If we walk in the public gardens that surround it, and see its towers,
from different points, through the trees, or, better still, ascend one
of the towers and look down on its pinnacles, we shall never lose the
memory of St. Ouen. The beautiful proportions of its octagon tower,
terminating with a crown of _fleurs de lis_, has well been called a
'model of grace and beauty;' whilst its interior, 443 feet long and 83
feet wide, unobstructed from one end to the other, with its light,
graceful pillars, and the coloured light shed through the painted
windows, have as fine an effect as that of any church in France; not
excepting the cathedrals of Amiens and Chartres.

We should not omit to mention the beautiful church of St. Maclou at
Rouen, and several others that are being preserved and restored with the
utmost care. The great delights of this city are its ecclesiastical
monuments; for if Rouen has become of late years (as in fact it has) a
busy, modern town; if its old houses and streets are being swept away,
its churches and monuments remain. And if, as we have said, the
inhabitants are prone to imitate many English habits and customs, there
is one custom of ours that they do not imitate--they do not
'religiously' close nearly every church in the land for six days out of
the seven; their places of worship are not shut up like dungeons, they
are open to the breath of life, and partake of the atmosphere of the
'work-a-day' world.[46] In England we dust out our earthy little chapels
on Saturdays, and we complete the process with silken trains on
Sundays; we worship in an atmosphere more fit for the dead than the
living, and in a few hours shut up the buildings again to the spiders
and the flies!

We have little more to say to the reader about the churches in Normandy,
and we should like to leave him best at the south-west corner of the