Through Normandy ... Illustrated by T. R. Macquoid

Front matter

THROUGH NORMANDY " E France pose en paiz este, Quant Rou a Roum ariva, Ki de North homes amena : Cil furent Normanz apelez Por co Ice de North furent nez." (Roman de Ron.) The Birthplace of William the Conqueror, Falaise THROUGH NORMANDY By KATHARINE S. MACOUOID ILLUSTRATED BY THOMAS R. MACQUOID W. ISBISTER & CO. 56, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON TO JAMES ROUSE, Esq., FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND, IN HEARTFELT ACKNOWLEDGMENT of FRIENDSHIP THAT HAS NEVER FAILED. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction . I ROUEN. CHAP. I. Entry into Rouen — Its History — Bureau des Finances— The Cathedral — Place de la Vieille Tour — Les Halles — Old Streets — St. Maclou and the Aitre — St. Vivien and St. Ntcaise — The Museum of Antiquities . . 1 8 II. St. Ouen— La Bouille— St. Eloi— Place de la Pucelle— Hotel Bourgtheroude — St. Gervais — St. Patrice — St. Romain — Tour Jeanne d'Arc — St. Godard ... 52 III.

The Palais de Justice — The Grosse Horloge — St. Vincent — St. Sever — The Bridges — Bon Secours — The Cote St. Catherine — Canteleu ....... 80 THE SEA-COAST OF UPPER NORMANDY. IV. Dieppe 99 V. St. Valery-en-Caux — Valmont — Fecamp — Etretat . .126 VI. Le Havre 152 THE VALLEY OF THE SEINE. VII. Tancarville— Lillebonne 171 VIII. Caudebec— St. Wandrille 203 IX. Jumieges — St. Georges Boscherville .... 235 X. La Cote de deux Amants — Gaillon — Les Andelys— Chateau Gaillard— Vernon X CONTENTS. THE OLD TOWNS SOUTH OF THE SEINE. CHAP. PAGE XI. Louviers — Evreux — Bernay — Pont-Audemer . . 278 CALVADOS. XII. Honfleur — Trouville — Villers — Lisieux .... 307 XIII. Caen 337 XIV. A great Norman Charity 366 XV. Caen 390 XVI. Falaise 415 THE BESSIN. XVII. Arromanches — Bayeux 434 LA MANCHE. XVIII. St. Lo — Coutances — Granville — Avranches . . .461 XIX. . . .

MONT ST. MICHEL. . . .480 THE BOCAGE COUNTRY. XX. Vire — Mortain rjg ORNE. XXI. Domfront— Argentan — Seez — Alencon .... PAGE Frontispiece : The Birthplace os William the Conqueror, Falaise. I. Market-women with Melons ...... I 2. Group of Market Vegetables, &c 9 3. Part of the Tomb of the Cardinals of Amboise ... 18 4. Entresol, Bureau des Finances, Place de la Cathedrale, Rouen .......... 27 5. The Tomb of Louis de Breze, Rouen Cathedral . . 3"; 6. Cathedra] Tower and Halles, Rouen ..... 40 7. Rue Damiette, Rouen . . . . . . . 46 8. Tower of St. Ouen ........ 56 9. Castle of Robert le Diable 63 10. Porch of St. Maclou, Rouen ...... 80 II. La Grosse Horloge, Rouen 83 12. General View of Rouen ....... 93 13. Fishwomen, Dieppe 99 14. L'Avant Port, Dieppe 103 15. The Church of St. Jacques, Dieppe 10S 16.

Introduction

ANY English travellers have doubtless visited Normandy; that is to say, they have been to Dieppe or to Rouen, perhaps they may have stopped at both towns on their way to Paris ; others have passed through Havre and Caen, and others hav£ gone as far as Mont St. Michel, through the Bccage country, and also through the Bessin, on their way to or from Cherbourg. But very few visit the smaller towns, and of late years Normandy seems to have been somewhat neglected. In comparison with the travellers who go eastward and southward on their autumn holiday, very few stop to visit the picturesque old towns and charming scenery of the ancient and beautiful province so closely linked with English sympathies, so nearly resembling some of the loveliest B NORMANDY. 2 landscape districts of England. Doctor Ducatel, who writes in 1767, says, "Indeed, Normandy doth so much resemble old England that I could hardly believe myself to be in France."

We can go to Normandy any day, and so the day is deferred, and we live on in ignorance of some of the most interesting and picturesque towns, and some of the most exquisite river-scenery in Europe — for Normandy possesses all the charms of our green Devon shire and Kentish landscapes, with the addition of being much better watered. The lesser Norman rivers, from the Epte to the Sees, from the Arques to the Rille, are as numerous as they are lovely; and they meander through all the fair province. The usual access to Normandy, either by Dieppe or Havre, is of course unpleasant for those who suffer at sea ; but it takes very little longer time to go by way of Amiens from Folkstone, making Rouen a starting-point. There are several distinct points of interest to be con sidered by the traveller in Normandy.

The seaboard and its numerous charming bathing-places, which, thanks to the pictures of Isabey and others, and the writings of Alexandre Dumas, Alphonse Karr, &c, have become known to the Parisian world, and have sprung, in a very brief period, from fishing villages into delightful little nestling towns like Etretat, or into grand bathing-places like Trouville and Deauville ; each, almost without exception, with its casino and etablissement des bains, whether it belongs to the first or second order in point of luxury and grandeur. One does not always find a casino at those quiet, secluded nooks, so dear to Parisians of moderate means, and which are almost unknown to English travellers, such as INTR OD UCTION. 3 Pourville, Les Petites Dalles, Villerville, Beuzeval, St. Aubin, Courseulles, Lion, Langrune, Arromanches, Port-en-Bessin, Asnelle, and many others.

Another point of interest is in the towns, the names of which alone conjure up ancient and feudal historic associa tions, and make us English live again among our Norman and Plantagenet kings and warriors. And then to the full as interesting — for it, too, is gemmed with historic memories — is the voyage up the river Seine from Graville Ste. Honorine, perched half-way up its lofty cote, to Chateau Gaillard, standing out so boldly on a projecting rock that it commands the river for miles. The subjoined route will show that all these objects of interest may be comprised in a single journey, with scarcely any need of going over the same ground twice. The mistake often made is that of seeing only the principal towns — Rouen, Caen, Havre, Dieppe, and a few more, and then of fancying we have seen Normandy ; these are, indeed, full of interest, but the chief beauties of the old country lie in the less frequented places, along the banks of the Seine, where there is scanty communication between the villages ; and again in the west, the neighbourhood of Vire and Mortain.

Vire, where the exquisite tree-shaded valleys, or Vaux, wander beside the brawling river, now, alas I no longer left to play at will among the mossy stones in its bed or round the feet of the lofty hills which overshadow it, but forced to labour hard on every working day in the service of numerous factories and fulling mills. Ollivier Basselin was himself a mill-owner, but he could hardly have foreseen the stacks of tall red chimneys, and gaunt slate-roofed factories, that now disfigure the exquisite Vaux de Vire ; — and Mortain, which NORMANDY. 4 trade has scarcely reached, — the Switzerland of France, as it is called — with its foaming cascades and frowning, pine clad rocks. There are towns, too, of great interest to the lovers of picturesque antiquity, in which we heard the English were rarely seen — Bernay, Pont Audemer, and others, and yet not only these towns, but the places of interest near them, are well worth a visit from lovers of the beautiful and the curious.

There have been many modern books written on Nor mandy, but only treating of parts of the country. Of these, the rather discursive " Rambles in Normandy," by Mr. Musgrave, is perhaps the most faithful. Miss Cos tello, in her " Summer among the Bocages and the Vines," gives an interesting account of Vire, Mortain, and several other places ; and Mrs. Craik has a very faithful account of Mont St. Michel and its neighbourhood in " Fair France." Mr. Freeman, in his delightful and valuable " History of the Norman Conquest," relates much that is most inte resting about the Dukes of Normandy and their country ; his History and Cotman and Gaily Knight's Norman books should all be studied by the lover of architectural antiquities. Wace's " Roman de Rou " should also be read by those who see the tapestry at Bayeux.

There are several modern French archæological works on the old chateaux, Jumieges, Bayeux, Evreux, &c, well worth reading; but these are best procured in Rouen, as they are mostly published by Le Brument, in the Rue Jeanne d'Arc. Some of the towns, however, have as yet found no special his torian, and it has been difficult to learn much about them. A thorough and exhaustive description of Normandy would of necessity fill several volumes ; this book is only

INTRODUCTION.

. 5 meant as a guide to the towns best worth visiting, and to some parts of the country which seem to lie out of the ordinary track of the tourist. The following line of route includes almost all that is worth seeing, except Cherbourg and the peninsula of the Cotentin ; and these lie so completely out of the way, and require so much time for themselves, that it is better to leave them for a separate visit. Formerly, when a diligence ran between Dieppe and Fe'camp, the best starting-point for a traveller in Normandy was Rouen, and even now Rouen seems to hold the key to almost all that is interesting in the province, and for this reason, as well as for others, it is worth more than one visit ; the statues and tombs and many of the buildings them selves, acquire a deeper interest when we have visited the actual places where the princes and bishops and barons, with whose memories they are associated, ruled, or fought, or died.

Rouen to Dieppe by rail — Dieppe to Fecamp by a carriage, or, which is simpler, to Dieppe via Newhaven — rail to Rouen — rail to Fecamp — diligence twice a day, or carriage, to Etretat — diligence to Havre, Harfleur, &c. — rail from Havre to St. Romain— carriage to Tancarville and Lillebonne — carriage to Caudebec — carriage to Jumieges, St. Wandrille — rail by way of Yvetot ; or diligence or steamer to Rouen — rail to Gaillon — omnibus to (rail from Gaillon to Vernon) Les Andelys and to Chateau Gaillard— rail from St. Pierre de Vauvray to NORMANDY. 6 Louviers — rail to Evreux— rail to (Verneuil and Conches) Bernay — rail to Pont Audemer— diligence or carriage to Honfleur— rail or diligence, or by way of Havre by steamer, or walk to Trouville — rail to Lisieux — rail to Caen — rail or carriage to Falaise, and back to Caen — rail to Bayeux — diligence to Arromanches and back to Bayeux — rail to St. Lo— diligence to Coutances — diligence to Granville — diligence to Avranches — carriage to Mont St. Michel, and back to Avranches — diligence to Ville Dieu— rail to Vire — carriage to Mortain — diligence to (or carriage and back from Vire to Mortain, and from Vire by rail to Argentan) Domfront — diligence to Flers — rail to Argentan — rail to Alen.on — to Paris, or, for those who wish to return by way of Brittany, from Alen<;on to the junction at Le Mans, and into the Breton line of railway.

This journey requires at least three months (it can, of course, be done in half the time), and to enjoy it thoroughly, and examine all the interesting ruins and ancient cities with which this province is literally sown, would occupy six months. But it is easy to do it at twice, to break off at the end of the Seine journey, and go from Les Andelys to Paris by way of Vernon and Mantes, and to begin the other half at Louviers at another time. Only, the plan to be avoided is that of leaving out the small towns, for some of these are unrivalled in some one special interest. - There is so much worth visiting in every part of the country, and it offers such a variety of interest in its world famous cities, its churches, cathedrals, and old buildings, so closely linked to the history and domestic life of our Norman and Plantagenet kings ; its lovely wooded valleys and castle-crowned hills * its silver-grey rivers, winding round lofty cotes, sometimes chalky, sometimes half clothed with graceful beech or birch trees, or taking a straighter course through bright green meadows and orchards full of fruit jewelled trees ; its charming villages, where the vines cluster round the windows and climb even to the many-coloured thatched roof above, that one wonders at the absence of English travellers, in out-of-the-way nooks and corners.

In England one is eager to visit a real old Norman church, and yet within a few hours of our homes, often nestling out of sight in these little, outlying Norman villages, such churches are frequent ; and some of them contain trea sures as yet overlooked by the people who frequent them. The last few years have done a great deal for Normandy in the way of research. M. de Caumont, the Abbe' Cochet, the late Frere Piel of Lisieux, M. Deville, M. Pottier, and many others, have worked hard to rescue much that is valuable from neglect and destruction. But it would be well if some power could check the ignorant progress of restoration. Many of the French clergy, in their zeal against whitewash, have with it suffered delicate stone carving to be scraped away. In the cathedral of William the Conqueror, at Caen, some sculptured corbels have been scraped into the form of the cap of a leaden water-pipe !

Normandy abounds in quaint legends and superstitions (these are still more plentiful in Brittany) ; in the Bessin and NORMANDY. Bocage country of Normandy there are legends attached to most of the old castles and manor-houses, besides the current fables of the Fourolle and Le'tiche, Loupgarou, &c. The costumes of Normandy have almost entirely disap peared, except at Granville and Vire, and a few of the western towns, but there are still quaint caps to be" seen westward of Caen on fetes and at the grand Easter fairs ; at a baptism too, when some old country farmer's wife drives into town to fulfil the important office of god mother, she is most likely to appear in the lofty glory of a bavolette or a bonnet rond. Among very poor women the snowy bonnet de coton is universal, and among others a close fitted dimity-cap, with large round ears, fastened by strings going round the head, and pinned or tied in a bow in front ; or the Caennais cap, close-fitting and short-eared, with a cockscomb frill over the forehead, are the most often seen.

But, although the quaintness of form in costume is passing away, there is always a wonderful feeling for fitness of colour in the Norman peasant-woman ; and this shows itself not only in the harmony of the greys and blacks, and browns and yellows of her clothing, but in the piling up of fruit and vegetables in even the smallest Grande Place on market-day. It is pitiful, in the way of taste, to visit Covent Garden when we come home, and picture to ourselves the effect which a handful of Norman peasants would have produced with such a wealth of material. In their markets the piles of golden carrots, with their lovely tender green fringe, are made to contrast so admirably with the snowy turnips, just freshly washed at the fountain hard by, and the rich crimson of cabbages and radish, the glowing citrouilles gashed and showing golden flesh, beside tufts of silver leeks with delicate green stripes, cauliflowers with creamy heads placed tempt ingly in rows, garnished with scarlet tomatoes and heaps of the white satin-skinned beans, which we know are such good eating in France.

It is a great mistake to travel on market-day, for on market-day a private carriage is hardly to be had, and a most Market Vegetables, &c. picturesque scene is lost sight of. Market-day is usually on Saturday in the smaller towns. Meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, clothing, sabots, hardware, crockery, are all offered for sale chiefly by laughing, chattering, merry-faced women, who will cheat you if they can, but who give you plenty of amusement in return. One notices here, as well as in other parts of France, the universal employment of women. At railway stations, in the fields, in the shops, they seem to do the work of men. In some towns they sweep the streets, and along much of the line of railway the Norman signal-woman is an institution. The Norman peasant is very intelligent ; he is much NORMANDY. more reserved than most of his countrymen, but he is remarkably well-informed, and he has considerable depth of feeling ; in many ways he is far more like an Englishman than a Parisian.

But in driving a bargain he is unrivalled ; he will fight over a sou ; and he not only gets the better of his customer, but he makes him feel for the time that he is laid under an obligation. But the Norman is confiding withal — he will trust an Englishman implicitly ; and if he is treated with courtesy, his kindness and obligingness are very great. The traveller who mixes with the people as he journeys on from town to town, in the streets, at the markets, at railway stations, and who enters into conversation with his fellow-passengers on the banquette of a diligence, and above all with the driver, will learn more about the real nature of the French people in a few weeks than he will by years of reading, or by the rapid transit from one large town to another, which is too often the custom of most English people.

The simple kindness of even the very poor, the happy leisure of their lives, and, above all, their perfect freedom from discontent, are a sure panacea for worry ; the round, often unmeaning browned faces, have kept a permanent hold on some of the sunshine which has so bronzed them. It is easy to provoke a merry smile on the most wrinkled, toil-worn face ; only one regrets, as they are so given to mirth, the almost total absence or else disfigure ment of teeth both in men and women throughout Nor mandy. They attribute this defect to the cider ; whatever may be the cause, it is rare to find a Norman of the lower ranks with a good set of teeth. But for this they are rather English than French in looks, well-grown, blue-eyed and fair-haired, especially in the Pays de Caux, the western half of the department of the Lower Seine, and in the Bessin.

The women of Caen and of Granville are very attractive and well-featured, and both men and women are much better grown than Parisians are. The Norman accent in speaking is detestable — so very harsh and broad. It is better to go to the best hotels, for there is almost always a choice. Some corners of Normandy are still in want of civilisation, but all through the province good beds and good cookery are to be had. Living is very reasonable at Caen and in the smaller towns, although much dearer than it was before the war ; except in Rouen, cider is always placed on the table without charge for those who drink it, but it is universally thin and bad. No one should travel in Normandy without Joanne's pocket or diamant guide, " La Normandie." It can be had in English, and is entirely to be trusted for its recommen dation of hotels — except that at Pont Audemer we cannot recommend the Pot d'Etain, and that at Caudebec we can heartily recommend the Hotel de la Marine, rough in some of its ways, but kept by such kind, honest people.

M. Joanne's information about diligences, steamboats, voitures, &c, is entirely trustworthy ; altogether it is a most useful little book. The two best hotels in Normandy are the Hotel de France in Rouen, and the Hotel d'Angleterre in Caen. There is an hotel at Havre which is very comfortable and clean, and which has an excellent table d'hote, and is moderate in its charges ; but as it is in a street behind the Rue de Paris, it is overlooked by English travellers — it is the Hotel des Armes de la Ville. The hotels at Dieppe, Trouville, &c, are all dear alike, and at any of these fashionable bathing-places it is necessary NORMANDY. 12 during the month of August to write for rooms several days in advance, or you may have to sleep in a grenier! Some readers may be interested in tracing out the origin and early history of the ancient province of Normandy, over run by so many hordes of conquerors, preserving traces of nearly all the races that have in turn ruled it, and yet keeping through all its Celtic identity, and keeping those cities as some of its chief towns which, centuries before Christ, com posed the Armorican confederacy, and of some of which the names still retain a stamp of antiquity.

In some instances, notably at Lillebonne, the Roman remains are still sub stantial, and have outlasted the work of William the Con queror. The first people who seem to have inhabited Normandy are the Galls. Ali that is known about them is that, like all primitive Western races, they came from Upper Asia. They called their country Armorica. It comprehended Normandy and Brittany, and extended along the sea-coast southward as far as the Gironde. About eleven centuries before the Christian era, it is supposed that some bands of the wandering hordes of Cymri, which at that period passed like a tribe of destroying locusts over the greater part of Europe, always on the wing, brought the first mixture of race into the north-western part of France. But in the seventh century before Christ, a sudden wave of eastern tribes came rolling westward, pushing before it, with the force of an avalanche, Scythians and Teutons, till they in their turn forced westward the Cymri, who had established themselves in Europe, in the territory lying between the Crimea and Denmark.

The Cymri again spread westward, crossed the Rhine, and specially directed their invasion against Armorica, where they finally settled, driving most of the original inhabitants southward. The Cymri, then, is the real original people of Neustria — the Celt, as he was called by ancient writers to distin guish him from the Belgæ, the tribes of Cymri who re mained beyond the Rhine. The Belgæ, however, crossed the Rhine in the fourth century B.C., and invaded Gaul, but the Cymri, or Celts, opposed so powerful a resistance, that they kept the invaders beyond the Seine and the Marne. During the three centuries which intervened between this last invasion and the conquest of Gaul by the Romans, Armorica, which at this time comprised strictly the country between the Seine and the Loire, was inhabited by seven tribes.

The Unelli, who inhabited the country of the Cotentin, and whose capital was first Alauna, near Valognes, and then Constantia, now Coutances. The Abrincatui ; chief city, Legedia, now Avranches. The Sagii, or Saii, first capital unknown, unless Oximum, afterwards the present Se'es. The Bajocasses, who inhabited the Bessin country, capital Aregena, since replaced by Bayeux. The Viducasses, near neighbours of the Bajocasses, with whom they seem to have been confounded, capital city on the banks of the Orne, rather above Caen, on the site of the village of Vieux. The Lexovii, occupying the territory near the mouth of the Seine on its southern side ; capital city, Neomagus, or Noviomagus, now Lisieux. NORMANDY. 14 On this side of the Seine was a seventh tribe — the Ebu rovices ; capital city, Mediolanum Aulercorum, which, after being placed for many years by the learned at Vieil Evreux, is now considered to have been Evreux itself.

This people formed part of the Confederation of the Aulerques, which reached from Evreux to Le Mans. These seven districts, all lying south of the Seine, were inhabited by Celtic Gauls ; but Neustria, north of the Seine, was inhabited by two tribes of Belgic Gauls — the Caleti, inhabitants of the Pays de Caux, whose capital city was first Caletum, then Julia-bona, now Lillebonne ; and the Velo casses, who bordered the Seine as far as the mouth of the Oise, and part of whose territory represented the Norman Vexin, chief city Rotumacus, Rothomagus — Rouen. In the year 58 B.C. Julius Cæsar resolved to conquer Gaul, but he met with so fierce a resistance that the con quest occupied eight years. Augustus, when he divided Gaul into provinces, seems to have included the Celtic tribes north of the Seine with those between the Seine and the Loire, and to have called the province Lugdunensis, or La Lyonnaise, with Lyons for capital ; but at the beginning of the fourth century Diocletian divided it into two, Premiere and Seconde Lyonnaise, and of this last Rouen was capital.

At the end of the fourth century came another subdivision, which reduced the Seconde Lyonnaise very nearly to the Normandy of the feudal epoch. About the period of this division came Christianity, and Rouen became an arch bishopric. Several of the other Armorican towns then erected into bishoprics are still the suffragan dioceses of the metropolitan see of Rouen. At this time the other ancient cities changed their names for those which they now bear, except Rouen, which con tinued to be Rothomagus. In the fifth century after Christ, two new scourges poured destruction over Normandy. First, the Franks, under their warlike chief, Clodion ; and then the Huns, under Attila. But the sagacious Roman general Aetius repulsed both attacks, and succeeded in uniting against the savage Huns even the unsubmissive tribes of Armorica, the turbulent inhabitants ofthe peninsula of the Cotentin, and the Saxon tribe of Otlings, who, about the middle of the fourth century, coming from the Elbe and the Rhine, had made incursions into the Lyonnaise, and had destroyed the cities of Vieux (which was never rebuilt), Avranches, Lisieux, and Lillebonne.

They had now been for some time masters of the Bessin, and of the land along the coast, from the mouth of the Seine to the Vire. But after this repulse, the power of Rome no longer asserts itself in Gaul. The tribes seem to recover inde pendence, and the chief power is in the hands of the bishops. About this time, in a tribe of Franks inhabiting the territory since called Flanders, was a young ambitious chief called Clovis, who proposed to himself to conquer Celtic Gaul. He began by invading the Soissonnais and the Ver mandois. He was at last successful in establishing a kingdom extending from the Seine to the Loire, and he made Paris his chief city. But the seafaring inhabitants of the western part of Armorica refused to submit to a pagan prince, and it was not until Clovis consented to receive Christian baptism that they acknowledged him as their sovereign.

NORMANDY. After this Neustria, as it was called, became the favourite residence of the Merovingian kings. They founded, too, or aided in the founding of, more than forty monasteries, among which were St. Ouen, Jumieges, St. Wandrille, Fe'camp, St. Evroult, Montivilliers, Ste. Croix, St. Taurin d'Evreux, Cerisy, Mont St. Michel. Thierry, the last titular king of the line of Clovis, finished his days in the cloister of St. Wandrille. There is little trace of Neustrian history under the Car lovingian kings; but in 841, Danish pirates sailed up the Seine, plundered and demolished Jumieges, and burned and pillaged Rouen. In 859 or 890 they again appeared, and ravaged all the country of the Bessin. The following year they came back, and again sailed up the Seine and took Paris. Charles le Chauve, too feeble to resist them, bought their departure with 7,000 livres of silver.

From this time the invasions of these northern pirates seem to have been frequent, and the province was one continual field of battle and plunder. There was a notable invasion in 885, but we get no certain mention of Rollo, or Rolf, till 912, when Charles the Simple, King of Paris, seems to have ceded the province to him entirely. It is also said that he gave him his daughter Gisela in marriage, but it is certain that Charles could not at that time have had a marriageable daughter. It may be well here to append a table of the Dukes of Normandy, from the time of Rolf till the cession of the province to France, in the time of Philip Augustus. Normandy is now divided into five departments — Seine Inserieure, comprising the Pays de Caux— chief town, Rouen, and the Pays de Bray. Eure— chief town, Evreux.

These nearly represent La Haute Normandie. Calvados — chief town, Caen. Manche — chief town, St. Lo. Orne — chief town, Alencon. These comprise La Basse Normandie. My best thanks are due to the authorities of the Reading room in the British Museum, and also to those of the Public Library of Rouen, for much ready courtesy and help. This book also owes much to the light thrown on the character of William the Conqueror by Mr. Freeman in his " History of the Norman Conquest of England." It has been suggested to me that a traveller sometimes likes to form an estimate of his expenses before he sets out on a journey. A single traveller may, by travelling rapidly, visit all the places named in this journey, in a space of six weeks, for the sum of staying at the best inns. It is always cheaper and pleasanter to travel by diligence than by railway ; but a private carriage is best of all, for, although it costs more money, it really saves time, as so much can be seen en route. c ROUEN.