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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. I. (of
+2), by Dawson Turner
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. I. (of 2)
+
+Author: Dawson Turner
+
+Release Date: June 6, 2004 [EBook #12537]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. I. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Carlo Traverso, David Cavanagh and  Distributed
+Proofreaders Europe, http://dp.rastko.net.  This file was produced
+from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale
+de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr.
+
+
+
+
+
+ACCOUNT OF A TOUR IN NORMANDY Volume I
+
+by Dawson Turner
+
+LETTERS FROM NORMANDY
+
+ADDRESSED
+TO THE REV. JAMES LAYTON, B.A.
+OF
+CATFIELD, NORFOLK.
+
+UNDERTAKEN CHIEFLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATING THE ARCHITECTURAL
+ANTIQUITIES OF THE DUCHY, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ITS HISTORY, ON THE
+COUNTRY, AND ON ITS INHABITANTS.
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
+
+VOL. I.
+
+LONDON: 1820.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The observations which form the basis of the following letters, were
+collected during three successive tours in Normandy, in the summers of
+1815, 1818, and 1819; but chiefly in the second of these years. Where I
+have not depended upon my own remarks, I have endeavored, as far as
+appeared practicable and without tedious minuteness, to quote my
+authorities for facts; and I believe that I have done so in most
+instances, except indeed where I have borrowed from the journals of the
+companions of my tours,--the nearest and dearest of my connections,--or
+from that of my friend, Mr. Cohen, who, at almost the same time,
+travelled through a great part of Normandy, pursuing also very similar
+objects of inquiry. The materials obtained from these sources, it has
+been impossible to separate from my own; and, interwoven as they are
+with the rest of the text, it is only in my power to acknowledge, in
+these general terms, the assistance which I have thus received.--We were
+proceeding in 1818, to the southern and western districts of Normandy,
+when a domestic calamity compelled me to return to England. The tour was
+consequently abridged, and many places of note remained unvisited by us.
+
+My narrative is principally addressed to those readers who find pleasure
+in the investigation of architectural antiquity. Without the slightest
+pretensions to the character either of an architect or of an
+antiquarian, engaged in other avocations and employed in other studies,
+I am but too conscious of my inability to do justice to the subject. Yet
+my remarks may at least assist the future traveller, by pointing out
+such objects as are interesting, either on account of their antiquity or
+their architectural worth. This information is not to be obtained from
+the French, who have habitually neglected the investigation of their
+national monuments. I doubt, however, whether I should have ventured
+upon publication, if those who have always accompanied me both at home
+and abroad, had not produced the illustrations which constitute the
+principal value of my volumes. Of the merits of these illustrations I
+must not be allowed to speak; but it may be permitted me to observe,
+that the fine arts afford the only mode of exerting the talents of
+woman, which does not violate the spirit of the precept which the
+greatest historian of antiquity has ascribed to the greatest of her
+heroes--
+
+[English. Greek in Original] "Great will be your glory in not falling
+short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least
+talked of among the men whether for good or for bad." Thucydides'
+Historiae. (Book 2, Chapter 45, Paragraph 2, Verses 3-5.)
+
+DAWSON TURNER.
+
+YARMOUTH, _13th August_1820.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+LETTER I.
+
+Arrival at Dieppe--Situation and Appearance of the Town--Costume of the
+People--Inhabitants of the Suburb of Pollet.
+
+LETTER II.
+
+Dieppe--Castle--Churches--History of the Place--Feast of the Assumption.
+
+LETTER III. Caesars Camp--Castle of Arques.
+
+LETTER IV.
+
+Journey from Dieppe to Rouen--Priory of Longueville--Rouen-Bridge of
+Boats--Costume of the Inhabitants.
+
+LETTER V.
+
+Journey to Havre--Pays de Caux--St. Vallery--Fecamp--The precious
+Blood--The Abbey--Tombs in it--Moutivilliers--Harfleur.
+
+LETTER VI.
+
+Havre--Trade and History of the Town--Eminent Men--Bolbec--Yvetot--Ride
+to Rouen--French Beggars.
+
+LETTER VII.
+
+On the State of Affairs in France.
+
+LETTER VIII.
+
+Military Antiquities--Le Vieux Chateau--Original Palace of the Norman
+Dukes--Halles of Rouen--Miracle and Privilege of St. Romain--Chateau du
+Vieux Palais--Petit Chateau--Fort on Mont Ste. Catherine--Priory
+there--Chapel of St. Michael--Devotee.
+
+LETTER IX.
+
+Ancient Ecclesiastical Architecture--Churches of St. Paul and St.
+Gervais--Hospital of St. Julien--Churches of Lery, Pavilly, and
+Yainville.
+
+LETTER X.
+
+Early Pointed Architecture--Cathedral--Episcopal Palace.
+
+LETTER XI.
+
+Pointed Ecclesiastical Architecture--Churches of St. Ouen, St. Maclou,
+St. Patrice, and St. Godard.
+
+LETTER XII.
+
+Palais de Justice--States, Exchequer, and Parliament of Normandy--Guild
+of the Conards--Joan of Arc--Fountain and Bas-Relief in the Place de la
+Pucelle--Tour de la Grosse Horloge--Public Fountains--Rivers Aubette and
+Robec--Hospitals--Mint.
+
+LETTER XIII.
+
+Monastic Institutions--Library--Manuscripts--Museum--Academy--Botanic
+Garden--Theatre--Ancient History--Eminent Men.
+
+LIST OF PLATES.
+Plate 01 Head-Dress of Women of the Pays de Caux.
+
+Plate 02 Entrance to the Castle at Dieppe.
+
+Plate 03 Font in the Church of St. Remi, at Dieppe.
+
+Plate 04 Plan of Caesar's Camp, near Dieppe.
+
+Plate 05 General View of the Castle of Arques.
+
+Plate 06 Tower of remarkable shape in ditto.
+
+Plate 07 Church at Arques.
+
+Plate 08 View of Rouen, from the Grand Cours.
+
+Plate 09 Tower and Spire of Harfleur Church.
+
+Plate 10 Bas-Relief, representing St. Romain.
+
+Plate 11 Sculpture, supposed Roman, in the Church of St. Paul, at Rouen.
+
+Plate 12 Circular Tower, attached to the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen.
+
+Plate 13 Interior of the Church at Pavilly.
+
+Plate 14 Monumental Figure of Rollo, in Rouen Cathedral.
+
+Plate 15 Ditto of an Archbishop, in ditto.
+
+Plate 16 Monument of ditto.
+
+Plate 17 Equestrian Figure of the Seneschal de Breze, in Rouen Cathedral.
+
+Plate 18 Tower of the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen.
+
+Plate 19 South Porch of ditto.
+
+Plate 20 Head of Christ, in ditto, seen in profile.
+
+Plate 21 Ditto, in ditto, seen in front.
+
+Plate 22 Stone Staircase in the Church of St. Maclou, at Rouen.
+
+Plate 23 Sculpture, representing the Feast of Fools.
+
+Plate 24 Bas-Relief, from the representations of the Champ du Drap d'or.
+
+Plate 25 Initial Letter from a MS. of the History of William of Jumieges.
+
+
+
+
+LETTERS FROM NORMANDY.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER I.
+
+ARRIVAL AT DIEPPE--SITUATION AND APPEARANCE OF THE TOWN--COSTUME OF THE
+PEOPLE--INHABITANTS OF THE SUBURB OF POLLET.
+
+
+(_Dieppe, June_, 1818)
+
+MY DEAR SIR,
+
+You, who were never at sea, can scarcely imagine the pleasure we felt,
+when, after a passage of unusual length, cooped up with twenty-four
+other persons in a packet designed only for twelve, and after having
+experienced every variety that could he afforded by a dead calm, a
+contrary wind, a brisk gale in our favor, and, finally, by being obliged
+to lie three hours in a heavy swell off this port, we at last received
+on board our French pilot, and saw hoisted on the pier the white flag,
+the signal of ten feet water in the harbor. The general appearance of
+the coast, near Dieppe, is similar to that which we left at Brighton;
+but the height of the cliffs, if I am not mistaken, is greater. They
+vary along the shores of Upper Normandy from one hundred and fifty to
+seven hundred feet, or even more; the highest lying nearly mid-way
+between this town and Havre, in the vicinity of Fecamp; and they present
+an unbroken barrier, of a dazzling white[1], except when they dip into
+some creek or cove, or open to afford a passage to some river or
+streamlet. Into one of these, a boat from the opposite shores of Sussex
+shot past us this afternoon, with the rapidity of lightning. She was a
+smuggler, and, in spite of the army of Douaniers employed in France,
+ventured to make the land in the broad face of day, carrying most
+probably a cargo, composed principally of manufactured goods in cotton
+and steel. The crew of our vessel, no bad authority in such cases,
+assured us, that lace is also sent in considerable quantities as a
+contraband article into France; though, as is well known, much of it
+likewise comes in the same quality into England, and there are perhaps
+few of our travellers, who return entirely without it. On the same
+authority, I am enabled to state, what much surprised me, that the
+smuggled goods exported from Sussex into Normandy exceed by nearly an
+hundred fold those received in return.
+
+The first approach to Dieppe is extremely striking. To embark in the
+evening at Brighton, sleep soundly in the packet, and find yourself, as
+is commonly the case, early the next morning under the piers of this
+town, is a transition, which, to a person unused to foreign countries,
+can scarcely fail to appear otherwise than as a dream; so marked and so
+entire is the difference between the air of elegance and mutual
+resemblance in the buildings, of smartness approaching to splendor in
+the equipages, of fashion in the costume, of the activity of commerce in
+the movements, and of newness and neatness in every part of the one,
+contrasted in the other with a strong character of poverty and neglect,
+with houses as various in their structure as in their materials, with
+dresses equally dissimilar in point of color, substance, and style, with
+carriages which seem never to have known the spirit of improvement, and
+with a general listlessness of manner, the result of indolence, apathy,
+and want of occupation. With all this, however, the novelty which
+attends the entrance of the harbor at Dieppe, is not only striking, but
+interesting. It is not thus at Calais, where half the individuals you
+meet in the streets are of your own country; where English fashions and
+manufactures are commonly adopted; and where you hear your native
+tongue, not only in the hotels, but even the very beggars follow you
+with, "I say, give me un sou, s'il vous please." But this is not the
+only advantage which the road by Dieppe from London to Paris possesses,
+over that by Calais. There is a saving of distance, amounting to twenty
+miles on the English, and sixty on the French side of the water; the
+expence is still farther decreased by the yet lower rate of charges at
+the inns; and, while the ride to the French metropolis by the one route
+is through a most uninteresting country, with no other objects of
+curiosity than Amiens, Beauvais, and Abbeville; by the other it passes
+through a province unrivalled for its fertility and for the beauty of
+its landscape, and which is allowed by the French themselves to be the
+garden of the kingdom. Rouen, Vernon, Mantes, and St. Germain, names all
+more or less connected with English history, successively present
+themselves to the traveller; and, during the greater part of his
+journey, his path lies by the side of a noble stream, diversified beyond
+almost every other by the windings of its channel, and the islands which
+stud its surface. The only evil to counterbalance the claims of Dieppe
+is, that the packets do not sail daily, although they profess and
+actually advertise to that effect; but wait till what they consider a
+sufficient freight of passengers is assembled, so that, either at Dieppe
+or Brighton, a person runs the risk of being detained, as has more than
+once happened to myself, a circumstance that never occurs at Dover.
+There is still a third point of passage upon our southern coast, and one
+that has of late been considerably frequented, from Southampton to
+Havre; but this I never tried, and do not know what it has to recommend
+it, except to those who are proceeding to Caen or to the western parts
+of France. The voyage is longer and more uncertain, the distance by land
+between London and Paris is also greater, nor does it offer equal
+facilities as to inns and public carriages.
+
+Dieppe is situated on a low tongue of land, but from the sea appears to
+great advantage; characterized as it is by its old castle, an assemblage
+of various forms and ages, placed insulated upon an eminence to the west,
+and by the domes and towers of its churches. The mouth of the harbor is
+narrow, and inclosed by two long stone piers, on one of which stands an
+elegant crucifix, raised by the fathers of the mission; to the other has
+lately been affixed a stone, with an inscription, stating that the
+Duchess d'Angouleme landed there on her return to her native country;
+but here is no measure of her foot, no votive pillar, as are to be seen
+at Calais, to commemorate a similar honor done to the inhabitants by the
+monarch. A small house on the western pier, is, however, more deserving
+of notice than either the inscription or the crucifix: it was built by
+Louis XVIth, for the residence of a sailor, who, by saving the lives of
+shipwrecked mariners, had deserved well of his sovereign and his
+country. Its front bears, "A J'n. A'r. Bouzard, pour ses services
+maritimes;" but there was originally a second inscription in honor of
+the king, which has been carefully erased. The fury of the revolution
+could pardon nothing that bore the least relation to royalty; or surely
+a monument like this, the reward of courage and calculated to inspire
+only the best of feelings[2], might have been allowed to have remained
+uninjured. The French are wiser than we are in erecting these public
+memorials for public virtues: they better understand the art of
+producing an effect, and they know that such gratifications bestowed
+upon the living are seldom thrown away. We rarely give them but to the
+dead. Capt. Manby, to whom above one hundred and thirty shipwrecked
+mariners are even now indebted for their existence, and whose invention
+will probably be the means of preservation to thousands, is allowed to
+live in comparative obscurity; while in France, a mere pilot, for
+having saved the lives of only eight individuals, had a residence built
+for him at the public expence, received an immediate gratification of
+one thousand francs, enjoyed a pension during his life, and, with his
+name and his exploits, now occupies a conspicuous place in the history
+of the duchy.
+
+Within the piers, the harbor widens into a stone basin, capable of
+holding two hundred vessels, and full of water at the flow of the tide;
+but at the ebb exhibiting little more than a sheet of mud, with a small
+stream meandering through it. Round the harbor is built the town, which
+contains above twenty thousand inhabitants, and is singularly
+picturesque, as well from its situation, backed as it is by the steep
+cliff to the east, which, instead of terminating here abruptly, takes an
+inland direction, as from the diversity in the forms and materials of
+the houses of the quay, some of which are of stone, others of grey
+flint, more of plaster with their timbers uncovered and painted of
+different colors, but most of brick, not uncommonly ornamented, with
+roofs as steep as those of the Thuilleries, and full of projecting
+lucarnes. This remark, however, applies only to the quay: in its
+streets, Dieppe is conspicuous among French towns for the uniformity of
+its buildings. After the bombardment in 1694, when the English, foiled
+near Brest, wreaked their vengeance upon Dieppe, and reduced the whole
+to ashes, the town was rebuilt on a regular plan, agreeably to a royal
+ordinance. Hence this is commonly regarded as one of the handsomest
+places in France, and you will find it mentioned as such by most
+authors; but the unfortunate architect who was employed in rebuilding
+it, got no other reward than general complaints and the nickname of M.
+Gateville. The inconveniences arising from the arrangements of the
+houses which he erected must have been serious; for we find that sixty
+years afterwards an order of council was procured, allowing the
+inhabitants to make some alterations that they considered most essential
+to their comfort. Upon the quay there is occasionally somewhat of the
+activity of commerce; but elsewhere it is as I have observed before, as
+well with the people as the buildings. As far as the houses are
+concerned, a little care and paint would remove their squalid aspect: to
+an English eye it is singularly offensive; but it cannot possibly be so
+to the French, among whom it seems almost universal.
+
+To a painter Dieppe must be a source of great delight: the situation,
+the buildings, the people offer an endless variety; but nothing is more
+remarkable than the costume of the females of the middle and lower
+classes, most of whom wear high pyramidal caps, with long lappets
+entirely concealing their hair, red, blue, or black corsets, large
+wooden shoes, black stockings, and full scarlet petticoats of the
+coarsest woollen, pockets of some different die attached to the outside,
+and not uncommonly the appendage of a key or corkscrew: occasionally too
+the color of their costume is still farther diversified by a chequered
+handkerchief and white apron. The young are generally pretty; the old,
+tanned and ugly; and the transition from youth to age seems
+instantaneous: labor and poverty have destroyed every intermediate
+gradation; but, whether young or old, they have all the same
+good-humored look, and appear generally industrious, though almost
+incessantly talking. Even on Sundays or feast-days, bonnets are seldom
+to be seen, but round their necks are suspended large silver or gilt
+ornaments, usually crosses, while long gold ear-rings drop from either
+side of their head, and their shoes frequently glitter with paste
+buckles of an enormous size. Such is the present costume of the females
+at Dieppe, and throughout the whole Pays de Caux; and in this
+description, the lover of antiquarian research will easily trace a
+resemblance to the attire of the women of England, in the XVth and XVIth
+centuries. As to the cap, which the Cauchoise wears when she appears _en
+grand costume_, its very prototype is to be found in _Strutt's Ancient
+Dresses_. Decorated with silver before, and with lace streaming behind,
+it towers on the head of the stiff-necked complacent wearer, whose locks
+appear beneath, arrayed with statuary precision. Nor is its antiquity
+solely confined to its form and fashion; for, descending from the great
+grandmother to the great grand-daughter, it remains as an heir-loom in
+the family from generation unto generation. In my former visit to
+Normandy, three years ago, we first saw this head-dress at the theatre
+at Rouen, and my companion was so struck with it that he made the
+sketch, of which I send you a copy. The costume of the females of
+somewhat higher rank is very becoming: they wear muslin caps, opening in
+front to shew their graceful ringlets, colored gowns, scarlet
+handkerchiefs, and black aprons.
+
+[Illustration: Head-Dress of Women of the Pays de Caux]
+
+But nothing connected with the costume or manners of the people at
+Dieppe is equally interesting as what refers to the inhabitants of the
+suburb called Pollet; and I will therefore conclude my letter, by
+extracting from the historian of the place[3] his account of these men,
+which, though written many years ago, is true in the main even in our
+days, and it is to be hoped will, in its most important respects,
+continue so for a length of time to come. "Three-fourths of the natives
+of this part of the town are fishermen, and not less effectually
+distinguished from the citizens of Dieppe by their name of Poltese,
+taken from their place of residence, than by the difference in their
+dress and language, the simplicity of their manners, and the narrow
+extent of their acquirements. To the present hour they continue to
+preserve the same costume as in the XVIth century; wearing trowsers
+covered with wide short petticoats, which open in the middle to afford
+room for the legs to move, and woollen waistcoats laced in the front
+with ribands, and tucked below into the waistband of their trowsers.
+Over these waistcoats is a close coat, without buttons or fastenings of
+any kind, which falls so low as to hide their petticoats and extend a
+foot or more beyond them. These articles of apparel are usually of cloth
+or serge of a uniform color, and either red or blue; for they interdict
+every other variation, except that all the seams of their dress are
+faced with white silk galloon, full an inch in width. To complete the
+whole, instead of hats, they have on their heads caps of velvet or
+colored cloth, forming a _tout-ensemble_ of attire, which is evidently
+ancient, but far from unpicturesque or displeasing. Thus clad, the
+Poltese, though in the midst of the kingdom, have the appearance of a
+distinct and foreign colony; whilst, occupied incessantly in fishing,
+they have remained equally strangers to the civilization and
+politeness, which the progress of letters during the last two centuries
+has diffused over France. Nay, scarcely are they acquainted with four
+hundred words of the French language; and these they pronounce with an
+idiom exclusively their own, adding to each an oath, by way of epithet;
+a habit so inveterate with them, that even at confession, at the moment
+of seeking absolution for the practice, it is no uncommon thing with
+them to _swear_ they will be guilty of it no more. To balance, however,
+this defect, their morals are uncorrupted, their fidelity is exemplary,
+and they are laborious and charitable, and zealous for the honor of
+their country, in whose cause they often bleed, as well as for their
+priests, in defence of whom they once threatened to throw the Archbishop
+of Rouen into the river, and were well nigh executing their threats."
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] The chalk in the cliff, in the immediate vicinity of Dieppe, is
+divided at intervals of about two feet each by narrow strata of flint,
+generally horizontal, and composed in some cases of separate nodules,
+which are not uncommonly split, in others of a continuous compressed
+mass, about two or three inches thick and of very uncertain extent, but
+the strata are not regular.
+
+[2] _Goube Histoire de Normandie_, III. p. 188.--In _Cadet Gassicourt
+Lettres sur Normandie_, I. p. 68, the story of Bouzard is given still
+more at length.
+
+[3] _Histoire de Dieppe_, II. p. 56.
+
+
+[Illustration: Entrance to the Castle at Dieppe]
+
+LETTER II.
+
+DIEPPE--CASTLE--CHURCHES--HISTORY OF THE PLACE--FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION.
+
+
+(_Dieppe, June_, 1818.)
+
+The bombardment of this town, alluded to in my last, was so effectual in
+its operation, that, excepting the castle and the two churches, the
+place can boast of little to arrest the attention of the antiquary, or
+of the curious traveller. These three objects were indeed almost all
+that escaped the conflagration; and for this they were indebted to their
+insulated situations, the first on an eminence unconnected with the
+houses of the place, the other two in their respective cemeteries.
+
+The hill on which the castle stands is steep; and the building, as well
+from its position, as from its high walls, flanked with towers and
+bastions, has an imposing appearance. In its general outline it bears a
+resemblance to the castle of Stirling, but it has not the same claims to
+attention in an architectural point of view. It is a confused mass of
+various aeras, and its parts are chiefly modern: nor is there any single
+feature that deserves to be particularized for beauty or singularity;
+yet, as a whole, a picturesque and pleasing effect results from the very
+confusion and irregularity of its towers, roofs, and turrets; and this
+is also enhanced by a row of lofty arches, thrown across a ravine near
+the entrance, supporting the bridge, and appearing at a distance like
+the remains of a Roman aqueduct. What seems to be the most ancient part
+is a high quadrangular tower with lofty pointed pannels in the four
+walls; and though inferior in antiquity, an observer accustomed only to
+the English castellated style, is struck by the variety of numerous
+circular towers with conical roofs, resembling those which flanked the
+gates of the town. Some of these gates still remain perfect; and one of
+them, leading to the sea, now serves as a military prison. It was the
+Sieur des Marets[4], the first governor of the place, who began this
+castle shortly after the year 1443, when Louis the XIth, then dauphin,
+freed Dieppe from the dominion of the English, attacking in person, and
+carrying by assault, the formidable fortress, constructed by Talbot, in
+the suburb of Pollet. Of this, not a vestige now remains: the whole was
+levelled with the ground in 1689; though, at a period of one hundred and
+twenty years after it was originally taken and dismantled, it had again
+been made a place of strength by the Huguenots, and had been still
+further fortified under Henry IVth, in whose reign the present castle
+was completed; for it was not till this time that permission was given
+to the inhabitants to add to it a keep. In its perfect state, whilst
+defended by this keep, and still further protected by copious out-works
+and bomb-proof casemates, its strength was great; but the period of its
+power was of short duration; for the then perturbed state of France
+naturally gave rise to anxiety on the part of the government, lest
+fortresses should serve as rallying points to the faction of the league;
+and the castle of Dieppe was consequently left with little more than
+the semblance of its former greatness.
+
+Of the churches here, that of St. Jaques is considerably the finest
+building, and is indeed an excellent specimen of what has been called
+the _decorated English style of architecture_, the style of this church
+nearly coinciding in its principal lines with that which prevailed in
+our own country during the reigns of the second and third Edward. It was
+begun about the year 1260, but was little advanced at the commencement
+of the following century; nor were its nineteen chapels, the works of
+the piety of individuals, completed before 1350. The roof of the choir
+remained imperfect till ninety years afterwards, whilst that of the
+transept is as recent as 1628[5]. The most ancient work is discernible
+in the transepts, but the lines are obscured by later additions. A
+cloister gallery fronted by delicate mullions runs round the nave and
+choir, and the extent and arrangement of the exterior would induce a
+stranger, unacquainted with the history of the building, to suppose that
+he was entering a conventual or cathedral church. The parts long most
+generally admired by the French, though they have always been miserable
+judges of gothic architecture, were the vaulted roof, and the pendants
+of the Lady-Chapel. The latter were originally ornamented with female
+figures, representing the Sibyls, made of colored terra cotta, and of
+such excellent workmanship, that Cardinal Barberini, when he visited
+this chapel in 1647, declared he had seen nothing of the kind, not even
+in Italy, superior to them for the beauty and delicacy of their
+execution; but they are now gone, and, according to Noel[6], were
+destroyed at the time of the bombardment. The state, however, of the
+roof does not seem to warrant this observation; and, contrary also to
+what he says, the pendants between the Lady-Chapel and the choir are
+still perfect, and serve, together with numerous small canopies in the
+chapel itself, to give a clear idea of what the whole must have been
+originally. One of the most elegant of the decorations of the church is
+a spirally-twisted column, elaborately carved, with a peculiarly
+fanciful and beautiful capital, placed against a pillar that separates
+the two south-eastern chapels of the choir. The richest object is a
+stone-screen to a chantry on the north side, which is divide into
+several canopies, whose upper part is still full of a profusion of
+sculpture, though the lower is sadly mutilated. I could not ascertain
+its history or use; but I do not suppose it is of earlier date than the
+age of Francis Ist, as the Roman or Italian style is blended with the
+Gothic arch. The Chapel of the Sepulchre, is not uncommonly pointed out
+as an object of admiration. There is certainly some, handsome sculpture
+round the portal; but it is not this for which your admiration is
+required: you are told that the chapel was made in 1612, at the expence
+of a traveller, then just returned from Palestine, and that it offers a
+faithful representation of the Holy Sepulchre itself at Jerusalem; by
+which if we are to understand that the wretched, grisly, painted, wooden
+figures of the three Maries, and other holy women and holy men,
+assembled round a disgusting representation of the dead Saviour, have
+their prototype in Judea, I can only add I am sorry for it: for my own
+part, putting aside all question of the propriety or effect of
+symbolical worship, and meaning nothing offensive to the Romish faith, I
+must be allowed to say that most assuredly I can conceive nothing less
+qualified to excite feelings of devotion, or more certain to awaken
+contempt and loathing, than the images of this description, the
+tinselled virgins, and the wretched daubs, nick-named paintings, which
+abound in the churches of Picardy and Normandy, the only catholic
+provinces which I have yet visited; so that, if the taste of the
+inhabitants is to be estimated by the decoration of the religious
+buildings, this faculty must be rated very low indeed. The exterior of
+the church is as richly ornamented as the inside; and not a buttress,
+arch, or canopy is without the remains of crumbled carving, worn by
+time, or disfigured by the ruder hand of calvinistic or revolutionary
+violence. Tradition refers the erection of this edifice to the English.
+From the certainty with which a date may be assigned to almost every
+part, it is very interesting to the lover of architecture. The
+Lady-Chapel is also perhaps one of the last specimens of Gothic art, but
+still very pure, except in some of the smaller ornaments, such, as the
+niches in the tabernacles, which end in escalop shells.
+
+[Illustration: Font in the Church of St. Remi, at Dieppe]
+
+The other church is dedicated to St. Remi, and is a building of the
+XVIIth century; though, judging from some of its pillars, it would be
+pronounced considerably more ancient. Those of the transept and of the
+central tower are lofty and clustered, and of extraordinary thickness;
+the rest are circular and plain, and not very unlike the columns of our
+earliest Norman or Saxon churches, though of greater proportionate
+altitude. The capitals of those in the choir are singularly capricious,
+with figures, scrolls, &c.; but it is the capriciousness of the gothic
+verging into Grecian, not of the Norman. On the pendants of the nave are
+painted various ornaments, each accompanied by a mitre. The eastern has
+only a mitre and cross, with the date 1669; the western the same, with
+1666; denoting the aera of the edifice, which was scarcely finished, when
+a bomb, in 1694, destroyed the roof of the choir, and this remains to
+the present hour incomplete. The most remarkable object in the church is
+a _benitier_ of coarse red granite, on whose basin is an inscription, to
+me illegible. The annexed sketches will give you some idea of it:
+
+[Illustration: Sketch of inscription]
+
+In the letters one looks naturally for a date: the figures that
+alternate with them are probably mitres, and, like those on the roof,
+indicate the supreme jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Rouen in the
+place.
+
+Dieppe itself is, by its own historians[7], said to boast an origin as
+early as the days of Charlemagne[8], who is reported to have built a
+fortress on the scite of the present town, and to have called it
+Bertheville, in honor of the Berthas, his mother and his daughter.
+Bertheville was one of the first places taken by the Normans, by whom
+the appellation was changed to Dyppe or Dieppe, a word which in their
+language is said to signify a good anchorage. Other writers[9], however,
+treat the whole of the early chronicle of Dieppe as a fiction, and
+maintain, that even at the beginning of the XIth century the town had no
+existence, and the place was only known as the port of Arques, within
+whose territory it was comprehended; nor was it till the end of the same
+century that the inhabitants of Arques were, partly from the convenience
+of the fisheries, and partly from the advantages of the salt trade,
+induced to form this settlement. Whatever date may be assigned to the
+foundation of Dieppe, it is frequently contended that William the
+Conqueror embarked here for the invasion of England, and it seems
+undoubted that he sailed hence for his new kingdom in the next year,
+agreeably to the following passage from Ordericus Vitalis, (p. 509) by
+which you will observe, that the river had at that time the same name as
+the town, "Deinde sexta nocte Decembris ad ostium amnis Deppae ultra
+oppidtim Archas accessit, primaque vigilia gelidae noctis Austro vela
+dedit, et mane portum oppositi littoris, (quem Vvicenesium vocitant)
+prospero cursu arripuit." In 1188, our Henry II built a castle upon the
+same hill on which the present fortress stands. This strong hold,
+however, afforded little protection; for we find that, in 1195, Philip
+Augustus of France, entering Normandy with an hostile army, laid siege
+to Dieppe, and set fire not only to the town, but also to the shipping
+in the harbor. Two years subsequently to this event, Dieppe ceased to
+form a part of the demesne of the Sovereign of the Duchy. Richard the
+Ist had given great offence to Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, by
+persisting in the erection of Chateau Gaillard, in the vicinity of
+Andelys, which belonged to the archbishop in right of his see; and
+though our lion-hearted monarch was not appalled either by the papal
+interdict or by the showers of blood that fell upon his workmen, yet at
+length he thought it advisable to purchase at once the forgiveness of
+the prelate and the secular seignory of Andelys, by surrendering to him,
+as an equivalent, the towns and lordships of Dieppe and Louviers, the
+land and forest of Alihermont, the land and lordship of Bouteilles, and
+the mills of Rouen. This exchange was regarded as so great a subject of
+triumph to the archbishop, that he caused the memory of it to be
+perpetuated by inscriptions upon crosses in various parts of Rouen, some
+of which remained as late as 1610, when Taillepied wrote his _Recueil
+des Antiquitez et Singularitez de la Ville de Rouen_. The following
+lines are given as one of these inscriptions in the _Gallia
+Christiana_[10]:
+
+         "Vicisti, Galtere, tui sunt signa triumphi
+     Deppa, Locoveris, Alacris-mons, Butila, molta,
+     Deppa maris portus, Alacris-mons locus amoenus,
+     Villa Locoveris, rus Butila, molta per urbem.
+     Hactenus haec Regis Richardi jura fuere;
+     Haec rex sancivit, haec papa, tibique tuere[11]."
+
+Nor was this the only memorial of the fact; for the advantages of the
+exchange were so generally recognized, that the name of Walter became
+proverbial; and to this day it is said in Normandy of a man who
+over-reaches another, "c'est un fin Gautier." It might be inferred from
+the terms of the bargain in which Dieppe merely appears as one of the
+items of the account, that it was then a place of little consequence;
+yet, one of the old chroniclers speaks of it at the time it was taken by
+the French under Philip Augustus, as
+
+         "portus fama celeberrimus atque
+     Villa potens opibus."
+
+These historians, however, of former days are not always the most
+accurate; but from this period the annals of the place are preserved,
+and at certain epochs it is far from unimportant in French history: as,
+when Talbot raised in 1442 the fortress called the Bastille, a defence
+so strong and in so well-chosen a situation, that even Vauban honored
+its memory by lamenting its destruction; when the inhabitants fought
+with the Flemings in the channel, in 1555; when Henry IVth, with an army
+of less than four thousand men, fled hither in 1589, as to his last
+place of refuge, winning the hearts of the people by his frank
+address:--"Mes amis, point de ceremonie, je ne demande que vos coeurs,
+bon pain, bon vin, et bon visage d'hotes;" and when, as I have already
+mentioned, the town sustained from our fleet a bombardment of three
+days' duration, and was reduced by it to ashes.
+
+For the excellence of its sailors, Dieppe has at all times been
+renowned: no less an authority than the President de Thou has pronounced
+them to be men, "penes quos praecipua rei nauticae gloria semper fuit;"
+and they have proved their claims to this encomium, not only by having
+supplied to the navy of France the celebrated Abraham Du Quesne, the
+successful rival of the great Ruyter, but still more so by having taken
+the lead in expeditions to Florida[12]; by having established a colony
+for the promotion of the fur trade in Canada, if indeed they were not
+the original discoverers of that country; and by having been the first
+Christians who ever made a settlement on the coast of Senegal. This
+last-mentioned event took place, according to French writers, at as
+early a period as the XIVth century; and, though the establishment was
+not of long duration, its effects have been permanent; for it is owing
+to the consignments of ivory then made to Dieppe, that many of the
+inhabitants were induced to become workers in that substance; a trade
+which they preserve to the present time, and carry the art to such
+perfection that they have few rivals. This and the making of lace are
+the principal employments of such of the natives as are not engaged in
+the fishery. In the earlier ages of the Duchy, the inhabitants of the
+Pays de Caux found a more effectual and important employment in the
+salt-works which were then very numerous on the coast, but which have
+long since been suffered to fall into decay. Ancient charters, recorded
+in the _Neustria Pia_, trace these works on the coast of Dieppe, and at
+Bouteilles on the right of the valley of Arques, to as remote a period
+as 1027; and they at the same time prove the existence of a canal
+between Dieppe and Bouteilles, by which in 1390 vessels loaded with salt
+were wont to pass. But here, as in England, such works have been
+abandoned, from the greater facility of communication between distant
+places, and of obtaining salt by other means.
+
+At present the only manufacture on the beach is that of kelp, for which
+a large quantity of the coarser sea-weeds is burned; but the fisheries,
+which are not carried on with equal energy in any other port of France,
+are the chief support of the place. The sailors of Dieppe were not
+confined to their own seas; for they used to pursue the cod fishery on
+the coast of Newfoundland with considerable success. The herring fishery
+however was a greater staple; and previously to the revolution, when
+alone a just estimate could be formed of such matters, the quantity of
+herrings caught by the boats belonging to Dieppe averaged more than
+eight thousand lasts a year, and realized above L100,000. This fishery
+is said to have been established here as early as the XIth century[13].
+From sixty to eighty boats, each of about thirty tons and carrying
+fifteen men, were annually sent to the eastern coast of England about
+the end of August; and then, again, in the middle of October nearly
+double the quantity of vessels, but of a smaller size, were engaged in
+the same pursuit on their own shores, where the fish by this time
+repair. The mackerel fishery was an object of scarcely less importance
+than that of herrings, producing in general about one hundred and
+seventy thousand barrels annually. Great quantities of these fish are
+eaten salted and dried, in which state they afford a general article of
+food among the lower classes in Normandy. Surely this would be deserving
+of the attention and imitation of our merchants at home. During the war
+with England this branch of trade necessarily suffered; but Napoleon did
+every thing in his power to assist the town, by giving it peculiar
+advantages as to ships sailing under licences. He succeeded in his
+views; and, thus patronized, Dieppe flourished exceedingly, and the
+gains brought in by the privateers connected with the port, added not a
+little to its prosperity. Hence to this hour the inhabitants regret the
+peace, although the town cannot fail to be benefitted by the fresh
+impulse given to the fisheries, and the quantity of money circulated by
+the travellers who are continually passing. Napoleon intended also to
+bestow an additional boon upon the place. A canal had been projected
+many years ago, in the time of the Marechal de Vauban, and was to have
+extended to Pontoise, through the fertile districts of Gournay and
+Neufchatel, and to have communicated by different branches with the
+Seine and Oise. This plan, which had been forgotten during so many
+reigns, Napoleon determined to carry into effect, and the excavations
+were actually begun under his orders. But the events which succeeded his
+Russian campaign put a stop to this, as to all similar labors: the plan
+is now, however, again in agitation, and, if performed, Dieppe will soon
+become one of the most important ports in France.
+
+By the revolution Dieppe was emancipated from the dominion of the
+Archbishop of Rouen, who, by virtue of the cession made by Richard Coeur
+de Lion, exercised a despotic sway, even until the dissolution of the
+_ancien regime_. His privileges were oppressive, and he had and made use
+of the right of imposing a variety of taxes, which extended even to the
+articles of provision imported either by land or sea. Yet it must be
+admitted that the progress of civilization had previously done much
+towards the removal of the most obnoxious of the abuses. The times,
+happily, no longer existed, when, as in the XIIth century, the prelate,
+with a degree of indecency scarcely to be credited, especially under an
+ecclesiastical government, did not scruple to convert the wages of sin
+into a source of revenue, as scandalous in its nature as it must have
+been contemptible in its amount, by exacting from every prostitute a
+weekly tax of a farthing, for liberty to exercise her profession[14].
+
+Many uncouth and frivolous ecclesiastical rites and ceremonies of the
+middle ages, which good sense had banished from most other parts of
+France, where they once were common, still lingered in the archbishop's
+seignory. Thus, at no very remote period, it was customary on the Feast
+of Pentecost to cast burning flakes of tow from the vaulting of the
+church; this stage-trick being considered as a representation of the
+descent of the fiery tongues. The Virgin, the great idol of popery, was
+honored by a pageant, which was celebrated with extraordinary splendor;
+and as I must initiate you in the mysteries of Catholicism, I think you
+will be well pleased to receive a detailed account of it. The ceremony I
+consider as curiously illustrative of the manners of the rulers, of the
+ruled, and of the times; and I will only add, by way of preface, that it
+was instituted by the governor, Des Marets, in 1443, in honor of the
+final expulsion of the English, and that he himself consented to be the
+first master of the _Guild of the Assumption_, under whose auspices and
+direction it was conducted.--About Midsummer the principal inhabitants
+used to assemble at the Hotel de Ville, and there they selected the girl
+of the most exemplary character, to represent the Virgin Mary, and with
+her six other young women, to act the parts of the Daughters of Sion.
+The honor of figuring in this holy drama was greatly coveted; and the
+historian of Dieppe gravely assures us, that the earnestness felt on the
+occasion mainly contributed to the preservation of that purity of
+manners and that genuine piety, which subsisted in this town longer than
+in any other of France! But the election of the Virgin was not
+sufficient: a representative of St. Peter was also to be found among the
+clergy; and the laity were so far favored that they were permitted to
+furnish the eleven other apostles. This done, upon the fourteenth of
+August the Virgin was laid in a cradle of the form of a tomb, and was
+carried early in the morning, attended by her suite of either sex, to
+the church of St. Jacques; while before the door of the master of the
+guild was stretched a large carpet, embroidered with verses in letters
+of gold, setting forth his own good qualities, and his love for the holy
+Mary. Hither also, as soon as _Laudes_ had been sung, the procession
+repaired from the church, and then they were joined by the governor of
+the town, the members of the guild, the municipal officers, and the
+clergy of the parish of St. Remi. Thus attended, they paraded the town,
+singing hymns, which were accompanied by a full band. The procession was
+increased by the great body of the inhabitants; and its impressiveness
+was still farther augmented by numbers of the youth of either sex, who
+assumed the garb and attributes of their patron saints, and mixed in the
+immediate train of the principal actors. They then again repaired to the
+church, where _Te Deum_ was sung by the full choir, in commemoration of
+the victory over the English, and high mass was performed, and the
+Sacrament administered to the whole party. During the service, a scenic
+representation was given of the Assumption of the Virgin. A scaffolding
+was raised, reaching nearly to the top of the dome, and supporting an
+azure canopy intended to emulate the "spangled vault of heaven;" and
+about two feet below the summit of it appeared, seated on a splendid
+throne, an old man as the image of the Father Almighty, a representation
+equally absurd and impious, and which could alone be tolerated by the
+votaries of the worst superstitions of popery. On either side four
+pasteboard angels of the size of men floated in the air, and flapped
+their wings in cadence to the sounds of the organ; while above was
+suspended a large triangle, at whose corners were placed three smaller
+angels, who, at the intermission of each office, performed upon a set of
+little bells the hymn of "_Ave Maria gratia Dei plena per Secula_," &c.
+accompanied by a larger angel on each side with a trumpet. To complete
+this portion of the spectacle, two others, below the old man's feet,
+held tapers, which were lighted as the services began, and extinguished
+at their close; on which occasions the figures were made to express
+reluctance by turning quickly about; so that it required some dexterity
+to apply the extinguishers. At the commencement of the mass, two of the
+angels by the side of the Almighty descended to the foot of the altar,
+and, placing themselves by the tomb, in which a pasteboard figure of the
+Virgin had been substituted for her living representative, gently raised
+it to the feet of the Father. The image, as it mounted, from time to
+time lifted its head and extended its arms, as if conscious of the
+approaching beatitude, then, after having received the benediction and
+been encircled by another angel with a crown of glory, it gradually
+disappeared behind the clouds. At this instant a buffoon, who all the
+time had been playing his antics below, burst into an extravagant fit of
+joy; at one moment clapping his hands most violently, at the next
+stretching himself out as if dead. Finally, he ran up to the feet of the
+old man, and hid himself under his legs, so as to shew only his head.
+The people called him _Grimaldi_, an appellation that appears to have
+belonged to him by usage, and it is a singular coincidence that the
+surname of the noblest family of Genoa the Proud, thus assigned by the
+rude rabble of a sea-port to their buffoon, should belong of right to
+the sire and son, whose _mops_ and _mowes_ afford pastime to the upper
+gallery at Covent-Garden.
+
+Thus did the pageant proceed in all its grotesque glory, and, while--
+
+    "These labor'd nothings in so strange a style
+     Amazed the unlearned, and made the learned smile,"
+
+the children shouted aloud for their favorite Grimaldi; the priests,
+accompanied with bells, trumpets, and organs, thundered out the mass;
+the pious were loud in their exclamations of rapture at the devotion of
+the Virgin; and the whole church was filled with "un non so che di rauco
+ed indistinto".--But I have told you enough of this foolish story, of
+which it were well if the folly had been the worst. The sequel was in
+the same taste and style, and ended with the euthanasia of all similar
+representations, a hearty dinner.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[4] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 130.
+
+[5] _Histoire de Dieppe_, II. p. 86.
+
+[6] _Essals sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, I. p. 119.
+
+[7] _Histoire de Dieppe_, I. p. 1.
+
+[8] Another author, mentioned by the Abbe Fontenu, in the _Memoires de
+l'Academie des Inscriptions_, X. p. 413, carries the antiquity of the
+place still eight centuries higher, representing it as the _Portus
+Ictius_, whence Julius Caesar sailed for Britain.
+
+[9] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 125.
+
+[10] Vol. XI. p. 55.
+
+[11] The deed itself under which this exchange was made is also
+preserved in _Duchesne's Scriptores Normanni_, and in the _Gallia
+Christiana_, XI. _Instr_. p. 27, where it is entitled "_Celebris
+commutatio facta inter Richardum I, regem Angliae et Walterium
+Archiepisc. Rotomagensem_." It is worth remarking, in illustration of
+the feudal rights and customs, how much importance is attached in this
+instrument to the mills and the seignorage for grinding: the king
+expressly stipulates that every body "tam milites quam clerici, et omnes
+homines, tam de feodis militum quam de prebendis, sequentur molendina de
+_Andeli_, sicut consueverunt et debent, et moltura erit nostra.
+Archiepiscopus autem et homines sui de _Fraxinis_ (a manor specially
+reserved,) molent ubi idem Archiepiscopus volet, et si voluerit molere
+apud _Andeli_, dabunt molturas suas, sicut alii ibidem molentes. In
+escambium autem ... concessimus ... omnia molendina quae nos habuimus
+Rotomagi, quando haec permutatio facta fuit, integre cum omni sequela et
+moltura sua, sine aliquo retinemento eorum quae ad molendinam pertinent
+vel ad molturam, et cum omnibus libertatibus et liberis consuetudinibus
+quas solent et debent habere. Nec alicui alii licebit molendinum facere
+ibidem ad detrimentum praedictorum molendinorum; et debet Archiepiscopus
+solvere eleemosinas antiquitus statutas de iisdem molendinis."
+
+[12] A very copious and interesting account of the nautical discoveries
+made by the inhabitants of Dieppe, and of their merits as sailors, is
+given by Goube, in his _Histoire du Duche de Normandie_, III, p.
+172-178.
+
+[13] _Goube, Histoire de Normandie_, III, p. 170.
+
+[14] _Noel, Essais sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, I. p.
+194.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER III.
+
+CAESAR'S CAMP--CASTLE OF ARQUES.
+
+
+(_Dieppe, June_, 1818)
+
+After having explored Dieppe, I must now conduct you without the walls,
+to the castle of Arques and to Caesar's camp, both of which are in its
+immediate neighborhood. At some future time you may thank me for
+pointing out these objects to you, for should you ever visit Dieppe,
+your residence may be prolonged beyond your wishes, by the usual
+mischances which attend the traveller. And in that case, a walk to these
+relics of military architecture will furnish a better employment than
+thumbing the old newspaper of the inn, or even than the contemplation of
+the diligences as they come in, or of the packets as they are not going
+out, for I am anticipating that you are becalmed, and that the pennons
+are flagging from the mast. With respect to my walk, let me be allowed
+to begin by introducing you to a friend of mine at Dieppe, M. Gaillon,
+an obliging, sensible, and well-informed young man, as well as an ardent
+botanist, my companion in this walk, and the source of much of the
+information I possess respecting these places. The intrenchment,
+commonly known by the name of Caesar's camp, or even more generally in
+the country by that of "_la Cite de Limes_," and in old writings, of
+"_Civitas Limarum_," is situated upon the brink of the cliff, about two
+miles to the east of Dieppe, on the road leading to Eu, and still
+preserves in a state of perfection its ancient form and character;
+though necessarily reduced in the height of its vallum by the operation
+of time, and probably also diminished in its size by the gradual
+encroachments of the ocean. Upon its shape, which is an irregular
+triangle, it may be well to make a preliminary observation, that this
+was necessarily prescribed by the scite; and that, however the Romans
+might commonly prefer a square outline for their temporary encampments,
+we have abundant proofs that they only adhered to this plan when it was
+perfectly conformable to the nature of the ground, but that when they
+fortified any commanding position, upon which a rectangular rampart
+could not be seated, their intrenchments were made to follow the
+sinuosities of the hill. In the present instance the northern side, the
+longest, extending nearly five thousand feet, fronts the channel, and it
+required no other defence than was afforded by the perpendicular face of
+the cliff, here more than two hundred feet in height. The western side,
+the second in length, and not greatly inferior to the first, after
+running about three thousand feet from the sea, in a tolerably straight
+line southward, suddenly bends to the east, and forms two semi-circles,
+of one of which the radius is turned from the camp, and of the other
+into it. The third side is scarcely more than half the length of the
+others, and runs nearly straight from south to north, where it again
+unites with the cliff. Of the two last-mentioned sides the first is
+difficult of access; from its position at the summit of a steep hill;
+but it is still protected by a vallum from thirty to forty feet high,
+and between the sea and the entrance nearest to it, a length of about
+three hundred yards, by a wide exterior ditch with other out-works, as
+well as by an inner fosse, faint traces of which only now remain. Hence
+to the next and large entrance is a distance of about two thousand feet;
+and in this space the interior fosse is still very visible; but the
+great abruptness of the hill forbade an outer one.
+
+You, who are not a stranger to the pleasures of botany, would have
+shared my delight at finding upon the perpendicular side of this
+entrance the beautiful _Caucalis grandiflora_, growing in great
+luxuriance upon almost bare chalk, and with its snowy flowers
+resembling, as you look down to it, the common species of _Iberis_ of
+our gardens. The _Asperula cynanchica_, and other plants peculiar to a
+chalky soil, are also found here in plenty, together with the _Eryngium
+campestre_, a vegetable of extreme rarity in England, but most abundant
+throughout the north of France. _Papaver hybridum_ is likewise common in
+the neighboring corn fields round.
+
+Returning from this short botanical digression, let me tell you that the
+position considered by some as the southern side of the fortification,
+but which I have described as the sinuous part of the western, has its
+ramparts of less height. Not so the eastern: on this, as being the most
+destitute of all natural defence, (for here there is no hill, and the
+eye ranges over an immense level tract, stopped only by distant woods,)
+is raised an agger, full forty-five feet in height, and, at a further
+distance, is added an outward trench nearly fifty feet wide, though in
+its present state not more than three feet deep, and now serving for a
+garden.
+
+Such is the external appearance of this camp, which, seen from the sea,
+or on the approach either by the west or south, cannot fail to strike
+from the boldness of its position; but the effect of the interior is
+still more striking; for here, while on one side the horizon is lost in
+the immensity of the ocean, on the other two the view is narrowly
+circumscribed by the lofty bulwark, at whose feet are almost every where
+discernible the remains of the trenches I have already noticed, more
+than thirty feet in width. Nor is this the only remarkable circumstance;
+for it is still more unaccountable to observe, extending nearly across
+the encampment, the traces of an ancient fosse not less than one hundred
+and fifty feet wide, and, though in most places shallow, terminating
+towards the sea in a deep ravine. Internally the camp appears to have
+been also divided into three parts, in one of which it has been
+supposed, from a heap of stones which till lately remained, that there
+was originally a place of greater strength; while in another,
+distinguished by some irregular elevations, it is conjectured that there
+was a wall, the defence probably to the keep.
+
+[Illustration: Plan of Caesar's Camp, near Dieppe]
+
+But I must tell you that these conjectures are none of my own, nor could
+I have had any opportunity of making them; the stones and the hillocks
+having disappeared before the operations of the plough. Such as they
+are, I have borrowed them from a dissertation by the Abbe de
+Fontenu[15], a copy of whose engraving of the place I insert. Indebted
+as I am to him for his hints, I can, however, by no means subscribe to
+his reasoning, by which he labors with great erudition to prove that,
+neither the popular tradition which ascribes this camp to Caesar, nor
+its name, evidently Roman, nor some coins and medals of the same nation
+that have been found here, are at all evidences of its Latin origin; but
+that, as we have no proof that Caesar was ever in the vicinity of
+Dieppe, as the whole is in such excellent preservation, (a point I beg
+leave to deny,) and as the vallum is full thrice the height of that of
+other Roman encampments in France[16], we are bound to infer it is a
+work of far more modern times, and probably was erected by Talbot, the
+Caesar of the English[17], while besieging Dieppe in the middle of the
+XVth century.
+
+This opinion of the learned Abbe I quote, principally for the purpose of
+shewing how far a man of sense and acquirements maybe led astray from
+truth and probability in support of a favorite theory. Nothing but the
+love of theory could surely have induced him to suppose that this strong
+hold was erected for a purpose to which it could in no wise be
+applicable, as the intervening ground prevents all possibility of seeing
+any part of Dieppe from the camp, or to ascribe it to times when
+earth-works were no longer used. In Normandy and Picardy are other
+camps, more evidently of Roman construction, which are likewise ascribed
+to Caesar[18]; with much the same reason perhaps as every thing
+wonderful in Scotland is referred to Fingal, to King Arthur in Cornwall,
+and in the north of England and Wales to the devil.
+
+[Illustration: General View of the Castle of Arques]
+
+Upon the origin of the castle of Arques, it is somewhat unfortunate for
+the learned that there is not an equal field for ingenious conjecture,
+its antiquity being incontestible. Du Moulin, the most comprehensive,
+though the most credulous of Norman historians, one who, not content
+with dealing in miracles by wholesale, tells us how the devil changed
+himself into a postillion, to apprize an alehouse-keeper of the fate of
+the posterity of Rollo, may still be entitled to credit, when the theme
+is merely stone and mortar; and from him we may conclude that Arques
+was a place of importance at the time of William the Conqueror, as it
+gave the title of Count to his uncle, who then possessed it, and who,
+confiding perhaps in the strength of his fortress, and secretly
+instigated by Henry Ist, of France, usurped the title of Duke of
+Normandy, but was defeated by his nephew, and finally obliged to
+surrender his castle. This, however, was not till, after a long siege,
+in which Arques proved itself impregnable to every thing but famine. In
+the following reign, we again find mention made of Arques, as a portion
+given by Robert, Duke of Normandy, to induce Helie, son of Lambert of
+St. Saen, to marry his illegitimate daughter, and join him in defending
+the Pays de Caux against the English. From this period, during the
+reigns of the Anglo-Norman Sovereigns, it continues to be occasionally
+noticed. Before the walls of Arques, according to William of Malmesbury,
+Baldwin, Count of Flanders, received the wound which afterwards proved
+fatal. Arques was the last castle which held out in Normandy for King
+Stephen. It was taken in 1173, by our Henry IInd, and then repaired; was
+seized by Philip Augustus during the captivity of Richard Coeur de Lion;
+was restored to its legitimate sovereign at the peace in 1196; and was a
+source of disgrace to its former captor, when in 1202 he laid siege to
+it with a powerful army, and was obliged to retreat from its walls.
+Under the reign of our third Edward, we find it again return to the
+British crown, as one of the castles specified to be surrendered to the
+English, by the treaty of Bretigny, in 1359; after which, in 1419, it
+was taken by Talbot and Warwick, and was finally given up to France by
+one of the articles of the capitulation of Rouen in 1449. More
+recently, in 1584[19], it was captured by a party of soldiers disguised
+like sailors, who, being suffered to approach without distrust, put the
+sentinels to the sword, and made themselves masters of the fortress;
+while in 1589 it obtained its last and most honorable distinction, as
+the chief support of Henry IVth, at the time of his being received at
+Dieppe, and as having by the cannon from its ramparts, materially
+contributed to the glorious defeat of the army of the league, commanded
+by the Duke de Mayenne, when thirty thousand were compelled to retire
+before one tenth of the number. I have already mentioned to you the
+address of this king to the citizens of Dieppe: still more magnanimous
+was his speech to his prisoner, the Count de Belin, previously to this
+battle, when, on the captive's daring to ask, how with such a handful of
+men, he could expect to resist so powerful an army, "Ajoutez," he
+answered, "aux troupes que vous voyez, mon bon droit, et vous ne
+douterez plus de quel cote sera la victoire."
+
+In _Sully's Memoirs_[20], as well as in the history of the town of
+Dieppe, you will find these transactions described at much length, and
+the warrior, as well as the historian, expatiates on the strength of the
+castle of Arques; but how much longer it remained a place of
+consideration I have no means of knowing: most probably the alteration
+introduced into the art of war by the use of cannon, caused it to be
+soon after neglected, and dismantled, and suffered to fall gradually
+into its present state of ruin. It is now the property of a lady
+residing in the neighboring town of Arques, who purchased it during the
+revolution, and by her good sense and feeling it has been preserved from
+further injury. The castle is situated at the extremity of a ridge of
+chalk hills, which, commencing to the west of Dieppe, run nearly
+parallel to the sea, and here terminate to the east, so that it has a
+complete command over the valley. Standing by its walls, you have to the
+north-west a full view of the town of Dieppe; in an opposite direction
+the eye ranges uncontrolled over a rich vale of corn and pasturage; and
+in front, immediately at your feet, lies the town of Arques itself,
+backed by the hills that are covered by the forest of the same name.
+Either this forest, or the neighboring one of Eavy, is supposed to have
+been the ancient Arelanum. The little river called the Arques flows
+through the valley, and beneath the walls of the castle is lost in the
+Bethune, under which name the united waters continue their course to
+Dieppe, after receiving the tribute of a third, yet smaller, stream, the
+Eaulne.
+
+Of the power of the castle an idea may be formed from the extent of the
+fosse, little less than half a mile in circumference. The outline of the
+walls is irregularly oval, and the even front is interrupted by towers
+of various sizes, and placed at unequal distances. On the northern side,
+where the hill is steepest, there are no towers; but the walls are still
+farther strengthened by square buttresses, so large that they indeed
+look like bastions, and with a projection so great as to indicate an
+origin posterior to the Norman aera. The two towers which flank the
+western entrance, and the towers which stand behind each of the flanking
+towers in the retiring line of the wall, are much larger than any of the
+rest. One of the latter towers is of so extraordinary a shape, that I
+consider it as a non-descript; but, as I should tire both you and myself
+by endeavoring to describe it, I think it most prudent to refer you to a
+sketch: perhaps its angular parts may not be coeval with the rest of the
+building[21]: on this it would be impossible to decide positively, so
+shattered, impaired, and defaced are the walls, and so evidently is
+their coating the work of different periods. I fancied that in some
+parts I could discern a mode of construction, in layers of brick and
+stone, similar to that of Roman buildings in our own country, while
+many of the bricks, from their texture and shape, appear also to be
+Roman. Tradition, if we follow that delusive guide, teaches us that we
+are contemplating a work of the middle of the eighth century, and of one
+of the sons of Charles Martel. If we follow William of Jumieges, the
+Chronicle of St. Vandrille, and William of Poitiers, we ascribe it to
+the uncle and rival of the Conqueror; other writers tell us that the
+ruins arose under Henry IInd. I dare not decide amongst such reverend
+authorities, but I think I may infer, without the least disrespect
+towards monks and chroniclers, that the Norman Arques now occupies the
+place of a far more early structure, and that a portion of the walls of
+this latter was actually left in existence. Taken, however, as a whole,
+the castle is evidently a building of different aeras; and it would be
+extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define the parts belonging to
+each.
+
+[Illustration: Tower of remarkable shape in Castle of Arques]
+
+The principal entrance is to the west, between the two towers first
+mentioned, over a draw-bridge, whose piers still remain, and through
+three gateways, whose arches, though now torn and dislocated into
+shapeless rents, seem to have been circular, and probably of Norman
+erection. One of the towers of the gate-way appears formerly to have
+been a chapel. Hence you pass into a court, whose surface, uneven with
+the remains of foundations, marks it to have been originally filled with
+apartments, and, at the opposite end of this, through a square
+gate-house with high embattled walls, a place evidently of great
+strength, and leading into a large open space that terminated in the
+quadrangular and lofty keep. This, which is externally strengthened by
+massy buttresses, similar to those of the walls, is within divided into
+two apartments, each of them about fifty feet by twenty. In one of them
+is a well, communicating with a reservoir below, which is filled by the
+water of the river, and was sufficiently capacious for watering the
+horses of the garrison. The greatest part, if not the whole, of the
+walls seems to have been faced with brick of comparatively modern date.
+The keep also was coated with brick within, and with stones carefully
+squared without. The windows are so battered, that no idea can be formed
+of their original style. The walls of the keep are filled with small
+square apertures. At Rochester, and at many other castles in England, we
+observe the same; and unless you can give a better guess respecting
+their use, you must content yourself with mine: that is to say, that
+they are merely the holes left by the scaffolding. At the foot of the
+hill to the west is a gate-house, by no means ancient, from which a wall
+ascends to the castle; and another similar wall connects the fortress
+with the ground below, on the north-eastern side; but the extent or
+nature of these out-works can no longer be traced. Still less possible
+would it be to say any thing with certainty as to the excavations, of
+the length of which, tradition speaks, as usual, in extravagant terms,
+and mixes sundry marvellous and frightful tales with the recital.
+
+In the general plan a great resemblance is to be traced between many
+castles in Wales and its frontiers, especially Goodrich Castle, and this
+at Arques. Yet I do not think that any of ours are of an equal extent;
+nor can you well conceive a more noble object than this, when seen at a
+distance: and it is only then that the eye can comprehend the vast
+expanse and strength of the external wall, with the noble keep towering
+high above it.
+
+[Illustration: Church at Arques]
+
+Until the revolution, the decaying town of Arques was not wholly
+deprived of all the vestiges of its former honours: the standards of the
+weights and measures of Upper Normandy were deposited here. It was the
+seat of the courts of the Archbishop of Rouen, and, though the actual
+session of the municipal courts took place at Dieppe, they bore the
+legal style and title of the courts of Arques. Since the revolution
+these traces of its importance have wholly disappeared, nor is there any
+outward indication of the consequence once enjoyed by this poor and
+straggling hamlet.
+
+The church is a neat and spacious building, of the same kind of
+architecture as that of St. Jacques, at Dieppe; and, as it is a good
+specimen of the florid Norman Gothic, (I forbid all cavils respecting
+the employment of this term) I have added a figure of it. My slender
+researches have not enabled me to discover the date of the building, but
+it may, have been erected towards the year 1350. A most elegant bracket,
+formed by the graceful dolphin, deserves the attention of the architect;
+and I particularize it, not merely on account of its beauty, but
+because, even at the risk of exhausting your antiquarian patience, I
+intend to point out all architectural features which cannot be retraced
+in our own structures; and this is one of them. By the way, Arques
+contributed to increase the bulk of our herbal as well as of our
+sketch-book, for under the walls of the church is found the rare
+_Erodium moschatum_; and near the castle grow _Astragalus glycyphyllos_
+and _Melissa Nepeta_.
+
+The field of battle is to the southward of the town. A small walk under
+the south wall of the castle, near the east end, adjoining a covered way
+which led to a postern-gate or draw-bridge, is still called the walk of
+Henry the IVth, because it was here that this monarch was wont to
+reconnoitre the enemy's forces from below.
+
+Napoleon, towards the conclusion of his reign, visited the field of
+battle at Arques; he ascertained the position of the two armies, and
+pronounced that the King ought to have lost the day, for that his
+tactics were altogether faulty. I am willing to suppose that this
+military criticism arose merely from military pedantry, though it is now
+said that Napoleon was envious of the veneration, which, as the French
+believe, they feel for the memory of Henri quatre. Napoleon is accused
+of having given the title of _le Roi de la Canaille_ to the Bourbon
+Monarch. And when Napoleon was in full-blown pride, he might have had
+the satisfaction of hearing the rabble of Paris chaunt his comparative
+excellence in a parody of the old national song--
+
+       "Vive Bonaparte, vice ce conquerant,
+     Ce diable a quatre a bien plus de talent
+     Que ce Henri quatre et tous ses descendans,"
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[15] _Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions_, X. p. 403. tab. 15.
+
+[16] Such are the Abbe's principal arguments; but he goes on to say,
+that the height of the ramparts proves almost to demonstration their
+having been erected since the use of fire-arms, a mode of reasoning that
+would, I fear, be equally conclusive against the antiquity of a very
+celebrated earth-work, the Devil's-Ditch, in Cambridgeshire, whose agger
+is of about the same elevation, but of whose modern origin nobody ever
+yet dreamed;--that the ramparts opposite Dieppe could only be of use
+against cannon, another position equally untenable;--that, were the camp
+Roman, there would be platforms on the agger for the reception of wooden
+towers, as if time would not wear away vestiges of this nature;--that
+the disposition is not in regular order like that of a Roman encampment,
+a matter equally liable to be defaced;--and, finally, that the out-works
+to the west are fully decisive of a more modern aera, as if intrenchments
+were not, like buildings, frequently the objects of subsequent
+alterations;--In his inferences he is followed, and, apparently without
+any question as to their authenticity, by Ducarel, whom I suspect from
+his description never to have visited the place. The Abbe Fontenu, in a
+paper in the same volume, gives it as his opinion that, from the term
+_Civitas Limarum_, it might safely be believed there was a _city_ in
+this place; and he tries to persuade himself that he can trace the
+foundations of houses.
+
+[17] _Noel, Essais sur le Department de la Seine Inferieure_, I. p. 88.
+
+[18] The same is also notoriously the case in our own country: popular
+tradition, by a metonymy very easily to be accounted for, from a desire
+of adding importance to its objects, attributes whatever is Roman to
+Julius Caesar, as the most illustrious of the Roman generals in England;
+just as we daily hear smatterers in art referring to Raphael any
+painting, however ordinary, that pretends to issue from the schools of
+Rome or Florence, every Bolognese one to Guido or Annibal Carracci,
+every Kermes to Ostade or Teniers, &c.
+
+[19] _Noel, Essais sur la Seine Inferieure_, I. p. 98.
+
+[20] Sully, who was himself in this battle, and bore a conspicuous part
+in it, dwells upon its details completely _con amore_, and evidently
+regards the issue of this day as decisive of the fate of the monarch,
+who is reported to have said of himself shortly before the battle, that
+"he was a king without a kingdom, a husband without a wife, and a
+warrior without money."--I. p. 204.
+
+[21] In justice to my readers, I must not here omit to say that such is
+the opinion of a most able friend of mine, Mr. Cohen, who visited this
+castle nearly at the same time with myself, and who writes me on the
+subject: "I feel convinced that the brick coating of the _wedge-tower_
+at Arques is recent. Such was the impression I had upon the spot; and
+now I cannot remove it. It appeared to me that the character of the
+brick-work, and of the stone cordons or fillets, was entirely like that
+of the fortifications of the XVIth century; and I also thought, perhaps
+erroneously, that the _wedge_ or _bastion_ was _affixed to_ the round
+tower of the castle, and that it was an after-construction. At the south
+end of the castle, you certainly see very ancient and singular masonry.
+The diagonal or herring-bone courses are found in the old church of St.
+Lo, and in the keep at Falaise; not in the front of the latter, but on
+the side where you enter, and on the side which ranges with Talbot's
+Tower. The same style of masonry is also seen, according to Sir Henry
+Englefield, at Silchester, which is most undoubtedly a pure Roman
+relic."--It abounds likewise in Colchester Castle.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IV.
+
+JOURNEY FROM DIEPPE TO ROUEN--PRIORY OF LONGUEVILLE--ROUEN--BRIDGE OF
+BOATS--COSTUME OF THE INHABITANTS.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+I arrived alone at this city: my companions, who do not always care to
+keep pace with my constitutional impatience, which sometimes amuses, and
+now and then annoys them, made a circuit by Havre, Bolbec, and Yvetot,
+while I proceeded by the straight and beaten track. What I have thus
+gained in expedition, I have lost in interest. During the whole of the
+ride, there was not a single object to excite curiosity, nor would any
+moderate deviation from the line of road have brought me within reach of
+any town or tower worthy of notice, except the Priory of Longueville,
+situate to the right of the road, about twelve miles from Dieppe. I did
+not see Longueville, and I am told that the ruins are quite
+insignificant, yet I regret that I did not visit them. The French can
+never be made to believe that an old rubble wall is really and truly
+worth a day's journey: hence their reports respecting the notability of
+any given ruin can seldom be depended upon. And at least I should have
+had the satisfaction of ascertaining the actual state of the remains of
+a building, known to have been founded and partly built in the year
+1084, by Walter Giffard[22], one of the relations and companions of the
+Conqueror, in his descent upon England, and therefore created Earl of
+Buckingham, or, as the French sometimes write it, _Bou Kin Kan_. The
+title was held by his family only till 1164 when, upon the decease of
+his son without issue, the lands of his barony were shared among the
+collateral female heirs. He himself died in 1102, and by his will
+directed that his body should be brought here, which was accordingly
+done; and he was buried, as Ordericus Vitalis[23] tells us, near the
+entrance of the church, having over him an epitaph of eight lines, "in
+maceria picturis decorata." You will find the epitaph, wherein he is
+styled "templi fundator et aedificator," copied both in the _Neustria
+Pia_ and in _Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities_. The latter speaks of
+it as if it existed in his time; but the doctor seldom states the extent
+of his obligations towards his predecessors. And in consequence of this
+his silent gratitude, we can never tell with any degree of certainty
+whether we are perusing his observations or his transcripts. If he
+really saw the inscriptions with his own eyes, it is greatly to be
+regretted that he has given us no information respecting the paintings:
+did they still exist, they would afford a most genuine and curious
+proof of the state of Norman art at that remote period; and possibly, a
+search after them among the cottages in the neighborhood might even now
+repay the industry of some keen antiquary; for the French revolution may
+well he compared to an earthquake: it swallowed up every thing,
+ingulphing some so deep that they are lost for ever, but leaving others,
+like hidden treasures, buried near the surface of the soil, whence
+accident and labor are daily bringing them to light. The descendants of
+Walter Giffard are repeatedly mentioned as persons of importance in the
+early Norman writers; nor are they less illustrious in England, where
+the great family of Clare sprung from one of the daughters; while
+another, by her marriage with Richard Granville, gave birth to the
+various noble families of that name, of which the present Marquis of
+Buckingham is the chief.
+
+Of the Priory, we are told in the _Neustria Pia_[24], that it was
+anciently of much opulence, and that a Queen of France contributed
+largely to the endowment of the house. Many men of eminence,
+particularly three of the Talbot family, were buried within its walls.
+Peter Megissier, a prior of Longueville, was in the number of the judges
+who passed sentence of death upon the unfortunate Joan of Arc; and the
+inscription upon his tomb is so good a specimen of monkish Latinity,
+that I am tempted to send it you; reminding you at the same time, that
+this barbarous system of rhyming in Latin, however brought to perfection
+by the monks and therefore generally called their own, is not really of
+their invention, but may be found, though quoted to be ridiculed, in the
+first satire of Persius,
+
+       "Qui videt hunc lapidem, cognoscat quod tegit idem
+     Petrum, qui pridem conventum rexit ibidem
+     Annis bis senis, tumidis Leo, largus egenis,
+     Omnibus indigenis charus fuit atque alienis."
+
+I believe it is always expected, that a traveller in France should say
+something respecting the general aspect of the country and its
+agriculture. I shall content myself with remarking, that this part of
+Normandy is marvellously like the country which the Conqueror conquered.
+When the weather is dull, the Normans have a sober English sky,
+abounding in Indian ink and neutral tint. And when the weather is fine,
+they have a sun which is not a ray brighter than an English sun. The
+hedges and ditches wear a familiar livery, and the land which is fully
+cultivated repays the toil of the husbandman with some of the most
+luxuriant crops of wheat I ever saw. Barley and oats are not equally
+good, perhaps from the stiffness of the soil, which is principally of
+chalk; but flax is abundant and luxuriant. The surface of the ground is
+undulated, and sufficiently so to make a pleasing alternation of hill
+and dale; hence it is agreeably varied, though the hills never rise to
+such a height as to be an obstacle to agriculture. There is some
+difficulty in conjecturing where the people by whom the whole is kept in
+cultivation are housed; for the number of houses by the road-side is
+inconsiderable; nor did we, for the first two-thirds of the ride, pass
+through a single village, excepting Totes, which lies mid-way between
+Dieppe, and Rouen, and is of no great extent. Yet things in France are
+materially altered in this respect since 1814, when I remember that, in
+going through Calais by the way of the Low Countries to Paris, and
+returning by the direct road to Boullogne, the whole journey was made
+without seeing a single new house erecting in a space of four hundred
+miles. This is now far from being the case; there is every where an
+appearance of comparative prosperity, and, were it not for the coins, of
+which the copper bear the impress of the republic, and the gold and
+silver chiefly that of Napoleon, a stranger would meet with but few
+visible marks of the changes experienced in late years by the government
+of France. Much has been also done of late towards ornamenting the
+chateaux, of which there are several about Totes, though in the opinion
+of an Englishman, much also is yet wanting. They are principally the
+residences of Rouen merchants.
+
+Upon approaching Malaunay, about nine miles from Rouen, the scene is
+entirely changed. The road descends into a valley, inclosed between
+steep hills, whose sides are richly and beautifully clothed with wood,
+while the houses and church of the village beneath add life and variety
+to the plain at the foot. Here the cotton manufactories begin, and, as
+we follow the course of the little river Cailly, the population
+gradually increases, and continues to become more dense through a series
+of manufacturing villages, each larger than the preceding, and all
+abounding in noble views of hill, wood, and dale; while the tracts
+around are thickly studded with picturesque residences of manufacturers,
+and extensive, often picturesque, manufactories. Such indeed was the
+country, till we found ourselves at Rouen, shortly before entering which
+the Havre road unites to that from Dieppe, and the landscape also
+embraces the valley of the Seine, as well as of the Cailly the former
+broader by far, and grander, but not more beautiful.
+
+Rouen, from this point of view, is seen to considerable advantage, at
+least by those who, like us, make a _detour_ to the north, and enter it
+in that direction: the cathedral, St. Ouen, the hospital and church of
+La Madeleine, and the river, fill the picture; nor is the impression in
+any wise diminished on a nearer approach, when, through a long avenue,
+formed by four rows of lofty elms, you advance by the side of a stream,
+at once majestic from its width and eminently beautiful from its winding
+course.
+
+Rouen is now unfortified; its walls, its castles, are level with the
+ground. But, if I may borrow the pun of which old Peter Heylin is guilty
+when, describing Paris, Rouen is still a _strong_ city, "for it taketh
+you by the nose." The filth is extreme; villainous smells overcome you
+in every quarter, and from every quarter. The streets are gloomy,
+narrow, and crooked, and the houses at once mean and lofty. Even on the
+quay, where all the activity of commerce is visible, and where the
+outward signs of opulence might be expected, there is nothing to fulfil
+the expectation. Here is width and space, but no _trottoir_; and the
+buildings are as incongruous as can well be imagined, whether as to
+height, color, projection, or material. Most of them, and indeed most in
+the city, are merely of lath and plaster, the timbers uncovered and
+painted red or black, the plaster frequently coated with small grey
+slates laid one over another, like the weather-tiles in Sussex. Their
+general form is very tall and very narrow, which adds to the singularity
+of their appearance; but mixed with these are others of white brick or
+stone, and really handsome, or, it might be said, elegant. The contrast,
+however, which they form only makes their neighbors look the more
+shabby, while they themselves derive from the association an air of
+meanness. The merchants usually meet upon a small open plot, situated
+opposite to the quay, inclosed with palisades and fronted with trees.
+This is their exchange in fine weather; but adjoining is a handsome
+building, called _La Bourse a couvert_, or _Le Consulte_, to which
+recourse is always had in case of rain. It was here that Napoleon and
+Maria Louisa, a very short time previous to their deposition, received
+from the inhabitants of Rouen the oath of allegiance, which so soon
+afterwards found a ready transfer to another sovereign.
+
+About the middle of the quay is placed the bridge of boats, an object of
+attraction to all strangers, but more so from the novelty and
+singularity of its construction than from its beauty. Utility rather
+than elegance was consulted by the builder. This far-famed structure is
+ugly and cumbrous, and a passenger feels a very unpleasing sensation if
+he happens to stand upon it when a loaded waggon drives along it at low
+water, at which time there is a considerable descent from the side of
+the suburbs. An undulatory motion is then occasioned, which goes on
+gradually from boat to boat till it reaches the opposite shore. The
+bridge is supported upon nineteen large barges, which rise and fall with
+the tide, and are so put together that one or more can easily be
+removed as often as it is necessary to allow any vessel to pass. The
+whole too can be entirely taken away in six hours, a construction highly
+useful in a river peculiarly liable to floods from sudden thaws; which
+sometimes occasion such an increase of the waters, as to render the
+lower stories of the houses in the adjacent parts of the city
+uninhabitable. The bridge itself was destroyed by a similar accident, in
+1709, for want of a timely removal. Its plan is commonly attributed to a
+monk of the order of St. Augustine, by whom it was erected in 1626,
+about sixty years after the stone bridge, built by the Empress Matilda
+in 1167, had ceased to be passable. It seems the fate of Rouen to have
+_wonderful_ bridges. The present is dignified by some writers with the
+high title of a _miracle of art_: the former is said by Taillepied, in
+whose time it was standing, to have been "un des plus beaux edifices et
+des plus admirables de la France." A few lines afterwards, however, this
+ingenuous writer confesses that loaded carriages of any kind were seldom
+suffered to pass this _admirable edifice_, in consequence of the expence
+of repairing it; but that two barges were continually plying for the
+transport of heavy goods. The delay between the destruction of the stone
+bridge, and the erection of the boat bridge, appears to have been
+occasioned by the desire of the citizens to have a second similar to the
+first; but this, after repeated deliberations, was at last determined to
+be impracticable, from the depth and rapidity of the stream. Napoleon,
+however, seems to have thought that the task which had been accomplished
+under the auspices of the Empress Matilda, might be again repeated in
+the name of the daughter of the Caesars and the wife of the successor
+of Charlemagne; and he actually caused Maria-Louisa to lay the first
+stone of a new bridge, at some distance farther to the east, where an
+island divides the river into two. This, I am told, will certainly he
+finished, though at an enormous expence, and though it will occasion
+great inconvenience to many inhabitants of the quay, whose houses will
+be rendered useless by the height to which it will be necessary to raise
+the soil upon the occasion. My informant added, that, small as is the
+appearance yet made above water, whole quarries of stone and forests of
+wood have been already sunk for the purpose.
+
+From the scite of the projected bridge, the view eastward is
+particularly charming. The bold hill of St. Catherine presents its steep
+side of bare chalk, spotted only in a few places with vegetation or
+cottages, and seems to oppose an impassable barrier; the mixture of
+country-houses with trees at its base, makes a most pleasing variety;
+and, still nearer, the noble elms of the _boulevards_ add a character of
+magnificence possessed by few other cities. The _boulevards_ of Rouen
+are rather deficient in the Parisian accompaniments of dancing-dogs and
+music-grinders, but the sober pedestrian will, perhaps, prefer them to
+their namesakes in the capital. Here they are not, as at Paris, in the
+centre of the town, but they surround it, except upon the quay, with
+which they unite at each end, and unite most pleasingly; so that,
+immediately on leaving this brilliant bustling scene, you enter into the
+gloom of a lofty embowered arcade, resembling in appearance, as well as
+in effect, the public walks at Cambridge, except that the addition of
+females in the fanciful Norman costume, and of the Seine, and the fine
+prospect beyond, and Mont St. Catherine above, give it a new interest.
+On the opposite side of the Seine, the inhabitants of Rouen have another
+excellent promenade in the _grand cours_, which, for a considerable
+space, occupies the bank of the river, turning eastward from the bridge.
+Four rows of trees divide it into three separate walks, of which the
+central one is by far the widest, and serves for horses and carriages;
+the other two are appropriated exclusively to foot passengers. In these,
+on a summer's evening, are to be seen all classes of the inhabitants of
+Rouen, from the highest to the lowest; and the following sketch, which
+you will easily perceive to be from a pencil more delicate than mine,
+gives a most lively and faithful picture of them. It may indeed be in
+some measure in the nature of a treatise _de re vestiaria_, yet such
+details of gowns and petticoats never fail to interest, at least to
+interest me, when proceeding from a wearer.
+
+[Illustration: View of Rouen, from the Grand Cours]
+
+"Our carriage had scarcely stopped when we were surrounded with beggars,
+principally women with children in their arms. The poor babes presented
+a most pitiable appearance, meagre, dirty to the utmost degree, ragged
+and flea-bitten, so that round the throat there was not the least
+portion of "carnation" appearing to be free from the insect plague.
+Their hair, too, is seldom cut; and I have seen girls of eight or ten
+years of age, bearing a growing crop which had evidently remained
+unshorn, and I may add, uncombed, from the time of their birth. It is
+impossible not to dread coming into contact with these imps, who, when
+old, are among the ugliest conceivable specimens of the human race. The
+women, even those who inhabit the towns, live much in the open air:
+besides being employed in many slavish offices, they sit at their doors
+or windows pursuing their business, or lounge about, watching passengers
+to obtain charity. Thus their faces and necks are always of a copper
+color, and, at an advanced age, more dusky still; so that, for the
+anatomy and coloring of witches, a painter needs look no further. Their
+wretchedness is strongly contrasted by the gaiety of the higher classes.
+The military, who, I suppose, as usual in France, hold the first place,
+appear in all possible variety of keeping and costume, with their
+well-proportioned figures, clean apparel, decided gait, martial air, and
+whiskered faces. Here and there we see gliding along the well-dressed
+lady (not well dressed, indeed, as far as becomingness goes, but
+fashionably), with a gown of triple flounces, whose skirt intrudes even
+upon the shoulders, obliterating the waist entirely, while her throat is
+lost in an immense frill of four or more ranks; and sometimes a large
+shawl over all completes the disguise of the shape. The head of the dame
+or damsel is usually enveloped in a gauze or silk bonnet, sufficiently
+large to spread, were it laid upon a table, two feet in diameter, and
+trimmed with various-colored ribbons and artificial flowers: in the hand
+is seen the ridicule, a never-failing accompaniment. The lower orders of
+women at Rouen usually wear the Cauchoise cap, or an approach to it,
+rising high to a narrowish point at top, and furnished with immense ears
+or wings that drop on the shoulder, then opening in front so as to allow
+to be seen on the forehead a small portion of hair, which divides and
+falls in two or three spiral ringlets on each side of the face. The
+remainder of the dress is generally composed of a colored petticoat,
+probably striped, an apron of a different color, a bodice still
+differing in tint from the rest, and a shawl, uniting all the various
+hues of all the other parts of the dress. Some of the peasants from the
+country look still more picturesque, when mounted on horseback bringing
+vegetables: they keep their situation without saddle or stirrup, and
+seem perfectly at ease. But the best figures on horseback are the young
+men who take out their masters' horses to give them exercise, and who
+are frequently seen on the _grand cours_. They ride without hat, coat,
+saddle, or saddle-cloth, and with the shirt sleeves rolled up above the
+elbow. Their negligent equipment, added to their short, curling hair,
+and the ease and elasticity they display in the management of their
+horses, gives them, on the whole, a great resemblance to the Grecian
+warriors of the Elgin marbles. Men, as well as women, are frequently
+seen without hats in the streets, and continually uncravatted; and when
+their heads are covered, these coverings are of every shape and hue;
+from the black beaver, with or without a rim, through all gradations of
+cap, to the simple white cotton nightcap. A painter would delight in
+this display of forms and these sparkling touches of color, especially
+when contrasted with the grey of the city, and the tender tints of the
+sky, water, and distance, and the broad coloring of the landscape."
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[22] "He was son of Osborne de Bolebec and Aveline his wife, sister to
+Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy, great-grandmother to the Conqueror, and
+was one of the principal persons who composed the general survey of the
+realm, especially for the county of Worcester. In 1089 he adhered to
+William Rufus, against his brother Robert Courthose, and forfeited his
+Norman possessions on the king's behalf, of whose army there he was a
+principal commander, and behaved himself very honorably. Yet, in the
+time of Henry Ist, he took the part of the said Courthose against that
+king, but died the year following,"--_Banks' Extinct Baronage_, III. p.
+108.
+
+[23] _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 809.
+
+[24] P. 668.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER V.
+
+JOURNEY TO HAVRE--PAYS DE CAUX--ST. VALLERY--FECAMP--THE PRECIOUS
+BLOOD--THE ABBEY--TOMBS IN IT--MONTIVILLIERS--HARFLEUR.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+Lest I should deserve to be visited with the censure which I have taken
+the liberty of passing upon Ducarel's tour, I shall begin by premising
+that my account of the present state of the tract, intended for the
+subject of this and the following letter, is wholly derived from the
+journals of my companions. Their road by Fecamp, Havre, Bolbec, and
+Yvetot, has led them through the greater part of the Pays de Caux, a
+district which, in the time of Caesar, was peopled by the Caletes or
+Caleti. Antiquaries suppose, that in the name of this tribe, they
+discover the traces of its Celtic origin, and that its radical is no
+other than the word _Kalt_ or _Celt_ itself. As a proof of the
+correctness of this etymology, Bourgueville[25] tells us that but little
+more than two hundred years have passed since its inhabitants, now
+universally called _Cauchois_, were not less commonly called _Caillots_
+or _Caillettes_; a name which still remains attached to several
+families, as well as to the village Gonfreville la Caillotte, and,
+probably, to some others. I shall, however, waive all Celtic theory,
+"for that way madness lies," and enter upon more sober chorography.
+
+The author of the Description of Upper Normandy states, that the
+territory known by that appellation was limited to the Pays de Caux and
+the Vexin: the former occupying the line of sea-coast from the Brele to
+the Seine, together with the governments of Eu and Havre and the Pays de
+Brai; the latter comprising the Roumois, and the French as well as the
+Norman Vexin. All these territorial divisions have, indeed, been
+obliterated by the state-geographers of the revolution; and Normandy,
+time-honored Normandy herself, has disappeared from the map of the
+dominions of the French king. The ancient duchy is severed into the five
+departments of the Seine Inferieure, the Eure, the Orne, Calvados, and
+the Manche. These are the only denominations known to the government or
+to the law, yet they are scarcely received in common parlance. The
+people still speak of Normandy, and they still take a pleasure in
+considering themselves as Normans: and, I too, can share in their
+attachment to a name, which transmits the remembrance of actual
+sovereignty and departed glory.
+
+Until the re-union of feudal Normandy to the crown of its liege lord,
+the duke was one of the twelve peers of the kingdom; and to his hands
+that kingdom entrusted the sacred Oriflamme, as often as it was
+expedient to unfurl it in war. Normandy also contained several titular
+duchies, ancient fiefs held of the King as Duke of Normandy, but which,
+out of favour to their owners, were "erected," as the French lawyers
+say, into duchies, after the province had reverted to the crown. This
+erection, however, gave but a title to the noble owner, without
+increasing his territorial privileges; nor could any of our Richards, or
+our Henries, have allowed a liege man to write himself duke, like his
+proud feudal suzerein. The recent duchies were Alencon, Aumale,
+Harcourt, Damville, Elbeuf, Etouteville, and Longueville, and three of
+them were included in the Pays de Gaux, the inhabitants of which, from
+the titles connected with it, were accustomed to dignify it with the
+epithet of _noble_. Their claim to the epithet is thus given by an
+ancient Norman poet of the fifteenth century; and if, according to the
+old tradition, which Voltaire has bantered with his usually incredulity,
+we could admit that Yvetot was ever really a kingdom, it must be allowed
+that few provinces could produce such a titled terrier:
+
+    "Au noble Pays de Caux
+     Y a quatre Abbayes royaux,
+     Six Prieures conventionaux,
+     Et six Barons de grand arroi,
+     Quatre Comtes, trois Ducs, un Roi."
+
+The soil of the district is generally rich; but the farmers frequently
+suffer from drought, especially in its western part, where they are
+obliged almost constantly to have recourse to artifical irrigation. The
+houses and villages are all surrounded with hedges, thickly planted, and
+each village is also belted in the same manner. These inclosures, which
+are peculiar to the Pays de Caux, give a monotonous appearance to the
+landscape, but they are highly beneficial, for they break the force of
+the winds, and furnish the inhabitants with fuel. If my memory does not
+deceive me, the towns either of the ancient Gauls or Teutons, are
+described as being thus encompassed in primitive times; but I cannot
+name my authorities for the assertion.
+
+St. Vallery, the first stage beyond Dieppe, is situated in a valley; and
+there is an obscure tradition that this valley was once watered by a
+river, which disappeared some centuries ago. It is conjectured, from the
+name of the town, that it claims an origin as high as the seventh
+century, when the disciples of St. Vallery were obliged to quit their
+original monastery and take refuge elsewhere. Yet, according to other
+authorities[26], it did not receive its present appellation till 1197,
+when Richard Coeur de Lion, after having destroyed the town and abbey of
+St. Vallery sur Somme, carried off the relics of the patron saint, and
+deposited them in this town. My reporters tell me that it has an air of
+antiquity and gloom, but that it contains nothing worthy of notice
+except a crucifix in the churchyard, of stone, richly wrought, dated
+1575, and a _benitier_ of such simple form and rude workmanship, as to
+appear of considerable antiquity. The place itself is only a wretched
+residence for four or five thousand fishermen; but still it has a
+name[27] in history. Hence William sailed for the conquest of England;
+and its harbor, all poor and small as it is, has always been considered
+of importance to the country; there being no other between Havre and
+Dieppe capable of affording shelter to vessels of even a moderate size.
+
+The road to Fecamp passes through the little town of Cany, situated in a
+beautiful valley; and there my family met the Archbishop of Rouen, who,
+at this moment, is in progress through his diocese, for the purpose of
+confirmation. The approach of his eminence gave the appearance of a fair
+to every village: young and old of both sexes were collected in the
+highways to welcome the prelate. He travelled in considerable state,
+attended by a military escort of twenty men; and arrayed in the scarlet
+robe of a Roman Cardinal, with the brilliant "decoration" of the Legion
+of Honor conspicuous upon his breast. For the archbishop is a grand
+officer of that brotherhood of bastard chivalry; and this ornament,
+conjoined to his train of whiskered warriors, seemed to render him a
+very type of the church militant. His eminence is extremely bulky; and
+my pilgrims were wicked enough to be much amused by the oddity of his
+pomp and pride. Nor did the postillion spare his facetiousness on the
+occasion; for you are aware that in France, as in most other parts of
+the continent, the servile classes use a degree of familiarity in their
+intercourse with their betters, to which we are little accustomed in
+England, and which has given rise to the Italian proverb, that "Il
+Francese e fedele, l'Italiano rispettoso, l'Inglese schiavo[28]."
+
+Throughout this part of France, large flocks of sheep are commonly seen
+in the vicinity of the sea, and, as the pastures are uninclosed, they
+are all regularly guarded by a shepherd and his black dog, whose
+activity cannot fail to be a subject of admiration. He is always on the
+alert and attentive to his business, skirting his flock to keep them
+from straggling, and that, apparently, without any directions from his
+master. In the night they are folded upon the ploughed land; and the
+shepherd lodges, like a Tartar in his _kibitka_, in a small cart roofed
+and fitted up with doors.
+
+Fecamp, like other towns in the neighborhood, is imbedded in a deep
+valley; and the road, on approaching it, threads through an opening
+between hills "stern and wild," a tract of "brown heath and shaggy
+wood," resembling many parts of Scotland. The town is long and
+straggling, the streets steep and crooked; its inhabitants, according to
+the official account of the population of France, amount to seven
+thousand, and the number of its houses is estimated at thirteen hundred,
+besides above a third of that quantity which are deserted, and more or
+less in ruins[29].
+
+Fecamp appeared desolate and decaying to its visitors, but they
+recollected that its very desolation was a voucher of the antiquity from
+which it derives its interest. It claims an origin as high as the days
+of Caesar, when it was called _Fisci Campus_, being the station where
+the tribute was collected.
+
+It is in vain, however, to expect concord amongst etymologists; and, of
+course, there are other right learned wights who protest against this
+derivation. They shake their heads and say, "no; you must trace the
+name, Fecamp, to _Fici Campus_;" and they strengthen their assertion by
+a sort of _argumentum ad ecclesiam_, maintaining that the _precious
+blood_, for which Fecamp was long celebrated, corroborates and confirms
+their tale. A chapel in the abbey church attests the sanctity of this
+relic. The legend states that Nicodemus, at the time of the entombment
+of our Saviour, collected in a phial the blood from his wounds, and
+bequeathed it to his nephew, Isaac; who afterwards, making a tour
+through Gaul, stopped in the Pays de Caux, and buried the phial at the
+root of a fig-tree[30].
+
+Nor is this the only miracle connected with the church. The monkish
+historians descant with florid eloquence upon the white stag, which
+pointed out to Duke Ansegirus the spot where the edifice was to be
+erected; the mystic knife, inscribed "in nomine sanctae et individuae
+trinitatis," thus declaring to whom the building should be dedicated;
+and the roof, which, though prepared for a distant edifice, felt that it
+would be best at Fecamp, and actually, of its own accord, undertook a
+voyage by sea, and landed, without the displacing of a single nail, upon
+the sea-coast near the town. All these _contes devots_, and many others,
+you will find recorded in the _Neustria Pia_[31]. I will only detain you
+with a few words more upon the subject of the _precious blood_, a matter
+too important to be thus hastily dismissed. It was placed here by Duke
+Richard I.; but was lost in the course of a long and turbulent period,
+and was not found again till the year 1171, when it was discovered
+within the substance of a column built in the wall. Two little tubes of
+lead originally contained the treasure; but these were soon inclosed in
+two others of a more precious metal, and the whole was laid at the
+bottom of a box of gilt silver, placed in a beautiful pyramidical
+shrine. Thus protected, it was, before the revolution, fastened to one
+of the pillars of the choir, behind a trellis-work of copper, and was an
+object of general adoration. I know not what has since become of it;
+but, as they are now managing these matters better in France, we may
+safely calculate upon the speedy reappearance of the relic. Nor must you
+refer this legend to the many which protestant incredulity is too apt to
+class with the idle tales of all ages, the
+
+    "... quicquid Graecia mendax
+     Audet in historia;"
+
+for no less grave an authority than the faculty of theology at Paris
+determined, by a formal decree of the 28th of May, 1448, that this
+worship was very proper; for that, to use their words, "Non repugnat
+pietati fidelium credere quod aliquid de sanguine Christi effuso tempore
+passionis remanserit in terris."
+
+The abbey, to which Fecamp was indebted for all its greatness and
+celebrity, was founded in 664[32] for a community of nuns, by Waning,
+the count or governor of the Pays de Caux, a nobleman who had already
+contributed to the endowment of the Monastery of St. Wandrille. St.
+Ouen, Bishop of Rouen, dedicated the church in the presence of King
+Clotaire; and, so rapidly did the fame of the sanctity of the abbey
+extend, that the number of its inmates amounted in a very short period
+to three hundred or more. The arrival, however, of the Normans, under
+Hastings, in 841, caused the dispersion of the nuns; and the same story
+is related of the few who remained at Fecamp, as of many others under
+similar circumstances, that they voluntarily cut off their noses and
+their lips, rather than be an object of attraction to the lust of their
+conquerors. The abbey, in return for their heroism, was levelled with
+the ground, and it did not rise from its ashes till the year 988, when
+the piety of Duke Richard I. built the church anew, under the auspices
+of his son, Robert, Archbishop of Rouen; but, departing from the
+original foundation, he established therein a chapter of regular canons,
+who, however, were so irregular in their conduct, that within ten years
+they were doomed to give way to a body of Benedictine Monks, headed by
+an Abbot, named William, from a convent at Dijon. From his time the
+monastery continued to increase in splendor. Three suffragan abbies,
+that of Notre Dame at Bernay, of St. Taurin at Evreux, and of Ste.
+Berthe de Blangi, in the diocese of Boullogne, owned the superior power
+of the abbot of Fecamp, and supplied the three mitres which he proudly
+bore on his abbatial shield. Kings and princes in former ages frequently
+paid the abbey the homage of their worship and their gifts; and, in a
+period nearer to our own, Casimir of Poland, after his voluntary
+abdication of the throne, selected it as the spot in which he sought for
+repose, when wearied with the cares of royalty. The English possessions
+of Fecamp (for like most of the great Norman abbeys, it held lands in
+our island) do not appear to have been large; but, according to an
+author of our own country[33] the abbot presented to one hundred and
+thirty benefices, some in the diocese of Rouen, others in those of
+Bayeux, Lisieux, Coutances, Chartres, and Beauvais; and it enjoyed so
+many estates, that its income was said to be forty thousand crowns per
+annum. Fecamp moreover could boast of a noble library, well stored with
+manuscripts[34], and containing among its archives many original
+charters, deeds, &c. of William the Conqueror, and several of his
+successors.
+
+This magnificent church is three hundred and seventy feet long and
+seventy high; the transept, including the Chapel of the Precious Blood,
+one hundred and twenty feet long; the tower two hundred feet high. A
+portion of it was burned in 1460, but soon repaired. William de Ros,
+third abbot, rebuilt all the upper part in a better taste, and enlarged
+the nave, which was not finished till 1200. A successor of his at the
+beginning of the next century completed the chapels round the choir. The
+screen was begun by one of the monks about 1500, who erected the chapel
+dedicated to the death of the Virgin, a master-piece of architecture and
+adorned with historical carving. The cloister was built so late as 1712.
+Cathedral service was performed in the church, in which were the tombs
+of the first and second of the Richards of Normandy; of Richard, infant
+son of the former, and of William, third son of the latter; of Margaret,
+betrothed to Robert, son of William the Conqueror, who died 1060; of
+Alard, third Earl of Bretagne, 1040; of Archbishop Osmond, and of a
+Lady Judith, whose jingling epitaph has given rise to a variety of
+conjectures, whether she was the wife of Duke Richard IInd, or his
+daughter, or some other person.--
+
+       "Illa solo sociata, mariti at jure soluta,
+     Judita judicio justificata jacet;
+     Et quae, dante Deo, sed judice justificante,
+     Primo jus subiit sed modo jura regit."
+
+As to Duke Richard Ist, he caused a sarcophagus of stone to be made and
+placed within this church; and so long as he lived, it was filled with
+wheat on every Friday, and the grain, together with five shillings,
+distributed weekly among the poor. And when his death approached, he
+expressly charged his successor, "Bury not my body within the church,
+but deposit it on the outside, immediately under the eaves, that the
+dripping of the rain from the holy roof may wash my bones as I lie, and
+may cleanse them of the spots of impurity contracted during a negligent
+and neglected life."
+
+Our party could not ascertain whether any of the historical monuments
+were yet in existence. The church, at the time they were there, was
+wholly occupied with preparations for the approaching confirmation.
+Young girls in their best dresses, all in white, and holding tapers in
+their hands, filled the nave, while the chapels were crowded with
+individuals at prayer, or still more with females waiting for an
+opportunity of confessing themselves, previously to receiving the
+expected absolution from the archbishop. Under such circumstances
+nothing could be examined; but there appeared to be in the chapels five
+or six fine, though mutilated, altar tombs: to whom, however, they
+belonged, or what was their actual state, it was impossible to tell.
+Accompanying them are also some curious pieces of sculpture. For the
+same reason no farther remark could be made upon the interior of the
+building, except that its architecture is imposing, and its roof,
+supported by tall clustered pillars, has much the general effect of the
+nave of our cathedral at Norwich, one of the purest specimens of Norman
+architecture in England. Externally the tower is handsome, and of nearly
+the earliest pointed style; not altogether so, as its arches, though
+narrow, contain each a double arch within. The rest of the building
+seems to have suffered much from alterations and dilapidation; and
+whatever tracery there may have been originally has disappeared from the
+windows; nor are there saints or even niches remaining above the doors.
+
+The exterior of the church of St. Etienne, one of the ten parochial
+churches of Fecamp, before the revolution, is considerably more
+imposing; but upon this I will not detain you, as you will see it
+engraved in Mr. Cotman's _Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, from a
+sketch taken by him last year.
+
+Henry IInd, of England, made a donation of the town to the abbey, whose
+seignorial jurisdiction also extended over many other parishes, as well
+in this as in the adjoining dioceses. Its exclusive privileges were
+likewise ample. Under the first and second race, Fecamp was the seat of
+government of the Pays de Caux, and the residence of the counts of the
+district: it was also a residence of the Norman Dukes. Their castle was
+rebuilt by William Longue-Epee, with a degree of magnificence which is
+said to have been extraordinary. This duke took particular pleasure in
+the place, and he and his immediate successors frequently lived here.
+But the palace has long since disappeared[35]: the continual increase of
+the monastic buildings gradually occupied its place; and they, in their
+turn, are now experiencing the revolutions of fortune, the inhabitants
+being at this very time actively employed in their demolition.
+
+The town is at present wholly supported by the fisheries, in which are
+employed about fourteen hundred sailors[36]. The herrings of Fecamp have
+always had the same high character in France, as those of Lowestoft and
+Yarmouth in England. The armorial lion of our own town ends, as you
+know, with the tail of a herring; and I really have been often inclined
+to affix the same appendage to the rump of the lion of Normandy. You are
+not much of an epicure, nor are you very likely to search in the
+_Almanach des Gourmands_ for dainties; if you did, you would probably
+find there the following proverb, which has existed since the thirteenth
+century,--
+
+       "Aloses de Bourdeaux;
+     Esturgeons de Blaye;
+     Congres de la Rochelle;
+     Harengs de Fecamp;
+     Saumons de Loire;
+     Seches de Coutances."
+
+The fortifications of Fecamp are destroyed; but, upon the cliffs which
+command the town, there still remain some slight vestiges of a fort,
+erected in the time of Henry IVth, when the inhabitants espoused the
+party of the league. The capture of this fort was one of those gallant
+exploits which the historian delights in recording; and it is detailed
+at great length in Sully's Memoirs[37].
+
+From Fecamp to Havre the country is well wooded, and much applied to the
+cultivation of flax, which flourishes in this neighborhood, and has
+given rise to considerable linen manufactories. The trees look well in
+masses, but individually they are trimmed into ugliness. Near Havre the
+road goes through Montivilliers, and, still nearer, through Harfleur.
+
+The first of these is, like Fecamp, a place of antiquity, and derived
+its name[38] and importance from a monastery which was founded at the
+end of the seventh century. Its history is headed by the chapter which
+begins the records of most of the ecclesiastical foundations of the
+duchy: when the invading heathen Normans reached Montivilliers, it
+shared the common fate of destruction, and when they withdrew, the
+common piety recalled it to existence. Richard IInd bestowed it upon
+Fecamp, but the same sovereign restored it to its independence, at the
+request of his aunt, Beatrice, who retired hither as abbess, at the head
+of a community of nuns. A convent, over which an abbess of royal blood
+had presided, could not fail to enjoy considerable privileges; and it
+retained them to the period of the revolution. The tower of the church
+still remains, a noble specimen of the Norman architecture of the
+eleventh century, at which period the building is known to have been
+erected. The rest of the edifice, though handsome as a whole, is the
+work of different aeras. The archives of the monastery furnish an account
+of large sums expended in additions and alterations in the years 1370
+and 1513. The interior contains some elegant stone fillagree-work in the
+form of a small gallery or pulpit, attached to the west end near the
+roof, and probably intended to receive a band of singers on high
+festivals. A gallery of a similar nature, but of wood, and to which the
+foregoing purpose was assigned by the learned wight, John Carter, is yet
+remaining at the north-west corner of Westminster Abbey. You and I, who
+are sadly inclined to admire ugliness and antiquity, would have been
+better pleased with the capitals of the pillars, which are evidently
+coeval with the tower. Drawings were made of some of these capitals, and
+I have selected two which appeared to be the most singular.
+
+[Illustration: Capital with angel]
+
+In this you observe an angel weighing the good works of the deceased
+against his evil deeds; and, as the former are far exceeding the
+avoirdupois upon which Satan is to found his claim, he is endeavoring
+most unfairly to depress the scale with his two-pronged fork.
+
+This allegory is of frequent occurrence in the monkish legends.--The
+saint, who was aware of the frauds of the fiend, resolved to hold the
+balance himself.--He began by throwing in a pilgrimage to a miraculous
+virgin.--The devil pulled out an assignation with some fair mortal
+Madonna, who had ceased to be immaculate.--The saint laid in the scale
+the sackcloth and ashes of the penitent of Lenten-time.--Satan answered
+the deposit by the vizard and leafy-robe of the masker of the
+carnival.--Thus did they still continue equally interchanging the
+sorrows of godliness with the sweets of sin, and still the saint was
+distressed beyond compare, by observing that the scale of the wicked
+thing (wise men call him the correcting principle,) always seemed the
+heaviest. Almost did he despair of his client's salvation, when he
+luckily saw eight little jetty black claws just hooking and clenching
+over the rim of the golden basin. The claws at once betrayed the craft
+of the cloven foot. Old Nick had put a little cunning young devil under
+the balance, who, following the dictates of his senior, kept clinging to
+the scale, and swaying it down with all his might and main. The saint
+sent the imp to his proper place in a moment, and instantly the burthen
+of transgression was seen to kick the beam.
+
+Painters and sculptors also often introduced this ancient allegory of
+the balance of good and evil, in their representations of the last
+judgment: it was even employed by Lucas Kranach.
+
+The other capital which I send to you is ornamented with groups of
+Centaurs or Sagittaries. Astronomical sculptures are frequently found
+upon the monuments of the middle ages. Two capitals, forming part of a
+series of zodiacal sculptures, are preserved in the _Musee des Monumens
+Francais_; and, speaking from memory, I think they bear a near
+resemblance in style to that which is here represented.
+
+[Illustration: Capital with Centaurs or Sagittaries]
+
+Montivilliers itself is a neat little town, beautifully situated in a
+valley, with a stream of clear water running through it. At this time
+its trade is trifling; but the case was otherwise in former days, when
+its cloths were considered to rival those of Flanders, and the
+preservation of the manufacture was regarded of so much consequence,
+that sundry regulations respecting it are to be found in the royal
+ordinances. One of them in particular, of the fourteenth century,
+notices the frauds committed by other towns in imitating the mark of the
+cloth of Montivilliers.
+
+The general appearance of Harfleur is much like that of Montivilliers;
+but numerous remains of walls and gates denote that it was once of
+still greater comparative importance. The ancient trade of the place is
+now transferred to Havre de Grace, the situation of the latter town
+being far more elegible.
+
+The Seine no longer rolls its waves under Harfleur; and the desiccated
+harbor is now seen as a verdant meadow. Without the aid of history,
+therefore, you would in vain inquire into the derivation of the name, in
+connection with which, the learned Huet, Bishop of Avranches[39], calls
+upon us to remark, that the names of many places in Normandy end in
+_fleur_, as Barfleur, Harfleur, Honfleur, Fiefleur, Vitefleur, &c.; and
+that, if, as it is commonly supposed, this termination comes from
+_fluctus_, it must have passed through the Saxon, in which language
+_fleoten_ signifies _to flow_. Hence we have _flot_, and from _flot,
+fleut_ and _fleur_, the last alteration being warranted by the genius of
+the French language. The bishop further states, that there are two
+facts, affording a decisive proof of this origin: the one, that the
+names now terminating in _fleur_, ended anciently _flot_, Barfleur being
+Barbeflot, Harfleur Hareflot, and Honfleur Huneflot; the other, that all
+places so called are situated where they are washed by the tide. Such is
+also the position of the towns in Holland, whose names terminate in
+_vliet_, and of those in England, ending in _fleet_, as Purfleet,
+Byfleet, &c. The Latin word _flevus_ is of the same kind, and is derived
+from the same source; for, instead of Hareflot and Huneflot, some old
+records have Hareflou and Huneflou, and some others Barfleu, terms
+approaching _flevus_, which is also called by Ptolemy, _fleus_, and by
+Mela, _fletio_. It is highly improbable, that these two last terms
+should have been coined subsequently to the time of the Romans becoming
+masters of Gaul, and it is equally unlikely that the Saxon _fleoten_
+should be derived from the Latin. Thus far, therefore, the languages
+appear to have had a common origin, and they are insomuch allied to the
+Celtic, that those towns in Britanny, in whose names are found the
+syllables _pleu_ and _plou_, are also invariably placed in similar
+situations.
+
+If, however, I am fairly embarked in the sea of etymological conjecture,
+I know not where I shall be carried; and therefore, instead of urging
+the probability that the root of the Celtic _pleu_ is apparently to be
+found in the Pelasgic [Greek in original] sail or float, I shall return
+to Harfleur and its history. Whilst Harfleur was in its glory, it was
+considered the key of the Seine and of this part of France. In 1415 it
+opposed a vigorous resistance to our Henry Vth, who had no sooner made
+himself master of it, than, with a degree of contradiction, which
+teaches man to regard the performance of his duty to God as no reason
+for his performing it to his fellow-creatures, "the King uncovered his
+feet and legs, and walked barefoot from the gate to the parish church of
+St. Martin, where he very devoutly offered up his prayers and
+thanksgivings for his success. But, immediately afterwards he made all
+the nobles and the men at arms that were in the town his captives, and
+shortly after sent the greater part out of the place, clothed in their
+jerkins only, taking down their names and surnames in writing, and
+obliging them to swear by their faith that they would surrender
+themselves prisoners at Calais on Martinmas-day next ensuing. In like
+manner were the townsmen made prisoners, and obliged to ransom
+themselves for large sums of money. Afterwards did the King banish them
+out of the town, with numbers of women and children, to each of whom
+were given five sols and a portion of their garments." Monstrelet[40],
+from whom I have transcribed this detail, adds, that "it was pitiful to
+hear and see the sorrow of these poor people, thus driven away from
+their homes; the priests and clergy were likewise dismissed; and, in
+regard to the wealth found there, it was not to be told, and appertained
+even to the King, who distributed it as he pleased." Other writers tell
+us that the number of those thus expelled was eight thousand, and that
+the conqueror, not satisfied with this act of vengeance, publicly burned
+the charters and archives of the town and the title-deeds of
+individuals, re-peopled Harfleur with English, and forbad the few
+inhabitants that remained to possess or inherit any landed property.
+After a lapse, however, of twenty years, the peasants of the neighboring
+country, aided by one hundred and four of the inhabitants, retook the
+place by assault. The exploit was gallant; and a custom continued to
+prevail in Harfleur, for above two centuries subsequently, intended to
+commemorate it; a bell was tolled one hundred and four times every
+morning at day-break, being the time when the attack was made. In 1440,
+the citizens, undismayed by the sufferings of their predecessors,
+withstood a second siege from our countrymen, whom the town resisted
+four months, and in whose possession it remained ten years, when Charles
+VIIIth permanently united it to the crown of France. Notwithstanding
+these calamities, it rose again to a state of prosperity, till the
+revocation of the edict of Nantes gave the death-blow to its commerce;
+and intolerance completed the desolation which war had begun. At
+present, it is only remarkable for the elegant tower and spire of its
+church, connected by flying buttresses of great beauty, the whole of
+rich and elaborate workmanship.
+
+[Illustration: Tower and Spire of Harfleur Church]
+
+At a short distance from Harfleur, the Seine comes in view, flowing into
+the sea through a fine rich valley; but the wide expanse of water has no
+picturesque beauty. The hills around Havre are plentifully spotted with
+gentlemen's houses, few only of which have been seen in other parts in
+the ride. The town itself is strongly fortified; and, having conducted
+you hither, I shall leave you for the present, reserving for another
+letter any particulars respecting Havre, and the rest of the road to
+Rouen.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[25] _Antiquites de Normandie_, p. 53.
+
+[26] _Dumoulin, Geographie de la France_, II p. 80.
+
+[27] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 109.
+
+[28] Heylin notices the familiarity of the approach of the French
+servants, in his delineation of a Norman inn. An extract may amuse those
+who are not familiar with the works of this quaint yet sensible writer.
+"There stood in the chamber three beds, if at the least it be lawful so
+to call them; the foundation of them was straw, so infinitely thronged
+together, that the wool-packs which our judges sit on in the Parliament,
+were melted butter to them; upon this lay a medley of flocks and
+feathers sewed up together in a large bag, (for I am confident it was
+not a tick) but so ill ordered that the knobs stuck out on each side
+like a crab-tree cudgel. He had need to have flesh enough that lyeth on
+one of them, otherwise the second night would wear out his bones.--Let
+us now walk into the kitchen and observe their provision. And here we
+found a most terrible execution committed on the person of a pullet; my
+hostess, cruel woman, had cut the throat of it, and without plucking off
+the feathers, tore it into pieces with her hands, and afterwards took
+away skin and feathers together: this done, it was clapped into a pan
+and fried for supper.--But the principal ornaments of these inns are the
+men-servants, the raggedest regiment that ever I yet looked upon; such a
+thing as a chamberlain was never heard of amongst them, and good clothes
+are as little known as he. By the habits of his attendants a man would
+think himself in a gaol, their clothes are either full of patches or
+open to the skin. Bid one of them make clean your boots, and presently
+he hath recourse to the curtains.--They wait always with their hats on,
+and so do all servants attending on their masters.--Time and use
+reconciled me to many other things, which, at the first were offensive;
+to this most irreverent custom I returned an enemy; _neither can I see
+how it can choose but stomach the most patient_ to see the worthiest
+sign of liberty usurped and profaned by the basest of slaves."--Peter
+then has a learned _excursus de jure pileorum_, wherein _Tertullian de
+Spectaculis, Erasmus_ his _Chiliades_, and many other reverent
+authorities are adduced; also, giving an account of his successful
+exertions, as to "the licence of putting on our caps at our public
+meetings, which privilege, time, and the tyranny of the vice-chancellor,
+had taken from." After which, he still resumes in ire,--"this French
+sauciness hath drawn me out of the way; an impudent familiarity, which,
+I confess, did much offend me; and to which I still profess myself an
+open enemy. Though Jacke speak French, I cannot endure Jacke should be a
+gentleman."
+
+[29] _Geographie de la France_, II. p. 115.
+
+[30] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 94.
+
+[31] P. 196, 203, 204.
+
+[32] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 90.--Some other writers
+date the foundation A.D. 666.
+
+[33] _Gough's Alien Priories_, I. p. 9.
+
+[34] This important part of its treasures, we may hope, from the
+following passage in Noel, has been in a measure preserved. "On m'a
+assure que cette derniere partie des richesses litteraires de notre pays
+etoit heureusement conservee: puisse aujourd'hui ce depot, honorant les
+mains qui le possedent, parvenir integre jusqu'aux tems properes ou le
+genie de l'histoire pourra utiliser sa possession."--_Essais sur la
+Seine Inferieure_, II. p. 21.
+
+[35] I do not know if it be wholly destroyed; for the author of the
+Description of Upper Normandy and Goube both speak of the existence of a
+square tower within the precincts of the abbey, part of the old palace,
+and known by the name of the _Tower of Babel_.
+
+[36] _Noel, Essais sur la Seine Inferieure_, II. p. 11.
+
+[37] Vol. I. p. 389.
+
+[38] This name, in Latin, is _Monasterium Villare_; in old French
+records it is called _Monstier Vieil_.
+
+[39] _Origines de Caen, 2nd edit._ p. 300.
+
+[40] Vol. II. p. 78.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VI.
+
+HAVRE--TRADE AND HISTORY OF THE TOWN--EMINENT MEN--BOLBEC--YVETOT--RIDE
+TO ROUEN--FRENCH BEGGARS.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+To Fecamp and the other places noticed in my last letter, a more
+striking contrast could not easily be found than Havre. It equally wants
+the interest derived from ancient history, and the appearance of misery
+inseparable from present decay. And yet even Havre is now suffering and
+depressed. A town which depends altogether upon foreign commerce, could
+not fail to feel the effects of a long maritime war; and we accordingly
+find the number of its inhabitants, which twenty years ago was estimated
+at twenty-five thousand, now reduced to little more than sixteen
+thousand.
+
+The blow, which Havre will with most difficulty recover is the loss of
+St. Domingo; for, before the revolution, it almost enjoyed a monopoly of
+the trade of this important colony, in which upwards of eighty ships,
+each of above three hundred tons burthen, were constantly employed. With
+Martinique and Guadaloupe it had a similar, though less extensive,
+intercourse. As the natural outlet for the manufactures of Rouen and
+Paris, it supplied the French islands in the West Indies with the
+principal part of their plantation stores; and the situation of the port
+was equally advantageous for the importation of their produce. Guinea
+and the coast of Africa afforded a second and important branch of
+commerce; and this also is little likely entirely to recover. We may
+add that, happily it is not so; for it depended principally upon the
+slave-trade, the profits of which were such, that it was calculated a
+vessel might clear upon an average nearly eight thousand pounds by each
+voyage[41]. Its whale-fishery has, for more than a century, ceased to
+exist. This pursuit began with spirit and at as early a period as the
+year 1632, when the merchants of this port, in conjunction with those of
+Biscay, fitted out the expedition commanded by Vrolicq, seized upon a
+station near Spitzbergen, where they would have obtained a permanent
+establishment, had they not been violently expelled by the Danes and
+Dutch. But the coasting-trade with the various ports of France, and the
+communication with the other countries of Europe, is now again in full
+vigor; and it is to these sources that Havre is chiefly indebted for the
+life and spirit visible in its quays and public places.
+
+The appearance of bustle and activity is a striking, at the same time
+that it is a most pleasing, character, of every great and commercial
+sea-port, in every part of the world: it is especially so in a climate
+which is milder than our own, and where not only the loading and
+unloading of the ships, with the consequent transport of merchandize, is
+continually taking place before the spectator; but the sides of the
+shops are commonly set open, sail-makers are pursuing their business in
+rows in the streets, and almost every handicraft and occupation is
+carried on in the open air. An acute traveller might also conjecture
+that the mildness of the atmosphere is comfortable and congenial to the
+parrots, perroquets, and monkeys, which are brought over as pets and
+companions by the sailors. Great numbers of these exotic birds and
+brutes are to be seen at the windows, and they almost give to the town
+of Havre the appearance of a tropical settlement.
+
+The quays are strongly edged and faced with granite: the streets, of
+which there are forty, are all built in straight lines, and chiefly at
+right angles with each other. In them are several fountains, round which
+picturesque groups of women are continually collected, employed with
+Homeric industry in the task of washing linen. The churches are ugly,
+their style is a miserable caricature of Roman architecture, the
+interiors are incumbered by dirty and dark chapels, filled up with wood
+carvings. The principal church has figures of saints, of wretched
+execution, but of the size of life, ranged round the interior. The
+harbor is calculated to contain three hundred vessels. The houses are
+oddly constructed: they are very narrow, and very lofty, being commonly
+seven stories high, and they are mostly fronted with stripes of tiled
+slate, and intermediate ones of mortar, so fantastically disposed, that
+two are rarely seen alike.
+
+Notwithstanding what is alledged by the author of the _Memoires sur
+Havre_, in his endeavors to give consequence to his native place, by
+maintaining its antiquity, it appears certain that no mention is made of
+the town previously to the fifteenth century. Even so late as 1509, its
+scite was occupied by a few hovels, clustered round a thatched chapel,
+under the protection of Notre Dame de Grace, from whom the place derived
+the name of Havre de Grace. Francis Ist, who was the real founder[42]
+of Havre, was desirous of changing this name to _Francoisville_ or
+_Franciscopole_. But the will of a sovereign, as Goube very justly
+observes, most commonly dies with him: in our days, the National
+Convention, aided by the full force of popular enthusiasm, has equally
+failed in a similar attempt. The jacobins tried in vain to banish the
+recollections of good St. Denis, by unchristening his vill under the
+appellation of _Franciade_. Disobedience to the edict, exposed, indeed,
+the contravener to the chance of experiencing the martyrdom of the
+bishop; yet the mandate still produced no effect. Nor was Napoleon more
+successful; and history affords abundant proof, that it is more easy to
+build a city, or even to conquer a kingdom, than to alter an established
+name.
+
+Viewed in its present condition, no town in France unites more
+advantages than Havre: it is one of the keys of the kingdom; it commands
+the mouth of the river that leads direct to the metropolis; and it is at
+once a great commercial town and a naval station. Possessing such claims
+to commercial and military pre-eminence, it may appear matter of
+surprise that it should be of so recent an origin; but the cause is to
+be sought for in the changes which succeeding centuries have induced in
+the face of the country--
+
+         "Vidi ego quae fuerat quondam durissima tellus
+     Esse fretum; vidi factas ex aequore terras."
+
+The sea continually loses here, and, without great efforts on the part
+of man to retard the operation of the elements, Havre may, in process of
+time, become what Harfleur is. At its origin it stood immediately on the
+shore; the consequence of which was, that, within a very few years, a
+high tide buried two-thirds of the houses and nearly all the
+inhabitants. The remembrance of this dreadful calamity is still annually
+renewed by a solemn procession on the fifteenth of January.
+
+With regard to historical events connected with Havre, there is little
+to be said. It was the spot whence our Henry VIIth embarked, in 1485,
+aided by four thousand men from Charles VIIIth, of France, to enforce
+his claim to the English crown. The town was seized by the Huguenots,
+and delivered to our Queen Elizabeth, in 1562. But it was held by her
+only till the following year, when Charles IXth, with Catherine of
+Medicis, commanded the siege in person, and pressed it so vigorously,
+that the Earl of Warwick was obliged to evacuate the place, after having
+sacrificed the greater part of his troops. At the end of the following
+century, after the bombardment and destruction of Dieppe, an attack was
+made upon Havre, but without success, owing to the strength of the
+fortifications, and particularly of the citadel. For this, the town was
+indebted to Cardinal Richelieu, who was its governor for a considerable
+time, and who also erected some of its public buildings, improved the
+basin, and gave a fresh impulse to trade, by ordering several large
+ships of war to be built here. As ship-builders, the inhabitants of
+Havre have always had a high character: they stand conspicuous in the
+annals of the art, for the construction of the vessel called _la Grande
+Francoise_, and justly termed _la grande_, as having been of two
+thousand tons burthen. Her cables are said to have been above the
+thickness of a man's leg; and, besides what is usually found in a ship,
+she contained a wind-mill and a tennis-court[43]. Her destination was,
+according to some authors, the East Indies; according to others, the
+Isle of Rhodes, then attacked by Soliman IInd; but we need not now
+inquire whither she was bound; for, after advantage had been taken of
+two of the highest tides, the utmost which could be done was to tow her
+to the end of the pier, where she stuck fast, and was finally obliged to
+be cut to pieces. Her history and catastrophe are immortalized by
+Rabelais, under the appellation of _la Grande Nau Francoise_.
+
+It were unpardonable to take leave of Havre without one word upon the
+celebrated individuals to whom it has given birth; and you must allow me
+also, from our common taste for natural history, to point it out to your
+notice as a spot peculiarly favorable for the collecting of fossil
+shells, which are found about the town and neighborhood in great numbers
+and variety. The Abbe Dicquemare, a naturalist of considerable eminence,
+who resided here, may possibly be known to you by his observations on
+this subject, or still more probably by those upon the Aetiniae; the
+latter having been translated into English, and honored with a place in
+the Transactions of our Royal Society. Of more extensive, but not more
+justly merited, fame, are George Scudery and his sister Magdalen: the
+one a voluminous writer in his day, though now little known, except for
+his _Critical Observations upon the Cid_; the other, a still more
+prolific author of novels, and alternately styled by her contemporaries
+the Sappho of her age, and "un boutique de verbiage;" but unquestionably
+a writer of merit, notwithstanding the many unmanly sneers of Boileau,
+whose bitter pen, like that of our own illustrious satirist, could not
+even consent to spare a female that had been so unfortunate as to
+provoke his resentment. She died in 1701, at the advanced age of
+ninety-four. The last upon my list is one of whom death has very
+recently deprived the world, the excellent Bernardin de Saint Pierre; a
+man whose writings are not less calculated to improve the heart than to
+enlarge the mind. It is impossible to read his works without feeling
+love and respect for the author. His exquisite little tale of _Paul and
+Virginia_ is in the hands of every body; and his larger work, the
+_Studies of Nature_, deserves to be no less generally read, as full of
+the most original observations, joined to theories always ingenious,
+though occasionally fanciful: the whole conveyed in a singularly
+captivating style, and its merits still farther enhanced by a constant
+flow of unaffected piety.
+
+The road from Havre to Rouen is of a different character, and altogether
+unlike that from Dieppe; but what it gains in beauty of landscape it
+loses in interest. And yet, perhaps, it is even wrong to say that it
+gains much in point of beauty; for, though: trees are more generally
+dispersed, though cultivation is universal, and the soil good, and
+produce luxuriant, and though the mind and the eye cannot but be pleased
+by the abundance and verdure of the country, yet in picturesque effect
+it is extremely deficient. Monotony, even of excellence, displeases. I
+am speaking of the road which passes through Bolbec and Yvetot: there is
+another which lies nearer to the banks of the Seine, through Lillebonne
+and Caudebec, and this, I do not doubt, would, in every point of view,
+have been preferable.
+
+At but a short distance from Havre, to the left, lies the church,
+formerly part of the priory, of Graville, a picturesque and interesting
+object. Of the date of its erection we have no certain knowledge, and it
+is much to be regretted that we have not, for it is clearly of Norman
+architecture; the tower a very pure specimen of that style, and the end
+of the north transept one of the most curious any where to be seen, and
+apparently; also one of the most ancient[44]. I should therefore feel no
+scruple in referring the building to a more early period than the
+beginning of the thirteenth century, where our records of the
+establishment commence; for it was then that William Malet, Lord of
+Graville, placed here a number of regular canons from Ste. Barbe en
+Auge, and endowed them with all the tythes and patronage he possessed in
+France and England. The act by which Walter, Archbishop of Rouen,
+confirmed this foundation, is dated in 1203. _Stachys Germanica_, a
+plant of extreme rarity in England, grows abundantly here by the
+road-side; and apple-trees are very numerous, not only edging the road,
+but planted in rows across the fields.
+
+The valley by which you enter Bolbec is pretty and varied; full of trees
+and houses, which stand at different heights upon the hills on either
+side. The town itself is long, straggling, and uneven. Through it runs a
+rapid little stream, which serves many purposes of extensive business,
+connected with the cotton manufactory, the preparation of leather,
+cutlery, &c. This stream, of the same name with the town, afterwards
+falls into the Seine, near Lillebonne, one of the most ancient places in
+Normandy, and formerly the metropolis of the Caletes, but now only a
+wretched village. Tradition refers its ruin to the period of the
+invasion of Gaul by the Romans; but it revived under the Norman Dukes,
+who resided here a portion of the year, and it was a favorite seat of
+William the Conqueror. To him, or to one of his immediate predecessors
+or successors, it is most probable that the castle owes its existence.
+Mr. Cotman found the ruins of it extensive and remarkable. The
+importance of the place, at a far more early date, is proved by the
+medals of the Upper and Lower Empire, which are frequently dug up here,
+and not less decisively by the many Roman roads which originate from the
+town. Bolbec can lay claim to no similar distinction; but it is full of
+industrious manufacturers. Twice in the last century it was burned to
+the ground; and, after each conflagration, it has arisen more
+flourishing from its ashes. At the last, which happened in 1765, Louis
+XVth made a donation to the town of eighty thousand livres, and the
+parliament of Normandy added a gratuity of half as much more, to assist
+the inhabitants in repairing their losses.
+
+Yvetot, the next stage, possesses no visible interest, and furnishes no
+employment for the pencil. The town is, like Bolbec, a residence for
+manufacturers; and the curious stranger would seek in vain for any
+traces of decayed magnificence, any vestiges or records of a royal
+residence. And yet, it is held that Yvetot was the capital of a
+_kingdom_, which, if it really did exist, had certainly the distinction
+of being the smallest that ever was ruled on its own account. The
+subject has much exercised the talents and ingenuity of historians. It
+has been maintained by the affirmants, that an actual monarchy existed
+here at a period as remote as the sixth century; others argue that,
+though the Lords of Yvetot may have been stiled _Kings_, the distinction
+was merely titular, and was not conferred till about the year 1400;
+whilst a third, and, perhaps, most numerous, body, treat the whole as
+apocryphal.
+
+Robert Gaguin[45], a French historian of the fifteenth century, prefaces
+the anecdote by observing, that he is the first French writer by whom
+it is recorded; and, as if sensible that such a remark could not fail to
+excite suspicion, he proceeds to say, that it is wonderful that his
+predecessors should have been silent. Yet he certainly was not the first
+who stated the story in print; for it appears in the Chronicles of
+Nicholas Gilles, which were printed in 1492, whilst the earliest edition
+of Gaugin was published in 1497.--According to these monkish historians,
+Clotharius, of France, son of Clovis, had threatened the life of his
+chamberlain, Gaultier, Lord of Yvetot, who thereupon fled the kingdom,
+and for ten years remained in voluntary exile, fighting against the
+infidels. At the end of this period, Gaultier hoped that the anger of
+his sovereign might be appeased, and he accordingly went to Rome, and
+implored the aid of the Supreme Pontiff. Pope Agapetus pitied the
+wanderer; and he gave unto him a letter addressed to the King of the
+Franks, in which he interceded for the supplicant. Clotharius was then
+residing at Soissons, his capital, and thither Gaultier repaired on
+Good-Friday, in the year 536, and, availing himself of the moment when
+the King was kneeling before the altar, threw himself at the feet of the
+royal votary, beseeching pardon in the name of the common Savior of
+mankind, who on that day shed his blood for the redemption of the human
+race. But his prayers and appeal were in vain: he found no pardon;
+Clothair drew his sword, and slew him on the spot. The Pope threatened
+the monarch with apostolical vengeance, and Clothair attempted to atone
+for the murder, by raising the town and territory of Yvetot into a
+kingdom, and granting it in perpetuity to the heirs of Gaultier.
+
+Such is the tradition. There is a very able dissertation upon the
+subject, by the Abbe de Vertot[46], who endeavors to disprove the whole
+story: first by the silence of all contemporary authors; then by the
+fact, that Yvetot was not at that time under the dominion of Clothair;
+then by an anachronism, which the story involves as to Pope Agapetus;
+and finally by sundry other arguments of minor importance. Even he,
+however, admits, that in a royal decree, dated 1392, and preserved among
+the records of the Exchequer of Normandy, the title of _King_ is given
+to the Lord of Yvetot; and he is obliged to cut the knot, which he is
+unable to untie, by stating it as his opinion, that at or about this
+period Yvetot was really raised into a sovereignty, though, on what
+occasion, for what purpose, and with what privileges, no document
+remains to prove. As a parallel case, he instances the Peers of France,
+an order with whose existence every body is acquainted, while of the
+date of the establishment nothing is known. It is surprising, that so
+clear-sighted a writer did not perceive that he was doing nothing more
+than illustrating, as the logicians say, _obscurum per obscurius_, or,
+rather, making darkness more dark; as if it were not considerably more
+probable, that so strange a circumstance should have taken place in the
+sixth century, and have been left unrecorded, when society was unformed,
+anomalies frequent, and historians few, than that it should have
+happened in the fourteenth, a period when the government of France was
+completely settled in a regular form, under one monarch, when literature
+was generally diffused, and when every remarkable event was chronicled.
+Besides which, the inhabitants of the little kingdom continued, in some
+measure, independent of his Most Christian Majesty, even until the
+revolution. At least, they paid not a sou of taxes, neither _aides_, nor
+_tenth-penny_, nor _gabelle_. It was a sanctuary into which no farmer
+of the revenue dared to enter. And it is hardly to be doubted, but that
+there must have been some very singular cause for so singular and
+enviable a privilege. In our own days, M. Duputel[47], a member of the
+academy of Rouen, has entered the lists against the Abbe; and between
+them the matter is still undecided, and is likely so to continue. For
+myself, I have no means of throwing light upon it; but the impression
+left upon my mind, after reading both sides of the question, is, that
+the arguments are altogether in favor of Vertot, while the greater
+weight of probabilities is in the opposite scale. I shall leave you,
+however, to poise the balance, and I shall not attempt to cause either
+end of the beam to preponderate, by acting the part of Old Nick as
+before exhibited to you; though I decidedly believe that Gaguin had some
+authority for his tale, but, by neglecting to quote it, he has left the
+minds of his readers to uncertainty, and his own veracity to suspicion.
+
+With this digression I bid farewell to Yvetot, and its Lilliputian
+kingdom; nor will I detain you much longer on the way to Rouen, the road
+passing through nothing likely to afford interest in point of historical
+recollection or antiquities; though within a very short distance of the
+ancient Abbey of Pavilly on the one side, and at no great distance from
+the still more celebrated Monastery of Jumieges on the other. The houses
+in this neighborhood are in general composed of a framework of wood,
+with the interstices filled with clay, in which are imbedded small
+pieces of glass, disposed in rows, for windows. The wooden studs are
+preserved from the weather by slates, laid one over the other, like the
+scales of a fish, along their whole surface, or occasionally by wood
+over wood in the same manner. I am told that there are some very ancient
+timber churches in Norway, erected immediately after the conversion of
+the Northmen, which are covered with wood-scales: the coincidence is
+probably accidental, yet it is not altogether unworthy of notice. At one
+end the roof projects beyond the gable four or five feet, in order to
+protect a door-way and ladder or staircase that leads to it; and this
+elevation has a very picturesque effect. A series of villages, composed
+of cottages of this description, mixed with large manufactories and
+extensive bleaching grounds, comprise all that is to be remarked in the
+remainder of the ride; a journey that would be as interesting to a
+traveller in quest of statistical information, as it would be the
+contrary to you or to me.
+
+Poverty, the inseparable companion of a manufacturing population, shews
+itself in the number of beggars that infest this road as well as that
+from Calais to Paris. They station themselves by the side of every hill,
+as regularly as the mendicants of Rome were wont to do upon the bridges.
+Sometimes a small nosegay thrown into your carriage announces the
+petition in language, which, though mute, is more likely to prove
+efficacious than the loudest prayer. Most commonly, however, there is no
+lack of words; and, after a plaintive voice has repeatedly assailed you
+with "une petite charite, s'il vous plait, Messieurs et Dames," an
+appeal is generally made to your devotion, by their gabbling over the
+Lord's Prayer and the Creed with the greatest possible velocity. At the
+conclusion, I have often been told that they have repeated them once,
+and will do so a second time if I desire it! Should all this prove
+ineffectual, you will not fail to hear "allons, Messieurs et Dames, pour
+l'amour de Dieu, qu'il vous donne un bon voyage," or probably a
+song or two; the whole interlarded with scraps of prayers, and
+ave-marias, and promises to secure you "sante et salut." They go through
+it with an earnestness and pertinacity almost inconceivable, whatever
+rebuffs they may receive. Their good temper, too, is undisturbed, and
+their face is generally as piteous as their language and tone; though
+every now and then a laugh will out, and probably at the very moment
+when they are telling you they are "pauvres petits miserables," or
+"petits malheureux, qui n'ont ni pere ni mere." With all this they are
+excellent flatterers. An Englishman is sure to be "milord," and a lady
+to be "ma belle duchesse," or "ma belle princesse." They will try too to
+please you by "vivent les Anglais, vive Louis dix-huit." In 1814 and
+1815, I remember the cry used commonly to be "vive Napoleon," but they
+have now learned better; and, in truth, they had no reason to bear
+attachment to the ex-emperor, an early maxim of whose policy it was to
+rid the face of the country of this description of persons, for which
+purpose he established workhouses, or _depots de mendicite_, in each
+department, and his gendarmes were directed to proceed in the most
+summary manner, by conveying every mendicant and vagrant to these
+receptacles, without listening to any excuse, or granting any delay. He
+had no clear idea of the necessity of the gentle formalities of a
+summons, and a pass under his worship's hand and seal. And, without
+entering into the elaborate researches respecting the original habitat
+of a _mumper_, which are required by the English law, he thought that
+pauperism could be sufficiently protected by consigning the specimen to
+the nearest cabinet. The simple and rigorous plan of Napoleon was
+conformable to the nature of his government, and it effectually answered
+the purpose. The day, therefore, of his exile to Elba was a _Beggar's
+Opera_ throughout France; and they have kept up the jubilee to the
+present hour, and seem likely to persist in maintaining it.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[41] _Goube, Histoire de la Normandie_, III. p. 127.
+
+[42] "Francois premier, revenant vainqueur de la bataille de Marignan en
+1515, crut devoir profiter de la situation avantageuse de la Crique; il
+concut le dessin de l'agrandir et d'en faire une place de guerre
+importante. Ce prince avoit pris les interets du jeune Roi d'Ecosse,
+Jacques V, et ce fut pour se fortifier contre les Anglais qu'il forma la
+resolution de leur opposer cette barriere. Pour conduire l'entreprise il
+jetta les yeux sur un Gentilhomme nomme Guion le Roi, Seigneur de
+Chillon, Vice-Amiral, et Capitaine de Honfleur, et la premiere pierre
+fut posee en 1516."--_Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 195.
+
+[43] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 200.
+
+[44] See _Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, t. 12.--There
+is also a general view of the church, and of some of the monastic
+buildings from the lithographic press of the Comte de Lasteyrie.
+
+[45] "Sed priusquam a Clotario discedo, illud non praetermittendum reor,
+quod, cum maxime cognitu dignum est, mirari licet a nullo Franco
+Scriptore litteris fuisse commendatum. Fuit inter familiarissimos
+Clotarii aulicos, Galterus Yvetotus, Caletus agri Rothomagensis, apprime
+nobilis et qui regii cubiculi primarius cultor esset. Huic pro sua
+integritate, de Clotario cum melius meliusque in dies promereretur,
+reliqui aulici invident, depravantes quodlibet ab eo gestum, nec
+desistunt donec irritatum illi Clotarium pessimis susurris efficiunt;
+quamobrem jurat Rex se hominem necaturum. Percepta Clotarii
+indignatione, Galterus pugnator illustris cedere Regi irato constituit.
+Igitur derelicta Francia in militiam adversus religionis catholicae
+inimicos pergit, ubi decem annos multis prospere gestis rebus, ratus
+Clotarium simul cum tempore mitiorem effectum, Romam in primis ad
+Agapitum Pontificem se contulit: a quo ad Clotarium impetratis litteris,
+ad eum Suessione agentem se protinus confert, Veneris die, quae parasceve
+dicitur, cogitans religiosam Christianis diem ad pietatem sibi
+profuturam. Verum litteris Pontificis exceptis cum Galterum Clotarius
+agnovit, vetere ira tanquam recenti livore percitus, rapto a proximo
+sibi equite gladio, hominem statim interemit. Tam indignam insignis
+atque innocentis hominis necem, religioso loco et die ad Christi
+passionem recolendam celebri, pontifex inaequanimiter ferens, confestim
+Clotarium reprehendit, monetque iniquissimi facinoris rationem habere,
+se alioquin excommunicationis sententiam subiturum. Agapiti monita
+reveritus Rex, capto cum prudentibus consilio, Galteri haeredes, et qui
+Yvetotum deinceps possiderent, ab omni Francorum Regum ditione atque
+fide liberavit, liberosque prorsus fore suo syngrapho et regiis scriptis
+confirmat. Ex quo factum est ut ejus pagi et terrae possessor _Regem_ se
+Yvetoti hactenus sine controversia nominaverit. Id autem anno christianae
+gratiae quingentesimo trigesimo sexto gestum esse indubia fide invenio.
+Nam dominantibus longo post tempore in Normannia. Anglis, ortaque inter
+Joannem Hollandum, Auglum, et Yvetoti dominum quaestione, quasi
+proventuum ejus terrae pars fisco Regis Anglorum quotannis obnoxia esset,
+Caleti Propraetor anno salutis 1428, de ratione litis judiciario ordine
+se instruens, id, sicut annotatum a me est, comperisse
+judicavit."--_Robert Gaguin_, lib. II. fol. 17.
+
+[46] _Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions_, IV. p. 728.--The
+question is also discussed in the _Traite de la Noblesse_, by M. de la
+Roque; in the _Mercure de France_, for January, 1726; and in a Latin
+treatise by Charles Malingre, entitled "_De falsa regni Yvetoti
+narratione, ex majoribus commentariis fragmentum_."
+
+[47] _Precis Analytique des Travaux de l'Academie de Rouen_, 1811, p.
+181.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VII.
+
+ON THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN FRANCE.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+Abandoning, for the present, all discussion of the themes of the elder
+day, I shall occupy myself with matters relating to the living world.
+The fatigued and hungry traveller, whose flesh is weaker than his
+spirit, is often too apt to think that his bed and his supper are of
+more immediate consequence than churches or castles. And to those who
+are in this predicament, there is a material improvement at Rouen, since
+I was last here: nothing could be worse than the inns of the year 1815;
+but four years of peace have effected a wonderful alteration, and
+nothing can now be better than the Hotel de Normandie, where we have
+fixed our quarters. Objection may, indeed, be made to its situation, as
+to that of every other hotel in the city; but this is of little moment
+in a town, where every house, whatever street or place it may front,
+opens into a court-yard, so that its views are confined to what passes
+within its own quadrangle; and, for excellence of accommodations,
+elegance of furniture, skill in cookery, civility of attendance, nay,
+even for what is more rare, neatness, our host, M. Trimolet, may
+challenge competition with almost any establishment in Europe. For the
+rent of the house, which is one of the most spacious in Rouen, he pays
+three thousand francs a year; and, as house-rent is one of the main
+standards of the value of the circulating medium, I will add, that our
+friend, M. Rondeau, for his, which is not only among the largest but
+among the most elegant and the best placed for business, pays but five
+hundred francs more. This, then, may be considered as the _maximum_ at
+Rouen. Yet Rouen is far from being the place which should be selected by
+an Englishman, who retires to France for the purpose of economizing:
+living in general is scarcely one-fourth cheaper than in our own
+country. At Caen it is considerably more reasonable; on the banks of the
+Loire the expences of a family do not amount to one-half of the English
+cost; and still farther south a yet more sensible reduction takes place,
+the necessaries of life being cheaper by half than they are in Normandy,
+and house-rent by full four-fifths.
+
+A foreigner can glean but little useful information respecting the
+actual state of a country through which he journeys with as much
+rapidity as I have done. And still less is he able to secern the truth
+from the falsehood, or to weigh the probabilities of conflicting
+testimony. I therefore originally intended to be silent on this subject.
+There is a story told, I believe, of Voltaire, at least it may be as
+well told of Voltaire as of any other wit, that, being once in company
+with a very talkative empty Frenchman, and a very _glum_ and silent
+Englishman, he afterwards characterized them by saying, "l'un ne dit que
+des riens, et l'autre ne dit rien." Fearing that my political and
+statistical observations, which in good truth are very slender, might be
+ranked but too truly in the former category, I had resolved to confine
+them to my own notebook. Yet we all take so much interest in the
+destinies of our ancient rival and enemy, (I wish I could add, our
+modern friend,) that, according to my usual habit, I changed my
+determination within a minute after I had formed it; for I yielded to
+the impression, that even my scanty contribution would not be wholly
+unacceptable to you.
+
+France, I am assured on all sides, is rapidly improving, and the
+government is satisfactory to all _liberal_ men, in which number I
+include persons of every opinion, except the emigrants and those
+attached exclusively to the _ancien regime_. Men of the latter
+description are commonly known by the name of _Ultras_; and, speaking
+with a degree of freedom, which is practised here, to at least as great
+an extent as in England, they do not hesitate to express their decided
+disapprobation of the present system of government, and to declare, not
+only that Napoleon was more of a royalist than Louis, but that the King
+is a jacobin. They persuade themselves also, and would fain persuade
+others, that he is generally hated; and their doctrine is, that the
+nation is divided into three parties, ready to tear each other in
+pieces: the _Ministerialists_, who are few, and in every respect
+contemptible; the _Ultras_, not numerous, but headed by the Princes, and
+thus far of weight; and the _Revolutionists_, who, in point of numbers,
+as well as of talents and of opulence, considerably exceed the other
+two, and will, probably, ultimately prevail; so that these conflicts of
+opinion will terminate by decomposing the constitutional monarchy into a
+republic. To listen to these men, you might almost fancy they were
+quoting from Clarendon's History of the Rebellion in our own country;
+so entirely do their feelings coincide with those of the courtiers who
+attended Charles in his exile. Similar too is the reward they receive;
+for it is difficult for a monarch to be just, however he may in some
+cases he generous.
+
+Yet even the Ultras admit that the revolution has been beneficial to
+France, though they are willing to confine its benefits to the
+establishment of the trial by jury, and the correction of certain abuses
+connected with the old system of nobility. Among the advantages
+obtained, they include the abolition of the game laws; and, indeed, I am
+persuaded, from all I hear, that this much-contested question could not
+receive a better solution than by appealing to the present laws in
+France. Game is here altogether the property of the land-owner; it is
+freely exposed for sale, like other articles of food; and every one is
+himself at liberty to sport, or to authorize his friend to do so over
+his property, with no other restriction than that of taking out a
+licence, or _port d'armes_, which, for fifteen francs, is granted
+without difficulty to any man of respectability, whatever may be his
+condition in life. In this particular, I cannot but think that France
+has set us an example well worthy of our imitation; and she also shews
+that it may be followed without danger; for neither do the pleasures of
+the field lose their relish, nor is the game extirpated. The former are
+a subject of conversation in almost every company; and, as to the
+latter, whatever slaughter may have taken place in the woods and
+preserves, at the first burst of the revolution, I am assured that a
+good sportsman may, at the present time, between Dieppe and Rouen kill
+with ease, in a day, fifty head of game, consisting principally of
+hares, quails, and partridges.
+
+But, while these men thus restrict the benefits derived from the
+revolution, the case is far different with individuals of the other
+parties, all of whom are loud and unanimous in its praises. The good
+resulting from the republic has been purchased at a dreadful price, but
+the good remains; and those, who now enjoy the boon, are not inclined to
+remember the blood which drenched the three-colored banner. Thirty years
+have elapsed, and a new generation has arisen, to whom the horrors of
+the revolution live only in the page of history. But its advantages are
+daily felt in the equal nature and equal administration of the laws; in
+the suppression of the monasteries with their concomitant evils; in the
+restriction of the powers of the clergy; in the liberty afforded to all
+modes of religious worship; and in the abolition of all the edicts and
+mandates and prejudices, which secured to a peculiar sect and caste a
+monopoly of all the honors and distinctions of the common-wealth; for
+now, every individual of talent and character feels that the path to
+preferment and power is not obstructed by his birth or his opinions.
+
+The constitutional charter, in its present state, is a subject of pride
+to the French, and a sure bulwark to the throne. The representative
+system is beginning to be generally appreciated, and particularly in
+commercial towns. The deputies of this department are to be changed the
+approaching autumn, and the minds of men are already anxiously bent upon
+selecting such representatives as may best understand and promote their
+local interests. Few acts of the Bourbon government have contributed
+more powerfully to promote the popularity of the King, than the law
+enacted in the course of last year, which abolished the double election,
+and enabled the voters to give their suffrages directly for their
+favorite candidate, thus putting a stop at once to a variety of unfair
+influence, previously exerted upon such occasions. The same law has also
+created a general interest upon the subject, never before known; the
+strongest proof of which is, that, of the six or eight thousand electors
+contained in this department, nearly the whole are expected now to vote,
+whereas not a third ever did so before. The qualifications for an
+elector and a deputy are uniform throughout the kingdom, and depending
+upon few requisites; nothing more being required in the former case,
+than the payment of three hundred francs per annum, in direct taxes, and
+the having attained the age of thirty; while an addition of ten years to
+the age, and the payment of one thousand francs, instead of three
+hundred, renders every individual qualified to be of the number of the
+elected. The system, however, is subject to a restriction, which
+provides, that at least one half of the representatives of each
+department shall be chosen from among those who reside in it.
+
+In the beginning of the revolution, a much wider door was open: all that
+was then necessary to entitle a man to vote, was, that he should be
+twenty-one years of age, a Frenchman, and one who had lived for a year
+in the country on his own revenue, or on the produce of his labor, and
+was not in a state of servitude. It was then also decreed, that the
+electors should have each three livres a day during their mission, and
+should be allowed at the rate of one livre a league, for the distance
+from their usual place of residence, to that in which the election of
+members for their department is held. Such were the only conditions
+requisite for eligibility, either as elector or deputy; except, indeed,
+that the citizens in the primary assemblies, and the electors in the
+electoral assembly, swore that they would maintain liberty and equality,
+or die rather than violate their oath[48].
+
+The wisdom and prudence of the subsequent alterations, few will be
+disposed to question: the system, in its present state, appears to me
+admirably qualified to attain the object in view; and such seems the
+general character of the French _Constitutional Charter_, which unites
+two excellent qualities, great clearness and great brevity. The whole is
+comprised in seventy-four short articles; and, that no Frenchman may
+plead ignorance of his rights or his duties, it is usually found
+prefixed to the almanacks. Some persons might, indeed, be inclined to
+deem this station as ominous; for, since the revolution began, the frame
+of the French government has sustained so many alterations, that,
+considering that several of their constitutions never outlived the
+current quarter, they may be fairly said to have had a new constitution
+in each year. How far the Bourbon charter will answer the purpose of
+serving as the basis of a code of laws for the government of an
+extensive kingdom, time only can determine. At present, it has the
+charm of novelty to recommend it; and there are few among us with whom
+novelty is not a strong attraction. Our friends on this side of the
+water are greatly belied, if it be not so with them.
+
+The finances of the French municipalities are administered with a degree
+of fairness and attention, which might put many a body corporate, in a
+certain island, to the blush. Little is known in England respecting the
+administration of the French towns: the following particulars relating
+to the revenue and expences of Rouen, may, therefore, in some measure,
+serve as a scale, by which you may give a guess at the balance-sheet of
+cities of greater or lesser magnitude.--The budget amounted for the last
+year to one million two hundred thousand francs. The proposed items of
+expenditure must be particularized, and submitted to the Prefect and the
+Minister of the Interior, before they can be paid. In this sum is
+comprised the charge for the hospitals, which contain above three
+thousand persons, including foundlings, and for all the other public
+institutions, the number and excellence of which has long been the pride
+of Rouen. You must consider too, that every thing of this kind is, in
+France, national: individuals do nothing, neither is it expected of
+them; and herein consists one of the most essential differences between
+France and England. To meet this great expenditure, the city is provided
+with the rents of public lands, with wharfage, with tolls from the
+markets and the _halles_; and, above all, with the _octroi_, a tax that
+prevails through France, upon every article of consumption brought into
+the towns, and is collected at the barriers. The _octroi_, like
+turnpike-tolls or the post-horse duty with us, is farmed; two-thirds are
+received by the government, and the remaining one-third by the town. In
+Rouen it produced the last year one million four hundred and fifty
+thousand francs.--If, now, this sum appears to you comparatively greater
+than that of our large cities in England, you must recollect that, with
+us, towns are not liable to similar charges: our corporations support no
+museums, no academies, no learned bodies; and our infirmaries, and
+dispensaries, and hospitals, are indebted, as well for their existence
+as their future maintenance, to the piety of the dead, or the liberality
+of the living. Nor must we forget that, even in this great kingdom,
+Rouen, at present, holds the fifth place among the towns; though it was
+far from being thus, when Buonaparte, uniting the imperial to the iron
+crown, overshadowed with his eagle-wings the continent from the Baltic
+to Apulia; and when the mural crowns of Rome and Amsterdam stood beneath
+the shield of the "good city" of Paris.
+
+The population of Rouen is estimated at eighty-seven thousand persons,
+of whom the greater number are engaged in the manufactories, which
+consist principally of cotton, linen, and woollen cloths, and are among
+the largest in France. At present, however, "trade is dull;" and hence,
+and as the politics of a trader invariably sympathize with his cash
+account, neither the peace, nor the English, nor the princes of the
+Bourbon dynasty, are popular here; for the articles manufactured at
+Rouen, being designed generally for exportation, ranged almost
+unrivalled over the continent, during the war, but now in every town
+they meet with competitors in the goods from England, which are at once
+of superior workmanship and cheaper. The latter advantage is owing very
+much to the greater perfection of our machinery, and, perhaps, still
+more to the abundance of coals, which enables us, at so small an
+expence, to keep our steam-engines in action, and thus to counterbalance
+the disproportion in the charge of manual labor, as well as the many
+disadvantages arising from the pressure of our heavy taxation.--But I
+must cease. An English fit of growling is coming upon me; and I find
+that the Blue Devils, which haunt St. Stephen's chapel, are pursuing me
+over the channel.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[48] _Moore's Journal of a Residence in France_, I. p. 82.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER VIII.
+
+MILITARY ANTIQUITIES--LE VIEUX CHATEAU--ORIGINAL PALACE OF THE NORMAN
+DUKES--HALLES OF ROUEN--MIRACLE AND PRIVILEGE OF ST. ROMAIN--CHATEAU DU
+VIEUX PALAIS--PETIT CHATEAU--FORT ON MONT STE. CATHERINE--PRIORY
+THERE--CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL--DEVOTEE.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June,_ 1818)
+
+My researches in this city after the remains of architectural antiquity
+of the earlier Norman aera, have hitherto, I own, been attended with
+little success. I may even go so far as to say, that I have seen nothing
+in the circular style, for which it would not be easy to find a parallel
+in most of the large towns in England. On the other hand, the perfection
+and beauty of the specimens of the pointed style, have equally surprised
+and delighted me. I will endeavor, however, to take each object in its
+order, premising that I have been materially assisted in my
+investigations by M. Le Prevost and M. Rondeau, but especially by the
+former, one of the most learned antiquaries of Normandy.
+
+Of the fortifications and castellated buildings in Rouen very little
+indeed is left[49], and that little is altogether insignificant; being
+confined to some fragments of the walls scattered here and there[50],
+and to three circular towers of the plainest construction, the remains
+of the old castle, built by Philip Augustus in 1204, near to the Porte
+Bouvreuil, and hence commonly known by the name of the _Chateau de
+Bouvreuil_ or _le Vieux Chateau_.--It is to the leading part which this
+city has acted in the history of France, that we must attribute the
+repeated erection and demolition of its fortifications.
+
+An important event was commemorated by the erection of the _old castle_,
+it having been built upon the final annexation of Normandy to the crown
+of France, in consequence of the weakness of our ill-starred
+monarch,--John Lackland. The French King seems to have suspected that
+the citizens retained their fealty to their former sovereign. He
+intended that his fortress should command and bridle the city, instead
+of defending it. The town-walls were razed, and the _Vieille Tour_, the
+ancient palace of the Norman Dukes, levelled with the ground.--But, as
+the poet says of language, so it is with castles,--
+
+      ... "mortalia facta peribunt,
+     Nec _castellorum_ stet honos et gratia vivax;"
+
+and, in 1590, the fortress raised by Philip Augustus experienced the
+fate of its predecessors; it was then ruined and dismantled, and the
+portion which was allowed to stand, was degraded into a jail. Now the
+three[51] towers just mentioned are alone remaining, and these would
+attract little notice, were it not that one of them bears the name of
+the _Tour de la Pucelle_, as having been, in 1430, the place of
+confinement of the unfortunate Joan of Arc, when she was captured before
+Compiegne and brought prisoner to Rouen.
+
+It must be stated, however, that the first castle recorded to have
+existed at Rouen, was built by Rollo, shortly after he had made himself
+master of Neustria. Its very name is now lost; and all we know
+concerning it is, that it stood near the quay, at the northern extremity
+of the town, in the situation subsequently occupied by the Church of St.
+Pierre du Chatel, and the adjoining monastery of the Cordeliers.
+
+After a lapse of less than fifty years, Rouen saw rising within her
+walls a second castle, the work of Duke Richard Ist, and long the
+residence of the Norman sovereigns. This, from a tower of great strength
+which formed a part of it, and which was not demolished till the year
+1204, acquired the appellation of _la Vieille Tour_; and the name
+remains to this day, though the building has disappeared.
+
+The space formerly occupied by the scite of it is now covered by the
+_halles_, considered the finest in France. The historians of Rouen, in
+the usual strain of hyperbole, hint that their _halles_ are even the
+finest in the world[52], though they are very inferior to their
+prototypes at Bruges and Ypres. The hall, or exchange, allotted to the
+mercers, is two hundred and seventy-two feet in length, by fifty feet
+wide: those for the drapers and for wool are, each of them, two hundred
+feet long; and all these are surpassed in size by the corn-hall, whose
+length extends to three hundred feet. They are built round a large
+square, the centre of which is occupied by numberless dealers in
+pottery, old clothes, &c.; and, as the day on which we chanced to visit
+them was a Friday, when alone they are opened for public business, we
+found a most lively, curious, and interesting scene.
+
+It was on the top of a stone staircase, the present entry to the
+_halles_, that the annual ceremony[53] of delivering and pardoning a
+criminal for the sake of St. Romain, the tutelary protector of Rouen,
+was performed on Ascension-day, according to a privilege exercised, from
+time immemorial, by the Chapter of the Cathedral.
+
+The legend is romantic; and it acquires a species of historical
+importance, as it became the foundation of a right, asserted even in our
+own days. My account of it is taken from Dom Pommeraye's History of the
+Life of the Prelate[54].--He has been relating many miracles performed
+by him, and, among others, that of causing the Seine, at the time of a
+great inundation, to retire to its channel by his command, agreeably to
+the following beautiful stanza of Santeuil:--
+
+    "Tangit exundans aqua civitatem;
+     Voce Romanus jubet efficaci;
+     Audiunt fluctus, docilisque cedit
+         Unda jubenti."
+
+Our learned Benedictine thus proceeds:--"But the following miracle was
+deemed a far greater marvel, and it increased the veneration of the
+people towards St. Romain to such a degree, that they henceforth
+regarded him as an actual apostle, who, from the authority of his
+office, the excellence of his doctrine, his extreme sanctity, and the
+gift of miracles, deserved to be classed with the earliest preachers of
+our holy faith. In a marshy spot, near Rouen, was bred a dragon, the
+very counterpart of that destroyed by St. Nicaise. It committed
+frightful ravages; lay in wait for man and beast, whom it devoured
+without mercy; the air was poisoned by its pestilential breath, and it
+was alone the cause of greater mischief and alarm, than could have been
+occasioned by a whole army of enemies. The inhabitants, wearied out by
+many years of suffering, implored the aid of St. Romain; and the
+charitable and generous pastor, who dreaded nothing in behalf of his
+flock, comforted them with the assurance of a speedy deliverance. The
+design itself was noble; still more so was the manner by which he put it
+in force; for he would not be satisfied with merely killing the monster,
+but undertook also to bring it to public execution, by way of atonement
+for its cruelties. For this purpose, it was necessary that the dragon
+should be caught; but when the prelate required a companion in the
+attempt, the hearts of all men failed them. He applied, therefore, to a
+criminal condemned to death for murder; and, by the promise of a pardon,
+bought his assistance, which the certain prospect of a scaffold, had he
+refused to accompany the saint, caused him the more willingly to lend.
+Together they went, and had no sooner reached the marsh, the monster's
+haunt, than St. Romain, approaching courageously, made the sign of the
+cross, and at once put it out of the power of the dragon to attempt to
+do him injury. He then tied his stole around his neck, and, in that
+state, delivered him to the prisoner, who dragged him to the city, where
+he was burned in the presence of all the people, and his ashes thrown
+into the river.--The manuscript of the Abbey of Hautmont, from which
+this legend is extracted, adds, that such was the fame of this miracle
+throughout France, that Dagobert, the reigning sovereign, sent for St.
+Romain to court, to hear a true narrative of the fact from his own lips;
+and, impressed with reverent awe, bestowed the celebrated privilege upon
+him and his successors for ever."
+
+The right has, in comparatively modern times, been more than once
+contested, but always maintained; and so great was the celebrity of the
+ceremony, that princes and potentates have repeatedly travelled to
+Rouen, for the purpose of witnessing it. There are not wanting, however,
+those[55] who treat the whole story as allegorical, and believe it to be
+nothing more than a symbolical representation of the subversion of
+idolatry, or of the confining of the Seine to its channel; the winding
+course of the river being typified by a serpent, and the word
+_Gargouille_ corrupted from _gurges_. Other writers differ in minor
+points of the story, and alledge that the saint had two fellow
+adventurers, a thief as well as a murderer, and that the former ran
+away, while the latter stood firm. You will see it thus figured in a
+modern painting on St. Romain's altar, in the cathedral; and there are
+two persons also with him, in the only ancient representation of the
+subject I am acquainted with, a bas-relief which till lately existed at
+the Porte Bouvreuil, and of which, by the kindness of M. Riaux, I am
+enabled to send you a drawing.
+
+[Illustration: Bas-Relief, representing St. Romain]
+
+To keep alive the tradition, in which Popish superstition has contrived
+to blend Judaic customs with heathen mythology, the practice was, that
+the prisoner selected for pardon should be brought to this place, called
+the chapel of St. Romain, and should here be received by the clergy in
+full robes, headed by the archbishop, and bearing all the relics of the
+church; among others, the shrine of St. Romain, which the criminal,
+after having been reprimanded and absolved, but still kneeling, thrice
+lifted, among the shouts of the populace, and then, with a garland upon
+his head and the shrine in his hands, accompanied the clergy in
+procession to the cathedral[56].--But the revolution happily consigned
+the relics to their kindred dust, and put an end to a privilege
+eminently liable to abuse, from the circumstance of the pardon being
+extended, not only to the criminal himself, but to all his accomplices;
+so that, an inferior culprit sometimes surrendered himself to justice,
+in confidence of interest being made to obtain him the shrine, and thus
+to shield under his protection more powerful and more guilty
+delinquents. The various modifications, however, of latter times, had so
+abridged its power, that it was at last only able to rescue a man guilty
+of involuntary homicide[57]. We may hope, therefore, it was not
+altogether deserving the hard terms bestowed upon it by Millin[58] who
+calls it the most absurd, most infamous, and most detestable of all
+privileges, and adduces a very flagrant instance of injustice committed
+under its plea.--D'Alegre, governor of Gisors, in consequence of a
+private pique against the Baron du Hallot, lord of the neighboring town
+of Vernon, treacherously assassinated him at his own house, while he was
+yet upon crutches, in consequence of the wounds received at the siege of
+Rouen. This happened during the civil wars; in the course of which,
+Hallot had signalized himself as a faithful servant, and useful
+assistant to the monarch. The murderer knew that there were no hopes for
+him of royal mercy; and, after having passed some time in concealment
+and as a soldier in the army of the league, he had recourse to the
+Chapter of the Cathedral of Rouen, from whom he obtained the promise of
+the shrine of St. Romain. To put full confidence, however, even in this,
+would, under such circumstances, have been imprudent. The clergy might
+break their word, or a mightier power might interpose. D'Alegre,
+therefore, persuaded a young mam, formerly a page of his, of the name of
+Pehu, to surrender himself as guilty of the crime; and to him the
+privilege was granted; under the sanction of which, the real culprit,
+and several of his accomplices in the assassination, obtained a free
+pardon. The widow and daughter of Hallot, in vain remonstrated: the
+utmost that could be done, after a tedious law-suit, was to procure a
+small fine to be imposed upon Pehu, and to cause him to be banished from
+Normandy and Picardy and the vicinity of Paris. But regulations were in
+consequence adopted with respect to the exercise of the privilege; and
+the pardons granted under favor of it were ever afterwards obliged to be
+ratified under the high seal of the kingdom.
+
+The _Chateau du Vieux Palais_ and _le petit Chateau_ like the edifices
+which I have already noticed, have equally yielded to time and violence.
+M. Carpentier has furnished us with representations of both these
+castles, drawn and etched by himself, in the _Itinerary of Rouen_. The
+first of them has also been inaccurately figured by Ducarel, and
+satisfactorily by Millin, in the second volume of his _Antiquites
+Nationales_; where, to the pen of this most meritorious and
+indefatigable writer, of whom, as of our Goldsmith, it may be justly
+said, that "nullum fere scribendi genus non tetigit, nullum quod tetigit
+non ornavit," it affords materials for a curious memoir, blended with
+the history of our own Henry Vth, and of Henry IVth, of France. The
+castle was the work of the first of these sovereigns, and was begun by
+him in 1420, two years after a seven months' siege had put him in
+possession of the city, long the capital of his ancestors, and had thus
+rendered him undisputed master of Normandy. This was an event worthy of
+being immortalised; and it may easily be imagined that private feelings
+had no little share in urging him to erect a magnificent palace,
+intended at once as a safeguard for the town, and a residence for
+himself and his posterity. The right to build it was an express article
+in the capitulation he granted to Rouen, a capitulation of extreme
+severity[59], and purchased at the price of three hundred thousand
+golden crowns, as well as of the lives of three of the most
+distinguished citizens; Robert Livret, grand-vicar of the archbishop,
+John Jourdain, commander of the artillery, and Louis Blanchard, captain
+of the train-bands. The two first of these were, however, suffered to
+ransome themselves; the last, a man of distinguished honor and courage,
+was beheaded; but Henry, much to his credit, made no farther use of his
+victory, and even consented to pay for the ground required for his
+castle. He selected for the purpose, the situation where, defence was
+most needed, upon the extremity of the quay, by the side of the river,
+near the entrance from Dieppe and Havre. A row of handsome houses now
+fills the chief part of the space occupied by the building, which, at a
+subsequent period, was again connected with English history[60], as the
+residence of our James IInd, after the battle of La Hague; before his
+spirit was yet sufficiently broken to suffer him to give up all thoughts
+of the British crown, and to accept the asylum offered by Louis XIVth,
+in the obscure tranquillity of Saint Germain's. It continued perfect
+till the time of the revolution, and was of great extent and strength,
+defended by massy circular towers, surrounded by a moat, and
+approachable only by a draw-bridge.
+
+The castle, which still remains to be described, and whose smaller size
+is sufficiently denoted by its name, was also built by the same monarch,
+but it was raised upon the ruins of a similar edifice that had existed
+since the days of King John. Being situated at the foot of the bridge,
+the older castle had been selected as the spot where it was stipulated
+that the soldiers, composing the Anglo-Norman garrison, should lay down
+their arms, when the town surrendered to Philip Augustus.--It was known
+from very early time by the appellation of the _Barbican_, a term of
+much disputed signification as well as origin: if we are to conclude,
+according to some authorities, that it denoted either a mere
+breast-work, or a watch-tower, or an appendage to a more important
+fortress, it would appear but ill applied to a building like the one in
+question. I should rather believe it designated an out-post of any kind;
+and I would support my conjecture by this very castle, which was neither
+upon elevated ground, nor dependent on any other. It consisted of two
+square edifices, similar to what are called the _pavillions_ of the
+Thuilleries, flanked by small circular towers with conical roofs, and
+connected by an embattled wall. Not more than fifty years have passed
+since its demolition; yet no traces of it are to be found.
+
+A few rocky fragments, appearing now to bid defiance to time, indicate
+the scite of the fortress, which once arose on the summit of Mont Ste.
+Catherine, and which, though dismantled by Henry IVth, and reduced to a
+state of dilapidation, was still suffered to maintain its ruined
+existence till a few years ago. Its commanding situation, upon an
+eminence three hundred and eighty feet high and immediately overhanging
+the city, could not but render it of great importance towards the
+defence of the place; and we accordingly find that Taillepied, who
+probably wrote before its demolition, gives it as his opinion, that
+whoever is in possession of Mont Ste. Catherine, is also master of the
+town, if he can but have abundant supplies of water and provisions;--no
+needless stipulation! At the same time, it must be admitted that the
+fort was equally liable to be converted into the means of annoyance.
+Such actually proved the case in 1562, at which time it was seized by
+the Huguenots; and considerations of this nature most probably prevailed
+with the citizens, when they declined the offer made by Francis Ist, who
+proposed at a public meeting to enlarge the tower into an impregnable
+citadel. In the hands of the Protestants, the fortress, such as it was,
+proved sufficient to resist the whole army of Charles IXth, during
+several days.--Rouen was stoutly defended by the reformed, well aware of
+the sanguinary dispositions of the bigotted monarch. They yielded, and
+he sullied his victory by giving the city up to plunder, during
+twenty-four hours; and we are told, that it was upon this occasion he
+first tasted heretical blood, with which, five years afterwards, he so
+cruelly gorged himself on the day of St. Bartholomew. Catherine of
+Medicis accompanied him to the siege; and it is related that she herself
+led him to the ditches of the ramparts, in which many of their
+adversaries had been buried, and caused the bodies to be dug up in his
+presence, that he might be accustomed to look without horror upon the
+corpse of a Protestant!
+
+Near the fort stood a priory[61], whose foundation is dated as far back
+as the eleventh century, when Gosselin, Viscount of Rouen, Lord of
+Arques and Dieppe, having no son to inherit his wealth, was induced to
+dispose of it "to pious uses," by the persuasions of two monks, who had
+wandered in pilgrimage from the monastery of Saint Catherine, on Mount
+Sinai. These good men assured him, that, if he dedicated a church to
+the martyred daughter of the King of Alexandria, the stones employed in
+building it would one day serve him as so many stepping-stones to
+heaven. They confirmed him in his resolution, by presenting him with one
+of the fingers of Saint Catherine. To her, therefore, the edifice was
+made sacred, and hence it is believed that the hill also took its name.
+In the _Golden Legend_, we find an account of the translation of the
+finger to Rouen not wholly reconcileable with this history.--According
+to the veracious authority of James of Voragine, there were certain
+monks of Rouen, who journeyed even until the Arabian mountain. For seven
+long years did they pray before the shrine of the Queen Virgin and
+Martyr, and also did they implore her to vouchsafe to grant them some
+token of her favor; and, at length, one of her fingers suddenly
+disjointed itself from the dead hand of the corpse.--"This gift," as the
+legend tells, "they received devoutly, and with it they returned to
+their monastery at Rouen."--Never was a miracle less miraculous; and it
+is fortunately now of little consequence to inquire whether the
+mouldering relic enriched an older monastery, or assisted in bestowing
+sanctity on a rising community. According to the pseudo-hagiologists,
+the corpse of Saint Catherine was borne through the air by angels, and
+deposited on the summit of Mount Sinai, on the spot where her church is
+yet standing. Conforming, as it were, to the example of the angels, it
+was usual, in the middle ages, to erect her religious buildings on an
+eminence. Various instances may be given of this practice in England, as
+well as in France: such is the case near Winchester, near
+Christ-Church, in the Isle of Wight, and in many other places. St.
+Michael contested the honor with her; and he likewise has a chapel here,
+whose walls are yet standing. Its antiquity was still greater than that
+of the neighboring monastery; a charter from Duke Richard IInd, dated
+996, speaking of it as having had existence before his time, and
+confirming the donation of it to the Abbey of St. Ouen. But St.
+Michael's never rivalled the opulence of Saint Catherine's
+priory.--Gosselin himself, and Emmeline his wife, lay buried in the
+church of the latter, which is said to have been large, and to have
+resembled in its structure that of St. Georges de Bocherville: it is
+also recorded, that it was ornamented with many beautiful paintings; and
+loud praises are bestowed upon its fine peal of bells. The epitaph of
+the founder speaks of him, as--
+
+    "Premier Autheur des mesures et poids
+     Selon raison en ce paeis Normand."
+
+It is somewhat remarkable, that there appear to have been only two other
+monumental inscriptions in the church, and both of them in memory of
+cooks of the convent; a presumptive proof that the holy fathers were not
+inattentive to the good things of this world, in the midst of their
+concern for those of the next.--The first of them was for Stephen de
+Saumere,--
+
+    "Qui en son vivant cuisinier
+     Fut de Reverend Pere en Dieu,
+     De la Barre, Abbe de ce lieu."
+
+The other was for--
+
+    "Thierry Gueroult, en broche et en fossets
+     Gueu tres-expert pour les Religieux."
+
+The fort and the religious buildings all perished nearly at the same
+time: the former was destroyed at the request of the inhabitants, to
+whom Henry IVth returned on that occasion his well-known answer, that he
+"wished for no other fortress than the hearts of his subjects;" the
+latter to gratify the avarice of individuals, who cloked their true
+designs under the plea that the buildings might serve as a harbor for
+the disaffected.
+
+Of the origin of the fort I find no record in history, except what Noel
+says[62], that it appears to have been raised by the English while they
+were masters of Normandy; but what I observed of the structure of the
+walls, in 1815, would induce me to refer it without much hesitation to
+the time of the Romans. Its bricks are of the same form and texture as
+those used by them; and they were ranged in alternate courses with
+flints, as is the case at Burgh Castle, at Richborough, and other Roman
+edifices in England. That the fort was of great size and strength is
+sufficiently shewn by the depth, width, and extent of the entrenchments
+still left, which, particularly towards the plain, are immense; and, if
+credence may be given to common report, in such matters always apt to
+exaggerate, the subterraneous passages indicate a fortress of
+importance.
+
+It chanced, that I visited the hill on Michaelmas-day, and a curious
+proof was afforded me, that, at however low an ebb religion may be in
+France, enthusiastic fanaticism is far from extinct. A man of the lower
+classes of society was praying before a broken cross, near St. Michael's
+Chapel, where, before the revolution, the monks of St. Ouen used
+annually on this day to perform mass, and many persons of extraordinary
+piety were wont to assemble the first Wednesday of every month to pray
+and to preach, in honor of the guardian angels. His manner was earnest
+in the extreme; his eyes wandered strangely; his gestures were
+extravagant, and tears rolled in profusion down a face, whose every
+feature bore the strongest marks of a decided devotee. A shower which
+came at the moment compelled us both to seek shelter within the walls of
+the chapel, and we soon became social and entered into conversation. The
+ruined state of the building was his first and favorite topic: he
+lamented its destruction; he mourned over the state of the times which
+could countenance such impiety; and gradually, while he turned over the
+leaves of the prayer-book in his hand, he was led to read aloud the
+hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, commenting upon every verse as he
+proceeded, and weeping more and more bitterly, when he came to the part
+commemorating the ruin of Jerusalem, which he applied, naturally enough,
+to the captive state of France, smarting as she then was under the iron
+rod of Prussia. Of the other allies, including even the Russians, he
+owned that there was no complaint to be made: "they conduct themselves,"
+said he, "agreeably to the maxim of warfare, which says 'battez-vous
+contre ceux qui vous opposent; mais ayez pitie des vaincus.' Not so the
+Prussians: with them it is 'frappez-ca, frappez-la, et quand ils entrent
+dans quelque endroit, ils disent, il nous faut ca, il nous faut la, et
+ils le prennent d'autorite.' Cruel Babylon!"--"Yet, even admitting all
+this," we asked, "how can you reconcile with the spirit of christianity
+the permission given to the Jews by the psalmist, to 'take up her little
+ones and dash them against the stones.'"--"Ah! you misunderstand the
+sense, the psalm does not authorize cruelty;--mais, attendez! ce n'est
+pas ainsi: ces pierres la sont Saint Pierre; et heureux celui qui les
+attachera a Saint Pierre; qui montrera de l'attachement, de
+l'intrepidite pour sa religion."--Then again, looking at the chapel,
+with tears and sobs, "how can we expect to prosper, how to escape these
+miseries, after having committed such enormities?"--His name, he told
+us, was Jacquemet, and my companion kindly made a sketch of his face,
+while I noted down his words.
+
+This specimen will give you some idea of the extraordinary influence of
+the Roman catholic faith over the mind, and of the curious perversions
+under which it does not scruple to take refuge.
+
+Leaving for the present the dusty legends of superstition, I describe
+with pleasure my recollections of the glorious prospect over which the
+eye ranges from the hill of Saint Catherine.--The Seine, broad, winding,
+and full of islands, is the principal feature of the landscape. This
+river is distinguished by its sinuosity and the number of islets which
+it embraces, and it retains this character even to Paris. Its smooth
+tranquillity well contrasts with the life that is imparted to the scene,
+by the shipping and the bustle of the quays. The city itself, with its
+verdant walks, its spacious manufactories, its strange and picturesque
+buildings, and the numerous spires and towers of its churches, many of
+them in ruins, but not the less interesting on account of their decay,
+presents a foreground diversified with endless variety of form and
+color. The bridge of boats seems immediately at our feet; the middle
+distance is composed of a plain, chiefly consisting of the richest
+meadows, interspersed copiously with country seats and villages
+embosomed in wood; and the horizon melts into an undulating line of
+remote hills.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[49] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, I. p. 97.
+
+[50] In a paper printed in the _Transactions of the Rouen Academy for
+1818_, p. 177, it appears that, so late as 1789, a considerable portion
+of very old walls was discovered under-ground; and that they consisted
+very much of Roman bricks. Among them was also found a Roman urn, and
+eighty or more medals of the same nation, but none of them older than
+Antoninus.--From this it appears certain that Rouen was a Roman station,
+though of its early history we have no distinct knowledge.
+
+[51] These are the _Tour du Gascon_, _Tour du Donjon_, and _Tour de la
+Pucelle_.
+
+[52] _Histoire de Rouen_, I. p. 32.
+
+[53] _Histoire de Rouen_, III. p. 34.
+
+[54] It is also worth while to read the following details from
+Bourgueville, (_Antiquites de Caen_, p. 33) whose testimony, as that of
+an eye-witness to much of what he relates, is valuable:--"Ils ont le
+Privilege Saint Romain en la ville de Rouen et Eglise Cathedrale du
+lieu, au iour de l'Ascension nostre Seigneur de deliurer un prisonnier,
+qui leur fut concede par le Roy d'Agobert en memoire d'un miracle que
+Dieu fist par saint Romain Archeuesque du lieu, d'auoir deliure les
+habitans d'un Dragon qui leur nuisoit en la forest de Rouuray pres
+ladite ville: pour lequel vaincre il demanda a la justice deux
+prisonniers dignes de mort, l'un meurtrier et l'autre larron: le larron
+eut si grand frayeur qu'il s'enfuit, et le meurtrier demeura auecque ce
+saint homme qui vainquit ce Serpent. C'est pourquoy l'on dit encore en
+commun prouerbe, il est asseure comme vn meurtrier. Ce privilege de
+deliurance ne doit estre accorde aux larrons.--Saint Ouen successeur de
+S. Romain, Chancelier dudit Roy d'Agobert viron l'an 655, impetra ce
+priuilege: dont ie n'en deduiray en plus oultre les causes, pour ce
+qu'elles sont assez communes et notoires, et feray seulement cest
+aduertissement, qu'il y a danger que messieurs les Ecclesiastiques le
+perdent, acause qu il s'y commet le plus souuent des abus, par ce qu'il
+se doit donner en cas pitoyable et non par authorite ou faueurs de
+seigneurs, comme aussi ne se doit estendre, sinon a ceux qui sont
+trouuez actuellement prisonniers sans fraude, et non a ceux qui s'y
+rendent le soir precedent comme estans asseurez d'obtenir ce priuilege,
+combien qu'ils ayent commis tous crimes execrables et indignes d'un tel
+pardon, voire et que les Ecclesiastiques n'ayent eu loisir d'avoir veu
+et bien examinez leur procez. Aussi ce beau priuilege est enfraint en ce
+que ceux qui l'obtiennent doiuent assister par sept annees suiuantes aux
+processions au tour de la Fierte S. Romain, portant vne torche ardante
+selon qu'il leur est charge faire. Ce qui est de ceste heure trop
+contemne: et tel mespris leur pourroit estre reproche comme indignes et
+contempteurs d'vn tel pardon. Vn surnomme Saugrence pour auoir abuse
+d'un tel priuilege fut quelque temps apres retrude et puni de la peine
+de la roue pour auoir confesse des meurtres en agression pour sauuer
+aucuns nobles ou nocibles qui les auoient commis.--Il s'est faict autres
+fois et encore du temps de ma ieunesse de grands festins, danses,
+mommeries ou mascarades audit iour de l'Ascension, tant par les
+feturiers de ceste confrairie saint Romain que autres ieunes hommes auec
+excessiues despences: et s'appelloit lors tel iour Rouuoysons, a cause
+que les processions rouent de lieu en autre, et disoit l'on comme en
+prouerbe, quand aucuns desbauchez declinoient de biens qu'ils auoient
+fait Rouuoysons, a scauoir perdu leurs biens en trop uoluptueuses
+despenses et mommeries sur chariots, qui se faisoient de nuict par les
+rues quelque saison d'Este qu'il fust, pour plus grandes magnificences."
+
+[55] See _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 12.
+
+[56] A minute and very curious account of the whole of this ceremony,
+from the first claiming of the prisoner to his final deliverance, is
+given in _Tuillepied's Antiquites de Rouen_, p. 79.
+
+[57] _Noel, Essais sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, II. p.
+228.
+
+[58] _Antiquites Nationales_, II. No. 21 p. 3
+
+[59] _Millin, Antiquites Nationales_, II. No. 20. p. 3.
+
+[60] _Noel, Essais sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, II. p.
+209
+
+[61] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, V. p. 113.
+
+[62] _Essais sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, II. p. 210.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER IX.
+
+ANCIENT ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE--CHURCHES OF ST. PAUL AND ST.
+GERVAIS--HOSPITAL OF ST. JULIEN--CHURCHES OF LERY, PAVILLY, AND
+YAINVILLE.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+We, _East Angles_, are accustomed to admire the remains of Norman
+architecture, which, in our counties, are perhaps more numerous and
+singular than in any other tract in England. The noble castle of
+Blanchefleur still honors our provincial metropolis, and although
+devouring eld hath impaired her charms and converted her into a very
+dusky beauty, the fretted walls still possess an air of antique
+magnificence which we seek in vain when we contemplate the towers of
+Julius or the frowning dungeons of Gundulph. Our cathedral retains the
+pristine character which was given to the edifice, when the Norman
+prelate abandoned the seat of the Saxon bishop, and commanded the Saxon
+clerks to migrate into the city protected or inclosed by the garrison of
+his cognate conquerors. Even our villages abound with these monuments.
+The humbler, though not less sacred structures in which the voice of
+prayer and praise has been heard during so many generations, equally
+bear witness to Norman art, and, I may say, to Norman piety; and when we
+enter the sheltered porch, we behold the fantastic sculpture and varied
+foliage, encircling the arch which arose when our land was ruled by the
+Norman dynasty.
+
+Comparatively speaking, Rouen is barren indeed of such relics. Its
+military antiquities are swept away; and the only specimens of early
+ecclesiastical architecture are found in the churches of St. Paul and
+St. Gervais, both of them, in themselves, unimportant buildings, and
+both so disfigured by subsequent alterations, that they might easily
+escape the notice of any but an experienced eye. Of these, the first is
+situated by the side of the road to Paris, under Mont Ste. Catherine,
+yet, still upon an eminence, beneath which are some mineral springs,
+that were long famous for their medicinal qualities, but have of late
+years been abandoned, and the spa-drinkers now resort to others in the
+quarter of the town called _de la Marequerie_. Both the one and the
+other are highly ferruginous, but the latter most strongly impregnated
+with iron.
+
+The chancel is the only ancient part of the present church of St.
+Paul's, and even this must be comparatively modern, if any confidence
+may be placed in the current tradition, that the building, in its
+original state, was a temple of Adonis or of Venus, to both which
+divinities the early inhabitants of Rouen are reported to have paid
+peculiar homage. They were worshipped in vice and impurity[63]; nor were
+the votaries deterred by the evil spirits who haunted the immediate
+vicinity of the temple, and who gave rise to so fetid and infectious a
+vapor, that it often proved fatal! This very remark seems to indicate
+the scite of the church of St. Paul, with its neighboring sulphureous
+waters. St. Romain demolished the temple, and dispersed the sinners.
+Farin, in his _History of Rouen_[64], says, that the church was
+repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt by the Norman Dukes, to some of whom,
+the chancel, which is now standing, probably owes its existence. The
+nave is evidently of much more modern construction: it is thrice the
+width of the other part, from which it is separated by a circular arch.
+The eastern extremity differs from that of any other church I ever saw
+in Normandy or in England: it ends in three circular compartments, the
+central considerably the largest and most prominent, and divided from
+the others, which serve as aisles, by double arches, a larger and
+smaller being united together. This triple circular ending is, however,
+only observable without; for, in the interior, the southern part has
+been separated and used as a sacristy; the northern is a lumber-room. In
+the latter division, M. le Prevost desired us to notice a piece of
+sculpture, so covered with dirt and dust that it could scarcely be seen,
+but evidently of Roman workmanship, and, probably, of the fourth
+century, if we may judge from its resemblance to some ornaments[65] upon
+the pedestal of the obelisk raised by Theodosius, in the Hippodrome of
+Constantinople. Our friend's conjecture is, that it had originally
+served for an altar: perhaps it might, with equal probability, be
+supposed to have been a tomb.--The corbels on the exterior of this
+building are strange and fanciful.
+
+[Illustration: Sculpture, supposed Roman, in the Church of St. Paul, at Rouen ]
+
+St. Gervais also stands without the walls of Rouen; but at the opposite
+end of the town, upon a hill adjoining the Roman road to Lillebonne, and
+near the Mont aux Malades, a place so called, as having been selected in
+the eleventh century, on account of the salubrity of its air, for the
+situation of a monastery, destined for the reception of lepers. Upon
+this eminence, the Norman Dukes had likewise originally a palace; and,
+it was to this, that William the Conqueror caused himself to be
+conveyed, when attacked with his mortal illness, after having wantonly
+reduced the town of Mantes to ashes. Here, too, this mighty monarch
+breathed his last, and left a sad warning to future conquerors, deserted
+by his friends and physicians the moment he was no more; while his
+menials plundered his property, and his body lay naked and neglected in
+the hall[66].
+
+The ducal palace, and the monastic buildings of the priory, once
+connected with it, are now completely destroyed. Fortunately, however,
+the church still remains, though parochial and in poverty. It preserves
+some portions of the original structure, more interesting from their
+features than their extent. The exterior of the apsis is very curious:
+it is obtusely angular, and faced at the corners with large rude
+columns, of whose capitals some are Doric or Corinthian, others as wild
+as the fancies of the Norman lords of the country. None reach so high as
+the cornice of the roof, it having been the intention of the original
+architect, that a portion of work should intervene between the summit of
+the capitals and this member. A capital to the north is remarkable for
+the eagles carved upon it, as if with some allusion to Roman power. But
+the most singular part of this church is the crypt under the apsis, a
+room about thirty feet long by fourteen wide, and sixteen high, of
+extreme simplicity, and remote antiquity. Round it runs a plain stone
+bench; and it is divided into two unequal parts by a circular arch,
+devoid of columns or of any ornament whatever, but disclosing, in the
+composition of its piers, Roman bricks and other _debris_, some of them
+rudely sculptured. Here, according to Ordericus Vitalis[67], was
+interred the body of St. Mellonus, the first Archbishop of Rouen, and
+one of the apostles of Neustria; and here, his tomb, and that of his
+successor, Avitien, are shewn to this day, in plain niches, on opposite
+sides of the wall. St. Mello's remains however, were not suffered to
+rest in peace; for, about five hundred and seventy years after his
+death, which happened in the year 314, they were removed to the castle
+of Pontoise, lest the canonized corpse should be violated by the heathen
+Normans. In the diocese of Rouen St. Mello is honored with particular
+veneration; and the history of the prelates of the see contains many
+curious, and not unedifying stories of the miracles he performed. His
+feast, together with that of St. Nicasius, his companion, is celebrated
+on the second of October; and their labors are commemorated with a hymn
+appointed for their festival:--
+
+    "Primae vos canimus gentis apostolos,
+     Per quos relligio tradita patribus;
+     Errorisque jugo libera Neustria
+         CHRISTO sub duce militat.
+
+    "Facti sponte suis finibus exules
+     Huc de Romuleis sedibus advolant;
+     Merces est operis, si nova consecrent
+         Vero pectora Numini.
+
+    "Qui se pro populis devovet hostiam
+     Mellonus tacita se nece conficit;
+     Mactatus celeri morte Nicasius
+         Christum sanguine praedicat."
+
+Heretics as we are, we ought not to refrain from respecting the zeal
+even of a saint of the Catholic calendar, when thus exerted. Besides
+which, he has another claim upon our attention: our own island gave him
+birth, and he appeared at Rome as the bearer of the annual tribute of
+the Britons, at the very time when he was converted to Christianity,
+whose light he had afterwards the glory of diffusing over Neustria. The
+existence of these tombs and the antiquity of the crypt, recorded as it
+is by history and confirmed by the style of its architecture, have given
+currency to the tradition, which points it out as the only temple where
+the primitive Christians of Neustria dared to assemble for the
+performance of divine service. Many stone coffins have also been
+discovered in the vicinity of the church. These sarcophagi seem to
+confirm the general tradition: they are of the simplest form, and
+apparently as ancient as the crypt; and they were so placed in the
+ground that the heads of the corpses were turned to the east, a position
+denoting that the dead received Christian burial.
+
+[Illustration: Circular Tower, attached to the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen]
+
+Another opportunity will be afforded me of speaking of the church of St.
+Ouen; but, as a singular relic of Norman architecture, I must here
+notice the round tower on the south side of the choir, probably part of
+the original edifice, finished by the Abbot, William Balot, and
+dedicated by the Archbishop Geoffroi, in 1126. It consists of two
+stories, divided by a billetted moulding. Respecting its use it would
+not now be easy to offer a probable conjecture: the history of the
+abbey, indeed, mentions it under the title of _la Chambre des Clercs_,
+and supposes that it was formerly a chapel[68]; but its shape and size
+do not seem to confirm that opinion.
+
+The chapel of the suppressed lazar-house of St. Julien, situated about
+three miles from Rouen, on the opposite side of the Seine, is more
+perfect than either St. Paul or St. Gervais, and, consequently, more
+valuable to the architect. This building, without spire or tower, and
+divided into three parts of unequal length and height, the nave, the
+choir, and the circular apsis, externally resembles one of the meanest
+of our parish-churches, such as a stranger, judging only from the
+exterior, would be almost equally likely to consider as a place of
+worship, or as a barn. It is, however, if I am not mistaken, one of the
+purest and most perfect specimens of the Norman aera. I know of no
+building in England, which resembles it so nearly as the chancel of
+Hales Church, in Norfolk; but the latter has been exposed to material
+alterations, while the chapel of which I am speaking is externally quite
+regular in its design, being divided throughout its whole length into
+small compartments, by a row of shallow buttresses rising from the
+ground to the eaves of the roof, without any partition into splays.
+Those on the south side are still in their primaeval state; but a
+buttress of a subsequent, though not recent, date, has been built up
+against almost every one of the original buttresses on the north side,
+by way of support to the edifice. Each division contains a single narrow
+circular-headed window: beneath these is a plain moulding, continued
+uninterruptedly over the buttresses as well as the wall, thus proving
+both to be coeval; another plain moulding runs nearly on a level with
+the tops of the windows, and takes the same circular form; but it is
+confined to the spaces between the buttresses. There are no others. The
+entrance was by circular-headed doors at the west end and south side,
+both of them very plain; but particularly the latter. The few ornaments
+of the western are as perfect and as sharp as if the whole were the work
+of yesterday. This part of the church has, however, been exposed to
+considerable injury, owing to its having joined the conventual
+buildings, which were destroyed at the revolution. The inside is, like
+the exterior, almost perfect, but it is very much more rich, uniting to
+the common ornaments of Norman architecture, capitals, in some
+instances, of classical beauty. The ceiling is covered with paintings of
+scriptural subjects, which still remain, notwithstanding that the
+building is now desecrated, and used as a woodhouse by the neighboring
+farmer.
+
+The date of the erection of the chapel is well ascertained[69]. The
+hospital was founded in 1183, by Henry Plantagenet, as a priory for the
+reception of unmarried ladies of noble blood, who were destined for a
+religious life, and had the misfortune to be afflicted with leprosy. One
+of their appellations was _filles meselles_, in which latter word, you
+will immediately recognize the origin of our term for the disease still
+prevalent among us, the _measles_. Johnson strangely derives this word
+from _morbilli_; but the true northern roots have been given by Mr.
+Todd, in his most valuable republication of our national dictionary; a
+work which now deserves to be named after the editor, rather than the
+original compiler. It may also be added, that the word was in common use
+in the old Norman French, and was plainly intended to designate a slight
+degree of scurvy.
+
+To pursue this subject a few steps farther, Jamieson, who is as
+excellent in points of etymology as Johnson is deficient, quotes, in his
+Scottish Dictionary, an instance where the identical expression,
+_meselle-houses_, is used in old English;
+
+   "...to _meselle-houses_ of that same rond,
+    Thre thousand mark unto ther spense he fond."
+                                R. BRUNNE, p. 136.
+
+The Norfolk farmers and dairy-maids tell us to this day of _measly
+pork_: in Scotch, a leper is called a _mesel_; and, among the Swedes,
+the word for measles is one nearly similar in sound, _maess-ling_. The
+French academy, however, have refused to admit _meselle_ to the honor of
+a place in their language, because it was obsolete or vulgar in the time
+of Louis XIIIth. The word is expressive, and no better one has supplied
+its place; and we may suppose that it was introduced by the Norman
+conquerors, and that it properly belongs to the Gothic tongues, in the
+whole of which the root is to be found more or less modified. Instances
+of this kind, and they are many, serve as additional proofs, if proofs
+indeed were needed, of the common origin of the Neustrian Normans, of
+the Lowland Scots, and of the Saxon and Belgian tribes, who peopled our
+eastern shores of England.
+
+The priory continued to be appropriated to its original purpose till
+1366, when Charles Vth united it to the hospital, called the Magdalen,
+at Rouen, upon condition that a mass should be celebrated there daily
+for the repose of his soul. In the year 1600, on the destruction of the
+abbey upon Mont Ste. Catherine, the monks of that establishment were
+allowed to fix themselves at St. Julien; but they resigned it, after a
+period of sixty-seven years, to the Carthusians of Gaillon, who,
+incorporating themselves with their brethren of the same order at Rouen,
+formed a very opulent community. The monastery, previously occupied by
+the latter, was known by the poetical appellation of _la Rose de Notre
+Dame_: indeed, it is thus termed in the charter of its foundation, dated
+1384. But the situation was unhealthy, and the new comers had therefore
+little difficulty in persuading its occupants to remove to the convent
+of St. Julien, which they inhabited conjointly till the revolution. At a
+very short period before that event, they had rebuilt the whole of the
+priory with such splendor, that it was one of the most magnificent in
+the neighborhood. But the edifice, which had then been scarcely raised,
+was soon afterwards levelled with the ground. The foundations alone
+attest the former extent of the buildings; and the park, now in a state
+of utter neglect, their original importance.
+
+Rouen, as I have observed, is scantily ornamented with remains of _real_
+Norman architecture; for, even at the risk of a bull, we must deny that
+title to the Norman edifices of the pointed style. Its vicinity,
+however, furnishes a greater number of specimens, among which the
+churched of _Lery_, of _Pavilly_, and of _Yainville_, are all of them
+deserving of a visit from the diligent antiquary.
+
+Lery is a village adjoining Pont-de-l'Arche: its church is cruciform,
+having in the centre a low, massy, square tower, surmounted by a modern
+spire. A row of plain Norman arches, intended only for ornament, runs
+round the tower near the base, and over them on each side is a single
+round-headed window. All the other windows of the building are of the
+same construction, and this renders it probable that the east end, in
+which there is also one of these windows, is really coeval with the rest
+of the church; though, contrary to the usual plan of the Norman
+churches, it is terminated by a straight wall instead of a semi-circular
+apsis. The west front contains a rich Norman door-way, surmounted by
+three windows of the same style, adjoining each other, with a triple row
+of the chevron-ornament above them. The interior wears the appearance of
+remote antiquity: the arches are without mouldings, the pillars without
+bases, and the capitals are destitute of all ornamental sculpture. In
+fact, these portions are nothing but rounded piers; and so obviously was
+mere solid strength the aim of the architect, that their diameter is
+fully equal to two-thirds of their height. A double row of pillars and
+arches separates the nave into three parts, of unequal width; and
+another arch of greater span, though equally plain, divides it from the
+chancel. In St. Julien, we observe a most simple exterior, accompanied
+by an interior of comparatively an ornamented style: here the case is
+exactly the reverse; but in neither instance does there appear any
+reason to doubt that the whole of the building is coeval. We shall be
+driven, therefore, to admit, that any inferences respecting the aera of
+architecture drawn merely from the comparative richness of the style,
+must be considered of little weight, and that, even in those days, a
+great deal depended upon the fancy of the patron or architect. Of the
+real time of the erection of the church at Lery, there is no certain
+knowledge. Topographers, however minute in other matters, seem in
+general to have considered it beneath their dignity to record the dates
+of parish-churches; though, as connected with the history of the arts,
+such information is exceedingly valuable. Lauglois, who has given a
+figure of the western front of this at Lery, refers it without any
+hesitation to the time of the Carlovingian dynasty. But this opinion is
+merely grounded on the resemblance of some of its capitals to those of
+the pillars in the crypt at St. Denis; the best judges doubt whether
+there is a single architectural line in that crypt, which can fairly be
+referred to the reign of Charlemagne. Hence such a proof is entitled to
+little attention; and On studying the style of the whole, and its
+conformity with the more magnificent front of St. Georges de
+Bocherville, it would seem most reasonable to regard them both as of
+nearly the same aera, the time of the Norman Conquest. We may through
+them be enabled to fix the date to a specimen of ancient architecture in
+our own country, more splendid than these, the Church of Castle Rising,
+whose west front is so much on the same plan, that it can scarcely have
+been erected at a very different period.
+
+Pavilly has considerably more to recommend it, as the "magni nominis
+umbra" than either of the others; it having been the seat of an abbey
+founded about the year 668, and named after Saint Austreberte, who first
+presided over it. Here, too, we have the advantage of being able to
+ascertain with greater precision the date of the building, which, in the
+archives of the Chartreux at Rouen[70], is stated to have been
+constructed about the conclusion of the eleventh century. The remains of
+the monastery are not considerable: they consist of little more than a
+ruined wall, containing three circular arches, evidently very ancient
+from their simplicity and the style of their masonry, and some pillars
+with capitals differing in ornament from any others I recollect, but
+imitations of the Grecian, or rather attempts to improve upon it. The
+inside of the parish-church is more interesting than the ruins of the
+abbey. It is characterised, as you will observe in the annexed sketch,
+by massy square piers, to each side of which are attached several small
+clustered columns, intended merely for ornament. One of them is fluted,
+the work, probably, of some subsequent time; and another, on the same
+pier, is truncated, to afford a pedestal for the statue of a saint. The
+capitals are without sculpture.
+
+[Illustration: Interior of the Church at Pavilly]
+
+The church at Yainville differs materially from either of the others:
+its square low central tower is of far greater base than that of Lery:
+the transept parts of the cross have been demolished; and, beyond the
+tower, to the east, is only an addition that looks more like an apsis
+than a choir, a small semi-circular building with a roof of a peculiarly
+high pitch, like those of the stone-roofed chapels in Ireland, which, I
+trust, I shall be able hereafter to convince you were undoubtedly of
+Norman origin. But the most curious feature in this building is, that
+one of the buttresses is pierced with a narrow lancet window; a decisive
+proof, that the Normans regarded their buttresses as constituent parts
+of the edifice at its original construction, and that they did not add
+them at a subsequent time, or design them to afford support, in the
+event of any unexpected failure of strength. Indeed, what are usually
+called Norman buttresses, such as we find at Yainville, and at the
+lazar-house at St. Julien, have so very small a projection, that they
+seem much more designed to add ornament or variety than for any useful
+purpose.--Yainville is a parish adjoining Jumieges, and was formerly
+dependent upon the celebrated abbey there, which will furnish ample
+materials for a future letter.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[63] _Taillepied, Antiquites de Rouen_, p. 77.
+
+[64] Vol. II. part V. p. 8.
+
+[65] _Seroux d'Agincourt, Historie de la Decadence de l'Art_; plate 10,
+_Sculpture_, fig. 4-7.
+
+[66] _Du Moulin, Histoire Generale de Normandie,_ p. 236.
+
+[67] _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 558.
+
+[68] _Histoire de l'Abbaye de St. Ouen_, p. 188.
+
+[69] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, V. p. 121
+
+[70] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 268.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER X.
+
+EARLY POINTED ARCHITECTURE--CATHEDRAL--EPISCOPAL PALACE.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+In passing from the true Norman architecture, characterised "by the
+circular arch, round-headed doors and windows, massive pillars with a
+kind of regular base and capital, and thick walls without any very
+prominent buttresses",[71] to those edifices which display the pointed
+style, I shall enter into a more extensive field, and one where the
+difficulty no longer lies in discovering, but in selecting objects for
+observation and description.
+
+The style which an ingenious author of our own country has designated as
+_early English_[72], is by no means uncommon in Normandy. In both
+countries, the circular style became modified into _Gothic_, by the same
+gradations; though, in Normandy, each gradation took place at an earlier
+period than amongst us. The style in question forms the connecting link
+between edifices of the highest antiquity, and those of the richest
+pointed architecture; combined in some instances principally with the
+peculiarities of the former, in others with the character of the latter:
+generally speaking, it assimilates itself to both. The simplicity of the
+principal lines betray its analogy to its predecessors; whilst the form
+of the arch equally displays the approach of greater beauty and
+perfection.
+
+Of this aera, the cathedral[73] of Rouen is unquestionably the most
+interesting building; and it is so spacious, so grand, so noble, so
+elegant, so rich, and so varied, that, as the Italians say of Raphael,
+"ammirar non si puo che non s'onori."--By an exordium like this, I am
+aware that an expectation will be raised, which it will be difficult for
+the powers of description to gratify; but I have still felt that it was
+due to the edifice, to speak of it as I am sure it deserves, and rather
+to subject myself to the charge of want of ability in describing, than
+of want of feeling in the appreciation of excellence.
+
+The west front opens upon a spacious _parvis_, to which it exposes a
+width of one hundred and seventy feet, consisting of a centre, flanked
+by two towers of very dissimilar form and architecture, though of nearly
+equal height. Between these is seen the spire, which rises from the
+intersection of the cross, and which, from this point of view, appears
+to pierce the clouds; and these masses so combine themselves together,
+that the entire edifice assumes a pyramidical outline. The French, who,
+without any real affection for ancient architecture, are often
+extravagant in their praises, regard this spire as a "chef d'oeuvre de
+hardiesse, d'elegance, et de legerete." Bold and light it certainly is;
+but we must pause before we consider it as elegant: the lower part is a
+combination of very clumsy Roman pediments and columns; and, as it is
+constructed of wood, the material conveys an idea of poverty and
+comparative meanness.--It is commonly said in France, that the portal of
+Rheims, joined to the nave of Amiens, the choir of Beauvais, and the
+tower of Chartres, would make a perfect church; nor is it to be denied
+that each of these several cathedrals surpasses Rouen in its peculiar
+excellence; but each is also defective in other respects; so that Rouen,
+considered as a whole, is perhaps equal, if not superior, to any. The
+front is singularly impressive: it is characterised by airy
+magnificence. Open screens of the most elegant tracery, and filled, like
+the pannels to which they correspond, with imagery, range along the
+summit. The blue sky shines through the stone filagree, which appears to
+be interwoven like a slender web; but, when you ascend the roof, you
+find that it is composed of massy limbs of stone, of which the edge
+alone is seen by the observer below. This _free_ tracery is peculiar to
+the pointed architecture of the continent; and I cannot recollect any
+English building which possesses it. The basement story is occupied by
+three wide door-ways, deep in retiring mouldings and pillars, and filled
+with figures of saints and martyrs, "tier behind tier, in endless
+perspective." The central portal, by far the largest, projects like a
+porch beyond the others, and is surmounted by a gorgeous pyramidal
+canopy of open stone-work, in whose centre is a great dial, the top of
+which partly conceals the rose window behind. This portal, together with
+the niches above on either side, all equally crowded with bishops,
+apostles, and saints, was erected at the expence of the cardinal,
+Georges d'Amboise, by whom the first stone was laid, in 1509[74].
+
+The lateral door-ways are of a different style of architecture, and,
+though obtusely pointed, are supposed to be of the eleventh century: a
+plain and almost Roman circular arch surmounts the southern one. Over
+each of the entrances is a curious bas-relief: in the centre is
+displayed the genealogical tree of Christ; the southern contains the
+Virgin Mary surrounded by a number of saints; the northern one, the most
+remarkable[75] of all, affords a representation of the feast given by
+Herod, which ended in the martyrdom of the Baptist. Salome, daughter of
+Herodias, plays, as she ought to do, the principal character. The group
+is of good sculpture, and curiously illustrative of the costumes and
+manners of the times. Salome is seen dancing in an attitude, which
+perchance was often assumed by the _tombesteres_ of the elder day; and
+her position affords a graphical comment upon the Anglo-Saxon version of
+the text, in which it is said that she "_tumbled_", before King Herod.
+The bands or pilasters (if we may so call them) which ornament the jambs
+of the door-ways, are crowned with graceful foliage in a very pure
+style; and the pedestals of the lateral pillars are boldly underworked.
+
+On the northern side of the cathedral is situated the cloister-court.
+Only a few arches of the cloister now remain; and it appears, at least
+on the eastern side, to have consisted of a double aisle. Here we view
+the most ancient portion of the tower of Saint Romain.--There is a
+peculiarity in the position of the towers of this cathedral, which I
+have not observed elsewhere. They flank the body of the church, so as to
+leave three sides free; and hence the spread taken by the front of the
+edifice, when the breadth of the towers is added to the breadth of the
+nave and aisles. The circular windows of the tower which look in the
+court, are perhaps to be referred to the eleventh century; and a smaller
+tower affixed against the south side, containing a stair-case and
+covered by a lofty pyramidical stone roof, composed of flags cut in the
+shape of shingles, may also be of the same aera. The others, of the more
+ancient windows, are in the early pointed style; and the portion from
+the gallery upwards is comparatively modern; having been added in 1477.
+The roof, I suppose, is of the sixteenth century.
+
+The southern tower is a fine specimen of the pointed architecture in its
+greatest state of luxuriant perfection, enriched on every side with
+pinnacles and statues. It terminates in a beautiful octagonal crown of
+open stone-work.--Legendary tales are connected with both the towers:
+the oldest borrows its name from St. Romain, by whom chroniclers tell us
+that it was built; the other is called the _Tour de Beurre_, from a
+tradition, that the chief part of the money required for its erection
+was derived from offerings given by the pious or the dainty, as the
+purchase for an indulgence granted by Pope Innocent VIIIth, who, for a
+reasonable consideration, allowed the contributors to feed upon butter
+and milk during Lent, instead of confining themselves, as before, to oil
+and lard.--The archbishop, Georges d'Amboise, consecrated this tower, of
+which the foundation was laid in 1485; and he had the satisfaction of
+living to see it finished, in 1507, after twenty-two years had been
+employed in the building.
+
+The cardinal was so truly delighted by the beauty of the structure,
+which had arisen under his auspices, that he determined to grace it with
+the largest bell in France; and such was afterwards cast at his
+expence.--Even Tom of Lincoln could scarcely compete with Georges
+d'Amboise; for thus the bell was duly christened. It weighed
+thirty-three thousand pounds; its diameter at the base was thirty feet;
+its height was ten feet; and thirty stout and sweating bell-ringers
+could hardly put it into swing.--Such was the importance attached to the
+undertaking, that it was thought worthy of a religious ceremony. At the
+appointed hour for casting the bell, the clergy paraded in full
+procession round the church, to implore the blessing of heaven upon the
+work; and, when the signal was given that the glowing metal had filled
+the enormous mould, _Te Deum_ resounded as with one voice; the organ
+pealed, the trombones and clarions sounded, and all the other bells in
+the cathedral joined, as loudly and as sweetly as they could, in
+announcing the birth of their prouder brother.--The remainder of the
+story is of a different complexion:--The founder, Jean le Machon, of
+Chartres, died from excess of joy, and was buried in the nave of the
+cathedral, where Pommeraye[76] tells us the tomb existed in his time;
+with a bell engraved upon it, and the following epitaph:--
+
+        "Cy-dessous gist Jean le Machon
+     De Chartres homme de facon
+     Lequel fondit Georges d'Amboise
+     Qui trente six mille livres poise
+     Mil cinq cens un jour d'Aoust deuxieme
+     Puis mourut le vingt et unieme."
+
+Nor was this the only misfortune; for, after all, this great bell
+proved, like a great book, a great nuisance: the sound it uttered was
+scarcely audible; and, at last, in an attempt to render it vocal, upon a
+visit paid by Louis XVIth to Rouen in 1786, it was cracked[77]. It
+continued, however, to hang, a gaping-stock to children and strangers,
+till the revolution, in 1793, caused it to be returned to the furnace,
+whence it re-issued in the shape of cannon and medals, the latter
+commemorating the pristine state of the metal with the humiliating
+legend, "monument de vanite detruit pour l'utilite[78]."
+
+Some of the clerestory windows on the northern side of the nave are
+circular: the tracery which fills them, and the mouldings which surround
+them, belong to the pointed style; the arches may therefore have been
+the production of an earlier architect. The windows of the nave are
+crowned by pediments, each terminating, not with a pinnacle, but with a
+small statue. The pediments over the windows of the choir are larger
+and bolder, and perforated as they rise above the parapet; the members
+of the mouldings are full, and produce a fine effect.
+
+The northern transept is approached through a gloomy court, once
+occupied by the shops of the transcribers and caligraphists, the
+_libraires_ of ancient times, and from them it has derived its name. The
+court is entered beneath a gate-way of beautiful and singular
+architecture, composed of two lofty pointed arches of equal height,
+crowned by a row of smaller arcades. On each side are the walls of the
+archiepiscopal palace, dusky and shattered, and desolate; and the vista
+terminates by the lofty _Portal of St. Romain_; for it is thus the great
+portal of the transept is denominated. The oaken valves are bound with
+ponderous hinges and bars of wrought iron, of coeval workmanship. The
+bars are ornamented with embossed heads, which have been hammered out of
+the solid metal. The statues which stood on each side of the arch-way
+have been demolished; but the pedestals remain. These, as well as other
+parts of the portal, are covered with sculptured compartments, or
+medallions, in high preservation, and of the most singular character.
+They exhibit an endless variety of fanciful monsters and animals, of
+every shape and form, mermaids, tritons, harpies, woodmen, satyrs, and
+all the fabulous zoology of ancient geography and romance; and each
+spandril of each quatrefoil contains a lizard, a serpent, or some other
+worm or reptile. They have all the oddity, all the whim, and all the
+horror of the pencil of Breughel. Human groups and figures are
+interspersed, some scriptural, historical, or legendary; others mystical
+and allegorical. Engravings from these medallions would form a volume
+of uncommon interest. Two lofty towers ornament the transept, such as
+are usually seen only at the western front of a cathedral. The upper
+story of each is perforated by a gigantic window, divided by a single
+mullion, or central pillar, not exceeding one foot in circumference, and
+nearly sixty feet in height. These windows are entirely open, and the
+architect never intended that they should be glazed. An extraordinary
+play of light and shade results from this construction. The rose window
+in the centre of the transept is magnificent: from within, the painted
+glass produces the effect of a kaleidoscope.--The pediment or gable of
+this transept was materially injured by a storm, in 1638, one hundred
+and thirty years after it was completed; and the damage was never
+restored.
+
+The southern transept bears a near resemblance to that which I have
+already described; but it was originally richer in its ornaments, and it
+still preserves some of its statues. Here the medallions relate chiefly
+to scripture-history; but the sculpture is greatly corroded by the
+weather, and the more delicate parts are nearly obliterated; besides
+which, as well here, as at the other entrances, the Calvinists, in 1562,
+and, more recently, the Revolutionists, have been most mischievously
+destructive, mutilating and decapitating without mercy. The spirit,
+indeed, of the French reformers, bore a near resemblance to the
+proceedings of John Knox and his brethren: the people embraced the new
+doctrine with turbulent violence. There was in it nothing moderate,
+nothing gradual: it was not the regular flow of public opinion,
+undermining abuses, and bringing them slowly to their fall; but it was
+the thunderbolt, which--
+
+    "In sua templa furit, nullaque exire vetante
+     Materia, magnamque cadens magnamque revertens
+     Dat stragem late sparsosque recolligit ignes."
+
+Among the legends recorded on the southern portal, or the _Portail de la
+Calende_, is that of the corn-merchant; the confiscation of whose
+property paid, as the chronicles tell us, for the erection of this
+beautiful entrance. He himself, if we may believe the same authority,
+was hanged in the street opposite to it, in consequence of having been
+detected in the use of false measures.
+
+The original Lady-Chapel, at the east end of the cathedral, was taken
+down in 1302. The present, which is considerably more spacious, is
+chiefly of a date immediately subsequent. Part, however, was built in
+1430, when new and larger windows were inserted throughout the church;
+whilst other parts were not finished till 1538, at which time the
+Cardinal Georges d'Amboise restored the roof of the choir, which had
+been injured in 1514, by the destruction of the spire.
+
+The square central tower, which is low and comparatively plain, is the
+work of the year 1200. It is itself more ancient than would be supposed
+from the character of its architecture; but it occupies the place of one
+of still greater antiquity, which was materially damaged in 1117, when
+the original spire of the church was struck by lightning. This first
+spire was of stone, but was replaced by another of wood, which, as I
+have just mentioned, was also destroyed at the beginning of the
+sixteenth century. A fire, arising from the negligence of plumbers
+employed to repair the lead-work, was the cause of its ruin.--To remedy
+the misfortune, recourse was had to extraordinary efforts: the King
+contributed twelve thousand francs; the chapter a portion of their
+revenue and their plate; collections were made throughout the kingdom;
+and Leo Xth authorised the sale of indulgences, a measure, which, at
+nearly the same period, in its more extensive adoption for the building
+of St. Peter's at Rome, shook the Papacy to its foundation. The spire
+thus raised, the second of wood, but the third in chronological order,
+is the one which is now in existence. It was, like its predecessor,
+endangered by the carelessness of the plumbers, in 1713; but it does not
+appear to have required any material reparations till ten years ago,
+when a sum of thirty thousand francs was expended upon it.
+
+From what has already been said, you will not have failed to observe
+that this cathedral is the work of so many different periods, that it
+almost contains within itself a history of pointed architecture. To
+attempt a labored description of it were idle: minute details of any one
+of the portals would fill a moderate volume; and a quarto of seven
+hundred pages, from which I have borrowed most of my dates, has already
+been written upon the subject by a Benedictine Monk of the name of
+Pommeraye, who also published the history of the Archbishops of the
+See[79].
+
+The first church at Rouen was built about the year 270: three hundred
+and thirty years subsequently, this edifice was succeeded by another,
+the joint work of St. Romain and St. Ouen, which was burned in the
+incursions of the Normans, about the year 842. Fifty years of Paganism
+succeeded; at the expiration of which period, Rollo embraced the faith
+of Christ, and Rouen saw once more within its walls, by the munificence
+and piety of the conqueror, a place of Christian worship. Richard Ist,
+grandson of this duke, and his son Robert, the archbishop, enlarged the
+edifice in the middle of the tenth century; but it was still not
+completed till 1063, when, according to Ordericus Vitalis, it was
+dedicated by the Archbishop Maurilius with great pomp, in the presence
+of William, Duke of Normandy, and the bishops of the province. Of this
+building, however, notwithstanding what is said by Ducarel[80] and other
+authors, it is certain that nothing more remains than the part of St.
+Romain's tower, just noticed, and possibly two of the western entrances;
+though the present structure is believed to occupy the same spot.
+
+To the honor of the spirit and good feeling of the inhabitants of Rouen,
+this church is one of those that suffered least in the outrages of the
+year 1793. Its dimensions, in French feet, are as follows:--
+
+                                        FEET.
+
+    Length of the interior.............. 408
+    Width of ditto....................... 83
+    Length of nave...................... 210
+    Width of nave........................ 27
+    Ditto of aisles...................... 15
+    Length of choir..................... 110
+    Width of ditto....................... 35-1/2
+    Ditto of transept.................... 25-1/2
+    Length of ditto..................... 164
+    Ditto of Lady-Chapel................. 88
+    Width of ditto....................... 28
+    Height of spire..................... 380
+    Ditto of towers at the west end..... 230
+    Ditto of nave........................ 84
+    Ditto of aisles and chapels.......... 42
+    Ditto of interior of central tower.. 152
+    Depth of chapels..................... 10
+
+Four clustered pillars support the central tower, each of which is
+thirty-eight feet in circumference; the rest, of which there are
+forty-four in the nave and choir, those in the former clustered, the
+others circular, are less by one-third. The windows amount in number to
+one hundred and thirty-three; the chapels to twenty-five. Most of the
+latter were fitted up during the minority of Louis XIVth, with wreathed
+columns, entwined with foliage, the style in vogue in the seventeenth
+century. In the farthest of these chapels, upon the south side, is the
+tomb of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy; in the opposite chapel, that of
+his son and successor, William Longue-Epee, who was treacherously
+murdered at Pecquigny, in 944, during a conference with Arnoul, Count of
+Flanders.
+
+[Illustration: Monumental Figure of Rollo, in Rouen Cathedral]
+
+The effigies of both these princes still remain placed upon sarcophagi,
+under plain niches in the wall. They are certainly not contemporary
+with the persons which they represent, but are probably productions of
+the thirteenth century, to which period Mr. Stothard, from whose
+judgment few will be disposed to appeal, refers the greater part of what
+are called the most ancient in the _Musee des Monumens Francais_. At the
+same time, they may possibly have been copied from others of earlier
+date; and I therefore send you a slight sketch of the figure of Rollo.
+Even imaginary portraits of celebrated men are not without their value:
+we are interested by seeing how they have been conceived by the
+artist.--Above the statue is the following inscription:--
+
+     HIC POSITUS EST
+     ROLLO,
+     NORMANNIAE A SE TERRITAE, VASTATAE,
+     RESTITUTAE,
+     PRIMUS DUX, CONDITOR, PATER,
+     A FRANCONE ARCHIEP. ROTOM.
+     BAPTIZATUS ANNO DCCCCXIII,
+     OBIIT ANNO DCCCCXVII.
+     OSSA IPSIUS IN VETERI SANCTUARIO,
+     NUNC CAPITE NAVIS, PRIMUM CONDITA,
+     TRANSLATO ALTARI, HIC COLLOCATA
+     SUNT A B. MAURILIO ARCHIEP. ROTOM.
+     ANNO MLXIII.
+
+Two other epitaphs in rhyming Latin, which were previously upon his
+tomb, are recorded by various authors: the first of them began with the
+three following lines--
+
+     DUX NORMANNORUM, CUNCTORUM NORMA BONORUM,
+     ROLLO FERUS FORTIS, QUEM GENS NORMANNICA MORTIS
+     INVOCAT ARTICULO, CLAUDITUR HOC TUMULO.
+
+Over William Longue-Epee is inscribed--
+
+     HIC POSITUS EST
+     GULIELMUS DICTUS LONGA SPATHA,
+     ROLLONIS FILIUS,
+     DUX NORMANNIAE,
+     PREDATORIE OCCISUS DCCCCXXXXIV.
+
+with an account of the removal of his bones, exactly similar to the
+concluding part of his father's epitaph.
+
+The perspective on first entering the church is very striking: the eye
+ranges without interruption, through a vista of lofty pillars and
+pointed arches, to the splendid altar in the Lady-Chapel, which forms at
+once an admirable termination to the building and the prospect. The high
+altar in the choir is plain and insulated. No other praise can be given
+to the screen, except that it does not interrupt the view; for surely it
+was the very consummation of bad taste to place in such an edifice, a
+double row of eight modern Ionic pillars, in white marble, with the
+figures of Hope and Charity between them, surmounted by a crucifix,
+flanked on either side with two Grecian vases.
+
+The interior falls upon the eye with boldness and regularity, pleasing
+from its proportions, and imposing from its magnitude. The arches which
+spring from the pillars of the aisles, are surmounted by a second row,
+occupying the space which is usually held by the triforium: the vaulted
+roof of the aisles runs to the level of the top of this upper tier. This
+arrangement, which is found in other Norman churches, is almost peculiar
+to these; and in England it has no parallel, except in the nave of
+Waltham Abbey. Within the aisle you observe a singular combination of
+small pillars, attached to the columns of the nave: they stand on a
+species of bracket, which is supported by the abacus of the capital;
+and they spread along the spandrils of the arches on either side. These
+pillars support a kind of entablature, which takes a triangular plan.
+The whole bears a near resemblance to the style of the Byzantine
+architecture. Above the second row of arches are two rows of galleries.
+The story containing the clerestory windows crowns the whole; so that
+there are five horizontal divisions in the nave.--I give these details,
+because they indicate the decided difference of order which exists
+between the Norman and the English Gothic; a difference for which I have
+not been able to assign any satisfactory cause.
+
+The tombs that were originally in the choir, commemorating Charles Vth,
+of France; Richard Coeur de Lion; his elder brother, Henry; and William,
+son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, were all removed in 1736, as interfering
+with the embellishments then in contemplation. The first of them alone
+was preserved and transferred to the Lady-Chapel, where it has
+subsequently fallen a victim to the revolution. The others are wholly
+destroyed; nor could Ducarel find even a fragment of the effigies that
+had been upon them; but engravings of these had fortunately been
+preserved by Montfaucon[81], from whom he has copied them. The monument
+of the celebrated John of Lancaster, third son of our Henry IVth, better
+known as the Regent Duke of Bedford, had been previously annihilated by
+the Calvinists. Lozenge-shaped slabs of white marble, charged with
+inscriptions, were inserted in the pavement over the spots that contain
+the remains of the princes, and they have been suffered to continue
+uninjured through the succeeding tumults. On the right of the altar,
+you read,--
+
+     COR
+     RICHARDI, REGIS ANGLIAE,
+     NORMANNIAE DUCIS,
+     COR LEONIS DICTI.
+     OBIIT ANNO
+     MCXCIX.
+
+On the opposite side:--
+
+     HIC JACET
+     HENRICUS JUNIOR,
+     RICHARDI, REGIS ANGLIAE,
+     COR LEONIS DICTI, FRATER.
+     OBIIT ANNO
+     MCLXXXIII.
+
+And in the choir behind the altar:--
+
+     AD DEXTRUM ALTARIS LATUS
+     JACET
+     JOHANNES, DUX BEDFORDI,
+     NORMANNIAE PROREX.
+     OBIIT ANNO
+     MCCCCXXXV.
+
+Of Prince William nothing is said; it was found, upon opening his place
+of sepulture, that he had not been interred here.--Richard strangely
+received a triple funeral. In obedience to his wishes, his heart was
+buried at Rouen, while his body was carried to Fontevraud, and his
+entrails were deposited in the church of Chaluz, where he was
+killed:--this division is commemorated in the quaint, yet energetic
+lines, which are said to have been inscribed upon his tomb:--
+
+     VISCERA CARCEOLUM, CORPUS FONS SERVAT EBRARDI,
+       ET COR ROTOMAGUM, MAGNE RICHARDE, TUUM.
+     IN TRIA DIVIDITUR UNUS QUI PLUS FUIT UNO;
+       NEC SUPEREST UNI GLORIA TANTA VIRO.
+
+Richard neither withheld his gifts nor his protection from the
+metropolitan church; and, after his death, the chapter inclosed the
+heart of their benefactor in a shrine of silver. But a hundred and fifty
+years subsequently, the shrine was despoiled, and the precious metal was
+melted into ingots, forming a portion of the ransom which redeemed St.
+Louis from the fetters of his Saracen conqueror.
+
+Henry the younger, who was crowned King of England during the life-time
+of his father, against whom he subsequently revolted, also requested on
+his death-bed, that his body might be interred in this church; and his
+directions were obeyed, though not without much difficulty; for the
+chapter of the cathedral of Mans, where his servants rested with the
+body _in transitu_, seized and buried it there; nor did those of Rouen
+recover the corpse, without application to the Pope and to the King his
+father.
+
+A tablet of black marble, affixed to one of the pillars of the nave,
+contains the following interesting memorial:
+
+     IN MEDIA NAVI,
+     E REGIONE HUJUS COLUMNAE,
+     JACET
+     BEATAE MEM. MAURILIUS,
+     ARCHIEP. ROTOM. AN. MLV.
+     HANC BASILICAM PERFECIT
+     CONSECRAVITQUE ANNO MLXIII.
+     VIX NATOS BERENGARII ERRORES
+     IN PROX. CONCIL. PRAEFOCAVIT.
+     PLENUS MERITIS OBIIT ANN. MLXVII.
+     HOC PONTIF. NORMANNI,
+     GULIELMO DUCE, ANGLIA POTITI SUNT
+     ANNO MLXVI.
+
+[Illustration: Monumental Figure of an Archbishop, in Rouen Cathedral]
+
+In the northern aisle of the choir, there still exists a curious
+monument, in an injured state indeed, but well deserving of attention,
+from its antiquity. It has been referred by tradition to Maurice, or
+William of Durefort, both of them archbishops of Rouen, and buried in
+the cathedral, the former in 1237, the latter in 1331; but the recumbent
+figure upon it seems of a yet more distant date. It differs in several
+respects from any that I have seen in England[82]. The tomb is in the
+wall, behind a range of pillars, which form a kind of open screen round
+the apsis. Below the effigy, it is decorated with a row of whole-length
+figures of saints, much mutilated: the circular part above is lined with
+angels, a couple of whom are employed in conveying the soul of the
+deceased in a winding-sheet to heaven[83].
+
+[Illustration: Monument of an Archbishop]
+
+The Lady-Chapel contains two monuments of great merit, and which,
+considered as specimens of matured art, have now no rivals in Normandy;
+for both owe their origin to a period of refinement and splendor. The
+sepulchre raised over the bodies of the two Cardinals of Amboise,
+successively Archbishops of Rouen, towers on the southern side of the
+chapel. The statues of the cardinals are of white marble. The prelates
+appear kneeling in prayer; and the following inscription, engraved in a
+single line, and not divided into verses, is placed beneath them:--
+
+     PASTOR ERAM CLERI, POPULI PATER, AUREA SESE
+     LILIA SUBDEBANT QUERCUS[84] ET IPSA MIHI.
+     MORTUUS EN JACEO, MORTE EXTINGUUNTUR HONORES;
+     AT VIRTUS MORTIS NESGIA MORTE VIRET.
+
+Immediately behind the cardinals are figures of patron saints; a centre
+tablet represents St. George and the Dragon; above are the apostles;
+below, the seven cardinal virtues. The execution of these is
+particularly admired, especially that of the figure of Prudence; but a
+row of still smaller figures, in devotional attitudes, carved upon the
+pilasters between the virtues, are in higher taste. Various arabesques
+in basso-relievo, of great beauty, and completely in the style of the
+_Loggie_ of Raphael, adorn the other parts of this sumptuous tomb.--As a
+whole it is unquestionably grand, and it is yet farther valuable as an
+illustration of the gorgeous taste that prevailed at the end of the
+fifteenth century; but the mixture of black and white marble and gilding
+has by no means a good effect, and every part is overloaded with
+ornaments[85]. These, however, are the faults of the times: its merits
+are its own.
+
+On the north side of the chapel is entombed the Duke of Breze, once
+Grand Seneschal of Normandy; his tomb is chaste and simple, forming a
+pleasing contrast to the elaborate memorial of the cardinals. The statue
+of the seneschal himself, represented stretched as a corpse, upon a
+black marble sarcophagus, is admirable for its execution. The rigid
+expression of death is visible, not only in the countenance, but extends
+through every limb. Diana of Poitiers, a beauty who enjoys more
+celebrity than good fame, erected the monument; and she caused her
+statue to be placed on the tomb, where she is seen kneeling and
+contemplating. In the following inscription she promises to be as
+faithful and united to him after his death as she was while they both
+lived: and she truly kept her word; for, during his life-time, she was
+grievously suspected of infidelity[86], and she subsequently lived in
+an open state of concubinage with Henry IInd, and was at last buried at
+her own celebrated residence at Anet, twenty leagues from her husband.--
+
+     HOC, LODOICE, TIBI POSUI, BREZAEE, SEPULCHRUM,
+     PICTONIS AMISSO MOESTA DIANA VIRO;
+     INDIVULSA TIBI QUONDAM ET FIDISSIMA CONJUX,
+     UT FUIT IN THALAMO, SIC ERIT IN TUMULO.
+
+A second female figure on the tomb, with a child in her arms, has been
+supposed intended to represent the nurse of the duke; as if the design
+of the sculptor had been to read a lesson to mortality, by exhibiting
+the warrior in the helplessness of infancy, in the vigor of manhood, and
+as a breathless corpse. Some persons, however, consider it as a
+personification of Charity; others suppose that it represents the Virgin
+Mary. In the midst was originally an erect statue of De Breze, decorated
+with the various symbols of his dignities; but this sinned beyond the
+hope of redemption against the doctrines of liberty and equality, and it
+was accordingly removed at the time of the revolution, together with two
+inscriptions. One of them, which detailed his honors, with the addition
+that he died July twenty-third, 1531, has recently been recovered by the
+care of M. Riaux, and is restored to its place. The other inscription
+and the effigy, it is feared, are irrevocably lost. An equestrian statue
+in the upper part of the monument was suffered to remain, and, as a
+record of the military costume of the sixteenth century, I annex a
+sketch of it. The armorial hearings upon the horse and armor are nearly
+obliterated.--The pile is surmounted a figure of Temperance; the bridle
+in whose mouth shews how absurd is allegory, when "submitted to the
+faithful eye."
+
+[Illustration: Equestrian Figure of the Seneschal de Breze, in Rouen Cathedral]
+
+Lenoir, who, in his work on the _Musee des Monumens Francais_, has
+treated much at large of the history of Diana of Poitiers, and has
+figured her own beautiful mausoleum, which he had the merit of rescuing
+from destruction, pronounces[87] this monument to be from the hand of
+Jean Cousin, one of the most able sculptors of the French school.
+
+Over the altar in the Lady-Chapel is the only good painting in the
+cathedral, the _Adoration of the Shepherds_, by Philip de Champagne, a
+solid, well-colored, and well-grouped picture. Two cherubs in the air
+are excellently conceived and drawn: the whole is lighted from the
+infant Christ in the cradle, a _concetto_, which has been almost
+universally adopted, since the time when Corregio painted his celebrated
+_Notte_, now at Dresden.
+
+There is no great quantity of painted glass in the church, but much of
+it is of good quality. The windows of the choir, on either side of the
+Lady-Chapel, are as rich as a profusion of brilliant colors can make
+them; but the figures are so small, and so crowded, that the subjects
+cannot be traced. They are said to be the work of the thirteenth
+century. The painted windows in St. Stephen's chapel, of the sixteenth
+century, are generally considered the best in the cathedral. I own,
+however, that I should give the preference to those in the chapel of
+St. Romain, in the south transept. One of them is filled with
+allegorical representations of the virtues of the archbishop; another
+with his miracles: every part is distinct and clear, and executed with
+great force and great minuteness. The vestments of the saint have all
+the delicacy of miniature-painting.
+
+The library of the cathedral, formerly one of the richest in France,
+disappeared during the revolution; but the noble room which contained
+it, one hundred feet long, by twenty-five feet wide, still remains
+uninjured; as does the door which led into it from the northern
+transept, and which continues to this day to bear the inscription,
+_Bibliotheca_. The staircase, communicating with this door, is delicate
+and beautiful. The balustrades are of the most elegant filagree; and it
+has all the boldness and lightness which peculiarly characterise the
+French Gothic. Its date being well ascertained, we may note it as an
+architectural standard. It was erected by the archbishop, Cardinal
+d'Etouteville, about the year 1460, thirty or forty years subsequently
+to the building of the room.
+
+Respecting the contents of the sacristy, I can say little from my own
+knowledge; but I find by Pommeraye, that, before the revolution, it
+boasted of a large silver image of the Virgin, endued with peculiar
+sanctity, a few drops of her milk, and a portion of her hair[88]; a
+splinter of the true cross, set in gold, studded with pearls,
+sapphires, and turquoises; and reliques of saints without number. Now,
+however, it appears, that of all its treasures, it has preserved little
+else except the shrine of St. Romain, and another known by the general
+name of _Chasse des Saints_. The former is two feet six inches long, and
+one foot nine inches high, and is of handsome workmanship, with a
+variety of figures on the sides, and St. Romain himself at the top.
+Formerly it was supposed to be made of gold; now I was assured by one of
+the canons, that it is of silver gilt; but Gilbert[89], who is a plain
+layman, maintains that it is only copper. Had it been otherwise, it
+would have contributed to the ways and means of the unchristian
+republic; but the democrats spared it, for they had well ascertained
+that the metal was base, and that the jewels, which adorn it, are but
+glass.--This is not the original shrine which held the precious relics:
+the shrine in which they were deposited by the archbishop, William Bonne
+Ame, when first brought to the cathedral, in 1090, was sold during a
+famine, and its proceeds distributed to the starving poor; after which,
+in 1179, Archbishop Rotrou caused another still more costly to be made;
+but the latter was broken to pieces by the Calvinists, in 1562, and the
+saint's body cast into the fire[90].
+
+Thus, then, I have led you, as far as I am able; through the cathedral,
+adjoining which, at the east end, stands the palace of the archbishop, a
+large building, but neither handsome nor conspicuous, principally the
+work of the Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, though begun by the Cardinal
+d'Etouteville, in 1461. The rooms in it which are shewn to strangers are
+the anti-chamber, commonly called _la salle de la Croix_, the library,
+and the great gallery. This last, which is one hundred and sixty feet
+long, is also known by the name of _la salle des Etats_. In it are
+placed four very large paintings by Robert, an eminent French artist of
+comparatively modern date. They represent the city of Rouen, the town of
+Dieppe, that of Havre de Grace, and the archiepiscopal palace at
+Gaillon. The view of Rouen represents in the foreground the _petit
+Chateau_, and is on that account peculiarly interesting. All of them are
+fine paintings, but much injured by the damp. In the anti-chamber are
+portraits of seven prelates of the see, and among them those of the
+Cardinal de la Rochefoucault, and M. de Tressan: our guide could name no
+others.
+
+The present archbishop is the Cardinal Cambaceres, brother to the
+ex-consul of that name, a man of moral life and regular in his religious
+duties. He was placed here by Napoleon, all of whose appointments of
+this nature, with one or two exceptions, have been suffered to remain;
+but I need scarcely add that, though the title of archbishop is left,
+and its present possessor is decorated with the Roman purple, neither
+the revenue, nor the dignity, nor the establishment, resemble those of
+former times. The chapter, which, before the revolution, consisted of an
+archbishop, a dean, fifty canons, and ten prebendaries, besides
+numberless attendants, now consists but of his eminence, with the dean,
+the treasurer, the archdeacon, and twelve canons. The independent annual
+income of the church, previous to the revolution, exceeded one hundred
+thousand pounds sterling; but now its ministers are all salaried by
+government, whose stated allowance, as I am credibly informed, is to
+every archbishop six hundred and twenty-five pounds per annum; to every
+bishop four hundred and sixteen pounds thirteen shillings and fourpence;
+and to every canon forty-one pounds thirteen shillings and four-pence.
+But each of these stipends is doubled by an allowance of the same amount
+from the department; and care is taken to select men of independent
+property for the highest dignities.--From the foregoing scale, you may
+judge of the state of the religious establishment in France. It is,
+indeed, unjustly and unreasonably depressed, and there is much room for
+amendment; but we must still hope and trust that things will not soon
+regain their former standard, though attempts are daily making to
+identify the Catholic clergy with the present dynasty; and the most
+lively expectations are entertained from the well-known character of
+some of the royal family.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[71] _Bentham, History of Ely, 2nd edit_. I. p. 34.
+
+[72] _Liverpool Panorama of Arts and Sciences_, article _Architecture_.
+
+[73] The only views of the cathedral with which I am acquainted, are,
+
+  A single plate of the west front, 16 in. by 11-1/2in.--_Anonymous_;
+  . . . . . . . . . . . north side, 16 in. by 11-1/2in.--Marked _S.L.B._;
+  A small north-west view, engraved by Pouncey, in the first volume
+    of _Gough's Alien Priories_;
+  And the west front, on an extremely reduced; scale, in _Seroux
+    d'Agincourt's Histoire de l'Art par les Monumens, Architecture_,
+    t. 64. f. 21. p. 68.
+
+[74] This great benefactor to Rouen died the following year, deeply
+lamented by the inhabitants, and generally so by France; but, above all,
+regretted by Louis XIIth, his sovereign, whom, to use the words of
+Guicciardini, he served as oracle and authority. The author of the
+History of the Chevalier Bayard, is still louder in his praise.--The
+western facade of the cathedral was not finished till 1530, twenty years
+after his death.
+
+[75] A representation of this has recently been published from an
+engraving on stone by Langlois.
+
+[76] _Histoire de l'Eglise Cathedrale de Rouen_, p. 50.
+
+[77] _Noel, Essais sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, II. p.
+239.
+
+[78] _Millin, Histoire Metallique de la Revolution Francaise_, t. 22. f.
+84.
+
+[79] _Histoire des Archeveques de Rouen_, folio 1667.
+
+[80] Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 12.
+
+[81] _Monumens de la Monarchie Francaise_, II. t. 15. f. 3 and 5.
+
+[82] As these effigies are in general little understood, even by those
+who look at them with pleasure as specimens of art, or with respect as
+relics of antiquity, I am happy to be able to give the following
+detailed illustration of this at Rouen, extracted from a letter which
+the Right Rev. Dr. Milner had lately the kindness to write me upon the
+subject.
+
+   "The sepulchral monument in the cathedral of Rouen represents a
+   prelate; that is to say, Bishop or Mitred Abbot, as appears by his
+   mitre, gloves, ring, and sandals. But, as he bears the _Pallium_, (to
+   be seen on his neck, just above his breast, and hanging down before
+   him, almost to his feet) it appears that he is a _Metropolitan_, or
+   Archbishop, as, indeed, each of the bishops of Rouen was, from the
+   time of St. Ouen and St. Romanus, in the seventh century, if not from
+   that of St. Nicasius, in the third or fourth. The statue has been
+   mutilated in the mitre, the face, and the crosier; probably when the
+   Huguenots were masters of the city. The mitre is low, as they used to
+   be from the tenth century, when they began to rise at all in the
+   Latin Church, down to the fourteenth, since which they have grown to
+   their present disproportioned height. The arms are crossed, as in
+   prayer; and the left arm supported a crosier, the remnant of which is
+   seen under that arm. Both hands are wrapped up in ornamented gloves,
+   which were an essential part of the prelatic dress. The principal
+   vestment is the _Planeta, Casula,_ or _Chausible_; as it was shaped
+   till within these three or four hundred years. Underneath that, and
+   behind the hanging _Pallium_, appears the _Dalmatic_, edged with gold
+   lace; and under that, extending the whole breadth of the figure, and
+   finishing with rich and deep thread lace, is the _Alb_, made of fine
+   linen. The _Tunic_ is quite hidden by the dalmatic. The _Sandals_
+   appear to be of gold tissue, and to rest on a rich carpet.
+
+   "I ought to have mentioned, that the mitre appears, by the jewels
+   with which it is ornamented, to represent that which is called _Mitra
+   pretiosa_, from this circumstance. An inferior kind of mitre, worn on
+   less solemn occasions, was termed _Mitra Aurifrygiata_; and a common
+   one, made of plain linen or silk, was termed _Simplex Mitra_. The
+   only part of the dress which puzzles me, is the great ornament on the
+   neck and shoulders. The question is, (which those can best determine
+   who have seen the original statue,) whether it adheres to the
+   _Pallium_, or to the _Casula_. In either case, it must be considered
+   as part of the vestment to which it adheres.
+
+   "It is quite out of my power to determine, or even to conjecture on
+   any rational grounds, which, of a certain three-score of archbishops
+   of Rouen, the figure represents; but, if I were to choose between
+   Maurice, the fifty-fourth archbishop, who died in 1235, and William,
+   of Durefort, the sixty-first, who died in 1330, from the comparative
+   lowness of the mitre, and some other circumstances of the dress, I
+   should determine in favor of the former. Perhaps it may represent our
+   Walter, who was first Bishop of Lincoln, and then transferred to
+   Rouen, by Pope Lucius IIIrd. He died in 1208, after having signalized
+   himself as much as any of his predecessors or successors have done.
+
+   "P.S. On consulting with an intelligent ecclesiastic of Rouen, I am
+   inclined to think that the above-mentioned ornament upon the
+   shoulders, is the _Mozetta_, being a short round cloak, which all
+   bishops still wear, with the _Rochet, Pectoral Cross_, and _Purple
+   Cassock_, as their _ordinary dress_; but, in modern times, the
+   _Mozetta_ is laid aside, when the prelate puts on his officiating
+   vestments; though he retains the cassock, cross, and rochet,
+   underneath them. My informant says, that this mozett is common on the
+   tombs of bishops who died in former ages."
+
+[83] The same idea is to be observed on many ancient monuments: among
+others, it is engraved on the fine sepulchral brass to the memory of Sir
+Hugh Hastings, in Elsing church.--See _Cotman's Norfolk Sepulchral
+Brasses._
+
+[84] By the words _Lilia_ and _Quercus_, are designated the armorial
+bearings of the King of France, and Pope Julius IInd, of the House of
+Rovere.
+
+[85] The bodies of the Cardinals d'Amboise were dug up in 1793, together
+with most of the others interred in the cathedral, for the sake of their
+leaden coffins: at the same time the lead was also stripped from the
+transepts; and a colossal statue of St. George, which stood on the
+eastern point of the choir, was likewise consigned to the furnace.
+
+[86] Ducarel says (_Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 20.) that she was the
+favorite mistress of two successive kings; but I do not find this
+assertion borne out by history.
+
+[87] Vol. IV. p. 47.
+
+[88] The doctrine of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, gave rise to
+some curious doubts respecting the authenticity of the Virgin's hair.
+Ferrand, the Jesuit, states the arguments to the contrary with candor;
+but replies to them with laudable firmness. The passage is a whimsical
+specimen of the style and reasoning of the schools:--"Restat posteriore
+loco de capillis Deiparae Virginis paucis dicere, enimvero an illi sint
+jam in terris!--Dubitationem aliquam afferre potest mirabilis ipsius
+anastasis, et in coelum viventis videntisque assumptio
+triumphalis.--Quid ita?--quid si intra triduum ad vitam revocata, si
+coelis triumphantis in morem invecta, si corpore gloria circumfuso
+Christo assidet? _Quidquid Virgineo capiti crinium inerat hand dubie
+caelis intulit_, ne quid perfectae ac numeris omnibus absolutae ipsius
+pulchritudini deesse possit. Nae ille in politiori literatura imo et in
+rebus humanis omnino peregrinus sit qui ignoret quantum ad muliebrem
+formam comae conferat pulchritudo ... ne singulas Marianae pulchritudinis
+dotes persequar, ejus ima craearies de qua, agimus tantae fuit venustatis
+ut mysticus ipsius Sponsus blande querulus exclamare cogatur,
+_vulnerasti cor meum in uno crine colli tui_.... Naenias igitur occinere
+videtur qui Deiparae capillos in terris relatos esse memoret atque adeo
+servari obfirmate asseveret, cum illos tantum ad redivivae Virginis
+speciem conferre constet.--Non efficiet tamen unquam haec
+_Antidicomarianitae_ fabula, quin credam bene multos ex aurea Dei
+Genitricis caesarie crines, diversis in locis ecclesiisque religiose
+servari.... Meae fidei non unum est argumentum; nam a prima aetate ad
+confectam usque, e Mariana coma non pancos, ut fit, capillos pecten
+decussit, nisi si forte caesariem B. Virginis impexam semper perstitisse
+velis, quod numquam (ut inquit de Christo Diva Brigitta) super eam venit
+vermis, aut perplexitas, aut immunditium. At sine causa multiplicari
+miracula quis aequo animo feret?--Ubi vero Genetrix e vita discessit,
+quam sollicite pollinctrices auream illam Marianae comae segetem
+demessuerunt, quam in sacris suis tunc hierothecia reconderent ad
+memoriam tantae Imperatricis, et ad suae consolationis et pietatis
+argumentum: quod si forte totam funditusque a pollinctricibus, Deiparae
+reverentissimis, demessam caesariem ferre nec possis nec velis, extremes
+saltem illius cincinnos attonsos fuisse feres ab piissimis illis
+faeminis, quibus vel perexiguus Dei Genitricis capillus ingentis thesauri
+loco futurus etat."--_Disquisitio Reliquiaria_, l. 1. cap. II.
+
+[89] _Description Historique de l'Eglise de Notre Dame de Rouen_, p. 83.
+
+[90] The event is described in the metrical history of Rouen, composed
+by a minstrel ycleped _Poirier, the limper_. This little tract is a
+_chap-book_ at Rouen: most towns, in the north of France and Belgium,
+possess such chronicle ballads in doggerel rhyme, which are much read,
+and eke chaunted, by the common people.
+
+    "... un massacre horrible
+     Survint soudainement.
+     Les Huguenots terribles
+     Et Montgommerie puissant,
+     Par cruels enterprises
+     Renverserent les Eglises
+     De Rouen pour certain.
+     Sans aucune relache
+     Pillent et volent la chasse
+     Du corps de St. Romain.
+
+    "Le zele Catholique
+     Poursuivant l'Huguenot
+     Un combat heroique
+     Lui livra a propos,
+     Au lieu nomme la Crosse,
+     Et reprirent par force
+     La chasse du Patron.
+     Puis de la Rue des Carmes
+     La portent a Notre Dame
+     En deposition!"
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XI.
+
+POINTED ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE--THE CHURCHES OF ST. OUEN, ST.
+MACLOU, ST. PATRICE, AND ST. GODARD.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+In the religious buildings, the subject of my preceding letters, I have
+endeavored to point out to you the specimens which exist at Rouen, of
+the two earliest styles of architecture. The churches which I shall next
+notice belong to the third, or _decorated_ style, the aera of large
+windows with pointed arches divided by mullions, with tracery in flowing
+lines and geometrical curves, and with an abundance of rich and delicate
+carving.
+
+This style was principally confined in England to a period of about
+seventy years, during the reigns of the second and third Edward. In
+France it appears to have prevailed much longer. It probably began there
+full fifty years sooner than with us, and it continued till it was
+superseded by the revival of Grecian or Italian architecture. I speak of
+France in general, but I must again repeat, that my observations are
+chiefly restricted to the northern provinces, the little knowledge which
+I possess of the rest being derived from engravings. No where, however,
+have I been able to trace among our Gallic neighbors the existence of
+the simple _perpendicular_ style, which is the most frequent by far in
+our own country, nor of that more gorgeous variety denominated by our
+antiquaries after the family of Tudor.
+
+So long as Normandy and England were ruled by the same sovereign, the
+continual intercourse created by this union caused a similarity in
+their architecture, as in other arts and customs; and therefore the two
+earliest styles of architecture run parallel in the two countries, each
+furnishing the counterpart of the other. Whether or not the _decorated_
+style was transmitted to England from the continent, is a question which
+cannot be solved, until our collections of continental architecture
+shall become more extensive. After the reign of Henry VIth, our
+intercourse with Normandy wholly ceased; and, left to ourselves, many
+innovations were gradually introduced, which were not known to the
+French architects, who, with nicer taste, adhered to the pure style
+which we rejected. Hence arose the _perpendicular_ style of pointed
+architecture, a style sufficiently designated by its name, and obviously
+distinguished from its predecessors, by having the mullions of its
+windows, its ornamental pannelling, and other architectural members and
+features, disposed in perpendicular lines. Finally, however, both
+countries discarded the Gothic style, though at different aeras. The
+revival of the arts in Europe, in consequence of the capture of
+Constantinople and of the greater commercial intercourse between
+transalpine Europe and Italy, gradually gave rise to an admiration of
+the antique: imitation naturally succeeded admiration; and buildings
+formed upon the classical model generally replaced the Gothic. Italian
+architects found earlier patrons and earlier scholars, in France, than
+amongst us, our intermediate style being chiefly distinguished by its
+clumsiness.
+
+I will not detain you by any attempt at a comparison between the
+relative beauties of the Gothic and Grecian architecture, or their
+respective fitness for ecclesiastical buildings. The very name of the
+former seems sufficient to stamp its inferiority; and perhaps you will
+blame the employment of a term which was obviously intended at the
+outset as an expression of contempt; but I still retain the epithet, as
+one generally received, and therefore, commonly understood. It may be
+added, that the modern French seem to be the only _Goths_, in the real
+and true acceptation of the word. They, to the present day, build Gothic
+churches; but, instead of confining themselves to the prototypes left
+them, they are eternally aiming at alterations, under the specious name
+of improvements. Horace was indignant that, in the Augustan age, the
+meed of praise was bestowed only upon what was ancient: the architects
+of this nation of recent date seem under the influence of an opposite
+apprehension. They build upon their favorite poet:--
+
+    "Loin d'ici ce discours vulgaire
+     Que l'art pour jamais degenere,
+         Que tout s'eclipse, tout finit;
+     La nature est inepuisable,
+     Et le genie infatigable
+         Est le Dieu qui la rajeunit."
+
+But they overlook, what Voltaire makes an indispensable requisite, that
+art must be under the guidance of genius: when it is not so, and caprice
+holds the reins, the result cannot fail to be that medley of Grecian,
+Norman, Gothic, and Gallic, of which this country furnishes too many
+examples.
+
+The church of St. Ouen is unquestionably the noblest edifice in the
+pointed style in this city, or perhaps in France; the French, blind as
+they usually are to the beauties of Gothic architecture, have always
+acknowledged its merits. Hence it escaped the general destruction which
+fell upon the conventual churches of Rouen, at the time of the
+revolution; though, during the violence of the storm, it was despoiled
+and desecrated. At one period, it was employed as a manufactory, in
+which forges were placed for making arms; at another, as a magazine for
+forage.
+
+Nor was this the first instance of its being violated; for, like most of
+the religious buildings at Rouen, it was visited in the sixteenth
+century with the fury of the Calvinists[91], who burned the bodies of
+St. Ouen, St. Nicaise, and St. Remi, in the midst of the temple itself;
+and cast their ashes to the winds of heaven. The other relics treasured
+in the church experienced equal indignities. All the shrines became the
+prey of the eager avarice of the Huguenots; and the images of the saints
+and martyrs, torn from their tabernacles, graced the gibbets which were
+erected to receive them in various parts of Rouen.
+
+Dom Pommeraye, in reciting these deplorable events, rises rather above
+his usual pitch of passion: "O malheur!" he exclaims, "ces corps sacres,
+ces temples du Saint Esprit, qui avoient autrefois donne de la terreur
+aux Demons, ne trouverent ni crainte ni respect dans l'esprit de ces
+furieux, qui jetterent au feu tout ce qui tomba entre leurs mains impies
+et sacrileges!"--The mischief thus occasioned was infinitely more to be
+lamented, he adds, than the burning of the church by the
+Normans;--"stones and bricks, and gold and jewels, may be replaced, but
+the loss of a relic is irreparable; and, moreover, the abbey thus
+forfeits a portion of its protection in heaven; for it is not to be
+doubted, but that the saints look down with eyes of peculiar favor upon
+the spots that contain their mortal remains; their glorified souls
+feeling a natural affection towards the bodies to which they are
+hereafter to be united for ever," on that day, when
+
+    "Ciascun ritrovera la trista tomba,
+       Ripigliera sua carne e sua figura,
+     Udira cio che in eterno rimbomba."
+
+The outrages were curiously illustrative of the spirit of the times; the
+quantity of relics and ornaments equally characterise the devotion of
+the votaries, and the reputed sanctity of the place.
+
+The royal abbey of St. Ouen had, indeed, enjoyed the veneration of the
+faithful, during a lengthened series of generations. Clothair is
+supposed to have been the founder of the monastery in 535; though other
+authorities claim for it a still higher degree of antiquity by one
+hundred and thirty years. The church, whoever the original founder may
+have been, was first dedicated to the twelve apostles; but, in 689, the
+body of St. Ouen was deposited in the edifice; miracles without number
+were performed at his tomb; pilgrims flocked thither; his fame diffused
+itself wider and wider; and at length, the allegiance of the abbey was
+tranferred to him whose sanctity gave him the best claims to the
+advocation.
+
+Changes of this nature, and arising from the same cause, were frequent
+in those early ages: the abbey of St. Germain des Pres, at Paris, was
+originally dedicated to St. Vincent; that of Ste. Genevieve to St.
+Peter; and many other churches also took new patrons, as occasion
+required. According to one of the fathers of the church, the tombs of
+the beatified became the fortifications of the holy edifices: the saints
+were considered as proprietors of the places in which their bodies were
+interred, and where power was given them, to alter the established laws
+of nature, in favor of those who there implored their aid. But the aid
+which they afforded willingly to all their suitors, they could not
+bestow upon themselves. And oft, when the sword of the heathen menaced
+the land, the weary monks fled with the corpse of their patrons from the
+stubborn enemy. Thus, St. Ouen himself, on the invasion of the Normans,
+was transported to the priory of Gany, on the river Epte, and thence to
+Conde; but was afterwards conveyed to Rouen, when Rollo embraced
+Christianity. Other causes also contributed to the migration of these
+remains: they were often summoned in order to dignify acts of peculiar
+solemnity, or to be the witnesses to the oaths of princes, like the
+Stygian marsh of old,
+
+    "Dii cujus jurare timent et fallere numen."
+
+William the Conqueror, upon the dedication of the abbey of St. Stephen,
+collected the bodies of all the saints in Normandy[92].
+
+Those who wish to be informed of the acts and deeds of St. Ouen, may
+refer to Pommeraye's history of the convent, in which thirty-seven folio
+pages are filled with his life and miracles; the latter commencing while
+he was in long clothes. The monastery, under his protection, continued
+to increase in reputation; and, in the year 1042, the abbatial mitre
+devolved upon William, son of Richard IInd, Duke of Normandy, who laid
+the foundation of a new church, which, after about eighty years, was
+completed and consecrated by William Balot, next but one to him in the
+succession[93].
+
+But this church did not exist long: ten years only had elapsed when a
+fire reduced it, together with the whole abbey, to ashes. An opportunity
+was thus afforded to the sovereign to shew his munificence, and Richard
+Coeur de Lion was not tardy in availing himself of it; but a second fire
+in 1248 again dislodged the monks; and they continued houseless, till
+the abbot, Jean Rousel, better known by the name of _Mardargent_, laid
+the foundation in 1318, of the present structure, an honor to himself,
+to the city, and to the nation. By this prelate the building was
+perfected as far as the transept: the rest was the work of subsequent
+periods, and was not completed till the prelacy of Bohier, who died in
+the beginning of the sixteenth century.
+
+To speak more properly, I ought rather to say that it was not till then
+brought to its present state; for it was never completed. The western
+front is still imperfect. According to the original design, it was to
+have been flanked by magnificent towers, ending in a combination of open
+arches and tracery, corresponding with the outline and fashion of the
+central tower. These towers, which are now only raised to the height of
+about fifty feet, jut diagonally from the angles of the facade; and it
+was intended that, in the lower division, they should have been united
+by a porch of three arches, somewhat resembling the west entrance of
+Peterborough; and such as in this town is still seen, at St. Maclou,
+though on a much larger scale. Pommeraye has given an engraving of this
+intended front, taken from a drawing preserved in the archives of the
+abbey. The engraving is miserably executed; but it enables us to
+understand the lines of the projected building. Pommeraye has also
+preserved details of other parts of the church, among them of the
+beautiful rood-loft erected by the Cardinal d'Etouteville, and long an
+object of general admiration. The bronze doors of this screen were of a
+most singular and elegant pattern: Horace Walpole imitated them in his
+bed-room, at Strawberry-Hill. The rood-loft, which had been maimed by
+the Huguenots, was destroyed at the revolution; when the church was also
+deprived of its celebrated clock, which told the days of the month, the
+festivals, and the phases of the moon, and afforded other astronomical
+information. Such gazers as heeded not these mysteries, were amused by a
+little bronze statue of St. Michael, who sallied forth at every hour,
+and announced the progress of time, by the number of strokes which he
+inflicted on the Devil with his lance.
+
+[Illustration: Tower of the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen]
+
+It is impossible to convey by words an adequate idea of the lightness,
+and purity, and boldness of St. Ouen. My imperfect description will be
+assisted by the sketches which I inclose. Of their merits I dare not
+speak; but I will warrant their fidelity; The flying buttresses end in
+richly crocketed pinnacles, supported by shafts of unusual height. The
+triple tiers of windows seem to have absorbed the solid wall-work of the
+building. Balustrades of varied quatrefoils run round the aisles and
+body; and the centre-tower, which is wholly composed of open arches and
+tracery, terminates, like the south-tower of the cathedral, with an
+octangular crown of fleurs-de-lys. The armorial symbol of France, which
+in itself is a form of great beauty, was often introduced by the French
+architects of the middle ages, amongst the ornaments of their edifices:
+it pleases the eye by its grace, and satisfies the mind by its
+appropriate and natural locality.
+
+The elegance of the south porch is unrivalled. This portion of the
+church was always finished with care: it was the scene of many religious
+ceremonies, particularly of espousals. Hence they gave it a degree of
+magnitude which might appear disproportionate, did we not recollect
+that the arch was destined to embower the bride and the bridal train.
+The bold and lofty entrance of this porch is surrounded within by
+pendant trefoil arches, springing from carved bosses, and forming an
+open festoon of tracery. The vault within is ornamented with pendants,
+and the portal which it shades is covered with a profusion of sculpture:
+the death, entombment, and apotheosis of the Virgin, form the subjects
+of the principal groups. The sculptures, both in design and execution,
+far surpass any specimens of the corresponding aera in England. But this
+porch is now neglected and filled with lumber, and the open tracery is
+much injured. I hope, however, it will receive due attention; as the
+church is at this time under repair; and the restorations, as far as
+they go, have been executed with fidelity and judgment.
+
+[Illustration: South Porch the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen]
+
+The perspective of the interior[94] is exceedingly impressive: the
+arches are of great height and fine proportions. If I must discover a
+defect, I should say that the lines appear to want substance; the
+mouldings of the arches are shallow. The building is all window. Were
+it made of cast iron, it could scarcely look less solid. This effect is
+particularly increased by the circumstance of the clerestory-gallery
+opening into the glazed tracery of the windows behind, the lines of the
+one corresponding with those of the other. To each of the clustered
+columns of the nave is attached a tabernacle, consisting of a canopy and
+pedestal, evidently intended originally to have received the image of a
+saint. It does not appear to have been the design of the architect that
+the pillars of the choir should have had similar ornaments; but upon one
+of them, at about mid-height, serving as a corbel to a truncated column,
+is a head of our Saviour, and, on the opposite pillar, one of the
+Virgin: the former is of a remarkably fine antique character. The
+capitals of the pillars in this part of the church were all gilt, and
+the spandrils of the arches painted with angels, now nearly effaced. The
+high altar is of grey marble, relieved, by a scarlet curtain behind, the
+effect of which is simple, singular, and good. Round the choir is a row
+of chapels, which are wholly wanting to the nave. The walls of these
+chapels have also been covered with fresco paintings; some with figures,
+others with foliage. The chapels contain many grave-stones displaying
+indented outlines of figures under canopies, and in other respects
+ornamented; but neglected, and greatly obliterated, and hastening fast
+to ruin. It is curious to see the heads and hands, and, in one instance,
+the crosier of a prelate, inlaid with white or grey marble; as if the
+parts of most importance were purposely made of the most perishable
+materials. I was much interested by observing, that many of these
+memorials are almost the exact counterparts of some of our richest
+English sepulchral brasses, and particularly of the two which are
+perhaps unrivalled, at Lynn[95].--How I wished that you, who so delight
+in these remains, and to whom we are indebted for the elucidation of
+those of Norfolk, had been with me, while I was trying to trace the
+resemblance; and particularly while I pored over the stone in the chapel
+of Saint Agnes, that commemorates Alexander Berneval, the master-mason
+of the building!
+
+[Illustration: Head of Christ, in the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen, seen in profile]
+[Illustration: Head of Christ, in the Church of St. Ouen, at Rouen, seen in front]
+
+According to tradition, it was this same Alexander Berneval who executed
+the beautiful circular window in the southern transept. But being
+rivalled by his apprentice, who produced a more exquisite specimen of
+masonry in the northern transept, he murdered his luckless pupil. The
+crime he expiated with his own life; but the monks of the abbey,
+grateful for his labors, requested that his body might be entombed in
+their church; and on the stone that covers his remains, they caused him
+to be represented at full length, holding the window in his hand.
+
+These large circular windows, sometimes known by the name of rose
+windows, and sometimes of marigold windows, are a strong characteristic
+feature of French ecclesiastical architecture. Few among the cathedrals
+or the great conventual churches, in this country, are without them. In
+our own they are seldom found: in no one of our cathedrals, excepting
+Exeter only, are they in the western front; and, though occasionally in
+the transepts, as at Canterbury, Chichester, Litchfield, Westminster,
+Lincoln and York, they are comparatively of small size with little
+variety of pattern. In St. Ouen, they are more than commonly beautiful.
+The northern one, the cause of death to the poor apprentice, exhibits in
+its centre the produced pentagon, or combination of triangles sometimes
+called the pentalpha.--The painted glass which fills the rose windows is
+gorgeous in its coloring, and gives the most splendid effect. The church
+preserves the whole of its original glazing. Each inter-mullion contains
+one whole-length figure, standing upon a diapered ground, good in
+design, though the artist seems to have avoided the employment of
+brilliant hues. The sober light harmonizes with the grey unsullied
+stone-work, and gives a most pleasing unity of tint to the receding
+arches.
+
+Among the pictures, the-best are, the _Cardinal of Bologna opening the
+Holy Gate, instead of the Pope_, in the nave; and _Saint Elizabeth
+stopping the Pestilence_, in the choir: two others, in the Lady-Chapel,
+by an artist of Rouen, of the name of Deshays, the _Miracle of the
+Loaves_, and the _Visitation_, are also of considerable merit.--Deshays
+was a young man of great promise; but the hopes which had been
+entertained of him were disappointed by a premature death.
+
+A church like this, so ancient, so renowned, and so holy, could not fail
+to enjoy peculiar privileges. The abbot had complete jurisdiction, as
+well temporal as spiritual, over the parish of St. Ouen; in the Norman
+parliament he took precedence of all other mitred abbots; by a bull of
+Pope Alexander IVth, he was allowed to wear the pontifical ornaments,
+mitre, ring, gloves, tunic, dalmatic, and sandals; and, what sounds
+strange to our Protestant ears, he had the right of preaching in public,
+and of causing the conventual bells to be rung whenever he thought
+proper. His monks headed the religious processions of the city; and
+every new archbishop of the province was not only consecrated in this
+church, but slept the evening prior to his installation at the abbey;
+whence, on the following day, he was conducted in pomp to the entrance
+of the cathedral, by the chapter of St. Ouen, headed by their abbot, who
+delivered him to the canons, with the following charge,--"Ego, Prior
+Sancti Audoeni, trado vobis Dominum Archiepiscopum Rothomagensem vivum,
+quem reddetis nobis mortuum."--The last sentence was also strictly
+fulfilled; the dean and chapter being bound to take the bodies of the
+deceased prelates to the church of St. Ouen, and restore them to the
+monks with, "Vos tradidistis nobis Dominum Archiepiscopum vivum; nos
+reddimus eum vobis mortuum, ita ut crastina die reddatis eum
+nobis."--The corpse remained there four and twenty hours, during which
+the monks performed the office of the dead with great solemnity. The
+canons were then compelled to bear the dead archbishop a second time
+from the abbey cross (now demolished) to the abbey of St. Amand[96],
+where the abbess took the pastoral ring from off his finger, replacing
+it by another of plain gold; and thence the bearers proceeded to the
+cathedral. These duties could not be very agreeable to portly,
+short-winded, well-fed dignitaries; and consequently the worthy canons
+were often inclined to shrink from the task. In the case of the funeral
+of Archbishop d'Aubigny, in 1719, they contented themselves with
+carrying him at once to his dormitory; but the prior and monks of St.
+Ouen instantly sued them before the parliament, and this tribunal
+decreed that the ancient service must be performed, and in default of
+compliance, the whole of their temporalities were to be put under
+sequestration: it is almost needless to add, that a sentence of
+excommunication would scarcely have been so effectual in enforcing the
+execution of the sentence.
+
+The gardens formerly belonging to the abbey are at this time a pleasant
+promenade to the inhabitants of the town: the remains of the monastic
+buildings are converted into an _Hotel de Ville_, where also the library
+and the museum are kept, and the academy hold their sittings. No
+remains, however, now exist of the abbatial residence, which was built
+by Anthony Bohier, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and which,
+according to the engraving given of it by Pommeraye, must have been a
+noble specimen of domestic architecture. The sovereigns of France always
+took up their abode in it, during their visits to Rouen.--The circular
+tower called the _Tour des Clercs_, mentioned in a former letter, is the
+only vestige of Norman times.--The cloister corresponded with the
+architecture of the church: the south side of the quadrangle attached
+to the northern aisle still exists, but blocked up and dilapidated, and
+converted into a sort of cage for those who are guilty of disturbances
+during the night.
+
+[Illustration: Stone Staircase in the Church of St. Maclou, at Rouen]
+
+The church of St. Maclou is unquestionably superior to every other in
+the city, except the cathedral and St. Ouen. Its principal ornament are
+its carved doors, produced during the reign of Henry IIIrd, by Jean
+Goujon, a man so eminent as to have been termed the Corregio of
+sculpture; but they have been materially injured by repairs and
+alterations by unskilful hands. Within the church, near the west
+entrance, is a singularly elegant stair-case, in filagree stone-work,
+which formerly led to the organ.--This building was erected in the year
+1512, and chiefly by voluntary contributions, if such can be called
+_voluntary_ as were purchased by promises from the archbishop, first of
+forty, and then of one hundred, days' indulgences, to all who would
+contribute towards the pious labor.--The central tower resembles that of
+the cathedral, both in the interior and the exterior. It now appears
+truncated; but it was originally surmounted by a spire, which was of
+such beauty, that even Italian artists thought it worthy to be engraved
+and held out as a model at Rome[97]. The spire, however, was greatly
+injured by a hurricane, in 1705, and it was at last taken down thirty
+years afterwards. To the triple porch, I have already alluded, in
+describing the intended front of St. Ouen. The general lines of the
+church, are such as in England would be referred to the fourteenth
+century: on a closer examination, however, the curious eye will
+discover the peculiar beauties of the French Gothic. Thus the bosses of
+the groined roof are wrought and perforated into filagree, the work
+extending over the intersections of the groins, which are seen through
+its reticulations. Such bosses are only found in the French churches of
+the sixteenth century. In other parts, the interior closely resembles
+the style of the cathedral[98].
+
+St. Patrice is a building of the worst style of the commencement of the
+sixteenth century: to use the quaint phraseology of Horace Walpole, it
+exhibits "that _betweenity_ which intervened when Gothic declined and
+Palladian was creeping in." The paintings on the walls of this church,
+and the stained glass in its windows, are more deserving of notice than
+its architecture. The first are of small size, and generally better than
+are seen in similar places. One of them is after Bassan, an artist,
+whose works are not often found in religious edifices in France. The
+painted windows of the choir deserve unqualified commendation. They are
+said to have been removed from St. Godard. Each is confined to a single
+subject; among which, that of the _Annunciation_ is esteemed the best.
+
+To this church was attached a confraternity[99], established in 1374,
+under the name of the _Guild of the Passion_. Its annual procession,
+which continued till the time of the revolution, took place on
+Holy-Thursday. It consisted of the usual pageantry; a host of children,
+dressed like angels, increased the train, which also included twelve
+poor men, whose feet the masters of the brotherhood publicly washed
+after mass. Like some other guilds, they were in possession of a pulpit
+or tribune, called, in old French, a _Puy_, from which they issued a
+general invitation to all poets, who were summoned to descant upon the
+themes which were commemorated by their union. The rewards held out to
+the successful candidates were, in the true monastic spirit of the
+guild, a reed, a crown of thorns, a sponge, or some other mystic or
+devotional emblem. Occasionally, too, they gave a scenic representation
+of certain portions of religious history, according to the practice of
+early times. The account of the _Mystery of the Passion_ having been
+acted in the burial-ground of the church of St. Patrice, so recently as
+September, 1498, is preserved by Taillepied[100], who tells us, that it
+was performed by "bons joueurs et braves personages." The masters of
+this guild had the extraordinary privilege of being allowed to charge
+the expence attendant on the processions and exhibitions, upon any
+citizen they might think proper, whether a member or otherwise.
+
+The neighboring church of St. Godard possesses neither architectural
+beauty, nor architectural antiquity; for, although it occupies the scite
+of an edifice of remote date, yet the present structure is coeval with
+St. Patrice. It has been supposed that this church was the primitive
+cathedral of the city[101]. One of the proofs of this assertion is found
+in a procession which, before the revolution, was annually made hither
+by the chapter of the present cathedral, with great ceremony, as if in
+recognition of its priority. The church was originally dedicated to the
+Virgin; but it changed its advocation in the year 525, when St. Godard,
+more properly called St. Gildard, was buried here in a subterranean
+chapel; and, for the reasons before noticed, the old tutelary patroness
+was compelled to yield to the new visitor. In the succeeding century,
+St. Romain, a saint of still greater fame, was also interred here; and,
+as I collect from Pommeraye[102], in the same crypt. This author
+strenuously denies the inferences which have been drawn from the annual
+procession, which he maintains was performed solely in praise and in
+honor of St. Romain; for the chapter, after having paid their devotions
+to the Host, descended into the chapel, to prostrate themselves before
+the sepulture of the saint; on which subject, an antiquary[103] of Rouen
+has preserved the following lines:--
+
+    "Ad regnum Domini dextra invitatus et ore,
+       Huic sacra Romanus credidit ossa loco;
+     Sontibus addixit quae caeca rebellio flammis,
+       Nec tulit impietas majus in urbe scelus.
+     Quid tanto vesana malo profecit Erynnis?
+       Ipsa sui testis pignoris extat humus.
+     Crypta manet, memoresque trahit confessio cives,
+       Nec populi fallit marmor inane fidem.
+     Orphana, turba, veni, viduisque allabere saxis,
+       Est aliquid soboli patris habere thorum."
+
+The body of St. Godard was carried to Soissons; but the tomb, which, has
+doubtfully been designated as appropriated either to him or to St.
+Romain, was left to the church, and remained there at least till the
+revolution. I have even been told that it is there still; but I had no
+opportunity of going down into the chapel to verify this point. It
+consisted, or rather consists, of a single slab of jasper, seven and a
+half feet long, by two feet wide, and two feet four inches thick. Upon
+it was this inscription:--
+
+    "Malades, voulez-vous soulager vos douleurs?
+     Visitez ce tombeau, baignez-le de vos pleurs;
+     Rechauffez vos esprits d'une divine flame;
+     Touchez-le settlement du doigt,
+     Et vous y trouverez (si vous avez la foi)
+     Et la sante du corps, et la sante de l'ame."
+
+The building retains, at this time, only two of its celebrated painted
+windows; but they are fortunately the two which were always considered
+the best. One of them represents the history of St. Romain; the other,
+the genealogy of Jewish kings, from whom the Holy Virgin descended.
+Rouen has, from a very early period, been famous for its manufactories
+of painted glass. But the windows of this church were still esteemed the
+_chef d'oeuvre_ of its artists; and these had so far passed into a
+proverb, that Farin[104] tells us it was common throughout France to
+say, in recommendation of choice wine, that "it was as bright as the
+windows of St. Godard." The saying, however, was by no means confined to
+Rouen, for it was also applied to the windows of the Ste. Chapelle, at
+Dijon.
+
+It was at St. Godard that the burst of the reformation was first
+manifested. The Huguenots, taking courage from the secret increase of
+their numbers, broke into the building, in 1540, demolished the images,
+and sold the pix to a goldsmith. But the man suffered severely for his
+purchase: he was shortly afterwards sentenced, by a decree of the
+parliament, to be hanged in front of his shop; and two of those
+concerned in the outrage also suffered capital punishment. The spark
+thus lighted, afterwards increased into a conflagration; and, to this
+hour, there is a larger body of Protestants at Rouen, than in most
+French towns.
+
+I do not expect that you will reproach me with the prolixity of these
+details. The subject is attractive to me, and I feel that you will
+accompany me with pleasure in my pilgrimage, from chapel to shrine,
+dwelling with me in contemplation on the relics of ancient skill and the
+memorials of the piety of the departed. Nor must it be forgotten, that
+the hand of the spoliator is falling heavily on all objects of
+antiquity. And the French seem to find a source of perverse and
+malignant pleasure in destroying the temples where their ancestors once
+worshipped: many are swept away; a greater number continue to exist in
+a desecrated state; and time, which changes all things, is proceeding
+with hasty strides to obliterate their character. The lofty steeple
+hides its diminished head; the mullions and tracery disappear from the
+pointed windows, from which the stained glass has long since fallen; the
+arched entrance contracts into a modern door-way; the smooth plain walls
+betray neither niches, nor pinnacles, nor fresco paintings; and in the
+warehouse, or manufactory, or smithy, little else remains than the
+extraordinary size, to point out the original holy destination of the
+edifice.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[91] The following brief statement of their excesses is copied from a
+manuscript belonging to the monastery: the full detail of them engages
+Pommeraye for nearly seven folio pages:--"Le Dimanche troisieme de May,
+1562, les Huguenots s'etans amassez en grosse troupe, vinrent armez en
+grande furie dans l'Eglise de S. Ouen, ou etant entrez ils rompirent les
+chaires du choeur, le grand autel, et toutes les chapelles: mirent en
+pieces l'Horloge, dont on voit encore la menuiserie dans la chapelle
+joignant l'arcade du coste du septentrion, aussi bien que celles des
+orgues, dont ils prirent l'etaim et le plomb pour en faire des balles de
+mousquet: puis ils allumerent cinq feux, trois dedans l'Eglise et deux
+dehors, ou ils brulerent tous les bancs et sieges des religieux, auec le
+bois des balustres des chapelles, les bancs et fermetures d'icelles,
+plusieurs ornemens et vestemens sacrez, comme chappes, tuniques,
+chasubles, aubes, vne autre partie des plus riches et precieux ornemens
+de broderie et drap d'or ayant este enlevee en l'hotellerie de la pomme
+de pin, ou ils les brulerent pour en auoir l'or et l'argent. Ils firent
+la mesme chose des saintes reliques, qu'ils brulerent, ayant emporte
+l'or, l'argent, et les pierreries des reliquaires."--_Histoire de
+l'Abbaye Royale de St. Ouen_, p. 205.
+
+[92] Farin, Histoire de Rouen, IV. p. 134.
+
+[93] _Histoire de l'Abbaye Royales de Saint Ouen_, p. 204.
+
+[94] The following are the dimensions of the interior of the building,
+in French feet:
+
+    Length of the church.................. 416
+    Ditto of the nave..................... 234
+    Ditto of the choir.................... 108
+    Ditto of the Lady-Chapel.............. 66
+    Ditto of the transept................. 130
+    Width of ditto........................ 34
+    Ditto of nave, without the aisles..... 34
+    Ditto, including ditto................ 78
+    Height of roof........................ 100
+    Ditto of tower........................ 240
+
+[95] _Figured in Cotmans Norfolk Sepulchral Brasses_.
+
+[96] The house of the abbess of St. Amand is still standing, though
+neglected, and in a great degree in ruins. What remains, however, is
+very curious; and is, perhaps, the oldest specimen of domestic
+architecture in Rouen. It is partly of wood, the front covered with
+arches and other sculpture in bas-relief, and partly of stone.
+
+[97] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, IV. p. 156.
+
+[98] The dimensions of the building, in French feet, are,--
+
+    Length of the nave.................... 70
+    Ditto of choir........................ 40
+    Ditto of Lady-Chapel.................. 30
+    Ditto of the whole building.......... 140
+    Width of ditto........................ 76
+    Height to the top of the lanthorn.... 142
+
+[99] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, IV. p. 168.
+
+[100] _Antiquitez et Singularitez de la Ville de Rouen_, p. 186.
+
+[101] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, IV. p. 132.
+
+[102] _Histoire des Archeveques de Rouen_, p. 130.
+
+[103] _La Normandie Chretienne_, p. 487.
+
+[104] _Histoire de Rouen_, IV. p. 134.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XII.
+
+PALAIS DE JUSTICE--STATES, EXCHEQUER, AND PARLIAMENT OF NORMANDY--GUILD
+OF THE CONARDS--JOAN OF ARC--FOUNTAIN AND BAS-RELIEF IN THE PLACE DE LA
+PUCELLE--TOUR DE LA GROSSE HORLOGE--PUBLIC FOUNTAINS--RIVERS AUBETTE AND
+ROBEC--HOSPITALS--MINT.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+Amongst the secular buildings of Rouen, the Palais de Justice holds the
+chief place, whether we consider the magnificence of the building, or
+the importance of the assemblies which once were convened within its
+precinct.
+
+The three estates of the Duchy of Normandy, the parliament, composed of
+the deputies of the church, the nobility, and the good towns, usually
+held their meetings in the Palace of Justice. Until the liberties of
+France were wholly extirpated by Richelieu, this body opposed a
+formidable resistance to the crown; and the _Charte Normande_ was
+considered as great a safeguard to the liberties of the subject, as
+Magna Charta used to be on your side of the channel. Here, also, the
+_Court of Exchequer_ held its session. According to a fond tradition,
+this, the supreme tribunal of Normandy, was instituted by Rollo, the
+good Duke, whose very name seemed to be considered as a charm averting
+violence and outrage. This court, like our _Aula Regia_, long continued
+ambulatory, and attendant upon the person of the sovereign; and its
+sessions were held occasionally, and at his pleasure. The progress of
+society, however, required that the supreme tribunal should become
+stationary and permanent, that the suitors might know when and where
+they might prefer their claims. Philip the Fair, therefore, about the
+year 1300, began by enacting that the pleas should be held only at
+Rouen. Louis the XIIth remodelled the court, and gave it permanence;
+yielding in these measures to the prayer of the States of Normandy, and
+to the advice of his minister, the Cardinal d'Amboise. It was then
+composed of four presidents, and twenty-eight counsellors; thirteen
+being clerks; and the remainder laymen. The name of exchequer was
+perhaps unpleasing to the crown, as it reminded the Normans of the
+ancient independence of their duchy; and, in 1515, Francis Ist ordered
+that the court should thenceforward be known as the _Parliament of
+Normandy_; thus assimilating it in its appellation to the other supreme
+tribunals of the kingdom. There is an old poem extant, written in very
+lawyer-like rhyme, which invests all the cardinal virtues, and a great
+many supernumerary ones besides, with the offices of this most honorable
+court, in which purity is the usher, truth has a silk gown, and
+virginity enters the proceedings on the record.
+
+    "De ceste _court_ grace est grand _chanceliere_,
+     Vertus ont lieu de _presidens_ prudens:
+     Verite est premiere _conseillere_,
+     Et purete _huyssiere_ la-dedans:
+     La _greffiere_ est virginite feconde,
+     Et la _concierge_ humilite profonde.
+     Pythie _procure_ a vuider les discords,
+     Comme _advocat_, amour ayde aux accords.
+     De _geolier_ vacque le seul office:
+     Aussy on voyt par _officiers_ concors,
+     La noble _court_ rendante a tous justice."
+
+In the same style and strain is a ballad, which, thanks to the care of
+De Bourgueville, the author of the _Antiquities of Caen_, hath been
+preserved for the edification of posterity. It enumerates all the
+members of the court _seriatim_, and compares their lordships and
+worships, one after another, to the heroes and demi-gods of ancient
+story.
+
+The parliament in its turn has given way to the _Court of Assizes_; and,
+where the states once deliberated, the electors of the department now
+come together for the purpose of naming the deputies who represent them
+in the great council of the nation;--such are the vicissitudes of all
+human institutions.
+
+When the Jews were expelled from Normandy, in 1181, the _Close_, or
+Jewry, in which they dwelled, escheated to the king. The sons of Japhet
+spoiled the sons of Shem with pious alacrity. The debtor burnt his bond;
+the bailie seized the store of bezants; the synagogue was razed to the
+ground. In this _Close_ the palace was afterwards built. The wise custom
+of Normandy was mooted on the spot where the law of Moses had once been
+taught; and, by a strange, perhaps an ominous, fatality, the judge held
+the scales of justice, where whilome the usurer had poised his balance.
+
+The palace forms three sides of a quadrangle. The fourth is occupied by
+an embattled wall and an elaborate gate-way. The building was erected
+about the beginning of the sixteenth century; and, with all its faults,
+it is a fine adaptation of Gothic architecture to civil purposes. It is
+in the style which a friend of mine chooses to distinguish by the name
+of _Burgundian architecture_; and he tells me that he considers it as
+the parent of our Tudor style. Here, the windows in the body of the
+building take flattened elliptic heads; and they are divided by one
+mullion and one transom. The mouldings are highly wrought, and enriched
+with foliage. The lucarne windows are of a different design, and form
+the most characteristic feature of the front: they are pointed and
+enriched with mullions and tracery, and are placed within triple
+canopies of nearly the same form, flanked by square pillars, terminating
+in tall crocketed pinnacles, some of them fronted with open arches
+crowned with statues. The roof, as is usual in French and Flemish
+buildings of this date, is of a very high pitch, and harmonizes well
+with the proportions of the building. An oriel, or rather tower, of
+enriched workmanship projects into the court, and varies the elevations.
+On the left-hand side of the court, a wide flight of steps leads to the
+hall called _la Salle des Procureurs_, a place originally designed as an
+Exchange for the merchants of the city, who had previously been in the
+habit of assembling for that purpose in the cathedral. It is one hundred
+and sixty feet in length, by fifty in breadth.
+
+"In this great hall," says Peter Heylin, "are the seats and desks of the
+procurators; every one's name written in capital letters over his head.
+These procurators are like our attornies; they prepare causes, and make
+them ready for the advocates. In this hall do suitors use, either to
+attend on, or to walk up and down, and confer with, their
+pleaders."--The attornies had similar seats in the ancient English
+courts of justice; and these seats still remain in the hall at
+Westminster, in which the Court of Exchequer holds its sittings. The
+walls of the Salle des Procureurs are adorned with chaste niches. The
+coved roof is of timber, plain and bold, and destitute either of the
+open tie-beams and arches, or the knot-work and cross timber which adorn
+our old English roofs. If the roof of our priory church was not
+ornamented, as last mentioned, it would nearly resemble that in
+question.--Below the hall is a prison; to its right is the room where
+the parliament formerly held its sittings, but which is now appropriated
+to the trial of criminal causes. The unfortunate Mathurin Bruneau, the
+soi-disant dauphin, was last year tried here, and condemned to
+imprisonment. He is treated in his place of confinement with ambiguous
+kindness. The poor wretch loves his bottle; and, being allowed to
+intoxicate himself to his heart's content, he is already reduced to a
+state of idiotism.--Heylin, who saw the building when it was in
+perfection, says, speaking of this _Great Chamber_, "that it is so
+gallantly and richly built, that I must needs confess it surpasseth all
+the rooms that ever I saw in my life. The palace of the Louvre hath
+nothing in it comparable; the ceiling is all inlaid with gold, yet doth
+the workmanship exceed the matter."--The ceiling which excited Heylin's
+admiration still exists. It is a grand specimen of the interior
+decoration of the times. The oak, which age has rendered almost as dark
+as ebony, is divided into compartments, covered with rich but whimsical
+carving, and relieved with abundance of gold. Over the bench is a
+curious old picture, a _Crucifixion_. Joseph and the Virgin are standing
+by the cross: the figures are painted on a gold ground; the colors deep
+and rich; the drawing, particularly in the arms, indifferent; the
+expression of the faces good. It was upon this picture that witnesses
+took the oaths before the revolution; and it is the only one of the six
+formerly in this situation that escaped destruction[105]. Round the
+apartment are gnomic sentences in letters of gold, reminding judges,
+juries, witnesses, and suitors, of their duties. The room itself is said
+to be the most beautiful in France for its proportions and quantity of
+light. In the _Antiquites Nationales_, is described and figured an
+elaborately wrought chimney-piece in the council-chamber, now destroyed,
+as are some fine Gothic door-ways, which opened into the chamber. The
+ceiling of the apartment called la _seconde Chambre des Enquetes_,
+painted by Jouvenet, with a representation of Jupiter hurling his
+thunderbolts at Vice, is also unfortunately no more. It fell in, from a
+failure in the woodwork of the roof, on the first of April, 1812. It was
+among the most highly-esteemed productions of this master, and not the
+less remarkable for having been executed with the left hand, after a
+paralytic stroke had deprived him of the use of the other.
+
+Millin observes, with much justice, that one of the most remarkable of
+the decrees that issued from this palace, was that which authorized the
+meetings of the _Conards_, a name given to a confraternity of buffoons,
+who, disguised in grotesque dresses, performed farces in the streets on
+Shrove Tuesday and other holidays. Nor is it a little indicative of the
+taste of the times, that men of rank, character, and respectability
+entered into this society, the members of which, amounting to two
+thousand five hundred, elected from among themselves a president, whom
+they dressed as an abbot[106], with a crozier and mitre, and, placing
+him on a car drawn by four horses, led him, thus attired, in great pomp
+through the streets; the whole of the party being masked, and
+personating not only the allegorical characters of avarice, lust, &c.
+but the more tangible ones of pope, king, and emperor, and with them
+those of holy writ. The seat of this guild was at Notre Dame de Bonnes
+Nouvelles.
+
+[Illustration: Sculpture, representing the Feast of Fools]
+
+In the cathedral itself the more notorious _Procession des Fous_ was
+also formerly celebrated, in which, as you know, the ass played the
+principal part, and the choir joined in the hymn[107],--
+
+    "Orientis partibus
+     Adventavit Asinus," &c.
+
+These, or similar ceremonies, call them if you please absurdities, or
+call them impieties, (you will in neither case be far from their proper
+name,) were in the early ages of Christianity tolerated in almost every
+place. Mr. Douce has furnished us with some curious remarks upon them in
+the eleventh volume of the _Archaeologia_, and Mr. Ellis in his new
+edition of _Brand's Popular Antiquities_. I am indebted to the first of
+these gentlemen for the knowledge that the inclosed etching, copied some
+time ago from a drawing by Mr. Joseph Harding, is allusive to the
+ceremony of the _feast of fools_, and does not represent a group of
+morris-dancers, as I had erroneously supposed. Indeed, Mr. Douce
+believes that many of the strange carvings on the _misereres_ in our
+cathedrals have references to these practices. And yet, to the honor of
+England, they never appear to have been equally common with us as in
+France.--According to Du Cange[108], the confraternity of the Conards or
+Cornards was confined to Rouen and Evreux. I have not been able to
+ascertain when they were suppressed; but they certainly existed in the
+time of Taillepied, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, about
+fifty years previously to which they dropped their original name of
+_Coqueluchers_. At this time too they had evidently degenerated from the
+primary object of their institution, "ridendo castigare mores atque in
+omne quod turpiter factum fuerat ridiculum immittere." Taillepied was
+an eye-witness of their practices; and he prudently contents himself
+with saying; "le fait est plus clair a le voir que je ne pourrois icy
+l'escrire."
+
+At a short distance from the palace is a small square, called the _Place
+de la Pucelle_, a name which it has but recently acquired, in lieu of
+the more familiar appellation of _le Marche aux Veaux_. The present
+title records one of the most interesting events in the history of
+Rouen, the execution of the unfortunate Joan of Arc, which is said to
+have taken place on the very spot now covered by the monument that
+commemorates her fate. Three different ones have in succession occupied
+this place. The first was a cross, erected in 1454, only twenty-four
+years after her death; for even at this early period, the King of France
+had obtained from Pope Calixtus IIIrd, a bull directing the revision of
+her sentence, and he had caused her innocence to be acknowledged. The
+second was a fountain of delicate workmanship, consisting of three
+tiers of columns placed one above the other, on a triangular plan, the
+whole decorated with arabesques and statues of saints, while the Maid
+herself crowned the summit, and the water flowed through pipes that
+terminated in horses' heads. The present monument is inferior to the
+second, equally in design and in workmanship: it is a plain triangular
+pedestal, ornamented with dolphins at the base, and surmounted by the
+heroine in military costume. Of the two last, figures are given by
+Millin[109], who could not be expected to suffer a subject to escape
+him, so calculated for the gratification of national pride. In a
+preceding volume of the same work[110], he has represented the monument
+erected to her memory by Charles VIIth, upon the bridge at Orleans: the
+latter is commemorative of her triumphs; that at Rouen, only of her
+capture and death. But the King testified his gratitude by more
+substantial tokens: he ennobled her three brothers and their
+descendants; and even allowed the females of the family to confer their
+rank upon the persons whom they married, a privilege which they
+continued to enjoy till the time of Louis XIIIth, who abolished it in
+1634.
+
+In the square is a house within a court, now occupied as a school for
+girls, of the same aera as the Palais de Justice, and in the same
+_Burgundian style_, but far richer in its sculptures. The entire front
+is divided into compartments by slender and lengthened buttresses and
+pilasters. The intervening spaces are filled with basso-relievos,
+evidently executed at one period, though by different masters. A
+banquet beneath a window in the first floor, is in a good _cinque-cento_
+style. Others of the basso-relievos, represent the labors of the field
+and the vineyard; rich and fanciful in their costume, but rather wooden
+in their design: the Salamander, the emblem of Francis Ist, appears
+several times amongst the ornaments, and very conspicuously. I believe
+there is not a single square foot of this extraordinary building, which
+has not been sculptured.--On the north side extends a spacious gallery.
+Here the architecture is rather in Holbein's manner: foliaged and
+swelling pilasters, like antique candelabra, bound the arched windows.
+Beneath, is the well-known series of bas-reliefs, executed on marble
+tablets, representing the interview between Francis Ist of France, and
+Henry VIIIth of England, in the _Champ du Drap d'or_, between Guisnes
+and Ardres. They were first discovered by the venerable father
+Montfaucon, who engraved them in his _Monumens de la Monarchie
+Francaise_[111]; but to the greater part of our antiquaries at home,
+they are, perhaps, more commonly known by the miserable copies inserted
+in Ducarel's work, who has borrowed most of his plates from the
+Benedictine.--These sculptures are much mutilated, and so obscured by
+smoke and dirt, that the details cannot be understood without great
+difficulty. The corresponding tablets above the windows, are even in a
+worse condition; and they appear to have been almost unintelligible in
+the time of Montfaucon, who conjectures that they were allegorical, and
+probably intended to represent the triumph of religion. Each tablet
+contains a triumphal car, drawn by different animals, one by elephants,
+another by lions, and so on, and crowded with mythological figures and
+attributes.--A friend of mine, who examined them this summer, tells me,
+that he thinks the subjects are either _taken_ from the triumphs of
+Petrarch, or _imitated_ from the triumphs introduced in the _Polifilo_.
+Graphic representations of allegories are susceptible of so many
+variations, that an artist, embodying the ideas of the poet, might
+produce a representation bearing a close resemblance to the mythological
+processions of the mystic dream.--Of one of the most perfect of the
+historical subjects, I send you a drawing: it is the first in order in
+Montfaucon's work, and exhibits the suite of the King of England, on
+their way from the town of Guisnes, to meet the French monarch. Two of
+the figures might be mistaken for Henry himself and Wolsey, riding
+familiarly side by side; but these dignified personages have more
+important parts allotted them in the second and third compartments,
+where they appear in the full-blown honors of their respective
+characters.
+
+[Illustration: Bas-Relief, from the representations of the Champ du Drap d'or]
+
+The interior has been modernized; so that a beam covered with small
+carvings is the only remaining object of curiosity. On the top, a bunch
+of leaden thistles has been a sad puzzle to antiquaries, who would fain
+find some connection between the building and Scotland; but neither
+record nor tradition throw any light upon their researches. Montfaucon,
+copying from a manuscript written by the Abbe Noel, says, "I have more
+than once been told that Francis Ist, on his way through Rouen, lodged
+at this house; and it is most probable, that the bas-reliefs in question
+were made upon some of these occasions, to gratify the king by the
+representation of a festival, in which he particularly delighted." The
+gallery sculptures are very fine, and the upper tier is much in the
+style of Jean Goujon. It is not generally known that Goujon re-drew the
+embellishments of Beroald de Verville's translation of the Polifilo; and
+that these, beautiful as they are in the Aldine edition, acquired new
+graces from the French artist.--I have remarked that the allegorical
+tablets appear to coincide with the designs of the Polifilo: a more
+accurate examination might, perhaps, prove the fact; and then little
+doubt would remain. The building is much dilapidated; and, unless
+speedily repaired, these basso-relievos, which would adorn any museum,
+will utterly perish. In spite of neglect and degradations, the aspect of
+the mansion is still such that, as my friend observed, one would expect
+to see a fair and stately matron standing in the porch, attired in
+velvet, waiting to receive her lord.--In the adjoining house, once,
+probably, a part of the same, but now an inn, bearing the sign of _la
+Pucelle_, is shewn a circular room, much ornamented, with a handsome
+oriel conspicuous on the outside. In this apartment, the Maid is said to
+have been tried; but it is quite certain that not a stone of the
+building was then put of the quarry.
+
+Hence I must take you, and still under the auspices of Millin[112], to
+the great town-clock, or, as it is here called, _la Tour de la Grosse
+Horloge_; and I cannot help wishing on the occasion, that I had half the
+powers of instructing and amusing which he possessed. Like the writers
+in our most popular Reviews, he uses the subjects which he places at the
+head of his articles as little more than a peg, whereon to hang whatever
+he knows connected with the matter; and the result is, that he is never
+read without pleasure or information. Such is peculiarly the case in the
+present instance, in which he takes an opportunity of giving the history
+of the origin of clocks, tracing them from the simple dial, and
+particularising the most curious and intricate contrivances of modern
+ingenuity. Another name of the tower which contains this clock, is _la
+Tour du Beffroi_, or, as we should say in English, the _Belfry_; for the
+two words have the same meaning, and it is not to be doubted but that
+they originated from the same root, the Anglo-Saxon _bell_, whence
+barbarous Latinists have formed _Belfredus_ and _Berfredus_, terms for
+moveable towers used in sieges, and so denominated from their
+resemblance in form to bell-towers. I mention this etymology, because
+the French have misled themselves strangely on the subject; and one of
+them has wandered so widely in his conjectures, as to derive _beffroi_
+from _bis effroi_, supposing it to be the cause of double alarm!
+Happily, in the most alarming of all times for France, that of the
+revolution, this bell, though appointed the _tocsin_, had scarcely ever
+occasion to sound. There is, however, another purpose, alarming at all
+periods, and especially in a town built of wood, to which it is
+appropriated, and to which we only yesterday heard it applied, the
+ringing to announce a fire. The precautions taken against similar
+accidents in Rouen, are excellent, and they had need be so; for
+insurance-companies of any kind are unknown, I believe, in France[113],
+or exist only upon a most limited scale, at the foot of the Pyrenees,
+where the farmers mutually insure each other against the effects of the
+hail. The daily office of this bell is to sound the curfew, a practice
+which, under different names, is still kept up through Normandy. Here it
+rings nightly at nine. In other towns it rings at nine in winter only,
+but not till ten in summer. In some places it is called _la retraite_.
+
+Adjoining the bell-tower is a fountain, ornamented with statues of
+Alpheus and Arethusa, united by Cupid; a specimen of the taste of the
+far-famed _siecles de Louis XIV et de Louis XV_, and a worthy companion
+of the water-works at Versailles. There are in Rouen more than thirty
+public fountains, all supplied by five different springs, among which,
+those of Yonville and of Darnetal are accounted to afford the purest
+water.--The Robec and the Aubette also flow through Rouen in artificial
+channels. St. Louis granted them both to the city in 1262; but it was
+the great benefactor of the place, the Cardinal d'Amboise, who brought
+them within the walls, by means of a canal, which he caused to be dug
+at his own expence. For a space of two leagues their banks are
+uninterruptedly lined with mills and manufactories of various
+descriptions; and it is this circumstance which has given rise to the
+saying, that Rouen is a wonderful place, for "that it has a river with
+three hundred bridges, and whose waters change their color ten times a
+day."
+
+As a building, the fountain of Lisieux, decorated with a bas-relief
+representing Parnassus, with Apollo, the Muses, and Pegasus, is most
+frequently pointed out to strangers; a wretched specimen of wretched
+taste. Infinitely more interesting to us are the Gothic fountains or
+conduits, which are now wholly wanting in England. Such is the fountain
+_de la Croix de Pierre_, which, in shape, style, and ornaments,
+resembles the monumental crosses erected by; our King Edward Ist, for
+his Queen Eleanor. The water flows from pipes in the basement. The stone
+statues, which filled the tabernacles, were destroyed during the
+revolution: they have been replaced by others in wood.--The fountain _de
+la Crosse_ is of inferior size, and more recent date. It is a polygon,
+with sides of pannelled work, each compartment occupied by a pointed
+arch, with tracery in the spandrils. It ends in a short truncated
+pyramid, which, in Millin's time, was surmounted by a royal crown[114].
+Its name is taken from a house, at whose corner it stands, and on whose
+roof was originally a crozier.
+
+Writing to a friend may be regarded, if we extend to writing the happy
+comparison which Lord Bacon has applied to conversation, not as walking
+in a high-road which leads direct to a house, but rather as strolling
+through a country intersected with a variety of paths, in which the
+traveller wanders as fancy or accident directs. Hence I shall scarcely
+apologize for my abrupt transition to another very different subject,
+the hospitals.--There are at Rouen two such establishments, situated at
+opposite extremes of the town, the _Hospice General_ and the _Hotel
+Dieu_, more commonly called _la Madeleine_. The latter is appropriated
+only to the sick; the former is also open to the aged, to foundlings, to
+paupers, and to lunatics. For the poor, I have been able to hear of no
+other provision; and poor-laws, as you know, have no existence in
+France; yet, even here, in a manufacturing town, and at a season of
+distress, beggary is far from extreme. These institutions, like all the
+rest at Rouen, are said to be under excellent management.
+
+The annual expences of la Madeleine are estimated at two hundred and
+forty thousand-francs[115]; out of which sum, no less than forty-seven
+thousand francs are expended in bread. The number of individuals
+admitted here, during the first nine months of 1805, the last authentic
+statement I have been able to procure, was two thousand seven hundred
+and seventeen: during the same period, two thousand one hundred and
+fifty-eight were discharged, and two hundred and seventy died. The
+building is modern and handsome, and situated at the end of a fine
+avenue. The church, a Corinthian edifice, and indisputably the
+handsomest building of that description at Rouen, is generally admired.
+The Hospice General, destitute as it is of architectural magnificence,
+cannot be visited without satisfaction. When I was at this hospital, the
+old men who are housed there were seated at their dinner, and I have
+seldom witnessed a more pleasing sight. They exhibited an appearance of
+cleanliness, propriety, good order, and comfort, equally creditable to
+themselves and to the institution. The number of inmates usually
+resident in this building is about two thousand; and they consisted, in
+1805, of one hundred and sixty aged men, one hundred and eighty aged
+women, six hundred children, and eight hundred and twenty-five invalids.
+Among the latter were forty lunatics. The food here allowed to the
+helpless poor is of good quality; and, as far as I could learn, is
+afforded in sufficient quantity: there are also two work-shops; in one
+of which, articles are manufactured for the use of the house; in the
+other, for sale.
+
+The principal towns of France, as was anciently the case in England,
+have each its mint. The numismatic antiquities of this kingdom are yet
+involved in considerable obscurity; but it is said that the monetary
+privileges of the towns were first settled by Charles the Bald[116],
+who, about the year 835, enacted, that money, which had previously only
+been coined in the royal palace itself, or in places where the sovereign
+was present, should be struck in future at Paris, Rouen, Rheims, Sens,
+Chalons sur Saone, Mesle in Poitou, and Narbonne. At present, the money
+struck at Rouen is impressed with the letter _B_, indicating that the
+mint is second only to that of Paris; for the city has remained in
+possession of the right of coinage throughout all its various changes of
+masters: it now holds it in common with ten other, cities in the
+kingdom. Ducarel[117] has figured two very scarce silver pennies, coined
+here by William the Conqueror, before the invasion of England; and
+Snelling and Ruding[118] detail ordinances for the regulation of the
+mintage of Rouen, during the reign of Henry Vth. I have not been able,
+however, to procure in the city any specimens of these, or of other
+Norman coins; and in fact the native spot of articles of _virtu_ is
+seldom the place where they can be procured either genuine or in
+abundance. Greek medals, I am told, are regularly exported from
+Birmingham to Athens, for the supply of our travelled gentlemen; and, if
+groats and pennies should ever rise in the market, I doubt not but that
+they will find their way in plenty into the old towns of Normandy. There
+is not, at Rouen, any public collection of the productions of the mint.
+Since the annexation of the duchy to the crown of France, no coins have
+been struck here, except the common silver currency of the kingdom: the
+manufacture of medals and of gold coins is exclusively the privilege of
+the Parisian mint. The establishment is under the care of a commissary
+and assay-master, appointed by the crown, but not salaried. Their pay
+depends upon the amount of money coined, on which they are allowed one
+and a half per cent., and are left to find silver where they can; so
+that, in effect, it is little more than a private concern. The work is
+performed by four die-presses, moved by levers, each of which requires
+ten men; and about twenty thousand pieces can be produced daily from
+each press. But this method of working is attended with unequal
+pressure, and causes both trouble and uncertainty: it is even necessary
+that each coin should be separately weighed. The extreme superiority of
+the machinery of our own mint, where the whole operation is performed by
+steam, with a rapidity and accuracy altogether astonishing, affords Just
+reason for exultation to an Englishman.--It is true, that the execution
+of our bank paper rather counterbalances such feelings of complacency.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[105] This appears from the following inscription now upon a silver
+tablet placed near it.--"Ce tableau est celui qui fut donne par Louis
+XII, en 1499, a l'Exchiquier, lorsqu'il le rendit permanent. C'est le
+seul de tous les ornemens de ce palais qui ait echappe aux ravages de la
+revolution: il a ete conserve par les soins de M. Gouel, graveur, et par
+lui remis a la cour royale de Rouen qui l'a fait placer ici, comme un
+monument de la piete d'un roi, a qui sa bonte merita le surnom de pere
+du peuple, et dont les vertus se reproduisent aujourd'hui dans la
+personne non moins cherie que sacree de sa majeste tres chretienne,
+Louis XVIII, 15 Janvier, 1816."
+
+[106] Du Cange, (I. p. 24.) quoting from a book printed at Rouen, in
+1587, under the title of _Les Triomphes de l'Abbaye des Conards_, &c.
+gives the following curious mock patent from the abbot of this
+confraternity, addressed to somebody of the name of De Montalinos.--
+
+   "Provisio Cardinalatus Rothomagensis Julianensis, &c.
+
+   "Paticherptissime Pater, &c.
+
+   "Abbas Conardorum et inconardorum ex quacumque Natione, vel
+   genitatione sint aut fuerint: Dilecto nostro filio naturali et
+   illegitimo Jacobo a Montalinasio salutem et sinistram benedictionem.
+   Tua talis qualis vita et sancta reputatio cum bonis servitiis ... et
+   quod diffidimus quod postea facies secundum indolem adolescentiae ac
+   sapientiae tuae in Conardicis actibus, induxenunt nos, &c. Quocirca
+   mandamus ad amicos, inimicos et benefactores nostros qui ex hoc
+   saeculo transierunt vel transituri sunt ... quatenus habeant te
+   ponere, statuere, instalare et investire tam in choro, chordis et
+   organo, quam in cymbalis bene sonantibus, faciantque te jocundari et
+   ludere de libertatibus franchisiis, &c.... Voenundatum in tentorio
+   nostro prope sanctum Julianum sub annulo peccatoris anno pontificatus
+   nostri, 6. Kalend. fabacearum, hora vero noctis 17. more Conardorum
+   computando, &c."
+
+[107] The music of this hymn, or _prose_, as it is termed in the
+Catholic Rituals, is given in the Atlas to Millin's Travels through the
+Southern Departments of France, _plate_ 4.
+
+[108] See under the article _Abbas Conardorum_, I. p. 24.
+
+[109] _Antiquites Nationales_, III. No. 36.
+
+[110] Vol. II. No. 9.
+
+[111] Vol. IV. t. 29, 30, 31.
+
+[112] _Antiquites Nationales_, III. No. 30.
+
+[113] This ceased to be the case almost immediately after this remark
+was made; for, on my return to France, in 1819, I observed on the whole
+road from Dieppe to Paris, the letters P A C I, or others, equally
+meaning _pour assurance contre l'incendie_, painted upon the fronts of
+the houses.
+
+[114] _Antiquites Nationales_, III. article 30, p. 26.--(In the figure,
+however, which accompanies this article, the summit is mutilated, as I
+saw it.)
+
+[115] _Peuchet, Description Topographique et Statistique de la France,
+Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, p. 33.
+
+[116] _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 94.
+
+[117] _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 33. t. 3.
+
+[118] _Annals of the Coinage of Britain_, I. p. 505-507.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER XIII.
+
+MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS--LIBRARY--MANUSCRIPTS--MUSEUM--ACADEMY--BOTANIC
+GARDEN--THEATRE--ANCIENT HISTORY--EMINENT MEN.
+
+
+(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
+
+The laws of France do not recognize monastic vows; but of late years,
+the clergy have made attempts to re-establish the communities which once
+characterized the Catholic church. To a certain degree they have
+succeeded: the spirit of religion is stronger than the law; and the
+spirit of contradiction, which teaches the subject to do whatever the
+law forbids, is stronger than either. Hence, most towns in France
+contain establishments, which may be considered either as the embers of
+expiring monachism, or the sparks of its reviving flame. Rouen has now a
+convent of Ursulines, who undertake the education of young females. The
+house is spacious; and for its neatness, as well as for the appearance
+of regularity and propriety, cannot be surpassed. On this account, it is
+often visited by strangers. The present lady-abbess, Dame Cousin, would
+do honor to the most flourishing days of the hierarchy: when she walks
+into the chapel, Saint Ethelburgha herself could not have carried the
+crozier with greater state; and, though she is somewhat short and
+somewhat thick, her pupils are all wonderfully edified by her dignity.
+She has upwards of dozen English heretics under her care; but she will
+not compromise her conscience by allowing them to attend the Protestant
+service. There are also about ninety French scholars, and the inborn
+antipathy between them and the _insulaires_, will sometimes evince
+itself. Amongst other specimens of girlish spite, the French fair-ones
+have divided the English damsels into two _genera_. Those who look plump
+and good-humored, they call _Mesdemoiselles Rosbifs_; whilst such as are
+thin and graver acquire the appellation of the _Mesdemoiselles Goddams_,
+a name by which we have been known in France, at least five centuries
+ago.--This story is not trivial, for it bespeaks the national feeling;
+and, although you may not care much about it, yet I am sure, that five
+centuries hence, it will be considered as of infinite importance by the
+antiquaries who are now babes unborn. The Ursulines and _soeurs
+d'Ernemon_, or _de la Charite_, who nurse the sick, are the only two
+orders which are now protected by government. They were even encouraged
+under the reign of Napoleon, who placed them under the care of his
+august parent, _Madame Mere_.--There are other sisterhoods at Rouen,
+though in small numbers, and not publickly patronized.
+
+Nuns are thus increasing and multiplying, but monks and friars are
+looked upon with a more jealous eye; and I have not heard that any such
+communities have been allowed to re-assemble within the limits of the
+duchy, once so distinguished for their opulence, and, perhaps, for their
+piety and learning.
+
+The libraries of the monasteries were wasted, dispersed, and destroyed,
+during the revolution; but the wrecks have since been collected in the
+principal towns; and thus originated the public library of Rouen, which
+now contains, as it is said, upwards of seventy thousand volumes. As may
+be anticipated, a great proportion of the works which it includes
+relate to theology and scholastic divinity; and the Bollandists present
+their formidable front of fifty-four ponderous folios.
+
+[Illustration: Initial Letter from a MS. of the History of William of Jumieges]
+
+The manuscripts, of which I understand there are full eight hundred, are
+of much greater value than the printed books. But they are at present
+unarranged and uncatalogued, though M. Licquet, the librarian, has been
+for some time past laboring to bring them into order. Among those
+pointed out to us, none interested me so much as an original autograph;
+of the _Historica Normannorum_, by William de Jumiegies, brought from
+the very abbey to which he belonged. There is no doubt, I believe, of
+its antiquity; but, to enable you to form your own judgment upon the
+subject, I send you a tracing of the first paragraph.
+
+[Illustration: Historica Normannorum tracing of autograph]
+
+I also add a fac-simile of the initial letter of the foregoing epistle,
+illuminated by the monk, and in which he has introduced himself in the
+act of humbly presenting his work to his royal namesake. I am mistaken,
+if any equally early, and equally well authenticated representation of a
+King of England be in existence. The _Historia Normannorum_ is
+incomplete, both at the beginning and end, and it does not occupy more
+than one-fifth of the volume: the rest is filled with a comment upon the
+Jewish History.
+
+The articles among the manuscripts, most valued by antiquaries, are a
+_Benedictionary_ and a _Missal_, both supposed of nearly the same date,
+the beginning of the twelfth century.
+
+The Abbe Saas, who published, in 1746, a catalogue of the manuscripts
+belonging to the library of the cathedral of Rouen, calls this
+Benedictionary, which then belonged to the metropolitan church, a
+_Penitential_; and gives it as his opinion, that it is a production of
+the eighth century, with which aera he says that the character of the
+writing wholly accords. Montfaucon, who never saw it, follows the Abbe;
+but the opinion of these learned men has recently been confuted by M.
+Gourdin[119], who has bestowed considerable pains upon the elucidation
+of the history and contents of this curious relic. He states that a sum
+of fifteen thousand francs had been offered for it, by a countryman of
+our own; but I should not hesitate to class this tale among the
+numberless idle reports which are current upon the continent, respecting
+the riches and the folly of English travellers. The famous Bedford
+Missal, at a time when the bibliomania was at its height[120], could
+hardly fetch a larger sum; and this of Rouen is in no point of view,
+except antiquity, to be put in competition with the English manuscript.
+Its illuminations are certainly beautiful; but they are equalled by many
+hundreds of similar works; and they are only three in number, the
+_Resurrection_, the _Descent of the Holy Ghost_, and the _Death of the
+Virgin_.--The volume appears to have been originally designed for the
+use of the cathedral of Canterbury; as it contains the service used at
+the consecration of our Anglo-Saxon sovereigns.
+
+The Missal, which is also the object of M. Gourdin's dissertation, is
+from the convent of Jumieges. Its date is established by the
+circumstance of the paschal table finishing with the year 1095. It
+contains eleven miniatures, inferior in execution to those in the
+Benedictionary; and it ends with the following anathema, in the
+hand-writing of the Abbot Robert, by whom it was given to the
+monastery:--"Quem si quis vi vel dolo seu quoque modo isti loco
+subtraxerit, animae suae propter quod fecerit detrimentum patiatur, atque
+de libro viventium deleatur et cum justis non scribatur."
+
+As a memorial of a usage almost universal in the earlier ages of the
+church, the _Diptych_, commonly called the _Livre d'Ivoire_, is a
+valuable relic. The covers exhibit figures of St. Peter and of some
+other saint, in a good style of workmanship, perhaps of the lower
+empire. The book contains the oaths administered to each archbishop of
+Rouen and his suffragans, upon their entering on their office, all of
+them severally subscribed by the individuals by whom they were sworn. It
+begins at a very early period, and finishes with the name of Julius
+Basilius Ferronde de la Ferronaye, consecrated Bishop of Lisieux, in
+1784. In the first page is the formula of the oath of the
+archbishop.--"Juramentum Archiepiscopi Rothomagensis jucundo adventu
+receptionis suae.--Primo dicat et pronuntiet Decanus vel alius de
+Majoribus verba quae sequentur in introitu atrii;--Adest, reverende
+pater, tua sponsa, nostra mater, haec Rothom. ecclesia, cum maximo gaudio
+recipere te parata, ut eam regas salubriter, potenter protegas et
+defendas.--Responsio Archiepiscopalis;--Haec, Deo donante, me facturum
+promitto.--Iterum Decanus vel alius;--Firma juramento quae te facturum
+promittis.--Ego, Dei patientia, bujus Rothom. ecclesiae minister, juro
+ad haec sancta Dei evangelia quod ipsam ecclesiam contra quoslibet tam in
+bona quam in personas ipsius invasores et oppressores pro posse
+protegam viriliter et defendam, atque etiam ipsius ecclesiae jura,
+libertates, privilegia, statuta et consuetudines apostolicas servabo
+fideliter. Bona ejusdem ecclesiae non alienabo nec alienari permittam,
+quin pro posse, si quae alienata fuerint, revocabo. Sic me Deus adjuvet
+et sancta Dei evangelia."
+
+The oath of the bishops and abbots was nothing more than a promise of
+constant respect and obedience on their parts to the church and
+archbishop of Rouen. You will find it in the _Voyages Liturgiques_[121];
+in which you will also meet with a great deal of curious matter touching
+the peculiar customs and ceremonies of this cathedral. The different
+metropolitan churches of France before the revolution, like those of our
+own country prior to the reformation, varied materially from one another
+in observances of minor importance; at the same time that their rituals
+all agreed in what may be termed the doctrinal ceremonies of the church.
+
+The last manuscript which I shall mention, is the only one that is
+commonly shewn to strangers: it is a _Graduel_, a very large folio
+volume, written in the seventeenth century, and of transcendent beauty.
+Julio Clovio himself, the Raphael of this department of art, might have
+been proud to be considered the author of the miniatures in it. The
+representations of lapis lazuli are even more wonderful than the flowers
+and insects. The whole was done by a monk, of the name of Daniel
+D'Eaubonne, and is said to have cost him the labor of his entire life.
+
+In earlier times, a similar occupation was regarded as peculiarly
+meritorious[122].--There died a friar, a man of irregular life, and his
+soul was brought before the judgment-seat to receive its deserts. The
+evil spirits attended, not anticipating any opposition to the claim
+which they preferred; but the guardian angels produced a large book,
+filled with a transcript from holy writ by the hand of the criminal; and
+it was at length agreed that each letter in it should be allowed to
+stand against a sin. The tale was carefully gone through: Satan exerted
+his utmost ingenuity to substantiate every crime of omission or
+commission; and the contending parties kept equal pace, even unto the
+last letter of the last word of the last line of the last page, when,
+happily for the monk, the recollection of his accuser failed, and not a
+single charge could be found to be placed in the balance against it. His
+soul was therefore again remanded to the body, and a farther time was
+allotted to it to correct its evil ways.--The legend is pointed by an
+apposite moral; for the brethren are exhorted to "pray, read, sing, and
+write, always bearing in mind, that one devil only is allowed to assail
+a monk who is intent upon his duties, but that a thousand are let loose
+to lead the idle into temptation."
+
+The library is open every day, except Sundays and Thursdays, from ten to
+two, to everybody who chooses to enter. It is to the credit of the
+inhabitants of Rouen, that they avail themselves of the privilege; and
+the room usually contains a respectable assemblage of persons of all
+classes. The revenue of the library does not amount to more than three
+thousand francs per annum; but it is also occasionally assisted by
+government. The French ministers of state consider that it is the
+interest of the nation to promote the publication of splendid works,
+either by pecuniary grants to the authors, or, as more commonly happens,
+by subscribing for a number of copies, which they distribute amongst the
+public libraries of the kingdom.--I could say a great deal upon the
+difference in the conduct of the governments of France and England in
+this respect, but it would be out of place; and I trust that our House
+of Commons will not be long before they expunge from the statute-books,
+a law which, under the shameless pretence of "encouraging learning," is
+in fact a disgrace to the country.
+
+The museum is also established at the Hotel-de-Ville, where it occupies
+a long gallery and a room adjoining. It is under the superintendence of
+M. Descamps, son of the author of two very useful works, _La Vie des
+Peintres Flamands_ and _Le Voyage Pittoresque_. The father was born at
+Dunkirk, in 1714, but lived principally at Paris, till an accidental
+circumstance fixed him at Rouen, in 1740. On his way to England, he here
+formed an acquaintance with M. de Cideville, the friend of Voltaire,
+who, anxious for the honor of his native town, persuaded the young
+artist to select it as the place of his future residence. The event
+fully answered his expectation; for the ability and zeal of M. Descamps
+soon gave new life to the arts at Rouen. A public academy of painting
+was formed under his auspices, to which he afforded gratuitous
+instruction; and its celebrity increased so rapidly, that the number of
+pupils soon amounted to three hundred; and Norman authors continued to
+anticipate in fancy the creation of a Norman school, which should rival
+those of Bologna and Florence, until the very moment when the revolution
+dispelled this day-dream. Descamps died at the close of the last
+century. To his son, who inherits his parent's taste, with no small
+portion of his talent, we were indebted for much obliging attention.
+
+The museum is open to the public on Sundays and Thursdays; but daily to
+students and strangers. It contains upwards of two hundred and thirty
+paintings. Of these, the great mass is undoubtedly by French artists,
+comparatively little known and of small merit, imitators of Poussin and
+Le Brun. Such paintings as bear the names of the old Italian masters,
+are in general copies; some of them, indeed, not bad imitations. Among
+them is one of the celebrated Raphael, commonly called the _Madonna di
+San Sisto_, a very beautiful copy, especially in the head of the virgin,
+and the female saint on her left hand. It is esteemed one of his finest
+pieces; but few of his pictures are less generally known: there is no
+engraving of it in Landon's eight volumes of his works.
+
+Looking to the unquestionable originals in the collection, there are
+perhaps none of greater value than Jouvenet's finished sketches for the
+dome of the Hotel des Invalides, at Paris. They represent the twelve
+apostles, each with his symbol, and are extremely well composed, with a
+bold system of light and shadow. The museum has five other pictures by
+the same master; in this number are his own portrait, a vigorous
+performance, as well in point of character as of color; and the _Death
+of St. Francis_, which has generally been considered one of his happiest
+works. Both these were painted with his left hand. The death of St.
+Francis is said to have been his first attempt at using the brush, after
+he was affected with paralysis, and to have been done by way of model
+for his scholar, Restout, whom he had desired to execute the same
+subject for him. A _Christ bearing his Cross_, by Polemburg; is a little
+piece of high finish and considerable merit; an _Ecce Homo_, by Mignard,
+is excellent; and a _St. Francis in Extasy_, by Annibal Caracci, is a
+good illustration of the true character of the Bolognese school: it is a
+fine and dignified picture, depending for its excellence upon a grand
+character of expression and drawing, and light and shade, and not at all
+on bright or varied coloring, to which it makes no pretension.
+
+As local curiosities, the attention of the amateur should be devoted to
+the productions of the painters to whom Rouen has given birth, Restout,
+Lemonnier, Deshays, Leger, Houel, Letellier, and Sacquespee, artists,
+not of the first class, but of sufficient merit to do great credit to
+the exhibition of a provincial metropolis.
+
+From these recent specimens, you would turn with the more pleasure to a
+picture by Van Eyck, the inventor, as it is generally supposed, of oil
+painting. Let us respect these fathers of the art. Let us pardon the
+stiffness of their composition, the formality of their figures, the
+inelegance of their draperies, the hardness of their outlines, and the
+want of chiaroscuro;--for, in spite of all these failings, there is a
+truth to nature, and a richness of coloring, which always attract and
+win. The picture in question is the _Virgin Mother in her Domestic
+Retirement_, surrounded by her family, a comely party of young females
+in splendid attire, some of them wearing the bridal crown. It is
+altogether a curiosity, partaking, indeed, of the general bad taste of
+the times, but painted with great attention to nature in the minutiae,
+and resembling Lionardo da Vinci in many particulars, especially in the
+high finishing, the coloring of the carnations, and the grace, and
+beauty of some of the heads. The draperies, too, are rich and brilliant.
+
+This museum is a recent erection: most, if not all, of the departments
+of France, possess similar establishments in their principal towns. The
+basis of the collection is founded upon the plunder of the suppressed
+monasteries; but M. Descamps told us that, in the course of a journey to
+Italy, he had been the means of adding to this, at Rouen, its principal
+ornaments. He had the greater merit of preserving it entire, when orders
+were transmitted from Paris to send off its best pictures, to replace
+those taken from the Louvre by the allies; for on all occasions, whether
+great or small, the interests of the departments are sacrificed without
+mercy to the engulphing capital. Descamps was firm in defending his
+trust: he resisted the spoliation, upon the principle that the museum
+was the private property of the town; and the plea was admitted.
+
+The same conventual buildings also contain the rooms appropriated to the
+use of the academy at Rouen, a royal institution of old standing, and
+which has published fifteen volumes of its transactions.--It was
+founded in 1744, under a charter granted to the Duke of Luxembourg, then
+governor of the province, and its first president. The present
+complement of members consists of forty-six fellows, besides
+non-resident associates. Its meetings are held every Friday evening, and
+the members, as at the institute at Paris, read their own papers. A few
+nights ago, at a meeting of this academy, I heard a memoir from the pen
+of the professor of botany, in which he dwelt at large upon the family
+of the lilies, but prized and praised them for nothing so much as for
+their connection with the Bourbon family. I mention the fact to shew you
+how readily the French seize hold of every occasion of displaying their
+devotion to the powers that be. In 1814, at the moment of the
+restoration of Louis XVIIIth, we were not surprised to see every town
+and village between Calais and Paris, decorated with a proud display of
+the busts of the monarch, the shields of France and Navarre, and
+innumerable devices and mottoes, _consecrated_, as the French say, to
+the Bourbons; but four years have given time for this ebullition of
+loyalty to subside; and the introduction of such topics at the present
+day, and especially in the meetings of a body devoted solely to the
+improvement of literature and of the arts and sciences, appears to savor
+somewhat of adulation. These praises excited no remarks and no
+criticisms; though both might have been expected; for, during the
+reading of a paper, the by-standers are allowed to discuss its merits
+and its defects. This practice gives the sittings of a French literary
+society a degree of life and spirit wanting to ours in England; but I
+doubt if the advantage be not more than counter-balanced by the
+frequent interruptions which it occasions, and which an ill-natured
+person might in some cases suspect to proceed from a desire of
+attracting notice, rather than from fair, and just reprehension. I
+should be sorry to insinuate that any thing of this kind was evident at
+the time, just alluded to, which was the Friday previous to the annual
+meeting, the day appointed for taking into consideration the report
+intended to be submitted to the full assembly of the inhabitants. The
+president also read his projected speech, in the course of which he took
+the opportunity of declaring in strong terms his dislike to Napoleon's
+plan of education, directed almost exclusively to military affairs and
+mathematics: he even stated that the present generation "etoit sans
+morale."--The opinion could not be allowed to pass: he found himself
+beset on all sides; not an individual supported him; and after a variety
+of attempts to palliate and explain away the offensive passage, he was
+obliged to consent to expunge it. This will give some farther idea of
+the state of public feeling in France: the compliment upon the lilies
+passed as words of course; but the same body that tolerated it,
+positively refused to stamp with the sanction of their approbation, any
+comparison unfavorable to the system of Napoleon, when put in opposition
+to that of the subsisting government.
+
+There is another literary body at Rouen; called _la Societe
+d'Emulation_, of more recent establishment, it having been founded in
+1791. Conformably to the national spirit which then prevailed, it is
+directed exclusively to the encouragement of manufactories and
+agriculture.--This society distributes annual medals as the reward of
+improvements and discoveries, though I am afraid that as yet it has
+been productive but of slender utility.
+
+Rouen also possesses a Botanic Garden, which was founded in 1738; but
+the scite which it now occupies was not thus applied till twenty years
+subsequently, when the municipality conveyed the ground in perpetuity to
+the academy in its corporate capacity, stipulating that it should yield
+a nosegay every year as an appropriate _rent in kind_. At the revolution
+a grant like this would scarcely be respected; still less did the
+jacobins appreciate the pleasures or advantages derived from the garden.
+The demagogues of that period seem to have entered heartily into Jean
+Jacques Rousseau's notions, that the arts and sciences were injurious to
+mankind: this fine establishment was seized as national property, and,
+according to the revolutionary jargon, was _soumissione_; but a more
+temporate faction obtained the ascendancy before the sale was carried
+into effect.--The collection is extensive, and the plants are in good
+order: I am not however, aware that the city has ever given birth to any
+man of eminence in this department of science. Lately, indeed, the Abbe
+Le Turquier Deslongchamps, a very well-informed botanist, as well as a
+most excellent man, has published a _Flore des Environs de Rouen_, in
+two volumes; and there are many instances in which such works have been
+known to diffuse a taste, which public gardens and the lectures of
+professors had in vain endeavored to excite.
+
+The variety of soil in the vicinity of the city renders it eminently
+favorable to the study of botany. It is peculiarly rich in the
+_Orchideoe_ of the most beautiful and interesting families of the
+vegetable kingdom. The curious _Satyrium hircinun_ is found in the
+utmost profusion upon the chalky hills immediately adjoining the city;
+and, at but a few miles distance, in a continuation of the same ridge,
+the bare chalk, under the romantic hill of St. Adrien, is purpled with
+the flowers of the _Viola Rothomagensis_, a plant scarcely known to
+exist in any other place.
+
+The suburbs of Rouen abound with nursery-grounds and gardens: the former
+contribute greatly to the preservation of the genuine stock of
+apple-trees, which furnish the cider, for which Normandy has for many
+centuries been celebrated; the latter supply the inhabitants with the
+flowers which are seen at almost every window. The square in front of
+the cathedral is the principal flower-market; and the bloom and
+luxuriance and variety of the plants exposed for sale, render it a most
+pleasing promenade. Various species of jessamines and roses, with
+oleanders, pomegranates, myrtles, egg-plants, orange and lemon trees,
+the _Lilium superbum_ and _tigrinum_, _Canna Indica_, _Gladiolus
+cardinalis_, _Clerodendrum fragrans_, _Datura ceratocolla_, _Clethra
+alnifolia_, and _Dianthus Carthusianorum_, are to be seen in the
+greatest profusion and beauty. They at once attest the care of the
+cultivators, and a climate more genial than ours. None of the flowers,
+however, excited my envy so much as the _Rosa moschata_, which grows
+here in the open air, and diffuses its delicious fragrance from almost
+every window of the town.
+
+It is perhaps to the credit of Rouen, that science and learning appear
+to flourish more kindly than the drama. The theatre of Rouen is quite
+uncharacteristic of the passion which the French usually entertain for
+_spectacles_. The house is shabby; the audience, as often as we have
+been there, has been small; and in this great city, the capital of an
+extensive, populous, and wealthy district we have witnessed acting so
+wretched, as would disgrace the floor of a village barn. We have been
+much surprised by seeing the performers repeatedly laugh in the face of
+the spectators, a thing which I should least of all have expected in
+France, where usually, in similar cases, the whole nation is tremblingly
+alive to the slightest violations of decorum. And yet Corneille, the
+father of the French drama, was born in this city: the scene that is
+used for a curtain at the theatre bears his portrait, with the
+inscription, "_P. Corneille, natif de Rouen_;" and his apotheosis is
+painted upon the cieling. These recollections ought to tend to the
+improvement of the drama. The portrait of the great tragedian is more
+appropriate than the busts of Henry IVth and Louis XVIIIth, which occupy
+opposite sides of the stage; the latter laurelled and flanked with small
+white flags, whose staffs terminate in paper lilies.
+
+Corneille and Fontenelle are the citizens, of whom Rouen is most proud:
+the house in which Corneille was born, in the _Rue de la Pie_, is still
+shewn to strangers. His bust adorns the entrance, together with an
+inscription to his honor. The residence of his illustrious nephew, the
+author of the _Plurality of Worlds_, is situated in the _Rue des bans
+Enfans_, and is distinguished in the same manner. The whole _Siecle de
+Louis XIV_, scarcely contains two names upon which Voltaire dwells with
+more pleasure.--Rouen was also the birth-place of the learned Bochart,
+author of _Sacred Geography_ and of the _Hierozoeicon_; of Basnage, who
+wrote the _History of the Bible_; of Sanadon, the translator of Horace;
+of Pradon, "damn'd," in the Satires of Boileau, "to everlasting fame;"
+of Du Moustier, to whom we are indebted for the _Neustria Pia_; of
+Jouvenet, whom I have already mentioned as one of the most distinguished
+painters of the French school; and of Father Daniel, not less eminent as
+an historian.--These, and many others, are gone; but the reflection of
+their glory still plays upon the walls of the city, which was bright,
+while they lived, with its lustre;--"nam praeclara facies, magnae
+divitiae, ad hoc vis corporis, alia hujuscemodi omnia, brevi dilabuntur;
+at ingenii egregia facinora, sicuti anima, immortalia sunt. Postremo
+corporis et fortunae bonorum, ut initium, finis est; omnia orta occidunt
+et aucta senescunt: animus incorruptas, aeternus, rector humani generis,
+agit atque habet cuncta, neque ipse habetur."
+
+The more remote and historical honors of Rouen would present ample
+materials. Prior to the Roman invasion, it appears to have been of less
+note than as the capital of Neustria.
+
+Julius Caesar, copious as he is in all that relates to Gaul, makes no
+mention of Rouen in his Commentaries. Ptolemy first speaks of it as the
+capital of the Velocasses, or Bellocasses, the people of the present
+Vexin; but he does not allow his readers to entertain an elevated idea
+of its consequence; for he immediately adds, that the inhabitants of the
+Pays de Caux were, singly, equal to the Velocasses and Veromandui
+together; and that the united forces of the two latter tribes did not
+amount to one-tenth part of those which were kept on foot by the
+Bellovaci.--Not long after, however, when the Romans became undisputed
+masters of Gaul, we find Rouen the capital of the province, called the
+_Secunda Lugdunensis_; and from that tine forward, it continued to
+increase in importance. Etymologists have been amused and puzzled by
+"Rothomagus," its classical name. In an uncritical age, it was contended
+that the name afforded good proof of the city having been founded by
+Magus, son of Samothes, contemporary of Nimrod. Others, with equal
+diligence, sought the root of Rothomagus in the name of Roth, who is
+said to have been its tutelary god; and the ancient clergy adopted the
+tradition, in the hymn, which forms a part of the service appointed for
+the feast of St. Mellonus,--
+
+    "Extirpate Roth idolo,
+     Fides est in lumine;
+     Ferro cinctus, pane solo
+     Pascitur et flumine,
+     Post haec junctus est in polo
+     Cum sanctorum agmine."
+
+The partizans of _Roth_ are therefore supported by the authority of the
+church; the favorers of _Magus_ must defend themselves by more worldly
+erudition; and we must leave the task of deciding between the claims of
+the two sections of the word, divided as they are by the neutral _o_, to
+wiser heads than ours.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[119] Precis Analytique des travaux de l'Academie de Rouen, pendant
+l'annee 1812, p. 164.
+
+[120] At the sale of Mr. Edwards' library, in April 1815, it was bought
+by the present Duke of Marlborough for six hundred and eighty-seven
+pounds fifteen shillings.--The following anecdote, connected with it,
+was communicated to me by a literary friend, who had it from one of the
+parties interested; and I take this opportunity of inserting it, as
+worthy of a place in some future _Bibliographical Decameron_.--At the
+time when the Bedford Missal was on sale, with the rest of the Duchess
+of Portland's collection, the late King sent for his bookseller, and
+expressed his intention to become the purchaser. The bookseller ventured
+to submit to his Majesty, that the article in question, as one highly
+curious, was likely to fetch a high price.--"How high?"--"Probably, two
+hundred guineas!"--"Two hundred guineas for a Missal!" exclaimed the
+Queen, who was present, and lifted up her hands with extreme
+astonishment.--"Well, well," said his Majesty, "I'll still have it; but,
+since the Queen thinks two hundred guineas so enormous a sum for a
+Missal, I'll go no farther."--The bidding for the royal library did
+actually stop at that point; and Mr. Edwards carried off the prize by
+adding three pounds more.
+
+[121] Published at Rouen, A.D. 1718.--The book professes to be written
+by the Sieur de Moleon; but its real author was Jean Baptiste de Brun
+Desmarets, son of a bookseller in that city.--He was born in 1650, and
+received his education at the Monastery of Port Royal des Champs, with
+the monks of which order he kept up such a connection, that he was
+finally involved in their ruin. His papers were seized; and he was
+himself committed to the Bastille, and imprisoned there five years. He
+died at Orleans, 1731.
+
+[122] _Ordericus Vitalis_, in _Duchesne's Scriptores Normanni_, p. 470.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+A.
+
+Abbey, of Fecamp,
+  Montivilliers,
+  Pavilly,
+Abbot of the Canards, his patent,
+Academy, Royal, at Rouen,
+Angel weighing the good and evil deeds of a departed spirit, on a capital
+  in the church at Montivilliers,
+Archbishop, tomb of, in Rouen cathedral,
+Archbishop of Rouen, formerly had jurisdiction at Dieppe
+  his present salary,
+  the oath taken by him on his accession,
+Architecture, perpendicular style of, unknown in Normandy,
+Arques, battle of,
+Arques, castle of, its origin,
+  its history,
+  situation,
+  described,
+  when built,
+Arques, town of, formerly a place of importance,
+Arques, church of, a beautiful specimen of florid Norman-gothic
+  architecture,
+
+
+B.
+
+B, the mark of money coined at Rouen,
+Bedford, John, Duke of, buried in Rouen cathedral,
+Bedford Missal, anecdote respecting the sale of, in 1786,
+Beggars In France,
+Benedictionary, in the public library at Rouen,
+Berneval, Alexander, his tomb in the church of St. Ouen
+Bertheville, ancient name of Dieppe,
+Bochart, a native of Rouen,
+Bolbec,
+Botanic Garden, at Rouen,
+Boulevards, at Rouen,
+Bourgueville, his account of the privilege of St. Romain,
+Bouzard, I.A., house built for, at Dieppe,
+Breze, Lewis, Duke of, his monument in Rouen cathedral
+Bridge of boats, at Rouen,
+Brighton, compared with Dieppe,
+
+
+C.
+
+Caesar, Julius, Roman camps in France commonly ascribed to,
+Caesar's camp, near Dieppe, described,
+  plan of,
+  if really Roman,
+Caletes, name of the former inhabitants of the Pays de Caux,
+Canal from Dieppe to Pontoise, projected by Vauban,
+Castle, at Dieppe,
+  at Lillebonne,
+Cathedral at Rouen, described
+  western portal
+  sculpture over the doors,
+  tower of St. Romain,
+  Tour de Beurre,
+  great bell,
+  transepts,
+  central tower,
+  origin of,
+  details of,
+  monuments,
+  lady-chapel,
+  paintings,
+  staircase leading to the library,
+  relics,
+Catherine of Medicis, her sanguinary conduct at the capture of
+  Rouen,
+Caucalis grandiflora, found at Caesar's camp, near Dieppe,
+Champ du Drap d'or, meeting at, represented in a series of
+  bas-reliefs,
+Charles Vth, buried in Rouen cathedral,
+Charles IXth, his conduct at the capture of Rouen,
+Charter, constitutional, of France,
+Chateau de Bouvreuil at Rouen, three towers standing of,
+Chateau du Vieux Palais at Rouen, built by Henry Vth; destroyed
+  at the revolution,
+Church, of St. Jacques, at Dieppe,
+  St. Remi, at ditto,
+  Arques,
+  the Trinity, at Fecamp,
+  St. Stephen, at ditto,
+  Montivilliers,
+  Harfleur,
+  St. Paul, at Rouen,
+  St. Gervais, at ditto,
+  Lery,
+  Pavilly,
+  Yainville,
+  St. Ouen, Rouen,
+  St. Maclou, at ditto,
+  St. Patrice, at ditto,
+  St. Godard, at ditto,
+Churches, in early times, often changed patrons,
+Cite de Limes, Caesar's camp, near Dieppe, anciently so called,
+Civitas Limarum, Caesar's camp, near Dieppe, anciently so called,
+Cliffs, height of, near Dieppe,
+Conards, confraternity of,
+  confined to Rouen and Evreux;
+  their original object,
+Convent of the Ursulines, at Rouen,
+Coqueluchers, name originally borne by the Conards,
+Corneille, a native of Rouen,
+Costume, of females at Dieppe,
+  of the inhabitants of the suburb of Pollet, at Dieppe,
+  of the people at Rouen,
+Crypt in the church of St. Gervais, at Rouen, the burial place of St.
+  Mello,
+
+
+D.
+
+D'Amboise George, Cardinal of, builds the west portal of Rouen
+  cathedral,
+  builds the Tour de Beurre, and places in it the great bell called
+  after him,
+  finishes the lady-chapel in the cathedral,
+  builds the archbishop's palace,
+  brings the Robec and Aubette to Rouen,
+  his monument in Rouen cathedral,
+Daniel, Father, native of Rouen,
+Deputies, qualifications requisite for, in France,
+Descamps, a resident at Rouen, and founder of the academy of
+  painting there,
+Devotee, anecdote of,
+Dicquemare L'Abbe, native of Havre,
+Dieppe, arrival at,
+  compared with Brighton,
+  situation and appearance of,
+  harbor and population,
+  rebuilt in 1694,
+  costume of females,
+  castle,
+  church of St. Jacques,
+  church of St. Remi,
+  history of,
+  one of the articles in the exchange for Andelys,
+  celebrated for its sailors,
+  its nautical expeditions,
+  its trade in ivory,
+  the chief fishing-town in France,
+  much patronized by Napoleon,
+  formerly under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Rouen,
+  feast of the Assumption at,
+Duchies, titular, in Normandy before the revolution,
+Du Moulin, his character as an historian,
+Du Quesne, Admiral, native of Dieppe,
+
+
+E.
+
+Electors, qualifications requisite for, in France,
+Erodium moschatum, found at Arques,
+Establishment, clerical, in France, how paid,
+Expences, annual, of the city of Rouen,
+
+
+F.
+
+Feast of the Assumption, how celebrated at Dieppe,
+Fecamp, population and appearance of,
+  etymology of the name,
+  given by Henry IInd to the abbey,
+  formerly the seat of the government of the Pays de Caux,
+  a residence of the Norman Dukes,
+  now a poor fishing-town,
+Fecamp, abbey of, founded in 664,
+  famous for the precious blood,
+  its armorial bearings,
+  burial-place of Duke Richard Ist,
+  church of St. Stephen,
+Fecamp, church of the abbey,
+Ferrand, his reasoning as to any portion of the hair of the Virgin
+  being on earth,
+Flint, strata of, in the cliffs near Dieppe,
+Fontenelle, native of Rouen,
+Fontenu, Abbe de, his dissertation on Caesar's camp,
+Fossil shells, found plentifully near Havre,
+Fountains, public, at Rouen,
+Francis Ist, founder of Havre
+Francoisville, name given by Francis Ist to Havre,
+
+
+G.
+
+Gaguin, his account of the origin of the kingdom of Yvetot,
+Game-laws, in France,
+Gargouille, dragon so called, destroyed by St. Romain,
+Glass, painted, in the cathedral, at Rouen,
+  in the church of St. Godard,
+Goujon, Jean, author of the embellishments in the French translation
+  of the Polifilo,
+Graduel, by Daniel d'Eaubonne, in the Public Library at Rouen,
+Graville, priory of,
+Guild, of the Assumption at Dieppe,
+  of the Passion at Rouen,
+
+
+H.
+
+Hair of the Virgin, curious dissertation concerning,
+Halles, at Rouen,
+Harfleur, formerly of importance, now chiefly deserted,
+  etymology of the name,
+  its history,
+  beauty of the tower and spire of the church,
+Havre, a great commercial town,
+  its present appearance,
+  founded in 1515,
+  history of,
+  eminent men,
+Henry, eldest son of Henry IInd, buried in Rouen cathedral,
+Henry IVth, his address to the inhabitants of Dieppe,
+  speech before the battle of Arques,
+Henry Vth, his conduct at the capture of Harfleur,
+  builds the Chateau du Vieux Palais, at Rouen,
+Herring and Mackerel Fishery, at Dieppe,
+Heylin, Peter, his description of a Norman inn,
+  account of the great chamber of the Palais de Justice, at Rouen,
+Holy sepulture, chapel of the, in the church at Dieppe,
+Hospitals at Rouen, annual charge of,
+Houses, construction of, between Yveto and Rouen,
+House-rent, expence of, at Rouen,
+Huguenots, excesses committed by, in the church of St. Ouen,
+Hymn, in honor of St Nicaise and St. Mello,
+
+I.
+
+Inns in Normandy, described by Peter Heylin,
+Inscription, on a benitier, at Dieppe,
+  formerly upon crosses, at Rouen,
+Ivory, much wrought by the inhabitants of Dieppe,
+
+
+J.
+
+Joan of Arc, burned at Rouen,
+  privileges granted to her family,
+Jouvenet, cieling painted by, in the Palais de Justice, at
+  Rouen,
+  his sketches for the dome of the Hotel des Invalides,
+  native of Rouen,
+Judith, Lady, her epitaph at Fecamp,
+
+
+K.
+
+Kelp, made in large quantity near Dieppe,
+
+L.
+
+Lace, much smuggled into France,
+Lery, church of, a fine specimen of Norman architecture,
+Library, public, at Rouen, how formed,
+  its regulations and revenue,
+Lillebonne, ruins of the castle,
+  metropolis of the Caletes
+Living, expence of, in France,
+Livre d'Ivoire,
+Longueville, priory of, built by Walter Giffard,
+  burial-place of the Talbots,
+
+
+M.
+
+Machon, Jean, founder of the great bell, at Rouen,
+  his epitaph,
+Malaunay
+Manby, Captain, ill rewarded,
+Manuscript, by William de Jumieges,
+  fac-simile from,
+Maurilius, archbishop of Rouen, his epitaph,
+Medallions, remarkable, on the portal of St. Romain, in Rouen
+  cathedral,
+Megissier, Peter, one of the judges of Joan of Arc,
+  his epitaph,
+Millin, his account of a crime, screened under the privilege of
+  St. Romain,
+Milner, Rev. Dr., his description of a monumental effigy in
+  Rouen cathedral,
+Mint, at Rouen,
+Miserere, sculpture upon, in Beverley Minster,
+Missal from Jumieges, in the library, at Rouen,
+Missals, merit attached to writing, in early times,
+Mont aux Malades, near Rouen, site of a ducal palace,
+Mont Ste. Catherine, fort upon,
+  priory,
+  fortress probably Roman,
+  view from,
+Montfaucon, his engravings of historical sculpture, at Rouen,
+Montivilliers, seat of an abbey in the seventh century,
+  church,
+  remarkable capitals in the church,
+  present state of,
+Monument, of the Cardinals d'Amboise,
+  of the Duc de Breze
+Museum, at Rouen,
+
+
+N.
+
+Napoleon, benefactor to Dieppe,
+  his opinion as to the issue of the battle of Arques,
+  jealous of Henry IVth,
+  song in his honour,
+  began a new bridge at Rouen,
+  cleared France of beggars,
+Normandy, divided into departments,
+  its former titular duchies,
+
+
+O.
+
+Oath of the Archbishop of Rouen,
+Orchideae, abundant about Rouen,
+
+
+P.
+
+Palais de Justice, at Rouen, built on the site of the Jewry,
+  described,
+  now used as a court of assize,
+  great chamber in,
+Parliament of Normandy,
+Parties, state of, in France,
+Patent, of the abbot of the Conards,
+Pavilly, monastery and church of,
+Pays de Caux, the country of the Caletes,
+  formerly dignified with the epithet, noble,
+Philip de Champagne, painting by, in Rouen cathedral,
+Place de la Pucelle, so called because Joan of Arc was burned there,
+  monument in it in honor of Joan of Arc,
+  house in it richly ornamented with sculpture,
+Poirier, his account of the destruction of the Chasse of St. Romain,
+Pollet, a suburb of Dieppe, costume of its inhabitants,
+Pommeraye, Dom, his account of the outrages committed by the Huguenots
+  in the church of St. Ouen,
+Precious blood, the most sacred relic at Fecamp,
+Priory, of Longueville,
+  Graville,
+  at Rouen, on Mont Ste. Catherine,
+Procession des Fous, held in the cathedral, at Rouen,
+
+
+R.
+
+Relics, in old times, often migratory,
+  frequently collected on solemn occasions,
+Representative system in France,
+Revolution, advantages resulting from, to France,
+Richard Ist, Duke of Normandy, buried at Fecamp,
+  his extraordinary directions respecting his interment,
+Richard Coeur-de-Lion, offends the archbishop of Rouen, by building
+  Chateau Gaillard,
+  his heart buried at Rouen,
+Roads to Paris, by Dieppe, Calais, and Havre, compared,
+  from Dieppe to Rouen,
+  from Yvetot to Rouen,
+Rolec and Aubette, brought to Rouen by the Cardinal d'Amboise,
+Robert, paintings by, in the palace at Rouen,
+Rollo, his monument and epitaph,
+Roth, idol so called, worshipped at Rouen,
+Rouen, seen to advantage on entering from Dieppe,
+  general character of,
+  bridge of boats,
+  stone bridge built by Matilda,
+  boulevards,
+  grand cours,
+  costume of the inhabitants,
+  house-rent,
+  annual expences of the city,
+  population,
+  probably a Roman station,
+  old castles,
+  halles,
+  privilege of St. Romain,
+  capitulation to Henry Vth,
+  Chateau du Vieux Palais,
+  petit Chateau,
+  fort on Mont Ste. Catherine,
+  priory upon ditto,
+  taken by Charles IXth,
+  mineral springs,
+  church of St. Paul,
+  church of St. Gervais,
+  palace on the Mont aux Malades,
+  old part of the church of St. Ouen,
+  cathedral,
+  church of St. Ouen,
+  church of St; Maclou,
+  church of St. Patrice,
+  church of St. Godard,
+  house of the Abbess of St. Amand,
+  Palais de Justice,
+  Place de la Pucelle,
+  Tour de la Grosse Horloge,
+  fountains,
+  hospitals,
+  mint,
+  convent of the Ursulines,
+  public library,
+  museum,
+  academy,
+  Societe d'Emulation,
+  botanic garden,
+  flower-market,
+  theatre,
+  eminent men,
+  etymology of the name,
+Rousel, John, abbot of St. Ouen, built the present church,
+
+
+S.
+
+St. Amand, house of the abbess at Rouen,
+Ste. Catherine, eminences dedicated to,
+St. Gervais, church of, at Rouen,
+St. Godard, his monument,
+St. Godard, church of, at Rouen, originally dedicated to the Virgin,
+  the primitive cathedral of the city,
+  famous for its painted glass,
+St. Jacques, church of, at Dieppe,
+  pendants in the lady-chapel,
+  chapel of the sepulchre,
+St. Julien, lazar-house of, near Rouen,
+  its chapel, a fine specimen of Norman architecture,
+  monastery ceded to the Carthusians, and now destroyed
+St. Maclou, church of, at Rouen,
+St. Mello, buried in the crypt of St. Gervais, at Rouen,
+St. Nicaise, buried in the crypt of St. Gervais, at Rouen,
+St. Ouen, church of, at Rouen, a fine specimen of pointed
+  architecture,
+  its history,
+  described,
+  details of,
+  paintings in,
+  privileges of,
+St. Patrice, church of, at Rouen,
+St. Paul, church of, at Rouen
+St. Pierre, Bernardin de, native of Havre,
+St. Remi, church of, at Dieppe,
+  inscription on its benitier
+St. Romain, archbishop of Rouen, dragon destroyed by,
+  his shrine in the cathedral,
+St. Romain, privilege of,
+  abuse committed under its plea,
+St. Vallery,
+Satyrium hircinum, plentiful near Rouen,
+Scuderi, George and Magdalen, natives of Havre,
+Sculpture, on the capitals of the church at Montivilliers,
+  in the church of St. Paul,
+  over the entrances to Rouen cathedral,
+  head of Christ, in fine character, in the church of St. Ouen,
+  on a house at Rouen,
+Senegal, first colonized from Dieppe,
+Societe d'Emulation, at Rouen,
+Stachys germanica, abundant, near Graville,
+Stair-case of filagree stone-work, in the cathedral at Rouen,
+  in the church of St. Maclou,
+
+
+T.
+
+Talbot, fortress called the Bastille, built by, at Dieppe,
+Theatre, at Rouen,
+Tour de Beurre, in Rouen cathedral, built with money raised from the
+  sale of indulgences,
+Tour de la Grosse Horloge, at Rouen,
+
+
+U.
+
+Upper Normandy, limits of,
+Ursulines, convent of, at Rouen,
+
+
+V.
+
+Van Eyck, painting by, in the museum at Rouen,
+Vertot, Abbe de, denies the existence of the kingdom of Yvetot,
+Viola Rothomagensis, abundant on the hill of St. Adrien,
+
+
+W.
+
+Walter, archbishop of Rouen, offended with Richard Coeur-de-Lion,
+  proverbial for his cunning,
+William Longue Epee, his monument and epitaph,
+William the Conqueror, sailed from St. Vallery to invade England,
+  died in the palace on the Mont aux Malades,
+William of Jumieges, the original autograph of his history at Rouen,
+Windows, rose, characteristic of French ecclesiastical architecture,
+
+
+Y.
+
+Yainville, church of,
+Yvetot, present appearance of,
+  said to have been formerly a kingdom,
+  exempt before the revolution from taxes,
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Account of a Tour in Normandy, Vol. I.
+(of 2), by Dawson Turner
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOL. I. ***
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