TALBOT1598

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 mount^ns 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.

Y^r 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 Esq^r
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
England