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the money fell on the floor of the church, and the faithless friend's treachery was disclosed.

There is a representation of this miracle in a window in one of the chapels on the left of the nave. The singular double bend in the apse of this Cathedral has a very unpleasant effect.

When we came out into the Place, we found it closely thronged with groups of buyers and sellers, the most motley and picturesque we had hitherto seen. There were many women from Pont l'Abbé, with close-fitting skull-caps of ribbon, charming in colour, embroidered in gold and silver; the hair being brought down in a kind of unstuffed chignon over the crown, while from the forehead rises a small square white cap with peaked corners. The regular Quimper cap is much simpler than any of the others, quite square at the top of the high crown, and made of some thick white stuff, except on fête days, when it is of lace or muslin.

The prevailing features of the market in the way of costume were these opaque white high-crowned caps, a peculiar sort of white ruff with three large plaits at the back of the neck, which we had already seen at Quimperlé, and the pleasant blue-green and green-blue of the gowns and bodices, many faded to exquisite tints by the power of the sun. One woman wore a black under-body and sleeves reaching to the elbow, trimmed with three rows of yellow embroidery; below the elbow were white sleeves fastened round the wrist; the neck and square front of the body were also trimmed with yellow embroidery; over this was a greenish blue justin or waistcoat, which met in two quaintlycut points in front; this was bound with broad black velvet; ruffled up round her neck and throat was a thick white

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neckerchief; she had a brown cloth skirt and a grey-blue apron with large pockets coming up to the waist. The dress of many of the men from neighbouring towns and villages was also very quaint.

One side of the Place was devoted to crockeryware and sabots. The market was quite as bustling and noisy as that of Quimperle, but not so dirty. Long-haired men in enormous hats, white bragoubras, and black or brown gaiters, were on all sides arguing and gesticulating over the price of their sieves, red and brown pots and pans or pitcherspitchers of the coarsest ware, and yet of such exquisite form that we had been longing ever since we first saw them at Vannes to bring some to England. A charming sight is one of the barefooted picturesque peasant girls, walking along with a pitcher balanced on her head. Outside the towns, the women seem often to dispense with sabots; and in Quimper, Pont Aven, and its neighbourhood, they have small well-made feet.

We went through the noisy crowd to the farthest corner of the Place, the only point from which a good near view can be got of the Cathedral; on the southern side it is built upon by the bishop's palace. A more picturesque sight it would be hard to find than these quaintly-garbed market people and their motley wares, grouped round the old grey towers, the two spires rising far above the surrounding tall houses and trees.

In the evening we went along the banks of the river; just below the falaise on the left the view of the Cathedral was very fine. A slight vapour hung over the church, and added an element of mystery and also of height to the lovely spires.

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From here we climbed up to the terraced walk nearly at the top of the hill, and were fully rewarded for the fatigue of the climb. Below us was the whole of Quimper, some

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of it so near that we witnessed little scenes taking place on the quay below, and we could trace the course of the river flowing on to the sea.

Later, when the moon had risen, we walked along the quay beside the basin towards the sea. Turning round after awhile we looked back at the town. The effect of the tree-shaded promenade, a long dark mass, and the Cathedral rising above, was most imposing. About here are detached houses in gardens, occupied by residents in Quimper. Some way farther on the scene was still more lovely. The moon had risen higher, the town lay in the distance, the spires of the Cathedral were mirrored in the river; on one side, in the foreground, was a forest of masts, and on the other the old suburban church of Locmaria rising above houses also reflected in the water, while beyond these were the lofty trees of the promenade, which extends for some distance out of Quimper.

Next morning was the Fête de l'Assomption, and also the fête of the city of St. Corentin. When we reached the Cathedral it was crammed. The centre of the nave was filled with people in ordinary dress, but in the aisles nearly every one wore the costume either of one or other of the neighbouring small towns and villages or of Quimper itself. The men were ranged in a long narrow line beside the pillars of the nave, the women filling up the rest of the side aisles and chapels.

The variety of caps was most bewildering: the large wings of Pont Aven and Bannalec, the little square muslin tops and skull-caps of delicious colour from Pont l'Abbé, the square sugar-bag caps of Quimper, and the pretty little close-fitting silk and satin caps of the baby-children divided. melon-wise, with bands of black or blue velvet with goldflowered embroidery between. The wearers of these little gems of colour were kept quiet by their mothers by the

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occasional administration of an apple or a cake. Some of the women came to church with little white blankets under the arm to provide against rain. The women of Pont l'Abbé wore brilliant skirts. There were some of dark blue trimmed with velvet, with light blue under-skirts bordered by a broad band of yellow striped with red. These dresses had green aprons trimmed with violet, tied by broad red and yellow strings.

Such costumes as these, of fine soft cloth, are very expensive; but the pardons do not occur frequently in the same neighbourhood, and the dress is covered up and laid by in the huge armoire, which is a necessary part of the furnishing of a Breton dwelling, and often these fête-clothes descend from one generation to another in very good condition. The men of Pont l'Abbé were as remarkably clothed as the women—in short black or dark blue jackets, with waistcoats coming at least a foot below the jackets all round, both jacket and waistcoat trimmed with yellow lace and black fringe.

Going towards the church of Locmaria we met a procession with banners and gaily-dressed young girls carrying images of the Blessed Virgin and the saints, an old woman in a prodigious cap bringing up the rear.

In the evening the avenues on the opposite side of the river were lighted with coloured lamps hanging from the trees; these were reflected in the water, and, with the groups of gaily-dressed people in constant movement, made a vivid scene. But the fête was over early, and by eleven o'clock the streets were empty and the avenues seemingly deserted, though lights were still shining among the trees as we looked from our windows on the quay.

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