[Illustration: CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEAD.]
(_See page 108_)
Breton Folk
_AN ARTISTIC TOUR IN BRITTANY_
[Illustration]
BY
HENRY BLACKBURN.
_WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY_
R. CALDECOTT.
BOSTON.
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY
1881.
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
The following notes were made during three summer tours in Brittany, in
two of which the Author was accompanied by the Artist.
_Breton Folk_ is not a description of the antiquities of Brittany, nor
even a book of folk-lore. It is a series of sketches of a
“black-and-white country” under its summer aspect; of a sombre land
shrouded with white clouds, peopled with peasants in dark costumes, wide
white collars and caps, black and white cattle and magpies.
The illustrations, one hundred and seventy in number, have been drawn by
the Artist from sketches made on the spot, and, apart from their
artistic qualities, have the curious merit of truth. They have been
engraved with the utmost care by Mr. J. D. Cooper.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I.— THE WESTERN WING 1
II.— ST. MALO—ST. SERVAN—DINARD—DINAN 6
III.— LAMBALLE—ST. BRIEUC—GUINGAMP 27
IV.— LANLEFF—PAIMPOL—LANNION—PERROS-GUIREC 45
V.— CARHAIX—HUELGOET 58
VI.— MORLAIX—ST. POL—LESNEVEN—LE FOLGOET 69
VII.— BREST—PLOUGASTEL—CHÂTEAUNEUF DU FAOU 83
VIII.— QUIMPER—PONT L’ABBÉ—AUDIERNE—DOUARNENEZ 100
IX.— CONCARNEAU—PONT-AVEN—QUIMPERLÉ 123
X.— HENNEBONT 143
XI.— LE FAOUET—GOURIN—GUÉMÉNÉ 152
XII.— STE. ANNE D’AURAY—CARNAC—LOCMARIAKER 171
XIII.— VANNES 190
MAP OF BRITTANY, AND POSTSCRIPT FOR TRAVELLERS, _at end_.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Cavaliers and Roundhead _Frontispiece_
Vignette _Title page_
A Breton Gate iii
Sketching iv
Carrying Corn v
Vignette vi
Old Château vii
Sheep sheltering from the Wind xii
CHAPTER I.
Hill and Dale 1
On the Road 5
CHAPTER II.
Caps of Côtes-du-Nord 6
Map of the Mouth of the Rance 7
Peasants of Côtes-du-Nord 11
Fruit Stall at Dinan 15
A Loaded Hay Cart 16
On the Place, Dinan 17
Outside the Walls 18
Old House near Dinan 20
Old Woman of Dinan 21
Porte de Brest 22
A Little Beggar 23
“The Hour of Repose” 24
Farmhouse of Côtes-du-Nord 25
Farmer meditating on his Stock 26
CHAPTER III.
Caps of Côtes-du-Nord 27
The Buckwheat Harvest 30
A Road Scraper 31
Sketch of Château 32
On the Sands near St. Brieuc 33
Winnowing near St. Brieuc 34
Mathurine 35
Corner Turret at Guingamp 38
Going to Market 39
The Market-place, Guingamp 40
Waiting-maid at Hôtel de l’Ouest 41
The Ossuary at Guingamp 42
By the River 44
CHAPTER IV.
Cap of Côtes-du-Nord 45
Three Children 50
Riding to Market 53
Returning Home 57
CHAPTER V.
Cap of the Monts d’Arrée 58
Peasant in Sabots 60
Girl tending Sheep 61
Old House at Carhaix 62
On The Road to Market _face_ 62
A Cart Party 63
Trotting out a Horse 64
Cattle Fair at Carhaix _face_ 64
A Gentleman Farmer 65
A Family Party 66
Waiting for Dinner, Huelgoet 67
Shepherd of the Monts d’Arrée 68
CHAPTER VI.
Cap of Morlaix 69
Washing in the River 70
Women of Morlaix 72
Potato-getting near St. Pol de Léon _face_ 75
Three Men of St. Pol de Léon 76
Children in Cabbage Garden 77
Gurgoyle at Roscoff 78
An Owner of the Soil 79
“The Fool of the Wood” 80
In the Church of Le Folgoet _face_ 80
On Horseback 82
Horse Fair at Le Folgoet _face_ 82
CHAPTER VII.
Cap of Finistère 83
Map of the Bay of Brest 84
“Every Dog has his Day” 87
Wayside Cross 89
Going to the Pardon at Châteauneuf du Faou _face_ 90
Calvary at Pleyben 91
Street Musicians 92
Races at Châteauneuf du Faou 94
Two Spectators 95
Stewards of the Fête 96
Dancing the Gavotte _face_ 96
Pleased Spectator 97
Threshing { 98
Corn { 99
CHAPTER VIII.
Caps of Finistère 100
A Promenade 101
On the Place, Quimper 102
Towers of Quimper Cathedral 103
Waitress at Hôtel de l’Épée 104
At a Well 105
Professional Beggar 106
A Domestic Scene 107
Two Heads; sketched at Audierne 108
Prize-giving at Quimper 109
Two Heads; sketched at Audierne 110
A Domestic Interior 111
River below Pont l’Abbé 112
Landscape in Finistère 114
Inhabitants { 116
of { 117
Audierne { 117
Cutting the Corn 118
Harvesting in Finistère _face_ 118
Waiting for the Sardine Boats at Douarnenez 120
Waitress at Douarnenez 121
Beggar on the Road 122
CHAPTER IX.
Woman and Child, Finistère 123
Concarneau: Coming from Church 124
On the Place at Concarneau _face_ 124
The Last Touches 125
On the Quay at Concarneau 126
A Boating Party 127
Old Man and Child 128
Pont-Aven: Washing at a Stream 129
Pont-Aven 131
Returning from Labour, Pont-Aven 133
Models 135
At Quimperlé Station 136
Old Woman at Quimperlé Station 137
Gathering Sticks 138
On the Place at Quimperlé 139
A Big Load 140
Augustine 141
Evening: Near Quimperlé _face_ 142
Drawing Water 142
CHAPTER X.
Little Cap of Morbihan 143
In the Ville Close, Hennebont 144
The High Street of the Ville Neuve 145
Poverty and Riches 146
Reapers returning _face_ 147
Opposite the Old Inn 147
At the Well 148
Carrying Water 149
Washing Parties 149
Old Doorway in the Ville Close 150
A Conversation 151
CHAPTER XI.
Cap of Morbihan 152
Reaping near Hennebont 153
Street In Le Faouet 155
A Breton Propriétaire 156
Le Faouet _face_ 156
Bed-time 157
The Man on Two Sticks 158
Stairs leading to the Chapel of Ste. Barbe 160
Gourin 161
“Montez, s’il vous plait, Monsieur!” 162
Bullock Cart on the Road 163
Waitress at the Inn 164
High Street of Guéméné 165
A Meeting 166
En Promenade 167
Sunday Morning at Guéméné 168
A Conversation 169
The Bottle 170
Betrothal Party _face_ 170
CHAPTER XII.
At the Hôtel Pavillon d’en Haut 171
The Tower on the Belvédère at Auray 172
Evening on the Belvédère 173
At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 174
At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 175
At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray _face_ 176
At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 177
At the Pardon of Ste. Anne d’Auray 180
Map of Carnac 182
Sketch on the Fields of Carnac 183
In the Kitchen of the Hôtel des Voyageurs at Carnac 185
On the Road 186
In the Wind 187
The Great Menhir 188
Scavengers 189
CHAPTER XIII.
Caps of Morbihan 190
Vannes from the River _face_ 190
An Old Inn 192
In a Café 193
Three Hot Men of Vannes 194
Side-spring Boots 195
Some Inhabitants 198
A Chase 200
[Illustration]
BRETON FOLK:
AN ARTISTIC TOUR IN BRITTANY.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
THE WESTERN WING.
In an old-fashioned country-house there is often to be found a room
built out from the rest of the structure, forming, as it were, the
extreme western wing. It has windows looking to the west, its door of
communication with the great house, and, in summer-time, a southern
exterior wall laden with fruit and fragrant with clematis, honeysuckle,
or jasmine. The interior differs from the rest of the mansion both in
its furnishing and in the habits of its occupants. It is a room in which
there is an absence of bright colours, where everything is quiet in tone
and more or less harmonious in aspect; where solid woodwork takes the
place of gilding, where furniture is made simply and solidly for use and
ease, where decoration is _the work of the hand_—holding a needle, a
chisel, or a hammer. The prevailing colours in this quaint old room,
which give a sense of repose on coming from more highly decorated
saloons, are blue, grey, and green—the blue of old china, the grey of a
landscape by Millet or Corot, the green that we may see sometimes in the
works of Paul Veronese.
This “western wing” is haunted, and full of mysteries and legends; its
furniture is antique, and has seldom been dusted or put in order. Nearly
every object is a curiosity in some way, and was designed in a past age;
on the high wooden shelves over the open fireplace there are objects in
wrought metal work, antique-shaped pots and jars. About the room are
fragments of Druidical monuments, menhirs and dolmens of almost fabulous
antiquity, ancient stone crosses, calvaries, and carvings, piled
together in disorderly fashion, with odd-shaped pipes, snuffboxes,
fishing-rods, guns, and the like; on the walls are small, elaborate,
paintings of mediæval saints in roughly carved gilt frames, and a few
low-toned landscapes by painters of France; on shelves and in niches are
large brown volumes with antique clasps, and perhaps a model in clay of
an old woman in a high cap, a priest, or a child in sabots.
The room is a snuggery, well furnished with pipes and tobacco, and
hitherto evidently not much visited by ladies; but the door is open wide
to the rest of the mansion, through which the strains of Meyerbeer’s
opera of _Dinorah_ may sometimes be heard. The lady visitor is welcome
to this out-of-the-way corner, but she must not be surprised to find
herself greeted on entering in a language which, with all her knowledge
of French, she can scarcely understand; to be asked, perhaps, to take a
pinch of snuff, and to conform in other homely ways to the habits of the
inhabitants.
Such a quiet, unobtrusive corner—pleasant with its open windows to the
summer air, but much blown and rained upon by winter storms—is Brittany,
the “western wing” of France, holding much the same position
geographically and socially to the rest of the country, as the room we
have pictured in the great house, to the rest of the mansion.
The Brittany described in these pages is comprised principally of the
three departments of CÔTES-DU-NORD, FINISTÈRE, and MORBIHAN, the
inhabitants of these districts standing apart, as it were, from the rest
of France, preserving their own customs and traditions, speaking their
own language, singing their own songs, and dancing their own dances in
the streets in 1879. In these three departments is comprehended nearly
all that is most characteristic of the Bretons, and the district forms
itself naturally into a convenient summer tour of three or four weeks.
Brittany is essentially the land of the painter. It would be strange
indeed if a country sprinkled with white caps, and set thickly in summer
with the brightest blossoms of the fields, should not attract artists in
search of picturesque costume and scenes of pastoral life. Rougher and
wilder than Normandy, more thinly populated, and less visited by the
tourists, Brittany offers better opportunities for outdoor study, and
more suggestive scenes for the painter. Nowhere in France are there
finer peasantry; nowhere do we see more dignity of aspect in field
labour, more nobility of feature amongst men and women; nowhere more
picturesque ruins; nowhere such primitive habitations and, it must be
added, such dirt. Brittany is still behindhand in civilisation, the land
is only half cultivated and divided into small holdings, and the fields
are strewn with Druidical stones. From the dark recesses of the
Montagnes Noires the streams come down between deep ravines as wild and
bare of cultivation as the moors of Scotland, but the hillsides are
clothed thickly in summer with ferns, broom, and heather. Follow one of
these streams in its windings towards the sea, where the troubled waters
rest in the shade of overhanging trees, by pastures and cultivated
lands, and we may see the Breton peasants at their “gathering-in,”
reaping and carrying their small harvest of corn and rye, oats and
buckwheat; the women with white caps and wide collars, short dark
skirts, and heavy wooden sabots, the men in white woollen jackets,
breeks (_bragous bras_), and black gaiters, broad-brimmed hats and long
hair streaming in the wind—leading oxen yoked to heavy carts painted
blue. Here we are reminded at once of the French painters of pastoral
life, of Jules Breton, Millet, Troyon, and Rosa Bonheur; and as we see
the dark brown harvest fields, with the white clouds lying low on the
horizon, and the strong, erect figures and grand faces of the peasants
lighted by the evening sun, we understand why Brittany is a chosen land
for the painter of _paysages_. Low in tone as the landscape is, sombre
as are the costumes of the people, cloudy and fitful in light and shade
as is all this wind-blown land, there is yet a clearness in the
atmosphere which brings out the features of the country with great
distinctness, and impresses them upon the mind.
To the antiquary who knows the country, and is perchance on the track of
a newly discovered menhir, long buried in the sands; to the poet who
would seek out and see that mystic island of Avilion,
“Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly”;
to the historian who would add yet other links in the chain of facts in
the strange eventful history of Brittany; to the resident Englishman and
sportsman, who knows the corners of the trout streams and the best
covers for game, scanty though they be, the tour suggested in these
pages will have little interest; but to the English traveller who would
see what is most characteristic and beautiful in Brittany in a short
time, we should say—
Enter by the port of St. Malo from Southampton (or by Dol, if coming
from France), and take the following route, diverging from it into the
country districts as time and opportunity will permit. From St. Malo to
Dinan by water; from Dinan to Lamballe by diligence (or railway), thence
to St. Brieuc, Guingamp, Lannion, Morlaix, Brest, Quimper, Quimperlé,
Hennebont, Auray, Vannes, and Rennes.
Thus, then, having set the modern tourist on his way, and provided for
the exigencies of rapid holiday-making, let us recommend him to diverge
from the beaten track as much as possible, striking out in every
direction from the main line of route, both inland and to the coast,
travelling _by road_ as much as possible, and seeing the people, as they
are only to be seen, “off the line.”
In _Breton Folk_ the reader will be troubled little with the history of
Brittany, with the wars of the Plantagenets, or with the merits of
various styles of architecture, but some general impression of the
country may be gathered from its pages, and especially of the people as
they are to be seen to-day.
[Illustration]