THE BRETONS AT HOME.*
Mlle. Gosmurra's recent book on Brittany and the Bretons is one of the best that have been published in English. The fascination of her subject is nothing new for her ; she has caught the spirit of M. Anatole Le Braz, of whose delightful Pays des Pardons she was the successful translator. In the introduction he has written to this volume of hers M. Le Braz bears testimony to her real love and complete under- standing of Brittany and the. Bretons. He witnesses strongly to the fact that his land must be loved to be understood; that, once loved as Mrs. Goading has learnt to love her, her shy mystery vanishes and she gives herself with frankness to a sympathetic friend.
Many visitors and many writers and artists have been, and always will be, attracted to the wonderful old province, whose people, it seems, on their part feel a strong and secret drawing to " la grande ile Bretonne d'outre-mer." Many books have been written and pictures painted and ideas carried away; but yet it is rare, and always will be, to find any one to whom Brittany is really so familiar as it is to Mrs. Gostling. Though the personal note is of course stronger, her book often reminds us of one which made Brittany dear to our own young days, Les Derniers Bretons of Emile Souvestre. She gives, as he did, the feeling of the country; its wild desolate- ness, its silence, which yet tells such an endless screed of old romance ; the extraordinary depth of pagan religion which not only possessed the minds of the people in the past, but still lies at the root of their ancient Christianity.
- We English are often a little inconsistent. The clergy in Brittany have been blamed over and over again for accepting, and even encouraging, the superstitions of their extraordinary people. Now it seems that the service of the Benediction of the Beasts at Carnac has ceased to be held, and we find Mrs. Goading "wondering whether the Church has done wisely in refusing to sanction any longer the ancient recognition accorded by the older religion of the rights and needs of beasts." We can understand the regret of dilettante or antiquarian, to whom an " older religion " matters most, at the vanishing of the picturesque ceremony. But from another point of view—that of the moral and reasonable welfare of the people—there can surely be no question that the Church's action is both wise and right.
This modern pilgrimage through. Brittany was easy and pleasant, country carts and omnibuses being replaced by a delightful automobile. Mrs. Gostling admits that "the pace is somewhat too rapid for such an old-fashioned and interest- ing country." We. have no right to complain, for she sees more and tells ns more. But what strikes us a little sadly —not entirely because of the automobile—is that Brittany * The Bretons at Ham.. By Frances M. Goatling. With an Introduction by Anatole Le Braz. Illustrated. London : Methuen and Co. [10e. 64. net.]
becomes ever more of an archaeological playground, her history a conglomeration of literary legends, her religion a discredited spectacle. It must be so ; and it is the work of her own children. Small blame to the accomplished writer, Rnglish or American, who knows how to take advantage of all that they have done.
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