The Henson Journals

[218]

Monday, April 8th, 1929.

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Avignon

Ella read "Vanity Fair" to me before we got up. Certainly George Osborne and Amelia Sedley are very insufferable. The dramatic instinct of the novelist leads him to set out in violent contrast the two types which men & women represent in society – the selfish–silly, and the grasping–clever. Against George & Amelia are placed Dobbin and Becky. But the contrast is too extreme. No one could really tolerate either George or Amelia, and Dobbin & Becky could not be endured long. As the story proceeds Becky arrests and retains a certain admiration for her pluck and resource, and Dobbin grows more tolerable as he moves into scenes where his solid qualities are disclosed and tested. But George & Amelia grow ever more insufferable, & one rejoices when they vanish from the scene. The secondary characters – Peggy O'Dowd & Sir Pitt Crawley for instance – are much more interesting, and Lord Steyne has the value & attraction of an excellent portrait.

[220]

Avignon

The Fountain of Vaucluse springs from a cavernous opening filled with very clear green water at the foot of an immense cliff. It reminded me of Malham cove in Yorkshire, save that the stone, which was white as chalk, was not limestone. In a wet season an immense volume of water descends the gorge, but in such a dry season as this year is blessed with, the rocks are high & dry, and the water issues from numerous clefts in the cliff side. The scene is extraordinarily grand & sombre, & I do not wonder that Petrarch made it his home. Of course two hideous factories, one almost at the Fountain, the other in the centre of the village, deface and defile the scene. When will civilized communities awake to the criminal folly of allowing the greed of competitive commercialism to invade these glorious natural phenomena, which are the priceless heirlooms of mankind? There is a plain little church in Vaucluse, &, while Ella & Fearne were buying post–cards, I went into it, and said my prayers without disturbance.

[221]

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Avignon

Avignon has not fallen short of my expectations. Indeed, in some respects it has exceeded them, for I was not prepared for the imposing girdle of walls, nor did I realize how vast a pile the Papal Palace actually is. It is difficult to imagine a nobler spectacle than this mighty building presents when viewed from Villeneuve. The Hradschiu in Prague is the nearest parallel I know. A river circling a rising ground crowned by noble buildings is a scheme also provided by Durham and Windsor, and it is always extraordinarily effective. The Rhone and the Moldau are more impressive rivers than the Thames, &, of course, vastly more impressive than our little Wear: but, though the scale is so much smaller, the total effect of Durham is, perhaps, even more arresting. The grouping of such buildings as the Castle & the Cathedral, & the beautiful foreground provided by the Banks added to the horse–shoe head of the river are unparalleled. Windsor has an impressiveness of its own which makes comparison with anything else equally irrational and unpleasing.

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