In troubadour-land : a ramble in Provence and Languedoc

Front matter

QHg^^^^Q In Troubadour- Land. rows*, of St. TiOPHiii, Arles. In Troubadour-Land A RAMBLE IN PROVENCE AND LANGUEDOC. BY S. BARING-GOULD, M.A., ✓ AUTHOR OF "MEHALAH," "JOHN HERRING,'' '" OLD COUNTRY LIFE," ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY J. E. ROGERS. "What is this life, if it be not mixed with some delight? And what delight is more pleasing than to see the fashions and manners of unknown places? You know I am no common gadder, nor have oft troubled you with travell." — Tom of Reading, 1 600. LONDON : W. H.- ALLEN & CO., LIMITED," AND AT CALCUTTA. 1891. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

Preface

. With Murray, Bædeker, Guide Joanne, and half-a dozen others — all describing, and describing with exactness, the antiquities and scenery — the writer of a little account of Provence and Languedoc is driven to give much of personal incident. When he attempts to describe what objects he has seen, he is pulled up by finding all the information he intended to give in Murray or in Bædeker or Joanne. If he was in exuberant spirits at the time, and enjoyed himself vastly, he is unable, or unwilling, to withhold from his readers some of the overflow of his good spirits. That is my apology to the reader. If he reads my little book when his liver is out of order, or in winter fogs and colds — he will call me an ass, and I must bear it. If he is in a cheerful mood himself, then we shall agree very well together. S. Baring-Gould. Lew Trenchard, Devon, October 28, 1890. 'AGE I CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Introductory

The Tiber in Flood — Typhoid fever in Rome — Florence — A Jew acquaintance — Drinking in Provence — Buying bric-abrac with the Jew — the carro on Easter Eve — Its real Origin — My Jew friend's letters — Italian d oke far niente .

Chapter II. The Riviera

No ill without a counterbalancing advantage — An industry peculiar to Italy — Italian honesty — Buffalo Bill at Naples — The Prince and the straw-coloured gloves — The Riviera — A tapestry — Nice — Its flowers — Notre Dame — The chateau — My gardener — A pension of ugly women — Horses and their hats — Antibes — Meeting of Honore' IV. and Napoleon — The Grimaldis — Le"rins, an Isle of Saints — A family jar — Healed . . . . . . 15

Chapter III. Frejus

The freedman of Pliny — Forum Julii — The Port of Agay — The Port of Frejus — Roman castle— Aqueduct — The lantern of Augustus — The cathedral — Cloisters — Boy and dolphin — Story told by Pliny — The Chaine des Maures — Desaugiers — Dines with the porkbutchers of Paris — Sieyes — Sans phrase — Agricola — His discoveries . . CONTENTS. VIII PAGE. 4^ 58

Chapter IV. Marseilles

The three islands Phœnice, Phila, Iturium— Marseilles first a Phœnician colony— The tariff of fees exacted by the priests of Baal— The arrival of the Ionians— The legend of Protis and Gyptis— Second colony of Ionians— The voyages of Pytheas and Euthymenes— Capture of Marseilles by Trebonius— Position of the Greek city— The Acropolis— Greek inscriptions— The lady who never " jawed " her husband— The tomb of the sailor-boy— Hotel des Negotiants— Menu— Entry of the President of the Republic— Entry of Francis I.— The church of S. Vincent— The cathedral —Notre Dame de la Garde— The abbey of S. Victor- Catacombs — The fable of S. Lazarus . . . •

Chapter V

. THE CRAU. The Basin of Berre — A neglected harbour — The diluvium — Formation of the Crau — The two Craus — Canal of Craponne — Climate of the Crau — The bise and mistral Force of the wind — Cypresses — A vision of kobolds

Chapter VI. Les Alyscamps

Difficulty of finding one's way about in Aries — The two inns — The mistral — The charm of Aries is in the past — A dead city — Situation of Aries on a nodule of limestone — The Elysian Fields — A burial-place for the submerged neighbourhood — The Alyscamp now in process of destruction — Expropriation of ancient tombs — Avenue of tombs — Old church of S. Honore — S. Trophimus — S. Virgilius — Augustine, apostle of the English, consecrated by him — The flying Dutchman — Tomb of Ælia — Of Julia Tyranna — Her musical instruments — Monument of Calpurnia — Her probable story — Mathematical -eersus classic studies — Tombs CONTENTS. IX of utriculares — Christian sarcophagi — Probably older than the date usually attributed to them — A French author on the wreckage of the Elysian Fields .... 67

Chapter VII. Pagan Arles

The Aries race a mixture of Greek and Gaulish — The colonisation by the Romans — The type of beauty in Aries — -The amphitheatre — A bull-baiting — Provencal bull-baits different from Spanish bull-fights — The theatre — The ancient Greek stage — The destruction of the Aries theatre — Excavation of the orchestra — Discovery of the Venus of Aries — A sick girl — Palace of Constantine ..... 84

Chapter VIII. Christian Arles

Sunday in France — Improved observance — The cathedral of Aries — West front — Interior— Tool-marks — A sermon on peace — The cloisters — Old Sacristan and his garden — Number of desecrated churches in Aries — Notre Dame de la Majeur — S. Cæsaire — The isles near Aries — Cordes — Montniajeur — A gipsy camp — The ruins — Tower — The chapel of S. Croix ....... 98

Chapter IX. Les Baux

The chain of the Alpines — The promontory of Les Baux — The railway from Aries to Salon — First sight of Les Baux — The churches of S. Victor, S. Claude, and S. Andrew — The lords of Les Baux claimed descent from one of the Magi — The fair maid with golden locks — The chapel of the White Penitents — The deimo — History of the House of Les Baux — The barony passes to the Grimaldi — The ladies of Les Baux and the troubadours — Fouquet — William de Cabestaing — The morality of the loves of the troubadours — The CONTENTS. X I'AGE Porcelets— Story of a siege— Les Baux a place of refuge for the citizens of Aries — Glauu/u Livia — Its Roman remains — In the train — Jager garments . . . • .114

Chapter X. The Campaign Of Marius

The Tremaie — Representation of C. Marius, Martha, and Julia — The Gaie — The Teutons and Ambrons and Cimbri threaten Italy — C. Marius sent against them — His camp at S. Gabriel — The canal he cut — The barbarians cross the Rhone — First brush with them — They defile before him at Orgon — The rout of the Ambrons at Les Milles — He follows the Teutons — The plain of Pourrieres — Position of Marius — The battle — Slaughter of the Teutons — Position of their camp — Monument of Marius — Venus Victrix — Annual commemoration . . . . . .130

Chapter XI. Trets And Gardanne

The fortifications of Trets — The streets — The church — Roman sarcophagus — Chateau of Trets — Visit to a self-educated archæologist — His collection made on the battlefield — Dispute over a pot of burnt bones — One magpie — Gardanne — The church— A vielle — Trouble with it — Story of an executioner's sword . . . . . -156

Chapter XII. Aix

Dooll, but the mutton good — Les Bains de Sextius — Ironwork caps to towers — S. Jean de Malthe — Museum — Cathedral ■ — Tapestries and tombs — The cloisters — View from S. Eutrope — King Rents of Anjou — His misfortunes — His cheeriness — His statue at Aix — Introduces the Muscat grape . . . . . . . . .168 CONTENTS. XI I'AGE

Chapter XIII. The Camargue

Formation of the delta of the Rhone — The diluvial wash — The alluvium spread over this — The three stages the river pursues — The zone of erosion — The zone of compensation — The zone of deposit — River mouths — Estuaries and deltas — The formation of bars — Of lagoons — The lagoons of the Gulf of Lyons — The ancient position of Aries between the river and the lagoons — Neglect of the lagoons in the Middle Ages — They become morasses — Attempt at remedy — Embankments and drains — A mistake made — The Camargue now a desert — Les Saintes Maries — No evidence to support the legend — Based on a misapprehension ......... 177

Chapter XIV. Tarascon

Position of Tarascon and Beaucaire opposite each other- Church of S. Martha — Crypt — Ancient paintings — Catechising — Ancient altar — The festival ofthe Tarasque— The Phœnician goddess Martha — Story of S. Fronto — Dis- - cussion at dejainer over the entry of M. Carnot into Marseilles — The change in the French character — Pessimism — Beaucaire — Font — Castle — Siege by Raymond VII. — Story of Aucassin and Nicolette . . . . .189

Chapter XV. Nimes

The right spelling of Nimes — Derivation of name — The fountain — Throwing coins into springs — Collecting coins — Symbol of Agrippa — Character of Agrippa — What he did for Nimes — The Maison Carree — Different idea of worship in the Heathen world from what prevails in Christendom — S. Baudille — Vespers — Activity of the Church in France — Behaviour of the clergy in Italy to the King and Queen — The Revolution a blessing to the Church in CONTENTS. XII FACE France— Church services in Italy and in France— The Tourmagne— Uncertainty as to its use— Cathedral of Nimes— Other churches— A canary lottery— Altars to the Sun— The sun-wheel —The cross of Constantine— Anecdote of Fle'chier ...•••• 203

Chapter XVI. Aigues Mortes And Maguelonne

A dead town— The Rhones-morts — Bars— S. Louis and the Crusades — How S. Louis acquired Aigues Mortes — His canal — The four littoral chains and lagoons — The fortifications — Unique for their date — Original use of battlements — Deserted state of the town — Maguelonne — How reached — History of Maguelonne — Cathedral — The Bishops forge Saracen coins — Second destruction ofthe place — Inscription on door — Bernard de Treviis — His romance of Pierre de Provence — Provencal poetry not always immoral — Present state of Maguelonne . . . . .219

Chapter XVII. Beziers And Narbonne

Position of Beziers — S. Nazaire — The Albigenses — Their tenets — Albigensian " consolation " — Crusade against them — The storming of Beziers — Massacre — Cathedral of Beziers — Girls' faces in the train — Similar faces at Narbonne, in cathedral and museum — Narbonne a Roman colony — All the Roman buildings destroyed — Caps of liberty — Christian sarcophagi — Children's toys of baked clay — Cathedral unfinished — Archiepiscopal palace — Unsatisfactory work of M. Viollet-le-Duc — In trouble with the police — Taken for a German spy — My sketch-book gets me off . . . . . . . . -23?

Chapter XVIII. Carcassonne

Siege of Carcassonne by the Crusaders — Capture — Perfidy of legate — Death of the Viscount — Continuation of the war — Churches of New Carcassonne — La Cite — A perfect CONTENTS. XIII PAGE 261 Mediæval fortified town — Disappointing — Visigoth fortifications—Later additions— The cathedral — Tomb of Simon de Montfort . . . . . . .251

Chapter XIX. Avignon

How Avignon passed to the Popes — The court of Clement VI. —John XXII.— Benedict XII.— Their tombs— Petrarch and Laura — The Palace of the Popes — The Salle Bruise — Cathedral— Porch— S. Agricole— Church of S. Pierre— The museum — View from the Rocher des doms — The Rhone — The bridge — Story of S. Benezet — Dancing on bridges — Villeneuve — Tomb of Innocent VI. — The castle at Villeneuve — Defences — Tete-du-pont of the bridge

Chapter XX. Valence

A dull town — Cathedral — Jacques Cujas — His daughter — Pius VI. — His death — Maison des Tetes — Le Pendentif — The castle of Crussol — The dukes of Uzes — A dramatic company of the thirteenth century .... 283

Chapter XXI. Vienne

Historic associations — Salvation Army bonnets — The fair — A quack — A vampire — Tlie amphitrite — A carousel — Temple of Augustus and Livia — The Aiguille — Cathedral — Angels and musical instruments — S. Andre-le-Bas — Situation of Vienne — Foundation of the Church there — Letter of the Church on the martyrdoms at Lyons .... 294

Chapter XXII. Bourges

The siege of Avaricum by Cæsar — The complete subjugation of Gaul — The statue ofthe Dying Gaul at Rome — Beauty of Bourges — The cathedral — Not completed according to CONTENTS. PAGE design — Defect in height — Strict geometrical proportion in design not always satisfactory — Necessity of proportion for acoustics — Domestic architecture in Bourges — The house of Jacques Cœur — Story of his life — A rainy day- Why Bourges included in this book — A silver thimble — Que de singeries faites-tous fd, Madeleine 2 — Adieu 3°7 Appendix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. Tower of S. Trophimus, Aries .... Frontispiece Abbey of S. Victor, Marseilles .... To face page 55 Part of the North Cloister of Aries Cathedral . „ 104 Les Baux . . . . . . . „ 118 The Pont du Gard ...... 208 Beziers from the River ..... „ 238 An Entrance to Carcassonne .... „ 254 The Cathedral and the Palace ofthe Popes, Avignon ,, 268 GENERAL ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE The Carro ......... 7 A Florentine Torch Holder ...... 9 A Horse in a Hat ........ 23 Le'rins .......... 25 Aqueduct of Frejus. ....... 35 Lantern of Augustus ....... 36 Map of Massalia ........ 47 Musical Instruments from the Tomb of Julia ... 75 Calpurnia's Monument . . . . . . .76 An Arelaise. {From a Photograph.) ..... 86 Part of the Amphitheatre of Aries ..... 88 Back of a House at Aries. ...... 91 A Boat with two rudders at Aries ..... 96 On a House at Aries ....... 99 Samson and the Lion, from the West door of the Cathedral of Aries ......... 100 On a House at Aries ....... 101 South Entrance to the Cloister, Aries Cathedral . . .103 Church of Notre Dame de la Majeur, Aries. . . . LIST OF III USTRA TIONS. XVI PAGB Tower of the desecrated Church of S. Croix, Aries . . 106 Part of the Courtyard of the Convent of S. Cæsarius, Aries . 107 Church ofthe Penitents Gris, Aries . . . . .108 In the Cloisters, Montmajeur . . . . . .111 In the Cloister at Aries . . • ■ • 113 Les Baux ......... 116 Range of the Alpines from Glanum Liviæ .... 129 Ruins S. Gabriel ........ 130 La Tremaie' . . . . • • • . -131 Les Gale . . . . . . . . .134 Caius Marius.

(From a bust in the Vatican.) . . . 137 Orgon and the Durance . . . . . . .138 Mont Victoire and the Plain of Poumeres .... 144 Sketch Plan of the Battle-fields 146 Monument of Marius ....... 148 Venus Victrix . . . . . . 149 Gardanne . . . . . . . . -158 The Vielle ,6o Les Saintes Maries . . . . . . . .186 Early Altar, Tarascon . . . . . .189 Spire of S. Martha's Church, Tarascon .... 190 Iron Door to Safe in S. Martha's Church .... 191 King Rene"s Castle, Tarascon ■ . . . . .192 A bit in Tarascon . . . . . . . -194 The Chapel of Beaucaire Castle ... .199 Beaucaire Castle from Tarascon. — Sunset .... 202 In the Public Garden, Nimes ...... 205 The Maison Carree, Nimes ...... 209 Cathedral of Nimes. — Part of West Front .... 215 Aigues Mortes. — One of the Gates ..... 220 Aigues Mortes. — Tower of the Bourgignons. . . . 221 Sketch Map of Aigues Mortes and its Littoral Chains . . 223 Original use of Battlements.

(From Viollet-le-Duc.) . 225 Second stage of Battlements ..... 226 East End of the Church of Maguelonne .... 230 Be'ziers. — Church of S. Nazaire. ..... 241 Fountain in the Cloister of S. Nazaire, Beziers . . . 242 Types of faces, Narbonne: Modern — Sixteenth-Century Tomb in Cathedral — Classic Bust in Museum . . . 244 Freedmen's Caps, Narbonne ...... 245 Children's Toys in the Museum, Narbonne . . . 246 Towers on the Wall, Carcassonne . . . . .252 ST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XVII PAGE A Bit of Carcassonne . . . . 2?6 Inside the Wall, Carcassonne 258 Papal Throne in the Cathedral of Avignon . . . .264 John XXII 2(>5 Benedict XII. ..... . . 265 An Angle of the Papal Palace, Avignon .... 266 Lantern at the Cathedral, Avignon ..... 269 Angel at West Door, Church of S. Agricole . . . 270 A Bit of the Old Wall, Avignon 271 Part of Church of S. Didier, Avignon. . . . -273 Bridge and Chapel of S. Benezet ..... 274 At Villeneuve . . . . . . . .276 Castle of S. Andre, at Villeneuve ..... 278 At Villeneuve ........ 280 A Well at Villeneuve . . . . . . .281 Cathedral of Valence . . . . . . .284 Doorway in the House Dupre Latour, Valence . . .286 Doorway and Niche in the Maison des Tetes, Valence . . 289 House in Vienne ........ 297 At Vienne ......... 299 Hurdy-Gurdy Played by an Angel ..... 303 Church of S. Andre"-le-Bas. — The Tower .... 304 Porte de 1' Ambulance, Vienne ...... 305 A Street Corner, Bourges ...... 310 Part of Jacques Cœur's House . . . . . .316 Turret in the Hotel Lallemand . . . . . .319 Staircase in the Hotel Lallemand ..... 320 Sculpture over the Kitchen Entrance at Jacques Cœur's House 323 Jacques Cœur's Knocker. ...... ERRATUM. Frontispiece. — For St. Trophine, read St. Trophimus. IN TROUBADOUR- LAND.

Chapter I. Introductory

The Tiber in Flood — Typhoid fever in Rome — Florence — A Jew acquaintance — Drinking in Provence — Buying bric-a-brac with , the Jew — The carro on Easter Eve — Its real Origin M— My Jew friend's letters— Italian dolce far niente. >^-___l ONcTiVL^'ourseii^cmfroiiTeTrDy^ipc^ some ten feet in diameter, charged with mephitic vapours and plugged with microbes of typhoid fever. Conceive your sensations when you were aware that the piston was being driven home That was my situation in March, 1890, when I got l: IN TROUBADOUR-IAND. 2 a letter from Messrs. Allen asking me to go into Provence and Languedoc, and write them a book thereon. I dodged the microbe, and went. To make myself understood I must explain. I was in Rome. For ten days with a sirocco wind the rains had descended, as surely they had never come down since the windows of heaven were opened at the Flood.

The Tiber rose thirty-two feet. Now Rome is tunnelled under the streets with drains or sewers that carry all the refuse of a great city into the Tiber. But, naturally, when the Tiber swells high above the crowns of the sewers, they are choked. All the foulness of the great town is held back under the houses and streets, and breeds gases loathsome to the nose and noxious to life. Not only so, but a column of water, some twenty to twenty-five feet in height, is acting like the piston of a pop-gun, and is driving all the accumulated gases charged with the germs of typhoid fever into every house which has communica tion with the sewers. There is no help for it, the poisonous vapours must be forced out of the drains and must be forced into the houses. That is why, with a rise of the Tiber, typhoid fever is certain to break out in Rome.

As I went over Ponte S. Angelo I was wont to look over the parapet at the opening of the sewer that carried off the dregs of that portion of the city where I was residing. One day I looked for it, and looked in vain. The Tiber had swelled and was overflowing its banks, and for a week or fortnight there could be no question, not a sewer in the vast city would be free to do anything else but mischief. I did not go on to the INTRODUCTORY. 3 Vatican galleries that day. I could not have enjoyed the statues in the Braccio Nuovo, nor the frescoes in the Loggia. I went home, found Messrs. Allen's letter, packed my Gladstone bag, and bolted. I shall never learn who got the microbe destined for me, which I dodged. I went to Florence ; at the inn where I put up — one genuinely Italian, Bonciani's, — I made an acquaintance, a German Jew, a picture-dealer with a shop in a certain capital, no matter which, editor of a bric-a brac paper, and a right merry fellow.

I introduce him to the reader because he afforded me some information concerning Provence. He had a branch establishment — never mind where, but in Provence — and he had come to Florence to pick up pictures and bric-a-brac. Our acquaintance began as follows. We sat opposite each other at table in the evening. A large rush-encased flask is set before each o-Uest in a swine carriage, that enables him to pour out his glassful from the big-bellied flask without effort. Each flask is labelled variously Chianti, Asti, Pomino, but all the wines have a like substance and flavour, and each is an equally good light dinner-wine. A flask when full costs three francs twenty centimes ; and when the guest falls back in his seat, with a smile of satisfaction on his face, and his heart full of good will towards all men, for that he has done his dinner, then the bottle is taken out, weighed, and the guest charged the amount of wine he has consumed.

He gets a fresh flask at every meal. " Du lieber Himmel ! " exclaimed my vis-a-vis. " I B IN TR O UBA D O UR-LAND. 4 do b'lieve I hev drunk dree francs. Take up de flasche and weigh her. Tink so ? " " I can believe it without weighing the bottle," I replied. " And only four sous — twenty centimes left ! " exclaimed the old gentleman, meditatively. " But four sous is four sous. It is de price of mine paper" — brightening in his reflections — " I can but shell one copy more, and I am all right." Brightening to greater brilliancy as he turns to me: "Will you buy de last number of my paper ? She is in my pocket. She is ver' interesting. Oh ! ver' so. Moche information for two pence." " I shall be charmed," I said, and extended twenty centimes across the table. " Ach Tausend ! Dass ist herrlich !

" and he drew off the last drops of Pomino. " Now I will tell you vun ding. Hev you been in Provence ? " " Provence ! Why — I am on my way there, now." " Den listen to me. Ebery peoples hev different ways of doing de same ding. You go into a cabaret dere, and you ask for wine. De patron brings you a bottle, and at de same time looks at de clock and wid a bit of chalk he mark you down your time. You say you will drink at two pence, or dree pence, or four pence. You drink at dat price you have covenanted for one hour, you drink at same price anodder hour, and you sleep — but you pay all de same, wedder you drink or wedder you sleep, two pence, or dree pence, or four pence de hour. It is an old custom. You under stand? It is de custom of de country — of La belle Provence." INTRODUCTORY. 5 " I quite understand that it is to the interest ofthe taverner to make his customers drunk."

" Drunk !" repeated my Mosaic acquaintance. "I will tell you one ding more, ver' characteristic of de nationalities. A Frenchman — il boil ; a German — er sauf t ; and an Englishman — he gets fresh. Der you hev de natures of de dree peoples as in a picture. De Frenchman, he looks to de moment, and not beyond. // boit. De German, he looks to de end. Er sauft. De Englishman, he sits down fresh and intends to get fuddled ; but he is a hypocrite. He does not say de truth to hisself nor to nobody, he says, / will get fresh, when he means de odder ding. Big humbug. You understand ? " One morning my Jew friend said to me : " Do you want to see de, what you call behind-de-scenes of Florence ? Ver' well, you come wid me. I am going after pictures." He had a carriage at the door. I jumped in with him, and we spent the day in driving about the town, visiting palaces and the houses of professional men and tradesmen — of all who were " down on their luck," and wanted to part with art-treasures.

Here we entered a palace, of roughed stone blocks after the ancient Florentine style, where a splendid porter with cocked hat, a silver-headed baton, and gorgeous livery kept guard. Up the white marble stairs, into stately halls overladen with gilding, the walls crowded with paintings in cumbrous but resplendent frames. Prince So-and-So had got into financial difficulties, and wanted to part with some of his heirlooms. There we entered a mean door in a back street, IN TR 0 UBADO UPLAND. 6 ascended a dirty stair, and came into a suite of apartments, where a dishevelled woman in a dirty split dressing-gown received us and showed us into her husband's sanctum, crowded with rare old paintings on gold grounds. Her good man had been a collector of the early school of art ; now he was ill, he could not attend to his business, he might not recover, and whilst he was ill his wife was getting rid of some of his treasures.

There we entered the mansion of a widow, who had lost her husband recently, a rich merchant. The heirs were quarrelling over the spoil, and she was in a hurry to make what she could for herself before a valuer came to reckon the worth of the paintings and silver and cabinets. In that day I saw many sides of life. " But how in the world," I asked of my guide, "did you know that all these people were wanting to sell ? " " I have my agents ebberywhere," was his reply. I thought of the Diable boitcu.x carrying the student of Alcala over the city, Madrid, removing the roofs of the houses, and exposing to his view the stories of the lives and miseries of those within. I was at Florence on Easter Eve. A ceremony of a very peculiar character takes place there on that day at noon. In the morning a monstrous black structure on wheels, some twenty-five feet high, is brought into the square before the cathedral by oxen, garlanded with flowers.

This erection, the carro, is also decorated with flowers, but is likewise covered with fireworks. A rope is then extended from the carro to INTR OD UCTOR Y. 7 a pole which is set up in the choir of the Duomo, before the high altar. For this purpose the great west doors are thrown open, and the rope extends the whole length of the nave. Upon it, close to the pole, is perched a white dove of plaster. Crowds assemble both in the. square and in the nave of the cathedral. Peasants from the countryside come in in bands, and before the hour of noon every van tage place is occupied, and the square and the streets commanding it are filled with a sea of heads. At half-past eleven, the archbishop, the canons, the choir, go down the nave in procession, and make the cir cuit of the Duomo, then re enter the cathedral, take their places in the choir, and & the mass for Easter Eve *V is begun.

At the Gospel — at the stroke of twelve, a match is applied to a The Carro. fusee, and instantly the white dove flies along the rope, pouring forth a tail of fire, down the nave, out at the west gates, over the heads of the crowd, reaches the carro, ignites a fusee there, turns, and, still propelled by its fiery tail, whizzes along the cord again, till it has reached its perch on the pole in the choir, when the fire goes out and it remains stationary. But in the meantime the match ignited by IN TROUBADOUR-LAND. 8 the dove has communicated with the squibs and crackers attached to the carro, and the whole mass of painted wood and flowers is enveloped in fire and smoke, from which issue sheets of flame and loud detonations. Meanwhile, mass is being sung com posedly within the choir, as though nothing was happening without.

The fireworks continue to explode for about a quarter of an hour, and then the great garlanded oxen, white, with huge horns, are reyoked to the carro, and it is drawn away. The flight of the dove for its course of about 540 feet is watched by the peasants with breathless attention, for they take its easy or jerky flight as ominous of the weather for the rest of the year and of the prospects of harvest. If the bird sails along without a hitch, then the summer will be fine, but if there be sluggishness of movement, and one halt, then another, the year is sure to be one of storms and late frosts and hail. Now what is the origin of this extraordinary custom — a custom that is childish, and yet is so curious that one would hardly wish to see it abolished ? Several stories are told to explain it, none very satisfactory.