Ouen from the
garden, at the _east_ end, are two of the grandest architectural
pictures to be found in Normandy, we shall have nearly accomplished our
task.[43]
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF 'NOTRE DAME' AT ROUEN.
"Like a piece of rockwork, rough and encrusted with images, and
ornamented from top to bottom."]
'The cathedral of Notre Dame occupies with its west front one side of a
square, formerly a fruit and flower market. The vast proportions of this
grand Gothic facade, its elaborate and profuse decorations, and its
stone screens of open tracery, impress one at first with wonder and
admiration, diminished however but not destroyed, by a closer
examination; which shows a confusion of ornament and a certain
corruption of taste.
'The projecting central porch, and the whole of the upper part, is of
the sixteenth century, the lateral ones being of an earlier period and
chaster in style. Above the central door is carved the genealogy of
Jesse; over the north-west door is the death of John the Baptist, with
the daughter of Herodias dancing before Herod; and above them, figures
of Virgin and Saints.
'The north tower, called St. Romain (the one on the left in our
illustration), is older in date, part of it being of the twelfth
century; the right-hand tower, which is more florid, being of the
sixteenth.' The central spire in the background is really of _cast
iron_, and stands out, it is fair to say, much more sharply and
painfully against the sky, than in our illustration.
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