s in a French church of the thirteenth
century which were merely meant for peculiarly gruesome devils; but
the feathered dresses and bow and arrows of the figures in the Church
of St. Jacques at Dieppe are of an age that may very well agree with
this appearance of Brazilians as public characters in France.

In 1565 Godefroy's "Ceremonial de France" records that they were again
shown to Charles IX. at Troyes, and Montaigne's questions to them in
1563 will be remembered. They replied that what astonished them most
was (Essais I. xxx.) to see so many strong men armed and bearded
(meaning the Swiss guard probably) obeying a puny little person like
the King. They were also fairly puzzled at seeing men gorged with
plenty and living in ostentation on one side of the road, and
starveling ruffians begging their bread in the gutter on the other
without attempting to take the rich men by the throat, or even burn
their houses. On which the essayist's comment is "Tout cela ne va pas
trop mal; mais quoy! ils ne portent point de hault de chausses," a
truly Rabelaisian reason for their want of intellect!]

Besides the music in the town, of which I reproduce an example at the
end of this chapter, an entertainment was provided for the King and
Queen and all the ladies in the great Palais de Justice, with which
those rogues, the gay members of the "Basoche," must have been
heartily in sympathy. For Brusquet, the Court jester, went into the
Advocate's Box, and before the Queen upon the seat of justice, with
all her ladies round her, he pleaded several important causes both for
the prosecution and for the defence, "et faisait rage d'alleguer loix,
chapitres, et decisions, et luy croissoit le latin en la bouche comme
le cresson a la guelle d'un four," the whole being a satire on the
well-known Norman passion for a lawsuit, which was appreciated as
much by the good people of Rouen as by their royal visitors.

But to finish this chapter with a glimpse of the people themselves, I
must take you back to that old Rue du Hallage, in which our memories
of Rouen's trading voyages suggested the festivities of this royal
entry. And I can imagine few greater contrasts than that from the
spacious courtyard of the Palais de Justice to the view of the queer
twisting streets and common habitations that you will get by standing
in the Place de la Calende and looking down the Rue de l'Epicerie
towards the river. As you wander down it you must look at No. 14