[65] _Seroux d'Agincourt, Historie de la Décadence de l'Art_; plate 10, _Sculpture_, fig. 4-7. [66] _Du Moulin, Histoire Générale de Normandie,_ p. 236. [67] _Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni_, p. 558. [68] _Histoire de l'Abbaye de St. Ouen_, p. 188. [69] _Farin, Histoire de Rouen_, V. p. 121 [70] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, II. p. 268. LETTER X. EARLY POINTED ARCHITECTURE--CATHEDRAL--EPISCOPAL PALACE. (_Rouen, June_, 1818.) In passing from the true Norman architecture, characterised "by the circular arch, round-headed doors and windows, massive pillars with a kind of regular base and capital, and thick walls without any very prominent buttresses",[71] to those edifices which display the pointed style, I shall enter into a more extensive field, and one where the difficulty no longer lies in discovering, but in selecting objects for observation and description. The style which an ingenious author of our own country has designated as _early English_[72], is by no means uncommon in Normandy. In both countries, the circular style became modified into _Gothic_, by the same gradations; though, in Normandy, each gradation took place at an earlier period than amongst us. The style in question forms the connecting link between edifices of the highest antiquity, and those of the richest pointed architecture; combined in some instances principally with the peculiarities of the former, in others with the character of the latter: generally speaking, it assimilates itself to both. The simplicity of the principal lines betray its analogy to its predecessors; whilst the form of the arch equally displays the approach of greater beauty and perfection. Of this æra, the cathedral[73] of Rouen is unquestionably the most interesting building; and it is so spacious, so grand, so noble, so elegant, so rich, and so varied, that, as the Italians say of Raphael, "ammirar non si può che non s'onori."--By an exordium like this, I am aware that an expectation will be raised, which it will be difficult for the powers of description to gratify; but I have still felt that it was due to the edifice, to speak of it as I am sure it deserves, and rather to subject myself to the charge of want of ability in describing, than of want of feeling in the appreciation of excellence.