Volume I Part 19 (1/2)
Mais enfin, sur l'aile du temps, On arrive au but du voyage, Et l'on voit la glace des ans, Couronner nos fronts a cet age; S'il fut sensible a la pitie, S'il cultiva la bienfaisance, Entre les bras de l'amitie L'homme finit ... sans qu'il y pense
You must know that they are here great lovers of royalty, and of course great supporters of the Bourbon Family. The King's printer is a Mons. BReE l'Aine. He is a very pleasant, well-bred man, and lives in the _Place Trinite_. I have paid him more than one visit, and always felt additional pleasure at every repet.i.tion of it. My first visit was marked with a somewhat ludicrous circ.u.mstance. On entering the compositors' room, I observed, pasted upon the walls, in large capital letters, the following well known words:
G.o.d SAVE THE KING.
Both Monsieur Bree l'Aine--and his workmen were equally gratified by my notice and commendation of this sentiment. ”It is the favourite sentiment, Sir, of your country,”--remarked the master. To this I readily a.s.sented.
”It is also, Sir, the favourite one of our own,” replied M. Bree l'Aine--and his men readily attested their concurrence in the same reply.
”Ah, Sir, if you would only favour us by _singing the air_, to which these words belong, you would infinitely oblige us all” ... said a shrewd and intelligent-looking compositor. ”With all my heart”--rejoined I--”but I must frankly tell you, that I shall sing it rather with heart than with voice--being neither a vocal nor an instrumental performer.” ”No matter: give us only a notion of it.” They all stood round in a circle, and I got through two stanzas as gravely and as efficiently as I was able. The usual ”charmant!” followed my exertions. It was now my turn to ask a favour.
”Sing to me your favourite national air of ROBERT and ARLETTE.” ”Most willingly, Sir,” replied the forementioned ”shrewd and intelligent-looking compositor.” ”Tenez: un pet.i.t moment: je vais chercher mon violon. Ca ira mieux.”
He left the house in search of his violin. The tune of the National air which he sung was both agreeable and lively: and upon the whole it was difficult to say which seemed to be the better pleased with the respective national airs. M. Bree shewed me his premises in detail. They had been formerly a portion of an old church; and are situated on the edge of the great fosse which encircles the town. A garden, full of sweet blooming flowers, is behind them; and the view backwards is cheerful and picturesque. There are generally five presses at work; which, for a provincial printing office, shews business to be far from slack. Mons. B.
sells a great number of almanacks, and prints all the leading publications connected with the town. In fact, his t.i.tle, as _Imprimeur du Roi_, supposes him to take the princ.i.p.al lead as a printer. This agreeable man has a brother who is professor of rhetoric in the College Royale at Paris.
Of _Bouquinistes_, or dealers in old books, there are scarcely any. I spent three or four fruitless hours in a search after old chronicles and old poetry: and was compelled, almost from pure civility, to purchase of DUFOURS a _Pet.i.t's Virgil_ of 1529, folio--which will be hardly worth the carriage. I tried hard for a fine copy of _Fauchet's Origines de la Poesie Francoise_, 1581, 4to. with the head of the author, but in vain; yet endeavoured to console myself by an old blue morocco copy of _Les regrets et tristes lamentations du Comte de Montgomery_, by _Demorenne_, Rouen, 1574, 8vo. as well as a clean, fresh, and almost crackling copy of _Amoureuses occupations de la Taysonniere_, Lyon, 1555, 8vo.--for two francs each--and both destined for the rich and choice library of our friend....
Thus much for FALAISE: for a spot, which, from the uniform serenity of the weather since I have been here--from the comfort of the inn--from the extreme civility and attention of the townspeople--and from the yet more interesting society of the Comte de la Fresnaye, the _Cures_ Mouton and Langevin--together with the amenity of the surrounding country, and the interesting and in part magnificent remains of antiquity--can never be erased from my recollection. It is here that the tourist and antiquary may find objects for admiration and materials for recording. I have done both: admired and recorded--happy, if the result of such occupations shall have contributed to the substantial gratification of yourself and of our common friends. And now, farewell; not only to Falaise, but to NORMANDY. I shall leave it, from this delightful spot, in the most thorough good humour, and with more than ordinary regret that my stay has necessarily been short. I have taken my place in the Diligence, direct for PARIS. ”Il n'y a qu'un Paris”--said the Comte de la Fresnaye to me the other day, when I told him I had never been there--to which I replied, ”Are there then TWO Londons?”
Thirty-six hours will settle all this. In the mean time, adieu.
[169] On the return of Louis the XVIII. the town of Falaise manifested its loyalty in the most unequivocal manner.
COUPLETS
_Chantes par les Eleves du College de Falaise, en arborant le Drapeau Blanc_.
Air: _Un Soldat par un coup funeste_.
Loin de nous la sombre tristesse, Mars a depose sa fureur; Enfin la foudre vengeresse Vient de terra.s.ser _l'opresseur,_ L'aigle sanguinaire Succombe a l'aspect de ces LYS.
Peuple francais, tu vas revoir ton Pere!
Vive le Roi! Vive LOUIS!
Drapeau, que d'horribles tempetes Avoient eloigne de ces lieux, Tu reviens embellir nos Fetes, Plus brillant et plus radieux!
Ta douce presence Ramene les jeux et les ris; Sois a jamais l'Etendard de la France, Vive le Roi! vive LOUIS!
O Dieu! vengeur de l'innocence, Protege ces LYS glorieux!
Conserve long-temps a la France LE ROI que tu rends a nos voeux!
Si la perfidie De nouveau troubloit ton bonheur Viens nous guider, o Banniere cherie!
Nous volerons au champ d'honneur.
[170] The worthy historian of Falaise, quoted in a preceding page, is exceedingly anxious to make us believe that there are portions of this church--namely, four stones--in the eastern and western gable ends--which were used in the consecration of it, by MATHILDA, the wife of our first William. Also, that, at the gable end of the south transept, outside, an ancient grotto,--in which the Gallic priests of old purified themselves for the mysteries of their religion--is now converted into the sacristy, or vestry, or robing room. But these are surely mere antiquarian dreams. The same author more sagaciously informs us that the exact period of the commencement of the building of the nave, namely in 1438, is yet attested by an existing inscription, in gothic letters, towards the chief door of entrance.
The inscription also testifies that in the same year, ”there reigned DEATH, WAR, and FAMINE.” The _chancel of the choir_, with the princ.i.p.al doors of entrance, &c. were constructed between the years 1520, and 1540. It may be worth remarking that the stalls of the choir were brought from the Abbey of St. John--on the destruction of that monastic establishment in 1729; and that, according to the _Gallia Christiana_, vol. xi. p. 756, these stalls were carved at the desire of Thomas II. de Malleb.i.+.c.he, abbot of that establishment in 1506-1516.
In a double niche of the south b.u.t.tress are the statues of HERPIN and his WIFE; rich citizens of Falaise, who, by their wealth, greatly contributed to the building of the choir. (Their grandson, HERPIN LACHENAYE, together with his mistress were killed, side by side, in fighting at one of the gates of Falaise to repel the successful troops of Henry IV.) The _Chapel of the Virgin_, behind the choir, was completed about the year 1631. LANGEVIN, p. 81-128-131.
[171] We have of course nothing to do with the first erection of a place of wors.h.i.+p at Guibray in the VIIIth century. The story connected with the earliest erection is this. The faubourg of Guibray, distant about 900 paces from Falaise, was formerly covered with chestnut and oak trees.
A sheep, scratching the earth, as if by natural instinct (I quote the words of M. Langevin the historian of Falaise) indicated, by its bleatings, that something was beneath. The shepherd approached, and hollowing out the earth with his crook, discovered a statue of the Virgin, with a child in its arms. The first church, dedicated to the Virgin, under the reign of Charles Martel, called the Victorious, was in consequence erected--on this very spot--in the centre of this widely spreading wood of chestnut and oak. I hasten to the construction of a second church, on the same site, under the auspices of Mathilda, the wife of the Conqueror: with the statue of a woman with a diadem upon her head--near one of the pillars: upon which statue Langevin discourses learnedly in a note. But neither this church nor the statue in question are now in existence. On the contrary, the oldest portions of the church of Guibray, now existing--according to the authors of the _Gallia Christiana_, vol.
xi. p. 878, and an ancient MS. consulted by M. Langevin--are of about the date of 1222; when the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Coutances. The open s.p.a.ce towards the south, now called _La Place aux Chevaux_, was the old burying ground of the church. There was also a chapel, dedicated to St. Gervais, which was pillaged and destroyed by the Hugonots in 1562. I should add, that the South-East exterior (behind the chancel) of this very curious old church at Guibray, resembles, upon a small scale, what M. Cotman has published of the same portion of St. Georges de Bocherville. _Recherches sur Falaise_, p. 49-53. Monsieur le Comte de la Fresnaye, in his _Notice Historique sur Falaise_, 1816, 8vo. will have it, that ”the porch of this church, the only unmutilated portion remaining of its ancient structure, demonstrates the epoch of the origin of Christianity among the Gauls.”
”At least, such is the decision of M. Deveze, draftsman for Laborde; the latter of whom now Secretary to the Count d'Artois, inst.i.tuted a close examination of the whole fabric.” p. 5-6. I hope there are not many such conclusions to be found in the magnificent and meritorious productions of LABORDE.