1830.] Church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris. at large, that whilst the Clergy forsake their calling to interfere in agricultural concerns, sectaries should increase and abound, intrude themselves into the churches, and usurp the authority of teachers; and can it be denied that wherever the Clergyman becomes a farmer, his proper province, thus deserted, is generally invaded by religious bigots and ranting enthusiasts ? 101 bellished Paris; for it would have laid open many of the narrow, fetid streets in the heart of the town, where, it is scarcely exaggeration to say the sunbeams never penetrate. A new site was fixed upon for a Church to replace it; but the priests have hitherto had too much influence to allow the improvement to be taken into consideration. However, as the present King, Louis-Philip, is known to patronise all measures of public utility, we may soon see the late Emperor's plan carried into effect. The result of all this will be either the disgrace of the English Church, if not the ruin of it: the decay of rational piety: the deterioration of morals: the loss of good manners, and introduction The western front of this Church of fanaticism; or such an impression looks on the beautiful façade of the upon the common sense of the country Louvre, and is at a sufficient distance as may lead to an effectual remedy in a to allow a convenient view of both due and moderate provision for the edifices. On the north side is the Rue Clergy, and an absolute prohibition of Chilperic; on the south, the Rue des their following any secular employ- Prêtres; and on the east, the Rue de ment whatsoever so that they may l'Arbre Sec. The Church, however, cultivate sound learning, advance true is not detached; for houses and shops religion, and practise those duties by have been erected in corners, formed which they may both save their own by projecting parts of the building; souls, and those who hear them. X. and the whole presents a mass of confused memorials of different ages, exhibiting in some parts the offerings of superstitious piety; in others, the traces of revolutionary spoliation. P. S. If these remarks are admis sible, I shall probably beg a corner in your next Magazine upon the subject of Magisterial and Electioneering Clergy; who, if they do not see their own faults, are not more likely to correct them than their brethren amongst the laity. Mr. URBAN, A Paris, Aug. 10. BRIEF account of the ancient Church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, (where great numbers of persons, slain in the late sanguinary conflicts near the Louvre, were promiscuously interred,) may not be misplaced in your Miscellany; as this edifice is one of the most prominent antiquities of the city, and is visited by almost every traveller who arrives here, being si tuated in a quarter constantly traversed by all classes. The building is not remarkable for beauty; and in point of age, it yields to St. Germain-des-Près; but from various circumstances, it has excited more interest with the antiquary, as well as the mere curious spectator. Had Napoleon remained on the throne of France, this Church would have been demolished some years back; he intended opening a road from the eastern façade of the Louvre, to the Place de la Bastille. That plan would have greatly improved, as well as em A Church was erected on this spot in 606, by King Chilperic: it was dedicated to Germain, the twentieth Bishop of Paris, who died in 576, and was long called St. Germain-la-Ronde, on account of its circular form. That Bishop had excommunicated Charibert, King of Paris, for polygamy; and was in such great reputation, that many persons bequeathed their property to defray the expense of translating his remains to the new Church. The original edifice having been destroyed by the Normans, was rebuilt by King Robert, in the beginning of the eleventh century; when it received the name of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, to distinguish it from another Church dedicated to St. Germain. But Alexander III. in a bull of 1165, continues to give it the old appellation; he calls it Monasterium Sancti Germani Rotundi. The Church at present consists of some portions of that erected by King Robert, with additions and reparations, made by the English in 1423. It belongs to no particular class of architecture; and it becomes difficult to give an intelligible account of so irregular a building. Viewed from the west, we see a wide porch, and on each side of 102 Church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris. the principal door are three statues; they stand upon brackets formed by figures of deformed animals, and in the mouldings over the door are rows of various little monsters. A turret of plain stone work is seen on each side of the body of the Church; and a number of ornamented pinnacles, on the top of the buttresses, with projecting spouts, terminating in misshapen figures, give rather a grotesque appearance to the building. The porch not extending the whole breadth of the edifice, the space on each side was afterwards filled up by two chambers; one of them is destined for the administration of the Eucharist, the other for Baptisms: an inscription over each, denotes the epoch of their erection ; the former was built in 1608, the latter in 1639. The interior of the Church is not very striking the double ailes are so very wide, that including the little chapels which encircle the place, the body is not more than 1-5th of the building. The pillars which support the roof over the ailes, are round, and very massive in proportion to their height; a few of them have mouldings. The absence of a gallery above the ailes, has caused the windows to be very lofty; although of equal height, there is a great want of uniformity in them, which is the more conspicuous, as some are ornamented with stained glass. This Church was for a long time collegiate as well as parochial; but the repeated disputes between the incumbents and the canons, induced the Parliament to unite the chapter to that of Nôtre Dame. Many persons of eminence have been buried here; and it has often been selected for the delivery of funeral orations in commemoration of persons who have died elsewhere. Among others, the Chancellor Olivier, who died at Amboise in 1560. It was the bell of this Church which gave the signal for murdering the Protestants, in 1572; and during the revolution which took place last month, the Church was used as an hospital for those who were wounded in attacking the Louvre on this side. There are a few monuments in this Church, which are interesting as the wrecks of other days. In a little chapel in the south-east corner, are two statues, about the natural size, which represent two individuals named Stephen Aligre, father and son, who both filled [Aug. the office of Chancellor of France. The figure of the father is in a reclining posture: the inscription states that his heart was buried there, and that he died Dec. 11, 1635. The other figure is kneeling: he died Oct. 25, 1677, and according to the inscription, his body was interred in that chapel. Both these monuments were restored in 1822, by their descendant, the Marquis d'Aligre, peer of France. In a chapel, nearly opposite, aré two statues, two busts, and a long inscription on black marble. They are memorials of the Rostaing family, and were restored in 1824, by the present Marquis de Rostaing. The busts and the inscription were formerly in the Church of the Feuillants; the statues were in this Church, which contained the tomb of the elder branch of the family. There are also a few tablets inscribed with the names of persons who have died since the Restoration; in particular a marble slab to the memory of the Duke de Riviere, governor of the Duke of Bordeaux: he died April 21, 1828, and is buried at Bel-Air, near Bourges. The inscription is surmount→ ed with his arms; which being only in outline, do not sufficiently indicate the blazon: they are paly of six, over all a chevron. This Church was outside the city until the reign of Louis-le-Gros, who built a wall to protect the northern suburbs of Paris. Philip Augustus, in 1190, built another of more substantial materials, and comprising a more extended circumference: it left the bank of the river at the spot where the Pont des Arts now stands, and passed direct to the Rue St. Honoré, where a fortified gate was erected, near the present site of the Oratoire. Those who desire more information, are referred to Felibien, Hist. de Paris; Dulaure, idem; and Jaillot, Recherches critiques et historiques sur Paris. Yours, &c. MR. URBAN, W. S. B. Aug. 10. THE following lively letter from a medical student at Paris, relative to French manners and customs, will, I trust, amuse your readers. A CORRESPONDENT. My own avocations take me from half past six in the morning to five at night. I have three subjects now in 5 1830.] Parisian Manners and Customs.sok progress of dissection, which cost me three shillings each, and which would at this moment cost in London 201 each. I am engaged at Lispone's (qu.?) class every morning. It is a complete butcher's shop, where the students are like butchers' apprentices, cutting off legs and arms, and practising the art of carving in the highest style. Each operation is exhibited three times to the student, and performed twice by himself, under the superintendence of a whole company of surgical demonstrators. In London operations are only exhibited twice a year to the student, and he has never an opportunity of performing them himself on the dead body. Here are institutions without end and without expense. Lectures, colleges, museums, libraries, abound of the very first description on the same terms. The anatomical models in wax are so like the human body as scarcely to be pronounced artificial. This is an art not practised in England. Books are one quarter the price of English literature. Manuals and small encyclopæ→ dias abound, on cookery, women's dress, the sciences, and every thing. There are manuals on every art of life, three and four francs each. French prices are these: cut glass, and glass moulded in the most elegant forms, for drinking cups, 10d. to 1s. each ; boots 12s., shoes 7s., a coat 17. 10s., trowsers 12s. to 15s., hats 10s. to 15s., board and lodging from 31. to 41. a month. I dined yesterday at one of the principal Cafés. We had one bottle of Burgundy, one of Chablis, (the best of all the white wines by the bye), two bottles of Champagne; turtle, pease, and maccaroni soups, one plate each; beef-steaks with delicious gravy-sauce; mutton, ragouts, poultry; two delicious dishes of hot pastry, 4s. each for a company. I dined in the Boulevards Italienne on Sunday, at an English chophouse; roast beef in excess, plum pudding, half a bottle of wine, a large glass of brandy punch, for 1s. 4d.-Casts' shops are very thick. Your friends, the heathen gods, sell here at any price. If my should come here, she will find it all in her line; rooms with wooden floors, cut like a tessellated pavement, or of bricks, glistening with wax like Roman pottery, two hand-dogs, and a wooden fire; high rooms, with beautiful ceilings, fine mahogany furniture, huge glasses, a splendid time 103 piece, a bed in every room, in a recess or otherwise, huge window frames and huge panes of glass, but no carpets, no bells. You may die in the night; not a soul would know of it; huge staircases, horribly dirty; great folding gates, and a porter to let you in and out into the street. She would learn in a French kitchen, instead of keeping up a fire a yard high and a yard long all day, that a small square machine like a table, with four little iron cavities grated at bottom, containing in each cavity a little charcoal, will boil four pots, kettles, or any thing at one time, for one fiftieth what the boiling in an English kitchen costs per week, and serve a family of twenty people. She will also find that no fires of wood or coal are ever kept for servants, and that a joint of meat is roasted thus: a machine, like a Dutch oven, with small bars, is filled with charcoal, and put down below a chimney without a grate, and a joint, &c. is put on a spit before it, and roasted; and when the cooking is over, the fire and roasting machine are removed. At dinner she must take the middle of the table, and you, her husband, the opposite side. If five courses come on, one comes at a time, which is one dish only, boiled beef par exemple. She would chop up the beef, like the bread in England, in one dish, and send the dish round; then each dish must come back again for the gravy. So on with the turkey, &c. Fish is about the last thing. In a leg of mutton, the shank bone is left, covered with a fine piece of paper around it, cut out like papers round mould candles, for a handle to hold the joint by when carved. Salad, all floating in oil. In the evening she would be expected to go to a café; never drink tea at home; for instance, to the Café Sauvage, where, while she sipped her coffee, a man, dressed like a savage, would dance, beat a drum, and knock a lot of bells about, like a Bedlamite ; or to the Café du Pays, where she could see a stage and a play going, whilst at hundred tables would be filled with companies drinking tea, coffee,&c.and noblemen, gentry, loose women, rogues, all in the same place, all in high glee, with newspapers, laughter, and lots of converse. If she kicked up any row, the gens d'armes, or a file of men in rich blue uniforms, standing in every corner, would march her off at the point of the bayonet, between two 104 Ancient Tapestry at Bamburgh Castle. files. In the evening she must go to the theatre, and form one in a queue, till the doors are open; that is, the people draw up in two files, which sometimes surround a whole theatre, and when the doors are opened, they go like people into a church, when following a funeral. She might come out, and leave a handkerchief in her place, and no one would take the place or the handkerchief. On Sundays, she would be expected to go to a bal masqué, in a black mask, or dressed in men's clothes, and dance; or she might choose to play at cards, ecarte par exemple; or she might go to a table where four strangers were playing, put down her five shilling piece on one side or other, and only bet. If she stayed after twelve o'clock, the gens-d'armes would step in and clear her out with a drawn sword. Ile, in Northumberland, there are N the Court-room of Bamburgh Casfour pieces of tapestry, which are understood to have been brought thither from the Deanery of Ripon about forty years since. They are of considerable dimensions, the two largest measuring 15 feet by 8, and containing several figures as large as life. The colours at one time have been extremely vivid, but are now faded in some degree from age. Upon the whole, however, they are in excellent preservation, and exhibit such correct drawing and good composition, that it is evident the paintings or designs from which they were worked must have been the production of no common master. The first of the series I imagine to represent the Emperor Justinian, seated at a large table, and engaged with his commissioners in forming the celebrated Digest of Roman law. A remarkable figure standing behind his chair may probably represent Trebonianus. Two of the lawyers are in oriental costume, and one of the two may be supposed to be Basilides, who had been Prefect of the East. In the second, the Emperor is seen advancing in royal apparel to an open temple of Janus. Slaves newly manumitted are crowding round him, and kissing the hem of his garment. Other persons are also introduced as spectators of the scene. Justinian may here be conjectured to be in the act of proclaiming, immediately after one of the great [Aug. victories gained by Belisarius, the eter nal peace-which by the way lasted two years. The third is a coronation. The Emperor kneels on a cushion, with his sceptre in his right hand, while a stately figure in a scarlet robe is placing a crown upon his head. Before him stand two Flamens holding an open book, on which may be distinguished the words Lex Romanor'. Between the priests and the Emperor lies a naked sword wreathed with olive on another cushion, and beside it a kneeling page throws the light of a torch on the open volume. This transaction is represented as taking place at night on a terrace, and the populace are gathered together in a court below. In the fourth piece of tapestry, Justinian appears not exactly in a hunting dress, but with a hunting spear in his hand, in a wild country, with only two attendants. He has come suddenly upon two of his hounds, which lie dead, and apparently poisoned, on the ground. A chased bowl stands near them, and a stream of water gushes from a rock at a small distance. The countenance and attitude of the Emperor are strongly expressive of surprise and regret. As I have not happened to meet in Gibbon or Procopius with any circumstance in the life of Justinian corresponding to that which is detailed in this picture, I should feel much obliged to any of your correspondents who may be able and willing to throw light upon it; and still more if they could refer me to any engravings, etchings, or paintings, in which the subjects alluded to are treated in the manner I have described. I may add, that the features of the Emperor Justinian, and such portion of his costume as appears on medals, are faithfully copied in these Tapestries. Yours, &c. W. N. DARNELL. R. C. H. will be obliged by any information respecting some ancient customs performed at the birth of Henry Greene Lord of Warminster, born at Stebenhethe (Stepney), 11 Hen. VI. He wishes also to learn in what work they are recorded. Any information respecting the pedigree of Hervey of Highworth, co. Wilts, will be esteemed a favour by ANTIQUARIUS. |