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954 THEIxEA. D^E B ^_ _____ [No. 341, Sa...
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TWO NOVELS. The If ills of the SHcitemuc...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A Vacation In Brittany. A Vacation In Br...
Here is another curious passage : — „ , ^ ,, -, , It is a strange fact that Tre-uier , with its magnificent churoh and large ecclesiastical establishment , should possess a chapel dedicated to Notre Dame de la Hame . This stands on a bleak , unlovely hill near "the town . Superstitious peasants imagine that three Aves repeated with particular fervour in this building will infallibly cause tho death of the hated being within a year ; and to this day , wben night darkens the scene the malignant peasant skulks to the chapel and offers up prayers against the object of his hatred . This is truly a relic of Paganism , and especially of the belief entertained by the ancient worshippers of Teutates , that a prayer offered to that god was more powerful than the sword . Horrible , is it riot ? We , good Protestants , shudder at such superstition . Do we hate our brother Protestants a whit the less becaiise our Church of Hatred is a private chapel ? Let us borrow from Mr . Weld ' s pages some account of the Pardon-which he assisted at : —
Every church , in Lower Brittany is supposed to be -under the protection of a Patron Saint , who , unlike the dormant saints of churches generally , continues to work miracles in favour of the faithful , and has the power of procuring pardon for sinners . The popularity of the Pardons varies entirely according to the reputed sanctity of the Saint , and the power with which he is supposed to be endowed . Some Saints are famed for their protection of men , others of women , others of children ; while some , us St . Comely , is believed to take cattle under his special care , and his Pardon is consequently attended liy hundreds of beasts driven by their owners to his church in order that the animals maybe touched by the saint ' s relic 3 . Nor are inanimate objects without their patron saint . St . Fiacre , for example , is the protector of plants ; the legend of his life declaring that he cultivated botany and the heavenly virtues with equal fervour . On one day at least in each year the Saint ' s relics are displayed with great . solemnity ; anil it is on these occasions that , after passing through a certain ordeal of church discipline , penitents are shrived , or , in other words , obtain pardon and remission of their sins .
If the Saint enjoys a reputation for great sanctity , his Pardon is resorted to by thousands of devotees , who crowd his church ; and the priests , who are not antagonistic to these proceedings , find at the close of the Pardon that the Saint ' s cojj ' re , or money-box , is heavy with the offerings of the multitude . Great Pardons generally last three days . The night before they commence the ¦ church , bells are tolled ; the interior is decorated with flowers , and the effigies of the Saints are clothed in the Breton local costume . Then commence the religious observances ; but , as we shall see , Pardons are not confined to these alone . Fortunately , St . Kerdevot 5 s particularly venerated , so I was enabled to see a Pardon to great advantage . As we drew" near the village , the crowds of peasants increased in number , and the road was lined with beggars , vociferously demanding -charity . These people form a- prominent arid very audible portion of a Breton
Pardon . They travel on foot great distances to be present on any eminent saint ' s ¦ day ; While the halt and blind are carried and led \> y their relations and friends , and laid upon rushes by the roadside , near the town , or around the church . Some attract attention , aud reap a rich harvest of sous by chanting , in a lugubrious tone , a balladlegend of the Saint ' s life and miraculous performances ; or the life and death of our Saviour , —always popxilar subjects with the Breton peasant . These beggars are of a superior order to the tribe of mendicants generally . They invariably find' ready and hearty welcome from the cottagers , who offer them the best seat by the fire , and a share of their frugal meal . This is requited by a liberal outpouring of the gossip gleaned in neighbouring villages ; and they are careful to tell the girls how many young men have fallen in love with them , and what holy wells possess the greatest love-powers . . ...
If the beggar be rich , in legends , and has the power to sing them , his company is particularly acceptable : for the Breton peasant has a great passion for legendary song . There was a striking illustration of this when Brittany was ravaged by cholera , and the peasants abandoned themselves to despair . In vain did the authorities print and circulate thousands of placards throughout the town and villages , Advising the inhabitants how to act . They were treated as waste paper ; and the disease was spreading- fast , when a bookseller , who knew the power of ballads on the people , happily hit on the expedient of turning the medical men ' s advice , as set forth in their grave placards , into jingling rhjnnes , which were speedily circulated throughout Brittany : and with such good effect , that the cholera , to use their own words , ¦ was " chansonno hors d « la Bretagne . " This is , of course , a slight exaggeration , for the disease was fatal to thousands before its course was finally arrested ; but the story shows the power of ballad-pootry over the Bretons , and the truth of the proverb , "The poet is stronger than the three strongest things—evil , lire , and tempest . "
> Ve had wormed our way along tho narrow road , through a continually increasing crowd of peasants , who almost blocked up the way , when we were suddenly liberated from the pressure of our neighbours by emerging on an extensive meadow , planted with trees , which pleasantly screened tho sun . Within this area between two and three thousand peasants were assembled , dressed ¦ yvith few exceptions ha quaint and gaudy costumes . The men wore folt hats with enormous brims , from beneath which long mane-like hair fell to their waists . Tho crowns of theso large headpieces were trimmed with gay chenille and artificial flowers , and their shapes wore very varied ; for in Basse Bretagno there is nearly as great a variety in the form of the hat , us there is in that of the women ' s caps . Near Quimpcr a peculiar one-cornered hat is in vogue , which imparts information to the world according to the manner in which it is worn , and which must bo particularly interesting to ladies ; a bnchelor places tho corner of this queer hat over tho right or left ear , a benedict behind , and a widower in front .
The jackets generally worn -were light-blue , violet , or . green cloth or cotton velvet , fitting tightly , and trimmed with rich gold and silver lace , and many bright brass buttons ; beneath tho jacket an equally gay waistcoat was worn , and tho breeches of rich brown cloth were invariably of that kind known in Brittany by tho name of hragous . A broad leather girdle , fastened by a rich metallic buckle of great size , conlined this garment round tho waist , which was tied at tho knees by coloured ribbons terminating in tassols ; tho leggings were generally leather , decorated with a profusion of buttons ; and the foot were encased in shooa adorned l > y huge silver buckles , for which as much as 4 / . a pair is aomdimes given . Dresses of this description are necessarily very expensive , frequently , as I was assured , coating 81 , to 1 * 2 / . They arc not to bo purchased in tho towns , —at least my endeavours to procure such ¦ costumes -were fruitless , —but ore inada to order by itinerant tailors , who are boarded and . lodged in the peasants' houses while at work on tho guy garments . These tailors arc a , very characteristic feature of Brittany , and have many occupations on their bands besides that o £ stitching , not tho least importuut being that of making lovematches as well as bragous .
Nearly every man carried a formidable stick or cudgel , one end of which terminated ma largo knob . Thia terrible casao-tete , as it is called , is a constant companion oi tho JJreton , and la uaod with , great and sometimes deadly oflbet during rows . It rnay bo observed , as a proof « f the antiquity of Breton customs , that n cudgel of this description was earned by tlio . Colts .
The men being so gaily dressed , it may be supposed that the costume of the women was not less gay or varied ; indeed , looking at my notes , I am perplexed by the < n . ^ numl > er of styles and colours which I jotted down as the gaudy damsels passed befor me , the bare enumeration of which would cause this pnge to resemble a leaf from " Magasin des Modes" two centuries old , if such a fashionable publication existed t that date . Without attempting a detailed description , in which I frankly own I should break down , I may briefly state that while the close-fitting caps of all sha and sizes displayed even stranger forms than those worn by the Norman peasant ^ the gowns were particularly conspicuous for their superabundance ' of gold and ' silve ^ - lace , the bodices , sleeves , and skirts being-generally , of different colours ; while tl e person was still further adorned by rich lace-collars of very peculiar cut and ma- " - gold or silver crosses , and large silver rings . . . . ' ' . ^^
Many girls carried slender willow-sticks fastened by gay ribbons to their wrists exhibiting by the carving of the bark curious devices . They were ' . gnqes iVairiour and , as I was informed , a girl accepting such a wand from a youth paviiKr h \ s a n ' dresses to her , is regarded as willing to many the donor . ; Although by far the majority of the peastmts attending the Pardon were arrayed in gaiuly and costly costiimes , there were others clothed in far more sober garments , which however generally exhibited the pecxiliar forms of those worn by their richer neighbours . Among the many strange customs which mark the Breton peasants , " there is none more remarkable than that of wearing the hair ; for while the men cultivate lone tresses hanging down to "their waists , and of which they are very proud , the women do not show a single lock , and the girl who might be tempted by the beauty of her chtvdure to allow a ringlet to escape from beneath her closuly-li ' tting cap , would not only lose all chance of obtaining & lover , but would be regarded bv tho yoiuv meu as a . fille perdue , that is , a coquettish girl ' unworthy of their affections . To thi " strange custom many London and Paris ladies are indebted for the magnificent hair which adorns their heads , but which was grown in the wilds of Brittanv .
Such were the living'features which presented themselves to me ; hut besides these tents , booths , and stalls displaying refreshments , principally , of an intoxicatin g nature , were ranged in semicircular lines round the meadow , while the background of the picture was filled by the church , a large , handsome structure , with a small chapel contiguous to it * and a rich calvary representing the death and passion of our Lord . Crowds of peasants were passing in and out of the sacred edifice , attracted by the relics of St . Kerdevot , consisting of' fragments of bones , which my limited kuowledge of comparative anatomy did not enable me to identify as human . These relics , which were in a handsome reliquary , were exhibited by a priest to the people , who pressed eagerly forward to kiss the crystal shrine . At a convenient distance stood St . Kerdevot ' s money-box , into which silver and copper ' coins xained unceasingly , and the oblation being offered , the high-priest gave absolution for past
sms .. . . . . ¦ ¦ . . . . . ¦ . - .. - ¦ . .. - . : ¦ . - . . .. ' . .. Mr . Weld has succeeded in making us companions in his pleasant holiday , and in making us resolve to ' do' Brittany when occasion offers .
954 Theixea. D^E B ^_ _____ [No. 341, Sa...
954 THEIxEA . D ^ E B ^_ _____ [ No . 341 , SattjkdAY - : . . ' ' ; ___ — ' -- "" ^ Zl ^ L - 1 ^ __ I - - ^ Zl : —LJL ^——1 _^_—U ^ IV' ' -y- — - ¦ -- - '
Two Novels. The If Ills Of The Shcitemuc...
TWO NOVELS . The If ills of the SHcitemuc . By the Author of " The Wide , Wide World . " Low and Co . ; T . Hodgson ; Routlcdgc and Co . ; Clarke and Co . Old Memories : a Novel . By Julia Melville . 3 Vols . Newby . Five hundred pages of narrative without an incident—such is this paradox by the Author of TTie Wide , Wide World . That was tedious enough ; /// is is indescribably dull . It is an endless stream of talk , sometimes incoherent , always unnatural and repulsive . All Miss Warner ' s personages speak in an acidulated manner , the calm hero is defiant , the hero with the flushing eyes insolent , the heroine with the pouting lips saucy , the heroine with the steady brow insulting . An ordinary person could not live one d . iy in such company . The best of Miss Warner's people , Winthrop , is a marionette , who makes uj ) for his virtues by bis oilensive manners ; her two heavy fathers are as cold as reptiles ; her favourite daughter , Elizabeth , is n thin piece of asperity , and the climax of absurdity is , that she writes as ibolishly as her puppets talk . She seems to have a notion that spasm id necessary to emphasis , and that little crisp sentences without beginning or end give point and character to her style ! Her paragraphs , therefore , are continually broken into asthmatic fragments , the general rule with Miss Warnev being to accumulate her solemn stops and changes in passages of the most trivial meaning . She describes potato-scraping as though it were capital punishment , and a proposal of marriage as though it were a Christmas cracker . Large dilutions of cant , also , are poured into the stagnant dialogue , sacred names and words being burlesqued by association with comically frivolous episodes of domestic life . Perhaps , however , the attempt to elaborate a character-portrait of the real heroine , Elizabeth Ilaye , is the most painful failure of the book . This Elizabeth is literally a disgraceful shrew , impiously insolent to her father , despotic to her friends , imbecile in the presence of her lover . ( Scarcely is slic introduced once without an exhibition of ill-humour , recorded by Miss "W arner in a ludicrously in dated manner . We ought to explain that Rufus and Winthrop Landliohu are the aspiring sons of a farmer , iiml that Elizabeth Ilnye and Rose Catlwnllauer are young ladies of ' gentle' birth , boarding awhile at the farm . Hose , who pouts in every page , is in the humour to rally her sister upon the courtesies of the p lebeian \ Yhithrop , and is accustomed to provolce ebullitions of this kind : — The cheek of the other at Unit became like a thunder-cloud . She turned her back upon her cousin and walked from her to the housu , with a step us lino aiul linn as that of tho Bclviderc Apollo and a figuru like a young pine-tree . Occasion the second : —¦ Miss Cnd'wallartcr ' rf eye fairly gave way under tho lightning . Kli / . nbtMh * s words were delivered with an intensity that kept thorn q \ iiut , though with tho . hist decree of clear utterance ; mid turning , as ltufus camo up , she gave him a glnro of hur dark brown eyes that astonished him . Thirdly : ~ - Elizabeth lnid <\ ovm her book and looked over at her companion , with nn eye tho oilier just met and turned nwuy from . " Rose , —how dare you talk to me so !" In the same page : — Elizabeth took her camilu and book and marched out of tho room . Next , her father suiters : — Elizabeth had risen from tho tablo , and now sho . stood on tho rug before the iyo , with her anna behind , her , looking down at tho brcakfast-tablo and hor father . Lite-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04101856/page/18/
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