e town was enlarged by the
quarter of the Marequerie.

It is not probably to Rollo, the first duke that we owe the institution
of the exchequer. The first trace of it, is only found under
William-the-Conqueror. Perhaps even, it was only known under his son
Henry Ist "the King Duke." Ancient writers have thought that an
exchequer existed in England before the conquest. The learned Madox, on
the contrary, (vol. 1st page 177 and following) declares, that he has
not found in any document prior to William's expedition, the word
scaccarium (or exchequer). But he finds it shortly after that time, from
which it would appear natural to conclude that, that institution had
been carried over by that prince. The exchequer was removed sometimes to
Rouen, at other times to Caen, and sometimes to Falaise. Louis XIIth
fixed this sovereign court at Rouen, in 1449, and opened it on the 1st
october of the same year. Francis Ist raised the exchequer into a
parliament in the year 1515. It was interdicted in the month of August
1540, but the 7th January 1541, was reinstated.

Thick walls, deep ditches, and formidable towers, a great many turrets,
bastions, casemates, and fortified gates, made Rouen an important place,
before the revolution: omitting the different sieges, which it had to
sustain from the Normans, we must notice in 949 those by Otho, emperor
of Germany, Louis IVth, king of France, and Arnould count of Flanders;
that in 1204 by Philip-Augustus, 1418, by Henry Vth king of England;
that in 1449, after which, Charles VIIth retook the town from the
English; lastly, that of 1591, by Henry IVth. In all these sieges, and
many more which I have not mentioned, the inhabitants of Rouen always
gave proofs of great valour and sometimes of a resignation without
example.

All the fortifications of the town have disappeared since the
revolution; its ancient appearance, is now only found in the interior,
in its religious monuments and a few houses, which time or the hand of
man appears to have forgotten.

Before 1790, Rouen contained thirty seven parochial churches and about
as many religious communities of both sexes. It now only contains six
parochial churches, and eight chapels of ease, with a church for the use
of protestants.

Rouen is situated on a gentle slope, on the right bank of the Seine,
which forms the southern boundary; the suburb of Saint-Sever, is
situated on the left bank. The geographical position of the town is the
49