In the curious volume recently edited by Sir Henry Ellis for the Camden
Society, entitled _The Pilgrymage of Syr R. Guylforde, Knyght_, a singular
term occurs, which may claim a note of explanation. It is found in the
following passage:
"Saterdaye to Suse, Noualassa, and to Lyungborugh; and at the sayd
Noualassa we toke moyles to stey us vp the mountayne, and toke also
marones to kepe vs frome fallynge. And from the hyght of the mounte
down to Lyuyngborugh I was ramasshed, whiche is a right strange
thinge."--P. 80.
Sir Henry has not bestowed upon us here any of those erudite annotations,
which have customarily enhanced the interest of works edited under his
care.
Sir Richard Guylforde was on his homeward course from the Holy Places by
way of Pavia, where he visited the convent and church which contained the
shrine and relics of St. Augustine, as also the tomb of Lionel, Duke of
Clarence, second son of Edward III., whose monumental inscription (not to
be found in Sandford's _Genealogical History_) the worthy knight copied.
On the 13th Feb. 1506, Sir Richard approached the ascent of Mont Cenis by
the way of S. Ambrogio and Susa. At the village of Novalese, now in ruins,
the party took mules, to aid their ascent, and _marroni_, long-handled
mattocks, or pick-axes, to prevent their falling on the dangerous
declivities of the snow. The journey was formerly made with frightful
expedition by means of a kind of sledge--an expedient termed _la
ramasse_--which enabled the traveller, previously to the construction of
that extraordinary road, well known to most readers, to effect in a few
minutes a perilous descent of upwards of 6000 feet. The _ramasse_, as
Cotgrave informs us, was--
"A kind of high sled, or wheelbarrow, whereon travellers are carried
downe certaine steep and slippery hils in Piemont."
Its simplest form had probably been a kind of fagot of
brushwood,--_ramazza_, or a besom, not much unlike the rapid locomotive of
witches, who were called in old times _ramassieres_, from their supposed
practice of riding on a _ramee_, _ramasse_, or besom. At the present time
even, it occasionally occurs that an adventurous traveller crossing the
Mont Cenis is tempted to glide down the rapid descent, in preference to the
long course of the zigzag road; and remember to have heard at Lauslebourg
the tale, doubtless often related, of an eccentric _Milord_ who ascended
the heights thrice from that place, a journey of some hours, for the
gratification of the repeated excitement caused by a descent on the
_ramasse_ in about as many minutes. The cranium of a horse, as it was
stated, was the vehicle often preferred for this curious adventure: and the
{348} traveller guided or steadied his course by trailing a long staff, a
practice for security well known to the Alpine tourist. This may probably
have been the use of the "marones" taken by Sir Richard Guyldeford and his
party at Novalese.
The terms, to be "ramasshed," is not, as I believe, wholly disused in
France. It was brought to the metropolis with the strange amusement known
as the _Montagne Russe_. In the valuable _Complement du Dictionnaire de
l'Academie_, compiled under the direction of Louis Barre, we find the
following phrase:
"Se faire ramasser, se dit aujourd'hui, dans une acception
particuliere, pour, Se faire lancer dans un char, du haut des
elevations artificielles qui se trouvent dans les jardins publics."
Such a disport had been known previously to the expedition to Moscow, and
the favourite divertisement _a la Russe_, so much in vogue amongst the
Parisians for a few subsequent years. Roquefort informs us that--
"_Ramasse_ etoit le nom d'un jeu que nous avions apporte des Alpes, ou
il est encore en usage pendant l'hiver, et principalement en temps de
neige."