Chapter IX: The Norman Country-Side

It is difficult to apportion to any part of the Norman country-side characteristics which are common to the whole province.

Indeed, save for the fact that wine is not grown in Normandy, the whole region is given over to the growing of much the same crops, which seem to thrive in so many parts elsewhere. There is also the crop of cider-apples, of pears, and of many other fruits, including a delicious _white_ strawberry, and the raising of sheep, cattle, and even horses,--all seem to flourish here in this great province.

Perhaps it is that Norman thrift and hard labour account for much of the prosperity attendant upon its bountiful crops; for certainly the Norman farmer, be he peasant or proprietor, has the faculty of getting abundant crops from comparatively restricted plots of land.

The Norman country-side may be properly said to lie to the westward of the Seine, beginning with the district of Neubourg and extending to the Breton border through the base of the Cotentin peninsula. This is the true Normandy,--Lower Normandy,--and it had for its capital in the old days the much bechurched city of Caen, as distinct from Rouen in Upper Normandy, the capital of the entire province. Rouen had early absorbed French manners and customs; and its inhabitants spoke the French tongue long before the speech and religion of the Northmen had died out of the mouths and breasts of their descendants in the lower province.

This is a fact advanced by historians, and may mean much or little. It is supported, however, by the statement that William Longsword, the first Rollon’s son, sent his son to Bayeux to learn Danish; for which reason it is argued that the lower province withstood the march of transition the longest.

Everything in Normandy has an attitude of palpable prosperity. There are occasional tumble-down outhouses, to be sure, and now and then a deserted hamlet, but this is no sign of a prevalent poverty or an increasing indolence, and Normandy, without doubt, is one of the most industrious and wealthy sections of all France.

The figures of population in France are ever full of surprises when regarded in comparison with those of another day. Many a French department has remained stationary as to its population for a hundred years, while occasionally one has decreased, as, for instance, the Department of the Eure, lying just west of the Seine, which has lost within the past decade something over five thousand of its children.

The population of France, as a whole, increases of course, but it is mostly the urban centres that show an increase. The country-side remains at its dead level, and that, perhaps, is why it is prosperous.

The men and women of Normandy are of rather larger stature than most of the population of France; they live and dress in a more comfortable, if not a more luxurious, manner, and they generally exhibit an air of thrift and prosperity which in the neighbouring province of Brittany is notably lacking.

As astute an observer as Professor Freeman--and he was an Oxford conservative of the most conservative type--had nothing but praise for Norman fare as compared with that of Paris. He said picturesquely and forcibly: “Any one with an old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon stomach--a man who would have liked to have dined off roast meat with Charles the Great, or breakfasted off beefsteaks with Queen Elizabeth--will find the Norman diet coming far nearer to his ideal than the politer repasts of Paris.”

In the matter of eating, Rouen, except in the little market-farmers’ _tables d’hôte_, has become corrupted and Parisian; but at Evreux, Louviers, Conches, and at Avranches and Bayeux, one eats only the native fare, and is not glutted with beefsteak, mutton-chops, and ham and eggs, and, worst of all, ham omelets, which every hotel in a large city in France seems to think is a specially palatable dish to English-speaking folk.

In the very heart of a wide-open bit of country lies Evreux, a pretty little commercial town. As a manufacturing centre it produces the hosiery, woollen stuffs, and the other products of the province. As auxiliaries to the great factories are innumerable public-houses and wine-shops of such diminutive proportions that one wonders that they can carry enough stock in trade to satisfy a reasonably thirsty baker’s dozen of workmen. They drink large quantities of cider, the innocuous wine of the country, and relatively smaller quantities of the more dangerous “applejack,” which the French call _calvados_.

It is difficult to place Evreux in the category of those places tourists in general love to visit.

Take away its bizarre Renaissance cathedral, and most travellers would know it not. But it is the typical chief city of a prosperous department, nevertheless, and is the centre from which radiates much local influence. The préfecture is here, and here is the headquarters of the Inspector of the Mines, both of whom one interviews if he lives in the Department of the Eure, and desires to possess an automobile or steam-engine to pump water for his garden.

There is nothing very formidable about these interviews with French officials. They are all most civil and obliging, but very formal. If you have any communication to make, you must first put it in writing on “stamped paper,” which you buy for sixty centimes at a tobacco shop, and forward it by post.

In due time a reply comes back to you, delivered by the hand of the _sous-commissaire_ of the commune in which you live, making an appointment for an interview, or giving the desired information. It seems a roundabout way of doing it, but it serves to keep the under officials of the préfecture of a canton or a commune up to their work, thereby always having in the routine of office any number of well-trained subordinates, who recognize the will and power of a higher administration.

It is the military discipline over again, and it works very well indeed, in spite of the fact that it is not time or labour saving, two conditions of life which have not yet made much headway in France.

The cathedral at Evreux is an interesting _mélange_ of good, bad, and indifferent Gothic and Renaissance architecture, and forms, as before said, its chief sight. It by no means takes rank among the secondary cathedrals of France as an artistic expression, but there is an inordinate amount of most excellent Renaissance woodwork to be seen in the chapel railings of its interior, which give it a much higher rank than it would otherwise take.

There is a frightful portrait of Charles the Wicked in the choir of the cathedral, which would be interesting if it were in an art museum or a picture-gallery; but it is so hideous that it is quite out of place in a religious edifice.

More interesting for the antiquarian is the Church of St. Taurin, all that remains of the old abbey of the same name built in 1026 by Richard II.

The bishop’s palace, to the rearward of the cathedral, has quite a feudal aspect, and, while not architecturally beautiful, has magnificently disposed surroundings.

There are the usual civic monuments that one sees in an important French town, the most beautiful, modern though it is, being a fine fountain ornamented with statues symbolical of the Eure and its tributaries, the Iton and the Rouloir. In the local art museum are shown an admirably arranged exhibit of medals, and some specimens of ancient pottery made here. The pictures are quite of the ordinary variety.

The civic belfry at Evreux is the chief curiosity of the town after the cathedral. It is one of those quaint minaret-like towers one sees in the lower country; nothing but a lone pile pierced with a portal on its ground floor, and ascended by a spiral stairway until one reaches an octagonal outside gallery, above which there is a pinnacle in which hangs the great bell.

The alarum-bells of a former day had some useful purpose to serve; but to-day, unless the belfry of Evreux should be used as a curfew, its utility has long since passed.

Just beyond Evreux, following the banks of the Iton, is Conches, a typical Norman country-side town, with a historic past. It has a beautiful church, a charming situation on the top of a hill, and a typical and astonishingly good country inn, but little else.

Conches had its origin in the foundation of an abbey here by the seigneur of the region, named Roger, in 1035. In 1355 King John gave the county of Conches to his son-in-law, Charles, Count of Evreux and King of Navarre, from whom it was taken some time afterward by force. The troops of the Duke of Lancaster and Philippe of Navarre delivered to the flames the old château and abbey; and to-day all that remains of the former is the great round donjon in the gardens of the town hall.

This old donjon turret is the most interesting memorial in Conches to-day, and is quite as representative of the manner of building these great circular defences as any extant. It is surrounded by a deep fosse, now herbage-grown and half-filled, and its walls are crumbled and covered with lichen and moss.

The Church of Ste. Foy is a charmingly spired fifteenth-century edifice, not so ancient nor so rich in treasure as are many churches in an important town such as Conches; but, in spite of all this, it is as lovable as any and more picturesquely disposed than most.

The ruins of Vieux-Conches, two kilometres distant, point out in a more or less halting manner the story of a past that is well-nigh lost in oblivion. There is here and there a pile of débris, some remains of old walls, indicating an old-time faubourg now overgrown and wiped out by its more ambitious parent.

A word as to the excellent hotel, the Croix Blanche. It sits unobtrusively enough to one side, just beyond the Church of Ste. Foy, on the opposite side of the street, its courtyard literally filled to overflowing with those great two-wheeled, high-hooded carts so characteristic of Normandy. The stable, too, is full to its limit, as well as the country people’s smoking-room, where, on an oilcloth-covered table, is served a bountiful bill of fare, with unlimited cider, for the modest sum of a franc a head.

The dining-room proper, which you enter through the kitchen, where the patron himself presides as chef, is not an ample apartment, but it seats perhaps two score of people, and here, of all places _en route_ across Normandy, you will get as typical a country meal, with asparagus and strawberries and such generally liked eatables, as will make you marvel how it is all done at the price; for some of these stalwart Normans, to say nothing of the omni-present travelling salesman, have astounding appetites. All this costs but a modest fifty sous. They make it up perhaps on the coffee, for they charge you fifty centimes for it, though they do give you a small glass of _calvados_ with it, which after all leaves no ground for complaint.

West of Conches is a grand forest tract, the road through which runs up-hill and down dale for fourteen kilometres. It is not a level road by any means, but it is a beautiful one. As one leaves this fine forest region and strikes the highroad again on the way to Laigle, he passes numerous little agricultural towns, set about here and there in a delightful rolling country, whose great charm is invariably their picturesque disposition.

Rugles is one of these, and it has a grand old church, or, rather, two of them, which dominate the road for a half-dozen kilometres at either entrance to the town. Curiously enough, Rugles, a little country-side place of less than two thousand inhabitants, in the midst of a frankly agricultural region, shares with Laigle, twelve kilometres distant, and a metropolitan town compared to Rugles, the honour of being the chief centre for the manufacture of pins in all France.

Laigle is a quaintly picturesque town. Its Church of St. Martin is a magnificent monument of the fifteenth century, frankly Renaissance with respect to most of its details, but with a most engaging great bare tower which dates from at least the twelfth century.

The old brick château which faces St. Martin is now given over to mundane commercial affairs; but it is a fine example of the work of the younger Mansard, and a contemplation of its exterior details will place his work on a much higher plane than does his rather _outré_ invention, the Mansard roof.

The tiny river Risle--tiny in its breadth, though not in its length--cuts Laigle in twain on its way to the sea.

Between Laigle and Mortagne is Tourouvre, with a fine church in St. Gilles, with its wooden vault covered with paintings, its fifteenth-century choir-stalls, and many other accessories which any church should be proud to possess.

This church of Tourouvre contains many reminders of the connection of Normandy with New France in North America. One of the great coloured windows represents Julien Mercier and eighty families of the neighbourhood, who left here for the new world in 1650. Another window shows Honoré Mercier, the first minister of Canada, praying within this same church.

From those who went from Tourouvre and its environs to Canada in the seventeenth century, a notable portion of the French-Canadians have descended.

This emigration took place in the most opulent epoch of the reign of Louis XIV., when Colbert was minister. As the French authority Verrerie has said:

“_Ces familles percheronnes, arrivées en nombre quand la colonie sortait à peine de l’enfance, ont fortement influé sur les mœurs, habitudes, aptitudes, sur le langage et l’accent de cette nation._”

It was during the administration of Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV., that the France of overseas first came to its full bloom. Jacques Cartier had already journeyed to the new world; and the foundation of Quebec by Champlain and his people in 1608 gave the first real strength to colonial ambitions.

Canada became a prosperous colony indeed, flanking both banks of the St. Lawrence and the northern shores of the Great Lakes, thanks to the discoveries of the intrepid voyager, the Cavalier de la Salle (1682), whose tomb in Rouen’s cathedral has become one of those shrines much favoured by visiting Americans.

The great tract afterward taken into the United States first received the name of Louisiana, after the kingly patron of the discoverer, while Newfoundland and all of New France furnished an impetus to French exploration and development across the seas, which in later years was not sustained.

Back of all this, a century before, appears the name of John Cabot, the discoverer of Newfoundland and Canada.

The question has often been discussed in Italy as to whether or no John Cabot was a Venetian, or, rather, a Venetian citizen. They evidently believe he was, for certain records claim the existence of one Ioani Caboto as a resident of that city.

The French, and the Normans more particularly, give this no credit. They claim that Jean Cabot, which certainly sounds as French as John Cabot does English, or Ioani Caboto does Italian, was of Normandy. “He may have been Venetian by adoption,” says your patriotic Frenchman, “and it was in the service of Henry VII. of England that John Cabot, then settled in Bristol, left upon that voyage of discovery in 1492, accompanied by his three sons, which resulted in the skirting of the American continent from Labrador to Florida; but Jean Cabot, nevertheless, _was_ a Frenchman.”

The claim is not very fully substantiated, to be sure, but as the English claim him as an Englishman, and the Italians as an Italian, and inasmuch as he could not be both, perhaps he _was_ a Frenchman. The French have evolved the word _cabotage_ in marine nomenclature, which means navigation along the coast, showing at least the regard they have for the memory of _Jean Cabot_.

Before one reaches Mortagne there is the Abbey of La Trappe to be visited, an experience which will live long in the memory of the traveller.

You may get nourishment and shelter for a surprisingly small sum, and you will be served and waited upon by brown-robed monks, with all the mystery which surrounds the accounts of such hospitality which have come down to us from other days. But ladies must not be of the party. At least they may not enter the inviolate precincts of the monastery itself. They may go only as far as the lodge at the gate, where one may buy picture post-cards and little boxes of chocolate from a garrulous old _frère_, who looks and acts as if he hugely enjoyed female society. He appears to be the only one of the community who mixes with the outside world, and is gracious, kindly, and good-natured, and will even arrange to have a simple meal cooked within the hallowed walls and sent out to the hungry ladies of the party. The men may enter and eat in the refectory.

The fare is simple--exceedingly simple--a bit of preserved fish, an omelet perhaps, some boiled rice, and black bread with wine or cider. The price is also simple. You may give what you choose, or, if you can induce the happy, toothless old monk, who is the go-between of the world within and without, to set a price, he will probably tell you two francs for all, regardless of the size of the company.

This is truly an idyllic way of conducting an inn for the clients, but it is hardly good business. The old monk fares much better when he leaves the price to the visitor.

The monastery buildings are fine, but not strikingly beautiful from the outside, though set amid beautifully cultivated fields. The domain is over three hundred _hectares_, and is well stocked with cows, sheep, and swine. There is also a large apiary, the conduct of which seems to be particularly suited to a monastic life.

The brown-robed brother who mixes with the world seems to think so, too, and takes a pardonable pride in showing his beehives and beautiful cows to any one who will give him the opportunity.

The present establishment occupies the site of an abbey founded in 1140, the ancient oratory of which now serves as a bake-house. Later the abbey became associated with the order of Citeaux, and finally the Trappists installed themselves here in 1815, and commenced the construction of the present buildings.

All the principal structures within the walls are strictly modern. The chapel dates from 1890, the Capitulary Hall from 1891, and the cloister from 1892.

Within the walls of the little garden is a fine statue of the Virgin in white marble, given in 1847 by Madame Adelaide, the sister of Louis-Philippe.

The library contains twenty thousand volumes, including a very beautiful missal in a folio format on parchment, written in German script, and ornamented with miniatures and grotesquely decorated initials.

Mortagne is an eminently dignified district capital of four thousand inhabitants, admirably situated for defence, as was proved in the olden time when it was long held by the Counts of Perche against all invaders; but is withal a sleepy, dull town, with really very little of interest in it to-day for the traveller by road or rail, unless he happens to get here for the great Percheron horse-fair in December of each year, when transactions covering the buying and selling of two thousand head or more take place within a single day.

The church dates from 1495-1535, and is in no way remarkable except for its pretentious portal of the sixteenth century. There are numerous old houses of wood of the conventional rural Norman style, but, on the whole, beyond a general air of smugness and prosperity in the town, there is little visible to endear it even to the inhabitant himself.

Of feudal origin, Mortagne was the ancient capital of La Perche.

The traveller by road from Mortagne to Alençon and Domfront, or to Mayenne, will think he has struck a genuine mountain trail.

Not that the roadway is not good, for it is most excellently laid and graded. But, except for some mountainous parts of Brittany, this “_Suisse Normande_” is the hilliest region in France.

One should make a by-tour from Mortagne to Bellême and Mamers, if only to see what an unspoiled little old world a Norman hill-town looks like to-day. Bellême is all this and much more. It owns to nearly three thousand inhabitants, and sits upon a height two hundred metres above the valley of the Huisne.

There are many fine great houses in the town of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when everything was at the height of its prosperity.

Of ancient feudal origin, Bellême was one of the most strongly fortified places in Normandy in the eleventh century. The Counts of Bellême, more famous for their crimes than their virtues, were the possessors of nearly all of La Perche in the olden days. In 1082 they took the title of Counts of Alençon as well, but Bellême remained the capital of their domains.

Robert of Bellême was one of the most celebrated château builders of his day, being possessed of so great an ability that he was known as a most famous military engineer under Philippe I. He built the Château of Bellême, Nogent le Rotron, and Gisors.

Henri Martin, the historian, was born at Bellême.

The Church of St. Sauveur dates from the fifteenth century, and is a splendidly appointed and decorated church of its time. There is a great modern window therein to the memory of the mother of Aristide Boucicault, the founder of the great store at Paris known all over the world as the “Bon Marché.” There are also paintings here by Poussin, Isabey, and Oudry.

In the Square of St. Sauveur is an old fortified gate, a fragment left from the ancient château.

Alençon is first called to the minds of most women travellers as the original home of the lace known by its name. It is a great, overgrown, gone-to-sleep, old-world town, with a gorgeously ornate church, some remains of a feudal château, and the memory of its siege by Geoffroy Martel, Count of Anjou, in 1040. Under the Cardinal Richelieu the place became the seat of a district, the administration of which embraced over 1,200 distinct parishes.

The lace industry of Alençon in the olden time was justly celebrated. Working after the Venetian manner, a woman named Gilbert, a native of Alençon, first made this lace here. She obtained the exclusive privilege of making it up to 1685. The industry prospered up to 1812, since which date it has fallen sadly, though it is hoped, and even claimed, that a phœnix-like revival may be expected at any time since the school of lace-making has been established.

Alençon has its horse-fair on the January twenty-fifth and the February fourth of each year, and also a remounting post for the army,--all of which gives a certain air of prosperity, which at other times of the year is lacking.

The Church of Notre Dame of the fifteenth century is the chief architectural feature, and its magnificently sculptured portal is of the best of late Gothic workmanship.

The court-house and the prison occupy the site of the ancient château; in its façade are preserved two of the great crenelated towers of the portal, dating from the fourteenth century.

The art museum contains numerous paintings of little except local interest; but the public library has a superb series of decorations set about its walls in the twenty-six magnificently blazoned armorial bearings in oak, coming from the ancient library of the Val Dieu. The bas-reliefs are attributed to Germain Pilon and Jean Goujon. The library contains twenty thousand volumes, including various incunabula and 177 manuscripts.

Argentan lies fifty kilometres or so north of Alençon, and on the way there is the tiny cathedral town of Séez, which has one of the most perfect of Gothic cathedrals of its size in all France. The little city has a most unworldly aspect, silent but not sad. A Frenchman has called it a _véritable ville episcopale et monastique_.

There is, moreover, a hotel--the Cheval Blanc--at Séez which is something more than a mere rest-house. It is a typical, unspoiled old-time hostelry, where you are well served with the products of the farmyard and the fields. It is decidedly an inn to be noted; and, if one stays overnight, he will be put to bed in an old oak-raftered room, with a highly waxed, red-tiled floor, which will make him dream of the days of long ago.

Argentan, though it boasts but two thousand more inhabitants than Séez and has no cathedral, is a veritable metropolis compared to the latter.

The Church of St. Germain is a fine building, sadly blocked and crowded by the surrounding houses which huddle around its walls and leave only the north façade and the apse open to the day. The decorated Gothic tower (1638) is a fine achievement, and the interior arrangements are altogether charming.

The Château of Argentan is the most satisfying building in Argentan. It has two great square towers of the fourteenth century, which to-day form a part of an adjoining edifice used as a prison.

The library, while not so extensive as that in many other of the little capitals of Normandy, has six thousand volumes relating to Norman history and affairs, which should make it of value to any one of antiquarian tastes.

Northward from Evreux one follows the valley of the non-navigable, but utilitarian, little river Iton through the farm-lands of Evrecin and Neubourg, until finally one realizes that he is quite in the midst of the open Norman country. The apple-trees are everywhere; and the crop of cider-apples is here, as elsewhere in Normandy, of first importance. Prairies that once were only grass-land have been made into orchards and workable farms, and the big and little farmers, by a constant and well-paid effort, have made it a veritable land of plenty.

The little industrial town of Neubourg lies between Evreux and Bernay, in the great Neubourg district, an ancient _petit pays_ where was once a vast château, the property of the Marquis de Sourdeac of Rieux, which dominated all the neighbourhood.

Like its more noble compeers in the Loire valley, it occasionally sheltered great companies of people who affected art and letters. As Molière and Rabelais frequently attended upon the court, when in residence at some gorgeous château in Touraine, so Sieur Pierre Corneille--who himself lived not far away, at Grand Couronne, near Rouen--was commanded to present a new piece at this little court of “_Neufbourg_” in 1661.

Here was presented for the first time the “Toison d’Or” by the royal company from Paris, in celebration of the marriage of the king and the conclusion of peace with Spain.

“The prologue was applauded generously,” say the accounts of the time. This prologue, to a great extent, proved a prophecy of things to come, as the following lines will show:

“A vaincre si longtemps mes forces s’affaiblissent,
L’état est florissant, mais les peuples gemissent;
Leurs membres décharnés courbent sous mes hauts faits
Et la gloire du trône accable mes sujets.”

The château is in ruins to-day, but a contemplation thereof serves to recall this unfamiliar page of the life of the times.

Brionne is another charmingly situated little town of this fertile country-side which is little known, except to stranger-travellers by road. It shows industry, too, in its yarn and thread works, has had considerable of a historical past, and possesses the rather scanty ruins of a twelfth-century château.

Above Brionne is Le Bec-Hellouin, all but forgotten, even by those who ever knew that the two Archbishops of Canterbury, Lanfranc and Anselm, were inmates of its old abbey before they came to their greater dignities.

The Abbey of Bec was founded in the eleventh century, and, as a great institution of learning, drew scholars from England, France, and Italy.

It was on account of the doctrines and dogma inculcated in his mind here that Lanfranc, when he came to be made Archbishop of Canterbury, summarily deposed the Saxon bishops throughout England and filled their places with Frenchmen and Italians.

Of the remains of the old abbey to-day, the church, which is best preserved, guards, as if by some miracle, some fine statues and remarkably beautiful enamels. The rest of the conventual buildings, or such as remain, have been turned into a military station for cavalry mounts. This desecration still goes on throughout France, which seems a pity, of course; but, since the Concordat turned over Church property to the state, the state was naturally bound to make some use of it if possible, regardless of how unpicturesque and unromantic the results might be.

Bourgtheroulde, between Brionne and Rouen, not far to the westward of Rouen, and just on the edge of the forest of Londe, is a chief town of a commune, but a very tiny chief town. It numbers but seven hundred souls, and has a Hôtel de la Corne d’Abondance, which lives up to its name with respect to its fare, which is excellent. Once the town possessed a Renaissance château, which disappeared during the Revolutionary fury. To-day only an entrance pavilion and a _colombier_, one of those great pigeon-houses which one sees so frequently in Normandy, remain. The church dates from the fifteenth century, and has some good Renaissance glass.

Bourg-Achard is another small town of the neighbourhood, and, while it is in no sense grandly picturesque, it is a charming little town, set amid a most beautiful country. Its Hôtel de la Poste is above the ordinary, and there is a remarkably beautiful fifteenth-century church, once a dependency of an Augustin priory, with an unusual amount of elaborate accessories, including a twelfth-century baptismal font and a prior’s seat in sculptured wood.

To the westward is Bernay, greatly noted for its horse-fair, held annually in the fifth week of Lent. It is the home of the Norman sire, which has been interbred with most of the high-class varieties throughout Europe and America, always to the advantage of the race.

Locally known as the _Foire Fleurie_, because of its being held on Palm Sunday, one sees here--as he sees only here--throng upon throng of peasants,--breeders of horses in silk caps and blouses, and horse-dealers in round hats and caps.

One never sees the type in such profusion elsewhere, and if one has an automobile at hand, so that he may get far away from the madding throng when it is all over, a visit to Bernay’s horse-fair will be put down as one of the enjoyable experiences of life.

There is very little direct voicing of yes or no, much _blague_ and good humour, and not a little of simulated anger, as is the custom among horse-traders elsewhere. But the Norman traders are keen, and seldom does a year pass but that the tenor of the trading has been satisfactory and profitable to all.

Often there will be very little difference between the offer of the dealer and the demand of the breeder; but a difference of twenty sous is enough to make or break a bargain, not so much for the sum itself, but as matter of principle.

Sooner or later the matter is arranged, and the interested parties repair to the nearest wine-shop to conclude the bargain. When it is all over, there is the drinking of a great quaff of cider: “_La vrai bon bere_,” the Norman calls it in his patois.

All this time it is “blowing hot and blowing cold” on other bargainings, and much time is lost over superfluous contentions, but it is all in the day’s work. “_Eh! que voulez-vous? L’z’affé sont l’z’affé, maintenant aboulez mé vot’ argent, m’n ami._”

Yes, truly, “business is business,” and no spectacle of its kind is more amusing to the stranger or, apparently, to the participants themselves.

The ancient abbey at Bernay, whose church keeps company with the parish church as the chief ecclesiastical monument of the town, is still standing on the market-place.

The abbey was an ancient conventual establishment for women, and their church is celebrated for its typical characteristic Norman details, though it has practically been desecrated by the untoward uses to which it has been put in our day.

The Château of Broglie and the town of the same name is near Bernay. There is a daintily attractive church, with its façade in brown pudding-stone and a modern _flèche_ of wood. It has also an arcade in the Norman-Romanesque style of the twelfth century.

The Château of Broglie has an imposing and pompous façade of the questionable style of Louis XIV., solemn and cold and not appealing to the finer sensibilities. It is framed between two great towers of feudal times, which were originally a part of the stronghold of the ancient fief of Chambrois.

Since the seventeenth century the château has belonged to that illustrious family of Italian origin, the Broglis, who furnished three marshals to France; an ally of the colonists of America in their revolution against the chafing of the English yoke; a prince of the name, who married the daughter of Madame de Staël; and his son, a politician and man of letters, who died as recently as 1901.

Up to the time of the French Revolution, the possessor of this splendid domain spent much care and means on its up-keep and appointments. There is left to-day a great library and a gallery of family portraits, including a brilliant _chef d’œuvre_, the portrait of Madame de Staël by Gerard. A somewhat gaudily painted chapel is attached to the château, which sits in the midst of a beautiful park of some sixty _hectares_.

All these attractions are open to the inspection of visitors under certain conditions; and, if the building and its contents do not rival that other more famous château of the Loire-Chaumont, now belonging to the Brogli family as well, it is at least liberally endowed with interest.

THE END.

APPENDICES

I.

THE PROVINCES OF FRANCE

Up to 1789, there were thirty-three great governments making up modern France, the twelve governments created by Francis I. being the chief, and seven _petits gouvernements_ as well.

In the following table the _grands gouvernements_ of the first foundation are indicated in heavy-faced type, those which were taken from the first in italics, and those which were acquired by conquest in ordinary characters.

NAMES OF GOVERNMENTS CAPITALS
1. =Ile-de-France= Paris.
2. =Picardie= Amiens.
3. =Normandie= Rouen.
4. =Bretagne= Rennes.
5. =Champagne et Brie= Troyes.
6. =Orléanais= Orléans.
7. _Maine et Perche_ Le Mans.
8. _Anjou_ Angers.
9. _Touraine_ Tours.
10. _Nivernais_ Nevers.
11. _Berri_ Bourges.
12. _Poitou_ Poitiers.
13. _Aunis_ La Rochelle.
14. =Bourgogne= (duché de) Dijon.
15. =Lyonnais, Forez et Beaujolais= Lyon.
16. _Auvergne_ Clermont.
17. _Bourbonnais_ Moulins.
18. _Marche_ Guéret.
19. =Guyenne et Gascogne= Bordeaux.
20. _Saintonge et Angoumois_[1] Saintes.
21. _Limousin_ Limoges.
22. _Béarn et Basse Navarre_ Pau.
23. =Languedoc= Toulouse.
24. _Comté de Foix_ Foix.
25. =Provence= Aix.
26. =Dauphiné= Grenoble.
27. Flandre et Hainaut Lille.
28. Artois Arras.
29. Lorraine et Barrois Nancy.
30. Alsace Strasbourg.
31. Franche-Comté ou Comté de Bourgogne Besançon.
32. Roussilon Perpignan.
33. Corse Bastia.

[1] Under Francis I. the Angoumois was comprised in the Orléanais.

The seven _petits gouvernements_ were:

1. The ville, prévôté and vicomté of Paris.
2. Havre de Grâce.
3. Boulonnais.
4. Principality of Sedan.
5. Metz and Verdun, the pays Messin and Verdunois.
6. Toul and Toulois.
7. Saumur and Saumurois.

II.

The following are the names of the principal _pays_ and _pagi_ of ancient Normandy:

PAYS DÉPARTEMENT
Campagne de St. André Eure
Pays d’Auge, the _Pagus Algiensis_ Calvados
Avranchin La Manche
Bessin, the _Pagus Bogasinius_ Calvados
Bocage (Le) or Pays de Vire Calvados
Bray (Le), near Elbeuf Seine Inf.
Caux, _Pagus Caletensis_ Seine Inf.
Cotentin La Manche
Pays d’Eu Seine Inf.
Pays d’Evreux Eure
Pays de Plains (Caux) Seine Inf.
Rouennais Seine Inf.
Roumois Seine Inf.
Pays du Val Seine Inf.
Vexin Normand Eure

III.

DUKES OF NORMANDY

Rollon 912-927
Guillaume (Longsword) 927-945
Richard I. (Sans Peur) 945-996
Richard I. (le Bon) 996-1026
Richard III. 1026-1028
Robert (le Magnifique or le Diable) 1028-1035
Guillaume (le Conquérant) 1035-1087
Robert (Courte-heuse) 1087-1106
Henri I. 1106-1135
Mathilde 1135-1150
Henri II. (Plantagenet) 1150-1189
Richard (Cœur de Lion) 1189-1199
Jean-Sans-Terre 1199-1204

IV.

THE METRIC SYSTEM

METRICAL AND ENGLISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Mètre = 39.3708 in. = 3.231. 3 ft. 3½ in. = 1.0936 yard.
Square Mètre (mètre carré) = 1⅕th square yards (1.196).
Are (or 100 sq. mètres) = 119.6 square yards.
Cubic Mètre (or Stere) = 35½ cubic feet.
Centimètre = ⅖ths inch.
Kilomètre = 1,093 yards = 5/8 mile.
10 Kilomètres = 6¼ miles.
100 Kilomètres = 62⅒th miles.
Square Kilomètre = ⅖ths square mile.
Hectare = 2½ acres (2.471).
100 Hectares = 247.1 acres.
Gramme = 15½ grains (15.432).
10 Grammes = 1/3d oz. Avoirdupois.
15 Grammes = ½ oz. Avoirdupois.
Kilogramme = 2⅕th lbs. (2.204) Avoirdupois.
10 Kilogrammes = 22 lbs. Avoirdupois.
Metrical Quintal = 220½ lbs. Avoirdupois.
Tonneau = 2,200 lbs. Avoirdupois.
Litre = 0.22 gal. = 1¾ pint.
Hectolitre = 22 gallons.

ENGLISH AND METRICAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Inch = 2.539 centimètres = 25.39 millimètres.
2 inches = 5 centimètres nearly.
Foot = 30.47 centimètres.
Yard = 0.9141 mètre.
12 yards = 11 mètres nearly.
Mile = 1.609 kilomètre.
Square foot = 0.093 mètre carré.
Square yard = 0.836 mètre carré.
Acre = 0.4046 hectare = 4,003 sq. mètres nearly.
2½ acres = 1 hectare nearly.
Pint = 0.5679 litre.
1¾ pint = 1 litre nearly.
Gallon = 4.5434 litres = 4 nearly.
Bushel = 36.347 litres.
Oz. Troy = 31.103 grammes.
Pound Troy (5,760 grains) = 373.121 grammes.
Oz. Avoirdupois = 8.349 grammes.
Pound Avoirdupois (7,000 grains) = 453.592 grammes.
2 lbs. 3 oz. = kilogramme nearly.
100 lbs. = 45.359 kilogrammes.
Cwt. = 50.802 kilogrammes.
Ton = 1,018.048 kilogrammes.

V.

1. Itinerary of Normandy by Chemin de Fer de l’Ouest, from Paris, Gare St. Lazare.

Paris (St. Lazare), Louviers, Rouen, Dieppe, Rouen, Cany, St.-Valery-en-Caux, Fécamp, Le Havre, par chemin de fer ou Rouen, Le Havre, par bateau(1). Honfleur(1) ou Trouville-Deauville(1), Villers-sur-Mer, Beuzeval (Houlgate), Dives-Cabourg, Caen, Isigny-sur-Mer, Cherbourg,

St-Lo

Port-Bail, Carteret(1), Coutances, Granville(1), Bagnoles-de-l’Orne(1), Briouze, Dreux, Paris (Montparnasse).

2. Itinerary of Normandy by Chemin de Fer de l’Ouest, from Paris, Gare St. Lazare.

Paris, Les Andelys, Louviers, Rouen, Dieppe, Rouen, Barentin (_Caudebec-en-Caux moyennant supplément_), Le Havre, Honfleur ou Trouville-Deauville, Villers-sur-Mer, Beuzeval-Houlgate, Dives-Cabourg, Caen, Évreux, Paris.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

INDEX OF PLACES

Acquigny, 266, 268.

Agincourt, 80, 100.

Agnesseau, Château d’, 330.

Aix, 26.

Alençon (and Château), 31, 107, 110, 153, 332, 410, 411-414.

Alleume, 373.

Allouville-Bellefosse, 312-313.

Amboise, 277.

Amiens, 204.

Anet (and Château), 141, 166, 266, 272, 273-285, 305.

Angers, 32.

Ango, Manor-house of, 302-303.

Argentan (and Château), 110, 349, 414, 415.

Arques-la-Bataille (and Château), 77, 98, 137, 138, 246, 301-302.

Arromanches, 56, 314, 346, 347.

Asnelles, 345.

Ault, 98.

Aumale, 99, 309.

Autheuil-Authouillet, 268-269.

Autun, 26.

Auvergne, 24.

Avignon, 206.

Avranches, 18, 58, 91, 342, 347, 361, 377, 378, 381-383, 384, 385, 387, 389, 396.

Bagnoles de l’Orne, 357-358.

Balleroy (and Château), 344-345.

Barfleur, 371, 373.

Bayeux, 22, 31, 56, 58, 110, 248, 336, 344, 345, 347, 373, 394, 396.

Beaucaire, 108, 109, 144.

Beauce, Plain of, 7.

Beaugency, 139.

Beaumont-le-Roger, 58, 77.

Beauregard, Château of, 243.

Bec, Abbey of, 419.

Bellême, 410-411.

Belley, Château du, 41.

Bernay, 58, 93, 107, 109, 110, 357, 417, 421-423.

Berneval, 286.

Berthenouville, 249.

Bessin, 78.

Beuzeval, 314, 334.

Beuzeville, 328.

Bizy (and Château), 77, 257.

Blagny, 309.

Boisdenemetz, Château de, 243.

Bolbec, 309.

Bonneville, Château of, 329.

Bonniers, 211.

Bon Port, Abbey of, 227.

Bon Secours, 210, 215.

Bordeaux, 26.

Boscherville, St. Georges de, 150, 186, 190-192.

Bouafles, 250.

Boulogne-sur-mer, 26, 98, 171, 303.

Bourg-Achard, 421.

Bourges, 190.

Bourgtheroulde, 420-421.

Bray, 77, 249.

Brecey, 342.

Bresle, 98.

Brest, 31, 53, 94, 272, 362.

Breuilpont, 271.

Brionne, 418, 419, 420.

Brix, 372.

Broglie (and Château), 423-426.

Bueil, 272.

Cabourg, 314, 334, 335-336.

Caen, 22, 31, 49, 58, 83, 85, 92, 99, 100, 110, 147, 154, 324, 329, 332, 336-341, 394.

Calais, 171.

Cantal, 52.

Cany, 296-297.

Cape Barfleur, 99.

Cape de la Hague, 78, 99, 366-371, 372.

Cape de la Hève, 95, 99, 172, 177.

Cape Levi, 371.

Carentan, 361, 373.

Carrefour des Quatre Cantons, 46.

Catelier, 45.

Caudebec-en-Caux, 57, 89, 119, 160, 164, 175, 184-185, 211, 260.

Cérisy, 345.

Chambray (and Château), 269.

Chantilly, 39.

Chapelle, Manor-house of, 211.

Chapelle Ste. Catherine, 46.

Charleval, 232.

Chartres, 32, 266, 375.

Châteaux (_See_ under separate names).

Chatelliers, 137.

Chaumont-en-Vexin, 248.

Chenonceaux, 285.

Cherbourg, 22, 31, 51, 53, 79, 80, 100, 111, 118, 128, 157, 272, 361-364, 366, 367, 369, 370, 372.

Chérence, 342.

Cobourg, 96.

Cocherel, 270.

Colmoulins, Château of, 288.

Conches (and Château), 58, 246, 396, 400-402.

Condé, 341-342.

Courcelles, 250.

Courseulles, 53.

Coutances, 31, 58, 90, 344, 361, 373, 376-378.

Crécy, 100, 373.

Cricquebœuf, 331.

Croisset, 196-197.

Croissy-sur-Andelle, 44.

Croix-Mesnil, 46.

Croix-Sonnet, 330.

Croix St. Leufroy, 268.

Damps, 268.

Dampsmesnil, 249.

Dangu, 247.

Deauville, 51, 96, 314, 330, 333-334.

Dieppe, 8, 14, 31, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 60, 76, 79, 80, 89, 98, 99, 100, 111, 137, 138, 147, 154, 157, 218, 286, 293, 299-303, 308.

Dives, 58, 79, 96, 99, 314, 334-336.

Dol, 378, 387.

Domfront (and Château), 137, 139, 349, 357, 358-360, 410.

Dourdan, 251.

Douville, 233.

Duclair, 89, 187-188, 193.

Dunkerque, 94, 181, 362.

Ecos, 249.

Ecouis, 234, 243.

Elbeuf, 42, 57, 102, 104, 110, 211, 216-217.

Epieds, 272.

Etrepagny, 243.

Etretat, 57, 76, 95, 98, 119, 161, 286, 290, 291-294, 295, 301.

Eu (and Château), 57, 77, 99, 141, 224, 305-309.

Evrecin, 415.

Evreux, 31, 58, 77, 105, 110, 154, 244, 248, 258, 266, 270, 324, 396-399, 415, 417.

Falaise (and Château), 49, 58, 108, 137, 139, 144, 246, 332, 347, 349, 350-357.

Fécamp, 31, 57, 76, 98, 100, 111, 205, 286, 294-296, 305.

Ferme des Fiefs, 47.

Fleury la Forêt (and Château), 46.

Fleury-sur-Andelle, 232.

Fontainebleau, 39, 41, 43, 44, 48, 192.

Fontaine du Houx, 45.

Fontaine-Guerard, Abbey of, 233.

Fontaine-Henri, Château, 141, 340.

Fontenay, 243.

Fontenelle, Monastery of (_See_ St. Wandrille).

Forges-les-Eaux, 57, 158, 230-231.

Formigny, 17.

Fouet, Château, 42.

Fromenteau, 190.

Gaillard, Château, 9, 57, 137, 236, 237-240, 246, 256.

Gaillon (and Château), 141, 147, 154, 167, 250-257.

Gamaches, 243.

Garennes, 272.

Gatteville, 371-372.

Genetey, 40.

Gisors (and Château), 57, 100, 137, 148, 154, 166, 210, 244-247, 266, 411.

Giverny, 57, 119, 158, 211, 258.

Gournay, 57, 106, 310.

Grand Andelys (_See_ Les Andelys).

Grand Aulnay, 196.

Grandcamp, 374.

Grand Couronne, 166, 196, 418.

Grandes Dalles, 297.

Grand Quévilly, 193, 196.

Granville, 31, 49, 96, 97, 98, 100, 111, 361, 377, 378-381, 387.

Grésil, 42.

Greville, 364, 368.

Gruchy, 364-366.

Guibray, Fair of, 108-109, 144, 355-357.

Harfleur, 57, 79, 179, 182, 361.

Havre, 8, 14, 31, 49, 31, 53, 56, 59, 60, 62, 76, 80, 95, 98, 100, 111, 121, 157, 158, 160, 162, 164, 167-181, 182, 183, 197, 198, 201, 236, 260, 286, 288, 289, 290, 293, 303, 310, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 332.

Havre de Grâce (_See_ Havre).

Hécourt, 271.

Henouville, 40-41.

Héron, 43.

Heudreville, 268.

Hogue, 100.

Hogues, 43.

Honfleur, 14, 17, 31, 57, 119, 174, 178, 181, 182, 314-321, 330, 353.

Houdan, 162.

Houlgate, 314, 334.

Ifs, 340-341.

Inférieure, Château, 141.

Ingouville, 172, 177.

Isigny, 106, 361, 373.

Ivry-la-Bataille, 77, 272-273.

Jean-Sans-Terre, Tower of, 233.

Jobourg, 368.

Jouy-Cocherel, 269.

Jumièges, 57, 77, 150, 154, 186, 188-191, 193, 205, 248.

La Beauce, 162.

La Bouille, 57, 160, 179, 194.

La Fenille, 44.

La Fontaine, 41.

La Haie, Château de, 45.

Laigle, 402, 403-404.

La Londe, 41-42, 77, 192, 209, 420.

La Perche, 158.

La Roche-Guyon (and Château), 9, 31, 49, 56, 60, 119, 139, 141, 211, 258-260.

La Thuit, 166.

La Trappe, Abbey of, 406-409.

Laudemer, 364, 370.

Laval, 31.

Le Bec-Hellouin, 419.

Le Mans, 32.

Les Andelys, 9, 31, 57, 59, 61, 77, 78, 119, 130, 139, 153, 166, 211, 235, 236-243, 246, 249, 250, 255.

Le Tronquay, 44.

Lillebonne, 57, 137, 183-184.

Limes, 137.

Lisieux, 18, 22, 49, 58, 99, 106, 111, 137, 329, 332, 347, 349-350.

Loches, 139, 190.

Lorey, 271.

Lorient, 31.

Louis XIII., Château, 46.

Louviers, 39, 58, 77, 102, 104, 110, 121, 130, 153, 235, 250, 262, 264-268, 270, 396.

Lozère, 52.

Lyons, 25, 26, 204.

Lyons, Forest of, 39, 43-48, 77, 116, 231.

Lyons-le-Forêt (and Château), 43, 44, 57, 166, 231-232.

Mamers, 410.

Marseilles, 26, 177, 204.

Mauny, 40.

Mayenne, 31, 410.

Melun, 31.

Menesqueville, 232.

Menilles, 270.

Mers, 76, 304, 305.

Méry, 179.

Molineux, 57, 179, 194.

Montivilliers, 288, 289-290.

Montmorency, Château of, 196.

Montrichard, 139.

Mont St. Michel, 49, 56, 58, 95, 97, 248, 347, 377, 378, 383, 385-389.

Morlaix, 181.

Mortagne, 107, 110, 404, 406, 409-410.

Mortain, 349, 360, 361, 389-390.

Mortemer, Abbey of, 46.

Muids, 59, 235-236, 240.

Nacqueville, Château of, 370.

Nantes, 32, 34, 263.

Neubourg (and Château), 105, 415, 417.

Neuchâtel-en-Bray, 309-310.

Neufles-St.-Martin, 244.

Nez de Jobourg, 78, 361, 366, 369.

Nez de Tancarville, 76.

Nonancourt, 110.

Noyon, 265.

Ossel, 211.

Ostend, 218, 292.

Ouistreham, 314.

Pacy-sur-Eure, 268, 269-271.

Paimbœuf, 32.

Paroz, 126.

Petit Andelys (_See_ Les Andelys).

Petit Couronne, 194-195.

Petites Dalles, 57, 76, 286, 297.

Petit Quévilly, 193, 195-196.

Petit Val, 44.

Pitres (Pistes), 230, 232-233.

Ploërmel, 31.

Poissy, 31.

Pontaubault, 385.

Pont Audemer, 22, 110, 321-322, 328, 332.

Pont d’Avignon, 26.

Pont de l’Arche, 57, 58, 59, 77, 158, 205, 211, 216, 221-228, 229, 230, 252, 262, 266, 268.

Pont l’Evêque, 99, 106, 314, 328-329, 332.

Pontoise, 248.

Pontorson, 97, 361, 384, 385, 386, 387.

Pont St. Pierre, 232, 233.

Ponzanges, 139.

Port du Gravier, 42.

Port-en-Bessin, 314, 344, 347.

Port Morin, 255.

Port Mort, 59, 250.

Puits, 319.

Puys, 303.

Querqueville, 369.

Quévilly, Harbour of, 201.

Quiberville, 304.

Quillebeuf, 158, 202, 317, 328.

Quimper, 31.

Radepont, 232, 233.

Rambouillet, 39, 192.

Rennes, 31, 34.

Richbourg, Château de, 44.

Rosy (and Château), 47, 232.

Rouen, 4-5, 6, 16, 17, 22, 31, 39, 40, 41, 42, 49, 51, 57, 59, 60, 74, 76, 77, 83, 88, 89, 90, 102, 104, 110, 116, 121, 141, 147, 148, 150, 153, 154, 157, 158, 160, 162, 164, 165, 168, 169, 172, 178, 179, 180, 183, 186, 190, 192, 193, 194, 196, 197-211, 212, 213, 215, 216, 221, 224, 236, 248, 258, 260, 262, 263, 264, 288, 305, 310, 329, 347, 350, 394, 396, 418, 420.

Roumare, 40, 77, 192, 193, 209.

Rouvray, 41, 77, 166, 192, 193, 209.

Rugles, 402.

Ruys, 314, 315.

Ryes, 344.

Séez, 375, 414, 415.

Senlis, 375.

Séry, 309.

Sommervieu, 345.

Sourdeval, 342.

St. Adrien, 42, 215, 260.

St. Barbe, 256.

St. Brieuc, 31, 181.

St. Clair-sur-Ept, 247, 249.

St. Cyr du Vaudreuil, 262-264, 268.

St. Denis, 144.

Ste. Anne, 369.

Ste. Croix-Hague, 368.

Ste. Marguerite, 304.

St. Etienne du Vauvray, 234-235, 262.

St. Jouin, 290-291.

St. Lô, 31, 58, 106, 344, 345, 361, 374-376.

St. Malo, 31, 79, 80, 99, 387.

St. Martin, 368.

St. Menehould, 221.

St. Ouen, 248.

St. Pierre du Vauvray, 211, 235, 236, 262, 349.

St. Sauveur, 193.

St. Valery-en-Caux, 57, 76, 98, 286, 298-299.

St. Wandrille, Abbey of, 185-187, 191.

Taisniers, 43.

Talbot, Château of, 233-234.

Tancarville (and Château), 178, 179, 183, 201, 202.

Thilliers-en-Vexin, 243.

Tinchebray, 342.

Tombelaine, 378, 383, 387.

Tosny, 59, 250, 255.

Touques, 77, 328, 330, 331.

Tourouvre, 404.

Trait-St. Wandrille, Forest of, 77.

Tréport, 31, 49, 56, 57, 76, 98, 99, 111, 286, 304-305, 307, 309.

Trouville, 51, 52, 56, 63, 95, 96, 99, 147, 160, 218, 292, 301, 314, 315, 317, 319, 328, 329, 330, 331-333, 334.

Troyes, 180.

Urville, 368, 370.

Vacherie, 240.

Valognes, 137, 361, 372-373.

Val St. Pierre, 44.

Valtelles, Villa of, 371.

Vannes, 31.

Varengeville, 288, 304.

Vauville, 368.

Vaux, Château de, 244.

Ventoux, 252.

Verneuil, 31.

Vernon, 42, 56, 59, 77, 107, 121, 158, 159, 240, 249, 252, 257, 258, 260.

Vernonnet, 257.

Versailles, 31, 32, 39.

Vetheuil, 60.

Veules-les-Roses, 76, 298, 299.

Veulettes, 297.

Vezillon, 250.

Villers-Cotterets, 39.

Villers-sur-Mer, 334.

Villerville, 331.

Vire, 91, 111, 361, 390-392.

Yport, 76, 111, 286, 295.

Yvetôt, 31, 89, 90, 130, 309, 310-312.

* * * * *

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

Finally, in 1847, François I. died=> Finally, in 1547, François I. died {pg 281}

L’espèce d’un matin=> L’espace d’un matin {pg 339}

isle of the Miniquiers=> isle of the Minquiers {pg 379}

Voir ce ‘Pas,’ on, dit-on, les Diables s’égara=> Voir ce ‘Pas,’ où, dit-on, les Diables s’égara {pg 390}