The =Rue du Marc= was the quarter where the old noble families and the higher _bourgeoisie_ of Rheims lived. It suffered considerably from the bombardments. At No. 3 is a Henry IV. house, the windows of which are framed with graceful ornamentation (_photo below_). However, the most remarkable house in the street is undoubtedly the =Hôtel Nicolas le Vergeur= (No. 1), which, unfortunately, was partly destroyed by the shells (_see p. 85_). [Illustration: HOUSE DATING BACK TO THE REIGN OF HENRI IV. (1589-1610) AT NO. 3 RUE DU MARC] =The Hôtel Nicolas Le Vergeur= The interior building, which has a 17th century carriage entrance, offers two fine examples of 15th and 16th century architecture. It is the finest Renaissance structure in Rheims. The main front, incomparably the most graceful, was but little damaged by the bombardments (_photo below_). On the ground-floor the great arched doorway is divided by a wooden post into two delicately carved compartments. Pilasters decorated with heads, flowers, birds, and horns of plenty frame the three stone-mullioned windows. Above these runs a frieze of trophies and medallions, with portraits of noble lords with upturned moustaches and pointed beards, and of great ladies with _collerettes_ and high head-dresses, gracious or haughty, standing well out in relief. [Illustration: HÔTEL NICOLAS LE VERGEUR] On the first storey, carved panels above the window form a sort of broad frieze of bas-reliefs representing men-at-arms or knights of the time of François I. and Henri II. fighting at tournaments with lance, sword, or pike. In one of the rooms overlooking the Rue Pluche were, a fine stone _mantelpiece_ decorated with graceful delicate foliage; a timber-work _ceiling_ with large and small beams, carrying panels decorated with scrolls, and 15th century _tile-flooring_ of terra-cotta, varnished and painted green and yellow. At the back of the courtyard, a building, supposed by some to be an old chapel, had been transformed into vast cellars and store-rooms. The _oaken ceiling_ of the latter, about fifty feet long and twenty-one broad, destroyed in 1918, was one of the most beautiful in the world. The beams, whose extremities carried grotesque figures, were carved on all their sides with foliage, dragons, birds, and fruits. The beams were connected by joists resting on stems, which represented apes, dragons, persons, and foliage. Between the joists the panels had the appearance of scrolls. _After visiting the Hôtel Le Vergeur, turn to the right into the Rue Pluche, which leads to the Place des Marchés. Skirt the Square on the left, then take the first street on the left_: =Rue Courmeaux=. [Illustration: HÔTEL ROGIER DE MONCLIN, 18 RUE COURMEAUX]