[162] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 62.

PLATE LXXII.

SCREEN IN THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE, AT EU.

[Illustration: Plate 72. SCREEN IN THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE, AT EU.]

The town of Eu has, by some writers, been supposed to have been the
capital of the Gallic tribe mentioned in Caesar's Commentaries, under the
name of the Essui; but a conjecture of this description, founded
altogether upon the similarity of the name, and unsupported by any
collateral testimony, must be allowed to be at best only problematical;
and ancient geography presents so wide a field for the display of
ingenuity and learning, that it is in no department of science more
necessary to be upon the guard against plausible theories.--There are
others who contend for the Teutonic origin of the town, and refer to
etymology with equal zeal, and with greater plausibility. The word _Eu_,
otherwise spelt _Ou_ or _Au_ signifies a meadow, in Saxon; and the same
name was likewise originally applied to the river Bresle,[163] which
washes the walls of Eu, within a distance of two miles from its
confluence with the ocean at Treport.[164]

The first mention that occurs of Eu in history, is in the pages of
Flodoard, according to whom, the town was in existence in the year 925;
but, whether the Roman or the Saxon derivation of its name be preferred,
in either case etymology would fairly allow the inference, that its
foundation was considerably more ancient. During the reign of Louis XI.
Eu obtained a melancholy celebrity: a report was circulated in the
summer of 1475, that it was the intention of the English to make a
descent upon the coast of France, and to establish themselves there for
the winter. At the same time, this town was confidently mentioned as the
place where they proposed to fix their quarters. To deprive them of such
an advantage, the French monarch had recourse to a measure which could
only be justified by the most urgent necessity: he ordered the Marechal
de Gamaches to enter the place with four hundred soldiers, on the
eighteenth of July, and to set fire to the houses of the citizens,
together with the castle. His commands were executed; and the whole was
reduced to a heap of ashes, with the exception of the churches. The
neighboring towns of Dieppe, St. Valeri, and Abbeville, profited from
the misfortunes of Eu, which has never recovered its prosperity,
notwithstanding the various privileges subsequently granted to it.--The