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he 
43 
remains of a Roman Theatre, and these remains are the best 
preserved, and, indeed, almost the only example of an ancient 
Roman Theatre in the north of Europe. To the antiquarian 
Lillebonne has proved a veritable gold mine. In 1870, was 
discovered an ancient Roman mosaic pavement wonderfully 
perfect. The Baron De Witte, a scholar learned in Greek and 
Roman antiquities, considers this mosaic to have been the 
pavement of a temple consecrated to Diana or Apollo. The 
Abbey of S. Wandrille, and the quaint, little, primitive old world 
town of Candelec were next described. Not far from Candelec 
is the Forest of Mamnlevrier, from which wild boars frequently 
make their way to the farms, and in a single night a whole 
potato field is devastated, the boar always taking a straight row. 
Rouen was next visited, that ancient capital of Normandy 
which, in its architectural triumphs of the middle ages and in its 
historic associations, will yield place to no other provincial city 
in France. Mention was made of the Church of S. Ouen, one of 
the few perfect and completed pure Gothic edifices in France, 
with its fine west front and elegant centre tower, its flying 
buttresses, its tall spire, its lofty clustered columns supporting 
beautifully pointed arches, &c., whilst the grand Cathedral and 
the Museum of Antiquities (where is a considerably decayed 
green silk bag containing the dust of the heart of our King 
Richard Coeur de Léon) claimed notice. An old tower in the 
city reminds the tourist of the unhappy Maid of Orleans. «We 
English people cannot help feeling some sense of shame as we 
aze upon this tower, for when Joan of Are fell into the hands 
of the English, it was in this tower that she was imprisoned and 
here she was put to the torture.” Leaving Rouen, the quaint 
old town of Lisieux is reached. It is essentially a town of 
curious old houses, the quaint and irregular gables of which 
project over the streets. ‘Through the city flows the river 
Touques, in which the Lisieux women do their laundry work. 
Although, perhaps, a little strange to English eyes, it is a 
characteristic French scene. The projecting shed-roof serves as 
a protection from the weather: the linen is soaped, beaten with 
a broad flat piece of wood called a ‘ carosse,”’ and rinsed in the 
running stream. Hach woman brings her own soap, carosse, 
and sort of half box in which she kneels while leaning over the 
river and so keeps her skirts dry. The French seem to have a 
great idea of the washing being done in running water, and not 
everything all in the same tub.’ We now journey to Falaise, 
the birthplace of William the Conqueror, and to Caen where he 
is buried. In a castle in Caen, William, in the year i061, 
ordered a bell to be rung for prayer every evening, at the sound 
of which all people were to retire into their houses and close the 
doors. This is considered a proof that he established the curfew 
