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, _mäss-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 _Léry_, of _Pavilly_, and of _Yainville_, are all of them
deserving of a visit from the diligent antiquary.
Léry 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 æra 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 Léry, 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 Léry, 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 æra, 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 Léry:
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, Antiquités de Rouen_, p. 77.
[64] Vol. II. part V. p. 8.
[65] _Seroux d'Agincourt, Historie de la Décadence de l'Art_; plate 10,
_Sculpture_, fig. 4-7.
[66] _Du Moulin, Histoire Générale 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 æra, 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 può 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'élégance, et de légèreté." 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. Salomè, 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. Salomè 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 æra. 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 façon
Lequel fondit Georges d'Amboise
Qui trente six mille livres poise
Mil cinq cens un jour d'Aoust deuxième
Puis mourut le vingt et unième."
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 vanité détruit pour l'utilité[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, nullâque exire vetante
Materiâ, magnamque cadens magnamque revertens
Dat stragem latè sparsosque recolligit ignes."