Our Next Pilgrimage Was To The Statue Of Joan Of Arc, Which We
Approached Through Narrow Streets, So Dirty From The Late Heavy Rains,
As To Be Scarcely Passable.
We had, as we might have expected, little
to reward us, except the associations connected with the Maid of
Orleans, and her cruel persecutors.
The spot had been to me, from my
earliest years, one which I had felt a wish to visit, my researches,
while writing the Memoirs of the Rival Houses of York and Lancaster,
materially increasing the interest which an earlier perusal of the
history of England and France had created, concerning scenes trodden
by the brave, the great, and the good. However mistaken might have
been their notions, however impolitic their actions, we cannot
contemplate the characters of the Paladins, who have made Rouen
famous, without feelings of respect. The murder of Joan of Arc formed
the sole blot on the escutcheon of John Duke of Bedford, and the
faults and vices of his companions in arms were the offspring of the
times in which they lived.
We were surprised by the excellence of the shops, even in the most
dilapidated parts of the city of Rouen, the windows in every direction
exhibiting a gay assemblage of goods of all descriptions, while the
confectioners were little, if at all, inferior to those of Paris.
One small square in particular, in which a market was held, was very
striking, from the contrast between the valuable products sold, and
the houses which contained them. Seven or eight stories in height,
weather-stained, and dilapidated, the lower floors exhibited handsome
porcelain and other costly articles, which gave an impression of
wealth in the owners, that astonished those amongst our party who were
strangers to the country. Our hearts absolutely sunk within us as
we thought of the wretchedness of the interiors, the misery of being
obliged to inhabit any one of the numerous suites of apartments rising
tier above tier, and from which it would be absolutely impossible to
banish vermin of every description.
The French appear certainly to be beginning to study home comforts,
all the modern houses being built upon very commodious plans; still
the middling classes, in the towns at least, are miserably lodged,
in comparison with the same grades in England, families of apparently
great respectability inhabiting places so desolate as to strike one
with horror.
After picking our way through the least objectionable of the streets
in the heart of the city, we were glad to escape into the open air,
and solace ourselves with the views presented on the neighbouring
heights. Nothing can be finer than the landscapes round Rouen; every
necessary of life appears to be cheap and plentiful, and persons
desirous of a quiet and economical residence abroad might spend their
time very happily in the outskirts of this picturesque city.
We found the guests at the table-d'hote chiefly English, travellers
like ourselves, and some of our party recognised London acquaintance
among those who, upon hearing our intention to proceed the following
day up the Seine to Paris, recommended the boat by which they had
arrived - the Etoile.
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