n: Plate 77. FOUNTAIN OF THE STONE CROSS AT ROUEN.]

Rouen has long boasted a pre-eminence over the greater part of the
cities of France, with respect to its public fountains. The chalk hills,
with which it is surrounded, furnish an abundant supply of excellent
springs; and the waters of these, led into different parts of the town,
contribute in no less a degree to the embellishment of the city, than to
the comfort of the inhabitants. The form of some, and the ornaments of
others, are well deserving of attention, notwithstanding the injuries
that have inevitably occurred from time, or the more cruel ones that
have been caused by wanton mutilation. It is upon historical record,
that there were several fountains at Rouen, as early as the twelfth
century, but their number, which now exceeds thirty, received its
principal increase towards the beginning of the sixteenth century; and
it was then also that the idea seems first to have been conceived of
making, what was originally designed only for convenience, subservient
to beauty. For this new supply of ornamental fountains, Rouen is
indebted to its great benefactor, the Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, who,
uniting the Norman archiepiscopal mitre to the office of prime minister,
under Louis XII. was no less able than he was willing, to render the
most essential services to the seat of his spiritual jurisdiction. It
was under the auspices of this archbishop, that the fountain here
figured, one of the earliest of that period, was erected. He caused it
to be built in the year 1500. The spot which it occupies, is the
cross-way formed by the union of the streets, called St. Vivien, St.
Hilaire, and Coqueraumont, a spot which, previously to the reign of St.
Louis, was not included within the walls of the town, and which, even at
the distance of one hundred years after that time, had not begun to be
inhabited.

So ancient is the practice of placing stone crosses at the junction of
roads in the vicinity of cities, that it would be difficult to assign
any probable time for the erection of that which was replaced by the
fountain that still bears its name. The waters of this fountain have
their origin in a spring, which flows at the foot of a hill near the
village of St. Leger, at some distance from Rouen. The execution of the
structure unites a happy mixture of boldness in outline, and delicacy in
details: its pyramidal form is graceful. It consists of three stories,
gradually diminish