19. MONT BLANC REFLECTING THE SUNSET GLOW 155 20. EVIAN LES BAINS ON LAKE GENEVA 158 21. THE CHAPEL ON THE BRIDGE OF ST. BENEZET, AVIGNON 162 22. CAP MARTIN NEAR MENTONE 164 23. THE CHATEAU OF CHENONCEAUX 168 24. ST. MALO FROM ST. SERVAN 171 25. MONTE CARLO AND MONACO FROM THE EAST 174 26. MONT ST. MICHEL AT HIGH TIDE 177 27. THE VEGETABLE MARKET, NICE 187 28. THE PYRENEES FROM NEAR PAMIERS 190 29. THE GALERIE DES GLACES AT VERSAILLES 192 30. THE ROMAN TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT ORANGE 194 31. FRENCH DESTROYERS 200 32. SOLDIERS OF FRANCE IN PARIS 208 _SKETCH MAP OF FRANCE ON PAGE 212._ FRANCE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The more one knows of France and the French at first hand, and the more one reads the ideas and opinions of other people concerning this great people, so does one feel less and less able to write down any definite statements about the country or its inhabitants. Whatever conviction one possesses on any aspect of their characteristics is sure to be shaken by the latest writer, be he a native or a foreigner. Every fresh sojourn in the country upsets all one's previous ideas in the most baffling fashion. One used to think the Parisian _cocher_ a bad driver, and then discovers a writer who eulogises his skill. When he knocks over pedestrians, says this writer, he does so because his whole life is given up to a perpetual state of warfare with the public, from whom he gains his livelihood. This point of view being new to one, it takes a little time before it can be safely rejected or accepted, and before this process is completed a man of most decided views, and possessed of a wide knowledge of France and the French, comes along with the statement that no Frenchman can drive. He supports it with a dozen good reasons, and leaves one with a bias towards earlier convictions. It used to be axiomatic, platitudinous, that Frenchwomen dressed better than Englishwomen. People whose knowledge of France is, say, ten, perhaps fewer, years out of date would accept this without a thought, and yet one is inclined to think that the Frenchwoman's pre-eminence has gone. No doubt all that is truly _chic_, all that is essentially dainty in feminine attire, emanates from the brain of the Parisian, but the women of the French capital no longer have any monopoly in the wearing of clothes that give charm to the wearer.