1 M. Crapelet is of course speaking of the PREVIOUS edition of the Tour. He continues thus: "M. Dibdin, dans son voyage en France, a visité nos départemens de l'ouest et de l'est, toutes leurs principales villes, presque tous les lieux remarquables par les antiquités, par les monumens, par les beautés du site, ou par les souvenirs historiques. Il a visité les châteaux, les églises, les chapelles; il a observé nos moeurs, nos coutumes; nos habitudes; il a examiné nos Musées et nos premiers Cabinets de curiosité; il s'est concentré dans nos Bibliothéques. Il parle de notre littérature et des hommes de lettres, des arts et de nos artistes; il critique les personnes comme les choses; il loue quelquefois, il plaisante souvent; la vivacité de son esprit l'égare presque toujours." A careful perusal of the notes in THIS edition will shew that my veracity has not "almost always led me astray."

2 GABRIEL PEIGNOT; Variétés, Notices et Raretés Bibliographiques, 1822, 8vo. p. 4.

3 Lettre d'un Relieur Francais à un Bibliographe Anglais; à Paris, de l'Imprimerie de Crapelet, 1822, 8vo. p.p. 28.

4 It is a little curious that M. Lesné has not been singular in this supposition. My amiable and excellent friend M. Schweighæuser of Strasbourg had the same notion: at least, he told me that the style of the Tour very frequently reminded him of that of Sterne. I can only say--and say very honestly--that I as much thought of Sterne as I did of ... William Caxton!

5 Copious as are the above quotations, from the thoroughly original M. Lesné, I cannot resist the risking of the readers patience and good opinion, by the subjoining of the following passage--with which the brochure concludes. "D'après la multitude de choses hasardées que contient votre Lettre, vous en aurez probablement recu quelques unes de personnes que vous aurez choquées plus que moi, qui vous devrais plutôt des remercimens pour avoir pris la peine de traduire quelques pages de mon ouvrage; mais il n'en est pas de même de bien des gens, et cela ne doit pas les engager à être autant communicatif avec vous, si vous reveniez en France. Je souhaite, dans ce dernier cas, que tous les typographes, les bibliothècaires, les bibliognostes, les bibliographes, les bibliolathes, les bibliomanes, les biblophiles, les bibliopoles, ceux qui exercent la bibliuguiancie et les bibliopégistes même, soient pour vous autant de bibliotaphes; vous ne seriez plus à même de critiquer ce que vous sauriez et ce que vous ne sauriez pas, comme vous l'aviez si souvent fait inconsidérément:

Mais tous vos procédés ne nous étonnent pas,
C'est le sort des Français de faire DES INGRATS;
On les voit servir ceux qui leur furent nuisibles;
Je crois que sur ce point ils sont incorrigibles.

Je vous avouerai cependant que je suis loin d'être fâché de vous voir en agir ainsi envers mes compatriotes: je désirerais que beaucoup d'Anglais fissent de même; cela pourrait désangliciser ou désanglomaniser les Français. Vous, Monsieur, qui aimez les mots nouveaux, aidez-moi, je vous prie, à franciser, à purifier celui-ci. Quant à moi

Je ne fus pas nourri de Grec et de Latin,
J'appris à veiller tard, à me lever matin,
La nature est le livre où je fis mes études,
Et tous ces mots nouveaux me semblent long-temps rudes;
Je trouve qu'on ne peut très bien les prononcer
Sans affectation, au moins sans grimacer;
Que tous ces mots tirés des langues étrangères,
Devraient être l'objet de critiques sévères.
Faites donc de l'esprit en depit du bon sens,
On vous critiquera; quant à moi j'y consens.

Je terminerai cette longue Lettre de deux manières: à l'anglaise, en vous souhaitant le bon jour ou le bon soir, suivant l'heure à laquelle vous la recevrez; à la française, en vous priant de me croire,

Monsieur,

Votre très humble serviteur,

LESNÉ.

6 The above brochure consists of two Letters; each to an anonymous bibliographical "Confrere:" one is upon the subject of M. Crapelet's version--the other, upon that of M. Licquet's version--of a portion of the Tour. The notice of the Works of the Author of the Tour; a list of the prices for which the Books mentioned in it have been sold; a Notice of the "Hours of Charlemagne" (see vol. ii. 199) and some account of the late Mr. Porson "Librarian of the London Institution"--form the remaining portion of this little volume of about 160 pages. For the "Curiosités Bibliographiques," consult the Bibliomania, pp. 90, 91, &c. &c.

7 This letter accompanied another Work of M. Peignot, relating to editions and translations of the Roman Classics:--and as the reader will find, in the ensuing pages, that I have been sometime past labouring under the frightful, but popular, mania of AUTOGRAPHS, I subjoin with no small satisfaction a fac-simile of the Autograph of this enthusiastic and most diligent Bibliographer.

8 See page xviii.--ante.

9 M. Licquet goes on to afford an exemplification of this precipitancy of conjecture, in my having construed the word Allemagne--a village near to Caen--by that of Germany. I refer the reader to p. 168 post, to shew with what perfect frankness I have admitted and corrected this "hippopotamos" error.

10 More especially at pages 82, 100, 367.

11 "Sharp" as they may be, they are softened, in some measure, by the admission of my bitterest annotator, M. Crapelet, that "I speak and understand the French language well." vol. ii. p. 253. It is painful and unusual with me to have recourse to such apparently self-complimentary language; but when an adversary drives one into a corner, and will not allow of fair space and fair play, one must fight with feet as well as with hands ... "manibus pedibusque" ...

12 This hiatus must not be filled by the Author: ... "haud equidem tali me dignor honore."

13 See vol. ii. p. 210-11.

14 See vol. i. p. 186, vol. ii. pp. 49, 296, 392. The other fresh plates are, Portrait of the Author, frontispiece; Bird's-eye views of the Monasteries of St. Peter's, Salzburg, and of Molk: vol. iii. pp. 195, 248, 381, Black Eagle Inn, Munich, p. 156. But the Reader will be pleased to examine the List of Plates prefixed--in a preceding page.

15 Among these distinguished Literati, I here enrol with peculiar satisfaction the names of the MARQUIS DE CHATEAUGIRON and Mons. DURAND DE LANCON. No opportunity having occurred in the subsequent pages to incorporate fac-similes of the Autographs of these distinguished Bibliophiles, they are annexed in the present place.

16 It is more than a negative consolation to me, to have lived to see the day, that, although comparatively impoverished, others have been enriched by my labours. When I noticed a complete set of my lucubrations on LARGE PAPER, valued at 250l. in a bookseller's catalogue, (Mr. Pickering's) and afterwards learnt that this set had found a PURCHASER, I had reason to think that I had "deserved well" of the Literature of my country: and I resolved to live "mihi carior" in consequence.

17 [Mons. Licquet, my translator, thinks, that in using the word "Antiquaire"--as appears in the previous edition of this work, incorporated in the gallicised sentence of "Voyage Bibliographique Antiquaire, &c."--I have committed an error; as the word "Archéologique" ought, in his opinion, to have been adopted--and he supposes that he best expresses my meaning by its adoption. Such a correction may be better French; but "Archaeological" is not exactly what is usually meant--in our language--by "Antiquarian."]

18 This smart little vessel, of about 70 tons burden, considered to be the fastest sailing packet from Dieppe, survived our voyage only about eighteen months. Her end had nearly proved fatal to every soul on board of her. In a dark night, in the month of September, when bound for Dieppe, she was struck by a heavy London brig. The crew was with difficulty saved--and the vessel went down within about twenty-five minutes after the shock.

19 The English are not permitted to bring their own vessels into harbour--for obvious reasons.

20 [This "scene" has been, in fact, subsequently depicted by. the masterly pencil of J.M.W.TURNER, Esq. R.A: and the picture, in which almost all the powers of that surprising Artist are concentrated, was lately offered for sale by public auction. How it was suffered to be bought in for three hundred and eighty guineas, is at once a riddle and a reproach to public taste.]

21 [I learn that he is since DECEASED. Thus the very first chapter of this second edition has to record an instance of the casualties and mutabilities which the short space of ten years has effected. Mons. De la Rue was a man of worth and of virtue.]

22 [Mons. Licquet says that there were about 17,000 souls in 1824; so that the above number may be that of the amount of its present population. "Several changes (says my French translator) have taken place at Dieppe since I saw it: among the rest, there is a magnificent establishment of BATHS, where a crowd of people, of the first distinction, every year resort. Her Royal Highness, the Duchesse de Berri, may be numbered among these Visitors.]

23 [The common people to this day call a herring, a child of Dieppe. LICQUET.]

24 ["Sterne reproaches the French for their hyperbolical language: the air of the country had probably some influence on M. Dibdin when he adopted this phrase." LICQUET.]

25 ["Signifying, that the French postilions do not ride like the English." LICQUET.]

26 ["Dieppe for a long time was the rival of Argentan and Caen in the lace-manufactory: at the present day, this branch of commerce is almost annihilated there."--LICQUET.]

27 [In a note attached to the previous edition--I have said, "Here also, as well as at Rouen; they will have it that the ENGLISH built the Churches." Upon which M. Licquet remarks thus: "M. Dibdin's expression conveys too general an idea. It is true that popular opinion attributes the erection of our gothic edifices to the ENGLISH: but there exists another opinion, which is not deceptive upon this subject." What is meant to be here conveyed? Either the popular opinion is true or false; and it is a matter of perfect indifference to the author whether it be one or the other. For Mons. Licquet's comfort, I will freely avow that I believe it to be false.]

28 [Louis XVIII.]

29 The French Antiquaries have pushed the antiquity of this castle to the 11th century, supposing it to have been built by William d'Arques, Count of Tallon, son of the second marriage of Richard Duke of Normandy. I make no doubt, that, whenever built, the sea almost washed its base: for it is known to have occupied the whole of what is called the Valley of Arques, running as far as Bouteilles. Its position, in reference to the art of war, must have been almost impregnable. Other hypotheses assign its origin to the ninth or tenth century. Whenever built, its history has been fertile in sieges. In 1144, it was commanded by a Flemish Monk, who preferred the spear to the crosier, but who perished by an arrow in the contest. Of its history, up to the sixteenth century, I am not able to give any details; but in the wars of Henry IV. with the League, in 1589, it was taken by surprise by soldiers in the disguise of sailors: who, killing the centinels, quickly made themselves masters of the place. Henry caused it afterwards to be dismantled. In the first half of the eighteenth century it received very severe treatment from pillage, for the purpose of erecting public and private buildings at Dieppe. At present (in the language of the author of the Rouen Itinerary) "it is the abode of silence--save when that silence is interrupted by owls and other nocturnal birds." The view of it in Mr. Cotman's work is very faithful.

30 The Itinéraire de Rouen, 1816, p. 202, says, absurdly, that this church is of the XIth century. It is perhaps with more truth of the beginning of the XIVth century. A pleasing view of it is in Mr. Dawson Turner's elegant Tour in Normandy, 1818, 8vo. 2 vol. It possessed formerly a bust of Henry IV., which is supposed to have been placed there after the famous battle of Arques gained by Henry over the Duke of Mayenne in 1589.

31 The blue gown and red petticoat; or vice versa.

32 [I am anxious that the above sentence should stand precisely as it appeared in the first edition of this work; because a circumstance has arisen from it, which could have been as little in the anticipation, as it is in the comprehension, of the author. A lady, of high connections, and of respectable character, conceived the passage in question to be somewhat indecorous; or revolting to the serious sense entertained by all Christians, and especially by CHRISTIAN MINISTERS, of the mode of devoting the Sabbath day. In consequence, being in possession of a copy of this work, she DIVIDED it into two; not being willing to sully the splendour of the plates by the supposed impurity of such a passage:--and the prints were accordingly bound APART. The passage--as applied to the FRENCH PEOPLE-- requires neither comment nor qualification; and in the same unsophisticated view of religious duties, the latter part may be as strictly applied to the ENGLISH.]

33 The dress of the sailors is the same as it was in the XIVth century; and so probably is that of the women. The illuminations in Froissard and Monstrelet clearly give us the Norman cauchoise.

34 [Mons. Licquet here observes, "This is the first time I have heard it said that our Postilions put on rouge." What he adds, shall be given in his own pithy expression.--"Où la coquetterie va-t-elle se nicher?" What, however is above stated, was stated from a conviction of its being TRUE]

35 [The third English Printer.] See the Bibliographical Decameron, vol. ii. p. 137, 8.

36 A most ample and correct view of this west front will be found in Mr. Cotman's Norman Antiquities.

37 It is about 180 English feet in width, by about 150 in the highest part of its elevation. The plates which I saw at Mr. Frere's, bookseller, upon the Quai de Paris, from the drawings of Langlois, were very inadequate representations of the building.

38 The ravages committed by the Calvinists throughout nearly the whole of the towns in Normandy, and especially in the cathedrals, towards the year 1560, afford a melancholy proof of the effects of RELIGIOUS ANIMOSITY. But the Calvinists were bitter and ferocious persecutors. Pommeraye, in his quarto volume, Histoire de l'Eglise Cathedrale de Rouen, 1686, has devoted nearly one hundred pages to an account of Calvinistic depredations.

39 [Mr. Cotman has a plate of the elevation of the front of this south transept; and a very minute and brilliant one will be found in the previous edition of this Tour--by Mr. Henry le Keux: for which that distinguished Artist received the sum of 100 guineas. The remuneration was well merited.]

40 [Mons. Licquet says each clustered pillar contains thirty-one columns.]

41 This chapel is about ninety-five English feet in length, by thirty in width, and sixty in heighth. The sprawling painting by Philippe de Champagne, at the end of it, has no other merit than that of covering so many square feet of wall. The architecture of this chapel is of the XIVth century: the stained glass windows are of the latter end of the XVth. On completing the circuit of the cathedral, one is surprised to count not fewer than twenty-five chapels.

42 [Mons. Licquet is paraphrastically warm in his version, here. He renders it thus: "les atteintes effroyables du vandalisme révolutionaire," vol. i. p. 64.]

43 Sandford, after telling us that he thinks there "never was any portraiture" of the Duke, thus sums up his character. "He was justly accounted one of the best generals that ever blossomed out of the royal stem of PLANTAGENET. His valour was not more terrible to his enemies than his memory honourable; for (doubtful whether with more glory to him, or to the speaker) King Lewis the Eleventh being counselled by certain envious persons to deface his tomb (wherein with him, saith one, was buried all English men's good fortune in France) used these indeed princely words: 'What honour shall it be to us, or you, to break this monument, and to pull out of the ground the bones of HIM, whom, in his life time, neither my father nor your progenitors, with all their puissance, were once able to make flie a foot backwarde? who, by his strength, policy and wit kept them all out of the principal dominions of France, and out of this noble duchy of Normandy? Wherefore, I say first, GOD SAVE HIS SOUL; and let his body now lie in rest, which when he was alive, would have disquieted the proudest of us all. And for THIS TOMB, I assure you it is not so worthy or convenient as his honour and acts have deserved.'" p. 314-5, Ed. 1707A The famous MISSAL, once in the possession of this celebrated nobleman, and containing the only authenticated portrait of him (which is engraved in the Bibliog. Decameron, vol. i. p. cxxxvii.) is now the property of John Milner, Esq. of York Place, Portman Square, who purchased it of the Duke of Marlborough. The Duke had purchased it at the sale of the library of the late James Edwards, Esq. for 687l. 15s.

A [Upon this, Mons. Licquet, with supposed shrewdness and success, remarks,--"All very well: but we must not forget that the innocent Joan of Arc was burnt alive--thanks to this said Duke of Bedford, as every one knows!"]

44 [A different tale may be told of ONE of his Successors in the same Anglo-Norman pursuit. The expenses attending the graphic embellishments alone of the previous edition of this work, somewhat exceeded the sum of four thousand seven hundred pounds. The risk was entirely my own. The result was the loss of about 200l.: exclusively of the expences incurred in travelling about 2000 miles. The copper-plates (notwithstanding every temptation, and many entreaties, to multiply impressions of several of the subjects engraved) were DESTROYED. There may be something more than a mere negative consolation, in finding that the work is RISING in price, although its author has long ceased to partake of any benefit resulting from it.]

45 A plate of this Monument is published in the Tour of Normandy by Dawson Turner, Esq.

46 The Cardinal died in his fiftieth year only; and his funeral was graced and honoured by the presence of his royal master. Guicciardini calls him "the oracle and right arm of Louis." Of eight brothers, whom he left behind, four attained to the episcopal rank. His nephew succeeded him as Archbishop. See also Historia Genealogica Magnatum Franciae; vol. vii. p. 129; quoted in the Gallia Christiana, vol. xi. col. 96.

It was during the archiepiscopacy of the successor of the nephew of Amboise--namely, that of CHARLES of BOURBON--that the Calvanistic persecution commenced. "Tunc vero coepit civitas, dioecesis, universaque provincia lamentabilem in modum conflictari, saevientibus ob religionis dissidia plusquam civilibus bellis," &c. But then the good Archbishop, however bountiful he might have been towards the poor at Roncesvalles, (when he escorted Philip II.'s first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. to the confines of Spain, after he had married her to that wretched monarch) should not have inflamed the irritated minds of the Calvinists, by BURNING ALIVE, in 1559, John Cottin, one of their most eminent preachers, by way of striking terror into the rest! Well might the Chronicler observe, as the result, "novas secta illa in dies acquirebat vires." About 1560-2, the Calvinists got the upper hand; and repaid the Catholics with a vengeance. Charles of Bourbon died in 1590: so that he had an arduous and agitated time of it.

47 How long will this monument--(matchless of its kind)--continue unrepresented by the BURIN? If Mr. Henry Le Keux were to execute it in his best style, the world might witness in it a piece of Art entirely perfect of its kind. But let the pencils of Messrs. Corbould and Blore be first exercised on the subject. In the mean while, why is GALLIC ART inert?

48 The choir was formerly separated from the surrounding chapels, or rather from the space between it and the chapels, by a superb brass grating, full of the most beautiful arabesque ornaments--another testimony of the magnificent spirit of the Cardinal and Prime Minister of Louis XII.: whose arms, as well as the figure of his patron, St. George, were seen in the centre of every compartment ... The Revolution has not left a vestige behind!

49 [In this edition, I put the above passage in Italics,--to mark, that, within three years of writing it, the spire was consumed by LIGHTNING. The newspapers of both France and England were full of this melancholy event; and in the year 1823, Monsieur Hyacinthe Langlois, of Rouen, published an account of it, together with some views (indifferently lithographised) of the progress of the burning. "It should seem (says Mons. Licquet) that the author had a presentiment of what was speedily to take place:--for the rest, the same species of destruction threatens all similar edifices, for the want of conductors." I possess a fragment of the lead of the roof, as it was collected after a state of fusion--and sent over to me by some friend at Rouen. The fusion has caused portions of the lead to assume a variety of fantastic shapes--not altogether unlike a gothic building.]

50 Let me add that the whole length of the cathedral is about four hundred and forty feet; and the transept about one hundred and seventy- five; English measure. The height of the nave is about ninety, and of the lantern one hundred and sixty-eight feet, English. The length of the nave is two hundred and twenty-eight feet.

51 He died in 1531. Both the ancient and yet existing inscriptions are inserted by Gilbert, from Pommeraye and Farin; and formerly there was seen, in the middle of the monument, the figure of the Seneschal habited as a Count, with all the insignia of his dignity. But this did not outlive the Revolution.

52 It must be admitted that Diana, when she caused the verses

Indivulsa tibi quondam et fidissima conjux
Vt fuit in thalamo, sic erit in tumulo.

to be engraved upon the tomb of the Seneschal, might well have "moved the bile" of the pious Benedictine Pommeraye, and have excited the taunting of Ducarel, when they thought upon her subsequent connexion, in the character of mistress, with Henry the Second of France. Henry however endeavoured to compensate for his indiscretions by the pomp and splendor of his processions. Rouen, so celebrated of old for the entries of Kings and Nobles, seems to have been in a perfect blaze of splendor upon that of the Lover of Diana--"qui fut plus magnifique que toutes celles qu'on avoit vu jusqu'alors:" see Farin's Hist. de la Ville de Rouen, vol. i. p. 121, where there is a singularly minute and gay account of all the orders and degrees of citizens--(with their gorgeous accoutrements of white plumes, velvet hats, rich brocades, and curiously wrought taffetas) of whom the processions were composed. It must have been a perfectly dramatic sight, upon the largest possible scale. It was from respect to the character or the memory of DIANA, that so many plaster-representations of her were erected on the exteriors of buildings: especially of those within small squares or quadrangles. In wandering about Rouen, I stumbled upon several old mansions of this kind.

53 The inscription is this:

Si quem sancta tenet meditandi in lege voluntas,
Hic poterit residens, sacris intendere libris.

Pommeraye has rather an interesting gossiping chapter [Chap. xxii.] "De la Bibliothêque de la Cathédrale;" p. 163: to which FRANÇOIS DE HARLAY, about the year 1630, was one of the most munificent benefactors.

54 Christian interment.]--"Les Religieux de Saint Ouen touchez de compassion envers ce malheureux artisan, obtinrent son corps de la justice, et pour reconnoissance des bons services qu'il leur avoit rendus dans la construction de leur église, nonobstant sa fin tragique, ne laissèrent pas de luy fair l'honneur de l'inhumer dans la chapelle de sainte Agnes, ou sa tombe se voit encore auec cet Epitaphe:

Cy gist M. ALEXANDRE DE BERNEUAL, Maistre des oeuvres de Massonnerie.

55 Even Dr. Ducarel became warm--on contemplating this porch! "The porch at the south entrance into the church (says he) is much more worthy of the spectator's attention, being highly enriched with architectonic ornaments; particularly two beautiful cul de lamps, which from the combination of a variety of spiral dressings, as they hang down from the vaulted roof, produce a very pleasing effect." p. 28.

56 Consult the account given by M. Le Prevost in the "Précis Analytique des Travaux de l'Academie, &c. de Rouen," for the year 1816, p. 151, &c.

57 Farin tells us that you could go from the top of the lantern to the cross, or to the summit of the belfry, "outside, without a ladder; so admirable was the workmanship." "Strangers (adds he) took models of it for the purpose of getting them engraved, and they were sold publicly at Rome." Hist. de la Ville de Rouen, 1738, 4to. vol. ii. p. 154. There are thirteen chapels within this church; of which however the building cannot be traced lower than quite the beginning of the XVIth century. The extreme length and width of the interior is about 155 by 82 feet English. Even in Du Four's time the population of this parish was very great, and its cemetery (adds he) was the first and most regular in Rouen. He gives a brief, but glowing description of it--"on va tout autour par des galeries couvertes et pavées; et, deux de ces galeries sont decorées de deux autels," &c. p. 150.

Alas! time--or the revolution--has annihilated all this. Let me however add that M. COTMAN has published a view of the staircase in the church of which I am speaking.

58 Ordericus Vitalis says, that the dying monarch requested to be conveyed thither, to avoid the noise and bustle of a populous town. Rouen is described to be, in his time, "populosa civitas." Consult Duchesne's Historiæ Normannor. Scrip. Antiq. p.656.

59 A view of it is published by M. Cotman.

60 St. Sever. This church is situated in the southern fauxbourgs, by the side of the Seine, and was once surrounded by gardens, &c. As you cross the bridge of boats, and go to the race-ground, you leave it to the right; but it is not so old as St. Paul--where, Farin says, the worship of ADONIS was once performed!

61 [I apprehend this custom to be prevalent in fortified towns:--as Rouen formerly was--and as I found such custom to obtain at the present day, at Strasbourg. Mons. Licquet says that the allusion to the curfew--or couvre-feu--as appears in the previous edition--and which the reader well knows was established by the Conqueror with us--was no particular badge of the slavery of the English. It had been previously established by William in NORMANDY. Millot is referred to as the authority.]

62 the famous JEANNE D'ARC.] Goube, in the second volume of his Histoire du Duché de Normandie, has devoted several spiritedly written pages to an account of the trial and execution of this heroine. Her history is pretty well known to the English--from earliest youth. Goube says that her mode of death had been completely prejudged; for that, previously to the sentence being passed, they began to erect "a scaffold of plaster, so raised, that the flames could not at first reach her--and she was in consequence consumed by a slow fire: her tortures being long and horrible." Hume has been rather too brief: but he judiciously observes that the conduct of the Duke of Bedford "was equally barbarous and dishonourable." Indeed it were difficult to pronounce which is entitled to the greatest abhorrence--the imbecility of Charles VII. the baseness of John of Luxembourg, or the treachery of the Regent Bedford?

The identical spot on which she suffered is not now visible, according to Millin; that place having been occupied by the late Marché des Veaux. It was however not half a stone's throw from the site of the present statue. In the Antiquités Nationales of the last mentioned author (vol. iii. art. xxxvi.) there are three plates connected with the History of JOAN of ARC. The first plate represents the Porte Bouvreuil to the left, and the circular old tower to the right--in which latter Joan was confined, with some houses before it; the middle ground is a complete representation of the rubbishing state by which many of the public buildings at Rouen are yet surrounded; and French taste has enlivened the foreground with a picture of a lover and his mistress, in a bocage, regaling themselves with a flagon of wine. The old circular tower ("qui vit gémir cette infortunée," says Millin) exists no longer. The second plate represents the fountain which was built in the market-place upon the very spot where the Maid suffered, and which spot was at first designated by the erection of a cross. From the style of the embellishments it appears to have been of the time of Francis I.

Goube has re-engraved this fountain. It was taken down or demolished in 1755; upon the site of which was built the present tasteless production-- resembling, as the author of the Itinéraire de Rouen (p. 69) well observes, "rather a Pallas than the heroine of Orleans." The name of the author was STODTS. Millin's third plate--of this present existing fountain, is desirable; in as much as it shews the front of the house, in the interior of which are the basso-rilievos of the Champ de drap d'Or: for an account of which see afterwards.

Millin allows that all PORTRAITS of her--whether in sculpture, or painting, or engraving--are purely IDEAL. Perhaps the nearest, in point of fidelity, was that which was seen in a painted glass window of the church of the Minimes at Chaillot: although the building was not erected till the time of Charles VIII. Yet it might have been a copy of some coeval production. In regard to oil paintings, I take it that the portrait of JUDITH, with a sword in one hand, and the head of Holofernes in the other, has been usually copied (with the omission of the latter accompaniment) as that of JEANNE D'ARC. I hardly know a more interesting collection of books than that which may be acquired respecting the fate of this equally brave and unfortunate heroine.

63 Far be it from me to depreciate the labours of Montfaucon. But those who have not the means of getting at that learned antiquarian's Monarchie Françoise may possibly have an opportunity of examining precisely the same representations, of the procession above alluded to, in Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities, Plate XII. Till the year 1726 this extraordinary series of ornament was supposed to represent the Council of Trent; but the Abbé Noel, happening to find a salamander marked upon the back of one of the figures, supposed, with greater truth, that it was a representation of the abovementioned procession; and accordingly sent Montfaucon an account of the whole. The Abbé might have found more than one, two, or three salamanders, if he had looked closely into this extraordinary exterior; and possibly, in his time, the surfaces of the more delicate parts, especially of the human features, might not have sustained the injuries which time and accident now seem to have inflicted on them. [A beautiful effort in the graphic way representing the entire interior front of this interesting mansion, is said to be published at Rouen.]

64 In the previous edition of this work, there appeared a facsimile of a small portion of this bas-relief, representing--as I imagine--the setting out of Francis to meet Henry. Nothing, as far as correctness of detail goes, can give a more faithful resemblance of the PRECISE STATE in which the original appears: the defaced and the entire parts being represented with equal fidelity. Mons. Langlois has given a plate of the entire façade or front--in outline--with great ability; but so small as to give little or no notion of the character of the original.

65 In Ducarel's time, "the ground story consisted of a great quadrangle surrounded with booksellers shops. On one side of it a stone staircase led to a large and lofty room, which, in its internal as well as external appearance, resembled, though in miniature, Westminster Hall. Here (continues Ducarel) I saw several gentlemen of the long robe, in their gowns and bands, walking up and down with briefs in their hands, and making a great show of business." Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 32. [According to Mons. Licquet, this "singularly curious hall" was begun to be built in 1493. It was afterwards, and is still called, la Salle des Procureurs.]

66 the choicest library] Monsieur Riaux, Archiviste de la Chambre de Commerce. This amiable man unites a love of literature with that of architectural antiquities. The library of M. Le Prevost is however as copious as that of Mons. R.

67 Bourgueville describes this river, in the sixteenth century, as being "aucune fois iaulne, autrefois rouge, verte, bleüe, violée &autres couleurs, selon qu'vn grand nombre de teinturiers qui sont dessus, la diuersifient par interualles en faisant leurs maneures." Antiquitez de Caen, p. 36.

68 expedition thither.]--When John Evelyn visited this neighbourhood, in 1644, "the country so abounded with wolves, that a shepherd, whom he met, told him that one of his companions was strangled by one of them the day before--and that, in the midst of the flock! The fields (continues he) are mostly planted with pears and apples and other cider fruits. It is plentifully furnished with quarries of stone and slate, and hath iron in abundance." Memoirs of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, vol. i. p. 50. Edit. 1818. My friend Mr. J. H. Markland visited Mont St. Catharine the year after the visit above described. He was of course enchanted with the view; and told me, that a friend whom he met there, and who had travelled pretty much in Italy, assured him there was nothing like it on the banks of either the Arno or the Po. In short, it is quite peculiar to itself--and cannot be surpassed.

69 It is thus prettily observed in the little Itineraire de Rouen --"Ces agréables maisons de plaisance appartiennent à des habitants de Rouen qui y viennent en famille, dans la belle saison, se délasser des embarras de la ville et des fatigues du commerce." p. 153.

70 race-ground]--When the English cavalry were quartered here in 1814-5, the officers were in the frequent habit of racing with each other. These races were gaily attended by the inhabitants; and I heard, from more than one mouth, the warmest commendations bestowed upon the fleetness of the coursers and the skill of the riders.

71 The reader may possibly not object to consult two or three pages of the Bibliographical Decameron, beginning at page 137, vol. ii. respecting a few of the early Rouen printers. The name of MAUFER, however, appears in a fine large folio volume, entitled Gaietanus de Tienis Vincentini in Quatt. Aristot. Metheor. Libros, of the date of 1476--in the possession of Earl Spencer. See Æd. Althorp. vol. ii. p. 134. From the colophon of which we can only infer that Maufer was a citizen of Rouen. [According to M. Licquet, the first book printed at Rouen--a book of the greatest rarity--was entitled Les Croniques de Normandie, par Guillaume Le Talleur, 1487, folio.]

72 [Since the publication of the first edition of this Tour, I have had particular reason to become further acquainted with the partiality of the Rouennois for Parisian printing. When M. Licquet did me the honour to translate my IXth Letter, subjoining notes, (which cut their own throats instead of that of the author annotated upon) he employed the press of Mons. Crapelet, at Paris: a press, as eminently distinguished for its beauty and accuracy, as its Director has proved himself to be for his narrow-mindedness and acrimony of feeling. M.L. (as I learnt from a friend who conversed with him, and as indeed I naturally expected) seemed to be sorry for what he had done.]

73 like Aldus, "say my saying" quickly.] Consult Mr. Roscoe's Life of Leo X. vol. i. p. 169-70, 8vo. edit. Unger, in his Life of Aldus, edit. Geret. p. xxxxii. has a pleasant notice of an inscription, to the same effect, put over the door of his printing-office by Aldus. [It has been quoted to satiety, and I therefore omit it here.]

74 [Mons. Périaux has lately published a Dictionary of the Streets of Rouen, in alphabetical order; in two small, unostentatious, and useful octavo volumes.]

75 [Mons. Licquet translates the latter part of the above passage thus:--"avec quelle facilité nous parvenons à nous abuser nous-mêmes,"-- adding, in a note, as follows: "J'avais d'abord vu un tout autre sens dans la phrase anglaise. Si celui que j'adopte n'était pas encore le veritable, j'en demande sincèrement pardon à l'auteur." In turn, I may not be precisely informed of the meaning and force of the verb "abuser"-- used by my translator: but I had been better satisfied with the verb tromper--as more closely conveying the sense of the original.]

76 M. Le Prevost is a belles-lettres Antiquary of the highest order. His "Mémoire faisant suite à l'Essai sur les Romans historiques du moyen âge" may teach modern Normans not to despair when death shall have laid low their present oracle the ABBE' DE LA RUE. [I am proud, in this second edition of my Tour, to record the uninterrupted correspondence and friendship of this distinguished Individual; and I can only regret, in common with several friends, that M. Le Prevost will not summon courage sufficient to visit a country, once in such close connexion with his own, where a HEARTY RECEPTION has long awaited him.]

77 [The omission, in this place, of the entire IXth Letter, relating to the PUBLIC LIBRARY at Rouen, must be accounted for, and it is hoped, approved, on the principle laid down at the outset of this undertaking; namely, to omit much that was purely bibliographical, and of a secondary interest to the general Reader. The bibliography, in the original IXth Letter, being of a partial and comparatively dry description--as relating almost entirely to ancient volumes of Church Rituals--was thought to be better omitted than abridged. Another reason might be successfully urged for its omission.

This IXth Letter, which comprehends 22 pages in the previous impression, and about 38 pages in the version, having been translated and separately published in 1821, by Mons. Licquet (who succeeded M. Gourdin as Principal Librarian of the Library in question) I had bestowed upon it particular attention, and entered into several points by way of answer to his remarks, and in justification or explanation of the original matter. In consequence, any abridgement of that original matter must have led to constant notice of the minute remarks, and pigmy attacks, of my critical translator: and the stream of intelligence in the text might have been diverted, or rendered unpalatable, by the observations, in the way of controversy, in the notes. If M. Licquet considers this avowal as the proclaiming of his triumph, he is welcome to the laurels of a Conqueror; but if he can persuade any COMMON FRIENDS that, in the translation here referred to, he has defeated the original author in one essential position- -or corrected him in one flagrant inaccuracy--I shall be as prompt to thank him for his labours, as I am now to express my astonishment and pity at his undertaking. When M. Licquet put forth the brochure in question--(so splendidly executed in the press of M. Crapelet--to harmonise, in all respects, with the large paper copies of the original English text) he had but recently occupied the seat of his Predecessor. I can commend the zeal of the newly-appointed Librarian in Chief; but must be permitted to question alike his judgment and his motives.

One more brief remark in this place. My translator should seem to commend what is only laudatory, in the original author, respecting his countrymen. Sensitively alive to the notice of their smallest defects, he has the most unbounded powers of digestion for that of their excellences. Thus, at the foot of the ABOVE PASSAGE, in the text, Mons. Licquet is pleased to add as follows--in a note: "Si M. Dibdin ne s'était livré qu'à des digressions de cette nature, il aurait trouvé en France un chorus universel, un concert de voeux unanimes:" vol. i. p. 239. And yet few travellers have experienced a more cordial reception, and maintained a more harmonious intercourse, than HE, who, from the foregoing quotation, is more than indirectly supposed to have provoked opposition and discord!]

78 [I am ignorant of his present destination; but learn that he has quitted the above situation a long time.]

79 [Mr. COTMAN has published views of the West Front, the South East, the West Entrance, and the South Transept, with sculptured capitals and basso-relievos, &c. In the whole, seven plates.]

80 [Mr. Cotman has published etchings of the West Front: the Towers, somewhat fore-shortened; the Elevation of the Nave--and doorway of the Abbey: the latter an extremely interesting specimen of art. A somewhat particular and animated description of it will be found in Lieut. Hall's Travels in France, 8vo. p. 57, 1819. [In the first edition, I had called the west end towers of the Abbey--"small." Mons. Licquet has suggested that I must have meant "comparatively" small;--in contradistinction to the centre-tower, which would have been larger. We learn also from M. Licquet that the spire of this central tower was demolished in 1573, by the Abbé le Veneur, Bishop of Evreux." What earthly motive could have led to such a brutal act of demolition?]

81 ["I know perfectly well, says M. Licquet, the little Inn of which the author here speaks. I can assure him that it never formed any portion of the "chapter house." It was nevertheless une dependance exterieure (I will not attempt a version of this phrase) of the abbey. Dare I venture to say it was the cowhouse? (étable aux vaches). Thank you, good Mons. Licquet; but what is a cow-house but "an outer building attached to the Abbey?" Vide supra.]

82 [The heart and entrails only of this once celebrated woman were, according to M. Licquet, buried in the above spot. The body was carried to Loches: and BELLEFOREST (Cosmog. vol. i. Part ii. col. 31-32. edit. 1575, folio) gives a description of the mausoleum where it was there entombed: a description, adds M. Licquet, which may well serve for the mausoleum that was at Jumieges.]

83 [Not the smallest portion or particle of a sigh escapes us, on being told, as my translator has told us, that the "soil" in question has become the property of another Owner. "Laius EST MORT"--are the emphatic words of M. Licquet.]

84 [One of the bells of the Abbey of Jumieges is now in the Tower of that of St. Ouen, at Rouen. LICQUET.]

85 The nave was begun in 1416. LICQUET.

86 Corrected by Mons. Licquet: with thanks from the Author. It was, before, 1184.

87 Lieutenant Hall has well described it. I did not see his description till more than a twelvemonth after my own had been written. A part may be worth extracting.... "The principal object of attraction is the CHURCH, the gothic spire of which is encircled by fillets of roses, beautifully carved in stone, and continued to the very summit of the steeple. The principal portal too is sculptured with no less richness and delicacy than that of St. Maclou at Rouen. Its interior length is about 250 feet by 72 of width. The central aisle [nave] is flanked on either side by ten massive circular columns, the capitals of which represent vine leaves and other decorations, more fanciful, and not less rich, than the Corinthian acanthus.... In one of the chapels there is a rude monumental effigy of the original architect of this church. It consists of a small skeleton, drawn in black lines, against a tablet in the wall: a mason's level and trowel, with the plan of a building, are beside it, and an inscription in gothic characters, relating that the architect endowed the church he had built with certain lands, and died Anno 1484." Travels in France, p. 47, 1819, 8vo. I take this to be GUILLAUME TELLIER-- mentioned above: but in regard to the lands with which Tellier endowed the church, the inscription says nothing. LICQUET.

88 Small as may be this village, and insignificant as may be its aspect, it is one of the most important places, with respect to navigation, in the whole course of the river Seine. Seven years ago there were not fewer than four-score pilots settled here, by order of government, for the purpose of guarding against accidents which arise from a want of knowledge of the navigation of the river. In time of peace this number would necessarily be increased. In the year 1789 there were upwards of 250 English vessels which passed it--averaging, in the whole, 19,000 tons. It is from Quillebeufto Havre that the accidents arise. The author of a pompous, but very instructive memoir, "sur la Topographie et la Statistique de la Ville de Quillebeuf et de l'embouchure de la Seine, ayant pour objet-principal la navigation et la pêché," (published in the Transactions of the Rouen Society for the year 1812, and from which the foregoing information has been obtained) mentions three or four wrecks which have taken place in the immediate vicinity of Quillebeuf: and it should seem that a calm is, of all things, the most fatal. The currents are strong, and the vessel is left to the mercy of the tides in consequence. There are also rocks and sand banks in abundance. Among the wrecks, was one, in which a young girl of eighteen years of age fell a victim to the ignorance of the pilot. The vessel made a false tack between Hode and Tancarville, and running upon a bank, was upset in an instant. An English vessel once shared the same calamity. A thick fog suddenly came on, when the sloop ran upon a bank near the Nez de Tancarville, and the crew had just time to throw themselves into the boat and escape destruction. The next morning, so sudden and so decisive was the change wrought by the sand and current, that, of the sloop, there remained, at ebb-tide, only ten feet of her mast visible! It appears that the Quillebois, owing to their detached situation, and their peculiar occupations, speak a very barbarous French. They have a sort of sing-song method of pronunciation; and the g and j are strangely perverted by them. Consult the memoir here referred to; which occupies forty octavo pages: and which forms a sequel to a previous communication (in 1810) "upon the Topography and Medical properties of Quillebeuf and its adjacent parts." The author is M. Boismare. His exordium is a specimen of the very worst possible taste in composition. One would suppose it to be a prelude to an account of the discovery of another America!

89 ["The Roman Circus (says M. Licquet) is now departmental property. Many excavations have already taken place under the directions of Mons. Le Baron de Vanssay, the present Prefect of the Department. The most happy results may be anticipated. It was in a neighbouring property that an ANTIQUE BRONZE GILT STATUE, of the size of life, was lately found," vol. i. 194. Of this statue, Mr. Samuel Woodburn, (with that spirit of liberality and love of art which have uniformly characterised his purchases) became the Owner. The sum advanced for it was very considerable; but, in one sense, Mr. W. may be said to have stood as the Representative of his country; for the French Government declining to give the Proprietor the sum which he asked, Mr. Woodburn purchased it--solely with the view of depositing it, on the same terms of purchase, in a NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, of which the bequest of Mr. Payne Knight's ancient bronzes and coins, and the purchase of Mr. Angerstein's pictures, might be supposed to lay the foundation.

This statue was accordingly brought over to England, and freely exhibited to the curious admirers of ancient art. It is the figure of an APOLLO--the left arm, extended to hold the lyre, being mutilated. A portion of the limbs is also mutilated; but the torso, head and legs, are entire: and are, of their kind, of the highest class of art. Overtures were made for its purchase by government. The Trustees of the British Museum were unanimous both in their admiration and recommendation of it: it was indeed "strongly recommended" by them to the Treasury. Several months however elapsed before an answer could be obtained; and that answer, when it did come, was returned in THE NEGATIVE. The disappointment of reasonably indulged hopes of success, was the least thing felt by its owner. It was the necessity of transporting it, in consequence, to enrich a rival capital--which, were its means equal to its wishes and good taste, it must be confessed, makes us frequently blush for the comparative want of energy and liberality, at home, in matters relating to ANCIENT ART.]

90 Mr. Cotman has a view of the gateway of Tancarville, or Montmorenci Castle.

91 I am not sure whether this inn be called the Armes de France, or as above.

92 Evelyn, who visited Havre in 1644, when the Duke de Richlieu was governor, describes the citadel as "strong and regular, well stored with artillery, &c. The works furnished with faire brass canon, having a motto, "Ratio ultima Regum." The haven is very spacious." Life and Writings of John Evelyn, edit. 1818, vol. i. p. 51. Havre seems always to have been a place of note and distinction in more senses than one. In Zeiller's Topographia Galliae, (vol. iii.) there is a view of it, about the period in which Evelyn saw it, by Jacques Gomboust, Ingénieur du Roy, from which it appears to have been a very considerable place. Forty- two principal buildings and places are referred to in the directions; and among them we observe the BOULEVARDS DE RICHELIEU.

93 It was so in Evelyn's time: in 1644, "It is a poore fisher towne (says he) remarkable for nothing so much as the odd yet usefull habites which the good women weare, of beares and other skinns, as of raggs at Dieppe, and all along these coasts." Life and Writings of J. Evelyn; 1818, 4to. vol. i. p. 51.

94 [It is near a chapel, on one of the heights of this town, that Mr. Washington Irving fixes one of his most exquisitely drawn characters, ANNETTE DELABRE, as absorbed in meditation and prayer respecting the fate of her lover; and I have a distinct recollection of a beautiful piece of composition, by one of our most celebrated artists, in which the Heights of Honfleur, with women kneeling before a crucifix in the foreground, formed a most beautiful composition. The name of the artist (was it the younger Mr. Chalon?) I have forgotten.]

95 [My translator says, "un Wynkyn de Worde non coupé:" Qu. Would not the Debure Vocabulary have said "non rogné?"]

96 ["Besides her numerous public schools, Caen possesses two Schools of Art--one for design, the other for Architecture and Ornament--where the Students are gratuitously instructed." LICQUET.]

97 It is called Vin Huet--and is the last wine which a traveller will be disposed to ask for. When Henry IV. passed through the town, he could not conceive why such excellent grapes should produce such execrable wine. I owe this intelligence to Mons. LICQUET.

98 Somewhere about 150 English acres.

99 [I had before said twenty--but Mons. Licquet observes, I might have said--thirty thousand pairs of hands.]

100 Caen was celebrated for its table linen three centuries ago. Consult BOURGUEVILLE: Antiquitez de Caen; 1588, 8vo. p. 26.

101 The fauxbourgs of Caen, in the present day, wear a melancholy contrast to what they appear to have done in the middle of the XVIth century. Consult the pleasantly penned description of these fauxbourgs by the first topographer of the place, BOURGUEVILLE: in his Antiquitez de Caen, pp. 5, 6, 26.

It may be worth subjoining, from the same interesting authority, that long after the time even of the publication just referred to, the town of Caen was surrounded by lofty and thick stone walls--upon the tops of which three men could walk a-breast: and from thence the inhabitants could discern, across those large and beautiful gardens, "the vessels sailing in the river Orne, and unloading their cargoes by the sides of walls." It appears indeed to have been a sort of lounge, or fashionable promenade--by means of various ladders for the purposes of ascent and descent.

Among the old prints and bird's-eye views of Caen, which I saw in the collection of DE BOZE at the Royal Library at Paris, there is one accompanied by three pages of printed description, which begins with the lines of Guillaume Breton "Villa potens, opulenta, situ spatiosa decora." See First Edition, vol. i. p. 274. Evelyn, in 1644, thus describes the town of Caen. "The whole town is handsomely built of that excellent stone so well knowne by that name in England. I was lead to a pretty garden, planted with hedges of Alaternus, having at the entrance, at an exceeding height, accurately cut in topiary worke, with well understood architecture, consisting of pillars, niches, freezes, and other ornaments, with greate curiosity, &c. Life and Writings of J. Evelyn, 1818, 4to. vol. i. p. 52.

102 See the OPPOSITE PLATE.

103 It was a similar dépôt in Ducarel's time.

104 The story was in fact told us the very first night of our arrival, by M. Lagouelle, the master of the hotel royale. He went through it with a method, emphasis, and energy, rendered the more striking from the obesity of his figure and the vulgarity of his countenance. But he frankly allowed that "Monsieur l'Anglois se conduisait bien."

105 [The affair is now scarcely remembered; and the successful champion died a natural death within about three years afterwards. Mons. Licquet slenderly doubts portions of this tragical tale: but I have good reason to believe that it is not an exaggerated one. As to what occurred after the death of one of the combatants, I am unwilling to revive unpleasant sensations by its recapitulation.]

106 Bourgueville seems bitterly to lament the substitution of wells for fountains. He proposes a plan, quite feasible in his own estimation, whereby this desirable object might be effected: and then retorts upon his townsmen by reminding them of the commodious fountains at Lisieux, Falaise and Vire--of which the inhabitants "n'ont rien espargné pour auoir ceste decoration et commodité en leurs villes."--spiritedly adding--" si j'estois encore en auctorité, j'y ferois mon pouuoir, et ie y offre de mes biens." p. 17.

107 [I am most prompt to plead guilty to a species of Hippopotamos error, in having here translated the word Allemagne into GERMANY! Now, although this translation, per se, be correct, yet, as applicable to the text, it is most incorrect--as the Allemagne in question happens to be a Parish in the neighbourhood of Caen! My translator, in turn, treats me somewhat tenderly when he designates this as "une méprise fort singulière." vol. ii. p. 25.]

108 The plate of Ducarel, here alluded to, forms the fourth plate in his work; affording, from the starch manner in which it is engraved, an idea of one of the most disproportioned, ugly buildings imaginable. Mr. Cotman has favoured us with a good bold etching of the West Front, and of the elevation of compartments of the Nave; The former is at once faithful and magnificent; but the lower part wants characteristic markings.

109 It should be noticed that, "besides the immense benefactions which William in his life time conferred upon this abbey, he, on his death, presented thereto the crown which he used to wear at all high festivals, together with his sceptre and rod: a cup set with precious stones; his candlesticks of gold, and all his regalia: as also the ivory bugle-horn which usually hung at his back." Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 51. note. The story of the breaking open of the coffin by the Calvinists, and finding the Conqueror's remains, is told by Bourgueville--who was an eye witness of these depredations, and who tried to "soften the obdurate hearts" of the pillagers, but in vain. This contemporaneous historian observes that, in his time "the abbey was filled with beautiful and curious stained-glass windows and harmonious organs, which were all broken and destroyed--and that the seats, chairs, &c. and all other wooden materials were consumed by fire," p.171. Huet observes that a "Dom Jean de Baillehache and Dom Matthieu de la Dangie," religious of St. Stephen's, took care of the monument of the Conqueror in the year 1642, and replaced it in the state in which it appeared in Huet's time." Origines de Caen; p.248. The revolution was still more terrible than the Calvinistic fury;--for no traces of the monument are now to be seen.

110 The west window is almost totally obscured by a most gigantic organ built close to it, and allowed to be the finest in all France. This organ is so big, as to require eleven large bellows, &c. Ducarel, p.57. He then goes on to observe, that "amongst the plate preserved in the treasury of this church, is a curious SILVER SALVER, about ten inches in diameter, gilt, and inlaid with antique medals. Tradition assures us, that it was on this salver, that king William the conqueror placed the foundation charter of the abbey when he presented it, at the high altar, on the dedication of the church. The edges of this salver, which stands on a foot stalk of the same metal, are a little turned up, and carved. In the centre is inlaid a Greek medal; on the obverse whereof is this legend, Αυσανδερ Αυκονος but it being fixed in its socket, the reverse is not visible. The other medals, forty in number, are set round the rim, in holes punched quite through; so that the edges of the holes serve as frames for the medals. These medals are Roman, and in the highest preservation."

111 Yet Bourgueville's description of the group, as it appeared in his time, trips up the heels of his own conjecture. He says that there were, besides the two figures above mentioned, "vn autre homme et femme à genoux, comme s'ils demandoient raison de la mort de leur enfant, qui est vne antiquité de grand remarque dont je ne puis donner autre certitude de l'histoire." Antiquitez de Caen; p.39. Now, it is this additional portion of the group (at present no longer in existence) which should seem to confirm the conjecture of my friend Mr. Douce--that it is a representation of the received story, in the middle ages, of the Emperor Trajan being met by a widow who demanded justice against the murderer of her son. The Emperor, who had just mounted his horse to set out upon some hostile expedition, replied, that "he would listen to her on his return." The woman said, "What, if you never return?" "My successor will satisfy you"--he replied--"But how will that benefit you,"--resumed the widow. The Emperor then descended from his horse, and enquiring into the woman's case, caused justice to be done to her. Some of the stories say that the murderer was the Emperor's own son.

112 [Since the publication of the first edition of this work, the figure in question has appeared from the pencil and burin of Mr. Cotman; of which the only fault, as it strikes me, is, that the surface is too rough-- or the effect too sketchy.]

113 Bourgueville has minutely described it in his Antiquities; and his description is copied in the preceding edition of this work.