Dear Henry
I have arrived thus far having avoided your favorite Peronne road by going to Cambrai which is longer but better – between Laon & Chalons the road is execrable they are mending it piecemeal by paving here & there – I did not see there was a castle in Laon till I looked back at 3 miles off – is there much in it? The Cathedral at Rheims I think in the very first class of Gothic Architecture it far exceeded my ideas of it – What fine painted glass! & how simple the architecture! They are restoring the outside in good taste. The inside bad enough. What an ugly country in general Lorraine is – I have traversed near 100 miles of it & think it one of the dullest provinces in France & it does not appear rich. The houses are much more Italian in appearance than in Champagne or Alsace – The country certainly contrasts with these. Nancy is a very fine town – & Bar le duc (which has resumed its title, for it was Bar sur Ornain in 1814) a picturesque one – that is all – They seem to have most beautiful stone everywhere the cottages are built of blocks that would be worthy of a palace but is odd < that? <1>> there is no old building – now in our stony counties every village contains a few houses 1 or 2 00 <sic> years old – Were the houses of wood at that time in France? & if so in Lorraine how is it they do not remain as in Champagne & Alsace where there are some of an immense age. Noyon for example has quite the look of a Carlovingian town. This may be of Louis le débonnair. Near Nancy I went to see the Church or as the people call it the Cathedral of S. Nicolas in a village on the road to Lunéville – there was nobody to shew it so I am ignorant of its history – The Portail <2> is very handsome –& so has is the interior – very lofty with old curious painted glass. The transepts which are short are divided like the antechapels at Oxford – which I never saw elsewhere & supported by singularly light pillars – The Absis <3> is of long narrow lancet windows from the roof to the floor & full of paint<ed> <4> glass. The side chapels are of double arches either supported by pillars or finished with a pendant – it is odd I saw no arms of Lorraine or Bar or any known family – if ever you go that way see it – as it is on the road. The whole is of Bath coloured stone & without paint or daub except one chapel. At Nancy the hotel royal good & cheap a rare coincidence One is also very well at S. Diey in the Vosges where I slept last night – I passed the mountns this morning by the pass of the Bonhomme. They say the view is fine in clear weather particularly from La Roche-Bacon, a corruption I take it of Rosbach – being on the side of Alsace which is much the finest The Lorraine side must be very high – from the descent to the Rhine which is so much longer than the ascent at S. Diey they said there were no vines for 5 or 6 leagues round for the cold – on the descent to Colmar there is a pretty valley with a rushing stream & green meads & woods of oak, walnut, beech & chesnuts <sic> the most northern I ever saw, & a distant view of the Rhine & a Tower or two well placed – which contrast with the dense Masses of silver fir which is all you see on the other. In spring I daresay you might find some plants – I saw what I am sure must have been Rubus saxatilis, which indicates a cool climate & alyssum incanum. In Champagne I began to see Eryngium campestre. Pray plant all about Lacock plums chestnuts walnuts cherry & peartrees I do not see why they should not do as well there as in Lorraine – In England people seem afraid of planting too many fruit trees as if one took away the others sun – which is absurd – & need not be refuted. This inn has but a German cook the last French was at S. Diey – which I recommend you. I met a Soldier on the Bonhomme just come from Spain he said every Spaniard wore a stiletto – & no one could walk alone for fear of those brigands.
Let me know what sea you go to – & what new discoveries you make.
Yr Aff
W F S
I am delighted with Moores <5> Epicurean <6> – I only quarrel with his botany – he seems to confound the two sorts of Lotus & the Acacia of Egypt would give little shade being the gum arabic tree which you know.Henry F. Talbot Esqr
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
England
Notes:
1. Text obscured by blot.
2. Portal meaning the carved stone archway around the west door.
3. Apse.
4. Text written off the edge of page.
5. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet.
6. Thomas Moore, The Epicurean (London: 1827).