Philip Augustus accorded some singular privileges to Falaise, two of which deserve to be recorded.
If a woman were convicted of _being fond of scandal_, and known to backbite her neighbours, they had the right of placing cords under her arms and ducking her three times in the water: after this, if a man took the liberty of reproaching her with the circumstance, he was compelled to pay a fine of ten sous, or else he was plunged into the stream in a similar manner.
If a man were so ungallant as to call a woman _ugly_, he was obliged to pay a fine.

This offence was indeed worthy of condign punishment, if the women of Falaise were as pretty formerly as they are now: with their neat petticoats, smart feet in sabots, high butterfly or mushroom caps, as white as snow, scarlet handkerchiefs and bright-coloured aprons, with their round healthy cheeks, lively eyes, and good-humoured expression of countenance, the Falaisiennes are as agreeable a looking race as one would wish to see, and more likely to elicit compliment than insult.
Many curious customs prevailed in the middle ages in this old town; and one was formerly portrayed on the walls of a chapel in the church of the Holy Trinity.

It was the representation of an execution: the delinquent had injured a child, by disfiguring its face and arms, and suffered in consequence.

The culprit was no other than a sow; and when the crime committed was brought home to her, the learned judges assembled on the occasion pronounced her as guilty of malice prepense; and in order to hold her up as an example to all sows in time to come, her _face_ and _fore legs_ were mutilated in a similar manner to those of her victim.
The spectacle of her punishment took place in a public square, amidst a great concourse of spectators, the father of the child being brought as a witness, and condemned to stand by during the infliction, as a due reward for not having sufficiently watched his infant.

The "viscount-judge" of Falaise appeared on the solemn occasion "on horseback, with a plume of feathers on his head, and _his hand on his side_." The sow was dragged forth dressed in the costume of a citizen, in a vest and breeches, and "_with gloves on_, wearing a mask representing the face of a man." What effect this wise judgment had is not related; probably it produced as salutary a result as most of those exhibitions designed for the amusement or instruction of an enlightened multitude.
The chain of the rocks of Noron, on part of which the castle is situated, is singularly picturesque; and from those opposite, rising from the side of Arlette's fountain, the fine ruins have a most majestic effect; and the prospect for leagues round is extremely beautiful.