Norman French

“ The Norman is a slow thinker, and very conservative. That "our fathers did so" is reason enough for them to do so also, and they are as full of prejudice and superstition as any people in France, except perhaps their neighbors of Brittany. But they are good honest folk, sober for the most part, except on some special occasions, very industrious, and extremely domestic and frugal in their habits. Their houses are generally comfortable, according to French ideas, and they often have a great deal of wealth laid by in the shape of fine linen, gold ornaments, and furniture. ”

“ The rocks and the valley between them are worthy of some better office than to watch over an uninteresting town which has neither ancient houses to show nor yet handsome modern streets. The chief church, though not insignificant, is French and not Norman, and so teaches the wrong lesson to an Englishman who begins his Côtentin studies at this point. But, four miles or so to the west, he will find a building which is French only if we are to apply that name to what runs every chance of being præ-Norman, the work of a day when Rolf and William Longsword had not yet dismembered the French duchy. ”

“ As with the topographical aspect, so with the inhabitants themselves. Great diversity obtains; and, in “these little lands of strangers,” as it has been delicately and suggestively put, the Frenchman of one locality is, except for a general likeness of speech and manner, almost as much of a stranger as the foreigner in race.
The Norman has little or nothing in common with the Provençal; the native of French Flanders still less with the men of the Midi; and those of the north not much of the feeling and spirit which actuates the life of those in the south. ”

“ In Normandy as in England, you do not see piles, like Beauvais, begun on too vast a scale for man's labour ever to finish; you do not see piles like Amiens, where all external proportion is sacrificed to grandeur of internal effect. [9] A Norman minster, like an English one, is satisfied with a comparatively moderate height, but with its three towers and full cruciform shape, it seems a perfection of outline to which no purely French building ever attains. ”

“ The Seine itself, though it flows for so long through Normandy, does not belong to it, but to France; the people who live on its banks are more French than Norman, and we have to go farther westward to find more typical scenery. The country lying about Gisors, and between that town and the Seine, was called the Vexin, and formed a debatable ground on which many a contest was fought, and which was held by France and Normandy in turn. ”

“ There is high ground on each side of the stream; that on the north side is Norman soil, that on the south is French. A projecting point of the Norman height was seized for the building of the great border-fortress of Normandy. A few dwellings of men, dependants170 doubtless of the castle and its lords, arose under its shadow, just within the Norman border. That this was done while France and Normandy were still foreign and hostile lands is shown by the western doorway of the church of Tillières, a piece of plain Romanesque, of late eleventh or early twelfth century. ”

“ The Norman farmer so often has features strongly typical of the southern counties of England, that it is surprising that with his wife and his daughters there should be so little resemblance. Perhaps this is because the French women dress their hair in such a different manner to those on the northern side of the Channel, and they certainly, taken as a whole, dress with better effect than their English neighbours; or it may be that the similar ideas prevailing among the men as to how much of the face should be shaved have given the stronger sex an artificial resemblance. ”

“ The complaint of the French artist against the Norman is the "mesquin" treatment of dividing his tower into storeys of equal height. Even in the twelfth century and in religious architecture, artists already struggled over the best solution of this particularly American problem of the twentieth century, and when tourists return to New York, they may look at the twenty-storey towers which decorate the city, to see whether the Norman or the French plan has won; but this, at least, will be sure in advance:— the Norman will be the practical scheme which states the facts, and stops; ”

“ A French division, consisting of six battalions with a regiment of hussars, was surprised by a force of similar strength under Prince Ferdinand, and by sundown the "King's" Hussars had gained for the Allies a glorious victory. It was to the 15th, and to the 15th alone, that the credit of the day was due. It was their baptême de feu, and well may they pride themselves on their conduct at Emsdorff. Their gallantry was the theme of the whole army, and the recollection of it has stood them in good stead on many a hard-fought field. ”

“ Such changes were doubtless quite unconscious; long before the fifteenth century the Norman in England had become thoroughly English, and the Norman in Normandy had become thoroughly French. French indeed in speech and manners he had been for ages, but by the time of Henry the Fifth he had become French in national feeling also. The tower of Talbot was no doubt felt by the people of Falaise to be a badge of16 bondage. It stands nobly and proudly, overtopping the older keep ”

“ It is not easy to analyze the magic which cozens every traveler into believing that he is the first to see Tahiti with clear eyes—one feels that it is made up of nature in a mood of unearthly loveliness; of a sense of ancient and unalterable life; of a realization that strange beliefs persist under a semblance of Christianity; of the lure of a race whose confidence the white man can never fully gain. The mail steamers, the wireless, the traders, the scattering of French officials—these things are a mere play of shadows on the surface. ”

“ The Guards, with their usual dash, at once stormed the French redoubts, which they carried at the point of the bayonet, capturing twelve guns, one stand of colours, and close on 100 prisoners. The action was one of those isolated affairs which had no bearing on the campaign, but merely serve to show the superior stamina and discipline of the Brigade of Guards. Taking into consideration the strength of the force engaged, the casualties were undoubtedly heavy. ”

“ Holkar's army far outnumbered the English in cavalry, as well as in guns. We captured no less than sixty-five of the latter. The Holkar force had the reputation of being well trained. For many years the Maharajah had availed himself of the services of English and French instructors, but on the outbreak of hostilities he had foully murdered all the English in his employ, and their absence, no doubt, shook the confidence of the men, who for so long had been accustomed to European leadership. ”

“ When we reflect on the momentous issue decided by this and the preceding actions between the French and ourselves in India, and compare the number of the troops engaged with those we now mobilize for an Indian frontier campaign, it seems little short of marvellous that our Indian Empire should have been built up with such slender means. ”

“ Fortunately for England, even in her darkest hour a man has arisen to cope with and surmount her difficulties. Amongst the writers or clerks in the employ of the factory at Madras was one Robert Clive. He, with rare prescience, argued that, as the bulk of the French forces, aided by their ally, the ruler of the Carnatic, were employed in the reduction of Trichinopoly, therefore Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, in all probability lay unguarded. ”

“ And here, on the east side of Davies Street, named after her, stands Bourdon House, a pleasant old dwelling, over-shadowed by the trees 36 which grow in its little courtyard. Inside, the most noteworthy feature is the carved woodwork, which seems to be French in style, dating, perhaps, from the early part of the eighteenth century. There is a strong tradition that this house was originally occupied by the Davies family; it is certainly one of the oldest on the estate. The name Bourdon first appears on the parish rate books in 1739. Within the last few years the house has been enlarged. ”

“ There were complaints of the stamp of recruits two centuries ago, as there are to-day. "The men you send me," wrote Grey from Martinique, "are not fit to bear arms." "I know not which are worse, officers or men," wrote Moore. "Send me men, not boys," wrote Sir Colin Campbell from India. Yet the boys who were not fit to bear arms captured the West Indies from the French; the worthless officers and men traversed Spain and held Napoleon's veterans in check at Corunna while their leader lay dying; and the boys in Sir Colin's regiments helped to restore peace in India. ”

“ Talavera was a very different stamp of fight to anything in which our troops had been previously engaged in the Peninsula. We had but 20,000 men present, and our losses amounted to 4,000 killed and wounded, those of the French to over 7,000. The full fruits of the victory were lost owing to the failure of our Spanish allies to afford us proper support, and the British army was compelled to retire on the following day, leaving its wounded in the hands of the French. ”

“ The French were accordingly enabled by the early spring of 1708 to mass an army of 100,000 men in Flanders. To face them the Allies could bring but 80,000; but the weight of Marlborough's name and the few thousand British veteran troops in his army made up for this deficiency; and when, after a series of the most brilliant manœuvres, the Duke at last met the French at Oudenarde, he at any rate had no doubt as to the result.
At Oudenarde, as at Ramillies, the British troops were not heavily engaged, their losses numbering 4 officers and 41 men killed, 17 officers and 160 men wounded. ”

“ On January 13, 1759, the expeditionary force sailed for Martinique, where the French were well prepared for defence, and no landing was attempted. Three days afterwards the armament stood on to Fort Royal Bay, Martinique, and, under cover of the guns of the fleet, the troops disembarked. On the following morning a sharp skirmish took place, in which the French were driven out of some entrenched buildings, our casualties amounting to 100 killed and wounded; but it was found impossible to follow up the enemy owing to the denseness of the jungle and the absence of roads. ”

“ Leaving a sufficient force to cover Alexandria, the new Commander-in-Chief at once commenced an advance on Cairo, and on June 13 he had the satisfaction of receiving the surrender of 13,000 French soldiers, who were massed at the capital. Of these, some 8,000 were effectives, and the task of guarding them on the return march to the sea was one that required much acumen, for the total number of British troops at this time at Cairo was barely 4,000. ”

“ Just four days previously to the fight, the allied army, under Field-Marshal Otto, had received a handsome beating at the hands of the French. It is true we were hopelessly outnumbered, being able to oppose but 18,000 to 64,000. Though beaten, we were not disgraced. Fox's brigade, consisting of the three regiments above, losing 520 [94] of all ranks, whilst in the retirement the 7th and 15th Hussars showed persistent gallantry. Nevertheless, it was a defeat, for nineteen guns were left in the hands of the victors. ”

“ He founded and edited in 1850 a penny weekly paper called the 'Christian Socialist.' Lectures and classes were held in 1853 for working men and women in Castle Street East (by Oxford Street) , and Ludlow conducted there a successful French class. From these, and partly in consequence of a resolution of a conference of delegates from co-operative bodies, the Working Men's College in Great Ormond Street arose in November 1854. Ludlow was the chief practical worker in its foundation. He lectured there on law, on English, and on the history of India. ”

“ It is difficult to understand why the troops which took part in the expedition to Copenhagen in 1807 should be denied the battle honour conferred on the Berkshires and Rifle Brigade for their services as Marines in the expedition of 1801. In neither case were the losses severe, but the later expedition was in no way less successful than the former. The attitude of the Danes and the fear that their fine fleet would fall into the hands of the French led the Ministry of the day to assemble a powerful fleet and a by no means inconsiderable army in order to carry out their policy. ”

“ Ireland is now an integral portion of the British Empire, and Irish soldiers have in all our campaigns fought with stubborn determination on our side. So, too, the Royal Irish covered itself with glory on this day, as it has ever done when fighting for us. At the same time, it is worthy of note that the fiercest of our opponents at Blenheim were [18] the regiments of the Irish Brigade in the pay of the King of France.
Marlborough now retraced his steps to the Low Countries, and once more prepared to oppose the French in the field and the Dutch in the Council. ”

“ And so King Norman ruled, sufficient unto himself, with the commerce of an every-day world slipping past his dominion, amassing wealth, making his position more secure, the great passion for the girl growing with the years, standing now and again on the decks of his tugs as they passed the lake ships, the broad brim of his black, round-crowned hat blown back, hands clasped lightly behind him, head forward—truly a kingly figure, powerful, aloof, unchallenged. ”