left of the
courtyard as you enter from the Rue aux Juifs. Its roof is like the
upturned hull of some great ocean-galley, and all round the timbers,
where the upper line of walls meets the vault above, a company of
queer grotesques are carved which Rabelais himself might have
suggested. You will notice especially the twisted spire upon the
outward turret that overhangs the Rue aux Juifs, the broad sweep of
the entrance stairway, and the admirable proportions of the arch above
it. At the south end used to be the beautiful little chapel in which
the Messe Rouge was sung for the "Rentree de la St. Martin," and in
which St. Romain's chosen prisoner knelt before he went out to the
procession of the Fierte. Beneath are the prisons and dungeons of the
High Court of Rouen. This is the building that Louis XII. ordered to
be set up, and into which he transferred the Echiquier from the
Chateau de Rouen on the 11th of March, 1511; the first "Messe Rouge"
was sung here to celebrate that opening, and the custom is preserved
to this day.

[Illustration: PALAIS DE JUSTICE. THE OCTAGON ROOM OF LOUIS XII.]

In 1508 Louis XII. established in his new palace the jurisdiction
known as that of the "Table de Marbre," because the Cathedral
Chapterhouse sold for the use of this new Admiralty Court an old
marble tomb, round which the members sat in the great hall. Corneille
and his father were both officers of this jurisdiction later on. In
the same year was begun the "Grand Chambre" in which the President
held his High Court, called now the Cour d'Assises, and decorated with
a magnificently carved ceiling in panels of polished wood. It is just
behind that octagonal turret which juts from the centre of the main
building exactly opposite the entrance from the Rue aux Juifs. Within
this turret is the lovely little circular chamber which was reserved
for the King's own use. Its beautiful proportions break the symmetry
of the long front wall, yet are clasped to the building by the cornice
whence the line of gargoyles spring; and in the same way the long and
steep rise of the roof is broken up by the crests above each window
that rise into the air in a pinnacled tracery of fretwork filled with
carved arabesques and statues. Among them are the arms of France,
supported by two stags, a memorial of the badge used by Charles VI.
according to the story told by de la Mer. It is this central block of
buildings that contains most of the original work of Ro