[Illustration:  Bas-Relief, from the representations of the Champ du Drap d’or]

The interior has been modernized; so that a beam covered with small carvings is the only remaining object of curiosity.  On the top, a bunch of leaden thistles has been a sad puzzle to antiquaries, who would fain find some connection between the building and Scotland; but neither record nor tradition throw any light upon their researches.  Montfaucon, copying from a manuscript written by the Abbe Noel, says, “I have more than once been told that Francis Ist, on his way through Rouen, lodged at this house; and it is most probable, that the bas-reliefs in question were made upon some of these occasions, to gratify the king by the representation of a festival, in which he particularly delighted.”  The gallery sculptures are very fine, and the upper tier is much in the style of Jean Goujon.  It is not generally known that Goujon re-drew the embellishments of Beroald de Verville’s translation of the Polifilo; and that these, beautiful as they are in the Aldine edition, acquired new graces from the French artist.—­I have remarked that the allegorical tablets appear to coincide with the designs of the Polifilo:  a more accurate examination might, perhaps, prove the fact; and then little doubt would remain.  The building is much dilapidated; and, unless speedily repaired, these basso-relievos, which would adorn any museum, will utterly perish.  In spite of neglect and degradations, the aspect of the mansion is still such that, as my friend observed, one would expect to see a fair and stately matron standing in the porch, attired in velvet, waiting to receive her lord.—­In the adjoining house, once, probably, a part of the same, but now an inn, bearing the sign of la Pucelle, is shewn a circular room, much ornamented, with a handsome oriel conspicuous on the outside.  In this apartment, the Maid is said to have been tried; but it is quite certain that not a stone of the building was then put of the quarry.

Hence I must take you, and still under the auspices of Millin[112], to the great town-clock, or, as it is here called, la Tour de la Grosse Horloge; and I cannot help wishing on the occasion, that I had half the powers of instructing and amusing which he possessed.  Like the writers in our most popular Reviews, he uses the subjects which he places at the head of his articles as little more than a peg, whereon to hang whatever he knows connected with the matter; and the result is, that he is never read without pleasure or information.  Such is peculiarly the case in the present instance, in which he takes an opportunity of giving the history of the origin of clocks, tracing them from the simple dial, and particularising the most curious and intricate contrivances of modern ingenuity.  Another name of the tower which contains this clock, is la Tour du Beffroi, or, as we should say in English, the Belfry; for the two words have the same meaning, and it is not to be