chateaux, their 'maisons mauresques' and
'pavillons a la renaissance,' so closely over the available slopes,
round about the immense and gaudily-appointed Casino, and the Hotel of
the Black Rocks, that it has been found necessary to protect them with
masonry of more than Roman strength. From these works of startling
force, and boldness of design, the view is a glorious one indeed. To the
right stretches the white line of Havre, pointed with its electric
_phare_; to the left, the shore swells and dimples, and the hills, in
gentle curves, rise beyond. Deauville is below, and beyond--a flat,
formal place of fashion, where ladies exhibit the genius of Worth to one
another, and to the astonished fishermen.
Imagine a splendid court playing at seaside life; imagine such a place
as Watteau would have designed, with inhabitants as elegantly rustic as
his, and you imagine a Trouville. It is the village of the
millionaire--the stage whereon the duchess plays the hoyden, and the
princess seeks the exquisite relief of being natural for an hour or two.
No wonder every inch of the rock is disputed; there are so many now in
the world who have sipped all the pleasures the city has to give.
Masters of the art of entering a drawing-room, the Parisians crowd
seaward to get the sure foot of the mussel-gatherer upon the slimy
granite of a bluff Norman headland; they bring their taste with them,
and they get heartiness in the bracing air.
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