Rambles in Normandy

Front matter

K COOK AND CO. PRINTERS, 76, FLEET STREET. TO THE READER. " Shall I vouchsafe your worship a word or two," in the way of preface. I think it would be only correct in me to do so, even without the assurance of the response, " I'll vouchsafe thee the hearing." Without some deprecatory exordium you might feel disposed to deal harshly with the little work I present to your notice. Probably one of the worst effects to an Englishman of a lengthened resi dence abroad is the habit of idleness which it produces ; with no official duty to perform, no local position to maintain, no claim of country to call forth his energies ; he is but too often the victim of ennui or listlessness. I myself have experienced the danger of example ; so soon as every scene was visited in the neighbourhood of whatever locality I fixed my residence, and every point in the landscape accurately known to the eye and memory, I felt that the want of some constant employment was necessary to keep my mind from stagnating, and my spirits in proper tone.

Nor had I to search for occupation in hopelessness ; Normandy, so identified with England and her history, could not fail to afford me an ample and continual supply ,* and, though aware that book after book had been written upon its antiquities, architecture, history, and scenery, still it appeared to me that yet another might be added containing something new, and let me hope, something interesting. The present volume is my first offering ; should you, dear Reader, decline to accompany me in my excursions, because I cease to amuse or instruct, I shall forthwith bow to your judgment, and with a sigh of disappointed expectation over a M.S. which I have in preparation for another volume of Rambles in Brittany and La Vendee, tie it up, and hide it in the farthest shelf of my bookcase ; but if you are good natured enough to over-

Preface

. look the faults of this book, and willing to jog on with me further in a quiet way, I promise to conduct you next year through the wild and — compared with Normandy — more unexplored regions of Brittany, and to La Vendee, so famed for devoted and enthusiastic loyalty. Wherever I have met with matter, or shall find any likely to entertain you, whether it come from the time-worn pages of an ancient chronicle, or the feuil leton of a modern newspaper, I shall avail myself of it, but no English author shall have cause to accuse me of robbing him, or to swear " that's my thunder," for if I use his bolt I shall honestly announce the name of the thunderer.* If a " borrower" from Gallic literature should complain of me for meddling with his preserves — I tell him that he, as a thief, is an adept in discovering literary piracy only by reason of his familiarity with the haunts and associates of the rogue whom he attempts to run down.

But I am not altogether a purloiner, I have acquired original information from inhabitants of the localities to which I am desirous of conducting you, most worshipful Reader, in this and the succeeding volume, at which I have so delicately hinted. I have assisted at weddings and funerals, attended fairs and pilgrimages, slept beneath the roof of the peasant on the barren heaths of Brittany and in the deep bocage of La Vendee, and lodged in the hut of the Marshmen, in the open sands of Croisic and Batz. In a word, I have seen what I have endeavoured to portray, and I trust that without the extreme, though meagre, exactness of a professed Guide Book you will find sufficient minuteness of detail to satisfy your curiosity and supply you with useful information. J. H. December 22, J 845. • By accident Miss Costello's translation of some stanzas composed by Basselin, the Miller Poet of Vire, has been omitted to be acknowledged in its proper place.

I take this opportunity of retrieving my error, and confessing my obligation to that very pleasing writer. CONTENTS PAGE. Granville 1 The Granville Fishers Saint Pair 7 9 Church of Saint Pair 11 Sands of Mont Saint Michel The Dream 13 17 Mont Saint Michel Guillemette of Avenal A Fair in Normandy Avranches 28 35 39 A Wax Figure 11 Avranches Cathedral 13 Hotels and Hotel Keepers M. Le Berriays l.-J 17 Society in France Norman Servant A Wedding 10 55 57 Society in France . The Steeple Chase Sports and Sportsmen Bois de Chatellier Bracey — Haie Paisnel Luzerne 59 03 ii7 71 73 75 Jeanneton Culottes Pontaubault . 77 78 Saint James 79 83 Posting in France Fougeres S.5 Saint Hilaire Teilleul 87 89 91 Domfront Bagnolles 90 Chateau du Diable CONTENTS. VI PAGE.

Mortain ....•••• 103 Coutances .... ... 107 Education in France . . • ■ • ■ ■ 1^3 Saint Lo .... .... 115 Legend of the Black Horse with the White Mark ... 121 Bayeux . ....... 126 Wolf-Hunting . . . • • • • 129 Matilda's Tapestry . . • ■ • • .113 Superstitions of the Peasantry . . . . • 133 The Fee of Argouges . . . • • • .135 The Canon who was carried hy the Devil .... 136 Jean destroys the Deed ...... 137 Saint Gerbold finds his Ring ..... 139 Caen ......... 140 Marie Salmon ....... 145 Public Institutions . . . . • ■ .151 La Delivrande . . . . • • • 153 Hotel Price of Wine ....... 135 Journey from Caen to Havre ..... 157 Chateau de Lassy . . . . . . .159 The Virgin's Chapel . . . . . . . 1G1 Trouville ......... 163 Havre . . . ■ • • • • . 165 Falaise — Vire . . • • . . . .175 Falaise ........ 177 Vire . . . . . . . . .179 Basselin, the Miller Poet . . . . . , 181 Route to Cherbourg . . . . . . 183 Cherbourg ........ 185 Farm of the Comte de Moncel ... . . . . 193 Walk across the Moor . . . . . . 195 Cape La Hogue . . . . . . . .197 Monastery of the Order of La Trappe ..... 199 Brace's Castle ........ 201 Valognes ........ 203 Final Chapter ........

ILLUSTRATIONS, DRAWN BY WEIR, ENGRAVED BY NICHOLLS AND MASON. PAGE. Ornamented Title page, with Front of Cathedral of Coutances. Granville ....... 1 1 Initial I Eloise, tbe Fishwoman of Granville The Cabane at Granville 4 6 9 Initial, D The Mariner's Widow Castle of Mont St. Michel Initial W. 14 15 15 Initial A 19 The Sea Coast Initial T 27 28 Tomb of De Beauvoir Initial B . 34 35 Avranches Initial A Initial T 39 39 49 Julie in the Wedding Attire Initial I . , 50 59 > Initial T 63 Fishing Tackle Initial O . 70 71 Portrait of Jeanneton Maternal Group 70 77 Initial W 78 Interior of an Inn in Fougeres Sabot Makers' Hut 87 86 Domfront Initial W Bagnolles 91 96 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Initial T . . . . . . . • 107 Coutances Cathedral ....••• 109 Pont de la Rogue . . . . • • • I'I Initial B . . . . . . • ■ .115 Saint Lo ........ 118 Tail-piece . . . . . • ■ .125 Initial A ........ 126 Group of Fairies . . . . . . • .135 The Canon who was carried by the Devil . .... 136 Abbey of Cerisy . . . . . . .139 Initial P .140 William and Matilda ....... 141 Matilda's Tomb . . . . . . . 150 Initial H ........ 156 Tour de Poudres de Honfleurs . . . . . 161 Cote de Grace ........ 162 Tower of Havre . . . . . . . 165 Initial N ........ 165 Sainte Addresse . . . . . . . 170 The Old Abbey Church of Graville . . . . .173 Tower de l'Aigle . . . . . . . 174 Initial T ........ 175 Falaise ........ 177 Town of Cherbourg . . . . . . .182 Old Tower of Cherbourg ...... 188 Initial A ........ . GRANVILLE.

Chapter I

fik LEFT Jersey for Granville, one of the seaports ot La Manche, in the Q year 1842, determined to make the tour of Normandy, Brittany, and |fe La Vendee, but without any precise plan of movements, and to establish k"7 for my family some healthful and agreeable head quarters, where the Jr\ younger members might have the advantages of education. I had then ' "^^ no intention whatever of writing a book, but as opportunities of forming an intimate acquaintance with the habits and manners of the native inhabitants, and foreign visitors, and of viewing this fine country were constantly presented to me : B NORMANDl*. I became gradually possessed by the spirit of scribbling, to which a ready access to many valuable libraries has, in no small degree, contributed, and have, in consequence, collected a good deal of matter, but, whether with a creditable result or otherwise, remains to be ascertained.

Let us at least, start pleasantly together, dear and respected reader, for I am going to introduce you to a very pretty scene and beauteous women. The entrance into the bay of Granville is picturesque. On tbe side opposite the town, is the village of St. Pair, and at a few leagues distance, the majestic Mont St. Michel, with the little neighbouring island of Tombeleine, raises its noble form ; more westward the point of Cancale stretches into the sea ; but I had not time to satisfy my delighted gaze, before we came along side the new and very handsome pier which protects the liarbour ; when giving my passport to a gendarme, who came on board, I was allowed to leave the packet. The impressions which an Englishman receives on entering the town are unfavour able, whether he judges from the slovenliness and insignificance of the streets, the absence of commercial activity, or the extreme dirtiness and general uncomfortable ness of the three established public houses, dignified with the title of Hotels, in which their demerits, in every particular, are pretty equally balanced ; I have been told a fourth has been lately added in connexion with the old Trois Couronnes, which it is hoped will be more decent and better than its wretched ancestor.

The porters who took our luggage were of the feminine gender, well proportioned, and prodigiously strong ; one of these fair ones carried a heavy trunk, with packages in each hand, and looked as if she would have thought very little of taking the owner upon her back into the bargain. In no part of Normandy have I seen such lovely women as at Granville, such brilliant black eyes, such jet black hair, figures so pretty, and so gracefully attired in their peculiar caps and dark mantillas. I have not looked upon the dark eyed girls of Cadiz, but I can fancy them such as those of Granville, but with less glowing complexions. And why have I mentioned Cadiz ? because the Granvillaises have Spanish blood in their veins, and are, for this reason, as different in appearance from the women of the surrounding cantons, as it is possible for any fine race of women to be from very plain looking ones.

To avoid the abominations of the little Inn, into which my family were first in troduced, I engaged lodgings in the Rue des Juifs, purposing to enjoy sea-bathing, and make daily excursions into the country. The town itself is situated on a rocky promontory, anciently called Roche Lihou and upwards of 100 feet above the level ofthe sea ; on the southern extremity of this high ground stands the church, a plain Gothic building ; but as Norman church GRANVILLE. 3 architecture has been so often written on, I shall, on all occasions, but slightly touch on the subject, and when I do it shall be more for the purpose of indicating where beautiful churches are to be seen, than for that of archeological disquisition. In the thirteenth century the property on which the town stands, belonged to the Seigneurs de Granville, a very ancient and powerful family, who had accompanied the Conqueror in 1066, and contributed by their gallantry to place him on the throne of England, for which service they received an English earldom.

Some of their descendants in England bear to this day the original family name ; I have recently seen a young English lady who has, among her baptismal names, that of Granville, and claims that powerful family for her progenitors. The English had possession of the town, which was then of very little importance, after the battle of Agincourt. Some years afterwards it was sold to Thomas Descalles, Seneschal of Normandy and Earl of Scales, in England, by Jean d'Argouges, who inherited it through a niece of the Earl of Granville. The feodal condition of tenure was, that a hat of vermilion roses should be presented annually to the representatives of the Granvilles. Easy and elegant obligation ! surely the days of chivalry are to be honoured when men devoted " life and limb and earthly honour" to their fair ladies, lived but in the courts of love, and eschewed those of law, won territories by gallant deeds of arms, and sold them for flowers.

I believe a daily bath of attar of roses would not acquire, in these times, when "property has its rights," what a rose procured in years gone by. It is, however, just possible that roses were either very scarce or that the tenure was so insecure that Lord Scales in Procrustean fashion might have asked, with mournful truth, " am I on a bed of roses." One ofthe Earl of Scales' first acts was to erect new fortifications and complete the old ones ; he built a castle in the style ofthe age, transferred the town from its former site to the promontory, but in two short years, (A.D. 1339,) the French dispossessed him of the property, and cleared the country of the English altogether. From the time of Louis XIV. Granville lost its military consequence, and in a commercial point of view, it has little importance, yet the harbour is safe and com modious for small vessels.

A great number of its male population are employed in the Newfoundland fishery, consequently it is a good nursery for seamen. The depth of water at high tide is from thirty-eight to forty-two feet within the liarbour, which, at low water, is perfectly dry ; the adjacent coast then presents a fearful appearance of rocks.* * By a recent projet de loi a grant of four millions and a half of francs has been allocated to Granville, for the purpose of forming a floating dock, which will render the place far more NORMANDY. The local fishing is carried on with spirit ; from the first of September to the first of May, in 1841, there were thirty-eight millions of oysters taken. This I mention as a test of the vigilance of the Douaniers who very rigidly exact the octroi on them. Some allowance, however, must be made for a surplus number commercial and give it censequently an air of prosperity, which is now so manifeslly wanted.

The harbour is well situated for the export of cattle and agricultural productions to the islands in the British Channel and for the importation of English coal and English manufacturesif the French government shall decide upon exercising a more liberal system of trade than that verv restricted one which prevails: a railway will probably, before long, connect this town with the principal parts of the interior, and thus by developing its great natural advantages, open a very extended line of traffic with this (at present) obscure and dull place P GRANVILLE. brought into the town which, no doubt, escapes official inspection, and finds a free passage into the stomachs of the worthy citizens. A principal personage in the sale of this delicious fish, is Eloise, the woman whose figure and costume are very correctly shewn in the engraving on the opposite page.

It was at Granville that Prince Polignac attempted to escape to Jersey or England, disguised in the dress of a sailor ; incautiously appearing too soon ; his white hand and ring betrayed him, and he was seized. The mayor in apprehending the prisoner acted on his own responsibility, no order for the purpose having arrived from Paris, whither under a strong escort of the national guard, the ill-fated statesman was sent. At Coutances the whole populace were in an uproar, and lined the road on either side of his carriage, and while the horses were being changed he narrowly escaped with life from the mob. At St. Lo he was taken to the prison ; but the Preset having no orders for his arrest told him he was free ; yet so great was the popular excitement that he was afraid to leave the prison. The next day the order for his detention arrived.

Tt was a very creditable issue of a revolution, that after his confinement at Ham, the Prince was liberated, with Chateaubriand and his other colleagues. During the summer months Granville is much frequented as a bathing-place, and though there are posts to point out distinct places for the sexes, men, women, and children, seem to go in pretty much together ; all have dresses however. To those who have not before witnessed the gambols of the French ladies in the water, the mode of bathing is very curious : they often form a circle, taking hold of each others hands, and dancing or rather bobbing up and down in the water, without ever wetting the head, which is bonneted, for two hours together in the forenoon ; and this amusement they will repeat in the evening if the tide permits. Nor is this excessive bathing confined to the lower orders, or to those in rude health.

Delicate ladies and their children generally bathe twice a day, and remain no inconsiderable time splashing in the water. I have known some of them to bathe twenty four times in twelve days, and it is by the number of bathings — no matter how short the intervals of time between them — and not by the duration of the season passed at the sea side that they reckon, as did a Leicestershire farmer, who, having been advised by his physician to bathe and drink sea water, went to Skegness, in Lincolnshire, and in three days bathed eighteen times, and drank as many quarts of salt water as it was intended he should take in a month. The dresses used are straw hats, oil skin caps, or coloured handkerchiefs on the head, and flannel or cloth chemises, and trousers, for the body. I have heard of ladies using their husbands' nether garments (perhaps more solito) for the bathing costume, and I have seen one return to her lodging in the street, adjacent to the beach, arrayed in trousers, and with reeking garments fitting closely.

NORMANDY. They deck themselves in very different style for the gaieties ofthe evening balls in the cabane. This is a wooden building, fitted up very neatly with curtain drapery, sofas, and resplendent with a hundred wax lights ; there is a piano for the use of subscribers in the mornings, and it is not uncommon to hear some fair one accompanying its notes with her own sweet voice for the gratification of the many loungers of the place, or as the case may be, for the particular delight of some savoured beau. Both balls and concerts are enjoyed at an extremely cheap rate, the charge for a whole family being only twelve francs for the season. Gentlemen who have the mis fortune to be unmarried, if over the age of eighteen, pay nearly as much, and on a very equitable principle, as the head of a family, who besides meriting some con sideration for giving children to the state, which, in theory, at least, is deemed a virtue, has actual expenses in bringing his family into society of which the bachelor dreams not; let the bill of the modiste be shewn to him if he doubt the fact, and when he runs his eye over the charges for robes, frills, gloves, ribbands, shoes, hair dresser, Eau de THE GRANVILLE FISHERS.

Cologne, &c. &c, he may be well content to pay his few extra francs, since he has no such expenditure to encounter : the privilege of associating with the dear creatures whose papas and mamas are so heavily taxed in many ways, is cheaply obtained by his apparently disproportioned subscription fees. On the night I was there, everything was conducted with strict decorum and politeness ; the company it must be confessed was rather mixed, gentlemen, hotel-keepers sons, and shop-keepers were all thrown together, so that the scene reminded me of that in the Fudge family. " Oh ! what do you think after all my romancing My visions of glory, my sighing, my glancing, This Colonel, 1 scarce can commit it to paper, This Colonel's no more than a vile linen-draper ! ! " However it generally happens that there is no deception in the matter, the lady knows that her vis-a-vis may not be a gentleman, and as there are not many dances, if she be young and attractive, she arranges her partners before she enters the room ; the wit and skill of woman can easily evade the modern ball-room usages required from republicanism.

On the evening of the debut of my family at the cabane, the wind blew a hur ricane, though it was July ; the rain fell in torrents, and the waves spent their rage at the foot of the rock upon which our ball-room stood, occasionally splashing up against the windows and yet without disturbing the amusement within ; our consciousness of perfect security, the brilliancy of the lights, and the harmony of music, while distress, and, perhaps danger, darkness, and the roaring of the wind, and the rushing of mighty waters prevailed without, in some indescribable way, stimulated our sense of enjoyment. When the tide is low, groups of men and women disperse over the strand and rocks in search of sand eels and shrimps ; they are a very picturesque class, either moving with light steps to the scene of labour, bearing their baskets on their arms, or turning up the sand and catching the slippery fish in their hands.

The women have no trouble in tucking up their petticoats for these scarcely reach below the knee. They are often heard to sing in a sort of recitative while going to their work in the evening or in moonlight, the following song, in perfect harmony. NORMANDY •i LE DEPART DU MARI. THE HUSBAND'S DEPARTURE. What means this busy sound ; why float Flags high o'er ship and tower, Hear you the guns, ah ! they denote That 'tis tbe parting hour. No more ye dear one's of my heart, I dwell no more with you ; Adieu my joys ! I must depart, My pleasant hours adieu. Quel est done ce bruit sur la rade, Ces pavilions de toute part Entendez-vous la Cannonade. Ah ! c'est le signal du depart, Adieu ! nos amours, nos maitresses C'en est done fait, it faut partir Adieu ! ce sort plein d'allegresse (Bis) C'en est done fait, il n'est plus de plaisir.

Au gre de la vague ecumante Peut etre le batiment Now on the foaming wave she goes, Her course the good ship wends, Just as my dear one's voice arose Where high the rock ascends. Alas she cried " my heart is drear, That once sweet pleasure knew; Adieu my faithful mariner, My only loved adieu." Et la voix de ma douce amante Qui me crie du haut dun Rocher. Adieu ! beau Matelot fidele, Adieu! 1' objet de mes amours, Ah ! Combien ma peine est cruelle (Bis) Helas! pourmoiiln'estplus d'heureux jours. Le vent mugit, l'orage gronde, La f'oudre eclate avec fureur. The storm grows loud, the lightnings dart, The rude winds rave around, Et le crie plaintif de l'onde Ne fait qu 'augmenter ma douleur. Je vois le trepas qui s'avance. Du ciel en fer part les eclairs. Tout l'equipage prie en silence (Bis) En invoquant le maitre de 1' Univers.

And sadder droops my lonely heart At tbe wild waves plaintive sound. Death doth his fiercest shafts prepare Where lightnings fill the sky, And silently ascends a prayer To him who reigns on high. Adieu ! ma mere et mon village ; C'en est done fait, il faut partir, Un gouffre sur notre passage, Menace de nous engloutir ; Le vent se tait, l'orage cesse, L'equipage echappe a la mort Tout matelot tieut sa promesse (Bis) Gaiment, chantant, en entrant dans le port. Adieu my mother, and adieu My native village dear, Fast doth the yawning gulf pursue To stay our short career. But no ; both storm and wind are still, The crew all dangers spurn And gaily sing, and glad fulfil, Their promise of return. Apres tant de peine et de souffrance Jeune mari quittait son bord. II se livre a la jouissance Ce qui fait qu' il oublie son sort.

Dans les bras de sa douce amie His perils past, his griefs forgot, The husband treads the shore, Joy smiles around his changeful lot, Remembered now no more. In fond embrace of that sweet wife 11 passe des moments heureux. Ah ! c'est la vie, la vie, la vie, (Bis) Oui, e'est la vie de nos marins joyeux. Swift pass the hours with her. Ab ! this is life, 'tis life, 'tis life To the happy mariner. SAINT PAIR.

Chapter II. Efying

all the reputed dangers of intersecting channels and quicksands, I determined, with a gentleman, who accompanied me, on taking the nearest line across the sands, through St. Pair, to other villages higher up the bay of Mont St. Michel ; we started in a voiture from Gran ville ; our overworked horses, though it required much shouting and whipping to stimulate them onwards, dragged us along the deep sands at a trot, and never attempted to refuse their draught ; sick or well, in good condition, or half starved, the Norman horses are true to their collar, even to the last gasp, however unreasonably disproportioned their burdens may be to their strength ; else, God help their heads, ribs, and flanks, or any part of them which the whip can reach. We were not fortunate in the route we had taken ; the tide had advanced so rapidly, that the remains of the old oak, the sole survivor of those that once covered the immense extent of sand that forms the bay, were not visible, and the pleasure of either moralizing upon, or seeing this time worn stump, which once stood a lordly monarch in the forest of Sissy, was denied to us.

We obtained, however, a good view of Granville, which is seen to its greatest advantages from the opposite beach, and we arrived at the village of St. Pair, which is within a short league of the town we had quitted, convinced that this coast drive would have been more wisely omitted, and that the beaten road was preferable to the course across the strand. There is nothing in St. Pair worth even a passing remark, except the fine bathing beach and the church, which is within a few hundred yards of it. The tower, choir, and porch, are somewhat remarkable ; the nave has no precise archi tectural character, and is evidently of a more recent period than the tower, which is c NORMANDY. chiefly of the Italian Roman style, and was built in the twelfth century, as well as I could judge from external evidence, confirmed by the authority of the Abbe Rouault, who fixes the time of its commencement in 1131, at which date the good Cure, as the legend runs, who then shrived the people of St. Pair, dreamed that he would find a great treasure in tbe church sufficient for the erection of a tower, the want of which had greatly disquieted him.

Accordingly, the work was commenced, and scarcely had the foundation been opened, when one of the workmen struck a coffin with his pick-axe, from which issued a smoke, so thick that none of them could see the length of their hands. The report of a miracle soon spread around, and the godly Guillaume Pignerel, having opened the coffin, discovered a body resting on a stone, whereon ancient letters were inscribed, which scholars tried in vain to decypher. At length, a priest, learned in the reading of ancient characters, de cyphered these words upon the stone " Hic requiescat beatus Gaudus olim episcopus Ebriocensis.* As a matter of course, tbe news of tbe discovery of the body of St. Gaud spread far and near, and many a miracle was there performed, and numerous were the votive offerings made, which soon produced more money than was sufficient to build the tower.

The grinning figures which ornament the capitals of the demi-columns in the choir are unequivocal evidences of the Roman style, and some branches of vine of a more perfect execution, with deep and clear chiselings, indicate the progress of architecture in the twelfth century. In the centre, are the tombs of St. Pair, and another worthy, and two full-sized statues, representing those saints, in their episcopal robes and mitres. The Abbe Rouault states, that these monuments were erected about the year 560, when St. Pair died, but I believe them to be of a more recent date. The porch has a row of good columns on each side, with Roman capitals. Such, briefly, are the chief features of the antique church of St. Pair, where time, which spares nothing, has shewn its effects : the stone, in many places, pulverises under the pressure ofthe finger, probably from the corroding action of saline exhalations.