[52] It must be admitted that Diana, when she caused the verses
Indivulsa tibi quondam et fidissima conjux
Vt fuit in thalamo, sic erit in tumulo.
to be engraved upon the tomb of the Seneschal, might well have "moved the bile" of the pious Benedictine Pommeraye, and have excited the taunting of Ducarel, when they thought upon her subsequent connexion, in the character of mistress, with Henry the Second of France. Henry however endeavoured to compensate for his indiscretions by the pomp and splendor of his processions. Rouen, so celebrated of old for the entries of Kings and Nobles, seems to have been in a perfect blaze of splendor upon that of the Lover of Diana--"qui fut plus magnifique que toutes celles qu'on avoit vu jusqu'alors:" see Farin's Hist. de la Ville de Rouen, vol. i. p. 121, where there is a singularly minute and gay account of all the orders and degrees of citizens--(with their gorgeous accoutrements of white plumes, velvet hats, rich brocades, and curiously wrought taffetas) of whom the processions were composed. It must have been a perfectly dramatic sight, upon the largest possible scale. It was from respect to the character or the memory of DIANA, that so many plaster-representations of her were erected on the exteriors of buildings: especially of those within small squares or quadrangles. In wandering about Rouen, I stumbled upon several old mansions of this kind.
[53] The inscription is this:
Si quem sancta tenet meditandi in lege voluntas,
Hic poterit residens, sacris intendere libris.
Pommeraye has rather an interesting gossiping chapter [Chap. xxii.] "De la Bibliothêque de la Cathédrale;" p. 163: to which FRANÇOIS DE HARLAY, about the year 1630, was one of the most munificent benefactors.
[54] Christian interment.]--"Les Religieux de Saint Ouen touchez de compassion envers ce malheureux artisan, obtinrent son corps de la justice, et pour reconnoissance des bons services qu'il leur avoit rendus dans la construction de leur église, nonobstant sa fin tragique, ne laissèrent pas de luy fair l'honneur de l'inhumer dans la chapelle de sainte Agnes, ou sa tombe se voit encore auec cet Epitaphe:
Cy gist M. ALEXANDRE DE BERNEUAL, Maistre des oeuvres de Massonnerie.
[55] Even Dr. Ducarel became warm--on contemplating this porch! "The porch at the south entrance into the church (says he) is much more worthy of the spectator's attention, being highly enriched with architectonic ornaments; particularly two beautiful cul de lamps, which from the combination of a variety of spiral dressings, as they hang down from the vaulted roof, produce a very pleasing effect." p. 28.
[56] Consult the account given by M. Le Prevost in the "Précis Analytique des Travaux de l'Academie, &c. de Rouen," for the year 1816, p. 151, &c.