mestic architecture of the
duchy, which, though far removed from Norman times, are almost equally
so from our own days. Even these are rapidly disappearing; it is more
than possible, that the three subjects here selected for publication
may, in the course of a few years, be recorded only in these plates. One
of them is already levelled with the ground;[129] while the more
interesting house in the Place de la Pucelle, at Rouen, though it has
been suffered to continue in existence, has been so much injured in its
exterior, and is degraded to so mean a purpose, that its demolition
would at no time be matter for surprise.--Specimens, like these, are
curious in the history of the arts: they shew the progress which
architecture had made in Normandy, at one of the most interesting epochs
in French history; they also shew its relative state, as respectively
applied to civil and religious purposes. And, if they be all three
productions of nearly the same aera, they are sufficiently characterised
each from the other, by marks of distinction.

"A history of the civil and domestic architecture of the middle ages, is
yet a desideratum; and unless this task is soon accomplished in England,
the opportunity will be lost for ever." The very sensible author, from
whom this sentence is quoted, goes on to say, "The halls of Elizabeth's
days are almost worn out. The mansions of the time of Charles I. are
falling apace, and in every quarter of a century a class must disappear,
by the conjoined operations of repair and decay. The towns of England
perhaps afford the worst and poorest specimens of the dwelling houses:
the best and richest are found in the Netherlands. We can hardly qualify
this assertion by recollecting the magnificent range of palaces which
bordered the Strand, in the reign of Henry VIII. Our own dwelling-houses
are usually composed of timber frames filled in with plaster. Troyes, in
Champagne, is built entirely in this fashion, every street is the
perfect 'counterfeit' of old Cheapside. Beauvais is built in the same
manner, but the houses are profusely varied with carving, and a good
artist might employ himself there for a twelvemonth. Many of the ancient
houses at Caen are of chesnut timber. The Abbe De la Rue supposes that
they were built by the English, after the place was taken by Henry V. in
1417. His 'bombards' destroyed a great part of the town during the
siege; and after he had regained possession, he granted the sites