MORBIHAN.

CHAPTER IV.

VANNES.

A FEELING of intense interest grows and deepens as

one really enters this strange weird province, and it is scarcely possible that the earnest and diligent traveller will be disappointed in his investigations, though Brittany is a land to which the old story of " Eyes and No Eyes" applies far more than to Normandy, and one is painfully conscious how much escapes even very intent research. But even those who prefer mere holiday cannot travel in Morbihan without becoming fascinated by the strange mysterious power of these weird misshapen stones scattered over it, and will soon cease to wonder at the awe with which the peasants regard them. The whole department is full of interest, and also full of practical teaching for the archæologist; while those who only aim at acquiring a taste instead of science in such researches, will not only learn much. without any effort of their own but will feel inspired to study this most interesting lore.

The caps of the women at Vannes station looked charming, and entirely different from any we had seen, but the

faces beneath them were not attractive-they were gloomy and serious. No one seemed to be in good spirits, and although many both of men and women had good dark eyes and regular features their first aspect was decidedly depressing. The women appeared cowed and silent, without any of the French gaiety we had seen so much of at Chartres and Le Mans, and the men looked surly, and gave short sullen answers; but as we got into the town our first impression of it was very pleasant. We had been led to expect a dirty town with narrow twisted streets, in which there was not much to reward the trouble of those in search of picturesque antiquities, and in which it would not be pleasant to lodge; but when we reached the inn we had selected on the fresh open Place Napoléon, we found that at least there were air and cleanliness to be found in Vannes; and when we began to penetrate the streets of the old walled town, we found, too, how very interesting it is.

This old walled part is by far the smallest portion of the city, which has spread round it on all sides; but the cathedral, the shops, and the Mairie are within the quaint, ancient walls, which may be traced all round the old town, and which, though often built up by houses, retain their machicolations, and present continually the most charming little bits to the artist. Some of these walls are of the GalloRoman period, and others are of various periods from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The old gate called Porte Prison, or Porte Pater, from St. Paterne or Pater, is the most interesting and curious of the remaining gates. The streets twist and wind so much that it is not easy at first to find one's way directly from one point to another.

THE CATHEDRAL.

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We went down the Rue de la Préfecture on our way to the cathedral, stopping at the late Monsieur Galle's Library as we passed, and getting a talk with its courteous mistress.

The old stone houses are very quaint. Each story so projects over that below that where one street runs at an angle from another the corners of the eaves almost touch. This is especially to be seen in the Place Henri Quatre, at the end of the Rue de la Préfecture. There are many curious old houses here, notably the block at the corner of the Rue des Chanoines. We went down this street, beside the now ruined cloisters of the cathedral. There is not much to remark in the exterior of this building except the ugliness of the spire.

The cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter, but St. Clair is said to have been the first missionary to Vannes. He appeared in Morbihan in the third century. St. Clair died in 280, in the reign of Probus, after converting to Christianity the military labourers employed by this emperor in replanting the Gallic vineyards torn up by the orders of Domitian. These converts placed under the protection of the reigning Pope, St. Cornély, the cattle which they employed during their labours. This is said to be the origin of the special worship of St. Cornély throughout Brittany. St. Patern II., elected by the voice of the people Bishop of Vannes in 575, is said to have taken possession of a magnificent public building in the heart of the city, hitherto used for public assemblies at pagan rites, and, having purified it, he consecrated it for Christian worship. It is therefore probable that this Gallo-Roman building was used as the church till Vannes was pillaged by the Northmen in the tenth century.

The cathedral now existing is supposed to have been begun in the eleventh century. It contains specimens of the architecture of almost all the centuries between the eleventh and the eighteenth. It consists of a nave, with five chapels on each side; of these the largest is the chapel of St. Vincent. Old documents prove that the first cathedral closely resembled in construction the abbey church of St. Gildas de Rhuys. The nave seems to have been sixty years in building; and in the sixteenth century the Italian Archdeacon Danielo built the chapel of the Saint Sacrement, which is also called the Chapel of the Pardon. This is round, and is far more curious than admirable. John Danielo, its founder, was buried here in 1540.

The chapel of St. Vincent Ferrier is of the seventeenth century. The possession of the relics of this saint is the great glory of Vannes. Duke John V. persuaded the Spanish Dominican monk to take up his abode at Vannes in 1417, and, though he only lived two years in Brittany, he seems to have evangelised the whole country. He was buried in the cathedral of Vannes; and when the Duchess Jeanne died, she was, at her own request, buried at the feet of St. Vincent. He was canonised in 1456 at the earnest supplication of the duke and all his people, and his relics are still carried in procession through the town on the first Sunday in September, as a commemoration of their preservation to the town of Vannes, for Philip II. of Spain tried to get possession of them at the end of the next century.

As we came out of the cathedral we saw one of the special features of a Breton town—a small cart, covered with a dark hood, full of sacks of charcoal. A large yellow

"VANNES ET SA FEMME.”

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dog was fastened under it, and beside it walked a huge Breton in a broad low-crowned black hat, a black jacket, and dark trousers. He stalked along with much dignity, and there was something strangely masterful in his large narrow dark eyes and long straight nose-masterful and yet repelling, quite another order of face from that of a Norman charcoal dealer. Opposite the cathedral is the curious old doorway of what was formerly the Chapelle du Présidial.

From the cathedral we went along the Rue St. Pierre, and then to the right, down the Rue des Orfèvres, till we came to a confectioner's shop, No. 15. We asked here if we could see the room of St. Vincent Ferrier, and were guided through some back premises to a little staircase so narrow and steep that it made one giddy to climb it. At the top is a very small room, which is said to have been occupied by St. Vincent. It is now converted into a chapel. A little way farther on, at the corner of the Rue Noé, are two grotesque half-length stone figures called Vannes et sa femme. They support the corner of the projecting upper story, and are very quaintly coloured. Farther down the street is an old archway called Arche de Noé.

From the Rue Noé we found our way on the left into the Rue des Halles, and this led us out on the Place des Lices. This in 1380 was the scene of the Battle of the Five, which took place just twenty-nine years after the Battle of the Thirty. This battle of Vannes consisted of five English and five French knights, and was fought in the presence of Duke Jean IV. and of the Earl of Buckingham. The French appear to have had the best of it. It was also on the Place des Lices, in 1417, that St. Vincent Ferrier preached to the people, and, though he only spoke the Spanish tongue, he