NANTES AND THE PENINSULA OF LE

CROISIC.

CHAPTER I.

NANTES.

WE did not reach Nantes till quite late at night. The

next morning, being a bright Sunday, we got an ex

cellent first impression of the city. The large open Place de Graslin, in front of the Hôtel de France, and the streets leading from it, were filled with people on their way to church; and as we went down the Rue Crébillon-a handsome street, full of good shops-towards the cathedral we saw groups of peasants in the flower-market. The women wore caps of the most quaint and original shape, and the dear little round-eyed children had white close-fitting skull caps and long white pinafores. The Place Royale, at the end of the Rue Crébillon, where the flower-market is held, is very large, with a fine fountain in the centre. The profusion of rare flowers on all sides reminded us how much Nantes lies south of Paris. Magnolias, Cape jessamines, and most exquisite roses were offered us for a few sous the bouquet -and large bouquets too. We turned up a little street on the left of the square. to see the church of St. Nicholas, a very

beautiful new building from the designs of Monsieur Lassus. The present Bishop of Nantes, it is said, refused to be consecrated until this church was completed. Evidently no expense has been spared; but it is not quite finished, some of the stone being left unsculptured. We went down again to the Rue d'Orléans, and crossed the bridge over the Erdre, or rather the canal which connects that river with the Loire. The quays here were full of people, some of them in picturesque costumes. We especially noticed a great variety in the handkerchiefs or small shawls worn by the women -from richly embroidered cashmere to dark brown cotton, covered with white and orange sprigs and borders. These, with the Nantais caps and dark cloth dresses, make a charming costume.

There are good shops in the Rue d'Orléans, which changes into the Grande Rue as it approaches the cathedral. We passed the Place de Change, where once stood the most curious house in Nantes-the Maison des Enfants Nantais-now taken down. The two famous Christian martyrs of Nantes St. Donatien and his brother St. Rogatien, sons of the Count of Nantes-who suffered for the faith in the third century, were called "Les Enfants Nantais."

Up the Rue Briord, on the left, are some curious old houses for we found ourselves here in a far more ancient part of Nantes than the new western portion round the Place Graslin. The ancient Nantes seems to have scarcely extended west of the Erdre; and memories of the Revolution and of the butcher Carrier, and of the agony and sorrow that have been suffered in some of these houses, become vivid in the old streets near the cathedral. Nos. 9 and 13

"LES ENFANTS NANTAIS."

27

of Rue Briord are both old houses. The first is called Hôtel de la Bouvardière, and was built for the well-known Pierre Landais, the treasurer of François II., Duke of Brittany, whose romantic rise and fall have been told by Monsieur Souvestre, in a little story called "Pierre." Later on it gave shelter to the Duchess Anne during the siege of Nantes. Afterwards it became the property of the Duc de Mercœur. Marguerite de Valois also resided there, and Lanoue Bras

de-Fer. Madame de Sévigné, Le Nôtre, and Lebrun are said to have successively resided in No. 13. In the Rue Fénélon close by, in the house No. 3, called La Maison à Tourelles, Henry IV. is said to have lodged with Gabrielle d'Estrées.

We went back to the Grande Rue, and soon reached the Place St. Pierre in front of the cathedral. There is nothing to notice in the exterior of this building; but going round it in the Rue St. Laurent on the right is a very remarkable

house of the fifteenth century called La Psallette, with a curious staircase and chimney-piece.

The first effect of the interior of the cathedral is most imposing. The nave is very lofty, 120 feet high, and the arches are singularly graceful. The mouldings of the piers are not broken by caps, but run round triforium and roof. The east end is Romanesque in design, and looks stumpy and heavy contrasted with the nave. The cinquecento screen, too, is very inharmonious, but probably this will be removed when the extensive alterations now in progress are completed. We did not see the gem of the cathedral, the famous tomb of the last Duke of Brittany, Francis II., and his second wife, Marguerite de Foix. This monument has been boarded up for eighteen months, while additions are being made to the east end of the cathedral. We were much disappointed, as the tomb is said to be one of the finest works of Michel Colomb, a native of St. Pol de Léon, and the predecessor of Jean Goujon. It was erected in 1507 by the order of Anne of Brittany. One of the statues at the corners of the tomb, that of Justice, is a portrait of the Duchess Anne herself. The tomb was placed originally in the church Des Carmes, but during the Revolution it was rifled of its contents. In 1817 it was removed to the cathedral, and the remains of the famous Constable de Richemont, Duke Arthur III. of Brittany, were placed within it.

Near the entrance of the church the bases of the piers are ornamented with bas-reliefs; above these are canopies which seem to want statues under them. Service was just going to begin, and the nave was crowded with people. The variety of charming caps was bewildering. The dresses were mostly sombre in colour, of good dark cloth, which clung in

THE CATHEDRAL.

29

straight massive folds; but the handkerchiefs worn on the shoulders were generally very bright in hue, the ends hidden in front under the bibs of the universal black aprons. This handkerchief seems special to the Loire Inférieure and the Côtes du Nord. We sometimes saw it in Morbihan, but rarely in Finistère.

Presently the procession issued from the sacristy and came round the church, two immense Suisses walking in front with halberts, and carrying in their right hands sticks with huge metal tops, which they strike on the ground as they go. The service was very fine, and the devotion of the congregation was most striking. It reminded us more of the congregation of a Belgian church than of a French one, except that the remarkable costumes made the kneeling groups so much more picturesque, and the strong-featured, large-eyed, earnest Breton faces gave so much intensity to the expression of devotion. Even as the people left the church there was much more devout seriousness in their behaviour than we had noticed in Normandy. We saw scarcely any chattering, laughing recognitions; till some little way from the church an almost stiff seriousness seemed to make a general silence.

The Château cannot be seen after four o'clock, so we went there at once by the Cours St. Pierre; this and the Cours St. André are broad public walks planted with avenues of trees to the east of the cathedral; they reach from each side of the Place Louis Seize to the river Erdre on the north and to the Loire on the south, and occupy the site of the old fortifications. The Cours St. André reaches nearly to the Erdre, and has at that end statues of Olivier de Clisson and of Bertrand du Guesclin, the famous Breton, whose fame and