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 Général, 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 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 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 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, 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] _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
meaning _pour 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.
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 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 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 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, a
_Penitential_; 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 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, 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, 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 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 in personas 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.