first was destroyed
by a fire, occasioned by the negligence of plumbers, in the beginning of
the sixteenth century; the present suffered material injury from a
similar accident, in 1713, and narrowly escaped entire destruction.

The western front of the cathedral, represented in plate _fifty-one_,
offers a _tout-ensemble_ of the most imposing character. The very
discrepancy in the different parts, by increasing the variety, adds to
the effect of the whole. All, with the exception of the northern tower,
is rich, even to exuberance; and the simplicity of this, at the same
time that it appears to lay claim to a certain dignity for itself,
places in a stronger light the gorgeous splendor of the rest. The
opposite tower, the work of the celebrated Cardinal Georges d'Amboise,
and formerly the receptacle of the great bell that bore his name,
commonly passes by the appellation of the _Tour de Beurre_. Tradition
tells, or, to use the words of Dom Pommeraye, "every body knows" that it
obtained this name from its being built with the money raised from the
indulgence granted by the Cardinal, William d'Estouteville, to the pious
catholics throughout the dioceses of Rouen and Evreux, allowing them to
make use of milk and butter during Lent, when oil only could otherwise
have been employed by way of sauce to vegetables and fish. The bull
issued upon the occasion, by Pope Innocent VIII. is stated to be still
in existence.[99] The architecture of this tower may almost be regarded
as the perfection of what has been called the decorated English style:
it is copiously enriched with pinnacles and statues, and terminates in a
beautiful octagonal crown of open stone-work. Its height is two hundred
and thirty French feet.[100]

The central portal, for the erection of which the cathedral is likewise
indebted to its great benefactor, Georges d'Amboise, projects
beautifully and boldly, like a porch, before the rest: every side of it
is filled with niches, tier over tier, all crowded with endless figures
of saints and martyrs. In the middle of it rises a pyramidal canopy of
open stone-work; and upon the wide transom-stone over the door, is
sculptured the genealogical tree of Christ, arising from the root of
Jesse. The carving over the north entrance is yet more peculiar, and
evidently far older. It represents the decapitation of the Baptist, with
"Salome dancing in an attitude, which perchance was often assumed by the
_tombesteres_ of the elder d