente au sommet, on apercoit les gorges 
 ou sont situes quelques villages, Sainte-Adresse, deux ou trois 
 saints je ne sais qui, et les criques ou mugit l'Ocean.' — Balzac, 
 1 Modes te Mignon? 
 
 A tramway leads from the Rond Point du Cours de la Repub- 
 lique to (4 k.) S. Adresse, extolled by Alphonse Karr. 
 
 In the E. suburb of Graville S. Honorine (omnibus) are the 
 important remains of a fortified Abbey, built in the xi. c, and 
 situated on a rock, whence its buttresses rise like those of a 
 fortress. The monastic buildings (used as presbytery, mairie, 
 etc.) were rebuilt in the xviii. c, and the portal of the church in 
 the xiv. c. The nave has six romanesque arches, with capitals 
 
78 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 covered with curious (xi. c.) sculpture. The choir and its 
 chapels are chiefly xn. c. In 1867 the tomb of S. Honorine was 
 found hidden in the thickness of the wall ; it is pierced by a hole 
 through which pilgrims could pass their heads. The graveyard, 
 which contains the tomb of Leon Buquet, author of 1 La Nor- 
 mandie fioetique,' has a fine (xin. c. or xiv. c.) cross. At the 
 foot of the abbey are remains of the chateau of the Mallets, 
 Sires de Graville. The xni. c. chapel of Notre Dame des Neiges 
 is a barn. 
 
 The steam-passage from Havre to Honfleur occupies from 
 25 to 40 min. ; to Trouville, 45 to 50 min. ; to Caen, 3 hrs., of 
 which a portion is spent in ascending the Orne. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 {Accidentally omitted from page 38, after second paragraph.) 
 
 The town is said to owe its origin to a monastery foun.ded in 
 526 by S. Clotilde, and replaced by a collegiate church in the 
 
 xii. c. Charles de Melun was beheaded here for treason in 
 1468, and Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, died here in 
 1562 of wounds received in the siege of Rouen. 
 
 The magnificent collegiate church of Notre Dame is chiefly 
 
 xiii. c, the rich flamboyant tower was added xv. c, the N. 
 portal and chapels xvi. c. : the W. chapels are xvn. c. The 
 windows, some of which bear the date 1540, are filled with 
 splendid renaissance glass : those which tell the story of S. 
 Clotilde are of especial interest. Under the S. tower is a mag- 
 nificent group of the Burial of Christ from the old Chartreuse 
 de Gaillon, Near it is an Easter sepulchre of the xiii. c. A 
 curious representation of a rock, with animals, plants, etc., 
 served as a pedestal for a statue of S. Christopher. The third 
 and fourth chapels have pictures by Quentin Varin, the first 
 master of Poussin The S. transept has a most splendid flam- 
 boyant rose-window. The altar of the xvn. c. Chapel of the 
 Virgin is from the Chartreuse de Gaillon. The sacristy is of 
 the xiii. c. ; the rich stall-work is xv. c. 
 
 Near the church is the xiii. c. Chapelle de S. Clotilde, con- 
 taining a remarkable wooden pendentive. Under the shade of 
 a tree is a well, the water of which S. Clotilde is believed to 
 have changed into wine 
 
 To face p. 78. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PARIS TO CHERBOURG BY EVREUX, LISIEUX (TROU- 
 VILLE) (EALAISE), CAEN, BA YEUX AND VALOGNES 
 FROM THE GARE S. LAZARE. 
 
 I ^OR the line from Paris to (58 k.) Mantes, see chap. ii. 
 
 J. Leaving Mantes, the line passes through the forest 
 of Rosny. 
 
 71k. BrevaL The xvi. c. chateau of Grilles is seen r., 
 then Gainville, with a xv. c. and xvi. c. church and the ruins 
 of a xv. c. fortress. 
 
 81 k. Bueil. 
 
 [A line runs S. to (30 k.) Dreux (see ch. iv.) by — 
 5 k. Ivry la Bataille, famous for the victory of Henri IV. 
 over the Due de Mayenne and the Army of the League, 
 May 14, 1590, and picturesquely connected with the panache 
 blanc waving above the royal helm, and for the exhortation of 
 the hero-king to his men : — 
 
 4 Mes compagnons, si vous courez aujourd'hui ma fortune, 
 je cours aussi la votre. Je veux vaincre ou mourir avec vous. 
 Gardez bien vos rangs, je vous prie. Si la chaleur du combat 
 vous disperse un moment, hatez-vous de vous rallier entre ces 
 trois poiriers ; 'que vous voyez la-haut a ma droite, et si vous 
 perdez vos enseignes, ne perdez pas de vue mon panache blanc ; 
 vous le trouverez toujours au chemin d'honneur, et j'espere aussi 
 de la victoire.' 
 
 A Pyramid was raised on the battle-field by the Due de 
 Penthievre in the end of the xviii. c. There are considerable 
 
So 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 remains of the fortress of Ivry, demolished by Dunois in 1449. 
 A Byzantine portal is a remnant of an abbey founded c. 107 1 by 
 Comte Roger dlvry. The xvi. e. church was built by Philibert 
 Delorme. The Maison d'Ange is curious. 
 
 In early Norman history Ivry was known from Raoul, Count 
 of Ivry, son of the Duchess Espriota and her second husband, 
 Sperling, the rich miller of Vaudreuil, who was the best friend 
 and counsellor of his half-brother, Richard Sans Peur, and who 
 here slew an enormous bear in single combat. 
 
 9 k. Ezy-Anet. At Ezy (near the station) the xiii. c. Chapelle 
 S* Germain recalls the legend that the holy bishop of Paris here 
 miraculously restored the hand of a young washerwoman which 
 had been eaten up by the trout of the adjoining fountain. 
 
 At ijk., on the opposite side of the Eure, is Anet (Hotel: 
 de Diane — a good country inn) ; omnibus, 50 cents. Alnetum 
 (the place of alders), was once famous for its glorious chateau, 
 the remains of which have been well restored by M. Moreau ; 
 what is left being as well cared for as in the palmy days 
 when Diane de Poitiers was its mistress. The earliest build- 
 ing here was of the x. c. About 1340 it was made into a 
 fortress by Charles le Mauvais, Count of Evreux and King of 
 Navarre. In 1378 it was dismantled by Charles V. In 1444 
 it passed to the family of Breze. In 1548-52 Diane de Poitiers, 
 widow of Louis de Breze, demolished the irregular buildings 
 already existing, and began to build the magnificent historic 
 chateau which became the noblest type of the Renaissance in 
 France, Philibert Delorme being the architect and Jean Goujon 
 the chief sculptor, whilst Jean Cousin painted the windows, so 
 celebrated as grisailles d Anet. The chateau of Diane sur- 
 rounded three square courts, the Cour d'Honneur in the midst, 
 with the Cour de Charles le Mauvais and des Cuisines on the 
 right, and on the left the ' Gouvernement ' and the Orangerie. 
 Behind was a large garden, surrounded by an open cloister, 
 with a bath on one side ; beyond was a vast park. To the 
 N.W. of the court, on the right, were the stables, and, farther 
 on, the Hotel d' Dieu ; to the W. of the court, on the left, was 
 the sepulchral chapel (which contained the tomb of Diane), with 
 the Voliere, Heronniere, and Capitainerie behind it. Contempo- 
 rary writers testify to the enchantments of Anet, 
 
A NET. 
 
 81 
 
 1 Me trouvant pres du chemin d'Anet, car de tout temps j'ay 
 este amateur et curieux d'avoir et veoir toutes choses exquises et 
 rares, je me transportay jusques-la, ou, il ne fault pas mentir, 
 je fey une conclusion, apres avoir tout veu, que la Maison doree 
 de Neron n'eust sceu estre ni plus riche ni plus belle.' — Gabriel 
 Simeoni, 1557. 
 
 ' La belle Maison d'Anet, qui devoit servir pour jamais d'une 
 telle decoration a la France qu'on ne peat dire de pareille.' — 
 
 Brantome. 
 
 THE ENTRANCE TO ANET. 
 
 The first building now seen on approaching the Chateau 
 d'Anet is the sepulchral chapel ; then the beautifully proportioned 
 gateway inlaid with coloured marbles, and supplied with a copy 
 of the famous relief by Benvenuto Cellini (now in the Louvre). 
 It bears an allegorical figure representing Fontaine-Belio (Fon- 
 tainebleau), with copies of the stag and dogs, now in the possession 
 of the Due d'Aumale. A black marble tablet is inscribed : 
 
 4 Phoebo sacrata est almae domus ampla Dianae 
 Verum accepta cui cuncta Diana refert.' 
 
 On the interior was the curious dial inscribed : 
 
 1 Cur Diana oculis labentes subjicit horas ? 
 Ut sapere adversis moneat, felicibus uti.' 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 ' Diane de Poitiers voulut une oeuvre toute Francaise ; elle 
 confia la construction de son Chateau d'Anet au genie d'artistes 
 tous ses compatriotes, et leur donna, par cette faveur, l'occasion 
 de lutter avec les artistes etrangers et l'honneur d'assurer et 
 d'affirmer la Renaissance Francaise. Un fait tres-curieux, c'est 
 le caractere des artistes de ce temps-la. Les artistes italiens 
 au palais de Fontainebleau, faisant assaut d'hypocrisie, de 
 malveillance, et de jalousie, se disputaient, se menacaient, 
 et s'assassinaient entre eux, tandis qu'au Chateau d'Anet les 
 artistes franeais, protestants et catholiques, fraternisaient et 
 collaboraient entre eux, chose rare a cette epoque de guerres 
 de religion, pour creer un chef-d'oeuvre.' — P. D. Roussel^ ' Le 
 Chateau d'Anet. 1 
 
 The larger portion of the chateau was destroyed by speculative 
 proprietors 1799 — 18 10, at which time the portal of the Cour 
 d'Honneur was taken to Paris, where it still exists at the l£cole 
 des Beaux Arts, though without the statue of Louis de Breze, 
 which was its principal ornament. 
 
 ' Comme le nom de Diane prete a de nombreuses allegories, 
 l'ornementation de ce Chateau n'a ete faite qu'avec les chiffres, 
 les attributs, les emblemes et les devises de la Dame du lieu, 
 a laquelle les moindres details d'ornement faisaient toujours 
 allusion, et de la facon la plus flatteuse. Diane de Poitiers etant 
 veuve a voulu paraitre inconsolable toute sa vie : elle n'a jamais 
 quitte le deuil. La manie de Diane etait de vouloir persuader 
 a son siecle et a la posterite que la perte de son mari etait 
 toujours presente a sa memoire. Ainsi, la plus grande partie 
 des marbres qui entraient dans la decoration etaient noirs ; 
 l'architecture des lucarnes et des cheminees etait en forme de 
 tombeau ; des palmes etaient enlacees avec son chiffre, et la 
 peinture, comme la sculpture, multipliait a l'infini ces memes 
 ornements. D'un autre cote, les chiffres de Diane et de 
 Henri II., harmonieusement enlaces avec des fleches, des 
 croissants et les deltas de l'alphabet grec, ornaient les chapi- 
 teaux des colonnes, les frontons, le dessous des entablements, 
 les frises, le dessus des lucarnes, le pavage, les parquets et 
 les portes, les plafonds, les lambris, les vitraux, les bronzes, les 
 serrures, les verrous, les meubles, les tapis, les tapisseries, les 
 
ANET. 
 
 83 
 
 faiences du service de table, et jusqu'aux livres de la biblio- 
 theq ue.' — Roussel. 
 
 Passing the gate, and entering the beautiful garden beyond, 
 we find on r. the Chapel, conspicuous from its two pyramidal 
 towers, finished in 1552, from designs of Philibert Delorme, and 
 formerly built into the E. wing of the chateau. It was restored 
 in 1840-51, when the facade was added. The crescents and 
 monograms of Diane and Henri II. 1 adorn the doors, bosses, 
 and balustrade of the tribune. The decorations of the interior 
 were by Philibert Delorme and Jean Goujon ; but the chapel 
 has been despoiled of all its most precious ornaments, except 
 some sculptures by Jean Goujon. The tribune also is a resto- 
 ration, yet the whole internal effect of the building is still very 
 beautiful. 
 
 The left wing of the chateau has been restored almost to its 
 original condition, and is shown. The staircase and rooms are 
 very handsome, and M. Moreau has been careful to preserve all 
 old fragments of the original doors, and to collect all that was 
 available of the former tapestry and furniture, much of which 
 bears the chiffre of Diane. In the Salle des Gardes are portraits 
 of the Due de Vendome, who possessed the chateau under 
 Louis XIV., of Cesar de Vendome, and of the Due de Penthievre, 
 the last proprietor before the Revolution. 
 
 The exquisite fountain of the Cour de Gauche, representing 
 Diane leaning on a stag, was removed to the Louvre, but has 
 been deprived of its ornamental base, which represented two- 
 thirds of the whole. The Pavilion du Gouvernement retains 
 an ancient ceiling with devices of D and H. 
 
 The grounds, kept up in the old French style, with clipped 
 orange and pomegranate trees, are lovely. In the garden on the 
 1. is the Sepulchral Chapel, now empty, but built at the end of 
 the xvi. c. by Diane de Poitiers to receive her tomb (now at 
 Versailles). 
 
 ' La facade se compose de quatre pilastres et d'un entablement 
 corinthiens, que surmonte un attique fort simple avec un 
 
 1 Diane was thirty-one and the king only thirteen when she captivated his 
 heart, which was always devoted to her. 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 amortissement compose d'une espece d'autel ou tombeau accoste 
 de deux femmes ; un ange est au sommet, a demi cache derriere 
 le tombeau. Sur la porte d'entree sont deux Renommees tenant, 
 d'une main, une trompette, de l'autre, un livre ouvert et une table 
 de la loi sur laquelle on avait ecrit, pendant la Revolution : 
 guerre et moi't aux tyrans. On voit, aux pieds de l'une de 
 ces Renommees, une tete de mort et une serpent, et aux pieds 
 de l'autre un mouton. Aux deux cotes de la porte sont deux 
 niches ou se voient des statues de femmes ou d'enfants.' — De la 
 Gueriere. 
 
 All the ornaments of this chapel have been sold, and its altars 
 broken up. The body of Diane was exhumed at the Revolution, 
 and carried to the common cemetery. Her black marble sar- 
 cophagus was made into a horse-trough. The other remains of 
 her tomb, which till 1830 were collected at the Beaux Arts, 
 were reclaimed by Louis Philippe for Neuilly, whence, after the 
 Revolution of 1848, they were taken to the Museum at Versailles. 
 It is worth remarking that the tomb is the only thing destroyed 
 by the direct act of the Revolution ; all the other devastations at 
 Anet have been due to the ignorance or avarice of its former 
 owners. 
 
 Anet possessed a Hotel Dieu, and the earliest woollen 
 manufactory (filature de laine) in France — of 181 5. The parish 
 Church (xi. — xvi. c.) is chiefly a rebuilding by Diane de Poitiers, 
 but the apse is xni. c. It contains the relics of S. Julitte, and 
 (at the entrance of the sanctuary) the tombstone of Anne Louise 
 de Bourbon-Conde, Duchesse du Maine, who inherited Anet 
 after the death of her mother the Princesse de Conde, and her 
 sister the Duchesse de Vendome. She was buried here in 1753 
 by the side of her daughter, Louise Francoise, who died in 1743. 
 In the graveyard is a cross of 1555. The altar of the Sacre 
 Coeur had beautiful reliefs by Jean Goujon, mutilated during the 
 Revolution, and now in the Louvre. The church is dedicated 
 to S. Lain. 
 
 ' Les reliques de S. Latuin, appele vulgairement S. Lain, 
 premier eveque de Seez, avaient ete deposees dans la forteresse 
 d'Anet, vers la fin du ix e siecle ou la commencement du x e , pour 
 les soustraire a la fureur des Normands. Lorsque les craintes 
 
PACY SUR EURE. 
 
 85 
 
 furent dissipees, les habitants de Seez vinrent redemander a 
 Anet le depot sacre qu'ils lui avaient confie. Les habitants 
 d'Anet refuserent de s'en dessaissir. Les Sagiens tenterent 
 alors d'enlever nuitamment les reliques, et, ayant reussi, prirent 
 le chemin de Nonancourt. Tout a coup, la cloche consacree au 
 service de la Confrerie de S. Lain sonne a toute volee. Anet est 
 sur pied, se met a la poursuite des Sagiens, qui, dans l'obscurite, 
 obliquant a droite, arrivent a une fontaine, ou ils se hatent de 
 precipiter le coffre contenant les reliques. Elles en sont 
 retirees et portees processionnellement a l'eglise, d'ou lc nom 
 du saint eveque resta a la fontaine.' — Caraman, ' Le Chateau 
 d'Anet' 
 
 The line passes (r.) Saussay, which has a ruined xn. c. chapel 
 and remains of a moated abbey called Maison-des-Eaux. 
 
 13 k. Croth-Sorel. Only the ruins remain of the ancient 
 fortress of Sorel, which existed in 1073. The gateway was 
 built by Marguerite de la Guesle, wife of Pierre Seguier, who 
 bought the domain from Marie d'Albret, Comtesse de Dreux, 
 in 1549. 
 
 17 k. Marcilly-sur-Eure has ruins of the Abbey of Breuil- 
 Benoit, founded in 1137. The nave of the church is restored for 
 worship, and contains a shrine of S. Eutrope. 8 k. is Illiers 
 VEveque, with the entrenchments of a xn. c. castle, and a 
 graceful xvi. c. chapel in the church. 
 
 20 k. kS. Georges-sur-Enre. The romanesque (xn. c.) church 
 has a tree of Jesse in stained glass of the time of Louis XII. 
 The line passes (1.) the fine (xi. c, xiii. c, and xv. c.) church of 
 Monfrenil. At the hamlet of Cochcrelle are a dolmen and the 
 ancient (xn. c.) chapel of Notre Dame de la Ronde.'] 
 
 [A line runs N. to (40 k.) Louviers (see chap, ii.), by 
 11 k. Pacy-sur-Eure, which was ceded by Robert, Earl of 
 Leicester, to Philippe-Auguste as the price of his ransom when 
 he was taken prisoner, and where S. Louis resided for some 
 time in the royal chateau destroyed by Charles V. In the Rue 
 des Moulins is a curious xvi. c. house. The church is xiii. c. 
 and xiv. c. 
 
 ' La transition du style roman au beau gothique a lancettes y 
 
86 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 presente des particularites tres dignes d'etre etudiees.' — A. de 
 Caumont. 
 
 26 k. La Croix S. Leufroy has ruins of the xu. c. Tour de 
 Crevecoeur. Nothing ancient remains of the Abbaye de la Croix 
 
 35 k. Acqiiig?iy. In the cemetery is a chapel built on the 
 spot where S. Maure and S. Venerand were martyred in the 
 vi. c. The chateau is of the time of Francois I.] 
 
 92 k. Boisset-Pacy. 2 k 1. is Boisset les Prevanches, 
 with a xvi. c. chateau, and 3 k. farther the interesting 
 church of Bretagnolles, which has a remarkable renais- 
 sance baptistery. 10 k. S.W. is S. Andre, which belonged 
 to the family of Terrail, of which Chevalier Bayard was 
 a descendant : his arms and device adorn the walls of the 
 church. Upon the hills overlooking the valley on the r. of 
 the line is seen the ancient church of Orgeville, containing 
 the tomb of M. Bonjean, victim of the Commune. 
 
 108 k. Evreux (Hotels: du Grand Cerf; du Mouton ; de 
 Paris), the capital of the Department de FEure, and seat of 
 a bishopric which dates from the iv. c. 
 
 Evreux, which takes its name from the Celtic word 
 Ebvre, a forest, was governed in the x. c. by a race of 
 counts, who were the ancestors of the dukes of Normandy. 
 During the captivity of Richard Coeur de Lion, his brother 
 John sold the city to Philippe-Auguste, but regained it, by 
 a cruel and treacherous massacre, upon the release of 
 Richard. It was retaken by Philippe-Auguste, who put 
 almost all the inhabitants to death, and burnt the greater 
 part of the town, which was afterwards a frequent appanage 
 of younger sons of the French kings. 
 
 The Cathedral, frequently ruined, rebuilt and altered 
 from the xi. c. to the xvm. c, has still great beauty. The 
 principal portal is renaissance; the N. portal of 1511-31. 
 
EVREUX. 
 
 87 
 
 The spire was built under the episcopate of the famous 
 Cardinal de la Balue, in the reign of Louis XI. It is of 
 wood coated with lead, and is a favourable contrast to the 
 modern cast-iron spire of Rouen. The interior is a Latin 
 
 EVECHE, EVREUX. 
 
 cross, with twenty-three radiating chapels — that of the Virgin, 
 at the E. end, being a splendid specimen of flamboyant. 
 The interest of the nave has been much injured by a recent 
 ' restoration ' into conventional gothic, which has destroyed 
 the noble vaulting, with its double ranges of flying buttresses. 
 The wood carving and much of the glass is very fine : a 
 
88 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 window of the choir has a portrait of Charles le Mauvais, 
 and one in the S. transept that of Louis XI. Two 
 galleries of a gothic Cloister remain, but the ignorance of 
 modern ' restoration ' has destroyed the very curious upper 
 story, built by Cardinal de la Balue. 
 
 Close to the cathedral, with large gardens, is the Eveche, 
 built in 1481 on the old city wall, a very beautiful flam- 
 boyant edifice, in which Henri IV. resided in 1603. 
 Some remains of a Roman Wall of the iv. c. (in the Allee 
 des Soupirs) exist a little to the S. 
 
 The church of S. Taurinus, at the other end of the 
 city, belonged to an ancient abbey rebuilt by Richard II., 
 Duke of Normandy, in 1026. Of that date is a great part 
 of the church, which occupies the site of a chapel built by 
 S. Candulfe in 660. Part of the nave and tower are of 
 1407, the W. portal of 17 15. The mosaic ornament which 
 fills the round arches of the apse and S. transept is an 
 unusual feature. The church has been ruined by restora- 
 tion, and has a detestable pavement and much hideous 
 modern glass. The fine old choir windows tell the story 
 of S. Taurinus. Much of the wood carving comes from 
 the Chateau de Navarre. In the sacristy is the shrine of 
 S. Taurinus, of 1255, one °f tne most splendid specimens 
 of goldsmith's work of the xm. c. in existence. 
 
 The Tour de FHorloge is of the end of the xv. c. At 
 the angle of the Rue de l'Horloge is the Musee. In the 
 Grande Rue is a good house of the xv. c. (No. 78), and 
 another (No. 50) of the renaissance. 
 
 2 k. from Evreux was the famous Chateau de Navarre, built 
 by the kings of Navarre in the xiv. c. and destroyed in 1834. 
 3 k. N. is the xvi. c. Chateau de Carambouville, built by Cardinal 
 
HARCOURT. 
 
 89 
 
 de Bourbon, archbishop of Rouen, proclaimed king by the 
 Leaguers in 1589 as Charles X. 
 
 19 k. from Evreux, on the road to Nonancourt, is Damville, 
 with remains of an xi. c. castle, burnt by Henry II. of England 
 in 1 1 73 and n 88, and rebuilt by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1 198. 
 
 [A line leads N. to join the line from Serquigny to Rouen at 
 (48 k.) Clos-Montfort, by— 
 
 THE TOWER OF BEC. 
 
 25 k. Le Neubourg } with remains of a remarkable^machicolated 
 fortress, where Henry, the rebellious eldest son of Henry II. — 
 known as Henri Courte Mantel — was married to Marguerite de 
 France, daughter of Louis VII. During the reign of Louis XIV. 
 and the ownership of the Marquis de Sourdiac de Rieux, some 
 of the earliest attempts at operas in France were exhibited here. 
 9 k. W. of Le Neubourg is Harcourt, cradle of the famous family 
 of the name (barons in 1333, counts 1342, dukes 1700), by whom 
 a fortress was built here c. 1090. Only two ancient towers and 
 
9° 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 some vast buildings of the xvn. c. remain of the chateau, where 
 the English garrison were obliged to capitulate to Dunois in 
 1449. The choir of the church is xiii. c, the nave xv. c. A 
 neighbouring house bears the date 1 5 5 1 . 
 
 43 k. Le Bee Helloin, a most interesting spot. The lovely 
 wooded valley is watered by the rapid stream of the Bee. 1 k. 
 
 ABBEY GATE, BEC. 
 
 r. of the station the grand (xv. c.) tower of the abbey of Bee — 
 yellow grey, like many Somersetshire towers — rises amongst the 
 trees. The gardens of a modern chateau are entered from the 
 village green by the old abbey gateway, flanked by two high- 
 roofed towers. The cloister and the (xvn. c.) abbot's residence 
 are now a gendarmerie. 
 
LE BEC HELLOIN. 
 
 9i 
 
 The lasting fame of Bee is due to Lanfranc, son of the lawyer 
 Hanbald, who came to Normandy from the University of Pavia, 
 and founded a school at Avranches in 1039. As he was travelling 
 from Avranches to Rouen in 1042, he met with an adventure 
 in the forest of Ouche which resulted in his becoming a 
 monk. 
 
 1 His track conducted him through the forest, of which the 
 essarts still constitute the prominent features of the pleasant 
 region. Robbers attacked him. No use raising the clameur de 
 haro — no one to hear. Stripped, and bound to a tree, he waited 
 for the opening dawn, and attempted to repeat the service apper- 
 taining to the circling hours — the three Hallelujah Psalms, 
 concluding the cycle of each day's prayer and praise. But he 
 could not : he had never committed them to memory ; and 
 deeply was he stung by the sense of his neglect of holy things, 
 and the preponderating worth he had attached to secular learning. 
 The silent hours continued, and he endeavoured again to repeat 
 the opening services ; but he could not. Struck with compunc- 
 tion, he poured forth his mind in prayer ; deploring the time he 
 had given to human learning, the labour he had bestowed on 
 literary studies ; and now, when he ought to pray, he was unable 
 to perform his duty to the Church ; and he would henceforth 
 devote himself body and soul to the Donor of all blessing. In 
 the early twilight morning he heard footsteps approaching — some 
 peasants released him.' — Palgrave. 
 
 Under his new impulses, Lanfranc sought the still humble 
 monastery of Bee, where he was joyfully received by the abbot 
 Herlouin. Being soon advanced to the rank of prior, his 
 teaching made the abbey both rich and famous, and the abbot 
 Herlouin was induced to build a larger and statelier monastery 
 near the old site. Meantime Duke William had heard the fame 
 of Lanfranc, and made him his most trusted counsellor, and 
 at the synods of Rome and Vercelli he was famous as the most 
 learned doctor of his time. In 1070 he became Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, to which see Bee afterwards gave two other famous 
 monks — Anselm (1093), the brave supporter of the oppressed 
 and friend of the poor, and Theobald (1 139), the early patron 
 of Thomas a Becket. 
 
9 2 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 1 It is hardly too much to say that the character of the abbey 
 of Bee influenced not merely Norman monasticism, but the whole 
 progress of learning, education, and religious thought and feeling 
 in Normandy, more than any other institution.' — Dean Church. 
 
 The xiv. c. parish church contains the tomb of the founder — 
 a wooden slab resting on marble pillars and bearing his painted 
 figure. The Bienheureux Herlouin, or Herlwin, was the son of 
 one Ausgood (of Danish descent) and Heloise, who, after forty 
 years of knighthood and military exploits, took the monastic 
 habit in 1034, at Burneville, near Brionne. Here he worked 
 with his own hands at the building of a church, and learnt to 
 read, his mother Heloise becoming a serving sister to the brother- 
 hood. In 1035 Herlouin moved his monastery to the valley 
 called Bee (Beccus) from the river which watered it, and there 
 he survived as abbot for forty-four years. The beck which gave 
 the place its name is now the only memorial of those early times. 
 The minster of Herlouin has perished, and no existing remains 
 are earlier than the xiv. c. Some tombs from the abbey church 
 are in S. Croix at Bernay. 
 
 117 k. La Bonneville retains some remains (church and 
 xiii. c. barns) of the Abbaye de la Noe or de S. Florentine 
 founded in n 44 by the Empress Matilda, daughter of 
 Henry I. of England. The (xv. c.) parish church has fine 
 stained glass. 
 
 126 k. Conches (Hotel : de la Ci'oix Blanche)^ where 
 Robert I. of Normandy founded, in 1035, an abbey, which 
 was greatly enriched by his successors. The late xv. c. 
 church of S. Foy has seven magnificent choir windows 
 filled with stained glass by Aldegrevers, pupil of Albert 
 Durer, and telling the story of the patron saint. The aisles 
 also have remarkable xvi. c. glass, and most of the windows 
 are dated. The ironwork of the sacristy door deserves 
 notice. A vaulted arcade near the church leads to the 
 ruins of the (xi. c.) castle, the entrenchments of which are 
 
BE A UMONT-LE-ROGER. 
 
 93 
 
 used as a public garden. The ruins of the Abbaye des 
 Benedictins are xiv. c. 
 
 14 k. S. is Breteuil, where William the Conqueror, in 1060, 
 built a castle, of which some fragments exist. For the road 
 leading N. to (39 k.) Elbeuf see later. 
 
 [A line leads S.W. to join the line from Paris to Granville at 
 (ch. iv.) L'Aigle, by — 
 
 27 k. Rugles-Bois- Arnault. At Rugles (1 k. S.E.) is a fine 
 parish church, chiefly xvi. c, with a xiii. c. nave and xv. c. tower. 
 The church of S. Jean, now a warehouse, is x. c. A chateau, 
 built by the Comte de Rugles, is xvi. c. 4 k. W. is the little church 
 of 6*. Antonin de Sommaire, with xiii. c. glass. 8 k. E., in the 
 forest of Breteuil, is the chapel of Notre Dame du Desert, being 
 the choir of an ancient priory church founded in 1135.] 
 
 133 k. Romilly la Puthenaye. 7 k. S. is La Ferriere 
 sur Rille, with a xiii. c. tower, 4 k. W. of which is the 
 Tour de Thevray (1489), which is at once one of the last 
 fortresses of the middle ages, and one of the first buildings 
 in which brick was employed after Roman times. The 
 vaulting of all the different stories of the interior is sup- 
 ported by a central pillar. 
 
 144 k. Beaumont-le- Roger (Hotel : de Paris), often 
 made a countship for younger sons of the French kings, is 
 prettily situated in the valley of the Rille. The church of 
 S. Nicolas, in front of which stands an ancient cross, is xiv. c, 
 k.v. c, and xvi. c. The flamboyant tower has a clock, 
 where a figure named Regulus strikes the hours. At the 
 foot of the tower is the gravestone of the founders of 
 the priory of Beaumont, 1300. The beautiful S. portal is 
 flamboyant. The interior has admirable xv. c. glass ; the 
 pendants of the vaulting in the r. aisle have subjects taken 
 
94 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 from Ovid's 6 Metamorphoses.' Very little remains of the 
 castle built on the hill by Count Roger, c. 1040, but 
 beneath it are picturesque ruins of the Priory of La Sainte- 
 Trinite, founded xn. c. The remains of the church are 
 xii r. c. The xvi. c. church of the Faubourg de Vkilles is 
 now a barn. 1 k. on the road to Bernay is the fine xvi. c. 
 church of BeaumonteL 10 k. on the road to La Barre 
 is the fine Chateau de Beaumesnil (Comte de Maistre), 
 built 1633-40 by Jacques Leconte-Duquesne, Seigneur de 
 Beaumesnil. 
 
 149 k. Serquigny. The church has a fine xi. c. portal. 
 
 [A fine runs from Serquigny to (73 k.) Rouen by — 
 6 k. La Riviere Thibouville. The fine chateau was built by 
 the farmer-general d'Augny, just before the Revolution. Only the 
 chapel remains of the old fortress taken by the Duke of Clarence 
 in 1417. 
 
 1 1 k. Brionne, on the Rille, with a castle on a height. In 
 xi. c. it had an island palace with a great fortified hall [aula 
 lapided) where Count Guy of Burgundy, who had joined in the 
 rebellion of the Norman Barons, and fled from the battle of Val 
 es Dunes, was besieged by Duke William, and only taken, it 
 is said, after a blockade of three years. The Tombeau du 
 Druide, on the W., was a Roman camp. 
 
 15 k. Pont-Authou. At k. S.E. are the remains of the 
 important abbey of Bec-Hellouin. (See p. 90.) 
 
 19 k. Glos-Montfort 
 
 [A branch line turns aside N. to Pont-Audemer by — 
 3J k. Montfort S. Philbert. L. is the old fortified village of 
 ►S. Philbert, with a xv. c. chateau. R. is the picturesquely situated 
 Montfort sur Rille, with the remains of the once magnificent 
 fortress, which had its origin in Roman times, but was rebuilt by 
 Hugues a la Barbe in the xi. c. It was destroyed by John of 
 England to prevent its falling into the hands of Philippe-Auguste. 
 The chapel of Nicolas was afterwards rebuilt and endowed, 
 and dedicated to Notre Dame by the kings of France. Queen 
 
BERN AY. 
 
 95 
 
 Margaret of Anjou and her son were amongst its pilgrims ; its 
 ruins are still visited on pilgrimage. The church dates from the 
 xi. c, but has lost its character. It contains a statue of Notre 
 Dame de Pitie, by the side of which is a chained stone, said to 
 have been attached by one of the lords of Montfort to the neck 
 of his wife, whom he wished to drown, and to have been a votive 
 offering from her when she escaped in safety by the intercession 
 of Notre Dame de Montfort. 
 
 16 k. Pont-Audemer (Hotel: du Lion d'Or), on the Rille. 
 The church of >S. Ouen, of xi. c. (choir), xv. c, and xvi. c, has 
 fine stained glass. The church of Germain is xiii. c. and 
 xiv.c. The Pointe de la Rogue and its lighthouse may be visited 
 by the steamer down the Rille.] 
 
 The line now turns E. by — 
 
 26 k. kS. Leger-Boisset 4 k. S.E. is Boisset le Chdtel, with the 
 ruined castle of Tilly, and a renaissance chateau with beautiful 
 brick decorations. 
 
 33 k. Bourgtheroulde. The village (3 k. r.) retains only the 
 entrance pavilion and the dovecot of its magnificent chateau, 
 destroyed 1794. It was one of its lords who built the Hotel du 
 Bourgtheroulde at Rouen. The church has fine renaissance 
 glass. 
 
 41 k. La Lo7ide La Bouille. At 5 k. is La Londe, which has 
 a church with an xi. c. apse, ruins of the xvn. c. chateau of 
 the Marquis de la Londe, destroyed at the Revolution, and a 
 beautiful renaissance cemetery cross. 
 
 50k. Elbeuf-S. Aubin. Elbeuf (Grand Hotel: deV Europe) 
 is famous for its woollen factories. The renaissance church of 
 5*. Elienne has fine xvi. c. glass. 6*. Jean (chiefly xvi. c. and 
 xviii. c.) has very fine glass of xv. c. and xvi. c, representing 
 the local industries, especially in the choir, the window given by 
 the Drapers' Guild in 1466.] 
 
 159 k. Ber?iay (Hotel : Cheval Blanc — good), a bright, 
 clean little town, backed by wooded hills and watered by 
 rushing streams. It was part of the dower of the first wife 
 of Richard II., Duke of Normandy— Judith de Bretagne, 
 
9 6 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 who founded a Benedictine Monastery here in 1013, which 
 was sacked in the xvi. a, with horrible massacre of the 
 clergy by the Calvinists, and rebuilt by the Abbot Hennequin 
 de Villenoce in 1628. The poor remains of the Norman 
 abbey are hemmed in by ugly buildings, and faced on 
 the E. with red brick. They are used as a prison and for 
 public offices. The refectory, occupied as a law court, has 
 good gothic vaulting of xvn. c. The church, now a corn 
 exchange, has some remains of the early building of Judith. 
 
 In the Grande Rue is the church of S. Croix y rebuilt 
 in 1374 and enlarged in 1497. Its beautiful and picturesque 
 xv. c. tower was formerly surmounted by a spire, which was 
 destroyed by a storm in 1687. In the interior, the enor- 
 mous width of nave and transepts are remarkable. On 
 either side of the west door are tombs of abbots of Bee, 
 and, in the S. transept, is the splendid monument of ' Guil- 
 laume Avvilarensis/ 141 8, Abbot of Bee, on which his 
 coloured effigy is represented in low relief, robed and cro- 
 ziered. The little figures of saints on the side ornaments 
 are full of character. 
 
 The church of Notre Dame de la Couture, in a pretty 
 village on the 1. of the railway, stands in a cemetery like 
 a garden. Its low slated spire, with pinnacles and orna- 
 ments, is quaint. The N. porch is good flamboyant. The 
 interior, modernised in the worst taste, has nothing to 
 recommend it, except its curious old pews. 
 
 [A line leads S.E. from Bernay to (87 k.) Mortagne (see 
 ch. iv.) by — 
 
 12 k. Broglie (Hotel : du Lion dOr), possessed by the family 
 of Broglie from 17 16. The church is partly (xn. c.) romanesque. 
 The chateau was built on the site of an ancient fortress in the 
 
LISIEUX. 
 
 97 
 
 time of Louis XIV. It contains a good library and a number 
 of portraits, including one of Mme de Stael. 
 
 1 6 k. La Trinite de Reville. The line to Orbec and Lisieux 
 turns off r. See later. 
 
 38 k. 5. Evroult Notre Dame du Bois, with the ruins of a 
 famous abbey of romantic foundation. In the vi. c. lived Evroul 
 at the court of Hlothar, son of Hlodwig, — fulfilling the life of a 
 saint. At last he forsook the world. He and his wife both took 
 monastic vows. Evroul soon forsook his monastery, with three 
 companions, for a hermitage in the forest of Ouche, on the edge 
 of the forests of Lisieux, Evreux, and Seez. His life was full 
 of miracles, and his cell became the nucleus of a monastery. 
 This was ravaged in the x. c. by Duke Hugo, and fell into decay. 
 Afterwards it was forgotten, till Restold, priest of Beauvais, was 
 moved by a dream to its restoration. William, son of Geroy, 
 becoming a monk of Bee, granted S. Evroul to that abbey, of 
 which it became for a time a dependency, and was colonised 
 by a few monks, with Lanfranc at their head. But Hugh and 
 Robert of Grantmesnil, his nephews, wishing to join with William 
 in a great religious foundation, obtained S. Evroul again in ex- 
 change for other lands, and magnificently restored the monastery, 
 filling it with monks from Jumieges in 1050. Samson the 
 Breton became a monk here, to escape the sentence of having 
 his eyes put out, imposed by the Conqueror when he discovered 
 that he had been the means of transmitting large sums of money 
 from Matilda of Flanders to her eldest son Robert, then in Italy, 
 and in rebellion against his father. The abbey of S. Evroul was 
 also the home of Ordericus Vitalis (son of Odelerius, a priest of 
 Orleans), on whose chronicles so much of our knowledge of 
 Norman times depends. 
 
 41 k. Echaffour, with three menhirs known as Les Croutes. 
 Here we join the line from Paris to Granville : see ch. iv.] 
 
 173 k. S. Mards- Orbec. At 3 k., ^ Germain la Cam- 
 pagne, is a church with a good xv. c. choir. 
 
 191 k. Lisieux (Hotels : de France ; d'Esfiagne), a plea- 
 sant old town of timber houses — the Chester of France — 
 delightfully situated in the valley of the Orbiquet and 
 
 7 
 
9 8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Touques. At the time of the Roman conquest it was the 
 capital of the tribe of Lexoviens ; it has some small remains 
 of a Roman theatre and walls. 
 
 The former Cathedral of S. Pierre had a line of bishops, 
 many of them very illustrious, from the vi. c. to the present 
 century, when the see was suppressed. It is a very remark- 
 able edifice of the transition. Begun in 1045, ^ was burnt 
 in 1136; rebuilt 1141-82, enlarged 1218, injured by fire 
 in 1226, and completed 1233, and is the most remarkable 
 specimen of transition in Normandy. The W. facade 
 is very severe and simple. The interior — a Latin cross 
 with radiating chapels, where Henry II. of England was 
 married to Eleanor of Guyenne, is a pure and harmonious 
 example of its time. At the cross is a lanthorn tower of 
 the xiii. c. A range of simple lancet-windows surrounds 
 the upper story of the church. Against the N. wall of the 
 transept are two xn. c. tombs. The Chapelle de la Vierge, 
 behind the sanctuary, paved with ancient gravestones, was 
 an expiatory offering from Bishop Pierre Cauchon, the 
 wicked judge of Jeanne Dare, who had been expelled from 
 his former bishopric of Beauvais by his diocesans. 
 
 The Eveche, now used for law courts, is of the xvn. c. 
 and xvin. c. It opens upon a dull public garden. 
 
 The church of S. Jacques was built 1496 — 1501 by 
 the architect Guillemot de Samaison, and is a remarkably 
 uniform and beautiful edifice, though injured by vulgar 
 restorations. 
 
 But the chief characteristic of Lisieux is its beautiful 
 old timber houses of the xiv. c, xv. c, and xvi. c, some 
 of them very rich in sculpture. The best are two in the 
 Grande Rue, near the S. door of the cathedral, and the 
 
VAL RICHER. 
 
 99 
 
 Vieux Manoir in the Rue des Fevres, which abounds in 
 xiv. c. houses. 
 
 3 k. S. is Beuvillers, with a curious old xvi. c. manor- 
 house. 12 k. N.E. is Fumichon, with a remarkable chateau, 
 chiefly xvi. c. 13 k. E. is Marolles> where the church, 
 partly romanesque, has much curious sculpture. The 
 chateau is xvi. c. 1 1 k. W. is the abbey of Val Richer \ 
 founded 1167, and transformed by M. Guizot into a 
 chateau (M. de Witt), which was long his residence, 
 and which abounds in historic souvenirs of the reign of 
 Louis-Philippe. 
 
 [A line leads N. from Lisieux to (29 k.) Trouville by — 
 
 2 k. Le Grand Jardin. The line passes (r.) within sight of 
 the ancient church (ix. c. or x. c.) of Ouilly le Vicomte, then (r.) 
 the moated (xvi. c. and xviii. c.) Chateau de Bouttemont\ on 1. the 
 church (partly XII. c.) of Coquainvillers and the ruined Manoir 
 de Prie, whence came the famous Marquise de Prie, mistress of 
 the Due de Bourbon, minister during the minority of Louis XV. 
 Opposite Coquinvillers, on the side of a wooded hill, is the 
 church (partly xvi. c.) of Norolles, and the Chateau de Malon, 
 with a fine old gateway, of temp. Francois I., decorated in pat- 
 terns of brick and stone. The Ferme de la Vallee has a great 
 square tower and renaissance chimneypiece. The village of 
 Manerbe (4 k.) has an interesting xv. c. church. 
 
 10 k. La Breuil-Blangy. Blangy (6 k.) has a fine late-gothic 
 church and remains of a castle. The line passes (r.) Pares 
 Fontaines, which has a magnificent retable in its xvi. c. church, 
 (1.) Pierrefitte, with a church chiefly xm. c, (r.) Manneville-la- 
 Piftarde, with a church of xn. c. and xm. c, (1.) the Chateau de 
 Betteville, (r.) the Chateau de Perrey. 
 
 17 k. Pont VEveque, owes its name to a bridge over the 
 Touques, built by the early bishops of Lisieux. The fine xvi. c. 
 church has good stained glass. At 9 k. (to the r. of the Caen 
 road) is Beauniont-en-Auge, with the house which was the 
 birthplace of Laplace, March 22, 1749, and the ruins of a 
 Benedictine priory, founded in 1060. 
 
IOO 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 [A line diverges N.E. to (15 k.) Honfleur (Hotel : du Cheval 
 Blanc ; de la Paix), a port on the r. bank of the Seine, near its 
 mouth, opposite Havre. The curious timber church of 5. Catherine 
 is xv. c. ►S. Leoiiard is xvn. c. On the platform of the hill 
 above the town is the pilgrimage chapel of Notre Dame de Grace, 
 built 1606, but said to have been originally founded by Robert 
 the Devil, father of the Conqueror ; it has a wide view. It 
 was at Honfleur that Louis Philippe and Marie Amelie embarked 
 for exile. 
 
 4 Au dernier moment, un commissaire de police voulut faire 
 du zele. II se presenta sur le batiment ou etait le roi en vue de 
 Honfleur et le visita du pont a la cale. 
 
 ' Dans l'entrepont, il regarda beaucoup c*e vieux monsieur et 
 cette vieille dame qui etaient la assis dans un coin et ayant l'air 
 de veiller sur leurs sacs de nuit. 
 
 ' Cependant il ne s'en allait pas. 
 
 ' Tout a coup le capitaine tira sa montre et dit : — 
 
 ' " Monsieur le commissaire de police, restez-vous ou partez- 
 vous ? " 
 
 1 " Pourquoi cette question ? " dit le commissaire. 
 '"C'est que, si vous netes pas a terre en France dans un 
 quart d'heure, demain matin vous serez en Angleterre." 
 1 il Vous partez ? " 
 ' " Tout de suite." 
 
 * Le commissaire prit le parti de deguerpir, fort mecontent 
 et ayant vainement flaire une proie.' — Victor Hugo, ' Choses 
 Vues! 
 
 26 k. Touques, where William Rufus embarked after the 
 death of his father to claim the crown of England. The dese- 
 crated church of 6*. Pierre is partly xi. c, with a tower of xn. c. 
 At the entrance of the town from Pont l'Eveque is the fine old 
 Manoir de Meantrix, of xvi. c. and xvn. c. 
 
 On the r. bank of the river are the ruins of the fortress of 
 Bonneville sur Touques, a favourite residence of William the 
 Conqueror. Its outer circuit of walls are late xn. c. or early 
 xiii. c. One of the five towers which circle round the keep is 
 called the Tour du Serment, because there William is supposed 
 
TROUVILLE-DEA UVILLE. 
 
 101 
 
 to have received Harolds oath of fidelity. It is lighted by a 
 window called Fenetre de la Reine Mathilde. 
 
 29k. TroMville-Deauville (Hotels: des Roches Noires ; de 
 Bellevue ; de Paris — beware of touters at the station), a sea 
 bathing-place, which suddenly came into fashion through the 
 marine landscapes of Charles Mozin and his followers in 1825 ; 
 now it is crowded in summer by above 15,000 visitors. The 
 town of villas has no interest. It was at No. 5, Rue des Rosiers, 
 then belonging to M. Victor Barbey, that Louis Philippe took 
 refuge for thirty hours before his flight from France. The town 
 of Deauville (Hotel : du Casino) is only separated from Trouville 
 by the Touques. 
 
 Pleasant excursions may be made — 
 
 1. By the forest of Touques to (r6k.) the Chateau d'Hebertot 
 (of which the oldest part is a machicolated tower of the time 
 of Louis XIII.). 2. To (3 k.) Touques, and (4 k.) Bonneville. 
 3. By the ruins of the Chateau de Lassay, built by the Marquis 
 de Lassay to receive La Grande Mademoiselle, and those of the 
 Priory of S. Arnoult, founded in the xi. c, to (9 k.) the Chateau 
 de Glatigny, a fine building of the xvi. c. and xvn. c. 4. To 
 (13 k.) the Croix d' Heuland, of the xvi. c, but sometimes called 
 Croix de Rollon ) from the legend that, in his delight at the 
 improvement in honesty which had resulted from his laws, Duke 
 Rollo left all his jewels hanging from the arm of this cross, to 
 show his confidence in a people whom he believed incapable of 
 touching them.] 
 
 [A line runs S.E. from Lisieux to Echaffour (see p. 97), and 
 (102 k.) Mortagne by — 
 
 11k. 6*. Pierre de Mailloc, with a good xvn. c. chateau. 
 
 19 k. Orbec, with a church of xv. c, Hotel Dieu of xvi. c, 
 and several good xvn. c. houses.] 
 
 Leaving Lisieux, the main line passes (1.) Lecaude 
 with a xii. c. church; and (r.) Mouteille with a xn. c. 
 church, overlooked by a hill bearing the ruined (xv. c.) 
 
 Chateau de Mont a la Vigne. 
 
102 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 209 k. Le Mesnil-Mauger, with an old moated timber 
 manor-house and a church with a romanesque tower. 
 2 k. S. is S. Marie aux Anglais, with a fine church, chiefly 
 romanesque, and an interesting old manor-house. 4 k. N. 
 is Crevecoeur, with a xiv. c. and xv. c. castle, possessing a 
 xii. c. chapel. The Chateau de Grand Champ, a little S., 
 is xvi. c. and xvn. c. 
 
 [A line leads S.E. to (97 k.) Mortagne by — 
 14 k. Livarot, famous for its cheese, with ruins of a xn. c. 
 castle. 
 
 24 k. Vimoutiers, with some richly sculptured timber houses. 
 The road to Argentan passes near Roncerai, with the cottage 
 where Charlotte Corday was born in 1768. 
 
 46 k. Gace, with the old chateau of the Matignon family. 
 
 57 k. Echaffour (see p. 97)]. 
 
 216 k. Mezidon, on the Dives. The church is xii. c. 
 or xiii. c. 
 
 [A line runs N. to Dives and Villers-sur-Mer by — 
 7 k. Lion d ' Or-Croissanville. A road leads E. by (8 \ k.) 
 Notre Dame d'Estrees, where the church has a xiii. c. choir 
 and xvi. c. tower, to (12 k.) Camdremer, an old town with a 
 romanesque tower. 
 
 14 k. Hotot en Auge. The church, originally romanesque, 
 was rebuilt in the xv. c. ; the tower is renaissance. Near it 
 is a very curious old feudal manor-house, containing a fine 
 chimneypiece. 
 
 16 k. Beauvron en Auge, a very picturesque village, with 
 old timber houses, etc. 
 
 20 k. Dozule-Putot. The church of Putot (1 k.) is partly 
 xii. c. Here a line branches E. to Troarn and Caen : see 
 later. 
 
 28 k. Cabourg (Hotels : de la Plage ; des Dues de Normandie), 
 a most dreary bathing-place at some distance from the mouth 
 of the Dives. 
 
DIVES. 
 
 103 
 
 29 k. Dives (reached by tram from Caen, — Hotel : Guillaume 
 le Conqueranf). This was once an important place, and it was 
 in the harbour at the mouth of the Dives that the Conqueror 
 assembled his army and fleet in 1066 for the invasion of England. 
 Now the sea has retired for 2 k., and the former site of the port 
 is occupied by the dry land of the Pointe de Cabourg, formed, 
 between 1790 and 1809, by accumulation of sand. In 1861 a 
 pillar was erected to mark the spot where William is supposed 
 to have embarked with 50,000 men on Sept. 12, 1066, to sail to 
 S. Valery, whence, in the Mora, he led his fleet to England on 
 Sept. 27. 
 
 In spite of the retirement of the sea, Dives is still a very 
 attractive spot. L'Hostellerie de Guillaume le Conquerant is 
 the most picturesque of xvi. c. inns, and at least three good 
 pictures may be made in its courtyard, surrounded by open 
 galleries, carved rafters, sculptured reliefs, and outside stair- 
 cases, festooned with roses and wistaria. The village contains 
 many new and some old timber houses ; one, sculptured with 
 figures of knights and monks, especially curious. The church 
 of Notre Dame, xv. c. and xvi. c, has a grand and rich W. 
 portal. On the interior, the western wall is inscribed with the 
 names of all the knights who sailed with the Conqueror. The 
 massive central arches date from the xi. c. In the S. aisle is a 
 flamboyant gallery over the baptistery. The little sculptured 
 stile of the churchyard deserves notice for its design. 
 
 5 k. distant is Grangues, with a church of xi. c, xv. c, and 
 xvi. c. It was on the bank of the Dives that the Danes, fighting 
 in behalf of Richard Sans Peur, gained, in 944, the great 
 victory over the French, in which Harold Blaatand is said to 
 ' have taken the French king Louis prisoner in single combat. 
 
 31k. Houlgate-Beuzeval (Grand Hotel ; Beausejour ; Imberf), 
 twin bathing-places devoid of attractions. 
 
 38k. Villers-sur-Mer (Hotels: die Casino; du Bras dOr\ 
 a pleasant bathing place. 
 
 [A line leads S. to (167 k.) Le Mans, by — 
 
 7 k. 6*. Pierre sur Dives. Here a great Benedictine abbey 
 was founded early in the xi. c. by Lesceline, wife of Guillaume, 
 Comte d'Eu, illegitimate brother of Duke Richard II. But her 
 
104 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 abbey church, erected in 1067, was rebuilt in the xn. c. with the 
 exception of the tower. The present glorious abbey church of 
 6*. Pierre was built under the abbot Jacques de Silly in xin. c. 
 and xiv. c. On the 1. of the sanctuary an incised slab com- 
 memorates the foundress Lesceline. The Halles, of the xin. c, 
 belonged to the abbey buildings. 
 
 On the bank of the Dives, near a mill, is a very curious stone 
 house of the xv. c, supposed to have been the Abbot's Court of 
 Justice. The octagonal tower at one of its angles contains a 
 
 AT S. PIERRE SUR DIVES. 
 
 graceful oratory. 2 k. S. is the Chateau de Caret, of the time of 
 Louis XIII. 4 k. W. is Escures, with a xn. c. church and old 
 manor-house. 
 
 A little N.E. is Vieux Pont en Auge, where the church is a 
 most curious and rare specimen of the small masonry of the 
 primitive romanesque, divided by bands of brick. The most 
 remarkable portion is the west front, but here the portal has 
 been reconstructed in the xi. c. or xn. c, and the niche above 
 made in the xvi. c. 
 
FALAISE. 
 
 105 
 
 3 J k. S.W. is Grisy, with an early gothic church and xvn. c. 
 chateau. 
 
 13 k. Vendeuvre Jort. yk. S.W. is the picturesque ruined 
 Priory of Ferrieres, dependent on the Abbey of Marmoutiers ; 
 chiefly xin. c. 3 k. E. of Jort is Courcy, with a ruined xm. c. 
 castle and a church with a xn. c. choir, 
 
 19 k. Couliboeuf. 1 k. is the church of Damblainville, partly 
 xm. c. 
 
 [A line branches off W. to 
 
 6 k. Falaise 1 (Hotels : de Normandie ; de France — both very 
 indifferent). 
 
 In the middle of the x. c. Falaise was already the principal 
 town of the Comte de Hiemois, and had its own viscounts. It 
 was strongly fortified by Duke Richard, and became the favourite 
 residence of his son, Robert the Devil, who there fell in love 
 with Arlette, daughter of the tanner, Fulbert, who worked in the 
 valley below the castle. 2 Their son, William the Bastard, born 
 at Falaise in 1027, became Duke of Normandy at seven years old, 
 and was afterwards known as William the Conqueror. At his 
 birth the babe had seized the straw on the chamber floor with 
 such vigour as foretold that he would never let go what he had 
 once laid hands upon. Still, in the streets of Falaise is heard 
 the old Norman song beginning — 
 
 ' De Guillaume le Conquerant 
 Chantons l'historiette. 
 II naquit, cet illustre enfant, 
 D'une simple amourette. 
 Le hasard fait souvent les grands. 
 Vive le fils d'Arlette ! 
 
 Normands, 
 Vive le fils d'Arlette ! ' 
 
 William the Conqueror, who made his first essay at arms in 
 retaking the castle of Falaise from the treacherous governor 
 
 1 From its steep rocks. 
 
 8 Fulbert was made ducal chamberlain, and Walter, Arlette's brother, was 
 raised to honourable office. After the death of Duke Robert, in 1035, Arlette 
 married Count Herlwin de Conteville, by whom she was the mother of two 
 sons. 
 
106 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Toustain, loaded his native place with benefits. His grand- 
 parents, ' Robertus Pelliparius ' (Fulbert, burgess and tanner of 
 Falaise) and his wife Doda lived in the market-place near the 
 old exchange—' Manentes ad veteras cambias in fore Hoiense.' 1 
 On the Place de la Trinite an equestrian statue of the Conqueror 
 by Rochet was erected in 1851. 
 
 The beautiful gothic church of La Trinite has a xvi. c. 
 porch, transformed into a chapel, and a renaissance portal. The 
 transept is xiii. c. ; the choir, nave and side aisles, of xv. c. 
 and xvi. c, have very rich pinnacles and open-work balus- 
 trades, and in the interior the vaulting and capitals are of 
 great richness. 
 
 The fine church of 6 1 . Gervais, begun xi. c, was consecrated 
 1 1 34 m the presence of Henry I. It has a romanesque tower 
 and wide gothic portal. The 1. aisle is xiii. c, the choir xvi. c, 
 of which date there is much fine glass and sculpture. 
 
 The Chateau (visitors are not allowed to enter except accom- 
 panied by a guide from the gate) is one of the most important 
 fortresses in Normandy. It is chiefly of xn. c. The whole 
 outer wall remains, with its twelve towers, and the ramparts 
 form a long terrace walk planted with trees, and with pleasant 
 views towards the suburb of Guilbray. But the main buildings 
 have been terribly 'restored,' and look almost new. The principal 
 remains are a small xn. c. chapel, a gate of xiii. c, and a square 
 keep, with the great circular tower built by Talbot, who was 
 made governor of Falaise for Henry V. of England. A window 
 in the keep is pointed out as that from which Duke Robert first 
 saw the beautiful Arlette, or Harleva, daughter of Fulbert the 
 tanner, either dancing, or washing at a fountain in the valley, 
 and forthwith fell in love with her ; though it is impossible that 
 he could have discovered her beauty at that distance. It is said 
 that in the night on w T hich she was brought to the castle she 
 dreamt that a tree sprang from her which overshadowed all 
 England and Normandy. A room also is shown as that in which 
 William the Conqueror ' fut engendre et naquit,' though the 
 existing keep is probably of a later date than his birth, and we 
 know from the charter of the Church of La Trinite that William 
 was born in the house belonging to his maternal grandfather 
 
 1 Alberic de Troisfontaines. 
 
FALAISE. 
 
 107 
 
 in the old market-place, and that he was baptised in the church 
 at Longevin. 1 A prison in the keep is pointed out, which is 
 entirely built of cut stone, but only retains four of its five original 
 stories. 
 
 From the castle the visitor should descend to the L, to an 
 open space planted with trees, whence the best general view 
 
 PORTE DES CORDELIERS, FALAISE. 
 
 of the building is obtained. Hence a pleasant walk winds 
 below the castle rocks to the Val d'Ante, where a fountain is 
 pointed out as that frequented by Arlette, and the town may 
 be re-entered by the picturesque Porte des Cordeliers of the 
 xiii. c. Two other ancient gates remain — the Porte Philippe- Jean 
 and the Porte Lecomte. 
 
 In the Faubourg de Guibray is a very fine church, begun by 
 William the Conqueror and finished by Philippe-Auguste. The 
 choir is xi. c, nave xn. c, aisles and buttresses xv. c. 
 
 1 Recherches Hist, sur Falaise, 1814, p. 134. 
 
io8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Some buildings remain of the Abbaye de S. Jean, founded 
 in 1 127 by Godefroy de Rou. The prettily situated church of 
 S. Laurent, approached by a staircase from the Val d'Ante, is 
 is xv. c. and xvi. c. 
 
 1 k. distant is the xvi. c. Chateau de Lo?igpre, a square 
 building with tourelles ; 2 k. the xvn. c. Chateau d'Aubigny and 
 the church, with six sepulchral statues of its lords. 4 k. N. the 
 xviii. c. Chateau de Versainville. 4 k. the Chateau de la Tour, 
 where the beautiful Mme de Seran received Marmontel and a 
 numerous literary circle. 8 k. the picturesque Breche au Diable 
 and the Gorge de S. Quentin, above which, on Mont Joly, the 
 actress Marie Joly is buried.] 
 
 53 k. Argentan (see ch. iv.), on the line from Paris to 
 Granville.] 
 
 Leaving Mezidon, the line passes the chateau and 
 xiii. c. church of Canon ; 1. (2^ k.) Vieux-Fume, with a 
 xii. c. church ; r. Ouezy sur Laizon, with a xiii. c. church 
 and ruined priory ; r, Cesny aux Vignes, then Air an, with 
 a beautiful transition portal. 
 
 225 k. Moult-Argences. The church of Moult has a 
 rich romanesque choir. At Argences (3 k.) the church of 
 S. Patrice (xi. c, xii. c, and xv. c.) is converted into a 
 warehouse. The line passes (r.) Vimont, with a column 
 commemorating the victory of Val es Dunes, gained, 1047, 
 over the rebel lords by William the Conqueror. Farther 
 on r. is Bellengreville, where the church has an early 
 gothic choir and rich romanesque portal. 
 
 231 k. Frenouville- Cagny . The church of Frenouville has 
 a romanesque nave, with xiii. c. windows. At Cagny are 
 a romanesque church, a ruined priory, and xvi. c. chateau. 
 Towers and churches are seen on 1. before reaching — 
 
 239k. Caen (Hotels: de la Place Royale — very good; 
 d'Angleterre ; d'Espagne ; de la Marine), capital of Cal- 
 
CAEN. 
 
 co 
 
 vados and La Basse Normandie. The town owes its 
 importance to William the Conqueror, who surrounded it 
 with walls, built two palaces, founded abbeys and hospitals, 
 and fixed his exchequer here. Lanfranc, being appointed 
 abbot of S. Etienne, attracted hither a vast number of 
 illustrious followers ; and it was a provincial council, sum- 
 moned here in 1061, which imposed the law of Treve de 
 Dieu upon the Norman lords, and promulgated that of 
 Couvre-feu for the repression of disorders. In 1083 Queen 
 Matilda was buried in the abbey of S. Trinite, and in 1087 
 William was brought from Rouen to that of S. Etienne. 
 Robert Courte-Heuse, eldest son of the Conqueror, made 
 the two canals which now form the Isle de S. Jean. His 
 brother Henry I. raised the walls of the castle and built 
 its keep. In 1204 the oppressions of King John caused 
 Caen to revolt to France, but the town was retaken and 
 sacked by Edward III. of England. Du Guesclin expelled 
 the English in 1370, but Caen was retaken by the army 
 of Henry V. in 141 7, and was only finally acquired by 
 France in 1450. 
 
 The musical composer Auber, and the poets Moisant 
 De Brieux and Malherbe were natives of Caen. George 
 Brummel, the friend of George IV., died here. 
 
 ' Caen, O Caen, si de ma memoire 
 
 Jamais je songe a te bannir, 
 Si de ton charmant souvenir 
 
 Je ne fais ma plus grande gloire, 
 Que je sente engourdir mes doits, 
 
 Qu'aussi tout ma langue sechee, 
 Au palais enroiie se trouvant attachee, 
 
 Perde l'usage de la voix.' 
 
 Moisant de B?icttx, 1 Norman chanson! 
 
I IO 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Several days may well be spent in visiting in detail the 
 antiquities of Caen and its environs, and it will be found 
 an admirable centre from whence to study the interesting 
 architecture of the Norman village churches. Those who 
 only give one day to the town may follow the Rue de la 
 Gare to the quay. Here, crossing the Orne by the Pont 
 des Abattois, they may turn 1. to the Place Dauphine, from 
 the middle of which opens the Rue S. Jean> the principal 
 artery of the town. This street, and, even more, the Rue 
 S. Pierre, are picturesque in the varied outline and the 
 red-grey tones of their houses, broken here and there by 
 trees, and with beautiful towers and spires rising behind 
 them. Even the efflorescence of a church like S. Sauveur, 
 covered with interlaced sculpture, has its own charm when 
 subdued into harmonious tints of grey and tinted with 
 golden lichen. The magnificent 4 subject ' behind S. Pierre, 
 painted by a thousand artists — when the east end of the 
 church rose abruptly from water — has, however, been de- 
 stroyed by the Orne having been diverted from this point 
 and a hideous market built upon the site — as ruthless an 
 injury to the beauty of Caen as could have been inflicted. 
 
 In the Rue S. Jean, which contains many old houses, 1 
 
 1 No. 148, Rue S. Jean, occupies the site of the house where Charlotte 
 Corday lived with her aunt, Mme de Bretteville. 
 
 ' Dans une rue large et populeuse qui traverse la ville de Caen, capitale de 
 la basse Normandie et centre alors de l'insurrection girondine, on voyait et 
 Ton voit encore aujourd'hui, a cote de l'antique demeure aux murailles grises, 
 delavees par la pluie et lezardees par le temps, qui s'appelle le Grand Manoir, 
 une maison a deux etages, ne se recommandant a l'attention que par les 
 souvenirs qu'elle reveille. Une porte basse, rarement ouverte, laissait voir, 
 au bout d'une allee obscure, une cour etroite, et, au fond de cette cour, les 
 marches de pierre d'un escalier, en spirale montant a l'etage superieur. Deux 
 fenetres a croisillons, dont l'une ouvrait sur cette meme cour, et l'autre avait 
 vue sur la cour du Grand Manoir, laissaient filtrer a travers leurs vitraux 
 octogones, enchasses dans des compartiments de plomb, un jour pale et morn'e, 
 qui eclarait faiblement une chambre simple et nue, n'ayant d'autre decoration 
 
CAEN. 
 
 is the late gothic church of S. Jean. Its portal is sur- 
 mounted by a square xiv. c. tower ; the rich central tower 
 is xvi. c. 
 
 The Rue S. Jean ends in the Place S. Pierre, one side 
 of which is occupied by the beautiful church of S. Pierre, 
 celebrated for its exquisite gothic tower of 1308, with 
 hexagonal pinnacles. 
 
 1 Cette tour est surmontee d'un trottoir garni d'une balus- 
 trade en pierre, et de huit clochetons a jour, delicatement 
 travailles. La pyramide terminale, construite en pierres de six 
 a sept polices d epaisseur, liees les unes aux autres au moyen 
 de crampons de fer, et percee, sur les faces de l'octogone, de 
 quarante-huit ouvertures en forme de rosaces, et garnie de 
 crochets sur les angles : elle est d'une telle solidite, que les 
 intemperies de la saison ne Font point alteree.' — A.de Caumont. 
 
 The sculptures of the great xiv. c. portal — le portail 
 neuf—have been destroyed by the Protestants. The aisles, 
 of xv. c.j and apse of xiv. c, have been restored (1521) 
 in the style of the renaissance, but are exceedingly graceful. 
 The E. end of the church overhung the Orne, and was 
 indescribably picturesque, but a senseless modern boulevard 
 has destroyed this. The rich vaulting of the choir and 
 apsidal chapels is by Hector Sohier of Caen, 15 21. The 
 door of the sacristy, in the chapel of Notre Dame des 
 Sept-Douleurs, has sculptured panels from the Abbey of 
 Ardennes, representing the stories of S. Augustin and 
 
 que la grande cheminee antique. Ce jour pale imprimait a cette chambre 
 reculee, loin des bruits de la rue, dans sa vetuste et dans son obscurite, ce 
 caractere de delabrement, de mystere et de melancolie que l'imagination humaine 
 aime a voir etendu, comme un linceul, sur les berceaux des grandes pensees 
 et sur les sejours des grandes natures. . . . C'est la que vivait, au commence- 
 ment de 1793, Charlotte Corday d'Armont.' 
 
 Lamartine, ' Hist, des Girondins.' 
 
112 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 S. Norbert. The third capital on the 1. of the nave has 
 curious sculpture. 
 
 Near S. Pierre the Rue du Marche au Bois leads to the 
 Chateau, founded by the Conqueror, and where his son 
 Henry I. built a magnificent keep. Everything of interest 
 is now destroyed except the xv. c. Porte des Champs on 
 the N.E., and the little church of S. Georges, a reconstruc- 
 tion of the xv. c, which retains a romanesque arch and 
 capitals. Near this is a building of the xi. c, which 
 served as the Exchequer of Normandy. 
 
 From the Rue du Marche au Bois, the Rue du Montoir 
 and Rue des Chanoines lead to the famous church of La 
 Trinite, or the Abbaye aux Dames, founded by Matilda 
 of Flanders (1062), as that of S. Etienne was by William 
 the Conqueror, as an expiatory offering for their irregular 
 marriage, which had been condemned by the Church of 
 Rome. 1 At its consecration (June 18, 1066) their infant 
 daughter Cecilia, afterwards its second abbess (n 13-27), 
 was placed upon the altar by her parents, and offered to 
 the Church. 
 
 The central tower has a pyramidal roof, which adds to 
 its picturesqueness : those on either side of the romanesque 
 W. portal had octagonal spires (like S. Etienne), pulled 
 down by Du Guesclin in 1360; the unsuitable balustrades 
 are xviii. c. In the choir, which is reserved for the nuns 
 of the hospital, is the tomb, once rich with gold and gems 
 (with an xi. c. inscription) to Matilda — 
 
 ' Consolatrix inopum, pietatis amatrix.' 
 
 1 As for Matilda, a true woman, her goodness, her virtues, 
 
 1 Matilda was cousin to her husband William, her mother having been 
 Eleanor, youngest daughter of Richard le Bon, 
 
CAEN. 
 
 113 
 
 may be frequently traced in history — her interference, never. 
 Her patience under trouble and tribulation constitutes the main 
 feature of her biography.' — Palgrave. 
 
 Beneath, is a crypt of the xi. c, where the abbesses, 
 including the Princess Cecilia, are buried. The S. transept 
 has a beautiful xm. c. chapel. 
 
 Behind the church are the vast buildings (1704-26) of 
 the Hotel Dieu, originally founded by Henry I. of England. 
 Opposite the W. end of the church is the nave (xn. c. 
 and xv. c.) of the ancient church of S. Gilles, with a very 
 graceful S. portal of delicate and unusual renaissance 
 sculpture. 
 
 Returning to S. Pierre, we should follow the Rue 
 S.Pierre. Nos. 18-20 are admirable timber houses. In the 
 Cour de la Monnaie (r.) are some curious buildings erected 
 in the xvi. c. by Etienne Duval de Mondrainville, and which 
 belonged to the Hotel des Monnaies. A tourelle, bearing 
 two medallions, is surmounted by a lanthorn with a statue. 
 
 On the r. of the Rue S. Pierre is the church of 
 S. Sauveur (formerly Notre Dame) — one of the triumphs 
 of flamboyant architecture, being chiefly xiv c, with 
 renaissance additions. The tower is xiv. c. 
 
 By the Rue Ecuyere and Rue Guillaume le Conquerant 
 we reach the magnificent historic church of S. Etienne, 
 which belonged to the Abbaye aux Hommes, founded c. 1064 
 by the Conqueror, to expiate his marriage (in spite of the 
 pontifical prohibition) with Matilda of Flanders, who was 
 married already, and whose divorce had not received the 
 papal sanction. The church was begun in 1066 by the 
 famous Lanfranc, who ruled the abbey for four years, 
 after having been abbot of Bee and before becoming (107 1) 
 
 8 
 
ii4 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. It was consecrated in 1077 by 
 the Archbishop of Avranches. William endowed it with an 
 arm of the first martyr, which he obtained from Besancon. 
 The choir was reconstructed on a larger scale in the middle 
 
 HOTEL DES MONNAIES, CAEN. 
 
 of the xii. a, when the steeples of the W. towers were 
 added. In 1562 the church was half ruined by the 
 Calvinists, and their injuries caused the fall of the great 
 central spire. The nave was restored by Prior Jean de 
 Baillehache (1609-26), and recently there has been a 
 general, though in most respects a harmless, restoration. 
 
CAEN. 
 
 ii5 
 
 To the first bays of the N. aisle the Chapelle Hallebout 
 is united, a gothic edifice of 13 15, rebuilt in xvi. c, and 
 which served as the monastic choir, after the destruction 
 by the Protestants, and before the restoration of the nave. 
 The lower story of the central tower forms a lanthorn. 
 In the (xin. c.) choir a rhyming inscription gives the name 
 of the architect, Guillaume. In the apse of S. Gabriel, 
 between the high altar and the choir, the Conqueror was 
 buried. 
 
 • At the gates of Caen, clergy and laity came forth to receive the 
 body, but at that very time flames arose, the streets were filled 
 with heavy smoke : a fire had broken out which destroyed good 
 part of the city ; the procession was dispersed, and the monks 
 alone remained. They brought the body to S. Stephen's 
 monastery, and took orders for the royal sepulture. The grave 
 was dug deep in the presbytery, between altar and choir. 
 All the bishops and abbots of Normandy assembled. After 
 mass had been sung, Gilbert, bishop of Evreux, addressed the 
 people ; and when he had magnified the fame of the departed, 
 he asked them all to join in prayers for the sinful soul, and that 
 each would pardon any injury he had received from the monarch. 
 A loud voice was now heard from the crowd. A poor man stood 
 up before the bier, Asceline, the son of Arthur, who forbade that 
 William's corpse should be received into the ground he had 
 usurped by reckless violence. 
 
 ' The bishop forthwith instituted an inquiry into the charge. 
 They called up witnesses, and the fact having been ascertained, 
 they treated with Asceline, and paid the debt, the price of that 
 narrow little plot of earth, the last bed of the Conqueror. 
 Asceline withdrew his ban ; but as the swollen corpse sank 
 into the grave, it burst, filling the sacred edifice with corruption. 
 The obsequies were hurried through, and thus was William the 
 Conqueror gathered to his fathers, with loathing, disgust, and 
 horror.' — Palgrave, * History of England and Normandy! 
 
 A magnificent monument, adorned with gold and 
 
u6 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 precious stones by Otto the goldsmith, and supported on 
 three small white marble columns, was erected at the cost 
 of William Rufus over his father's grave, and inscribed 
 with an epitaph by Archbishop Thomas of York, which 
 told how William the Conqueror ruled the Normans, 
 conquered* the Bretons, and subdued Maine, but in which 
 the conquest of England was never mentioned. 1 When 
 the church and monastery were plundered in the wars 
 of the xvi. c, the shrine was destroyed, and the coffin of 
 the Conqueror 2 broken open and his bones dispersed. A 
 single thigh-bone, preserved by a monk of the abbey, was 
 replaced in a new tomb after the church was repaired in 
 1626. In 1742, this second tomb, being considered to 
 be in the way of the services in the church, was removed 
 to another part of the choir, where it was destroyed and 
 rifled in 1793, when the one remaining fragment of the 
 body of William was lost for ever. A modern stone 
 commemorates the spot where it once rested. 
 
 The Abbey of S. Etienne, rebuilt in the xvm. c, is now 
 occupied by the Lycee. In one of its courts is the beautiful 
 but mutilated xiv. c. building known as the Salle des 
 Gardes. A curious octagonal xiv. c. building with a cupola, 
 
 1 ' Qui rexit rigidos Normannos, atque Britannos 
 
 Audacter vicit, fortiter obtinuit, 
 Et Cenomannenses virtute coercuit enses 
 
 Imperiique sui legibus applicuit, 
 Rex magnus parva jacet hie Guillelmus in urna, 
 
 Sufficit et magno parva domus domino. 
 Ter septem gradibus se volverat atque duobus 
 
 Virginis in gremio Phoebus, et hie obiit.' 
 
 2 William was known to his contemporaries as William the Bastard ; after- 
 wards he was distinguished from his successor as William the Great, and so 
 spoken of in charters of William Rufus. Ordericus Vitalis is the first to speak 
 of him as the Conqueror — * Guillelmus Magnus, id est Conquaestor, Rex 
 Anglorum.' 
 
CAEN. 
 
 117 
 
 now destroyed, was known as ' Le Cuisine de Guillaume le 
 Conquerant.' 
 
 A street, turning r. from the W. door of S. Etienne, 
 leads from the Place de l'Ancienne Boucherie to the church 
 of S. Nicolas now a barn, but unusually picturesque in 
 outline, and a fine specimen of xi. c. architecture. The 
 W. tower is romanesque below, and has a xv. c. upper 
 story. The apse and its apsides have stone roofs. A little 
 to the S.E. of the church is a picturesque and simple 
 gateway with a Norman arch and moulding. 
 
 The rich xv. c. church of S. Etienne le Vieux, on the 
 Boulevards, a little beyond S. Etienne, is now a warehouse. 
 A much mutilated equestrian figure on its walls is pointed 
 out as intended for the Conqueror. The church of La 
 Gloriette, or Notre Dame, near the Boulevard Bertrand, 
 is of 1684-87. 
 
 Behind the Place de la Prefecture is the Place Royal. 
 Here is the Musee, open from 11 to 4 on Thursdays and 
 Sundays (daily to strangers). It contains — 
 
 Perugino. The Marriage of the Virgin — a very beautiful 
 
 picture, from the cathedral of Perugia. 
 Perugino. S. Jerome in the Desert — from Fontainebleau. 
 
 In the Hotel de Ville is the Bibliotheque (open 10 to 4), 
 containing more than 80,000 vols. : some curious books 
 come from the library of Diane de Poitiers. 
 
 ( Jadis renommee comme "ville de sapience," Caen est toujours 
 l'une des cites les plus savantes de la France, du moins si Ton 
 en juge par ses etablissements d'instruction superieure et secon- 
 dare et surtout par ses nombreuses societes libres. La lycee 
 de Caen est le plus beau de France.' — Elisee Rectus. 
 
 On the opposite side of the railway is the church of 
 
u8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Vaucelles (Vauxhall), chiefly xv. c, with a curious romanesque 
 tower of xi. c. or xn. c, crowned by a pyramidal four-sided 
 roof. 
 
 Several old houses are interesting, especially the Hotel 
 du Valois or d 1 JEcouville, of 1538, in the Place S. Pierre; 
 the Hotel de Tkaon, xvi. c, in the Rue S. Jean ; the 
 Hotel de Loraille, built by Thomas de Loraille, Bailli de 
 Caen, in 1463 ; and a house in La Venelle-Quatrans 
 (between Rue de Geole and Rue des Teinturiers), of rare 
 xiv. c. architecture, which belonged to Jean Quatrans, 
 tabellion de Caen 1380-90. 
 
 i Si vous prenez la peine d'aller visiter cet edifice, vous verrez 
 qu'il se compose de deux etages au-dessus du rez-de-chaussee, 
 qu'il n'a point de pignon sur la rue comme beaucoup d'autres ; 
 qu'il etait eclaire par un assez grand nombre de fenetres etroites 
 et carrees ; que les boiseries offirent peu de moulures ; que 
 chaque etage est un peu en saillie sur letage inferieur ; qu'enfin 
 deux grandes lucarnes dominaient le dernier entablement et 
 dissimulaient la monotonie du grand toit qui couvrait ledifice.' — 
 De Caumont. 
 
 Beyond the Faubourg S. Gilles and the Abbaye aux Dames, 
 and not far from the canal, are the curious remains of an hotel, 
 built under Louis XII. by Gerard de Nollent, with a tower and 
 wall encrusted with medallions ; the former bearing on its battle- 
 ments some armed statues, which have given it the name of 
 Maison des Gendarmes. 
 
 2 k. W. of the town are the remains of the Premonstratensian 
 Abbaye d Ardennes, founded c. 1 121, now turned into farm 
 buildings. The gate-tower has a semicircular-headed gate and 
 pointed wicket. The W. facade of the xiv. c. church has a triple 
 portal, surmounted by a flamboyant rose-window in a pointed 
 arch, with tracery of remarkable grace, formed ' by throwing out 
 six leaves from the centre, bisecting these by other leaves, 
 doubling these at the extremities, and trefoil-feathering each 
 point thus produced.' 
 
CAEN. 
 
 119 
 
 The neighbourhood of Caen is the especial district of beautiful 
 steeples, which are all much on the same plan. 
 
 1 The tower, which is square, whether central or rising from 
 the ground, has, resting upon a lower stage of less ornament, a 
 tall belfry story, also square, without buttresses, or at least 
 any projecting beyond the slope which finishes the cornice 
 of the stage beneath. This belfry has four lofty and deeply- 
 moulded arches in each face, of which the outer ones are 
 narrower than the others, and unpierced ; the two in the middle 
 being open as windows. These are often divided by a mullion, 
 
 and sometimes have small plain transoms, without arch or 
 foliation. Above is a rich cornice. From the tower rises an 
 octagonal spire, flanked by four lofty pinnacles of open work, 
 which vary in their plan, some being hexagonal, others octagonal, 
 but they are always finished with spires. On the cardinal points 
 are spire-lights, rising to the same height with the pinnacles, 
 and often finished at the top with a quadrangular pyramid. The 
 spire in many cases is pierced with foliated openings, such as 
 might be described in a circle, the number of cusps decreasing 
 according to the size of the aperture ; the lowest range, perhaps, 
 
 jlpl 
 
 MAISON DES GENDARMES, CAEN. 
 
120 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE, 
 
 consisting of septfoils, and the highest of trefoils. The masonry 
 is also, as usual, worked in scales.' — J. L. Petit. 
 
 An excursion of twelve churches may embrace Cambes, 
 Mathieu, Douvres, Luc, Langrune, Bernieres, Beny, 
 Fontaine-Henri, Thaon, Cairon, Rosel, S. Contest. 
 
 A second excursion of ten churches may be made to 
 Authie, Rost, Sequeville, Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse, Norrey, 
 Cheux, S. Manvieu, Mouen, Fontaine-Etoupefour, Verson. 
 
 On the evening of Easter Sunday, or morning of Easter 
 Monday, bands of poor men go to the doors of the villages 
 near Caen, singing — 
 
 1 Sechez les larmes de vos yeux, 
 Le Roi de la terre et des cieux, 
 Est ressuscite glorieux ! 
 
 Alleluja ! 
 
 Donnez quelque chose au chanteur, 
 Qui chant les louanges du Seigneur. 
 
 Un jour viendra 
 
 Dieu vous l'rendra. 
 
 Alleluja ! ' 
 
 And they receive some sous or a few eggs. But if the 
 person begged from is too poor to give, he replies — 
 
 ( Pauvre chanteur, t'es mal venu ; 
 Not' poul' n'a pas encore pondu, 
 Demain viendra, 
 Not' cat (chat) pondra. 
 
 Alleluja ! ' 
 
 The port of Caen, Ouistreham (a purely Saxon name), 
 was the great port of communication between the duchy 
 and the kingdom at the time when the dukes of Normandy 
 were kings of England. 
 
EXCURSIONS FROM CAEN. 
 
 121 
 
 No one should visit Caen without making an excursion to 
 Dives and its beautiful old inn (see p. 102). This is best accom- 
 plished by the tramway, which has its station at the head of 
 the western canal behind S. Pierre. The open tramcars are 
 pleasantest in summer. Artists should on no account miss 
 giving a day to Dives. 
 
 5 k. S. of Caen is the vast corn-plain (bright in summer with 
 poppies — ' roses de viperes '). To the r. of the road to Falaise 
 is ffs, where the church has a noble tower, romanesque in the 
 lower story and pointed in the upper. 
 
 8 k. S.W. is the fine Chateau de Fontaine-Etoupefour, built 
 under Louis XI. and XII. The gateway is flanked by towers, 
 which are circular in the lower and octagonal in the upper story. 
 Between them is a richly-ornamented gabled front, and behind 
 them a moated courtyard. 
 
 2 k. S. are the remains of the xn. c. church and xv. c. monas- 
 tery of Bretteville sur Odon, a dependency of Mont S. Michel. 
 
 10 k. N.W., in a valley on the r. of the road to Creully, is 
 the picturesque little deserted church of Thaon, a very perfect 
 specimen of romanesque, chiefly xn. c, with a tower of the 
 xi. c. having two stories of double windows of the xi. c, and a 
 four-sided stone roof, with heads of animals at the angles ; the 
 walls are richly ornamented with arches. A neighbouring chapel 
 is said to have been used for lepers. 2 k. farther is the very 
 fine renaissance Chateau Fontaine-Henri (Marquis de Canisy), 
 of xv. c. and xvi. c, with walls rich in arabesques, tall roofs, 
 and beautifully decorated tourelles and chimneys. Visitors are 
 admitted to the grounds, but the interior is not shown. The 
 chapel of the chateau is xiii. c. The church has a romanesque 
 choir. Artists will delight both in Thaon and Fontaine-Henri. 
 
 7 k. W. of Fontaine- Henri is Creully ', with a large church, 
 chiefly romanesque, with tombs of the family of De Sillans. 
 In the grounds of the chateau are important remains of an old 
 castle, the stronghold of Hamon ' Dentatus,' the famous baron 
 who unhorsed Henri I. of France at the battle of Val es Dunes, 
 who conspired in 1047 against Duke William (the Conqueror), 
 and who was the father of Robert Fitz Hamon, who built Cardiff 
 Castle after the Conquest, and surrounded it with twelve smaller 
 fortresses. In 1 100 Creully belonged to Robert of Kent, natural 
 
122 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 son of Henry I. ; in the xvi. c. to the family De Sillans, and 
 later to the minister Colbert. The ruins of the castle are well seen 
 from the bridge of La Seulles, beyond the mill, sj k. S.W. of 
 Creully are the beautiful ruins of the Priory of S. Gabriel, 
 founded by Richard, Lord of Creully, in the xi. c. The remains 
 consist of a xv. c. manor, a keep which serves as a belfry, and the 
 choir of the conventual church. The latter terminates in a semi- 
 circular apse ; the vaulting is divided by a transverse arch ; the 
 arches are principally semicircular, and much ornamented with 
 the chevron. The parish church is remarkable for its tower, 
 supported by a single arch springing segmentally a short distance 
 from the floor. 
 
 A more direct route may be taken from Caen to (17 k.) Creully 
 by (8Jk.) Vieux-Cairon, 1. of which is Rosel, with a xiii. c, 
 
 xiv. c, and xv. c. church ; (10 k.) Cairon, 1 k. S.W. of which is 
 the fine Chateau de Lasson, chiefly of the time of Francois I. , 
 (14 k.) La Fresne-Camilly, with a fine church, partly xiii. c. ; 
 (16 k.) Pierrepont, where the church has a romanesque portal. 
 Robert, Lord of Pierrepont, came to England at the Conquest 
 in the suite of William de Warenne. Hurst Pierrepont in Sussex, 
 and Holme-Pierrepont in Nottinghamshire, have Norman desig- 
 nations which his descendants, now represented by the Earls 
 Manvers, added to the English localities. Near Pierrepont is the 
 handsome Chateau de LantheuiL 
 
 Varaville, N.E. of Caen, is an old battle-ground of France 
 and Normandy, where the river was crossed by a ford called 
 Gue-Beranger, in the xi. c, where Duke William gained (August 
 1058) a great victory over the French army under Henri I. 
 
 [A branch line runs N. from Caen to its especial bathing- 
 places, offering facilities for visiting many churches of interest ; 
 
 passing by — 
 
 1 1 k. Canities, where the church is partly romanesque, partly 
 
 xv. c. 
 
 15 k. Mathieu. The church has a curious late xi. c. roman- 
 esque nave. A tablet marks the house where Jean, father of 
 Clement Marot, was born. 
 
 20 k. Douvres has some remains of a (xiv. c.) chateau of the 
 
LA CHAPELLE DE LA DELIVRANDE. 123 
 
 bishops of Bayeux. The church, with a xn. c. nave and xiv. c. 
 choir, has a very fine romanesque tower, in which the arches of 
 the upper story are slightly pointed. 
 
 20J k. La Chapelle de la Delivrande. This famous place of 
 pilgrimage was founded by S. Regnobert in the vn. c, but has 
 been constantly rebuilt. Its celebrated image of the Virgin, which 
 is said to have fallen down from heaven, is of great antiquity, 
 and often attracts 150,000 pilgrims annually. The chapel has 
 been recently rebuilt. Near it are a convent, school, orphanage, 
 mission-house, and mnny booths for the sale of rosaries, candles, 
 and medals. 
 
 23 k. Luc sur Mer, a sea-bathing place. The modern church 
 possesses a porch and tower from an earlier building, and a cross 
 of 1662. 3 k. E. is Lion sur Mer (Hotel : de Calvados), with a 
 renaissance chateau. The choir of the church is xiv. c. 
 
 24J k. Langmne (Hotels : du Casino; de Bellevue). The very 
 noble church, xn. c. and xin. c, has a good central tower, with a 
 low, open stone spire. It has simple, heavy columns, and a stone 
 pulpit. Near this are the Roches du Calvados, so called from a 
 Spanish vessel of the Armada which was wrecked there. After 
 the Revolution, the name was taken as that of the Department, 
 
 26 k. 6*. Aubin sur Mer, a small bathing-place. 
 
 28J k. Bernieres. The fine church has a noble xin. c. tower 
 with a stone spire. The vast choir has fine retables and stall- 
 work of xvii. c. The nave and its aisles are romanesque of XI. c. 
 and xn. c. About 2 k. W. are the Roman excavations known 
 as Tombelle S. Ursin. 
 
 31 k. Courseulles (Hotel : des Etrangers) famous for its oyster 
 beds. The difficult entrance of its port is known as Fosse de 
 Courseulles. The chateau is of the time of Louis XVII. 
 
 (The road from Courseulles to (21k.) Bayeux passes (7 k-) 
 Tierceville, where the transition church has a xv. c. tower ; 
 (9J k.) Villers-le-Sec, where the xin. c. church has a curious tower 
 with a stair-turret, and r. of which is Bazenville, with an 
 admirable xin. c. tower and xv. c. porch, and a leper hospital 
 (made into a farm), with a flamboyant chapel ; (12 k.) Le Manoir, 
 1. of which are the xm. c. church and the xv. c. and xvi. c. chateau 
 of Vienne, and the xvm. c. chateau of Esquay sur Seniles ; (16 k.) 
 Sommervieu, where the church has a perfect xin. c. choir, and a 
 
124 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 modernised chateau of the bishops of Bayeux ; and (20 k.) 
 6", Vigor le Grand, where, in the sacristy, a curious old marble 
 seat is preserved, in which the bishops were seated on taking 
 possession of their diocese, and which is supposed to date from 
 Odo, brother of the Conqueror. The gateway and a xiii. c. barn 
 of a priory remain.) 
 
 A hill, formerly called Mout Faunus, where S. Vigor in the 
 vi. c. destroyed an idol which was adored by the ancient inhabit- 
 ants, is now called Mont Chrismet, because at Easter and 
 Pentecost he administered baptism there. The fragments of the 
 very curious font which he is said to have used are now in the 
 museum at Caen.] 
 
 [A line leads E. from Caen to Trouville by — 
 
 5 k. Giberville, 1. of which is Demonville, where the church 
 has a good xiv. c. porch. 
 
 12 k. Troarn, with remains of an xi. c. abbey. 
 
 15 k. Bures, where Mabile de Belleme was murdered in his 
 bath in the xi. c. 
 
 24 k. Dozule-Putot, on the line from Paris to Trouville.] 
 
 [A line leads S. from Caen to (157 k.) Laval, by — 
 9 k. Feuguerolles-S- Andre. Of the neighbouring villages 
 Feuguerolles-sur-Orne has a xn. c. church, ►S. Andre de Fontenay 
 has a xiii. c. nave, and slight remains of the Abbayede Fontenay, 
 founded in xi. c. ; the church of ►S. Martin de Fontenay is 
 partly romanesque. The village of Vieux (church of xiii. c. and 
 xiv. a), 3 k. S.W., occupies the site of the ancient capital of the 
 Viducasses. 
 
 14 k. Mutrecy-Clinchamps. The church of (2 k.) Clinchamps 
 has a beautiful romanesque tower. The church of (2 k.) Mtitrecy 
 is a very remarkable specimen of herring-bone masonry. 
 
 (A road of 32 k. connects this station with Falaise, passing 
 (2 k.) Laize la Ville, 2 J k. from which is the church of Fontenay- 
 le-Marmion, chiefly xiii. c, and the foundation of a castle. 
 To the N.W. of the village are remains of a remarkable 
 tumulus. 
 
 4 II est forme de pierres seches tassees les unes sur les 
 
7HUR Y-HARCO UR T. 
 
 125 
 
 autres. Son diametre actuel, vers la base, est d'environ cent 
 cinquante pieds ; mais il a du etre plus considerable, car on 
 a pris tout autour beaucoup de pierres pour la reparation des 
 chemins de la commune. Cette eminence, dont la hauteur n'est 
 plus aujourd'hui que de vingt a vingt-cinq pieds, renferme 
 plusieurs caveaux 011 loges sepulcrales grossierement arrondies, 
 dont les murs construits en pierres plates et brutes superposees, 
 sans aucune espece de ciment ni de mortier, s'elevent en se 
 retrecissant. Apres l'enlevement des decombres, on a con- 
 stamment decouverts, a une profondeur de dix a douze pieds, 
 une couche d'argile epaisse de vingt-cinq a trente pouces, dans 
 laquelle reposaient des ossements humains brises, dont les uns 
 avaient eprouve Taction du feu, tandis que les autres etaient dans 
 leur etat naturel.' — De Caumont, ' Antiquites Monumentales? 
 
 3 k. r. of the road is Fresney-le-Puceux, with a chateau 
 built in 1580 by Pierre d'Harcourt At 25 k. is Bretteville sur 
 Laize, with a church, originally xin. c, but much altered ; at 
 26 k. the xvi. c. Chateau d' Outrelaize. 
 
 22 k. Grimbosq. 3 k. E. is 6*. Laurent-de-Condet, where the 
 church has a nave of xi. c, choir of XIII. c. 1 k. farther is the 
 interesting xi. c. and xn. c. church of Montiers-en-Cinglais. 
 
 28 k. Croisilles-Harcourt. Croisilles has a xin. c. church. 
 Thury-Har court, which was made a duchy by Louis XIV. in 
 favour of Henri d'Harcourt, has a good gothic church. The 
 xvii. c. and xviii. c. Chateau occupies the site of a xiv. c. castle. 
 18 k. E., in the direction of Falaise, is the fine xiil c. church 
 of Ussy and its xvi. c. manor-house. The Ferme du Post, at 
 Ussy, is a moated and fortified manor. At 20 k. are some small 
 remains of the Abbaye de Villers. 
 
 34 k. >S. Remy has a romanesque church. 
 
 42 k. Clecy has a xv. c. church, with flamboyant windows. 
 The xvi. c. Manoir de Placy has two square towers. 
 
 46 k. Berjou-Cahan. Hence there is a branch line by (30 k.) 
 Falaise (see p. 105) to join the line from Mezidon to Argentan 
 at Coulibeuf. 
 
 53 k. Co7tde-sur-Noireau. The fine church of Martin, 
 near the station (xin. c. to xv. a), has been much restored. 
 Near the church of 6*. Sauveur are insignificant remains of a 
 
126 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 xii. c. castle/ The church of (5 k.) 6". Germain du Crioult has 
 some architectural interest. 
 
 58 k. Caligni. 3 k. S.W. are the (xv. c.) remains of the 
 Abbaye de la Belle-Etoile. Here we reach the line from Paris 
 to Granville (see ch. iv.).] 
 
 [A line leads S.W. from Caen to (77 k.) Vire by — 
 8 k. Verson. The choir of the church is early xiii. c, the 
 nave xiv. c. 
 
 12 k. Mouen has a romanesque (xn. c.) church. 
 Mondrainville (6 k. S.W.) has a xiii. c. church. 
 18 k. Noyers has a fine early gothic church and a xiv. c. 
 tithe-barn. 
 
 34 k. Aulnay-snr-Odon. To the S.W. of the town are ruins 
 of the Cistercian Abbaye d'Aulnaye, founded 1131. 2 k. N.W. 
 are remains of a castle, taken by Geoffrey Plantagenet in 1 141. 
 
 54 k. La Gauterie. Here we join the line from S. Lo to Vire : 
 see later.] 
 
 Leaving Caen, the main line passes — 
 
 253 k. (from Paris) Bretteville-Norrey . On r. is the 
 church of Bretteville V Orgueilleuse, which has an early 
 gothic choir ; its noble tower has been ruined by lightning. 
 L. is the very important church of Norrey — a village 
 cathedral — which has a nave of xiii. a, transept, choir and 
 chapels of xiv. c. The tower is of great beauty. 1 
 
 At 4I k. N. is Secqueville-en-Bessin, with the beautiful 
 (xiii. c.) church tower in which Robert Fitz-Hamon, partisan 
 of Henry I. of England, took refuge from the soldiers of 
 Robert, Duke of Normandy, who lighted a fire under it to 
 force him to surrender. 
 
 259 k. Audrien has a good cruciform church of xiii. c. 
 and xiv. c. The church of (5 k.) Tilly-sur- Seniles has an 
 
 1 This church is described at length in Whewell's Architectural Tour in 
 Normandy and Picardy. 
 
BAYEUX. 
 
 127 
 
 xi. c. nave and xn. c. choir, xiv. c. tower and xv. c. porch. 
 The Chapelle *de Notre Dame du Val^ in the middle of the 
 town, is late xn. c. 
 
 269 k. Bayeux (Hotels : du Luxembourg — tolerably 
 good \ Grand-Hotel Achard), the capital of the Viducasses, 
 then the ancient Augustodurus. Rollo stormed and cap- 
 tured the town, and with it Popa (the poupee or poppet), 
 daughter of the Count of Senlis-Vermandois, who became 
 the mother of his line. After this Bayeux became a 
 frequent residence of the dukes of Normandy, and was 
 the capital of the Bessin. Harold took the oath of fealty 
 here to William the Conqueror, swearing, it is said 
 unwittingly, upon a chest which had been purposely filled 
 with relics of Norman saints. 
 
 Bayeux is a picturesque and curious, but inanimate, 
 town. The noble Cathedral (1 k. from station) is a re- 
 building, early in the xn. c, of a church consecrated in 
 1077 in the presence of William the Conqueror, Queen 
 Matilda, and their son, which was burnt in 1166. The 
 W. facade has two towers, with spires of xn. c. The 
 octagonal central tower (restored) is of 1479. All round 
 the roof is a rich gothic gallery. The For tail du Doyenne 
 is only opened for the first reception of the dean, or for 
 his body after death. In the interior, tall gothic windows 
 are grafted upon the magnificent romanesque pillars and 
 arches. The chapels have remains of curious xv. c. and 
 xvi. c. paintings. Under the sanctuary is a crypt, believed 
 to date from xi. c, and, with the W, towers, to have 
 been built by Odo, son of Herlwin de Conteville and 
 Arlette, mother of the Conqueror, who, a boy-bishop at 
 the time of his appointment, ruled the see of Bayeux 
 
128 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 for fifty years. He also built the monastery of S. Vigor. 1 
 The chapter-house (xm. c. and xiv. c.) has a curious inlaid 
 pavement. That daughter of William the Conqueror and 
 Matilda who had been betrothed to Alphonso of Spain 
 is buried in the cathedral. It is said that she prayed that 
 she might never be united to the Spaniard, and died on 
 her way to him, and that when her body was brought back 
 here, her knees were found to have grown hard by her 
 long prayers. 
 
 Opposite the N. transept is the ancient Eveche, used 
 as a Palais de Justice. Several interesting outlying frag- 
 ments of the cathedral on this side are (1895) in danger of 
 being c restored ' away. 
 
 In the Place S. Sauveur is the Musee, now contain- 
 ing the famous Tapestry of Queen Matilda, on which the 
 queen, with the ladies of her court, has represented, in 
 fifty-eight groups, the whole history of the conquest of 
 England, and the events which led to it. They are all 
 named and described where they stand. Six hundred and 
 twenty-three persons are represented. Nothing can exceed 
 the historic interest and importance of these graphic pictures 
 worked in worsted upon canvas, and evidently executed 
 with the intention of conveying the impression that Harold 
 was a perjured usurper, and William owed his success to 
 his righteous cause. 
 
 The tapestry — which used to be known as ' La Toilette 
 du Due Guillaume ' — is undoubtedly contemporary with 
 him, but some authorities consider that it was not the work 
 of the queen, but made by order of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, 
 half-brother of the Conqueror. 
 
 1 He died on his way to the Crusades, and is buried at Palermo. 
 
BAYEUX. 
 
 129 
 
 ' I think no one can see the end of the battle — the Housecarls, 
 every one lying dead in his harness, while the light armed are 
 taking to flight, some of them on the horses of the fallen — and 
 not feel that he is in the presence of a work traced out by one 
 who had himself seen the scenes which he thus handed down to 
 later ages.' — Freeman, 
 
 Bayeux contains a great number of curious old houses, 
 especially 4, Rue S. Malo (xv. c. and xvi. c.) ; 4, Rue 
 Bienvenue; 1, Rue Franche (xiv. a); 3, Rue Franche 
 (xv. a); 8, Rue Laitiere; and the Maison du Gouverneur 
 in the Rue Bourbeneur. The Rue S. Nicolas is full of 
 picturesqueness. The suburban church of S. Loup has a 
 beautiful xn. c. tower, with long arches, and a relief of 
 S. Loup subduing a dragon over its portal. 
 
 A diligence (1 fr.) connects Bayeux with (9 k.) Port-en- Bess in 
 (Hotel : de VEtoile du Nord), a small bathing-place ; also with 
 (10 k.) Arromanches (Hotel: de la Marine) ; also with (14k.) 
 Asnelles (Grand Hotel), passing (9 k.) Ryes, where the faithful 
 Hubert, Seigneur de Ryes, received William (the Conqueror) 
 flying from Valognes and the rebel barons, set him on a fresh 
 horse, and bade his three sons ride with him and never leave 
 him till he was safe in his own castle of Falaise. The church is 
 xiii. c, and there are several curious old houses. 
 
 [A road leads N.W. to Grandcamp by — 
 
 6 k. Tour, where the church has a fine xiv. c. choir and early 
 gothic tower, stone seats, and interesting reliefs. 
 
 17 k. Formigny, where the English met with the great defeat 
 from the troops of Charles VII., which caused them to evacuate 
 Normandy. Thirty-five years after his victory, the French general, 
 the Comte de Clermont, erected a chapel on the battle-field 
 and dedicated it to 6*. Louis. This was used as a warehouse 
 after the Revolution, but was restored by Louis-Philippe. Over 
 the W. portal of the church is a curious equestrian statue of 
 S. Martin. 
 
 9 
 
130 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 33 k. Grandcamft (Hotels : de la Plage ; de la Croix Blanche), 
 a sea bathing-place, famous for its oysters.] 
 
 [A road runs S.W. from Bayeux to (37 k.) S. Lo (see later), 
 passing (at 15 k.), 2 J k. r. of Balleroy, a fine chateau built by 
 Mansart (1626-36), with decorations by Lemoine and Mignard. 
 At 21 k. the road passes 4 k. to the 1. of Cerisy-la-Foret, where 
 the fine church of the xi. c. belonged to an abbey founded by 
 S. Vigor, bishop of Bayeux, in 560.] 
 
 283 k. Le Molay-Litlry. 3 k. S. is Littry, with im- 
 portant coal-mines. The church is xn. c. An omnibus 
 runs from the station to (10 k. N.) Trevieres, where the 
 church is partly xn. c. 3^ k. N.E. of the station is the 
 church of Saon, containing the fine tomb of Robert 
 Davaynes, Seigneur de Grouchy, and Jeanne Dache, his 
 wife, 16 1 6. 
 
 296 k. Lison (Buffet). 
 
 [For the line from Lison to S. Lo, Coutances, etc., see 
 ch. vi.]. 
 
 305 k. Neuilly. The chateau was a summer residence 
 of the bishops of Bayeux. 
 
 314 k. Carentan, in unhealthy plains, has a richly 
 ornamented church of xiv. c. and xv. c. 
 
 [A road leads from Carentan to (26 k.) Grandcamp by (16 k.) 
 Isigny, with a little port, whence enormous quantities of Nor- 
 mandy butter are conveyed to England.] 
 
 326 k. Chef-du-Port. The church is partly romanesque. 
 4 k. N.E. is the church of S. Mere Eglise of xn. c. and 
 xiv. c. 
 
 343 k. Valognes, rich in Roman remains. The church 
 is xiv. c, xv. c, and xvi. c. The rich varied outline of 
 
BARFLEUR, RRICQUEBEC. 
 
 the gothic cupola is a striking object. It was at Valognes 
 that Duke William was suddenly roused from sleep by 
 his fool, Golet, and made to fly at midnight from his rebel 
 barons and Grimoald of Plessis, who was about to murder 
 him. 
 
 [A road leads N.E. to (7 k.) Montebourg, which had an ancient 
 . abbey, consecrated in 11 52, of which only the abbot's house 
 remains. The church was built at the expense of Baldwin de 
 Reviers, Earl of Devon, a staunch partisan of Matilda, who had 
 fled to Normandy from the vengeance of Stephen. Nothing 
 remains but the foundations. 2 k. S. is the curious church of 
 ►S*. Floxel, partly xi. c. ; and 2 k. E. the interesting Cross of 
 Eroudeville. At 14 k. the road reaches the little bathing-place 
 of Quineville, whence an excursion may be made to (7 k.) 6*. 
 Marcouf ) with a curious church of xi. c. to xiv. c. The Fontaine 
 de S. Marcouf is an interesting little xiii. c. building enclosing 
 a spring, where the statue of the saint is invoked in cases of skin 
 disease.] 
 
 [A road leads N.E. to (26 k.) the little port of Barfleur, now 
 almost deserted, but the only and much frequented port of the 
 Cotentin through the middle ages, which offers a perilous entry 
 or departure, and is haunted by a gloomy celebrity arising from 
 the shipwreck of the 1 Blanche NefJ and the unhappy loss of that 
 wayward prince, none the less mourned by reason of his errors, 
 the Atheling William, in whom the main line of the Conqueror 
 became extinct, and after whose death his royal father, Henry I., 
 never smiled again.] 
 
 353 k. Sottevast. 
 
 [A line diverges S. through the Cotentin to (87 k.) Coutances, 
 by- 
 
 8 k. Bricquebec, which has picturesque ruins of a chateau, 
 begun xiv. c, finished at the end of xvi. c. Its lord, Guillaume 
 Bertram, son of Oslac, passed over to England with the Con- 
 queror, and became (in the female line) the ancestor of the 
 Earls of Huntley and Dudley. 
 
132 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 * The Cotentin castles, wide in their range and richly varied 
 in their architectural style, constitute the ornament of the land- 
 scape ; and after all the dilapidations, restorations, or destructions 
 which they sustained, whether occasioned by war or consequent 
 upon peace, effected by violence or dictated by taste or necessity, 
 more than one hundred of these structures still survive. — We 
 read the history of the country on the face of the country.' — 
 Palgrave. 
 
 23 k. *S\ Sanveur le Vicomte. The town is surmounted by 
 ruins of an ancient castle, and of an abbey founded 1080. The 
 church of the latter is transition, and highly picturesque. 
 
 ' The seigneurs of S. Sauveur long treasured, amongst their 
 archives, a copy of the grant by which the territory had been 
 bestowed upon their ancestor, Richard, one of Rollo's principal 
 commanders. The domain is described as principally consisting 
 of wood and waste land. Herbert, Bishop of Coutances, con- 
 secrated the domestic chapel.' — Palgrave. 
 
 35 k. La Haye-du-Puits has remains of an old castle. An 
 excursion may be made to the ruined abbey of Blanche lande, 
 founded by Richard de la Haye, a favourite of Henry II. The 
 abbot's residence is now a farmhouse. Part of the church 
 (consecrated 1 185) remains. 
 
 43 k. Lessay, which had a Benedictine abbey, founded 1140. 
 The church is an interesting building of xi. c, and has stalls 
 from the abbey of Blanchelande. 
 
 51 k. Periers. The church is a fine building of xiv. c. and 
 XV. c] 
 
 365 k. Martinvaast. 14 k. W. is Les Pieux^ 4 k. from 
 which is the xm. c. chateau of Le Rozel. 
 
 371 k. Cherbourg (Hotels: du Casino; de CAmiraute ; 
 de V Univers ; de France). Caesaris Burgus was the port to 
 which the Romans first directed their care. From the 
 time of Philippe-Auguste this has been one of the chief 
 
CHERBOURG. 
 
 133 
 
 ports of France, and since the xvm. c. it has been its chief 
 military post. 
 
 The church of La Trinite is xv. c. 
 
 'When the bastions of Vauban arose, the relics of classic 
 antiquity disclosed how sagaciously the Caesars had anticipated 
 the great teacher of modern strategy.' — Palgrave. 
 
 { Malediction, Cherbourg, a tes parages sinistres ! C'est 
 aupres de Cherbourg que le vent de la colere jeta Edouard III. 
 pour ravager notre pays ; c'est non loin de Cherbourg que le vent 
 d'une victoire ennemie brisa la flotte de Tourville ; c'est a Cher- 
 bourg que le vent d'une prosperity menteuse repoussa Louis XVI. 
 vers son echafaud ; c'est a Cherbourg que le vent de je ne sais 
 quelle rive a emporte nos derniers princes. Les cotes de la 
 Grand-Bretagne, qu'aborda Guillaume le Conquerant, ont vu 
 debarquer Charles le dixieme sans pennon et sans lance ; il est 
 alle retrouver a Holyrood les souvenirs de sa jeunesse, appendus 
 aux murailles du chateau des Stuarts, comme de vieilles 
 gravures jaunies par le temps.' — Chateaubriand, k Memoir es 
 d' Outre- Touche. ' 
 
 17 k. N.W. of Cherbourg is the village of Beaumont-Hague, 
 near which may be seen the remains of the curious intrenchment 
 called Hague Dicke, 4 k. in length. It is believed to date from 
 the time of the earliest Norman invasions, sometimes supposed 
 to have been intended to cover their embarkations in case of 
 retreat, sometimes attributed to the early inhabitants of Gaul. 1 
 3 k. S.W., near Vauville, is the covered stone alley called Pierres 
 pouquelees — worshipped stones. Near (26 k.) the Cap de la 
 Hague is the great lighthouse of Gros-du-Raz. 
 
 1 See Ernest Desjardins, Geographic de la Gaule romaine, I. 333. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PARIS TO GRANVILLE, BY DREUX, ARGENTAN AND 
 VI RE. FROM THE GARE MONTPARNASSE . 
 
 THE Gare Montparnasse is cn the Boulevard Montparnasse, 
 on the 1. bank of the Seine, at a great distance from the 
 hotels usually frequented by English visitors. The trains as far 
 as Versailles run every half-hour from 6.35 to 9.5 a.m. ; after 
 10.5 at every hour. 
 
 The places to the r. of the carriages are best for the view. 
 
 6 k. Clamart, after which the railway passes beneath 
 the fort of Issy. On the 1. the villages of Val and Fleury 
 are seen, then Meudon with its terrace. On the r. there 
 is a fine view over the valley of the Seine, with Paris, the 
 Bois de Boulogne, Mont Valerien, S. Cloud, and Sevres. 
 The gorge of Val Fleury is crossed before reaching — 
 v 8 k. Meudon. It is an ascent of i| k. from the station, 
 in a straight line, to the famous Terrace of Meudon, which 
 is always open to the public, and which has incomparably 
 the most beautiful and pictorial view in the neighbourhood 
 of Paris. To the 1. the great mass of the city is seen, 
 backed by the heights of Montmartre and by fainter blue 
 distances. The dome of the Invalides glitters to the r. 
 of the windings of the Seine with its bridges, and, farther 
 to the r., southern Paris extends into long lines of houses 
 
 !34 
 
MEUDON. 
 
 135 
 
 for miles, only broken by S. Sulpice, S. Germain, and 
 the Pantheon. 
 
 After ' Monseigneur,' the son of Louis XIV., became 
 the owner of Meudon, he lived there whenever he could 
 escape from the Court, and amused himself in the creation 
 of gardens and buildings, as his father did at Versailles : he 
 especially loved, by taking refuge at Meudon, to avoid the 
 tedious monotony of the Voyages de Marly. His mor- 
 ganatic wife, known by the name of Mile Chouin, resided at 
 Meudon, w T as united to him c. 1695 in secret bonds of 
 matrimony, as Mme de Maintenon was to Louis XIV., but 
 occupied a very different position, living in one of the 
 attics of the house, and seen by none but Monseigneur. 
 The King never came to Meudon, which, after all, he dis- 
 liked as alienating his son from the Court, till he was 
 summoned thither (171 1) by the news of Monseigneur's 
 dangerous illness. Then he established himself there till 
 his son's death (from small-pox), which was very sudden 
 at last. 
 
 In the reign of Louis XV., the Duchesse de Berry 
 exchanged Amboise for Meudon, which was reunited to 
 the crown in 1726. In 1736, Stanislaus, King of Poland, 
 was lodged here. In 1789, the first Dauphin, son of 
 Louis XVI., died here. During the Revolution the older 
 chateau was transformed into a fortress, and Napoleon I. 
 pulled it down, using some of its marbles in building the 
 arch of the Place du Carrousel. A second chateau, which 
 had been built by the second Dauphin, was repaired and 
 intended to be used as a college for kings ! Marie Louise 
 and the King of Rome lived there during the Russian 
 campaign. Afterwards (1833) Pedro, king of Portugal, his 
 
136 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 daugther, Dona Maria, the Due d'Orleans, and Marshal 
 Soult, inhabited it in turn. Under the Second Empire 
 it was the residence of Jerome Napoleon, once King of 
 Westphalia. It was destroyed during the Franco-German 
 war of 1870, and the terraces are now the only memorials 
 of the two chateaux. Only the lower terrace is open to the 
 public ; at the end is an observatory. 
 
 Le Bois de Meudon is a favourite resort of Parisian 
 pedestrians. Mine Roland used to be brought thither in 
 her childhood. 
 
 9 k. Bellevue (Hotel : de la Tete Noire), Here Mme 
 de Pompadour, admiring the view from the hill above the 
 1. bank of the Seine, built a chateau, 1748-50, which 
 Louis XV. frequently used as a residence, and which he 
 purchased in 1757. After the death of Louis XV. the 
 chateau became the private residence of his daughters, 
 Mesdames, Tantes du Roi, till their flight before the 
 coming Revolution in 1791. 
 
 During the Revolution the chateau of Mesdames was 
 sold, and has been almost entirely destroyed. The only 
 remaining fragment, now known as Brimborion (a pavilion 
 inhabited by Louis XV. whilst the chateau was building), 
 is in private hands. A fine view over Paris (though 
 inferior to that from Meudon, turning to the 1. from 
 the station and taking the second turning to the r.) is 
 to be obtained from the terrace at the end of the Avenue 
 Melanie. 
 
 13 k. Chaville possessed a magnificent chateau, built by 
 Louvois, but it was utterly destroyed at the Revolution. 
 
 14 k. Viroflay. There is a pleasant walk from hence to 
 Versailles (4 k.) by Joug and Buc. 
 
5. CYR. 
 
 137 
 
 18 k. Versailles} See £ Excursions from Paris ' in North- 
 Eastern France. 
 
 22 k. S. Cyr. This place derives its name from the 
 little Gaulish Christian Cyrus, who was thrown from a 
 rock by the Roman governor, at three years old, for re- 
 fusing to change his religion after the martyrdom of his 
 mother. A convent afterwards existed here. But S. Cyr 
 was of no importance till Mme de Maintenon received it 
 as a wedding present from Louis XIV., and transferred 
 hither the college for indigent young ladies of noble birth, 
 which she had previously instituted in the Chateau 
 de Noisy near Versailles, and which she placed under 
 the care of her friend Mme de Brinon, an ex-Ursuline 
 nun. Mansart was employed by Louis XIV. to build the 
 immense edifice, which still exists, to please Mme de 
 Maintenon, who was especially proud of her title of 
 ' Marquise de Maintenon, superieur de l'abbaye royale 
 de S. Cyr.' Whilst still living at Versailles, she would 
 often amuse Louis XIV. by making the young ladies of 
 S. Cyr get up the newly-written plays of Racine and act 
 them in his presence. Even during the King's lifetime 
 Mme de Maintenon ruled the institution of S. Cyr as an 
 autocrat; and when he was on his death-bed, as soon as 
 he had lost consciousness, she obeyed his wishes by retiring 
 there altogether, probably to avoid complications with his 
 family, having lost those members of it who were fond of 
 her, and having reason to distrust the rest. The day after she 
 reached S. Cyr, the King died. Mile d'Aumale came into 
 the room and said, £ Madame, toute la communaute est a 
 
 1 For a detailed account of Versailles and its historic associations see Days 
 near Paris. 
 
138 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Peglise.' She understood, rose silently, and went herself to 
 the church, where the office of the dead was being recited. 
 The King had left her nothing in his will, but had simply 
 recommended her to the care of his nephew, afterwards 
 Regent. The Due d'Orleans was worthy of this confidence. 
 A few days after the King's death he paid her a visit, and 
 continued her pension of 48,000 livres, inserting in the 
 brevet that ' son rare desinteressement la lui avait rendue 
 necessaire.' 
 
 The retreat of Mme de Maintenon was once interrupted. 
 When the Czar Peter came to France, in 17 17, he insisted 
 upon seeing the woman who, for thirty years, had played 
 such an important part in the world. She died at S. Cyr, 
 April 15, 17 19. She had desired to be simply buried in 
 the churchyard of S. Cyr. But the Due de Noailles, who 
 had married her niece, erected a magnificent tomb to her 
 in the middle of the choir, which was destroyed in the 
 Revolution. Neither of her two husbands was mentioned 
 in her epitaph. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon I. restored S. Cyr — pillaged at 
 the Revolution — as a military school. Its enormous mono- 
 tonous white buildings, with high slated roofs, contain 350 
 pupils, and it annually gives about 140 young officers to 
 the army. The greater part of the former gardens is now 
 a Champ de Mars. A black marble slab in the chapel 
 covers the remains of Mme de Maintenon, collected after 
 the Revolution, and is inscribed — ' Cy-git Mme de 
 Maintenon, 1635 — 1719.— 1826.' 
 
 29 k. Villepreuxles-Clayes. In the woods of Arcy, near 
 Villepreux, a fete is held on Whit-Monday, at the Chapelle 
 S. Jouan. 
 
MONTFOR T-IJAMA UR Y. 
 
 139 
 
 33 k. Plaisir-Grignon. An omnibus takes travellers 
 in fifteen minutes to the great agricultural institution of 
 Grignon, founded in 1827. The handsome church of 
 Grignon is xm. c. 
 
 40 k. Villiers-Neauphle. On the r., in the valley of the 
 Mauldre, at Neauphle-le- Vieux, are considerable remains of 
 a Benedictine abbey and church, founded 1066, and now 
 turned into a farm. 2 k. 1. of the station is the noble 
 moated Chateau de Pontchartrain, built by Paul Phelypeaux, 
 Secretary of State (ob. 1621), and enriched by his descend- 
 ants, who for four generations filled high government offices. 
 It is now occupied by Comte Henchel de Donnersmack. 
 
 An omnibus connects the station with Beynes^ where 
 the church contains a magnificent renaissance retable, and 
 which has remains of a moated castle, flanked by eight 
 towers. 
 
 45 k. Montfort-V Amaury , It is 2 k. from the station, 
 by a straight avenue of planes, to the quaint, seldom-visited 
 town (omnibus 40 c. ; Hotels : des Voyageurs ; de Paris — 
 good restaurant), which is overlooked by the ruined castle 
 of the Comtes de Montfort. This famous family descended 
 from Charlemagne, through Judith (daughter of Charles le 
 Chauve), who married Baudouin Bras-de-fer, Comte de 
 Flandre. Their grandson, Guillaume, Comte de Hainaut, 
 married the heiress of Epernon and Montfort. He fortified 
 the latter place, which took the name of his son, Amaury. 
 Simon, son of Amaury, was the father of the famous Ber- 
 trade, who fled from her first husband, Foulques de Rechin, 
 Comte d'Anjou, to marry Philippe I. of France, who was 
 already married himself. The pair were excommunicated, 
 nevertheless Bertrade lived prosperously with the King for 
 
140 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 sixteen years, and even contrived to reconcile her first and 
 second husbands, and dine with them together at Angers, 
 and sit with them under the same canopy at church — the 
 King by her side, Foulques on a stool at her feet. Bertrade 
 died a nun. Her brother, Amaury IV., a famous warrior, 
 sometimes the ally and often the enemy of his sovereign, 
 was the grandfather of the celebrated and cruel Simon de 
 Montfort, who overthrew the Counts of Toulouse, and 
 acquired their dominions. His son, Amaury VII., resigned 
 the countship of Toulouse to Louis VIII., for the dignity of 
 Constable. 
 
 But the family history was by no means ended yet. 
 The son of Amaury VII. only left a daughter, Yolande, 
 who married (1250) the Comte de Dreux, and secondly 
 Arthur II., Due de Bretagne. The son of her second 
 marriage, Jean de Montfort, disputed the ducal crown 
 with his niece, Jeanne, wife of Charles de Blois. The 
 son of Jean de Montfort, of the same name, after 
 gaining the battle of Auray, where his rival was killed, 
 became duke, and the Dukes of Brittany continued to be 
 also Counts of Montfort till the marriage of Anne of 
 Brittany with Charles VIII., and afterwards with Louis XII. 
 In 1537, Francois I. gave up to Spain the countship of 
 Montfort-1' Amaury, but recovered it seven years after. It 
 afterwards belonged to Catherine de Medicis, to her son, 
 the Due d'Anjou, then to the Due d'Alencon. At the death 
 of the latter, Henri III. gave it to the Due d'Epernon. 
 Returning to the crown, it was exchanged, in 1692, by 
 Louis XIV. with the duchy of Chevreuse. Never had 
 fortress so many illustrious owners. 
 
 The splendid Parish Church, chiefly renaissance, has 
 
MONTFOR T-LAMA UR Y. 
 
 some small remains of the original building, given to the 
 abbey of S. Magjoire at Paris, in 1072. The choir is xv. c, 
 except the flying buttresses added in the xvi. c, to which 
 the nave belongs. The tower is of 16 13. The vaulting of 
 the side aisles has very rich pendants. A great deal of fine 
 stained glass of 1578 remains, most of the windows — superb 
 
 PORTE BARDOU, MONTFORT-l'AMAURY. 
 
 in colour — representing scriptural subjects, with the donors 
 kneeling in front, often presented by their patron saints. 
 In the first window (r.) kneel Henri III. and Catherine de 
 Medicis, attended by pages and ladies. Facing the church 
 is the castle on its hill, and La Porte Bardou closing the 
 uphill street, and supposed to derive its name from Hugues 
 Bardoulf, father-in-law of Simon. From a side street on the 
 
142 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 r., in ascending the hill, a pretty flamboyant portal gives 
 access to the xv. c. cloisters of a convent, with good wooden 
 vaulting, the enclosed space being now used as a cemetery. 
 Amongst the tombs is that of the Duchesse de Bethune- 
 Charost, daughter of the Marquise de Tourzel, governess of 
 Louis XVII. Little remains of the castle except two towers, 
 one hexagonal, of admirable brick- and stone-work. There 
 are some ruins of another castle near the chateau of 
 Groussaye. 
 
 The modern chapel of Notre Dame du Chine, on the 
 road to Artoire, contains a 1 miraculous ' statue of the 
 Virgin, said to have been found in an oak. Near this is 
 the xvii. c. chateau of Mesnu/s, which belongs to the 
 Comte de Nogent. In the neighbouring forest of S. Leger 
 was the Chateau de S. Hubert, a richly-decorated hunting 
 lodge, built by Gabriel for Louis XIV. and destroyed 
 by Louis XVI. 
 
 56 k. Tacoignieres. To the r. of the line is Richebourg, 
 which has a fine xv. c. church, with a peculiar and graceful 
 spire. 
 
 63 k. Houdan (omnibus, 25 a), the ancient Hodincum, 
 retains its old fortress-tower, built by Amaury III. de 
 Montfort c. 1130. It has a fine unfinished gothic church, 
 and (39 Rue de Paris), a richly-ornamented old timber 
 mansion. 6 k. E., at Gambais, is a large moated chateau 
 of the xiv. c. 
 
 82 k. Dreux (Hotel : du Paradis — good), crowned by its 
 royal burial-place, and the remains of the castle of the 
 Comtes de Dreux. 
 
 The town — said to have been the capital of the Duro- 
 casses in the reign of Agrippa — has sustained many sieges, 
 
DREUX. 
 
 H3 
 
 and (December 19, 1562), was the scene of a sanguinary 
 battle, between the Protestants under Conde and Coligny, 
 and the Catholics under the 'triumvirate ' of the Constable 
 de Montmorency, the Due de Guise, and Marechal S. 
 Andre. Eight thousand men fell in the battle, in which 
 the Catholics were victorious, the Prince de Conde on the 
 Protestant side, and Montmorency on the Catholic side, 
 being taken prisoners, and S. Andre being killed. 
 
 The magnificent Church of S. Pierre is chiefly flam- 
 boyant, but the choir and columns of the nave are xn. c. 
 and xiii. c. The fine gothic portal is by Clement Metezeau, 
 a native of Dreux. The stained glass is of great beauty and 
 interest. In the nave are remains of a series of the Apostles ; 
 in the choir several noble life-size figures of saints ; in the 
 S. transept the Descent from the Cross and the Sacrifice 
 of Isaac. In the side chapels are a Crucifixion ; scenes 
 from the story of the sainted shoemakers, Crispin and Cris- 
 pinian ; the Ascension ; the Baptism of Clovis ; S. John ; 
 Notre Dame de Pitie ; S. Blaise ; S. Sebastian ; fragments 
 of the story of Notre Dame de Lorette, and of that of 
 S. Fiacre. The (restored) windows of the Chapelle de la 
 Vierge narrate the history of the Virgin. Some of the 
 side chapels of the nave have remains of frescoes repre- 
 senting the pilgrimage of the inhabitants of Dreux to 
 S. James of Compostella, in the xvn. c. and xviii. c. On 
 the wall facing the altar is an armed knight, with the epitaph 
 of Mercoeur of France, 1562. A curious bhiitier of xn. c. 
 comes from the old collegiate church of S. Etienne. The 
 organ is of 16 14. 
 
 Near the church is a very fine old clock-tower. The 
 renaissance Hotel de Ville was built 1512-37. It contains 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 a sculptured portal from the Chateau de Crecy, and armour 
 found on the battlefield of Ivry. The bell, founded under 
 Charles IX., is surrounded with a representation of the 
 Procession des Flambarts, which formerly took place at 
 Christmas at Dreux. 
 
 The Orleans Chapel rises picturesquely on the hill at 
 the end of the principal street. There are two ascents, one 
 
 DREUX. 
 
 for carriages, and a shorter one for pedestrians, winding up 
 to the grounds of the chateau, which are open to the public. 
 Very little of the ancient castle remains, but its enclosure 
 is occupied by a garden, in the centre of which is the 
 Chapelle royale, built by the Dowager Duchess of Orleans 
 in 1 8 13, and gothicised by Louis-Philippe in 1839. The 
 architecture is wretched, but the contents are of the deepest 
 interest. For admission apply to the concierge on the left 
 
DREUX. 
 
 H5 
 
 of the entrance to the garden. Only funeral services are 
 now held here. Since the c chateau en planches ' was de- 
 stroyed, in 1848, the family have arrived for the services 
 in the morning, leaving again in the afternoon. 
 
 The beautiful stained windows of the antechapel repre- 
 sent Christ in the Garden of Olives ; the Deposition ; 
 S. Arnould washing the feet of pilgrims ; and S. Adelaide, 
 Queen of Hungary, distributing alms. 
 
 The rotunda or choir is the original part of the church. 
 The beautiful glass of the windows has figures of saints — 
 the Due d'Orleans is represented as S. Ferdinand, Princess 
 Louise as S. Amelie, Louis-Philippe as S. Philippe. A stair 
 descends behind the altar to the crypts and chapel of the 
 Virgin, entirely occupied by the royal monuments. 
 
 R. of the steps. The tomb of Mile de Montpensier, the two- 
 years-old daughter of Louis-Philippe, by Pradier. 
 
 L. of the steps. The Due de Penthievre, eight-years-old son 
 of Louis-Philippe. 
 
 Facing the steps. The huge tomb of King Louis-Philippe and 
 Queen Marie Amelie, arranged to support their effigies — that of 
 the king standing, with his hand resting upon the kneeling queen. 
 
 R. Princess Marie, Duchess of Wurtemberg. The angel 
 above was her last work in sculpture. 
 
 R., in the sanctuary. The Due d'Orleans, eldest son of Louis- 
 Philippe, 1842. The tomb was designed by Ary Scheffer, and 
 is very noble and touching. Behind (in a separate chapel, being 
 a Protestant) is Helene de Mecklembourg-Schwerin, Duchesse 
 d'Orleans (1858), her hand outstretched from the dark chapel, 
 so as almost to touch her husband. 
 
 R. Maria Clementina of Austria, Princess of Salerno, mother 
 of the Duchesse dAumale. 
 
 L. Mme Adelaide, 1847, sister of Louis-Philippe, beautiful 
 in lace and ermine ; by Millet. 
 
 L. The crowned figure of the Duchesse d'Orleans, mother 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 of Louis-Philippe, and foundress of the chapel. Exquisitely 
 beautiful. 
 
 L. The Duchesse de Bourbon Conde, aunt of the king and 
 mother of the Due d'Enghien. 
 
 Turning 1. from the steps. Two children of the Comte de 
 Paris — an exquisite work of Franceschi. A child, bearing a cross 
 with one hand, lifts his baby brother to eternity with the other. 
 
 L. Prince Ferdinand, son of the Due de Montpensier ; by 
 Aime Millet. An exquisitely beautiful tomb, and simple touching 
 figure. 
 
 R., opposite. Prince Louis, son of the Due de Montpensier; 
 by Millet, A veiled figure. 
 
 L. Six children of the Due d'Aumale. 
 
 L. Louis-Philippe, Prince de Conde, eldest son of the Due 
 d'Aumale, who died at Sydney in his twenty-first year, September 
 1866. 
 
 L. Francois, Due de Guise, last son of the Due d'Aumale, 
 who died at eighteen, July 25, 1872. 
 
 R., opposite. Caroline, Duchesse d'Aumale, 1869, with a 
 beautiful statue by Alfred Lenoir. 
 
 Turning r. from steps. Prince Robert, son of the Due de 
 Chartres, aged eighteen. 
 
 A beautiful series of windows represents the life of S. Louis. 
 The tomb of the Due de Penthievre, maternal grandfather of Louis- 
 Philippe (father-in-law of the Princesse de Lamballe), was violated 
 in 1793. In side passages are some exquisite windows, each 
 being a picture on a single sheet of glass, executed at Sevres by 
 Brongniart and Robert. 
 
 A little N.E. of Dreux is Abondant, whither Mme de 
 Tourzel, governess of the children of Louis XVL, retired 
 after the death of Robespierre, having escaped miraculously 
 from the guillotine, with her two daughters — the Duchesse 
 de Charost, and Pauline, afterwards Comtesse de Beam 
 and authoress of Souvenirs de Quarante Ans. Here this 
 faithful friend of Marie Antoinette is buried, with the 
 epitaph — 
 
ABONDANT. 
 
 H7 
 
 < Hie jacet L. E. F. T. A. M. J. de Croy, Ducissa de Tourzel, 
 regiae sobolis gubernatrix. Fortis in adversis, Deo regique 
 fidelis, vere mater pauperum, pertransivit benefaciendo, omnibus 
 veneranda, magno prolis amore dilecta. Obiit anno aetatis 82. 
 Requiescat in pace.' 
 
 The church is very ancient, with a monolith font and 
 good stained glass. Above the Eure are the remains of 
 the Chateau de la Robertiere. 
 
 [A road leads S.E. from Dreux to (23 k.) Maintenon by (17 k.) 
 Nogent le Roi, a small fortified town upon the Eure, with four 
 gateways and a fine renaissance church. On the opposite side 
 of the river is (1 k.) Coulombs, with remains of a Benedictine 
 abbey founded viii. c, especially a fine xi. c. portal and ruins of 
 the tower, whose beautiful bells gave rise to the song called Le 
 Carillon de l'Abbaye.~\ 
 
 [A line leads S. to (42 k.) Chartres, passing (19 k.) the station 
 of S.-Sauveur-Chdteauneuf, near which are remains of the fortress 
 of Chateauneuf-en-Thymerais, destroyed in 1600.] 
 
 91k. S. Germain — S. Remy. S. Remi-sur-Avre has a 
 fine gothic church. 
 
 97 k. Nonancourt was fortified by Henry I. to defend 
 the frontier of Normandy. At 1 k. (omnibus) is S.-Lubin- 
 des-Joncherets, with a xn. c. church, restored xv. c. and 
 xvi. c. The tomb of the President de Grammont was 
 destroyed at the Revolution, but the statue remains. 
 
 118 k. Verneuil (Hotel : du Commerce), strongly fortified 
 by Henry I. and II. Only one tower— Za Tour Grise— 
 remains of their castle. The church of La Madeleine, of 
 various dates from xi. c. to xvn. c, has a rich tower of 
 1506-30. Notre Dame is chiefly xn. c. S. Jean, used 
 as a corn exchange, has a fine xv. c. tower. The gabled 
 
1 48 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 buildings called Les Perrins were military warehouses of 
 the time of Henry I. Several houses are picturesque or 
 curious. 
 
 141 k. Laigle, a town which prospers ori factories of 
 pins, nails, wire, etc. The church of S. Martin, of many 
 dates, has a picturesque xv. c. tower. S. Jean is chiefly 
 xv. c. The Chateau, of the xvn. c, replaces that where 
 William Rufus and Henry Beauclerc insulted their elder 
 brother, Robert, by pouring dirty water (or worse) through 
 the boarded floor of an upper chamber upon his head. 
 
 In the history of science, the name of Laigle has 
 become celebrated by the shower of stones which fell there 
 in 1803 — the first authentic fall of aerolites known. 
 
 [For the line from Laigle to Conches see ch. iii.] 
 
 157 k. S. Gauburge has fine flamboyant ruins of a 
 priory. 
 
 [For the lines towards Lisieux and Caen see ch. iii.] 
 
 [A line leads S. to (35 k.) Mortagne (Hotels : du Grand 
 Cerf; de la Bouteitle). The town, on a height 1^ k. from the 
 station, is utterly uninteresting. It has a very large featureless 
 church of xv. c. and xvi. c] 
 
 173 k. Nonant-le-Pin. 2 k. N.E. is S. Germain de 
 Clairfeuille, where the church (xiv. c. and xv. c.) is famous 
 for its beautiful oak screen. 17 k. N.W. is Chambois, with 
 very interesting remains of a xn. c. castle. 
 
 182 k. Surdon (Buffet). For the line from hence to 
 Caen see ch. iii. 
 
 [A line runs S. to — 
 
 7 k. Sees (Hotel : du Cheval Blanc). In the view from the 
 
SEES. 
 
 149 
 
 railway the beautiful gothic cathedral rises above the houses 
 of the town and green meadows. It replaces three churches 
 founded 440, 996, and 1053, and is chiefly xm. c. and xiv. c. 
 The W. front, with its two spires, its deeply-receding porch, with 
 vast buttresses, is very peculiar. Its E. end, of xm. c, very 
 graceful and refined, is over-restored. Only a fragment of a 
 cloister remains on the N. 
 
 SEES. 
 
 * La nef, batie au commencement du xm. c, fut remaniee 
 dans sa partie superieure 50 ou 60 ans apres sa construction ; 
 le choeur, eleve vers 1230 et presque entierement detruit par un 
 incendie, dut etre repris vers 1260, de fond en comble, sauf la 
 chapelle de la Vierge, que Ton jugea pouvoir etre conservee. Le 
 maitre de l'oeuvre du choeur, ne se fondant que sur des 
 maconneries tres insuffisantes, avait cherche par l'extreme 
 legerete de sa construction, a diminuer le danger d'une pareille 
 situation, et, en ne considerant meme le choeur de la cathedrale 
 de Sees qu'a ce point de vue, il meriterait d'etre etudie. Les 
 chapelles absidales, presentant des murs rayonnants etendus, 
 se pretaient d'ailleurs a une construction legere. En effet, les 
 
150 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 travees interieures du sanctuaire sont d'une legerete qui depasse 
 tout ce qui a ete tente en ce genre.' — Viollet le Due. 
 
 [9 k. from Sees, on the road to Mortagne, is the little town of 
 Essai, once strongly fortified. A xv. c. chapel remains of its 
 ancient chateau.] 
 
 28 k. Alencon (Hotel : du Grand Cerf— very good indeed ; 
 de la Gare), capital of the departement de l'Orne. In 1296 it 
 was taken by Duke William (the Conqueror), who had sworn 
 ' by the splendour of God ' to avenge himself for the insult of its 
 defenders, who had beaten skins and leathern jerkins on its 
 walls, crying, 'Hides, hides for the tanner! ' The town became 
 a stronghold of Calvinism in the xvi. c. under Marguerite 
 d'Angouleme, who married Charles IV., Due d'Alencon. It was 
 ruined by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but prosperity 
 was restored soon afterwards by the introduction of the famous 
 lace manufacture (fioint d'Alencon) by a native lady named 
 Gilbert ; this even now employs above two thousand women. 
 Alencon is still an important place. The beautiful xv. c. church 
 of Notre Dame (in the Rue du Bercail) is especially remarkable 
 for the extreme magnificence of its flamboyant portal, covered 
 with lacelike sculpture of indescribable richness. It is adorned 
 with six statues representing the Transfiguration. Of these, 
 S. John is supposed to have turned his back (as he is now seen) 
 when the church was pillaged by the Protestants in 1562 — a 
 demonstration which so astounded them that they abstained 
 from further injuries. The vaulting of the nave is very rich 
 and complicated. The flamboyant windows have much good 
 xvi. c. glass. 
 
 The church of £\ Leonard was begun by Rene, due d'Alencon, 
 c. 1489, and finished by his widow Marguerite. Adjoining the 
 Hotel de Ville are two towers of the ancient Chateau, of which 
 an over-restored xv. c. gateway remains. There is a large, dull 
 public garden. 
 
 [For the line from Alencon to Le Mans see ch. v.] 
 
 186 k. Almeneches. The town, 2 k. from the station, 
 has a richly-ornamented church of xvi. c, rebuilt by 
 
ALMENE CUES, ARGENTAN. 
 
 I5i 
 
 Marguerite de Navarre, Duchesse d'Alencon. The abbey 
 was founded by S. Evroult, and had as an abbess S. 
 Opportune, whose miracle in suddenly covering with salt 
 the lands of a man who had stolen her ass, is still com- 
 memorated in the name of Le Pre- Sale. 
 
 CHATEAU, ARGENTAN. 
 
 [At 6 k., near Mortree, is the famous Chateau d'O (Marquise 
 d'Albon), chiefly of rich (xvi. c.) renaissance with an xvm. c. 
 facade. The last of the d'O was one of the mignons of 
 Henri III. 
 
 3. k. S.E. of Mortree is the fine xvi. c. chateau of Clerai.~\ 
 10 k. S.E. of Almeneches is the magnificent Chateau de Sacy 
 (Due dAudiffret Pasquier). 
 
 197 k. Argentan (Hotel: des Trois Maries, good; de 
 Normandie), a prettily situated town. A picturesque street 
 
152 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 leads uphill to the large flamboyant church of S. Germain, 
 on a height, of 1410 — 1609, with a very rich N. portal 
 and heavy renaissance tower. One of the pillars near 
 the choir is sculptured with the figure of an ass — Fane 
 d'Argentan — in strong relief. A little behind the church is 
 the picturesque xv. c. Chateau, now used for public offices. 
 The Tour Marguerite is a relic of the old fortifications. 
 On the N. side of the town is S. Martin, a very good 
 specimen of the xvi. c. 
 
 207 k. Ecouche, where the chapel of the hospital has a 
 remarkably sculptured retable. 
 
 [13 k. S.W. is the curious Chateau de Ranes, before which 
 thirty Frenchmen are said to have vanquished thirty Englishmen 
 in single combat, in 1432. Its fine square battlemented tower is 
 early xvi. c] 
 
 226 k. Briouze. 
 [A line runs S. to — 
 
 23 k. La Ferte-Mace. The Hotel de Ville is partly xiv. c. 
 and xv. c. 
 
 33 k. Bagnoles les Eaux (Hotels : des Bains ; de Bagnoles), 
 a little bathing-place in the midst of wooded and rocky scenery, 
 which has given it the name of the Norman Switzerland. The 
 mineral baths of Balneum were probably known to the Romans. 
 Excursions may be made in the forests of Andaine and La Ferte. 
 4 k. distant is the curious old pilgrimage chapel of Lignou, under 
 an old yew.] 
 
 243 k. Flers, a handsome modern town, rich in prosperous 
 cotton factories. A pool near this is believed to mark the 
 site of a convent of dissolute monks, who met in an orgy 
 on Christmas night, when it was overwhelmed by the 
 waters as they were blasphemously drinking to the health 
 of the newly-born Christ. 
 
DOMFRONT. 153 
 
 [For the line from Flers to Caen see ch. iii.] 
 [A line leads S. to (91 k.) Laval, by — 
 
 23 k. Domfront (Hotels : Trouillard ; de Commerce — very 
 good), a picturesque place, the ancient capital of the district of 
 Houlme, now of the Orne — 
 
 'Ancienne ville de cour, devenue cite bourgeoise.' — Elisee 
 Rectus, 
 
 DOMFRONT. 
 
 Near the station is the very interesting church of Notre Dame 
 sur I'Eau, on the bank of the Varenne, built in the xi. c. by 
 Guillaume de Belleme, who is said to be commemorated by a 
 good gothic (xiv. c.) tomb in the N. transept. Of the Chateau 
 on a rock above the river, which served as a refuge to the 
 Empress Matilda, little remains beyond a portion of the keep, 
 in a small public garden. Fourteen towers still exist out of the 
 twenty-four towers and four gates which once encircled the town, 
 the most important being known as the Tour de Godras. 
 
 1 The town, still largely girdled by its ancient walls, abides 
 
154 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 to this day perched on its ancient eyrie, and has not, like so 
 many greater cities, descended into the plain below. The 
 shattered donjon, reared, like that of Falaise, on wild and craggy 
 rocks, looks forth on the wilder and heath-crowned rocks of a 
 rival height, whose distorted strata bear witness to the struggles 
 and revolutions of days before man had yet appeared on the 
 earth.' — Freeman. 
 
 In the neighbourhood are the ruined Chateaux de la 
 Guyardiere and de la Saucerie and the xvi. c. Chateau de la 
 Challerie. 
 
 45 k. Ambrieres, near the point where the Mayenne joins the 
 Varenne, has a ruined castle built by Duke William (the Con- 
 queror), which was unsuccessfully besieged (1049) by Geoffrey 
 Martel and his allies, Peter of Aquitaine and Odo of Brittany. 
 The church is a beautiful building of xn. c. 5 k. W. are the fine 
 ruins of the Abbaye Fontaine-Daniel. ~\ 
 
 271k. Vire (Hotel : S. Pierre — good ; du Cheval Blanc), 
 capital of the Norman Bocage. The town, of dull streets 
 of white slate-roofed houses, is well placed on a height, 
 approached by a long hill from the station, and surrounded 
 on three sides by green gorges with the windings of the Vire. 
 The picturesque Tour de VHorloge has a xm. c. gateway over 
 a street. Beyond it, at the end of a very dull public garden, 
 on the edge of the promontory, is a rag of the once famous 
 xii. c. castle founded by Henry I. The interior of the 
 church of Notre Dame, of xm. c, xiv. c, and xv. c, is 
 rather handsome, with curious old pews; the little Porte 
 de la Petite Poisonnerie is renaissance. Beneath the town 
 opens the picturesque valley of Vaux-le-Vire, which has 
 given a name to the Vaudivires or Vaudevilles of the 
 modern theatre. In the middle of the xiv. c. the owner 
 of a water-mill there was Olivier Basselin, the minstrel of 
 drinking-songs. His verses were never written down till 
 
MORTAIN LE NEUBOURG. 155 
 
 a century later, when Jean le Houx, of Vire, collected them 
 from the lips of the people. 
 
 [For the line from Vire to Caen see ch. iii.] 
 
 TOUR DE L'HORLOGE, VIRE. 
 
 [A line runs S.W. from Vire to (59 k.) Avranches, through 
 very pretty and wild country, passing — 
 
 37 k. Mortain le Nenbourg (Hotel : du Cheval Blanc). The 
 station (omnibus) is \\ k. from the town. The road passes on 
 1. the remains of the Abbaye Blanche, founded 1105 by a son 
 of Count Robert de Conteville. The church and part of the 
 
156 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 cloister exist in the grounds of a large ugly seminary. On the 
 r. are pretty jlittle cascades of the Cance falling amongst woods 
 and rocks. The town is terraced along the side of the hill, 
 with a wide view over the thickly wooded country. William 
 the Conqueror gave Mortain (which had belonged to William the 
 Warling, who had rebelled against him), to his half-brother, 
 Robert de Conteville, son of Arietta and Herlouin, who supplied 
 1 20 ships for the expedition to England ; and it remained a royal 
 possession from that time till the Revolution. Count Robert's 
 castle has been destroyed. The church, grim and grey, with 
 massive pillars, is chiefly xn. c. but retains a portal from an 
 earlier edifice of 1082. The cliffs, glades, and miniature water- 
 falls of the neighbourhood are attractive. There is a little 
 cascade near the transition church of Neufbourg."] 
 
 285 k. S. Sever, where the church belonged to a famous 
 Benedictine abbey, of which the other buildings serve as 
 public offices. In the neighbouring forest is (4 k.) EErmit- 
 age, once a Carthusian convent, but little ancient remains. 
 2 \ k. N.W. of the station is the church of Courson, with 
 a very fine gothic porch and a magnificent yew-tree. 
 
 298 k. Villedieu-les-Poeles. The church (xv. c. and 
 xvi. c.) has curious external sculptures. 
 
 320 k. S. Planchers. Anctoville, with a fine flamboyant 
 church (xiv. c. and xv. c.) is passed before reaching — 
 
 328 k. Granville (Hotels : du Nord ; des Trots Couronnes ; 
 de France), a seaport partially built on the promontory of 
 Cap Lihou, and separated from the mainland by the ravine 
 called Tranchee aux Anglais. The Ville-Haute is encircled 
 by walls rebuilt 1720, and defended on the W. by a fort. 
 The Rue des Juifs and various staircases connect it with 
 the Ville Basse, The church of Notre Dame, on the highest 
 point of Cap Lihou, is built of granite, and is chiefly flam- 
 boyant. 
 
GRANVILLE. 
 
 157 
 
 [Omnibuses (50 c.) connect Granville with the pretty bathing- 
 place of 6*. Pair, where the church is partly xi. c. and xn. c. 
 
 Steamers (2 fr. 50 c.) run on Sundays, Wednesdays, and 
 Saturdays between Granville and the lies Chaussey (11 k. N.W.). 
 The lighthouse on the Grande lie may be visited.] 
 
 The deep little gulfs on the shore in this district are 
 called flieurs, or fleurs, from the Scandinavian word fjord. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 PARIS TO CHARTRES, NOGENT LE ROTROU, LE MANS, 
 LAVAL, VITRE, RENNES, LAMBALLE, M OR LA IX, 
 AND BREST. CHEMIN BE FER DE V QUEST: FROM 
 THE GARE MONTPARNASSE. 
 
 22 k. S. Cyr. The line to Granville is left to the 
 
 28 k. Trappes. 
 
 [4 k. S. by the Bois de Trappes are the remains of the famous 
 Abbey of Port Royal des Champs. A Benedictine abbey was 
 founded here in 1204, by Eudes de Sully, Bishop of Paris. It 
 was a poor establishment, and only intended for twelve nuns. 
 The lords of Montmorency and Montfort were its principal bene- 
 factors. Gradually it increased in prosperity. Honorius III. 
 authorised the celebration of the sacred office within its walls 
 even when the whole country might lie under interdict, and a 
 nun was permitted to keep seven fragments of the wafers con- 
 secrated on her profession, and with them to administer the 
 Holy Sacrament to herself on as many successive days. Still, 
 for four centuries, Port Royal was not remarkable. In the 
 xvi. c. the rule of the convent had greatly relaxed, when Marie- 
 Angelique, one of the twenty children of Antoine Arnauld, having 
 become a nun at eight, was appointed abbess at eleven years old 
 (in 1602), her sister Agnes, of five years old, becoming abbess 
 of S. Cyr. Six years later the young abbess of Port Royal 
 became its reformer, secluding Port Royal from the world, and 
 herself setting the example of cutting off unnecessary communi- 
 cation with it by refusing admittance to her own parents and 
 
 EE ch. iv. for the line from Paris to — 
 
 right. 
 
PORT ROYAL. 
 
 159 
 
 her sister Mine le Maitre, when they came to visit her on a day 
 ever after known as 4 la journee du guichet.' 
 
 The success which crowned the labours of the brave Angelique 
 for the reformation of her own abbey led to her being employed 
 in the reform of other religious houses, especially that of Mau- 
 buisson, which had fallen into great licence under the rule of 
 a sister of the famous Gabrielle d'Estrees. Many of the nuns 
 from this convent afterwards sought a refuge at Port Royal, but 
 fever soon drove them from the overcrowded buildings, and the 
 whole community was obliged to take refuge in the Rue S. Jacques 
 at Paris, where a house had been purchased for them by Mme 
 Arnauld, mother of the Mere Angelique. Here — in the 4 Convent 
 of Port-Royal de Paris' — it was that they became intimate with 
 S. Cyran, then a prisoner at Vincennes, and that they first began 
 to follow him and Jansenius as their teachers. 
 
 Meanwhile the deserted buildings of Port-Royal des Champs 
 were occupied by three nephews of the Mere Angelique, the 
 brothers Lemaitre, one of whom, Simon Lemaitre de Sacy, had 
 translated the Bible and Terence ; and another, Antoine, was 
 famous as an advocate. The band of recluses known as the 
 1 solitaires de Port-Royal ' was also joined by Antoine d'Andilly, 
 father of the Mere Angelique. With some of his companions, 
 including the well-known author Nicole and the Hellenist Lance- 
 lot, he devoted himself to the work of education. Amongst their 
 pupils the most illustrious was Jean Racine, who became the 
 historian of a community in which his sister had taken the veil, 
 and to which his mother had retired. Many of the best known 
 literary works of the age emanated from Port Royal. The 
 Logique of Arnaud, the Traites rudimentaires of Lancelot, the 
 Ethiqaes of Nicole, the Histoire ecclesiastique of Le Nain de 
 Tillemont were written there. The abbey became a famous 
 school, in which statesmen were proud of having studied. 4 lis 
 sont marques au coin de Port-Royal ' became a phrase of literary 
 or religious commendation. 
 
 Twenty years had elapsed since the flight of the nuns from 
 the malaria of Port Royal, when S. Cyran, who guided their 
 actions from his prison at Vincennes, bade them return. 4 If the 
 site was unhealthy, it was as easy to serve God in a hospital as 
 in a church, and no prayers were more acceptable to Him than 
 
i6o 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 those of the afflicted.' The Mere Angelique answered that, in 
 a church, where the presence of angels and an ever holier Power 
 had once rested, it must be resting still, and therefore she would 
 do his bidding. Many of her nuns accompanied her. They were 
 welcomed on their arrival by the ' solitaires,' who included the 
 nearest relatives of the abbess. It was their only meeting. The 
 men returned to the farm of Les Granges. The gates of the 
 abbey were closed upon the nuns. Gradually the report of the 
 holy atmosphere of Port-Royal des Champs led many great 
 persons, weary of the turmoil of life, to establish themselves in 
 their neighbourhood. The Due and Duchesse de Luynes built a 
 chateau there, and the Duchesses de Liancourt and de Longueville 
 made frequent retreats at the abbey. 
 
 As advocate to Parliament, Antoine Arnauld, the father of 
 the Mere Angelique, had pleaded before the Sorbonne for the 
 expulsion of the Jesuits. This is supposed to have been the first 
 cause of the remorseless vindictiveness of the Jesuits against his 
 family. Arnauld also had praised the Augustinus of Jansenius, 
 a Flemish bishop, unknown to ordinary readers, in which the 
 Jesuits pretended that five heretical propositions were to be 
 found, attacking the mystery of divine grace. The very existence 
 of these propositions in the work he had approved was utterly 
 denied by Arnauld. On this insignificant subject arose the great 
 quarrel of Jesuits and Jansenists. The work of Jansenius had 
 been condemned by the Pope, and the Port-Royalists were con- 
 demned by the Jesuits for not finding in that work the passages 
 which the Pope said were to be found there. Anne of Austria 
 was appealed to, and sent her officers to eject the nuns and 
 recluses of Port Royal, but for the time the abbey was saved by 
 an apparent miracle. Mile Perrier, niece of Blaise Pascal, a 
 scholar eleven years old, was apparently cured of fistula lacry- 
 malis upon her eye being touched by a thorn from the Holy 
 Crown preserved at Port Royal ! The Court surgeon confirmed 
 the truth of the story, and the queen-mother revoked her mandate 
 against the place to which so great a grace had been granted. 
 
 The quarrel between the Jesuits and the Port-Royalists lasted 
 sixty years, during which the Jesuits represented scholastic, the 
 Jansenists spiritual, religion. During this time Blaise Pascal, 
 who had joined the recluses of Port-Royal des Champs, pub- 
 
PORT ROYAL. 
 
 161 
 
 lished his Let/res Provinciates. This for a time assisted to 
 ward off the fall of the abbey, but at length an edict was obtained 
 from Louis XIV., closing its schools, and forbidding the further 
 admission of postulants to the convent ; the number of the nuns 
 was reduced by three-fourths. 
 
 At this time the Mere Angelique was in extreme old age. 
 She went to die in the convent at Paris, and on her arrival found 
 the royal officers already in possession, and employed in dis- 
 persing the inmates. But she was permitted to expire within 
 the monastic walls, and was brought back for burial to Port- 
 Royal des Champs, where the spot selected for her grave was 
 just outside the grille of the nuns' choir. 
 
 After the death of their mother, the society ot Port Royal, 
 both at Paris and in the country, underwent renewed persecution 
 from the Archbishop of Paris. 1 They may be pure as angels,' 
 he said, ' but they are proud as devils,' and he set himself to 
 grind them to submission. But they found a new defender in 
 Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, Duchesse de Longueville (sister 
 of the great Conde and the Prince de Conti), the heroine of the 
 Fronde, who, at the close of its cruel and last war, had retired 
 to the valley of Port Royal, and whose disinterested and generous 
 conduct had obtained for her not only the pardon, but the 
 reverence of Louis. By her personal influence with the king, 
 and by her eloquent letters to the Pope (Clement IX.), the 
 imprisoned Port-Royalists were set at liberty, and the abbey and 
 schools were reopened. Mme de Longueville herself came to 
 reside permanently at Port Royal, in an hotel which she built 
 close to the abbey. It was here that she heard of the death of 
 her son killed in battle (1672). 
 
 Ten years of rest passed over the valley, during which the most 
 distinguished of the original recluses passed away, and were laid 
 in its peaceful cemetery, with Racine, the w 7 arrior Prince de 
 Conti, and the Due de Liancourt, who had also sought a retreat 
 there. In 1679 the Duchesse de Longueville also died ; Mme 
 de Maintenon, herself governed by the Jesuits, was now ruling 
 the conduct of Louis XIV. ; the disreputable Harlay was Arch- 
 bishop of Paris, and Port Royal was doomed. The famous 
 recluses were banished; the nuns were despoiled of their estates; 
 they were interdicted the sacraments of the Church ; and, on 
 
1 62 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 October 29, 1709, the last fifteen nuns who remained were driven 
 out of their convent by an armed force, some being so old and 
 infirm that they had to be carried away in litters, and died from 
 their removal. 
 
 In January 1710 the destruction of the buildings of Port Royal 
 was ordained by royal edict, and in 1712 the church was pulled 
 down. The bodies of the Arnauld family, of Racine, De Saci, 
 and Le Maitre had already been removed by their relations, but 
 
 PORT ROYAL. 
 
 the tombs of the other Port-Royalists were desecrated, and their 
 remains exhumed. 
 
 Port Royal is now the property of the Due de Luynes, who 
 has cleared out the area of the noble church (built by the archi- 
 tect of Amiens cathedral), showing the bases of its columns. 
 A walnut tree is pointed out as contemporary with the Mere 
 Angelique, and a well which is called 1 la fontaine de la Mere 
 Angelique.' The cellars ot the Hotel de Longueville exist, and 
 considerable remains of Les Granges. Amongst the many 
 monumental slabs torn up from the church were those of the 
 
LEVY S. NOM. 
 
 163 
 
 Arnaulds and Sacys, of Nicole, Pascal, and Racine. The last, 
 after finding a temporary resting-place in the church of Magny- 
 les-Hameaux, is now in S. Etienne du Mont at Paris. Many 
 of the bodies from Port Royal were removed to the church of 
 S. Lambert, on the road to Chevreuse, where some monuments 
 to the nuns may still be seen. 
 
 A drive from Versailles or Trappes to Port Royal may easily 
 be continued to embrace Dampierre and Chevreuse, whence one 
 may return to Paris by the line from Limours. It is 5 k. from 
 Port Royal to Dampierre, 6 k. (direct) to Chevreuse, which is 
 4 k. from Dampierre. The great agricultural institute of Grignon, 
 established in a Louis XIV. chateau, which was sometimes used 
 as a residence by Napoleon I., may also be visited from Trappes. 
 
 33 k. La Verriere, which takes its name from a chateau 
 which belonged to the Comte de la Valette. 
 
 An omnibus leaves the station of La Verriere twice a day 
 for Dampierre, 13 k. (75 c. ; 50 a). The road passes Mesnil 
 S. Denis, a chateau of temp. Louis XIII. In the church are two 
 xvi. c. statues of SS. Fiacre and Catherine. To the south is the 
 pretty little valley of the Yvette, on the north bank of which is 
 a xiii. c. chapel, which is the only existing remnant of the Abbey 
 of Notre Dame de la Roche. In the interior of the nave and 
 transept are a number of gravestones of abbots, and in the choir 
 tombs of the family of Levy, followers of Simon de Montfort in 
 the Albigensian crusade. The keys of the chapel are kept at 
 the farmhouse, which has a fine old chimneypiece. 
 
 Twenty minutes of descent takes us from the chapel to Levy- 
 Saint-Nom, a picturesque village on the Yvette. In the church 
 is an ancient (stucco) image of the Virgin, brought from the 
 chapel of Notre Dame de la Roche, and supposed to have been 
 originally dug up by a bull with his horns. It has a miraculous 
 reputation, which twice a year (March and September) brings 
 mothers to touch it with the linen of their children. A payment 
 of 10 c. is demanded for every shirt which touches the holy 
 image. At the bottom of the valley are the ruins of an 
 unfinished chateau, begun in the xvi. c. by Jacques de Crussol, 
 ' grand-panetier de France.' 
 
NOR TH- WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 (An omnibus runs between La Verriere and Montfort l'Amaury, 
 12 k. distant. The road passes the ruined castle of Maureftas, 
 one of the domains which Louis XIV. gave to his minister, Louis 
 Phelippaux, in exchange for Marly. When this castle was taken 
 by the English, in the reign of Charles VI., and its garrison were 
 tried, one of them, named Moniquet, confessed to having thrown 
 down seven men alive into the castle well and crushed them 
 by hurling huge stones upon their heads. 1 The village of La 
 Tremblay is remarkable for its chateau, which belonged to 
 the family of Leclerc du Tremblay, of which the famous Pere 
 Joseph, the confidential friend of Cardinal Richelieu, was a 
 member.) 
 
 A little east is the moated Chateau de Pontchartrain (see 
 ch. iv.) 
 
 38 k. Les Ess arts du Roi. To the r. of the railway, 
 before reaching this station, the train passes the site of the 
 Priory of Haute-Bruyere (destroyed at the Revolution), 
 which was founded by the notorious Bertrade de Montfort, 
 queen of Philippe I. Its chapel contained her tomb, with 
 those of her illustrious descendants the Comtes Simon and 
 Amaury de Montfort. Here also the heart of Francois I., 
 afterwards moved to S. Denis, was long preserved in a vase 
 of white marble. Nothing remains except the Chapelle des 
 Peres, for in the order of Fontevrault a convent for men 
 was always attached to a monastery for women. 
 
 The chateau of Artoire was built under Louis XIV. 
 Pedestrians may reach the ruins of Vaux le Cernay in a 
 walk of 1 1 hour from Les Essarts. 
 
 48 k, Ra7nbouillet (Hotels: du Lion d?Or ; Dauphin; 
 Croix Blanche). A town almost confined to a single street, 
 La Grande Rue, 3 k. in length. In it is a Hospice founded 
 by the Comte de Toulouse (1731). 
 
 1 'Journal du Regne de Charles VI.' 
 
RAMBOUILLET. 
 
 The Chateau, preceded by a Cour d'Honneur, has an 
 enormous round tower, battlemented and machicolated, the 
 only remnant of the ancient moated castle, which was 
 entered by a drawbridge, and which belonged to the family 
 D'Angennes, of whom Jean d'Angennes sold Cherbourg to 
 the English. The last of the family was Charles d'Angennes, 
 
 CHATEAU DE RAMBOUILLET. 
 
 whose wire, the Marquise de Rambouillet, was celebrated 
 as the literary leader of the xvn. c. Her eldest daughter 
 brought Rambouillet by marriage to the Due de Montausier, 
 governor of ' Monseigneur,' son of Louis XIV. The pro- 
 perty was sold by Fleuriau d'Armenonville to the Comte de 
 Toulouse, the legitimised younger son of Louis XIV. and 
 Mme de Montespan, whose son, the Due de Penthievre, 
 sold it for sixteen million francs to Louis XVI. The King 
 
1 66 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 was devoted to the place, but Marie Antoinette detested 
 it. ' Que voulez-vous que je fasse dans cette crapaudiere ? ' 
 she said, when the King wanted to take her there. Ram- 
 bouillet became national property under the Republic ; it 
 was part of the civil list of Napoleon I., Louis XVIII., 
 Charles X., and Napoleon III. 
 
 GARDENS OF RAMBOUILLET. 
 
 The main buildings of the chateau date from the xv. c, 
 but have been altered in the xvi. c. and xvn. c. They are 
 very picturesque as seen from the gardens, which were 
 adorned by the Comte de Toulouse with tanks, lime- 
 avenues, and statues, after the fashion of Versailles. 
 
 Cardinal de Bellay was frequently here in the time of 
 D'Angennes, to whom he was nearly related ; and in his 
 suite, as a doctor, came Rabelais. 
 
RAM BO UILLE T. 
 
 167 
 
 ' II y a au pied du chateau, une forte grande prairie, au milieu 
 de laquelle, par une bizarrerie de la nature, se trouve comme un 
 cercle de grosses roches, entre lesquelles s'elevent de grands 
 arbres qui font un ombrage tres-agreable. C'est le lieu ou 
 Rabelais les divertissait, a ce qu'on dit dans le pays. Et encore 
 aujourd'hui, on appelle une certaine roche creusee et enfermee 
 la marmite de Rabelais.' — Tallemant des Reaux, 1658. 
 
 The spot thus spoken of is now surrounded by water 
 and called Ulle des Roches y but the cave of Rabelais is still 
 to be seen there. The Ferme experimentale is due to 
 Louis XVI., and the Laiterie de la Reine was made by him 
 for Marie Antoinette, to console her in temporary absences 
 from her beloved Trianon. It was afterwards a favourite 
 spot with Marie Louise, for whom Napoleon I. redecorated 
 the little temple, the original decorations having been re- 
 moved to Malmaison. 
 
 It was in the old palace of Rambouillet that Francois I. 
 died, March 13, 1547. 
 
 ' Une fievre lente consumait ce monnrque, qui usait de chateau 
 en chateau sans trouver nulle part de repos ni de soulagement ; 
 il fut enfin oblige de s'aliter a Rambouillet, et les progres d'un 
 ulcere invetere, qui le tourmentait depuis huit ans, ne laisserent 
 bientot plus d'espoir. Ses derniers avis a son fils furent de 
 diminuer les impots, de conserver pour ministres d'Annehaut et 
 le cardinal de Tournon, de ne point rappeler Montmorenci aux 
 affaires, et de se garder surtout d'y appeler les Guises, ' parce 
 qu'ils tendroient de mettre lui et ses enfants en pourpoint et son 
 peuple en chemise." 
 
 ' Les paroles du mourant devaient etre oublies avant que son 
 corps fut refroidi : Diane de Poitiers et le Comte d'Aumale etaient 
 la, epiant joyeusement les progres de l'agonie royale. u II s'en 
 va, le galand, il s'en va," disait Francois de Guise.' — Martin, 
 1 Hist, de France' 
 
 Catherine de Medicis and Charles IX. waited at Ram- 
 
i68 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 bouillet for the issue of the battle of Dreux. Since then 
 it has been chiefly marked by the flight of fallen royalties. 
 Leon Gozlan says that the gate of the chateau is the funeral 
 arch through which the dynasties of France have passed 
 to the grave. Henri III. fled hither from Paris on the day 
 of the barricades, and ' se coucha tout bottee.' Marie Louise 
 came hither, March 29, 18 14, flying from Paris, followed, 
 on the next day, by Joseph Bonaparte. Returning to Ram- 
 bouillet a month later, the Empress received the visits of 
 the allied sovereigns here, and set out hence for Vienna. 
 In the following year Napoleon came hi:her after his second 
 abdication, on his way to Rochefort, where he intended 
 to embark for America. At the close of the ' comedie de 
 quinze ans ? Charles X. fled hither (July 31, 1830) from 
 S. Cloud, and here he abdicated and the Due d'Angouleme 
 abandoned his rights, in favour of the Due de Bordeaux, 
 who was proclaimed as Henri V. 
 
 ' Le roi Charles X. arriva a Rambouillet ; il avait rejoint sur 
 la route Mme la Duchesse de Berry ; il etait escorte par les 
 gardes du corps et par la gendarmerie d'elite. 
 
 1 II fut recu, non plus avec les demonstrations de joie et 
 les airs de fete qui y accueillaient naguere sa presence, mais en 
 prince malheureux et fugitif. Aucune lumiere n'avait ete pre- 
 paree dans la cour d'honneur. La voiture vint se ranger au pied 
 du perron. 
 
 ' C etait dans ce meme chateau que Napoleon, fuyant de la 
 Malmaison, etait venu, lui aussi, passer la premiere nuit de son 
 eternel exil. 
 
 ' Le lendemain i r aout, a cinq heures du matin, y arriva Mme 
 la Duchesse d'Angouleme, partie de Vichy l'avant-veille. . . . Elle 
 tourna Paris, traversa Versailles costumee en paysanne, et dans 
 une des petits voitures publiques qui desservaient les environs, 
 traversa les bandes d'insurges et atteignit enfin Rambouillet en 
 compagnie du Dauphin, qui, averti, etait venu au-devant d'elle. 
 
MAINTENON. 
 
 169 
 
 Le roi s'avanca jusqu au perron pour la recevoir ; elle se jeta 
 dans ses bras. 
 
 1 " Ah ! mon pere," s'ecria-t-elle, " mon pere, qu'avez-vous fait ? 
 Du moins," ajouta-t-elle, "nous ne nous separerons plus.'" — 
 1 Souvenirs du Due de Broglie! 
 
 Under Napoleon III. the palace of Rambouillet was 
 made a refuge for the children of officers — ' PEcole d'Essai 
 des Enfants de Troupe.' 
 
 There are pleasant drives and walks in the Forest ot Ram- 
 bouillet. At 5\ Hilarioii are ruins of a xiii. c. chapel. 
 
 61 k. Epernoit, on the Guesle, where the pride and 
 injustice of Jean Louis Noganet de la Valette, one of the 
 mignons of Henri III., who made him Due d'Epernon, 
 gave rise to the distich — 
 
 ' Epernon 
 Petite ville sans renom, 
 Riviere sans poisson, 
 Justice sans raison.' 
 
 Scarcely anything remains of the chateau founded by 
 Amaury II. de Montfort in the middle of the xi. c. At 
 the upper end of the street leading to the church is a good 
 xv. c. house, and on the W. of the place a xiii. c. building 
 called La Diane. 
 
 9 k. S. is Gallardon, with a ruined castle, a cylindrical 
 donjon — L Eftaule de Gallardon, founded in the xi. c. by 
 Geoffrey, Vicomte de Chateaudun — and an interesting church, 
 with a mixture of romanesque, gothic, and renaissance archi- 
 tecture. At the W. entrance of the town is a good xv. c. house. 
 The aqueduct of Maintenon is seen on the r. before reaching — 
 
 69 k. Maintenon (Hotel : S. Pierre). The station is 
 \ \ k. from the town. Close to the bridge over the Eure 
 
170 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 is the entrance to the chateau. It was built by Jean 
 Cottereau, tresorier de finances under Louis XL, Charles 
 VIII. , and Prancois I., and his arms remain over the 
 entrance. Louis XIV. bought it from the Marquis de 
 Villernay to give it to Francoise d'Aubigne, whom he 
 married in 1685. Mme de Maintenon bequeathed 
 Maintenon to the Due de Noailles, who had married her 
 niece : — 
 
 'J'avois plus d'impatience de vous dire des nouvelles de 
 Maintenon que vous n'en sauriez avoir d'en apprendre. J'y ai 
 ete trois jours, qui, sans exageration, m'ont paru un moment. 
 C'est une assez belle maison, un peu trop grande pour le train 
 que j'y destine, dans une agreable situation, et qui a de fort 
 beaux droits; enfin j'en suis tres satisfaite, et je voudrais y 
 etre. II est vrai que le roi m'a donne le nom de Maintenon.' — 
 Mme de Mai?ttenon d M. PAbbe Gobelin, 15 Janvier, 1675. 
 
 The picturesque but much restored facade of the 
 chateau, which faces the entrance gate, has all the richness 
 of the xv. c. In the main building the bedroom of Mme 
 de Maintenon, the ante-chamber where she dined, with 
 her portrait by Afignard, and her sedan chair, are shown 
 in the absence of the De Noailles family. Even when 
 the Duke is at Maintenon the portress (r. of entrance) is 
 allowed to take visitors over the buildings on the 1. of the 
 court, which look outside like stables, but contain a mag- 
 nificent gallery, richly adorned with carving and gilding, 
 and hung with portraits of the ancestors of the De Noailles 
 family. At the end it once communicated with a chapel, 
 now disused, outside the precincts of the chateau, and 
 from its alcove Mme de Maintenon used to hear mass. 
 The inner chapel of the chateau was built by Jean 
 Cottereau. The garden was designed by Le Notre. In 
 
CHARTRES. 
 
 171 
 
 the park, the Avenue Racine commemorates the long stay 
 of the poet at the chateau, when he was composing the 
 tragedies of Esther and Athalie for the young ladies of 
 S. Cyr. A great feature is the ruin of the huge aqueduct 
 constructed by Louis XIV. to convey the waters of the 
 Eure to the fountains of Versailles, on which 30,000 work- 
 men were employed from 1684 t0 1688. Gallardon (see 
 above) is 1 1 k. from Maintenon. 
 
 88 k. Chartres (Hotel : du Due de Chartres ; de France), 
 the capital of the Departement d'Eure et Loir, and one 
 of the oldest towns in France. The ancient Autricum, 
 afterwards known as Civitas Carnotum, was, in the x. c, 
 made a countship, which afterwards was bestowed upon 
 younger sons of the French kings. Since Louis XIV. 
 gave it to his brother, Philippe d'Orleans, the title has 
 always been borne by the eldest sons of the Dues d'Orleans. 
 
 The glorious Cathedral of Notre Dame, occupying the 
 highest ground in the town, is visible from a great distance 
 over the plains of La Beauce. It is often, and justly, 
 considered to be the most perfectly beautiful church in the 
 world. Tradition tells that it was founded over a cave 
 where Druids had erected a statue ' a la Vierge qui devait 
 enfanter? Above this, it is said that the early missionaries, 
 SS. Savinien and Potentien, built a chapel (the earliest 
 church in France dedicated to the Virgin), which was de- 
 stroyed by Quirinus, who was governor of Autricum in the 
 time of Claudius, and who threw the bodies of his martyrs 
 into its well, called 1 Puits des Saints-Forts. 5 The second 
 church, built under Constantine, was destroyed in the ix. c. 
 In 1020 Bishop Fulbert began a new church, where Adela, 
 daughter of the Conqueror, was married to Stephen of 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Blois, Count Palatine of Champagne. This church was 
 destroyed by fire in 1194, with the exception of the crypt 
 and towers. The existing church was a reconstruction 
 with stone from Bercheres (8 k. distant), begun by Bishop 
 Regnault de Moucon, and consecrated in the presence of 
 S. Louis in 1260. The three gables were added early in 
 
 CATHEDRAL, CHARTRES. 
 
 the xiv. c, the Chapelle de S. Piat in 1349, and the 
 Chapelle de Vendome in 14 12. The spire of the tower 
 on the r. (Clocher Vieux) is of the early church of the 
 xii. c. ; that on the 1. (Clocher Neuf) was built by Jean 
 Texier, called Jean de Beauce, in 1505-14. The splendid 
 oak vaulting called le foret, supporting a leaden roof, was 
 destroyed by a fire, which melted the bells, in June 1836, 
 and has been replaced by a roof of cast iron and copper. 
 
CHARTRES. 
 
 173 
 
 The cathedral — perhaps the most beautiful in existence 1 
 — is a Latin cross. Its W. fagade has a triple portal, above 
 which are three windows, surmounted by a splendid rose of 
 the xiii. c, an open balustrade, a gallery with sixteen 
 statues of kings, and a gable with a statue of the Virgin 
 between angels, and, above all, Christ in benediction. The 
 lower sculptures are xn. c, the upper xiii. c. and xiv. c. 
 The greater part of the seven hundred and nineteen statues 
 and statuettes of the portals refer to the life of Christ. 
 Those in the tympanum and vaulting of the r. portal are 
 in honour of the Virgin. The vaulting of the 1. portal has 
 the signs of the Zodiac and an allegorical representation 
 of the twelve months. The sculptured name of ' Rogerus ' 
 is probably that of the architect. On the r. is the noble 
 Clocher Vieux. 
 
 1 On est d'abord frappe de l'unite, de la grandeur, qui regnent 
 dans l'ensemble. Partant du soubassement, on arrive au sommet 
 de la fleche, sans brusque arret, sans que rien vienne interrompre 
 la forme generale de l'edifice. Ce clocher, dont le base est 
 pleine, massive, et sans crnement, se transforme, a mesure qu'il 
 s'elance, en une fleche aigue a huit pans, perces de lucarnes, 
 sans qu'il soit possible de dire ou cesse la construction massive 
 et ou commence la construction legere.' — Viollet le Due. 
 
 The Cloeher JVeuf, with a rich flamboyant spire, is only 
 of the same date as the Clocher Vieux as far the Galerie des 
 Rois. It can be ascended by 378 steps. 
 
 The great magnificence of Chartres is chiefly shown in 
 the portals of the transept, which present the most splendid 
 specimens of xiii. c. decoration in France. The N. fagade 
 
 1 Which Lowell spoke of as 'the most wonderful thing in France,' and 
 which suggested his poem of 'The Cathedral,' 
 
174 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 has a projecting porch with three gothic arches to the front, 
 and is decorated with no less than seven hundred statues 
 and statuettes, some of them of the greatest beauty, and, 
 with the whole porch, still (1895) in unrestored splendour. 
 
 ' C'est sur le front altier de la cathedrale de Chartres qu'est 
 ecrit le mot de Part nouveau, le mot de ce grand douzieme siecle, 
 trop peu repete par les ages qui ont suivi. A la baie de gauche 
 du porche septentrionel, entre les voussures qui encadrent le 
 tympan de la porte, quatorze Vertus sous debout, echelonnees de 
 la base a la pointe de l'ogive : a cote de la Force ou Vertu par 
 excellence (Virtus), mere de toutes les autres Vertus, la premiere 
 des treize soeurs ; aureolee en signe de saintete, couronnee en 
 signe de souveraine independance, semble montrer de son bras 
 leve son nom grave sur la pierre. Ce nom est : Libertas! — He?tri 
 Martin, 'Hist, de France! 
 
 ' Les porches nord et sud plantes devant les portes du tran- 
 sept de la cathedrale de Chartres passent, a juste titres, pour des 
 chefs d'oeuvre. Leur plan, leur structure, leur ornementation, 
 la statuaire qui les couvre, sont des snjets d'etude inepuisables, 
 et leur ensemble presente cette harmonie complete si rare dans 
 les ceuvres d'architecture. Celui du nord, plus riche de details, 
 plus complet comme entente de la sculpture, plus original peut- 
 etre comme composition, produirait plus d'effet, s'il etait, ainsi 
 qui celui du sud, eleve sur un grand enmarchement et expose 
 tout le jour aux rayons du soleil. Dans l'origine, ces deux 
 porches etaient peints et dores ; leur aspect, alors, devait etre 
 merveilleux. C'est lorsqu'on examine dans leur ensemble et 
 leurs details ces compositions claires, profondement etudiees, 
 d'une execution irreprochable, qu'on peut se demander si depuis 
 lors nous n'avons pas desappris au lieu d'apprendre. 
 
 ' La somme d'intelligence, de savoir, de connaissance des 
 effets, d'experience pratique, depensee dans ces deux porches 
 de Notre-Dame de Chartres, suffirait pour etablir la gloire de 
 toute une generation d'artistes ; et ce qu'on ne saurait trop 
 admirer dans ces oeuvres, c'est combien alors les arts de l'archi- 
 tecture et de la sculpture avaient su faire une alliance intime, 
 combien ils se tenaient etroitement unis.' — Viollet le Due. 
 
CHARTRES. 
 
 175 
 
 Above the N. porch the facade has a balustrade serving 
 as base to a gallery of five windows, a great rose with eight 
 niches filled with statues, a covered gallery, a balustrade of 
 open-work, and finally a pointed gable decorated with a 
 statue under a canopy. As far as the covered gallery this 
 facade dates from xm. c, above it from xiv. c. The S< 
 
 NORTH PORCH, CHARTRES. 
 
 facade has almost the same disposition, and each lagade is 
 flanked by two square towers. 
 
 ' La nef est courte comparativement au choeur ; c'est probable- 
 ment pour lui dormer deux travees de plus, que l'ancien porche 
 de la facade fut supprime et les portes avancees au mi du mur 
 exterieur des tours. Voulant conserver, pour batir le choeur, 
 la crypte qui lui sert de fondations, et les deux belles tours 
 occidentals, il n'etait pas possible de donner a leglise une 
 plus grande longueur.' — Viollet le Due. 
 
176 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 The interior is a treasure-house of architectural love- 
 liness, pictorially enriched by the sparkle of its ancient 
 glass. It consists of a central nave, with side aisles 
 which begin from the two great towers ; a wide transept 
 with aisles, and a vast choir, with double ambulatory and 
 radiatory chapels. The choir was formerly separated from 
 the nave by a magnificent xiii. c. rood-loft, destroyed by 
 the canons in 1763. The inner side of the splendid cloture 
 was mutilated at the same time ; but the exterior, begun 
 in 1514 from designs of Jean de Beauce, architect of the 
 Clocher Neuf, remains intact, covered with groups of 
 sculpture which were not finished till the beginning of 
 the xviii. c. The first four groups, beginning from 
 the transept — the Apparition of the Angel to Joachim and 
 to Anna, the Meeting of Joachim and Anna, and the 
 Birth of the Virgin — are the work of Jean Soulas, of Paris ; 
 and many of the other sculptors' names have been dis- 
 covered. Between the eighth and ninth group two angels 
 sustain the dial of a very complicated and ingenious clock, 
 which has a staircase enclosed in a little renaissance tourelle. 
 Between the twentieth and twenty-first group formerly 
 stood an altar surmounted by reliquaries. In the stylobate 
 of the cloture are twenty-five medallions containing subjects 
 from sacred or profane story, or from the history of Chartres. 
 Behind the altar, an armoire hollowed out of the wall of 
 the sanctuary contains the treasure which was formerly one of 
 the richest in Christendom, but a modern shrine now only 
 encloses ' the veil of the Virgin ' (called at Chartres La Santa 
 Camisia) said to have been sent to Charlemagne by the 
 empress Irene, and given to the cathedral by Charles le 
 Chauve, c. 876, since which it has been looked upon as 
 
CHARTRES. 
 
 177 
 
 the palladium of the town. It consists of two fragments of 
 white silk, enveloped in another piece of stuff, which is 
 supposed to have been a veil of the empress Irene. At the 
 entrance of the N. choir-aisle is the famous black Vierge du 
 Pilier, a much venerated xv. c. statue. Between the chapel 
 of the chevet and that of the Sacre-Coeur, is a staircase 
 leading to the xiv. c. Chapelle de S. Fiat, beneath which is 
 the ancient chapter-house. 
 
 Against the S. aisle is the Chapelle de Venddme, built 
 141 2. The keystone of its vaulting bears the arms of the 
 founder, Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Vendome. An 
 armoire contains the relics of S. Piat and of S. Taurinus, 
 bishop of Evreux. The former is invoked for rain, the 
 latter for fine weather. 
 
 A hundred and twenty-five windows are filled with 
 splendid stained glass of xm. c, xiv. c, xv. c. and xvi. c, 
 the upper windows having been, for the most part, given by 
 S. Louis, S. Ferdinand, Blanche of Castille, and the canons 
 of Chartres ; the lower by the corporations and guilds of 
 the town. Simon de Montfort is amongst the figures in 
 the glass of the choir. The great western rose-window 
 represents the Last Judgment. In the pavement of the 
 nave is a labyrinth formed by eleven bands of white stone 
 let into the blue. 
 
 The Crypt (open from 6 to 9 a.m.), built in the* xi. c. 
 by Bishop Fulbert, is the largest in France. It is a kind of 
 gallery under the aisles of the nave and choir, with four 
 narrower galleries (constructed after the fire of 1194) under 
 the aisles of the transept. It is reached by six staircases, 
 under the towers or the porches of the transept. The 
 principal entrance is a little E. of the S. porch. Turning 
 
 12 
 
178 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 1. from hence down the S. gallery of the crypt, we find, 
 against the 1. wall, a Gallo-Roman relief. In the Chapelle 
 S. Martin are preserved the remains of the noble jube 
 of the cathedral and the empty tomb of S. Caletric (557), 
 bishop of Chartres. The opposite Chapelle SS. Clement 
 et Denis contains remains of a xn. c. and xni. c. fresco. 
 Near the Chapelle S. Nicolas is a curious piscina sur- 
 mounted by a xni. c. fresco of the Nativity, and beyond 
 this a monolith font of the xn. c. 
 
 Returning to the door by which we entered, and turning 
 towards the apse, we find on r. a succession of chapels. 
 Opposite that of S. Veronique is the entrance of a second 
 crypt, the ancient Martyrium, now used as a chapel 
 dedicated to S. Lubin, a simple shepherd, raised to the see 
 of Chartres for his eminent virtues. Reaching the great N. 
 gallery by a narrow, winding passage, the Chapelle de Notre 
 Dame sous Terre occupies the site of the cave where Druids 
 are said to have venerated £ the Virgin who gave birth to a 
 child.' The statue is a reproduction of the primitive image 
 which is believed to have existed till the Revolution. The 
 crypt may be left by the stair near the N. transept porch. 
 
 To the W., between the cathedral and the Bishop's 
 gardens, is the xm. c. Sacristy ; a vaulted passage, lighted 
 by a xiv. c. window, unites it to the church. The Eveche, 
 of brick, was built in xvn. c, chiefly at the expense of 
 Mme de Maintenon. 
 
 The ancient abbey church of S.-Pere-en- Vallee^ or 
 S. Eierre, dating from xi. c. to xni c, is a three-aisled 
 basilica, having a long choir terminating in a semicircular 
 apse, with rectangular chapels on either side. The church 
 has admirable stained glass of xm. c, xiv. c. and xv. c. 
 
CHARTRES. 
 
 179 
 
 In the apsidal chapel are enamel pictures of the apostles, 
 executed 1545-47 by Leonard Limousin for Francois I., 
 from designs of Michel Rochetel. Opening from the r. 
 aisle is the Chape lie de Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs, 
 containing a tablet epitaph (1037) in memory of Robert, 
 son of Richard I., Duke of Normandy, and himself Comte 
 d'Evreux and Archbishop of Rouen. 
 
 The xvi. c. church of S. Aignan has a crypt, recon- 
 structed in xv. c. or xvi. c. S. Martin du Val, now the 
 chapel of the Hopital S. Brice, is a remnant of a basilica 
 dating before the x. c, and is very curious and interesting. 
 The capitals, both in the church and crypt, are very re- 
 markable. A number of tombs of the Merovingian period 
 have been found beneath the soil. The collegiate church 
 of S. Andre, in the lower town, on the banks of the Eure, 
 is partly used as a warehouse. The church was begun 
 c. 1 108, but the crypts, under its side aisles, are probably of 
 much earlier date. 
 
 1 S. Andre presente sur sa facade comme un abrege de 
 Thistoire de Tarchitecture au moyen-age. Une porte romane, 
 flanquee delegantes colonnettes, soutenant une archivolte riche- 
 ment ornee, est surmontee de trois fenetres ogivales entourees 
 de tores epais. Ces fenetres representeront le gothique primitif, 
 selevant sur une base romane. Au-dessus, dans le fronton, 
 l'epoque de la decadence et du dernier eclat du style gothique, 
 se montre dans une espece de rose, ou plutot une ouverture 
 triangulaire a cotes courbes, remplie de meneaux flamboyans.' — 
 Prosper Merimee. 
 
 The only one remaining of the seven gates of Chartres 
 is the Porte Guillaume, a magnificent specimen of the 
 military architecture of the xiv. c. Outside this gate, and 
 turning 1. by the Boulevard des Fosses, we obtain one 
 
i8o NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 of the best views of the cathedral. N. of the cathedral is 
 the Maison de Loens, over a fine xm. c. crypt. Here the 
 cathedral chapter administered justice. The Hotel de Ville, 
 a brick xvn. c. building, contains the Musee. In the Place 
 de la Poissonnerie is the Maison du Saumon, a fine xv. c. 
 timber building. In the Tertre du Petit Cerf are two 
 xv. c. houses. At 52, Rue du Grand Cerf, is the xvi. c. 
 Maison de Claude Huve, with an inscription over the portal 
 commemorating its founder. At the corner of the Rue 
 des Changes and Rue du Cloitre Notre Dame is a xm. c. 
 house. A little N. of the town is Leves, with remains of 
 a ix. c. monastery, and a cavern which tradition declares 
 to have been a school of the Druids. The church of 
 Bercheres PEveque, a few miles S., is xn. c. 
 
 [For the line from Chartres to (43 k.) Dreux see ch. iv.] 
 
 [For the line to Paris by Auneau and Dourdan, see South- 
 western France.'] 
 
 [A line runs S.E. to (76 k.) Orleans, passing (56 k.) Patay, 
 where Jeanne Dare gained a victory over the English, June 18, 
 1429.] 
 
 [Two lines lead S.W. to Chateaudun (see South- Western 
 France) : that (59 k.) by Voves, and that (74 k.) by (25 k.) //tiers, 
 with ruins of a once famous castle, and {38 k.) the once fortified 
 town of Brou.~\ 
 
 99 k. S. Aubi?i — S. Luperce. Near this are remains 
 of a Gallo-Roman aqueduct 26 k. in length, which served 
 the town of the Carnutes. 
 
 106 k. Courville. In the xvi. c. church is a fine canopied 
 altar. 
 
NO GENT LE ROTROU. 
 
 181 
 
 At 8^k., on the road to Illiers, is the Chateau de Villebon 
 (Marquis de Pontois), built by Guillaume d'Estouteville, Grand 
 Master of Woods and Forests, who died in 1449. It is a quad- 
 rangular mass of moated building, with seven machicolated 
 towers. The courtyard has four octangular stair-turrets at the 
 angles. The windows are adorned with sculpture. The apart- 
 ments have a good deal of xvi. c. furniture. The room remains 
 in which Maximilien de Bethune, Due de Sully, died, 1 and that 
 of Henri IV., with his bed and writing-table. 
 
 114 k. Pontgouin. 1 k. r. is the church of S. Lubin, of 
 xiii. c, enlarged in xvi. c. by Louis Guillard, bishop of 
 Chartres. Towers remain of his episcopal palace. 
 
 124 k. La Loupe, has small remains of its chateau, 
 which belonged to the Due de la Ferte, whose duchess 
 was a celebrated beauty of the court of Louis XIV. 
 
 On the road to Longui is a pollard oak of enormous size, with 
 a statue of the Madonna in its branches. 8 k. N. is the moated 
 Chateau de Manou, which belonged in the xiii. c. to Blanche 
 of Castille. A diligence leads to (25 k.) La Ferte Vidame by 
 (12 k.) Senonches, which has a church and castle of xn. c. 
 
 Leaving La Loupe, the line passes to the 1. Vaupillon, 
 where nothing remains of a splendid chateau built at the 
 end of xvi. c. for Henriette d'Entragues. The mound and 
 entrenchments of an earlier castle exist. 
 
 141 k. Conde sur LLuisne. 
 
 [A line of 29 k. leads N.W. to Mortagne (see ch. iv.), passing 
 (22 k.) Mauves, where nothing remains of a splendid chateau 
 built by Marguerite de Lorraine 1502-5.] 
 
 149 k. Nogent le Rotrou (Hotel : du Dauphin), capital of 
 the ancient province of Perche, beautifully situated on the 
 
 1 One of his ancestors had married a daughter of Guillaume dEstouteville, 
 in 1450. 
 
182 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Huisne, and a very picturesque place. It is overlooked by 
 the remains of a castle, built in the xi. c. by Geoffroi II., 
 Comte du Perche, grandson of Rotrou I., Comte de 
 Mortagne, on the site of an earlier fortress (Castrum 
 Nogioni) destroyed by the Normans. It is called the 
 Chateau de S. Jean^ from a church which Geoffroi II. built 
 near his castle. Nogent was long a residence of the house 
 of Conde, having been made a duchy in 1557, in favour of 
 Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, uncle of Henri IV., 
 killed in the battle of Jarnac. His second wife, Francoise 
 d'Orleans, gave birth here to Charles de Bourbon, Comte 
 de Soissons. In 1624 the seigneury passed to the famous 
 Sully, whose heirs alienated it in 1770. The chateau 
 (M. des Murs) is shown to strangers who ask permission. 
 Its most ancient part is the keep of 1003-30. The 
 adjoining gate, flanked by machicolated towers, is of 
 xv. c.j but the corridor which follows is contemporary 
 with the keep. 
 
 The church of S. Hilaire, founded x. c, was rebuilt 
 xiii. c. and xvi. c, and its tower is of 1560. Notre Dame 
 (near the modern Hotel de Ville) was formerly the chapel 
 of the Hospital. The W. door is an interesting specimen 
 of early gothic ; the triple nave is xiv. c. and xv. c, the 
 rectangular choir xiii. c. Close to the church, in the Rue 
 de Sully, is the entrance of the Hotel Dieu^ the ancient 
 hospital of S. Jacques de FAumone, founded in 11 90 by 
 Comte Rotrou IV. The buildings are chiefly modern. 
 On the r. of the court, against the wall of Notre Dame, 
 is a hexagonal chapel containing the tomb of the Due and 
 Duchesse de Sully (somewhat mutilated at the Revolution), 
 bearing their kneeling statues. On the figure of Sully is 
 
LA FER TA BERNARD. 
 
 183 
 
 the name of the sculptor, ' B. Bovdin. F. 1642.' Against 
 the wall is the epitaph of Sully and Rachel de Cochefilet ; 
 their ashes were dispersed in 1793. 
 
 Near the apse of S. Laurent (xv. c. and xvi. c.) a 
 vaulted gothic passage, the ancient entrance of the Prieure de 
 S. Denis, leads to the remains of that convent, founded in 
 1029 by Geoffroi II. The ruined church is chiefly xm. c, 
 with three chapels added xv. c. 
 
 Nogent has several old houses of xv. c. and xvi. c, 
 one of the finest being 47, Rue S. Laurent. On the Route 
 de Dreux is the church of Margon, of xi. c. and xv. c, 
 beautifully situated. Nurses for Parisian mothers abound 
 in the environs of Nogent. 
 
 The church of Bazoche-Gouet, some miles S., is of xm. c. 
 
 170 k. La Ferte-Bernard (Hotels : de POuest, at S. An- 
 toine ; S. Jean). The station is in the village of S. Antoine, 
 1 k. from the town. La Ferte, founded by a bishop of 
 Le Mans in the xi. c, owes its second name of Bernard to 
 a family which possessed it till the xiv. c, when Bernard 
 de la Ferte sold the seigneury to the Comte du Maine, 
 afterwards Philippe VI. His son Jean ceded it to Ingelger, 
 Sire d'Amboise, from whom it passed to the family of Craon, 
 then to the Due d'Orleans, brother of Charles VI., Louis II. 
 d'Anjou, and Louis III. (141 7), to King Rene, to the House 
 of Lorraine, and finally to Cardinal Richelieu, in whose 
 family it remained till the Revolution. Robert Gamier, 
 the dramatic poet, was a native of La Ferte. 
 
 The church of Notre- Dame-des- Mar ais is a very fine 
 specimen of flamboyant gothic. The nave, transept, and 
 tower are of 1450 — 1500 ; the 1. aisle*of the choir of 1500-20, 
 the three apsidal chapels 1520-36, except the vaulting of 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 1536-44, which has the medallions and little columns of 
 the Renaissance. The pendant of the chapel of the chevet 
 ends in a crown, in the centre of which is seen God the 
 Father borne on the clouds. The lower galleries of the 
 S. facade bear sculptures in which the king of France and 
 his peers are introduced. The upper (xvi. c.) galleries of 
 the choir form the anthem ' Ave, Regina Coelorum.' The 
 beautiful glass of the choir (by Francois Delalande, Robert 
 and Jean Courtois) is of 1498 — 1606. The bracket which 
 supports the organ is a very refined work of Evrard 
 Baudot, 1501. 
 
 The Hotel de Ville has been established, since 1703, over 
 a fine xv. c. gateway, the only portion of the fortifications 
 remaining. The Halles were built by Claude de Lorraine, 
 Due de Guise, in 1536. In the suburb of Cherre was the 
 abbey of La Pelice, founded by Bernard de la Ferte in the 
 
 xii. c. ; the church is xv. c. 
 
 179 k. Sceaux (3 k.) has remains of fortifications, and a 
 
 xiii. c. church. To the 1. of the line, near Duneau, are 
 several dolmens and a menhir. 
 
 187 k. Connerre. The church of S. Jacques is roman- 
 esque, with a xvi. c. spire. The presbytery was an ancient 
 priory. 
 
 [A line leads N.W. to Mamers, passing — 
 
 17 k. Bonnetable. The picturesque chateau, with its six great 
 machicolated towers, was built by Jean d'Harcourt in 1478. 
 
 45 k. Mamers (Hotel : d'Esfiagne), a town built around two 
 squares, one containing the Halles, S. Nicolas and the theatre, the 
 other the library, college, prison and gendarmerie (in the buildings 
 of the former Convent of the Visitation). The church of Notre 
 Dame is xv. c, 6*. Nicolas xv. c. and xvi. c. 
 
 12 k. distant is the moated CUdteau de la Totirnerie, in the 
 
LE MANS. 
 
 185 
 
 midst of marshy meadows, with buildings of late xvi. c, and 
 with mythological painted decorations of the same date. 
 
 A line connects Mamers with (37 k.) Mortagne (see ch. iv.).] 
 
 [A line runs S.E. to (52 k.) Le Pont de Braye, passing — 
 32 k. 6\ Calais, which rose around an abbey founded in the 
 vi. c. by S. Calais, a monk of Auvergne. This abbey, rebuilt 
 in the xvi. c. by Jean Ronsard, uncle of the famous poet, was 
 entirely destroyed at the Revolution. The church, of different 
 dates from xm. c. to xvi. c, has a stone xvn. c. spire. On the 
 hill above the town are remains of an xi. c. castle. 
 
 44 k. Besse. A little N.W. of the town is the restored Chateau 
 de Courtanvaux, chiefly xiv. c. and xv. c] 
 
 193 k. Pont-de-Gennes, named from an ancient bridge 
 over the Huisne, which replaces one built by the Romans. 
 The church of S. Gilles is xm. c. 1 k. W. is Montfort le 
 Rotrou, where Rotrou, Comte de Perche, built a castle in 
 the xii. c. A modern chateau has been erected by the 
 Marquis de Nicolai. 
 
 203 k. Yvre-V Eveque owes its name to a chateau which 
 the bishops of Mans possessed here from the xn. c. to the 
 Revolution. 3! k. S.W. are the ruins of the Abbey of 
 Epau (Pietatis Dei), founded in 1229 by Berengaria, widow 
 of Richard Coeur de Lion, for monks of Citeaux. The 
 first monastic church was destroyed in 1365 by the inhabit- 
 ants of Mans, for fear it should be fortified by the English ; 
 but the church was rebuilt in xv. c, and still exists, though 
 the other monastic buildings have perished. 
 
 211 k. Le Mans (Hotels : Grand — good; du Dauphin ; 
 des Princes), on rising ground above the Sarthe, the 
 ancient capital of Maine and now capital of the De- 
 partement de la Sarthe. It occupies the site of the 
 Gallic oppidum Suindinum, a town of the Cenomanes, 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 which was fortified by the Romans. Palgrave says 
 S. Dionysius was its first bishop, and was visited here by 
 S. Clement, the immediate successor of S. Peter. But 
 S. Julien, who preached Christianity here in the iv. c, is 
 generally supposed to have become the first bishop. In 
 937 Hugues Capet made the Comtes du Maine hereditary, 
 but in the xi. c. William the Conqueror took Mans. The 
 frequent revolts of the inhabitants afterwards led him to 
 dismantle the town and to build a strong fortress for their 
 repression. Mans suffered greatly in the wars of Philippe- 
 Auguste and Richard Coeur de Lion, and was afterwards an 
 appanage of Queen Berengaria, and of Marguerite, wife of 
 S. Louis. Comte de Maine was a royal title till Louis XIV. 
 gave it to the elder of his sons by Mme de Montespan. 
 The town suffered greatly in the wars of La Vendee ; and 
 there (Jan. n, 187 1) the Prussians gained the victory 
 which rendered the defence of Paris hopeless. 
 
 The ancient walls are destroyed, and the massive portal 
 through which Duke William of Normandy made his 
 'joyeuse entree' after his conquest of Maine, and near 
 which he built a castle, is now reduced to shapeless frag- 
 ments of wall. 
 
 The principal hotels are situated in the Place de la 
 Republique, which also contains the Palais de Justice, 
 occupying part of an old (xvn. c.) convent of the Visita- 
 tion. In the centre of the square is a fine bronze statue 
 by Croizy of General Chanzy, who led the French forces in 
 the battle of Le Mans. Hence the Rue Dumas, the Rue 
 Marchande and (r.) the Rue S. Dominique lead to the 
 Place des Jacobins, where we find all the principal objects 
 of interest. 
 
LE MANS, 
 
 187 
 
 The Cathedral of S. Julien, founded in the iv. c. and 
 rebuilt in the vi. c. by S. Innocent, was again rebuilt in 
 834 by S. Aldric. In 1060 the famous architect-bishop 
 Vulgrin began a new edifice, dedicated c. 1095, but altered 
 in ii 20 by Hildebert, who added two lofty towers. Soon 
 after, it was greatly injured by fire, but was consecrated in 
 1 1 58. The existing nave belongs to this building of xr. c. 
 and xii. c, but the vast choir was an addition of 1217-54; 
 only the transept and tower belong to the xv. c. Part 
 of the ancient rampart was destroyed for the sake of 
 the apse. 
 
 The W. fagade belongs to the xi. c, except the dividing 
 buttresses and the gables. Its great window retains much 
 ancient glass, relating to the story of S. Julien. The 
 sumptuous side door, of xii. c, ornamented with statues 
 like those of Chartres, is preceded by a porch. 
 
 ' The capitals are executed in the most elegant and freest 
 Corinthian style ; even the coping stones are covered with the 
 most graceful branch-work, and the shafts of the columns on 
 which the figures stand, as at Chartres, are rich with varied 
 designs. All the rest is devoted to isolated works of sculpture. 
 On the capitals there stand ten stiff columnar figures in antique 
 drapery, variously arranged, but exhibiting throughout the same 
 parallel folds and with heads and limbs stiff and constrained. 
 Yet even here, in the slender proportions, and still more in the 
 type of the heads, the strong presentment of a new life is per- 
 ceptible, though still too dependent on the architecture. We 
 recognise St. Peter and St. Paul and other saints, and finally kings 
 and queens, all full of youth, and, in spite of the severe style of 
 conception, imbued with a breath of grace and feeling. In a small 
 colonnade, above the door, are seated the twelve apostles — short, 
 heavy, stunted figures. In the arched compartment above, 
 solemn and severe, is the enthroned figure of Christ, with 
 the four symbols of the Evangelists, again displaying violent 
 
i88 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 gestures — a recurring trait of the plastic art of the period, which, 
 in its naive way, endeavoured by vehement action to indicate 
 the divine inspiration of the Evangelists. Lastly, all the four 
 archivolts surrounding the tympanum are covered with sculptures; 
 in the centre angels, swinging vessels of incense, form a circle 
 round the figure of the Redeemer ; in the outer circles the whole 
 history of the Life of Christ is depicted in distinct and simple 
 relief, and in a quaint and lifelike manner.' — Liibke. 
 
 In the Interior, the nave has the peculiarity of having 
 five bays in the central and ten in the side aisles, which are 
 of extreme simplicity. The transept is much loftier than 
 the nave. The lower portions are of the xn. c. The N. 
 wall has a magnificent rose-window, the compartments of 
 which are slightly flamboyant, whilst its glass contains 
 124 subjects, some of them of great historical interest. 
 At the end of the S. transept is the only tower of the 
 cathedral, romanesque on the ground and first floors, but of 
 the xv. c. and xvi. c. above, with a modern dome. The 
 choir (12 1 7) is of the very best period of gothic archi- 
 tecture, and is surrounded by a double aisle and thirteen 
 radiating chapels. 
 
 ' En passant de la nef dans le choeur, l'impression qu'on 
 eprouve c'est qu'on quitte le temple d'une religion ancienne, 
 pour entrer dans celui d'une religion nouvelle. Ces chapiteaux 
 couverts de monstres, d'animaux fantastiques, de masques 
 hideux, semblent les ornements d'un culte barbare, tandis que 
 ces feuillages varies de mille manieres, ces vitraux aux couleurs 
 harmonieuses, donnent l'idee d'une croyance douce et bien- 
 veillante.' — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 The glorious windows of the choir are filled with 
 magnificent glass of xiv. c. and xv. c. The windows of the 
 side aisle are occupied by the legends of the saints — Evron, 
 Calais, Theophile, Eustache — especially venerated at Mans. 
 
LE MANS. 189 
 
 In one of these windows is a curious portrait, inscribed 
 ' Senebaldus,' of Pope Innocent IV. (Sinibaldo Fieschi). 
 The sixth (triangular) window represents a Sire de Pirmil, 
 the seventh probably the Sire de la Guierche, governor 
 of Maine under S. Louis. The clerestory windows are 
 occupied by great figures of S. Matthew, S. Andrew, 
 S. Luke, David, Isaac, Moses, then the Apostles, and finally 
 S. Bertram, founder of the Abbey of La Couture — these 
 windows being the gift of an abbot of La Couture of the 
 family of Cormes. The series of apostles is continued in 
 the fourth great window, signed ' Odon de Coulonge,' with 
 the inscription ' La Verrine des Drapiers, and the members 
 of that corporation are represented in it. Then, in the 
 fifth lancet, are S. Paul and Aaron, signed for the furriers 
 of Mans ; the sixth, representing SS. Stephen, Vincent, 
 Gervais and Protais, was given by the innkeepers and 
 publicans. The seventh, or apsidal window, contains the 
 Madonna and Child, and the Crucifixion, beneath which 
 is the prayer of Bishop Geoffroy de Loudon (1254), 
 offering the window to God ; his arms are repeated in the 
 border. The eighth great window, signed, represents the 
 architects of the cathedral. With the ninth window begins 
 a series of the sainted bishops of Mans, characterised 
 by the nimbi round their heads and inscriptions beneath. 
 The tenth window is inscribed ' La Verriere Ecles.,' and 
 was given by the clergy of the church. The very curious 
 eleventh window commemorates the players at tric-trac, who 
 consecrated their gains to it, The thirteenth, signed by 
 the bakers of Mans, represents its donors at work. All 
 these windows are of the middle of the xm. c. The 
 remains of glass of xi. c. are the most ancient known. 
 
190 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 * Si Ton ajoute que les vignerons du Mans se sont fait peindre 
 au bas d'une verriere du bas cote, on sera frappe de la puissance 
 et de la piete des corporations de metiers au moyen-age, et 
 du petit nombre de dons emanes au contraire des personnages 
 de la noblesse et de la bourgeoisie.' — M. E. Hucher. 
 
 The first choir chapel on r. contains a curious (early 
 xvii. c.) terra cotta S. Sepulcre, restored from injuries 
 received from a mad workman. The double (xiv. c.) door 
 leading to the Psallette, with a figure of S. Julien in the 
 tympanum ; and the door of the sacristy, formed from 
 fragments of a destroyed jube, erected by the Cardinal 
 de Luxembourg in 1620, deserve notice. In the 1. aisle 
 are xvi. c. tapestries representing the legends of S. Julien 
 and SS. Gervais and Protais. In the baptistery (first choir 
 chapel on 1.) are the tombs of Charles, Comte du Maine, 
 1472 (renaissance), and Guillaume de Langey du Bellay, 
 viceroy of Piedmont under Frangois I., and brother of 
 Cardinal du Bellay, Bishop of Mans, 1543. 1 
 
 ' La pose de la statue, les ornements de l'entablement, et les 
 bas-reliefs qui couvrent le soubassement du sarcophage, offrent 
 des modeles qu'on ne saurait trop etudier. Jamais, que je sache, 
 on n'a surpasse les maitres de la renaissance dans la composition 
 de ces monuments.' — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 In the r. transept, removed from the choir, is the very 
 interesting xin. c. tomb of Queen Berengaria of England, 
 daughter of Sancho VI. of Navarre, and wife of Richard 
 Coeur de Lion (celebrated in Scott's Talisman), to whom 
 she was married at Limasol by his chaplain Nicolas, after- 
 wards Bishop of Le Mans. After Richard's death she 
 
 This monument is sometimes ascribed to Germain Pilon. 
 
LE MANS. 
 
 191 
 
 lived much at Le Mans, which was part of her dower. The 
 statue is one of the most lifelike of its period, with open 
 eyes. 
 
 ' The drapery flows down in wide folds, the noble head is 
 antiquely grand, the hands are holding a small casket, and the 
 feet rest on a dog, the emblem of fidelity.' — Lilbke. 
 
 Against the first pillar on 1. of the nave formerly stood 
 the tomb of Geoffroi Plantagenet, Comte du Maine et 
 d'Anjou, son-in-law of Henry I. and father of Henry II. 
 of England. This interesting monument was entirely de- 
 stroyed by the Huguenots in 1562, except the enamelled 
 portrait attached to the second pillar after the destruction 
 of the tomb. Having been taken down for security in the 
 Revolution, it is now preserved in the Musee, for which it 
 was purchased from the collection of an amateur. 
 
 At the S.W. angle of the cathedral is a large Peulven, 
 4! metres in height, leaning against the facade. 
 
 ' Ce peulven rappelle les ages de la Gaule ou s'operait la 
 transition entre l'antique religion et la religion nouvelle.' 
 
 Opposite the W. end of the cathedral is the Hotel de 
 la Grabatoire, 2l fine renaissance building. 
 
 The magnificent church of Notre Dame de la Couture 
 (de Cultura Dei), reached by the Rue de la Prefecture (1. 
 of the way to the station), belonged to an ancient abbey 
 founded by S. Bertrand in the vn. c. Its fagade and portal, 
 flanked by two low towers, are a splendid work of the 
 xiii. c. At the sides of the entrance are six noble statues 
 of apostles ; the tympanum has the Last Judgment and 
 Weighing of the Souls. The outer arch presents a curious 
 collection of crockets, some of them— of animals — very 
 
192 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 characteristic. The interior is spoilt by restoration. The 
 wide nave is single, but the narrow choir, raised high by 
 steps, has an ambulatory with chapels, and with its little 
 crypt may be attributed to a rebuilding by Hugues I. in 
 995, after the church had been destroyed by the Normans. 
 There are several good pictures here, the best being a 
 Burial of Christ by Philippe de Champaigne. In the sacristy 
 is preserved the Suaire de S. Bertrand. 
 
 Between La Couture and the Prefecture is the entrance 
 to the Musee^ only open between 12 and 4. It is worth 
 visiting, for the sake of the precious xn. c. enamelled 
 portrait of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Comte du Maine, son-in-law 
 of Henry I. of England, which formerly stood above the 
 tomb of Geoffrey in the cathedral. The portrait is of the 
 utmost interest as a representation of costume, as well as 
 from its historic associations. The Musee has an important 
 collection of prehistoric antiquities. The canopy which 
 covered the coffin of Queen Berengaria is a historic relic. 
 
 Notre Dame du Pre, on the r. bank of the Sarthe, 
 belonged to a Benedictine convent, founded in xi. c. by 
 one Lezeline, on the site of an oratory of S. Julien, and 
 altered xn. c. It may be considered as a miniature of 
 the cathedral before its last restoration, and dates from 
 the xi. c. and xn. c, except a great part of the vaulting 
 renewed in xvn. c. In the N. aisle is a xvi. c. relief, 
 representing the translation of the relics of S. Julien from 
 Notre Dame du Pre to the Cathedral. The crypt is xi. c. 
 
 The little church of ,5. Pavin aux Champs dates from 
 xi. c, and contains a sarcophagus, supposed to be that 
 (vi. c.) of its patron saint. 
 
 The church of S. Pierre de la Cour (xn. c. and xm. a), 
 
ALLUYES. 
 
 193 
 
 now used as a school, was the Sainte Chapelle of the 
 Comtes du Maine, and was originally built by Hugues I. 
 in 969. 
 
 The church of the Visitations^ built 1737, by Mathurin 
 Ribaillier, from designs of Soufflot. 
 
 The Eglise de la Mission, now used as a school of 
 cavalry, was built c. 1180 by Henry II., King of England 
 and Comte du Maine, to serve as a hospital, and was 
 only turned into a church in 1397. In the court of 
 the barrack may be seen the fine xin. c. portal of the 
 Confrerie de CoefTort, to whom the hospital was granted 
 in 1234. 
 
 The Hotel de Ville occupies the site of the palace of 
 the Comtes du Maine, destroyed in 161 7. 
 
 In domestic architecture we may notice : No. 1, Place 
 S. Michel, as the house of Scarron, who bore the honorary 
 title of Canon of Mans; No. 11, Grande Rue, called 
 sometimes the house of Queen Berengaria, sometimes of 
 Queen Blanche, but xv. c; the interior has a fine chimney- 
 piece with reliefs; No. 72, Grande Rue, of xvi. c. ; 
 No. 17, Rue Doree, a fine renaissance hotel; and remains 
 of buildings of the xi. c. on the N. and W. of the cathedral. 
 In the Rue Bouquet is a xv. c. statue of the Madeleine 
 with an xvni. c. grille. 
 
 At the end of the Place des Jacobins are remains of 
 the Gallo-Roman walls of 111. c. The three aqueducts 
 which brought water to the Roman city are still traceable 
 in different cellars. Nothing remains now of an amphi- 
 theatre discovered in the last century. 
 
 An excursion maybe made to Alhiyes, 6k. from Bonneval, 
 on the line to Tours. Here the chateau is a remarkable specimen 
 
 *3 
 
194 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 of military architecture, with the Loire as a moat. There are 
 remains of a xm. c. chapel, retouched in xv. c. 
 
 ' Les tours sont petites et rapprochees ; mais, c'est surtout 
 le donjon, qui, par sa conservation et sa structure, merite d'etre 
 etudie avec soin. Suivant un usage presque general, il s'eleve 
 dans un angle des remparts, sans pourtant communiquer avec 
 ceux-ci ; et quoique tangent a l'enceinte du chateau, il forme 
 une fortification distincte, et peut s'isoler au besoin. C'est une 
 grosse tour circulaire a deux etages, terminee par une plate- 
 forme, et plus de deux fois plus haute que les remparts. Elle 
 pouvait contribuer a leur defense, et s'ils tombaient au pouvoir 
 de Tennemi, soutenir encore un siege particulier.' 
 
 Prosper Merimee. 
 
 At Bonneval itself very little remains of its once important 
 abbey ; but its church, a three-aisled parallelogram of xm. c, 
 is very interesting. 
 
 [A line runs N. to (167 k.) Caen, by — 
 
 20 k. Montbizot. 5 k. N.E. is Ballon, with picturesque ruins 
 of a fine xv. c. castle. 6*. Mars-sous-Ballon (1 k. E.) has a fine 
 xi. c. church. The Chateau de Thouars (2 k. N.) has a roman- 
 esque chapel. 6 k. S.E. of Ballon is the ruined Chateau de 
 Baigneux. 
 
 30 k. Vivoin- Beaumont. Vivoin (1 k. E.) has a very fine 
 xm. c. church. A house, formerly a hospital, has a xn. c. portal. 
 The little town of Beaumont-le-Vicomte (1 k. W) is pleasantly 
 situated above the Sarthe. It has small remains of a x. c. castle 
 and an XL c. church, and the little promenade called La Motte 
 a Madame. 
 
 36 k. Fresnay le Viscomle, a picturesque old town upon the 
 Sarthe. Its church of Notre Dame, a curious specimen of 
 transition, has remarkable sculptured doors of xvi. c. The 
 windows, as well as the portal, are surrounded with quain(t 
 sculpture. Above the centre of the nave rises a great tower, 
 with a slated spire. The church is said to occupy the site of 
 an XI. c. building, due to Bertha, the excommunicated wife of 
 King Robert, who fixed her residence at Montreuil le Chetif, 
 6 k. S.W. of Fresnay. In this village a small xv. c. chateau 
 
LE LUBE. 
 
 195 
 
 still preserves the name of La Bertherie. Common lands in 
 this district are known as Berthonn, or Grands et petits Bercons, 
 and are supposed to have been given by the queen to the villages 
 which own them. 
 
 Only the gateway remains of the old Chateau , but its Chapel, 
 completely subterranean, still exists at the S. extremity of the 
 Place d'Armes, and appears to be of early xiii. c. In the town 
 are two xiii. c. houses, and some xv. c. buildings of the old 
 priory of 6*. Leonard. 
 
 47 k. Botirg-le-Roi has ruins of a castle built by William 
 Rufus, c. 1 100. 
 
 56 k. Alencon. For this town and the rest of the route 
 see ch. iv.]. 
 
 [For the route to Vendome see p. 185, and Sonth-We stern 
 France, ch. L] 
 
 [For the line to (99 k.) Tours see South-Western France, 
 ch. i.] 
 
 [For the nearest line to (50 k.) La Fleche see later.] 
 [A line leads to (71 k.) La Fleche by — 
 
 29 k. Mayet The church of 6*. Martin is xn. c. to xvi. c. 
 The Chateau du Fort des Salles was besieged by William Rufus. 
 6 k. E. are ruins of the Chateau de Haute Perche, and 5 k. S.W. 
 of this the ruined Chateau de Sarceau. 4 k. W. is La Lande 
 de Rigalet, where Du Guesclin gained a bloody victory over the 
 English, commemorated in an obelisk called L.a Croix Brette. 
 
 38 k. Aubigne. The xn c. church has an apse of xvn c. 
 
 50 k. Le L.ude (Hotel : du Boeuf) has a splendid chateau 
 (Marquis de Talhouet), begun by Jean de Daillon, chamberlain 
 of Louis XL, in 1457, and finished twenty years later. The 
 buildings, of early renaissance, replace a feudal castle, and have 
 been added to in the xviii. c. The windows and machicolations 
 are very richly decorated. In the interior the Salle des Fetes is 
 ornamented in the style of Louis XIII. The room in which 
 Henri IV. and Louis XIII. slept retains its xvi. c. furniture. The 
 N. tower has been rebuilt, and a gallery and staircase added 
 under M. Delarue. The romanesque church of Lude has xvi. c. 
 chapels.] 
 
i 9 6 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 [For the line from Le Mans to (137 k.) Angers by Sable 
 (with the interesting excursion to Solesmes) see South -We stern 
 France, ch. i.] 
 
 Leaving Le Mans for Brest, we pass — 
 
 223 k. La Milesse. 7 k. S. is Lavardin, with a xtii. c. 
 church, a ruined castle, and Les Caves des Vierges, excavated 
 by Charles VII. during the siege of Mans by the English — 
 'pour mettre les filles d'honneur en sureteV 
 
 232 k. Domfront - en - Champagne, mentioned in the 
 Roman Comique of Scarron. The church is dedicated 
 to S. Front, apostle of Maine in the vi. c. 
 
 247 k. Sille-le-GiiiUaume, with striking ruins of a castle 
 besieged and taken by William the Conqueror at the end 
 of the xi. c. It was taken by the Earl of Richmond in 
 1422, and afterwards besieged by the Earl of Arundel, 
 when it was delivered by Gilles de Retz (le Barbe-Bleue). 
 Falling again into the hands of the English in 1432, it 
 was retaken by Ambroise de Lore, but, as soon as he left, 
 again captured by Arundel. The (xv. c.) ruins have several 
 low towers and an immense donjon, cylindrical externally 
 and polygonal internally. Near the castle stands the 
 formerly collegiate church of Notre Dame, founded by the 
 early barons of Sille. It has a rich xni. c. portal. On 
 the S. is a xn. c. gable, beneath which is the entrance 
 to the crypt. The Hospital occupies a convent of 
 Minimes, founded 1623. 
 
 8 k. N. of Sille is the church (xi. c. and xvi. c.) of Mont- 
 S.-Jean, containing the tomb of the Marquis de Dreux-Breze, 
 1829. 
 
 [A line leads N.E. from Sille to join the line from Le Mans 
 to Caen, at Fresnay-sur-Sarthe : see p. 194.] 
 
EVRON. 
 
 [A line leads S.W. from Sille to (50 k.) Sable, by— 
 26 k. Loue\ with the curious xv. c. Chateau de la Coulainc, on 
 the Vegre. 
 
 38 k. Pottle, near which is the handsome but dilapidated 
 Chateau de Verdelle, of the Renaissance.] 
 
 253 k. Rouesse-Vasse. Vasse, in the valley of the Vegre, 
 has a xii. c. church, founded by the family celebrated in 
 the proverb — 
 
 ' Richesse de Bouille, 
 Noblesse de Vasse.' 
 
 The chateau of Vasse, of which there are considerable 
 remains, was rebuilt in 1585 by Jean Grognet, Sieur de 
 Vasse, whose grandson obtained the marquisate of Vasse 
 under Louis XIV. 
 
 4 k. N. is the ruined castle of Courtalieru, and 5 k. farther 
 N. the Chateau du Pulls. 
 
 261 k. Voutre. The line now skirts, to the r., the granite 
 Chaine des Coevrons, then leaves to r. Asse le Beranger, 
 which has a church and chateau of xi. c, and a miraculous 
 spring, which is said to have gushed forth at the prayer 
 of S. Thuribe. 5 k. hence is the renaissance Chateau de 
 Foulletourte. 
 
 270k. Evron (Hotel: de /'Ecu), a picturesque town, 
 with many old houses and xvi. c. halles. Tradition tells 
 that a pilgrim from Palestine brought back with him in 648 
 a phial containing some drops of the milk of the Blessed 
 Virgin. Lying down to sleep in the forest by the side of 
 a fountain, he hung up his relic on the branch of a neigh- 
 bouring thorn-bush. When he awoke the bush had grown 
 so much that he could no longer reach the phial, and it 
 continued growing before his eyes. He tried to cut down 
 
198 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 the tree, but his hatchet remained fixed in the trunk. The 
 excitement of the spectators summoned S. Hadouin, bishop 
 of Mans, who knelt before the relic, when the tree again 
 became a bush. Then Hadouin saw that it was the will 
 of the Virgin to be honoured in that place. He built a 
 church, in which he enclosed the fountain, the thorn-bush, 
 and the relic, and founded a congregation of monks to 
 watch over the precious deposit. Of late years the fountain, 
 which was in the choir, has been covered up, to hinder the 
 superstitious practices of women deprived of milk. The 
 story of the pilgrim is represented on the glass of the choir 
 and sculptured on the walls and woodwork of the church. 
 
 The monastery was destroyed by the Normans in the 
 ix. c, but rebuilt in 981 by Thibault, Comte de Blois. In 
 the existing (fortified) church nothing remains of this date. 
 Two-thirds of the nave, the W. towers and the chapel of 
 S. Crepin are xn. c, when they were built by Guy de Laval, 
 one of the bravest of the companions of Richard Coeur de 
 Lion. In the xiv. c, at the best period of gothic archi- 
 tecture, the choir was added by Geoffrey de Loudon. The 
 S. facade is of exceeding richness ; an immense window fills 
 all the wall of transept on this side. In the interior four 
 great pillars, composed of groups of columns, support the 
 vaulting of the transept, but the arcades of the choir are of 
 exquisite lightness. The stalls of the monks are decorated 
 in the ionic style, and the Abbot's seat has a Virgin and 
 Child of the xin. c. The Chap elk S. Crepin is of the 
 xii. c, and has a most picturesque portal. It consists of a 
 nave of four bays with a pentagonal apse. Traces of its 
 ancient colouring remain, especially in the apse, where is a 
 Christ in benediction, with the symbols of the Evangelists. 
 
5. SUZANNE, JUBLAINS. 
 
 The monastic buildings are now occupied by the Maison 
 Mere of the Soeurs de Charite. 
 
 An excursion should be made to 5*. Suzanne (7 k. S E.), a 
 curious old town, most picturesquely situated, which was a 
 Vicomte in the Middle Ages, and was only reunited to the crown 
 under Henri IV. The town is surrounded by walls, with round 
 towers and square bastions at intervals. In the early part of the 
 constructions, the stones are fixed in glazed mortar. A second 
 range — a triangle — of fortifications encloses the castle. The 
 entrance is flanked by two towers, near which rises a donjon of 
 the xii. c. At the hamlet of Evves (2 k. N.K.) are several 
 dolmens and two entrenched enclosures known as Les Camps 
 des Anglais, and probably occupied by them when S. Suzanne 
 was besieged by the Earl of Salisbury in 1424. 
 
 4 k. S. of Evron is Chdtres, with the ruins of the xvi. c. 
 Chateau de Monteder, which retains its ancient drawbridge, 
 under a square tower, pierced by loopholes, and surmounted by 
 a dome. 
 
 [A line leads N. to Domfront by — 
 
 4 k. Mczangers, overlooked by the xvi. c. Chateau du Roches, 
 with its pinnacled turrets and richly sculptured windows. It 
 contains a beautiful renaissance gallery. 
 
 14 k. Jublains, on the site of Noviodunum, an ancient city 
 of the Aulerces-Diablintes, fortified by the Romans. It was 
 destroyed in iv. c. by the Saxons and in ix. c. by the Normans, 
 after which it never recovered, and its inhabitants took refuge 
 in the neighbouring towns. The foundations and size of the old 
 town are still perceptible. To the S.W. is the vast Castellum } 
 of which the walls are still 5 met. high and 3 met. thick ; they 
 are of small masonry intercepted by bands of brick and resting 
 upon great blocks of granite. A round tower defends each of the 
 four angles, and five other towers are disposed on the side walls. 
 By a wide breach one enters a second inclosure, formed by an 
 earthen rampart rounded at the angles, and defending a central 
 fortress, flanked at the angles by four square towers. The 
 ancient Theatre has been cleared out. To the N. of it are 
 remains of Baths, upon part of which stands the existing church. 
 The road which leads from the church to the theatre is the 
 
200 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 ancient Roman road from Jublains to Angers. Beneath it is a 
 Gallo-Roman canal. Farther N. of the theatre is the Tonnelle, 
 a wooded mound. Farther still, quite at the extremity of the 
 town, traces of a Temple have been found, supposed to have 
 been dedicated to Fortune. 
 
 20 k. Aron has a xiv. c. round tower. Near Eetang de 
 Beaucoudray is the huge block of granite called La Chaise au 
 Diable, supposed to have been a Druidical altar. 
 
 25 k. Mayenne (Hotels: de I Europe ; Grand Guillot), an 
 ancient town, much modernised of late years, occupying the slope 
 of two hills on either side of the Mayenne. Founded by Juhel, 
 son of Geoffroy du Maine, in xi. c, it underwent a famous siege 
 by William the Conqueror in 1064, and was taken by the strata- 
 gem of firing the old wooden houses by burning materials thrown 
 over the walls. 
 
 In 1424 Mayenne was besieged and taken by the English under 
 the Earl of Salisbury. It was the native place of Ambroise de Lore, 
 the brave defender of Maine against the English, and of Cardinal 
 de Cheverus, first Bishop of Boston in the United States. 
 
 The church of Notre Dame, of peculiar and varied outline, 
 was founded 11 10. The pillars and arcades of the nave are 
 xii. c. The choir is a beautiful specimen of transition. On the 
 opposite side of the river the church of 6*. Martin (in the 
 faubourg of the name) belongs to an ancient priory of the Abbey 
 of Marmoutiers. It is a romanesque edifice, forming a Latin 
 cross, with a tower in the centre, ambulatories around the choir, 
 and apsidal chapel. This church possesses a chalice which 
 belonged to Bossuet. The Xlli. c. Chateau (which occupies the 
 site of that of Geoffroy de Mayenne, surrendered on the day 
 after the Conqueror took the town) has five towers towards the 
 river and three towards the N., and now serves as a prison. 
 On the Place Cheverus is a bronze statue (1844), by David 
 d'Angers, of Cardinal Cheverus, who died Archbishop of Bordeaux 
 in 1836. 
 
 5 k. N.W. is the Cistercian abbey of Fontaine-Daniel, founded 
 by Juhel III. in 1204, and now a manufactory. The chapter- 
 house, kitchens, and hall called La Cacaudiere, are of the time 
 of the foundation ; the rest is xvn. c. 
 
 [For the line from Mayenne to Domfront see ch. iv.'j 
 
LA VAL. 
 
 20 1 
 
 [A line turns W. from Mayenne to (54 k.) Fougeres (see 
 later) by — 
 
 30 k. Ernee, on the river of the same name. Its chateau, 
 founded by the Seigneurs de Mayenne, belonged, in xvi. c., to 
 the house of Lorraine. Henri de Lorraine, wounded at the siege 
 of Montauban, died there in 1654. A little later, Ernee passed 
 into the hands of Cardinal Mazarin, and was brought by the 
 marriage of his niece, Hortense Mancini, to the Due de la 
 Meilleraye. Ernee fell into the hands of the Vendeens in 1793. 
 On the hill above the river is the xvi. c. Chateau de Panard.^ 
 
 282 k. Montsurs. In its ruined castle, burnt by the 
 English in 1430, was born Andre de Laval, Sire de Loheac, 
 one of the bravest companions of Jeanne Dare. 3 k. N. is 
 the Chateau de la Roche- Pichemer, in a striking position. 
 
 289 k. La Chapelle Anthenaise. From many trains it is 
 necessary to change here for — 
 
 301k. Laval (Hotels: de Paris; de VOuest; de 
 France). Capital of the Departement de la Mayenne. 
 Laval-Guyon (Vallon-Guidonis) is said to take its name 
 from its founder, Count Guy. Of its early lords, Hamon 
 de Laval followed the Conqueror to England in 1066, and 
 Guy IV. became a Crusader in 1096. Emma de Laval 
 brought the seigneury by marriage to the house of Mont- 
 morency in 1 22 1, and her descendant Anne de Laval, 
 in 1404, to the house of Montfort, from which it passed 
 successively to the families of Rieux, Coligny, and La 
 Tremouille. In the xv. c. it was bravely defended by 
 Anne de Laval against the English, but eventually taken 
 by Talbot in 1428, though retaken in the following year. 
 At the beginning of the Revolution, Laval belonged to 
 Antoine-Philippe de la Tremouille, Prince de Talmont, 
 who afterwards became general of the Vendean cavalry. 
 
202 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 In 1792 the Vendean army took the town, and it was 
 twice the headquarters of La Rochejaquelein. The Prince 
 de Talmont was seized by the royalists and executed at the 
 age of twenty-eight before the gate of the chateau of Laval, 
 which had been the home of his family for nine centuries. 
 It was in the neighbourhood of Laval that the brothers 
 
 LAVAL. 
 
 Jean Pierre, Francois, and Rene Cottereau first organised 
 the bands of the Chouans^ which played such a conspicuous 
 part in the wars of La Vendee. 
 
 A single wide street (the road from Paris to Brest) pene- 
 trates, under many names, the ancient town of Laval, which 
 is being rapidly modernised. From the bridges there is a 
 picturesque view of the chateau and the quays, extending 
 to the church of Avesnieres. The older buildings of the 
 
LAVAL. 
 
 203 
 
 town occupy the S. hill, on the summit of which stands 
 the Church of La Trinite, which has been a Cathedral since 
 1855. Its earlier portions (part of the transept and tower) 
 date from the beginning of xn. c, the rest of the transept 
 and the nave (of two square bays) having been finished by 
 Guillaume de Passavant, Bishop of Mans in 1185. The 
 vaulting is domical, in the Angevine manner. The three- 
 aisled choir is xvi. c, and its vaulting has pendants. In 
 the W. wall is a shallow apse, the principal entrance from 
 the xii. c. having been at the E. end of the church. The 
 N. portal, begun in 1575, was not finished till 1597, and is 
 flanked by corinthian columns. The tomb of Guillaume 
 Ouvroin, Bishop of Rennes, 1347, with a fine statue, is in 
 the nave. Behind the high altar is the lorab of Bishop 
 Louis Bougaud, 1888. Close to the cathedral is the Porte 
 Beucheresse, flanked by two towers. 
 
 The Church of S. Venerand (Rue Pont de Mayenne) 
 was built by Guy XV. in the xv. c. Notre Dame des Cor- 
 deliers (Rue de Bretagne) was the (xiv. c. and xv. c.) chapel 
 of a convent, founded in 1397 by Guy XII. , whose wife was 
 the widow of Bertrand du Guesclin. 
 
 The Chateau (now used as a prison), surrounded by 
 high black walls, has a circular xn. c. donjon at its S. angle. 
 
 1 La facade du chateau, fort irreguliere, se compose d'une 
 suite de frontons accoles, contenant chacun deux fenetres, Tune 
 au-dessus de l'autre, l'inferieur appuyee sur une espece de console. 
 On le voit, c'est encore la disposition ordinaire des maisons du 
 quinzieme siecle, mais l'ornementation n'est plus gothique. Au 
 lieu d'ogives, ce sont des ouvertures carrees ; des pilastres, des 
 arabesques, des moulures, dans le gout classique, remplacent 
 les feuillages frises, les crochets, les festons de pierre du siecle 
 precedent. Ces arabesques, sont d'ailleurs executes avec une 
 
204 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 rare perfection, et leur composition est des plus gracieuses qui 
 se puissent voir.' — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 The inner court has a fine renaissance facade erected 
 by Guy XVI., governor of Brittany in 1525. The xi, c. 
 chapel, divided by romanesque columns with heavy 
 capitals, has been restored for the use of the prisoners. 
 The court, donjon, and chapel are shown from 7 a.m. 
 to 7 p.m. 
 
 At 2 k., following the Route du Change, is (in a garden, but 
 reached through a courtyard) the curious little church of Price, 
 of early xi. c. The chains of brick introduced in its masonry 
 indicate that it was constructed on the ruins of a chapel of Mero- 
 vingian date. It contains a calendar of the xiii. c, and two tombs 
 of the same date. 
 
 On the other side of Laval, following the quay on r., beyond 
 the bridge, is the church of Notre Dame d'Avenieres, said to 
 have been built by Guy V. de Laval in fulfilment of a vow in 
 1 140, when his horse fell into the river in crossing the old bridge, 
 and he was nearly drowned. The ambulatory and the five 
 chapels of the choir, with the walls of the transept and nave, 
 belong to the primitive construction ; most of the upper vaults 
 are of late xn, c , and a great part of the two first bays of the 
 nave and the tower are early renaissance. The rich stone spire 
 is of 1534. Great numbers of pilgrims resort hither to invoke 
 a much venerated image of the Virgin, said to have been found 
 by Guy in an old oak. 
 
 [A line leads from Laval to (40 k.) Angers, or (166 k.) Nantes, 
 by- 
 
 22 k. Meslay. 13 k. E. is Saulges, where the church contains 
 a xv. c. bas-relief of Christ on the Cross between SS. Julien and 
 John Baptist. Near it is a Chapelle de S. Cenere. Another 
 oratory, Le Chapiteau de S. Cenere, stands near a fountain, 
 which he is said to have caused miraculously to gush forth. It 
 owes its name to a dome resembling an immense capital. 1 k. 
 from Saulges, in the valley of the Erve, is the labyrinthine cavern 
 
ABB AYE DE CLERMONT. 
 
 205 
 
 of Margot, where a vast number of ancient flint weapons has 
 been found. 
 
 40 k. Chateau Gontier. See ch. vii.] 
 
 Passing a viaduct, the line leaves to the 1. S. Bert/temn, 
 with a picturesque rocky valley containing the natural 
 Chaire de S. Berthevin, where that early missionary is said 
 to have preached. 
 
 310 k. Le Genes t. 
 
 Turning 1. from the station, and following the line W. for 
 some distance, we reach (2J k.) the road from Ollivet to Loiron. 
 Following this 1. for a short distance, and then turning r , we 
 reach (4 k.) the famous Abbey of Clermont, now the property 
 of M. Lonain de S. Martin, who allows it to be visited on appli- 
 cation. The monastery was founded in 11 50 by Guy V. de 
 Laval, for monks of Citeaux, and was greatly enriched, in 1230, 
 by Emma de Laval, widow of Mathieu de Montmorency. The 
 xii. c. church, of Cistercian simplicity, has a triple nave, square 
 chapels at the transept, and a choir without aisles or apse. The 
 upper windows, vaulting, and spire, are additions of the xvn. c, 
 at which time a great part of the S. aisle was destroyed. On the 
 1. of the choir is the noble tomb of Beatrix de Bretagne, 1401, 
 adorned with six statues of apostles, and on the r. that of Guy 
 XII. or Guy XIII., also ornamented with statuettes. In the 
 chapels of the N. tra'nsept are the tomb of Roberte de Mont- 
 jean and the gravestone of a xvi. c. abbot. At the N. angle of 
 the choir and transept an inscription commemorates an altar 
 erected there by Guy de Montjean in 141 7. The cloister and 
 most of the monastic buildings only date from xvn. c. or xvm. c. ; 
 the abbot's house is xv. c. 
 
 318 k. Port Brillet. The abbey of Clermont is only 
 3^ k. distant. 
 
 5 k. r. is 6*. Ouen des Toits, with the Closerie des Poiriers, 
 the parental home of the brothers Cottereau, organisers of the 
 ' Chouannerie.' Of these, Jean Chouan fell in the neighbouring 
 Bois de Misedon (a great royalist refuge), July 28, 1794; Pierre 
 
206 
 
 NOR TH- WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 died on the scaffold at Laval ; Francois died of his wounds in 
 the wood of Misedon, and Rene alone survived, to receive — at 
 the Restoration — the trifling annual pension of 400 frs., insuffi- 
 cient for the support — at the Closerie des Poiriers — of his 
 seventeen children, mostly born in the caves of the Bois de 
 Misedon. The mother of this brave family of royalists was run 
 over by a waggon in the flight from Mans, and their two sisters 
 were guillotined at Laval. The little renaissance Chateau of 
 S. Ouen is attiibuted to Anne of Brittany. 
 
 336 k. Vitre (Hotels : des Voyageurs — close to the station, 
 good, clean and comfortable ; de France). The town has 
 been greatly injured of late years by the wanton destruction 
 of its ancient gateways and ramparts, its principal ornaments; 
 still it is a picturesque and interesting place. Vitre was an 
 ancient barony, and was brought to the house of Laval by 
 the marriage of its heiress, Philippette, with Guy IX. in 1295, 
 passing afterwards with Laval to the families of Rieux, 
 Coligny, and La Tremouille, the last of whom held it till 
 the Revolution. By the Rieux and Coligny, Protestantism 
 was introduced into Vitre, which became a great Huguenot 
 centre in the xvi. c. and xvn. c. The states of Brittany, 
 alternately presided over by the Barons de Vitre and Barons 
 de Leon, frequently held their meetings at Vitre. 
 
 The streets, which abound in curious old houses, cluster 
 round the church of Notre Da?7ie, formerly a priory of the 
 Abbey of S. Melaine at Rennes (xv. c. and xvi. a), with 
 a portal of 1578. The church was built in the decadence 
 of gothic art, but against one of the buttresses on the r. is 
 a beautiful xvi. c. external pulpit, supposed to have been 
 made for the use of a public disputant with the Calvinist 
 preachers. In the first chapel 1. of nave is the tomb of 
 Pierre Hubert, 1498. In the chapel of the Virgin is that 
 
VITRE. 
 
 207 
 
 of Marie de Retz, wife of Andre de Laval, Marechal of 
 France, 1457, and a curious enamelled triptych with thirty- 
 two beautiful little pictures and a rhyming inscription 
 saying that it was given by Jean Bricier, 1544. 
 
 OUTSIDE PULPIT, VITRE. 
 
 The (rebuilt) church of S. Croix (in the faubourg of 
 the name) belonged to an ancient priory of the Abbey of 
 Marmoutiers, founded 1076 by Robert de Vitre. The 
 xv. c. chapel of Hopital S. Nicolas contains the tomb of 
 Robert de Grasmenil, Canon of the Madeleine, 1500. 
 
208 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 The Chateau (which can only be seen by permission) 
 was founded at the end of xi. c, but rebuilt in xiv. c. and 
 xv. c, at the best period of Breton military architecture. 
 Its portal, flanked by machicolated towers, and overlooked 
 by tourelles with conical roofs, is known as Les Chatelets. 
 It is united by lofty curtain walls to a series of embattled 
 towers, of which the principal are the Donjon (1.), the 
 tours d'Argenterie, Plombee, de la Madeleine, and 
 S. Lazare. The interior, used as a prison, has recently 
 been so mutilated as to have lost almost all interest, 
 except in a single detail. 
 
 i Du seizieme siecle date une charmante construction, dont la 
 destination n'est pas bien connue, isolee maintenant entre des 
 mines du moyen-age et une prison moderne. C'est une espece de 
 tourelle ou de tribune ronde, finissant en console avec un petit 
 dome au-dessus, et percee de fenetres dont les chambranles sont 
 malheureusement tres deteriores. On ne peut sans l'avoir vue 
 se faire une idee de la richesse de son ornementation. L'elegance 
 des motifs, l'habilete de l'execution ne laissent rien a desirer. 
 Autour de la console on lit ces mots : " Post tenebras spero lucem." 
 A lepoque de cette construction, la famille de la Tremouilie 
 appartenait sans doute a la religion reformee, et cette devise 
 a pu faire croire que la tribune a servi de chaire a precher.' — 
 Prosper Merimee. 
 
 No. 7, Rue Notre Dame, is an interesting renaissance 
 house, with an admirable wooden staircase in its court. 
 No. 40, Rue Poterie, has a fine renaissance chimneypiece. 
 
 6 k. S., reached by a pretty drive through woods, is the xv. c. 
 Chateau des Rochers, which remains externally much the same as 
 when it was inhabited by Mme de Sevigne. It came to the family 
 in 14 10, by the marriage of Anne de Mathefelon, Dame des 
 Rochers, with Guillaume de Sevigne, Chamberlain of Jean V., Due 
 de Bretagne. After the death of Pauline de Grignan, Madame de 
 Simiane, granddaughter and last descendant of Mme de Sevigne, 
 
CHATEAU DES ROCHE RS. 
 
 Les Rochers was sold (17 14) to the family of Netumieres, who have 
 ever since inhabited it. The chief objects of interest are shown 
 with great kindness and liberality. 
 
 The position is beautiful, overlooking a wide country view. 
 From the road a sudden turn to the 1. leads to a little lawn, on 
 one side of which are the residential buildings of the chateau, 
 on the £>ther the stables and farm. The former are still 
 exceedingly picturesque, with a high central tower and girouettes, 
 though somewhat spoilt by plaster. From the latter comes the 
 
 LES ROCHERS. 
 
 concierge with her keys, and takes visitors first to the domed 
 chapel, a detached building, retaining all the old fittings of Mine 
 de Sevigne's time, with the arm-chairs used by herself and her 
 guests. Over the altar is a picture of the Annunciation (Carlo 
 Maratta ?) which she mentions in one of her letters. Through 
 the delightful garden, which retains the clipped lime avenues 
 planted by Mme de Sevigne, and which is fragrant in summer 
 from the blossoms of thirty magnificent orange trees, also of her 
 time, visitors are taken to her chamber— a most attractive room, 
 
 14 
 
2IO 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 where she wrote, with her glass door opening on the garden 
 terrace. The yellow satin coverlet and chairs are exquisitely 
 worked by Mme de Grignan. A full-length portrait in the 
 room, by Mtgnard, represents Mme de Sevigne in her youth. 
 Other portraits of her daughter, granddaughter, etc., are pro- 
 bably copies. The little candlesticks and toilet service are those 
 used by Mme de Sevigne. • 
 
 This room alone is unaltered from the Sevigne time. The 
 rest of the house is not shown All relics of the former owners 
 are treated with the greatest care by the present owners, who 
 have collected portraits of the husband of the authoress, Henri 
 de Sevigne ; their son, Charles de Sevigne, celebrated for his 
 intrigues with Ninon de l'Enclos; their daughter, Francoise 
 Marguerite de Sevigne, Comtesse de Grignan ; the Baron de 
 Rabutin-Chantal, husband of Marie de Coulanges and father of 
 Mme de Sevigne; Christophe de la Tour de Coulanges, Abbe 
 de Livry — 4 le bien bon ' — uncle of Mme de Sevigne ; Mme de 
 Coulanges ; the Marquise de Lambert, widow of the Marquis 
 de Locmaria, who danced the famous passe-pieds so admired by 
 Mme de Sevigne ; and Charles Albert d'Ailly, Due de Chaulnes, 
 governor of Brittany in 1670. 
 
 1 Aux Rochers, 18 Sept., 1689. — Voulez-vous savoir notre 
 vie, ma chere enfant ? — la voici : nous nous levons a huit heures, 
 la messe a neuf ; le temps fait qu'on se promene, ou qu'on ne se 
 promene pas, souvent chacun de son cote ; on dine fort bien ; 
 il vient un voisin, on parle de nouvelles ; nous travaillons l'apres- 
 dinee, ma belle-fille a cent sortes des choses, moi a deux bandes 
 de tapisserie ; a cinq heures on se separe, on se promene, ou 
 seule, ou en compagnie, on se rencontre a une place fort belle, 
 on a un livre, ou prie-Dieu, on reve a sa chere fille, on fait des 
 chateaux en Espagne, en Provence, tantot gais, tantot tristes. 
 Mon fils nous lit des livres tres-agreables et fort bons ; nous en 
 avons de devotion, les autres d'histoire ; cela nous amuse et nous 
 occupe ; nous raisonnons sur ce que nous avons lu : mon fils 
 est indefatigable ; il lit cinq heures de suite, si Ton veut. 
 Recevoir des lettres, y faire reponse, tient une grande place dans 
 notre vie, principalement pour moi. Nous avons eu du monde, 
 nous en aurons encore, nous n'en souhaitons point ; quand il y 
 
CHATEAU DU PLESSIS. 
 
 211 
 
 en a, on est bien aise. Mon fils a des ouvriers, il a fait ftarer, 
 comme on dit ici, ses grandes allees ; vraiment elles sont belles ; 
 il fait sabler son parterre. Enfin, ma fille, c'est une chose 
 etrange comme avec cette vie tonte insipide et quasi triste, 
 les jours courent et nous echappent ; et Dieu sait ce qui nous 
 echappe en meme temps ; ah ! ne parlons pas de cela ; j'y pense 
 pourtant, et il le faut. Nous soupons a huit heures ; Sevigne 
 lit apres souper, mais des livres gais, de peur de dormir ; ils s'cn 
 vont a dix heures ; je ne me couche guere que vers minuit ; voila 
 quelle est a peu pres la regie de notre couvent ; il y a sur la 
 porte, sainte liberie, ou fait ce que tn voudras! 
 
 Much mutilated now is the park which Mme de Sevigne 
 was so proud of making, and most of her trees have 
 disappeared. 
 
 { Pour nous, ce sont des chataignes qui sont notre ornement ; 
 j'en avois Tautre jour trois ou quatre paniers autour de moi ; 
 j'en fis bouillir, j'en fis rotir, j'en mis dans ma poche ; on en 
 sert dans le plat, on marche dessus ; c'est la Bretagne dans 
 son triomphe.' — Mme de Sevigne, 1671. 
 
 4 k. S. of Les Rochers is Argentre, with the old xv, c. manor 
 called Le Chateau du Piessis, which was the abode of the 
 Demoiselle du Piessis, often mentioned by Mme de Sevigne. 
 E. of Argentre, in the forest of Pertre, are druidic remains. 
 
 [A line runs N.W. from Vitre to (79 k.) Pontorson, passing — 
 19 k. Chdtillon en Vendelais. The line runs between a large 
 lake in a wooded flat, and a hill crowned with remains of a xiv. c. 
 castle demolished by Richelieu. 
 
 25 k. Dompierre du Chei?tin. Visible from the railway on r. 
 is a gorge, watered by the Cantache, between two rocks — Les 
 Rochers du Saut Roland. Legend tells that the Paladin Roland, 
 mounted upon his charger, three times leapt from one to the 
 other; the first time invoking the name of God, the second time 
 that of the Virgin, but the third time that of the lady of his 
 earthly love, — and then the horse slipped upon the rock on 
 
212 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 which he landed, and which ever since bears the impress of 
 his hoofs, and horse and rider were precipitated into the 
 abyss. 
 
 37 k. Fougeres (Hotels : des Voyageurs — best ; 6*. Jacques ; 
 with an old courtyard surrounded by galleries — very indifferent). 
 Those who only approach from Vitre and see it from the station 
 have no idea of the peculiarities of this very singular place, and 
 its striking position. But it is not worth staying at except between 
 two trains. 
 
 From the station a straight road ascends to a square with an 
 equestrian statue of the Comte de Lariboisiere by Recipon. 
 Close by is the xv. c. and xvi. c. church of »S. Leonard, and 
 behind this an attractive little public garden, with views over 
 the plains on one side and into the gorge with the chateau 
 on the other. The description of Balzac would lead one to 
 expect far too much, yet is worth reading on the spot. 
 
 ' Pour donner line idee de l'aspect que presente le rocher 
 de Fougeres vu de la Promenade, on peut le comparer a l'une 
 de ces immense tours en dehors desquelles les architectes sar- 
 rasins ont fait tourner d'etage en etage de larges balcons joint 
 entre eux par des escaliers en spirale. En effet, cette roche est 
 terminee par une eglise gothique dont les petites fleches, le 
 clocher, les arcs-boutants en rendent presque parfaite sa forme 
 de pain de sucre. Devant le porte de cette eglise, dediee a 
 S. Leonard, se trouve une petite place irreguliere dont les terres 
 sont soutenues par un mur exhausse en forme de balustrade, 
 et qui communique par une rampe a la Promenade. Semblable 
 a une seconde corniche, cette esplanade se developpe circulaire- 
 ment autour du rocher, a quelques toises en dessous de la place 
 S. Leonard, et offre un large terrain plante d'arbres, qui vient 
 aboutir aux fortifications de la ville. Puis, a dix toises des 
 murailles et des roches qui supportent cette terrasse, due a une 
 heureuse disposition des schistes et a une patiente industrie, il 
 existe un chemin tournant nomme fescalier de la Reine, pratique 
 dans le roc, et qui conduit a un pont bati sur le Naneon par Anne 
 de Bretagne. Enfin, sous ce chemin, qui figure une troisieme 
 corniche, des jardins descendent de terrasse en terrasse jusqu'a 
 la riviere, et ressemblent a des gradins charges de lierre. 
 
FOUGERES. 
 
 213 
 
 ' Parallelement a la Promenade, de hautes roches, qui 
 prennent le nom du faubourg de la ville ou elles s'elevent, et 
 qu'on appelle les montagnes de S. Sulpice, setendent le long 
 de la riviere et s'abaissent en pentes douces dans la grande vallee 
 ou elles decrivent un brusque contour vers le nord. Ces roches 
 droites, incultes et sombres, semblent toucher aux schistes de 
 la Promenade ; en quelques endroits, elles en sont a une portee 
 de fusil, et garantissent contre les vents du nord une etroite 
 vallee, profonde de cent toises, ou le Nancon se partage en trois 
 bras qui arrosent une prairie chargee de fabriques et delicieuse- 
 ment plantee. 
 
 'Vers le sud, a l'endroit ou finit la ville proprement dite, et 
 ou commence le faubourg S. Leonard, le rocher de Fougeres 
 fait un pli, s'adoucit, diminue de hauteur, et tourne dans la grande 
 vallee en suivant la riviere, qu'il serre ainsi contre les montagnes 
 de S. Sulpice, en formant un col d'oa elle echappe en deux 
 ruisseaux vers la Couesnon, ou elle va se jeter. Ce joli groupe 
 de collines rocailleuses est appele le Nid-aux-Crocs, la vallee 
 qu'elles dessinent se nom le val de Gibarry, et ses grasses 
 prairies fournissent une grande partie du beurre connu des 
 gourmets sous le nom de beurre de la Pree-Valaye. 
 
 1 A l'endroit ou la Promenade aboutit aux fortifications seleve 
 une tour nommee la tour du Papegaut. A partir de cette con- 
 struction carree, regne tantot une muraille, tantot le roc quand 
 il offre des tables droites ; et la partie de la ville assise sur cette 
 haute base inexpugnable decrit une vaste demi-lune, au bout de 
 laquelle les roches s'inclinent et se creusent pour laisser passage 
 au Nancon. La est situee la porte qui mene au faubourg de 
 S. Sulpice, dont le nom est commun a la porte et au faubourg. 
 Puis, sur un mamelon de granit qui domine trois vallons dans 
 lesquelles se reunissent plusieurs routes, surgissent les vieux 
 creneaux et les tours feodales du chateau de Fougeres, l'une 
 des plus immenses constructions faites par les dues de Bretagne, 
 murailles hautes de quinze toises, epaisses de quinze pieds ; 
 fortifiee a Test par un etang d'ou sort le Nancon, qui coule dans 
 ses fosses et fait tourner des moulins entre la porte S. Sulpice et 
 les ponts-levis de la forteresse ; defendue a l'ouest par la raideur 
 des blocs de granit sur lesquels elle repose. 
 
 4 Ainsi, depuis la Promenade jusqu'a ce magnifique debris 
 
214 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 du moyen-age, enveloppe de ses manteaux de lierre, pare de 
 ses tours carrees oil rondes, ou peut loger dans chacune un 
 regiment entier, le chateau, la ville et son rocher, proteges par 
 des murailles a pans droits, ou par des escarpements tailles a 
 pic, forment un vaste fer a cheval garni de precipices sur les- 
 quels, a l'aide du temps, les Bretons out trace quelques etroits 
 sentiers. Ca et la, des blocs s'avancent comme des ornements. 
 Ici les eaux suintent par des cassures d'ou sortent des arbres 
 rachitiques. Plus loin, quelques tables de granit, moins droites 
 que les autres, nourrissent de la verdure qui attire les chevres. 
 Puis, partout des bruyeres, venues entre plusieurs fentes humides, 
 tapissent de leurs guirlandes roses de noires anfractuosites. Au 
 fond de cet immense entonnoir, la petite riviere serpente dans 
 une prairie toujours fraiche et mollement posee comme un tapis. 
 
 'Au pied du chateau, et entre plusieurs masses de granit, 
 s'eleve l'eglise dediee a S. Sulpice, qui donne son nom a un 
 faubourg situe par dela le Nancon. Le faubourg, comme jete au 
 fond d'un abime, et son eglise dont le clocher pointu n'arrive pas 
 a la hauteur des roches qui semblent pres de tomber sur elle 
 et sur les chaumieres qui l'entourent, sont pittoresquement 
 baignes par quelques affluents du Nancon, ombragee par des 
 arbres et decores par des jardins ; ils coupent irregulierement 
 la demi-lune que decrivent la Promenade, la ville, et le chateau, 
 et produisent, par leurs details, de nai'ves oppositions avec les 
 graves spectacles de l'amphitheatre, auquel ils font face, Enfin 
 Fougeres tout entier, ses faubourgs et ses eglises, les montagnes 
 merae de S. Sulpice, sont encadres par les hauteurs de Rille, 
 qui font partie de l'enceinte generale de la grande vallee de 
 Couesnon.' — 1 Les Chouans.' 
 
 All the interest of Fougeres is on the side towards the ravine. 
 The castle, with its thirteen towers — Coigny, Cadran, Surienne, 
 Guibe, Melusine, Gobelin, etc. — has many interesting points. 
 The donjon was demolished in 1630. Below it, a very pictu- 
 resque gateway — Porte S. Sulpice — crosses the road near the 
 xv. c. church of 5*. Sulpice, which contains the old statue of 
 Notre Dame des Marais, said to have been dug up in a marsh 
 when the Seigneur de Fougeres was laying the foundation of 
 the town. Many houses in the town are pierced by porticoes, 
 admitting the footway, and girt by heavy pillars. 
 
LA GUERCHE. 
 
 215 
 
 In the forest of Fougeres are the dolmen called La Piewe du 
 Tresor, and some remains of a convent of Cordeliers. 
 
 [A line leads N.E. to (49 k.) Mortain, passing,at 20 k., Lonvigne 
 du Desert, 1 k. from which is the Chateau de Monthoriu, of the 
 time of Lonis XIII. In the chapel are preserved the hearts of 
 General de Lariboisiere (18 12) and his son, killed in the battle 
 of the Moskowa. The tombs of Raoul II. de Fougeres (1194) 
 from the Abbey of Savigny, and of Francoise de Foix from the 
 Trinitarians of Chateaubriant, are preserved here.] 
 
 68 k. Antrain {inter amnes) between the Coesnon and the 
 Oysance. The church is transition. 5 k. N.E. is the modern 
 Chateau de la Rouerie, a place which gave a name to Armand 
 Tuffin de la Rouerie, the famous Breton chief of 1792. 
 
 [A line runs S. from Vitre to (56 k.) Chateaubriant by — 
 25 k. La Guerche ('guerc'h' is Breton for virgin) built round 
 a castle and chapel of the Virgin, founded x. c. Bertrand 
 and Olivier du Guesclin were its seigneurs in the xiv. c. The 
 chateau was demolished in 1739. The ancient collegiate church, 
 founded 1206, has an apse of xiii. c, and contains good renais- 
 sance stall-work. At 1 1 k. is the ruined castle of Marcille- 
 Robert, and, at 17 k., Esse', where, near the farm of Rouvrai, is 
 the curious A llee Couverte, called La Roche aux Fees, consisting 
 of forty-two blocks of stone, 2 met. high, and the whole 22 met. 
 in length. 
 
 5 k. off the line is Arbrissel, the native place of Robert 
 d'Arbrissel, who founded the abbey of Fontevrault. 
 
 For Chateaubriant and the rest of the line see South- 
 Western France v] 
 
 346 k. Les Lacs. To 1. is S. Did'ier, where the saint 
 lived in the woods as a hermit at a spot which is still a great 
 point of pilgrimage. 
 
 363 k. Noyal Acigne. 
 
 8 k. S. is Chdteaugiron, with a ruined castle above the Yaine, 
 which was taken (June 24, 1592) by the Due de Mercoeur, who 
 hung its defender, Jean Menager, with all the garrison, opposite 
 its great tower, on a tree which thenceforth bore the name of 
 Le Chene des Pendus. 
 
2l6 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 374 k. Rennes (Hotels : Grande, joining the cathedral ; 
 de France — clean, otherwise very indifferent), the ancient 
 capital of Brittany, now the capital of the Departement 
 d'llle et Vilaine. The name Rennes (as well as Fougeres) 
 means 'fern.' The town was, in great measure, rebuilt after 
 a fire which lasted seven days in 1720; but the ville basse 
 retains something of ancient character, though no pictu- 
 resqueness. The original name of Rennes was Condate, 
 a Gaulish word signifying ' confluent/ expressing its position 
 at the confluence of the Ille and Vilaine. It was the capital 
 of the Redones or Riedones. Numerous relics discovered 
 attest the importance of the town in Roman times. Geof- 
 froy, Comte de Rennes, was the first who assumed the 
 title of Duke of Brittany. His heiress, Constance, married 
 (1182) Geoffrey Plantagenet, one of the sons of Henry II. 
 of England, who convoked the first parliament at Rennes. 
 When his son, Arthur, Duke of Brittany, was murdered 
 by his uncle King John (1203), his sister, Alix, brought 
 Brittany by marriage to Pierre de Dreux, great-grandson 
 of Louis le Gros of France, from whom all the dukes 
 of Brittany descended, till the double marriage of the 
 Duchess Anne with Charles VIII. and afterwards with 
 Louis XII. Each duke came to Rennes to take his oath 
 to the clergy, nobles, and people of Brittany, and to be 
 crowned with the ducal circlet in the cathedral, till the 
 coronation here in 1532 of Francis, Dauphin of France, 
 eldest son of Francis I. 
 
 The ancient capital of Brittany has now the distinction 
 of being the dullest, as it is almost the ugliest, town in 
 France. Its wide, featureless streets not only contain no 
 object of interest, but are the climax of monotonous stag- 
 
RENNES. 
 
 217 
 
 nation. There is never any life or movement in Rennes, 
 and there is nothing whatever worth seeing. 
 
 The first church in the city of the Redones is said to 
 have been originally a temple of Thetis, which the mis- 
 sionary S. Maximin consecrated under the name of Notre 
 Dame de la Cite. In the iv. c. the Bishop, S. Lunaire 
 transferred it to the present site, where it has since been 
 frequently rebuilt. The present Cathedral of S. Pierre 
 (1787 — 1844) is an Ionic building, much gilt within. The 
 last chapel on the r. has a curious retable. Five bishops of 
 Rennes have been canonised — Melaine (530, first bishop, 
 buried here), Riotisme, Didier (vi. c. or vn. a), Moderan 
 (730), and Amand. Opposite the W. facade of the cathedral 
 an alley leads to a court whence the ancient Porte Mordelaise 
 may be seen imbedded in houses. This was the gate by 
 which the dukes of Brittany made their triumphal entry. 
 Here also every newly-appointed bishop was met by the 
 Baron de Vitre, who held his stirrup as he descended from 
 his horse, and received the horse itself with its equipments 
 as the price of this service. The bishop was borne thence 
 to the cathedral in a chair carried by the seigneurs of Vitre, 
 Aubigne, Chateaugiron, and Guerche, who were permitted, 
 as a reward, to divide all the plate used at the installation 
 banquet. Built into the Porte Mordelaise is a fragment of 
 a Roman inscription referring to the Emperor Gordian III., 
 238. 
 
 The only romanesque bit of architecture in Rennes is 
 a xii. c. porch in the dull church of S, Melaine, belonging 
 to a monastery founded vi. c. 
 
 The animation which commerce imparts is almost un- 
 known in the capital of Brittany. 
 
2l8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 1 The Breton adheres to his old notion of riches : he makes 
 money if he can, but by close parsimony ; he hoards, but he does 
 not invest. The natives are still too poetical for the joys of busi- 
 ness. In this, as in many other things, Brittany is a specimen 
 of the Old World ; it is still in its poetical phase.' — Dean Church. 
 
 3 k. S.W. of the town (following the Vilaine from the Pont 
 de Salle-Verte) is the Chateau de la Prevalaye, where Henri IV. 
 slept in 1598. It is of little interest. A tourist may return to 
 Rennes by the farm of S. Foix, where an oak is shown as that 
 beneath which the king danced with the peasant beauties of the 
 district. Prevalaye gives its name to the excellent butter of 
 L'llle-et-Vilaine. 
 
 [For the line N. from Rennes to Dol and S. Malo see ch. vi.] 
 [A road leads N.W. from Rennes to (52 k.) Dinan by (24 k.) 
 
 Hede, which has a xn. c. church and a ruined castle, which was 
 
 besieged by Henry II. of England in 1168. 
 
 Another road leads to (54 k.) Dinan by — ■ 
 
 26 k. (1 k. r. of the road) Iffs, which has a beautiful cruciform 
 xv. c. church, with nine stained windows of exceptional merit. 
 1 k. N. of the church is the Chateau de Montmuran. The original 
 castle, built by Donoal, Sire de Tinteniac in 1036, was destroyed 
 by Henry II. in 1 168. The descendants of the house of Tin- 
 teniac rebuilt the chateau, and Du Guesclin was knighted in its 
 chapel, where also he was married to Jeanne de Laval, grand- 
 daughter of the Dame de Montmuran, whose chateau he had 
 defended. Only two towers of the old castle remain, united by 
 modern buildings ; the chapel has been rebuilt. 
 
 32 k. Becherel retains a xvi. c. gateway of its ancient fortifi- 
 cations. 1 k. W. is the Chateau de Caradeuc, made a marquisate 
 for the procurator-general La Chalotais in 1776. It now belongs 
 to his great-granddaughter, who has married the Comte de 
 Falloux.] 
 
 [A road leads N.E. to (48 k.) Fougeres by — 
 
 28 k. 6*. Aubin- du-Cormier , with ruins of a castle built by 
 Pierre de Dreux, Duke of Brittany, in 1223, to defend his duchy 
 on the side of Normandy and Maine. The chateau was taken 
 by the French in 1487. In the following year the battle which 
 
EXCURSIONS FROM RENNES. 
 
 219 
 
 gave a first blow to the independence of Brittany was fought 
 close by, at the spot called La Rencontre. The prisoners, who 
 included the Prince of Orange and the Duke of Orleans, after- 
 wards Louis XII., were taken to S. Aubin, where a cellar is 
 shown (in the Hotel du Commerce) as having been the prison of 
 the future King of France. 
 
 13 k. from S. Aubin is the renaissance Chateau de Botiessay.~\ 
 
 [A line leads S.E. from Rennes to (61 k.) Chateaubriant by — 
 
 10 k. Vern. 5 k. W. is Noyal-sur- Seiche, where the ceme- 
 tery has a fine gothic cross. 6 k. is Chat/llon-sur-Seiche, where 
 the crypt of the church contains the miraculous chain of S. 
 Leonard, with which the sick are touched, and which, with a 
 statue of the saint, attracts a great number of pilgrims. 
 
 13 k. kS*. Armel. The tomb of the saint is shown in the church, 
 and on the banks of the Seiche his hermitage, and a spring 
 which he called forth by sticking his staff into the ground. 
 
 17 k. Corps-Nuds. The xv. c. church has a more ancient 
 chapel, des Trois Maries — a place of pilgrimage. The Chateau 
 de Chdtelier (2 k. S.), burnt during the Ligue, was rebuilt in 
 1632.] 
 
 [A line leads S.W. from Rennes to (152 k.) Nantes, across 
 Brittany. After the rich vegetation of Normandy the country often 
 appears bare and cold. Women work everywhere in the fields. 
 The Breton story goes, that a husband, returning soaked, found his 
 wife comfortably seated by the fire. ' As you are wet through,' 
 she said, ' you cannot be wetter, so fetch me two buckets of 
 water from the well.' The husband went obediently, but re- 
 turning with the first bucket and finding his wife in the same 
 place, poured the water over her, saying, i Now you are as wet 
 as I am, so you may fetch your other bucketful for yourself, for 
 you cannot be wetter.' We pass — 
 
 10 k. Bruz. 2 k. W. is the handsome xvin. c. Chateau de 
 Blossac. 
 
 21 k. Guichen-Bourg des Comptes. 9 k. S.W. is Guignen, 
 which has a very fine romanesque church, chiefly xn. c, containing 
 the striking tomb of Jean de S. Amadour, Viscomte de Guignen, 
 1538, knighted by Charles VIII. at the battle of Fornoue, and 
 
220 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE, 
 
 who served four kings of France and fought in thirteen battles. 
 Under the choir is a curious crypt, half filled with water. 
 
 37 k. Messac. The country is full of megalithic remains, 
 especially (18 k. S.) at Cojons, near S. Juste. 
 
 48 k. Fougei'ay-Langon. The church of Langon has two 
 romanesque apsides. Overshadowed by a great yew-tree is the 
 curious Chapelle S. Agathe, a great point of pilgrimage, and 
 regarded as having been once a temple of Venus. 
 
 ' La chapelle de Langon, construite en petit appareil, dont les 
 pieces presentent des cubes de 9 a n centimetres de haut et de 
 large, incrustes dans un mortier fort epais. Des assises horizon- 
 tales de briques, separees elles-memes par du ciment, regnent a 
 differentes hauteurs, dans lelevation du mur. 
 
 ' Les restes des murs anciens s'etendent sur chaque face 
 laterale, depuis l'extremite ouest dans une longueur d'environ 5 
 metres et dans la plus grande partie de la facade occidentale. 
 
 ' L'abside conserve des traces de l'appareil primitif; sur la 
 voute en cul-de-four de cette abside, un enduit assez epais a ete 
 decore de peintures, aujourd'hui tres deteriores, mais qui doivent 
 etre fort anciennes.' — De Canmont. 
 
 52k. Besle. Opposite the station, on the r. bank of the Vilaine, 
 is the village of Brain, near which, at the hamlet of Placet, was 
 born S. Melaine, bishop of Rennes in vi. c, who is commemo- 
 rated by a chapel and statue. 
 
 71 k. Redon. For this and the rest of the route see South- 
 western France.'] 
 
 386 k. L "Hermit 1 age-Mo rde lies. L Herrnitage takes its 
 name from the oratory and fountain of S. Avit, abbot of 
 Mercy in vi. c. The tradition that he enabled a dumb 
 child to speak here, causes sick children to be brought 
 here every Whit-Monday in great numbers. The church, 
 partly romanesque, has tombstones of the Seigneurs Du 
 Boberil, whose moated chateau still remains in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 396 k. Montfort-sur-Meu. This town was founded in 
 
MONTFOR T-SUR-ME U. 
 
 221 
 
 xi. c. by Raoul, Sire de Gael, who took the name of 
 Montfort, preserved by his descendants, and who accom- 
 panied William the Conqueror to England. Some years 
 later he conspired to dethrone William, and nearly suc- 
 ceeded, but was outwitted. Afterwards, joining the Crusades 
 in 1096, he died at the siege of Nicea. After the marriage 
 of Guy XIV., Comte de Laval and Sire de Montfort, with 
 Francoise de Dinan, Dame de Chateaubriant, the family 
 abandoned their residence here for Laval, Vitre, and 
 Chateaubriant. Montfort passed, with the rest of the pro- 
 perty of the house of Laval, to the successive families of 
 Rieux, Coligny, and La Tremouille, and under Francois 
 de Coligny became a Huguenot centre, though in 141 7 
 it had been celebrated for the preachings of S. Vincent 
 Ferrer. The church of S. Jean Baptiste has reliefs repre- 
 senting the miracle which long gave the place the name 
 of Montfort la Cane> and which dates from the xiv. c. 
 
 'Certain seigneur avait renferme une jeune fille dune grande 
 beaute dans son chateau de Montfort. A travers une lucarne, 
 elle apercevait leglise de S. Nicolas ; elle pria le saint avec des 
 yeux pleines de larmes, et elle fut miraculeusement transported 
 hors du chateau. Mais elle tomba entre les mains des serviteurs 
 du felon, qui voulurent en user comme ils supposaient que 
 l'avait fait leur maitre. La pauvre fille eperdue, regardant de 
 tous cotes pour chercher du secours, n'apercut que des canes 
 sauvages sur letang du chateau. 
 
 ' Renouvelant sa priere a S. Nicolas, elle le supplia de per- 
 mettre a ces animaux d'etre temoins de son innocence, afin que, 
 si elle devait perdre la vie sans pouvoir accomplir son voeu a 
 S. Nicolas, les oiseaux le remplissent eux-memes a leur facon, 
 en son nom et pour sa personne. Par la permission divine, 
 elle echappa des mains des soldats sans aucune offense, mais 
 elle mourut dans l'annee. Or, voici qu a la fete de la translation 
 des reliques de S. Nicolas, le 9 de mai, une cane sauvage, 
 
222 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 accompagnee de ses petits cannetons, vint a leglise de S. Nicolas. 
 Elle y entra et voltigea devant l'image du bienheureux liberateur, 
 pour l'applaudir par le battement de ses ailes ; apres quoi elle 
 retourna a letang, ayant laisse un de ses petits en offrande. 
 Ouelque temps apres, le canneton s'en retourna sans qu'on s'en 
 aperent. 
 
 ' Pendant 300 ans et plus, la cane, toujours ]a meme cane, est 
 revenue a jour fixe, avec sa couvee, dans leglise du grand 
 S. Nicolas de Montfort, sans qu'on put jamais savoir ce qu'elle 
 devenait la reste de l'annee.' — Chateaubriand, 1 Memoires d'outre 
 Tombe? 
 
 Only the W. facade remains (S.E. of the town) of the 
 ancient Abbey of S. Jacques, founded by Raoul IT. de 
 Montfort in 1152. The Hospital of S. Lazare (2 k. S.), 
 established for crusaders who brought back leprosy from 
 the East, is now a farm ; but the chapel exists, and contains 
 a curious xiv. c. tomb. 
 
 S.W., on the edge of the forest of Coulon, is the over- 
 thrown menhir called Gres de S. Meen, overshadowed by 
 a great beech. 
 
 406 k. Montauban. \\ k. N. of the town is its ruined 
 (xiv. c.) castle, a quadrangular building with towers at the 
 angles. 
 
 411 k. La Brohiniere. 
 
 [A line runs S. to (79 k.) Questembert (on the main line 
 between Redon and Vannes) by — 
 
 7 k. S. Meen, once famous for its abbey (founded in 600 by 
 S. Meen), on a site now occupied by a seminary. The church 
 contains the xm. c. tomb of S. Meen, a famous Breton saint and 
 abbot, who died in 617, and that (xv. c.) of Abbot Robert de 
 Coetlogon. An earlier tomb of S. Meen — a granite trough — is 
 seen outside the church. 
 
 14 k. Mauron has several renaissance houses. 2 k. E. is the 
 church of 6". Lery, with the xv. c. tomb of the saint, an abbot of 
 the vii. c, and sculptures representing his death and the transla- 
 
PLOERMEL. 
 
 223 
 
 tion of his relics. The tomb is inscribed ' La fut mis le corps 
 de Monsieur S. Lery.' 
 
 21 k. Neant. The church contains the tomb of the Bien- 
 heureuse Anne Toussainte de Volvire, 1694. 4 k. N. are the 
 ruins of the castle of Bois-de-la- Roche. 
 
 42 k. Ploermel 1 (Hotel : de France). Derives its name (Plou- 
 Armel) from the hermit S. Armel, who lived there in the vi. c. 
 The church of ►S. Armel, rebuilt 151 1 — 1602, with a tower of 1740, 
 has beautiful flamboyant windows, and the side-facade is of great 
 richness. Of its numerous external sculptures, many are from 
 sacred history ; but many are comic, such as the sow playing 
 the bagpipes, the wife pulling off her husband's nightcap, a 
 barber sewing up his scold-wife's mouth, etc. The stained glass 
 in the church (1533 — 1602) is magnificent. It also contains the 
 recumbent marble statues of Dukes Jean II., 1305, and Jean III., 
 1 341, brought from the Carmelite church, which was destroyed 
 in 1793. The granite statues of Philippe de Montauban, Sieur 
 du Bois de la Roche, and chancellor of Anne of Brittany, 15 14, 
 and his wife Anne de Chastellier, and those of a Seigneur and 
 Dame du Crevy, still remain in the cloister of the monastery. 
 The three gates of the town have been destroyed, but part of 
 the machicolated walls remains. 2k. 1. is the Chateau de Malville, 
 where the chapel has good stained windows of 1520. A number 
 of dolmens and menhirs may be seen in the neighbourhood. 
 It is this district which is especially connected with the story 
 of Merlin. 
 
 ' La foret de Brocelinde, et de Paimpoul ou de Brecilien, 
 se trouve situee dans le commune de Concoret, arrondissement 
 de Ploermel ; elle est celebre dans les romans de la table ronde. 
 C'est la que Ton rencontre la fontaine de Baranton, le Val sans 
 retour, la tonibe de Merlin. On sait que ce magicien se trouve 
 encore dans cette foret, ou il est retenu par les enchantements 
 de Viviane a l'ombre d'un bois d'aubepine. Viviane avait essaye 
 
 1 'The people of S. Armel.' The origin of Breton names is very simple, 
 beginning in general by such radicals as: aber (harbour— Aber Ildut) ; cone 
 (port— Concarneau) ; car, ca'cr, ker (fortress, manor— Carhaix) ; coat, coet 
 (wood— Coetlogon) ; lan (consecrated land— Landerneau) ; loc (hermitage— 
 Locmariaker) ; les (court, jurisdiction— Lesneven) ; mene (mount— Mene-Hom) ; 
 mor (sea— Morlaix) ; pen (head— Penmarc'h) ; pie, plo, pleu, plou (people, tribe 
 — Ploermel) ; ros (hillside— Rostrenen). 
 
224 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 sur Merlin le charme quelle avait appris de lui-meme, sans croire 
 qu'il put operer; elle se desespera quand elle vit qui celui qu'elle 
 adorait etait a jamais perdu pour elle. On assure que Messire 
 Gauvain et quelques chevaliers de la table ronde cherchereut 
 partout Merlin, mais en vain. Gauvain seul l'entendit dans le 
 foret de Brocelinde, mais ne put le voir.' — E. Souvestre, ' Les 
 Derniers Bretons! 
 
 It is nk. (omnibus from station i fr. 50 c.) from Ploermel 
 to Josselin. We pass the lake called L Etang du Due. Half- 
 way, at the spot called Mi-vote, opposite a little inn, the road 
 passes on 1. a pyramid, marking the site of the famous Combat 
 des Trente (March 27, 135 1), an extraordinary patriotic duel, 
 in which Jean de Beaumanoir, who was holding the castle of 
 Josselin for the Comtesse de Penthievre, gained a complete 
 victory over the English captain, Richard Bembro 2 — each of the 
 captains being accompanied by twenty-nine champions. Bembro 
 was among the slain. 
 
 1 II n'est pas de grande bataille livree sur le sol de la France 
 qui ait plus vivement frappe l'imagination populaire que cette 
 lutte a mort entre trente champions de races ennemies.' — Elisee 
 Rectus. 
 
 1 Ce beau duel, qui dura dix heures, et ou Ton entendit ces 
 etonnantes paroles qui seraient dans toutes les rhetoriques si 
 elles eussent ete dites en latin — " Bois ton sang, Beaumanoir, 
 et tu n 'auras plus soif." ' — Emile Souvestre. 
 
 Jossetin (Hotel : de France — an unusually good, clean country 
 inn, with excellent cuisine), is one of the places which no tourist 
 in Brittany should miss. The attractive little town, with many 
 picturesque houses, clusters round the very fine early xv. c. 
 church of Notre Dame. Legend tells that the attention of a poor 
 peasant was attracted to a thorn tree, by seeing that its foliage 
 was always impervious to the severities of winter, and that he 
 then found a luminous image of the Virgin amongst its branches. 
 On the site of the tree, and to contain the miracle-working statue 
 of Notre Dame du Roncier, the church was built. A legend tells 
 that a peculiar form of barking-epilepsy, which long afflicted 
 certain families of the district— les families d'aboyeuses — was a 
 
 1 Bamborough. 
 
JOSSELIN. 
 
 225 
 
 curse brought by some pitiless washerwomen, who refused a cup 
 of water to the Vierge du Roncier when she asked for it dressed 
 in the rags of a beggar-woman. The victims of the barking 
 malady are brought to the church on the feast of Pentecost, 
 and have their lips touched by relics, supposed to be remnants 
 of the miraculous statue, which was burnt in the little square of 
 the town in 1793. 
 
 The most interesting parts of the church are the choir and 
 the central square, built in 1400 by the famous Connetable Olivier 
 de Clisson, whose tomb, as founder, originally occupied the 
 centre of t the choir. This noble monument, mutilated and 
 battered in the Revolution, was removed in 1858, and is now at 
 the end of the S. aisle. It bears the effigy of the Constable — 
 ' the butcher of the English' — and that of his wife, Marguerite de 
 Rohan, an interesting example of xiv. c. costume. Statuettes of 
 monks surround the tomb. 
 
 The magnificent Chateau de Josselin — the Warwick Castle 
 of France — occupies a perpendicular rock above the river Oust, 
 and has been an important fortress from the xn. c, when it 
 underwent a siege from Henry II. of England. Its counts 
 exercised sovereign rights over their domain of Porhoet, of which 
 Josselin was the capital, and merging eventually through the 
 house of Fougeres in that of Lusignan, gave kings to Cyprus, 
 Armenia, and Jerusalem. In the xiv. c the countship of Porhoet 
 was confiscated by Philippe le Bel, and, in 1370, Pierre de 
 Valois, Comte d'Alencon, sold it to the Connetable de Clisson, 
 by whom the castle was much enlarged, and whose daughter 
 brought it by marriage to the house of Rohan, which still 
 possesses it. 
 
 Strangers are most kindly admitted to visit the chateau (Due 
 de Rohan), even when the duke (who as Prince de Leon, the 
 intimate friend of the Due d'Orleans, became well known at the 
 time of his imprisonment) is residing there. It is approached 
 by a gateway at the foot of the hill on the Ploermel road. 
 Formerly it was protected by a moat, and remains exist of two 
 towers which guarded the drawbridge, and were pulled down 
 in 1766. The grounds are as well kept as those of a great house 
 in England, though they owe most of their charm to their ex- 
 quisite position, with embrasures of terrace wall at a great height 
 
 15 
 
226 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 above the Oust. Whilst the front towards the river presents the 
 severest type of mediaeval military architecture, the inner walls 
 towards the garden are covered with the most elaborate orna- 
 mentation. The buildings on this side are only one story high, 
 unless we regard the high roof, with two splendid lucarnes, two 
 stories high, with pinnacles and flying buttresses. 
 
 1 Qu'on se figure une suite de frontons aigus se detachant du 
 toit, dont le faite est une ligne parallele a celle de la facade, 
 au-dessous, des chambranles tres ornes encadrant deux fenetres, 
 
 JOSSELIN. 
 
 l'une au-dessus de l'autre. Entre deux chambranles, on voit une 
 galerie a laquelle le toit vient aboutir. Sa balustrade, travaillee 
 a jour, est un chef-d'oeuvre de patience et de legerete. La 
 devise "a plus" s'y trouve repetee de vingt manieres differentes, 
 decoupee en lettres fantastiques, avec une etonnante variete.' — 
 Prosper Me? r imee. 
 
 Olivier de Clisson died in the chateau. One room contains 
 a number of precious autographs and family memorials. The 
 salle-a-manger and saloon both have noble chimneypieces, though 
 only the former is ancient. Other rooms are hung with historic 
 
ROHAN. 
 
 227 
 
 portraits, and all are well worth seeing, as belonging to what 
 is so rare — the well-preserved residence of a great French 
 noble. 
 
 The views of the castle from the bank of the river (which 
 abounds in trout) are very attractive to artists. The inner 
 facade has shown the domestic, this gives the fortress character 
 of a great palace-chateau. 
 
 1 Les nobles, ainsi que les pretres, sont chers a la Bretagne, 
 a la Vendee, comme depenseurs des idees, des habitudes 
 anciennes. La noblesse innombrable et pauvre de la Bretagne 
 etait plus rapprochee du laboureur. 11 y avait la aussi quelque 
 chose des habitudes de clan. Une foule de families de paysans 
 se regardaient comme nobles ; quelques-uns se croyaient 
 descendus d' Arthur ou de la fee Morgane, et plantaient, dit-on, 
 des epees pour limites de leurs champs. lis s'asseyaient et se 
 couvraient devant leur seigneur en signe d'independance. Dans 
 plusieurs parties de la province, le servage etait inconnu : les 
 domaniers et quevasiers, quelque dure que fut leur condition, 
 etaient libres de leur corps, si leur terre etait servi. Devant le 
 plus here des Rohan, ils se seraient redresses en disant, comme 
 ils font, d'un ton si grave : Me zo deuzar armorig ; et moi aussi, 
 je suis Breton. Un mot profond vient d'etre dit sur la Vendee, 
 et il s'applique aussi a la Bretagne : Ces populations sont au 
 fond republicaines ; republicanisire social, non politique.' — 
 Michclet. 
 
 It is a pleasant walk along the river to the shrine oi S. Gobrien, 
 to whom patients afflicted with boils or tumours make votive 
 offerings of little heaps of iron nails — clous. 
 
 It is a drive of about 37 k. in the direction of Pontivy to 
 Rohan, 1 where little more than its site remains of the chateau of 
 the greatest nobles in Brittany. The chapel of Notre Dame de 
 Bonne Rencontre was built by Duke Jean II. 
 
 51 k. Roc S. Andre la Chapelle. The church of La Chapelle 
 has an old processional cross. At the hamlet of Ville-au-Voyer 
 
 1 In Brittany pigs are known as mab-rohan, sons of Rohan, no one knows 
 why . 
 
228 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 (4 k. N.E.), on an eminence, is the curious dolmen called La 
 Maiso7i Trouee, surrounded with a circle of menhirs. 
 
 58 k. Malestroit, a picturesque and curious little town, which 
 has given its name to a famous family which bore as its device 
 1 Quae numerat nummos, non male stricta domus" The (xn. c. 
 and xv. c.) church of 6*. Gilles has a curious porch decorated with 
 the emblems of the Evangelists. The (xn. c. and xv. c.) Chapelle 
 de la Madeleine contains some fine old glass, telling the story of 
 the Magdalen. Some timber houses are xv. c. and xvi. c. 
 
 428 k. Broons. The birthplace of Du Guesclin was the 
 Chateau de la Motte-Broons, of which the site is marked by 
 a pillar, erected in 1840. 
 
 43Q k. Plenee-Jugon. 4^ k. is the ruined Chateau de la 
 Moussaye, of xvi. c. 7 k. are the ruins of the Cistercian 
 Abbey of Boquen, including the (xiv. c.) choir of the 
 church where was buried the body of Prince Gilles de 
 Bretagne, smothered in the castle of Hardouinaye, in which 
 his brother, the duke, had imprisoned him. The wooden 
 effigy of the prince, placed upon his grave by the Abbot of 
 Boquen, is now in the Musee of S. Brieuc. 
 
 455 k. Larnballe (Hotel : de France) is a place soon 
 visited. From the xi. c. it was possessed by the family of 
 Penthievre ; the last remains of the family property (having 
 come to the house of Orleans through the wife of Philippe 
 Egalite, sister-in-law of the friend of Marie Antoinette) 
 were only sold to the town in 1866. 
 
 The fine church of Notre Dame, on a height, formerly 
 the chapel of the chateau, was made collegiate by Duke 
 Jean V. in 1485. The nave is xiii. c. with two xn. c. 
 portals. The interior, of grey granite, has much beauty. 
 The central tower is supported by stately columns. The 
 narrow and lofty nave has wide and low side aisles. The 
 
£ BRIEUC. 
 
 229 
 
 S aisle ends in a delicately sculptured organ-loft, reached 
 
 by a winding stair. The choir, rebuilt by Charles de Blois 
 
 in 1371, has much fine glass. The chapels on the r. are 
 
 only separated by open mullions of very graceful effect. 
 
 In the northern suburb is the quaint church of S. Martm, 
 
 belonging to a priory of the Abbey of Marmoutiers, and 
 
 founded by Geoffrey L, Comte de Lamballe, in 1083. The 
 
 S. portal is x. c, and has a curious timber porch ; the 
 
 rest of the church is xv. c. and xvi. c. The church of Les 
 
 Augustins, or Ave Maria, now used as a warehouse, has a 
 
 xv. c. portal surmounted by a flamboyant window. 
 
 15 k. N. is the sea-bathing place of P I en euf (Hotels: Guignaii; 
 de la Marine), and 9 k. E. of this Erquy (Hotel : Gamier), with a 
 small harbour. 
 
 [For the line to Dinan, Dol, Avranches, etc., see ch. vi.] 
 
 465 k. Yffiniac. 4 k. N. is Hillion, on the sea-shore ; 
 4 k. S. the pilgrimage chapel of Les Sept Saints. 
 
 475 k. S. Brieuc (Hotels : Croix Blanche ; de P Univers ; 
 buffet at station). This clean but exceedingly dull town 
 takes its name from a British missionary of the v. c, a 
 pupil of S. Germain, who built an oratory of Notre Dame 
 near a fountain in the valley of the Gouet. The place 
 was celebrated in the annals of the Vendeen war from 
 the rescue of the royalists under sentence of death in the 
 prisons by a brave attack of the Chouans, Oct. 26, 1799. 
 The inhabitants are called 1 Les Briochins. ? 
 
 ' S. Brieuc est une vieille cite replatree qui a fait nouvelle 
 peau. Des l'entree, on respire la prefecture ; on se trouve nez 
 a nez avec la civilisation, symbolisee par une prison et une 
 caserne neuves. On a meme bati quelques lignes de hautes 
 murailles qui sont percees de rectangles vitres, et que Ton appelle 
 des facades ; ce sont les beaux quartiers de la ville. II y a, en 
 
230 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 outre, deux promenades bien taillees au ciseau, avec une statue 
 de tuffeau a chaque bout.' — Emile Souvestre. 
 
 The Cathedral of S. Etienne was begun by the Bishop 
 S. Guillaume Pinchon early in the xm. c. and continued in 
 the xiv. c, when the keystones of the choir vaulting were 
 sculptured with the arms of Guy de Montfort. It is a low, 
 heavy building, with stumpy towers. The two principal 
 portals are xm, c. In the interior of the nave only the 
 walls of the two aisles and the S. chapel are of the middle 
 ages. The choir has numerous romanesque capitals, from 
 an earlier building. In the S. transept is the tomb of 
 S. Guillaume Pinchon (1234), with ever-burning lamps. In 
 niches of the wall (enfeux) are other tombs of bishops, 
 including Bishop Andre le Pore de la Porte (1632). At 
 the entrance of the choir is Bishop Fretat de Boissieux 
 (1720); the black marble tomb of the constitutional Bishop 
 Jacob (1801); at the back of the choir, Bishop CafTarelli 
 (1815), and Bishop de Boisgelin (1633); in S. transept, 
 Bishop le Groing de la Romagere (1841), Bishop le Mee 
 (1858), and Bishop Martial (1863). 
 
 Every second house in the old part of S. Brieuc would 
 seem to have been monastic. There are several fine old 
 timber houses. James II. of England is said to have lodged 
 in the renaissance house called the H Hotel des dues de 
 Bourgogne, in the Rue Fadel, in 1689, when he came to 
 S. Brieuc to review his disembarked troops. The modern 
 church of Notre Dame de la Fontaine marks the site of the 
 v. c. oratory. 
 
 3^ k. (by the r. bank of the Gouet) is the Tour de Cesson, 
 built by Jean IV. in 1395, formerly a very curious specimen of the 
 military architecture of its time, but half blown up by Henri IV. 
 
NOTRE DAME DE LA COUR. 
 
 231 
 
 [A road runs N.W. from S. Brieuc to (44 k.) Paimpol by 
 (13 k.) Binic, a small seaport at the mouth of the Ic. 
 
 18 k. Pbrtrieux (Hotel: de la Plage) a small seaport and 
 bathing-place. 
 
 19 k. S. Quay, a bathing-place named from a monk of the 
 vi. c. 
 
 28 k. Plouha. 4 k. W. is the chapel of Kermaria-a7t-Isquit, 
 which existed in xm. c, and which (modernised) has always 
 been a famous place of pilgrimage. A curious mural painting 
 represents the Dance of Death. 
 
 33 k. Lanloup. The Manoir de la Noe Verte is xv. c. The 
 little port of Brehec-en-P louha was the landing-place of S. Brieuc 
 and his missionary companions. 
 
 41 k. On the r. are the ruins of the abbey of Beauporl : see 
 later. 
 
 Another route from S. Brieuc to (44 k.) Paimpol passes — 
 
 16 k. La Pinte Blanche. A short distance hence on the road 
 to Lantic is the interesting church of Notre Dame de la Cow, 
 begun by Duke Jean V. (1420-22). A fine flamboyant window 
 has splendid xv. c. glass representing the life of the Virgin. 
 In front of the choir is the tomb of Guillaume de Rosmadec, 
 Seigneur de Buhen (1640). The fete of Notre Dame, on August 10, 
 is well worth seeing. Vast multitudes of pilgrims arrive by 
 land with bare feet and lighted candles ; but numbers also arrive 
 by sea, who, never speaking or noticing any of their friends or 
 relations on landing, begin at once to sing the litanies of the 
 Virgin as they join a procession to Notre Dame. 
 
 25 k. Lanvollon, named from S. Vollon, who founded a 
 monastery here in the vn. c. The church is dedicated to 
 S. Brandan, an Irish bishop in the vi. c. The Hotel Keratry is 
 a fine timber mansion, with renaissance sculptures of 1559. Le 
 Putts de S. Turiaff commemorates the birth here of S. Turiaff, 
 Archbishop of Dol in the viii. c. 
 
 30 k. La Tournee. A little farther is seen the ruined (xn. c.) 
 Chateau de Coelmen, then (\\ k.) the xvi. c. Chapelle S. Jacques, 
 with good flamboyant windows, and a fountain near it, sur- 
 mounted by a statue of S. James. To the 1. is the Chateau de 
 Boisgelin, which has belonged to the family of that name since 
 the xm. c, and (ij k.) the very curious building known as 
 
232 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Le Temple de Lanleff (see later). This is ' La Bretagne breton- 
 nante,' i.e. % where only Breton is spoken, and a traveller may find 
 some difficulty in making himself understood.] 
 
 [A line runs S. from S. Brieuc to Auray by — 
 8 k. kS. Julien de la Cote. 2 k. N.E., in the district of Pledran, 
 is the curious Camp de Peran or des Pierres brulees. It is an 
 irregular enclosure of 134 met., near the Roman road called Le 
 Chemin de Noe. The two walls used in the construction of its 
 rampart are separated by a mass of scoria and burnt material, 
 which local tradition asserts to have taken seven years in con- 
 suming. The number of Roman objects found in the ruins prove 
 the date of the camp to have been later than the Roman occupa- 
 tion, and it is now generally believed that the fire was employed 
 as a means of consolidating an artificial rock impervious to 
 time ; for granite, which is not to be found in this district, and 
 which, when burnt, furnishes a strong vitrified material, was 
 evidently brought hither to be used. Walls of this kind are to 
 be seen at S. Susanne, in Maine. In the neighbourhood of the 
 Camp de Peran are the Chapelle dn Creha, an ancient com- 
 manderie of the Knights of Malta ; La Chapelle S. Nicolas, of 
 xv. c, with a sculptured jube ; and La Grotte anx Fees, a 
 Druidical monument surrounded by old oaks. 
 
 18 k. Quintin (Hotel: de la Grande Maison) founded in the 
 xiii. c. by the crusader Geoffroy de Penthievre, and picturesquely 
 situated above the Gouet. The (rebuilt) church of Noire Dame 
 contains the relics of S. Thurian, and a fragment of the girdle 
 of the Virgin, brought back by the Crusaders in 1248. It used 
 to be carried to women in childbirth — ' pour en estre ceintes 
 avec reverence et obtenir un facile et heureux accouchement.' 
 Near the entrance of the town from the station is a pavilion of 
 the Chateau, rebuilt by Amaury de Gouyon, in 1662, on the site 
 of a castle demolished in the wars of the Ligue. Later buildings 
 of the xviii. c. are due to the Vicomte de Choiseul, and contain a 
 number of interesting portraits of the family of De Lorges, etc., 
 and pictures illustrative of the glory of Mme de Pompadour, 
 prepared to flatter her during a visit to the Due de Lorges. 
 The Porte Neuve is xiv. c. or xv. c, and several old houses are 
 interesting. 
 
PONTIVY. 
 
 233 
 
 [A road (diligence) leads S.W. to — 
 
 15k. Coj'lay (Hotel: Thierry), which had its origin in a 
 xii. c. castle belonging to the family of Rohan, demolished by 
 order of Henri IV. in 1485. It remains as a striking ruin, with 
 a great tower (Le Prison), round externally and quadrangular 
 within. The church (xv. c. and xvi. c.) has a handsome portal 
 of 1575. The Chapelle S. Anne is xv. c. and xvi. c. A number 
 of megalithic remains (menhirs, etc.) exist in the neighbourhood 
 of Corlay. 1 1 J k. on the road to Guingamp are the ruins of 
 the Cistercian Abbey of Coelmalouen, founded 1142 by Alain le 
 Noir, Comte de Penthievre. 12 k. hence, by a side road, is the 
 interesting church of Bourbriac, chiefly xv. c., but with portions 
 of romanesque, and a noble tower of 1 501. It contains the tomb 
 ot S. Briac. 
 
 23 k. vS. Nicolas de Pelem, has a xv. c. church with fine glass. 
 
 39 k. Rostrenen, has a number of old houses and a (restored) 
 church founded in 1295 by Pierre de Rostrenen. Its modern 
 name of Notre Dame du Roncier refers to the belief that its 
 miraculous statue of the Virgin was discovered in a thorn bush. 
 It has a pilgrimage on August 15.] 
 
 The line enters the forest of Lorges, and leaves the Chateau 
 de Lorges to 1. before reaching — 
 
 28 k. Ploeuc V Hermitage. At Plocuc are a number of large 
 menhirs. 
 
 35 k. Uzel. The road hence to (19 k.) Corlay, passes (3 k.) 
 the xv. c. Chapelle S. Jacques, with interesting glass and wall 
 paintings of the same date. 
 
 49k. Loudeac (Hotel: de France), important from its cloth 
 manufactories — ' toiles de Bretagne.' 
 
 72 k. Pontivy (Hotels : Gressen— recommended ; de France), 
 an intensely Breton town, which originated in a monastery 
 founded in the vn. c. by S. Ivy, monk of Lindisfarne. The 
 town, besieged by the insurgent peasants in 1790, was fortified 
 by Napoleon I., who tried to change its name to Napoleonville. 
 The church of Notre Dame de la Joie is xv. c. The Chateau, 
 a fine building of 1485, with four huge towers, is now a convent 
 of Sisters of Charity. Only one (xvn. c.) of the four city gates 
 remains. Some houses are xvi. c. and xvn. c. 
 
234 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 2 k. S.E. is a fine menhir surmounted by a cross. 7 k. E., in 
 the xv. c. church of Noyal- Pontivy, is the granite sarcophagus 
 known as the tomb of S. Meriadec. The forests of this district 
 are still full of wolves. 
 
 [A road leads S.E. from Pontivy to — 
 
 23 k. Locmine, which takes its name (Loc Menec'h — a cell of 
 monks) from a monastery founded by S. Columban in the VI. c. 
 The xvi. c. Chcipelle S. Columban, which forms an aisle of the 
 church, has the story of the saint in stained glass. S. Columban 
 is the patron of madmen, and maniacs used to be chained in 
 the crypt under his chapel to effect their cure. The road is 
 continued across the wild Landes, sprinkled with menhirs and 
 peulvens, to (51 k.) Vannes.] 
 
 [A road leads W. from Pontivy to — 
 
 3 k. Stival. The xvi. c. church of 6*. Meriadec replaces the 
 hermitage of the saint, afterwards Archbishop of Vannes, in the 
 vii. c. Fine stained glass by ' Jean le Flaman,' 1552, tells the story 
 of the Passion. Frescoes, on either side the choir, tell that of 
 the saint. The chapel is a much frequented point of pilgrimage. 
 The copper bell, called Bonnet de S. Meriadec, is said to have 
 belonged to the saint. It is rung over the heads of persons 
 afflicted with deafness. 5 k. N.W. is the Chapelle S. Morvan, 
 containing the tomb of the saint. On the territory of Cleguerec 
 are the dolmen of Bod-er-Moet, and the gorge of Stang-en- 
 Ihuern. A road turns N.W. to (49 k.) Carhaix, by (1.) the ruined 
 Chateau de Coetanfao, built at the end of the xvm. c. in imitation 
 of the Petit Trianon, and the gothic xvi. c. chapel of Locmaria. 
 
 17 k. A road turns r. to (8 k.) Guern, near which is the 
 Chapelle Notre Dame de Quelven, with a fine stone spire and 
 good xvi. c. glass. 
 
 21 k. Guemene sur Scorff, originated in the castle of Guemene 
 Guegant, erected by one Guegant in 1022. It was rebuilt in 
 xv. c. by Louis de Rohan, but dismantled under Louis XIII. 
 The old road S.W. from Guemene to (24 k.) Le Faouet passes 
 (1. 2^ k.) the Chapelle Notre Dame de Crenenan, which belonged 
 to the Templars and is covered with xvi. c. frescoes; and (17 k.) 
 Priziac, with the ruined Chateau de Belair and the xvi. c. church 
 
QUI NIP I LY. 
 
 235 
 
 of S. Beho (an Irish bishop). 2 k. from Priziac is the xvi. c. 
 Chapelle S. Nicolas, with a rich jube and sculptures of the legend 
 of S. Nicolas. 
 
 33 k. Kemascleden, famous for its beautiful chapel of Notre 
 Dame, built as a Latin cross, 1453, at the same time with 
 S. Fiacre. It is said that, as tools were scarce, angels carried 
 them backwards and forwards between the workmen of the two 
 chapels. The two S. porches are full of exquisite granite 
 sculpture. The S. transept has a grand flamboyant rose-window. 
 On the vaulting of the choir and N. transept are decaying frescoes 
 relating to the life of Christ and the Virgin. 
 
 For the rest of the way to Quimper and Quimperle see 
 ch. vii.] 
 
 87 k. ►S. Nicolas des Eaux. The interesting xvi. c. chapel of 
 6*. Nicodeme, in a very pretty spot surrounded by chestnut groves, 
 has a flamboyant spire. Near it are two sacred fountains, one 
 of them, of 1608, adorned with statues of three Jew-saints — 
 S. Nicodeme, S. Gamaliel, and S. Abibon — with suppliant figures. 
 On the day of the pardon, the first Saturday in August, all the 
 oxen in the neighbourhood, adorned with ribbons, are brought 
 hither to receive the blessing of S. Nicodeme. A young ox is 
 offered to the saint, and the price for which it is sold is used for 
 the poor, especially for farming people who have suffered loss 
 through fire, storm, or disease. The pardon ends in a feu de joie, 
 and an angel, flying down from the church tower by machinery, 
 sets light to the bonfire. 1 The neighbouring Chapelle S. Anne 
 is xvi. c. 
 
 The hamlet of Castennec is believed to stand on the site of 
 the Roman station of Sulis. 
 
 The line passes the Chapelle S. Adrien, with two sacred 
 fountains, frequented by those suffering from intestinal disorders. 
 
 103 k. Baud, It is from this station that a visit must be 
 paid to the famous Venus of Ouinipily. The town of Baud is 
 5 k. from the station, and the omnibus will set visitors down 
 within J k. of Quinipily, which is about 3 J k. distant. Pedestrians 
 must turn r., cross a bridge over the Blavet, ascend a hill, passing 
 
 1 This ceremony is well described in the Through Brittany of Mrs. 
 Macquoid. 
 
236 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 an old cross on 1., and when they come to a common, take a path 
 on r. to a mill-pool. Close by is the old chateau-farm of Quinipily 
 (Chinipily in Breton), where, in an orchard, is the famous idol- 
 statue La Venus de Quiiiipily. It was brought hither in 1696 
 from the hamlet of La Gouarde, where it bore the name of 
 Groach er Gouard — the sorceress of La Garde. It continued 
 to be an object of worship till the end of xvn. c. 
 
 THE IDOL OF QUINIPILY. 
 
 1 La premiere fois qu'elle se trouve designee dans un titre 
 historique, c'est a la fin du seizieme siecle. L'eveque de Vannes 
 fut informe qu'il existait au village de Bieuzy une statue de 
 femme, qui etait pour les habitans du fieu l'objet d'un culte 
 particulier. lis lui attribuaient le pouvoir de marier les garcons 
 et les filles, et voici de quelle maniere il fallait s'y prendre pour 
 meriter le bienveillance de cette etrange divinite. Apres une 
 priere, je ne sais laquelle, chacun pratiquait isolement, aux pieds 
 
OUINIPILY. 
 
 237 
 
 de la statue, une ceremonie quelque peu leste, reputee agreable 
 a une deesse a laquelle on n'attribuait point les fonctions de 
 Venus genitrix, puis on se baignait dans une grande cuve en 
 pierrc placee devant l'idole. On rapporte vaguement qu'elle se 
 trouvait alors parmi les ruines d'un edifice antique, mais je n'en 
 ai trouve nulle part de description satisfaisante. A bon droit 
 scandalise, l'eveque de Nantes requit le seigneur de Lannion 
 de faire cesser ce desordre. Celui-ci, accompagne de ses vassaux, 
 se presente pour enlever l'idole ; mais les gens de Bieuzy pre- 
 tendaient la garder, d'ou ensuivit un combat. La victoire 
 demeura aux assaillans, qui enleverent la statue et le porterent 
 en triomphe au chateau de Quinipili, appartcnant au seigneur de 
 Lannion. Dans cette bataille, sans doute, La Venus perdit sen 
 nez ; e'est la seule mutilation qu'elle ait subie. Bien plus, le 
 seigneur de Lannion lui donna un asile, ce qui semble fort 
 extraordinaire, car, proscrite par l'autorite ccelesiastique, elle 
 semblait condamnee a la destruction. Au contraire, un de ses 
 successeurs la placa honorablement sur un piedestal, en 1696, 
 offrant ainsi, en quelque sorte, une tentation a la superstition 
 des paysans. Ou ajoute qu'en effet on lui rendit de nouveaux 
 hommages, et Ton m'a meme assure quelle en recevait encore 
 quelquefois aujourd'hui. Le chaleau avait ete detruit dans la 
 revolution ; au commencement du siecle on decouvrit au milieu 
 de ses ruines, sous un hangar envahi par les ronces, deux autres 
 statues representant des hommes armes de massues. Elles 
 resterent longtemps oubliees, jusqu'a ce qu'un fermier de 
 Locmin6, les ayant achetes, les placa dans deux niches devant 
 sa maison, sur le bord de la route qui traverse le faubourg de 
 LocmineV — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 The Venus, formed from a single granite block, is 6J feet 
 high. The colour of the stone causes her to be called gronech 
 houarn— the iron woman. She is standing, with her hands 
 crossed upon her breast. The band on her forehead bears the 
 letters I L T — a puzzle to antiquaries. 
 
 The statue is mounted upon a little classic portico, in front of 
 which is a fountain, and the bath till recently used by devotees. 
 It is a very picturesque and attractive spot. 
 
 The path may be continued to Baud, i^k., through a beautiful 
 beech wood, passing (1.) the cratory chapel of Notre Dame du 
 
2 3 8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Roc. The mistletoe, which abounds, having become * l'herbe de 
 la croix,' has lost none of the powers ascribed to it in pagan 
 times. At the end of the wood a turn 1. should be taken, and 
 again 1. on reaching the road. 
 
 Band (a tolerable hotel) occupies a very lofty situation, and 
 has two dull churches, side by side, in its square. The pilgrim- 
 age chapel of Notre Dame de la Clarte and the Fontaine de la 
 Clarte are much frequented by those who are suffering from 
 weak eyes. The blessing of cattle and the blessing of horses is 
 carried out here with great ceremony on two festivals in July. 
 
 Those who visit Ouinipily by an early train from Auray may 
 take a carriage on from Baud to S. Nicodeme, and join the return 
 train at S. Nicolas. 
 
 115k. Plnvigner. The church is dedicated to S. Guigner or 
 Vener, an Irish prince martyred in v. c. The Chapelle S. Fiacre 
 was restored 1640. 2 k. N.W. is the xv. c. Chateau de Keronic. 
 
 127 k. Auray.] 
 
 Leaving S. Brieuc, the line crosses the valley of the 
 Gouet by the viaduct of La Meaugon. 
 
 487 k. Plouvara-Plerneuf. Near Plerneuf is the fine 
 Dolmen des Rockers ; at Plouvara the pilgrimage chapel of 
 Notre Dame de Clarte. 
 
 492 k. Chatelaudren. The Chapelle Notre Dame du 
 Tertre has a fine retable of 1589, and curious wall-paintings 
 of xv. c, A promenade occupies the site of the castle, 
 connected with the popular Breton legend of the prisoner 
 Azenor. 
 
 505k. Guingamp (Hotel: de VOuest — tolerable), an 
 ancient property of the house of Penthievre in the valley of 
 the Trieux, and still a very stirring place. The church of 
 Notre Dame de Bon Secours, in the principal street, which 
 was the chapel of the Comtes de Penthievre, was rebuilt 
 xiii. c. to xvi. c. The fagade has a double portal, and is 
 
GUI NG AM P. 
 
 239 
 
 very richly sculptured. On the N. are two beautiful portals 
 with porches ; on the central pillar of the first of these is 
 the famous and much revered statue of Notre Dame de 
 Halgo'et or de Bon Secours. The central tower, of xm. c, 
 has a handsome stone spire. The crushing of part of the 
 church by the fall of the S. tower in 1535 has caused one 
 side of the nave to be renaissance whilst the other is pure 
 gothic. The choir, with two ranges of galleries, was built 
 
 MILL OF GUINGAMP. 
 
 1462-80 ; the Chapelle du Tresor by Charles de Blois in 
 1371. The aisles of the choir are the same height as the 
 choir itself, and (a peculiar feature) the flying buttresses 
 which sustain the principal vaulting are inside the church. 
 Under the choir is a (closed) crypt, in which Jean and 
 Bastien de Luxembourg are buried. In the S. aisle are 
 the vault and tomb of Rolland Phelippes, sieur de Coet- 
 goureden, seneschal of Charles de Blois, and the tomb of 
 
240 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Pierre Morel, Bishop of Treguier, 1401. The pardon 
 or pilgrimage of the Bon Secours, one of the most crowded 
 in Brittany, takes place on the Saturday before the first 
 Sunday in July. 
 
 ' On voit alors les longues files de pelerins s'avancer au milieu 
 des tenebrcs, comme un lugubre cortege de fantomes. Chacun 
 des penitents tient a la main droite un chapelet, a la gauche un 
 cierge allume, et tous ces visages pales, a moitie voiles de leurs 
 longs cheveux, ou de leurs coiffes blanches qui, pendant des 
 cotes comme un suaire, passent lentement en psalmodiant une 
 priere latine. Bientot une voix seleve au-dessus des autres : 
 c'est le conducteur des pelerins qui chante le cantique de 
 Madame Marie de Bo?i Secours' — Emile Souvestre, 1 Les Dernier s 
 Bretons! 
 
 The market-place — Place du Centre — is extremely pic- 
 turesque, with old houses faced with grey slate, fine trees, 
 and a very pretty lead fountain — La Fontaine du Due 
 Pierre — first constructed in xv. c, but renewed in 1743, 
 when the existing leaden ornaments were executed by the 
 sculptor Carlay. A little below, turning 1., we find a 
 charming old mill (well worth painting) upon the Trieux. 
 
 There are many pretty ' bits ' beneath the remains of 
 the old walls, overhung with valerian and clematis. Three 
 towers of the chateau exist. In the N. of the town the 
 Chapelle S. Leonard, chiefly modern, retains the four 
 romanesque pillars which support the spire, from a chapel 
 built by Charles de Blois in 1356. Every May persons 
 suffering from fever come hither to look for snails in the 
 crevices of the walls; they must find them themselves, and 
 having found them, they shut them up in a bag, which 
 they hang round their necks. When cured of their fever, 
 they buiy the bag beneath the walls of the chapel, and, 
 if they omit this duty, expect the fever to return. 
 
NOTRE DAME DES GRACES. 
 
 241 
 
 The Abbaye de S. Croix (1 k. S.), founded c. 1130 by 
 Etienne de Penthievre, has been converted into a farm ; 
 its xv. c. gateway and its early gothic church remain. The 
 abbot's house, built by Abbot Pierre de Kernevenoy in 
 1530, has a picturesque hexagonal tower, with a tourelle. 
 
 NOTRE DAME DES GRACES. 
 
 i\ k. W., by pretty Devonshire-like lanes, is the Chapelle 
 de Notre Dame des Graces, built by Guy de Bretagne, 1507-21. 
 It has a graceful stone spire, with widely detached pinnacles. 
 Over the doors are very quaint lions with lolling tongues. To the 
 r. of the high altar a shrine of carved wood contains the remains 
 
 16 
 
242 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 of Charles de Blois, killed in the battle of Auray. The hour- 
 glass stands are very richly carved — a devil drawing a cart full 
 of monks, etc. The Chateau de Keranno was, for a time, the 
 residence of James II. of England. 3 k. N.W. of Guingamp is 
 the xvii. c. Chateau de Carnabat. 
 
 [The direct road N.W. to (32 k.) Lannion passes — 
 10 k. Pedernec, overlooked by the hill of Bre, crowned by 
 the Chapelle de S. Herve, which, with its sacred fountain, is a 
 great place of pilgrimage. The Chapelle de Lorette, rich in 
 sculpture, was founded (xvi. c.) by the Seigneurs de Kerma- 
 thamam. 
 
 14 k. Regard had its origin in the Cistercian abbey founded 
 by Etienne, Comte de Penthievre, in 1130, which is now a female 
 lunatic asylum. Part of the abbey church remains, and is now 
 parochial. A tomb m the choir is supposed to be that of Alain, 
 Comte de Penthievre, 1146. The monastic buildings which 
 remain are xvii. c. and xviii. c. n^k. on the road from Begard 
 to Pontrieux is the xvi. c. Chapelle de la Trinite, with paintings 
 of the legend of St. Jorand, of whom it contains the tomb. 
 
 21 k. Cavan. The church (xvi. c.) has a good spire. 
 
 28 k. Buhulien has a Calvary of 1679.] 
 
 [The direct road which runs N.W. from Guingamp to 
 Treguier passes — 
 
 3 k. Pabu, with a church frequented on pilgrimage by epi- 
 leptics. Just beyond this a road turns r. to (10 k.) Pommerit le 
 Vicomte, which has a xiv. c. church with a tall spire. The 
 Chapelle du Paradis is xvi. c. 
 
 20 k. Pontrieux, in the valley of the Trieux. 
 
 24 k. Ploezal. 4 k. N.E. is the Chateau de la Roche- 
 Jagu, chiefly xv. c, with picturesque masses of lofty decorated 
 chimneys. 
 
 27 k. Pommerit-Jaudy. Near this is the ruined Chateau dit 
 Plessix, and a moated tumulus near the old Chateau de Coat- 
 Nevenez. 
 
 29 k. La Roche-Derrien, founded by Derrien, younger son of 
 Eudon, Comte de Penthievre, on a rock above the Jaudy. 
 Beneath its walls Charles de Blois was defeated, and, after 
 
ABB AYE DE BEAUFORT. 
 
 243 
 
 receiving eighteen wounds, was obliged to give himself up as a 
 prisoner to Tanneguy du Chastel, in 1347. Only small ruins of 
 the castle exist. The church of 6*. Catharine de Suede has a 
 lofty spire : its S. transept, called La Chapelle du Chateau, is 
 xiv. c. On the r. of the porch is a curious granite benitier. 
 An old timber house on the Place bears the date 1647. At 2 k., 
 beyond the Jaudy, the modern church of La7igoat contains the 
 tomb (1370) of S. Pompee, mother of S. Tugdual. The tomb, 
 surrounded by the history of the saint in a series of gothic bas- 
 reliefs, is surmounted by a good marble statue.] 
 
 [Tourists may leave the railway at Guingamp, sending on 
 their luggage to Morlaix, and engaging a carriage for two days 
 (45 frs.) to take them to Paimpol and Lannion, arranging to turn 
 aside (inclusive) to the Temple de Lanleff on the way. This 
 excursion, however, has no great attraction, and Paimpol may be 
 more easily visited from Lannion. 
 
 There is nothing of special interest till we reach — in a little 
 hollow below a poor village— the curious building known as the 
 Temple de Lanleff, which has long puzzled antiquaries. It was 
 formerly considered to be a Roman temple, but is more probably 
 the ruin of a round Templar church of the xn. c. It is not 
 unlike S. Stefano Rotondo at Rome in miniature. It has two 
 circles of wall, the inner pierced by twelve arches. Close by 
 is a spring, of supposed miraculous properties. 
 
 33 k. Paimpol (Hotel : Gicquel — very good) is a very dull 
 little town of no interest. An excursion may be made (6 k.) by 
 land to the Point of Arcouet, the nearest for crossing to the He 
 Breliat\ but there is nothing to make it worth while, except the 
 beauty of the inhabitants and the wonderful healthiness of the 
 island. 
 
 'La partie de la cote qui a la mieux resisteau choc des vagues 
 se termine a l'ouest de Brehat par les redoutables " Epees de 
 Treguier," veritable jetee de cailoux que les vagues ont elles- 
 memes construite et sur laquelle tant de navires sont venus se 
 briser ; elles guident aujourd'hui le navigateur, grace an superbe 
 phare des Hehaux, dresse sur un de leurs ecueils.' — Elisee Reclus. 
 
 A pretty walk leads E. from Paimpol to (3 k.) the ruins of 
 the Abbaye de Beauport, close to the road on 1. The abbey was 
 
244 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 founded in 1202 by Alain, Comte de Penthievre. The ruined 
 church — a Latin cross with three aisles — is xm. c. Parallel 
 with it is a hall of xm. c. or xiv. c, divided by circular pillars 
 with rich capitals, which communicated on the W. with a great 
 cloister. To the E. is the refectory, another vaulted gothic hall, 
 built by the Abbot Herve in 1269. Unfortunately these remains 
 are too much shut in by walls to be the least picturesque or 
 beautiful ; but in the neighbourhood there are lovely views of 
 the bay, with its yellow seaweed, distant islets, and pines in the 
 foreground. 
 
 The road from Paimpol to Treguier crosses (3 k.) the valley 
 of the Trieux by a lofty suspension bridge, passes through (5k.) 
 Lezardrieux, and crosses the Jaudy before reaching (15 k.) 
 Treguier (Hotel : de France— ?l very good country inn), 1 an interest- 
 ing little episcopal city, occupying a promontory at the junction 
 of the Jaudy and Guindy, with a creek which runs 9 k. inland 
 from the sea. The town had its origin in the monastery of 
 Trecon, which was founded by S. Tugdual in the vi. c. 
 
 The most celebrated of the Tregarrois, Ernest Renan, was 
 born at Treguier in 1823. His father, master of a small coasting 
 vessel, was drowned when he was three. He carried off all the 
 prizes of his class at the college of Treguier, and thus attracted 
 the notice of the Abbe Dupanloup, then superior of the little 
 seminary of S. Nicolas du Chardonnet, which he persuaded 
 Renan to enter. Thence he went for four years' more training to 
 the great seminary of S. Sulpice, which he quitted in October 
 1845, leaving behind him the faith he had hoped to teach. 
 
 In the town square is the noble church, formerly Cathedral, 
 founded early in the ix. c, but almost entirely rebuilt in 1339. 
 
 'Chef d'oeuvre de legerete, fol essai pour realiser en granit 
 un ideal impossible.' — Renan. 
 
 1 An old Breton song is literally translated — 
 
 ' Moi, j'aime beaucoup le Leonard, 
 Celui-la se nourrit avec de la viande grasse. 
 Le Tregorrois a le gout 
 Des crepes et du lait frais tire ; 
 Mais Cornouillais et Vannetais, 
 Avec leur ble noir, sont apres.' 
 
 See * Le Foyer Breton' 
 
TREGUIER. 
 
 245 
 
 It is a Latin cross. The centre and the extremity of each 
 transept has a tower — that on the N. being romanesque, and 
 named Le Tour de Hasting, it is supposed, from a great pirate 
 chief. That on the S. (xv. c.) has a lofty spire of 1787, spoilt 
 by its many irregular openings. In the xiv. c. the principal 
 entrance of the church was by the S. porch, now used as a 
 baptistery ; above it is a terrace, entered from a kind of external 
 pulpit in the centre of the gable. The W. porch has a fine 
 xiv. c. window above it. Hence one descends fourteen steps 
 into the triple nave of five bays. The choir has four bays, 
 accompanied by chapels, and two square chapels with five-sided 
 apsides at the E. end. Parallel with the N. transept is the 
 Chapelle du Due, built by Jean V. in 1420, and where he was 
 buried in 1451. The stall-work of the choir is of 1648. The 
 two stalls nearest the entrance represent its sainted bishop, 
 S. Tugdual (564), 1 binding with his stole a dragon which deso- 
 lated the valley of Trecor, and throwing it into the sea ; and an 
 angel dividing the waters of a river that S. Yves might pass 
 through on dry land. Many fine, but much mutilated, tombs 
 remain of bishops and knights, and there is a very noble modern 
 monument to S. Yves. 
 
 ' S. Yves de la Verite s'aide que les innocents injustement 
 opprimes, les pauvres, les veuves, les orphelins ; e'est le grand 
 justicier, le redresseur de torts.' — Elisee Reclus. 
 
 The immense benitier is like a cattle-trough. 
 
 4 La sculpture de bois a ete longtemps florissante en Bretagne. 
 Les statues de saints sont d'un realisme etonnant ; pour des 
 imaginations plastiques, elles vivent. Je me souviens d'un 
 brave homme, pas beaucoup plus fou que les autres, qui 
 s'echappait quand il pouvait, le soir, Le matin, on le trouvait 
 dans les eglises en bras de chemise, suant sang et eau. II avait 
 passe la nuit a declouer les christs en croix et a tirer les fleches 
 du corps des Saint Sebastien.' — Ernest Renan. 
 
 On the N.E. is a very picturesque and beautiful Cloister. The 
 single xii. c. tower is well seen from hence, or from the court- 
 
 1 S. Ruelin was another canonised bishop of Treguier of the vi. c. 
 
246 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 yard of the former Eveche. The house of Renan is just below 
 the cathedral. On the quay are some quaint old houses. 
 
 At 1 k. S. is Minihy, 1 where the fine xv. c. church was once 
 the chapel of the manor of Kermartin ) where, in 1255, was 
 born S. Yves — the patron of lawyers, who is declared to have 
 nourished two hundred persons with two sous' worth of bread. 
 
 'Advocatus et non latro 
 Res miranda populo.' 
 
 He is honoured ever)' May 19 by a procession from the 
 cathedral of Treguier to the church of Minihy, where his will 
 hangs on the wall and the remains of his breviary are pre- 
 served. The manor-house of Kermartin was rebuilt in 1834; 
 the farmers who own it claim to possess the bed of S. Yves. 2 
 
 4 Le digne patron des avocats est ne dans le Minihi de 
 Treguier, et sa petite eglise y est entouree d'une grande veneration. 
 Ce defenseur des pauvres, des veuves, des orphelins, est devenu 
 dans le pays le grand justicier, le redresseur de torts. En 
 l'adjurant avec certaines formules, dans sa mysterieuse chapelle 
 de Saint Yves de la Verite, contre un ennemi dont on est victime, 
 en lui disant: " Tu etais juste de ton vivant, montre que tu Fes 
 encore," on est sur que l'ennemi mourra dans Fannee. Tous les 
 delaisses deviennent ses pupilles. A la mort de mon pere, ma 
 mere me conduisit a sa chapelle et le constitua mon tuteur. 
 
 ' Le mois de mai, ou tombait la fete de ce saint excellent, 
 n etait qu'une suite de processions au Minihi ; les paroisses, 
 precedees de leurs croix processionnelles, se rencontraient sur 
 les chemins, on faisait alors embrasser les croix en signe d'alliance. 
 La veille de la fete, le peuple se reunissait le soir dans l'eglise, 
 et a minuit, le saint etendait le bras pour benir l'assistance pro- 
 sternee. Mais s'il y avait dans la foule un seul incredule qui 
 levat les yeux pour voir si le miracle etait reel, le saint, justement 
 blesse de ce soupcon, ne bougeait pas, et, par la faute du 
 mecreant, personne n'etait beni.' — Ernest Renan, 
 
 Amongst the curious relics of pagan times in the environs of 
 Treguier is the chapel of Notre Dame de la Haine — ' heiress 
 
 1 Minihy means a consecrated circle, of two or three leagues, near some 
 great abbey or other religious foundation. 
 
 2 S. Yves is invoked to make crust rise. 
 
TREGUIER. 
 
 247 
 
 of some fierce Celtic deity 7 — where, at night, an injured wife 
 comes to pray for deliverance from the husband she detests, and 
 the son for the death of the father who keeps him out of his 
 inheritance. 1 
 
 At the Chapelle S. Michel, Renan says that a white seagull 
 flies nightly round the doors and windows, seeking to penetrate. 
 It is the soul of a priest longing to say a mass he neglected. 
 
 ' Les environs de la ville de Treguier presentaient le meme 
 caractere religieux et ideal. On y nageait en plein reve, dans 
 une atmosphere aussi mythologique au moins que celle de 
 Benares ou de Jagatnata. L'eglise de Saint-Michel, du seuil de 
 laquelle on apercevait la pleine mer, avait ete detruite par la 
 poudre, et il s'y passait encore des choses merveilleuses. Le 
 jeudi saint, on y conduisait les enfants pour voir les cloches 
 ailer a Rome. On nous bandait les yeux, et alors il etait beau 
 de voir toutes les pieces du carillon, par ordre de grandeur, de la 
 plus grosse a la plus petite, revetues de la belle robe de dentelie 
 brodee qu'elles porterent le jour de leur bapteme, traverser l'air 
 pour aller, en bourdonnant gravement, se faire benir par le pape. 
 — Ernest Reiian. 
 
 4 Si le patriotisme de langue seveille jamais, le " trecorien," 
 idiome du pays de Treguier, est celui qui meriterait de devenir 
 le bas-breton litteraire ; e'est de Treguier que nous viennent 
 le plus de chants, de recits et de proverbes celtiques.' — Elisee 
 Rectus?^ 
 
 [A road runs N. by (2 k.) Plougniel (where the modern 
 church has a xv. c. statue of S. Gouesnou and a xin. c. tomb 
 of a Sieur de Kerousy) to (7 k.) Plongresca7it, on a promontory 
 surrounded on three sides by the sea. A modern church replaces 
 the xv. c. Chapelle de S. Gonery, and contains (in the sacristy), 
 a curious chest, sculptured with the story of S. Gonery, and the 
 fine renaissance tomb of Guillaume de Halgouet, Bishop of 
 Treguier, 1602. The tomb, constructed in the bishop's lifetime, 
 bears the date 1599.] 
 
 It is a pleasant drive of 18 k. from Treguier to Lannion : see 
 later. 
 
 1 See Elisee Reclus, 
 
248 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 [A road leads S.W. from Guingamp to (51 k.) Carhaix by — 
 9 k. Monster us, where the church was formerly the chapel of 
 the now ruined Chateau de VIsle. 
 
 15 k. Kernon. A road turns 1. by (3 k.) Pont Melvez (with 
 the chapel of a Commanderie of Knights of Malta) to (6 k.) 
 Bttlat-Pestivien, with the beautiful xv. c. and xvi. c. Chapelle 
 de Notre Dame de Bulat ) an exquisite gothic building of 
 granite, with a noble renaissance porch. Beneath the tower 
 (of 1552) is a sacristy, adorned externally with admirable 
 sculptures of skeletons fulfilling the duties of the living, and 
 signed by ' Fouquet Jehannou, maistre de l'oeuvre, 1552.' 
 There is a great pilgrimage to Pestivien for the pardon of 
 Sept. 8. 5 k. distant is the Chapelle de S. Gildas, containing 
 the tomb of the saint : see later.] 
 
 520 k. Belle Isle — Begard. The Chapelle de Locmaria 
 has a rich xvi. c. jube. 3 k. is the fine xv. c. church of 
 Locquenvel) with a jube, of which the sculpture, as well as 
 the stained glass, relates to the story of S. Envel, who was 
 born and died here. 
 
 531 k. Plouaret-Lannion. The church of Vieux Marche 
 (1.) is chiefly xv. c, with a fine renaissance tower. The 
 xvi. c. church "of Plouaret has a vault, marked by arms, 
 beneath each window. Seven remain of the twenty-four 
 chapels which were formerly scattered over the parish of 
 Plouaret. Near the ruins of S. Anne de Kerminihy an 
 immense ash overhangs a consecrated fountain. The 
 Chapelle des Sept Saints (5 k.) is placed upon a dolmen, 
 which forms a crypt in which tradition declares that images 
 of the seven sleepers were miraculously found. 7 k. S. is 
 the village of Plouvenez-Moedec, 3 k. W. of which (on the 
 road to Brest), near a fine menhir, is the interesting xv. c. 
 Chapelle de Keramenadh, which belonged to the Knights of 
 S. John of Jerusalem. The porch is exceedingly rich, and 
 
LANNION. 
 
 249 
 
 over the altar is a curious xvi. c. alabaster retable of most 
 delicate workmanship. 
 
 [A line leads N. from Plouaret to Lannion by — 
 
 8 k. Kc?'aiizern. A station whence the chateaux of Kergrist 
 and Runfao (see later) may be visited. 
 
 17 k. Lannion (Hotels: de France, best situation on quay; 
 de VEurope^ with a pleasant garden — both tolerable). In the 
 square are several curious old houses, especially one of slate and 
 timbers painted red. The church of 6\ Jean dti Baly replaces the 
 chapel of the chateau ; it has good flamboyant windows. Only a 
 portal remains of the xn. c. church of Kermaria an Traon. A cross 
 against one of the houses of the Rue du Treguier commemorates 
 the heroic death, on that spot, of the knight Geoffroy de Pont- 
 blanc, literally hacked to death by the English whilst defending 
 the town against them in 1346. 
 
 Crossing a narrow valley, we find a long staircase, bordered 
 by cottages and gardens, leading to the church of Loup de 
 Brelevenez, of xn. c, altered in xv. c, with a stone spire of 
 xvi. c. An ossuary and calvary stand on its terrace. The 
 aisles which surround the church are surmounted throughout by 
 a triforium. The crypt dates from xi. c. 
 
 Renan recounts delightfully a souvenir of the environs of 
 Lannion during the Revolution : — 
 
 • Madame Taupin, dame tres pieuse, fut guillotinee. Le jour 
 de l'execution, ma bonne maman emmena toute la famille hors 
 de Lannion, pour ne point participer au crime qui allait s'y 
 accomplir. On se rendit avant le jour a une chapelle situee a 
 une demi-lieue de la ville, dans un endroit desert, et dediee a 
 Saint Roch. Beaucoup de personnes pieuses s'y rencontrerent. 
 Un signal devait les avertir du moment ou la tete tomberait, 
 pour que tous fussent en priere quand lame de la martyre serait 
 presentee par les anges au trone de Dieu.' 
 
 Lannion is a wonderful centre for excursions of great interest, 
 and carriages may be obtained there for the day at very reason- 
 able prices. 
 
 It is a short drive, keeping to the E. bank of the Leguer, to 
 the ruined Chateau de Tonqucdec, situated on a richly wooded 
 
250 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 height, by a large pool swarming with frogs. There are lovely 
 walks in the beech woods, but the castle itself is too much 
 ruined to have much architectural beauty. It belonged from 
 time immemorial to the Vicomtes de Coetmer, one of whom, 
 
 THE STAIRS OF BRELEVENEZ 
 
 Rolland, took part with Clisson against Jean IV., by whom his 
 castle was destroyed, though he rebuilt it after the death of the 
 duke. 
 
 ' Une premiere enceinte forme en quelque sorte le corps 
 avance de la place. Un pont-levis y donnait acces. Le corps 
 de la place etait compose de constructions militaires, avec un 
 massif d'habitations developpes sur trois des faces du trapeze. 
 
TREGASTEL. 
 
 251 
 
 Des salles d'armes encore voutees et tres-belles se remarquent 
 dans cette partie. Venait enfin le donjon, auquel on arrivait de 
 la place par un pont volant qui reposait sur une pile quadran- 
 gulaire, dont le sommet etait au niveau d'une porte placee au 
 premier etage de la tour. Ce donjon et la tour qui avoisine 
 Fentree sont hexagones interieurement et a quatre etages. Les 
 murailles ont trois metres d'epaisseur dans leur plus grande 
 largeur. 
 
 ' Le vicomtes de Tonquedec etaient au premier rang dans la 
 noblesse de Bretagne ; ils devaient au due cinq chevaliers d'ost 
 et au parlement general ils pretendaient tenir la premiere place 
 comme premiers bannerets de la province. lis avaient des cours 
 dans soixante-une paroisses et trois grandes jurisdictions princi- 
 pales ; ils possedaient de nombreux privileges.' — De Caumont. 
 
 A delightful walk may be taken from Lannion on the W. bank 
 of the Leguer. At 4 k. is the ruined xv. c. Chateau de Coetirec. 
 The Chapelle de Kerfons (7 k.) is an admirable building of 1559. 
 On the same side of the river is (10 k.) the still inhabited and 
 picturesque Chateau de Kergrist, and (1 k. farther) the chapel and 
 mound of the Chateau de Runfao. Hence, descending a steep 
 path to the river, and crossing it by the Pont du Chdtel, the 
 pedestrian may reach majestic, melancholy Tonquedec, and return 
 by the route on the other side of the river. 
 
 But far the most interesting excursion from Lannion — indeed, 
 the best in Brittany — is that (carriage, 14 fr. for the day) across 
 a wild country, sprinkled with dolmens, to Tregastel, returning 
 by Perros Guirec. The land is fertilised by the seaweed or mae'rl 
 found so abundantly on this coast. As we come in sight of 
 Tregastel, a large dolmen is seen on the r., surmounted by a 
 calvary, and with a very fine view. 
 
 Tregastel (10 k.) has a large hotel kept by nuns, who take 
 visitors (of both sexes) en pension. Near the shore in summer 
 is a restaurant, where an excellent luncheon may be obtained. 
 It is a perfectly beautiful and delightful place. The moorland 
 country reaches to the silvery sands, sprinkled with gigantic 
 masses of orange rock of the most extraordinary and picturesque 
 forms, and between them the sea rushes up in deep blue and 
 
252 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 brilliant green waves of indescribable transparency. On a bright 
 summer day the whole scene is one of unspeakable radiance. 
 Delightful little walks wind round the western headland, where 
 more groups of rock appear, as weird and fantastic as the first. 
 An old castle crowns one of them. Endless are the rocky islets. 
 In the distance are Les Sept Isles — L'lle Plate, l'lle du Cerf, 
 Rouzic, Melban, Bonneau, la Pierre, and l'lle aux Moines with 
 a lighthouse. 
 
 Not far from the coast also is the mysterious island of 
 Avalo7i — the ' Isle of the Blessed ' — where, and not at Glaston- 
 bury, Breton legend affirms that King Arthur is buried, as he 
 desired, in ' the island valley of Avilion ' — 
 
 1 Where falls not hail nor rain nor any snow, 
 Nor ever wind blows loudly, but it lies 
 Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair, with orchard lawns 
 And bowery hollows crowned with summer seas.' 
 
 Driving westwards through the narrow ways girt by low stone 
 walls, we reach the harbour of Ploiimanach. We may skirt the 
 sands on foot while the carriage is obliged to go round, and, 
 taking a stony path between cottages and pigstyes, descend into 
 a little bay, where an islet rock, which we can reach at low 
 water, is surmounted by a shrine of S. Guirec, who landed here 
 from Britain in the vi. c. There are two rude statues of the 
 saint, one in stone of xiii. c, the other in wood, into which 
 young girls stick pins when they want to marry. This most 
 romantic little spot is much resorted to for this purpose. 
 
 1 The little village of Ploumanac'h is a collection of hotels 
 built pele-?nele among the masses of red granite, which are here 
 flung about the shore as if the Titans had been playing at nine- 
 pins and had suddenly left off the game. The view from the 
 hill overlooking the village and sea is magnificent ; intense blue 
 water smooth as a lake, pale purple islands beyond, and nearer, 
 lying close under our feet, houses and rocks huddled confusedly 
 together, huge fragments here piled one on the top of the other 
 like a child's tower of bricks, there so closely wedged together 
 as if even an earthquake could not separate them. Sometimes 
 an enormous slab would be perched dolmen-like on the narrowest 
 point of columnar supports, looking as if you could tip it over 
 
LAN M EUR. 
 
 253 
 
 with your finger ; at others, you might see a grand monolith 
 standing alone like some solitary menhir ; whilst all around, 
 near and afar, the ground was covered with blocks, cones, 
 pyramids, every fantastic form that granite can take, making 
 up an indescribably strange and fantastic scene.' — * Autumn in 
 Western France' 
 
 The road ascends a very long steep hill, and descends abruptly 
 upon the bay of Perros (Hotel des Bains), with its long stretch 
 of finest sands, very safe for children, but far less interesting 
 than those of Tregastel. 
 
 Another long hill is picturesquely crowned by the fine church 
 of Notre Dame de Clarte, a beautiful gothic building of 1350, 
 with a spire. Hence there is a grand view over land and sea. 
 Notre Dame de Clarte is invoked for weak eyes. About 8 k. 
 from Tregastel we reach Perros Guirec, where Renan usually 
 spent his summers, and where he died. The church, in a 
 cemetery garden, is full of quaint character, mostly xn. c, with 
 a very deep porch and a renaissance tower. The interior has 
 heavy, rudely-sculptured capitals, and an immense benitier. It 
 is 10 k. from Perros Guirec to Lannion.] 
 
 [Those who drive from Lannion to (36 k.) Morlaix may, by 
 a divergence, visit S. Jean du Doigt on the way ; it is, however, 
 as well visited as an excursion from Morlaix. 1 1 k. from Lannion 
 in this direction is >S. Michel en Greve, in a bay once covered 
 with forest, but now very bare. The church has a beautiful 
 spire of 1 6 14. 1 k. distant is Tredrez, of which S. Yves was 
 rector in the xiii. c. It was in the waste land of the greve that 
 King Arthur (Artus in Breton chronicle) is said to have fought 
 the dragon ; but another legend tells that the dragon of the red 
 rock — Roch' Ru — was killed by S. Efflam, an Irish saint who 
 landed near this, at the spot where La Chapelle S. Efflam, and 
 his sacred well, are still visited by numbers of pilgrims. The 
 church of Plestin (17 k,) contains the xvi. c. tomb of S. Efflam 
 and xv. c. statues of S. Cadoc and S. Herblain. At 25 k. the 
 road reaches La7imeur (Grande Lande), occupying the site of 
 the ancient city Kerfunteun. The church of kS. Melar has some 
 remains of a rebuilding in the xi. c. of the church of the older 
 
254 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE 
 
 city, of which the original crypt remains. It is dedicated to 
 Melar or Meloir, a Breton prince, put to death by Rivod, Comte 
 de Cornouaille, in 538. His xiv. c. statue represents him with 
 his right hand and left foot cut off, mutilations he received from 
 Rivod to unfit him to ride, and that his conqueror might more 
 easily seize his estates ; but God restored them ' comme une 
 patte d'ecrevisse.' The crypt, with curiously sculptured capitals, 
 contains the fountain still called Kerfunteun (in Breton 1 the 
 village of the fountain'), formerly used for baptism by immersion, 
 which it is believed will overflow on a Trinity Sunday and 
 destroy the church ; wherefore, to protect the town, high mass 
 is always celebrated in the chapel on Trinity Sunday. The 
 priory church of Kernitron (the place of Our Lady the Virgin) 
 is an interesting rebuilding dating from xn. c. There is a 
 much frequented pardon here. Near the village are the menhirs 
 of Ru-Peulven and Kermerchou, and (2J k.) the tumulus of 
 Tossen-ar-Choniflet. It is from Lanmeur that one must diverge 
 8 k. to S. Jean du Doigt (see later). 
 
 540 k. Plounerin has a ruined romanesque church. 
 The Chapelle du Bon- Voyage is renaissance. 
 
 [The railway leaves to 1. the Chapelle de S. Laurent du 
 Pouldour^ to which there is a famous pilgrimage. 
 
 { La nuit du 9 au 10 aout de chaque annee, une foule de 
 devots s'y rendent des paroisses environnantes, et, quand ils 
 ont fait sur les genoux le tour du cimetiere, ils entrent en 
 rampant dans un fours pratique sous l'autel, pour rappeler le 
 supplice du feu inflige a S. Laurent, baisent la pierre de Fatre et 
 ressortent par l'etroite ouverture qu'assiegent d'autres pelerins 
 impatients. Puis, apres s'etre frotte les mains et la figure aux 
 pieds de la statue du saint, ils se depouillent completement de 
 leurs vetements et se plongent a l'envie dans une fontaine sacree, 
 construite en forme de niche, avec un siege en pierre pour 
 asseoir les baigneurs. L'eau de source, sechappant avec 
 abondance par un canal superieur, pour retomber dans le bassin 
 de la fontaine, jaillit en cascade sur leur tete, et chaque baigneur, 
 avant de ceder la place a un autre, prononce ces paroles sacre- 
 
MORLAIX. 
 
 255 
 
 mentelles : ' Sant Lorans hon ftreservo hag a lamo d?ga7teomp 
 ar boan izili' (Que S. Laurent nous preserve et nous guerisse 
 des rhumatismes). 
 
 * La vertu de ces ablutions est, comme nous 1'avons vu, de 
 preserver ou de guerir des rhumatismes ; quelques-uns des 
 pelerins, moins fervents et plus frileux, se font remplacer par 
 des mendiants qui s'offrent, moyennant une legere retribution, 
 a recevoir coup a coup plusieurs douches pour le compte d'autrui. 
 
 1 An coup de minuit, la foule abandonne la fontaine du 
 Pouldour, pour se porter dans une prairie ou commencent, 
 a la clarte de la lune ou a celle des cierges empruntes a la 
 chapelle, des luttes qui durent plusieurs heures. Des vieillards 
 les juges du camp, ont precede, dans de longs conciliabules, 
 a Fadmission des concurrents, a leur classement suivant leur 
 age. Les hommes maries sont formellement exclus. II n'y a 
 point de prix, ou plutot il n'y en a qu'un digne de la valeur des 
 combattants : on lutte pour l'honneur de la paroisse. Quand les 
 preparatifs sont termines, d'anciens lutteurs, reduits au role de 
 herauts, crient : Lice ! lice / comme on le faisait dans les tournois, 
 et rangent en rond les nombreux spectateurs. Cette operation 
 s'execute dans un ordre merveilleux ; et cependant Fautorite 
 civile est absente : elle dort. Quant a Fautorite ecclesiastique, 
 elle a, depuis 80 ans, intendit la chapelle, ou aucun office 
 religieux n'est celebre, mais cette prohibition n'a pas fait perdre 
 a cette chapelle ses titres a la veneration. 
 
 ' Quand le soleil se leve, les femmes, qui n'avaient pas encore 
 paru, remplacent les hommes a la fontaine ; seulement leur 
 costume est moins leger que celui de ces derniers ; elles passent 
 derriere une haie pour quitter la chemise, qu'elles y reprennent 
 ensuite ; mais elles conservent leur jupe, et les cheveux epars, 
 la gorge couverte d'un mouchoir sous lequel personne ne songe 
 a jeter des regards indiscrets, elles viennent a leur tour courber 
 la tete sous les flots de Feau lustrale.' — Pol de Courcy, ' La 
 Bretagne contemftoraine! 
 
 563 k. Morlaix 1 (Hotels : de V Europe — first rate, a most 
 capital centre for a week of excursions ; de Provence). The 
 
 1 From mor } sea, and les, high, because of its position above an arm of the 
 sea. 
 
256 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 first view of Morlaix — the second town in Finistere — from 
 the railway shows its peculiar character. Its houses fill 
 a very deep hollow between two steep hills ; the railway 
 crosses the valley at a great height by a magnificent viaduct ; 
 and, through the centre of the hollow, the little stream of 
 the Morlaix trickles into the port (bus sin a flot)^ half canal, 
 half estuary, which is navigable for the 1 1 k. which separates 
 the town from the sea. 
 
 1 Morlaix, assis au fond de sa vallee, avec sa couronne de 
 jardins et les paisibles caboteurs a voiles roses qui dorment sur 
 son canal.' — Emile Sonvestre. 
 
 The Latin name of the town, Mons Relaxus, came from 
 its fortress, which existed at the time of the Roman occupa- 
 tion. Drennalus, disciple of Joseph of Arimathea, and first 
 bishop of Treguier, is said to have preached the gospel 
 here a.d. 72. The town and castle were besieged for 
 two months by Henry II. of England. Emile Souvestre, 
 the romantic writer on Brittany, and General Moreau, were 
 natives of Morlaix. 
 
 There is little remarkable in the town, though many of 
 its old houses are very quaint and picturesque. The hand- 
 some collegiate church of Notre Dame du Mur, where a 
 Te Deum was chanted when Mary Queen of Scots arrived 
 at Morlaix as a bride, was demolished in 1805. S. Mathieu 
 has a heavy renaissance tower. S. ATe/aine, founded 1150 
 and rebuilt 1489, is chiefly remarkable for its gargoyles repre- 
 senting the vices of monks, and for its sculptured organ and 
 font-cover. The church of the Dominican convent, now 
 used as a public library, is xm. c. and xiv. c. In the Rue 
 S. Melaine and Rue de Bourret are a number of fine timber 
 
MORLAIX. 
 
 257 
 
 houses of xv. c, xvi. c. and xvn. c. When their little 
 courtyards are covered in and lighted by skylights, they are 
 known as maisons a lanterne. No. 12, Rue des Nobles, 
 has a fine sculptured staircase. On an island rock, where 
 the canal of the port enters the sea, is the Chateau du 
 Taureaiiy built by the merchants of the town in the xiv. c. 
 to defend it against the English, and now a state prison. 
 
 The six principal excursions to be made from Morlaix 
 are : S. Pol de Leon and RoscofT, S. Jean du Doigt, 
 Huelgoat and S. Herbot, S. Thegonnec and Guimiliau, 
 Plougastel, and the Folgoet, though the last may be taken 
 on the day of leaving Morlaix. 
 
 The district is full of local superstitions. 
 
 ' Nos laboureurs se meuvent, ils agissent dans un monde 
 reel, quand leur imagination erre sans cesse dans un monde de 
 chimeres et de fantomes. L'oiseau qui chante 1 repond a leurs 
 questions, marque les annees de leur vie, lepoque de leur manage. 
 Un bruit fortuit, repete trois fois, leur predit un malheur ; les 
 hurlemens d'un chien leur annoncent la mort ; le mugissement 
 lointain de l'ocean, le sifflement des vents entendus dans la nuit, 
 sont la voix du noye qui demande un tombeau. Des tresors 
 sont gardes par des geans et par des fees. Chaque pays a sa 
 folie, Bretagne les a toutes. 
 
 1 Dans les cantons environnant Morlaix, on craint des genies 
 nommes Tens. Le Teus-ar-pouliet se presente sous la forme 
 d'un chien, d'une vache, ou d'un autre animal domestique. Tout 
 l'ouvrage de la maison est execute par eux. 
 
 ' On parle du Cariquel-an-Ancou (la brouette de la mort). 
 Elle est couverte d'un drap blanc, des squelettes la conduisent ; 
 on entend le bruit de sa roue quand quelqu'un est pres d'expirer. 
 
 1 Sous le chateau de Morlaix, il existe de petits hommes 
 d'un pied de haut, vivant sous terre, marchant et frappant sur 
 des bassins ; ils etalent leur or et le font secher au soleil, 
 L'homme qui tend la main modestement recoit d'eux une poignee 
 
 1 The cuckoo. 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 de ce metal ; celui qui vient avec un sac, dans l'intention de le 
 remplir, est econduit et maltraite. 
 
 ' Les laveuses, ar Cannerez ?ios (les chanteuses de nuit), qui 
 vous invitent a tordre leurs l'nges, qui vous cassent les bras si 
 vous les aidez de mauvaise grace, qui vous noient si vous les 
 refusez, vous portent a la charite.' — Cambry, i Voyage dans Le 
 Finistere! 
 
 [A line runs N. from Morlaix to — 
 
 17 k. P lone nan. The church has a fine processional cross. 
 Soon S. Pol de Leon appears on the r. 
 
 ' The country began to run in straight horizontal lines — a 
 moorlike tableland with furze and broom. On turning a corner 
 we caught sight of the sea on our right, and before us rose a 
 tall single spire, and near it a pile with two lower spires of the 
 same kind. It is a stern, hard, rugged town, people and houses 
 clean, but small and stern ; houses all granite, even to the least, 
 and very plain, and there are no very large ones. The single 
 spire is most beautiful, but, like everything else here, there is a 
 severe cast about it. It is granite, and there are many square 
 forms about it ; but it quite shoots up from the dreary, desolate, 
 silent place.' — Dean Church, 1 Letters. 1 
 
 21 k. 6*. Pol de Leon (Hotel: de France —tolerable ; du 
 Cheval Blanc), a place named from its first missionary Paul- 
 Aurelien, who came from England in 530. S. Pol was the 
 birthplace of the sculptor Michel Colomb. From a great distance 
 its exquisite spires, which give the town the name of la Ville 
 aux clochers a jour, are seen rising over the surrounding flats. 
 
 1 I can remember nothing so unique, so solemn, so melancholy, 
 and so majestic. Far off, rising statelily above wide brown 
 plain, barren shore, and silvery sea, you see the twin spires of 
 S. Pol, and near it, but towering far above, the airy, glorious 
 tower of the Kreizker, so celebrated in Breton legend and song, 
 and so deservedly the boast of the county of Leon. Slowly the 
 distinctive features of the scene are made out — the little town 
 clustered around the gracious cathedral, the gardens and fields 
 stretching to the sea, and the Kreizker crowning all, its light yet 
 solid spire, pierced with star-shaped openings, letting in the day. 
 "Were an angel to come down from heaven," writes a Breton 
 
5. POL DE LEON. 
 
 author, " he would alight on the Kreizker before setting foot on 
 Breton soil." ' — Anttimn in Western France. 
 
 ' De la route de Morlaix l'aspect de la ville est tres pittoresque. 
 La haute tour du Kreizker, surmontee d'un fleche elancee, tra- 
 vaillee a jour, la domine, et semble se Her a la cathedrale dont 
 on apercoit en meme temps le toit et les deux cloehers. Plus 
 loin, a l'orient de celle-ci, on decouvre une autre tour, mince et 
 svelte comme un minaret, qui, bien que fort moderne, se marie 
 assez heureusement a distance avec les cloehers gothiques. On 
 dirait que toute la ville n'est qu'une immense eglise, et il y faut 
 entrer pour reconnaitre son erreur.' — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 The churches are perfect in the beauty of their pro- 
 portions. The ancient Cathedral of S. Pol, 1 which has the 
 unusual virtue of being entirely mediaeval, is xn. c, xm. c, and 
 xiv. c, having been finished in 1540. The W. facade has a 
 single portal, preceded by a porch, above which is a balustraded 
 terrace. Higher are three lancets, surmounted by a gallery and 
 balustrade. A third balustrade unites the towers, which have 
 splendid stone spires, pierced with roses and adorned with 
 pinnacles. On the S. is the beautiful xm. c. porch called Porte 
 des Lepreux. The low nave, of seven bays, has a triforium and 
 clerestory. In the S. transept is a glorious rose-window. The 
 stalls are of 15 12. The local saints, of whom relics are pre- 
 served here, include S. Pol Aurelien, c. 570 ; S. Jennenon, 530 ; 
 S. Joevin, 562 ; S. Houardon, S. Ternoc, S. Gouesnon, S. Guinger, 
 and S. Goulven. The church contains a fine series of episcopal 
 tombs, from the repose of the xv. c. to the kneeling figures of 
 
 1 S. Pol was born in England in 492, and died at the age of 102 in 594. In much 
 he resembled S. Francis. When birds ravaged the fields of his master, S. Hydul- 
 tus, he summoned them to follow him to the monastery, where that gentle 
 abbot chid them, and then blessed them, and they never despoiled his fields 
 any more. When the incursions of the sea threatened the monastery of his 
 sister, which was near the shore, he bade the waves retire a thousand paces, 
 and then desired his sister to place a range of pebbles along the new shore ; 
 these at once grew into a wall of rocks, which stopped the encroachments of 
 the sea for ever. When a terrible dragon ravaged the promontory, S. Pol 
 ordered a young gentleman of Cleder to accompany him ; and when the dragon 
 came forth roaring and vomiting flames, he bade him follow that young man, 
 who led the dragon to a point of rock, whence it was precipitated into the sea. 
 This point is still called Toull-ar-Sarpant. The name of Kergournadac'h— ' he 
 who will not fly ' — was given to the young man, who has left it to his castle. 
 
260 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN TRANCE. 
 
 the xviii. c. and xix. c. Far earlier is that of Conan Meriadec, 
 first sole sovereign of Brittany, the founder of the original church 
 in the iv. c. or v. c. It resembles the Christian sarcophagi at 
 Aries, and is now used as a benitier near the W. door. This 
 Conan was the father of S. Ursula, celebrated in the pictures of 
 Carpaccio at Venice, and is described as the cruel oppressor of 
 the Druids. Formerly a copper plate, raised three feet from the 
 pavement, was inscribed, ' Hie jacet Conanus, rex Britonum.' 
 In the choir are the tombs of Bishop Francois Visdelou, 1671, 
 one of the rare monuments of Brittany which have escaped from 
 vandalism, and of the last Bishop, de la Marche, who died in 
 London, 1806. Before the altar of the Bon Secours is the tomb 
 of the blessed Amice Picard, 1599 — 1652, who is supposed to 
 have lived for eighteen years without other nourishment than the 
 sacrament, and to whom children who have no walking power 
 are brought to obtain the use of their limbs. On the vaulting 
 of a chapel of the S. aisle is a quaint emblematical xvi. c. 
 painting of the Trinity. On the choir screen and tombs are 
 rows of little gable-ended boxes, surmounted by a cross, each 
 containing a skull, and inscribed, ' Ici repose le chef de . . .' 
 There is a dreary little Public Garden behind the cathedral. 
 
 Notre Dame du Kreizker 1 is said to have been founded in 
 gratitude by a young girl of Leon, who was cured by S. Kirec, 
 Archdeacon of Leon in the vi. c, of a paralysis with which she 
 had been punished for profaning a festival of the Virgin with 
 mundane employments. The church is chiefly xiv. c, with aisles 
 and porches of xv. c. The N. porch is an exquisite specimen 
 of flamboyant gothic ; but the great feature is the glorious tower, 
 ' chef d'oeuvre de grace et de legerete,' — which Vauban called 
 ( un coup d'audace,' — which rises between the nave and choir. 
 
 1 Ce ne sont pas des mains d'ouvriers qui ont porte ces pierres 
 dans le ciel : le vieux Guillatime 2 a. tout fait en une seule nuit. II 
 voulait se batir une eglise plus belle que toutes celles qui 
 avaient ete elevees au vrai Dieu par les homines ; mais, une fois 
 le coq pose sur le haut de la fleche S. Pol est venu avec de l'eau 
 benite, il a chasse Satan et il a confisque son travail. Aussi 
 
 * From kreis, the middle of; ker y the town. 
 
 2 A Breton name for the devil— also called 'le loup Guillou.' 
 
S. POL DE LEON. 261 
 
 dans le pays, appelle-t-on encore Kreis-ker — la tour du diable.' — 
 Le Foyer Breton. 
 
 The four pillars, which so marvellously support the tower, 
 
 THE KREISKER, S. POL DE LEON. 
 
 are the only interesting feature of the interior. There is a fine 
 view from the summit of the tower. 
 
 ' Ce clocher, tant celebre par les dictons et les poesies popu- 
 lates, est le roi des campagnes du Leonais et Torgeuil de la 
 Bretagne.' — Henri Martin. 
 
 Several houses are xm. c, xiv, c, and xv. c, 
 
262 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Emile Souvestre says that at S. Pol the reverence for children 
 is such that no woman suckles her infant without crossing 
 herself, and if you pass a woman with a child in her arms you 
 must say ' God bless you.' Many of the poems in the Bargaz 
 Breiz are in the dialect of Leon. The Leonais detest the 
 Cornouaillais, who have generally got the better of them. One 
 of the proverbs of the latter says : ' Un cornouaillais, vieux et 
 casse, vainquit trois leonnais, jeunes et robustes.' 
 
 The ruined manor of Kerangouez, near S. Pol, bears the 
 device, eminently Breton, of ' Mutoudez' ('be silent'). Near the 
 manor of Pontplancoet is a peulven, said to have been hurled 
 by the devil at the cathedral of S. Pol, and, missing its mark, to 
 have fallen here. The Manoir de Kermor-ruy (of the Red Sea) 
 was built by a returned crusader. One of the Perfeunteniou, 
 born here, wrote, as general of the Cordeliers, 1 Le Point 
 d'Honneur en Matiere de Duel.' 
 
 Not far from the Kreisker is the Cemetery) with its curious 
 calvary and ossuaries. 
 
 'An avenue of trees runs up to an extraordinary-looking 
 church, another to a calvary. At intervals, on the outside walls, 
 were arched places in which were skulls and bones, — the skulls 
 sometimes in a sort of box with the name of the person on 
 it. On each side of the avenue to the calvary were shrines 
 with a representation — large wooden or earthenware figures — 
 of a scene of the Passion ; and at the end there was a circle, 
 in the midst of which a large crucifix rose against the sky, with 
 two large columns on each side, and two shrines with repre- 
 sentations of the Taking Down from the Cross and the Burial. 
 In front was a large space, paved with gravestones. I never 
 saw any representation of this kind which struck me so much. 
 It is no use being sentimental, but the effect of these " stations'' 
 among the tombs in a cool evening following a hot day, and 
 among these wild, sad people, with their gloomy customs 
 respecting the dead, was something unlike anything I ever 
 felt. From this place we looked down on a bay; it was 
 quite dusk, the sea a black blue, and the hills a deep blue- 
 grey. The moon rose behind them, first a deep red, then burning 
 copper, then with a strange yellow brilliance all round, reflected 
 dimly on the bay.' — Dean Church, i Letters? 
 
5. POL DE LEON. 
 
 263 
 
 1 On ne jette plus de fleurs sur les tombeaux. Un petit 
 benitier, place sur chaque tombe, aide a chasser les mauvais 
 anges qui troublent les repos des morts. On les veille pendant 
 quelques nuits, pour empecher les diables a les emporter en 
 enfer. Dans le Leonnais, on dit a ceux qui foulent les tombeaux, 
 " Quit a ha lesse divan va anaoun : " 
 
 mot a mot — 
 
 " Retirez-vous de dessus mon trepasseV' 
 
 CHATEAU DE KEROUZERE. 
 
 On a, dans ces contrees, une profonde veneration pour les 
 morts.' — C ambry } 1 Voyage dans le Finistere! 
 
 As in most Breton bone-houses, the skulls are inscribed with 
 the names of those to whom they belonged. ' Cy est le chef 
 de M ' 1 
 
 1 Read A Summer in Brittany, by T. A. Trollope. 
 
264 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 A little W. of S. Pol, in the direction of Plouescat, is the 
 xv. c. and xvi. c. Chateau de Kerouzere, chiefly built in 1458, but 
 restored in 1602. The tomb of its founder, Jean de Kerouzere 
 (1460), cup-bearer to Duke Jean V., is in the neighbouring church 
 of Sibiril. 
 
 20 k. Roscoff (Hotel : des Bains de Mer — good) is a little 
 town on the sea shore — ' petite ville jetee en avant dans la mer 
 comme un navire a l'ancre.' 1 Here Mary Queen of Scots 
 landed at five years old to be affianced to the Dauphin, and 
 founded the chapel of 6*. Ninian, now in ruins. Here also 
 Charles Edward landed as a fugitive after the battle of Culloden. 
 The Church of Notre Dame de Croaz Baz (of sculptured friezes) 
 has two quaint renaissance ossuaries. It contains three alabaster 
 reliefs of the Annunciation, Adoration of the Kings, and Scourging 
 of Christ. 
 
 ' A late and admirable remnant of the gothic style.' — Liibke. 
 
 The port and harbour, with rocks and a distant lighthouse, 
 are rather pretty : an enormous fig-tree has great local celebrity. 
 
 ' Roscoff est une petite colonie maritime placee sur l'ocean, 
 et qui, lorsqu'on vient de la mer, parait accrochee au bas du 
 promontoire, comme une coquille marine. D'apres sa position, 
 on devrait s'attendre a voir tous les habitants de la commune 
 consacres au service de la mer; cependant il n'en est rien. 
 Roscoff ne fournit pas plus de marins que les autres points de 
 Finistere, et presque toute sa population s'occupe de la culture 
 des terres, qui sont, dans ces parages, d'une incroyable fertilite. 
 Les legumes les plus delicats y poussent en plein champ, et 
 les Roscovites en font un commerce immense dans toute la 
 Bretagne. Quelque route que vous parcouriez, vous les ren- 
 contrez assis sur le brancard de leurs charrettes legeres, 
 rapidement emportes par le petit cheval du pays, et chantant 
 une ballade Bretonne.' — E. Souvestre, 1 Les Derniers Bretons.' 
 
 A little mail-boat (25c.) crosses to the Isle de Batz (Enez- 
 Baz, Isle of the Staff — of S. Pol), where S. Pol landed and 
 subdued a terrible dragon, leading him captive by his stole, 
 
 1 3ouvestre. 
 
ROSCOFF. 
 
 265 
 
 which (l'Etole de S. Pol) — a piece of Byzantine embroidery — is 
 preserved in the church. 
 
 ' Nul parmi les apotres monastiques de la Petite-Bretagne ne 
 passe pour avoir exerce sur les animaux les plus feroces un 
 empire plus absolu et plus secourables aux populations que 
 S Pol. Tantot il fait rentrer pour toujours au fond des forets un 
 buffle, qui avait renverse et mis en pieces a coup de cornes la 
 cellule qu'un moine avait batie aupres de la fontaine ou venait 
 boire cet animal. Tantot il apprivoise et reduit a l'etat domes- 
 tique une laie feroce avec ses marcassins, dont la race fut long- 
 temps reconnue et conservee par les gens du pays. Ici, c'est 
 une ourse enorme qu'il fait reculer j usque dans une fosse ou elle 
 se rompt le col. La, c'est un crocodile ou un serpent de mer 
 qui avait mis en fuite le comte du canton avec tous ses guerriers, 
 mais que Paul oblige a se precipiter dans la mer, sur le point du 
 rivage de la Cornouaille ou Ton montre encore un tourbillon qui 
 se nomme V Abhne du Serpent. 
 
 'La legende ne s'arrete pas en si beau chemin ; elle ajoute 
 que, voyant le monastere qu'habitait sa soeur, sur le bord de la 
 mer, menace par les grandes marees, il fit reculer la mer de 
 quatre mille pas, et commanda aux religieuses de borner la 
 nouvelle limite avec des cailloux u lesquels tout a l'instant crurent 
 en grands et hauts rochers pour brider la furie des flots." On 
 comprend assez que Ton interpretait ainsi, sous le toit de chaume 
 du paysan celte, les travaux d'endiguement auxquels avait sans 
 doute preside l'emigre breton qui fut le premier eveque de Leon.' 
 — Montalembert. 
 
 The romanesque church which succeeded the monastery of 
 S. Pol is now ruined and half buried in sand. There is not 
 a tree in the island, all the men are sailors, and the women wear 
 a pretty costume of black, with white linen sleeves and collar, 
 and a white cashmere hood — no colour whatever. A rock on the 
 shore is known as Roche Moloch. 
 
 Near the hamlet of Keresta is a Celtic monument of four 
 dolmens grouped together.] 
 
 [One of the pleasantest excursions from Morlaix is that to 
 S. Jean du Doigt. Carriage for the day, 12 frs. La?imeur (see 
 p. 253) may be (12 k.) taken on the way. 
 
266 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 S. Jean du Doigt is one of the loveliest spots in Brittany. 
 A dull drive leads to it. Then you descend into a deep green 
 valley, recalling those of Devonshire, and opening to the deep 
 blue sea, with rocky islets covered with seaweed. Against the 
 hillside the grand church spire rises from the rich woods. The 
 little Hotel de S. Jean is clean, and has excellent food — a com- 
 fortable and economical resort for artists. 
 
 An exquisite gothic lych-gate is "the entrance to a churchyard 
 
 S. JEAN DU DOIGT. 
 
 of marvellous picturesqueness. On one side is a beautiful and 
 vast renaissance fountain, said to have been made for Anne ot 
 Brittany by an Italian artist. 
 
 4 La fontaine est la plus elegante, la plus mignarde, la plus 
 aerienne que nous ayons jamais vue. Elle est construite en 
 Kersanton et en plomb. Trois bassins superposes et decores 
 d'admirables festons et de tetes d'anges d'une exquise delicatesse, 
 sont surmontes d'une figure representant Saint-Jean, qui confere 
 le bapteme a Jesus Christ, II est impossible de dire quelle est 
 
S. JEAN DU DOIGT. 
 
 267 
 
 la grace de cette construction, dont les details apparaissent a 
 travers une pluie d'eau limpide qui retombe en cascade des trois 
 bassins.' — Emile Sotivestre. 
 
 At the time of the Pardon, 1 crowds of pilgrims always 
 surround the fountain. 
 
 THE LYCH GATE, S. JEAN DU DOIGT. 
 
 ' Son eau, vivifiee par l'index du saint, guerit toutes les 
 maladies, est sans cesse entouree de femmes et d'enfants 
 d'hommes a la barbe grise, qui se lavent les mains, les yeux, 
 
 1 Les Bretons of Auguste Brizeux describes a pilgrimage to the pardon 
 of S. Jean du Doigt, where Anna hangs up a waxen heart for the cure of 
 Quenn-Du. 
 
268 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 et les genoux. Toutes les parties du corps que le douleur 
 attaque, reeoivent du soulagement par cette liqueur admirable ; 
 elle charme l'ennui, dissipe les chagrins ; les moly des anciens, 
 le serpent d'Esculape, tout les secrets de l'fle de Cos, produi- 
 saient jadis moins d'effet ; et, dans les temps modernes, l'Averne 
 a Rome, Saint Jacques de Compostelle, le tombeau de Mahomet, 
 et Notre Dame de Lorette, donnent moins d'indulgences aux 
 fideles qui les visitent.' — Cambry. 
 
 Close by, amongst the grey gravestones, is a tall stone crucifix 
 of great beauty. On the other side of the porch stands a very 
 curious funeral chapel, open at the end ; and the whole is over- 
 looked by the graceful flamboyant tower surmounted by a lead 
 spire. 
 
 The interior of the church has a triple nave, with a chevet 
 ending in a straight wall. The timber ceiling has great refinement 
 of finish. Behind the high altar is preserved the great relic of 
 the place — 'the right-hand first finger of S. John the Baptist' — 
 preserved in a casing of silver and crystal. The priest touches 
 with the relic the eyes of those who kneel to receive it, and it is 
 believed to strengthen them. 
 
 1 On brulait le corps de S. Jean a Samarie, par ordre de Julien 
 l'Apostat ; une pluie miraculeuse permet aux Chretiens d'en 
 derober quelques reliques ; un de ses doigts fut envoye par eux 
 a Philippe le Juste, patriarche de Jerusalem. Tecle, vierge 
 normande, le transporte dans sa patrie, fait batir une eglise dans 
 laquelle elle le consacre a la veneration publique. Un jeune 
 bas breton, natif de Plougasnou, se passionne pour cette piece 
 merveilleuse, ct forme le projet de Tenlever. Le doigt n'attend 
 pas cette violence, et se place, entre cuir et chair, sous le poignet 
 de son adorateur ; sans qu'il se doutat de cette bonne fortune. 
 Ce fut en 1437 que, miraculeusement entraine vers sa patrie, 
 il se met en marche. Des la premiere journee, passant dans 
 une petite ville, les cloches sonnent d'elles-memes, les arbres 
 s'inclinent ; toute la nature s'emeut et de respect et de plaisir. 
 II passe pour sorcier ; on le saisit, on 1 enferme. Le lendemain, 
 qui le croirait ? il s'eveille dans son pays dans la commune de 
 Plougasnou, pres d'une fontaine qu'on nomme encore Feunteum ar 
 Bis (Fontaine du Doigt). Tout s'emeut dans Plougasnou ; la 
 
5. JEAN DU DOIGT, 
 
 269 
 
 chapelle de S. Meridec s'ouvre ; la terre tressaile d'allegresse et 
 se couvre de fleurs nouvelles. A peine notre breton etait-il a 
 genoux que le doigt du saint se degage et va se placer sur l'autel. 
 II reconnait l'objet de son adoration ; les cierges s'allument, le 
 peuple se prosterne. Le due Jean, qui residait a Vannes, accourt 
 a cette nouvelle ; il arrete d elever une eglise a son patron. Que 
 de miracles ! les morts ressuscitent, les sourds entendent, les 
 aveugles voient. Les offrandes des fideles facilitent la construc- 
 tion du nouveau temple. La premiere pierre en fut posee par. 
 le due Jean, le premier aout 1440. II ne fut acheve qu'en 15 13, 
 par la liberalite de la reine Anne.' — Cambry, i Voyage dans le 
 Finis /ere 
 
 Some of the precious gifts to the church are also exhibited — 
 a glorious golden chalice given by Anne of Brittany, who con- 
 sidered herself cured from illness by a pilgrimage to S. Jean, 
 and another chalice, with beautiful enamels, given by Claude de 
 France (daughter of Anne of Brittany), wife of Francois I., on 
 the birth of the Dauphin in 1 517. A Hospice, for the use of 
 pilgrims, stands close to the churchyard. 
 
 The surroundings of S. Jean — the deep lanes through woods 
 by the side of clear brooks, the rocks and islets of the sea-shore, 
 the cottages buried in roses and clematis — have a wonderful 
 charm. 
 
 4 Le Pardon de S. Jean du Doigt offre une physiognomie a 
 part. II n'est pas tres-aisee de bien voir la procession annuelle 
 du 23 juin sans etre incommode par la foule compacte qui 
 encombre les pierres tombales a la sortie de l'eglise ; mais il est 
 surtout impossible de n'etre point assourdi par les glapissements 
 de la plus affreuse reunion de mendiants et d'estropies que la 
 Bretagne renferme, etalant toute l'horreur de leurs plaies et 
 nasillant sans discontinuer leur interminables complaintes. 
 
 4 Pour embrasser dans leur ensemble toutes les parties de la 
 fete, il faut monter jusqu'a la plate-forme de la tour, d'ou part le 
 dragon ou piece d'artifice qui va allumer sur la montagne voisine 
 le tantad ou feu de joie. De ce poste eleve, on domine la foule 
 bigarree gravissant lentement, au chant des hymnes sacrees, le 
 coteau qui conduit au bucher, pendant que les pelerins se dis- 
 tribuent l'eau de la Fo?itai?ie du Doigt pour la boire et pour sen 
 
270 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 baigner les yeux. Au moment ou le dragoii communique son 
 feu au bucher, une decharge generale de mousqueterie se fait 
 entendre, les tambours battent aux champs, la fumee de 1'encens 
 s'eleve vers le ciel melee a celle de la poudre, a celle du petillant 
 feu de lande et de la couronne de fleurs qui le domine, et la voix 
 des pretres entonne l'hymne du S. Doigt. 
 
 1 La procession redescend ensuite la montagne, pour rentrer 
 dans l'eglise, ayant, en tete, des porteurs de lourdes bannieres 
 l^erminees, qui se disputent l'honneur de les faire passer sous 
 Tare de triomphe du cimetiere ; des clameurs s'elevent de la foule 
 
 en faveur du Tregonais, du Leonard ou du Cornouaillais qui 
 reussira dans ce tour de force, auquel peu de bras et de reins 
 peuvent aspirer. A la suite des bannieres et au milieu d'une 
 flotille de navires pavoises, portes sur des brancards par des 
 marins, se distingue le vaisseau la Cordeliere, dont le nom 
 rappelle la plus grande des nefs du xvi. c, que la reine Anne 
 avait fait construire au Dourduff, port voisin de S. Jean, et qui 
 eut une fin si glorieuse en abordant la Regente d'Angleterre au 
 combat de S. Mathieu, en 1512. De jeunes mousses impriment 
 avec des rubans un mouvement alternatif de roulis et de langage 
 aux navires, et, a chaque arret de la procession, un maitre 
 
 l'oratoire de plougaznou. 
 
5. HERBOT. 
 
 271 
 
 dequipage donne, par un coup de sifflet, le signal de changer 
 les pieces ; au second coup de sifflet, les batiments font feu de 
 tribord et de babord, et Ton se remet en marche. La vue se 
 porte ensuite sur le defile des Miraclou. C'est ainsi qu'on 
 designe les gens gueris dans l'annee par l'attouchement du doigt 
 et par l'eau de la fontaine. Vient enfin, derriere les porteurs et 
 porteuses de croix, d'oriflammes et de statues de la Vierge, restes 
 des tresors de S. Jean et de Plougasnou, un nombreux clerge 
 en dalmatiques, portant, sur des brancards, dans des reliquaires 
 d argent, le chef de S. Meriadec, le bras de S. Maudez ou Mande, 
 en enfin le bis sant Jan, pose sous un petit temple, dans son 
 etui de cristal monte en or. Une melee generale s'engage devant 
 la balustrade de l'autel pour se faire donner le doigl, c'est a-dire 
 se le faire appliquer sur l'oeil par la main du pretre.' — Pol de 
 Courcy. 
 
 On the hill W. of S. Jean is (1 k.) an oratory — LOratoire 
 de Plougaznou — whither girls who wish to marry within the 
 year resort to offer their hair to the Virgin.] 
 
 [A line leads S.E. from Morlaix to Carhaix, passing through 
 a wild district of moorland, brown burns, stunted trees and 
 heather — the whole effect recalling Scotland — before reaching — 
 
 33 k. Huelgoat-Locmaria. 1 Here an omnibus meets the train 
 and takes travellers for 7 k,, passing through a wooded gorge 
 strewn with great rocks, and not unlike Killiecrankie, to — 
 
 Huelgoat( Hotel : de France, a good country inn, with pension), 
 a quiet little town in a moorland district. The principal church, 
 of 1 591 , contains a very curious lectern sculptured with figures in 
 relief. Turning r. from the hotel, we soon reach a little lake. 
 Thence a path r., by the cross beyond the mill, leads in a few 
 minutes to Le Rocher Treniblant, a curious rocking-stone. Below 
 this, by the river, is the strange hole in the rocks known as Le 
 Menage de la Vierge. The whole country is very pretty. 
 Osmnnda regalis grows abundantly by the banks of the stream. 
 
 A carriage (6 fr.) should be taken to (7 k.) 5. Herbot, a very 
 pretty spot, where the fine xvi. c. Church of S. Herbot, with 
 a very beautiful tower, rises amongst the woods. Near the S. 
 
 1 ' The place of Mary. ' 
 
272 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 porch, with its curious coloured statues of the twelve apostles, 
 are an interesting calvary and ossuary. The interior has much 
 solemn beauty. A very rich screen surrounds the chancel 
 and supports a huge crucifix and images of saints. Within is a 
 bier-like altar-tomb of xv. c, bearing the venerable figure of 
 the hermit S. Herbot. There is much fine stained glass of 1556. 
 
 OSSUAIRE DE S. HERBOT. 
 
 The Pardon de S. Herbot (in May) is remarkable for the mass 
 of tails of cows and oxen offered on the altar to the patron of 
 horned beasts. The hair thus offered to the church produces 
 an annual revenue of 1500 to 1800 fr. In the neighbourhood are 
 the Cascade de S. Herbot, and the Moulin and the Chateau du 
 Rusquec, a ruin of the xvi. c. 
 
 Near S. Herbot is the dolmen called Tombeau du Geant. 
 
CARHAIX. 
 
 273 
 
 It is said that the giant was obliged to be doubled up six times 
 before he could be enclosed here. This is perhaps the only 
 dolmen which the people regard as a sepulchral monument. 
 
 At about 22 k. from Huelgoat, on the highest point of the hills 
 of Arhes, the Chapelle S. Michel may be visited, in a bleak spot, 
 with a very wide view. 
 
 45 k. Carhaix (Hotel: de la Tour d' Auvergne — tolerable), a 
 small, but once important town, occupying the site of Vorganium, 
 capital of the Osismii. In the v. c. it became part of the king- 
 dom of Cornouaille, and the residence of Ahes, second daughter 
 of Grallon, who gave its name of Ker-Ahes — the town of Ahes. 
 The desecrated collegiate church of S. Trcmeur was built 
 1529-35. It has a rich flamboyant portal, and a lofty square 
 tower, which once supported one of the loftiest spires in 
 Finistere, now destroyed by lightning. On the lower walls are 
 traces of bullets, evidently left from the siege by Duguesclin 
 in 1363. The xvi. c. doors are sculptured with scenes from the 
 life of S. Tremeur. He is ordained ; is martyred ; his body 
 kneels before Comorre, Count of Cornouaille, and he picks up 
 his head ; an angel guides him to heaven with his head in his 
 hand. In the cemetery are remains of the cross, called from its 
 sculptures ' La Croix des douze Apotres! 
 
 The house is preserved where La Tour d ; Auvergne, premier 
 grenadier de France, was born in 1743. His statue (1841) 
 adorns the place, and his portrait is in the Hotel de Ville. Near 
 the town are caverns which local superstition believes to be the 
 abode of demons. The Little Partridge, formerly abundant here, 
 has now become rare. 
 
 To the 1. of the road to Guingamp, about 8 k. from Carhaix, 
 is Carnoel, with the gothic chapel of 5. Gildas, containing the 
 tomb of its patron saint, a great point for pilgrimage. Near this, 
 at Lancamoel, is a lofty menhir. 
 
 A line leads from Carhaix to Loudeac. See p. 233.] 
 
 [The road from Carhaix to (61 k.) Quimper passes — 
 9 k. Cleden Poher., with a xvi. c. church and granite calvary. 
 15 k. Landeleau, named from S. Teleau, bishop of LlandafT 
 in the VI. c. His stone sarcophagus — in which S. Yves once 
 slept as a penance — remains in the church, which also contains 
 
 18 
 
274 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 the tomb of Francois du Chastel, Marquis de Mesle, 1612. His 
 chateau of Chdteaugal is now transformed into a farm. A well, 
 in the circuit of an ancient camp, is the only remnant of the 
 Chateau de Granec, destroyed at the end of the xvi. c. 
 
 24 k. Chdteauneuf du Faou (' of the oak '), on the Aulne. The 
 famous chapel of Notre Dame des Fortes occupies the site of an 
 oak in the trunk of which a silver statue of the Virgin was found. 
 It was stolen by a soldier. 
 
 ' Un bois sacre descende jusqu'au rivage, par une pente de 
 5 a 600 pieds, sur laquelle on a pratique des allees. C'est la 
 que dans les nuits, on voit errer Notre Dame des Portes, en robe 
 blanche, eblouissante de lumiere. Le frottement de sa robe de 
 soie se fait entendre au loin dans la campagne ; cette appa- 
 rition annonce des beaux jours, d'amples recoltes, et des 
 succes a ses fideles adorateurs. On n'ose pas alors approcher 
 de l'enceinte ; on s'agenouille, on s'humilie ; on chante une hymne 
 en l'honneur de la Vierge ; on se retire enfin a reculons, et sans 
 tourner le dos a la deesse. Ainsi nos bons ai'eux sortaient jadis 
 des forets diuidiques.' — Cambry. 
 
 (9 k. from Chateauneuf is Spezet y where, on the stream so 
 called, is the Chapelle du Cran, built by the Seigneurs de 
 Cranhuel in 1532, and possessing six windows filled with very 
 beautiful stained glass of that date. The altar-piece, bearing the 
 date of 1548, is very interesting.) 
 
 The road, after crossing the Aulne at 29 k., ascends the 
 Montagues Not'res, passing to the r. 6*. Thois, and then the ruins 
 of the Chateau de la Roche. 
 
 42 k. Edern. The xvi. c. church contains a statue of the 
 English hermit S. Edern, mounted on the stag which he had 
 tamed, and on which he used to ride. There is some good glass. 
 In the churchyard is a fallen menhir. 
 
 44 k. Briec, near which are many megalithic remains.] 
 
 Leaving Morlaix, the railway reaches — 
 572 k. Pleiber- Christ. The church, chiefly renaissance, 
 has sculptured stalls and a fine procession cross. 
 
S. THEGONNEC. 
 
 275 
 
 There is a public carriage from the station to Huelgoat, 
 crossing the chain of the Monts d'Arree, in the centre of which 
 is (8 k.) Plonneour-Me?iez, with a xvn. c. church, dedicated to 
 S. Eneour. 4 k. E. of this is the ruined abbey of Relecq, founded 
 1 1 32. One gallery of a (xin. c.) cloister remains. Pilgrims 
 resorting hither offer white fowls and a measure of wheat. 
 
 578 k. S. Thegonnec. There is no omnibus at the 
 station, and travellers who wish to visit the famous calvary 
 
 THE CALVARY OF S. THEGONNEC. 
 
 must walk to the town, 3 k. N. There is a primitive inn, 
 with good food but bad accommodation. 
 
 The churchyard of this very quiet little place is entered 
 by a sumptuous renaissance Gateway of 1587. On the side 
 entrance, S. Thegonnec, patron of beasts, is represented 
 with the cart, drawn by a cow, which brought the materials 
 of the church. The Calvary is much simpler than those 
 of several neighbouring places ; the centurion's figures are 
 
276 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN TRANCE. 
 
 mounted on horseback on the upper story. Close by is 
 an Ossuary , of 1677, consisting of two stories; its crypt 
 contains a coloured wooden Entombment of 1702, of good 
 execution. 
 
 On All Souls' Day immense crowds visit these cemeteries. 
 
 ' Au jour des Morts, le lendemain de la Toussaint, la popula- 
 tion entiere du L£onais se leve sombre et vetue de deuil. C'est 
 la veritable fete de famille, l'heure des commemorations, et la 
 journee presque entiere se passe en devotions. Vers le milieu 
 de la nuit, apres un repas pris en commun, on se retire ; mais 
 les mets sont laisses sur la table ; car une superstition touchante 
 fait croire aux Bretons qua cette heure ceux qu'ils regrettent 
 se levent des cimetieres et viennent prendre sous le toit qui les 
 a vus naitre, leur repas annuel.' — Emile Souvestre ) 1 Les Der?iiers 
 Bretons! 
 
 In the fine xvn. c. Church is a richly sculptured bier. 
 The 4 costume ' of S. Thegonnec — male and female — was 
 always entirely black. The ruined castle of Penhoat is 
 
 XIII. c. 
 
 Except in hay-harvest a vehicle may be obtained, but then it 
 is necessary to walk 8 k. to reach Gtdmiliau, a little village 
 celebrated for a magnificent Calvary of 1 581-8. Its platform 
 is crowded with stone statuettes, encircling the central crucifix 
 and portraying the whole life of Christ in figures wearing xvi. c. 
 costume. Most remarkable are the musicians, who precede the 
 Bearing of the Cross. In a side-scene appear Catel Gollet 
 (Catherine the Lost) hurled by devils into the mouth of a dragon 
 representing hell. This Catherine, having made a false con- 
 fession, died, but came back in 1560, to reveal her misery in 
 the words — 
 
 1 Voici ma main, cause de malheur, 
 Et voici ma langue detestable ! 
 Ma main qui a fait le peche, 
 Et ma langue qui l'a nieV 
 
 The xvi. c. Church is dedicated to Miliau, King of Cornouaille, 
 
LANDIVISIAU. 
 
 assassinated in 531 by his brother Rivod, who seized his kingdom. 
 The S. porch, of 1605, is very rich in sculpture. The font, of 1675, 
 has a magnificent cover, and the organ loft and pulpit (1647) 
 deserve notice. 
 
 The manor of Guimiliau is connected with the favourite 
 Breton story of its handsome owner Marhek, who eloped with 
 the beautiful daughter of the Marquis de Penmarc'h. He 
 pursued the lovers, and having surprised them at the Chateau de 
 Lestourd'hu, hanged Marhek from an oak in front of his own 
 manor-house of Guimiliau, and enjoined upon his heirs to renew 
 the oak for ever in memory of his vengeance. 
 
 3 k. W. of Guimiliau is Lampaul, where the xvi. c. church is 
 approached by a triumphal arch surmounted by a calvary of 1668. 
 The side porch of 1533 bears a statue of S. Pol with his dragon, 
 and the dragon is often repeated in the decorations of the edifice. 
 
 590k. Landivisiau (Hotel: de Commerce — tolerable). 
 The church of S. Turlaff (archbishop of Dol in vm. c.) 
 has a rich portal of 1552-4 and a tower of 1590. The 
 magnificent S. portal is adorned with delicate renaissance 
 sculpture in Kersanton stone. A tomb commemorates 
 the founder, Francois Tournemine. In the new cemetery 
 is the curious sculptured facade of an ancient ossuary. 
 
 [A road leads N.W. through a wild country to (22 k.) Lesneven : 
 see later.] 
 
 [A road leads N.E. to Plouescat by — 
 
 6 k. Bodilis, with a magnificent renaissance church, very rich 
 in flamboyant decoration, containing a remarkable renaissance 
 baptistery. 
 
 12 k. The road passes within sight (1.) of the moated Chateau 
 de Kerjean of 1560 — the 'Versailles of Brittany' — a very fine 
 specimen of the Renaissance, with a gothic chapel of the same 
 period. Kerjean was made a marquisate by Louis XIII. The 
 chateau was built by Louis and Hamon Barbier in the middle 
 of the xvi. c. ; before that the lords of Kerjean lived in a little 
 manor which was the scene of an adventure celebrated by Alfred 
 de Musset in 'La Ouenouille de Barberine.' 
 
278 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 14 k. S. Vongay, which has a cemetery-cross of 1677. In the 
 ruined chapel of 6". Jean Kerhan is a vault containing the tomb 
 of a knight of the time of Louis XIII. The ruined chapel of 
 Lanvcn is built above a fountain once consecrated to Druidical 
 worship. 2 k. E. is Plouzevede, 1 k. N. of which the cemetery 
 containing the Chapelle de Berven has a beautiful renaissance 
 portal. The steeple (1575) is composed of a number of domes, 
 one above the other. The cemetery-cross is sculptured with 
 scenes from the Passion. Near the farm of Castel are the 
 remains of Castel-Coat-ar-Gars. 
 
 18 k. On the 1. are the Chateau de Maille of 1 550, and 4 k. W. 
 Lochrist — 'the place of Christ' — abounding in menhirs. Here, 
 in 401, Fagan, Comte de Leon, vanquished the barbarians at the 
 head of his Bretons, while S. Goulven, on the height, kept his 
 hands, like Moses, lifted up in prayer. The church of Plouvenez 
 Lochrist was built on the spot, and repaired in the xn. c, from 
 which much remains. Amongst its old monuments is that ot 
 Jean de K rmavan, bishop of Leon, 15 14. This family bore the 
 device of Dien Avant, because when their chateau de Karman 
 was burnt, during the absence of its lord, he rushed to the spot 
 as soon as he heard of the catastrophe, and before attempting to 
 save anything else broke into the chapel to rescue the sacred 
 vessels, shouting ' Dieu, avant ! ' 
 
 23 k, Plonescat, in a country full of megalithic remains. The 
 Chdteait de Kerlivri has great towers, a gothic portal, and a 
 donjon: its device is Youll Doite — 'the will of God.' At 5ik., 
 on the way to S. Pol de Leon, is Cleder, with a carneillon or 
 Celtic cemetery. Hence came the young man who helped S. Pol 
 to subdue the dragon. 1 Near this is the Chateau de Kei'menguy, 
 inhabited by the family of the same name since 1400, and 
 the ruined Chdteait de Kergournadec h? built c. 1630.] 
 
 [8 k. from Landivisiau, on the road to S. Pol de Leon, is 
 Lambader, where a xiv. c. chapel, rebuilt 1837, retains its side 
 porch and a magnificent wooden jube\ given by Marc de Troerin 
 in 148 1. To the S. of the chapel is a pilgrimage fountain.] 
 
 1 See p. 259. 
 
 2 The name of the castle, Kergournadec'h, refers to this legend, signifying 
 in Breton the /earless one, because its founder was the only man in the parish 
 of Cleder who dared to accompany S. Pol in his expedition against the serpent. 
 
LAND&RNEAU. 
 
 599 k. La Roche. A rock on the 1. of the railway is 
 crowned by the ruins of the Chateau de la Roche-Maurice 
 (Ro'ch Morvan), founded by Maurice or Morvan, king of the 
 Bretons, Leon, and Cornouaille in 819, and demolished in 
 1490, during the wars made by Charles VIII. upon Anne 
 of Brittany. Here Breton legend narrates that the chieftain 
 Elorn used to appease a terrible dragon, by giving him one 
 of his servants — selected by lot — to devour every Saturday. 
 At last, only Elorn himself, his wife and daughter, remained. 
 Then, in despair, Elorn threw himself down from his castle 
 into the river Dourdoun, thenceforth called Elorn. But it 
 happened that two Christian knights, returning from the 
 Holy Land, saw him fall, and they drew him safely from 
 the water, and dragged the dragon to Plouneour-Trez — 
 1 the port of the beast ' — where they drowned him. The 
 church, of 1559, has a fine stained window and timber jub'e. 
 The renaissance ossuary has reliefs of the Dance of Death. 
 
 604 k. Landerneau (Hotels : de la Univers — tolerable ; 
 Raould) had its origin in a village which arose round the 
 cell of S. Ernec, a Breton prince who became a hermit on 
 the banks of the Elven. It has important cloth manufac- 
 tories, in which many of the workmen are of English origin. 
 The town is chiefly interesting from its curious bridge 
 crossed by a street of old houses with a desecrated flam- 
 boyant chapel, which, from the gardens on the farther bank 
 of the river, is an exquisite subject for an artist. The 
 church, of S. Houardon, recently removed from its old site, 
 has its tower and renaissance porch rebuilt as before, 
 S. Thomas de Cantorbery (1. of the river) is xvi. c. An 
 excursion may be made to Sizun, with its beautiful triumphal 
 arch at the entrance of the churchyard. 
 
28o 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 7 k. E., near the road to Carhaix, is La Martyre^ with a fine 
 church dedicated to the Breton king Salomon (Merzer Salaiin — 
 the martyr Salomon), which dates from xv. c. and xvi. c. The 
 side porch is very rich in sculpture. The churchyard is entered 
 by a triumphal arch surmounted by a flamboyant calvary in 
 Kersanton stone. It was at La Martyre that the Breton gentle- 
 men conspired, in 171 8, to remove the regency from Philippe 
 d'Orl6ans and give it to Philippe V. of Spain. 
 
 THE BRIDGE OF LAN DERNEAU. 
 
 4 k. N., at the top ot a long hill, (1.) is the Chapelle S. Eloi} 
 on whose festival numbers of horses are brought hither, to the 
 shrine of their special patron, and forced to perform a kind of 
 salutation to the statue of the saint. Then the rider makes 
 the circuit of the chapel three times, and, before leaving, lays 
 before the altar a handful of hair from the mane and tail of 
 his steed. 
 
 1 The monks latinised at pleasure names of Breton saints. Thus, what 
 was originally S. Alar became S. Eloi ; S. Gily was turned into S. Gilles ; 
 S. Dominoc'h into S. Dominique ; S. Derien into S. Adrien. 
 
LE FOLGOET. 
 
 281 
 
 [From the railway station a tram-line in conjunction with 
 the principal trains gives easy and pleasant communication 
 with — 
 
 1 1 k. Plondaniel, which takes its name from the holy Daniel, 
 whose worship is now replaced here by that of S. Guinien, 
 brother of S. Judicael, king of La Domnonee in the vn. c. 
 
 13 k. Le Folgoet. It is 1 k. direct W. to the village (Inn : Trois- 
 Rois — very humble), which has risen around the famous pilgrimage 
 church of Notre Dame du Folgoet. Here, in the midst of the 
 woods, lived in the middle of the xiv. c, ' like a lonely sparrow,' 
 a poor idiot named Salaun, 1 and day and night, after his manner, 
 by the perpetual repetition of ' Ave Maria,' gave praise to the 
 Virgin. Clothed in rags, and with no home but a hollow tree 
 near a spring, he went daily to beg at the house doors of 
 Lesneven, repeating his ' Ave Maria,' followed by ' Saloun a zebre 
 bara ' (' Solomon could eat bread '), took that which was given to 
 him and returned to his hermitage by the spring, into which he 
 dipped his crusts, repeating still his ' Ave Maria.' In the depth 
 of winter he would plunge in the fountain to his chin, till he was 
 half frozen, and then would climb into the tree, and holding two 
 of its branches, would swing himself backwards and forwards, 
 singing ' O Maria!' and so would warm himself; but by his 
 conduct obtained the name of Le Fol. 
 
 Thus he lived his harmless life for forty years, and then he 
 fell sick, and, refusing to leave his cell, died with the name of 
 Mary upon his lips, and was buried at the foot of his tree by 
 the side of the spring. He was already forgotten, when * God 
 caused an exquisite lily to spring forth from his grave, a flower 
 of celestial fragrance, and upon each of its leaves was written, 
 in golden letters, " Ave Maria /" It flowered for a whole month, 
 during which thousands flocked to see it, and, when it faded, the 
 clergy dug around it to discover whence it took its root, and they 
 found that it proceeded from the mouth of the dead body of 
 Salaun.' The story is told by Jean de Langoueznou, Abbot of 
 Landevennec, one of the witnesses of the miracle. The crowd of 
 pilgrims never ceased around the tombeau jleur-de-lyse\ and thus 
 
 1 In Brittany idiots are still looked upon and spoken of as 'gifts of God,' 
 and, as such, are tenderly regarded and cherished, maintained on the farms 
 without work, and mourned when they die. 
 
282 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 it was resolved to build the noblest church in Finistere over the 
 fountain of the poor beggar. 
 
 'Vers le milieu du quatorzieme siecle, un pauvre idiot vivait 
 dans les bois aux environs de Lesneven. Les seuls mots qu'on 
 lui entendit prononcer etaient une invocation a la Vierge : O 
 Itronverc'hes Vari / (" O Madame, vierge Marie "). Avec cette 
 phrase il demandait l'aumone. On ne le connaissait dans le pays 
 que sous le nom du Fou du Bois, ar fol coat. II mourut et fut 
 enterre dans le cimetiere du village ou il etait ne. Quelques 
 jours apres, un beau lis poussa sur sa fosse, et la racine, dit la 
 l^gende, sortait de la bouchememe du cadavre. Chacun va crier 
 au miracle. On accourt, on examine la fleur. Les devots lisent 
 dans son calice le nom de Marie. On decide que la Vierge, sa 
 patrone cherie, en faisant croitre sur sa tombe la fleur qui lui est 
 consacree, avait voulue montrer qu'elle avait recompense la foi 
 du pauvre mendiant. A cette epoque, la Bretagne etait dechiree 
 par la guerre civile des deux pretendans a la couronne ducale, 
 Jean de Montfort et Charles de Blois. Montfort ayant appris le 
 miracle du lis, touche de devotion, ou peut-etre voulant gagner 
 a son parti les gens de Lesneven, fit voeu de batir une chapelle a 
 la Vierge du Fou de bois, s'il triomphait de son rival. Apres la 
 bataille d'Auray, devenu seul possesseur de son duche, il posa 
 la premiere pieirede l'eglise, au lieumeme ou le lis avait pousse.' 
 — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 Begun 1364, consecrated 1419, the church of Folgoet was 
 made collegiate by Jean V., son of Jean de Montfort, in 1423. 
 The W. end has two towers, separated by a porch. A third 
 tower was built by Queen Anne, c. 1505 ; the S. porch is due to 
 Alain de la Rue, Bishop of L6on, by whom the church was 
 consecrated, and bears his statue on its central pillar. Before it 
 are remains of the cross erected by Alain, Cardinal de Coetivy, 
 who is represented kneeling, with joined hands, upon the 
 pedestal, holding his pilgrim's staff, and with his cardinal's hat 
 upon his shoulders. Behind him stands a bishop, probably his 
 patron S. Alain, and presents him to the Virgin ; this work is 
 attributed to Michel Colomb. At the angle of the side aisle and 
 the Chapelle de la Croix is the Portique des douze Apotres, covered 
 with sculpture of the most exquisite refinement and delicacy ; 
 
LE FOLGOET. 
 
 283 
 
 but the statues of the apcstles, destroyed at the Revolution, are 
 replaced by feeble modern figures. The arms of Brittany and 
 France are represented on one of the key-stones of the vaulting, 
 in allusion to the marriage of Jean V. with Jeanne de France, 
 daughter of Charles VI. On the lintel of the doors are hermines 
 passantes, with the device of Brittany : A ma vie. On a pinnacle 
 to r. of the porch is a statue of Jean V., bearing his sceptre and 
 the charter of his foundation. On the whole, the architecture 
 
 NOTRE DAME DU FOLGOET. 
 
 of the church is not imposing, but the details are of the utmost 
 grace. The windows of the church are chiefly flamboyant, 
 those of the sanctuary and the chapel of the Cross being of great 
 beauty. A little portico shelters the waters of Salaun's fountain, 
 as they issue from the building, from their source under the high 
 altar. All round the E. part of the church is a beautiful frieze 
 of mallow leaves. The exquisite detached foliage of the doors 
 is still happily unrestored. 
 
 This is truly one of the ' secluded corners of Norman and 
 Breton towns, where the cathedral stands, with delicate thistles 
 
284 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 and dog-rose and hawthorn carved in its crumbling grey stone ; 
 and plants as delicate as they, stone pinks and long-seeded 
 grasses, grow in the crannies of its buttresses and belfry, round 
 which circle the rooks ; the corn fields and apple orchards as 
 near by as the black carved and colonnaded houses of the 
 town ; places where art still keeps up its old, familiar, original 
 framework of reality, of nature, of human life.' — Vernon Lee^ 
 'Juvenilia! 
 
 The great feature of the interior is the magnificent jube, like 
 a lace veil, between the nave and choir. Very interesting also 
 are the five altars, of Kersanton stone, which are contemporary 
 with the building. The most remarkable is decorated with little 
 figures of angels holding shields and phylacteries alternately. 
 
 1 La pierre employee a cet effet est eminemment propre a la 
 sculpture d'ornemens par sa durete et la finesse de son grain. 
 Elle ne se polit jamais parfaitement et reste apre au toucher. 
 Sa couleur est verdatre, et lorsque Ton voit pour la premiere 
 fois ces clochetons delicats, ces colonnettes en miniature, veritable 
 
 STATUE OF SALAUN, LE FOLGOET. 
 
LESNEVEN. 
 
 285 
 
 travail de bijouterie, on est tente de les prendre pour des bronzes 
 incrustes. On nomme cette pierre d'apres le lieu d'ou on la tire, 
 Kersanton, et Ton en fait encore un assez grand usage.' — Prosper 
 Mej'imee. 
 
 On a credence table of granite, with a canopy, N. of choir, 
 was placed the statue of the Virgin, formerly venerated by the 
 pilgrims, but a wretched modern image replaces it. 
 
 The Doyenne is an interesting turreted building, adorned 
 with the arms of Brittany and of the ecclesiastical dignitaries 
 who have inhabited it. The buildings cf La Collegiale were 
 renewed at the end of xvn. c. ' Notre Dame du Folgoet ' is one 
 of the poems of the Barzaz Breis. 
 
 15 k. Lesneven 1 (Hotels : des Trots Piliers ; de France). The 
 name recalls the castle of Even, Comte de Leon in the ix. c, 
 now destroyed, and its ramparts made into gardens. 
 
 The storm-beaten district beyond Lesneven seems to have 
 been the especial home of the Breton saints, of one of whom 
 almost every village bears a name. Their exhortations and 
 miracles were especially needed here. The Peninsula of 
 Pontusral, which runs into the sea to the N. of Lesneven, is still 
 called the land of the pagans {ar paganiz)^ because its inhabitants 
 persisted in adhering to pagan practices through the middle ages. 
 The inhabitants of this peninsula, 'a face etroite et longue," 2 also, 
 says Roget de Belloguet, preserved longest the horrible ' droit 
 de bris '; and they were accused of setting up false signal lights 
 on their shores, to profit by the shipwrecks they caused. The 
 wild wastes abound in tumuli, dolmens, menhirs, and ' pierres 
 branlantes.' Near Pontusval are the Druidical remains known 
 as 1 Les Danseurs.' It is said that a number of girls, who 
 insisted on continuing to dance as a Christian procession passed, 
 were turned into stone. 
 
 21 k. Ploiiider. In the church is a curious ancient statue of 
 S. Didier. 
 
 24 k. Goulven. The xvi. c. church has a good stone spire. 
 
 25 k. Plouneour-Trez (see p. 279). Near this, at La Greve de 
 V Enchanteur, is an unusually fine dolmen. 
 
 1 From les, near, and even, a river. 
 
 2 See Elisc'e Reclus. 
 
286 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 26 k. Brignogan (Hotel : des Baigneurs) has a little rocky 
 cove. Amongst the great blocks of granite on the N.W. is the 
 great menhir called le Men Marz (' the miraculous stone '), pro- 
 bably an idol in pagan times, and one upon which the first 
 missionaries have left the sign of the cross. An excursion may 
 be made to the Chapelle S. Bol, with a xvi. c. calvary.] 
 
 [A line leads S. from Landerneau to (338 k.) Nantes by 
 (84 k.) Ouimper, passing — 
 
 12 k. Diri?ion (Terre de Nonne), which has a church contain- 
 ing a xiv. c. statue of S. Goulven, and possessing a fine spire of 
 1588-93. It occupies the site of a chapel erected over the grave 
 of S. Nonne (or S. Melaine), who died here in the beginning of the 
 vi. c. Her tomb bears her statue. The buildings are said to 
 have been commenced on another spot; but the master-mason, 
 seeing that an invisible power perpetually overthrew his work, 
 placed one of the stones destined for the building upon a cart 
 drawn by oxen, who stopped at the spot evidently chosen by the 
 saint. This stone is shown in the Chapelle S. Nonne (1577), as 
 well as the tomb of the saint, and her relics are preserved in a 
 gothic reliquary. S. Nonne, so called from her profession, and 
 commemorated in a mystery, was the princess Melaine, daughter 
 of Brecan, king of Wales, and the Irish princess Dinam (the 
 spotless). She was sister of S. Keine and S. Ninnoc. One day, 
 as she was traversing a forest as a pilgrim, she met the king 
 Keretic, by whom she had a son called S. Divy, born upon 
 a rock, which became like wax, to form a cradle for the new- 
 born child. The peasants still show the cradle of S. Divy, 
 and the marks left by the knees of S. Nonne, near the Chemin 
 de Daoulas, and they carry thither all babes born with a blue 
 mark between the eyebrows. Children so marked are said to 
 have the Mai de S. Divy — i.e. to be doomed to an early death, 
 if the saint does not prevent it. 
 
 19 k. Daoulas- Irvillac — a very interesting place. It is i^k. 
 (turning 1. from the station — no omnibus), with lovely views over 
 a land-locked bay, to the large village of Daoulas (Hotel : de 
 Bretagne — very poor), which is said to have originated in the 
 remorse of a seigneur de Faou, who (c. 510) murdered two monks 
 at the altar, and was forthwith seized by an evil spirit, from 
 
DAOULAS. 
 
 287 
 
 which he was delivered by the prayers of S. Pol, bishop of Leon. 
 On the spot where his crime was committed he founded a 
 monastery, called in Breton ?noustier daou laz — ' the monastery 
 of the double murder.' In the vi. c. this monastery was replaced 
 by an abbey of Augustinian canons, founded (1167-73) by Guyo- 
 marc'h, Comte de Leon, and his wife Nobile. The abbey church, 
 at the top of the hill, above the village street, is beautifully 
 situated, and most picturesque in its surroundings of calvary 
 
 THE SACRED WELL OF DAOULAS. 
 
 and ancient graveyard. The church itself has lost its choir and 
 tower. The W. facade and most of the building are romanesque: 
 to the S. aisle a renaissance porch has been added, bearing the 
 arms of Abbot Jean le Predour, 1573. The portals within have 
 their vaulting exquisitely decorated with vine leaves, and the 
 pillars of Kersanton stone are spiral. The ruins of the choir 
 and Chapelle de Faou contain a vault of the family of Lec'h, and 
 the gravestone of an abbot of 1535. A fine old Gateway, con- 
 taining statues of the twelve apostles, forms the W. approach 
 to the churchyard. The upper story is used as a belfry. On 
 
288 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 the N., behind the house adjoining, visitors are admitted to the 
 roofless ruins of the Cloister^ which dates from the foundation 
 of the abbey ; of great beauty, though only ten arcades of the 
 E. corridor remain. Their capitals present exquisite specimens 
 of xii. c. sculpture. In the centre of what was the cloister are 
 remains of the monastic lavatory fountain. Two arches on the 
 N. form the entrance to the gardens. A delightful walk leads 
 hence to a hollow, with the Chapelle S. Amie of 1667, contain- 
 ing a curious figure of a bishop riding on a stag. Close by 
 is — an architectural gem — a most lovely shrine of the Virgin 
 of 1550, with a miracle-working fountain of great beauty. 
 
 29 k. Hanvec-le-Faoii. The church of Hanvec is of 1625: 
 the cemetery cross bears the arms of Kerliver. 
 
 7 k. W. is Faon (fagus, a beech), on a little arm of the sea. 
 2 k. E. of Faou is the pilgrimage church of Rumengol, of 1536. 
 It is dedicated to Notre Dame de Tout Remede (Remed oll- 
 Rumengol). The interior is of great richness. Close by is a 
 miraculous fountain under a gothic canopy. On the hill above 
 the church is a pavilion, where mass is said daily during the 
 pardon. The fetes or pardons of Rumengol are March 25 
 (the Annunciation); Trinity Sunday; August 15 (the Assump- 
 tion) ; and Nov. 8 (the Nativity of the Virgin). The pardon 
 of Trinity is the most important. 
 
 ' La procession sort de l'eglise avec les bannieres, les croix 
 d'argent et les reliques portees sur les brancards par ceux qui 
 en ont achete le droit. Tous sont vetus d'aubes 011 de chemises 
 blanches, ceint d'un ruban de couleur vive, et portent sur la tete 
 un bonnet de coton blanc. La foule des fideles se precipite pour 
 toucher ces precieux talismans, que les porteurs tieunent, a cet 
 effet, le plus bas possible : ils sont escortes de gardes, costumes 
 comme eux, et qui frappent du pen-bas ceux qui ne s'inclinent 
 pas assez vite. A la suite des reliques on porte assez ordinaire- 
 ment des saints sculptes, places au bouts de baton colories. 
 
 ' Le soir, quand les tentes sont repliees, lorsque le silence 
 et la nuit ont repris possession de la plaine que foulait peu aupar- 
 avant une multitude bruyante, les mendiants se reunissent par 
 groupe aupres des feux d'ajonc qu'ils allument. Alors c'est 
 un spectacle dont aucune parole ne peut rendre la fantastique 
 magie, que celui de ces 300 deguenilles assis autour de leur foyer 
 
LANDEVENNEC. 
 
 289 
 
 en plein vent. Par instants, un jet de flamme eclaire ces visages 
 grimacants, hagards ou stupides, marques au coin de vice ou des 
 miseres humaines ; puis une rafale eteint les feux qui rampent 
 en tournoyant, et Ton n'apercoit plus que des ombres qui s'agitent 
 dans les tenebres visibles. Alors tout bruit meurt ; les 300 
 mendiants, couches sur la terre, ont oublie leurs peines aussi 
 profondement que s'ils dormaient dans un cercueil.' — Emile 
 Souvestre. 
 
 It is a very short distance from Le Faou, crossing the mouth 
 of the estuary, to the remains of the famous Abbey of Landevennec 
 — "chartreuse des lettres bretonnes" 1 — the oldest and most 
 important monastic establishment, not Druidical, in Finistere, 2 
 founded by the holy hermit S. Guenole, who died in 504. 
 Hither King Grallon retired in his old age, and here he 
 was buried in an ancient sarcophagus, which existed till long 
 after the Revolution. It bore the epitaph — much later than 
 itself— 
 
 ' Hoc in sarcophago jacet inclyta magna propago 
 Gradlonus magnus Britonum rex ; mitis et agnus 
 Noster fundator, vitae coelestis amator ; 
 Illi propitia sit semper virgo Maria.' 
 
 The Church dates from xi. c. Its three naves terminate in three 
 apses. Under the S. aisle is a crypt, still retaining the niche 
 which contained the tomb of King Grallon. That of S. Guenole 3 
 was moved to the Chapelle Notre Dame built by Abbot Jean de 
 Vieux-Chatel, who died in 1522. Close to the E. end of the 
 church is a statue of S. Corentin. The remains of several 
 other abbots were collected here. The principal remnant of 
 monastic buildings is the Abbot's House, only dating from 1630. 
 It was formerly known as Le Manoir du Penity. In its court is 
 preserved the tomb ot Abbot de Vieux-Chatel. Through the 
 
 1 Emile Souvestre. 
 
 2 The other monastic establishments of Finistere were— S. Jacut, S. Melaine, 
 S- Meen, S. Gildas de Rhys, S. Matthieu, S. Sauveur de Redon, Le Chaume. 
 Notre Dame de Tronchel, S. Martin de Vertou, S. Georges, S. Sulpice, 
 S. Pierre de Rille, S. Jean des Pres, S. Jacques deMontfort, Daoulas, Beaulieu, 
 Vieuville, S. Aubin des Bois, Mellerai, La Joie, Prieres, and Bonrepos. 
 
 * S. Guenole was born in the Ch&teau de Lesquer, in the parish of Plouguin, 
 in Lconnais. 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Bois des Moines we reach the Bois du Folgoet, named from a 
 chapel erected in 1645 to tne idiot Salaun (see p. 281). 
 
 54 k. Chdteaulin (Hotel : de la Grande Maison), formerly 
 Castel-Nin, picturesquely situated on the Aulne, where S. Idunet 
 had a hermitage in the ix. c. The church of Notre Dame (xv. c. 
 and xvi. c.) was the chapel of the chateau. Its churchyard has 
 a sculptured cross and gothic ossuary. An ivy-covered wall, on 
 the hill above the church) is the only remnant of the castle said 
 to have been built by Alain Debre, grandson of King Salomon, 
 who died in 907, but really built by Budic Castellin, Comte de 
 Cornouaille, in the xi. c. The slate quarries of Chateaulin are 
 celebrated. 3 k. distant is its port — Port Launay. 
 
 (A road leads N.W. from Chateaulin, passing (11 k.) the 
 height of Mene-Hom, crowned by the xvi. c. Chapelle S. Come, 
 to— 
 
 33 k. Crozon (Hotel : des Grottes) in the centre of a wild, 
 bare, storm-beaten peninsula, full of megalithic remains. 1 k. S. 
 is the Anse de Morgat, with curious sea-caverns, especially the 
 Grotte de VAutel and Grotie de S. Marine. A fissure in the 
 vaulting of the latter is called La Cheminee du Diable. Near 
 this, above the village of Kermel, are the Alignements de Kercol- 
 leoc'h, commonly called La Maison du Cure, several ranges of 
 peulvens, and a kind of square enclosure (temple ?) formed by 
 blocks crowned with menhirs. 3 k. farther S. is a dolmen, 1 k. 
 S. of the Chapelle S. Hernot, a tumulus surrounded by a little 
 entrenchment. 8 k. from Crozon is the Anse de Dinant, with a 
 curious island rock connected with the mainland by a natural 
 bridge of two arches, and known as the Chateau de Dinant, from 
 its embattled forms. It is 8 k. from Crozon to Camaret, 2 k. E. 
 of which is the Pointe de Toulinguet. 
 
 1 La pointe de Toulinguet est la plus curieuse de toute la 
 Bretagne. La parole s epuise a raconter tant de sauvages mer- 
 veilles, et Ton renonce malgre soi a les peindre. II faut avoir 
 vu ces hauts caps de granit tapisses d'une rare bruyere, que 
 parsement de loin en loin quelques gazons marins et quelques 
 roses pimprenelles, ces vieux forts qui decoupent sur le gris du 
 ciel leurs murs jaunes, et ou dorment couches dans l'erbe les 
 canons sans affuts ; ces flots dont l'eternelle ecume brode la robe 
 
PLEYBEN. 
 
 291 
 
 bleue de la mer ; il faut avoir entendu, pendant plusieurs heures, 
 les gemissements tristes de la rafale sur les dunes, avoir ete" 
 etourdi par les hurlements des vagues ; il faut avoir eprouve par 
 soi-m£me quelles choses passent devant les yeux et etonnent 
 les oreilles sur ces dernieres limites du vieux monde, pour que 
 des mots puissent rappeler quelques traits de cet inexprimable 
 spectacle.' — Emile Souvestre^ { En Bretagne! 
 
 2 k. N.E. of Camaret is the Presqu'ile de Roscanvel. 
 
 1 C'est le Gibraltar de la France, comme le goulet en est 
 des Dardanelles. Aussi cette position a-t-elle, de tout temps, ete 
 convoitee par les ennemis de la France. Les Espagnols, auxili- 
 aires de la Ligue, s'y etablirent en 1594, et construisirent a la 
 pointe de la presqu'ile, qui a conserve depuis le nom de Pointe 
 des Espagnols, un fort qu'ils auraient rendu inexpugnable, si le 
 Marechal d'Aumont n'eut reussi a les en deloger, apres un siege 
 meutrier. Les Anglais, allies d'Henri IV. en cette circonstance, 
 apprecierent la situation de la presqu'ile, et tenterent de Toccuper 
 en 1694. Vauban, qui avait pressenti leur projet, prit toutes les 
 mesures propres a le faife echouer. Aussi, quand ils voulurent 
 debarquer, le 18 juin, dans la baie de Camaret, furent-ils re- 
 pousses par les troupes que commandait le marquis de Langeron, 
 troupes composees en partie de milices gardes-cotes. Les 
 vaisseaux anglais, commandes par l'amiral Berkley (Berkeley), 
 s'eloignerent en desordre apres avoir essuye de grandes pertes, 
 et le lieutenant-general Talmash (Tollemache) commandant les 
 troupes de debarquement, mourut de ses blessures peu de 
 jours apres sa rentree en Angleterre.') 
 
 [The road E. from Chateaulin to (49 k.) Carhaix passes (11 k.) 
 Pleyben, which has a fine church of mingled gothic and renais- 
 sance. At the base of the lofty tower is a beautiful porch 
 (1588-91) with statues of the apostles. The flamboyant windows 
 of the choir are of great elegance. Attached to the chevet is the 
 renaissance domed sacristy. In the churchyard is an ossuary. 
 But that which gives Pleyben real importance is its Calvary 
 of 1650, decorated with numerous statues representing the history 
 of our Saviour. It is perhaps less magnificent than that of the 
 Plougastel, and of the same character, but exceedingly curious and 
 interesting.] 
 
292 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 [14 k. S.W. of Chateaulin, on the way to Locronan, is the 
 great pilgrimage Chapelle du Kergoat, of mingled renaissance 
 and gothic, with fine stained glass, and a good cemetery cross.] 
 
 There are very beautiful views from the railway before 
 reaching — 
 
 84 k. Quimper. See ch. vii.] 
 
 Leaving Landerneau, the line passes beneath the ruined 
 church of Beuzit-Conogan, which contains the fine xvi. c. 
 tomb of Troilus de Mondragon. After entering the forest 
 of Landerneau, it crosses the avenue of the Chateau de la 
 Joy euse- Garde, celebrated in the story of King Arthur. 
 Only a gothic vault and xn. c. gateway remain. 1 
 
 ' Le chateau de la Joyeuse Garde est celebre dans les romans 
 de la Table ronde. Tous les personnages de ces romans, 
 Tristan le Leonnais, la belle Yseult, le roi Artus, Lancelot, 
 Fhabiterent. Les romans de la Table ronde furent eux-memes 
 ecrits en celto-breton, avant de letre en langue romane ; ce ne 
 fut que vers le douzieme siecle qu'on les traduisit. II est done 
 constant que la chevalerie prit naissance en Bretagne, et y brilla 
 de tout son eclat ; que les premiers poemes chevaleresques 
 furent ecrits en langue celtique. Les monuments, les traditions, 
 les noms, les indications des plus anciens auteurs s'accordent 
 pour faire de la Bretagne la patrie de tout ce monde chevaler- 
 esque et feerique dont, plus tard, le Tasse et TArioste tirerent 
 tant de parti.' — Emile Souvestre. 
 
 The bay of Kerhuon is crossed by a viaduct. 
 
 615k. Kerhuon. 
 
 The famous Calvary of Plougastel is 3^k. walk from 
 Kerhuon. It is about 1 k. to the ferry — a sailing boat — over the 
 broad estuary of the Elorn, by which (with beautiful views to- 
 wards Brest) we reach the peninsula of Plougastel-Daoulas. 
 
 1 Only the ruins of the Joyeuse Garde, those of Roche Maurice, and the 
 foundations of the halles and prisons of Landerneau, remain to the house of 
 Rohan of all their principality of Leon. 
 
PLOUGASTEL. 
 
 293 
 
 Near the landing-place is the Chapelle de S. Languy, with a 
 statue of the saint, invoked for maladies of children. 15 min. 
 farther, on the shore, is the Fontaine de S. Languy, into which 
 peasants plunge the linen of their sickly children ; the fountain 
 is covered at high tide, being half salt. The wild district is 
 covered with large blocks of stone, which the peasants believe 
 to have come from Leon. The legend tells that a Druid who 
 was received well at Leon and ill by the Cornouaillais, avenged 
 himself by scattering the stones of Leon over Cornouaille, from 
 
 THE CALVARY OF PLOUGASTEL. 
 
 Plougastel to Huelgoat. A steep path ascending behind a group 
 of these rocks leads from the ferry to the village of Plougastel 
 — a miserable village with a very poor inn. In the churchyard 
 is a splendid and almost unique calvary erected by a nobleman 
 (1602-4) after the pestilence of 1598. Its sculptor's name (A. 
 Corr) is preserved. It has a massive terrace pierced by arches, 
 and adorned with a rich frieze representing the Life of Christ. 
 Above are the Saviour and the two thieves, and below the story 
 of the Passion is told in as many as two hundred statuettes of 
 
294 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 wonderful originality, full ol life, vigour, and passion, carved in 
 green Kersanton stone. In the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, 
 the Saviour is preceded by peasants in Breton costume, playing 
 the national instruments of Brittany. 3 k. E. are the Chapelle de 
 la Fontaine Blanche and its fountain, frequented by the parents 
 of feeble children. On the 1. bank of the river is the pilgrimage 
 Chapelle de S. Jean de Plougastel, celebrated for the ' pardon 
 des oiseaux,' to which all the peasants in the neighbourhood 
 bring different birds in cages. 
 
 The S. side of the promontory of Plougastel — ' le Mont- 
 morency Bretagne ' — is almost entirely covered by strawberry 
 gardens. A 1 Liqueur des Quatre Fruits,' also called 4 Vin de 
 Plougastel,' is obtained from hence. 
 
 Of all isolated sea-coast populations that of Plougastel is 
 the most curious. Till recently the men all wore Phrygian caps, 
 the women a headdress like that of the goddess Isis ; country 
 people call them 'Les Galileens': and they have always been 
 a colony, living apart like Jews, intermarrying with each other 
 and keeping up all old customs. They are said to be emigrants 
 from the Troad. The very beautiful costume of the women of 
 Plougastel has become nearly extinct in the last few years. 
 
 f If the weather is wet — and more rain is said to fall in 
 Finistere than in any other part of France — wait ; if 3^ou are 
 bored to death in your hotel, put up with it ; if your time is limited, 
 relinquish everything else, but on no account omit Plougastel.' — 
 
 'Autumn in Western France 1 
 
 Passing Le Rody, we have a view of the Anse de S. 
 Marc, then of the harbour of Brest, before reaching the 
 Sea Queen of the West. 
 
 623k. Brest (Hotels: des Voyageurs ; Grand — very 
 good; de la Bourse), the capital of the Departement du 
 Finistere, but a place of no interest to tourists. 
 
 ' Le grand port militaire, la pensee de Richelieu, la main de 
 Louis XIV. ; fort, arsenal et bagne, canons et vaisseaux, armees 
 et millions, la force de la France entassee au bout de la France : 
 tout cela dans un port serre, ou Ton etouffe entre deux montagnes 
 
BREST. 
 
 295 
 
 chargees d'immenses constructions. Quand vous parcourez 
 ce port, c'est comme si vous passiez dans une petite barque 
 entre deux vaisseaux de haut bord ; ii semble que ces lourdes 
 masses vont venir a vous et que vous allez etre pris entre elles. 
 L'impression generale est grande. mais penible. C'est un pro- 
 digieux tour de force, un defi porte a l'Angleterre et a la nature. 
 J'y sens partout l'effort, et l'air du bagne et la chaine du forcat. 
 C'est justement a cette pointe, ou la mer, 6chappee du detroit 
 de la Manche, vient briser avec tant de fureur, que nous avons 
 place le grand depot de notre marine. Certes, il est bien 
 garde. J'y ai vu mille canons. L'on n'y entrera pas ; mais 
 Ton n'en sort pas comme on veut. Plus d'un vaisseau a peri a 
 la passe de Brest. Toute cette cote est un cimetiere. II s'y perd 
 soixante embarcations chaque hiver. La mer est anglaise 
 d'inclination ; elle n'aime pas la France ; elle brise nos vaisseaux ; 
 elle ensable nos ports.' — Michelet. 
 
 A very small portion of the Chateau is older than the 
 xii. c, and the greater portion is of the xin. c, altered by 
 Vauban, who destroyed the conical roofs of the towers, 
 replacing them by platforms for cannon. The most ancient 
 portions are the Tour de Cesar (xm. c.) and Tour d'Azenor, 
 so called because Azenor, daughter of a Comte de Leon, 
 is said to have been imprisoned there. 
 
 The church of S. Louis, begun 1688 and only recently 
 finished, contains a monument to Louis Ducouedic, who 
 died of wounds received in a naval engagement with the 
 English, Oct. 6, 1799. 
 
 1 Excepte les fortifications du chateau, tout est moderne a 
 Brest ; Louis XIV. et Vauban y ont tout fait. II me semble que 
 les environs de Brest peuvent donner une idee de la France sous 
 le grand roi. Des chaumieres miserables et des eglises baties 
 avec soin, mais d'un gout detestable ; ca et la quelques grands 
 manoirs mal tenus, rarement visites par leurs proprietaries ; en 
 un mot, l'apparence du luxe voisine de celle de misere. Le 
 costume des paysans n'a pas change, je crois, depuis que Vauban 
 
296 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 le leur apporta. lis ont un habit noir a grandes basques, avec 
 de larges culottes pliss£es et un chapeau a grands bords. En 
 tout point ils rappellent les costumes des bourgeois de Vander 
 Meulen.' — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 It is a lovely excursion from Brest to Plougastel. 
 
 [A road leads W. from Brest, by Kerangoff, celebrated 
 for its pardons, and the Anse de Bertheaume to (22 k.) Le 
 Conquet, a small bathing-place on the extreme western point 
 of Brittany. On the neighbouring promontory of Kermoran 
 is a lighthouse. A road, diverging 18 k. from Brest, leads (1.) to 
 (23 k.) 6*. Mathien, the W. point of Finistere, called by the 
 Bretons Loc-Maze Pen-ar-Bed (' the cell of S. Matthew at the end 
 of the earth'). Here monks, under the guidance of S. Tanguy, 
 built a monastery in the VI. c, choosing the site because the 
 head of S. Matthew (also claimed by Rome) is supposed to have 
 been landed there by sailors of Leon coming from Ethiopia. The 
 abbey church, at Fine Terre or Bout du Monde, of the xn. c, is 
 now a very imposing ruin ; beside it is a lighthouse. 
 
 ' C'est sur la pointe de Saint Mathieu que les amis, les 
 meres, les amantes tendent les bras, presentent leurs enfans, 
 fondent en larmes au depart des vaisseaux qui sortent pour la 
 guerre ou pour les courses eloignees. C'est la qu'on les attend, 
 qu'on les salue, quand une flamme bienfaisante ou le canon 
 annonce leur retour ; on les appelle, on les suit le long du rivage, 
 on ne peut les perdre de vue ; impatience, cris d'allegresse, 
 mouchoirs agites dans les airs, marche precipitee, inquietude, 
 battements de coeur, convulsions, tout genre de sentiment, 
 d'emotions d'amour, d'amitie, de frayeur, tout mouvement que 
 le coeur determine, se manifestent sur ce rocher aride et sur 
 ces routes momentanement animees.' — Canibry, 1 Voyage dans le 
 Finistere'~\ 
 
 [A steamer leaves Brest twice a week for (28 k.) the tie 
 d'Ouessant, the Uxantos of Pliny, the l'Enez-Heussa of the 
 Bretons, where S. Pol Aurelien preached the gospel in the vi. c, 
 but where idolatry existed as late as the xvn. c. Ouessant — the 
 home of winds and tempests — is the largest island of a group 
 
EXCURSIONS FROM BREST. 
 
 297 
 
 the characteristics and dangers of which are summed up in the 
 proverb, ' Celui qui voit Belle-ile voit son ile ; celui qui voit 
 Groix voit sa joie : celui qui voit Ouessant voit son sang.' It is 
 Ouessant, separated from the rest of the islands by the Passage 
 du Fromveur, that mariners dread, but its natives are famous for 
 their courage in rescuing the shipwrecked, and their hospitality 
 to them when saved. 
 
 1 Un ouessantin mourait-il dans le cours d'un voyage, on 
 portait aussitot une croix dans sa maison ; le clerge allait prendre 
 cette croix, avec les ceremonies funebres accoutumees, et on en 
 faisait Tinhumation. Je n'ai pas besoin d'ajouter que ce simulacre 
 d'enterrement etait paye comme un enterrement veritable. 
 
 'La jeune fille qui se proposait pour epouse a un jeune 
 garcon restait dans la famille de celui-ci, s'il acceptait, et vivait 
 avec lui des ce moment (sans faire chambre commune toutefois) 
 jusqu'au terme fixe d'avance pour ce noviciat matrimoniel. Ce 
 terme arrive, si les deux jeunes gens ne se convenaient pas, 
 la fille rentrait sous le toit paternel sans que sa reputation ne 
 souffrit nullement. 
 
 ' Cet usage, il y a cent ans, avait encore quelque chose de plus 
 bizarre. Le jeune homme, prevenu des desseins qu'une jeune 
 fille pouvait avoir sur lui, se tenait au lit : la jeune fille lui 
 presentait un morceau de lard. S'il en goutait, l'adoption etait 
 censee faite ; dans le cas contraire, l'exclusion etait sans retour. 
 Cet usage existe encore en Norvege.' — Emile Souvesire. 
 
 A little S. is the Ile Molene, a very poverty-stricken place, 
 and still farther S. the tie Beniguet, where some tombs are 
 pointed out as those of Druid priests and priestesses. 
 
 [It is 26 k. N.W. from Brest to Ploudalmezeau. At 6 k. on 
 1. is the Chateau de Keroual, which was the birthplace, in 1649, 
 of Louise-Renee de Penancoe*t de Keroual, afterwards Duchess 
 of Portsmouth and mistress of Charles IL, who, after the death 
 of the king, returned to reside here, and embellished her chateau 
 with mythological paintings, which still exist. 
 
 13 k. S. Renan, a town built round the site of the hermitage 
 of the Irish hermit S. Renan. It has a ruined xiii. c. portal of 
 a church. 
 
298 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE 
 
 * Entre tous les saints de la Bretagne il n'y en a pas de plus 
 original. II habitait la Cornouaille, pres de la petite ville qui 
 porte son nom. C'etait un esprit de la terre plus qu'un saint. Sa 
 puissance sur les elements etait effrayante. Son car<ictere £tait 
 violent et un pen bizarre ; on ne savait jamais d'avance ce qu'il 
 ferait, ce qu'il voudrait. On le respectait ; mais cette obstination 
 a marcher seul dans sa voie inspirait une certaine crainte ; si 
 bien que, le jour ou on le trouva mort sur le sol de sa cabane, la 
 terreur fut grande alentour. Le premier qui, en passant, regarda 
 par la fenetre ouverte et le vit 6tendu par terre, s'enfuit a toutes 
 jambes. Pendant sa vie, il avait ete si volontaire, si particulier, 
 que nul ne se flattait de pouvoir deviner ce qu'il desirait que Ton 
 fit de son corps. Si Ton ne tombait pas juste, on craignait une 
 peste, quelque engloutissement de ville, un pays tout entier 
 change en marais, tel ou tel de ces fleaux dont il disposait de 
 son vivant. Le mener a l'eglise de tout le monde eut 6te chose 
 peu sure. II semblait parfois l'avoir en aversion. II eut ete 
 capable de se revolter, de faire un scandale. Tous les chefs 
 etaient assembles dans la cellule, autour du grand corps noir, 
 gisant a terre, quand l'un d'eux ouvrit un sage avis : M De son 
 vivant, nous l'avons jamais pu le comprendre ; il etait plus facile 
 de dessiner la voie de l'hirondelle au ciel que de suivre la trace 
 de ses pensees ; mort, qu'il fasse encore a sa tete. Abattons 
 quelques arbres ; faisons un chariot, ou nous attellerons quatre 
 boeufs. II saura bien les conduire a l'endroit ou il vent qu'on 
 l'enterre." Tous approuverent. On ajusta les poutres, on fit les 
 roues avec des tambours pleins, scies dans lepaisseur des gros 
 chenes, et on posa le saint dessus. 
 
 'Les boeufs, conduits par la main invisible de Renan, mar- 
 cherent droit devant eux, au plus epais de la foret. Les arbres 
 s'inclinaient ou se brisaient sous leurs pas avec des craquements 
 effroyables. Arrive enfin au centre de la foret, a l'endroit ou 
 etaient les plus grands chenes, le chariot s'arreta. On comprit ; 
 on enterra le saint, et on batit son eglise en ce lieu.' — Ernest 
 Renan. 
 
 ' La, sous vos pieds, dorment plusieurs generations ; cette 
 lande immense fut la cite des morts : elle a conserve encore le 
 nom sonore et triste de Ker-gloas (le lieu de la douleur). Le 
 menhir immense est peut-etre la tombe de quelque chef celtique 
 
LANRIVOARE. 
 
 299 
 
 fameux dans sa tribu, et dont on voulut immortaliser le souvenir; 
 peut-etre aussi etait-ce un de ces ir-mensuls (longues pierres du 
 soleil) qu'adoraient nos peres. Fideles a la tradition, les habitans 
 de ces cotes ont conserve encore pour ce monument une sorte 
 de respect craintif, et des pratiques superstitieuses sont restes 
 en usage dans le pays. Souvent, a la nuit tombante, vous voyez 
 deux jeunes epoux se dinger vers la pierre mysterieuse, se 
 depouiller de leurs vetemens, et appuyer leurs poitrines aux 
 bosselures qui se relieffent sur les deux faces du menhir. Apres 
 s'y etre frottes quelque temps, ils reprennent leur vetemens et 
 s'en retournent joyeux, l'epoux sur de n'avoir que des fils, et 
 l'epouse heureuse de penser que son mari lui sera soumis,' — 
 Emile Souvestre. 
 
 9 k. to the W. is Plouarzel, with the most important menhir 
 in Finistere — le Me7ihir de Kerveac'htou (28 ft. high and 19 ft. 
 round). Near this is the old manor-house of Kergadion, with 
 a ruined portal between towers. In this district is the ruined 
 Chateau de Pont ar Chastel (castle bridge), with four corner 
 towers. Here lived that Thibault du Pont who fought under 
 Duguesclin, armed with a sword five feet long and weighing 
 twelve livres. The pilgrimage Chapelle du Trezien (3 k. W.) 
 has a porch bearing the arms of Chastel. Near this also is 
 the ruined Chateau de Kergroadez, known as the Chateau de 
 Roquelaure, dating only from the xvi. c, but on the site of an 
 earlier building. Thence by the Chateau Kerveac'htou — passing 
 the mill of Chanan, where, near the river, S. Renan has left the 
 mark of his foot upon a rock — a cross-road leads 1. to Plouarzel. 
 
 Continuing the road to Ploudalmezeau, is — 
 
 18 k. Lanrivoare, named from the early missionary S. Rivoare. 
 Here is the Cimetiere des Sept mille saints, where the Christian 
 population of the district is said to have received burial after a 
 massacre by pagan neighbours. This cemetery, in which no one 
 has been buried since, is surrounded by arcades, of which the 
 faithful make the circuit upon their knees on the day of the 
 pardon. Seven round stones upon the steps of a cross are shown 
 as bread changed into stone by S. Herve, 1 who was nephew of 
 S. Rivoare, to punish a baker who had harshly refused him 
 
 1 The name of Landhuvarne commemorates S, Herve, 
 
3°° 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 alms. Against the same cross rests the trunk of a tree, shreds 
 of which are carried away as a preservative against fire in a 
 dwelling. 
 
 From Lanrivoare one may explore the banks of the river or 
 fiord of Aber-Ildut, the ancient Gillidon, where Con an Meriadec 
 landed from England. There are still remains of the Chateau de 
 Meriadec. 
 
 L. of the road, after leaving Lanrivoare, is (2 k.) the church 
 of Plourin, containing fine xiv. c. tombs of the Seigneurs de 
 Kergroadez. 
 
 1 C'est dans le pays de Leon que se passa la scene des trois 
 fermiers. M. de Kergroadez devait cent mille ecus ; ses fermiers, 
 instruits du desordre de ses affaires, lui fournissent cette somme, 
 gerent ses terres pendante quarante ans, lui laissent la moitie 
 de ses revenus, et font present a son epouse de huit beaux 
 chevaux de carrosse, afin (dit un acte qui subsistait en 1788) que 
 madame puisse venir a la paroisse d'une maniere convenable.' — 
 Cambry. 
 
 26 k. Ploudalrnezeau, in a district full of menhirs, tombelles, 
 dolmens, etc. 4 k. N.W. is the xv. c. church of Kersaint, built by 
 Tanneguy du Chatel and his first wife Louise de Pontl'Abb6. It 
 contains the tomb of S. Haude. At the W. entrance of the bay 
 of Porzal are the ruins of the Chateau de Tretnazan, from which 
 the family of Tanneguy du Chatel emanated.] 
 
 [A road leads N.W. from Brest to Lannilis, passing the 
 Fountai?i of S. Trouberon, formerly adored by the Celts, now 
 under the protection of the Virgin. 
 
 4 k. Pontanezen ) 2 k. r. of which is the ruined Chateau de 
 Meslean, with fortified towers. 
 
 8 k. Gouesnou, which has a fine church of 1552, with a stone 
 spire. There are remarkable gargouilles representing dragons, 
 and a cemetery cross. In the Chapelle S. Memor, at the 
 entrance of the village, is one of the pierced stones adored by 
 the Celts, and of which they sought cures. It was moved by 
 a priest from a field to which the maimed still resorted to place 
 their maimed limbs in its hole. Now, it is asserted that the 
 virtues of the stone are due to S. Gouesnou, who, as a penance, 
 
PLOW I EN. 
 
 301 
 
 kept his arm motionless in its hole for several hours daily. 
 There is a famous pardon at Gouesnou. 
 
 1 On trouve encore a Gouesnou la pierre ou le patron du bourg 
 se coucha sur le refus qui lui fut fait d'un asile. Hommes et 
 femmes, le jour du pardon, s'y etendent et s'y frottent. Sa vertu 
 est de guerir les douleurs. Une fontaine pres de l'eglise a le 
 privilege de guerir les maladies cutanees ; il suffit d'y plonger 
 le membre malade.' — Entile Souvestre. 
 
 (Here the road to Lesneven turns off to r., passing (15 k. from 
 Brest) Plabennec, with the ruined Chateau de Lesquelen. Near 
 La croix des trois Recteurs, at the meeting of Plabennec, Plou- 
 daniel, and Kersaint Plabennec, is a rock, inscribed in unknown 
 characters, supposed to indicate a hidden treasure. Near Ker- 
 saint Plabennec are remains of the tower whither S. Thenenan 
 retired to escape the persecution of the pagans : the moated 
 ruins are said to date from the vn. c.) 
 
 15 k. Bourg Blanc, on an affluent of the river Laber Benoil 
 (from Benonic, father of Lancelot du Lac). 18 k., 3^ r. of the 
 road, is Plouvien, where the xvi. c. Chateau du Bois des Anges 
 commemorates the legend of a lady who fled from the cruelties 
 of a jealous husband into the thick woods, where God took care 
 of her, and the angels comforted her by their songs, and every 
 night the shepherds of the surrounding country heard celestial 
 music, yet none dared to enter the woods. But one day Count 
 Even penetrated them, as he was hunting wild beasts, and in the 
 thickets found the injured wife and fell in love with her. She 
 fled from his addresses. He pursued her, but as he was about 
 to seize her, two angels appeared and covered her with their 
 wings. Then a celestial voice told him that the lady was none 
 other than the lost wife of Siffroi, who had concealed herself 
 for four years in the woods, and Even took her back to her 
 husband and testified to her innocence. The chateau was built 
 in honour of her reunion with Siffroi. 
 
 ' Le paysan qui passe devant ses ruines se signe encore en 
 souvenir de la sainte femme qui l'habita ; et le soir les patres 
 attardes croient souvent entendre sortir de ces bocages des 
 
302 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 chants etranges qui inspirent a la fois de la joie et de la terreur, 
 corame le son de voix venant d'un autre monde.' — Cambry. 
 
 Only i k. S.W. from Plouvien is the interesting Chapelle de 
 S. Jaoua, an Irish saint, whose mother was the sister of S. Pol 
 Aurelien, first bishop of Leon, and who was nominated to the 
 parish of Braspartz by S. Judulus, Abbot of Landevennec. Soon 
 afterwards, at a meeting of all the abbots of Cornouaille, 
 S. Judulus and S. Tadec were murdered by the pagans at the 
 moment of repeating 1 nobis quoque peccatoribus.' In punish- 
 ment for this, the pagan prince was possessed by demons, and 
 a dragon was sent to ravage his country. S. Pol and S. Jaoua 
 were at length moved by pity to bind the dragon, and to heal 
 the prince on his promising to build a church (Daoulas) on the 
 site of his two murders. 
 
 \S. Pol et Jaoua s'en allerent ensuite en Leon, trainant 
 apres eux le dragon. Un paysan vint dire que le serpent avait 
 laisse dans sa tanniere un faou bientot aussi redoutable que lui. 
 S. Pol delia alors la bete, lui commanda de la part de Dieu 
 d'aller chercher son faou, sans faire de mal a personne, et le 
 serpent obeit ; en memoire de quoi le bois situe entre Land-Pol 
 et Gui-milliau, dans lequel S. Paul detacha le dragon, s'appelle 
 encore Coat-ar-Sarftent. 11 conduisit ensuite ces deux dragons 
 a l'ile de Batz, et les attacha a son baton, ou ils resterent jusqu'a 
 ce qu'ils ne fussent morts de faim. Pour ce que S. Pol avait 
 ainsi donne pour barriere a deux betes furieuses un simple 
 bourdon, fut appelee cette lie, He du Baton (Enez Batz).' — 
 Emile Souvestre. 
 
 S. Jaoua died in his presbytery at Braspartz. His body was 
 laid on a cart drawn by two oxen, who drew it to the spot 
 Porz-au-Chraz, where the cart broke down. There a cross was 
 erected. A little farther the cart broke down a second time, 
 and could not be mended. Here the saint was buried. His 
 chapel was rebuilt in the xvi. c. The saint's tomb is a sarcophagus 
 of that date, surrounded by gothic arcades, and bearing the figure 
 of S. Jaoua, in episcopal costume. 
 
 25 k. Lannilis (the land of the Church), celebrated in Brittany 
 for the legend of the Groac'h de l'llle du Lok. The country is 
 rich. 
 
LAN N I LIS, 
 
 303 
 
 'La, il y a toujours eu, outre les fourrages et les bles, des 
 vergers qui donnent des pommes plus douces que le miel de 
 Sizun, et des pruniers dont toutes les fleurs deviennent des 
 fruits. Pour ce qui est des jeunes filles a marier, elles sont 
 toutes sages et menageres, a ce que disent leurs parents.' — Emile 
 Souvestre. 
 
 Lannilis is picturesquely situated. In the cemetery is the 
 xvi. c. tomb of Francois de Coum. The chapel of 6*. Tariac 
 contains the curious xvi. c. tomb of Olivier Richard, doctor of 
 theology. 
 
 Descending the river of Aber Vrac'h, you come to Plou- 
 guerneau, supposed to occupy the site of Tolente. 
 
 'Descendez sur cette greve que la mer vient d'abandonner, 
 et arretez-vous. Vous foulez ici Tune des plus opulentes villes 
 de l'Armorique. Cette plaine qui setend sous vos yeux belle et 
 unie fut autrefois couverte dedifices. Le murmure du peuple, 
 les cris des marchands, le bruit des chariots, les appels des 
 marins ont retenti sur cette plage ou la mer seule fait entendre 
 maintenant son murmure monotone et solennel. Sous ce linceul 
 de sable dorment les debris de la Tyr armoricaine ; ce fut la ville 
 du detroit de Hent (Tolente), dont les vaisseaux couvraient 
 autrefois l'ocean. Les normands y debarquerent un jour, le fer 
 et le feu a la main, et quand ils repartirent la riche cite n'etait 
 plus qu'une ruine. Depuis la mer, comme jalouse de cacher les 
 crimes de ses favoris, a etendu ses vagues' sur la ville detruite, 
 et en a efface jusqu'aux moindres traces.' — Emile Souvestre. 
 
 In the church of Landeda, on the other side of the Aber 
 Vrac'h, are the curious tomb of Simon de Tromenec, and the 
 mummy of a holy centenarian. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 BAYEUX TO LAMBALLE BY S. LO i COUTANCES, 
 AVRANCHES, MONT S. MICHEL, DOT, S. MALO, 
 AND DIN AN. 
 
 O EE ch. iii. for the line from Bayeux to— 
 
 27 k. Lison, whence the line to Brittany diverges 
 to the S.W. from that to Cherbourg. 
 
 46 k. S. L6 (Hotels : du Cheval Blanc — tolerable, but 
 primitive ; de Normandle), capital of the Departement de la 
 Manche, the ancient Briovira, received its present name 
 from a sainted bishop. The picturesque little town has 
 clean wide streets, and a central hill, with a terrace over- 
 looking the valley of the Vire. Here, facing the market- 
 place, rises the magnificent xv. c. and xvi. c. church of 
 Notre Dame, finer than many cathedrals, and very beautiful 
 in colour. It has two noble W. towers with spires. On 
 the N.E. is the celebrated outside xv. c. pulpit, whence the 
 bishop used to deliver his edicts, temporal and spiritual, 
 and which Prout and so many other artists have painted. 
 The statue called La Vierge du Pilier is a great object of 
 worship. Opposite the cathedral is the beautiful old timber 
 house known as la Maison de Dieu. 
 
 The church of S. Croix was rebuilt in i860 on the 
 site of a church attributed to Charlemagne. The abbey 
 
COUTANCES. 305 
 
 buildings have two fine gothic windows surmounted by 
 a turret, supposed to have served as a lanthorn. 
 
 (A line leads S,E. from S. L6 to (50 k.) Vire (see ch. iv.) 
 
 OUTSIDE PULPIT, S. LO. 
 
 18 k. Torigm sur Vire, with a fine xvi. c. chateau built by 
 Jacques de Matignon, first Comte de Torigni. It is now used as 
 an Hotel de Ville, and contains some tolerable portraits.) 
 
 A crown of grey towers and spires rises above a hill on 
 the r. as we approach — 
 
 74 k. Coutances (Hotels : d'Angleterre — very good ; des 
 
 20 
 
306 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Trots Rots). The ancient Cosedia probably received its 
 second name of Constantia from Constantius Chlorus, 
 and gave a name to the Cotentin. It is when seen from a 
 distance that Coutances excels. From the opposite hill — 
 the first which is crossed on the way to Hambye — the view 
 is magnificent of the cathedral, throned above the grey 
 town with its verdant ramparts. As you approach nearer, the 
 cathedral is ill seen. The E. end is enclosed in the bishop's 
 garden, and the rest of the building, except the W. front, 
 is hemmed in by commonplace houses. The streets of 
 Coutances are not picturesque. 
 
 The magnificent cathedral of Notre Dame de Coutances 
 was engrafted, in xm. c, chiefly during the episcopate of 
 Hugues de Morville (1208-38) upon a church of the xi. c, 
 of which some traces remain in the lower part of the W. 
 towers. The portals and arcades are remarkable for their 
 exquisite foliage sculpture. In addition to the two great 
 towers and spires of the W. front are two smaller spires, 
 increasing the breadth and dignity of outline. The beauty 
 of the central tower has been copied in many neighbouring 
 churches. 
 
 In the interior is much fine glass of xm. c, xiv. c, 
 xv. c, and xvi. c. There are several incised gravestones 
 of bishops. 
 
 The church of S. Pierre is a mixture of flamboyant and 
 renaissance (xv. c. and xvi. a), but very stately. It copies 
 many features of the cathedral, and, being placed on a 
 lower level, combines well with it in all distant views. 
 S. Nicolas is xvn. c. and xvm. c. The Aqueduct, con- 
 structed 1232, was restored in xvi. c. 
 
 The neighbourhood of Coutances abounds in beautiful 
 
HAM BYE. 
 
 307 
 
 walks. Many are the deep-cut lanes like those of Devon- 
 shire, fringed with fern and abounding in wild flowers. 
 
 It is a pleasant drive of 22 k. to Ham bye (carriage 14 fr.), 
 a lovely spot on the Sienne, a clear trout river winding 
 between wooded hills. An important Benedictine abbey 
 was founded here in 1145 by Guillaume Pesnel. The 
 principal remains are those of a noble church dating from 
 
 ABBEY OF HAMBYE. 
 
 xii. c, but restored xv. c, something like the ruins of 
 Furness on a smaller scale. The abbey belongs to the 
 bishops of Coutances. A castle was founded here in the 
 xiv. c. From the summit of the last hill which is crossed 
 between Coutances and Hambye there is a fine view 
 towards the Jersey coast. 
 
 [10 k. is the little sea-bathing place of Montmartin sur Mer, 
 2 k. S.W. of which is Hauteville-sur-Mer, whence came the 
 conquerors of Apulia and Sicily, and 3 k. N.W. of which is 
 
3 o8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Regneville, with some remains of a castle built by Charles le 
 Mauvais.] 
 
 [A road leads S.W. to (29 k.) Granville, by — 
 18 k. Brehal, 2 k. from which is Chantelouft, with a noble 
 and picturesque renaissance chateau. The church has a nave of 
 xi. c. or xii. c. The family of Canteloupe, migrating to England 
 with the Conqueror, held great domains in Dorsetshire, and in 
 Warwickshire the parish of Aston-Canteloupe.] 
 
 The railway now runs through a richly-wooded country, 
 the cider orchards giving it the appearance of an immense 
 garden. 
 
 81 k. Orval-Hyenville. The church (2 k. N.) of Orval 
 has a nave and tower of xii. c. and choir of xv. c. 
 
 ro2 k. Folltgny, on the line from Paris to Granville 
 (see ch. iv.). 
 
 107 k. La Haye Pesnel. Outside the town are the rude 
 remains of a castle, called Chateau Ganne, because one of 
 its lords (Foulques) took part with the English during the 
 regency of Queen Blanche. 2} k. S.W. are the remains 
 of the Abbey of Luzerne, founded xn. c. The ruins are 
 chiefly xiv. c. The granite church is late romanesque 
 and early pointed, with a noble central tower, having 
 three long pointed windows on each face. 
 
 120 k. Avranches (Hotels : d'Angleterre — very good; de 
 Londres ; de Bretagne). The station is at the foot of the 
 hill on which the town is built, being the highest steep in 
 Normandy. It has been an episcopal see from the vi. c. 
 At the time of the invasion of England it was the domain 
 of Richard Goy, who married Emma, half-sister of the 
 Conqueror, and whose son was Hugh Lupus, first Earl 
 Palatine of Chester. Lanfranc, then only knowm as a 
 learned professor from Pavia, founded a college here. 
 
A VRANCHES. 
 
 Avranches is one of the places in France most frequented 
 by English, but has few attractions beyond its good air and 
 the beautiful view from its gardens. The modern streets 
 have no interest. The remains of a xv. c. Eveche are used 
 for a Musee. The garden of a former Capuchin convent 
 is now one of the most beautiful small Public Gardens in 
 Europe. From its shady terraces one overlooks the whole 
 bay of Mont S. Michel, entrancing in the soft beauty of 
 its opaline colouring, with its glorious castellated rock, and 
 the lonely islet of Tombelaine. A Norman arch is all that 
 remains from the cathedral, which occupied perhaps the 
 finest position of any cathedral in Christendom, begun 
 1090, consecrated 1121, and which suddenly fell down, 
 subsiding into utter ruin, in 1790. A stone is inscribed: 
 ' Sur cette pierre, ici a la porte de la cathedrale d'Avranches, 
 apres le meurtre de Thomas Becket, Archeveque de Can- 
 torbery, Henri II., Roi d'Angleterre, Due de Normandie, 
 recut a genoux, des legats du pape, l'absolution apostolique, 
 le dimanche 22 Mai, MCLXXIL' 
 
 1 Le roi se rendit en ceremonie dans la grande eglise 
 d'Avranches, et posant la main sur l'Evangile, jura, devant 
 tout le peuple, qu'il n'avait ni ordonne ni voulu la mort de 
 l'Archeveque de Cantorbery, et que, l'ayant apprise, il en avait 
 ressenti plus de chagrin que de joie. On lui recita les articles 
 de la paix et les promesses qu'il avait faites, et il fit serment de 
 les executer toutes de bonne foi et sans ma I engin (absque 
 fraude et malo ingenio). Henri, son fils aine et son collegue 
 dans la royaute, le jura en meme temps que lui ; et, pour garantie 
 de cette double promesse, on en dressa une charte, au has 
 de laquelle fut oppose le sceau royal. Ce roi, qu'on avait vu 
 naguere si plein de fierte devant la puissance pontificate, en- 
 gageait les cardinaux a ne l'epargner en rien — Seigneurs legats, 
 leur disait-il, voici mon corps, il est en vos mains ; et sachez 
 pour sur que, quoi que vous ordonnez, je suis pret a obeir. Les 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 legats se contentirent de le faire agenouiller devant eux pour lui 
 dormer l'absolution, de sa complicity indirecte, l'exemptant de 
 l'obligation de recevoir sur son dos nu les coups de verges qu'on 
 administrait aux patients.' — Augustin Thierry. 
 
 15 k., on the road to Granville by the coast is S.-Jean-le- 
 Thomas } with a castle ruined by Philippe Auguste. Hence 
 came the St. Johns of Staunton St. John in Oxfordshire, whence 
 sprang the St. Johns of Bletsoe. 
 
 127 k. Pontaubault. 
 
 14 k. S.E. is S. James, on a promontory above the deep valley 
 ot the Beauvron. Only a fragment remains of the castle built 
 by William the Conqueror. The church is romanesque, with a 
 gothic transept. At 2 k. is the chapel of the ancient abbey of 
 6*. Benoit. The Chateau de la Paluelle is xvi. c. and xvn. c. 
 
 142 k. Pontorson (Hotel : de la Paste), at the mouth 
 of the Couesnon, which once separated Normandy and 
 Brittany. The interesting church has an early romanesque 
 nave; the rest is xm. c. transition. 
 
 1 The nave is without aisles, and vaulted in nearly square 
 compartments, with diagonal ribs ; the transverse arches are 
 pointed. The capitals and transoms of some of the doors (which 
 are round-headed) are enriched with grotesque sculpture. The 
 west front forms a sort of porch, with a large open archway; 
 in the real west wall of the nave is a round-headed door with 
 window above. The front is flanked with square turrets. The 
 central tower is massive, and appears to belong to a later style, 
 as does the church, which has aisles.' — J. L. Petit. 
 
 Nothing remains of the castle, which was defended by 
 Du Guesclin, and where his sister Julienne successfully 
 resisted a nocturnal attack of the English, who had bribed 
 her chambermaids ; the faithless women were sewn up in 
 sacks and thrown into the Couesnon. 
 
PONTORSON. 
 
 3ii 
 
 ' Aux portes de Pontorson est la terre du Glaquin ; or on 
 sait que le roi donna au vaillant connetable une terre aux portes 
 de cette ville, et parmi les nombreuses formes anciennes du 
 nom des connetables, Glaquin est une des plus constantes.' — Le 
 Hericher. 
 
 AT PONTORSON. 
 
 Tickets are taken at the station at Pontorson for places 
 in the many diligences and open vans which meet the 
 trains. Mont S. Michel, about 9 k. distant, is now reached 
 by a causeway across the bay, which possesses many 
 conveniences, though it is less picturesque than the old 
 approach across the sands, where Harold the Saxon bravely 
 saved Norman soldiers from drowning. 1 
 
 1 See Bayeux Tapestry, ' Hie Harold Dux trahebat eos de arena.' 
 
312 NORTH WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 As soon as the road emerges from the tamarisk-fringed 
 lanes of Moidrey, the magnificent rock is seen in full 
 splendour rising beyond the wet sands. Grey and misty 
 in morning light, purple and well defined against the clear 
 skies of evening, it is always sublime, and unparalleled of 
 all monasteries in the picturesqueness of its site. N. of 
 the Alps there is nothing in Europe to compare in interest 
 and beauty with Mont S. Michel— £ S. Michel en Peril de 
 Mer,' as Norman sailors call it. 
 
 'Le Couesnon — " qui, par sa folie, mit Saint-Michel en 
 Normandie," change frequemment de cours a maree basse : 
 apres avoir coule a Test du mont Saint-Michel, il s etait rejete 
 vers l'ouest et chaque grande maree en deplacait le lit. De 
 meme la Selune a frequemment erre sur la plage mobile ; parfois 
 elle rase la cote au nord de Tombelene, parfois elle va directement 
 au large. Ce n'est pas tout : les eaux des rivieres ne coulent 
 pas seulement a la surface, elles suintent aussi dans les pro- 
 fondeurs des sables, et souvent l'arene, reposant sur une nappe 
 d'eau mouvante, devient fluide elle-meme ; tout objet lourd s'y 
 engouffre aussitot. Si Ton en croit les traditions, un navire 
 echoue aux environs du mont, vers la fin du siecle dernier, se 
 serait tellement enfonce dans la greve, que tout aurait disparu 
 jusqu'a l'extremite des mats. 1 Que de fois des voyageurs egares 
 dans le brouillard ont par malheur pose le pied en dehors du 
 sol affermi et se sont "enlizes" soudain dans un sable sans 
 fond ! 2 Maintenant le Couesnon est enferme par des digues, 
 alternativement emergees et sous-marines, qui en conduisent les 
 eaux jusqu'a la base de la roche de Saint-Michel.' — Elisee 
 Re c his. 
 
 ' A une certaine heure tout est desert, morne, immobile dans 
 cette plaine aride ; mais attendez seulement quelques instants : 
 un murmure bruira dans l'espace, une ligne blanche fremira a 
 
 1 Andoin et Milne Edwards, Littoral de la France. 
 
 2 Travellers should read Les Re'prouves et les Elus of Emile Souvestre, 
 with its terribly vivid description of being overtaken by the tide on ' La Greve 
 de S. Michel.' 
 
MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 313 
 
 l'horizon, et ce murmure, c'est la voix de la mer ; cette ligne 
 blanche, c'est le flux qui arrive ; vous avez eu a peine le temps 
 de le reconnaitre, de le nommer, que la plage a disparu partout ; 
 le mont qui, tout a l'heure, dominait les greves, ne domine plus 
 que les vagues ; en quelques instants le continent est devenu 
 une ile.' — E?nile Souvestre. 
 
 The ancient name of Mont-S. -Michel, Mons Tumba, 
 indicates that it had been the receptacle of a venerated 
 tomb at an early age. At the beginning of the vm. c. 
 S. Michael appeared to S. Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, 
 and urged him to found a convent upon the Mont Tumba. 
 There he found the lines upon which the future abbey was 
 to be erected marked out by supernatural power, and a 
 miraculous spring gushed from the arid rocks to supply 
 water for his monks. The little abbey of Aubert, which 
 soon became a point of pilgrimage, was greatly enriched 
 and enlarged under the different Dukes of Normandy, 
 but especially by the Conqueror, after his invasion of 
 England. The collection of manuscripts formed there in 
 the xii. c. by the abbot Robert de Thorigny, also called 
 Robert du Mont, gave to the convent the name of La 
 Cite des Livres. One of its monks, Guillaume de S. Pair, 
 wrote the chronicle of the abbey in verse. In 1107 
 Henry II. founded a priory at Pontorson in dependence on 
 the abbey. But in 1203 Philippe-Auguste, at war with 
 John of England, caused Mont S. Michel to be besieged 
 by Gui de Thouars ; and as he could not take it he set it 
 on fire. The monastery was entirely destroyed, except its 
 outer walls, but was sumptuously restored afterwards by 
 Philippe-Auguste, by whom the tower of La Merveille and 
 the fortress of the Rocher de Tombelaine were also built. 
 In 1427 the Mount was fruitlessly besieged by the English. 
 
3t4 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 On August i, 1469, Louis XI. instituted the Order of 
 S. Michel, and held its first chapter at the Mount. The 
 numbers of the Order, limited at first to thirty-six knights, 
 was afterwards increased to a hundred. During the Revo- 
 lution the buildings of the abbey were preserved to be 
 used as a prison. Afterwards they were given up to the 
 Commission des Monuments Historiques. 
 
 MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 The Hotel Poulard Ai?ie is, considering its position, one of 
 the best and most comfortable hotels in France. It is frequented 
 by crowds of tourists in summer, but is always admirably 
 managed by its indefatigable hostess. There are two large 
 dependances, reached by rock staircases — La maison rouge and 
 La maisoii blanche, with unrivalled sea-air and their own 
 terraces above precipitous rocks radiant with pinks and valerian. 
 The upper floors are preferable for a long stay. The table d'hote 
 
MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 3i5 
 
 (excellent) is at the hotel on the lower level, though breakfast 
 may be taken in summer on the terrace or in the summer-houses 
 above. The walls of the dining-room and staircase are covered 
 with an admirable collection of sketches — many from the hands 
 of very celebrated artists — presented to Mme Poulard. It is 
 difficult to persuade your landlady to make a bill : she asks, 
 1 What have you had ?' The other hotels on the rock are only 
 suited for pilgrims. 
 
 The little town of Mont S. Michel is girdled towards 
 the sea by walls, interspersed with towers, chiefly xv. c. 
 It may best be examined from the sands, which are quite 
 safe at low water. On the N.E. is the great wall of La 
 Merveille, built in the xm. c. by Abbot Jourdain, with 
 the picturesque Tourelle des Corbins or du Refectoire at its 
 E. angle. Continuing to make the circuit of the fortifica- 
 tions from hence, we find, at the base of the turret, the 
 Fontaine de S. Aubert, said to have sprung forth at a blow 
 of the staff of the saint. A staircase leads hence to the 
 Chatelet de la Fontaine, a beautiful gate flanked by two 
 towers, opposite which on the inside is a fine xiv. c. arch 
 of La Chartrier. Under the bare rocks on the W., which 
 support the hotellerie and infirmerie to the 1. of the 
 present approach, is the xvi. c. Tour Gabrielle, which 
 formerly supported a windmill, ' the Abbot's Mill/ On 
 the S. side is the xiv. c. Tour des Fanils, overlooked by 
 the Fanils, or provision warehouses. Then comes the 
 Tour d* Echauguette, sustaining an angle of the garden 
 terrace, then the xv. c. bastion, called La Barbacane, which 
 defended the entrance to the town. 
 
 The tiny town is entered by three gates. The first, 
 Porte de Bavolle, leads into the Cour de Lion, so called from 
 the lion on the wall on the 1. Then the Porte des Michelettes 
 
3i6 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 (with its original iron portcullis), so called from some cannon 
 left by the English after an ineffectual bombardment in 
 1429, leads to the court called Le Boulevard (containing the 
 hotel), whence the Porte de la Ville (xv. a), with an inner 
 tower called Tour du Guet, and preserving its portcullis 
 and the arms of the town (salmon on waves), opens upon 
 the single street. Just inside the last gate is a remarkably 
 picturesque xvi. c. house, often painted, resting on pillars. 
 
 This and many other houses served as hostelleries for pil- 
 grims. Several of them open from an upper story on the 
 terrace of the town wall, where there are many picturesque 
 bits. The street twists round the hill, by the primitive 
 post-office, and then ascends to the abbey by a staircase 
 — Le Grand Degre — divided into different landings. A 
 romanesque gateway, in a garden, is a monument of a 
 house built 1366 by Du Guesclin for his wife Tiphaine 
 Raguenel. 
 
 MONT S. MICHEL, FROM THE SANDS. 
 
MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 317 
 
 The ascent — a very easy one — from the dependances 
 of the hotel, passes a little Musk, containing a number of 
 pictures, arms, and other relics connected with the history 
 of the Mount. Following the terrace of the hill and 
 ascending stairs on the 1. we reach the little courtyard 
 which encloses Le Chatelet, the ancient gate of the keep 
 of 1393, flanked by two tall towers which have preserved 
 their battlements and machicolations. 
 
 The Abbaye-Chateau is open to strangers from $ a.m. to 
 6 p.?n. 
 
 The long staircase of the Chatelet leads to the Salle des 
 Gardes, a vast and picturesque vaulted chamber, which 
 forms the vestibule of the building, and where the guides 
 are found. The little door in the corner is the entrance 
 to the porter's lodge. The great door on the right leads 
 to La Merveille, and opens on a sunlit court surrounded 
 by high weather-stained buildings, which is a very favourite 
 subject with artists. The buildings on this side of the rock 
 are of great magnificence. 
 
 1 Les grands batiments qui donnent sur la pleine mer, du cot6 
 nord, peuvent passer pour le plus bel exemple que nous posse- 
 dions de l'architecture religieuse et militaire du moyen age; aussi 
 les a-t-on nominee de tout temps la Me?veille! — Viollet le Due. 
 
 By the door in the 1. of the Salle des Gardes we enter 
 upon a great staircase, constructed by the thirty-sixth abbot, 
 Guillaume des Lamps, and flanked on the 1. by the stately 
 buildings of the Logis Abbatial, begun in 1250 by Richard 
 Tustin, and finished under Pierre Leroy in xiv. c, the 
 architectural change being very visible on the wall. Below 
 the abbatial buildings was the Chapelle S. Catherine (now 
 destroyed), built in 1380 by Abbot Geoffroy de Servon, 
 
3i8 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 The building marked by a stair turret was the abbot's 
 prison. Its lower dungeons, of which the most terrible was 
 La Trafipe, has given it the name of Le Grand' Exil^ and 
 to the next building that of Le Petit ExiL Both the Exils 
 
 LE CHATELET, MONT S. MICHEL. " 
 
 were built by the Abbot Le Vitrier in 1350. A fortified 
 bridge, crenellated and machicolated, which crosses the 
 stairs, formed the approach for the abbots to the lower 
 church. 
 
 We now reach the terrace in front of the church. On 
 
MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 319 
 
 the 1. is the platform of the Saut- Gaul tier, raised on three 
 xiii. c. arches. It takes its name from a man who threw 
 himself over the precipice from hence. 
 
 ' Les auteurs expliquent difteremment le nom donne a cette 
 esplanade. L'un dit que, dans les premieres annees du xvi me 
 siecle, Guillaume de Lamps "fit faire le Saut-Gaultier, ainsi 
 nomme parceque tel fut le bon plaisir de cet abbe." D'autres 
 racontent que cette plate-forme doit son nom au sculpteur 
 Gaultier, prisonnier au Mont S. Michel sous Francois I. Mais, 
 en realite, il est beaucoup plus ancien, puisque, au xm me siecle, 
 un predicateur s ecriait, en chaire, assure d'etre compris de ses 
 auditeurs : " Vous etes semblables a un certain Gaultier, qui, 
 pour montrer a son amante combien il l'aimait, se precipita dans 
 la mer du haut d'un rocher, — d'ou le lieu du haut duquel il se 
 precipita est encore nomme par les Normands, chez lesquels il 
 se trouve — le Saut de Gaultier." ' ' La Chaire francaise ati xin me 
 siecle ', ' par Leroy de la Marche. 
 
 It was from this terrace that Barbes tried to escape 
 when imprisoned here during the Revolution, and fell on 
 the rocks, because his cord, made from sheets, was too 
 short by half. 
 
 Opposite the Saut-Gaultier is the S.W. entrance to the 
 church (xiii. a), with a relief above it of the appearance 
 of the archangel to S. Aubert. The grand church itself 
 was only finished c. 11 13, under the thirteenth abbot, 
 Bernand du Bee, but is almost entirely xi. c. 
 
 The nave had formerly seven bays, of which three were 
 burnt in 1776. The present bastard classical W. front is 
 of that date, but is redeemed from ugliness by the golden 
 lichen which has clothed it. It is, however, intended to 
 rebuild it in the style of the xi. c, and to add again the 
 lost bays of the nave. From the platform, called Beauregarde 
 or Mirande, in front of the church, there is a grand view 
 
320 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 seawards, with the windings of the Couesnon through the 
 bay. 
 
 The interior of the church has been restored. The 
 beautiful granite arches of the choir — a splendid specimen 
 of renaissance gothic — occupy the place of the romanesque 
 choir which fell down in 142 1. Some curious reliefs from 
 the earlier church represent Adam and Eve, the Descent 
 into Hades, and the Four Evangelists. It is quite worth 
 while to ascend to the roof, as well for the interest of 
 the view as for the beauty of the flying buttresses, in one 
 of which an escalier de dentelle formerly led to the central 
 tower, now destroyed, which was surmounted by a slender 
 spire crowned by a gilt statue of S. Michael. Another 
 statue of the archangel in the church, which had a solemn 
 coronation July 3, 1877, has been removed to the parish 
 church. 
 
 By a renaissance door in the N. aisle of the choir we 
 reach the Cloister, built 1225-36 by the twenty-first abbot, 
 Raoul de Villedieu. It has no less than 220 tiny columns 
 of rose-granite, of which 100 decorate the side- walls. 
 Between the arches, which are in double lines, are an 
 endless variety of exquisitely sculptured rosaces. The 
 roof is of timber. At the S.W. corner is the lavatarium, 
 arranged for the monks to wash both their hands and 
 feet. 
 
 ' Les profits et l'ornementation des arcatures rappelent la 
 veritable architecture normande du xm me siecle. Les chapiteaux, 
 suivant le methode anglo-normande, sont simplement tournes, 
 sans feuillages ni crochets autour de la corbeille. Seuls, les 
 chapiteaux de l'arcature adosses a la muraille sont decores de 
 crochets batards. Les ecoincons entre les archivoltes de l'interieur 
 des galeries presentent de belles rosaces sculptees en creux, des 
 
MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 321 
 
 figures, l'agneau surmonte d'un dais, puis au-dessus des arcs une 
 frise d'enroulements ou de petites rosaces d'un beau travail. Entre 
 les naissances des arcs diagonaux des petites voutes sont sculpted 
 des crochets. Ce cloitre etait completement peint, du moins a 
 l'interieur et entre les deux rangs de colonnettes.' — Viollet 
 le Due. 
 
 At the N.W. angle of the cloister was the Chartier. On 
 the E. is the entrance to the Dormitory, a vast hall built 
 by Robert des Chambres, 1225. It has a timber roof, and 
 a pulpit for morning and evening prayer. 
 
 A more ancient cloister with a double gallery, dating 
 rom 1 106 to 1 1 23, called Le Promenoir, served for the walks 
 of the monks. Hence a long gallery led to a terrible iron 
 cage in the thickness of the wall. 
 
 The Crypte de VAquilon is perhaps the most picturesque 
 point of the whole building, and has been the oftenest 
 painted. It is situated beneath the Promenoir, and is of 
 the same date. The terrible Ln Pace, reached from hence, 
 served as the prison of Barbes. Les Oubliettes are two 
 fearful prisons. The vaults near this — Le Charnier — were 
 used as the monks' cemetery. There is a mortuary chapel 
 of xiii. c, dedicated to S. Etienne. Close by is the Chapelle 
 de Notre Dame des Trente Cierges, so called from the thirty 
 candles which always burnt there before an image of the 
 Virgin. Since 18 17 this chapel has been occupied by a 
 huge wheel, by which the prisoners, working six at a time, 
 mounted their provisions. 
 
 Passing through the gallery of the Salle des Chevaliers, 
 we reach the Crypte des Gros Piliers, a magnificent, massive 
 subterranean church of xv. c, beneath the choir. Here are 
 nineteen enormous columns, which sustain the apse of the 
 church. Five encircling chapels are hewn out of the rock, 
 
 21 
 
322 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 the whole having been executed under Abbot Andr£ de 
 Laure, 142 1. 
 
 The Refectory, dating from the first years of xm. a, 
 occupies the central floor in the great tower of La Merveille, 
 beneath the dormitory and above the almonry. Like them, 
 it has two naves, divided by tall columns with an octagonal 
 base and capital richly adorned with foliage. It is due to 
 Roger II., the eleventh abbot. This room served also as 
 a kitchen till the xv. c, and was divided by a partition-wall, 
 of which traces remain. The magnificent hall, known as 
 the Salle des Chevaliers, was the Chapter- House, where all 
 the different priors of Mont S. Michel, scattered over 
 France and England, met annually in council on the 18th 
 of June, the fete of S. Aubert. In 1469 they gave up the 
 hall to the knights, who, in their turn, held their conferences 
 there. It is a superb gothic hall of 1215-20, divided into 
 four aisles by three ranges of circular monolith pillars, with 
 richly sculptured capitals. In the time of the knights it 
 was used as a museum. 
 
 1 On dirait que toute la pompe feodale de la vieille France 
 s'est refugiee dans cette belle galerie du Mont S. Michel. 
 On y voit les trophees heraldiques de tous les chevaliers de 
 l'ordre du roi, depuis sa creation jusqu'a restitution de celui du 
 S. Esprit, par Henri III. Les casques, les scimiers des chevaliers 
 sont places sur la sommite de leurs stalles, dont ils forment 
 le coronnement, et tout cela produit de chaque cote de la galerie 
 une longue file de bannieres, d'ecus blasonnes, de casques, voiles, 
 de casques flottants, cimiers et lambrequins decoupes de dorures 
 et de toutes couleurs, et qui produisent un effet tres noble et 
 tres pittoresque.' — Marquise de Crequi, 1 Memoires! 
 
 The architecture here remains in its pristine perfection, 
 utterly unimpaired by time or restoration. From a little 
 
MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 323 
 
 gallery there is a lovely view towards the islet of Tom- 
 belaine. 
 
 Descending to the lower floor of La Merveille, we find 
 Les Celliers, or Le Magazin General, which was an im- 
 mense store-room. These vaulted halls are also called Les 
 Montgommeries, from a fruitless attack of the Calvinists in 
 159 1, under their leader Montgomery, of which a monk, 
 who was an eye-witness, has left a curious account : — 
 
 ' Le pecheur tombe presque toujours de mal en pire. . . . 
 Cela est si commun qu'il n'est besoing d'en apporter autre preuve 
 que celle qui suit d'un meschant et abominable criminel appele 
 Goupigny, qui pour ses forfaits execrables devoit estre condamne 
 a mort en la ville de Caen, ou il estoit prisonnier, mais par 
 je ne scay quelle nouvelle invention trouva moyen de se 
 sauver, et pour estre en plus grande seurete se retira en ce 
 chateau avec Monsieur de Beausuzay, qui en estoit lors gouver- 
 neur, se reputant heureux de trouver refuge pour sauver sa 
 miserable vie : mais a peine eut-il passe quelques mois que, 
 oublieux de la mort qu'il avoit evitee commence a tramer de plus 
 grandes meschancetez, trahissant la place qui naguerre l'avoit 
 sauve du gibet, et pour cest effait complota avec Monsieur de 
 Sourdeval, heretique, moyennant quelque somme d'argent, de lui 
 livrer la place, luy donnant le jour et l'heure pour executer ceste 
 horrible trahison en la maniere qui suit. Cest que le dit Goupigny 
 devoit monter le dit Sourdeval et ses gens, du coste des grandes 
 salles, par le moyen d'une grande roue et cordages qui servoient 
 d'ordinaire pour monter les grosses provisions du monastere. Mais 
 Dieu ne permit point que la chose en allat ainsy ; car le traistre 
 ayant tire l'argent du sieur Sourdeval descouvrit lui mesme a 
 Monsieur de Beausuzay et a toute la garnison du chateau ce 
 qui se passoit, pour faire le bon valet, car c'est ainsy que se 
 gouvernent les gens sans ame, tournant a droit et a gauche. 
 
 ' Cependant voicy le jour assigne venu. Les sieurs de Sour- 
 deval et de Montgomery avec plus de deux cents hommes 
 paroissent a l'heure prefixe, un jour de Saint-Michel, en 
 Septembre, sur les huict heures du soir, Tan 1 591 , en intention 
 de mettre tout au feu et au sang. Monsieur de Beausuzay d'autre 
 
3 2 4 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 coste donne ordre que le traistre de Goupigny se trouvat a la 
 dite roue d'ou il leur crioit qu'il n'y avoit que craindre, qu'ils 
 montassent au plus viste. Vous eussiez veu aussy tost les 
 ennemis s'accrocher a la corde deux ou trois a la fois a l'envie 
 Tun de Fautre, et celuy-ci les tiroit en haut, leur faisant grand 
 accueil, puis soudain les menoit dans le corps de garde ou le 
 gouverneur les faisait poignarder. Et cependant le dit Goupigny 
 continuoit d'en monter d'autres ; puis apres d'autres, jusqu'au 
 nombre de 78, lesquels a mesme temps les soldats du chateau 
 lardoient de coups d'espees amoncelens les corps les uns sur les 
 autres (choseliorrible a dire) comme on fait des buches de bois et 
 fagots dans le bucher, pensans attirer les dits sieurs de Sour- 
 deval et Montgomery pour les arranger aussy avec les autres en 
 lieu plus eminent. 
 
 ' Mais voyla qu'ils commencerent a se deffier, voyans que 
 pas un de leurs gens ne leur parloit, ce qui fut cause qu'ils 
 demanderent au dit Goupigny qu'il eut a jetter en bas du 
 rocher un des religieux pour signe que ses gens estoient maistres 
 de la place, et aussy tost le gouverneur fit revestir un des corps 
 morts des habits d'un religieux qu'ils jetterent ainsy du haut en 
 bas ; pour lors le dit Sourdeval s'escria d'aise : AII071S, Mont- 
 gomery, dest a bon ; regarde comme les moynes volent, et soudain 
 s'approcherent pour monter comme les autres ; mais le comte de 
 Montgomery, plus sage et prudent, luy persuada de ne point 
 monter qu'un nomme Rablotiere, Tun de leur plus affide, ne leur 
 parlast. On fit venir celuy-cy, qu'expres on n'avoit fait encore 
 mourir, et Monsieur de Beausuzay, gouverneur, luy promit de lui 
 donner la vie, s'il vouloit crier a Monsieur de Sourdeval, son 
 maistre, qu'il montast en assurance et qu'il n'y avoit rien a 
 craindre ; mais il fut si fidelle a son maistre, qu'il n'en voulut 
 rien faire, ainsi desguisant sa voix, lui fit entendre la trahison. 
 Cet acte si fidelle penetra le coeur du gouverneur, qui lui 
 donna la vie, et les dit sieurs de Sourdeval et Montgomery, 
 avec ce qui leur restoit de gens, s'en retournerent plus vistes 
 que le pas.' 
 
 To the E. of Les Celliers, beneath the Salle des Cheva- 
 liers, is the Aumonerie, occupying the rest of the lower 
 story of La Merveille, divided by a single row of massive 
 
MONT S. MICHEL. 
 
 325 
 
 pillars. Beneath the chimney is one of the many secret 
 passages provided for escape in case of a successful siege. 
 
 Hardy pedestrians, who do not mind occasional wading, 
 will certainly cross the sands to the desolate granite island 
 of Tombelaine, which abounds in rare wild flowers. There 
 are some remains of ancient fortifications. It was here that 
 the traitor Goupigny was killed soon after his treachery. 
 The island is now uninhabited ; but the hermit-fisherman, 
 commonly known as ' Le Marquis de Tombelaine,' lived 
 here till April 3, 1892, when, as he was crossing the sands, 
 he was drowned by a sudden incursion of the tide. The 
 family of Tombelaine, going over to England at the 
 Conquest, have left their name to Tombland at Norwich. 
 
 Beneath the western precipices of the Mount itself is 
 the picturesque Chapelle S. Aubert, perched on a rock. 
 Formerly, it is said, this rock formed the summit of the 
 Mount, but it became detached and fell to its present site 
 in answer to the prayers of S. Aubert that his workmen 
 might have a level site to build their church upon. 
 
 The railway, leaving Pontorson, reaches — 
 
 155 k. La Boussac. 
 
 3 k. S. is the very picturesque ruined Chateau de La?idal } ot 
 xv. c, and, near it, the Chapelle de Broicalan, founded in 1483 
 by a Dame de Landal, in fulfilment of a vow for the safe return 
 of her husband from Palestine. The local tradition says that 
 two oxen unattended drew all the materials of the work, and that 
 a single cow nourished the workmen with her milk. 
 
 ' L'edifice, bati en grand appareil et en beau granit du pays, 
 se compose d'une abside a pans, decoree de pinnacles fleuris, 
 et d'une nef divisee en deux parties par line large arcade qui 
 porte un fronton couronne d'un charmant campanile a trois baies, 
 orne de colonnettes et d'aiguilles fleuronnes. Une petite tonrelle 
 octagone contenant un escalier, applique exterieurement au plan 
 
326 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 meridional de la nef, donnait acces au campanile. La partie 
 orientale de la nef, qui comprend la choeur, est d'un style plus 
 pur et plus soigne que l'autre, dont les details accusent le xvi e . 
 Les autels, au nombre de trois, avec leurs contre-retables deli- 
 catement sculptes, sont tous en granit et du meme temps que 
 la chapelle. Une crypte assez profonde existe sous le maitre- 
 autel adosse au chevet.' — ' Bretagne contemporaine.' 
 
 163k. Vol 1 (Hotel: de la Grand Maison — tolerable) 
 is a dull little town, though the houses have a quaint 
 character, many of them having porticoes through the lower 
 story, and supported by pillars with carved capitals. The 
 town arose in the vn. c. around a little monastery founded 
 by Samson, a British monk. Nominoe, chosen king of the 
 Bretons in 845, raised Dol to the rank of an episcopal city, 
 but the bishopric was suppressed in 1790. 
 
 The former Cathedral of S. Samson, now the parish 
 church, being built of granite, is untouched by time, and 
 is remarkable for its vigour of design. It stands alone on 
 the outskirts of the town, and was executed almost entirely 
 on one plan, and, as it appears, by the same workmen. It 
 is happily unrestored, and has the rare charm of bearing 
 completely the stamp of its period (xm. c.) ; for, except 
 the fagade and side portals, all is of the earliest gothic. 
 In the interior, the pillars are very remarkable — a central 
 column, with four smaller surrounding ones, entirely de- 
 tached. The choir, of five bays, was finished before 1324, 
 when Bishop Jean de Bosc was buried there. The great 
 window of the chevet has splendid xm. c. glass. The 
 rectangular form of the choir, the apsidal chapel (of 
 S. Samson), and many points of internal decoration, recall 
 English cathedrals, especially Salisbury. The S. portal was 
 
 1 Originally Dolomhoh— the hill bv the river. 
 
DOL 
 
 327 
 
 added by Bishop Etienne Coeuret (1405-29). In the N. 
 transept is the renaissance tomb of Bishop Thomas James, 
 1503. It bears the signature of Jean Florentinus, a pupil of 
 Michel Colomb, employed on the tomb of Louis XII. at 
 S. Denis. The huge holy water basins look as if they were 
 intended for baptism by immersion. Few places have more 
 local saints than Dol. They include S. Samson (bishop 565), 
 S. Magloire (586), S. Budoc (vn. a), S. Senior (who ordained 
 
 STREET IN DOL. 
 
 S. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland), SS. Jumael, Leucher, 
 Thurian (749), Geneve, Ugnac, and Gilduin the deacon. 1 
 
 The plain called Marais de Dol is protected from the 
 inundations of the sea by a dyke 36 k. long. It is over- 
 looked on the N. by the hill called Mont Dot, with a 
 church partly transition, partly xv. c, and a fountain, 
 which is supposed to bear the footprint of the archangel 
 Michael. It was once an island, like Mont S. Michel or 
 
 1 Consult Les Vies des Saints de Bretagne, by the Abbe Trevaux. 
 
328 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Tombelaine, but fifteen thousand hectares of the surround- 
 ing marshes have been reclaimed by a series of dykes 
 begun in the XL c. The number of fossil bones of 
 elephants, stags, etc., deposited here by the sea, make the 
 place very interesting to geologists. 
 
 A PEASANT OF DOL 
 
 A little S. of Dol, near the church of Carfantain, with 
 a xiii. c. spire, is the menhir called La Pierre du Champ- 
 JDolent, ten metres high, and surmounted by a calvary. 
 Whether the name commemorates human sacrifice, or only 
 a place of sepulture, is unknown. Owing to the cross 
 which surmounts it, it has preserved a sacred character. 
 
S. MALO. 
 
 329 
 
 [A line runs N.W. from Dol to (23 k. ) 6*. Malo (Hotels : de 
 lUnivers; Franklin; Continental; de France), a seaport and 
 bathing-place picturesquely situated on a granite peninsula near 
 the mouth of the Ranee. Chateaubriand describes it — 
 
 1 S. Malo is a single rock. Formerly its huge mass rose from 
 the midst of a salt marsh, but it became an island through an 
 incursion of the sea in 1709. . . . Now the rock of S. Malo is 
 only united to the mainland by a causeway, poetically called 
 the furrow, or sillon. The sillon is lashed on one side by the 
 open sea and on the other is washed by the tide, which beats 
 round it on entering the harbour. A tempest almost entirely 
 destroyed it in 1730. At the ebb of the tide the harbour is left 
 dry, and on the east and north shores of the sea is covered with 
 the finest sand. One can then make the circuit of my paternal 
 nest on foot. Close in shore, and in the offing, are scattered 
 rocks, forts, and inhabited islands — Fort Royal, La Conchee, 
 Cezembre, and the Grande Be, where my tomb is to be. I chose 
 it well, though ignorantly, for Be, in Breton, means a tomb. 
 
 ' At the extremity of the sillon, where a cross is erected, there 
 is a mound of sand on the edge of the open sea. This mound 
 is called La Hoguette, and is crowned with an old gibbet. The 
 posts of this gibbet served us for playing at four corners, and 
 we disputed the possession of them with the sea-birds. It was 
 not, however, without something of fear that we lingered near 
 this place. 
 
 1 There also stretch the Miels, or downs, where sheep graze ; 
 to the right are the meadows at the foot of Parame, the high road 
 to S. Servan, the new cemetery, a calvary, and several windmills, 
 supported on posts, like those which are raised over the tomb 01 
 Achilles at the entrance of the Hellespont.' 
 
 The town originated in a monastery founded in the vi. c. 
 by the monk Aaron, who was succeeded as abbot by S. Malo, 
 first bishop of Aleth (S. Servan), whence the episcopal see was 
 transferred to S. Malo in 1 144. The town is celebrated for the 
 constant success with which it has courageously resisted differ- 
 ent sieges by the English, and for the great injuries it has at 
 divers times inflicted upon the fleets and armies of England. 
 
 ' Bretons et insulaires, les Malouins se sont fait une histoire 
 tout a fait distincte de celle du reste de la France. De 1390 a 
 
33o 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 1594, ils avaient meme reussi a se constituer en republique inde- 
 pendante. Plus tard, ils s'adonnent avec une etonnante energie 
 au commerce pendant la paix, a la piraterie pendant la guerre. 
 Avec Cartier ils decouvrent le Canada : avec Poree ils abordent 
 aux Malouines, aujourd'hui plus connues sous le nom d'iles 
 Falkland ; avec Duguay-Trouin ils s'emparent de Rio-de-Janeiro ; 
 ils visitent un si grand nombre de terres lointaines, que de nos 
 jours encore le nom de maloon, Malouines, est usite par les 
 Anglais et les Americains pour designer une ile perdue dans 
 l'Ocean. Ils devinnent si redoutables pour l'Angleterre que 
 celle-ci envoie successivement quatre expeditions contre eux 
 sans reussir a bruler leur ville ; ils accumulent tant le tresors 
 qu'ils pretent 30 millions a Louis XIV. Entre tous les Francais 
 ils se distinguent par la force, la tenacite, souvent par l'orgueil. 
 Les deux Malouins les plus illustres du siecle, Lamennais et 
 Chateaubriand, peuvent etre pris comme de vrais representants 
 le leurs compatriotes. La Bourdonnais, Maupertuis, Broussais 
 etaient aussi les enfants de S. Malo.' — Elisee Reclns. 
 
 The (former) Cathedrae, almost in the centre of the town, 
 replaced in xn. c. the church of S. Vincent, founded by Bishop 
 Helocar in the ix. c. You descend a flight of steps into the 
 dark interior. The central nave, with two domical bays, is of 
 XII. c. ; the rest of the nave and transept renaissance. The 
 facade was rebuilt in 17 13, and the Chapelle du S. Sacrament 
 added 17 18; the delicate crocketed spire (on the xv. c. tower) 
 in 1859. The graceful choir, with a flat E. end, is attributed to 
 Bishop Rouxelot de Limoelan, 13 10. The tomb of Bishop 
 Josselin de Rohan is of 1388; that of Bishop Hochet 'par les 
 Malouins reconnaissantes,' of 1878. Amongst the numerous 
 local saints were S. Malo (627), S. Maelmon (638), and S. Gurval 
 (640), bishops of Aleth ; also S. Lunaire, S. Colaphin, S. Armael, 
 S. Enogat, S. Geifroi, and S.Jean de la Grille, bishops of S. Malo. 
 The town retains its ramparts ; many houses are XVI. c. 
 
 On outlying rocks, covered with yellow seaweed, is the pictu- 
 resque Chateau, chiefly of the time of Francois II., except the 
 donjon. One of the two entrance towers is called Quiquengrogne, 
 because the imperious Queen Anne, who had had some disputes 
 with the bishop, caused to be engraved upon it, ' Qui quen grogne, 
 ainsi sera, e'est mon bon plaisir' A peninsula at low water, 
 
5. SERVAN, DIN ARB. 
 
 331 
 
 an island at high tide, is the Grand Be, a delightful spot, un- 
 inhabited, and covered with wild flowers. Here, in the most 
 romantic situation, facing the open sea, a low granite cross 
 marks the grave of Chateaubriand, solitary in death, as he 
 affected to be in life. He wrote : — 
 
 ' I shall repose on the shore of that sea which I have loved so 
 well. If I die out of France, I request that my body may not 
 be brought back to my native country until fifty years have 
 elapsed from its first inhumation. . . . The idea of a corpse 
 travelling post fills me with horror, but dry and mouldering 
 bones are easily transported. They will feel less fatigue on 
 that last journey, than when I dragged them hither and thither, 
 burdened with the load of my cares and sufferings.' 
 
 Chateaubriand was born in the house which is now the Hotel 
 de France. 
 
 ' The house which my parents occupied was situated in a 
 dark and narrow street of S. Malo, called the Jews' Street. This 
 house is at the present day converted into an inn. The apart- 
 ment in which my mother was confined looks upon a deserted 
 portion of the town walls, and through a window of this chamber 
 can be seen the sea, which spreads away, breaking upon a rocky 
 coast, till it is lost to view. ... I was almost dead when I came 
 into the world. The roar of the waves, lashed by a storm, pre- 
 cursor of the autumnal equinox, prevented my cries being heard.' 
 
 From the Grand-Quai omnibuses (20 c.) start every hour 
 to make the round of the port to — 
 
 ►S. Servan (Hotels : de V Union; du Pelican), a modern town, 
 occupying the site of the ancient Aleth. At the entrance of the 
 glacis of the fort is the ruined cathedral of ►S. Pierre d'Aleth 
 chiefly romanesque. The parish church only dates from 1742 
 The grand and massive Tour du Solidor, at the mouth of the 
 Ranee, was built by Duke Jean IV. at the end of the xiv. c. 
 
 A steamer leaves the outer port of S. Malo every hour except 
 12 o'clock, and crosses the bay in 10 min. to Dinard (Hotels: 
 Grand; des Bains; du Casino; de la Plage), a favourite 
 bathing-place, much frequented by English. It is a bright little 
 town, with terraces above the bay. In fine weather the colour 
 of the sea is glorious, and contrasts vividly with the golden 
 seaweed with which the rocks are covered. A priory, founded 
 
332 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 1334, is now the house of the English consul. 4 k. S. is the 
 church of 5*. Lunaire (xv. c. and xvi. c), which contains the 
 xiil. c. tomb of S. Lunaire. 
 
 4 k. N. of S. Malo is Parame (omnibus every half-hour, 35 c. 
 Hotels: Grand; de la Plage; des Bains), a pleasant bathing- 
 place ; and farther in the same direction (14 k.) Cancale (Hotels : 
 de r Europe ; du Centre), famous for its oyster beds. 
 
 [A line runs S. from Dol to (58 k.) Rennes by — 
 
 CHATEAU DE COMBOURG. 
 
 16 k. Combourg. The castle, chiefly xiv. c. and xv. c, has 
 a donjon built by Gingoneus, Bishop of Dol, in 1016. After the 
 death of his brother, who perished upon the scaffold in the 
 Revolution, the seigneurie came to the author Francois-Rene de 
 Chateaubriant, whose great-nephew is still its owner. 
 
 'Si mes ouvrages me survivent, si je dois laisser un nom, 
 peut-etre un jour, guide par ces memoires, quelque voyageur 
 viendra visiter les lieux que j'ai peinte. II pourra reconnaitre le 
 chateau, mais il cherchera vainement le grand mail ou le grand 
 bois ; le berceau de mes songes a disparu comme ces songes. 
 
DINAN. 
 
 333 
 
 Demeure seul debout sur son rocher, l'antique donjon pleure 
 les chenes qui l'environnaient et le protegeaient contre la tempete. 
 Isole comme lui, j'ai vu comme lui tomber autour de moi la 
 famille qui embellissait mes jours et me pretait son abri ; 
 heureusement ma vie n'est pas batie sur la terre aussi solidement 
 que les tours ou j'ai passe ma jeunesse, et l'liomme resiste moins 
 aux orages que les monuments eleves par ses mains.' — Memoires 
 d' outre tombe. 
 
 35 k. Betto?i. 7 k. N.E., at £*. Sidpice, are ruins of an abbey 
 founded in 11 15 by Raoul de la Fustaie, disciple of Robert 
 d'Arbrissel. Most of the remains are xn. c.] 
 
 191k. Dinan (Hotels : d'Angleterre — very good, clean 
 and reasonable — much the best • de la Bretagne). This 
 will be found a pleasant halting-place for a few days. 
 The hotels are outside the town, which occupies a pro- 
 montory above the Ranee, and has its origin in a castle 
 built by the Vicomte Hamon in the x. c. Here the Saxon 
 Harold, whilst aiding him in the siege of the place, was 
 knighted by Duke William (the Conqueror). The town 
 and its environs have many English residents. Pleasant 
 avenues of elms, with a view into the rich surrounding 
 gorges, skirt the ramparts, which have some remains 
 of the fifty-six towers which once adorned them. In 
 the heart of the town many fine old timber houses 
 remain, with broad porticoes overhanging the footways, 
 and giving shelter to the numerous wares of street-vendors. 
 The large church of S. Malo is chiefly of xn. c. In a fine 
 situation farther on is the very stately church of S. Sauveur, 
 with a portal and the lower part of the W. front of xn. c. 
 The rest is of different dates from xn. c. to xviii. c. The 
 very handsome interior has much good glass, and many 
 admirable gothic and renaissance tabernacles and orna- 
 
334 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 ments. In the N. transept is the black marble tomb of 
 the heart of Du Guesclin, 1380. He was originally buried 
 at Le Puy, but removed to S. Denis, where his body 
 ' rests among the kings/ but he bequeathed his heart to the 
 
 TOUR DE L'HORLOGE, 7 DINAN. 
 
 Dominican church of Dinan, where his first wife, Tiphaine 
 Raguenel, was buried. Behind the church is a pleasa'nt 
 Public Garden, looking down on the Ranee. Below this, 
 one of the oldest streets in the town leads down the hill to 
 
DINAN. 
 
 335 
 
 the Porte de JerzueL Several other gates remain. At the 
 end of the W. wall, separated from the town by a moat, 
 is the Chateau, now a prison. There is a miserable statue 
 of Du Guesclin in a neighbouring square. The picturesque 
 Tour de FHorloge has a clock given by Queen Anne in 
 
 *5°7- 
 
 CHATEAU DE LA GARAYE. 
 
 There is a great charm in the walks round Dinan — the 
 wooded country, deep glens, bright rivers, and variety of old 
 buildings. In the hollow beyond the Porte S. Louis is (i k.) 
 Lehon, where a wooded mound is crowned by the ruins of a 
 castle besieged and taken by Henry II. of England. The forti- 
 fications enclose a modern chapel of S. Joseph Consolateur. 
 The picturesque old parish Church has a quaint tower and a 
 
336 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 romanesque nave and portal. On its S. side is a chapel con- 
 taining tombs of the Seigneurs of Beaumanoir, including the 
 hero who commanded at the romantic ' Combat de Trente.' 1 
 Four of the statues are of knights, the fifth of a prior of Lehon. 
 Just below are the picturesque xin. c. and xiv. c. remains of 
 the Priory of S. Magloire, founded by Nominoe c. 850. The 
 beautiful priory church — gothic, with a Norman front — was 
 restored in 1894; on the N. is a simple renaissance cloister. 
 The gateway of the Priory is passed on the left below the church. 
 A lofty ancient Bridge crosses the Ranee. The view looking 
 back up the village street is well worth painting. 
 
 [3 k. N.E. (beyond the railway), approached by an avenue ot 
 trees on the r. of the road to S. Malo, are the xv. c. ruins of the 
 Chateau de la Garaye, which has become celebrated from the 
 touching story of its last proprietors, the Comte Claude-Marot 
 and his wife, nee de la Motte-Picquet, as told by Mrs. Norton in 
 ' The Lady of La Garaye ' : — 
 
 ' Oh ! loved and reverenced long that name shall be, 
 Though, crumbled on the soil of Brittany, 
 No stone, at last, of that pale ruin shows 
 Where stood the gateway of his joys and woes. 
 For, in the Breton town, the good deeds done 
 Yield a fresh harvest still, from sire to son : 
 Still thrives the noble hospital that gave 
 Shelter to those whom none from pain could save. 
 Still to the schools the ancient chiming clock 
 Calls the poor yeanlings of a simple flock ; 
 Still the calm refuge for the fallen and lost 
 (Whose love a blight and not a blessing crost) 
 Sends out a voice to woo the grieving breast, — 
 " Come unto me, ye weary, and find rest ! " 
 And still the gentle nurses — vowed to give 
 Thek aid to all who suffer and yet live — 
 Go forth in snow-white cap and sable gown, 
 Tending the sick and hungry in the town. 
 And show dim pictures on their quiet walls 
 Of those who dwelt in Garaye's ruined halls.' 
 
 See ch. v. 
 
EXCURSIONS FROM DINAN. 
 
 337 
 
 An avaricious peasant will admit visitors to her kitchen-garden, 
 where the ruins are situated — a small tower, and a wall with 
 windows rich in details of xv. c. sculpture. Beautifully situated, 
 to the 1. of the S. Malo road, is the still-inhabited Chateau de la 
 ConinnatSy also xv. c] 
 
 [The pleasantest excursion to be made from Dinan is by 
 taking the early morning train to Dinard. An omnibus meets 
 the train, and allows a sufficient sight of the pretty, bright little 
 place, before reaching the quay whence the steamer crosses the 
 estuary to S. Malo. The views from the boat are enchanting, 
 of the mouth of the Ranee, S. Servan, with its fort, church, and 
 grey tower; then S. Malo itself, with its ramparts, churches, 
 and its rocks covered with golden seaweed. The landing-place 
 at low tide is at the end of the island of Grand Be (see p. 331), 
 whence a causeway leads across the seaweed-covered rocks to 
 the town. But an enchanting morning should be spent on the 
 island itself — a wild spot, overgrown with sea-loving flowers, 
 and with the tomb of Chateaubriand in an incomparably grand 
 position — before S. Malo is entered by a postern gate. After 
 visiting the chateau and cathedral, the tourist may saunter 
 through the old streets to the quay, and take the little afternoon 
 boat (from the end of the quay to the r.), which ascends the 
 Ranee in 2 hrs. (3 fr. and 2 fr.). The boat passes S. Servan and 
 its grand Tour S. Solidor on 1. There is nothing very remarkable 
 in the scenery, but the open creeks, rocky islets and wooded 
 banks of the river, and the picturesquely-placed villages and 
 manor-houses, have a great charm. If the tide does not allow of 
 the farther ascent of the river, passengers are landed 6 k. or 7 k. 
 from Dinan, but diligences and open vans in this case meet the 
 steamer, and the fare is included in that of the boat. The drive 
 is a most pleasant one. Ascending the river from S. Malo and 
 returning thither does not allow time for seeing Dinan, but 
 visitors from S. Malo may return by the railway, which passes 
 at 17 k. Chdteauneuf, where the ruins exist of a castle demolished 
 in 1594. Near this, on the E., is La Mare de S. Coulban, and 
 the curious and interesting xiii. c. church of 6 1 . Suk'ac, containing 
 the tomb of that sainted abbot under an altar dedicated to him. 
 When a wail is heard from the marsh the peasants cross them- 
 selves, for it is the cry of an unworthy priest, overwhelmed by 
 
 22 
 
338 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 the waters at the moment of celebrating mass, and condemned 
 to repeat eternally his ' Dominus vobiscum,' which has ever 
 remained without an answer : this cry is called 1 Le beugle de 
 S. Coulman.' ! ] 
 
 200 k. Corseul. 3 k. S.W. is the village which marks 
 the site of the ancient capital of the Curiosolites, where 
 several Roman roads converged and a number of Roman 
 remains have been found. A Roman inscription is built 
 into one of the pillars of the church of Corseul, which 
 contains a most curious granite font, sustained by four 
 dwarfs — either intended for baptism by immersion or as 
 a benitier of xn. c. or xm. c. On a hill half a league from 
 Corseul is the ruin called a temple of Mars — a Roman 
 wall 30 ft. high. 
 
 230 k. Lamballe. See ch. v. 
 
 1 See De la Bigue Villeneuve, lllc et Vilaine. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PARIS AND LE MANS TO QUIMPER, BY CHAtEAU- 
 GONT/ER, SEGRE, CHA TEA UB RIANT, RED ON, 
 VANNES, V ORIENT, AND Q UIMPERLE. CHEMIN 
 DE PER DE FOUEST. 
 
 T E MANS (see ch. v.) is 211 k. from Paris. 
 
 aux Fees, dating from Roman times ; then the Bois de Teillais, 
 where Charles VI. saw the apparition which was one of the 
 causes of his madness. 
 
 230 k. La Suze. The xv. c. chateau was founded xi. c, 
 the church (altered) in xi. c. 
 
 [A line leads S. to La Fleche by — 
 12 k. La Lude (see ch. v.). 
 
 33 k. La Fleche (Hotel : des Quatre Vents) had its origin in 
 a famous fortress built upon the Loir in the xi. c. by Jean de 
 Beaugency, who had married Paule, granddaughter of the famous 
 Comte de Mans, Herbert Eveille-Chie7i. Under his son, the 
 famous warrior-count Helie, whose virtues were sung by the 
 troubadours, a walled town and priory arose near the castle. 
 Eremburga, daughter of H6lie, brought the Seigneurie of La 
 Fleche to the house of Anjou, and thus to the English Planta- 
 genets. In the xvi. c. it belonged to the house of Bourbon. 
 Antoine de Bourbon and Jeanne dAlbret lived here till a few 
 months before the birth of Henri IV., who had an especial 
 affection for La Fleche, to which he bequeathed his heart. The 
 Vend6ens gained a victory over the Bleus at La Fleche, 
 Dec. 1793. 
 
 Leaving Le Mans, the line passes r. the ruined Tour 
 
 339 
 
34o NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 The Prytanee^ or college of La Fleche, founded 1607, and 
 formerly under the direction of the Jesuits, has produced many 
 illustrious scholars, including Gresset, the Chancellor Voysin, 
 and Seguier. It was turned into a military school by Napoleon I., 
 and is now employed for sons of officers killed upon the field of 
 battle. The chapel, of 1607-22, contained the hearts of Henri IV. 
 and Marie de Medicis preserved in metal cases till the Revolution. 
 The hearts were then publicly burnt ; but their ashes, collected by 
 a royalist, are placed in a gilt heart which may be seen in the 
 1. transept. The Salle des Actes, where the collegiate prizes are 
 distributed, is adorned with an allegorical painting of Henri IV. 
 crowned by Victory. The king is commemorated by a statue on 
 the 'place ' which bears his name.] 
 
 254 k. Juignc-sur-Sarthe has a handsome chateau, re- 
 built xvii. c, which has belonged to the family Le Clec 
 from the xiv. c. 
 
 259 k. Sable (Hotel : Notre Dame) has a chateau built 
 by the Due de Guise on the site of a demolished castle, 
 in 1720. 
 
 3 k. from Sable is the famous monastery of Solesmes, founded 
 XI. c. Its modernised buildings are deeply interesting as con- 
 taining the marvellous xv. c. sculptures known as Les Saints de 
 Solesmes, chiefly united in the two groups representing the Burial 
 of Christ and the Burial and Coronation of the Virgin. 
 
 [For a detailed account of Solesmes, and for the line from 
 Sable to Angers, see South-Western France.~] 
 
 (8 k. from Sable, on the way to La Fleche, is La Chapelle dn 
 Che?ie } with a famous pilgrimage chapel, rebuilt 1868-73, on the 
 site of a miracle-working oratory of the Virgin, where a statue 
 had been erected in the branches of an oak in 1494.) 
 
 [For the line from Sable to Sille le Guillaume see ch. v.] 
 
 273 k. Chemaze. 
 
 [A branch of 14 k. leads N. to Crdon (pronounced Cran). 
 Its xvi. c. chateau replaces a castle built by Lambert, Comte de 
 Nantes, in 846, and destroyed under Henri IV. 14 k. W., at 
 
CHA TEA UB RIANT. 
 
 34i 
 
 La Roe, are the ruins of an abbey founded by Robert d'Aubrissel, 
 before the foundation of Fontevrault. The facade and nave are 
 of 1 140, the rich choir of xv. c. Near (10 k. from Craon) 5*. 
 Quentin, on the road to Segr6, is the picturesque and beautiful 
 Chateau de Mortier-Crolle, attributed to Pierre de Rohan, marshal 
 of France under Louis XII.] 
 
 282 k. Gennes-Longuefuve. (For the line hence to Laval 
 see ch. v.) 
 
 290 k. Chateau Gontier (Hotels: de T Europe, du Dauphin) 
 takes its origin from a fortress on the Mayenne built by 
 Foulques Nerra, Comte d'Anjou, in the xi. c. The 
 formerly collegiate church of S. Jean, which was within the 
 enclosure of the castle, is a valuable, though over-restored, 
 specimen of xi. c. Under the choir and its aisles is an 
 interesting romanesque crypt. The church of Bazouges 
 (1 k. N.W.) has an xi. c. portal. 
 
 The line passes (1.) the xv. c. Chateau de S. Ouen before 
 reaching — 
 
 308 k. La Ferriere, which has a modernised chateau of 
 xiv. c. and xv. c. 
 
 314 k. Segre (Hotels : de Beaurepaire ; de la Croix Verte) 
 has small remains of its ancient fortifications, as the dower- 
 town of Berengaria of Castille, widow of Richard Cceur de 
 Lion. 8 k. W. is the fine modern Chateau de la Mabouliere 
 (M. de Falloux). 
 
 [For the line from Segre to Angers see South-Western 
 France. ,] 
 
 340 k. Pouance, the seat of an ancient barony, has 
 remains of a castle of xm. c. and xiv. c. 
 
 356 k. Chateaubriant (Hotel : de la Poste) on the Chere, 
 an ancient barony, which owes its origin to the castle built 
 
342 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 here by one Briant in the xi. c. The old castle is an 
 irregular quadrilateral, with a square donjon tower on the 
 N.E. Here Sybilla, wife of GeofTroy IV., who was taken 
 prisoner in the Crusades, died of joy on receiving him safe 
 home from captivity. The Chateau Neuf, partly used as 
 a gendarmerie, is a handsome renaissance building, begun 
 by Jean de Laval in 1524. The church of S. Nicolas \ 
 founded xi. c, and rebuilt by Jean de Laval and Anne de 
 Montmorency in the xvi. c, has been recently pulled 
 down and replaced by a modern edifice. On the N.W. of 
 the town is the curious priory church of S. Jean de Bere, 
 founded by Briant II. in 11 14. The church of La Trinite 
 was founded in 1262 by Geoffroy IV., who was buried there 
 with many of his descendants, and the beautiful Frangoise 
 de Foix, wife of Jean de Laval. The priory of S. Michel des 
 Monts was founded in 1204 by Geoffroy II. 
 
 [For the lines to Vitre and to Rennes see ch. v. For the line 
 to Nantes see South-Western France .] 
 
 367 k. S. Vincent des Landes, where the line diverges 1. 
 to S. Nazaire (see South- Western France). 
 
 392 k. Guemene Fenfao. Near this is the Chateau de 
 Bruc, which has been inhabited by the family of that name 
 from the xn. c. 
 
 415 k. Redon (Hotels : de France ; du Lion d Or), on the 
 Vilaine, owes its origin to the abbey of S. Sauveur, said 
 to have been originally founded by S. Convoion. The 
 formerly abbatial church of S. Sauveur has an isolated 
 xiv. c. tower with a tall stone spire, the only important 
 romanesque tower in Brittany. The triple romanesque 
 nave has been much modernised. The choir, which has 
 
MALA US AC. 
 
 343 
 
 a lofty triforium, is a noble specimen of xin. c. In the 
 first chapel r. of choir is a tomb, supposed to be that of 
 Francois I., Due de Bretagne. The central chapel has 
 the xv. c. tomb of Abbot Raoul de Pontbriand. The 
 Chapelle de Notre Dame de Bon Secours (N. aisle of choir) 
 was built in the xv. c. by Abbot Yves le S^nechal, who 
 is buried there. It is curiously fortified externally, its 
 windows protected by machicolations and its walls pierced 
 with loopholes. The xvn. c. buildings of the abbey are 
 occupied by the Institution de S. Sauveur. The ramparts 
 remain, constructed in xiv. c. by Abbot Jean de Treal. 
 
 [For the line from Redon to Rennes see ch. v.] 
 
 [18 k. on the line to (81 k.) Nantes is ►S. Gildas des Bois, 
 retaining the fine xin. c. church of a Benedictine monastery 
 founded by Simon de la Roche-Bernard in 1026. 9 k. E. of this 
 is the xviii. c. Chateau de Carheit, which belonged to Mme 
 Adelaide, and was bequeathed by her to the Prince de Joinville.] 
 
 43 1 k. Malausac has an old castle and picturesque 
 houses. 
 
 3 k. N.E. are the remains of the convent of Bodelio. * 
 5 k. N.W. is Rochefort- en-Terre , a very picturesque village 
 in a gorge beneath a precipitous rock, crowned by the ruins of 
 a xin. c. castle. The once-collegiate church of Notre Dame de 
 la Tronchaye is chiefly xv. c. Statues of Claude de Rieux, 1532, 
 and Suzanne de Bourbon, Dame de Rochfort, taken from their 
 tombs at the Revolution, are used as S. Joseph and the Virgin. 
 Several houses are xv. c. and xvn. c. 
 
 Near the farm of Gree-Mahe remains ot an ancient villa 
 and temple have been discovered. 3 k. N. is the parched and 
 desolate plain called La Lande de Lanvaux y strewn with 
 megalithic remains, but without any regularity or order. Near 
 the wood of Misny is the fine menhir of La Roche Begtie (5 met.). 
 
344 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Near the village of 6*. Jean de la Bande is the menhir called 
 Le Chapcau Rouge. 
 
 The desolation of the Lande de Lanvaux is accounted for by 
 the legend that SS. Peter and Paul, wandering on foot through 
 the country, and drenched to the skin, asked leave to dry them- 
 selves at a rich peasant's fire. He turned them with ignominy 
 from his door ; but one Misery, the poorest peasant in the country, 
 gave them shelter and fed them. Being asked what blessing he 
 would receive as a reward, he begged that if any one climbed his 
 single apple-tree — of the fruit of which he was always robbed — 
 he might be forced to stay there till he (Misery) gave him leave 
 to come down. The rich peasant, coming to steal the poor man's 
 apples, was the first to be kept in this durance. But when Death 
 came to call Misery to follow him, the peasant persuaded him to 
 get him first one of the apples from his tree, and there he kept 
 him till Death had promised to let him live on till the Last 
 Judgment. In his fury at being obliged to make this promise, 
 Death laid waste the whole Lande de Lanvaux: only Misery 
 lives on. 
 
 444 k. Qiiestembert has several curious old houses and 
 ancient chapels. The district abounds in crosses, adorned 
 with rude sculpture in high relief. At 7 k. beyond Questem- 
 bert the line passes (1.) the hamlet of La Vraie Croix, where 
 a xvii. c. chapel has a fragment of the true cross in a xni. c. 
 reliquary. Another chapel, of 6". Isidore, belonged to a 
 hospital of the Knights of S. John of Jerusalem. A second 
 chapel of the Knights is at Gorvello, 5 k. S.W. : in its grave- 
 yard are two menhirs. 
 
 [For the line from Questembert to La Brohiniere, on the 
 main line from Paris to Brest, passing Ploermel (for Josselin 
 — well worth visiting), see ch. v.] 
 
 458 k. Elven. There is an omnibus from the station to 
 the village, 5 k. N. The (rebuilt) church retains its choir 
 of 1526. In the churchyard is an ossuary containing the 
 
ELVEN. 
 
 345 
 
 portrait of a woman. It is supposed to represent a girl of 
 holy life, whose uncorrupt body was found here many years 
 after her death, and who was venerated as a saint, till her 
 remains were dispersed at the Revolution. 
 
 1 Le village d'Elven donne une representation vraiment 
 saisissante de ce que pouvait etre un bourg du moyen age. 
 La forme des maisons basses et sombres n'a pas change depuis 
 des siecles. On croit rever quand on voit, a travers les baies 
 incrustees et ans chassis qui tiennent lieu de fenetres, ces 
 groupes de femmes a l'oeil sauvage, au costume sepulchral, qui 
 filent leur quenouille dans 1'ombre, et s'entretiennent a voix basse 
 dans une langue inconnue. II semble que tous ces spectres 
 grisatres viennent de quitter leurs dalles tumulaires pour executer 
 entre eux quelque scene d'un autre age dont vous etes le seul 
 temoin vivant. Cela cause une sorte d'oppression. Le peu de 
 vie qui se communique autour de vous dans l'unique rue du 
 bourg porte le meme caractere d'archaisme et d'etrangete fidele- 
 ment retenu d'un monde evanoui.' — Octave Feuillet, 1 Roman 
 d'un jeune homme ftauvre.' 
 
 The district is full ot megalithic remains, the most important 
 being the dolmen called La Loge du Low/), near the village of 
 Les Princes, 
 
 2 k. S.W. of Elven (a pleasant drive from Vannes) are the 
 ruins of the famous castle of Largouet, or Le Tour dElven, 
 built by Odon de Malestroit in the xiv. c, and dismantled in 
 1496 by order of the Duchess Anne. For the sake of water 
 to the moat it is situated (unusual) in a hollow. The donjon 
 tower, added by the Marechal de Rieux in the xv. c, is octagonal 
 and exceedingly imposing. Henry VII. was at one time im- 
 prisoned in the castle, through jealousy of his title of Earl of 
 Richmond, an appanage of the Dukes of Brittany. 
 
 * La tour d'Elven se degagea soudain de la feuillee, et se dressa 
 a deux par de nous avec la soudainete d'une apparition. Cette 
 tour n'est pas ruinee: elle conserve aujourd'hui toute sa hauteur 
 primitive, qui depasse cent pieds, et les assises regulieres de 
 granit qui en composent le magnifique appareil octagonal lui 
 donnent l'aspect d'un bloc formidable taille d'hier par le plus pur 
 
346 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 ciseau. Rien de plus imposant, de plus fier et de plus sombre 
 que ce vieux donjon impassible an milieu des temps et isole 
 dans lepaisseur de ces bois. Des arbres ont pousse de toute 
 leur taille dans les douves profondes qui l'environnent, et leur 
 faite touche a peine l'ouverture des fenetres les plus basses. 
 Cette vegetation gigantesque, dans laquelle se perd confusement 
 la base de l'edifice, acheve de lui preter une couleur de fantastique 
 mystere. Dans cette solitude, au milieu de ces forets, en face 
 de cette masse d'architecture bizarre qui surgit tout a coup, 
 il est impossible de ne pas songer a les tours enchantees ou 
 de belles princesses dorment un sommeil seculaire.' — Octave 
 Feuillet. 
 
 1 La tour d'Elven si belie quand on regarde les deux cents 
 pieds delevation qui restent a ses murailles, quand on entre 
 dans son enceinte, qui 6tait une ville entiere, et que Ton voit la 
 fenetre a laquelle s'accouda prisonnier un roi d'Angleterre.' 1 — 
 
 Emile Souvestre. 
 
 In the courtyard of the xvn. c. Chateau de Kerfily (3J k. N.) 
 are the ruined tower and portal of an older castle. The line 
 passes (r.) the xv. c. Chapelle S. Anne, with fine stained glass, 
 before reaching — 
 
 469k. Vannes (Hotels: de France; du Commerce; dti 
 Dauphin) — in Breton, Gwened (white wheat) — capital of 
 the Departement du Morbihan. Vannes, capital of the 
 Venetes in Celtic times, claims not only to have colonised 
 the Adriatic, but to have given a name to Venice. Its 
 citizens were the fighting men of Brittany, the last inhabit- 
 ants of Gaul to submit to Caesar, who said that they had 
 bodies of iron and hearts of steel. Having only been con- 
 quered 37 B.C., they threw off 'the Roman yoke in 409, and 
 were governed for many years by independent counts. 
 Vannes was a principal residence of the Dues de Bretagne. 
 It is a very dull town. A few xvi. c. houses cluster around 
 
 1 The Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. 
 
VANNES. 
 
 347 
 
 the Cathedral of S. Pierre, a poor building, dating from 
 xiii. c. to xviii. c, and quite without beauty. The dis- 
 position of the choir is singular, projecting to the first bay 
 of the nave, with its altar under the cross. The circular 
 chapel of the Sacrament was built by the Archdeacon 
 Daniels, who is buried there. At the E. end of the church, 
 approached by a narrow passage, is the long narrow chapel 
 of S. Vincent Ferrier, 1630, commemorating the great 
 Spanish Dominican preacher, invited by Duke Jean V. to 
 fix his residence in Vannes, where he died in 1419. He 
 was canonised in 1456, and was buried in the N. transept, 
 where the Duchesse Jeanne de France, daughter of 
 Charles VI., by her own desire, was laid at his feet. His 
 bones, however, are for the most part preserved in the 
 tresor, whence Philip II. of Spain vainly endeavoured to 
 carry them off. It is asserted that as he was saying mass 
 here, he went to fetch his gloves and umbrella from Rome 
 without any one perceiving his absence. His chapel con- 
 tains two tombs of bishops — Sebastien de Rosmadec, 1646, 
 and Francois d'Argouges, 17 16, with a kneeling figure. 
 Other saints of Vannes, many of whom have reliquaries 
 or shrines here, are SS. Paterne (1st bishop, iv. c, invoked 
 in drought), S. Guenuin, S. Ignoroc (bishop, vn. a), 
 S. Meriadec (bishop, 666), S. Gobrien (bishop, 735), 
 S. Cadoc, and S. Belo. Here also is buried S. Guenael, 
 the sainted abbot of Landevenec. 
 
 The N. portal is of 15 14. Near it are some picturesque 
 remains of a xiii. c. cloister, which combine well with the 
 xii. c. N.W. tower. Opposite the W. door of the cathedral 
 is the xiii. c. Chapelle du Presidial. The Episcopal Palace 
 was formerly a Carmelite convent, Several fragments 
 
348 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 remain of the ancient walls, especially the Porte S. Paterne, 
 commonly called Porte Paten, often from its use Porte 
 Prison, leading to the cathedral, and the xiv. c. Tour du 
 Connetable. The Place des Lices was the site of the famous 
 palace of the Dukes of Brittany, called the Chateau de 
 l'Ermine. It was on this Place that S. Vincent Ferrer used 
 to preach in 1417 — in Spanish, the only language he knew, 
 but which everybody miraculously understood. Here also, 
 in 1380, the Battle of the Five was fought — five French 
 and five English knights — in the presence of Duke Jean IV. 
 and the Duke of Buckingham. The French were victorious. 
 
 The Porte S. Vincent, surmounted by a statue of the 
 saint, is xvn. c. It leads to the port. Through it, the 
 relics of S. Vincent are borne annually on his feast-day and 
 carried round the walls. 
 
 To the left is the Tour du Connetable, where Olivier de 
 Clisson was shut up in 1387. 1 After the battle of Auray 
 Duke Jean IV. had given the seigneury of Gavre, near 
 Clisson's property of Blain, to the Englishman Sir John 
 Chandos, upon which Clisson took service with the king of 
 France, who made him Constable. But the duke appointed 
 a great parliament to be held at Vannes, to which, with all 
 his other lords, Clisson was summoned, and received with 
 great hospitality. Then the duke pretended to desire his 
 advice as to his newly built Chateau d'Ermine, and per- 
 suaded him to enter this tower to examine the masonry, 
 when he was seized and immured there till he was ran- 
 somed. The tower is now used to contain the Musee 
 Archeologique, which is of the utmost interest, being one of 
 
 1 Voltaire's tragedy of Adelaide du Guesclin is founded on a terrible 
 drama of the Tour du Connetable. 
 
VANNES. 
 
 349 
 
 the richest in Europe in Celtic antiquities, the result of 
 excavations in the tumuli of Western Brittany. Several 
 picturesque houses are xvi. c. and xvn. c. 15, Rue des 
 Orfevres contains the room of S. Vincent Ferrier, now* 
 converted into a chapel. At the corner of Rue Noe 
 are two quaint-coloured figures known as ' Vannes et sa 
 femme.' 
 
 The Hotel de France is believed to occupy the site of 
 
 the Chateau de la Motte, the palace of Waroch, Comte 
 
 de Vannes, the father of Tryphena, sixth wife of Comorre, 
 
 the Blue Beard Comte de Comorre, who cut off her head, 
 
 which was restored, with her life, by S. Gildas le Sage. 
 
 ' There is no more charming walk than that eastward of the 
 town : on one side, above winding river and shady walks and 
 picturesque houses, rise the grey walls and towers of the old 
 fortifications ; on the other, terrace upon terrace of greensward, 
 with stately avenues, lead to a broad close, "or green, from 
 whence you look across Lombardy poplars towards Nantes. 
 Heather, woods, pastures and rivers make up a wide, invigorating 
 prospect. How every inch of ground here teems with historical 
 associations ! It was at Vannes that Caesar first encountered the 
 Gauls, then, as now, " ad bellum mobiliter celeriterque excitari " ; 
 then, as now, " subita et repentina consilia," in that sea-fight he 
 so graphically describes.' — Autumn in Western France, 
 
 At Treorante, near Vannes, is the tomb of S. Ouenne, daughter 
 of Hoel III., of the vn c. 
 
 A little N.E. of Vannes, on the Elven road, is the great rock 
 of Hesqueno, whence, by the moor of Bohalgo, a pedestrian 
 may reach the ' Grotto of Jean II.' 
 
 On the peninsula of Sene, which produces the sailors called 
 Sinagots, is Limttr, with a chapel dedicated to S. Ufevrier. The 
 foot of her statue is full of pins ; for a girl who can plant a pin 
 there firmly (as in the shrine at Ploumanach) will find a husband 
 before the end of the year ; but if the pin does not remain fast 
 she will have to go without. 
 
3 So NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 On a market-day the market-place is worth visiting. 
 
 1 Le dialecte qui se distingue le plus nettement des autres est 
 celui de Vannes. . . . Par suite de lecart des traditions et des 
 -coutumes, une certaine rivalite s'est etablie entre les habitants 
 des divers pays, Treguier, Leon, Cornouaille, et Vannes. 
 Souvent meme les animosites sont devenues des haines, et les 
 Bretons de divers dialectes, tout en se vantant de leurs vertus 
 locales, s'appliquent mutuellement des epithetes fort mal- 
 veillantes : Voleur comme un Leonard ! traitre comme un 
 Tregorrois ! sot comme un Vannetais ! brutal comme un Cor- 
 nouaillais.' — Elisee Reclus. 
 
 ' La langue du pays, c'est la chaine eternelle 
 
 Par qui sans efforts tout se tient ; 
 Les choses de la vie, on les apprend par elle, 
 Par elle encore on s'en souvient. ' 1 
 
 Brizeux, 1 Histoires Poetiques! 
 
 Very few now remain of the peasantry who were so 
 characteristic even twenty years ago ; and the costumes, till 
 lately so picturesque, are now almost extinct even amongst 
 * Les plus bretonnants des Bretons.' 
 
 'The old-fashioned Breton combs his long black hair, and 
 walks about unashamed in his bragou-bras, — turns his back on 
 the future, and looks only on the past, on his dead ancestors 
 and the cross, and profoundly distrusts all improvement in this 
 world. A grand, sublime, miraculous Past, is contrasted in his 
 mind with a poor uninteresting Present, its mere appendix, and 
 a Future without form or hope till the Last Day ; the past is to 
 him the great reality of the world — the reality, not of dilettantism, 
 of forced reverence, of partial or fictitious interest, but of lifelong 
 faith.' — Dean Church, 'Essays' 
 
 4 k. from Vannes is the nearest island in the Gulf of Morbihan, 
 the little lie de Gouleau (omnibus), much frequented by bathers. 
 
 1 The natives say Adam and Eve spoke Breton in Paradise. See Origines 
 Gauloises. 
 
5. GILDAS DE RHUIS. 
 
 35i 
 
 There are public carriages (2 fr. and 1 fr. 50 c.) from Vannes 
 to (24 k. S.W.) Sarzean, where Le Sage, the author of Gil Bias, 
 was born in 1688. (Inn with good food.) On the S. of the 
 Bay of Morbihan is the Peninsula of Rhuis, which forms a 
 natural dyke, only leaving a narrow canal by which the 
 Morbihan communicates with the Atlantic. 3 k. S.E. of Sarzeau 
 are the ruins of the summer palace of the Dukes of Brittany, 
 the Chateau de Sticinio — ' Souci n'y 6t' — an abode of pleasure. 
 Now the site, by the seashore, is dreary in the extreme. The 
 castle was built (1250) by Jean de Roux. Amongst the changes 
 upon the primitive construction are embrasures for cannon. 
 Here Breton legend places the home of Count Raymondin, 
 whose wife was Melle de Lusignan, the fairy Melusine, who had 
 the power of changing herself into a serpent every Saturday. 
 Raymondin was called ' Comte de Foret' 
 
 7 k. from Sarzeau, at the S.W. extremity of the Presqu'ile, 
 which is now so bare and was once covered with forest, is the 
 abbatial church of 6*. Gildas-de-Rhuis (a good and pleasant 
 pension is kept by nuns), belonging to a monastery founded in 
 the VI. c. by S. Gildas 1 le Sage, a missionary from the monastery 
 of S. Hydultus, in Cornwall, who became the apostle of Brittany 
 and the chief counsellor of Waroch, Count of Vannes. He was 
 persuaded by the wicked Comorre, Count of Cornouaille, to bring 
 about a marriage between him and Count Waroch's beautiful 
 daughter Tryphena. One day, some months after their marriage, 
 Comorre found Tryphena embroidering a little cap. 4 For whom 
 are you working ? ' 1 For the son whom I hope to give you.' Then 
 Comotre, who had already killed five wives when they were with 
 child, determined on the death of Tryphena. She fled to her 
 father's, but was captured and beheaded here, just outside the walls 
 of Vannes. Then Gildas, having cursed the murderer to his face, 
 performed a great miracle, for he restored the head of Tryphena 
 to its place, and brought her back to life, and— after her child 
 was born — placed her in a convent, and took her son, whom she 
 had called Tremeur, to bring up in the monastery of Rhys. 2 
 
 In the xii. c. Abelard governed the monastery, but was forced 
 
 1 S. Veltas in Breton. 
 
 2 See Luzel, Contes du Pays a" Amor; Alfred Fouquet, Legendes du 
 Morbihan, and Les Fantomes Bretons. 
 
352 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 to fly by his monks, who, weary of his strict rule, attempted 
 to poison him. The monastic buildings, of xvm. c, are now 
 inhabited by sisters of charity, who take boarders during the 
 bathing season. In the xn. c. choir of the church is the tomb 
 of S. Gildas, who died in 570 in his island hermitage of Huath, 
 desiring his monks to place his body in a boat, with the stone 
 which had served him in life as a pillow under his head, and 
 then drop it in the open sea, when God would work His will with 
 it. But when the saint was in the boat the monks quarrelled, 
 the English monks claiming his remains for the Cornish S. 
 Hydultus, where he had been educated, the Bretons for Rhuis. 
 But whilst they were disputing, the boat and its holy freight sank 
 in the waves and was lost to sight ; after which the Cornishmen 
 gave it up, but the Bretons, searching, after long prayer and 
 fasting, found the boat with the body of S. Gildas safely come to 
 shore near the oratory of S. Croix. 
 
 In the Chapelle de la Vierge is the tomb of S. Gingurien. 
 Near the altar is that of S. Gonsten, once a pirate of Ushant, 
 converted by S. Gildas to become a lay brother in the monastery. 
 In the N. transept are the tombs of S. Felix and the Abbot Rioc. 
 Five tombs in the choir (xiii. c. and xiv. c.) are of the house of 
 Bretagne, four of them to children of Jean I., who died at Sucinio, 
 the fifth to Jeanne de Bretagne, daughter of Jean de Montfort, 
 who died 1388. In the tresor are relics of S. Gildas in xv. c. 
 reliquaries. In the garden the door is pointed out by which 
 Abelard fled to the sea and eventually to Cluny. 
 
 1 Pres de S. Gildas les pecheurs de mauvaise vie et qui se 
 soucient peu de salut de leur ame sont quelquefois reveilles la 
 nuit par trois coups que frappe a leur porte une main invisible. 
 Alors ils se levent, pousses par une volonte surnaturelle ; ils se 
 rendent au rivage, ou ils trouvent de longs bateaux noirs qui 
 semblent vides, et qui pourtant enfoncent dans la mer jusqu'au 
 niveau de la vague. Des qu'ils y sont entres, une grande voile 
 blanche se hisse seule en haut du mat, et la barque quitte le 
 bord comme emportee par un courant rapide. On ajoute que ces 
 bateaux, charges d'ames maudites, ne reparaissent plus au rivage, 
 et que le pecheur est condamne a errer avec elles a travers les 
 oceans jusqu'au jour du jugement. Qui ne reconnait dans cette 
 
AURAY. 
 
 353 
 
 fable la tradition celtique rapportee par Procope.' — E. Souvestre^ 
 1 Les Derniers Bretons! 
 
 The excursion to S. Gildas may be continued by carriage to 
 (5 k.) La Butte de Tumiac (Tumulus Iacchi), a very remarkable 
 tumulus 260 met. in circumference, 20 met. in height. The 
 sepulchral cell it encloses has supplied many ornaments to the 
 museum at Vannes. 3 k. farther (35 k. from Vannes) is Port- 
 Navalo, a little fishing town. A boat hence to Auray (12 fr.) 
 crosses in 2^ hrs. in fine weather. 
 
 A boat (12 fr. to 15 fr.) may be taken at Vannes to explore the 
 sacred district of the Morbihan and cross to Locmariaker (20 k.), 
 whence Carnac and Plouharnel may be visited, returning to 
 Vannes by the railway ; but this excursion is more easily and 
 pleasantly managed in a carriage from Auray. 
 
 483 k. S* Anne. An omnibus (50 c.) meets trains 
 for (3 k.) the famous Chapelle S. Anne, celebrated for its 
 pilgrimages since 1623, when the sainted mother of the 
 Virgin is supposed to have appeared to a peasant named 
 Yves Nicolazic, to ordain them. In obedience to her will 
 he constructed a rude chapel at the spot called Bucenno, 
 where a mutilated image was found in the soil, to which 
 he was guided by a miraculous light. This famous image 
 was destroyed in the Revolution, and only a single 
 fragment of it remains in the pedestal of the present 
 statue; but the chapel, often renewed, and rebuilt 1866, is 
 still visited, with its miraculous fountain, by vast crowds, 
 especially in the week after Pentecost. But alas ! their 
 thousands no longer arrive on foot, but in cheap excursion 
 trains, with — ' Pelerinage a S. Anne d'Auray : billet d'aller 
 et retour a prix reduit.' At the pardon the 1 Santa Scala ' 
 is crowded with the faithful ascending on their knees. 
 
 488 k. Auray, 2^k. from the town (Hotels : du Pavilion — 
 
 2 3 
 
354 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 tolerable, civil landlady ; de la Poste, carriages for excursions 
 for the whole day to Carnac or Locmariaker, 12 fr\). 
 
 Auray, in Breton 'Alve,' is chiefly celebrated for its 
 battle in 1364, in which Charles de Blois 1 was killed, 
 and which secured the ducal crown to the house of 
 Montfort. The town, built partly on a platform, partly on 
 a declivity towards the Loch, has little interest. A pleasant 
 walk may be taken by turning up behind the hotel to the 
 promenade, and descending the winding paths thence to 
 the river, which is crossed by a fine old bridge ; thence 
 returning by the steep streets. There are some xv. c. 
 houses in the suburb beyond the Loch. 
 
 1 Auray est la premiere station d'ostreiculture de la France, 
 non par la qualite, mais par la quantite de ses mollusques.' — 
 Elisee Rectus. 
 
 Beyond the railway, 2| k. beyond the town, is La 
 Chartreuse, which replaces the church of S. Michel-du- 
 Champ, erected by Jean IV. on the battlefield where he 
 had been victorious over Charles de Blois; the buildings 
 are now occupied by deaf and dumb under the care of the 
 Soeurs de la Sagesse. To the N. of the church is a Chapelle 
 Sepulcrale, erected over the royalist prisoners put to death 
 by the republicans, August 25, 1793 — 'Pro Deo, pro rege, 
 nefarie trucidati.' The first stone of the mausoleum was 
 laid by the Duchesse d'Angouleme in 1823. The chiefs 
 Sombreuil, de Soulanges, Talhouet, d'Hervilly, and Mgr. de 
 Herce, are represented on the sarcophagus, with the young 
 Gesril de Papen, who, after having swum at the peril of his 
 
 1 Charles de Blois claimed Brittany as the husband of Jeanne de Penthievre 
 the lame daughter of the second son of Duke Arthur II. (the eldest son, John 
 III., having died childless). Montfort claimed it as son of Duke Arthur's 
 third son, Jean, Comte de Montfort, who had died in 1345. 
 
AURAY. 
 
 355 
 
 life to cause the English fire to cease, returned to constitute 
 himself prisoner. Not far distant, overlooking the marsh 
 of Kerso, is a Chapelle Expiatoire, on the spot where the 
 royalists fell. Near this, on the r. of the old road to 
 Auray, is a stone cross marking the battlefield of 1364. 
 The souls of those who died in the battle unshriven are 
 supposed to wander till the Last Day, each in a straight line 
 across the plain ; and woe to him who crosses their path ! 
 
 The excursion to the Chartreuse and Chapelle Expia- 
 toire may be continued to S. Anne d'Auray. 
 
 At Brech, near the mill of Pont-de-Brech^ is a rocking- 
 stone. Here also is the fountain where the greyhound of 
 Charles de Blois abandoned him to follow Montfort — an 
 evil augury of the result of the battle. 
 
 Near (4 k. S.E.) Kerisperis an interesting xvi. c. chapel, with 
 a timber jube and the hollowed stone which is believed to have 
 served as a boat to S. Avoye on her passage to Brittany from 
 Wales. Near (9 k.) Baden are the dolmens of Craffel and 
 Tonlvern. 
 
 The whole district W. of Auray is full of curious 
 megalithic remains. 1 
 
 ' Innombrables sont les pierres taillees devant lesquelles ie 
 paysan passe en se signant, qu'il y voie l'oeuvre du diable, ou 
 bien, au contraire, qu'une legende lui ait appris a y venerer le 
 haut fait dun ange ou d'un saint. En plusieurs endroits, notam- 
 ment aux environs dAuray, les paysans atteints de rhumatismes 
 vont se coucher sur un autel creuse en forme de coupe, tout en 
 invoquant S. Etienne ; ailleurs ils traitent la migraine en se 
 frottant a le front avec des cailloux sacres. Jeunes hommes et 
 jeunes filles se livrent parfois a des danses symboliques autour 
 d'un menhir.' — Elisee Reclus, 
 
 1 Genesis (xxxi. 47) speaks of such stones. The tomb of Mina, mother of 
 Mahomet, is a peulven. When a painter wants to represent Brittany, says 
 Adrien Oudin, he draws a peasant under the shadow of a great stone. 
 
356 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 A carriage should be taken for the day to Carnac, 1 
 for which excursion fine weather is almost a necessity. 
 Drivers engaged at the hotel at Auray know the best point 
 to stop at (long before reaching the village of Carnac). 
 Those who are unequal to much walking should make the 
 carriage wait here, while they visit the finest part of the 
 megalithic remains, not ten minutes' walk distant. Good 
 
 AT CARNAC. 
 
 walkers should let the carriage go on to wait for them at 
 the inn at Carnac. 
 
 Guides are wholly unnecessary : there is only one path. 
 The carriage stops by a cottage, and thence a field-path 
 to the 1. leads to the Stones. It is a wild and beautiful 
 spot. The stones, which are of a delicate green-grey 
 colour, rise like an army in battalions from the heather. 
 They are in three immense groups, always quite distinct — 
 the Alignements (or single stones in avenues) de Menec, de 
 
 1 From earn — a mass of stones, and ac— a town. 
 
CARNAC. 
 
 357 
 
 Kerlescan, and de Kermerio. Some regard the aligne- 
 ments as cemeteries, but they more probably had reference 
 to and served for religious and political solemnities. Here 
 we may imagine the barefooted Druid priestesses of Sein, 
 robed in white, and with their sacred reaping-hooks hanging 
 from their golden girdles, bearing the selago gathered on 
 the sixth day of the moon, with solemnities unseen by any 
 human eye, but as a memorial of which a stone was always 
 erected. Once there were from twelve to fifteen thousand 
 stones, but numbers have perished. Legend says that they 
 were the soldiers of a pagan army who pursued S. Comely, 
 and would have caught him before he reached the sea, but 
 he exerted his saintly power and turned them all into stone. 
 ' £a, Monsieur,' say the peasants, ' ga sont les soldats 
 qui poursuivaient Saint Corneille, le bon patron de notre 
 paroisse ; comme il allait etre pris par eux, et qu'il etait 
 arrete par la mer, il les changea en pierres ainsi que vous 
 les voyez.' 
 
 The first group of stones gives perhaps the best im- 
 pression of Carnac to those who cannot visit it in detail. 
 The stones are far smaller than those of Stonehenge, and 
 far less architectural in character, but their vast multitude, 
 and the wild charm of their situation, make them most 
 interesting. 
 
 1 Elles restent debout, malgre l'assaut des siecles, ces grandes 
 pierres mysterieuses, eparses dans la lande de Carnac. La 
 pluie a creuse des rigoles dans leurs flancs massifs ; la mousse 
 et le lichen masquent les teintes claires de leur granit. lis sont 
 la pourtant, ces temoins, ces fantomes. Nul n'a penetre le secret 
 de leur naissance, nul ne prevoit leur mort ; mais, a les contem- 
 pler toujours fiers, toujours muets dans leur immobilite farouche, 
 on croirait volontiers qu'ils out assiste aux p r emiers ebats de 
 
358 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 l'humanite, et qu'ils ne s'6mietteront qu'avec sa mine.' 1 — Adrien 
 Oudin. 
 
 Some of the finest stones are where the little path first 
 enters the lines. Beautiful Cornish heather, beloved by 
 bees, grows abundantly around the stones. Beyond the 
 first group, a curious tumulus may be visited in the grounds 
 of the Chateau de Kercado, belonging to the Comte de 
 
 STONES OF CARNAC. 
 
 Perran. A very narrow entrance leads to its lofty chamber 
 twelve feet in diameter. 
 
 Keeping the mound of Mont S. Michel in sight, it is 
 easy, in this treeless district, to find one's way thither 
 across the fields and through the yard of a farmhouse. 
 A lovely little gothic fountain, of miraculous properties, 
 is passed near the foot of the mount. 
 
 From the mound or galgal of Mont S. Michel there is 
 
 1 Visitors should read the Carnac of Auguste Brizeux. 
 
CARNAC. 
 
 359 
 
 a fine view over the country, strewn at intervals with its 
 strange armies of green-grey stones, mysterious and inde- 
 scribable, and over the sea, with the curious peninsula of 
 Quiberon and the strange, long, narrow isthmus which leads 
 to it. The mound is artificial, and composed of masses of 
 stones heaped one on another. It contains a double 
 dolmen-chamber (now closed), supposed to have been used 
 as a hermitage by one of the early missionaries from Britain. 
 A number of stone weapons, jasper necklaces, etc., were 
 found in it. The best are in the museum at Vannes. On 
 the mound are ruins of a lighthouse, a xvn. c. granite cross, 
 and a chapel, to which sailors' wives come to pray that their 
 husbands' voyages may be prosperous. 
 
 Descending the mount on the W., a walk of about i\ k. 
 brings us to Carnac, a large village (Hotel : des Voyageurs 
 — a humble but clean country inn). The parish church, of 
 1639, nas a singular N. porch, surmounted by a baldacchino 
 of open work in stone. It is said that the porch is built from 
 menhirs and the altars from dolmens. Remains of frescoes 
 tell the story of S. Comely, patron of horned animals, who 
 was none other than S. Cornelius, pope at the time of the 
 conversion of Brittany to Christianity. 
 
 ' On faisait dire a Saint Burtot, a Saint Cornelie, des 
 messes pour le repos de son mari defunt ; on les payait quatre 
 fois plus, s'il agissait de guerir ou sa vache, ou son veau.' 
 
 ' Au moment ou la nouvelle mariee, a Carnac, sort de 
 l'eglise, on lui presente une enorme branche de laurier, chargee 
 de pommes, ornee de beaux rubans ; a l'extremite de la branche 
 est un oiseau lie par une faveur, auquel elle donne la liberte. 
 Pour lui rappeler ses devoirs, on lui fait present d'une quenouille 
 quelle est obligee de filer. 
 
 * Dans le Morbihan, apres avoir conduit dans le lit nuptial 
 les amants qui se sont unis, le garcon d'honneur, le dos modeste- 
 
360 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 ment tourne, tient une chandelle a la main, et ne s'enfuit, ne 
 disparait que quand elle lui brule les doigts.' — Cambry. 
 
 There is a picturesque belief that here, on the night of 
 All Souls', the tombs are opened, the church lighted up, 
 and that Death, robed as a priest, preaches to thousands 
 of kneeling skeletons. Hither, at the Pardon (Sept. 13), 
 numbers of sick animals are brought, and are led round 
 
 VIEW FROM MONT S. MICHEL, CARNAC. 
 
 the church, and to the statue of the saint. Then, late at 
 night, they are taken to the Fountain of S. Comely, down 
 a bye-road to the 1. — one of the largest of the miraculous 
 springs in these parts — and their cure is looked for. 
 
 At the other (the E.) end of the village is the Musk 
 Miln, containing the interesting objects found in Carnac, 
 collected by the Englishman, James Miln, who died in 
 1 88 1. Amongst them is a curious dwarf skeleton with a 
 very large head. 
 
LOCMARIAKER. 
 
 361 
 
 From Carnac one may return to Auray by Plouharnel, 
 visiting the dolmens of Kergavat, Mane-er-Roch and Mane- 
 Kerioned 1 on the way, all of more or less interest. Formerly 
 local superstition consecrated most of these ancient remains 
 to the saints, but now this is changed. 
 
 'De siecle en siecle le culte a pu continuer sans que les 
 paysans se soient apercus du changement des dieux. Cependant 
 mainte pierre jadis consacree aux saints est vouee maintenant 
 aux puissances infernales ; pour mettre un terme a l'habitude, 
 g£nerale autrefois, de deposer de la nourriture sur les tables 
 des dolmens, le clerge breton declara solennellement, en 1658, 
 que ces offrandes ne pouvaient profiter qu'au diable. Encore 
 au dernier siecle un coin de terre etait reserve par les cultiva- 
 teurs au malin esprit; c'etait a ce prix qu'il consentait a ne 
 pas de vaster la ferme.' — Elisee Reclus. 
 
 It is possible, but not enjoyable, to visit Locmariaker, 
 16 k. distant, on the same day as Carnac. The way thither 
 passes (1 k.) Boiscenno, where remains of a Gallo-Roman 
 town, with baths, temples and dwellings have been dis- 
 covered. At 7 k. is La Trinite sur Mer, with its oyster- 
 beds. At 8 k. the mouth of the Crach is crossed by the 
 ferry-boat of Kerisper. 
 
 A second excursion should be made from Auray (16 k ) 
 to Locmariaker — Lieu de la Belle Marie. Tolerable 
 pedestrians should be put down by the carriage about 1 k. 
 before reaching the village, where there is a ruined 
 dolmen — Mane-er-Hroeck or the Fairies 5 Mount — a little 
 to the r. of the road. Hence a field-path opposite the 
 
 1 1 De nos jours encore le dolmen est revere comme la tombe d'un homme 
 puissant, et quand une pierre est placee sur la fosse d'un riche, la langue 
 bas-bretonne emploie toujours le mot de dolmen pour signaler le monument, 
 en opposition aux simples buttes de terre qui recouvrent le cercueil du 
 pauvre.'— Elisee Reclus. 
 
362 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 dolmen (public, though would-be guides try to prevent 
 strangers from using it) leads direct to the giant dolmen 
 called La Table de Cesar •, or Table des Marchands — Dol-ar- 
 Marc'hadoicrien^ probably the finest dolmen in existence. 
 Close to it a huge menhir, the largest known, broken into 
 four pieces, lies upon the ground, and is known as Men-er- 
 Hroeck — the Fairies' Stone. It must originally have been 
 sixty-seven feet high, about seven feet thick, and 250,000 
 
 LA TABLE DES MARCHANDS. 
 
 kilogrammes in weight. The Table des Marchands, like 
 the other dolmens acquired by the State, has an attractive 
 surrounding of heath and broom. Hence there is a path 
 direct to Locmariaker. A little to the N.W. of the village 
 is the tumulus of Mane-Lud or Mane-en-Hellud — the Mount 
 of Ashes — with a chamber which can be entered by a 
 staircase. 
 
 A little farther N.W. is a barrow, with the hamlet of 
 
LOCMARIAKER 
 
 363 
 
 Nelud at its foot. W. of this is the dolmen called Dol-er- 
 Hroeck — the Fairies' Table. Lastly, to the W. of the 
 village, is the ruined dolmen called Maneer-Retual, and, 
 near the sea, the monument called Les Pierres Plates or 
 Men Piatt. 
 
 ' Si vous interrogez les gens du pays, ils repondront brieve- 
 ment que ce sont les maisons des Torrigans, des Courils, petits 
 hommes lascifs qui, le soir, barrent le chemin, et vous forcent 
 de danser avec eux jusqu'a ce que vous en mouriez de fatigue. 
 Ailleurs, ce sont les fees qui, descendant des montagnes en filant, 
 ont apporte ces rocs dans leur tablier. Ces pierres eparses sont 
 toute une noce petrifiee. Une pierre isolee, vers Morlaix, 
 temoigne du malheur d'un paysan qui, pour avoir blaspheme, 
 a ete avale par la lane.' — Michelet. 
 
 Locmariaker is a poor fishing village, with a small 
 inn {Hotel Marchand — where a good luncheon may be 
 obtained). 
 
 A boat — 8 fr. and bonne main — may be taken from Loc- 
 mariaker to Gavr-lnnis, and it is the best starting-point. The 
 boatmen are often very inefficient, and it is well to remember 
 that the sea of the Morbihan, even when it looks absolutely calm 
 from the mainland, is often tremendously rough, owing to the 
 currents as the sea washes in between the islands. Sail-cloth 
 is given to cover the passengers, but they are often soaked 
 through by the waves before they return. Thirty minutes is the 
 nominal time taken in crossing to Gavr' Innis — only 4 k. distant, 
 but the time taken in returning, with contrary tides, is often an 
 hour and a half. With a good boatman, one who 'has salt 
 water round his heart,' as the expression is, 1 there is no danger. 
 
 There is no beauty, except in the glorious colour of the 
 waves, in the curious inland Sea of Morbihan. It is diffi- 
 cult to believe that it has 363 islands, as one conceals 
 
 1 4 Dour vor en dre "e halon ' — the Breton expression for being ' a born 
 sailor.' 
 
364 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 another. Probably not above sixty are more than islet 
 rocks. None rise to any great height, but the lie aux 
 Moines is 6 k. in length, and the He d'Artz 3 k. The latter 
 is especially full of old-world traditions. The Ankou, or 
 Banshee of the Morbihan, frequently announces the loss 
 of a sailor-husba*nd to his wife at home. 
 
 1 A Tile d'Artz, on apercoit quelquefois, a ce que disent les 
 habitants, de grandes femmes blanches qui sortent des iles 
 voisines 011 du continent, marchent sur la mer, et viennent 
 s'asseoir au rivage. La on les voit, tristes et penchees, creuser 
 le sable avec leurs pieds nus, ou effeuiller entre leurs doigts les 
 fleurs de romarin qu'elles out cueillees sur la dune. Ces femmes 
 sont des enfants de File mariees ailleurs, et qui, mortes dans le 
 peche, loin du sol cheri, y reviennent pour demander a leurs 
 parents des prieres. 
 
 'Quelquefois aussi, dans les longues nuits d'hiver, quand 
 le vent rugit sur les flots, les femmes de l'lle dArtz qui ont leurs 
 maris en mer sont reveillees en sursaut. Elles entendent comme 
 le bruit triste et monotone de l'eau qui tombe goutte a goutte a 
 pied de leurs lits ; alors elles regardent epouvantees, et si le 
 bruit n'a point de cause naturelle, si la place n'est pas mouillee f 
 malheur ! car c'est rintersigne du naufrage, et la mer vient de 
 faire des veuves.' — E. Souvestre, 1 Les Derniers Bretons' 
 
 Most of the islands are perfectly bare and colourless, 
 and without any picturesqueness of form. Long before 
 reaching it, the flat line of an island broken by a great 
 tumulus indicates Gavr'Innis — the Goat's Island. 
 
 The landing-place is near a great fig-tree and a cottage, 
 whence a girl comes to show the tumulus (entrance, 50 c. 
 each person). 
 
 'Le mieux conserve et le plus beau des monuments mega- 
 lithiques du monde entier, celui qu'un de nos anciens pre- 
 sidents appelait, dans son language image, lafterle des antiqnites 
 celtiques! — Closrnadeuc, * Revue Archeologique] iv. 
 
gave: innis. 
 
 365 
 
 The tumulus to the S. of the island is composed of 
 piled-up stones, and is entered on the E. by a gallery 
 13 met. long, composed of two ranges of menhirs, forming 
 the walls, and a number of dolmens placed upon them 
 horizontally. The paving-stones are placed horizontally 
 between the menhirs, and always in the same direction. 
 The passage leads to a tiny chamber surrounded by eight 
 menhirs, adorned with rude sculpture of concentric circles, 
 parallel lines, arches, and spirals, Some of the stones 
 employed here are of a kind unknown upon the island. 
 
 [A line runs S.W. from Auray down the Presqu'ile de 
 Quiberon. 
 
 14 k. Plouharnel Carnac. Plouharnel (Hotel : de Commerce) 
 has many megalithic remains. 3 k. S.E. is Carnac (see above). 
 
 Another excursion from Plouharnel may be made by (1 k.) 
 £*. Barbe, with a ruined cromlech, and (2^k.) Crucuno, with the 
 gigantic dolmen of the Roche aux Fees, to (5J k.) Erdeven, with 
 its extraordinary lines or avenues (alignements) of (1030) half- 
 ruined menhirs. The stones are sometimes fifteen feet high, 
 often lower. None are wrought. Some lie on the ground ; some 
 are slightly buried. The lines of Carnac and Erdeven must have 
 had the same end and the same cause : they have the same 
 orientation, and the same number of lines, composed of the same 
 elements. The excursion may be prolonged to (9J k.) Etel } a 
 little port, and (13^ k.) Belz % 1 k. W. of which is the great 
 dolmen of Kerlutu. 1 k. N. of this are the little village and 
 island (connected with the mainland by a causeway) of 61 Cado, 
 with a romanesque chapel, a remnant of a priory founded by the 
 sainted monk, son of a Welsh prince, who established himself 
 here in the v. c. or VI. c. Legend tells that the causeway was 
 formed in one night by the devil, at the request of the saint, who 
 promised in return the first soul that crossed it, and sent a cat 
 across at daybreak. The devil then wished to destroy his work, 
 the saint rushed upon him to hinder this, and fell in the struggle, 
 leaving a lasting mark in the rock. This mark — la glissade de 
 
366 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 S. Cado — is now covered by an iron grating and surmounted by 
 a calvary. 
 
 Leaving Plouharnel, the line crosses the causeway near 
 (xviil c.) Fort Penthievre to the peninsula of Quiberon. 
 
 2S k. Quiberon (Hotel : Penthievre ; du Commerce), a pleasant 
 bathing-place, chiefly celebrated for the melancholy landing 
 of the disunited royalists (June 27, 1795) and their defeat by 
 Hoche.] 
 
 [The upper part of the Gulf of Morbihan (10 k. long and 17 k. 
 wide) may be best visited by boat from Auray, with its principal 
 islands — the lie d'Arz, with a priory church, partly xi. c. ; and 
 the lie aux Moines, with a cromlech and several dolmens. This 
 island is cultivated by women ; all the men are sailors. 
 
 'The islands of the Breton archipelago here lie as thickly 
 together as those of the Aegean, and, according to local tradition, 
 are as numerous as the days of the year. In some cases they 
 are mere uninhabited island-rocks ; in others, little oases of 
 verdure, with chalets and gardens, farm-buildings and corn-fields ; 
 and, seen on a bright autumn day, the sky blue and warm, the 
 sea smooth and bluer still, they reminded me of the exquisite 
 scenery of the Greek seas.' — Autum7i in Western France. 
 
 'Je n'oublierai jamais le jour ou je partis de grand matin 
 d'Auray, la ville sainte des chouans, pour visiter, a quelques 
 lieues, les grands monuments druidiques de Loc Maria Ker et 
 de Carnac. Le premier de ces villages, a l'embouchure de la 
 sale et fetide riviere d'Auray, avec ses ties du Morbihan, phis 
 nombreuses quHl y a de jours dans Van, regarde par-dessus une 
 petite baie la plage de Quiberon, de sinistre memoire. II tombait 
 du brouillard, comme il y en a sur ces cotes de la moitie de 
 l'annee. De mauvais ponts sur des marais, puis le bas et sombre 
 manoir avec Id longue avenue de chenes qui s'est religieusement 
 conservee en Bretagne ; des bois fourres et bas, ou les vieux 
 arbres meme ne s elevent jamais bien haut ; de temps en temps 
 un paysan qui passe sans regarder, mais il vous a bien vu avec 
 son oeil oblique de l'oiseau de nuit. Cette figure explique leur 
 fameux cri de guerre, et le nom de chouans, que leur donnait 
 les bleus. Point de maisons sur les chemins ; ils reviennent 
 
HENNEBONT. 
 
 367 
 
 chaque soir au village. Partout de grandes landes, tristement 
 parees de bruyeres roses et de diverses plantes jaunes ; ailleurs, 
 ce sont des campagnes blanches de sarasin. Cette neige d'6te, 
 ces couleurs sans eclat et comme fletries d'avance, affligent 
 l'oeil plus qu'elles en le recreent.' — Michelet. 
 
 The water enters from the sea by a very narrow channel 
 between the points of Port Navalos and Kerpenhir.~] 
 
 [Steamers ply daily between Auray and Belle-Ile-en-Mer 
 (30 k. from the entrance of the Morbihan, 6 k. from Quiberon), 
 in Breton Giierveur. The island — where the Druids had their 
 principal school — measures 18 k. by 10 k. ; its principal village 
 is Le Palais.^ 
 
 [For the line from Auray to S. Brieuc see ch. v.] 
 
 514k. Hennebont (Hotels: de France; de Co?nmerce). 
 This old town, often mentioned in Froissart, retains its 
 three divisions. We enter by the Ville Neuve, and after 
 crossing the Blavet find the Vieille Ville and the Ville Close, 
 The latter retains much of its ancient fortifications and one 
 very fine Gateway, flanked by round towers. Beyond this 
 is the large unfinished church of Notre Dame de Paradis, 
 built 1513-30. The central nave, without a vault, ends in 
 a five-sided chevet, pierced with two ranges of windows; 
 the side aisles end in a straight wall. 
 
 ' On doit reserver son admiration pour le portail, ou se decoupe 
 une ogive elegante, entouree de riches moulures, et surmontee 
 d'un clocher svelte et gracieux. II est flanque de deux petites 
 tours avec lesquelles il communique par des galeries, ou plutot 
 des ponts legers, jetes bien au-dessus du toit de la nef. Un de 
 ces ponts est abattu, et sa destruction affaiblit un peu l'effet 
 general de la facade.' — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 Very little remains of the castle, which was bravely 
 defended by the Countess Jeanne de Montfort (in full 
 
368 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 armour) against Charles de Blois, in the xiv. c. There are 
 many old timber houses of xvi. c. and xvn. c. in the Place 
 de l'Eglise, Rue des Lombards, and Rue de la Prison. In 
 the Rue Neuve, a house is inscribed £ Le Livec, 1600.' 
 
 At 1 k., on the 1. bank of the Blavet, stood the 
 Cistercian Abbaye de la Joie, founded at the end of the 
 xiii. c. Nothing remains except a parlour belonging to its 
 later buildings, decorated in the time of Louis XV. 
 
 6 k. S. is Kervignac, with a xv. c. church, two gothic chapels, 
 and a dolmen containing a circular chamber. 
 
 An excursion may be made from Hennebont to Les Pierres 
 de Plonhinec. 
 
 1 Plouhinec est un pauvre bourg au dela d'Hennebon, vers le 
 mer. On ne voit, tout autour, que des landes ou de petits bois 
 de sapins, et jamais la paroisse n'en a eu assez d'herbe pour 
 elever un boeuf de boucherie, ni assez de son pour engraisser 
 ni descendant des Rohans. 
 
 1 Mais, si les gens de pays manquent de ble et de bestiaux, 
 ils ont plus de cailloux qu'il n'en faudrait pour rebatir Lorient, et 
 Ton trouve au dela du bourg une grande bruyere dans laquelle 
 les Korigans ont plante deux rangees de longues pierres qu'on 
 pourrait prendre pour une avenue si elles conduisaient quelque 
 part.' — Emile Soitvestre. 
 
 522k. L Orient (Hotels: de France; de Fretagne), the 
 capital of Morbihan. A dull, ugly, dusty, unhealthy town, 
 especially subject to cholera. The port, founded here in 
 the end of the xvn. c. by the East India Company, has 
 become a great military port since their failure in 1769. 
 The town is devoted to ship-building. Its buildings are of 
 no interest. In the cemetery is the tomb of Brizeux, the 
 Breton poet. 
 
 4 k. S.W., at the end of the promontory which closes the bay of 
 L'Orient on the N., is Port Lotas, founded a century earlier. 6 k. 
 
QUIMPERLE. 
 
 369 
 
 N. of this is the church of Merlevenez, attributed to the Templars. 
 The nave, aisles, and transept are xn. c. or xiii. c. ; the octagonal 
 tower and spire are of 1533. 
 
 6 k. W. of L'Orient is the romanesque church of Ploeneur, 
 near which are the tumulus called Butte d Madame and several 
 dolmens and menhirs. At the hamlet of Lannenec (itjrk. W.), 
 where was formerly a monastery of S. Nennoch, a stone trough 
 is shown as the boat of S. Nennoch, in which he crossed to 
 Brittany from England. At the end of the commune of Ploeneur, 
 6 k. S. of L'Orient, is the Chapelle de Notre Dame de Larmor, a 
 quaint building of different dates, with a spire of 161 5. 
 
 Steamers ply to (22 k. from L'Orient, 14 k. from Port Louis) 
 the tie de Croix, abounding in megalithic remains, and with a 
 rocky, caverned coast. In the arm of the sea called Le Coureau 
 de Croix, which separates the island from the mainland, a pic- 
 turesque ceremonial takes place on S. John's Day, when the 
 clergy of the neighbouring parishes, escorted by a flotilla of 
 fishing-boats, bless the waters, that the fishery may be abundant. 
 
 532 k. Gestel. 
 
 6 k. N. is Pontscorff, with the curious rectangular Chapelle 
 S. Jean, built by the Templars. The Maison des Pri?tces is a 
 very richly decorated building of the renaissance, bearing the 
 arms of the house of Rohan. The town is intersected by the 
 Scorff. 
 
 1 Ne crains rien si tu n'as ni parure ni voile ; 
 Viens sous ta coiffe blanche et ta robe de toile, 
 Jeune fille de Scorff.' — Brizeux, 1 Marie. 7 
 
 4 k. S. of Gestel is Guidel, in a district abounding in dolmens. 
 
 542 k. Quimperle 1 (Hotel: Lion dOr — very good, com- 
 fortable, and well situated, once the home of the abbots of 
 S. Croix). An unusually quiet and silent, but pretty little 
 town, chiefly built on a promontory at the junction of the 
 Elle and Izol, as its name, Kemper-Elle, ' the meeting of 
 
 1 Quimperle, Bey, Moelan, and Chohars, were the communes most devoted 
 to the Revolution. 
 
 24 
 
37o NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 the Elle,' signifies. It first arose around the hermitage of 
 the Welsh prince Gunthiern. In the Ville haute, old houses 
 and convents cluster around the xiv. c. and xv. c. church 
 of S. Michel, which has a good tower and a beautiful N. 
 portal with lace-like decorations. At the E. end two arches 
 connect it picturesquely with neighbouring houses, that 
 on the N. being a good specimen of xv. c. 
 
 ' Parmi les petites villes que Ton rencontre presque a chaque 
 pas dans la Bretagne comme temoignage de la civilisation et 
 de l'importance primitive du vieux duche, il n'en est point dont 
 l'aspect soit a la fois plus coquet, plus paisible et plus doux que 
 Kemperle\ Nee d'une abbaye, cette gracieuse bourgade semble 
 avoir conserve la serenite du cloitre. Seulement, les cellules 
 se sont insensiblement transformers en maisonettes riantes en- 
 tourees de jardins, ou chaque famille vit a part, d'une existence 
 silencieuse et muree.' — Entile Souvestre. 
 
 In the Ville basse, where the hotel is situated, is the 
 very curious ancient basilica of S. Croix, which belonged 
 to a Benedictine abbey founded by S. Gunthiern in 550, and 
 rebuilt in 1029 by Alain, Comte de Cornouaille. It was 
 much injured by the fall of its central tower in 1862, but 
 has been restored upon the old lines, in imitation of the 
 church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The interior 
 is most curious — a Greek cross, with a raised choir between 
 massive pillars. The XL c. crypt below has two ranges of 
 columns with Byzantine capitals, and a subterranean corridor 
 repeats the circular aisle of the upper church. In the crypt 
 is the tomb of S. Gurloes, the first abbot of Quimperle, who 
 died in 1057. His hands hold a cross, his feet rest on a 
 dragon, and a little plate upon his breast collects the sous 
 of the faithful. The Bretons, who call him S. Urlou, invoke 
 him against the gout, which they call mal de S. Urlou. A 
 
QUIMPERLE. 
 
 371 
 
 second tomb in the crypt bears the statue and arms of Abbot 
 Henri de Lespervez, 1434. 
 
 ' La forme de leglise, tres rare en France, offre comme la 
 reunion de la Rotonde et de la Croix. Qu'on se represente un 
 choeur circulaire, dont le coupole s'appuie sur d'enormes massifs. 
 Autour du choeur regnentles bas-cotes, quilui sont concentriques. 
 A Test est l'apside, se terminant par un hemicycle sortant de 
 la circonference ; au sud, une chapelle semicirculaire, ou pour 
 mieux dire un croisillon. Au nord et a l'ouest, les deux autres 
 branches de la croix se terminent carrement ; mais ces parties 
 ont ete refaites. Entre chaque massif, un escalier conduit des 
 bas-cotes dans le choeur, eleve d'environ quatre pieds au-dessus 
 de leur niveau. L'apside orientale est encore plus haute. On 
 y arrive des bas-cotes par deux escaliers ; un troisieme donne 
 dans le choeur.' — Prosper Merimee. 
 
 Not far from S. Croix is the picturesque ruined front 
 of the church of S. Columban, with a flamboyant window 
 and gothic niches. This church served as the palace 
 chapel of the dukes of Brittany, when they lived here 
 for hunting in the forest of Carnoet. There are some 
 ruins of a Dominican Convent \ where Jean de Montfort, 
 husband of the famous Jeanne la Flamme, was buried 
 beneath the high altar. The xvi. c. chapel of S. David 
 contains a S. Sepulcre of the same date. 
 
 The virtues of the fountain of Serignac have a great 
 local reputation. 
 
 1 Puisque la fontaine de Serignac, ou j'ai bu trois fois de 
 l'eau a l'heure de minuit, ne m'a pas gueri de la fievre tierce, je 
 cesse tout remede, et je me decide a la mort, disait un paysan 
 du district de Quimperle.' — Cambry. 
 
 4 k. S. of the town begins the forest of Carnoet, an old 
 hunting ground of the dukes of Brittany, who had a magnificent 
 castle there, which has been demolished for the sake of its stone. 
 At the S. extremity of the forest are remains of the abbey of 
 
372 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 S. Maurice, founded 1170 by Due Conan IV., and where S. 
 Maurice, a monk of Langonnet, was buried in 1191. His relics 
 are preserved in a chapel in the midst of the ruined church. 
 In the buildings, turned into a dwelling-house, is a chapter-house 
 of xiv. c. or xv. c. Over the doorway of S. Maurice was en- 
 graved the proud inscription — ' Cette maison durera jusqu'a ce 
 que la fournoi ait bu la mer, et que la tortue ait fait le tour du 
 monde.' 
 
 Dependent on the abbey of Quimperle was the Priory of 
 Lan Ninnocht) of which Deric, in his Ecclesiastical History, says 
 that it was the oldest monastery for women in Gaul. 
 
 4 Non loin de Quimperle, dans la commune de la Clohars- 
 Carnoet, setend la lande Minars, ou errent, sous la forme de 
 haridelles, les spectres des notaires et des procureurs "qui ont 
 fait des fautes dans leurs additions." II parait qu'on rencontre 
 beaucoup de ces ombres fecondes.' — Adrien Oudin. 
 
 3 kr. N.E. is the Chapelle de Rosgrand, with a graceful renais- 
 sance timber jube. 
 
 [An excursion should certainly be made N. from Quimperle to — 
 
 18 k. 6*. Fiacre, a beautiful xv. c. chapel. Its spire has a 
 flamboyant gallery. On the wall of the chevet are the arms 
 of Jean de Bonteville, Baron du Faouet. In the interior is a 
 magnificent screen of 1440. Some of its sculptures are very 
 grotesque — a wolf in a pulpit dressed as a monk, a fox trying to 
 persuade some hens to come to listen to him, the hens pursuing 
 the fox and pecking him, the fox lying dead and the hens 
 eating him, etc. On the inner side of the jube\ theft, gluttony, 
 luxury, dancing, etc., are represented. The latter is indicated by 
 a sonneur — a Breton piper, and alludes to the excesses which 
 accompany the 'pardons.' The stained glass is almost equally 
 fine, and represents the life of Christ, the legend of S. Fiacre, 
 and a number of saints, whose names are inscribed in the 
 phylacteries which they hold. The windows are due to 
 Androuet de Quimperle, 15s 2 . 
 
 21 k. Le Faouet, a picturesque place, with ancient Halles and 
 many old houses. The church, partly xiii. c, has a polygonal 
 choir of xvj. c. It is 1 \ k. hence to the famous sanctuary 
 
LE FAOUET, GOURIN. 
 
 373 
 
 of 5*. Barbe (turning 1. by the Halles, where a blue Virgin is 
 painted on the wall). It is a very curious place. The paved 
 path ends near a stone cross. To the 1. is the cottage of the 
 guardian of the chapel, and, opposite it, a belfry, where four 
 stone pillars support a roof over the bell which each pilgrim 
 sounds on the day of the pardon. An arch connects it with the 
 Chapelle S. Bernard, on a point of rock, and, by a broad flight of 
 mossy stone steps, with the Chapelle S. Barbe, also built on a 
 projecting spur of rock above the Elle. Its position involved its 
 direction from S.E. to N.W. ; and, the principal entrance being 
 S.W., the high altar is opposite, on the N.E. It was built in 
 1449 to fulfil a vow of Jehann de Toulboden that he would build 
 a chapel to his patron saint if she would arrest a rock which 
 seemed about to fall upon the place where he had taken refuge 
 during a terrible storm which overtook him while hunting in the 
 valley of the Elle. The outside of the chapel of S. Bernard has 
 rings at intervals, holding which pilgrims make the dangerous 
 external circuit at the pardon. 
 
 1 The rose-tinted, lichen-crusted church, the frowning brown 
 rocks all around, tapestried with ivy and other clinging greenery, 
 and then the broken massive time-stained steps, with their heavy 
 green-grey balustrades, bits of lady-fern and ivy-leaved toad-flax 
 nestling here and there in the chinks, making a background for 
 red cranesbill and yellow hawkweed blossoms, are full of exquisite 
 colour.' — Katherine S. Macqi(oid.~] 
 
 [A road runs N.W. from Ouimperle to — 
 
 18 k. Gourin, passing (1.) at 11 k. S. Herve, with an interest- 
 ing xv. c. chapel. One of the fine stained windows represents 
 the legend of the saint, which tells how, when a wolf ate up the 
 ass which he employed to cultivate his ground, he forced the wolf 
 to take its place, and kept it thenceforth in the same shed with 
 his sheep. For this reason S. Herve is invoked for the protection 
 of flocks from wolves, and shepherds bring him lambs as offer- 
 ings. Near Gourin is the ruined Chateau de Kerbiguet?[ 
 
 [A road leads E. to (30 k.) Concarneau (see later) by (17 k.) 
 Pont-Aven [Hotel des Voyageurs — of Mademoiselle Julie Guillou 
 — a capital country inn, much frequented by artists and adorned 
 
374 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 with many of their works). This is a very pretty spot, 1 where 
 the little river Aven falls into a narrow estuary of the sea 
 7 k. distant. The rocks have great picturesqueness of form and 
 character, the country is full of interest, and artists may well 
 make its comfortable hotel a centre. On a neighbouring hill is 
 the curious chapel of Tre Malo. 4 k. S., on the r. bank of the 
 river, which almost encircles it, is the picturesque Chateau du 
 Henan, of xv. c. and xvi. c. 
 
 A little r. of the road to Concarneau is the deserted village of 
 Nz'son, with a curious calvary, and near it the ruined Chateau de 
 Rustephan, originally built by Etienne, Comte de Penthievre, in 
 xii. c. The ruins are xv. c. They are haunted by the priest 
 Jannik Flecher, a peasant who was forced to take orders because 
 he had dared to win the affection of Genevieve, youngest 
 daughter of the lord of the chateau, who died of love for his 
 sake. Her bier, surrounded by burning torches, is sometimes 
 seen in the ruined hall, or, at the full moon, she is seen upon the 
 walls, in her green satin dress embroidered with gold. Pont- 
 Aven is a very cheap place of residence. The author of Quatre 
 Dons says : — 
 
 1 Si j'avais trois cents ecus de rente, j'irais demeurer a Quimper, 
 ou se trouve la plus belle eglise de la Cornouaille, et ou les 
 maisons ont des girouettes sur les toits ; si j'avais deux cents 
 6cus, j'habiterais Carhaix, a cause de ses moutons de bruyere et 
 de son gibier; mais si je n'avais que cent 6cus, je voudrais tenir 
 menage a Pont-Aven, ou on a le beurre pour le prix du lait, la 
 poule pour le prix de l'oeuf, et la toile pour le prix du lin encore 
 vert. Aussi y voit-on de bonne fermes, ou Ton sert du pore 
 sale trois fois la semaine, et ou les bergers eux-memes mangent 
 du pain de metail a discretion.' 
 
 Many curious dolmens and menhirs, and the rocking-stone of 
 Tre'gunc, are passed between Pont-Aven and Concarneau. A 
 little E. of Pont-Aven is ►S. Leger, where, in the wood, is a 
 miraculous fountain with an image of the saint, where many 
 hundreds of babies are bathed at the pardon.] 
 
 557 k. Bannalec (' the place of broom'), famous for 
 
 1 A place of twelve fairs and fifty-two markets. 
 
ROSPORDEN, SCAER. 
 
 375 
 
 the beauty of its women. 2 k. S.E. is the old Chateau de 
 Quimerc'h. 
 
 568 k. Rosporden, burnt by the Spaniards in 1594, with 
 the exception of the beautiful church, which is chiefly 
 xiv. c, with a flamboyant apse and a graceful spire. It 
 stands picturesquely on the edge of a pool. The country is 
 prettily wooded. 
 
 17 k. N.W. is Scaer. The church, partly romanesque, is 
 dedicated to S. Candide ; from its tower there is a very wide 
 view. The misused and neglected miracle-working Fountain of 
 S. Candide is said to have sprung from the earth at a single 
 blow of her staff ; it is sixty feet long, sixteen wide, and seven 
 deep, and, winter or summer, is never without the same quantity 
 of beautifully clear water. In the churchyard is a fine xvi. c. 
 cross. 
 
 At a marriage at Scaer two candles are lighted. One is 
 placed before the husband, the other before the wife. That 
 which is least bright is the candle of the one who will die first. 
 Fire and water have still — as of old time — a great part in Breton 
 ceremonies. 
 
 1 Dans ce pays, la premiere nuit des noces est a Dieu, la 
 seconde a la Vierge, la troisieme au patron de mari ; celui-ci 
 n'approche de sa femme que dans la quatrieme nuit.' — Cambry. 
 
 A line leads S. to (15 k.) Concarneau (Hotel : Grand), a small 
 fortified seaport in a cove opening on the bay of La Forest. The 
 inhabitants are chiefly occupied in the sardine fishery, in which 
 five hundred boats are employed. The Ville close retains its 
 walls, surrounded by the sea at high tide. The Aquarium 
 is worth visiting : — 
 
 ' La richesse de la faune marine de Concarneau est si grande 
 qu'on a cru devoir faire choix de ce coin du rivage pour y etablir 
 le premier vivier de poissons, de crustaces et de mollusques 
 pour l'etude comparee et 1 eleve de ces animaux : le laboratoire 
 et l'aquarium est mis a la fibre disposition des savants, et 
 
376 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 plusieurs y ont deja fait des recherches de la plus haute im- 
 portance ; la nature elle-meme sert de champ d'observation dans 
 ces vastes bassins qu'alimente directement le flux, qu'abaisse le 
 reflux et ou croissent les algues de la mer voisine.' — Elisee 
 Reclns. 
 
 288 k. Quimper (Hotels : de FEpee — large, good, and 
 reasonable ; de Provence ; de France)^ on the Odet and Steyr, 
 the ancient capital of Cornouaille, now capital of the 
 Departement de Finisterre, prettily situated below a wooded 
 hill — le Mont Frugy. The principal thoroughfare — le Mail 
 — is bordered on one side by handsome hotels, and on the 
 other by the river Odet, which makes Quimper an estuary 
 port. The fabled founder of the town was the escaped 
 Trojan Chorinaeus. It was the Curiosolitum of Caesar, 
 but early writers and bishops of the ix. c. speak of it as 
 Civitas Aquilae : Kemp-'er is the eagle's camp. 
 
 The noble Cathedral of S. Corentin} the largest and 
 most beautiful church in Brittany, was begun in 1239 and 
 only finished in 15 15. It has a great charm, from the 
 harmonious yellow-grey colour of the stone of which it is 
 built, and the distant effect of its two lofty west towers, with 
 their noble spires. The facade is of great heraldic interest. 
 In the centre is the lion of Montfort bearing the banner of 
 Brittany, with the device of Jean V., ' Malo au riche due] 
 and many bishops and seigneurs of the district are repre- 
 sented by their arms and mottoes. The point of the gable 
 is surmounted by an equestrian statue of King Grallon. 
 
 ' Tous les ans, a Quimper, le jour de S. Cecile, a deux heures 
 apres-midi, tout le clerge montait sur la plate-forme, ou Ton 
 
 1 S. Corentin, bishop in the v. c, in the time of King- Grallon, lived at one 
 time as a hermit at Plomodiern. His name, from cor, ' head,' and d'en, 'excel- 
 lent/ expresses his character. He was also called Charaton, from char, 1 great,' 
 and rat, ' thought.' 
 
QUI M PER. 377 
 
 trouvait la statue equestre du roi Gralon, entre les deux tours de 
 la cathedrale ; on y chantait un hymne a grand chorus, accom- 
 pagne de musiciens. Pendant ce temps, un des valets de ville 
 montait en croupe sur le cheval, tenant une bouteille, un verre, 
 une serviette ; cet homme alors versait une rasade, la presentait 
 
 CATHEDRAL OF QUIMPER. 
 
 au roi, l'avalait, essuyait la bouche du prince, et lancait le verre 
 dans la place. On se precipitait pour le recevoir ; celui qui 
 le rapportait sans qu'il fut rompu, devait avoir une gratification 
 de cent ecus, ce qui n'est jamais arrive. La ceremonie se 
 terminait en placant une branche de laurier dans la main du roi 
 
378 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Gralon. . . . Gralon sera le Bacchus ou le Mars des bretons.' — 
 
 C ambry, 1 Voyage dans le Finistere.' 
 
 The towers were begun in 1424, but the spires are only 
 of 1854. The two side portals are of 1424-45. That of 
 Notre Dame on S. has good sculpture. The choir has not 
 the same axis as the nave, but inclines first to the N.E., and, 
 towards the extremity, bends again, which is probably due 
 to the insecurity of the foundation near the river. The 
 rich high altar is a fine modern work. In the tresor are 
 preserved les trois gouttes de sang. Legend tells that a 
 native of Quimper, going on pilgrimage, left his money in 
 the care of a comrade. When he came home and asked 
 for it back, the comrade denied having received it, and 
 offered to swear to the same upon the crucifix of S. Corentin. 
 He gave his staff to the pilgrim to hold. The staff was 
 hollow, and contained the stolen coin, and at the moment 
 when the traitor took the false oath it opened, and the 
 money was scattered on the pavement ; at the same 
 moment the feet of the Crucified, fastened by a single nail, 
 came apart, and three drops of blood fell upon the altar. 
 The series of tombs of the bishops of Cornouaille — several 
 of whom, Corentin, Conogan, Menon (VII.), Tugean, have 
 been canonised — and the pictures of Dargent, deserve 
 attention. Making the round of the church, we should 
 observe — 
 
 Under the tower. Tomb of Bishop Raoul de Moel. 
 
 Baptistery, xv. c. statue of S. John, in alabaster. 
 
 Fifth Bay, Chapel of SS. Crispin and Crispinian. Tomb of 
 
 Bishop de Ploeuc, 1739. 
 Third Chapel, ofS. Roch. S. Roch in his Hermitage, and S. Roch 
 
 Blessing the Plague-stricken, by Van Dargent. 
 Fourth Chapel, of S. Corentin. The Apotheosis of S. Corentin, 
 
QUIMPER. 379 
 
 and the Meeting of S. Corentin and S. Primel under an Oak, 
 by Dargent. 
 
 After the Sacristy door, Chapel of Notre Dame des Carmes. 
 Tomb of Bishop Sargent, 1871. 
 
 Chapelle des Anges. Tomb of Bishop Geoffroy le Marhec, 1383. 
 Against a pillar is the statue of Jean Discalceat, the bare- 
 footed, called 'Le petit S. Jean' by the faithful, of whom 
 Albert the Great reports that if he found any vermin in his 
 habit, he always took them up carefully and placed them in 
 his sleeves or hood. 
 
 Second Chapel after Apse, of S. Paul. Tomb of Canon Pierre de 
 Quenquis, xiv. c. The Conversion of S. Paul, and S. Paul 
 on Areopagus, by Dargent. 
 
 Chapel of S. Jean. Tomb of Bishop Bertrand de Rosmadec, 
 with a fine xv. c. statue. 
 
 Chapel of S. Joseph. The Flight into Egypt and the Death of 
 S. Joseph, by Dargent. 
 
 Chapel of S. Anne. The Education of the Virgin by S. Anne, 
 by Dargent. 
 
 First Chapel after Transept, of S. Francois. The Transfiguration, 
 by Le Febvre. 
 
 Last Chapel, of the Madeleine. Tomb of Bishop Alain de Maout. 
 
 The space between the Odet and Steyr was formerly 
 called Terre au Due, because the ducal officers resided and 
 exercised their powers there. Beyond the Promenade of 
 Penity — where, on the 1. bank of the Odet, once stood a 
 beautiful chapel, famous for its glass — is the suburb of 
 Locmaria, once celebrated for its china factory. Here is 
 an interesting church, built 1030 by Alain Canhiart, Comte 
 de Cornouaille. It is an interesting simple building of 
 xi. c, with the additions of a restored choir and gothic 
 porch. Close to the Hotel de Ville is the Musee, which 
 well deserves a visit on account of its curious life-size 
 models — representing all the Breton costumes — marvel- 
 lously lifelike and full of character. There is the usual 
 
NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 picture-gallery. Quimper was the birthplace of the painter 
 Valentin. 
 
 ' Les grotesques figures qu'on apercoit sur les plus anciens 
 edifices de Quimper ont un caractere d'originalite, de plaisanterie, 
 de gaiete, qui ne le cede a rien. C'est un malheureux qui souffre, 
 et dont la risible grimace est a moitie cachee par un mouchoir ; 
 c'est un lourdeau qui sollicite un juge, qui lui repond, en lui 
 montrant sa bourse ; c'est un monstre a tete de pongo, presque 
 aussi longue que son corps decharne, qui pose sur un bouclier ; 
 un cordelier a figure benigne, etendant des mains benites sur la 
 tete des passants. On y voit l'ange de Tobie, la folle, un homme 
 separant en deux un lion dont il dechire les machoires, et regard- 
 ant d'un air feroce un burlesque guerrier qui le menace d'un 
 massue ; ce matamore arme porte un de ces etuits insolens et 
 menteurs que nos peres 6talaient, en forme priape, au defaut de 
 la cuirasse et des cuissarts.' — Cambry. 
 
 In a fountain at Quimper was said to swim a miraculous 
 fish, always living and always whole, though S. Corentin 
 daily cut it in half to supply his food for the day. This 
 fountain still exists, on the road to L'Orient. Nothing re- 
 mains of the famous church of S. Gueodet — Notre Dame 
 au Gue de l'Odet, famous for its glass — where, after the 
 destruction of Is, a sacred candle was always kept burning. 
 When this was extinguished it was believed that the water 
 of a well adjoining the church would rise, and Quimper 
 would be submerged. In 1792 the candle was extinguished. 
 
 'A cette epoque, deux enfans, entrant un jour au Gueodet, 
 s'en emparerent et se placerent a la bouche du puits. La, munis 
 d'une chandelle allumee, ils eteignirent la bougie sacree, en 
 regardant dans le puits pour voir si l'eau s'elevait, resolus a 
 rallumer la sainte bougie, des qu'ils apercevraient quelque 
 mouvement dans le puits terrible. Ils furent trouves dans cette 
 occupation, et chasses de la chapelle. II y avait certes un grave 
 symptome dans la doute philosophique de ces deux enfants 
 
QUI M PER. 
 
 38i 
 
 jouant ainsi avec une croyance populaire ; cela faisait com- 
 prendre que la destruction de la foi catholique n'etait pas loin.' — 
 Cambry. 
 
 Quimper is a centre for many interesting excursions : — 
 
 18 k. S., descending the Odet by boat, is Loctudy, which takes 
 its name from S. Tudy, abbot in the vi. c, who built a monastery, 
 on the site of which a church was built the Templars in 1 187 — 
 a very curious building, which retains traces of the earlier edifice. 
 It consists of a nave, aisles making the circuit of the choir, and 
 three apsidal chapels. Three tombs are xv. c. In the church- 
 yard is the little transition chapel of Notre Dame de Portzbihan, 
 and at the entrance of the churchyard a menhir, supporting 
 a cross. There is a ferry from Loctudy to the Island of Tudy, 
 where S. Tudy had a hermitage and founded his first monastery. 
 
 [A line runs S. to (18 k.) Pont VAbbe (Hotels: Duhamel; 
 des Voyageurs), a quaint little place on the river Abbe (2 k. from 
 the bay of Benodet (which preserves, more than most places, its 
 ancient Breton costumes. The church belonged to a Carmelite 
 convent, founded by Herve, Baron de Pont l'Abbe, and Perronelle 
 de Rochefort, his wife, in 1383, but was restored in xv. c. and 
 xvi. c. There is a very beautiful and picturesque xv. c. Cloister, 
 now a school, which bears the arms of its builder, Bishop Bertrand 
 de Rosmadec, who has such a fine tomb in Quimper Cathedral. 
 The Mairie is established in the remains of the xm. c. chateau. 
 
 Near Pont l'Abbe is the lie Chevalier, where some ruins are 
 shown as belonging to one of the castles of King Grallon. 
 
 The excursion should be continued (by carriage 8 frs., or place 
 in the courier 2 frs.) to Penmarc'h. The road, at 2^k., skirts the 
 grounds of the desolate and decaying Chateau de Kernuz. Then 
 it passes between two dolmens. The latter part of the road runs 
 through an excessively wild district, sprinkled with menhirs, with 
 occasional dolmens. There are striking views across the yellow 
 corn plains to the pink-grey church of S. Nonne, backed by the 
 line of the distant sea, with its belt of rocks, on which the 
 breakers lash themselves high in foam. 
 
 ' Cest la vraie "fin des terres," ou le vent et la houle 
 
3 82 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 s'elancent avec plus de fureur que sur tous les autres rivages de 
 France.' — Elisee Reclus. 
 
 At 12 k. (30 k. from Quimper) we reach the first ruins of 
 Penmarc'h. Its name signifies a horse's head, and is taken from 
 the form of a neighbouring rock. The whole plateau of 1 the 
 Horse's Head,' covered with ancient buildings, is now a waste ; 
 but Penmarc'h is said to have been once as large as Nantes is 
 now : it could equip 3000 men, possessed a fleet of 800 boats, 
 
 penmarc'h. 
 
 and had its Jewellers' Street and Drapers' Street. The whole 
 district is covered with remains — houses, many of them much 
 isolated and fortified, chapels, and churches. Here and there 
 is an old grey wayside cross. Till 1556 Treoultre Penmarc'h 
 was a large town, with 10,000 inhabitants. It lived upon its 
 cod fishery. In 1566 the sea made a sudden incursion, the 
 harbour was choked up and the cod-fishery destroyed, and 
 before the place had rallied from these the brigand chieftain Guy 
 Eden Fontenelle and his followers came over from Donarnenez, 
 
PENMARCyiL 
 
 383 
 
 insinuated themselves into the good graces of the inhabitants, 
 and then, when they were least suspected, massacred 5000 
 men, outraged the women, and filling 300 ships of Penmarc'h 
 with all the spoils of the place, carried it off. 
 
 The church of S. Nonne, 1 entirely xvi. c, is a fine building, 
 with an ossuary at its E. end, and a churchyard porch on the W. 
 On the wall of the tower are a number of curious ships in relief, 
 though they have been much scratched away in i restoration.' 
 The interior is still striking, the old pavement having fortunately 
 been left, from want of funds for its removal. 
 
 The church of 6! Guenole 2 — the first inventor of cider — is the 
 ruin of an admirable xv. c. building, and highly picturesque. Its 
 remains are a massive tower and a little chancel and apse, in which 
 service is held once a month. Here also ships are carved on the 
 external walls. Near this are the remains of the Manoir de 
 Kerberve. 
 
 ' Guenole n'avoit pour tout habit qu'une tunique de peaux 
 de chevres, qui cachoit un rude cilice. ... II meloit avec son pain 
 une certaine quantite de cendres et la faisoit doubler pendant le 
 careme. Pour se rapprocher davantage a la vie de Jesus-Christ, 
 il ne mangeoit que deux fois la semaine dans le temps con- 
 sacre a la penitence. II couchoit sur les ecorces d'arbres ou 
 sur le sable, et il n'avoit qu'une pierre pour chevet. Depuis 
 l'age de vingt ans jusqua sa mort, il ne s'assit jamais dans 1 eglise. 
 II disoit son office les bras etendus vers le ciel, ou a genoux, ou 
 debout. II recitait tous les jours le psautier ; il faisoit cent 
 genuflexions le jour et autant la nuit. La priere lui etait familiere 
 jour et nuit : uni a Dieu par la contemplation, il sembloit n'avoir 
 plus rien de terrestre.' — Deric, 1 Hist. Ecc. de Bretagne! 
 
 The ruined church of Kerity, dedicated to 6". Thumette, one 
 of the Virgins of S. Ursula, belonged to the Templars, who had a 
 commanderie here ; the remains are xni. c. The curious alabaster 
 
 1 Also known as S. Melarie. She was daughter of the Welsh prince Brecan, 
 sister of S. Keine and S. Ninnoc, and mother of S. David. Her tomb is in 
 the parish church of Dirinon. 
 
 2 S. Guenole was a holy hermit dressed in skins, the son of S. Fracan and 
 S. Guen, brother of S. Jacut and S. Guethenoc, master of S. Rioc, S. Idunet, 
 S. Ratian, etc. He founded the monastery of Landevenec, and died 504. (See 
 Lobineau, 4 Les Saints de Bretagne.') 
 
3^4 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 statue of S.John, formerly here, is now in the church of Penmarc'h : 
 it has its beard, hair and eyebrows gilt ; a garland of boughs, on 
 which birds perch, surrounds the saint : he holds a lamb. The 
 statue is perhaps of Spanish^ origin, and was wrecked on the 
 coast. The church of 6*. Pierre (close to Kerity) is xv. c. Near 
 the sea are Notre Dame de la Joie and 6*. Fiacre. 
 
 Between the Pointe de Penmarc'h and the Anse de la Torche 
 
 NOTRE DAME DE LA JOIE. 
 
 (4 k. N.) the shore is bordered by rocks of great picturesqueness. 
 In the Anse de la Torche is the rock which gives it the name, 
 separated from the mainland by the Saut-du-Moine (so called 
 because^S. Viaud, when he arrived from Ireland, is supposed to 
 have leapt across it in safety). But the finest cliffs are those 
 called des Etaux, or Tal- Yvern, with caverns which can only be 
 reached at low tide. Of these the Grotte de Philopex served as 
 a refuge to Girondin fugitives in 1793. 
 
DOUARNENEZ. 
 
 385 
 
 A cross near the shore marks the spot where two ladies and 
 three children, sitting unsuspecting on a rock, were swept away 
 by a wave. 'Who has ever passed along this funereal coast,' 
 says Michelet, 1 without exclaiming or feeling, " Tristis usque ad 
 mortem " ? '] 
 
 [A line leads N.W. to (24 k.) Donamenez 1 (Hotels : du 
 Commerce — best, clean and tolerable ; des Voyagenrs), a large 
 fishing town on the bay of the same name. Its narrow, rugged, 
 tortuous white streets all lead down to the port with its long 
 pier. The vast bay is almost land-locked. The only sands are 
 2 k. distant, so that the place is most inconvenient for bathing. 
 Sardines are the principal object of commerce. 
 
 An interesting sight is the evening departure of the fishing- 
 boats, more than a hundred at a time following one another, 
 with chocolate-coloured sails. 
 
 ' Ah ! quel bonheur d'aller en mer ! 
 Par un ciel chaud, par un ciel clair, 
 
 La mer vaut la campagne ; 
 Si le ciel bleu devient tout noir, 
 Dans nos coeurs brille encore l'espoir, 
 
 Car Dieu nous accompagne, 
 Le bon Jesus marchait sur l'eau, 
 Va sans peur, mon petit bateau.' 
 
 Auguste Brizeux, ' Hist, poetiques. ' 
 
 A more curious sight than the boats at such times are the 
 hundreds of unmarried girls, who come down dressed in their 
 best, to sit in a long row on the pier wall to watch the pro- 
 ceedings and be inspected, and, if possible, admired. Some- 
 times there are nearly a thousand in this ( girl-show ' — so many 
 that it seems impossible the town can produce them all — wearing 
 white lace caps of different patterns and shawls of every shade 
 of blue and green. Boys come in troops and throw squibs, 
 producing sudden flights, with much screaming and laughter. 
 Many of the girls are very handsome, and all court observation. 
 
 1 Perhaps from daou-ar, 'two lands,' because the land, which was one, 
 became two after the submersion of 401. 
 
 25 
 
3 86 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 x Grace a l'extreme variete de fonds, aux multiples dentelures 
 de la cote, aux lies et aux ecueils parsem£es le long du littoral 
 breton, la vegetation marine est tres-riche, et, par une consequence 
 naturelle, la faune aquatique est representee par un grand 
 nombre d'especes, foisonnant en multitudes : jadis le saumon 
 etait la nourriture la plus commune des paysans de Quimper et 
 de Chateaulin, et Ton raconte qu'en plusieurs districts maritimes 
 du pays les domestiques de ferme ne se louaient qu'a la con- 
 dition de ne pas manger de saumon plus de trois fois par 
 semaine. Aussi, malgre ses dangers, la peche a-t-elle ete 
 toujours des plus actives dans les mers qui baignent la presqu'ile 
 de Bretagne. Des milliers d'embarcations sont equipees pour la 
 peche du hareng, de la sardine, du maquereau, de la langouste, 
 de l'huitre ; et meme les marins bretons, familiarises avec les 
 perils de la mer, vont en grand nombre pecher la morue sur les 
 bancs de Terre-Neuve ou les parages islandais. Les populations 
 agricoles prennent aussi part a ces expeditions lointaines. Chaque 
 annee des centaines de jeunes gens consacrent l'hiver a la culture 
 des champs, aux semailles, a la recolte du varech ; puis, des le 
 mois de fevrier, ils s'engagent comme matelots sur les navires en 
 partance pour les mers boreales. Les quatre departements de 
 la Bretagne donnent a la marine commerciale la cinquieme partie 
 de ses equipages.' — Elisee Reclus. 
 
 The name of Douarnenez, signifying 1 island-land,' comes from 
 the lie Tristan, which can be reached on foot at low tide. There 
 was a priory here dedicated to S. Tutuarn, in which the brigand 
 Fontenelle established himself for three years, as in a fortress, 
 and devastated thence the surrounding country. The island 
 (properly lie Tutuarn) is said to take its present name from 
 the brave Tristan des Leonais, one of the knights of the Round 
 Table, who partook with the fair Yseult the ' draught of love ' 
 intended for the King Marc'h. This King Marc'h (the name 
 signifying horse), who had his residence on the site of the village 
 of Plomarc'h, on the E. of Douarnenez, like King Midas, put 
 to death all his barbers, for fear they should reveal that his 
 ears were those of a horse. At last a hairdresser was spared 
 on promise of silence, but he could not keep the strange secret, 
 and confided it to the sand of the sea-shore. Forthwith three 
 reeds sprang up, from which bards made strings for hautboys 
 
COMFORT. 
 
 387 
 
 which proclaimed, ' March, the King of Plomarc'h, has the 
 ears of a horse.' 
 
 ' In the Bay of Douarnenez, when the storm is rising, the 
 fishermen hear in the whistling, moaning gale, the crierien, the 
 voices of the shipwrecked, shrieking for burial ; and tell that on 
 All Souls' Day, le jour des morts, you may see the pale spirits 
 rising on the crests of the waves and scudding like the spray 
 before the wind, in the Bate des Trepasses: it is the annual 
 gathering of those who have lived on these shores, the drowned 
 and the buried, and they seek each other among the waves. 
 There also they believe that the demons who wait for the lost 
 soul show themselves in visible form about his door during his 
 agony ; they tell of fishers' boats deeply laden with their invisible 
 freight of spirits, gliding off to the ocean.' — Dean Churchy 
 1 Essays' 
 
 A little E. of Douarnenez is Plomarc'h, where some sub- 
 structions were attributed to the palace of King Marc'h. The 
 neighbourhood abounds in woodpeckers and kingfishers. 
 
 6 k. E. of Douarnenez is the Manoir de Kervenargen, where 
 the proscribed Girondists, Buzot, Petion, Guadet, Barbaroux 
 and Louvet found a temporary refuge in 1793. Near this are 
 a number of menhirs and the allee-couverte of Ty-ar-C houriquet. 
 
 The road from Douarnenez to (28 k.) Chateaulin, passes 
 (3 k.) Kerlas, 1 with a fine xvi. c. and xvn. c. church with a spire, 
 and a cemetery cross of 1645. At Ploure, near Douarnenez, in 
 the Chapelle des Morts, is a copy of Canova's 1 Christ,' given by 
 Cardinal Fesch to the famous doctor Laennec, who bequeathed 
 it to his parish church. 
 
 10 k. from Douarnenez, on the road to Audierne, is Comfort, 
 where the Chapelle Noire Dame, an admirable little building of 
 xvi. c, contains a roue de fortune — a circle of wood hung with 
 bells — which the sacristan sets in motion at certain points in the 
 service. In the churchyard are a calvary and menhir. 
 
 The railway reaches — 
 
 39 k. Pont-Croix. The collegiate church of Notre Dame de 
 Roscudon, called Ilis-ar-Verdhez by the peasants, is chiefly 
 xii. c, with a central tower and spire of xv. c, flamboyant 
 
 1 Ker, or Kar, means a stone or altar. 
 
388 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 windows, a fine gothic porch, and some good glass of 1554. A 
 road turns S.E. from hence to (33 k.) Pont-l'Abbe (see p. 381), 
 by (27 k.) Ploneour Lanvem, 4 k. W. of which, at Treguennec y 
 is the Chapelle S. Viand, much frequented by pilgrimage for 
 the cure of fever ; and 2 k. farther S. the Chapelle Notre Dame 
 de Tronoan, a fine gothic building in a desolate district. 
 
 43 k. Audierne (Hotel : Batifoulier — primitive, but clean. 
 Diligence to Quimper, 3 fr. 50 c). This little port and quay on 
 the Goayen, 1 k. from its mouth, is a much prettier place than 
 Douarnenez. The neighbouring hamlet of 6*. Tugean has a fine 
 xv. c. and xvi. c. church, partly renaissance. A mysterious 
 pointed iron key of the saint is preserved in a reliquary, and is 
 used on the day of the pardon to prick a number of small loaves, 
 which, it is supposed, can never, from that time, grow mouldy, 
 and a fragment of which, thrown to a mad dog, will put it to 
 flight. In another reliquary are preserved the teeth of S. Tugean, 
 which are believed to cure all aching teeth that are touched by 
 them. Tourists may stay at Audierne to explore the curious 
 neighbouring district. 
 
 A carriage — a covered car — should be engaged at Audierne 
 for a visit to the Pointe du Raz — the Land's End of France, and 
 a luncheon basket with hard-boiled eggs, bread and wine should 
 be taken from the hotel. The road, which passes over high 
 corn-land, is for the most part uninteresting. Near the village of 
 Primelin is the Chapelle S. Theodore. At the foot of a windmill 
 is a dolmen, rising above a stone trough, in which fever-stricken 
 patients are stretched for cure. The road now descends into 
 a little bay, and, mounting the opposite hill, reaches, at 10 k., 
 Plogoff. Here the church is dedicated to S. Ke, or Colledoc, 
 a Welsh bishop who came to be a hermit in Brittany in the vi. c, 
 and who possessed a miraculous bell, which warned him of the 
 good acts he had to perform and the evil he had to avoid. The 
 story of his life is bound up with that of King Arthur, and, after 
 the king's supposed death, in 542, it is he who is said to have 
 persuaded Guinevere to resist the blandishments of Lancelot 
 and remain in her convent at Amesbury. There is a pretty 
 chapel of 6*. Colledoc, with an old stone cross on the 1. of the 
 road before reaching (13 k.) Lescoff, where there are several 
 menhirs. A little beyond this, cultivation ceases. 
 
POINTE DU RAZ. 
 
 389 
 
 'Les bords ne sont pas moins desoles que ceux de Spitzberg: 
 pas une arbre sur les hauteurs voisines, nulle culture au vent de 
 la mer : c'est la region de la mort. Puis le continent s'amincit ; 
 ce n'est plus qu'une peninsule, meme qu'une simple corne de 
 rochers s'avancant au loin dans les eaux. La le spectacle de la 
 mer bouleversee par la tempete est vraiment formidable : quoique 
 le sentier suive la crete du promontoire a 80 metres de hauteur, 
 on y est cependant couvert de l'embrun des vagues, et Ton sent 
 distinctement le sol fremir sous ses pieds.' — Elisee Reclus. 
 
 At 15 k. we reach the lighthouse of the Pointe du Raz or Cap 
 Szzun, ever surrounded by crowds of beggars and guides, who 
 live in constant idleness on the chance of what they can pick 
 up, 1 but — when they get nothing — give you the same friendly 
 1 Bon-jourc'h.' 
 
 A few minutes' walk from the lighthouse brings us to the 
 cliffs above the sea. The scenery is not to be compared to that 
 of the English Land's End, but is wild and savage. The rocky 
 promontory — ' la proue de l'ancien monde ' — is lashed by grand 
 breakers, and has a definite end, with nothing beyond it. It is 
 perfectly safe in calm weather, and guides are absurdly un- 
 necessary, as there is only one well-defined path. In a storm 
 the waves are sublime, but indeed the scene is grandest when 
 you cannot see it, when it is next to impossible to stand against 
 the wind and the storm. There is an islet lighthouse, very 
 necessary at this, the most dangerous point of the whole French 
 coast. 
 
 ' C'est un proverbe breton : " Nul n'a passe le Raz sans mal 
 ou sans frayeur." Et encore, " Secourez-moi, grand Dieu, a la 
 r ointe de Raz ! mon vaisseau est si petit, et la mer est si grande.'" 
 — Michelet. 
 
 ' It is a coast of a terrible name for shipwrecks. Much has 
 been done and is doing with lighthouses, but nothing can pre- 
 vent the deadly Chaussee des Sems, as they call the reef of rocks 
 beyond the island, and the perilous Bee du Raz, which is the 
 name of the channel between the island and the point, from 
 
 1 ' Chercheurs de pain a qui une compatissante moitie de menage donne de 
 quoi fumer une pipe et boire un coup.' 
 
39 c 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 devouring their yearly tale of lives. On either side of the 
 point the waters are full of fish, so that smacks pass to and 
 fro continually in the Bee du Raz ; as do greater craft often, 
 to avoid the long circuit outside the Chaussee. The Breton 
 fisherman has a prayer for the passage, and a proverb which 
 says, " Whoso steers not wisely in the Raz is a dead maji'.'" — 
 Cornhill Magazine. 
 
 ' Rien d'effrayant comme le passage entre le Raz et l'ile de 
 Sein ; la moindre erreur, une fausse manoeuvre, vous precipitent a 
 
 THE POINTE DU RAZ. 
 
 jamais dans des gouffres, sur des rochers, sans aucun espoir de 
 salut.' — Cambry. 
 
 Far out in the open sea is the He de Sein, the Sena of 
 Pomponius Mela, where every family still eats, on Holy Thurs- 
 day, the repas du navire, a little boat made of pastry. It hangs 
 over each dining-table, and at the end of the meal it is let down, 
 and, the whole family standing round it, the master of the house 
 chants the Vent Creator, to which the rest respond in chorus. 
 The old vessel is then burnt and replaced by another till the 
 
POINTE DU RAZ. 
 
 39 1 
 
 following year. This is supposed to call down the blessing of 
 heaven upon the fishing boat which is the support of the family, 
 the boat being formed of bread as an emblem of faith and hope, 
 as the words of the Last Supper made bread a consecrated 
 aliment. Many are the curious customs observed on the island. 
 
 Sein is said in the v. c. to have been the last refuge of the 
 Druids in Brittany, and it was hence that the famous priestess 
 Uheldeda went to attend the states-general convoked by Conan 
 Meriadech to meet at Rennes, and there in the presence of the 
 assembly cursed the retrogade Conan, and destroyed the mystic 
 plant of Selago which she had brought with her. Here also, 
 after their return, Uheldeda and her companions stabbed them- 
 selves, after singing their own funeral requiem, to escape the 
 persecution of Conan Meriadech. Here too, in the vi. c, was 
 born the famous Merlin, the son of 'a demon and a nun,' who 
 hoped to destroy Christianity in his person ; but this was 
 prevented by his baptism, and he became the devoted adherent 
 of Uther Pendragon and Arthur. 
 
 ' Les portes des maisons ne se ferment qu'aux approches 
 de la tempete ; des feux follets, des sifflements l'annoncent. 
 Quand on entendait ce murmure eloigne qui precede Forage, les 
 anciens s'ecrierent : " fermons les portes ; ecoutez les Crierien, le 
 tourbillon les suit." Ces Crierien sont les ombres, les ossements 
 des naufrages qui demandent la sepulture, desesperes d'etre, 
 depuis leur mort, ballottes par les elements.' — Cambry. 
 
 ' Asseyons-nous a cette formidable pointe du Raz, sur ce 
 rocher mine, a cette hauteur de trois cents pieds, d'ou nous 
 voyons sept lieues de cotes. C'est ici, en quelque sorte, le sanc- 
 tuaire du monde celtique. Ce que vous apercevez par-dela la baie 
 des Trepasses, est File de Sein, triste banc de sable sans arbres 
 et presque sans abri ; quelques families y vivent, pauvres et com- 
 patissantes, qui, tous les ans, sauvent des naufrages. Cette ile 
 etait la demeure des vierges sacrees qui donnaient aux Celtes 
 beau temps ou naufrage. La, elles celebraient leur triste et 
 meurtriere orgie ; et ces navigateurs entendaient avec effroi de 
 la pleine mer le bruit des cymbales barbares. Cette ile, dans la 
 tradition, est le berceau de Myrddyn, le Merlin du moyen-age. 
 Son tombeau est de Fautre cote de la Bretagne, dans le foret de 
 Broceliande, sous la fatale pierre ou sa Vyvyan Fa enchante. 
 
39 2 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 Tous ces rochers que vous voyez, ce sont des villes englouties ; 
 c'est Douarnenez, c'est Is, la sodome bretonne ; ces deux corbeaux, 
 qui vont toujours volant lourdement au rivage, ne sont rien 
 autre que les ames du roi Grallon et de sa fille, et ces sifflemens 
 qu'on croirait ceux de la tempete, sont les crierien, ombres 
 des naufrages qui demandent la sepulture.' — Michelet, 1 Hist, de 
 France! 
 
 The nearest of the headlands seen from the Pointe du Raz is 
 the Pointe de Van. Between the Pointe du Raz and the Pointe 
 de Van is a narrow bay called Baie des Trespasses — ' Dead Man's 
 Bay ' — because here it is said that the spirits of the drowned 
 assemble in the night, waiting to be conducted home. This 
 tradition is recorded by Procopius 1300 years ago : — 
 
 4 Along the ocean shore over against Brittia are many villages 
 inhabited by fishermen, husbandmen, and boatmen, who traffique 
 in the island. . . . They have the employment of conducting 
 soules departed imposed on them by turns ; when any man's time 
 comes, they goe to bed towards night, expecting their fellow 
 conductors, and at midnighte they finde the door opened, and hear 
 a softly voice calling them to the business ; instantly they rise, and 
 go down to the sea-side, finding themselves constrained to goe 
 on, but they perceive not by whom ; boats they find ready, with 
 no men in them, and aboard they goe and sit to their oars. 
 They perceive the boats loaded with passengers even to the decks, 
 and the place of their oares not an inch from the water ; they see 
 nothing ; but after an hour's rowing come to a land in Brittia, 
 whereas in their own boats they have much ado to pass over in 
 a day and a night, having no sailes but rowing only. And they 
 instantly land their fare, and are gone away with their boats 
 suddenly grown light, and swimming with the current, and 
 having all save the keels above water : they see no men leaving 
 the boates, but they heare a voice relating to some, who it seemes 
 stayes there for them, the names of the passengers, with their 
 titles, and additions of what fathers they were, and (if women) 
 what husbands they had.' — Holcroffs Trans 
 
 One may descend into the Baie de Trepasses by taking the 
 path opposite the chapel of S. Colledoc, on the Audierne road. 
 Here the Etang de Laoul is supposed to cover the great town of 
 
THE CITY OF IS. 
 
 393 
 
 Is or Keris — 1 which Paris was proud to equal ' — a second Sodom, 
 submerged in the v. c. Here, in calm weather, fishermen look 
 through the blue waters, and see, upon the sands of the bay, the 
 ruins of the wicked city, whose bells, ringing under the waves, 
 presage a storm. That which is certain is that a paved way, 
 evidently leading to buildings of Roman times, enters the sea 
 not far from the Baie des Trepasses. 1 
 
 1 Is etait defendue contre l'ocean par une digue puissante, 
 dont les ecluses ne livraient passage qua la quantite d'eau 
 necessaire aux habitants. Le roi Grallon presidait lui-meme, 
 chaque mois, a l'ouverture de ces ecluses ; la principale s'ouvrait 
 au moyen d'une clef d'argent qu'il portait toujours suspendue 
 a son cou. Le palais du roi etait une des merveilles de la terre ; 
 le marbre, le cedre et d'or y remplacaient le chene, le granit et 
 le fer. C'etait la qu'il vivait au milieu d'une cour brillante, a 
 laquelle presidait sa fille Dahut ou Ahes ; ou cette princesse etait 
 alors l'Honoria de l'Armorique. Comme la fille de Valentinien, 
 elle s'etait fait une couronne de ses vices, et avait pris pour 
 pages les sept peches capitaux. Prevenant, dans ses monstreuses 
 inventions, la Marguerite de Bourgogne de la tour de Nesle, elle 
 faisait conduire chaque soir, au fond de sa retraite, quelque jeune 
 etranger qu'un homme noir lui amenait masque. Le temps 
 s'ecoulait en folles orgies jusqu'au point de jour; alors Dahut 
 disparaissait. Le masque remis a l'etranger se resserrait au 
 moyen d'un ressort jusqu'a l'etouffer ; et l'homme noir, montant 
 a cheval avec le cadavre, s'efforcait dans les montagnes pour 
 ne reparaitre que le soir. On montre encore dans le Bois eleve 
 (le Huel-goat) un gouffre d'ou sortent, dans les grandes eaux, 
 les bruits les plus lugubres ; ce sont, disent les patres de 
 l'Arree, les ames des amants de Dahut qui demandent des 
 prieres. 
 
 ' Grallon avait promis plusieurs fois de punir les crimes de sa 
 fille; mais l'indulgence paternelle l'avait toujours emporte dans 
 son coeur. Dahut craignit pourtant qu'il ne finit par ceder, et elle 
 forma un complot au moyen duquel elle enleva au roi son autorite 
 et la clef d'argent qui en etait le symbole. Alors tout tomba 
 dans un inexprimable desordre. Le vieux roi, retire dans son 
 
 1 See Ernest Desjardin's 1 Ge'ographie de la Gaule romainej p. 303. 
 
394 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 palais presque desert, y cachait sa douleur. Un jour, comme la 
 nuit approchait, il vit paraitre devant lui Guenole, le saint abbe 
 de Landevennec, dont les travaux apostoliques consolaient la 
 Cornouaille de la mort de Corentin. u O roi ! " lui dit-il, " hate-toi 
 de quitter la ville avec tes fideles serviteurs ; car Dahut a ouvert 
 l'ecluse a l'aide de la clef d'argent : la fureur des flots n'a plus 
 de frein ! " Grallon voulut encore preserver sa fille des suites de 
 sa folle imprudence. II l'envoya chercher, la prit en croupe sur 
 son cheval, et, suivi de ses officiers, se dirigea vers les portes 
 de la cite. Au moment ou il les franchissait, un long mugissement 
 retentit derriere lui ; il se detourna et poussa un cri. A la place 
 de la ville d'ls s'6tendait une baie immense sur laquelle se 
 refletait la lueur des etoiles. Cependant la vague lui poursuivait 
 lui et les siens, et, dans cette lutte de vitesse, elle gagnait du 
 terrain avec une effrayante rapidite. Elle avancait, avancait 
 toujours, dressant sa crete fremissante et couverte d'£cume. 
 La voila pres d'atteindre le roi et ses serviteurs. Tout a coup 
 une voix lui cria : Grallon, si tu ne veux perir, debarrasse-toi 
 du demon que tu portes derriere toi ? Dahut terrifiee sentit ses 
 forces l'abandonner : un voile s'etendit sur ses yeux ; ses mains, 
 qui serraient convulsivement la poitrine de son pere, se glacerent, 
 et ne lui furent plus d'aucun secours ; elle roula dans le flot. 
 A peine l'eurent-ils engloutie qu'ils arreterent. Quant au roi, il 
 arriva sain et sauf a Kemper, et se fixa dans cette ville, qui 
 devint definitivement la capitale de la Cornouaille. Ce fut la 
 qu'il mourut, casse de vieillesse et riche de merites. 
 
 1 Quelques auteurs ont conteste l'existence de ce heros des 
 legendes et de sa ville d'ls. On ne peut douter toutefois qu'une 
 cite puissante n'ait ete elevee par les anciens habitants de la 
 Cornouaille dans le bassin de la baie de Douarnenez ; outre les 
 chroniques religieuses et les traditions du pays, qui en ont garde 
 le souvenir, on a decouvert sur le sol et jusque sous les flots plus 
 d'un temoignage de ce passe merveilleux. Un petit havre de la 
 cote s'appelle encore Poul-Dahut, le gouffre de Dahut. 
 
 1 Sur les bords de l'etang de Laoual, seleve une chapelle 
 ruinee, qui passe pour avoir ete une dependance d'ls.' — Emile 
 Soui'estre. 
 
 At Poul Dahut (the abyss of Dahut) it is said that Dahut 
 may often be seen sitting like a siren on the rocks ; while 
 
PLOGONNEC, LOCRONAN. 
 
 395 
 
 Grallon's horse may be met at night galloping furiously over the 
 country. 
 
 ' Une des legendes les plus repandues en Bretagne est celle 
 d'une pretendue ville d'ls, qui, a une epoque inconnue, aurait 
 ete engloutie par la mer. On montre, a divers endroits de la 
 cote, l'emplacement de cette cite fabuleuse, et les pecheurs vous 
 en font d etranges recits. Les jours de tempete, assurent-ils, on 
 voit, dans le creux des vagues, le sommet des fleches de ses 
 eglises : les jours de calme, on entend monter de l'abime le 
 son de ses cloches, modulant l'hymne du jour. II me semble 
 souvent que j'ai au fond du coeur une ville d'ls qui sonne encore 
 des cloches obstinees a convoquer aux offices sacres des fideles qui 
 n'entendent plus. Parfois je m'arrete pour preter l'oreille a ces 
 tremblants vibrations, qui me paraissent venir des profondeurs 
 infinies, comme des voix d'un autre monde.' — Ernest Renan. 
 
 ' Oh, bells of Is ! oh, bells of Is ! 
 
 Deaf were the heart and ears 
 That never heard you ringing 
 
 Your psalm of vanished years. 
 That quaint old Breton legend 
 
 Rings through our daily strife : 
 Its story is an image, 
 
 A parable of life ! — 
 When for a space we listen, 
 
 As at some eventiirie, 
 And upward, through the Present, 
 
 The bells of Memory chime. 
 Pause ; — listen in the silence ; 
 
 Lest we their message miss ! 
 Ring on — your heart-made music, 
 
 Ring on ! sweet bells of Is ! ' 
 
 Clifford Harrison, 
 
 [A road leads N. from Quimper to — 
 
 12 k. Plogonnec, which has a fine xvi. c. church, with flam- 
 boyant windows. The stained glass is very fine. In several 
 windows the donors are represented. 
 
 15 k. Locronan (the place of S. Ronan) has a magnificent 
 
39 6 
 
 NORTH-WESTERN FRANCE. 
 
 xv. c. church. The sculptures of the xvn. c. pulpit represent 
 the story of S. Ronan. In the sacristy is a gilt chalice, given by 
 Marguerite de Foix, second wife of Due Francois II. Adjoining 
 the S. aisle is the Chapelle du Peniti, built 1530 by Renee de 
 France, Duchess of Ferrara, daughter of Louis XII. and Anne of 
 Brittany, and containing the xvi. c. tomb of S. Ronan, who was 
 buried here in his oratory of the v. c, where the queen of King 
 Grallon, after shutting up her daughter, falsely accused the saint 
 of having transformed himself by witchcraft into a wild beast and 
 having devoured her. 1 When S. Ronan died, as the Bretons were 
 uncertain where to bury him, his body was placed on a cart 
 drawn by two oxen. They made the circuit of what was the 
 daily walk of the saint, and stopped at the hermitage. 
 
 ' Les roues de la charrette, genres par un passage etroit, 
 laisserent des marques sur deux rochers contre lesquels les 
 femmes steriles se frottent pour avoir des enfants, comme sur 
 le clou de S. Guenole, a Landevennec' — Cambry. 
 
 An excursion of 6J k. may be made to the popular chapel of 
 6*. Aiine la Palue y with a statue of the saint of 1543. The place 
 is famous for its pardon, and is visited by 60,000 or 70,000 
 pilgrims annually.] 
 
 [For the line N. to Landerneau and Brest see ch. v.] 
 1 See Trevaux, * Les Vies des Saints de Bretagns.'' 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abbaye Blanche, 155 
 Aber Benoit. 301 
 
 -Ildut. 300 
 
 Vrac'b, 303 
 Abondant, 146 
 Acquigny, 86 
 Ailly, 18 
 Airan, 108 
 Alencon, 150 
 Alisay, 40 
 
 Allouville, Le Chene d', 69 
 Alluyes, 193 
 Almeneches, 150 
 Alvimare, 69 
 Ambrieres, 154 
 Ancourt, 18 
 Anctoville, 156 
 Andely, Le Grand, 38 
 
 Le Petit, 36 
 Andrieu, 126 
 Aner, 80 
 
 Angerville-l'Orcher, 75 
 Arbrissel, 215 
 Archelles, 17 
 Ardennes, abbaye d', 118 
 Argences, 108 
 Argentan, 151 
 Argentre, 211 
 Argueil, 1 1 
 Aron, 200 
 
 Arques la Bataille, 15 
 Arromanches, 129 
 Artoire, 164 
 
 Artz, He d', 364, 366 
 Asnelles, 129 
 Asse de Beranger, 197 
 Aubigne (Sarthe), 195 
 Aubigny, chateau d', 108 
 Audierne, 388 
 Auffay, 60 
 Aulnay, 27 
 
 -sur-Odon, 126 
 Aulnaye, abbaye d', 126 
 Auray, 353 
 Authie, 120 
 Auzebosc, 69 
 Avalon, He d', 252 
 Avenieres, Notre Dame d', 204 
 Avranches, 308 
 
 B. 
 
 Bacqueville, 19 
 Baden, 355 
 
 Bagnoles les Eaux, 152 
 Baigneux, chateau de, 191 
 Balleroy, 130 
 Ballon, chateau de, 194 
 Bannalec, 374. 
 Barentin, 60 
 Barfleur, 131 
 Batz, He de, 264 
 Baud, 235, 238 
 Baudemont, chateau de, 35 
 Bayeux, 127 
 Bazenville, 123 
 Bazoche-Gouet, 183 
 Beaubec, abbey of, 1 1 
 
 397 
 
39* 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Beaubec-la-Rosiere, 1 1 
 
 Beaumesnil, chateau de, 94 
 
 BeaumonteJ, 94 
 
 Beaumont-en- Auge, 99 
 -Hague, 133 
 -le- Roger, 93 
 -le-Vicomte, 194 
 
 Beauport, abbaye de, 231, 243 
 
 Beauregard, chateau de, 35 
 
 Beauvron en Auge, 102 
 
 Beauzeville le Grenier, 70 
 
 Bee Hellouin, Le, 90, 94 
 
 Becherel, 218 
 
 Begard, 242 
 
 Belair, chateau de, 234 
 
 Belboeuf, 41 
 
 Belle Etoile, abbaye de la, 126 
 Belle-Ile-en-Mer, 367 
 
 -Isle, 248 
 Bellengreville, 108 
 Belle vue, 136 
 Belz, 365 
 Beniguet, He, 297 
 Beny, 120 
 Berjou-Cahan, 125 
 Bernay, 95 
 Bernieres, 120, 123 
 Bernouville, 5 
 Bertheaume, Anse de, 296 
 Bertichere, La, 1 
 Berville-sur-Mer, 59 
 Besle, 220 
 Betton, 333 
 Beuvillers, 99 
 Beuzit-Conogan, 292 
 Beviile sur Mer, 18 
 Beynes, 139 
 Bezu S. Eloi, 5 
 Binic, 231 
 
 Bizy, chateau de, 33 
 Blainville-Crevon, 1 1 
 Blanchelande, abbey of, 132 
 Blangy, 99^ 
 
 Blossac, chateau de, 219 
 Bodilis, 277 
 
 Bois des Anges, chateau de, 301 
 
 de la Roche, chateau de, 22 
 Boiscenno, 361 
 Boisdenemetz, chateau de, 35 
 Boisset le Chatel, 95 
 
 Boisset les Prevanches, 86 
 Bolbec, 74 
 
 Bonnemare, chateau de, 6 
 Bonnetable, 184 
 Bonneval, 191 
 Bonneville, 92 
 
 sur Touques. ioo 
 Bon- Port, abbaye de, 41 
 Boos, 5 
 
 Boquen, abbey of, 228 
 
 Bord, forest of, 41 
 
 Bordeaux S. Clair, 35 
 
 Bosc-Bordel, 11 
 
 Bouessay, chateau de, 219 
 
 Boullemont, chateau de, 99 
 
 Bourbriac, 233 
 
 Bourg-Beaudouin, 5 
 -Blanc, 301 
 Le Dun, 19 
 le Roi, 195 
 
 Bourgtheroulde, 95 
 
 Boussac, La, 325 
 
 Brain, 220 
 
 Brametot, 67 
 
 Braspartz, 302 
 
 Bray, Pays de, 7 
 -Ecos, 35 
 
 Breaute, 70 
 
 Breche au Diable, 108 
 
 Brecourt, chateau de, 35 
 
 Brehal, 308 
 
 Brehec en Plouha, 231 
 
 Brelevenez, 249 
 
 Brest, 294 
 
 Bretagnolles, 86 
 
 Breteui), 93 
 
 Bretteville, 67 
 
 d'Orgueilleuse, 120 
 sur Laize, 125 
 sur Odon, 121 
 
 Breuil-Benoit, abbey of, 85. 
 
 Breval, 79 
 
 Bricquebec, 131 
 
 Briec, 274 
 
 Brignogan, 286 
 
 Brionne, 94 
 
 Briouze, 152 
 
 Brocelinde, foret de, 223 
 
 Broglie, 96 
 
 Brohiniere, La, 222 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Broons, 228 
 
 Broualan, chapelle de, 325 
 Bruz, 219 
 Bueil, 79 
 Buhulien, 242 
 Bures, 15, 124 
 
 C. 
 
 Cabourg, 102 
 Caen, 108 
 Cagny, 108 
 Cailly, 60 
 Cairon, 122 
 Caligni, 126 
 
 Calvados, Roches du, 123 
 Camaret, 290 
 Cambes, 120, 122 
 Cambremer, 102 
 Cancale, 332 
 Canon, 108 
 Canteleu, 59 
 Cany, 67 
 
 Caradeuc, chateau de, 218 
 
 Carambouville, chateau de, 88 
 
 Carhaix, 273 
 
 Carheil, chateau de, 343 
 
 Carentan, 130 
 
 Carfantain, 328 
 
 Carnac, 356, 359 
 
 Carnoet, 273 
 
 forest of, 371 
 Caudebec, 63 
 Caudebecquet, 65 
 Cesny aux Vignes, 108 
 Cesson, tour de, 230 
 Cerisy-la-Foret, 130 
 Chaillot, 21 
 
 Challerie, chateau de la, 154 
 Chambois, castle of, 148 
 Chambors, I 
 
 Champ-Dolent, pierre de, 328 
 Chanteloup, 308 
 Chapelle Anthenaise, La, 20 1 
 Charleval, 5 
 Chars, I 
 Chartres, 171 
 Chateaubriant, 341 
 Chateau d'O, 151 
 
 Chateau Gaillard, 36 
 
 Chateaugal, 274 
 
 Chateaugiron, 215 
 
 Chateau Gontier, 341 
 
 Chateaulin, 290 
 
 Chateauneuf, 337 
 
 du Faou, 274 
 -en-Thymerais, 
 
 Chatelaudren, 238. 
 
 Chatelier, chateau de, 219 
 
 Chatillon en Vendelais, 211 
 
 Chatillon-sur-Seiche, 219 
 
 Chatres, 199 
 
 Chaumont-en-Vexin, 1 
 
 Chaussee Brunehaut, 1 
 
 Chaussey, Les lies, 157 
 
 Chaville, 136 
 
 Chef du Port, 129 
 
 Chemaze, 340 
 
 Chene, La chapelle du, 340 
 
 Cherbourg, 132 
 
 Chesnay, chateau de, 35 
 
 Cheux, 120 
 
 Chevalier, He, 481 
 
 Chevilly, 57 
 
 Chrismet, Mont, 124 
 
 Clamart, 134 
 
 Clecy, 125 
 
 Cleden Poher, 273 
 
 Clerai, chateau de, 151 
 
 Clermont, abbey of, 205 
 
 Clinchamps, 124 
 
 Closerie des Poiriers, 205 
 
 Coat-^Nevenez, chateau de, 2l 
 
 Cocherelle, 85 
 
 Coelmalouen, Abbey of, 233 
 
 Coelmen, chateau de, 231 
 
 Coetirec, chateau de, 251 
 
 Colcmbes, 21 
 
 Combourg, 332 
 
 Comfort, 387 
 
 Concarneau, 375 
 
 Conches, 94 
 
 Conde sur Huisne, 181 
 
 Conde sur Noireau, 125 
 
 Conflans-S.-Honorine, 22 
 
 Connerre, 184 
 
 Coquainvillers, 99 
 
 Corlay, 233 
 
 Corps Nuds, 219 
 
400 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Corseul, 338 
 
 Coulaine, chateau de la, 194 
 Couliboeuf, 103 
 Coulombs, 147 
 Courseulles, 123 
 Courson, 156 
 
 Courtalieru, chateau de, 194 
 
 Courville, 180 
 
 Coutances, 305 
 
 Cran, chapelle de, 274 
 
 Craon, 340 
 
 Creully, 121 
 
 Criel, 18 
 
 Croisilles, 125 
 
 Croix S. Leufroy, 86 
 
 Croix, He de, 369 
 
 Croth-Sorel, 85 
 
 Crozon, 290 
 
 Cuy-S. -Fiacre, 9 
 
 D. 
 
 Dampierre, 9, 15 
 Dampierre en Chemin, 21 
 Damville, 89 
 Dangu, 35 
 Daoulas, 286 
 Darnetal, 57 
 Deauville, 101 
 
 Delivrande, chapelle de la, 123 
 
 Demouville, 124 
 
 Dieppe, 17 
 
 Dinan, 333 
 
 Dinard, 331 
 
 Dirinon, 286 
 
 Dives, 102 
 
 Dol, 326 
 
 Domfront, 153 
 
 en Champagne, 196 
 Douarnenez, 385 
 Doudeville, 66 
 
 Douvres, chateau de, 120, 122 
 Dozule-Putot, 102, 124 
 Dreux, 142 
 Drouains-Blaru, 35 
 Duclair, 59, 60 
 
 E. 
 
 Echaffour, 97 
 Ecos, 35 
 
 Ecouche, 152 
 Ecouis, 5 
 
 Ecretteville-les-Baons, 69 
 
 Edern, 278 
 
 Elbeuf, 95 
 
 Elven, 344 
 
 Envermeu, 18 
 
 Epau, abbaye d', 185 
 
 Epernon, 169 
 
 Epone, 26 
 
 Eragny, 6 
 
 Ernee, 201 
 
 Erondeville, cross of, 129 
 Erquy, 229 
 
 Esquay sur Seulles, 123 
 Essai, 150 
 
 Essarts de Roi, Les, 164 
 Esse, 215 
 Estouteville, 11 • 
 Etelan, chateau de, 59 
 Etrepagny, 5 
 Etretat, 70 
 Evreux, 86 
 Evron, 197 
 Ezy-Anet, 80 
 
 F. 
 
 Falaise, 105 
 
 Faou, 288 
 
 Faouet, Le, 372 
 
 Fecamp, 70 
 
 Ferriere, La, 341 
 
 Ferrieres, priory of, 1 05 
 
 Ferte-Bernard, La, 183 
 -Mace, La, 152 
 -S. -Simon, La, 11 
 
 P^euguerolles-S. -Andre, 124 
 -sur-Orne, 124 
 
 Fine Terre, abbaye de, 296 
 
 Fleche, La, 339 
 
 Flers, 152 
 
 Fleury, 134 
 
 Fleury-sur-Andelle, 5 
 
 Folligny, 308 
 
 Folgoet, Le, 281 
 
 Fontaine-le-Bourg, 60 
 
 -Daniel, abbaye de, 
 
 200 
 -le-Dun, 67 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Fontaine Etoupefour, chateau de, 
 
 120, 121 
 
 -Guerand, abbaye de, 6 
 
 -Henri, 120, 121 
 
 -Martel, 74 
 Fontenay, abbaye de, 124 
 
 -le Marmion, 124 
 P'orges les Eaux, 10 
 Formigny, 129 
 
 Fort de Salles, chateau de, 195 
 Foucart-Alvimare, 69 
 Fougeray-Langon, 220 
 Fougeres, 212 
 
 Foulletourte, chateau de, 197 
 Frenouville, 108 
 Fresnay le Vicomte, 194 
 Fresne-Camilly, La, 122 
 Fresney le Puceux, 125 
 Fumichon, chateau de, 99 
 
 G. 
 
 Gace, 102 
 Gaillon, 35 
 Gainville, 60, 79 
 Gallardon, 169 
 Gambais, chateau de, 142 
 Gancourt, S. Etienne, 9 
 Ganne, chateau, 308 
 Garaye, chateau de la, 336 
 Gasny, 34 
 Gassicourt, 31 
 Gauterie, La, 126 
 Gavr' Innis, 364 
 Genest, Le, 205 
 Gennes-Longuefuye, 341 
 Gerberoi, 8 
 Giberville, 124 
 Gisors, 2 
 
 Glatigny, chateau de, 101 
 
 Glos-Montfort, 94 
 
 Gomfreville-i'Orcher, 59, 76 
 
 Gorvello, 344 
 
 Gouesnou, 300 
 
 Gourin, 373 
 
 Gournay, 7 
 
 Graincourt, 18 
 
 Grance, chateau de, 274 
 
 Grandcamp, 130 
 
 Grand Jardin, Le, 99 
 
 Grangues, 103 
 Granville, 156 
 
 Graville S. Honorine, 76, 77 
 Gree-Mahe, 343 
 Gremonville, 66 
 Gres de S. Meen, 222 
 Grignon, 139, 163 
 Grimbosq, 125 
 Grisy, 105 
 Gros-du-Raz, 131 
 Gruchet La Valasse, 74 
 Guemene Penfao, 342 
 Guemene sur Scorff, 234 
 Guerche, La, 215 
 Guern, 234 
 
 Guichen-Bourg des Comptes, 2 
 
 Guignen, 219 
 
 Guimiliau, 276 
 
 Guingamp, 238 
 
 Guyardiere, chateau de la, 154 
 
 H. 
 
 Hague, Cap de la, 133 
 
 Dicke, 133 
 Hambye, abbaye de, 307 
 Hanvec le Faou, 288 
 Harcourt, 89 
 Harfleur, 75 
 
 Haute-Bruyere, priory of, 164 
 -Perche, chateau de, 193 
 
 Hauteville sur Mer, 307 
 
 Hautot sur Mer, 19 
 Seine, 59 
 
 Havre, Le, 76 
 
 Haye Pesnel, La, 308 
 du Puits, La. 132 
 
 Hebertot, chateau d', 101 
 
 Hede, 218 
 
 Hennebont, 367 
 
 Hermitage-Mordelles, 220 
 
 Hesqueno, 349 
 
 Heuland, Croix de, 101 
 
 Heurteauville, 59 
 
 Hoc, Pointe du, 59 
 
 Hode, Cap du. 59 
 
 Honfleur, 100 
 
 Hotot en Auge, 102 
 
 Houdan, 142 
 
 26 
 
402 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Houlgate-Beauzeval, 103 
 Huelgoat, 271 
 Huguenots, chateau des, 9 
 
 I. 
 
 Ifs, 121 
 
 d'Etretat, Les, 70 
 Iffs, 218 
 Illiers, 180 
 
 l'Eveque, 85 
 Ingouville, 77 
 Isigny, 130 
 Issy, 134 
 
 Ivry la Bataille, 79 
 
 j- 
 
 Joie, abbaye de la, 368 
 Joigne-sur-Sarthe, 340 
 Josselin, 224 
 
 Joyeuse-Garde, chateau de la, 292 
 Jublains, 199 
 Jumieges, 61 
 
 K. 
 
 Keramenac'h, chapelle de, 248 
 Kerangouez, manoir de, 262 
 Kerauzern, 249 
 Kerbiguet, chateau de, 373 
 Kercado, chateau de, 358 
 Kerfily, chateau de, 346 
 Kerfons, chapelle de, 251 
 Kerfunteun, 253 
 Kergoat, chapelle de, 292 
 Kergrist> chateau de, 251 
 Kergournadech, chateau de, 278 
 Kerhuon, 292 
 Kerisper, 355, 361 
 Kerity, 383^ 
 Kerjean, chateau de, 277 
 Kerlas, 387 
 
 Kerlivri, chateau de, 278 
 Kermaria au Isquit, 231 
 Kermenguy, chateau de, 278 
 Kermerchou, menhir de, 254 
 Kermerio, manoir de, 356 
 Kermoran, 296 
 Kermor-ruy, manoir de, 262 
 
 Kernascleden, 235 
 Kernuz, chateau de, 381 
 Keronic, chateau de, 238 
 Keroual, chateau de, 297 
 Kerouzere, chateau de, 264 
 Kersaint-Plabennec, 301 
 Kervenargen, manoir de, 387 
 Kervignac, 368 
 
 L. 
 
 Lacs, Les, 215 
 
 Laigle, 148 
 
 Laize la Ville, 124 
 
 Lambader, 278 
 
 Lamballe, 228 
 
 Lampaul, 277 
 
 Landal, chateau de, 325 
 
 Landeda, 303 
 
 Landeleau, 273 
 
 Landerneau, 279 
 
 Landevennec, abbaye de, 289 
 
 Landivisiau, 277 
 
 Langoat, 243 
 
 Langon, 220 
 
 Langrune, 120, 123 
 
 Lanleff, temple de, 243 
 
 Lanloup, 231 
 
 Lanmeur, 253 
 
 Lannenec, 369 
 
 Lannilis, 302 
 
 Lan-Ninnocht, 372 
 
 Lannion, 249 
 
 Lanvollon, 231 
 
 Lassay, chateau de, 10 1 
 
 Lasson, chateau de, 122 
 
 Lantheuil, chateau de, 122 
 
 Lanvaux, La Lande de, 343 
 
 Largouet, chateau de, 345 
 
 Laval, 201 
 
 Lavardin, 196 
 
 Lecaude, 101 
 
 Lehon, 335 
 
 Lery, 40 
 
 Lescoff, 388 
 
 Lesneven, 285 
 
 Lesquelen, chateau de, 301 
 
 Lessay, 132 
 
 Levy S. Nom, 163 
 
 Lezardrieux, 244 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Liancourt-S. -Pierre, I 
 
 Lignon, chapelle de, 150 
 
 Lillebonne, 74 
 
 Limes, La Cite de. 18 
 
 Limur, 349 
 
 Lion sur Mer, 123 
 
 Lion d'Or Croissanville, 102 
 
 Lisieux, 97 
 
 Lison, 130, 304 
 
 Lisors, 5 
 
 Littry, 130 
 
 Livarot, 1 02 
 
 Lochrist, 278 
 
 Lo cm aria, 379 
 
 Locmariaker, 361 
 
 Locmine, 234 
 
 Locquenvel, 248 
 
 Locronan, 395 
 
 Loctudy, 381 
 
 Loges, Les, 70 
 
 Londe, La, 95 
 
 Longpre, chateau de, 108 
 
 Longuerne-Vieux-Manoir, 1 1 
 
 Longueville, 60 
 
 Lorges, chateau des, 233 
 
 Loudeac, 233 
 
 Loue, 197 
 
 Loup, La Loge du, 345 
 Loupe, La, 181 
 Louviers. 39 
 
 Louvigne du Desert, 215 
 Luc, 120, 123 
 Luc sur Mer, 123 
 Lude, Le, 195, 339 
 Luzerne, abbaye de, 308 
 Lyons la Foret, 5 
 
 M. 
 
 Mabouliere, chateau de la, 341 
 Maille, 278 
 Maintenon, 169 
 
 Maison des Eaux, abbaye de, 85 
 Maisons Lafitte, 21 
 Malausac, 343 
 Malestroit, 228 
 Malon, chateau de, 99 
 Malville, chateau de, 223 
 Mamers, 184. 
 
 Manerbe, 99 
 
 Manneville la Piparde, 99 
 Manoir, Le, 123 
 Manou, chateau de, 181 
 Mans, Le, 185 
 Mantes, 27 
 Marcilly sur Eure, 85 
 Marcouf, 13 1 
 Margon, 183 
 Marines, 1 
 Marolles, 99 
 Maromme, 60 
 Martinvaast, 132 
 Martyre, La, 280 
 Mathieu, 120, 122 
 Maule, 27 
 Maulevrier, 69 
 Maurepas, 164 
 Mauron, 222 
 Mauves, 181 
 Mayenne, 200 
 Mayet, 195 
 Medan, 25 
 Menerval, 10 
 Menesqueville-Lyons, 5 
 Meriadec, chateau de, 300 
 Meslay, 204 
 
 Meslean, chateau de, 300 
 
 Mesnieres. 15 
 
 Mesnil S. Denis, 163 
 
 sous Jumieges, 59 
 -Mauger, Le, 102 
 
 Mesnuls, chateau de, 140 
 
 Messac, 220 
 
 Meudon, 134 
 
 Meulan, 26 
 
 Mezaugers, 199 
 
 Mezidon, 102 
 
 Milesse, La, 196 
 
 Miromesnil, chateau de, 60 
 
 Misedon, bois de, 205 
 
 Moidrey. 312 
 
 Moines, He de, 364, 366 
 
 Molay-Littry, Le, 130 
 
 Molene, He. 297 
 
 Mondrainville, 126 
 
 Mont des Boulards, 7 
 S. Catherine, 57 
 S. Jean, 196 
 aux Malades, 57 
 
404 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mont S. Michel, 312 
 Roty, 9 
 
 a la Vigne, chateau de, 101 
 Montagnes Noires, 274 
 Montauban, 222 
 Montbizot, 194 
 Montebourg, 131 
 Montecler, chateau de, 199 
 Monterollier, 11 
 Montfort l'Amaury, 139 
 
 -sur-Meu, 220 
 
 S. Philbert, 94 
 
 sur Rille, 94 
 
 le Rotrou, 185 
 Monthorvin, chateau de, 215 
 Montivilliers, 76 
 Montmartin sur Mer, 307 
 Montmuran, chateau de, 218 
 Montreuil le Chetif. 194 
 Montsurs, 201 
 Monville, 60 
 
 Morbihan, Baie de, 350, 353, 
 
 363 
 Morgny, 1 1 
 Morlaix, 255 
 
 Mortain le Neubourg, 155 
 Mortagne, 148 
 Mortemer, 12 
 
 Mortier-Crolle, chateau de, 341 
 Mortimer, abbaye de, 5 
 Mortree, 151 
 
 Motte Broons, chateau de, 228 
 Motteville, 66 
 Mouen, 120, 126 
 Moult, 108 
 
 Moussaye, chateau de la, 228 
 Mouteille, 101 
 Moutiers-en-Cinglais, 125 
 Mureaux, 26 
 Mutrecy, 124 
 
 N. 
 
 Narolles, 99 
 
 Navarre, chateau de, 88 
 
 Neant, 223 
 
 Neaufles S. Martin, 4 
 
 Neauphle-le-Vieux, 137 
 
 Nesle-Hodeng, 12 
 
 Neubourg, Le, 89 
 
 Neufchatel en Bray, 12 
 Neufmarche, 7 
 Neuilly, 130 
 
 Neuville Champ d'Oisel, 6 
 -Ferrieres, 12 
 
 Neville, 67 
 
 Nizon, 374 
 
 Nogent le Roi, 147 
 
 Rotrou, 181 
 
 Noin'ot, 69 
 
 Nonant-le-Pin, 148 
 
 Nonancourt, 147 
 
 Norrey, 120, 126 
 
 Notre Dame de Barre-y-Va, 66. 
 
 de Bliquetuit, 59 
 de la Clarte, 253 
 de la Cour, 231 
 de la Delivrande,i23 
 de Crenenan, 234 
 du Desert, 95 
 d'Estrees, 102 
 des Graces, 241 
 de Larmor, 369 
 de Portzbihan, 381 
 de Quelven, 234 
 de la Roche, abbaye 
 
 de, 163 
 du Roncier, 233 
 de Tronoan, 388 
 de Vandreuil, 40 
 
 Noyal Acigne, 215 
 Pontivy, 234 
 -sur-Seiche, 219 
 
 Noyers, 126 
 
 O. 
 
 O, chateau d', 151 
 Qffranville, 60 
 Oissel, 41 
 Orbec, 101 
 Orgeville, 86 
 Orient L', 368 
 Orval-Hyenville, 308 
 Osmoy, 15 
 Ouessant, He d', 296 
 Ouezy sur Laizon, 108 
 Ouilly le Vicomte, 99 
 Ouistreham, 120 
 Outrelaize, chateau de, 125 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Ouville l'Abbaye, 66 
 la Riviere, 19 
 
 P. 
 
 Pabu, 242 
 Pacy-sur-Eure, 85 
 Paimpol, 243 
 
 Paluelle, chateau de la, 310 
 
 Panard, chateau de, 201 
 
 Parame, 332 
 
 Pares Fontaines, 99 
 
 Patay, 180 
 
 Pavilly, 66 
 
 Pedernec, 242 
 
 Pelice, abbaye de la, 184 
 
 Penmarc'h, 382 
 
 Peran, Camp de, 232 
 
 Periers, 132 
 
 Perros Guirec, 253 
 
 Pierre des Druides, La, 2 
 
 lierrefitte, 99 
 
 Pierrepont, 122 
 
 Pinte Blanche, La, 231 
 
 Pitres, 6 
 
 Plaisir-Grignon, 137 
 Pleiber Christ, 274 
 Plenee-Jugon, 228 
 Pleneuf. 229 
 Plessis, chateau du, 211 
 Plessix, chateau du, 242 
 Plestin, 253 
 Pleyben, 291 
 Ploeneur, 369 
 Ploermel, 223 
 Ploeuc l'Hermitage, 233 
 Ploezal, 242 
 Plogoff, 388 
 Plogonnec, 395 
 Plomarch, 387 
 Ploneour Lanvern, 388 
 Plouaret, 248 
 Ploudalmezeau, 300 
 Ploudaniel, 281 
 Plouenan, 258 
 Plounerin, 254 
 Plouescat, 278 
 Plougastel, 293 
 Plougaznou, oratoire de, 271 
 Plougniel, 247 
 
 Plougrescant, 247 
 
 Plouguerneau, 303 
 
 Plouha, 231 
 
 Plouharnel, 365 
 
 Plouhinec, Les Pierres de, 369 
 
 Plouider, 285 
 
 Ploumanac'h, 252 
 
 Plouneour-Menez, 275 
 
 Trez, 285 
 Ploure, 387 
 Plourin, 300. 
 Plouvara Plerneuf, 238 
 Plouvenez-Lochrist, 278 
 -Moedec, 248 
 Plouvien, 301 
 Plouzevede, 278 
 Pluvigner, 238 
 Poille, 197 
 Poissy, 22 
 Pommereaux, 10 
 Pommerit-Jaudy, 242 
 Pont l'Abbe, 381 
 
 de l'Arche, 40 
 
 Audemer, 95 
 
 -Authou, 94 
 
 -Aven, 373 
 
 de Braye, Le, 185 
 
 de Brech, 355 
 
 -Croix, 387 
 
 l'Eveque, 99 
 
 de Gannes, 185 
 Pontanezen, 300 
 Pontaubault, 310 
 Pontchartain, chateau de, 139, I 
 Pontgouin, 181 
 Pontivy, 233 
 Pontorson, 310 
 Pontrieux, 242 
 Pontscorff, 369 
 Port-en-Bessin, 129 . 
 
 -Brillet, 203 
 
 Jerome, 59, 75 
 
 Navalos, 367 
 
 Royal des Champs, 158 
 Portrieux, 231 
 Pouance, 341 
 Poul Dahut, 394 
 Pouldour, 254 
 
 Prevalaye, chateau de la, 218 
 Prie. manoir de, 99 
 
406 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Primelin, 388 
 
 Priziac, 234 
 
 Puits, chateau des, 197 
 
 Putot, 102 
 
 Puys, 18 
 
 Q. 
 
 Questembert, 344 
 Quiberon, 366 
 Quillebeuf, 59, 75 
 Quimerch, chateau de, 375 
 Quimper, 376 
 Quimperle, 369 
 Quineville, 131 
 Quinipily, 236 
 Quintin, 232 
 
 R. 
 
 Radepont, 6 
 
 Radeval, 39 
 
 Rambouillet, 164 
 
 Rambures, manoir de, 9 
 
 Ranes, chateau de, 152 
 
 Raz, pointe du, 389 
 
 Redon, 342 
 
 Relecq, abbaye de, 275 
 
 Rennes, 216 
 
 Rhuis, 351 
 
 Riberpre, 11 
 ' Richebourg, 142 
 
 Rigalet, La Lande de, 195 
 
 Robertiere, chateau de la, 147 
 
 Roc S. Andre la Chapelle, 227 
 
 Roche, La, 279 
 
 chateau de la, 274 
 
 Rochefagu, chateau de, 242 
 Berrien, La, 142 
 Guyon, chateau de la, 34 
 -Maurice, chateau de la, 279 
 
 Rochefort-en-Terre, 343 
 
 Rochers, chateau des, 208 
 
 Roches, cap des, 18 
 
 chateau de, 199 
 
 Rohan, 227 
 
 Rolleboise, 33 
 
 Romilly-sur-Andelle, 6 
 la Puthenaye, 93 
 
 Roque, Pointe de la, 95 
 
 Roscanvel, Presqu'ile de, 291 
 Roscoff, 264 
 Rosay, 32 
 Rosel, 120, 122 
 Rosgrand, chapelle de, 372 
 Rosny, 32 
 Rosperden, 375 
 Rost, 120 
 Rostrenen, 233 
 Rouen, 42 
 Rouesse-Vasse, 197 
 Rozel, Le, chateau de, 130 
 RufTao, chateau de, 251 
 Rugles, 93 
 Rumengol, 288 
 Rustephan, chateau de, 374 
 Ryes, 129 
 
 S. 
 
 Sable, 370 
 
 S. Adresse, 77 
 
 S. Adrien, 235 
 
 S. Andre, 86 
 
 sur Cailly, 60 
 de Fontenay, 124 
 
 S. Anne, chapelle de, 346 
 d'Auray, 353 
 la Palue, 396 
 
 S. Antonin de Sommaire, 93 
 
 S. Arm el, 219 
 
 S. Arnoult, 101 
 
 S. Aubin, 180 
 
 le Cauf, 15 
 du Cormier, 218 
 sur Mer, 123 
 d'Offranville, 60 
 
 S. Barbe, chapelle de, 373 
 
 S. Benoit, abbaye de, 310 
 
 S. Berthevin, 203 
 
 S. Brieuc, 229 
 
 S. Calais, 185 
 
 S. Come, chapelle de, 290 
 
 S. Contest, 120 
 
 S. Corentin, 32 
 
 S. Coulban, La Mare de, 337 
 
 S. Cyr, 137 
 
 S. Didier, 215 
 
 S. Efflam, 253 
 
 S. Eloi, chapelle de, 280 
 
INDEX 
 
 407 
 
 S. Etienne, 9 
 
 du Rouvray, 41 
 S. Evroult Notre Dame du Bois, 
 97 
 
 S. Fiacre, 372 
 
 S. FloxeL 131 
 
 S. Gabriel, prieure de, 122 
 
 S. Gauberge, 148 
 
 S. Georges de Boscherville, 58 
 
 -sur-Eure, 85 
 S. Germain la Campagne, 97 
 
 de Clairfeuille, 148 
 S. Germer, 8 
 S. Gertrude, 66 
 S. Gildas des Bois, 343 
 de Rhuis, 351 
 S. Herbot, 271 
 
 S. Herve, chapelle de, 242, 373 
 
 S. Hilarion, 169 
 
 S. James, 310 
 
 S. Jaoua, 302 
 
 S. Jean du Doigt, 266 
 
 le Thomas, 310 
 S. Julien de la Cote, 232 
 S. Languy, chapelle de, 293 
 S. Laurent en Caux, 19 
 
 -de-Condet, 125 
 
 du Pouldour, 254 
 S. Leger, 374 
 S. Lery, 220 
 S. Lo, 304 
 S. Lubin 181 
 
 -des-Joncherets, 147 
 S. Maclou de Folleville, 60 
 S. Malo, 329 
 S. Manvieu, 120 
 S. Marc, Anse de, 294 
 S. Mards-Orbec, 97 
 S. Marie aux Anglais, 102 
 S. Mars sous Ballon, 194 
 S. Martin de Fontenay, 124 
 
 en Campagne, 18 
 S. Mathieu, 296 
 S. Maurice, abbaye de, 372 
 
 d'Etelan, 59 
 S. Meen, 220 
 S. Mere Eglise, 130 
 S. Michel d'Arhes, 273 
 
 en Greve, 253 
 S. Nicodeme, 235 
 
 S. Nicolas des Eaux, 235 
 
 de Bliquetuit, 59 
 
 S. Ouen des Toits, 205 
 
 S. Pair, 157 
 
 S. Philbert, 95 
 
 S. Pierre sur Dives, 103 
 de Mailloc, 101 
 de Manneville, 59 
 du Vauvray, 39 
 
 S. Plancher, 156 
 
 S. Pol de Leon, 258 
 
 S. Quay, 231 
 
 S. Quentin, Gorge de, 108 
 S. Remy, 125 
 
 sur Avre, 147 
 S. Renan, 297 
 S. Romain de Colbosc, 75 
 S. Saire, 12 
 S. Samson, 11 
 
 S. Sauveur Chateauneuf, 145 
 
 le Vicomte, 132 
 S. Servan, 331 
 S. Sever, 156 
 S. Suzanne, 199 
 S. Thegonnec, 275 
 S. Theodore, chapelle de, 388 
 S. Thois, 274 
 
 S. Trouberon, fontaine de, 300 
 
 S. Vaast d'Equiqueville, 15 
 
 S. Valery en Caux, 67 
 
 S. Viaud, chapelle de, 388 
 
 S. Victor 1' Abbaye, 60 
 
 S. Vigor le Grand, 124 
 
 S. Vincent des Landes, 342 
 
 S. Vougay, 278 
 
 S. Wandrille, 65 
 
 Saon, 130 
 
 Sarceau, chateau de, 195 
 Sartrouville, 22 
 Sarzeau, 351 
 
 Saucerie, chateau de la, 154 
 Sauchay le Bas, 18 
 Saulges, 204 
 Saumont la Poterie, 10 
 Saussay, 85 
 
 -les-Andelys, 3 
 Saut Roland, Rochers du, 211 
 Scaer, 375 
 Sceaux, 184 
 
 Secqueville en Bessin, 126 
 
4o8 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Seez, 148 
 Segre, 341 
 Sein, He de, 390 
 Senarpont, chateau de, 15 
 Sene. 349 
 Sequeville, 120 
 Serifontaine, 6 
 Serqueux, 11 
 Sigy, 11 
 
 Sille le Guillaume, 196 
 Solesmes, 340 
 Sommervieu, 123 
 Sorel, chateau de, 85 
 Sottevast, 131 
 Sotteville sous le Val, 41 
 Sequence, 59 
 Spezet, 274 
 Stang en Ihuern, 234 
 Stival, 234 
 
 Sucinio, chateau de, 351 
 Surdon, 148 
 Suze, La, 339 
 
 T. 
 
 Tacoignieres, 142 
 Tancarville, 74 
 Taureau, chateau du, 257 
 Thaon, 120, 121 
 Thevray, Tour de, 93 
 Thil-Riberpre, 1 1 
 Thouars, chateau de, 191 
 Thury-Harcourt, 125 
 Tierceville, 123 
 Tilly-sur-Seulles, 126 
 Tolente. 303 
 Tombelaine, 325 
 Tonquedec, chateau de, 249 
 Torche, Anse de la, 384 
 Torigni sur Vire, 305 
 Toulinguet, Pointe de, 290 
 Touques, 100 
 Tour, 129 
 
 chateau de la, 108 
 Tournerie, chateau de la, 184 
 Tourville-sur-Arques, 60 
 Trappes, 158 
 Tredrez, 253 
 Tregastel, 251 
 Treguier, 244 
 
 Tregunc, 374 
 
 Tre Malo, chapelle de, 374 
 Tremblay, chateau de la, 164 
 Tremezan, chateau de, 300 
 Trente, Combat des, 224 
 Treorante, 349 
 Trepasses, Baie de, 387, 392 
 Trevieres, 130 
 Trie-Chateau, 2 
 Triel, 25 
 
 Trinite sur Mer, La, 361 
 
 de Reveille, La, 97 
 Tristan, He 386 
 Trouville, 101 
 
 en Caux, 69 
 Tudy, He de, 381 
 Tumiac, La Butte de, 353 
 
 U. 
 
 Ussy, 125 
 Uzel, 233 
 
 V. 
 
 Val, 134 
 Valmont, 67 
 Val aux Gres, 74 
 
 Richer, 99 
 Valliquerville, 69 
 Valognes, 130 
 Van, Pointe du, 392 
 Vannes, 346 
 Varaville, 122 
 Varengeville, 18 
 Vasse, 197 
 Vatteville, 59 
 Vaudreuil, Le, 39 
 Vaupillon, 181 
 Vaux, 26 
 
 chateau de, 4 
 Vendeuvre Jort, 105 
 Venus de Quinipily, 236 
 Vern, 219 
 Verneuil, 147 
 Vernon, 33 
 
 Vernonnet, chateau de, 33 
 Vernouillet, 25 
 Verriere, La, 163 
 Versailles, 137 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Versainville, chateau de, 108 
 Verson, 126 
 Vetheuil, 31 
 Veules, 68 
 
 Vienne, chateau de, 123 
 Vieux-Fume, 108 
 
 Pont en Auge, 104 
 
 -Port, 59 
 Vigny, chateau de, I, 26 
 Villebon, chateau de, 181 
 Villedieu-les-Poeles, 156 
 Villepreux-les-Clayes, 138 
 Villers-sur-Mer, 103 
 
 -le-Sec, 123 
 Villetertre, 1 
 
 Villiers-Neauphie, 27, 139 
 Vimont, 108 
 
 Vire, 154 
 Viroflay, 136 
 Vitre, 206 
 Vivouin, 194 
 Voutre, 197 
 
 W. 
 
 Ws-Marines, 1 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yffiniac, 229 
 Yport, 74 
 Yvetot, 68 
 Yville-sur-Seine, 59 
 Yvre-l'Eveque, 185 
 
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 SERMONS ON THE LORD'S PRAYER. Crown 8vo, 
 u. 6/. 
 
 GEORGE ALLEN, 156, CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON 
 
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