Volume I Part 7 (1/2)

Among book-collectors, Antiquaries, and Men of Taste, let me speak with becoming praise of the amiable and accomplished M. AUGUSTE LE PREVOST--who is considered, by competent judges, to be the best antiquary in Rouen.[76]

Mr. Dawson Turner, (a name, in our own country, synonymous with all that is liberal and enlightened in matters of virtu) was so obliging as to give me a letter of introduction to him; and he shewed me several rare and splendid works, which were deserving of the commendations that they received from their owner.

M. Le Prevost very justly discredits any remains of Roman masonry at Rouen; but he will not be displeased to see that the only existing relics of the castle or town walls, have been copied by the pencil of a late travelling friend. What you here behold is probably of the fourteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The next book-collector in commendation of whom I am bound to speak, is MONSIEUR DUPUTEL; a member, as well as M. Le Prevost, of the _Academy of Belles-Lettres_ at Rouen. The Abbe Turquier conducted me thither; and I found, in the owner of a choice collection of books, a well-bred gentleman, and a most hearty bibliomaniac. He has comparatively a small library; but, withal, some very curious, scarce, and interesting volumes. M. Duputel is smitten with that amiable pa.s.sion,--the love of printing for _private distribution_--thus meriting to become a sort of Roxburghe a.s.sociate. He was so good as to beg my acceptance of the ”nouvelle edition” of his ”_Bagatelles Poetiques,”_ printed in an octavo volume of about 112 pages, at Rouen, in 1816. On taking it home, I discovered the following not infelicitous version of our Prior's beautiful little Poem of _the Garland_.

_La Guirlande_.

_Traduction de l'Anglais de Prior_.

Pour orner de Chloe les cheveux ondoyans, Parmi les fleurs nouvellement ecloses J'avais choisi les lis les plus brillans, Les oeillets les plus beaux, et les plus fraiches roses.

Ma Chloe sur son front les placa la matin: Alors on vit ceder sans peine, Leur vif eclat a celui de son teint, Leur doux parfum a ceux de son haleine.

De ses attraits ces fleurs paraissaient s'embellir, Et sur ses blonds cheveux les bergers, les bergeres Les voyaient se faner avec plus de plaisir Qu'ils ne les voyaient naitre au milieu des parterres.

Mais, le soir, quand leur sein fletri Eut cesse d'exhaler son odeur seduisante, Elle fixa, d'un regard attendri, Cette guirlande, helas! n'agueres si brillante.

Des larmes aussi-tot coulent de ses beaux yeux.

Que d'eloquence dans ces larmes!

Jamais pour l'exprimer, le langage des dieux, Tout sublime qu'il est, n'aurait a.s.sez de charmes.

En feignant d'ignorer ce tendre sentiment; ”Pourquoi,” lui dis-je, ”o ma sensible amie, Pourquoi verser des pleurs? et par quel changement Abandonner ton ame a la melancholie?”

”Vois-tu comme ces fleurs languissent tristement?”

Me dit, en soupirant, ce moraliste aimable, ”De leur fraicheur, en un moment, S'est eclipse le charme peu durable.

Tel est, helas! notre destin; Fleur de beaute ressemble a celles des prairies; On les voit toutes deux naitre avec le matin, Et des le soir etre fletries.

Estelle hier encor brillait dans nos hameaux, Et l'amour attirait les bergers sur ses traces; De la mort, aujourd'hui, I'impitoyable faulx A moissonne sa jeunesse et ses graces.

Soumise aux memes lois, peut-etre que demain, Comme elle aussi, Damon, j'aurai cesse de vivre....

Consacre dans tes vers la cause du chagrin Auquel ton amante se livre.”

p. 92.

The last and not the least of book-collectors, which I have had an opportunity of visiting, is MONSIEUR RIAUX. With respect to what may be called a ROUENNOISE LIBRARY, that of M. Riaux is greatly preferable to any which I have seen; although I am not sure whether M. Le Prevost's collection contain not nearly as many books. M. Riaux is himself a man of first-rate book enthusiasm; and unites the avocations of his business with the gratification of his literary appet.i.tes, in a manner which does him infinite honour. A city like Rouen should have a host of such inhabitants; and the government, when it begins to breathe a little from recent embarra.s.sments, will, I hope, cherish and support that finest of all patriotic feelings,--a desire to preserve the RELICS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS of PAST AGES. Normandy is fertile beyond conception in objects which may gratify the most unbounded pa.s.sion in this pursuit. It is the country where formerly the harp of the minstrel poured forth some of its sweetest strains; and the lay and the fabliaux of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which delight us in the text of Sainte Palaye, and in the versions of Way, owed their existence to the combined spirit of chivalry and literature, which never slumbered upon the sh.o.r.es of Normandy.

Farewell now to ROUEN.[77] I have told you all the tellings which I thought worthy of communication. I have endeavoured to make you saunter with me in the streets, in the cathedral, the abbey, and the churches. We have, in imagination at least, strolled together along the quays, visited the halls and public buildings, and gazed with rapture from Mont Ste. Catharine upon the enchanting view of the city, the river, and the neighbouring hills. We have from thence breathed almost the pure air of heaven, and surveyed a country equally beautified by art, and blessed by nature. Our hearts, from that same height, have wished all manner of health, wealth, and prosperity, to a land thus abounding in corn and wine, and oil and gladness. We have silently, but sincerely prayed, that swords may for ever be ”turned into plough-shares, and spears into pruning-hooks:”--that all heart-burnings, antipathies, and animosities, may be eternally extinguished; and that, from henceforth, there may be no national rivalries but such as tend to establish, upon a firmer footing, and upon a more comprehensive scale, the peace and happiness of fellow-creatures, of whatever persuasion they may be:--of such, who sedulously cultivate the arts of individual and of national improvement, and blend the duties of social order with the higher calls of morality and religion. Ah! my friend, these are neither foolish thoughts nor romantic wishes. They arise naturally in an honest heart, which, seeing that all creation is animated and upheld by ONE and the SAME POWER, cannot but ardently hope that ALL may be equally benefited by a reliance upon its goodness and bounty. From this eminence we have descended somewhat into humbler walks. We have visited hospitals, strolled in flower-gardens, and a.s.sociated with publishers and collectors of works--both of the dead and of the living. So now, fare you well. Commend me to your family and to our common friends,--especially to the Gorburghers should they perchance enquire after their wandering Vice President. Many will be the days pa.s.sed over, and many the leagues traversed, ere I meet them again. Within twenty-four hours my back will be more decidedly turned upon ”dear old England”--for that country, in which her ancient kings once held dominion, and where every square mile (I had almost said _acre_) is equally interesting to the antiquary and the agriculturist. I salute you wholly, and am yours ever.

[71] The reader may possibly not object to consult two or three pages of the _Bibliographical Decameron_, beginning at page 137, vol. ii.

respecting a few of the early Rouen printers. The name of MAUFER, however, appears in a fine large folio volume, ent.i.tled _Gaieta.n.u.s de Tienis Vincentini in Quatt. Aristot. Metheor. Libros_, of the date of 1476--in the possession of Earl Spencer. See _aed.

Althorp_. vol. ii. p. 134. From the colophon of which we can only infer that Maufer was a _citizen of Rouen_. [According to M.

Licquet, the first book printed at Rouen--a book of the greatest rarity--was ent.i.tled _Les Croniques de Normandie, par Guillaume Le Talleur_, 1487, folio.]