[29] The French Antiquaries have pushed the antiquity of this castle to the
11th century, supposing it to have been built by _William d'Arques_,
Count of Tallon, son of the second marriage of Richard Duke of
Normandy. I make no doubt, that, whenever built, the sea almost washed
its base: for it is known to have occupied the whole of what is called
the _Valley of Arques_, running as far as _Bouteilles_. Its position,
in reference to the art of war, must have been almost impregnable.
Other hypotheses assign its origin to the ninth or tenth century.
Whenever built, its history has been fertile in sieges. In 1144, it
was commanded by a Flemish Monk, who preferred the spear to the
crosier, but who perished by an arrow in the contest. Of its history,
up to the sixteenth century, I am not able to give any details; but in
the wars of Henry IV. with the League, in 1589, it was taken by
surprise by soldiers in the disguise of sailors: who, killing the
centinels, quickly made themselves masters of the place. Henry caused
it afterwards to be dismantled. In the first half of the eighteenth
century it received very severe treatment from pillage, for the
purpose of erecting public and private buildings at Dieppe. At present
(in the language of the author of the _Rouen Itinerary_) "it is the
abode of silence--save when that silence is interrupted by owls and
other nocturnal birds." The view of it in Mr. Cotman's work is very
faithful.

[30] The _Itinéraire de Rouen_, 1816, p. 202, says, absurdly, that
this church is of the XIth century. It is perhaps with more truth of
the beginning of the XIVth century. A pleasing view of it is in Mr.
Dawson Turner's elegant Tour in Normandy, 1818, 8vo. 2 vol. It
possessed formerly a bust of Henry IV., which is supposed to have been