Brittany Its Byways | Page 5

darts, "Même en fuyant l'on est pris." Further
is a sentiment in verse:--
"Plusieurs sont atteints de ce feu, Mais il ne s'en guérit que fort peu."
Again,--
"Ces deux n'en font qu'un."
[Illustration: 3. Château of Tourlaville.]
A river in the foreground, in the distance a setting sun, motto "Ainsi
puissai-je mourir." This assemblage of devices and mottoes is not
applicable to any particular individual, but may be supposed to be
merely an expression of the taste of the time. They are of the
seventeenth century, when the Ravalet had been succeeded by the
Franquetot family, who have since taken the name of Coigny. Their
arms, with several others, are in the little boudoir in one of the towers,
called the Blue Chamber. Its walls are distempered blue, and the
coverlet and hangings of the bed, with all the decorations of the room,

are of the same colour. Having admired the lovely view from the "Tour
des quatre vents," we descended to the kitchen of the farmer who rents
the house, which now belongs to the Tocqueville family. His wife was
busily employed in making "crêpes," a favourite kind of cake in
Normandy and Brittany. It is made generally of the flour of the sarrasin
or buckwheat, mixed with milk or water, and spread into a kind of
pancake, which is fried on an iron pan, resembling the Scotch
griddle-cakes. Another variety, called "galette," is made of the same
ingredients, but differs from the crêpe in its being made three or four
times the thickness, and is therefore not so light. Though generally
made of buckwheat, wheat or oat-flour is sometimes used; and in the
towns, sugar and cinnamon and vanilla are added, and the simple
character of the crêpe entirely changed under the hands of the
confectioner. The little village of Tourlaville was famous for its
glassworks, until supplanted by those of Gobain.
On our return to Cherbourg we visited the lace school of the Soeurs de
la Providence, where about two hundred girls are employed in making
black lace like that of Bayeux, which has now completely superseded
the Chantilly; the manner of making both laces is similar. The old
Chantilly has completely died out, and the modern manufacture extends
the whole length of Normandy from Cherbourg to Bayeux. How the
children can keep the bobbins from entangling is a marvel; there were
as many as five hundred on one pillow. The lace-makers were chiefly
employed in flounces, shawls, and other large works. These are all
made in separate pieces, and united by the stitch called fine joining or
"raboutissage." A half-shawl or "pointe" was divided into thirty
segments. We passed the evening at the Etablissement, and next
morning left Cherbourg.
The railway traverses the picturesque and rocky valley of Quincampoix
to Martinvast, whose little Romanesque church stands close to the
station, and at a short distance is the château of Martinvast, where its
late proprietor, M. du Moncel, established a model farm. A monument
has been erected to his memory in the church by the commune of
Martinvast.

[Illustration: 4. Castle of Bricquebec.]
At Sottevast we took the omnibus for Bricquebec, which lies nearly
five miles from the station. Its ruined castle, dating from the end of the
fourteenth century, with its lofty octagonal donjon, nearly a hundred
feet high, standing on a high "motte" or artificial mound, has a most
imposing appearance. Bricquebec, the most considerable demesne of
the Cotentins, was taken by King Henry V. from the Sire d'Estouteville,
who had so gallantly defended Mont St. Michel against him. Henry
gave Bricquebec to William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the ill-fated
favourite of Queen Margaret of Anjou, and he, on being taken prisoner
by the French, sold it, to raise the money for his ransom, to Sir Bertie
Entwistle, who fought at Agincourt, and who held it till the battle of
Formigny expelled the English from Normandy, and Sir Bertie fell at St.
Albans in the Lancastrian cause. The inn, "Hôtel du Vieux Château," is
within the enclosure of the ruins--a most dilapidated old place; our
dirty ill-furnished room next to a hayloft, the horses passing through
the house to the stable, and every kind of litter and rubbish
accumulated under the windows. Yet in the room we occupied had
once slept our gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria. On a placard is
inscribed, "Chambre de la famille royale d'Angleterre, 18 Août 1857;"
and below stairs is another, setting forth, "S. M. la Reine d'Angleterre,
le Prince Albert, les Princesses Royale et Alice, le Prince Alfred, sont
descendus à l'hôtel du Vieux Château le 10 Août 1857." About a mile
from Bricquebec is a Trappist convent; but we were not allowed
admission beyond the parlour, where is sold a quantity of cutlery, not
made--as we were given