astical monuments of the city. St. Maclou, which dates
from the early fifteenth century, though not of the grand proportions of
either of the other great churches, being rather of the type of the
large parish church as it is known in England, holds one spellbound by
the very daring of its ornaments and tracery, but contains no trace of
non-Gothic. The French passion for the curved line is nowhere more
manifest than here (and in the west front of Notre Dame), where flowing
tracery of window, doorway, portal, and, in general, all exterior
ornament, is startling in its audacity. To view these two contrasting
types before making acquaintance with the Cathedral of Notre Dame
itself, is to prepare oneself for a consideration in some measure of a
combination of the charms of both, woven into one fabric. Nowhere, at
least in no provincial town of France, are to be found such a
categorical display of ecclesiastical architectural details as here.

Rouen has from the second century been an important seat of
Christianity. St. Nicaise, not to be confounded with him of the same
name of Reims, first held a conversion here and was shortly followed by
St. Mellor, who founded the city's first church, on the site of the
present cathedral. In succeeding centuries this foundation gradually
took shape and form until, with the occupation by the Norsemen under
Rollo, was founded a dynasty which fostered the development of theology
and the arts in a manner previously unknown. The cathedral was enlarged
at this time, and upon his death in 930 Rollo was interred therein, as
was also his son in 943. Richard the Fearless followed with further
additions and enlargements, his son Richard being made its forty-third
archbishop. From this time on, the great church-building era, Christian
activities were notably at work, here as elsewhere, and during the
prolific eleventh century great undertakings were in progress; so much
so that what was practically a new church received its consecration, and
dedication to Our Lady, in 1063, in the presence of him who later was to
be known as the Conqueror. To-day it stands summed up thus--a grand
building, rich, confused, and unequal in design and workmanship.

The lower portion of the northwest tower, called the _Tour St. Romain_,
is all that is left of the eleventh-century building, the remainder of
which was destroyed by fire in 1200. Rebuilding followed in succeeding
years and shows work of many styles. Additions