The road was enlivened by groups of peasant girls, in
their bright crimson dresses and tall caps; and I found all the flower
of the neighbourhood assembled on the green that crowns the summit of
the hill.
The chapel of Notre Dame de Grace is a favourite resort of the
inhabitants of Honfleur and its vicinity, both for pleasure and
devotion. At this little chapel prayers are put up by the mariners of
the port previous to their voyages, and by their friends during their
absence; and votive offerings are hung about its walls, in fulfilment
of vows made during times of shipwreck and disaster. The chapel is
surrounded by trees. Over the portal is an image of the Virgin and
child, with an inscription which struck me as being quite poetical:
"Etoile de la mer, priez pour nous!"
(Star of the sea, pray for us.)
On a level spot near the chapel, under a grove of noble trees, the
populace dance on fine summer evenings; and here are held frequent
fairs and fetes, which assemble all the rustic beauty of the loveliest
parts of Lower Normandy. The present was an occasion of the kind.
Booths and tents were erected among the trees; there were the usual
displays of finery to tempt the rural coquette, and of wonderful shows
to entice the curious; mountebanks were exerting their eloquence;
jugglers and fortune-tellers astonishing the credulous; while whole
rows of grotesque saints, in wood and wax-work, were offered for the
purchase of the pious.
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