Holidays in Eastern France | Page 4

for
weeks at a time, and from thence "excursionize." By these means,
much fatigue is avoided, and the two chief drawbacks to the pleasure of
travel, namely, hotels and perpetual railway travel, are avoided as much
as possible.

Seine et Marne, if not one of the most picturesque regions in France,
abounds in those quiet charms that grow upon the sympathetic traveller.
It is not a land of marvels and pictorial attractions like Brittany. There
is no costume, no legendary romance, no stone array of Carnac to
entice the stranger, but, on the other hand, the lover of nature, in her
more subdued aspects, and the archaeologist also, will find ample to
repay them. It is not my intention to give a history of the ancient cities
and towns visited during my stay, or, indeed, to offer an itinerary, or
any other kind of information so amply provided for us in English and
foreign Handbooks. My object is merely to relate my own experiences
in this and other Eastern regions of France, for, if these are not worth
having, no réchauffé of facts, gleaned here and there, can be so; and I
also intend only to quote other authors when they are inaccessible to
the general reader.
With regard, therefore, to the history of the département of Seine et
Marne, constructed, in 1790, from the province of Brie, also from the
Ile de France, and the so called Gâtinois Français, I will say a few
words. Although it only boasts of two important historical monuments,
namely, the Cathedral of Meaux and the Château of Fontainebleau;
scattered about the country are noteworthy remains of different epochs,
Celtic, Roman, Merovingian, mediaeval; none, perhaps, of paramount
importance, but all interesting to the archaeologist and the artist. Such
remains as those of the Merovingian crypt at Jouarre, and the various
monuments of Provins, well repay the traveller who visits these places
on purpose, whilst, as he zig-zags here and there, he will find many a
village church of quaint exterior and rich Gothic decoration within.
Fontainebleau, being generally included in a visit to Paris, I do not
attempt to describe, but prefer to lead the traveller a little off the
ordinary track, on which, indeed, he wants no guide but Murray and
Joanne.
My rallying point was a pleasant country-house at Couilly, offering
easy opportunity of studying agriculture and rural life, as well as of
making excursions by road and rail. Couilly itself is charming. The
canal, winding its way between thick lines of poplar trees towards
Meaux, you may follow in the hottest day of summer without fatigue.

The river, narrow and sleepy, yet so picturesquely curling amid green
slopes and tangled woods, is another delightful stroll; then there are
broad, richly wooded hills rising above these, and shady side-paths
leading from hill to valley, with alternating vineyards, orchards,
pastures, and cornfields on either side. Couilly lies in the heart of the
cheese-making country, part of the ancient province of Brie from which
this famous cheese is named.
The Comté of Brie became part of the French kingdom on the occasion
of the marriage of Jeanne of Navarre with Philip-le-Bel in 1361, and is
as prosperous as it is picturesque. It also possesses historic interest.
Within a stone's throw of our garden wall once stood a famous convent
of Bernardines, called Pont-aux-Dames. Here Madame du Barry, the
favourite of Louis XV., was exiled after his death; on the outbreak of
the Revolution, she flew to England, having first concealed, somewhere
in the Abbey grounds, a valuable case of diamonds. The Revolution
went on its way, and Madame du Barry might have ended her unworthy
career in peace had not a sudden fit of cupidity induced her to return to
Couilly when the Terror was at its acmé, in quest of her diamonds. The
Committee of Public Safety got hold of Madame du Barry, and she
mounted the guillotine in company of her betters, showing a
pusillanimity that befitted such a career. What became of the diamonds,
history does not say. The Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames has long since
been turned to other purposes, but the beautiful old-fashioned garden
still remains as it was.
Couilly, like most of the ancient villages in Seine et Marne, possesses a
church of an early period, though unequal in interest to those of its
neighbours. It is also full of reminiscences of the last Franco-German
war. My friend's house was occupied by the German commander and
his staff, who, however, committed no depredations beyond carrying
off the bed-quilts and blankets, a pardonable offence considering the
excessive cold of that terrible winter.
Not far off, on a high hill, is a farm-house, known as the Maison
Blanche, in which Jules Favre gave utterance to the memorable words:
"Not an inch of our