T. E. Lawrence to his mother

Cussy-les-Forges

23 July 1908. Thursday evening

Dear Mother

I am beginning a letter to you tonight, which I may not be able to finish at this sitting, but you'll get it in the end. I had better begin at the place where Will left me. The roads were bad to Winchester, gritty, but quite supportable: in some extraordinary way I took the wrong turn at Whitchurch, and found myself at Andover. As a result I had to go on from Winchester by train, to catch which I had to wait an hour; fortunately there was a Socialist meeting. The passage was fairly rough, and there were many "accidents" down below. The boat was full, but as the decks were deserted that did not concern me. We got into Havre about 8, and I left at once for Rouen, by our old road along the Seine, through Lillebonne. They were going to perform Brittanicus in the Roman Theatre on the Sunday! I would have liked to have heard that. At Rouen I sent you a p.c. and left for Les Andelys which I reached about 6.30. The place was as charming as ever, and the English had not yet arrived in their scores. I made a plan of the cellars next morning, and in the afternoon rode to Gisors. Next morning I mended punctures, and made a really superb plan of the castle keep (xii Cent.) on paper like this counting one long side of the oblong as 5 feet. It is not a bad idea I fancy. Leaving Gisors about 1 o'clock I made for Beauvais, but what with head wind, and most furious storms of rain and hail I had enough of it in an hour, and turned due east, reaching Compiègne late. There I discovered a good and cheap hotel, and stayed over Sunday. Next morning I had a great treat, in the shape of a ride through the old royal forest to Pierrefonds, of which doubtless you got a p.p.c. As you can see it is a considerable fortress (xv Cent.), but you cannot tell that inside: there is not the least sign of anything of the sort. One finds only a Renaissance palace, covered with the richest carving (statues of Caesar, Charlemagne, Viollet-le-duc etc.) and with a series of the most grotesque gargoyles I ever came across. I sent you a dragon today:- he is in reality about 15 feet high, and everything is on a like scale. There are galleries, and magnificent flamboyant windows. Napoleon III handed the Chateau over to Viollet-le-duc to restore, and he has left it as he thought Louis D’Orleans would have liked. Although a little too late to please me, it was most interesting. I arrived at an unearthly early hour, and so had the privilege of being led over it alone. Some of the rooms (decorated in the old style) are very handsome. From Pierrefonds I bumped over execrable roads to Coucy. this was better even than Pierrefonds:- for one thing, it is xiii cent. - another its keep is 200 odd feet high (it used to be vaulted, when it must have been over-powering: the revolutionaries wanted to destroy it, so they exploded half a ton of powder in the basement. The tower didn’t break (walls 20-30 feet thick) but it acted like a barrel of a gun, and sent the vaults into Mars and Jupiter) - and there are splendid remains of 4 other towers, a great hall with two tiers of cellars beneath, and domestic buildings:- besides the town has almost complete walls around it. On the whole I made a note of Coucy as a glorious place.

From Coucy I (on Tuesday) went to Provins, near Paris. This has a most puzzling xii cent. keep, and remains of town walls. I was in and around them for hours, and came to the conclusion that the architect was making experiments when he built them. On the walls is a square tower turned inside out and cut in half: the keep would have been almost incapable of defence, and yet in spirit it is half a century ahead of its time. It ranks with Ch. Gaillard in importance for my thesis. From Provins I road through Troyes to a little place near Bar-sur-Seine. There I gave out late, and today started at 1 p.m. and rode to Montbard (an interesting tower) and thence here, which is a tiny village about 15 miles from Vézélay "the grandest Norman church in Europe" (or outside it I presume) the guide-books all sing in chorus. I'll let you know tomorrow about that. I hope to reach Le Puy just about as I said and Carcassonne also: further I cannot yet say, for a tourist (French) whom I met said there were 2 inches of dust in Lanquedoc on the roads just now. For myself I'm riding very strongly, and feel very fit, on my diet of bread, milk and fruit (peaches (best) 3 a 1d.: apricots 5 or 6 a 1d. if very special; cherries don't count - I wish you were here; but no apples or pears or plums). I begin on 2 pints of milk and bread, and supplement with fruit to taste till evening, when more solid stuff is consumed: one eats a lot when riding for a week on end at any pace. My day begins early ('tis fearfully hot at mid-day) there is usually a château to work at from 12-2, and then hotel at 7 or 8. I have no time for sight-seeing: indeed sometimes I wonder if my thesis is to be written this Nov. or next, I find myself composing pages and phrases as I ride. The roads have been almost uniformly bad, but the hills all rideable. My back tyre is in a bad way: I failed to repair it with bands etc. so changed it to the front, (couldn't get a new one, though I tried hard at Troyes), filled all the holes full of cement, and rode this afternoon on it with some success: still it has run away with a fortune in repair bands already, not to mention stopping and solution. Otherwise nothing is lacking in my equipment. The country hereabouts is idyllic. Besides my cherry-trees (which it appears are a feature of Champagne, not Burgundy) there are quantities of wood, and rivers. All is very green, except the crops which are only now being cut (harvest late this year they say - too wet). The carts are pulled usually by oxen, of a bilious white colour (rather amusing to see six great solemn beasts pulling a little load of straw), and the high roads are infested with dogs, whose duty it is to bark at all tourists, above all motorists, and people in knickers. I don't think there is anything more to tell. I expect you will be crossing to Jersey tomorrow (Friday): if it's like today you will feel as if you're crossing a mill-pond on a "primus" cooking stove: which reminds me of Will afloat on his walnut-shell with Henry & Co. I wonder if they will be congenial companions? Frank has doubtless secured his 1st on the excellence of his Westward Ho paper ("Eastwood Ho" is all my cry), and Arnie has engaged a seat in Form No. 1 of the O.H.S. Let him carry on our tradition: "no games." As for yourself and Father don't be anxious about me: if my tyre does sob out its life prematurely I'll buy or hire a French wheel and tyre. If anything else happens I'll do my best to mend it, and I'm fairly handy. Money I have sufficient for present purposes (your notes are as you placed them) though it does go apace, and goodness knows where: I believe it's these great dinners in the evening. Will you if you write to Carcassonne tell me what is happening in Turkey: the rubbish here that they call newspapers say one day that movements are taking place among the people, and a revolution is taking place, or that all is calm, and the sultan drank tea as usual at 6 o’clock on the terrace: I see today he's proclaimed a constitution and his intention to withdraw it: do let me have some solid fact if there is anything in it: it might well be important.

Closing time. TA TA

Ned