Rouen has now a
convent of Ursulines, who undertake the education of young females. The
house is spacious; and for its neatness, as well as for the appearance
of regularity and propriety, cannot be surpassed. On this account, it is
often visited by strangers. The present lady-abbess, Dame Cousin, would
do honor to the most flourishing days of the hierarchy: when she walks
into the chapel, Saint Ethelburgha herself could not have carried the
crozier with greater state; and, though she is somewhat short and
somewhat thick, her pupils are all wonderfully edified by her dignity.
She has upwards of dozen English heretics under her care; but she will
not compromise her conscience by allowing them to attend the Protestant
service. There are also about ninety French scholars, and the inborn
antipathy between them and the _insulaires_, will sometimes evince
itself. Amongst other specimens of girlish spite, the French fair-ones
have divided the English damsels into two _genera_. Those who look plump
and good-humored, they call _Mesdemoiselles Rosbifs_; whilst such as are
thin and graver acquire the appellation of the _Mesdemoiselles Goddams_,
a name by which we have been known in France, at least five centuries
ago.
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