HOMEWARD.
On the Cliffs at Havre.--Stories of French Authors.--Again on
the Sea.
"Only three days more remain to us in France," said Master Lewis,
after spending two days in Nantes. "We will now return to Paris by
rail, stopping a few hours in Orleans, and from Paris will go directly
to Havre, whence we will take the steamer for home."
"It seems to me," said Wyllys Wynn, "that, after what we have seen, I
shall like no reading so well as history."
"It has been my aim," said Master Lewis, "to take you to those places
where the principal great events of the histories of England and
France have occurred. I stopped at Carlisle to give you a lesson in
the early history of Britain,--the periods of the Druids and the
Romans. I took you to Glastonbury to give you a view of the history of
the early English Church. I went with you to Aix-la-Chapelle that you
might receive an impression of the dominion of Charlemagne. Normandy
is the common ground of old English and French history. I was glad to
select it for you as the direct object of our visit, although it has
formed a small part of our journey. I, like Tommy, have had a secret
which I have kept for the Club; it has been to interest you in the
places and events which would lead you, on your return, to become more
careful readers of the best books. I hope the journey will leave an
historic outline in your minds that future reading will fill.
Character is as much determined by the books one reads as by the
company one keeps. Show me a boy's selection of books, and I will tell
you what he is and what he is likely to become."
"Master Lewis," said Wyllys, "says he has aimed to take us to such
historic places as would give us, at the end of the journey, a
connected picture of English and of French history. Let us try to
associate the places we have seen with historic events. As I think of
our Scottish and English journey, I connect,--
"Carlisle with the Druids and Romans.
"Glastonbury with Early Christianity and the Boy Kings.
"Normandy with William the Conqueror and his sons.
"Nottingham with Robin Hood and the Norman and Plantagenet Kings.
"Boscobel with King Charles.
"Edinburgh with Mary, the Edwards, and the Douglases.
"Kenilworth with Elizabeth.
"Oxford with Canute and Alfred.
"London with the Tudors, the Commonwealth, the Georges, and Victoria."
"In our journey on the continent," said Frank, "I associate,--
"Brussels with Waterloo and Napoleon.
"Aix-la-Chapelle with Charlemagne.
"Ghent and Bruges with the Dukes of Flanders and Burgundy.
"Calais with Mary Tudor and Edward III. of England.
"Rouen with Charles VII. and Joan of Arc.
"Paris with Charles IX., the Bourbons, and Napoleon.
"Nantes with the Huguenots and the Revolution."
"We have also had views of the homes and haunts of great authors,"
said Ernest. "I have made a scrap-book of leaves and flowers from the
homes and graves of men of letters, and it includes souvenirs of
nearly all the most eminent names in English literature."
Havre is really a port of Paris, and is one of the most thriving
maritime towns of France. Like most port towns it is more
businesslike than picturesque. The Class made but two visits here,
outside of the hotel. One of these was to the birthplace of Bernardin
de St. Pierre in Rue de la Cordesis, and the other to the cliffs on
which the great French light-houses are erected at a height of three
hundred feet.
[Illustration: MOLIÈRE.]
It was in the bright twilight of a late day in August that the Class
mounted the cliffs and overlooked the sea, whose waves still reflected
the vermilion of the sky. The boys were sober at the thought that this
was their last day in Europe, and that they were now to return to the
set tasks of the school-room.
[Illustration: THE READING OF "PAUL AND VIRGINIA."]
"These cliffs," said Master Lewis, "were the favorite haunts of the
author of 'Paul and Virginia.' He was a mere theorist, a daydreamer;
and here he loved to gaze on the bright sea, and plan expeditions
of republican colonists to such lands as he paints in his novels. His
expeditions ended in the air. But he himself went to Mauritius, where
he lived three years. On his return to Paris, while the brightness of
tropical scenery still haunted him, he wrote 'Paul and Virginia.'"
[Illustration: RACINE.]
"When Corneille, the great Corneille, as the popular dramatist came to
be called, read his masterpiece, _Polyeucte_, to a party of
fashionable literary people in Paris, it was coolly received on
account of the fine Christian sentiments it contained. The criticism
was that the religion of the stage should be that, not of God, but of
the gods. Even a bishop present took this view.
"Bernardin de St. Pierre was as sharply criticised when he first read
in public his beautiful romance of 'Paul and Virginia.' It was at a
party given by Madame Necker. 'At first,' says a writer, 'every one
listened in silence; then the company began to whisper, then to yawn.
Monsieur de Buffon ordered his carriage, and slipped out of the
nearest door. The ladies who listened were ridiculed when tears at
last gathered in their eyes.'
[Illustration: RACINE READING TO LOUIS XIV.]
"_Polyeucte_ still lives in French literature, and the wits who
condemned it are forgotten; 'Paul and Virginia' charmed France; fifty
imitations of it were published in a single year, and it was rapidly
translated into all European tongues. It remains a classic, but the
critics in Madame Necker's parlors are recollected only for their
mistake."
"We must read the works of these French authors on our return," said
Wyllys, "or at least the best selections from them. I shall wish to
read 'Pascal's Provincial Letters' and the Letters of Madame de
Sévigné, after what you have said of them."
"You should also read some of the best selections from the works of
Boileau, Molière, and Racine. I have only time to allude to them
briefly here.
"These authors were friends. They all lived in the time of the Grand
Monarch, as Louis XIV. was called. La Fontaine, some of whose fables
you have read, belongs to the same period, which is the greatest in
French literature.
"Louis XIV. appreciated nearly all the great writers of the time; he
seems to have felt that great authors, like great palaces, would add
lustre to his reign."
"I think that we might better change our society on our return into a
reading-club," said Tommy Toby.
"It seems to me your proposal is a very good one," said Master Lewis.
"We may be able to travel again. If we should visit Germany or the
Latin lands together another year, a reading-club would be an
excellent preparation for the journey."
"Very much better than a Secret Society," said Frank. "Suppose you
give the Class the secret you devised for our first meetings, Tommy."
"Oh," said Tommy, soberly, "that, like most of my other plans, was
just _nothing, after all_."
Away from busy Havre the next morning, under the French and American
flags, moved a little ocean world; and on the decks, looking back to
the fading shores of old Normandy, and cherishing delightful memories
of their zigzag journeys in historic lands, were the teacher and the
lads whose winding ways we have followed.
University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.
Transcriber's Note
Minor punctuation errors have been repaired. Hyphenation and use of
accents has been made consistent.
Use of quote marks is inconsistent, particularly around poetry and for
continuing quotations, but is preserved as printed.
The illustration caption, 'THE BLACK DOUGLAS SURPRISING AN ENEMY' on
page 100 was omitted from the List of Illustrations. It has been added
in this e-text.
The uncaptioned sketch of thread from the Bayeux Tapestry, on page 164,
is not included in the List of Illustrations. This may have been
deliberate, as it is supposed to be a sketch by one of the class,
and so has not been added by the transcriber.
The List of Illustrations had the image on page 187 as 'OLD HAMPTON
COURT', while the caption under the illustration read 'WHITEHALL'. The
Transcriber has confirmed that the illustration is a picture of the
old Whitehall Palace (see painting _The Old Palace of Whitehall_, by
Hendrik Danckerts for comparison), and has amended the text in the
List of Illustrations to match the caption in the text.
Page 166 includes the word 'flustrated'. This may be a typographic
error for 'frustrated', or it may be deliberate on the part of the
author, perhaps a combination of 'flustered' and 'frustrated'. As
there is no way to be sure which is the case, it is preserved as
printed.
The following amendments have been made--
Page vii--Falise amended to Falaise--"Statue of William
the Conqueror at Falaise"
Page vii--the word 'At' deleted and the amended to The,
to match the caption in the main text--"The Death-bed of
Francis II."
Page 57--Ingraciate amended to Ingratiate--"... one on
_Ingratiate_ (in grey she ate); ..."
Page 173--Wyatt amended to Wyat--"... The Tower.--Sir
Henry Wyat and His Cat.--Madame Tussaud's Wax Works...."
Page 220--der amended to de--"All the Foresters of
Flanders,--mighty Baldwin Bras de Fer, ..."
The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title
page. Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that
they are not in the middle of a paragraph.
End of Project Gutenberg's Zigzag Journeys in Europe, by Hezekiah Butterworth