House of Duguay-Trouin, St. Malo
St. Malo, besides its stock sights of romance and history situated within the city itself, has a literary shrine of the first rank in the island of Grand Bé just offshore. Here is the tomb of Chateaubriand, ambassador, minister, journalist, and author. One need not inscribe the dates and titles of his works here; it is enough to mention his name. Suffice to recall that, as a conclusion to his labours, he wrote the “Mémoires d’Outre-Tomb,” which, like the simple, rough-hewn cross which crowns the summit of Grand Bé, is a fitting monument to the genius of the man whose theories, it is to be feared, have now become somewhat out of date.
Chateaubriand’s verses on his native land give an ample proof of his love for her, and, moreover, so well express the regard which nearly every one has for the Emerald Coast, that it is certainly pardonable to quote them here:
“MON PAYS
“Combien j’ai douce souvenance
Du joli lieu de ma naissance!
Ma sœur, qu’ils étaient beaux, les jours
De France!
O mon pays, sois mes amours,
Toujours!
“Te souvient-il que notre mère,
Au foyer de notre chaumière,
Nous pressait sur son cœur joyeux,
Ma chère,
Et nous baisions ses blancs cheveux
Tous deux?