'
[35] We speak of Mortain as we found it a few years ago; its sanitory
arrangements have, we understand, been improved, but people are not yet
enthusiastic about Mortain as a residence.
[36] Notwithstanding this apparent indifference to landscape, we
remember finding at a country inn, the walls covered with one of
Troyon's pictures (a hundred times repeated in paper-hanging); a pretty
pastoral scene which Messrs. Christie would have catalogued as 'a
landscape with cattle.'
[37] The neatness and precision with which they make their piles of
stones at the roadside will be remembered by many a traveller in this
part of Normandy. They accomplish it by putting the stones into a shape
(as if making a jelly), and removing the boards when full; and, as there
are no French boys, the loose pile remains undisturbed for months.
[38] Submitting to the exigencies of publishing expediency, we have been
unable to have this drawing reproduced on wood; although we were anxious
to draw attention to the bold forms of rocks which crown these heights,
and to the line old trees which surround the castle.
[39] There are' deeds of valour' (according to the _affiches_) to be
witnessed in these days at Falaise; we once saw a woman here, in a
circus, turning somersaults on horseback before a crowd of spectators.
The people of Falaise cannot be accused of being behind the age; one
gentleman advertises as his _specialite_,' the cure of injuries caused
by velocipedes'!
[40] Our peaceful proclivities may be noticed in small things; the
fierce and warlike devices, such as an eagle's head, a lion _rampant_,
and the like, which were originally designed to stimulate the warrior in
battle, now serve to adorn the panel of a carriage, or a sheet of
note-paper.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184