AND
YAINVILLE.

(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)

We, _East Angles_, are accustomed to admire the remains of Norman
architecture, which, in our counties, are perhaps more numerous and
singular than in any other tract in England. The noble castle of
Blanchefleur still honors our provincial metropolis, and although
devouring eld hath impaired her charms and converted her into a very
dusky beauty, the fretted walls still possess an air of antique
magnificence which we seek in vain when we contemplate the towers of
Julius or the frowning dungeons of Gundulph. Our cathedral retains the
pristine character which was given to the edifice, when the Norman
prelate abandoned the seat of the Saxon bishop, and commanded the Saxon
clerks to migrate into the city protected or inclosed by the garrison of
his cognate conquerors. Even our villages abound with these monuments.
The humbler, though not less sacred structures in which the voice of
prayer and praise has been heard during so many generations, equally
bear witness to Norman art, and, I may say, to Norman piety; and when we
enter the sheltered porch, we behold the fantastic sculpture and varied
foliage, encircling the arch which arose when our land was ruled by the
Norman dynasty.

Comparatively speaking, Rouen is barren indeed of such relics. Its
military antiquities are swept away; and the only specimens of early
ecclesiastical architecture are found in the churches of St. Paul and
St. Gervais, both of them, in themselves, unimportant buildings, and
both so disfigured by subsequent alterations, that they might easily
escape the notice of any but an experienced eye. Of these, the first is
situated by the side of the road to Paris, under Mont Ste. Catherine,
yet, still upon an eminence, beneath which are some mineral springs,
that were long famous for their medicinal qualities, but have of late
years been abandoned, and the spa-drinkers now resort to others in the
quarter of the town called _de la Marequerie_. Both the one and the
other are highly ferruginous, but the latter most strongly impregnated
with iron.

The chancel is the only ancient part of the present church of St.
Paul's, and even this must be comparatively modern, if any confidence
may be placed in the current tradition, that the building, in its
original state, was a temple of Adonis or of Venus, to both which
divinities the early inhabitants of Rouen are reported to have paid
peculiar homage. They were worshipped