--The remainder of the
story is of a different complexion:--The founder, Jean le Machon, of
Chartres, died from excess of joy, and was buried in the nave of the
cathedral, where Pommeraye[76] tells us the tomb existed in his time;
with a bell engraved upon it, and the following epitaph:--
"Cy-dessous gist Jean le Machon
De Chartres homme de facon
Lequel fondit Georges d'Amboise
Qui trente six mille livres poise
Mil cinq cens un jour d'Aoust deuxieme
Puis mourut le vingt et unieme."
Nor was this the only misfortune; for, after all, this great bell
proved, like a great book, a great nuisance: the sound it uttered was
scarcely audible; and, at last, in an attempt to render it vocal, upon a
visit paid by Louis XVIth to Rouen in 1786, it was cracked[77]. It
continued, however, to hang, a gaping-stock to children and strangers,
till the revolution, in 1793, caused it to be returned to the furnace,
whence it re-issued in the shape of cannon and medals, the latter
commemorating the pristine state of the metal with the humiliating
legend, "monument de vanite detruit pour l'utilite[78].
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