He then tied his stole around his neck, and, in that
state, delivered him to the prisoner, who dragged him to the city, where
he was burned in the presence of all the people, and his ashes thrown
into the river.--The manuscript of the Abbey of Hautmont, from which
this legend is extracted, adds, that such was the fame of this miracle
throughout France, that Dagobert, the reigning sovereign, sent for St.
Romain to court, to hear a true narrative of the fact from his own lips;
and, impressed with reverent awe, bestowed the celebrated privilege upon
him and his successors for ever."
The right has, in comparatively modern times, been more than once
contested, but always maintained; and so great was the celebrity of the
ceremony, that princes and potentates have repeatedly travelled to
Rouen, for the purpose of witnessing it. There are not wanting, however,
those[55] who treat the whole story as allegorical, and believe it to be
nothing more than a symbolical representation of the subversion of
idolatry, or of the confining of the Seine to its channel; the winding
course of the river being typified by a serpent, and the word
_Gargouille_ corrupted from _gurges_.
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