Part 2 (2/2)
He proceeded to show them there was still great happiness in store for them, in ministering to the comforts of others. Following his counsel, they went to Paris; for three years the Count studied medicine and surgery, and his wife became a skilful oculist. On their return to La Garaye, they gave up all the amus.e.m.e.nts of society, and devoted themselves to relieving the sufferings of their fellow creatures. Their house was converted into an hospital for the sick and the wounded, under the ministering care of the Count and his benevolent wife:-
”Her home is made their home; her wealth their dole; Her busy courtyard hears no more the roll Of gilded vehicles, or pawing steeds, But feeble steps of those whose bitter needs Are their sole pa.s.sport. Through that gateway pa.s.s All varying forms of sickness and distress, And many a poor worn face that hath not smiled For years,-and many a feeble crippled child,- Blesses the tall, white portal where they stand, And the dear Lady of the liberal hand.”
THE LADY OF LA GARAYE.
Nor was their philanthropy confined to their own province. In 1720, they offered themselves to M. de Belzunce-”Ma.r.s.eilles' good bishop”-to a.s.sist him during the visitation of the Plague. The fame of their virtues reached even the French Court, and Louis XV. sent Count de la Garaye the order of St. Lazarus with a donation of 50,000 livres and a contract on the post of 25,000 more.
They both died at an advanced age, within two years of each other, and were buried among their poor at Taden, but their marble mausoleum in the church was destroyed in the French Revolution. Count de la Garaye(6) left a large sum to be distributed among the prisoners, princ.i.p.ally English, at Rennes and Dinan, who were suffering pent up in these crowded gaols. The Comte had attended the English prisoners at Dinan during a contagious fever, called the ”peste blanche,” and, in acknowledgment of his humanity, Queen Caroline sent him two dogs with silver collars round their necks, and an English n.o.bleman made him a present of six more.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 16. Chateau of La Garaye.]
The ruined chateau is approached by an ivy-covered gateway, through an avenue of beeches:-
”Le lierre flottant comme un manteau de deuil, Couvre a demi la porte et rampe sur le seuil.”
LAMARTINE, _Harmonies Poetiques_.
or, as Mrs. Norton renders it:-
”And like a mourner's mantle, with sad grace, Waves the dark ivy-hiding half the door And threshold, where the weary traveller's foot Shall never find a courteous welcome more.”
It is fast falling to pieces. The princ.i.p.al part remaining is an octagonal turret of three stories, with elegant Renaissance decoration round the windows. One more quotation from Mrs. Norton, and we quit these hallowed ruins:-
”We know the healthy stir of human life Must be for ever gone!
The walls where hung the warrior's s.h.i.+ning casque Are green with moss and mould; The blindworm coils where Queens have slept, nor asks For shelter from the cold.
The swallow,-he is master all the day, And the great owl is ruler through the night; The little bat wheels on his circling way, With restless flittering flight; And that small bat, and the creeping things, At will they come and go, And the soft white owl with velvet wings, And a shout of human woe!
The brambles let no footsteps pa.s.s By that rent in the broken stair, When the pale tufts of the windle-strae gra.s.s Hang like locks of dry dead hair; But there the keen sound ever sweeps and moans, ”Working a pa.s.sage through the mouldering stones.”
THE LADY OF LA GARAYE.
From Dinan, instead of taking the customary road to the railway station of Caulnes, we hired a carriage, in order to visit the fortress castle of La Hunaudaye, midway between Dinan and Lamballe. The road lay by Jugon, a town prettily situated in the cleft of two hills. On one once stood an important castle, which gave rise to the saying:-
”Qui a Bretagne sans Jugon, A chape sans chaperon.”
Jugon is on the edge of two ponds. One of them, the largest in Brittany, hangs suspended over the town, as if threatening it with inundation. They told us it was swarming with fish of every description, and with pike of fabulous dimensions. Turning off the road to the right, we entered the forest of La Hunaudaye, and walked in a pouring rain to the chateau, situated a short distance from the road. It is of vast extent, has five round towers with ramparts of cut stone, and is surrounded by walls with machicolated parapets. It is a splendid ruin, but the incessant rain prevented us from spending much time in its examination. It was built in the thirteenth century by Olivier de la Tournemine, and was one of the strongest fortresses in Brittany. Situated in the midst of a vast forest, its lord and his retainers were the terror of the surrounding country. No traveller pa.s.sed untaxed; all were compelled to pay toll. In 1504, the Bishop of St. Brieuc complains to the Parliament at Rennes that, regardless of the safeguard of the Duke, the foresters of the Lord of La Hunaudaye had carried off his horses, trunks, and baggage, and, a year later, they had the audacity to stop the Queen-d.u.c.h.ess Anne on her way to a pilgrimage to the Folgoet. The Queen was conducted to the presence of the Lord of La Hunaudaye, who maintained to her that he had only exercised his right of exacting a ransom from all who pa.s.sed through the forest without his permission, but that he waived his privilege in favour of his Sovereign. Be that as it may, he received her Majesty most royally, as the old chaplain, Oliver de la Roche recounts, and gave a splendid banquet, which he fully describes. The table, he says, was four times covered with thirty-six dishes of viands, and lastly, was brought in, ”en grande veneration,” by eight squires, a whole calf, standing on its legs, well seasoned, with an orange in its mouth; and, when it appeared, the trumpets sounded so loud that it seemed as if the walls shook. On seeing the ”dainty dish” that was ”set before the Queen,” all wished to have a share; and the chaplain relates, with great satisfaction, how he was served himself twice by the Lord of La Hunaudaye.
The dark deeds of the lords of La Hunaudaye have given rise to many a legend. The following is a translation of one of the most popular:-
LEGEND OF LA HUNAUDAYE.
_(Translation.)_
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