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Matilda Betham-Edwards - Holidays in Eastern France
by virtue of Protestantism, no matter how imperfectly manifested, that Cuvier was enabled to pursue his
inquiries with such magnificent results? Two centuries before, he might, like Galileo, have had to choose
between martyrdom or scientific apostasy. The great Montbeliardais - whose brain weighed more than
that of any human being ever known - is represented with a pen in one hand, a scroll in the other, on
which is drawn the anatomy of the human frame. He wears the long, full frock coat of the period, its
ample folds having the effect of drapery. David d'Angers has achieved no nobler work than this statue.
The College of Montbeliard, called after its greatest citizen, was founded a few years ago, and is one of
the first objects seen on quitting the railway station of the Rue Cuvier.
English tourists do not often turn aside from the Swiss route to visit the quieter beauties of the
Department of the Doubs, and residents here regret the absence of travellers, which, of course, tells upon
the hotels. No one has a word to say in favour of anything we are likely to meet with on our journey
throughout the length or breadth of Franche Comte. When it is as much of a recreation ground with us as
Switzerland, doubtless everything will change, but nothing daunted we pursue our journey. The only way
to see this country to perfection is to hire a carriage for the day, and retain it as long as you please. The
railway does not penetrate into the most picturesque regions, and the diligence is slow and inconvenient.
Accordingly, having had an itinerary written out for us by friends who had gone over every inch of the
ground, mostly on foot, I set off with an enterprising lady, a native of these parts, for a few days' drive in
the most romantic scenery of the Doubs, southward of Montbeliard, and in the direction of Switzerland.
So well is the road marked out for us that we want neither "Joanne" nor "Murray," and we have,
moreover, procured the services of a coachman who has been familiarized with the country by thirty
years' experience. Thus far, therefore, we have nothing to desire but fine weather, which has been very
rare since my arrival; tempests, showers, and downpours being the order of the day. However, choosing
one morning of unusual promise, we start off at seven o'clock, prepared for the best or the worst; a
description of the superb pine-forests and romantic valleys of the Doubs being reserved for the next
chapter.
CHAPTER V. ST. HIPPOLYTE, MORTEAU, AND THE SWISS BORDERLAND.
I never understood, till I travelled with French friends, why hotels in France should be so bad, but the
reason is to be sought in that amiability, laisser faire, call it by what name we will, that
characteristic which distinguishes our neighbours on the other side of La Manche. We English, who
perpetually travel, growl and grumble at discomfort till, by force of persistent fault-finding, we bring
about reformation in hotels and travelling conveniences generally - whereas the French, partly from a
dislike of making themselves disagreeable, partly from the feeling that they are not likely to go over the
same ground again, leave things as they find them, to the great disadvantage of those who follow. The
French, indeed, travel so little for mere pleasure that, whenever they do so, they think it useless to make a
fuss about what seems to them a part and parcel of the journey. Thus it happens that, wherever you go off
the beaten tracks in France, you find the hotels as bad as they can well be, and your French
fellow-traveller takes the dirt, noise, and discomfort generally much as a matter of course. I am sorry that
I can say little for the hotels we found throughout our four days' drive in the most romantic scenery of the
Doubs, for the people are so amiable, obliging, and more titan moderate in their charges, that one feels
inclined to forgive anything. Truth must be told, however, and so, for once, I will only add that the tourist
must here be prepared for the worst in the matter of accommodation, whilst too much praise cannot be
accorded to the general desire to please, and absolute incapacity of these good people to impose on the
stranger.
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