VILLAGE AND CASTLE OF ARQUES. SABBATH AMUSEMENTS. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
BOULEVARDS.
As I had received especial injunctions from our friend P--- not to leave
Dieppe without paying a visit to the famous _Chateau d'Arques_[29], in its
neighbourhood, I resolved to seize the opportunity of a tolerably fair, or
rather gray-looking day, to go and pay due homage to those venerable
remains of antiquity. The road thither is completely rural: apple-trees,
just beginning to burst their blossoms; hamlets, small farm-houses: a
profusion of rich herbage of various kinds--delighted and regaled me as I
pursued my tranquil walk. The country is of a gently-undulating character;
but the flats or meadows, between the parallel ranges of hills, are subject
to constant inundation from the sea; and in an agricultural point of view
are consequently of little use, except for summer grazing of the cattle.
It was drawing on to vespers as I approached the _Village of Arques_. The
old castle had frequently peeped out upon me, in my way thither, from its
elevated situation; but being resolved to see "all that could be seen," a
French village, for the first time, was not to be overlooked. For a country
church, I know of few finer ones than that of Arques.[30]
The site of the castle is admirable. My approach was to the western
extremity; which, as you look down, brings the village and church of Arques
in the back ground. If the eye were to be considered as a correct judge,
this venerable pile, composed of hard flint-stone, intermixed with brick,
would perhaps claim precedence, on the score of antiquity, over most of the
castles of the middle ages. A deep moat, now dry pasture land, with a bold
acclivity before you, should seem to bid defiance, even in times of old, to
the foot and the spear of the invader. There are circular towers at the
extremities, and a square citadel or donjon within. To the north, a good
deal of earth has been recently thrown against the bases of the wall. The
day harmonised admirably with the venerable object before me. The sunshine
lasted but for a minute: when afterwards a gloom prevailed, and not a
single catch of radiant light gilded any portion of the building. All was
quiet, and of a sombre aspect,--and what _you_, in your admiration of art,
would call in perfectly "fine keeping."
I descended the hill, bidding a long adieu to this venerable relic of the
hardihood of other times, and quickened my pace towards Dieppe. In gaining
upon the town, I began to discern groups of rustics, as well as of
bourgeoises, assembling and mingling in the dance. The women never think of
wearing bonnets, and you have little idea how picturesquely the red and
blue[31] (the colours of Raffaelle's Madonnas) glanced backwards and
forwards amidst the fruit trees, to the sound of the spirit-stirring
violin. The high, stiff, starched cauchoise, with its broad flappers, gave
the finishing stroke to the novelty and singularity of the scene; and to
their credit be it spoken, the women were much more tidily dressed than the
men. The couples are frequently female, for want of a sufficient number of
swains; but, whether correctly or incorrectly paired, they dance with
earnestness, if not with grace. It was a picture à la Teniers, without its
occasional grossness. This then, said I to myself, is what I have so often
heard of the sabbath-gambols of the French--and long may they enjoy them!
They are surely better than the brutal orgies of the pot-house, or the
fanatical ravings of the tabernacle.[32]
A late plain dinner, with my favourite vin ordinaire, recruited my
strength, and kept me in perfectly good humour with Dieppe.
The deportment of the _Dieppois_[33] towards the English, is, upon the
whole, rather gracious than otherwise; because the town profits by the
liberality and love of expense of the latter. Yet the young ones, as soon
as they can lisp, are put in training for pronouncing the _G---- d----_;
and a few horribly-deformed and importunate beggars are for ever assailing
the doors of the hotels. But beggary is nothing like so frightful an evil
as I had anticipated. The general aspect of the town seems to indicate the
poverty of the inhabitants; their houses being too large to be entirely
occupied. Bonaparte appears to have been anxious about the strengthening of
the harbour; the navigation into which is somewhat difficult and intricate.
The sides of the walls, as you enter, are lofty, steep, and strong; and
raised batteries would render any hostile approach extremely hazardous to
the assailants.
There is no ship-building at this moment going on: the ribs of about half a
dozen, half rotted, small merchant-craft, being all that is discernible.
But much is projected, and much is hoped from such projects. Dieppe has
questionless many local advantages both by land and by sea; yet it will
require a long course of years to infuse confidence and beget a love of
enterprise. In spite of all the _naval zeal_, it is here exhibited chiefly
as affording means of subsistence from the fisheries. I must not however
conclude my Dieppe journal without telling you that I hunted far and near
for a good bookseller and for some old books--but found nothing worth the
search, except a well-printed early _Rouen Missal_, and _Terence_ by
_Badius Ascensius_. The booksellers are supplied with books chiefly from
Rouen; the local press being too insignificant to mention.
[29] The French Antiquaries have pushed the antiquity of this castle to the
11th century, supposing it to have been built by _William d'Arques_,
Count of Tallon, son of the second marriage of Richard Duke of
Normandy. I make no doubt, that, whenever built, the sea almost washed
its base: for it is known to have occupied the whole of what is called
the _Valley of Arques_, running as far as _Bouteilles_. Its position,
in reference to the art of war, must have been almost impregnable.
Other hypotheses assign its origin to the ninth or tenth century.
Whenever built, its history has been fertile in sieges. In 1144, it
was commanded by a Flemish Monk, who preferred the spear to the
crosier, but who perished by an arrow in the contest. Of its history,
up to the sixteenth century, I am not able to give any details; but in
the wars of Henry IV. with the League, in 1589, it was taken by
surprise by soldiers in the disguise of sailors: who, killing the
centinels, quickly made themselves masters of the place. Henry caused
it afterwards to be dismantled. In the first half of the eighteenth
century it received very severe treatment from pillage, for the
purpose of erecting public and private buildings at Dieppe. At present
(in the language of the author of the _Rouen Itinerary_) "it is the
abode of silence--save when that silence is interrupted by owls and
other nocturnal birds." The view of it in Mr. Cotman's work is very
faithful.
[30] The _Itinéraire de Rouen_, 1816, p. 202, says, absurdly, that
this church is of the XIth century. It is perhaps with more truth of
the beginning of the XIVth century. A pleasing view of it is in Mr.
Dawson Turner's elegant Tour in Normandy, 1818, 8vo. 2 vol. It
possessed formerly a bust of Henry IV., which is supposed to have been
placed there after the famous battle of Arques gained by Henry over
the Duke of Mayenne in 1589.
[31] The blue gown and red petticoat; or vice versa.
[32] [I am anxious that the above sentence should stand precisely as it
appeared in the first edition of this work; because a circumstance has
arisen from it, which could have been as little in the anticipation,
as it is in the comprehension, of the author. A lady, of high
connections, and of respectable character, conceived the passage in
question to be somewhat indecorous; or revolting to the serious sense
entertained by all Christians, and especially by CHRISTIAN MINISTERS,
of the mode of devoting the Sabbath day. In consequence, being in
possession of a copy of this work, she DIVIDED it into two; not being
willing to sully the splendour of the plates by the supposed impurity
of such a passage:--and the prints were accordingly bound APART. The
passage--as applied to the FRENCH PEOPLE--requires neither comment nor
qualification; and in the same unsophisticated view of religious
duties, the _latter_ part may be as strictly applied to the
ENGLISH.]
[33] The dress of the _sailors_ is the same as it was in the XIVth
century; and so probably is that of the women. The illuminations in
Froissard and Monstrelet clearly give us the Norman cauchoise.