Summer and winter in the Pyrenees

Preface

It is one of the duties we owe to society, that the pleasures we enjoy, and the difficulties we encounter in our own experience, should be made conducive to the benefit of others, who may in future be similarly circumstanced with ourselves. Deeming it probable that many individuals under the necessity of hastening from England to the south of France, may wish to know something of the climate, the scenery, and the inhabitants of that salubrious region, it is my desire in offering the present work to the public, not only to supply information to such travellers; but to afford amusement, interest, and I would iv

PREFACE.

fain hope, some degree of instruction, to those whose circumstances or inclination detain them at home.

In this attempt, I have been chiefly stimulated by the inconvenience I myself experienced in leaving England, without being able to meet with any work containing the information of which I was in want; for amongst the few writers who have made the Pyrenees the subject of their observations, there is, I believe, not one who has written more recently than eight or ten years ago ; while the annual influx of strangers into this part of France, the increased facilities for travelling, and the improvements in general accommodation are now so great, that the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees can only be said to be the same as it was ten years ago, in the simplicity of its peculiar people, the luxury of its delicious climate, and the almost unrivalled beauty of its majestic and varied scenery.

PREFACE.

In alluding to the writers in whose steps it would have been presumption for me to tread, but for the circumstance already stated, I must not omit to mention the lively and spirit-stirring narrative of Mr. Inglis, whose talent for description would have left little for others to say on this subject, except that his notice of the Pyrenees appended to that of Switzerland is so short, as to occupy not more than a hundred pages, in which there is no mention of some favourite situations amongst the mountains now much frequented, and only a slight and passing notice of Pau. Besides which, his book is rendered at once more interesting, and less useful, to the common order of travellers, by the enterprising spirit and indefatigable energy of the writer having led him rather over the summit of mountain ranges, than along the beaten tracks, which steps less practised and less vigorous are condemned to travel.

In the following pages, I have made no

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pretension to observations either of a scientific or a political nature. Mine is a simple detail of impressions made upon my own mind, from the scenes and circumstances around me ; and although the egotism of this style of writing may need some apology, I believe it is the only prudent and useful method, by which persons of no considerable attainment in science or philosophy, can transmit to higher and more gifted minds, such facts as they may not have the same opportunity of witnessing, but from which they may thus be enabled to draw important conclusions.

Trusting that the seeming trifles here recorded, and which have been collected from a journal kept on the spot, and transmitted at different times to my friends in England, may now afford gratification to a wider circle, I can only wish, that all who read these pages may participate in the pleasure I have enjoyed, while they escape the fatigue and

PREFACE.

vii inconvenience by which such pleasure is necessarily accompanied ; and that they may feel, on behalf of themselves and their friends, the same gratitude for those attractions of scenery, and advantages of climate, which will always be associated with my recollections of a residence of fifteen months amongst the Pyrenees.

Pan, April 2nd, 1841

Excursions— Louvie — Nay^-Eaux Chaudes 107

Chap. VI

Early history of the town and chateau of Pau — Sovereigns of Navarre — Henry II. and Marguerite de Valois — Jeanne D'Albret — Cradle and birth-place of Henry IV. — Establishment of Protestantism in Beam — Catherine of Navarre — Henry IV. — Bernadotte — Traces of the revolution — Illustrious visitors at Pau 143

Bagneres de Bigorre — Marbrorie — Varieties of knitting — Priory of St. Paul — Excursion to the Lac Bleu — Visit of Lamartine to Bagneres — Moonlight rambles — Excursion to L'Heris ... 282

Chap. XI

Advantages of living at Bagneres — French begging — Journey to Cauterets, and visit to the Castle of Lourdes — Spaniards — Pont D'Espagne, and the Lac de Gaube — Return by way of Luz to Bagneres . , 318

CONTENTS.

Chap. XII

State of agriculture, and division of property in the Pyrenees- Early approach of Autumn — Leaving St. Paul — View of the Mountains from Tarbes— Remarks upon the climate of the South of France— Notices of Oleron, and the Valley D'Aspe — Concluding observations on travelling abroad 348

CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE FROM PARIS TRAVELLING IN FRATs CE

ARRIVAL AT BORDEAUX CLIMATE OF THE SOUTH

FRENCH BREAKFASTS JOURNEY FROM BORDEAUX

DEPARTMENT OF THE LANDES — FIRST SIGHT OF

THE PYRENEES — ARRIVAL AT PAU.

The friendly relations which for the last five and twenty years have so happily subsisted between England and France, together with the increased facility for travelling on the Continent, which the general tranquillity of Europe has afforded, have left little to be added to our information respecting France and the French nation in general.

There are, however, sections of that countiy, scarcely rivalled by any other in their grandeur and beauty, inhabited by communities whose simplicity of manners, and characteristic peculiarities, cannot fail to interest ; yet whose situation, widely remote from the routes most frequently pursued by English travellers through France, Switzerland, and

SUM ME It AND WINTER

Italy, renders them in many respects, an unknown people ; while the beautiful scenery by which they are surrounded, remains comparatively unexplored.

One of these delightful regions, the neighbourhood of the French Pyrenees, Mr. Ellis and myself were induced, for the recovery of his health, to visit at the close of the year 1839 ; and, deeming it most prudent, as the season was so far advanced, not to linger by the way, we decided upon travelling by the Malle Poste from Paris to Bordeaux, after remaining only a few days in the former city.

It was on the 27th of December, at seven in the evening, that we commenced this journey, having been told that if the roads were good, we should perform it in thirty-six hours. With so many miles of constant travelling before us, it was no small satisfaction to find that we had the carriage entirely to ourselves, and that besides this, it was so roomy and commodious, as to admit of almost any change of position. There was, however, one inconvenience in travelling by the Malle Poste, for which, happily, our kind friends in Paris had prepared us. We were only permitted to stop for refreshment once, by the way ; so that without the provision of cold fowl, bread, and water, which we only happened to think of the moment before setting out, oursituation would have been somewhat deplorable.

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After the acquaintance we had made with French diligences and all their equipments, on the road from Boulogne to Paris, we considered ourselves as setting out in great style in the Malle Poste, with four respectable white horses ; and the night being dark and rainy, we were not conscious until the morning, how far our whole set-out had fallen short of the expectations at first excited. We then found that although our carriage was drawn by five horses instead of four, they were of the most grotesque description, — raw-boned and shaggy, with their tails tied up in bunches ; and their heads, necks, and bodies, hung about with harness consisting of thongs of leather neither tanned nor cleaned, and arranged in such a manner as would baffle the ingenuity of any but a Frenchman. In addition to all which, they had immense collars hung about with little tinkling bells, which to an English ear, would seem to announce a merry andrew, rather than a mail coach.

The postilions too, were as remarkable as the animals they drove ; and like them, were changed about every five miles. Sometimes these men sat in the dicky; sometimes on one of the horses; sometimes they wore smart blue jackets ornamented with silver lace; sometimes the short blue frocks of the peasants ; and sometimes they had the skins of b 2 dogs or calves tied round them. But whatever their garments were composed of, they always floated about in the wind, as wild and loose as possible. Most of these men wore the wooden shoes of the country, turned up at the toe, with a sharp point, and sometimes, also, finished off behind with a high sharp heel, with which they trod on the backs of the horses as they clambered up and down.

If any one should be disposed to doubt the real difference of national character between the French and the English, they need only look at such public conveyances, to be convinced in a moment, that there is something radically dissimilar in their modes of thinking and feeling ; or perhaps, I ought rather to say, in the impressions they receive from the same object. Polite as we all allow them to be, and celebrated as they justly are for their good taste, the French look every day without a smile, or a wish for improvement, upon some of the most outlandish machines that ever were constructed for the conveyance of passengers ; and which, if they were driven along the streets of London, would unquestionably attract a mob.

How many passengers a diligence is intended to carry, is not easy to ascertain ; for what with its three apartments within, its piles of luggage on the top, the number of persons who scramble up to a

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receptacle in front of the roof, and the additional number who insist upon having taken their places, and have to be pulled out by main force to make room for others, a French diligence might be supposed by a stranger, to be transporting the inhabitants of a whole village. And then the shouting, whooping, cracking, and coaxing, with which the whole affair is kept going !

The variety of trappings which compose the harness of French horses, would scarcely be expected, from its appearance, to hold together for a single mile ; and the fact is, that something always does give way about every ten minutes. Such accidents, however, unless more than commonly serious, occasion no delay ; for the driver hangs his reins upon a hook on the dicky, descends like a monkey, and then runs sideways as fast as the horses can go, adjusting the broken harness all the time. The great beauty of the whole affair is, that the horses go just as well when he is not driving, as when he is ; nor does the breaking of. a trace or two seem to make the least difference in the movement of the vehicle.

After all, we must not be too ready to smile at a French diligence, when it possesses two points of excellence, which some of our public conveyances of far higher pretensions, wrould be much improved by adopting. In the first place it is extremely easy; and in the next, it is so constructed that the driver or conducteur can lock the hind wheel without descending from his seat, which, in a hilly country, or in a case of danger, is an amazing advantage.

The first night we spent in the Malle Poste, was certainly the most comfortable I ever experienced in travelling. On looking out the following morning at early dawn, we found that a wide river was rolling its cold blue waters beside us. It was the Loire, on whose banks we travelled for many miles, our road being a straight, and apparently interminable line of mud, with rows of tall poplars on each side, and the low country all around us under water; so that it was sometimes difficult to say which was the exact course of the river.

Very little variety of scene presents itself in this route in the winter ; for even the washerwomen, who at first look so strange and so picturesque, are so numerous and frequent, that you soon learn to look at them, as you do at the straight roads and poplars, only as necessary parts of the scene. I had been accustomed to think that English artists, in drawing continental scenery, put in the washerwomen and the linen by way of effect. But of such frequency and importance is this process, carried on in the open air, that amongst the first

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objects which attracted my attention on the banks of the Loire, were ranges of rafts and rudely constructed vessels, appropriated exclusively to the washerwomen ; while long lines by the sides of the water displayed the clean white linen, sometimes hanging in terraces one above another up the sides of the hills.

Throughout the whole of our journey, we had looked in vain for what we should call in England the houses of the gentry. Chateaux, ancient and modern, w<ere here and there to be seen, but not those neat and comfortable dwellings of a somewhat lower grade, which grace the whole of our native isle. Indeed the French have no idea of the countenance of a house, or that a good front door, and respectable entrance, give as much character to the appearance of a house, as a nose and mouth to that of a human face. Thus you see in a French house an excellent roof and plenty of windows, the middle row particularly good, w7hile the doors are like barn doors, and the filth and forlornness of the way up to them beyond all description. Cow houses, and stables in England, are approached more agreeably ; and all this is found where the furniture of the first floor consists of marble and wood of the finest polish, and curtains arranged with the nicest regard to elegance and taste.

Among the ancient and often dilapidated chateaux, whose gloomy looking towers appeared to us to frown on the neighbouring country, the Castle of Blois, so rich in historical associations, is altogether one of the most grand and imposing I remember to have ever beheld. The city of Blois occupies a commanding situation on the slope of a hill, extending down to the banks of the Loire, which is crossed by a handsome bridge ; but it is the princely castle which claims more particularly the attention of the traveller, and which we especially regretted not having time to visit.

Before reaching Tours, which is the next place of importance in this route, a curious scene presents itself. On the opposite side of the Loire, is an extensive line of rugged limestone rock, not only clothed with vines trained about in every possible variety, but actually hollowed out into human dwellings, for apparently a very considerable population; so that you see doors, and windows, balconies, and those innumerable staircases that wind up the outside of almost all the old houses in France, mingled with the light drapery of the vines, which even as we saw them, without their garniture of leaves, looked picturesque, and almost beautiful.

Attracted as all travellers must be, bv the fine

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old Cathedral of Tours, and by the noble bridge which spans the river, we would gladly have stayed here to make further observations upon both— to say nothing of the desirableness of a breakfast, after twelve hours' travelling, an idea by no means unlikely to occur to an English traveller. No such indulgence, however, was allowed us. The letters were handed out, and away we drove again, truly rejoiced to think that we were not wholly unprovided. Nor was it until seven in the evening that we were permitted to descend from our vehicle, for half an hour, to dine at a miserable looking inn, where, in a little room scarcely large enough for a table, we had the usual profusion of dishes, followed by an excellent dessert.

We had been told that we should reach Bordeaux about six the following morning ; but such was the state of the roads, that when the light of day again dawned, we were far from the end of our journey ; and what made us less reconciled to our situation, it was Sunday. Rain was still falling heavily, and the atmosphere having become milder as we advanced southward, we seemed to be travelling through a region of steam ; while the country people, regardless of the heavy rains, were as busy and as brisk as ever. Notwithstanding the b3

Sabbath too, they were buying and selling, and in some places even working in the fields, the same as on other days.

It was here, I think, we felt most forcibly that we were far from England, and widely separated from those sacred privileges which a Sabbath in our native land affords. Instead of " the sound of the church-going bell/' and the country people walking quietly in family groups to the place of worship, the father with his youngest child, and the mother with her Bible in her hand, all serious, orderly, and respectable, here in every village through which we passed, there was held a sort of market ; while the falling rain, the dirt of the roads, and above all the indescribable filth of the doorways, gave an aspect of disorder and discomfort to the whole country. Well might we exclaim, " Is this the laughing France which travellers have painted in such glowing colours ? "

It was early on the second day of our journey that we crossed the Dordogne, a broad river, over which a beautiful suspension bridge has just been erected ; ^vhich, for want of more solid foundation, is said to be already giving way. The road over the bridge not then being opened, we were driven at great speed through a little dirty village on the banks of the river; and the masons employed

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about the new works, having nearly blocked up the way with masses of stone and timber, we had to tack about amongst the deep mire, avoiding with some difficulty the cottage walls, notwithstanding the heaps of rubbish which generally form a sort of embankment at every door. Yet on we went, without ever stopping, slashing and clattering, with the usual whoop and jingle, down a steep narrow way, directly on board the ferry boat which was to convey us across the river ; and here the opportunity wras deemed eligible for changing horses, after which process we were left, with the new set, standing close to the edge of the boat ; so that a single unruly movement would have plunged them and us into the water.

The road from this place to Bordeaux appeared to us most dreary; but the rain having now softened into a warm steamy haze, we could not for some hours see many yards before us. The weather began to clear, however, before noon, when the road turning suddenly round the side of a hill, we saw before us the noble city of Bordeaux, with the no less noble Garonne, bearing on its bosom the merchandise of many lands. It was a splendid sight, and repaid us for much of the discomfort of our journey.

Seldom have travellers arrived at a resting place more weary and forlorn than we were at Bordeaux ; but, soon located at a comfortable hotel, we were in a condition to enjoy the full benefit of cold water and excellent coffee, as well as to appreciate the kind services of one of those pretty French women, who wait upon you with a sort of intuitive notion of all your wants.

But for the tact of the French, and their general disposition to oblige, it would be impossible for the numbers of English who know nothing, or next to nothing of the language, to penetrate as they do into every part of this country. The language of Babel could not exceed, nor can imagination conceive anything to equal the jargon of utterance to which the French will not only listen without a smile, but with the kindest wish to attach some possible meaning to the sounds conveyed; but no sooner does the idea strike them, than they finish the sentence for the stammering stranger, and act upon it before he has had time to blush. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say, that not only the totally ignorant, but many who consider themselves pretty well fortified by an English education against the difficulties of travelling abroad, are often placed in this situation; for it is not merely an acquaintance with French literature, that will be found necessary in arranging the

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business of hotels and public conveyances. Far more valuable to the traveller would be the familiar use of the names of domestic utensils, and the usual mode of reckoning money, with the general phraseology of inns and waiters. I must not, however, undervalue a previous knowledge of the general construction of the language.

One of our first objects on arriving at Bordeaux, was to send off some of our letters of introduction, which were soon followed by a visit from an excellent Swiss gentleman, whose residence is at a little distance, but who spends the Sunday with his family in the city, for the advantage of attending Protestant worship. After cheerfully undertaking for us every act of kindness which such entire strangers could require, he left us under an engagement to join his family and a few French and English protestants, at his house in the evening, where a religious service is regularly held.

On our way to the house of this gentleman, we had to cross a large public square, or place, containing about five acres of ground, surrounded by avenues of acacias already budding, as they do with us in the months of April or May. On this place were assembled groups of people apparently from all countries, and clothed in as many varieties of costume. But the climate — the atmosphere ! — what words can describe the almost magical change to us from that of England! It seemed as if storm and tempest never had been there. The most bland and silent summer's evening in our country about the hour of nine, is not so soft and balmy ; besides all which, the sunset glow of the warm south gave to the whole scene a brilliancy of effect beyond what can be imagined in our northern clime.

Before us the broad river was sleeping, blue and clear, without a ripple or a wave, crowded on both sides with shipping from all the countries of Europe, the dark sides and white masts of the vessels reflected in the clear deep water; while every sail and oar remained as motionless as death. Far away, to the left, stretched the noble quay, curving with the line of the river, and forming an unbroken crescent more than three miles in extent, composed of irregular but handsome buildings, diversified by many beautiful towers and spires which rose behind; and all constructed of that yellow kind of stone which gives to architecture the richest tints of colouring, when mixed with the venerable grey of hoary time.

No wonder that this spacious promenade should be thronged with loitering visitors, when it offers such a view. It is true the people who sauntered

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there were idle, but they were not disorderly; and the attractive costume of the women, particularly their Jiead-dresses, and their clear, soft, and glowing complexions, made them all look lovely to strangers suddenly transported, as we were, from the cold and drizzle of an English winter, to this region of beauty and balm, where it was a perfect luxury to stand still, and breathe the soft evening air, without a shudder or a chill.

The common people of France, throughout the whole of our jpurney, had appeared to us remarkably good looking. Their long and well-formed noses, dark eyes and hair, neat mouths, white teeth, and more than all their complexions, not fair, but rich, like the fresh bloom of a peach, — neither red nor yellow, but just such a mixture of both as can only be described by a perfect glow; yet all the while so delicate, as the sunset tints of the western sky, though rich in colouring, are delicate in the extreme. I have seen hundreds of countrymen in France, whose portraits would have graced a picture gallery; and perhaps an equal number of women, any of whom a painter would have been glad to place on a balcony open to the setting sun, and wreathe about with roses. But a really interesting face, such a face as carries the imagination home with it — a face to remember.

and to wish to meet again after many days ; — such a face I have seldom found in France. They are pictures all ; and whether young or old, the people wear such dresses, and place themselves in such positions, that one longs perpetually to transmit them to canvass.

It was a beautiful sight, for example, to see the women by the side of the road we travelled, tending their little flocks of sheep, with their knitting in their hands, or more frequently spinning with the old-fashioned distaff; often seated on a bank, with two or three brown goats beside them, and a large shepherd's dog sleeping at their feet.

I have said that the head-dresses of the French women are becoming, yet doubt whether an exception must not be made of the caps worn by the old and middle-aged women in Bordeaux and the neighbourhood, which are of such enormous dimensions as almost to baffle description, and defy belief. One would think it impossible to maintain such a fabric of stiff muslin in wet weather, but that in France neither men nor women are ever separated from their umbrellas, especially in the south, where they are used to keep off the sun as well as the rain, and are often of a bright red colour. The narrow streets of Paris, seen as I first beheld them, in heavy rain, gave me the

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idea of rivers of umbrellas ; and I was afterwards amused to see the peasants of the south using these inseparable accompaniments on horseback. Even the men who break stones by the roadside have their umbrellas, which I have no doubt they would hold in one hand, while they used the hammer with the other, but that they all have screens, made of straw worked into a wooden frame., which they set up to shelter them from the wind and rain.

Besides the complexions of the people above described, every person, every object in Bordeaux seemed to wear a colouring entirely new to me ; for the effect produced by a southern climate upon the aspect of nature, is such as no art can imitate, no pen describe. In short, it must be seen and felt, to be really understood. I am aware, that much of the vividness of an impression is sometimes owing to its being the first of the kind received ; yet I believe all travellers agree that Bordeaux is one of the most splendid cities in the world ; its public buildings many of them unrivalled; while the busy, cheerful aspect of its numerous population, is one that never tires.

The Garonne at Bordeaux is between six and seven hundred yards in breadth ; and the bridge of seventeen arches, by which it is crossed, is one hundred and nine feet longer than Waterloo

Bridge. The construction of this bridge is singular : it has not only an aqueduct by which water is conveyed into the city, but a sort of interior passage, or covered way, by which one may pass along over the arches, the whole length of the bridge.

Novel and interesting as the whole scene presented by the river, the quay, the bridge, and the spacious promenade was to us, we were not reluctant to repair to the house of the kind Swiss gentleman, at the appointed hour. Here we found a congregation of about forty or fifty persons assembled, who had already commenced the evening service by singing some of the sweetest hymns I ever heard. The lady who took the lead in the music was a daughter of Dr. Malan, of Geneva, with the same intelligent countenance, and marked by a strong resemblance to her father. Her husband, who was son to the gentleman of the house, delivered a short but impressive address ; and the meeting then closed with prayer and another hymn : after which the party separated, and we returned to our hotel, well pleased to have found a little community of kindred minds, so distant from our native land.

We had, on the following day, great pleasure in visiting a depository of the Holy Scriptures in this place. The situation is in one of the most public

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and frequented parts of the city, and the depository well supplied with Bibles and Testaments in nearly all the European languages ; but especially in those most likely to be useful here. The excellent agent of the Paris Bible Society, who has the care of this depository, informed us that the circulation of the Scriptures was not publicly prohibited by the priests ; and that at one time frequent applications for copies had been made.

It is unquestionably the part of wisdom, in cases where conscience is not concerned, to follow the popular maxims, and conform to the habits of the people amongst whom you live. I had heard that in France it was customary to have but two meals in the day, but doubted the possibility of regulating my notions of comfort by this rule. On farther observation, however, I found it not so difficult as I had at first supposed ; and the public breakfast table at our hotel at Bordeaux afforded me a view of this case, by no means discouraging.