Toul

“ On leaving the fertile valley, where the quaint old city of Toul clusters by the bank of the blue Moselle, surrounded by a chain of hills, that are covered to their summits by teeming vineyards, green foliage, and fertility—on leaving it, we took the road direct to Strasbourg and the Rhine, every night engirding our camp and cantonments with strong out-picquets, as we drew nearer the vicinity of the foe. ”

“ Annexed to France, in company with Metz and Verdun, in 1556, Toul, situated on the left bank of the Moselle, is to-day ranked as a fortress of the first order. "Can be seen in two hours"—such is the description usually given by the guide-books to the city which248 contains, in its one-time Cathedral St. Etienne, an example which, with respect to the decorative tracery of its façade savants have declared the equal even of Reims.
One of the three former bishoprics of Lorraine, Toul is none too ample to merit the cognomen of a large town. ”

“ That day, Sunday, after breakfast, we travelled six leagues, to a city called Taul (Toul) , which is said to be an imperial town. There is a bishopric in it, and the bishop is a young man, the son of the Marshal of the Duke of Burgundy. And we marvelled greatly in this town.
On the morrow, Monday, we travelled seven leagues to a city called Barluduk (Bar-le-duc) , where the King of Sicily [2] resides, and has his court. And Lord Albert was overturned with Lord Antony, and the unfortunate coachman was killed, and there was no help for it. ”

“ SW. of Plymouth; has interesting Norman and other remains; a centre of agricultural industry.
Toul (12) , a strongly-fortified town of France, on the Moselle, 20 m. W. of Nancy; has a noble Gothic cathedral and lace and hat manufactures; was captured by the Germans in 1870.
Toulon (74) , chief naval station of France, on the Mediterranean, situated 42 m. SE. of Marseilles; lies at the foot of the Pharon Hills, the heights of which are strongly fortified; has a splendid 11th-century cathedral, and theatre, forts, citadel, 240 acres of dockyard, arsenal, cannon foundry, &c. ”

“ Moreover, the location is central enough to enable us to expedite these auxiliaries in whatever direction the movements of Clotaire II may render necessary. As you see, I have acted with foresight."
"What is the temper of the army?"
"It is full of ardor; it only asks to be led to battle. The remembrance of the last two victories of Toul and Tolbiac, above all, of the immense booty, the large number of slaves that the troops carried away—all that fires them with the desire to fight the son of Fredegonde. These, madam, are the good tidings that counterbalance the evil ones. ”

“ At last we emerged from clefts and chasms into an open space, and had a view of Toulon before us. As we entered the town, we saw, in some sheltered spots, orange-trees, in full bearing, in the open earth: in the open air they are seen in Paris; planted in boxes, they bear fruit at Avignon; here they are children of the soil.
We were pleased with Toulon, and loitered here two whole days. The town, though a fortress, [Pg 414] is a pretty and a cheerful-looking place. The streams of water conducted through the streets, give it an air of healthiness and cleanliness. ”

“ Dalriada, in Ulster, named from a king of the Milesian race, named Cairbe-Raida, who settled there. His descendants gradually emigrated to Albin, which from them was afterwards called Scotland; and that part of Argyleshire where they landed they also named Dalriada. The three brothers, Fergus, Sorn, and Anghus, came to Argyleshire in 503 A.D. Toul and Toulouse, situated in valleys, probably were named from the same root-word; Toulouse was anciently called Civitas-Tolosatium (the city of the valley dwellers, dol-saetas) . ”

“ The Burgundians were also a German race which invaded Gaul and founded the Kingdom of Burgundy.
[8] The West Goths are usually called Visigoths.
[9] Clovis, founder of the Merovingian line, was born about 465 and was the son of Childeric. He married the Christian princess Clotilde in 493 and, after victories over the Alemanni and Burgundians, established his court in Paris in 507. He died in 511.
[10] The word “family,” as used in this translation, signifies “tribe.”
[11] Toul is on the Moselle River in France. It is an important fortress and strategic point. ”

“ I was one day on a mountain with a family to whom the guide pointed out an indistinct bluish line, saying, ‘There is Toulouse!’ The father, with sparkling eyes, repeated to the son, ‘There is Toulouse!’ And he, at sight of so much joy, cried with transport, ‘There is Toulouse!’ They learned to feel the beautiful, as any one learns to bow, through family tradition. ”

“ Beyond Toulon we had to slow down for a long procession of gypsy caravans on their way to town; quaint, moving houses, with strings of huge pearls that were gleaming onions, festooned across their blue or green doors and windows; and out from those doors and windows wonderful eyes gazed at us—eyes full of secrets of the East, strange eyes, more fascinating in their passing glance than those of the gay young heroes at Toulon.
So we flew on to the village of Ollioules, and into the dim mountain gorge of the same musical name. ”

“ I have already alluded to the way in which the names of certain places impose themselves on the mind, and I must add that of Toulouse to the list of expressive appellations. It certainly evokes a vision—suggests something highly méridional. But the city, it must be confessed, is less pictorial than the word, in spite of the Place du Capitole, in spite of the quay of the Garonne, in spite of the curious cloister of the old museum. What justifies the images that are latent in the word is not the aspect, but the history, of the town. ”

“ This is the energy, however, which has made Toulouse a rich, opulent city,—a city with broad boulevards, open squares, and fine buildings, and a city of the gay Renaissance rather than of the stern Middle Ages. Yet for Toulouse the Middle Ages were a dark time. What could be gotten by the sword was taken by the sword, and even the mind of man, in that gross age, was forced and controlled by the agony of his body. ”

“ The people of Toulon beheld a strange spectacle that winter. The beautiful harbour of Provence was allotted to the Turkish admiral for his winter quarters. There, at anchor, lay the immense fleet of the Grand Signior; and who knew how long it might dominate the fairest province of France? There, turbaned Musulmans paced the decks and bridge, below and beside which hundreds of Christian slaves sat chained to the bench and victims to the lash of the boatswain. Frenchmen were forced to look on, helplessly, while Frenchmen groaned in the infidels’ galleys, within the security of a French port. ”

“ On arrival at Toulon, we had accordingly upwards of three hours before a train would start for Hyères, and we availed ourselves of the time to explore a little about this noted naval station.
The town of Toulon itself is uninteresting; its streets are [454] dirty and narrow, the houses high. Near the railway station the ground is more open and the houses more modern. Passing them, we soon came upon the fortifications which surround the town, but retracing our steps, walked down to the docks and along the public quay. ”

“ To the east of Aquitaine the county of Toulouse became the nucleus of a sort of monarchical centralisation that, by the beginning of the twelfth century, had brought the French lands beyond the Aquitanian border, the imperial lands between the Alps and the Rhone, and the old Spanish march between the Pyrenees and the Ebro, to look to Toulouse as the source of its intellectual and almost of its political life. The lands dependent on the counts of Toulouse became emphatically the Languedoc, the region where the Romance vernacular of southern Gaul was spoken with the greatest purity and force. ”

“ The great defect of Toulon is that the quarter where centres the life of the city is far away from the sea. To get a satisfactory view of the magnificent harbour, or the commercial port of the Vieille Darse, one has to go even farther afield and climb one or the other of the hillsides round about, when a truly great panorama spreads itself out. ”

“ The oddity is that the place should be both animated and dull. A big, brown-skinned population, clattering about in a flat, tortuous town, which produces nothing whatever that I can discover. Except the church of Saint- Sernin and the fine old court of the Hotel d'Assezat, Toulouse has no architecture; the houses are for the most part of brick, of a grayish-red color, and have no particular style. ”

“ There is nothing remarkable in the situation of Toulon itself, which is flat and uninteresting; but the shores of the bay possess great beauty and variety, and the mountains which overhang the town are very bold in their outline. The bastides of the wealthy inhabitants are sprinkled along the foot and sides of this abrupt range, overlooking extensive views of the bay and its vicinity, and disposed with better taste and less encumbered with walls than those in the neighbourhood of Marseilles. ”

“ The country, after you leave Toulouse, continues to be charming; the more so that it merges its flatness in the distant Cevennes on one side, and on the other, far away on your right, in the richer range of the Pyrenees. Olives and cypresses, pergolas and vines, terraces on the roofs of houses, soft, iridescent moun- tains, a warm yellow light, - what more could the dif- ficult tourist want? He left his luggage at the station, warily determined to look at the inn before committing himself to it. ”

“ Nothing could be more bare and desolate than the whole pass, and nothing could be richer or more delightfully cultivated than the low valleys upon which it opens. It is some four or five miles hence to Toulon, and we traversed the road by sunrise, the soft, gray light creeping through 191 the olive and orange trees with which the fields are laden, and the peasants just coming out to their early labor. ”

“ Toulon, in history, makes a long and brilliant chapter, but a cataloguing even of the events can have no place here. Its prominence as a stronghold and bulwark of the French nation was due to Louis XII., the second husband of Anne of Bretagne, who, it is said, inspired his predecessor on the throne (and in her affections) to first appreciate the advantages of Brest as a stronghold of a similar character.
Ages before this Toulon was founded by the Phœnicians, it is supposed sometime before the tenth century. ”

“ From the middle years of the 12th century the people of Toulouse seem to have begun to free themselves from the most oppressive feudal dues. An act of Alphonse Jourdain (1141) exempts them from the tax on salt and wine; and in 1152 we have traces of a “commune consilium Tolosae” making police ordinances in its own name " with the advice of Lord Raymond, count of Toulouse, duke of Narbonne, and marquis of Provence." ”

“ An Englishman visited Toulon, who had vowed to rescue two men from infamy, and his choice fell on you and your companion. You received a second fortune, money and tranquillity were restored to you, and you, who had been condemned to a felon's life, might live as other men. ”

“ From this time the counts of Toulouse were the greatest lords in southern France. Raymond IV., the hero of the first crusade, assumed the formal titles of marquis of Provence, duke of Narbonne, and count of Toulouse. While Raymond was away in the Holy Land, Toulouse was seized by William IX., duke of Aquitaine, who claimed the city in right of his wife Philippa, the daughter of William IV., but was unable to hold it long (1098-1100) . ”

“ At Toulouse there was the strongest temptation to speak to people, simply for the entertainment of hearing them reply with that curious, that fascinating accent of the Languedoc, which appears to abound in final con- sonants, and leads the Toulousains to say bien-g and maison-g, like Englishmen learning French. ”

“ She began to grow impatient, murmur, and at length abuse
The extreme unpunctuality of Louis of Toulouse. [83]
But when two servants entered, who between them bore a box,
She was half afraid that something else had struck besides the clocks;
And when the men retired, she still thinking it a ruse,
Raised up the lid and found the corpse of Louis of Toulouse.
Without a word, without a shriek, she fell upon the ground,
The maidens hast’ning to her aid, a lifeless body found.
So, young gentlemen, take warning, and ne’er yourselves amuse
By attempting fascinations like Count Louis of Toulouse. ”

“ In the 16th century a false derivation changed the ancient consuls (domini de capitulo) into the modern “capitouls” (domini capitolii tolosani) , a barbarous etymology which in its turn has, in the present century, transformed the old assembly house of Toulouse into the capitole. The parlement of Toulouse was established as a permanent court in 1443. Louis XI. transferred it to Montpellier in 1467, but restored it to Toulouse before the close of the next year. This parlement was for Languedoc and southern France what the parlement of Paris was for the north. ”

“ And so, over France universally, there is Civic Feast and high-tide: and Toulon sees fusillading, grapeshotting in mass, as Lyons saw; and 'death is poured out in great floods, vomie à grands flots'; and Twelve-thousand Masons are requisitioned from the neighbouring country, to raze Toulon from the face of the Earth. For it is to be razed, so reports Barrère; all but the National Shipping Establishments; and to be called henceforth not Toulon, but Port of the Mountain. There in black death-cloud we must leave it;—hoping only that Toulon too is built of stone ”