These duties could not be very agreeable to portly, short-winded, well-fed dignitaries; and consequently the worthy canons were often inclined to shrink from the task.  In the case of the funeral of Archbishop d’Aubigny, in 1719, they contented themselves with carrying him at once to his dormitory; but the prior and monks of St. Ouen instantly sued them before the parliament, and this tribunal decreed that the ancient service must be performed, and in default of compliance, the whole of their temporalities were to be put under sequestration:  it is almost needless to add, that a sentence of excommunication would scarcely have been so effectual in enforcing the execution of the sentence.

The gardens formerly belonging to the abbey are at this time a pleasant promenade to the inhabitants of the town:  the remains of the monastic buildings are converted into an Hotel de Ville, where also the library and the museum are kept, and the academy hold their sittings.  No remains, however, now exist of the abbatial residence, which was built by Anthony Bohier, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and which, according to the engraving given of it by Pommeraye, must have been a noble specimen of domestic architecture.  The sovereigns of France always took up their abode in it, during their visits to Rouen.—­The circular tower called the Tour des Clercs, mentioned in a former letter, is the only vestige of Norman times.—­The cloister corresponded with the architecture of the church:  the south side of the quadrangle attached to the northern aisle still exists, but blocked up and dilapidated, and converted into a sort of cage for those who are guilty of disturbances during the night.

[Illustration:  Stone Staircase in the Church of St. Maclou, at Rouen]

The church of St. Maclou is unquestionably superior to every other in the city, except the cathedral and St. Ouen.  Its principal ornament are its carved doors, produced during the reign of Henry IIIrd, by Jean Goujon, a man so eminent as to have been termed the Corregio of sculpture; but they have been materially injured by repairs and alterations by unskilful hands.  Within the church, near the west entrance, is a singularly elegant stair-case, in filagree stone-work, which formerly led to the organ.—­This building was erected in the year 1512, and chiefly by voluntary contributions, if such can be called voluntary as were purchased by promises from the archbishop, first of forty, and then of one hundred, days’ indulgences, to all who would contribute towards the pious labor.—­The central tower resembles that of the cathedral, both in the interior and the exterior.  It now appears truncated; but it was originally surmounted by a spire, which was of such beauty, that even Italian artists thought it worthy to be engraved and held out as a model at Rome[97].  The spire, however, was greatly injured by a hurricane, in 1705, and it was at last taken down thirty years