222
NOTES AND QUERIES, [i2s.vn.aapr.i8, 1020.
erection in 1884, the Societe des Antiquaires
de la Morinie (which has its headquarters at
St. Omer) protested against such a falsifi-
cation of history, and in the following year
set out the true facts in a clear and con-
clusive Report. Prince Eugene, who
marched into Artois with Marlborough in
1710, wished to attack the town, but the
defence of Aire kept the Allies at bay so
late in the year that no attempt on St. Omer
could be " made. Aire surrendered on
Nov. 12, and, during the autumn, powder
and munitions were brought by water from
Dunkerque to St. Omer without molestation.
There was an " alerte " but no siege. The
true story of the Jacqueline Robins statue
may be read in the brochure of M. Justin
de Pas mentioned below, itself a reprint
(with two plates added) from the same
writer's *A Travers le Vieux Saint-Omer.'
The tale is too long to set out here, but as
the facts were made public as far back as
1885, and as the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica '
gives bibliographical references dated as
late as 1903, it is a pity that this old story-
should have been repeated. But even Jo-
anne, and M. Ardouin-Dumazet in his
'Voyage en. France,' have made the same
blunder. In England Mr. Hurlbert had
given the story correctly in 1890.
The American ' Century Cyclopaedia of Names ' was originally issued in 1894, but the edition to which I have access is subse- quent to 1905. In this it is stated that, " advantage was taken in the second edition (1895) to revise with care all its more im- portant details including ... historical and geographical statements." Notwithstanding this St. Omer is here said to be " the capital of the Department of Pas-de-Calais " and "a strong fortress." A reference to the "Cathedral" is followed by the statement that "the Church of Notre-Dame, and the ruined church of St. Bertin are also note- worthy." In reality the "Cathedral " and the "Church of Notre-Dame " are one and the same building.
Arthur Young, on his way from Calais to Amiens and beyond, passed through St. Omer in August, 1788, and put on record that the town " contained little deserving notice." "The country," he says, "is seen to advantage from St. Bertin's steeple," but he makes 110 reference to the cathedral or to any other of the many churches which then still justified Froissart's appellation of St. Omer as " une ville belle de murs, de portes, de tours et de beaux clochers."
Mr. W. H. Hurlbert, who Visited the town>.
in 1889, described St. Omer as preserving.
" a certain grave and austere physiognomy ,
half Spanish and. half scholastic," and his
imagination peopled the streets with the
" English and Irish students who frequented
its collegiate halls from the days of Guy
Faux to the days of Daniel O'Connell "
('France and the Republic,' 1890, p. 28).
That was before the demolition of its fortifi-
cations made St. Omer an open town, and
to some extent altered its character. But
M. Ardouin-Dumazet still speaks of its
"calme monacal" and describes it as the
perfect type of an old provincial city. M.
Pierre cle la Gorce, the historian of the
Second Empire, who lived here for many
years, found in St. Omer "a still air of
delightful studies " congenial to his tastes
and favourable to his work.
St. Omer is a particularly "well docu- mented " town, both as regards its religious- and civil history. The catalogue of the Communal Library shows an amazing number of entries under the title ' Saint- Omer,' publications of all descriptions deal- ing with the history arid antiquities of the town and district. And apart from specialized work, such as is found in the Memoirs and Bulletins of the Society of Antiquaries of Morinia, it is surprising, and exceedingly gratifying to find how large a number of books and pamphlets dealing with local history and antiquities are on sale in the town for the use of the general public. During occasional visits to St, Omer between December, 1917, and August, 1919, 1 purchased the following sixteen publications, and no doubt others escaped my notice. These were displayed in the- booksellers' windows. All are published at St. Omer, except when otherwise noted :
(1). Bled, Abbe O. Le Livre d'Or de Notre- Dame des Miracles a Saint-Omer, d'apres les archives ecclesiastiques et communales de la ville. 1913, viii + 176 pp.
(2). Delamotte, Abb6 Georges, et J. Loisel. Les Origines du Lycee de Saint-Omer : histoire- de Fancien college (1565-1845). Calais, 1910 r . 510 pp.
(3). Dusautoir, Abbe 1 Augustin. Le Guide des Touristes dans la Ville de Saint-Omer, ses environs et son arrondissement. Gravures, plan de la ville, et carte de I'arrondissement. [1914]. viii+312 pp.
(4). Dusautoir, Abbe 1 Augustin. Notre-Dame des Miracles, Saint Omer et Saint Bertin. Boulogne-sur-Mer [1901], viii+256 pp.
(5). Dusautoir, Abbe Augustin. Histoire de- la Paroisse du Saint-S<pulchre a Saint-Omer, depuis ses origines iusqu'au xx e siecle. N.D.> x+232 pp.
