East of Paris: Sketches in the Gâtinais, Bourbonnais, and ChampagneBetham-Edwards, Matilda
General
East of Paris: Sketches in the Gâtinais, Bourbonnais, and Champagne
Betham-Edwards, Matilda
France -- Description and travel
All these things may be glanced at in an hour, but in order to enjoy
Nancy thoroughly, a day or two should be devoted to it, and creature
comforts are to be had in the hotels.
In the Ducal Palace are shown the rich tapestries found in the tent of
Charles le Téméraire after his defeat before Nancy, and other relics of
that Haroun-al-Raschid of his epoch, who bivouacked off gold and silver
plate, and wore on the battle-field diamonds worth half a million. The
cenotaphs of the Dukes of Lorraine are in a little church outside
the town--the _chapelle ronde_, as the splendid little mausoleum is
designated, its imposing monuments of black marble and richly-decorated
octagonal dome, making up a solemn and beautiful whole. Graceful and
beautiful also are the monuments in the church itself, and those of
another church, des Cordeliers, close to the Ducal Palace.
Nancy is especially rich in monumental sculpture, but it is in the
cathedral that we are enchanted by the marble statues of the four
doctors of the church--St. Augustine, St. Grégoire, St. Léon, and St.
Jerome. These are the work of Nicholas Drouin, a native of the town,
and formerly ornamented a tomb in the church of the Cordeliers just
mentioned. The physiognomy, expression, and pose of St. Augustine are
well worthy of a sculptor’s closest study, but it is rather as a
whole than in detail that this exquisite statue delights the ordinary
observer.
All four sculptures are noble works of art; the beautiful, dignified
figure of St. Augustine somehow takes strongest hold of the imagination.
We would fain return to it again and again, as indeed we would fain
return to all else we have seen in the fascinating city of Nancy.
From Nancy, by way of Epinal, we may easily reach the heart of the
Vosges.
CHAPTER XX.
IN GERMANISED LORRAINE.
At the railway station of Nancy, I was met by a French family party, my
hosts to be in a château on the other side of the French frontier.
We had jogged on pleasantly enough for about half an hour, when the
gentlemen of the party, with (to me) perplexing smiles, briskly folded
their newspapers and consigned them, not to their pockets or rugs, but
to their ladies, by whom the journals were secreted in underskirts.
“We are approaching the frontier,” said Madame to me.
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