point d'Alençon, first introduced from Venice by Colbert, has died out, but may possibly revive with a turn of fashion. It is rich in a geological point of view, as the neighbourhood produces kaolin, grey granite, &c. Coach to Mortaigne. The old castle and church of St. Cenery le Géréy (12 kil.), stormed by the Earl of Arundel, 1484, the du Gaz glass works in Ecouve forest (8 kil.), and remains of a monastery in Persaigne forest, may be visited from here. Leaving Alençon, the next station is Vingthanaps (6) miles). Sees (6 miles) or Seez, on the Orne, the old Civitas Sagiorum, and a bishop's see, with an elegant Gothic cathedral of the 12th cent., remarkable for a fine porch, between two beautiful spires, a lofty nave, carved altar-piece, &c. At the new episcopal palace are portraits of all the prelates. Priests' seminary in the large old abbey of St. Martin. Pop. 5,049, linen weavers, &c. The bronze statue of Conte, is by Droz. Hotels.-Du Cheval Blanc; du Dauphin. built by the great Talbot, who took the castle in the time of Henry V. It was again re-taken by Henri Quatre, 1589; and is now partly used as the communal College. The old town adjoining is hemmed in by remains of fortifications. East of it, is the faubourg of Guibray where a celebrated fair, of very ancient date, for horses, &c., is held 15th to 25th August; and at the bottom stand the picturesque quarters of Vallée d'Ante and St. Laurent, watered by the small river Ante. The public library contains 4,000 vols. Pop., 8,920. Manufactures of cotton caps, bone-lace, and a trade in cotton thread, wool, merinoes. Hotels.-De France; du Grand Cerf (Stag).] Vandœuvres ( miles.) Donville St. Pierre ( miles.) Mezidon ( miles,) on the Cherbourg line, as in Route 11. It is 13 miles from Caen. ROUTE 17. [To the east (5 kil.) is the old moated château d'o, Alengon to Bagnoles, Mortain, Vire, and or Mortrée, built, they say, by Isabelle de Bavière, but now restored.] Almeneches (7 miles.) Argentan (7 miles.) Here a line is projected to Vire and Granville. It is a sous-préfecture of 5,700 inhab., on a hill by the Orne, in a fertile plain, near the forest of Gouffern. Here Henry II. received the papal legates, who came to mediate on behalf of Becket. The ditch of the old Castle of the Comtes d'Argentan makes a beautifui promenade; and the portico of St. Germain's church is worth notice. Manufactures of gloves and linens; and a trade in grain, leather, fruit, cattle, poultry, and good cheese. Hotels-Dévary; des Trois Maures (Three Moors); du Pont de France. A Roman camp and some Druid stones are near. At Pin (12 kil.) are large disused stables. Montabart ( miles.) Fresnay-la-Mere ( miles.) Coulibœuf ( miles) is the nearest station to Falaise, to which a branch line of 7 kil. is making. [FALAISE (22 kil.), a sous-préfecture in department Calvados, in Normandy, is a curious old town, founded by the Normans, and noted as the birth-place of William the Conqueror, whose statue on horseback, was set up October, 1851, in the presence of Guizot, and others. Perched on the highest rocks, is the once impregnable Norman Castle, where the Conqueror first drew breath, including the walls, 16 to 42 feet high, with the keep and the Tower, (100 feet) St. Lo. Distance, 146, kil., or 91 miles. PREZ-EN-PAIL (24 kil.), noted for its cider, where the road turns off to COUTERNE (18 kil.), to the right of which (5 kil.) is the SPA OF BAGNOLES. in a quiet, pretty valley, surrounded by good promenades. The establishment is well managed, lodgings are good, and the season for taking the waters is between May and September. They are tonic and purgative; and are useful in cutaneous complaints, chronic rheumatism, gout, ulcers, and diseases of the joints. Temperature, 22° Reaumur, or 81° Fahrenheit. Several objects of notice are near, as the châteaux of Bermondiére and Couterne, St. Orler chapel, Bonvouloir watch tower, in Audienne Forest, the iron works of Varennes and Cossé. DOMFRONT (19 kil. from Couterne), on a rock over the Varennes, is now a small sous-préfecture, in department Orne (pop. 2,900), but was once an important walled town, defended by a strong Castle, built by Guillaume de Bellesme, now a picturesque ruin. It is near Mont Halouze, one of the highest points in this quarter of France. William the Conqueror and his sons, Henry I. and II., made it their residence; Eleanor of Guienne, wife of the last, gave birth to a daughter here; Charles VIII. stopped here on his way to Mont St. Michel; and Charles IX. also, about the time that Montgomeri, the Protestant leader, was imprisoned in it, 1694. He had the misfortune to kill Henry II. in a tournay, for which his Italian Queen never forgave him. It stood several sieges, the last of which was when Henry IV. took it, 1589. Nôtre Dame church, one of the oldest about here, is a ruin. There is a prison, built, they say, by the English. The houses are old-fashioned, and the streets crooked and steep; the water is bad, but the air is pure, though sharp. "Domfront, ville de malheur; arrivè à midi, pendu a une heure; pas seulement le temps de diner!" (Domfront, a bad place for me! Came at twelve, hung at one! Not even time for dinner!) This curious speech, which has become current here, is attributed to an unlucky Calvinist officer in the religious wars, who, having fallen into the enemy's hands, was forthwith led to execution by his inhospitable captors. Iron, glass, and paper works are near. MORTAIN (23 kil.), a small town and sous-préfecture (pop., 4,950), in department Manche, on the Cance. The fine remains of its Castle are close to a pyramid-shaped rock, near a Waterfall of 115 feet, among some picturesque cliffs covered with shrubs and lichens. The old and curious half Norman church was founded 1082. A road to Avranches here. [At 20 kil. north-east is Tinchebray (department Calvados), on the Noireau, which had a castle where Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, was finally defeated and taken prisoner by his brother, Henry I. of England, 1106. CONDE-SUR-NOIREAU (18 kil. further), down the river, where the Druane falls in, was held by the Huguenots, who met in synod here, 1674. Pop., 6,400, who manufacture linens, nails, cotton, thread, &c. St. Martin, one of its two old churches, is decorated with stained windows, and has a statue of Admiral D'Urville, burnt to death, 1842, on the Versailles railway. There are remains of a château which St. Louis inhabited, 1257, and the English took, 1418.] SOURDEVAL (10 kil.), on the little river Sèe, which works many paper factories in the neighbourhood, at Beaufigel, Brouhains, &c. Pop., 4,330. VIRE (13 kil.), an old place and sous-préfecture, in department Calvados, with 7,300 inhabitants, is noted for its good-looking, sprightly women. It is well placed on a rock, where the Vire and the Viraine join; and the environs, being hilly, are very pleasing. Among the best buildings are the Foundling Hospital; a general hospital founded by the Norman Dukes, Notre Dame Gothic church, and a public library of 7,000 vols. Cards, linens of the best quality, and paper (by machinery) are made here. Hotel.-Du Cheval Blanc (White Horse). Several grottoes and Druid stones are near; and at Brimbal Hill, the highest in this quarter, the Vire, the Vey, the Seez, the Noireau, and the Grenue, all take their rise. THORIGNY (25 kil.), has at the Hôtel de Ville, part of a noble Château (which was mostly destroyed, 1789) with some pictures, and a piece of Gobelins tapestry. It is further known for the marbre de Thorigny, a Roman-Gallic relic of the third century, now in the town-house of Caen. St. Lo is 14 kil. further (see Route 14). ROUTE 18. Laval to Fougeres, Pontorson, Mont St. Distance, 110 kil., or 68 miles. ERNÉE (14 kil.), a pretty, industrious place, on the Ernée, which the Vendéan army crossed, 1793, in their advance northwards. Linens are made. Pop., 5,920. Hotel.-De La Poste. FOUGÈRES (21 kil.), a handsome, well-built souspréfecture, in department Ille-et-Vilaine, in a healthy spot, where several roads join. Pop., 9,100. It was formerly one of the most important keys of Brittany, before its union with the crown. A point behind the church commands a view of the charming valley of the Nonçon, and the old Gothic towers of Raoul de Fougères' ruined Château. In the forest, near this, are the Monument and Pierre de Trésor (both Druid stones); also a subterranean passage called the Celliers de Landeau. Vast numbers of sabots, or wooden shoes, are made here; besides which it has manufactures of linen and hemp cloths, and a trade in grain, oatmeal of wellknown quality, beer, honey, &c. Hotels.-St. Jacques (James); des Voyageurs (Travellers). Coach to Vitré, the nearest stat., on the main line. [About 20 kil. south-west, on the Rennes road, is ST. AUBIN-DU-CORMIER, in a forest, with its tall, picturesque tower of the Castle, built 1222, by Pierre, Duc de Bretagne. It is celebrated for the great defeat sustained by Duke Francis II. (father of Anne of Brittany) and the Duke of Orleans (afterwards Louis XII.), from the forces of Charles VIII., commanded by Vicomte de la Trémouille, then a young man of 18, in the year 1488.] PONTORSON (12 kil.), at the mouth of the Couesnon, in department Manche, an old place, fortified by Robert, Duke of Normandy, and nearly all burnt in 1736. The castle of the Montmorencies was pulled down by Louis XIII. Trade in linen and eggs. Pop., 2,000. A road, made 1842, leads to the famous Mont St. Michel (9 kil. north), which, as well as AVRANCHES, 20 kil. from Pontorson (by way of Pont-aux-Beaux, on the Celune), is described in Route 14. ROUTE 19. Rennes to Dinan, Dol, and St. Malo. Distance to St. Malo, 69 kil., or 43 miles. Rennes stat., as in Route 15, ments one end, and his house stands in Rue de la Croix. St. Malo's Gothic Church, with its spire, has various carvings of sacred and profane subjects. That of St. Sauveur, is marked by another tall spire, and contains bas-reliefs of the Loves of Psyche, and a monument over Duguesclin's heart, brought here in 1810, from the Dominican church. The granite horloge, or clock tower, ends in a spire, near the Hôtel de Ville, which was formerly an hospice, and holds the public library of 3,000 volumes, besides portraits of Duclos the historian, the excellent La Garaye, and the soldiers Duguesclin and Beaumanoir. In the museum founded a few years ago by M. Odorici, are three curious old statues of saints, brought from Plumaudan church. Two pillars, of a single block of granite each, front the tribunal. There are also a college, hospital, salle-de-concert, and a chapel for the English residents here. A pretty road leads out to the Coninaie mineral springs (1 kil.), in a deep valley: useful in cases of indigestion, &c. HÉNÉ (23 kil.), a village, with remains of a Castle, approached by a causeway, which overlooks a lake The neighbourhood is exceedingly pleasant, aboundon one side and a brook and several mills on the ing in many charming walks and points of view. other Each house has its own pretty garden. The Within a distance of 6 or 8 kil. are the following:direct roads to St. Malo, by St. Pierre de Plesguen At Léhon or Léon, only 1 kil. off, on a round hill, (20 kil.) and Châteauneuf (13 kil.), and to Dol, unite are the massive walls and eight round towers of a here; but we leave them to follow that to the south-Castle, built, they say, on the site of a Roman fort, west, about 20 kil. by Bécherel, to reach DINAN, A sous-préfecture, in department Côtes-du-Nord, and a fine old town, most picturesquely seated on a steep granite rock, 200 feet above the Rance, up which river small craft from St. Malo (30 kil.) come, by taking advantage of the tide, which rises 30 to 40 feet, with great suddenness. Hotels-Du Commerce; De la Poste. and rebuilt about 1400. Close by is the Gothic chapel of St. Magliore's priory (founded 850, by Nominoé), where the Beaumanoir family were buried. Near St. Esprit and the large lunatic asylum (1 kil. west), under the care of the brothers of St. Jean de Dieu, is a Gothic cross of granite, worth notice. La Garaye château (2 kil. north-west), in the Renaissance style, is the ruined seat of its benevolent owner, who in the last century retired here with his wife, and turned it into a dispensary, &c., for the benefit of the poor.-Chesnan, in the forest of Coëtquen, was the seat of Abbé F. Delamennais. Corseul (4 kil. north-west) was the capital of the Curiosolites, a Gaulic people, where remains of a Pop., 8,500. Dinan was a Roman station in the country of the Curiosolites. Duguesclin took it from the English, 1373, and de Clisson again, a few years later. The Leaguers of this part made it their head-temple of Mars (30 feet high), Roman epitaphs, altars, quarters, but gave it up to Marshal Brissac, 1598. Its old walls remain, so thick, that you might drive a carriage on them; the moat outside is planted over. In one part, near Porte St. Louis, is the tall machicolated donjon, built 1300, by Duchess Anne, now serving for a prison. Like all old towns, Dinan has many narrow dark streets, of old-fashioned wooden houses; but the more modern ones are built of granite. Place Duguesclin is the site of a combat in 1359, between that warrior and a "Thomas of Canterbury." His statue orna pieces of columns, coins, bronzes, &c., have been found. Many of the tiles in its walls were used to repair those of St. Malo. An inscription is seen on the church; and a Roman way may be traced. Montafilan château is a ruin.-At St. Jurat, Quiou, &c. (8 kil. south), fossil shells are abundant.-Ganterie (6 kil.) has remains of the Koche-aux-Fées (Fairies' Rock), in granite; another Druid stone (of quartz rock) is at Lesmonts (4 kil.), near Plouer; and a granite menhir of large size at St. Samson or Tremblaie (4 kil.) A steamer, from Dinan bridge, runs up and down the Rance daily, with the tide. Its banks are high and rocky, and in some parts well wooded. Trade in butter, flax, honey, linens, souliers de pacotille (shoes for exportation), pottery, salt, refined sugar, &c. Coaches to Rennes, St. Malo, Dol, &c. [About 25 kil. north-east is Church service on Sunday, Rev. G. O. Money. 1 kil, from St. Servan. HOTELS.-De France et des Voyageurs (Travellers); De la Paix; Maison Brecey: all in Rue des Juifs (Jew Street), Dinner 1 fr., breakfast 1 fr., bed, 1 fr. Coaches to Dinan, Brest, St. Brieuc, Rennes, Dol, Caen, &c. Steamer to Jersey, Monday and Thursday, calling at Granville. Passports are required to visit the Channel Islands, which are 40 miles to the north. DOL, an old fortified place (pop., 4,200), on a rock, rising above a marshy inlet of the sea (6 kil. off), in a fertile spot, on the old Norman frontier. It was held by the Vendéans, 1793, against the Republicans. Some of the houses are granite A sous-préfecture of 9,500 pop., third class fortress, built-in Grand Rue, for instance-but most of &c., and the best haven in this part of France, lying them are like those at Dinan, having the first in the throat of a difficult bay, at the Rance's floor overhanging that on the ground, and sup-mouth, which is five miles across from Pointe de la ported by pillars, which thus make an arcade in Verde to Pointe du Decollé, and covered with rocks front. The old cathedral Church, once the seat above and below water. of a bishop (from the 6th cent.), is a large Gothic pile of granite, with high towers, and a fine lofty nave, resting on four shafted columns. There are a college, &c., here. On the sands, at the mouth of the creek, is a granite rock called Mont Dol, with a telegraph on it. About 2 kil. south of Dol, is the Champ Dolent menhir, a Druid stone, consisting of an immense granite block, 40 feet high, and 30 round at the ground, below which it sinks 30 feet.-Pontorson (see Route 18) is 19 kil. west.] From Dinan to St. Malo, you pass CHÂTEAUNEUF (14 kil.), down the Rance, in department Ille-et-Vilaine, a small old place, defended by a fort on Vauban's system, constructed 1777. Above is a seat and park, including remains of the old castle. ST. SERVAN (12 kil.), a port and bathing place, with 10,000 population (many of them English), separated from St. Malo only by a small bay, which dries at low water, when you may cross the sands in a cart in ten minutes; but at high water it is 50 feet deep. Hotels.-Royal; de Constantine; de France; du Pelican; de l' Union. A vast stone causeway, 87 feet wide, begun to St. Malo, will in time make a harbour (326 acres) of this bay, which includes two little ports in it, St. Pére and Solidor, the latter taking name from a fort between them, on a rock, built in 1382. It is above 60 feet high, exclusive of the machicolated top, and shaped like a trefoil, having round towers at each of the three corners. The town is well built, and the neighbourhood a pleasant one; there is good bathing, and mineral waters may be taken. The town stands on the Iled' Aron, joined to the main by a solid causeway, called le Sillon, 200 yards wide; which often demands repair on account of injuries occasioned by the sea. To the east of the mole (carrying a fixed light), is the Port, which is left dry at low water, but is perfectly safe. The anchorage in the Rade or Roads, on the west, is protected by seven forts; one of which, on Ile Canchée (3 miles out), was built by Vauban; another is on Cezembre; and a third on Beys rock, near the bar and the Rocher aux Anglais. Beacons are placed here and there to mark the channels between the rocks, some of which are 20 to 30 feet high, and bear such names as Crolante, Durand, Benetin, Grandes et Petites Pointus, Grande Conchée, Pierre aux Normands, Ronfleresse, Buharats, &c. The light on Cape Frehel, 13 miles off, is within view. Near this light is St. Cast's Château, "celebrated," say the French, "for the victory of that name over the English, in 1758." The monument for perpetuating the recollection of this paltry affair (in which the assailants, while attempting to land, were perfectly helpless), was carefully restored in 1858. St. Malo replaces the ancient Aletum, the name of which is preserved in Guich Alet Point, near this. It looks well, and has good hotels and streets of tall houses, but is rather a dull place. There are pleasant walks, with prospects of the sea, &c., on the large high walls round the edge of the rock, which are strengthened by old towers and Vauban's bastions. Two of its four portes or gates, St. Vincent and St. Thomas, are close to the ancient Château, built by the Duchess Anne of Brittany, now making part of the fortifications. This château is a square pile, with corner towers, one which is called Qui qu'en grogne, from an inscription put upon it by that strong-minded lady—“Qui qu'en grogne, ainsi sera; | this has fallen off. The old cathedral Church, the seat of a bishop before the Revolution, is in the Gothic style. There are two other churches, with a bourse or exchange, two hospitals (one for foundlings), a high school, school for navigation, a theatre, government tobacco factory, &c. Under Fort de la Cité, is a suspension bridge to St. Servan, built, 1847; and leading to the marée graphe, or tide-metre. A casino and ball rooms are attached to the Baths, which are much frequented in the season. Opposite the cathedral, is the statue of DuguayTrouin, a brave seaman, and a native; Châteaubriand was born in Rue des Juifs, and is buried on an island near Solidor fort. Cartier, who discovered Canada, 1534; Maupertuis the astronomer, Labourdonnaye who took Madras, and Abbé Lamennais, are also natives. It was a great place for privateers in war time, and, as might be expected, was noted for smuggling, but Some of the best sailors in France are found here. Ships are fitted out for the whale and cod fisheries, and the coasting trade (petit cabotage). Cordage, lines, fish-hooks, sails, soap, &c., are made; and there is a brisk trade in grain, fruit, wine, spirits, salt provisions, toiles de Bretagne (linens), cider, honey, butter, wax, oysters, fish, &c., the produce of the department or of the colonies. From St. Malo, along the Dol road, you come to Paramé, where you leave it for St. Columb and CANCALE or CANCALLE (15 kil to the east), a town on the cliffs, overlooking a sandy bay, which stretches round (by Mont Dol and Mont St. Michel) to Granville. With the little port of La Houle, it contains a population of 5,100, fishermen and oyster catchers. The oysters are sent to Paris, or to replenish the beds of natives, in the Thames. A church on the height, commands a fine view of the bay, of the Herpin rocks at the Grouin de Cancale, and other objects. |