[55] See _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 12. [56] A minute and very curious account of the whole of this ceremony, from the first claiming of the prisoner to his final deliverance, is given in _Tuillepied's Antiquités de Rouen_, p. 79. [57] _Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p. 228. [58] _Antiquités Nationales_, II. No. 21 p. 3 [59] _Millin, Antiquités Nationales_, II. No. 20. p. 3. [60] _Noel, Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p. 209 [61] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, V. p. 113. [62] _Essais sur le Département de la Seine Inférieure_, II. p. 210. LETTER IX. ANCIENT ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE--CHURCHES OF ST. PAUL AND ST. GERVAIS--HOSPITAL OF ST. JULIEN--CHURCHES OF LERY, PAVILLY, 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 Maréquerie_. Both the one and the other are highly ferruginous, but the latter most strongly impregnated with iron.