i 



247 



songs There was a tradition that Clotaire, the son of Clovis, having slain 

 Gualtier, Lord of Yvet6t, before the altar of Soissons, made atonement by 

 conferring the title of king on the heirs of the murdered man. Certain .t was that 

 the land around was held free from servitude for a long time before the year 1370. 

 In 1592 the league of the Huguenots was overthrown by King Henry IV. , near 

 Yvet6t,who after the action cried out, " If I lose the Kingdom of France I am 

 assured of that of Yvet6t;" and the same king, as all the world knew, when 

 Marie de Medicis was crowned said, " I wish all honour should be shown to my 

 little King of Yvetot, according to the rank he ought to possess. The E«i 

 d'Yvetot was said to live in a thatched cottage, to ride an ass through h,s 

 dominions, and to make pleasure his only code. Beranger thus playfully 

 describes him : — 



" n etait un roi d'Yvet6t _ 

 Peu connu dans I'histoire 

 Se levant tard, se couchant tot. 

 Dormant fort bien sans gloire, 

 Et couronn^ par Jeanotton _^ 

 D'un simple bonnet de coton. 

 Oh, oh, oh, oh ! Ah, ah, ah, ah ! 

 Quel bon petit roi c'etait \\ 

 La la la la la la la la 



(laughter and applause). 



Mr Piper remarked that he particularly noticed the beautiful apple trees of 

 Normandy, their wonderful crop.s of fruit, and the large number of trees which had 

 lately been planted. For every acre of land which had been planted with fruit 

 trees in England during the last ten years, 40 acres had been planted in Normandy 

 The fruit trees in Normandy seemed to be more healthy than in England, and 

 cropped more heavily. About four miles from Rouen there was an orchard about 

 200 acres in extent. There was nothing like that in England. The cultivation of 

 the land in Normandy was exceUent. A person might see more bad farming 

 between Hereford and Worcester, passing through Ledbury, than they saw in 



their peregrinations in Normandy, which was a wonderful country, and which he 



advised them to visit (applause) .-,.,■, .u 



The Chairman congratulated the Club, Herefordshire, and England on the 



success of the labours of the deputation, to whom they were greatly indebted. He 



proposed the health of the deputation (applause). 



Dr Bull, in response, said the deputation bestowed on the matter an amount 



of zeal which could not possibly be exceeded. At the same time they enjoyed 



themselves very much. 



Mr Piper also responded, saying that although they had brought honours from 



Normandy, he should not advise the Woolhope Club to exhibit again next year. 



If the same energy had been exhibited in Normandy, where the fruit was real y 



beautiful, as had been displayed on this side of the water, they should certainly 



not have won a prize. , , .rrr ii. ni v, " 



Dr. Cooke read an amusing paper on " The Whitlings of the Woolhope Club, 

 for which he was accorded a cordial vote of thanks, and the proceedings ended. 



