[114] _Antiquités Nationales_, III. article 30, p. 26.--(In the figure, however, which accompanies this article, the summit is mutilated, as I saw it.)
[115] _Peuchet, Description Topographique et Statistique de la France, Département de la Seine Inférieure_, p. 33.
[116] _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 94.
[117] _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 33. t. 3.
[118] _Annals of the Coinage of Britain_, I. p. 505-507.
MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS--LIBRARY--MANUSCRIPTS--MUSEUM--ACADEMY--BOTANIC GARDEN--THEATRE--ANCIENT HISTORY--EMINENT MEN.
The laws of France do not recognize monastic vows; but of late years, the clergy have made attempts to re-establish the communities which once characterized the Catholic church. To a certain degree they have succeeded: the spirit of religion is stronger than the law; and the spirit of contradiction, which teaches the subject to do whatever the law forbids, is stronger than either. Hence, most towns in France contain establishments, which may be considered either as the embers of expiring monachism, or the sparks of its reviving flame. Rouen has now a convent of Ursulines, who undertake the education of young females. The house is spacious; and for its neatness, as well as for the appearance of regularity and propriety, cannot be surpassed. On this account, it is often visited by strangers. The present lady-abbess, Dame Cousin, would do honor to the most flourishing days of the hierarchy: when she walks into the chapel, Saint Ethelburgha herself could not have carried the crozier with greater state; and, though she is somewhat short and somewhat thick, her pupils are all wonderfully edified by her dignity. She has upwards of dozen English heretics under her care; but she will not compromise her conscience by allowing them to attend the Protestant service. There are also about ninety French scholars, and the inborn antipathy between them and the _insulaires_, will sometimes evince itself. Amongst other specimens of girlish spite, the French fair-ones have divided the English damsels into two _genera_. Those who look plump and good-humored, they call _Mesdemoiselles Rosbifs_; whilst such as are thin and graver acquire the appellation of the _Mesdemoiselles Goddams_, a name by which we have been known in France, at least five centuries ago.--This story is not trivial, for it bespeaks the national feeling; and, although you may not care much about it, yet I am sure, that five centuries hence, it will be considered as of infinite importance by the antiquaries who are now babes unborn. The Ursulines and _soeurs d'Ernemon_, or _de la Charité_, who nurse the sick, are the only two orders which are now protected by government. They were even encouraged under the reign of Napoléon, who placed them under the care of his august parent, _Madame Mère_.--There are other sisterhoods at Rouen, though in small numbers, and not publickly patronized.