Volume I Part 2 (2/2)

[25] [”Signifying, that the French postilions do not ride like the English.” LICQUET.]

[26] [”Dieppe for a long time was the rival of Argentan and Caen in the lace-manufactory: at the present day, this branch of commerce is almost annihilated there.”--LICQUET.]

[27] [In a note attached to the previous edition--I have said, ”Here also, as well as at Rouen; they will have it that the ENGLISH built the Churches.” Upon which M. Licquet remarks thus: ”M. Dibdin's expression conveys too general an idea. It is true that _popular_ opinion attributes the erection of our gothic edifices to the ENGLISH: but there exists _another_ opinion, which is not deceptive upon this subject.” What is meant to be here conveyed? Either the popular opinion is true or false; and it is a matter of perfect indifference to the author whether it be one or the other. For Mons. Licquet's comfort, I will freely avow that I believe it to be _false_.]

[28] [Louis XVIII.]

LETTER III.

VILLAGE AND CASTLE OF ARQUES. SABBATH AMUs.e.m.e.nTS. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

BOULEVARDS.

As I had received especial injunctions from our friend P--- not to leave Dieppe without paying a visit to the famous _Chateau d'Arques_[29], in its neighbourhood, I resolved to seize the opportunity of a tolerably fair, or rather gray-looking day, to go and pay due homage to those venerable remains of antiquity. The road thither is completely rural: apple-trees, just beginning to burst their blossoms; hamlets, small farm-houses: a profusion of rich herbage of various kinds--delighted and regaled me as I pursued my tranquil walk. The country is of a gently-undulating character; but the flats or meadows, between the parallel ranges of hills, are subject to constant inundation from the sea; and in an agricultural point of view are consequently of little use, except for summer grazing of the cattle.

It was drawing on to vespers as I approached the _Village of Arques_. The old castle had frequently peeped out upon me, in my way thither, from its elevated situation; but being resolved to see ”all that could be seen,” a French village, for the first time, was not to be overlooked. For a country church, I know of few finer ones than that of Arques.[30]

The site of the castle is admirable. My approach was to the western extremity; which, as you look down, brings the village and church of Arques in the back ground. If the eye were to be considered as a correct judge, this venerable pile, composed of hard flint-stone, intermixed with brick, would perhaps claim precedence, on the score of antiquity, over most of the castles of the middle ages. A deep moat, now dry pasture land, with a bold acclivity before you, should seem to bid defiance, even in times of old, to the foot and the spear of the invader. There are circular towers at the extremities, and a square citadel or donjon within. To the north, a good deal of earth has been recently thrown against the bases of the wall. The day harmonised admirably with the venerable object before me. The suns.h.i.+ne lasted but for a minute: when afterwards a gloom prevailed, and not a single catch of radiant light gilded any portion of the building. All was quiet, and of a sombre aspect,--and what _you_, in your admiration of art, would call in perfectly ”fine keeping.”

I descended the hill, bidding a long adieu to this venerable relic of the hardihood of other times, and quickened my pace towards Dieppe. In gaining upon the town, I began to discern groups of rustics, as well as of bourgeoises, a.s.sembling and mingling in the dance. The women never think of wearing bonnets, and you have little idea how picturesquely the red and blue[31] (the colours of Raffaelle's Madonnas) glanced backwards and forwards amidst the fruit trees, to the sound of the spirit-stirring violin. The high, stiff, starched cauchoise, with its broad flappers, gave the finis.h.i.+ng stroke to the novelty and singularity of the scene; and to their credit be it spoken, the women were much more tidily dressed than the men. The couples are frequently female, for want of a sufficient number of swains; but, whether correctly or incorrectly paired, they dance with earnestness, if not with grace. It was a picture a la Teniers, without its occasional grossness. This then, said I to myself, is what I have so often heard of the sabbath-gambols of the French--and long may they enjoy them!

They are surely better than the brutal orgies of the pot-house, or the fanatical ravings of the tabernacle.[32]

A late plain dinner, with my favourite vin ordinaire, recruited my strength, and kept me in perfectly good humour with Dieppe.

The deportment of the _Dieppois_[33] towards the English, is, upon the whole, rather gracious than otherwise; because the town profits by the liberality and love of expense of the latter. Yet the young ones, as soon as they can lisp, are put in training for p.r.o.nouncing the _G---- d----_; and a few horribly-deformed and importunate beggars are for ever a.s.sailing the doors of the hotels. But beggary is nothing like so frightful an evil as I had antic.i.p.ated. The general aspect of the town seems to indicate the poverty of the inhabitants; their houses being too large to be entirely occupied. Bonaparte appears to have been anxious about the strengthening of the harbour; the navigation into which is somewhat difficult and intricate.

The sides of the walls, as you enter, are lofty, steep, and strong; and raised batteries would render any hostile approach extremely hazardous to the a.s.sailants.

There is no s.h.i.+p-building at this moment going on: the ribs of about half a dozen, half rotted, small merchant-craft, being all that is discernible.

But much is projected, and much is hoped from such projects. Dieppe has questionless many local advantages both by land and by sea; yet it will require a long course of years to infuse confidence and beget a love of enterprise. In spite of all the _naval zeal_, it is here exhibited chiefly as affording means of subsistence from the fisheries. I must not however conclude my Dieppe journal without telling you that I hunted far and near for a good bookseller and for some old books--but found nothing worth the search, except a well-printed early _Rouen Missal_, and _Terence_ by _Badius Ascensius_. The booksellers are supplied with books chiefly from Rouen; the local press being too insignificant to mention.

[29] The French Antiquaries have pushed the antiquity of this castle to the 11th century, supposing it to have been built by _William d'Arques_, Count of Tallon, son of the second marriage of Richard Duke of Normandy. I make no doubt, that, whenever built, the sea almost washed its base: for it is known to have occupied the whole of what is called the _Valley of Arques_, running as far as _Bouteilles_. Its position, in reference to the art of war, must have been almost impregnable.

Other hypotheses a.s.sign its origin to the ninth or tenth century.

Whenever built, its history has been fertile in sieges. In 1144, it was commanded by a Flemish Monk, who preferred the spear to the crosier, but who perished by an arrow in the contest. Of its history, up to the sixteenth century, I am not able to give any details; but in the wars of Henry IV. with the League, in 1589, it was taken by surprise by soldiers in the disguise of sailors: who, killing the centinels, quickly made themselves masters of the place. Henry caused it afterwards to be dismantled. In the first half of the eighteenth century it received very severe treatment from pillage, for the purpose of erecting public and private buildings at Dieppe. At present (in the language of the author of the _Rouen Itinerary_) ”it is the abode of silence--save when that silence is interrupted by owls and other nocturnal birds.” The view of it in Mr. Cotman's work is very faithful.

[30] The _Itineraire de Rouen_, 1816, p. 202, says, absurdly, that this church is of the XIth century. It is perhaps with more truth of the beginning of the XIVth century. A pleasing view of it is in Mr.

Dawson Turner's elegant Tour in Normandy, 1818, 8vo. 2 vol. It possessed formerly a bust of Henry IV., which is supposed to have been placed there after the famous battle of Arques gained by Henry over the Duke of Mayenne in 1589.

[31] The blue gown and red petticoat; or vice versa.

[32] [I am anxious that the above sentence should stand precisely as it appeared in the first edition of this work; because a circ.u.mstance has arisen from it, which could have been as little in the antic.i.p.ation, as it is in the comprehension, of the author. A lady, of high connections, and of respectable character, conceived the pa.s.sage in question to be somewhat indecorous; or revolting to the serious sense entertained by all Christians, and especially by CHRISTIAN MINISTERS, of the mode of devoting the Sabbath day. In consequence, being in possession of a copy of this work, she DIVIDED it into two; not being willing to sully the splendour of the plates by the supposed impurity of such a pa.s.sage:--and the prints were accordingly bound APART. The pa.s.sage--as applied to the FRENCH PEOPLE--requires neither comment nor qualification; and in the same unsophisticated view of religious duties, the _latter_ part may be as strictly applied to the ENGLISH.]

[33] The dress of the _sailors_ is the same as it was in the XIVth century; and so probably is that of the women. The illuminations in Froissard and Monstrelet clearly give us the Norman cauchoise.

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