IJHAP. IV. POINTED.

241
miillicdis and tracery, and are placed within triple canopies of nearly tlie same form, flanked
l)y square pillars, terminating in tall crocketed |)innHcles, some of tiiem fronted with open
arches, crowned with statues. The roof, as is usu:il in French and Flemish buildings ol
this date, is of a very high pitch, and harmonises well with the |)roportions of the building.
An oriel, or rather towir, of enriched workmanship projects into the coi-.rt, and varies ihe
elevations" (an object the designer never once thought aliout, inasmuch as in all medicBval
buildings, the first consideration was convenience, and tiien tlie skill to make convt-nience
agreeable to the eyean invaluable rule to the architect).
"
On the left iiand side of tiie
court, a wide flight of steps leads to the Salle des Procureurs" (marked A on the plan), "a
place originally designed as an exchange for the merchants of the city
"
(scd qucere),
"
who
had previously been in the habit of assembling for tliat purpose in the Cathedral."
Its
dimensions are 13.5 ft. long, by 57 ft. 3 in. wide. The room 13 is now the Cmir d' Assises;
the ceiling is of oak, and is arranged in compartments with a profusion of carving and gilt
ornaments. The original bosses of the ceiling are gone, as are also the doars wliich were
enriched with sculpture, and the original chimney-piece. Round the room are gnomic
sentences, admonishing the judges, jurors, witnesses, and suiters of their duties."
The
l)asement story of the salle is, or used to he, occupied as a ))rison. The southern and eastern
facades of tliis elegant edifice have lati^ly
(1856) been restored under the direction of M.
Gregoire, who jirobably superintended the internal decorations.
.'5.31. Fig. 246 is a portion of the south front of the building. The ellip.se seems almost
to have superseded the pointed arch in the leading forms, over which the crocketed labels
or drips, in curves of contrary flexure, flow with surprising elegance. It is only in the
lucarnes we find the pointed arch
; and there it is almost subdued by the surroundinT
ac-
cessories. The connection of the lucarnes with the turrets of the faoade by means of flyi.ig
buttresses is most beautiful, and no less ingenious in the contrivance : their height from
J . II J J II I
^''^. ground
\IIOV Of lilt
rondis, as usual in the style, those in the principal story being, besides, slightly sigmental. In
m the tracery ofthe parapet it is singular to find tiie quatrefoils centered throughout witli what
|j
is called the Tudor rose. The arches rising above the parapet, wliich are crocketed and
) ' of contrary flexure, have statues substituted for rtnials The richncssof
tlieornamentation of
the whole is such that we know no other example, except that ol the Hotel de I5our"-the-
rouldein the same city that can vie with it. The v.ooAr\it,
fig. 247, is a section of the'Id/Zr.
'J'he roof presents little for remark. It is bold and simple, and seems scarcely in harnionv
with tlie rest of the jilace. It is impossible to form an ade<iuate notion of this s|)lendi(l
monument from the figures here given, owing to the necessary smallness of tiie scale.
Those wlio are desirous of thoroughly understanding its details will be gratified by refer-
ring to the iihites of it in Britton's Sormandy.
t5'.^.
There is no city where the style of the period whereof we are treating can be
better studied than Rouen. It possesses, both in seoular as well as fccle.siastical architeciure,
I
^