'--_La Belle France_.
We must now pass on to the neighbouring town of LISIEUX, which
will be found even more interesting than Pont Audemer in examples of
domestic architecture of the middle ages; resisting with difficulty a
passing visit to Pont l'Eveque, another old town a few miles distant.
"Who does not know Pont l'Eveque," asks an enthusiastic Frenchman,
"that clean little smiling town, seated in the midst of adorable
scenery, with its little black, white, rose-colour and blue houses? One
sighs and says 'It would be good to live here,' and then one passes on
and goes to amuse oneself"--at Trouville-sur-mer!
If we approach Lisieux by the road from Pont Audemer (a distance of
about twenty-six miles) we shall get a better impression of the town
than if riding upon the whirlwind of an express train; and we shall pass
through a prettily-wooded country, studded with villas and
comfortable-looking houses, surrounded by pleasant fruit and flower
gardens--the modern abodes of wealthy manufacturers from the
neighbouring towns, and also of a few English families.
We ought to come quietly through the suburbs of Lisieux, if only to see
how its 13,000 inhabitants are busied in their woollen and cloth
factories; how they have turned the old timber-framed houses of feudal
times into warehouses; how the banners and signs of chivalry are
desecrated into trade-marks, and how its inhabitants are devoting
themselves heart and soul to the arts of peace.
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