Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

it more methodically than our erratic habits would seem to warrant; and we shall take care to give such local names and notions, chemin faisant, as will enable the reader to find his way without the assistance of a valet de place.

There is nothing to hinder us from commencing on the very spot where we now stand, on the Quai du Havre: nay, this is the best starting-place we could select; for, in all probability, the traveller will lodge in one or other of the hotels that face the river.

A little way lower than the bridge of boats is the Rue Grand Pont, to which the old stone bridge, now destroyed, extended. At the corner of this street stands the Théâtre des Arts, which needs not detain us long. It is, in fact, not worthy of the town.

The next street on the quay is the Rue Nationale, with the Tribunal of Commerce, commonly called the Consuls, at the corner a large building decorated with some pictures and several Latin inscriptions. Proceeding still along the quay, we turn the corner of the Douane, and, ascending the Rue de Vicomte, arrive at the church of St. Vincent, on the right hand of the street. This was formerly called Saint Vincent-sur-Rive, because it stood upon the bank of the river; where it served as a sort of custom-house, at which vessels laden with salt deposited a certain quantity for the use of the parish. The painted windows of the church are greatly admired by the curious in the art. One of them represents the miracle of the mule, performed at Toulouse by Saint Anthony of Padua. A heretic of the former city had, it seems, the hardiness to doubt the doctrine of transubstantiation, and declared he would not believe it, unless the fact were confirmed by a miracle. The miracle he demanded was nothing less than that the mule on which he rode, on being presented with oats and hay after a famine of three days,

TOUR DE LA GROSSE HORLOGE.

143

would neglect its breakfast for the purpose of adoring the sacred host. The saint agreed to grant his desire. The mule was starved for the stipulated time; and instead of falling upon the food which was offered, it turned suddenly away on perceiving the holy sacrament in the hands of Saint Anthony, and dropped down on its knees before it!

Passing the church of Saint Vincent, we take the first turning to the right, which is the Rue aux Ours, and then the first to the left, which leads us to the antique Tour de la Grosse Horloge. This is a construction of the fifteenth century, the bell of which is called the silver bell—a name which refers, perhaps, in poetical fashion, to its sound. It rings for a quarter of an hour every evening at nine o'clock, and thus answers to the English curfew of William the Conqueror.

In the Grand Rue, of which this tower forms a part, there are two antique wooden houses-Nos. 115 and 129— which will attract the stranger's attention, notwithstanding the display of merchandise in a street where almost every house is a shop. Turning up a short avenue, however, almost opposite the tower, he arrives at the Palais de Justice and the Salle des Procureurs,-not one building, as might be imagined, for the former was built by Louis XII, in 1499, and the latter by the town of Rouen, in 1493. Before the latter date the merchants used to congregate in the cathedral, thus making the temple, if not "a den of thieves," yet a rendezvous for buyers and sellers; and the Salle was at last built by the scandalized authorities at the public expense. It is a vaulted apartment, sixty feet long and fifty broad, the roof unsupported by pillars, and the whole executed in a taste at once chaste and bold. Another apartment, contiguous, which serves as the Court of Assize, is very beautiful, although almost all the ornamental work has

144

TOUR DE LA GROSSE HORLOGE.

disappeared. Its ceiling is of oak, grown black with age.

The façade of the Palais de Justice gives a good idea of the peculiar taste of the period at which it was constructed. It is loaded with ornaments, mostly incongruous, but still producing in the whole an agreeable and striking effect. The Rue aux Juifs runs along the Salle we have mentioned; and, without knowing the mercantile purpose for which this hall was built, one would be surprised to find the persecuted remnant of Israel in such a neighbourhood.

THE MAID OF ORLEANS.

RETURNING to the Grande Rue, and passing the Tour de la Grosse Horloge, we reach presently the Place de la Pucelle.

The area of this spot, filled at once with ennobling and humiliating associations, is small. A well and a statuethe latter inferior even to that at Orleans itself-marks the place where the heroic girl died. Some hackney-coachmen sleep on their boxes close by; the population of the city floats along, without turning the head-without raising the eyes.

The Protestant church of Saint Eloi, close beside the hotel, merits little attention. It stood formerly upon an island, which afterwards formed part of the terres neuves that, in the eleventh century, were the fauxbourgs of Rouen.

From the Place Saint Eloi a few steps take us into the Rue du Vieux Palais, along which we proceed to its end further from the river. Here, on the left, is a narrow street, or rather lane, called the Rue de Pie, into which we entreat the reader to follow us. We stop at a certain door, and contemplate respectfully a bust which ornaments it, neither in bronze nor marble, but in common plaster. Is our companion surprised? Let him cast his eyes a little higher up, and read on the slab fixed in the wall,

PIERRE CORNEILLE

EST NE DANS CETTE MAISON

EN 1606.

[blocks in formation]

The house, of late years, has been beautified, as our churchwardens say, and has lost almost all traces of antiquity. The anniversary of this father of the French Drama is celebrated every year at the theatre with great magnificence.

Turning to the right, after traversing the Rue de Pie, we find ourselves presently in a broad street, terminated at some distance by the extensive buildings of the Hôtel Dieu. This is a work of the last century, constructed in consequence of the dangerous state of the ancient Hôpital de Sainte Madeleine, near the cathedral. The charity is reserved for the inhabitants of the town alone, and only for cases that appear to be curable. After a treatment of six months here, without fortunate results, the patient is declared incurable, and sent to the Hospice Générale. The patients are attended not only by the proper medical officers, but by the religious ladies of the order of Saint Augustin, who are unwearied in their assiduity.

This beautiful and affecting species of beneficence is very ancient in France; but the rules under which even the laybrothers and sisters of the hospital voluntarily placed themselves were so austere, that one is surprised to find in the number those who had still anything left to attach them to the world. In the fourteenth century, a man dedicating himself to the service of the Hôtel Dieu of Paris, became to all intents and purposes a monk, although without taking the vows. He cut off his hair, wore a black dress, with long white trousers, assisted at all the offices of religion, abstained from meat four days in the week, ate at a common table, lay down to sleep without undressing, and came under an oath of poverty and chastity.

The sisters, of whatever rank, wore a gown of black serge; a kind of cloak, black also, and furred with lambskin; a white apron, and a linen cap with large wings which con

« PreviousContinue »