,IIELL'Ai WAYSIDE rIcrtrans.* AT various times in his Continental tripe,
Mr. Bell has quitted the beaten tracks of tourists, and the capitals where such birds of passage chiefly congregate, for the old provincial towns of Normandy, Brittany, and Belgium, and the backward districts and primitive people which surround them. In these excursions he has travelled like a citizen of the world, or a pilgrim of olden time, by the readiest means that offered. Now he makes his way on foot, now on horseback, anon the lumbering diligence of the country receives him, and finally he shoots along by steam, both on laud and water, save when the shallow Loire renders even steam a "slow coach." His conduct on these occasions seems to have been that of a man of the world; mingling freely with the peasantry, getting introductions to the respectable people of the towns, and mixing with the best society of the place. He also carried with him the qualities and tact of the litterateur. He has a competent knowledge of the history of the enuntries ; an acquaintance with the stories or legends attached to particular places ; a trained eye for observing the characteristics of men and the beauties of nature; and he knows what topics to inquire after as regards the wants or views of the tourist or the settler for economy.
'The matter thus collected Mr. Bell can present well and pleasantly. Without losing sight of that continuity which is necessary in a tour that may serve as a guide for succeeding travellers, he disposes his subjects in groups or masses. A journey is a distinct chapter ; the place reached at its conclusion forms another ; the historical persons, the more remarkable buildings, and the stories connected with both, appear in a separate sec- tion, or, where the subject is worth it, take one to themselves, as do the popular peculiarities of a district. Thus the work has at once the ad- vantage of a continuous narrative and a series of distinct papers that may be read at leisure.
It is not only in the plan that Wayside Pictures excels the gene- rality of books of this kind. In addition to a fluent style, and a good deal of animation, (sometimes a little forced,) Mr. Bell has the faculty of independent judgment : he forms his opinions for himself; and does not who a common cry or what is worse a common cant. Unlike many aids competitors in search of the picturesque, he knows when to stop, whether in describing a scene or telling a story. He avoids serving up the ma- terials of the guide-book or the topography. When he meddles with tale or legend, he condenses its details into a spirited story ; if he handles his- tory, it is with knowledge, grasp, and original reflection.
There are a good many sketches of the English economizing in France, most of whom the Revolution has now scattered ; and some discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of emigration. The fact is, that aettlement on the Continent under the plea of economy is mostly wrong, even on the grounds generally brought forward—a large family, and the cheapness of living and education. A virtuoso may have special ob- jects of research, which are beat pursued at a particular place; a • Wayside Pictures through France, Belgium, and Holland. By Robert Heil, Author of " The Life of Canning," Sw. Published by Bentley* bachelor, or " a married couple" without children, owe nothing to society, and may sit down where they can fare best at the least cost, or where they can best indulge their own taste and luxury. The case of a family is different, unless the children are to become naturalized foreigners. Whatever connexions a man may have are surely weakened by emigration. If his acquaintance is not desir- able, (which where people emigrate for economy is generally the ca) he gives his friends an opportunity for dropping him, and loses what- ever social means he possessed for advancing his children. The cast of thought and the manner of appreciating things are all very different in a French provincial town from what young people are " ex. pected " to show in England ; and youth brought up under such circum- stances are leas fitted for social or active life than if they had remained at home. Thi style of living, the very luxuries for which their pareote emigrated, will be lost to them at the time when they will feel their loss the most.. Instead of a regard for the family, it is mostly a selfish regard for themselves which-induces people to settle in cheap places on the Continent. If a man with children cannot maintain his status in cheap . places at home, he should go to the Coloniea and exert himself. Yet, except in material benefits, how little is really gained by the expatriated! This is one of Mr. Bell's pictures of a whilom cheap place in France. " Although Dinan presents many temptations to the English settler in the way of scenery and economy, it is not a very agreeable residence in other respects. It is one of the dullest spots in the world for people of pleasure, and quite as dreary for people whose enjoyment lies in art or literature. It has no theatre, no eafts, no billiards—none of the usual escapes for idlers which you -find in most Conti- nental towns; and its little circulating library, surprisingly well-stocked for such a place, is nevertheless a miserable resource for any one already tolerably accom- plished in books. In fact, if you want a book out of the ordinary routine, you must issue a special order for it, and wait at least ten days or a fortnight before you can get it; for the librarian must send to his correspondent in Paris, who must find out the publisher, and, as the traffic which the said correspondent car- ries on with Dinan is too languid to inspire him with much activity, yen may be quite sure he will not put himself to much trouble for the sake of expediting the commission.
"The only alternative left is society: you find this out very soon in Dinan. Society is really the essential thing here; and here, as in all small communities, society (pleasant enough in its shat-up coteries) is convulsed by scandal. The English are not satisfied to be preyed upon by the cupidity which their own foolish ostentation creates about them, but they must turn round and prey upon each other. While you are yet fresh in these porcupine circles, you will be stunned by mysterious hints and inuendoes, and kindly warnings against all the people yen meet, one after another; so that, if you credit only the half of what you hear, you will be compelled to arrive at some very uncomfortable conclusions. But you get used to this in time, and begin at last to understand that the goodnatured friend who admonishes you is as bad as his neighbour. "The state of society amongst a handful of English in an inland French town is not more striking than that of their relations with the native inhabitants. Their national peculiarities, independently of other considerations, are not calcu- lated to render them very popular. All -the class prejudices of home are trans- planted in complete flower into these little settlements—you have the family pride, the social distinctions, the bauteur, the cold mannerism the struggling pomp, and unbending stiffness, in full efflorescence. Five bunch:eh a year in such -places Dinan performs the aristocratic rale-of high blood and thousands at home. All this is felt keenly by the French. Our insensibility perplexes them; our habitual disrelish for free intercourse wounds their vanity; they cannot com- prehend our incapacity for adaptation; they wonder at our formality and frigidity; they frequently pity us, occasionally despise us and sometimes hate us. There are other points in our associations with them which touch them still more vexa- tiously. We bring up the price of provisions, and accuse them of cheating us."
Some of the most interesting sketches of the French people relate to their superstitions ; which are as rife as ever in Brittany.
"It is a generally received belief that two crows attend upon every house. When the head of a family is dying, the ominous birds perch on the roof, and commence their dismal screaming, which never ceases till the body is carried out; whereupon the birds vanish and are never seen again. The approach of death, heralded by numerous signs, is connected in one locality with a remarkable super- stition. Between Quimper and Chateaulin, strange-looking men are occasionally encountered on the highways, habited in white linen, with long straggling hair and coal-black beards, armed with heavy sticks, and carrying dingy wallets slung over their shoulders. Their aspect is in the last degree dark and sinister. In the night-time they take the least frequented routes. They never sing while they are walking, nor speak to anybody they meet, nor put their hands to their slouched hats with that politeness which is so general in Brittany. Sometimes they are accompanied by large fawn-coloured dogs. The customhouse-officers tell you that these fellows are smugglers, who go about the country with salt and tobacco; but the peasantry, who know better, assert that they are &omens, whose dreadful business it is to conduct doomed souls into the next world. Wherever there is a person at the point of death, they may be seen .prowling about the house like hungry wolves. If the guardian angel of the dying man, summoned by repeated prayers, do not arrive in time, the white man pounces on the deathbed at the last gasp, seizes the departing soul, crams it into his wallet, and carries it off to the marshes of St. Michel, into which he flings it, and where it must remain until it is delivered by vows and masses.
"The belief common to all Catholic countries, that the souls of men who died without the benefits of absolution are wandering about in excruciating misery supplicating for intercession, is varied in different localities according to circum- stances. There is a deeolate plain between Auray and Pluviguer, a mournful stretch of uncultivated ground, formerly the scene of a sanguinary conflict be- tween the houses of Blots and Montfort. Many hundred soldiers fell in the battle; and remains of armour and mouldering bones have frequently been turned up
there. The tradition runs, that the souls of these poor fellows, still compelled to haunt the dust they once inhabited, rise from the ground at a certain hour every night, and ran the whole length of the funereal field. The moaning of the winds over this exposed surface is regarded as the expression of the anguish of the =- shrived spirits, entreating for masses. The worst of it is that they are con- demned to undergo this hopeless nightly exercise until Doomsday, and to galloP on in a straight line, no matter what obstacles they may encounter. Wo to the traveller who falls in with one of these unhappy ghosts. The touch is death."
The volume has an abundance of graphic wood-cuts, which illustrate the descriptions in a very agreeable way, and are frequently of value for
themselves. In fact, Wayside Pictures is a capital guide-book, for those who conceive that matters are now settled in France, and wish to under- take a newer tour than Paris will furnish. It is also a very agreeable and informing book of travelling sketches, for those who prefer remaining at home.
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