_Place de la Pucelle._
After the cathedral and Saint-Ouen, this town possesses no other
monument which excites more the curiosity of french or English
antiquarians. The first person who described the famous bas-reliefs of
the _Camp du Drap-d'Or_, which ornament the exterior of the ancient
gallery of the edifice, is dom Montfaucon in the 4th volume of his
_Monuments of the french Monarchy_. He only did it, on the indications
given by the abbe Noel, who gave the first explanations of these
sculptures. After Montfaucon came Dr Ducarel, who has only copied the
learned benedictine. Dibdin, the British antiquarian, has also paid his
tribute of admiration to the hotel du Bourgtheroulde, in his
_Bibliographical, antiquarian and picturesque tour through France_.
Cotman and Dawson Turner, his countrymen, have given a place to this
edifice in their respective publications. M. de Jolimont, in his _most
remarquable monuments in the town of Rouen_ devotes an article and two
engravings to this edifice. MM. Nodier, Taylor and de Cailleux have
enriched their _picturesque and romantic tour_, with a collection of
lithographic engravings representing the celebrated interview between
Francis Ist and Henry VIIIth, that took place in 1520 in a field
situated between Guines and Ardres in Picardy. Mr A. Le Prevost has
also written learned memoirs on the hotel du Bourgtheroulde. He has
fixed the date of the building (about the end of the XVth century), and
revealed the name of the founder (Guillaume-le-Roux), and facilitated
the numerous descriptions which have been made of it. The most
complete, is that given by M. Delaqueriere, in his work entitled:
_Historical description of the houses of Rouen_.
In the short description that we give of this remarkable building, we
must notice the bas-reliefs, six in number, which adorn the elegant
hexagonal tower, in the inner court and represent pastoral scenes. We
must also add that interpreters make a great mistake when they inform
strangers that the celebrated maid of Orleans (burnt in 1431) was judged
and imprisoned in this building.