FOUNTAIN OF LISIEUX,
Rue de la Savonnerie.
This fountain is by far the most remarkable of the whole. It is thus named on account of its being erected against a house, which belonged to the bishop of Lisieux, who lodged in it when he came to Rouen. At the top of the pyramid, we may remark Apollo, dressed in a most extraordinary manner, and represented playing on the harp. Under the god of the poets, we distinguish the horse Pegasus. Immediately beneath, a figure with three heads is represented, of which the manuscripts make a philosophy[21]. The nine muses are distributed in the rest of the masonry, under the figure with three heads, which might almost be that of a Hecate. Rocks, trees, turf and sheep, form the accompaniements of this Mount-Parnassus.
The water ran formerly from two brass figures of Salamanders, which indicated the date of the time of Francis the first. Mutilated as it is, this monument is still very curious, and merits to be visited. Its erection dates from the year 1518.
MINERAL WATERS.
Rouen has also its mineral waters, which, even in the neighbouring towns, have a sort of reputation, I will point out three of the principal sources, after Lepecq de la Clôture: The first, to the east, is known under the name of la Marèquerie, to which we arrive by the rue Martainville; the second, to the south east, named de Saint-Paul; the third is situated at Déville, in the neighbourhood of Rouen. The learned doctor, on whose authority I speak, assures us that sick people to whom he ordered the water of the last named spring, were cured by the use of it. He also adds, that this spring might become very valuable to the inhabitants of the western quarter of the town. Nevertheless, it has never been much known, and even at the present day very few people are acquainted with its existence.