[93] The destroying of dragons, or fiery serpents, or similar monsters, appears to have been the most common of all miracles, in the early ages of Christianity. After the exploits of St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. George, ecclesiastical history abounds in similar legends. St. Romain, St. Marcel, St. Julian, St. Martial, St. Bertrand, St. Martha, and St. Clement, make but a small proportion of the saints who distinguished themselves by these acts of pious heroism. The dragons of Rouen and of Metz were of sufficient celebrity to acquire the distinct names of the _Gargouille_, and the _Graouilli_.--It has been commonly supposed, that these various miracles were allegorical, and intended to typify the confining of rivers within their channels, or the limiting of the incursions of the sea. Other authors have been inclined to account for their prevalence, as having reference to the sun, or to astronomical phænomena; but surely the most simple and satisfactory mode of explaining them, lies in considering the dragon as the emblem of evil, and the various victories gained over dragons, as so many conquests obtained by virtue over vice.--A considerable fund of curious information, on this subject, will be found in the _Magasin Encyclopédique_ for _January, 1812_, p. 1-24, in a paper by M. Eusèbe Salverte, entitled _Légendes du Moyen Age_. [94] _Histoire des Archevêques de Rouen_, p. 40. [95] _Histoire de la Cathédrale de Rouen_, p. 19. [96] _Histoire de la Cathédrale de Rouen_, p. 625. [97] Not, however, in the identical spot in which they were originally deposited: they were at first laid in the immediate vicinity of the high altar, but were, before the close of the eleventh century, removed to the situations they now occupy, in chapels on opposite sides of the upper end of the nave. The following account of their tombs, with the statues and inscriptions, is transcribed from _Gilbert's Description Historique de l'Eglise de Notre Dame de Rouen_, p. 57:--"Le tombeau de Rollon est placé dans un enfoncement cintré, pratiqué dans le mur de la chapelle; il consiste en un sarcophage de stuc, marbre de Portor, sur lequel se voit la statue couchée de ce prince, dont la tête est appuyée sur un coussin. Rollon est vêtu d'une longue tunique, par-dessus laquelle est un manteau couleur de pourpre, ou espèce de chlamyde attachée à l'épaule droite; il porte sur sa tête une couronne. Cette statue a été un peu mutilée. Au-dessus de l'arcade dans laquelle est le tombeau, on lit l'inscription suivante, gravée en lettres d'or sur un marbre noir: HIC POSITUS EST ROLLO NORMANNIÆ A SE TERRITAE VASTATÆ RESTITUTÆ PRIMUS DUX CONDITOR PATER A FRANCONE ARCHIEP. ROTOM. BAPTIZATUS ANNO DCCCCXIII OBIIT ANNO DCCCCXVII OSSA IPSIUS IN VETERI SANCTUARIO NUNC CAPITE NAVIS PRIMUM CONDITA, TRANSLATO ALTARI, COLLOCATA SUNT A B. MAURILIO ARCHIEP. ROTOM. AN. MLXIII.