"
But they overlook, what Voltaire makes an indispensable requisite, that
art must be under the guidance of genius: when it is not so, and caprice
holds the reins, the result cannot fail to be that medley of Grecian,
Norman, Gothic, and Gallic, of which this country furnishes too many
examples.
The church of St. Ouen is unquestionably the noblest edifice in the
pointed style in this city, or perhaps in France; the French, blind as
they usually are to the beauties of Gothic architecture, have always
acknowledged its merits. Hence it escaped the general destruction which
fell upon the conventual churches of Rouen, at the time of the
revolution; though, during the violence of the storm, it was despoiled
and desecrated. At one period, it was employed as a manufactory, in
which forges were placed for making arms; at another, as a magazine for
forage.
Nor was this the first instance of its being violated; for, like most of
the religious buildings at Rouen, it was visited in the sixteenth
century with the fury of the Calvinists[91], who burned the bodies of
St.
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