LETTER XIII.

Footnotes:

[105]This appears from the following inscription now upon a silver tablet placed near it.—"Ce tableau est celui qui fut donné par Louis XII, en 1499, à l'Exchiquier, lorsqu'il le rendit permanent. C'est le seul de tous les ornemens de ce palais qui ait échappé aux ravages de la révolution: il a été conservé par les soins de M. Gouel, graveur, et par lui remis à la cour royale de Rouen qui l'a fait placer ici, comme un monument de la piété d'un roi, à qui sa bonté mérita le surnom de père du peuple, et dont les vertus se reproduisent aujourd'hui dans la personne non moins chérie que sacrée de sa majesté très chrétienne, Louis XVIII, 15 Janvier, 1816."

[106]Du Cange, (I. p. 24.) quoting from a book printed at Rouen, in 1587, under the title ofLes 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 à Montalinasio salutem et sinistram benedictionem. Tua talis qualis vita et sancta reputatio cum bonis servitiis ... et quod diffidimus quòd postea facies secundùm indolem adolescentiæ ac sapientiæ tuæ in Conardicis actibus, induxenunt nos, &c. Quocirca mandamus ad amicos, inimicos et benefactores nostros qui ex hoc sæculo transierunt vel transituri sunt ... quatenus habeant te ponere, statuere, instalare et investire tàm in choro, chordis et organo, quàm 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 verò noctis 17. more Conardorum computando, &c."

"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 à Montalinasio salutem et sinistram benedictionem. Tua talis qualis vita et sancta reputatio cum bonis servitiis ... et quod diffidimus quòd postea facies secundùm indolem adolescentiæ ac sapientiæ tuæ in Conardicis actibus, induxenunt nos, &c. Quocirca mandamus ad amicos, inimicos et benefactores nostros qui ex hoc sæculo transierunt vel transituri sunt ... quatenus habeant te ponere, statuere, instalare et investire tàm in choro, chordis et organo, quàm 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 verò noctis 17. more Conardorum computando, &c."

[107]The music of this hymn, orprose, as it is termed in the Catholic Rituals, is given in the Atlas to Millin's Travels through the Southern Departments of France,plate4.

[108]See under the articleAbbas Conardorum, I. p. 24.

[109]Antiquités Nationales, III. No. 36.

[110]Vol. II. No. 9.

[111]Vol. IV. t. 29, 30, 31.

[112]Antiquités 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 meaningpour assurance contre l'incendie, painted upon the fronts of the houses.

[114]Antiquités 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, Département de la Seine Inférieure, 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.

(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 theinsulaires, will sometimes evince itself. Amongst other specimens of girlish spite, the French fair-ones have divided the English damsels into twogenera. Those who look plump and good-humored, they callMesdemoiselles Rosbifs; whilst such as are thin and graver acquire the appellation of theMesdemoiselles 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 andsœurs d'Ernemon, orde la Charité, who nurse the sick, are the only two orders which are now protected by government. They were even encouraged under the reign of Napoléon, who placed them under the care of his august parent,Madame Mère.—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 proportionof the works which it includes relate to theology and scholastic divinity; and the Bollandists present their formidable front of fifty-four ponderous folios.

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 theHistorica 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.

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 hehas 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. TheHistoria Normannorumis 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 aBenedictionaryand aMissal, both supposed of nearly the same date, the beginning of the twelfth century.

The Abbé 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, aPenitential; and gives it as his opinion, that it is a production of the eighth century, with which æra he says that the character of the writing wholly accords. Montfaucon, who never saw it, follows the Abbé; 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 Englishtravellers. 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, theResurrection, theDescent of the Holy Ghost, and theDeath 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, animæ suæ 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, theDiptych, commonly called theLivre 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 suæ.—Primo dicat et pronuntiet Decanus vel alius de Majoribus verba quæ sequentur in introitu atrii;—Adest, reverende pater, tua sponsa, nostra mater, hæc Rothom. ecclesia, cum maximo gaudio recipere te parata, ut eam regas salubriter, potenter protegas et defendas.—Responsio Archiepiscopalis;—Hæc, Deo donante, me facturum promitto.—Iterum Decanus vel alius;—Firma juramento quæ te facturum promittis.—Ego, Dei patientia, bujus Rothom. ecclesiæ minister, juro ad hæc sancta Dei evangelia quod ipsam ecclesiam contra quoslibet tam in bona quam inpersonas ipsius invasores et oppressores pro posse protegam viriliter et defendam, atque etiam ipsius ecclesiæ jura, libertates, privilegia, statuta et consuetudines apostolicas servabo fideliter. Bona ejusdem ecclesiæ non alienabo nec alienari permittam, quin pro posse, si quæ 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 theVoyages 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 aGraduel, 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 havebeen 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 choosesto 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 Hôtel-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 FlamandsandLe 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 lifeto 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 theMadonna 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 Hôtel 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 fiveother 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 theDeath 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. AChrist bearing his Cross, by Polemburg; is a little piece of high finish and considerable merit; anEcce Homo, by Mignard, is excellent; and aSt. 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 Sacquespée, 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 allthese failings, there is a truth to nature, and a richness of coloring, which always attract and win. The picture in question is theVirgin 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 minutiæ, 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 fifteenvolumes 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 thancounter-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 Napoléon's plan of education, directed almost exclusively to military affairs and mathematics: he even stated that the present generation "étoit 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 Napoléon, when put in opposition to that of the subsisting government.

There is another literary body at Rouen; calledla Société 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 ofimprovements 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 appropriaterent 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, wassoumissioné; 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 Abbé Le Turquier Deslongchamps, a very well-informed botanist, as well as a most excellent man, has published aFlore 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 theOrchideæof the most beautiful and interesting families of the vegetable kingdom. The curiousSatyrium hircinunis 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 theViola 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, theLilium superbumandtigrinum,Canna Indica,Gladiolus cardinalis,Clerodendrum fragrans,Datura ceratocolla,Clethra alnifolia, andDianthus 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 theRosa 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 forspectacles.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 theRue 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 thePlurality of Worlds, is situated in theRue des bans Enfans, and is distinguished in the same manner. The wholeSiécle 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 ofSacred Geographyand of theHierozöicon;of Basnage, who wrote theHistory 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 theNeustria 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 præclara facies, magnæ divitiæ, ad hoc vis corporis, alia hujuscemodi omnia, brevi dilabuntur; at ingenii egregia facinora, sicuti anima, immortalia sunt. Postremò corporis et fortunæ bonorum, ut initium, finis est; omnia orta occidunt et aucta senescunt: animus incorruptas, æternus, 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 Cæsar, 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 footby the Bellovaci.—Not long after, however, when the Romans became undisputed masters of Gaul, we find Rouen the capital of the province, called theSecunda 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 soloPascitur et flumine,Post hæc junctus est in poloCum sanctorum agmine."

"Extirpate Roth idolo,

Fides est in lumine;

Ferro cinctus, pane solo

Pascitur et flumine,

Post hæc junctus est in polo

Cum sanctorum agmine."

The partizans ofRothare therefore supported by the authority of the church; the favorers ofMagusmust 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 neutralo, to wiser heads than ours.

Footnotes:

[119]Précis Analytique des travaux de l'Académie de Rouen, pendant l'année 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 futureBibliographical 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. Edwwards 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 Moléon; 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, inDuchesne's Scriptores Normanni, p. 470.

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