embarrassments, 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 passion 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 shores 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,