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diff --git a/old/12537.txt b/old/12537.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50bdc3d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12537.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7343 @@ +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. 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