The high altar of Binic church was bought with funds contributed as a result of the Sunday fishing on the Newfoundland banks. It can, therefore, be said to have a real reason for being, and, as it is an unusually ornate affair, one infers that the Sunday haul must be of goodly proportions.
From St. Brieuc eastward, until one actually comes within the confines of that delectable land known as the Emerald Coast,—the summer rival of that winter paradise, the Blue Coast,—is a verdant land of crops and cultures which would quite change the opinions of any who thought Brittany a sterile, rock-bound land, where nothing could grow but onions and new potatoes.
Lamballe is a sort of a faint shadow of St. Brieuc. It was founded in feudal times, and from 1134 to 1420 was the capital of the county of Penthièvre. As late as the eighteenth century, the oldest son of the Duc de Penthièvre bore the title of Prince of Lamballe.
The town is divided into the upper and lower towns. In the latter are found those old settlers of ducal times, the houses of wood and stone still standing to delight the eye of the artist and to arouse the wonder of the general tourist.
There is a fine Gothic Church of Our Lady, its foundations cut in the very rock itself, and bearing, from more than one point of view, the aspect of a fortified edifice, which has a battlemented roof that is nothing if not an indication that the church of Dol was a truly militant edifice. As the chapel of the old château, this church grew up from a foundation of St. William Pinchon, Bishop of St. Brieuc in 1220.
St. Martin’s is the church of an ancient priory belonging to the parent house of Marmoutier. It was founded in 1083 by Geoffrey I., Count of Lamballe. Its primitive nave shows a remarkable series of horseshoe arches, and in every way, not excepting the great sixteenth-century towers, St. Martin’s is quite the most interesting architectural monument of Lamballe.
North of Lamballe lies Val André. A charming watering-place much frequented by families, is the way the all-powerful Western Railway advertises this little seaside beach and its attractions, with the added few lines to the effect that there is a large hotel with a casino, regattas, nautical celebrations, concerts, etc., which are supposed to amuse the fastidious summer visitors.
It is all very delightful, particularly as the coast-line near by is charming of itself, but Val André, with all its attractions, has not half the charm of the little fishing port of Binic on the opposite shore of the Bay of St. Brieuc.
CHAPTER IX.
THE EMERALD COAST
THE Emerald Coast is the passion chiefly of those who come to live during the three summer months of rustication, but the sister cities of St. Servan, Paramé and St. Malo, Dinard and Dinan, are lovely spots and attractive of themselves, were one forced to camp out on one of the barren, jagged rocks with which the coast hereabouts is strewn, instead of living at the Hotel of France and Chateaubriand, which encloses the ancient maison of Chateaubriand, at St. Malo. Starting thence, one explores the wonderful country round about, and nourishes himself and makes himself comfortable with all the modern refinements. This hotel is about the only modern thing in St. Malo, however, for, while highly interesting to the antiquary or to the student of architecture or of art, it is commonly thought to be a vile, dirty hole, with a few shops convenient for the inhabitants of the more aristocratic suburbs of Paramé and St. Servan.