parison with the sculpture at
Rouen will scarcely leave a doubt, that it was designed for a
dancing-girl, introduced for the amusement of the company.

[102] _Pommeraye, Histoire de l'Eglise Cathedrale de Rouen_, p. 33.

[103] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 144.

[104] _Bibliographical, Antiquarian, and Picturesque Tour in France and
Germany_, I. p. 50.

[105] _Pommeraye, Histoire des Archeveques de Rouen_, p. 22.

PLATE LIII.

CRYPT IN THE CHURCH OF ST. GERVAIS, AT ROUEN.

It has been inferred, and with much apparent probability, from the
silence of Julius Caesar, that the proud capital of Normandy had either
no existence in the time of that general, or was at most only a place of
small importance. There have not, however, been wanting, among the
historians of Rouen, some, who, jealous, as usual, for the honor of
their city, ascribe to it an antiquity beyond the deluge, and trust to
the latter half of its classical name, for bearing them out in the
assertion, that its foundations were laid by Magus, the son and
successor of Samothes, first king of Gaul. Others, more moderate, have
contented themselves with the belief, that, although Caesar does not make
mention of Rothomagus, there is still no reason to question its
existence before the Christian aera, or to doubt that it was then the
chief town of the Velocasses, as Lillebonne was of the neighboring tribe
of the Caletes, the inhabitants of the present _Pays de Caux_. It is at
least known with certainty, that, in the division of Gaul, which took
place not very long afterwards, into seventeen provinces, Rouen became
the metropolis of the _Lugdunensis Secunda_; and that, from that time
forwards, it continued gradually to rise in consequence, till the
establishment of Neustria into an independent sovereignty stamped it
with the title of the capital of a nation.

At the present time, Rouen can shew scarcely any remains of Roman
antiquity: "the wide waste of all-devouring years," has effaced those
vestiges which that powerful people seldom failed to have impressed,
wherever their dominion had once been firmly established. The small
church of St. Gervais, derives therefore a peculiar interest, as
exhibiting proofs, sufficiently decided, though far from important, of a
connection with Italy. These proofs rest principally upon the Roman
bricks and other _debris_, some of them rudely sculptured, which have
been employed in the construction of the piers of t