Vannes

“ One enters Vannes, if it be a holiday or a Sunday, amid a gaiety and uproar that is apparently inexplicable. To be sure Vannes is the metropolis of the Morbihan, but one does not look for such continuous gaiety on the part of a people supposed to be wholly devout and not very rich, as possessors of this world’s goods count their gains. Devoutness need not necessarily mean glumness, and so as it all seems, around Vannes at least, to be for the general good, one is not sorry to have his first introduction to a great Breton town in a way so pleasant. ”

“ It seems strange to live in a town where the custom of couvre-feu is still observed by the inhabitants—in a town where no sooner does the clock strike nine than all lights are out, all shutters closed, and all shops shut. This is the custom in Vannes. It is characteristic of the people. The Vanntais take a pride in being faithful to old usages. They are a sturdy, grave, pensive race, hiding indomitable energy and hearts of fire under the calmest demeanour. ”

“ The little man began to tear his hair, saying, “How can I get to Vannes from here by midday to-morrow? I am a lost man.”
“Your despair quite distresses me.”
“Vannes, Vannes!” cried Baisemeaux.
“But listen; a bishop is not always a resident. M. d’Herblay may not possibly be so far away as you fear.” ”

“ There is a monument to Le Sage, born near Vannes. Vannes is the seat of a prefect, a bishop and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. A communal college is among the educational institutions. Among the industries are building, tanning and cotton-weaving. The port of Vannes, to the south of the town, is formed by the Vannes river and is accessible only to small vessels. ”

“ The simple folk of the Morbihan, who have crowded into Vannes for the day, are as interested and amused with a hurdy-gurdy Punch and Judy show, a travelling circus, or a merry-go-round as if they were the latest distractions of Paris. ”

“ We have spoken of the cathedral and of its patron saint, because Vannes is an ecclesiastical city of importance, the see of an ancient bishopric, and a radiating point for the church in Morbihan; but, as a matter of fact, we see and hear very little of the church at Vannes; and it seems by contrast with the country—where every wayside has its cross or holy fountain, every district its little chapel or altar with saints and relics amongst the trees, every group of peasant-women a pastor—that the country people have more than their share of homilies and exhortations. ”

“ Here are Clotilde de Vannes and I, who only see that, as this young girl has no dower, the very best place for her [127] in the world is a convent, melancholy but inevitable; whereas you and Othmar, merely because she has pretty hair which the sun shines on as she goes past amongst her oranges, are already thinking that some one ought to rise out of the sea to marry her, with a duke’s couronne in one hand and a veil of old d’Alençon lace in the other! ”

“ On the 18th of September, Peter Vannes, the English resident at Venice, wrote to the queen from Padua:—
"It hath pleased Almighty God, as the Author of all goodness, and as One that doth nothing in vain, to call the Earl of Devonshire to his mercy, even about the hour, or little more or less, that I am writing of this present; and being very sorry to trouble your Highness with this kind of news, yet forasmuch as the providence of God must be fulfilled in all things, I shall somewhat touch his sickness till the hour of death. ”

“ They are in great number, well armed, well manned, and cleared for action. They have chosen their anchorage at the foot of the bay, near the harbor of Vannes. You will not be able to see them till after doubling the promontory of A'elkern."
"The Irishman carries us favorable tidings," cried Albinik to the interpreter. "The Gallic fleet is scattered on all sides; part of the ships are in the river Auray; the others, still more distant, towards the bay of Audiern, and Ouessant. At the foot of this bay, for the defense of Vannes, are but five or six poor merchantmen, barely armed in their haste." ”

“ The true traveller prefers taking his chances with the native dishes to trifling with Paris culinary fashions at the hands of a Breton peasant-chef,—if that is the exact classification one ought to give the cooks of Vannes.
To enter Vannes by road, one has come down a precipitous descent to the sea-level, and accordingly rises again to an equal height when he leaves, for Vannes is the great tidewater port for the whole of the south coast of Brittany between Lorient and St. ”

“ About four years ago a descent of the insular population of England was feared in Brittany. On that occasion several legions, the one in which my father enlisted among them, were ordered into that province. During several months he was quartered in the city of Vannes, not far from Karnak, the cradle of our family. Having had one of his friends read to him the narratives of our ancestors, Ralf visited with pious respect the battle field of Vannes, the sacred stones of Karnak, and the lands that we were plundered of in Caesar's time by the Roman conquerors. ”

“ At Venice, Peter Vannes discharged his duties as ambassador with commendable discretion and assiduity, although, at one critical juncture, he did not escape the reproach of excessive caution. But as a native of Lucca, and one who had been collector of the papal taxes in England, who had filled the post of Latin secretary to Wolsey, King Henry and King Edward in succession, and who had been employed on more than one important diplomatic mission, he offered a combination of qualifications which it would have been difficult to match. ”

“ In the 5th century Vannes was ruled for a time by independent counts, but soon came under the yoke of the Franks. Nomenoe, the lieutenant of Louis I., the Pious, in Brittany, assumed the title of king in 843, and one of his brothers was the founder of a line of counts who distinguished themselves against the Normans in the 9th and 10th centuries. Valines became part of the duchy of Brittany at the end of the 10th century. ”

“ It was an anxious time for the bishop of Vannes, who had never before been so perplexed. His iron will, accustomed to overcome all obstacles, never finding itself inferior or vanquished on any occasion, to be foiled in so vast a project from not having foreseen the influence which a view of nature in all its luxuriance would have on the human mind! Aramis, overwhelmed by anxiety, contemplated with emotion the painful struggle that was taking place in Philippe’s mind. ”

“ VANNES, PETER (d. 1563) , dean of Salisbury, born at Lucca in Italy, was son of Stephen de Vannes of that city. In one of his letters Erasmus calls him Peter Ammonius, and Cooper in his ‘Athenæ Cantabrigienses’ (i. 220) states that Vannes was son of a sister of Andrea Ammonio [q. v.] Vannes, however, is styled by himself and his correspondents more vaguely as ‘consobrinus’ or kinsman of Ammonio. It was through the influence of Ammonio, who was Latin secretary to Henry VIII, that Vannes was brought to England, and he became assistant to Ammonio in 1513 (Letters and Papers, ii. 3602–3) . ”

“ Ammonio died on 17 Aug. 1517, and Vannes immediately wrote to Wolsey begging for some living left vacant by his kinsman's death. At the same time Ammonio's friend Erasmus wrote to Vannes desiring him to collect his correspondence with Ammonio and return it to him. Erasmus was not satisfied with Vannes's efforts to do so, and complained that he could find in Vannes none of Ammonio's genius or temper (ib. ii. 4103, 4107) . Silvestro Gigli [q. v.] , a native of Lucca and bishop of Worcester, strongly recommended Vannes to Wolsey, and Lorenzo (afterwards cardinal) Campeggio [q. v.] ”

“ Berenson’s Madonna. Here we have, also, Vanni’s love of gold brocade in the Virgin’s under garment and in the hangings of the throne. The figure of the angel is no less characteristic. The drapery is here incontestably Vannesque in its peculiar, not over-graceful, folds. Here, again, is the clear outline, the slight modelling, and the sparing use of chiaroscuro, the same treatment of the draperies, the long hands and thin arms, as in all Vanni’s other works. ”

“ He was thin, however, and the nervous twitching of the features was more frequent than of old.
As for Vanna, what attractions she possessed had never been of the golden-haired, pink-cheeked category, and there was consequently little change visible at a casual glance. She was prettily dressed in a soft blue gown, and the stag-like setting of the head, the arched black brows, and the delicate oval of the face were untouched. Love and work had filled her life, and her expression was both sweet and strong ”

“ Vanna’s sense of justice pointed out that it was not reasonable to expect a few months’ devotion to eclipse the association of a lifetime; but though reason may convince the brain, it leaves the heart untouched.
Jean had Robert; Miggles had a whole family of adopted children; Mrs Rendall had her son; Piers had—a sharp stab of pain penetrated through the dull misery of her mood, a stab which had pierced her at every recollection of Jean’s light words—“Always at the Van Dusens’—such a pretty daughter—I believe he is in love.” ”

“ Oh, you look so fresh, and happy, and well! You are like a breath of sea air. I’ve been stifling for months in this stuffy room, with not even a tree to look at, to remind me that it’s spring.” She threw an impatient glance at the stained-glass window which had made such a deep hole in Robert’s purse. “Robert goes out at nine, and gets home at seven. Oh, my dear, such days! I’ve had such a dose of my own society that I’m sickened. If there’s a person on earth I detest at this moment, it’s Jean Gloucester.”
Vanna smiled whimsically. ”

“ At her feet in front of the old brass fender lay Robert’s dippers waiting his return, but Jean had no thought of any of these things. She had an air of snatching the moment’s leisure, as something precious which should not be wasted, and her eyes showed a dreamy indifference to the children’s sallies—an abstraction which, with juvenile sharpness, they were quick to note. Vanna was a newcomer, and could always be counted on as an interested audience; but no normal child can be satisfied for long if there remains one person in the room who is not paying the due meed of attention. ”

“ He wondered if the Maharajah of Indorwana had given it to her, if she would have accepted such a gift from the brown man; and the thought seemed to take colour in his brain, as if it were a bright scarlet spot which grew larger and redder, spreading behind his eyes till he could see nothing else.
Vanno had told himself many times that he must not draw too near this girl; that for the sake of love's nobility, for the sake of his respect for womanhood sacred in her and in all women, he must not draw near unless her soul were a star behind the eyes that were like stars. ”

“ She was that rare thing, a voluntary worker on whom one might depend for regular, systematic service; and in her work she found her best and sweetest comfort.
Jean’s old epithet, “Consolation Female,” was truly descriptive of Vanna in these first years of her sorrow; but as time passed by, and the inevitable healing began to make itself felt, there came moments of restlessness and rebellion—moments when a life of philanthropy no longer satisfied, when the inner Ego awoke, and clamoured for recognition. ”

“ And somehow, perhaps from the brilliancy of the morning, and the delicious nature of the pure soft air, the lads’ spirits grew higher, and they had to work hard to keep their attention to the object they had in view, for nature seemed to be laying endless traps for them, especially for Macey, who certainly felt Vane’s disappearance most at heart, but was continually forgetting him on coming face to face with something fresh. ”

“ Vanna shivered, but she held herself erect, and took no heed of the hand held out towards her. She looked round the beautiful, luxurious room, at the glowing stained-glass window, which shut out the grey aspect of the outer world, and as she did so, bitterness arose. Once more the knife-edged question cleft her heart. Why should the ugliness of life be turned into colour and beauty for one traveller, while the other might not even take to herself a crumb of life’s feast without reproach and misgiving? A moment before she had craved for Jean’s sympathy ”

“ She must rejoice over his happiness, and pray for its coming. Why not? It was no loss to her. She herself might never marry. Piers Rendall could be nothing to her. Vanna threw back her head and burst into a peal of high, unnatural laughter. The children playing on the rocks glanced up in amaze, and stood staring at the strange spectacle of “The Cottage Lady” laughing all to herself, and Vanna laughed on and on, with ever harder, higher notes. Piers could be nothing to her. No, nothing! nothing but life, and sun, and air, and food, and raiment, and hope, and comfort. ”

“ Jean said little. In her own hour of blackness she had discovered the futility of words, but in a hundred quiet, exquisitely tactful ways she forced upon Vanna the importance of what remained: of the place which she occupied in so many lives; of her own love and need.
“You will never know what you have been to me, Vanna! I have often wanted to tell you; but it isn’t easy to speak of these things. I think after one has married and settled down, one needs a woman friend more than ever. There is so much that even the best and tenderest of men can’t understand. ”