. And though Thouret
is sent up as Deputy to Paris (and afterwards to draw up the
Constitution), though the irascible Marquis d'Herbouville is always
making a disturbance, though the "Carabots" revolt and break out into
pillage, it is only when "Anarchists" from Paris come down to trouble
them that the good folk of Rouen "draw the line." In fact, they
hanged the over-zealous Bourdier and Jourdain upon the quay just by
the bridge.

It is interesting that no less a personage than Marat, then plain Dr
Marat, had several Memoires crowned by the Academy of Rouen, one of
them on Mesmerism. Voltaire thought little of his capabilities then,
but the "ami du peuple" left a gentle reputation in the town, and is
even credited with having preserved an old illuminated manuscript
under his mattress during some riots that threatened its safety. A
more authenticated fact is that Charlotte Corday came from Caen, and
popular tradition insists still that it was from the carving of
Herodias on the facade of Rouen Cathedral (which the townsfolk call
"La Marianne dansant," for some unknown reason) that the suggestion
came to her of saving the People from their Friend.

The great Napoleon first saw Rouen in its capacity as a trading
centre. Its industry very soon recovered after the Revolution, and an
actual "Exposition" was organised in the Tribunal de Commerce, which
was inspected by Josephine and the First Consul Bonaparte. He returned
as Emperor, and in 1840 the city solemnly received him for the last
time, when his body was brought back from St. Helena and passed
beneath the first bridge across the Seine at Rouen.

The kings who had been deposed with so much bloodshed and fanfaronade,
reappeared as if nothing had happened when Louis Philippe laid the
first stone for the pedestal of Corneille's statue carved by David
d'Angers. In 1871 that statue was all draped in black. The streets of
Rouen, hung with funereal emblems, were all in the deepest mourning,
every shop was closed and every window shuttered. Upon the plain of
Sotteville a great army was manoeuvring to and fro to the sound of
words of command in a strange tongue. General Manteuffel, the Duke of
Mecklenburgh, and "Prince Fritz" had led the German army of invasion
into Rouen, and from December till July they occupied the town and its
surrounding villages. For the last time Rouen was in the hands of
foreigners. But the traces of this catastrophe have absolutely
disappeared. The