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 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; called _la 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 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 _soumissioné_; 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 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 _Siécle 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 _Hierozöicon_; 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 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 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 hæc 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] 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 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 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_, in _Duchesne's Scriptores Normanni_, p. 470.
* * * * *
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
INDEX.
A.
Abbey, of Fécamp,
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,
Brezé, Lewis, Duke of, his monument in Rouen cathedral
Bridge of boats, at Rouen,
Brighton, compared with Dieppe,
C.
Cæsar, Julius, Roman camps in France commonly ascribed to,
Cæsar'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 Cæsar'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,
Château de Bouvreuil at Rouen, three towers standing of,
Château 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 Fécamp,
St. Stephen, at ditto,
Montivilliers,
Harfleur,
St. Paul, at Rouen,
St. Gervais, at ditto,
Léry,
Pavilly,
Yainville,
St. Ouen, Rouen,
St. Maclou, at ditto,
St. Patrice, at ditto,
St. Godard, at ditto,
Churches, in early times, often changed patrons,
Cité de Limes, Cæsar's camp, near Dieppe, anciently so called,
Civitas Limarum, Cæsar'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'Abbé, 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 Napoléon,
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,
Fécamp, 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,
Fécamp, abbey of, founded in 664,
famous for the precious blood,
its armorial bearings,
burial-place of Duke Richard Ist,
church of St. Stephen,
Fécamp, 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, Abbé de, his dissertation on Cæsar's camp,
Fossil shells, found plentifully near Havre,
Fountains, public, at Rouen,
Francis Ist, founder of Havre
Françoisville, 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,
Grâville, 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 Château 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 bénitier, 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 Hôtel des Invalides,
native of Rouen,
Judith, Lady, her epitaph at Fécamp,
K.
Kelp, made in large quantity near Dieppe,
L.
Lace, much smuggled into France,
Léry, 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 Brezé
Museum, at Rouen,
N.
Napoléon, 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,
Orchideæ, 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 Châsse 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 Fécamp,
Priory, of Longueville,
Grâville,
at Rouen, on Mont Ste. Catherine,
Procession des Fous, held in the cathedral, at Rouen,
R.