harbor is now seen as a verdant meadow. Without the aid of history,
therefore, you would in vain inquire into the derivation of the name, in
connection with which, the learned Huet, Bishop of Avranches[39], calls
upon us to remark, that the names of many places in Normandy end in
_fleur_, as Barfleur, Harfleur, Honfleur, Fiefleur, Vitefleur, &c.; and
that, if, as it is commonly supposed, this termination comes from
_fluctus_, it must have passed through the Saxon, in which language
_fleoten_ signifies _to flow_. Hence we have _flot_, and from _flot,
fleut_ and _fleur_, the last alteration being warranted by the genius of
the French language. The bishop further states, that there are two
facts, affording a decisive proof of this origin: the one, that the
names now terminating in _fleur_, ended anciently _flot_, Barfleur being
Barbeflot, Harfleur Hareflot, and Honfleur Huneflot; the other, that all
places so called are situated where they are washed by the tide. Such is
also the position of the towns in Holland, whose names terminate in
_vliet_, and of those in England, ending in _fleet_, as Purfleet,
Byfleet, &c. The Latin word _flevus_ is of the same kind, and is derived
from the same source; for, instead of Hareflot and Huneflot, some old
records have Hareflou and Huneflou, and some others Barfleu, terms
approaching _flevus_, which is also called by Ptolemy, _fleus_, and by
Mela, _fletio_. It is highly improbable, that these two last terms
should have been coined subsequently to the time of the Romans becoming
masters of Gaul, and it is equally unlikely that the Saxon _fleoten_
should be derived from the Latin. Thus far, therefore, the languages
appear to have had a common origin, and they are insomuch allied to the
Celtic, that those towns in Britanny, in whose names are found the
syllables _pleu_ and _plou_, are also invariably placed in similar
situations.
If, however, I am fairly embarked in the sea of etymological conjecture,
I know not where I shall be carried; and therefore, instead of urging
the probability that the root of the Celtic _pleu_ is apparently to be
found in the Pelasgic [Greek in original] sail or float, I shall return
to Harfleur and its history. Whilst Harfleur was in its glory, it was
considered the key of the Seine and of this part of France. In 1415 it
opposed a vigorous resistance to our Henry Vth, who had no sooner made
himself master of it, than, with a degree of contradiction, which
teaches man to regard the performance of his duty to God as no reason
for his performing it to his fellow-creatures, "the King uncovered his
feet and legs, and walked barefoot from the gate to the parish church of
St. Martin, where he very devoutly offered up his prayers and
thanksgivings for his success. But, immediately afterwards he made all
the nobles and the men at arms that were in the town his captives, and
shortly after sent the greater part out of the place, clothed in their
jerkins only, taking down their names and surnames in writing, and
obliging them to swear by their faith that they would surrender
themselves prisoners at Calais on Martinmas-day next ensuing. In like
manner were the townsmen made prisoners, and obliged to ransom
themselves for large sums of money. Afterwards did the King banish them
out of the town, with numbers of women and children, to each of whom
were given five sols and a portion of their garments." Monstrelet[40],
from whom I have transcribed this detail, adds, that "it was pitiful to
hear and see the sorrow of these poor people, thus driven away from
their homes; the priests and clergy were likewise dismissed; and, in
regard to the wealth found there, it was not to be told, and appertained
even to the King, who distributed it as he pleased." Other writers tell
us that the number of those thus expelled was eight thousand, and that
the conqueror, not satisfied with this act of vengeance, publicly burned
the charters and archives of the town and the title-deeds of
individuals, re-peopled Harfleur with English, and forbad the few
inhabitants that remained to possess or inherit any landed property.
After a lapse, however, of twenty years, the peasants of the neighboring
country, aided by one hundred and four of the inhabitants, retook the
place by assault. The exploit was gallant; and a custom continued to
prevail in Harfleur, for above two centuries subsequently, intended to
commemorate it; a bell was tolled one hundred and four times every
morning at day-break, being the time when the attack was made. In 1440,
the citizens, undismayed by the sufferings of their predecessors,
withstood a second siege from our countrymen, whom the town resisted
four months, and in whose possession it remained ten years, when Charles
VIIIth permanently united it to the crown of France. Notwithstanding
these calamities, it rose again to a state of prosperity, till the
revocation of the edict of Nantes gave the death-blow to its commerce;
and intolerance completed the desolation which war had begun. At
present, it is only remarkable for the elegant tower and spire of its
church, connected by flying buttresses of great beauty, the whole of
rich and elaborate workmanship.
[Illustration: Tower and Spire of Harfleur Church]
At a short distance from Harfleur, the Seine comes in view, flowing into
the sea through a fine rich valley; but the wide expanse of water has no
picturesque beauty. The hills around Havre are plentifully spotted with
gentlemen's houses, few only of which have been seen in other parts in
the ride. The town itself is strongly fortified; and, having conducted
you hither, I shall leave you for the present, reserving for another
letter any particulars respecting Havre, and the rest of the road to
Rouen.
Footnotes:
[25] _Antiquités de Normandie_, p. 53.
[26] _Dumoulin, Géographie de la France_, II p. 80.
[27] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 109.
[28] Heylin notices the familiarity of the approach of the French
servants, in his delineation of a Norman inn. An extract may amuse those
who are not familiar with the works of this quaint yet sensible writer.
"There stood in the chamber three beds, if at the least it be lawful so
to call them; the foundation of them was straw, so infinitely thronged
together, that the wool-packs which our judges sit on in the Parliament,
were melted butter to them; upon this lay a medley of flocks and
feathers sewed up together in a large bag, (for I am confident it was
not a tick) but so ill ordered that the knobs stuck out on each side
like a crab-tree cudgel. He had need to have flesh enough that lyeth on
one of them, otherwise the second night would wear out his bones.--Let
us now walk into the kitchen and observe their provision. And here we
found a most terrible execution committed on the person of a pullet; my
hostess, cruel woman, had cut the throat of it, and without plucking off
the feathers, tore it into pieces with her hands, and afterwards took
away skin and feathers together: this done, it was clapped into a pan
and fried for supper.--But the principal ornaments of these inns are the
men-servants, the raggedest regiment that ever I yet looked upon; such a
thing as a chamberlain was never heard of amongst them, and good clothes
are as little known as he. By the habits of his attendants a man would
think himself in a gaol, their clothes are either full of patches or
open to the skin. Bid one of them make clean your boots, and presently
he hath recourse to the curtains.--They wait always with their hats on,
and so do all servants attending on their masters.--Time and use
reconciled me to many other things, which, at the first were offensive;
to this most irreverent custom I returned an enemy; _neither can I see
how it can choose but stomach the most patient_ to see the worthiest
sign of liberty usurped and profaned by the basest of slaves."--Peter
then has a learned _excursus de jure pileorum_, wherein _Tertullian de
Spectaculis, Erasmus_ his _Chiliades_, and many other reverent
authorities are adduced; also, giving an account of his successful
exertions, as to "the licence of putting on our caps at our public
meetings, which privilege, time, and the tyranny of the vice-chancellor,
had taken from." After which, he still resumes in ire,--"this French
sauciness hath drawn me out of the way; an impudent familiarity, which,
I confess, did much offend me; and to which I still profess myself an
open enemy. Though Jacke speak French, I cannot endure Jacke should be a
gentleman."
[29] _Géographie de la France_, II. p. 115.
[30] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 94.
[31] P. 196, 203, 204.
[32] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 90.--Some other writers
date the foundation A.D. 666.
[33] _Gough's Alien Priories_, I. p. 9.
[34] This important part of its treasures, we may hope, from the
following passage in Noel, has been in a measure preserved. "On m'a
assuré que cette dernière partie des richesses littéraires de notre pays
étoit heureusement conserveé: puisse aujourd'hui ce dépot, honorant les
mains qui le possédent, parvenir intégre jusqu'aux tems propères où le
génie de l'histoire pourra utiliser sa possession."--_Essais sur la
Seine Inférieure_, II. p. 21.
[35] I do not know if it be wholly destroyed; for the author of the
Description of Upper Normandy and Goube both speak of the existence of a
square tower within the precincts of the abbey, part of the old palace,
and known by the name of the _Tower of Babel_.
[36] _Noel, Essais sur la Seine Inférieure_, II. p. 11.
[37] Vol. I. p. 389.
[38] This name, in Latin, is _Monasterium Villare_; in old French
records it is called _Monstier Vieil_.
[39] _Origines de Caen, 2nd edit._ p. 300.
[40] Vol. II. p. 78.
LETTER VI.
HAVRE--TRADE AND HISTORY OF THE TOWN--EMINENT MEN--BOLBEC--YVETOT--RIDE
TO ROUEN--FRENCH BEGGARS.
(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
To Fécamp and the other places noticed in my last letter, a more
striking contrast could not easily be found than Havre. It equally wants
the interest derived from ancient history, and the appearance of misery
inseparable from present decay. And yet even Havre is now suffering and
depressed. A town which depends altogether upon foreign commerce, could
not fail to feel the effects of a long maritime war; and we accordingly
find the number of its inhabitants, which twenty years ago was estimated
at twenty-five thousand, now reduced to little more than sixteen
thousand.
The blow, which Havre will with most difficulty recover is the loss of
St. Domingo; for, before the revolution, it almost enjoyed a monopoly of
the trade of this important colony, in which upwards of eighty ships,
each of above three hundred tons burthen, were constantly employed. With
Martinique and Guadaloupe it had a similar, though less extensive,
intercourse. As the natural outlet for the manufactures of Rouen and
Paris, it supplied the French islands in the West Indies with the
principal part of their plantation stores; and the situation of the port
was equally advantageous for the importation of their produce. Guinea
and the coast of Africa afforded a second and important branch of
commerce; and this also is little likely entirely to recover. We may
add that, happily it is not so; for it depended principally upon the
slave-trade, the profits of which were such, that it was calculated a
vessel might clear upon an average nearly eight thousand pounds by each
voyage[41]. Its whale-fishery has, for more than a century, ceased to
exist. This pursuit began with spirit and at as early a period as the
year 1632, when the merchants of this port, in conjunction with those of
Biscay, fitted out the expedition commanded by Vrolicq, seized upon a
station near Spitzbergen, where they would have obtained a permanent
establishment, had they not been violently expelled by the Danes and
Dutch. But the coasting-trade with the various ports of France, and the
communication with the other countries of Europe, is now again in full
vigor; and it is to these sources that Havre is chiefly indebted for the
life and spirit visible in its quays and public places.
The appearance of bustle and activity is a striking, at the same time
that it is a most pleasing, character, of every great and commercial
sea-port, in every part of the world: it is especially so in a climate
which is milder than our own, and where not only the loading and
unloading of the ships, with the consequent transport of merchandize, is
continually taking place before the spectator; but the sides of the
shops are commonly set open, sail-makers are pursuing their business in
rows in the streets, and almost every handicraft and occupation is
carried on in the open air. An acute traveller might also conjecture
that the mildness of the atmosphere is comfortable and congenial to the
parrots, perroquets, and monkeys, which are brought over as pets and
companions by the sailors. Great numbers of these exotic birds and
brutes are to be seen at the windows, and they almost give to the town
of Havre the appearance of a tropical settlement.
The quays are strongly edged and faced with granite: the streets, of
which there are forty, are all built in straight lines, and chiefly at
right angles with each other. In them are several fountains, round which
picturesque groups of women are continually collected, employed with
Homeric industry in the task of washing linen. The churches are ugly,
their style is a miserable caricature of Roman architecture, the
interiors are incumbered by dirty and dark chapels, filled up with wood
carvings. The principal church has figures of saints, of wretched
execution, but of the size of life, ranged round the interior. The
harbor is calculated to contain three hundred vessels. The houses are
oddly constructed: they are very narrow, and very lofty, being commonly
seven stories high, and they are mostly fronted with stripes of tiled
slate, and intermediate ones of mortar, so fantastically disposed, that
two are rarely seen alike.
Notwithstanding what is alledged by the author of the _Mémoires sur
Havre_, in his endeavors to give consequence to his native place, by
maintaining its antiquity, it appears certain that no mention is made of
the town previously to the fifteenth century. Even so late as 1509, its
scite was occupied by a few hovels, clustered round a thatched chapel,
under the protection of Notre Dame de Grace, from whom the place derived
the name of Havre de Grace. Francis Ist, who was the real founder[42]
of Havre, was desirous of changing this name to _Françoisville_ or
_Franciscopole_. But the will of a sovereign, as Goube very justly
observes, most commonly dies with him: in our days, the National
Convention, aided by the full force of popular enthusiasm, has equally
failed in a similar attempt. The jacobins tried in vain to banish the
recollections of good St. Denis, by unchristening his vill under the
appellation of _Franciade_. Disobedience to the edict, exposed, indeed,
the contravener to the chance of experiencing the martyrdom of the
bishop; yet the mandate still produced no effect. Nor was Napoléon more
successful; and history affords abundant proof, that it is more easy to
build a city, or even to conquer a kingdom, than to alter an established
name.
Viewed in its present condition, no town in France unites more
advantages than Havre: it is one of the keys of the kingdom; it commands
the mouth of the river that leads direct to the metropolis; and it is at
once a great commercial town and a naval station. Possessing such claims
to commercial and military pre-eminence, it may appear matter of
surprise that it should be of so recent an origin; but the cause is to
be sought for in the changes which succeeding centuries have induced in
the face of the country--
"Vidi ego quæ fuerat quondam durissima tellus
Esse fretum; vidi factas ex æquore terras."
The sea continually loses here, and, without great efforts on the part
of man to retard the operation of the elements, Havre may, in process of
time, become what Harfleur is. At its origin it stood immediately on the
shore; the consequence of which was, that, within a very few years, a
high tide buried two-thirds of the houses and nearly all the
inhabitants. The remembrance of this dreadful calamity is still annually
renewed by a solemn procession on the fifteenth of January.
With regard to historical events connected with Havre, there is little
to be said. It was the spot whence our Henry VIIth embarked, in 1485,
aided by four thousand men from Charles VIIIth, of France, to enforce
his claim to the English crown. The town was seized by the Huguenots,
and delivered to our Queen Elizabeth, in 1562. But it was held by her
only till the following year, when Charles IXth, with Catherine of
Medicis, commanded the siege in person, and pressed it so vigorously,
that the Earl of Warwick was obliged to evacuate the place, after having
sacrificed the greater part of his troops. At the end of the following
century, after the bombardment and destruction of Dieppe, an attack was
made upon Havre, but without success, owing to the strength of the
fortifications, and particularly of the citadel. For this, the town was
indebted to Cardinal Richelieu, who was its governor for a considerable
time, and who also erected some of its public buildings, improved the
basin, and gave a fresh impulse to trade, by ordering several large
ships of war to be built here. As ship-builders, the inhabitants of
Havre have always had a high character: they stand conspicuous in the
annals of the art, for the construction of the vessel called _la Grande
Françoise_, and justly termed _la grande_, as having been of two
thousand tons burthen. Her cables are said to have been above the
thickness of a man's leg; and, besides what is usually found in a ship,
she contained a wind-mill and a tennis-court[43]. Her destination was,
according to some authors, the East Indies; according to others, the
Isle of Rhodes, then attacked by Soliman IInd; but we need not now
inquire whither she was bound; for, after advantage had been taken of
two of the highest tides, the utmost which could be done was to tow her
to the end of the pier, where she stuck fast, and was finally obliged to
be cut to pieces. Her history and catastrophe are immortalized by
Rabelais, under the appellation of _la Grande Nau Françoise_.
It were unpardonable to take leave of Havre without one word upon the
celebrated individuals to whom it has given birth; and you must allow me
also, from our common taste for natural history, to point it out to your
notice as a spot peculiarly favorable for the collecting of fossil
shells, which are found about the town and neighborhood in great numbers
and variety. The Abbé Dicquemare, a naturalist of considerable eminence,
who resided here, may possibly be known to you by his observations on
this subject, or still more probably by those upon the Aetiniæ; the
latter having been translated into English, and honored with a place in
the Transactions of our Royal Society. Of more extensive, but not more
justly merited, fame, are George Scudery and his sister Magdalen: the
one a voluminous writer in his day, though now little known, except for
his _Critical Observations upon the Cid_; the other, a still more
prolific author of novels, and alternately styled by her contemporaries
the Sappho of her age, and "un boutique de verbiage;" but unquestionably
a writer of merit, notwithstanding the many unmanly sneers of Boileau,
whose bitter pen, like that of our own illustrious satirist, could not
even consent to spare a female that had been so unfortunate as to
provoke his resentment. She died in 1701, at the advanced age of
ninety-four. The last upon my list is one of whom death has very
recently deprived the world, the excellent Bernardin de Saint Pierre; a
man whose writings are not less calculated to improve the heart than to
enlarge the mind. It is impossible to read his works without feeling
love and respect for the author. His exquisite little tale of _Paul and
Virginia_ is in the hands of every body; and his larger work, the
_Studies of Nature_, deserves to be no less generally read, as full of
the most original observations, joined to theories always ingenious,
though occasionally fanciful: the whole conveyed in a singularly
captivating style, and its merits still farther enhanced by a constant
flow of unaffected piety.
The road from Havre to Rouen is of a different character, and altogether
unlike that from Dieppe; but what it gains in beauty of landscape it
loses in interest. And yet, perhaps, it is even wrong to say that it
gains much in point of beauty; for, though: trees are more generally
dispersed, though cultivation is universal, and the soil good, and
produce luxuriant, and though the mind and the eye cannot but be pleased
by the abundance and verdure of the country, yet in picturesque effect
it is extremely deficient. Monotony, even of excellence, displeases. I
am speaking of the road which passes through Bolbec and Yvetot: there is
another which lies nearer to the banks of the Seine, through Lillebonne
and Caudebec, and this, I do not doubt, would, in every point of view,
have been preferable.
At but a short distance from Havre, to the left, lies the church,
formerly part of the priory, of Grâville, a picturesque and interesting
object. Of the date of its erection we have no certain knowledge, and it
is much to be regretted that we have not, for it is clearly of Norman
architecture; the tower a very pure specimen of that style, and the end
of the north transept one of the most curious any where to be seen, and
apparently; also one of the most ancient[44]. I should therefore feel no
scruple in referring the building to a more early period than the
beginning of the thirteenth century, where our records of the
establishment commence; for it was then that William Malet, Lord of
Grâville, placed here a number of regular canons from Ste. Barbe en
Auge, and endowed them with all the tythes and patronage he possessed in
France and England. The act by which Walter, Archbishop of Rouen,
confirmed this foundation, is dated in 1203. _Stachys Germanica_, a
plant of extreme rarity in England, grows abundantly here by the
road-side; and apple-trees are very numerous, not only edging the road,
but planted in rows across the fields.
The valley by which you enter Bolbec is pretty and varied; full of trees
and houses, which stand at different heights upon the hills on either
side. The town itself is long, straggling, and uneven. Through it runs a
rapid little stream, which serves many purposes of extensive business,
connected with the cotton manufactory, the preparation of leather,
cutlery, &c. This stream, of the same name with the town, afterwards
falls into the Seine, near Lillebonne, one of the most ancient places in
Normandy, and formerly the metropolis of the Caletes, but now only a
wretched village. Tradition refers its ruin to the period of the
invasion of Gaul by the Romans; but it revived under the Norman Dukes,
who resided here a portion of the year, and it was a favorite seat of
William the Conqueror. To him, or to one of his immediate predecessors
or successors, it is most probable that the castle owes its existence.
Mr. Cotman found the ruins of it extensive and remarkable. The
importance of the place, at a far more early date, is proved by the
medals of the Upper and Lower Empire, which are frequently dug up here,
and not less decisively by the many Roman roads which originate from the
town. Bolbec can lay claim to no similar distinction; but it is full of
industrious manufacturers. Twice in the last century it was burned to
the ground; and, after each conflagration, it has arisen more
flourishing from its ashes. At the last, which happened in 1765, Louis
XVth made a donation to the town of eighty thousand livres, and the
parliament of Normandy added a gratuity of half as much more, to assist
the inhabitants in repairing their losses.
Yvetot, the next stage, possesses no visible interest, and furnishes no
employment for the pencil. The town is, like Bolbec, a residence for
manufacturers; and the curious stranger would seek in vain for any
traces of decayed magnificence, any vestiges or records of a royal
residence. And yet, it is held that Yvetot was the capital of a
_kingdom_, which, if it really did exist, had certainly the distinction
of being the smallest that ever was ruled on its own account. The
subject has much exercised the talents and ingenuity of historians. It
has been maintained by the affirmants, that an actual monarchy existed
here at a period as remote as the sixth century; others argue that,
though the Lords of Yvetot may have been stiled _Kings_, the distinction
was merely titular, and was not conferred till about the year 1400;
whilst a third, and, perhaps, most numerous, body, treat the whole as
apocryphal.