Normandy Picturesque Part 4

The borders on the latter part of the tapestry (part of which we have shewn in the ill.u.s.tration) consist of incidents connected with the battle, and add greatly to its interest. Some of the earlier scenes are very amusing, having evidently been suggested by the fables of aesop and Phaedrus; there are griffins, dragons, serpents, dogs, elephants, lions, birds, and monsters that suggest a knowledge of pre-Adamite life (some biting their own tails, or putting their heads into their neighbours'

mouths), interspersed with representations of ploughing, and hunting, and of killing birds with a sling and a stone.[22]

The most striking thing about the tapestry is the charming freshness and _navete_ with which the scenes and characters are depicted. The artist who designed it did not draw figures particularly well, he was ignorant of perspective, and all principles of colouring; but he gave, in his own way, expression to his faces, and att.i.tudes which tell their story even without the help of the latin inscriptions which accompany them. Shade is often represented by colour, and that not always strictly in accordance with nature; thus, a red horse will be represented with one leg worked in blue, and so on; the faces and naked limbs of the warriors being worked in green or yellow, or left white, apparently as was found most convenient by the ladies of the time.

Whether Queen Matilda, or the ladies of her court, ever really worked the tapestry (there is good reason to doubt that she designed the borders) is a question of so little importance, that it is wonderful so much discussion has been raised upon it; it is surely enough for us to know that it was worked soon after the Conquest. There is evidence of this, and also that Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (the Conqueror's half-brother), ordered and arranged the work to the exact length of the walls of the church, round which it was intended that it should have been placed.

CHAPTER VI.

_ST. LO--COUTANCES--GRANVILLE. (CHERBOURG.)_

On our way to ST. LO, COUTANCES, and GRANVILLE on the western coast of Normandy, we may do well--if we are interested in the appliances of modern warfare, and would obtain any idea of the completeness and magnificence of the French Imperial Marine--to see something of CHERBOURG, situated near the bold headland of Cap de la Hague.

If we look about us as we approach the town, we shall see that the railway is cut through an extraordinary natural fortification of rocks; and if we ascend the heights of Le Roule, we shall obtain, what a Frenchman calls, a _vue feerique du Cherbourg_. We shall look down upon the magnificent harbour with its breakwater and surrounding forts, and see a fleet of iron-clads at anchor, surrounded by smaller vessels of all nations; gun-boats, turret-s.h.i.+ps and every modern invention in the art of maritime war, but scarcely any s.h.i.+ps of commerce. The whole energy and interest of a busy population seem concentrated at Cherbourg, either in constructing works of defence or engines of destruction.

The rather slovenly-looking orderly that we have sketched--sauntering up and down upon the ramparts, and sniffing the fresh breezes that come to him with a booming sound from the rocks of Querqueville that guard the west side of the bay--is justly proud of the efficiency and completeness which everywhere surround him, and with a twinkle in his eye, asks if 'Monsieur' has visited the a.r.s.enals, or has ever seen a naval review at Cherbourg. The pride and boast even of the boys that play upon these heights (boys with '_La Gloire_' upon their hats, and dressed in a naval costume rather different from our notions of sailors), is that 'Cherbourg is impregnable and France invincible,' and, if we stay here long, we shall begin to believe both the one and the other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SKETCH AT CHERBOURG.]

There is a little difficulty, not insurmountable to an Englishman, with the a.s.sistance of his consul, in obtaining permission to visit the government works in progress, and now fast approaching completion; for the Government is courteous, if cautious, in this matter. The French people cannot help being polite; there is an English yacht riding in the harbour this morning, and the ladies, who have just come ash.o.r.e, have every politeness and attention shewn to them; and the little yacht will refit, as so many do here in the summer, and take refuge again and again in this roadstead, with great convenience and many pleasant recollections of their reception.

If we had been upon these heights in the summer of 1858, and later in 1865, we might have seen the combined fleets of England and France in the roadstead; and, in the spring of 1865, with a good telescope, we might have witnessed a miniature naval engagement between the famous _Alabama_ and the _Kearsage_, which took place a few miles from the sh.o.r.e.

The _Port Militaire_ and the _a.r.s.enal de Marine_ at Cherbourg (which are said to be five times as large as Portsmouth), and its basins, in which a hundred sail of the line can be accommodated at one time, are sights which we scarcely realize in description, but which almost overwhelm us with their magnitude and importance, when seen from this vantage ground.

In three hours after leaving Cherbourg we may find ourselves settled in the little old-fas.h.i.+oned inn, called the _Hotel du Soleil Levant_, at ST. LO, which we shall probably have entirely to ourselves.

St. Lo, although the _chef-lieu_ of the department of La Manche, appears to the traveller a quiet, second-rate manufacturing town, well-situated and picturesquely built, but possessing no particular objects of interest excepting the cathedral; although visitors who have spent any time in this neighbourhood find it rich in antiquities, and a good centre from which to visit various places in the environs. In no part of this beautiful province do we see the country to better advantage, and nowhere than in the suburbs of St. Lo, shall we find better examples of buildings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

But St. Lo is dull, and there is a gloom about it that communicates itself insensibly to the mind; that finds expression in the wors.h.i.+p of graven images by little children, and in the burning of innumerable candles in the churches. There is an air of untidiness and neglect about the town that no trim military regulations can alter, and a repose that no amount of chattering of the old women, or even the rattle of regimental drums, seems able to disturb. They do strange things at St.

Lo in their quiet, dull way; they paint the names of their streets on the cathedral walls, and they make a post-office of one of its b.u.t.tresses; they paste the trees all over with advertis.e.m.e.nts in the princ.i.p.al squares, and erect images of the Virgin on their warehouses.

The master at our hotel calls to a neighbour across the street to come and join us at table, and the people at the shops stand outside, listlessly contemplating their own wares. There are at least 10,000 inhabitants, but we see scarcely anyone; a carriage, or a cart, startles us with its unusual sound, and every footstep echoes on the rough pavement. The arrival of the train from Paris; the commercial travellers that it brings, and the red liveries of the government grooms, leading out their horses, impart the only appearance of life to the town.

Nowhere in France does the military element seem more out of place, never did 'fine soldiers' seem so much in the way as at St. Lo. There is a parade to-day, there was a parade yesterday, and to-morrow (Sunday) there will be a military ma.s.s for a regiment leaving on foreign duty. It is all very right, no doubt, and necessary for the peace of Europe, the 'balance of power,' the consumption of pipe-clay, and the breaking of hearts sometimes; but, in contrast to the natural quiet of this place, the dust and noise are tremendous, and the national air (so gaily played as the troops march through the town) has, as it seems to us, an uncertain tone, and does not catch the sympathy of the bystanders. They stand gazing upon the pageant like the Venetians listening to the Austrian band--they are a peace-loving community at St. Lo.

But let us look well at the cathedral, at the grandeur of its spires, at its towers with open galleries, at the rich 'flamboyant' decoration of the doorways; at its monuments, chapels, and stained gla.s.s, and above all at the _exterior_ pulpit, ab.u.t.ting on the street at the north-east end, which is one of the few remaining in France.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Exterior Pulpit at St Lo.[23]]

If we ascend one of the towers, we shall be rewarded with a view over a varied and undulating landscape, stretching far away westward towards the sea, and southward towards Avranches and Vire; whilst here and there we may distinguish, dotted amongst the trees, those curious chateaux of the _ancienne n.o.blesse_, which are disappearing rapidly in other parts of France; and the view of the town and cathedral together, as seen from the opposite hill, with the river winding through the meadows, and the women was.h.i.+ng, on their knees on the bank, is also very picturesque.

We do not, however, make a long stay at St. Lo, for we are within sixteen miles of the city of COUTANCES, with its narrow and curiously modern-looking streets, its ecclesiastical a.s.sociations, and its magnificent cathedral. As we approach it, by the road, we see before us a group of n.o.ble Gothic spires, and are prepared to meet (as we do in nearly every street) ecclesiastics and priests, and to find the 'Catholic Church' holding its head high in this remote part of France.

Everything gives way to the Cathedral in point of interest and importance. It is considered 'one of the most complete and beautiful in France, free from exuberant ornament, and captivating the eye by the elegance of proportion and arrangement. Its plan possesses several peculiar features, comprising a nave with two west towers, side aisles, and chapels, filling up what would in other cathedrals be intervals between b.u.t.tresses; north and south transepts, with an octagonal tower at their intersection; a choir with a polygonal apse, double aisles, with radiating chapels, and a Lady chapel at the east end. The nave, which is 100 feet high, consists of six bays, with triforium and lofty clerestory. The effect is exceedingly grand, and is enhanced by the lateral chapels seeming to const.i.tute a second aisle all round. The whole of this part of the building is worthy of the closest examination. The interior of the large chapel of the south transept is very curious, circular at both ends. The choir has three bays in its rectangle, and five bays in its apse, the latter being separated by coupled piers outside each other (not touching), of wonderful lightness and beauty. The double aisle of the choir has a central range of single columns running all round it, and the effect of the intersection of so many shafts, columns, and vaultings is perfectly marvellous. There is no triforium in the choir, but only a pierced parapet under the clerestory windows, which are filled with fine early gla.s.s. There is much good gla.s.s, indeed, throughout the cathedral, and several interesting tombs.'

We quote this description in detail because the cathedral at Coutances is a rare gem, and possesses so many points of interest to the architect and antiquary.

The history of Coutances is like a history of the Roman Catholic Church, and the relics of bishops and saints meet us at every turn. As early as the third century there are records of its conversion to Christianity; it has pa.s.sed through every vicissitude of war, pillage, and revolution, until in these latter days it has earned the guide-book appellation of 'a semi-clerical, semi-manufacturing, quiet, clean, agreeable town.'

There are about 9000 inhabitants, including a few English families, attracted here by its reputation for salubrity and cheapness of living.

The beauty of the situation of Coutances can scarcely be exaggerated; built upon the sides of a lofty hill commanding views over a vast extent of country, it is approached on both sides up steep hills, by broad smooth roads with avenues of trees and surrounding gardens, and is surmounted by its magnificent old cathedral, which is the last important building of the kind, that we shall see, until we reach Rouen; and one the traveller is never likely to forget, especially if he ascend the tower, as we did, one morning whilst service was being performed below.[24]

It was our last morning at Coutances, the air was still and clear, and the panorama was superb; on every side of us were beautiful hills, rich with orchards laden with fruit, and fields of corn; and beyond them, far away westward, the sea and coast line, and the channel islands with their dangerous sh.o.r.es. The air was calm, and dreamy, but in the distance we could see white lines of foam--the 'wild horses' of the Atlantic in full career; beneath our feet was the open 'lantern dome,'

and the sound of voices came distinctly up the fluted columns; we could hear the great organ under the western towers, the voices of the congregation in the nave, and the chanting of the priests before the altar,--

'Casting down their golden crowns, beside the gla.s.sy sea.'

The town of GRANVILLE, built on a rock by the sea, with its dark granite houses, its harbour and fis.h.i.+ng-boats, presents a scene of bustle and activity in great contrast to Coutances and St. Lo. There is an upper and lower town--a town on the rocks, with its old church with five gilt statues, built almost out at sea--and another town, on the sh.o.r.e. The streets of the old town are narrow and badly paved; but there is great commercial activity, and a general sign of prosperity amongst its sea-faring population. The approach to the sea (on one side of the promontory, on which the town is built) is very striking; we emerge suddenly through a fissure in the cliffs on to the sea-sh.o.r.e, into the very heart and life of the place--into the midst of a bustling community of fishermen and women. There is fish everywhere, both in the sea and on the land, and the flavour of it is in the air; there are baskets, bales, and nets, and there is, it must be added, a familiar ring of Billingsgate in the loud voices that we hear around us. Granville is the great western sea port of France, from which Paris is constantly supplied; and, in spite of the deficiency of railway communication, it keeps up constant trade with the capital--a trade which is not an unmixed benefit to its inhabitants; for in the '_Messager de Granville_'

of August, 1869, we read that:--

'L'extreme chaleur de la temperature n'empeche pas nos marchands d'expedier a Paris des quant.i.tes considerables de poisson, _au moment meme ou il est hors de prix sur notre marche_. Nous ne comprenons rien a de semblables speculations, dont l'un des plus facheux resultats est d'ajouter--une _affreuse odeur_ aux desagrements de nos voitures publiques!'

All through the fruitful land that we have pa.s.sed, we cannot help being struck with the evident inadequate means of transport for goods and provisions; at Coutances, for instance, and at Granville (the great centre of the oyster fisheries of the west) they have only just thought about railways, and we may see long lines of carts and waggons, laden with perishable commodities, being carried no faster than in the days of the first Napoleon.

But we, who are in search of the picturesque should be the very last to lament the fact, and we may even join in the sentiment of the Maire of Granville, and be 'thankful' that the great highways of France are under the control of a careful Government; and that her valleys are not (as in England) strewn with the wrecks of abandoned railways--ruins which, by some strange fatality, never look picturesque.

Granville is a favourite place of residence, and a great resort for bathing in the summer; although the 'etabliss.e.m.e.nt' is second-rate, and the accommodation is not equal to that of many smaller watering-places of France. It is, however, a pleasant and favourable spot in which to study the manners and customs of a sea-faring people: and besides the active human creatures which surround us, we--who settle down for a season, and spend our time on the sands and on the dark rocks which guard this iron-bound coast--soon become conscious of the presence of another vast, active, striving, but more silent community on the sea-sh.o.r.e, digging and delving, sporting and swimming, preying upon themselves and each other, and enjoying intensely the luxury of living.

If we, _nous autres_, who dwell upon the land and prey upon each other according to our opportunities, will go down to the sh.o.r.e when the tide is out, and ramble about in the--

'Rosy gardens revealed by low tides,'

we may make acquaintance with a vast Lilliput community; we may learn some surprising lessons in natural history, and read sermons in sh.e.l.ls.

But, amidst this most interesting and curious congregation of fishes--a concourse of crabs, lobsters, eels in holes, limpets on the rocks, and a hundred other inhabitants of the sea, in every form of activity around us--we must not forget, in our enthusiasm for these things, the treacherous tides on this coast, and the great Atlantic waves, that will suddenly overwhelm the flat sh.o.r.e, and cut off retreat from those who are fis.h.i.+ng on the rocks.

This happens so often, and is so full of danger to those unacquainted with the coast, that we may do good service by relating again, an adventure which happened to the late Campbell of Islay and a friend, who were nearly drowned near Granville. They had been absorbed in examining the rocks at some distance from the sh.o.r.e, and in collecting the numerous marine plants which abound in their crevices; when suddenly one of the party called out--

'Mercy on us! I forgot the tide, and here it comes.'

Turning towards the sea they saw a stream of water running at a rapid pace across the sands. They quickly began to descend the rocks, but before they could reach the ground 'the sand was in stripes, and the water in sheets.' They then ran for the sh.o.r.e, but before they had proceeded far, they were met by one of the fisher-girls, who had seen their danger from the sh.o.r.e, and hastened to turn them back, calling to them--

'The wave! the wave! it is coming--turn! turn and run--or we are lost!'

They did turn, and saw far out to sea a large wave rolling toward the sh.o.r.e. The girl pa.s.sed them and led the way; the two friends strained every nerve to keep pace with her, for as they neared the rock, the wave still rolled towards them; the sand became gradually covered, and for the last ten steps they were up to their knees in water--but they were on the rock.

'Quick! quick!' said the girl; '_there_ is the pa.s.sage to the Cross at the top; but if the second wave comes we shall be too late.'

She scrambled on for a hundred yards till she came to a crack in the rock, six or seven feet wide, along which the water was rus.h.i.+ng like a mill-sluice. With some difficulty they reached the upper rocks, carrying the fisher-girl in their arms, and wading above their knees in water. Here they rest a moment--when a great wave rolls in, and the water runs along the little platform where they are sitting; they all rise, and mounting the rocky points (which the little Granvillaise a.s.sures them are never quite covered with water), cl.u.s.ter together for support. In a few moments the suspense is over, the girl points to the sh.o.r.e, where they can hear the distant sound of a cheer, and see people waving their handkerchiefs.

'They think the tide has turned,' says the girl, 'and they are shouting to cheer us.'

She was right, the tide had turned. Another wave came and wetted their feet, but when it had pa.s.sed the water had fallen, and in five minutes the platform was again dry!