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Title: Account of a Tour in Normandy, Volume 2

Author: Dawson Turner

Release date: June 1, 2004 [eBook #12538]
Most recently updated: October 28, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACCOUNT OF A
TOUR IN NORMANDY, VOLUME 2 ***

Account Of A Tour In Normandy -
Volume II

Dawson Turner

LETTERS FROM NORMANDY,
ADDRESSED

TO THE REV. JAMES LAYTON, B.A.

OF

CATFIELD, NORFOLK.
UNDERTAKEN CHIEFLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATING THE
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES OF THE DUCHY, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ITS
HISTORY, ON THE COUNTRY, AND ON ITS INHABITANTS.

ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.

CONTENTS.
LETTER XIV.
Ducler--St. Georges de Bocherville--M. Langlois
LETTER XV.
Abbey of Jumieges--Its History--Architectural Details--Tombs of Agnes
Sorel and of the Enervez
LETTER XVI.
Gournay--Castle of Neufmarché--Castle and Church of Gisors
LETTER XVII.
Andelys--Fountain of Saint Clotilda--La Grande Maison--Château Gaillard--
Ecouis
LETTER XVIII.
Evreux--Cathedral--Abbey of St. Taurinus--Ancient History
LETTER XIX.
Vicinity of Evreux--Château de Navarre--Cocherel--Pont-Audemer--
Montfort-sur-Risle--Harfleur--Bourg-Achard--French Wedding
LETTER XX.
Moulineaux--Castle of Robert the Devil--Bourg-Theroude--Abbey of Bec--
Brionne
LETTER XXI.
Bernay--Broglie--Orbec--Lisieux--Cathedral--Ecclesiastical History
LETTER XXII.

Site and Ruins of the Capital of the Lexovii--History of Lisieux--
Monasteries of the Diocese--Ordericus Vitalis--M. Dubois--Letter from the
Princess Borghese
LETTER XXIII.
French Police--Ride from Lisieux to Caen--Cider--General Appearance and
Trade of Caen--English resident there
LETTER XXIV.
Historians of Caen--Towers and Fortifications--Château de la Gendarmerie--
Castle--Churches of St. Stephen, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, St. John, and St.
Michel de Vaucelles
LETTER XXV.
Royal Abbeys of the Holy Trinity and St. Stephen--Funeral of the
Conqueror, Exhumation of his Remains, and Destruction of his Monument
LETTER XXVI.
Palace of the Conqueror--Heraldic Tiles--Portraits of William and Matilda--
Museum--Public Library--University--Academy--Eminent Men--History of
Caen
LETTER XXVII.
Vieux--La Maladerie--Chesnut Timber--Caen Stone--History of Bayeux--
Tapestry
LETTER XXVIII.
Cathedral of Bayeux--Canon of Cambremer--Cope of St. Regnobert--Odo
LETTER XXIX.
Church and Castle of Creully--Falaise--Castle--Churches--Fair of Guibray
LETTER XXX.
Rock and Chapel of St. Adrien--Pont-de-l'Arche--Priory of the two Lovers--
Abbey of Bonport--Louviers--Gaillon--Vernon

APPENDIX I.
APPENDIX II.
INDEX.

LIST OF PLATES.
Plate 26 Sculpture upon a capital in the Chapter-House at St. Georges
Plate 27 M. Langlois
Plate 28 Musicians, from the Chapter-House at St. Georges
Plate 29 Distant View of the Abbey of St. Jumieges
Plate 30 Ancient trefoil-headed Arches in ditto
Plate 31 Distant of the Castle of Gisors
Plate 32 Banded Pillar in the Church of ditto
Plate 33 Distant View of Château Gaillard
Plate 34 Gothic Puteal, at Evreux
Plate 35 Leaden Font at Bourg-Achard
Plate 36 Ancient Tomb in the Cathedral at Lisieux
Plate 37 Head-Dress of Females, as Caen
Plate 38 Tower in the Château de Calix, at ditto
Plate 39 Tower and Spire of St. Peter's Church, at ditto
Plate 40 Sculpture upon a Capital in ditto
Plate 41 Tower of St. John's Church, at Caen
Plate 42 Monastery of St. Stephen, at ditto
Plate 43 Fireplace in the Conqueror's Palace, at Ditto
Plate 44 Profile of M. Lamouroux
Plate 45 Figure from the Bayeux Tapestry

Plate 46 Sculpture at Bayeux
Plate 47 Ornaments in the Spandrils of the Arches in Bayeux Cathedral
Plate 48 Castle of Falaise
Plate 49 Elevation of the West Front of La Délivrande
Plate 50 Font at Magneville

LETTERS
FROM

NORMANDY

LETTER XIV.
DUCLER--ST. GEORGES DE BOCHERVILLE--M. LANGLOIS.

(Ducler, July, 1818.)
You will look in vain for Ducler in the livre des postes; yet this little town,
which is out of the common road of the traveller, becomes an interesting
station to the antiquary, it being situated nearly mid-way between two of the
most important remains of ancient ecclesiastical architecture in Normandy--
the abbeys of St. Georges de Bocherville and of Jumieges.--The
accommodation afforded by the inns at Bocherville and Jumieges, is but a
poor substitute for the hospitality of the suppressed abbeys; and, as even the
antiquary must eat and perhaps sleep, he who visits either St. George or the
holy Virgin, will do well to take his fricandeau and his bed, at the place
whence I am writing.
At a period when the right bank of the Seine from Harfleur to Rouen
displayed an almost uninterrupted line or monastic buildings, Ducler also
boasted of a convent[1], which must have been of some importance, as early
as the middle of the seventh century.--King Childeric IInd, granted the forest
of Jumieges to the convent of the same name and that of St. Vandrille; and
St. Ouen was directed by the monarch to divide the endowment between the
two foundations. His award did not give satisfaction to St. Philibert, the
abbot of Jumieges, who maintained that his house had not received a fair
allotment. The proposition was stoutly resisted by St. Lambert, abbot of St.
Vandrille; and the dispute was at length settled by the saints withdrawing
their claims, and ceding the surplus land to the abbey of Ducler. St. Denys
was the patron of this abbey; and to him also the present parochial church is
dedicated: it is of Norman architecture; the tower is surrounded by a row of
fantastic corbels; and a considerable quantity of painted glass yet remains in
the windows. The village itself (for it is nothing more than a village, though
honored by French geographers with the name of a bourg), consists of a
single row of houses, placed immediately under the steep chalk cliff which
borders the Seine. The face of the cliff is also indented by excavations, in

which the poorer inhabitants dwell, almost like the Troglodytes of old. The
situation of Ducler, and that of the two neighboring abbeys, is delightful in
summer and in fine weather. In winter it must be cold and cheerless; for,
besides being close to a river of so great breadth, it looks upon a flat marshy
shore, whence exhalations copiously arise. The view from our chamber
window this morning presented volumes of mist rolling on with the stream.
The tide was setting in fast downwards; and the water glided along in silent
rapidity, involved in clouds.
The village of Bocherville, or, as it is more commonly called, of St. Georges,
the place borrowing its name from the patron saint of the abbey, lies, at the
distance of about two leagues from Rouen. The road is exceedingly pleasing.
Every turning presents a fresh view of the river; while, on looking back, the
city itself is added to the landscape; and, as we approach, the abbey-church
is seen towering upon the eminence which it commands.
The church of St. Georges de Bocherville, called in old charters de
Baucherville, and in Latin de Balcheri or Baucheri villa, was built by Ralph
de Tancarville, the preceptor of the Conqueror in his youth, and his
chamberlain in his maturer age. The descendants of the founder were long
the patrons and advocates of the monastery. The Tancarvilles, names
illustrious in Norman, no less than in English, story, continued during many
centuries to regard it as under their particular protection: they enriched it
with their donations whilst alive, and they selected it as the spot to contain
their remains when they should be no more.
The following portion of the charter, which puts us in possession of the
indisputable æra of the erection of the church, is preserved by Mabillon[2]. It
is the Conqueror who speaks.--"Radulfus, meus magister, aulæque et
cameræ princeps, instinctu divino tactus, ecclesiam supradicti martyris
Georgii, quæ erat parva, re-edificare a fundamentis inchoavit, et ex proprio
in modum crucis consummavit."
The Monarch and his Queen condescended to gratify a faithful and favorite
servant, by endowing his establishment. The corpse of the sovereign himself
was also brought hither from St. Gervais, by the monks and clergy, in
solemn procession, before it was carried to Caen[3] for interment.

Ralph de Tancarville, however, was not fortunate in the selection of the
inmates whom he planted in his monastery. His son, in the reign of Henry
Ist, dismissed the canons for whom it was first founded, and replaced them
by a colony of monks from St. Evroul. Ordericus Vitalis, himself of the
fraternity of St. Evroul, commemorates and of course praises the fact. Such
changes are of frequent occurrence in ecclesiastical history; and the
apprehension of being rejected from an opulent and well-endowed
establishment, may occasionally have contributed, by the warning example,
to correct the irregularities of other communities. A century later, the abbot
of St. Georges was compelled to appeal to the pope, in consequence of an
attempt on the part of his brethren at St. Evroul, to degrade his convent into
a mere cell, dependent upon theirs.--The chronicle of the abbey is barren of
events of general interest; nor do its thirty-one abbots appear to have been
men of whom there was much more to be said, than that they arrived at their
dignity on such a year, and quitted it on such another. Of the monks, we are
told that, in the fifteenth century, though their number was only eight, the
dignitaries included, the daily task allotted them was greater than would in
any of the most rigid establishments, in latter days, have been imposed upon
forty brethren in a week!
Inconsiderable as is the abbey, in an historical point of view, the church of
St. Georges de Bocherville is of singular importance, inasmuch as it is one
of the land-marks of Norman architecture. William, in his charter, simply
styles himself Dux Normannorum; it therefore was granted a few years
before the conquest. The building has suffered little, either from the hands of
the destroyers, or of those who do still more mischief, the repairers; and it is
certainly at once the most genuine and the most magnificent specimen of the
circular style, now existing in Upper Normandy.--The west front is wholly of
the time of the founder, with the exception of the upper portion of the towers
that flank it on either side. In these are windows of nearly the earliest
pointed style; and they are probably of the same date as the chapter-house,
which was built in the latter part of the twelfth century. The effect of the
front is imposing: its general simplicity contrasts well with the rich
ornaments of the arched door-way, which is divided into five systems of
mouldings, all highly wrought, and presenting almost every pattern
commonly found in Norman buildings. A label encircles the whole, the inner
edge of which is indented into obtuse pyramids, erroneously called lozenges.
The capitals of the columns supporting the arch are curiously sculptured:

upon the second to the left, on entering, are Adam and Eve, in the act of
eating the forbidden fruit; upon the opposite one, is represented the Flight
into Egypt. Normandy does not contain, I believe, a richer arch; but very
many indeed are to be seen in England, even in our village churches,
superior in decoration, though not, perhaps, in size; for this at St. Georges is
on a very large scale: on each side of it is a smaller blank arch, with a single
moulding and a single pillar. Two tiers of circular-headed windows of equal
size fill up the front.--The rest of the exterior may be said to be precisely as
it was left by the original builders, excepting only the insertion of a pointed
window near the central tower.
The inside is at least equally free from modern alterations or improvements.
No other change whatever is to be traced in it than such as were required to
repair the injuries done it during the religious wars; and these were wholly
confined to a portion of the roof, and of the upper part of the wall on the
south side of the nave. The groined roof, though posterior to the original date
of the building, is perhaps of the thirteenth century. The nave itself
terminates towards the east in a semi-circular apsis, according to the custom
of the times; and there, as well as at the opposite extremity of the building, it
has a double tier of windows, and has columns more massy than those in the
body of the church. The aisles end in straight lines; but, within, a recess is
made in the thickness of the wall, for the purpose of admitting an altar. Both
the transepts are divided within the church, at a short distance from their
extremities, into two stories, by a vaulted roof of the same height as the
triforium.--M. Le Prevost, who has very kindly communicated to me the
principal part of these details, has observed the same to be the case in some
other contemporary buildings in Normandy. On the eastern side of each
transept is a small chapel, ending, like the choir, in a semi-circular apsis,
which rises no higher than the top of the basement story. A cable moulding
runs round the walls of the whole church within.--You and I, in our own
country, have often joined in admiring the massy grandeur of Norman
architecture, exemplified in the nave of Norwich cathedral: at St. Georges I
was still more impressed by the noble effect of semi-circular arcades, seen as
they are here on a still larger scale, and in their primitive state, uninterrupted
and undebased by subsequent additions.
On closer examination, the barbarous style of the sculpture forces itself upon
the eye. Towards the western end of the building the capitals are

comparatively plain: they become more elaborate on approaching the choir.
Some of them are imitations or modifications (and it may even be said
beautiful ones) of the Grecian model; but in general they are strangely
grotesque. Many represent quadrupeds, or dragons, or birds, and commonly
with two bodies, and a single head attached to any part rather than the neck.
On others is seen "the human form divine," here praying, there fighting; here
devouring, there in the act of being devoured; not uncommonly too the men,
if men they must be called, are disfigured by enormous heads with great
flapping ears, or loll out an endless length of tongue.--One is almost led to
conceive that Schedel, the compiler of the Nuremberg Chronicle, had a set of
Norman capitals before his eyes, when he published his inimitable series of
monsters. His "homines cynocephali," and others with "aures tam magnas ut
totum corpus contegant," and those again whose under lips serve them as
coverlids, may all find their prototypes, or nearly so, in the carvings of St.
Georges.
The most curious sculptures, however, in the church, are two square bas-
reliefs, opposite to one another, upon the spandrils of the arches, in the walls
that divide the extremities of the transepts into different stories[4]. They are
cut out of the solid stone, in the same manner as the subjects on the block of
a wood-engraving: one of these tablets represents a prelate holding a crosier
in his left hand, while the two fore-fingers of the right are elevated in the act
of giving the blessing; the other contains two knights on horseback, jousting
at a tournament. They are armed with lance and buckler, and each of them
has his head covered with a pointed helmet, which terminates below in a
nasal, like the figures upon the Bayeux tapestry.--This coincidence is
interesting, as deciding a point of some moment towards establishing the
antiquity of that celebrated relic, by setting it beyond a doubt that such
helmets were used anterior to the conquest; for it is certain that these basso-
relievos are coeval with the building which contains them.
This church affords admirable subjects for the pencil. It should be drawn in
every part: all is entire; all original; the corbel-stones that support the cornice
on the exterior are perfect, as well along the choir and nave, as upon the
square central steeple: each of the sides of this latter is ornamented with a
double tier of circular arches. The buttresses to the church are, like those of
the chapel of St. Julien, shallow and unbroken; and they are ranged, as there,

between the windows. At the east end alone they take the shape of small
semi-cylindrical columns of disproportionate length.

The monastic buildings, which were probably erected about the year 1700,
now serve as a manufactory. Between them and the church is situated the
chapter-house, which was built towards the end of the twelfth century, at a
period when the pointed architecture had already begun to take place of the
circular style. Its date is supplied in the Gallia Christiana, where we read,
that Victor, the second abbot, "obiit longævus dierum, idibus Martii, seu
XVIII calendas Aprilis, ante annum 1211; sepultusque est sub tabulâ
marmoreâ in capitulo quod erexerat."
We found it in a most ruinous and dilapidated state, yet extremely curious;
indeed not less so than the church. Its front to the west exhibits a row of
three semi-circular arches, with an ornament on the archivolt altogether
different from what I recollect to have seen elsewhere[5]. The inside
corresponds in profuse decoration with this entrance; but the arches in it are
all pointed. An entablature of beautiful workmanship is carried round the
whole building, which is now used as a mill: it was crowded with dirty
children belonging to the manufactory; and the confusion which prevailed,
was far from being favorable to the quiet lucubrations of an antiquary. In no
part of the church is the sculpture equally curious; and it is very interesting
to observe the progress which this branch of the art had made in so short a

time. Two or three of the capitals to the arches in front, seem to include one
continued action, taken apparently from the history of Joshua. Another
capital, of which I send you a sketch from the pencil of M. Le Prevost, is a
great curiosity. The group which it contains, is nearly a duplicate of the
supposed statue of William the Conqueror at Caen. In all probability it
represents some legendary story, though the subject is not satisfactorily
ascertained. Against the pillars that support these arches, were affixed
whole-length figures, or cariatides, in alto-relievo. Three of them still
remain, though much mutilated; two women and a man. They hold in their
hands labels, with inscriptions that fall down to their feet in front. One of the
females has her hair disposed in long braided tresses, which reach on either
side to her girdle. In this respect, as well as in the style of the sculpture and
costume, there is a resemblance between these statues and those on the
portals at St. Denys and at Chartres, as well as those formerly on that of St.
Germain des Prés, at Paris, all which are figured by Montfaucon in his
Monumens de la Monarchie Française, and are supposed by him to be of the
times of the Merovingian or Carlovingian dynasty; but subsequent writers
have referred them to the eleventh or twelfth century.

It was in this chapter-house that M. Langlois[6] found, among a heap of
stones, a most interesting capital, that had formerly been attached to a double
column. By his kindness, I inclose you two drawings of it. One of them
shews it in its entire form as a capital; the other exhibits the bas-relief carved
upon it[7].

The various injuries sustained by the building, render it impossible to
ascertain the spot which this capital originally occupied; but M. Le Prevost
supposes that it belonged to some gate of the cloister, which is now
destroyed. A more curious series of musical instruments is, perhaps, no
where to be found; and it is a subject upon which authors in general are
peculiarly unsatisfactory. I am told that, in an old French romance, the
names of upwards of twenty are enumerated, whose forms and nature are
quite unknown at the present day; while, on the other hand, we are all of us
aware that painting and sculpture supply figures of many, for which it would
be extremely difficult or impossible to find names[8].

The chapter-house, previously to the revolution, contained a tomb-stone[9],
uninscribed and exhibiting only a sculptured sword, under which it was
supposed that either Ralph de Tancarville himself, the founder of the abbey,
or his grandson, William, lay interred. It is of the latter that the records of the
monastery tell, how, on the fifth day after he girded himself with the military
belt, he came to the church, and deposited his sword upon the altar, and
subsequently redeemed it by various donations, and by confirming to the
monks their right to the several benefices in his domain, which had been
ceded to them by his grandfather.--Here then, I quit you: in a few days I shall
have paid my devotions at the shrine of Jumieges:--meanwhile, in the
language of the writers of the elder day, I close this sheet with.

EXPLICIT FELICITER Stus. GEORGIUS DE
BOCHERVILLA;
DEO GRATIAS.

Footnotes:

[1] Histoire de la Haute Normandie, II. p. 266. VOL. II.

[2] Ann. Benedict. III. p. 674, 675.--This charter was not among
the archives of the monastery; but I am informed by M. Le
Prevost, that several are still in existence, most of them granted by
the family of the founder, but some by Kings of England. One of
the latter is by Richard Coeur de Lion, and his seal of red wax still

remains appended to it, in fine preservation. The seal, on one side,
represents the king seated upon his throne, with a pointed beard,
having his crown on his head, and a sword in one hand, and
sceptre in the other: on the other side, he is on horseback, with his
head covered with a cylindrical helmet, surmounted with a very
remarkable crest, in the form of a fan: on his shield are plainly
distinguishable the three lions of England.--From among the
charters granted by the Tancarville family, M. Le Prevost has sent
me copies of two which have never yet been printed; but which
appear to deserve insertion here. One is from Lucy, daughter of
William de Tancarville, and grand-daughter of Ralph, the
chamberlain.--"Notum sit Ricardo de Vernon and Willelmo
Camerario de Tancarvilla, et veteribus et juvenibus, quòd Lucia,
filia Willelmi, Camerarii de Tancarvilla, pro animâ suâ et pro
animabus antecessorum suorum, ad ecclesiam Sti. Georgii de
Bauchervilla dedit molendinum de Waldinivilla, quod est subter
aliud molendinum et molendinum de Waldinval, liberè et quietè, et
insupèr ecclesiam de Seonvilla, salvâ elemosinâ Roberti sacerdotis
in vitâ suâ, si dignus est habendi eam. Et post mortem Willelmi
capellani sui de Sancto Flocello, ad ecclesiam suprà dictam dedit
decimam de vavassoribus de Seolvilla, quam dedit in elemosinâ
habendam Willelmo capellano totâ vitâ bene et in pace et securè, et
decimas de custodiis totius terre sue que est in Constantino.--Ego
Lucia do hanc elemosinam pro animâ meâ et pro antecessoribus ad
ecclesiam Sanctii Georgii; et qui auferet ab eâ et auferetur ab eo
regnum Dei. Amen.--Testibus, Ricardo de Haia et Matille uxore
suâ et Nigello de Chetilivilla et hominibus de Sancto Flocello."--
To this is added, in a smaller hand-writing, probably the lady's
own autograph, the following sentence:--"Et precor vos quòd
ecclesia Sancti Georgii non decrescatur in tempore vestro pro Dei
amore et meo de elemosinis patris mei neque de meis."--There is
still farther subjoined, in a different hand-writing, and in a much
paler ink:--"Hæc omnia Ricardus de Vernon libenter concessit."--
The other charter was granted by William the Younger, and details
a curious custom occasionally observed in the middle ages, in
making donations:--

"Universis sancte ecclesie fidelibus. Willelmus junior camerarius
in domino salutem. Notum sit presentibus et futuris, quod ego
Willelmus junior camerarius quinto die post susceptum militie
cingulum veni apud Sanctum Georgium, ibique cum honorificâ
processione suscepérunt me Abbas Ludovicus et monachi cum
magno gaudio letantes; et ibi obtuli gladium meum super altare
Sti. Georgii, et tunc consilio et admonitione sociorum meorum
nobilium virorum qui mecum venerant, scilicet Roberti des Is,
dapiferi mei, et Rogerii de Calli, et Johannis de Lunda, et aliorum
plurium, redemi gladium meum per dona et confirmationem
plurium ecclesiarum, quas ipso die concessi eisdem meo dono, et,
sicut avus meus, fundator illius monasterii dederat, confirmavi;
scilicet ecclesiam de Abetot et ecclesiam de Espretot cum decimâ,
et ecclesiam Sancti Romani cum duabus partibus decime, et
similitèr ecclesiam de Tibermaisnil: confirmavi etiam dona
militum meorum et amicorum quæ dederunt ipso die abbatie in
perpetuam elemosynam, Rogerius de Calli dedit XX Sot.
annuatìm; Robertus de Mortùomari X Sot.; Robertus des Is X
solidos; Johannes de Lunda, cognatus meus X Sot.; Andreas de
Bosemuneel X solidos, vel decimam de una carrucatura terre ...
Humfridus de Willerio X solid.; Willelmus de Bodevilla X acras
terre; Garinus de Mois V solid.; Adam de Mirevilla X solid.;
Robert. de Fuschennis X solid.; Lesra de Drumara I acram terre."

[3] The following are the words of Ordericus Vitalis, upon the
subject:
"Religiosi tandem viri, Clerici et Monachi, collectis viribus et
intimis sensibus, processionem ordinaverunt: honestè induti,
crucibus et thuribus, ad Sanctum Georgium processerunt, et
animam Regis, secundum morem sanctæ Christianitatis Deo
commendaverunt."--Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 661.

[4] See Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, t. 10. f.
A. and B.

[5] See Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, t. 11. last
figure.

[6] My readers will join with me, I trust, in thanks to M. Langlois,
for his drawings; and will not be sorry to see, accompanying his
sketch of the bas-relief, a spirited one of himself. Normandy does
not contain a more ardent admirer of her antiquities, or one to
whom she is more indebted for investigating, drawing, and
publishing them. But, to the disgrace of Rouen, his labors are not
rewarded. All the obstacles, however opposed by the "durum,
pauperies, opprobium," have not been able to check his
independent mind: he holds on his course in the illustration of the
true Norman remains; and to any antiquary who visits this country,
I can promise a great pleasure in the examination of his port-folio.

[7] Its size at top is fourteen inches and a half, by six inches and
two-thirds.

[8] This difficulty, in the present instance, has yielded to the
extensive researches of Mr. Douce, who has afforded assistance to
me, which, perhaps, no other antiquary could have bestowed. He
has unravelled all the mysteries of minstrelsy with his usual
ability; and I give the information in his own words, only
observing that the numbers begin from the left.--"No. 1 was called
the violl, corresponding with our Viol de Gamba. As this was a
larger violin, though the sculptor has not duly expressed its
comparative bulk, I conceive it was either used as a tenor or base,
being perfectly satisfied, in spite of certain doubts on the subject,
that counterpoint was known in the middle ages.--No. 2 is the
largest instrument of the kind that I have ever seen, and it seems
correctly given, from one part of it resting on the figure, No. 3, to
support it. Twiss mentions one that he saw sculptured on the
cathedral, at Toro, five feet long. The proper name of it is the rote,
so called from the internal wheel or cylinder, turned by a winch,
which caused the bourdon, whilst the performer stopped the notes
on the strings with his fingers. This instrument has been very
ignorantly termed a vielle, and yet continues to be so called in
France. It is the modern Savoyard hurdy-gurdy, as we still more
improperly term it; for the hurdy-gurdy is quite a different
instrument. In later times, the rote appears to have lost its rank in
concert, and was called the beggar's lyre.--No. 4 is evidently the

syrinx, or Pan's pipe, which has been revived with so much
success in the streets of London.--Twiss shewed me one forty
years ago, that he got in the south of France, where they were then
very common.--No. 5 is an instrument for which I can find no
name, nor can I immediately call to memory any other
representation of it. It has some resemblance to the old Welsh
fiddle or crowth; but, as a bow is wanting, it must have been
played with the fingers; and I think the performer's left hand in the
sculpture does seem to be stopping the strings on the upper part, or
neck, a portion of which has been probably broken off.--I suspect
it to be the old mandore, whence the more modern mandolin. The
rotundity of the sounding-board may warrant this conjecture.--No.
6 was called the psalterion, and is of very great antiquity, (I mean
as to the middle ages).--Its form was very diversified, and
frequently triangular. It was played with a plectrum, which the
performer holds in his right hand.--No. 7 is the dulcimer, which is
very common in sculpture. This instrument appears, as in the
present case, to have been sometimes played with the fingers only,
and sometimes with a plectrum.--No. 8 is the real vielle, or violin,
of very common occurrence, and very ancient.--No. 9 is a female
tumbler, or tomllesterre, as Chaucer calls them. This profession, so
far as we can depend on ancient representation, appears to have
exclusively belonged to women.--No. 10. A harp played with a
plectrum, and, perhaps, also with the left hand occasionally.--No.
11. The figure before the suspended bells has had a hammer in
each hand with which to strike them, and the opposite, and last,
person, who plays in concert with him, has probably had a harp, as
is the case in an ancient manuscript psalter illumination that I
have, prefixed to the psalm Exaltate Deo.--I have seen these bells
suspended (in illumination to the above psalm) to a very elegant
Gothic frame, ascending like the upper part of a modern harp."

[9] Gallia Christiana, XI. p. 270.

LETTER XV.
ABBEY OF JUMIEGES--ITS HISTORY--ARCHITECTURAL
DETAILS--TOMBS OF AGNES SOREL AND OF THE ENERVEZ.

(Ducler, July, 1818)
The country between Ducler and Jumieges is of much the same character
with that through which we had already travelled from Rouen; the road
sometimes coasting the Seine, and sometimes passing through a well-
wooded country, pleasantly intermingled with corn-fields. In its general
appearance, this district bears a near resemblance to an English landscape;
more so, indeed, than in any other part of Normandy, where the features of
the scenery are upon a larger scale.
The lofty towers of the abbey of Jumieges are conspicuous from afar: the
stone of which they are built is peculiarly white; and at a distance scarcely
any signs of decay or dilapidation are visible. On a nearer approach,
however, the Vandalism of the modern French appears in full activity. For
the pitiful value of the materials, this noble edifice is doomed to destruction.
The arched roof is beaten in; and the choir is nearly levelled with the ground.
Two cart-loads of wrought stones were carried away, while we were there;
and the workmen were busily employed in its demolition. The greater part,
too, of the mischief, appears recent: the fractures of the walls are fresh and
sharp; and the fresco-paintings are unchanged.--Had the proud, abbatial
structure but been allowed to have existed as the parochial church of the
village, the edifice might have stood for ages; but the French are miserably
deficient in proper feeling; and neither the historical recollections connected
with Jumieges, nor its importance as a monument of architectural antiquity,
could redeem it from their tasteless selfishness. In a few years, its very ruins
will have perished; and not a wreck will remain of this ancient sanctuary of
religion and of learning.
It was in the year 654 or 655, that St. Philibert, second abbot of Rebais, in
the diocese of Meaux, founded this monastery. He selected the site upon

which the present building stands, a delightful situation, in a peninsula on
the right bank of the Seine. This peninsula, and the territory extending from
Ducler to Caudebec, had been granted to him for this purpose by Clovis
IInd, or, more properly speaking, by Bathilda, his queen; for the whole
administration of affairs was in reality under her guidance, though the reins
of state were nominally held by her feeble husband. The territory[10] had
previously borne the name of Jumieges, or, in Latin, Gemeticum, a term
whose origin has puzzled etymologists. Those who hold it disgraceful to be
ever at a loss on points of this nature, and who prefer displaying a learned to
an unlearned ignorance, derive Gemeticum, either from gemitus, because,
"pro suis offensis illìc gemunt, qui in flammis ultricibus non erunt gemituri;"
or from gemma, conformably to the following distich,--

"Gemmeticum siquidem a gemmâ dixere priores;
Quòd reliquis gemmæ, præcelleret instar Eoæ."

The ground upon which the abbey was erected was previously occupied by
an ancient encampment. The author of the Life of St. Philibert, who
mentions this circumstance, has also preserved a description of the original
church. These authentic accounts of edifices of remote date, which
frequently occur in hagiology, are of great value in the history of the arts[11].-
-The bounty of the queen was well employed by the saint; and the cruciform
church, with chapels, and altars, and shrines, and oratories, on either side,
and with its high altar hallowed by relics, and decked out with gold and
silver and precious stones, shews how faithfully the catholics, in their
religious edifices of the present day, have adhered to the models of the early,
if not the primitive, ages of the church.
Writers of the same period record two facts in relation to Jumieges, which
are of some interest as points of natural history.--Vines were then commonly
cultivated in this place and neighborhood;--and fishes of so great a size, that
we cannot but suppose they must have been whales, frequently came up the
Seine, and were caught under the walls of the monastery.--The growth of the
vine is abundantly proved: it is not only related by various monkish
historians, one of whom, an anonymous writer, quoted by Mabillon, in the
Acta Sanctorum ordinis Sancti Benedicti, says, speaking of Jumieges, "hinc
vinearum abundant botryones, qui in turgentibus gemmis lucentes rutilant in
Falernis;" but even a charter of so late a date as the year 1472, expressly

terms a large tract of land belonging to the convent, the vineyard[12].--The
existence of the English monastic vineyards has been much controverted, but
not conclusively. Whether these instances of the northern growth of the vine,
as a wine-making plant, do or do not bear upon the question of the supposed
refrigeration of our climate by the increase of the Polar ice, must be left to
the determination of others.--The whale-fishery of Jumieges rests upon the
single authority of the Gesta Sancti Philiberti: the author admits, indeed, that
it is a strange thing, "et a sæculo inauditum;" but still he speaks of it as a fact
that has fallen under his own knowledge, that the monks, by means of hooks,
nets, and boats, catch sea-fish[13], fifty feet in length, which at once supply
their table with food, and their lamps with oil.
The number of holy men who originally accompanied St. Philibert to his
new abbey, was only seventy; but they increased with surprising rapidity;
insomuch, that his successor, St. Aicadras, who received the pastoral staff,
after a lapse of little more than thirty years from the foundation of Jumieges,
found himself at the head of nine hundred monks, besides fifteen hundred
attendants and dependants of various denominations.
During all these early ages, the monastery of Jumieges continued to be
accounted one of the most celebrated religious houses in France. Its abbots
are repeatedly mentioned in history, as enjoying the confidence of
sovereigns, and as charged with important missions. In their number, was
Hugh, grandson of Pépin le Bref, or, according to other writers, of
Charlemagne. Here also, Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, and his son, Theodo,
were compelled to immure themselves, after the emperor had deposed them;
whilst Anstruda, daughter of Tassilo, was doomed to share his imperial bed.
An æra of misfortune began with the arrival of the Normans. It was in May,
in the year 841, that these dreadful invaders first penetrated as far as Rouen,
marking their track by devastation. On their retreat, which almost
immediately succeeded, they set fire to Jumieges, as well as to the capital. In
their second invasion, under Ironside and Hastings, the "fury of the
Normans" was poured out upon Neustria; and, during their inroad, they
levelled Jumieges with the ground[14]. But the monks saved themselves: they
dispersed: one fled as far as St. Gall; others found shelter in the royal abbey
of St. Denis; the greater part re-assembled in a domain of their own, called
Haspres, in Flanders, whither they carried with them the bodies of St.

Aicadrus and St. Hugh: there too they resided till the conversion of their
enemies to Christianity.
The victorious fleet of Rollo first sailed in triumph up the Seine, in the year
876. According to three monkish historians, Dudo of St. Quintin, William of
Jumieges, and Matthew of Westminster, the chieftain venerated the sanctity
of Jumieges, and deposited in the chapel of St. Vast, the corpse of the holy
virgin, Hameltruda, whom he had brought from Britain. They also tell us
that, on the sixth day after his baptism, he made a donation of some lands to
this monastery.--The details, however, of the circumstances connected with
the first, diminish its credibility; and Jumieges, then desolate, could scarcely
contain a community capable of accepting the donation. But under the reign
of the son and successor of Rollo, the abbey of Jumieges once more rose
from its ashes. Baldwin and Gundwin, two of the monks who had fled to
Haspres, returned to explore the ruins of the abbey: they determined to
seclude themselves amidst its fire-scathed walls, and to devote their lives to
piety and toil.--In pursuing the deer, the Duke chanced to wander to
Jumieges, and he there beheld the monks employed in clearing the ground.
He listened with patience to their narration; but when they invited him to
partake of their humble fare, barley-bread and water, he turned from them
with disdain. It chanced, however, that immediately afterwards, he
encountered in the forest a boar of enormous size. The beast unhorsed him,
and he was in danger of death. The peril he regarded as a judgment from
heaven; and, as an expiation for his folly, he rebuilt the monastery. So
thoroughly, however, had the Normans demonachised Neustria, that William
Longa Spatha was compelled to people the abbey with a colony from Poitou;
and thence came twelve monks, headed by Abbot Martin, whom the duke
installed in his office in the year 930. William himself also desired to take
refuge from the fatigues of government in the retirement of the monastery;
and though dissuaded by Abbot Martin, who reminded him that Richard, his
infant, son still needed his care, he did not renounce his intention:--but his
life and his reign were soon ended by treachery.
This second æra of the prosperity of Jumieges was extremely short; for the
prefect, whom Louis d'Outremer, King of France, placed in command at
Rouen, when he seized upon the young Duke Richard, pulled down the walls
of this and of all the other monasteries on the banks of the Seine, to assist
towards the reparation and embellishment of the seat of his government. But

from that time forward the tide of monastic affairs flowed in one even course
of prosperity; though the present abbatial church was not begun till the time
of Abbot Robert, the second of that name, who was elected in 1037. By him
the first stone of the foundation was laid, three years after his advancement
to the dignity; but he held his office only till 1043, when Edward the
Confessor invited him to England, and immediately afterwards promoted
him to the Bishopric of London.--Godfrey, his successor at Jumieges, was a
man conversant with architecture, and earnest in the promotion of learning.
In purchasing books and in causing them to be transcribed, he spared neither
pains nor expence. The records of the monastery contain a curious precept,
in which he directs that prayers should be offered up annually upon a certain
day, "pro illis qui dederunt et fecerunt libros."--The inmates of Jumieges
continued, however, to increase in number; and the revenues of the abbey
would not have been adequate to defray the expences of the new building,
had not Abbot Robert, who, in 1050, had been translated to the see of
Canterbury, supplied the deficiency by his munificence, and, as long as he
continued to be an English prelate, remitted the surplus of his revenues to the
Norman abbey. He held his archiepiscopal dignity only one year, at the
expiration of which he was banished from England: he then retired to
Jumieges, where he died the following spring, and was buried in the choir of
the church which he had begun to raise. At his death, the church had neither
nave nor windows; and the whole edifice was not completed till November,
in the year 1066. In the following July the dedication took place. Maurilius,
Archbishop of Rouen, officiated, in great pomp, assisted by all the prelates
of the duchy; and William, then just returned from the conquest of England,
honored the ceremony with his presence.
I have dwelt upon the early history of this monastery, because Normandy
scarcely furnishes another of greater interest. In the Neustria Pia, Jumieges
fills nearly seventy closely-printed folio pages of that curious and
entertaining, though credulous, work.--What remains to be told of its annals
is little more than a series of dates touching the erection of different parts of
the building: these, however, are worth preserving, so long as any portion of
the noble church is permitted to have existence, and so long as drawings and
engravings continue to perpetuate the remembrance of its details.
The choir and extremities of the transept, all of pointed architecture, are
supposed to have been rebuilt in 1278.--The Lady-Chapel was an addition of

the year 1326.--The abbey suffered materially during the wars between
England and France, in the reigns of our Henry IVth and Henry Vth: its
situation exposed it to be repeatedly pillaged by the contending parties; and,
were it not that the massy Norman architecture sufficiently indicates the true
date, and that we know our neighbors' habit of applying large words to small
matters, we might even infer that it was then destroyed as effectually as it
had been by Ironside: the expression, "lamentabilitèr desolata, diffracta et
annihilata," could scarcely convey any meaning short of utter ruin, except to
the ears of one who had been told that a religious edifice was actually abimé
during the revolution, though he saw it at the same moment standing before
him, and apparently uninjured.--The arched roof of the choir received a
complete repair in 1535: that of the nave, which was also in a very bad state,
underwent the same process in 1688; at the same time, the slender columns
that support the cornice were replaced with new ones, and the symbols of the
Evangelists were inserted in the upper part of the walls. These reparations
are managed with a singular perception of propriety; and though the manner
of the sculpture in the symbolic figures, is not that of a Gothic artist, yet they
are most appropriate, and harmonize admirably with the building.

You must excuse me that, now I am upon this subject, I venture to "travel
somewhat out of the record," for the sake of proposing to you a difficulty
which has long puzzled me:--the connection which Catholic divines find
between St. Luke's Bull and the word Zecharias;--for it appears, by the
following distich from the Rhenish Testament, that some such cause leads
them to regard this symbol as peculiarly appropriate to the third Evangelist:-
-

"Effigies vituli, Luca, tibi convenit; extat
Zacariæ in scriptis mentio prima tuis."--

An antiquary might be perplexed by these figures, the drawings whereof I
now send you. He would find it impossible to suppose the exquisitely-
sculptured images and the slender shafts with richly-wrought capitals, of the
same date as the solid simple piers and arches all around; and yet the stone is
so entirely the same, and the workmanship is so well united, that it would
require an experienced eye to trace the junction. In the middle of the
sixteenth century, the central tower was also found to need reparation; and
the church, upon this occasion, sustained a lasting injury, in the loss of its
original spire, which was of lead, and of great height and beauty. It was
taken down, under pretence of its insecurity; but in reality the monks only
wished to get the metal. This happened in 1557, under Gabriel le Veneur,
Bishop of Evreux, the then abbot. Five years afterwards the ravages of the
Huguenots succeeded: the injury done to Jumieges by these sectaries, was
estimated at eighty thousand francs; and the library and records of the
convent perished in the devastation.
The western front of the church still remains almost perfect; and it is most
singular. It consists, of three distinct parts; the central division being nearly
of equal width to the other two conjointly, and projecting considerably
beyond them. The character of the whole is simplicity: the circular door-way
is comparatively small, and entirely without ornament, except a pillar on

each side; the six circular-headed windows over the entrance, disposed in a
double row, are equally plain. Immediately above the upper tier of windows,
is a projecting chequered cornice; and, still higher, where the gable assumes
a triangular form, are three lancet-shaped apertures, so extremely narrow,
that they resemble the loop-holes of a dungeon rather than the windows of a
church. In each of the lateral compartments was likewise originally a door-
way, and above it a single window, all of the same Norman style, but all now
blocked up. These compartments are surmounted with short towers, capped
with conical spires. The towers appear from their style and masonry to be
nearly coeval with the lower part of the building, though not altogether so:
the southern is somewhat the most modern. They are, however, so entirely
dissimilar in plan from the rest of the front, that we cannot readily admit that
they are a portion of the original design. Nor are they even like to each other.
Both of them are square at their bases, and preserve this form to a sufficient
height to admit of two tiers of narrow windows, separated from each other
by little more than a simple string-course. Above these windows both
become octagon, and continue so to the top; but in a very different manner.
The northern one has obtuse angles, imperfectly defined; the southern has
four projecting buttresses and four windows, alternating with each other. The
form of the windows and their arrangement, afford farther marks of
distinction. The octagon part is in both turrets longer than the square, but,
like it, divided into two stories.
The central tower of the church, which was large and square, is now reduced
to a fragment: three of its sides are gone; the western remains sufficiently
perfect to shew what the whole was when entire. It contained a double tier of
arches, the lower consisting of two, which were large and simple, the upper
of three, divided by central shafts and masonry, so that each formed a double
window. All of them were circular-headed, but so far differed from the
architecture of the nave, that they had side-pillars with capitals.

The church[15] was entered by a long narrow porch.--The nave is a fine
specimen of Norman architecture, but is remarkable in that style for one
striking peculiarity, that the eight wide circular arches on either side, which
separate it from the aisles, are alternately supported by round pillars and
square piers; the latter having semi-cylindrical columns applied to each of
their sides. The capitals are ornamented with rude volutes. The arches in the
triforium are of nearly the same width as those below, but considerably less

in height. There is no archivolt or moulding or ornament. Above these there
is only one row of windows, which, like all the rest, are semi-circular
headed; but they have neither angular pillars, nor mouldings, nor mullions.
These windows are rather narrow externally, but within the opening enlarges
considerably. The windows in the upper and lower tiers stand singly: in the
intermediate row they are disposed by threes, the central one separated from
the other two by a single column.--The inside of the nave is striking from its
simplicity: it is wholly of the eleventh century, except the reparations already
mentioned, which were made in 1688.--The choir and Lady-Chapel are
nearly demolished; and only some fragments of them are now standing: they
were of pointed architecture, and posterior to the nave by at least two
centuries.
A smaller church, dedicated to St. Peter, stood near the principal one, with
which it was connected by means of a corridor of pointed arches. There are
other instances of two churches being erected within the precincts of one
abbey, as at Bury St. Edmund's. St. Peter's was a building at least of equal
antiquity with the great church. But it had undergone such alterations in the
year 1334, during the prelacy of the twenty-seventh abbot, William Gemblet,
that little of the original structure remained. He demolished nearly the whole
of the nave, for the sake of adding uniformity to the cloisters of the
monastery.--M. Le Prevost, however, is of opinion, that the ruins of
Jumieges contain nothing more interesting to an antiquary than the west end
of the portion of building, which subsequently served as the nave. It is a
mass of flint-work; and he considers it as having belonged to the church that
existed before the incursion of the Normans.
The cloisters, which stood to the south-west of St. Peter's, are now almost
wholly destroyed.--To the west of them is a large hall or gallery, known by
the name of la Salle des Chevaliers. It is entered by two porches, one
towards the north-west, the other towards the south-west[16], both full of
architectural beauty and curiosity. I know of no authority for their date; but,
from the great variety and richness of their ornaments, and the elegant taste
displayed in the arrangement of these, I should suppose them to have been
erected during the latter half of the twelfth century: one of the arches is
unquestionably pointed, though the cusp of the arch is very obtuse. The
slight sketch which accompanies this letter, represents a fragment of the

inner door-way of the south-west porch, and may enable you to form your
own judgment upon the subject.

The stones immediately over the entrance are joggled into each other, the
key-stone having a joggle on either side.--I have not observed this
peculiarity in any other specimen of Norman masonry.--Between these
porches apartments, along the interior of which runs a cornice, supported by
grotesque corbels, and under it a row of windows, now principally blocked
up, disposed in triplets, a trefoil-headed window being placed between two
that are semi-circular, as seen in the accompanying drawing. The date of the
origin of the trefoil-headed arch has been much disputed: these perhaps are
some of the earliest, and they are unquestionably coeval with the building.

The stupid and disgraceful barbarism, which is now employing itself in the
ruins of Jumieges, has long since annihilated the invaluable monuments
which it contained.--In the Lady-Chapel of the conventual church was buried
the heart of the celebrated Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VIIth, who died
at Mesnil, about a league from this abbey, during the time when her royal
lover was residing here.--Her death was generally attributed to poison; nor
did the people hesitate in whispering that the fatal potion was administered
by order of the Queen. Her son, the profligate tyrant Louis XIth, detested his
father's concubine; and once, forgetting his dignity and his manhood, he
struck the Dame de Beauté.--The statue placed upon the mausoleum
represented Agnes kneeling and offering her heart to the virgin; but this
effigy had been removed before the late troubles: a heart of white marble,
which was at the foot of the tomb, had also disappeared. According to the
annals of the abbey, they were destroyed by the Huguenots. The tomb itself,
with various brasses inlaid upon it, remained undisturbed till the period of
the revolution, when the whole memorial was removed, and even her
remains were not suffered to rest in peace. The slab of black marble which
covered them, and which bore upon its edges the French inscription to her
memory, is still in existence; though it has changed its place and destination.
The barbarians who pillaged the convent sold it with the rest of the plunder;
and it now serves as a threshold to a house near the Mont aux Malades, at
Rouen[17]. The inscription, which is cut in very elegant Gothic characters, is
as follows: a part of it is, however, at present hidden by its position:--"Cy

gist Agnes Surelle, noble damoiselle, en son vivant Dame de Roqueferriere,
de Beaulté, d'Yssouldun, et de Vernon sur Seine, piteuse entre toutes gens,
qui de ses biens donnoit largement aux gens d'église et aux pauvres; qui
trespassa le neuvieme jour de Fevrier, l'an de grace 1449.--Priez Dieu pour
elle."--It is justly to be regretted, that some pains are not taken for the
preservation of this relic, which even now would be an ornament to the
cathedral.--The manor-house at Mesnil, where the fair lady died, still retains
its chimneys of the fifteenth century; and ancient paintings are discernible on
the walls.
The monument in the church of St. Peter, generally known by the name of le
tombeau des énervez, was of still greater singularity. It was an altar-tomb,
raised about two feet above the pavement; and on the slabs were carved
whole-length figures, in alto-relievo, of two boys, each about sixteen years
of age, in rich attire, and ornamented with diadems, broaches, and girdles, all
copiously studded with precious stones. Various traditions concerning this
monument are recorded by authors, and particularly at great length by Father
du Plessis[18].--The nameless princes, for such the splendor of their garb
denotes them to have been, were considered, according to a tradition which
prevailed from very early times, as the sons of Clovis and Bathilda, who, in
the absence of their father, were guilty of revolt, and were punished by being
hamstrung; for this is the meaning of the word énervez.--According to this
tradition, the monks, in the thirteenth century, caused the monument to be
ornamented with golden fleurs-de-lys, and added the following epitaph:--

"Hic in honore Dei requiescit stirps Clodovei,
Patris bellica gens, bella salutis agens.
Ad votum matris Bathildis poenituere,
Scelere pro proprio, proque labore patris."--

Three other lines, preserved by Yepez, in his chronicle, refer to the same tale,
but accuse the princes of a crime of deeper die than mere rebellion against
parental authority:--

"Conjugis est ultus probrum; nam in vincula tradit
Crudeles natos, pius impietate, simulque
Et duras pater, o Clodovee, piusque maritus."

Mabillon supposed the tomb to have been erected for Tassilo and his son; but
I do not know how this conjecture is to be reconciled to the appearance of
the statues, both representing persons of equal age. An examination of the
grave at the time of the destruction of the abbey, might have afforded some
interesting results; though, had any discovery been made, it would have been
but a poor reward for the desolation which facilitated the research.

Footnotes:

[10] Immediately on the opposite side of the Seine, are extensive
turf-bogs, which are of rare occurrence in this part of France; and
in them grows the Andromeda polifolia, a plant that seems hitherto
to have been discovered no where else in the kingdom.

[11] The following particulars relative to the territory of Jumieges,
as well as the church, are curious: they are copied from an extract
from the Life of St. Philibert, as given in the Neustria Pia, p. 262.-
-"Congruè sanè locus ille Gemmeticus est dictus, quippe qui instar
gemmarum multivario sit decore conspicuus. Videas illic arborum
comas sylvestrium, multigenos arborum fructus, solum fertile,
prata virentia, hortorum flores suaveolentes, bortis gravidas vîtes,
humum undique cinctam aquis, pascua pecorum uberrima, loca
venationi apta, avium cantu circumsonantia. Sequana fluvius illic
cernitur late ambiens: et deindè suo pergeus cursu, uno duntaxat
commeantibus aditu relicto. Ibi mare increscens nunc eructat: nunc
in sinum suum revolutum, navium fert compendia, commercia
plurimorum. Nihil illic deest; quicquid vehiculis pedestribus, et
equestribus plaustris, et ratibus subministratur, abunde suppetit.
Illic castrum condidere antiqui; ibi stant, in acie, illustria castra
Dei: ibi præ desiderio paradisi suspirantes gemunt, quibus postea
opus non erit, in flammis ultricibus, nihil profuturos edere gemitus.
Ibi denique almus sacerdos, Philibertus, multiplici est laude et
prædicatione efferendus: qui instar Patriarchæ Jacob, in animabus
septuaginta, demigravit in hanc eremum, addito grege septemplici,
propter septiformem gratiam spiritus sancti. Ibi enim eius
prudentia construxit mœnia quadrata, turrita mole surgentia;
claustra excipiendis adventantibus mirè opportuna. In his domus

alma fulget; habitatoribus digna. Ab Euro surgit Ecclesia, crucis
effigie, cujus verticem obtinet Beatissima Virgo Maria; Altare est
ante faciem lectuli, cum Dente sanctiss, patris Philiberti, pictum
gemmarum luminibus, auro argentoque comptum: ab utroque
latere, Joannis et Columbani Aræ dant gloriam Deo; adherent verò
a Boreâ, Dyonisii Martyris, et Germani Confessoris, ædiculæ; in
dextrâ domus parte, sacellum nobile extat S. Petri; a latere habens
S. Martini oratorium. Ad Austrum est S. Viri cellula, et petris
habens margines; saxis cinguntur claustra camerata: is decor
cunctorum animos oblectans, eum inundantibus aquis, geminus
vergit ad Austrum. Habet autem ipsa domus in longum pedes
ducentos nonaginta, in latum quinquaginta: singulis legere
volentibus lucem transmittunt fenestræ vitreæ: subtus habet
geminas ædes, alteras condendis vinis, alteras cibis apparandis
accommodatas."

[12] Allusions to the cultivation of the vine at Jumieges, as then
commonly practised, may be found in many other public
documents of the fifteenth century: but we may come yet nearer
our own time; for we know that, in the year 1500, there was still a
vineyard in the hamlet of Conihoult, a dependence upon Jumieges,
and that the wine called vin de Conihoult, is expressly mentioned
among the articles of which the charitable donations of the
monastery consisted.--We are told, too, that at least eighteen or
twenty acres, belonging to the grounds of the abbey itself, were
used as a vineyard as late as 1561.--At present, I believe, vines are
scarcely any where to be seen in Normandy, much north of
Gaillon.

[13] In a charter belonging to the monastery, granted by Henry
IInd, in 1159, (see Neustria Pia, p. 323) he gives the convent,
"integritatem aquæ ex parte terræ Monachorum, et Graspais, si
fortè capiatur."--The word Graspais is explained by Ducange to be
a corruption of crassus piscis. Noel (in his Essais sur le
Département de la Seine Inférieure, II, p. 168) supposes that it
refers particularly to porpoises, which he says are still found in
such abundance in the Seine, nearer its mouth, that the river
sometimes appears quite black with them.

[14] The following account of the destruction of the monastery is
extracted from William of Jumieges. (See Duchesne's Scriptores
Normanni, p. 219)--"Dehinc Sequanica ora aggrediuntur, et apud
Gemmeticum classica statione obsidionein componunt.... In quo
quamplurima multitudo Episcoporum, seu Clericorum, vel
nobilium laïcorum, spretis secularibus pompis, collecta, Christo
Regi militatura, propria colla saluberrimo iugo subegit. Cuius loci
Monachi, sive incolæ, Paganorum adventum comperientes, fugâ
lapsi quædam suarum rerum sub terra occulentes, quædam secum
asportantes, Deo juvante evaserunt. Pagani locum vacuum
reperientes, Monasterium sanctæ Mariæ sanctíque Petri, et cuncta
ædificia igne iniecto adurunt, in solitudinem omnia redigentes.
Hac itaque patrata eversione, locus, qui tauto honoris splendore
diu viguerat, exturbatis omnibus ac subuersis domibus, cœpit esse
cubile ferarum et volucrum: maceriis in sua soliditate in sublime
porrectis, arbustisque densissimis; et arborum virgultis per triginta
fermè annorum curricula ubique a terra productis."

[15] The following are the proportions of the building, in French
feet:--

Length of the church 265
Ditto of the nave 134
Width of ditto 62
Length of choir 43½
Width of ditto 31
Length of Lady-Chapel 63
Width of ditto 27
Height of central tower 124
Ditto of western towers 150

[16] Mr. Cotman has figured this porch, (Architectural Antiquities
of Normandy, t. 4) but has, by mistake, called it "An Arch on the
West Front of the Abbey Church."

[17] See a paper by M. Le Prevost in the Précis Analitique des
Travaux de l'Académie de Rouen, 1815, p. 131.

[18] Histoire de la Haute Normandie, II, p. 260.

LETTER XVI.
GOURNAY--CASTLE OF NEUFMARCHÉ--CASTLE AND CHURCH
OF GISORS.

(Gisors, July, 1818)
We are now approaching the western frontiers.--Gournay, Gisors, and
Andelys, the objects of our present excursion, are disposed nearly in a line
between the capitals of France and Normandy; and whenever war broke out
between the two states, they experienced all the glory, and all the afflictions
of warfare. This district was in fact a kind of debatable land; and hence arose
the numerous strong holds, by which the country was once defended, and
whose ruins now adorn the landscape.
The tract known by modern topographers, under the names of the
arrondissemens of Gournay and of Andelys, constituted one of the general
divisions of ancient Normandy, the Pays de Bray. It was a tract celebrated
beyond every other in France, and, from time immemorial, for the excellence
of the products of its dairies. The butter of Bray is an indispensable requisite
at every fashionable table at Paris; and the fromage de Neufchâtel is one of
the only two French cheeses which are honored with a place in the bill of
fare at Véry's at Grignon's, or at Beauvilliers'.
The females of the district frequently passed us on the road, carrying their
milk and eggs to the provincial metropolis. Accustomed as we are to the
Norman costume, we still thought that the many-colored attire and long
lappetted cap, of the good wife, of Bray, in conjunction with her steed and its
trappings, was a most picturesque addition to the surrounding scenery. The
large pannier on either side of the saddle leaves little room for the lady,
except on the hinder parts of the poor beast; and there she sits, perfectly free
and dégagée, without either pillion or stirrup, showing no small portion of
her leg, and occasionally waving a little whip, ornamented in the handle with
tufts of red worsted.--We had scarcely quitted the suburbs of Rouen before
we found ourselves in Darnétal, a place that has risen considerably in

importance, since the revolution, from the activity of its numerous
manufacturers. Its population is composed entirely of individuals of this
description, to whose pursuits its situation upon the banks of the Robec and
Aubette is peculiarly favorable: the greater part of the goods manufactured
here are coarse cloths and flannels. Before the revolution, the town belonged
to the family of Montmorenci.--The rest of the ride offered no object of
interest. The road, like all the main post-roads, is certainly wide and straight;
but the French seem to think that, if these two points are but obtained, all the
rest may be regarded as matter of supererogation. Hence, very little attention
is paid to the surface of the highways: even on those that are most
frequented, it is thought enough to keep the centre, which is paved, in decent
repair: the ruts by the side are frequently so deep as to be dangerous; and in
most cases the cross roads are absolutely impassable to carriages of every
description, except the common carts of the country.--There is nothing in
which England has a more decided superiority over France than in the
facility of communication between its different towns; and there is also
nothing which more decidedly marks a superiority of civilization. English
travellers, who usually roll on the beaten track to and from the capital, return
home full of praises of the French roads; but were they to attempt excursions
among the country-towns and villages, their opinion would be wofully
altered.--The forest of Feuillée extends about four leagues on each side of
the road, between Rouen and Gournay. It adds little to the pleasantness of
the ride: the trees are planted with regularity, and the side-branches are
trimmed away almost to the very tops. Those therefore who expect
overhanging branches, or the green-wood shade, in a French forest, will be
sadly disappointed. On the contrary, when the wind blows across the road,
and the sun shines down it, such a forest only adds to the heat and closeness
of the way.
The country around Gournay is characterized by fertility and abundance; yet,
in early times, the rich valley in which it is situated, was a dreary morass,
which separated the Caletes from the Bellovacences. A causeway crossed the
marshes, and formed the only road of communication between these tribes;
and Gournay arose as an intermediate station. Therefore, even prior to the
Norman æra, the town was, from its situation, a strong hold of note; and
under the Norman dukes, Gournay necessarily became of still greater
consequence, as the principal fortress on the French frontier; but the
annexation of the duchy to the crown of France, destroyed this unlucky pre-

eminence; and, at present, it is only known as a great staple mart for cheese
and butter. Nor is it advantageously situated for trade; as there is no
navigable river or means of water-carriage in its vicinity. The inhabitants
therefore look forward with some anxiety to the completion of the projected
canal from Dieppe.
Gournay is a small, clean, and airy place. The last two circumstances are no
trifling recommendation to those who have just escaped from the dirt and
closeness of Rouen. Its streets are completely those of a country town: the
intermixture of wood and clay in the houses gives them a mean aspect, and
there are scarcely two to be found alike, either in size, shape, color, or
materials.--The records of Gournay begin in the reign of Rollo. That prince
gave the town, together with the Norman portion of the Pays de Bray, to
Eudes[19], a nobleman of his own nation, to be held as a fief of the duchy,
under the usual military tenure. In one of the earliest rolls of Norman
chieftains[20], the Lord of Gournay is bound, in case of war, to supply the
duke with twelve soldiers from among his vassals, and to arm his dependants
for the defence of his portion of the marches. Hugh, the son of Eudes de
Gournay, erected a castle in the vicinity of the church of St. Hildebert, and
the whole town was surrounded with a triple wall and double fosse. The
place was inaccessible to an invading enemy, when these fosses were filled
with the waters of the Epte; but Philip Augustus caused the protecting
element to become his most powerful auxiliary. Willelmus Brito relates this
siege with minuteness in his Philippiad, an heroic poem, devoted to the acts
and deeds of the French monarch.--After advancing through Lions and
Mortemer, Philip encamped before Gournay, thus described by the historical
bard;--

"Non procul hinc vicum populosâ genta superbum,
Divitiis plenum variis, famâque celebrem,
Rure situm piano, munitum triplice muro,
Deliciosa nimis speciosaque vallis habebat.
Nomine GORNACUM, situ inexpugnabilis ipso,
Etsi nullus ei defensor ab intus adesset;
Cui multisque aliis præerat Gornacius HUGO.
Fossæ cujus erant amplæ nimis atque profundae
Quas sic Epta suo repleret flumine, posset
Nullus ut ad muros per eas accessus haberi.

Arte tamen sibi REX tali pessundedit ipsum.
Haud procul a muris stagnum pergrande tumebat,
Cujus aquam, pelagi stagnantis more, refusam
Urget stare lacu sinuoso terreus agger,
Quadris compactus saxis et cespite multo.
Hunc REX obrumpi medium facit, effluit inde
Diluvium immensum, subitâque voragine tota
Vallis abit maris in speciem, ruit impete vasto
Eluvies damnosa satis, damnosa colonis.

Municipes fugiunt ne submergantur, et omnis
Se populus villâ viduat, vacuamque relinquit.

Armis villa potens, muris munita virisque,
Arte capi nullâ metuens aut viribus ullis,
Diluvio capitur inopino....

REX ubi GORNACUM sic in sua jura redegit,
Indigenas omnes revocans ad propria, pacem
Indicit populis libertatemque priorem;
Deinde re-ædificat muros....
In 1350, after the death of Philip of Valois, Gournay was again separated
from France, and given as a dower to Blanche of Navarre, the widow of that
prince, who held it forty-eight years, when, after her death, it reverted to the
crown. At the commencement of the following century, the town fell, with
the rest of the kingdom, into the possession of the English; and once more,
upon the demise of our sovereign, Henry Vth, formed part of the dower of
the widowed queen. On her decease, it devolved upon her son; but a period
of eleven years had scarcely elapsed, when the laws of conquest united it for
a third time to the crown of France, in 1449.--From that period to the
revolution, it was constantly in the possession of different noble families of
the kingdom.

The name of Hugo de Gournay is enrolled amongst those who followed the
conqueror into England, and who held lands in capite from him in this
country[21]. Hugo was a man of eminent valor, and his services were requited
by the grant of many large possessions; but, after all his military actions, he
sought repose in the abbey of Bec, which had been enriched by his piety. His
son, Girald, who married the sister of William, Earl Warren, accompanied
Robert, Duke of Normandy, into the Holy Land; and the grandson of Girald
was in the number of those who followed Richard Coeur-de-Lion in a
similar expedition, and was appointed his commissioner, to receive the
English share of the spoil, after the capture of Acre. He was also among the
barons who rose against King John. Their descendants settled in very early
times in our own county, where their possessions were extensive and
valuable.
It was in Gournay that the unfortunate Arthur, heir to the throne of England,
received the order of knighthood, together with the earldoms of Brittany,
Poitou, and Angers, from Philip Augustus, immediately previously to
entering upon the expedition, which ultimately ended with his death; and,
according to tradition, it was on this occasion that the town adopted for its
arms the sable shield, charged with a knight in armor, argent[22].
Gournay has now no other remains of antiquity, except the collegiate church
of St. Hildebert[23], which was founded towards the conclusion of the
eleventh century, though it was scarcely completed at the end of the
thirteenth. Hence the discrepancy of style observable in the architecture of
its different parts. The west front, in which the windows are all pointed, was
probably one of the last portions completed. The interior is principally of
semi-circular architecture, with piers unusually massy, and capitals no less
fanciful and extraordinary than those already noticed at St. Georges. Here,
however, we have fewer monsters. The ornaments consist chiefly of foliage,
and wreaths, and knots, and chequered work, and imitations of members of
the antique capital. Some of the pillars, instead of ending in regular capitals,
are surmounted by a narrow projecting rim, carved with undulating lines. It
has been supposed that this ornament, which is quite peculiar to the church
of St. Hildebert, is a kind of hieroglyphical representation of water.--
Perhaps, it is the chamber of Sagittarius; or, perhaps, it is a fess wavy, to
which the same signification has been assigned by heralds.--If this
interpretation be correct, the symbol is allusive to the ancient situation of the

town, built in the midst of a marsh, intersected by two streams, the Epte and
the St. Aubin.
While we were on the point of setting out from Gournay, we had the
pleasure of meeting Mr. Cotman, who landed a few days since at Dieppe,
and purposes remaining in Normandy, to complete a series of drawings
which he began last year, towards the illustration of the architectural
antiquities of the duchy. He has joined our party, and we are likely to have
the advantage of his society for some little time.
The village of Neufmarché, about a league from Gournay, on the right bank
of the Epte, still retains a small part of its castle, built by Henry Ist, to
command the passage of the river, and to serve as a barrier against the
incursions of the French. Its situation is good, upon an artificial hill,
surrounded by a fosse; and the principal entrance is still tolerably entire. But
the rest is merely a shapeless heap of ruins: the interior is wholly under the
plough; and the fragments of denudated walls preserve small remains of the
coating of large square stones, which formerly embellished and protected
them. Neufmarché, in the days of Norman sovereignty, was one of the strong
holds of the duchy. The chroniclers[24] speak of the village as being defended
by a fortress, in the reign of William the Conqueror. The church, too, with its
semi-circular architecture, attests the antiquity of the station.
Long before we reached Gisors, we had a view of the keep of the castle,
rising majestically above the town, which is indeed at present "une assez
maussade petite ville, qui n'a guère qu'une rue." From its position and
general outline, the castle, at first view, resembles the remains of
Launceston, in Cornwall. It recalled to my mind the impressions of surprise,
mixed with something approaching to awe, which seized me, when the first
object that met my eyes in the morning (for it was late and dark when I
reached Launceston) was the noble keep, towering immediately above my
chamber windows, and so near, that it appeared as if I had only to open them
and step into it. I do not mean to draw a parallel between the castles of
Launceston and Gisors, and still less am I about to inquire into the
relationship between the Norman and the Cornish fortresses. The lapse of
twenty years has materially weakened my recollection of the latter, nor
would this be a seasonable opportunity for such a disquisition: but the
subject deserves investigation, the result of which may tend to establish the

common origin of both, and to dissipate the day-dreams of Borlase, who
longed to dignify the castellated ruins of the Cornish peninsula, by ascribing
them to the Roman conquerors of Britain.
Gisors itself existed before the tenth century; but its chief celebrity was due
to William Rufus, who, anxious to strengthen his frontiers against the power
of the kings of France, caused Robert of Bellême to erect this castle, in 1097.
Thus then we have a certain date; and there is no reason to believe, but that
the whole of what is left us is really of the same æra, or of the following
reign, in which it is known that the works were greatly augmented; for
Henry Ist was completely a castle-builder. He was a prince who spared no
pains in strengthening and defending the natural frontiers of his province, as
the fortresses of Verneuil, Tillières, Nonancourt, Anet, Ivry, Château-sur-
Epte, Gisors, and many others, abundantly testify. All these were either
actually built, or materially strengthened by him.--This at Gisors, important
from its strength and from its situation, was the source of frequent
dissentions between the sovereigns of England and France, as well as the
frequent witness of their plighted faith, and the scene of their festivities.--In
1119, a well-known interview took place here, between Henry Ist and Pope
Calixtus IInd, who had travelled to France for the purpose of healing the
schisms in the church, and who, after having accomplished that task, was
desirous not to quit the kingdom till he had completed the work of
pacification, by reconciling Henry to Louis le Gros, and to his brother,
Robert. The speech of our sovereign upon this occasion, as recorded by
Ordericus Vitalis[25], is a valuable document to the English historian: it sets
forth, at considerable length, his various causes of grievance, whether real,
imaginary, or invented, against the legal heir to our throne.--After a lapse of
thirty-nine years, Louis le Jeune succeeded in annexing Gisors to the crown
of France; but he resigned it to our Henry IInd, only three years
subsequently, as a part of the marriage portion of his daughter, Margaret. It
then remained with our countrymen till the conquest of the duchy by Philip
Augustus; previously to which event, that sovereign and Henry met, in the
year 1188, under an elm near Gisors, on the road to Trie, upon receiving the
news of the capture of Jerusalem by the Sultan Saladin[26]. The monarchs,
actuated by religious zeal, took up the cross, and mutually pledged
themselves to suspend for a while their respective differences, and direct
their united efforts against the common foe of the christian faith, Legends
also tell that, during the conference, a miraculous cross appeared in the air,

as if in ratification of the compact; and hence the inhabitants derive the
armoria bearing of the town; gules, a cross engrailed or[27]. In 1197, Philip
embellished Gisors with new buildings; and he retired hither the following
year, after the battle of Courcelles, a conflict, which began by his endeavor
to surprise Richard Coeur-de-Lion, but which ended with his total defeat. He
had well nigh lost his life during the flight, by his horse plunging with him,
all armed as he was, into the Epte.--He took refuge in Gisors; and the golden
gate of the town commemorated his gratitude. With eastern magnificence, he
caused the entire portal to be covered with gold; and the statue of the Virgin,
which surmounted it, received the same splendor.
During the wars between France and England, in the fifteenth century,
Gisors was repeatedly won and lost by the contending parties. In later and
more peaceable times, it has been only known as the provincial capital of the
bailiwick of Gisors, and of the Norman portion of the Vexin.
The castle consists of a double ballium, the inner occupying the top of a high
artificial mound, in whose centre stands the keep. The whole of the fortress
is of the most solid masonry. Previously to the discovery of cannon, it could
scarcely be regarded otherwise than as impregnable, for the site which it
occupies is admirably adapted for defence; and the walls were as strong as
art could make them.--The outer walls were of great extent: they were
defended by two covered ways, and flanked by several towers, of various
shapes.--In the inclosed sketch, you will observe a circular tower, which is
perhaps more perfect than any of the rest. The two entrances which led to the
inner wards, were defended by more massy towers, strengthened with
portcullises and draw-bridges.

The conical mound is almost inaccessible, on account of its steepness. The
summit is inclosed by a circular wall of considerable height, pierced with
loop-holes, and strengthened at regular intervals with buttresses, most of
which are small and shallow, and resemble such as are found in the Norman
churches. Those, however, which flank the entrance of the keep, are of a
different character: they project so boldly, that they may rather be considered
as bastions or solid turrets.--The dungeon rises high above all the rest, a lofty
octagon tower, with a turret on one side of the same shape, intended to
receive the winding staircase, which still remains, but in so shattered a state,
that we could not venture to ascend it. The shell of the keep itself is nearly
perfect, and is also varied in its outline with projecting piers.--Within the
inner ballium, we discovered the remains of the castle-chapel. More than
half, indeed, of the building is destroyed, but the east end is standing, and is
tolerably entire. The roof is vaulted and groined: the groins spring from short
pillars, whose capitals are beautifully sculptured with foliage; The
architecture of the whole is semi-circular; but I should apprehend it to be
posterior to any part of the fortress.--The inside of the castle serves at this

time for a market-hall: the fosse, now dry and planted with trees, forms a
delightful walk round the whole.

We were much disappointed by the church of Gisors; in the illustration of the
details of which, Millin is very diffuse. The building is of considerable
magnitude; its proportions are not unpleasing, and it contains much elaborate
sculpture; but the labor has been ill bestowed, having been lavished without
any attention to consistency. It is throughout a jumble of Roman and Gothic,
except that the exterior of the north transept is wholly Gothic. Some of the
little figures which decorate it are very gracefully carved, especially in the
drapery. A pillar in the south aisle, entwined by spiral fillets, is of great
singularity and beauty. The dolphin is introduced in each pannel, and the
heraldic form of this fish harmonizes with the gentle curve of the field upon
which it is sculptured. A crown of fleurs-de-lys surrounds the columns at

mid-height. These symbols, as I believe I observed on a former occasion, are
often employed as ornaments by the French architects. The church, which is
dedicated to the twin saints, St. Gervais and St. Protais, is the work of
different æras, but principally of the latter half of the sixteenth century, a
time when, as a Frenchman told me, "l'on commença à bâtir dans le beau
style Romain."--The man who made the observation was of the lower order
of society, one of the swinish multitude, who, in England, never dream about
styles in architecture. I mention the circumstance, for the sake of pointing
out the difference that exists in these matters between the two countries.
Here, every man, gentle or simple, educated or uneducated, thinks himself
qualified and bound to deliver his opinion on objects connected with the fine
arts; and though such opinions are of necessity commonly crude, and
sometimes absurd, they, on the other hand, frequently display a degree of
feeling, and occasionally of knowledge, that surprises you. It may be true
indeed, as Dr. Johnson said, with some illiberality, of our brethren across the
Tweed, that though "every man may have a mouthful, no one has a belly
full;" but it still marks a degree of national refinement, that any attention
whatever is bestowed upon such subjects. This smattering of knowledge,
accompanied with the constant readiness to communicate it, is also
agreeable to a stranger. Except in a few instances at Rouen, I never failed to
find civility and attention among the French. To the ladies of our nation they
are uniformly polite though occasionally their compliments may appear of
somewhat a questionable complexion; as it happened to a female friend of
mine to be told, while drawing the church of St, Ouen, "qu'elle avait de
l'esprit comme quatre diables."

Footnotes:

[19] Histoire de la Haute Normandie, I, p. 18.

[20] Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 1046.

[21] Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 1129.

[22] Histoire de la Haute Normandie, I. p. 20.

[23] See Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, plates
38-41.

[24] Ordericus Vitalis, in Duchesne's Scriptores Normanni, p. 490,
491, 606.

[25] Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 865.

[26] Some writers say that the real cause of their meeting was to
settle a difference of long standing.--Hoveden, as quoted in the
Concilia Normannica, I. p. 92, tells us, that Henry was upon the
point of sailing for England, when tidings were brought him that
Philip had collected a great force, with which he threatened to lay
Normandy waste, unless the British monarch surrendered to him
Gisors with its dependencies, or caused his son Richard, Count of
Poitou, to marry Alice, sister of the French king;--"Quod cùm regi
Angliæ constaret, reversus est in Normanniam; et, accepte
colloquio inter ipsum et Regem Franciæ inter Gisortium et Trie,
XII. Kalendas Februarii, die S. Agnetis V. et Martyris, convenerunt
illuc cum Archiepiscopis, et Episcopis et Comitibus, et Baronibus
regnoram suorum. Cui colloquio interfuit Archiepiscopus Tyri, qui
repletus spiritu sapientiæ et intellectus, miro modo prædicavit
verbum Domini coram regibus et principibus. Et convertit corda
eorum ad crucem capiendam; et qui priùs hostes erant, illo
prædicante, et Deo co-operante, facti sunt amici in illa die, et de
manu ejus crucem receperunt: et in eadem hora apparuit super eos
signum crucis in cœlo. Quo viso miraculo, plures catervatim
ruebant ad susceptionem crucis. Prædicti verò reges in
susceptionem crucis, ad cognoscendum gentem suam, signum sibi
et suis providerunt. Rex namque Franciæ et gens sua receperunt
cruces rubeas et Rex Angliæ cum gente sua suscepit cruces virides:
et sic unusqnisque ad providendum sibi et itineri suo necessaria,
reversus est in regionem suam."

[27] In 1555, an addition was made to this coat of a chief azure,
charged with three fleurs-de-lys, or, by the command of Henry
IInd of France, to commemorate his public entry into Gisors.

LETTER XVII.
ANDELYS--FOUNTAIN OF SAINT CLOTILDA--LA GRANDE
MAISON--CHÂTEAU GAILLARD--ECOUIS.

(Ecouis, July, 1818)
Our evening journey from Gisors to Andelys, was not without its
inconveniences.--The road, if road it may be called, was sometimes merely a
narrow ravine or trench, so closely bordered by trees and underwood, that
our vehicle could scarcely force its way; and sometimes our jaded horses
labored along a waggon-way which wound amidst an expanse of corn-fields.
Our postilion had earnestly requested us to postpone our departure till the
following morning; and he swore and cursed most valiantly during the whole
of his ride. On our arrival, however, at Andelys, a few kind words from my
companions served to mitigate his ire; and as their eloquence may have been
assisted by a few extra sous, presented to him at the same time, his nut-
brown countenance brightened up, and all was tranquillity.
Andelys is a town, whose antiquity is not to be questioned: it had existence
in the time of the venerable Bede, by whom it is expressly mentioned, under
its Latin appellation, Andilegum[28]. The derivation of this name has afforded
employment to etymologists. The syllable and enters, as it is said, into the
composition of the names of sundry places, reported to be founded by
Franks, and Saxons, and Germans; and therefore it is agreed that a Teutonic
origin must be assigned to Andelys. But, as to the import of this same
syllable, they are all of them wholly at a loss.--The history of Andelys is
brief and unimportant, considering its antiquity and situation. It was captured
by Louis le Gros in the war which he undertook against Henry Ist, in favour
of Clito, heir of the unfortunate Duke Robert; and his son, Louis le Jeune, in
1166, burned Andelys to the ground, thus revenging the outrages committed
by the Anglo-Normans in France: in 1197, it was the subject of the exchange
which I have already mentioned, between Richard Coeur-de-Lion and
Walter, Archbishop of Rouen; and only a few years afterwards it passed by
capitulation into the possession of Philip Augustus, when the murder of

Arthur of Brittany afforded the French sovereign a plausible pretext for
dispossessing our worthless monarch of his Norman territory.
What Andelys wants, however, in secular interest, it makes up in sanctity.
Saint Clotilda founded a very celebrated monastery here, which was
afterwards destroyed by the Normans.--If we now send our ripening
daughters to France, to be schooled and accomplished, the practice prevailed
equally amongst our Anglo-Saxon ancestors; and we learn from Bede, that
Andelys was then one of the most fashionable establishments[29]. However,
we must not forget that the fair Elfleda, and the rosy Ælfgiva, were so taught
in the convent, as to be fitted only for the embraces of a celestial husband--a
mode of matrimony which has most fortunately become obsolete in our days
of increasing knowledge and civilization.
After the destruction of the monastery by the Normans, it was never rebuilt;
yet its sanctity is not wholly lost. At the behest of Clotilda, the waters of the
fountain of Andelys were changed into wine for the relief of the weary
labourer, and the tutelary saint is still worshipped by the faithful.
It was our good fortune to arrive at Andelys on the vigil of the festival of
Saint Clotilda. The following morning, at early dawn, the tolling bell
announced the returning holiday; and then we saw the procession advance,
priests and acolytes bearing crosses and consecrated banners and burning
tapers, followed by a joyous crowd of votaries and pilgrims. We had wished
to approach the holy well; but the throng thickened around it, and we were
forced to desist. We could not witness the rites, whatever they were, which
were performed at the fountain; and long after they had concluded, it was
still surrounded by groups of women, some idling and staring, some asking
charity and whining, and some conducting their little ones to the salutary-
fountain. Many are the infirmities and ailments which are relieved through
the intercession of Saint Clotilda, after the patient has been plunged in the
gelid spring. A Parisian sceptic might incline to ascribe a portion of their
cures to cold-bathing and ablution; but, at Andelys, no one ever thought of
diminishing the veneration, inspired by the Christian queen of the founder of
the monarchy. Several children were pointed out to us, heretical strangers, as
living proofs of the continuance of miracles in the Catholic church. They had
been cured on the preceding anniversary; for it is only on Saint Clotilda's
day that her benign influence is shed upon the spring.

Andelys possesses a valuable specimen of ancient domestic architecture. The
Great House[30] is a most sumptuous mansion, evidently of the age of
Francis Ist; but I could gain no account of its former occupants or history. I
must again borrow from my friend's vocabulary, and say, that it is built in the
"Burgundian style." In its general outline and character, it resembles the
house in the Place de la Pucelle, at Rouen. Its walls, indeed, are not covered
with the same profusion of sculpture; yet, perhaps, its simplicity is
accompanied by greater elegance.--The windows are disposed in three
divisions, formed by slender buttresses, which run up to the roof. They are
square-headed, and divided by a mullion and transom.--The portal is in the
centre: it is formed by a Tudor arch, enriched with deep mouldings, and
surmounted by a lofty ogee, ending with a crocketed pinnacle, which
transfixes the cornice immediately above, as well as the sill of the window,
and then unites with the mullion of the latter.--The roof takes a very high
pitch.--A figured cornice, upon which it rests, is boldly sculptured with
foliage.--The chimneys are ornamented by angular buttresses.--All these
portions of the building assimilate more or less to our Gothic architecture of
the sixteenth century; but a most magnificent oriel window, which fills the
whole of the space between the centre and left-hand divisions, is a specimen
of pointed architecture in its best and purest style. The arches are lofty and
acute. Each angle is formed by a double buttress, and the tabernacles affixed
to these are filled with statues. The basement of the oriel, which projects
from the flat wall of the house, after the fashion of a bartizan, is divided into
compartments, studded with medallions, and intermixed with tracery of great
variety and beauty. On either side of the bay, there are flying buttresses of
elaborate sculpture, spreading along the wall.--As, comparatively speaking,
good models of ancient domestic architecture are very rare, I would
particularly recommend this at Andelys to the notice of every architect,
whom chance may conduct to Normandy.--This building, like too many
others of the same class in our own counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, is
degraded from its station. The great house is used merely as a granary,
though, by a very small expence, it might be put into habitable repair. The
stone retains its clear and polished surface; and the massy timbers are
undecayed.--The inside corresponds with the exterior, in decorations and
grandeur: the chimney-pieces are large and elaborate, and there is abundance
of sculpture on the ceilings and other parts which admit of ornament.

The French, in speaking of Andelys, commonly use the plural number, and
say, les Andelys, there being a smaller town of the same name, within the
distance of a mile: hence, the larger, all inconsiderable as it is, and though it
scarcely contains two thousand inhabitants, is dignified by the appellation of
le Grand Andelys.
As the French seldom neglect the memory of their eminent men, I was rather
disappointed at not finding any tribute to the glory of Poussin, nor any object
which could recal his name.--The great master of the French school was
born at Andelys, in 1594, of poor but noble parents. The talents of the
painter of the Deluge overcame all obstacles. Young Poussin, with barely a
sufficiency to buy his daily bread, found means of making his abilities
known in the metropolis to such advantage, as enabled him to proceed to
Rome, where the patronage of the Cavaliere Marino smoothed his way to
that splendid career, which terminated only with his life.--And yet I doubt if
the example of Poussin has, on the whole, been favorable to the progress of
French art. Horace Walpole, in his summary of the excellencies and defects
of great painters, observed with much justice, that "Titian wanted to have
seen the antique; Poussin to have seen Titian." The observation referred
principally to the defective coloring, which is admitted to exist in the greater
part of the works of the painter of Andelys. But Poussin, considered as a
model for imitation, and especially as a model for the student, is liable to a
more serious objection.--He was a total stranger to real nature:--classical
taste, indeed, and knowledge, and grace, and beauty, pervade all his works;
but it is a taste, and a knowledge, and a grace, and a beauty, formed solely
upon the contemplation of the antique. Horace's adage, that "decipit
exemplar vitiis imitabile," has been remarkably verified in the case of
Poussin; and I am mistaken, if the example set by him, which has been
rigorously followed in the French school, even down to the present day, has
not contributed more than any thing else to that statuary style in forms, and
that coldness in coloring, which every one, who is not born in France, regrets
to see in the works of the best of their artists.--The learned Adrian Turnebus
was also a native of Andelys; and the church is distinguished as the burial-
place of Corneille.

I doubt, however, whether we should have travelled hither, had we not been
attracted by the celebrity of the castle, called Château Gaillard, erected by
Richard Coeur-de-Lion, in the immediate vicinity of Le Petit Andelys.--Our
guide, a sturdy old dame, remonstrated strongly against our walking so far to
look at a mere heap of stones, nothing comparable to the fine statue of
Clotilda, of which, if we would but have a little patience, we might still
procure a sight.--Our expectations respecting the castle were more than
answered. Considered as to its dimensions and its situation, it is by far the
finest castellated ruin I ever saw. Conway, indeed, has more beauty; but
Château Gaillard is infinitely superior in dignity. Its ruins crown the summit
of a lofty rock, abruptly rising from the very edge of the Seine, whose
sinuous course here shapes the adjoining land into a narrow peninsula. The
chalky cliffs on each side of the castle, are broken into hills of romantic
shape, which add to the impressive wildness of the scene. The inclosed
sketch will give you an idea, though a very faint one, of the general
appearance of the castle at a distance. Towards the river, the steepness of the
cliff renders the fortress unassailable: a double fosse of great depth,
defended by a strong wall, originally afforded almost equal protection on the
opposite side.

The circular keep is of extraordinary strength; and in its construction it
differs wholly from any of our English dungeon-towers.--It may be
described as a cylinder, placed upon a truncated cone. The massy
perpendicular buttresses, which are ranged round the upper wall, from which
they project considerably, lose themselves at their bases in the cone from
which they arise. The building, therefore, appears to be divided into two
stories. The wall of the second story is upwards of twelve feet in thickness.
The base of the conical portion is perhaps twice as thick.--It seldom happens
that the military buildings of the middle ages have such a talus or slope, on
the exterior face, agreeing with the principles of modern fortification, and it
is difficult to guess why the architect of Château Gaillard thought fit to vary
from the established model of his age. The masonry is regular and good. The
pointed windows are evidently insertions of a period long subsequent to the
original erection.
The inner, ballium is surrounded by a high circular wall, which consists of
an uninterrupted line of bastions, some semi-circular and others square.--The
whole of this part of the castle remains nearly perfect. There are also traces
of extensive foundations in various, directions, and of great out-works.
Château Gaillard was in fact a citadel, supported by numerous smaller
fortresses, all of them communicating with the strong central hold, and
disposed so as to secure every defensible post in the neighborhood. The wall
of the outer ballium, which was built of a compact white and grey stone, is
in most places standing, though in ruins. The original facing only remains in
those parts which are too elevated to admit of its being removed with ease.--
Beneath the castle, the cliff is excavated into a series of subterraneous
caverns, not intended for mere passages or vaults, as at Arques and in most
other places, but forming spacious crypts, supported by pillars roughly hewn
out of the living rock, and still retaining every mark of the workman's chisel.
It will afford some satisfaction to the antiquary to find, that the present
appearance of the castle corresponds in every important particular with the
description given by Willelmus Brito, who beheld it within a few years after
its erection, and in all its pride. Every feature which he enumerates yet
exists, unaltered and unobliterated:--

"Huic natura loco satis insuperabile per se
Munimeu dederat, tamen insuperabiliorem

Arte quidem multa Richardus fecerat illum.
Duplicibus muris extrema clausit, et altas
Circuitum docuit per totum surgere turres,
A se distantes spatiis altrinsecus æquis;
Eruderans utrumque latus, ne scandere quisquam
Ad muros possit, vel ab ima repere valle.
Hinc ex transverso medium per planitiei
Erigitur murus, multoque labore cavari
Cogitur ipse silex, fossaque patere profunda,
Faucibus et latis aperiri vallis ad instar;
Sic ut quam subito fiat munitio duplex
Quæ fuit una modo muro geminata sequestro.
Ut si forte pati partem contingeret istam
Altera municipes, queat, et se tuta tueri.
Inde rotundavit rupem, quæ celsior omni
Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum;
Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras
Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, totum
Complanat medium, multæque capacia turbæ
Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat intus.
Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem.
Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem
Gaillardæ rupis per totum prædicat orbem."
The keep cannot be ascended without difficulty. We ventured to scale it; and
we were fully repaid for our labor by the prospect which we gained. The
Seine, full of green willowy islands, flows beneath the rock in large lazy
windings: the peninsula below is flat, fertile, and well wooded: on the
opposite shores, the fantastic chalky cliffs rise boldly, crowned with dark
forests.
I have already once had occasion to allude to the memorable strife
occasioned by the erection of Château Gaillard, which its royal founder is
reported to have so named by way of mockery. In possession of this fortress,
it seemed that he might laugh to scorn the attacks of his feudal liege lord.--
The date of the commencement of the building is supposed to have been
about the year 1196, immediately subsequent to the treaty of Louviers, by
which, Richard ceded to Philip Augustus the military line of the Epte, and

nearly the whole of the Norman Vexin. By an express article of the treaty,
neither party was allowed to repair the fortifications of Andelys; and Philip
was in possession of Gisors, as well as of every other post that might have
afforded security to the Normans. Thus the frontiers of the duchy became
defenceless; but Richard, like other politicians, determined to evade the
spirit of the treaty, adhering nevertheless to its letter, by the erection of this
mighty bulwark.--The building arose with the activity of fear. Richard died
in 1199, yet the castle must have been completely habitable in his life-time,
for not a few of his charters are dated from Château Gaillard, which he terms
"his beautiful castle of the rock."--Three years only had elapsed from the
decease of this monarch, when Philip Augustus, after having reduced another
castle, erected at the same time upon an island opposite the lesser Andelys,
encamped before Château Gaillard, and commenced a siege, which from its
length, its horrors, and the valor shewn on either side, has ever since been
memorable in history.--Its details are given at great length by Father Daniel;
and Du Moulin briefly enumerates a few of the stratagems to which the
French King was obliged to have recourse; for, as the reverend author
observes, "to have attempted to carry the place by force, would have been to
have exposed the army to certain destruction; while to have tried to scale the
walls, would have required the aid of Dædalus, with the certainty of a fall, as
fatal as that of Icarus;" and without the poor consolation of

".... vitreo daturus
Nomina ponto."--

The castle, commanded by Roger de Lacy, defied the utmost efforts of Philip
for six successive months.--So great was its size; that more than two
thousand two hundred persons, who did not form a part of the garrison, were
known to quit the fortress in the course of the siege, compelled to throw
themselves upon the mercy of the besiegers. But they found none; and the
greater part of these unfortunate wretches, alternately suppliants to either
host, perished from hunger, or from the weapons of the contending parties.
At length the fortress yielded to a sudden assault. Of the warriors, to whose
valor it had been entrusted, only thirty-six remained alive. John, ill requiting
their fidelity, had already abandoned them to their fate.
Margaret of Burgundy, the queen of Louis Xth, and Blanche, the consort of
his brother, Charles le Bel, were both immured in Château Gaillard, in 1314.

The scandalous chronicle of those times will explain the causes of their
imprisonment. Margaret was strangled by order of her husband. Blanche,
after seven years' captivity, was transferred to the convent of Maubuisson,
near Pontoise, where she continued a recluse till her death--In 1331, David
Bruce, compelled to flee from the superior power of the third Edward, found
an asylum in Château Gaillard; and here, for a time, maintained the
pageantry of a court.--Twenty-four years subsequently, when Charles the
Bad, king of Navarre, was sent as a captive from Rouen to Paris, he was
confined here, during one night, by order of the dauphin, who had made him
his prisoner by treachery, whilst partaking of a banquet.--In the following
century Château Gaillard braved the victorious arms of Henry Vth; nor was
it taken till after a siege of sixteen months. The garrison only consisted of
one hundred and twenty men; yet this scanty troop would not have yielded,
had not the ropes, by which they drew up their water-buckets[31], been worn
out and destroyed.--During the same reign, it was again taken and lost by the
French, into whose hands it finally fell in 1449, when Charles VIIth
commanded the siege in person. Even then, however it stood a long siege;
and it was almost the last of the strong-holds of Normandy, which held out
for the successors of the ancient dukes. After the re-union of the duchy, it
was not destroyed, or suffered to fall into decay, like the greater number of
the Norman fortresses: during the religious wars, it still continued to be a
formidable military post, as well as a royal palace; and it was honored by the
residence of Henry IVth, whose father, Anthony of Bourbon, died here in
1562.--Its importance ceased in the following reign.--The inhabitants of the
adjacent country requested the king to order that the castle should be
dismantled. They dreaded, lest its towers should serve as an asylum to some
of the numerous bands of marauders, by whom France was then infested. It
was consequently undermined and reduced to its present state of ruin.
We did not again attempt to pay our devotions at the shrine of Saint Clotilda,
and we found no interesting object in the church of Andelys which could
detain us. We therefore proceeded without delay to Ecouis, where we were
assured that the church would gratify our curiosity.--This building has an air
of grandeur as it is seen rising above the flat country; and it is of a singular
shape, the ground-plan being that of a Greek cross. The exterior is plain and
offers nothing remarkable: the interior retains statues of various saints,
which, though not very ancient or in very good taste, are still far from being
inelegant. Saint Mary, the Egyptian, who is among them, covered with her

tresses, which may easily be mistaken for a long plaited robe, is a saint of
unfrequent occurrence in this part of France. In the choir are several tomb-
stones, with figures engraved upon them, their faces and hands being inlaid
with white marble.--In this part of the building also remains the tomb of
John Marigni, archbishop of Rouen, with his effigy of fine white marble, in
perfect preservation. The face is marked with a strong expression of that
determined character, which he unquestionably possessed. When he was sent
as an ambassador to Edward IIIrd, in 1342, he made his appearance at the
English court in the guise of a military man, and not as a minister of peace;
and we may doubt whether his virtues qualified him for the mitre. If even a
Pope, however, in latter days, commanded a sculptor to pourtray him with a
sword in his hand, the martial tendency of an archbishop may well be
pardoned in more turbulent times. The following distich, from his epitaph,
alludes to his achievements:--

"Armis præcinctus, mentisque charactere cinctus,
Dux fuit in bellis, Anglis virtute rebellis."

The unfortunate Enguerrand de Marigni, brother of the archbishop, and lord
treasurer under Philip the Fair, was the founder of this church. At the
instigation of the king's uncle, Enguerrand was hanged without trial, and his
family experienced the most bitter persecution. His body, which had at first
been interred in the convent of the Chartreux, at Paris, was removed hither
in 1324; and his descendants obtained permission, in 1475, to erect a
mausoleum to his memory. But the king, at the same time that he acceded to
their petition, added the express condition[32], that no allusion should be
made to Marigni's tragical end. The monument was destroyed in the
revolution; but the murder of the treasurer is one of those "damned spots,"
which will never be washed out of the history of France.--Charles de Valois
soon felt the sting of remorse; and within a year from the wreaking of his
vengeance, he caused alms to be publicly distributed in the streets of Paris,
with an injunction to every one that received them, "to pray to God for the
souls of Enguerrand de Marigni, and Charles de Valois, taking care to put
the subject first[33]."--In the church at Ecouis, was formerly the following
epitaph, whose obscurity has given rise to a variety of traditions:--

"Ci gist le fils, ci gist la mere,
Ci gist la soeur, ci gist le frère,
Ci gist la femme, et le mari;
Et ci ne sont que deux ici[34]."

Other inscriptions of the same nature are said to have existed in England.
Goube[35] supposes that this one is the record of an incestuous connection;
but we may doubt whether a less sinful solution may not be given to the
enigma.

Footnotes:

[28] Andelys is also called in old deeds Andeleium and
Andeliacum.

[29] "Seculo septimo, cum pauca essent in regione Anglorum
monasteria, hunc morem in illâ gente fuisse, ut multi ex Britanniâ,
monastiae conversationis gratiâ, Francorum monasteria adirent,
sed et filias suas eisdem erudiendas ac sponso coelesti copulandas
mitterent, maximè in Brigensi seu S. Farae monasterio, et in
Calensi et in Andilegum monasterio."--Bede, Hist. lib. III. cap. 8.

[30] Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, plate 15.--
In a future portion of his work, Mr. Cotman designs devoting a
second plate exclusively to the oriel in the east front of this
building.

[31] Monstrelet, Johnes' Translation, II. p. 242.

[32] The letter of this stipulation appears to have been attended to
much more than its spirit for at the top of the monument were five
figures:--Our Savior seated in the centre, as if in the act of
pronouncing sentence; on either side of him, an angel; and below,
Charles de Valois and Enguerrand de Marigni; the former on the
right of Christ, crowned with the ducal coronet; the other, on the
opposite side, in the guise and posture of a suppliant, imploring
the divine vengeance for his unjust fate.--Histoire de la Haute
Normandie, II. p. 338.

[33] Montfaucon, Monumens de la Monarchie Française, II. p.
220.

[34] In a collection of epitaphs printed at Cologne, 1623, under
the title of Epitaphia Joco-seria, I find the same monumental
inscription, with the observation, that it is at Tournay, and with
the following explanation.--"De pari conjugum, posteà ad
religionem transeuntium et in eâ præfectorum. Alter fuit
Franciscanus; altera verò Clarissa."

[35] Histoire du Duché de Normandie, III. p. 15.

LETTER XVIII.
EVREUX--CATHEDRAL--ABBEY OF ST. TAURINUS--ANCIENT
HISTORY.

(Evreux, July, 1818.)
Our journey to this city has not afforded the gratification which we
anticipated.--You may recollect Ducarel's eulogium upon the cathedral, that
it is one of the finest structures of the kind in France.--It is our fate to be
continually at variance with the doctor, till I am half inclined to fear you
may be led to suspect that jealousy has something to do with the matter, and
that I fall under the ban of the old Greek proverb,--

"Και ϰεραμευς ϰεραμει Φϑονεει ϰαι τεϰτονι τεϰτων."--

[English. Not in Original: The potter is jealous of the potter, as the builder
is jealous of the builder.]
As for myself, however, I do hope and trust that I am marvellously free
from antiquarian spite.--And in this instance, our expectations were also
raised by the antiquity and sanctity of the cathedral, which was entirely
rebuilt by Henry Ist, who made a considerate bargain with Bishop
Audinus[36], by which he was allowed to burn the city and its rebellious
inhabitants, upon condition of bestowing his treasures for the re-
construction of the monasteries, after the impending conflagration. The
church, thus raised, is said by William of Jumieges[37], to have surpassed
every other in Neustria; but it is certain that only a very small portion of the
original building now remains. A second destruction awaited it. Philip
Augustus, who desolated the county of Evreux with fire and sword, stormed
the capital, sparing neither age nor sex; and all its buildings, whether sacred
or profane, were burnt to the ground. Hoveden, his friend, and Brito, his
enemy, both bear witness to this fact--the latter in the following lines:--

"... irarum stimulis agitatus, ad omne

Excidium partis adversæ totus inardens,
Ebroicas primò sic incineravit, ut omnes
Cum domibus simul ecclesias consumpserit ignis."--
The church, in its present state, is a medley of many different styles and
ages: the nave alone retains vestiges of early architecture, in its massy piers
and semi-circular arches: these are evidently of Norman workmanship, and
are probably part of the church erected by Henry.--All the rest is
comparatively modern.--The western front is of a debased Palladian style,
singularly ill adapted to a Gothic cathedral. It is flanked with two towers,
one of which ends in a cupola, the other in a short cone.--The central tower,
which is comparatively plain and surmounted by a high spire, was built
about the middle of the fifteenth century, during the bishopric of the
celebrated John de Balue, who was in high favor with Louis XIth, and
obtained from that monarch great assistance towards repairing, enlarging,
and beautifying his church. The roof, the transept towards the palace, the
sacristy, the library, and a portion of the cloisters, are all said to have been
erected by him[38].--The northern transept is the only part that can now lay
claim to beauty or uniformity in its architecture: it is of late and bastard
Gothic; yet the portal is not destitute of merit: it is evidently copied from
the western portal of the cathedral at Rouen, though far inferior in every
respect, and with a decided tendency towards the Italian style. Almost every
part of it still appears full of elaborate ornaments, though all the saints and
bishops have fled from the arched door-way, and the bas-relief which was
over the entrance has equally disappeared.

Ducarel[39] notices four statues of canons, attached to a couple of pillars at
the back of the chancel.--We were desirous of seeing authentic specimens of
sculpture of a period at least as remote as the conquest; and, as the garden
belonging to the prefect, the Comte de Goyon, incloses this portion of the
church, we requested to be allowed to enter his grounds. Leave was most
obligingly granted, and we received every attention from the prefect and his
lady; but we could find no traces of the objects of our search. They were
probably destroyed during the revolution; at which time, the count told us
that the statues at the north portal were also broken to pieces. At Evreux, the
democrats had full scope for the exercise of their iconoclastic fury. Little or
no previous injury had been done by the Calvinists, who appear to have
been unable to gain any ascendency in this town or diocese, at the same

time that they lorded it over the rest of Normandy. Evreux had been
fortified against heresy, by the piety and good sense of two of her bishops:
they foresaw the coming storm, and they took steps to redress the
grievances which were objects of complaint, as well as to reform the
church-establishment, and to revise the breviary and the mass-book.--
Conduct like this seldom fails in its effect; and the tranquil by-stander may
regret that it is not more frequently adopted by contending parties.
The interior of the cathedral is handsome, though not peculiar. Some good
specimens of painted glass remain in the windows; and, in various parts of
the church, there are elegant tabernacles and detached pieces of sculpture,
as well in stone as in wood. The pulpit, in particular, is deserving of this
praise: it is supported on cherubs' heads, and is well designed and executed.
The building is dedicated to the Virgin: it claims for its first bishop,
Taurinus, a saint of the third century, memorable in legendary tale for a
desperate battle which he fought against the devil. Satan was sadly drubbed
and the bishop wrenched off one of his horns[40]. The trophy was deposited
in the crypt of his church, where it long remained, to amuse the curious, and
stand the nurses of Evreux in good stead, as the means of quieting noisy
children.--The learned Cardinal Du Perron succeeded to St. Taurinus,
though at an immense distance of time. He was appointed by Henry IVth,
towards whose conversion he appears to have been greatly instrumental, as
he was afterwards the principal mediator, by whose intercession the Pope
was induced to grant absolution to the monarch. The task was one of some
difficulty: for the court of Spain, then powerful at the Vatican, used all their
efforts to prevent a reconciliation, with a view of fomenting the troubles in
France.--Most of the bishops of this see appear to have possessed great
piety and talent.
I have already mentioned to you, that the fraternity of the Conards was
established at Evreux, as well as at Rouen. Another institution, of equal
absurdity, was peculiar, I believe, to this cathedral[41]. It bore the name of
the Feast of St. Vital, as it united with the anniversary of that saint, which is
celebrated on the first of May: the origin of the custom may be derived
from the heathen Floralia, a ceremony begun in innocence, continued to
abomination. At its first institution, the feast of St. Vital was a simple and a
natural rite: the statues of the saints were crowned with garlands of foliage,

perhaps as an offering of the first-fruits of the opening year. In process of
time, branches were substituted for leaves, and they were cut from the
growing trees, by a lengthened train of rabble pilgrims.--The clergy
themselves headed the mob, who committed such devastation in the
neighboring woods, that the owners of them were glad to compromise for
the safety of their timber, by stationing persons to supply the physical, as
well as the religious, wants of the populace. The excesses consequent upon
such a practice may easily be imagined: the duration of the feast was
gradually extended to ten days; and, during this time, licentiousness of all
kinds prevailed under the plea of religion. To use the words of a manuscript,
preserved in the archives of the cathedral, they played at skittles on the roof
of the church, and the bells were kept continually ringing. These orgies, at
length, were quelled; but not till two prebendaries belonging to the chapter,
had nearly lost their lives in the attempt.--Hitherto, indeed, the clergy had
enjoyed the merriment full as well as the laity. One jolly canon,
appropriately named Jean Bouteille, made a will, in which he declared
himself the protector of the feast; and he directed that, on its anniversary, a
pall should be spread in the midst of the church, with a gigantic bottle in its
centre, and four smaller ones at the corners; and he took care to provide
funds for the perpetuation of this rebus.
The cathedral offers few subjects for the pencil.--As a species of
monument, of which we have no specimens in England, I add a sketch of a
Gothic puteal, which stands near the north portal. It is apparently of the
same æra as that part of the church.

From the cathedral we went to the church of St. Taurinus. The proud abbey
of the apostle and first bishop of the diocese retains few or no traces of its
former dignity. So long as monachism flourished, a contest existed between
the chapter of the cathedral and the brethren of this monastery, each
advocating the precedency of their respective establishment.--The monks of
St. Taurinus contended, that their abbey was expressly mentioned by
William of Jumieges[42] among the most ancient in Neustria, as well as
among those which were destroyed by the Normans, and rebuilt by the zeal
of good princes. They also alleged the dispute that prevailed under the
Norman dukes for more than two hundred years, between this convent and
that of Fécamp, respecting the right of nominating one of their own brethren
to the head of their community, a right which was claimed by Fécamp; and
they displayed the series of their prelates, continued in an uninterrupted line
from the time of their founder. Whatever may have been the justice of these
claims, the antiquity of the monastery is admitted by all parties.--Its monks,
like those of the abbey of St. Ouen, had the privilege of receiving every

new bishop of the see, on the first day of his arrival at Evreux; and his
corpse was deposited in their church, where the funeral obsequies were
performed. This privilege, originally intended only as a mark of distinction
to the abbey, was on two occasions perverted to a purpose that might
scarcely have been expected. Upon the death of Bishop John
d'Aubergenville in 1256, the monks resented the reformation which he had
endeavoured to introduce into their order, by refusing to admit his body
within their precinct; and though fined for their obstinacy, they did not learn
wisdom by experience, but forty-three years afterwards shewed their
hostility decidedly towards the remains of Geoffrey of Bar, a still more
determined reformer of monastic abuses. Extreme was the licentiousness
which prevailed in those days among the monks of St. Taurinus, and
unceasing were the endeavors of the bishop to correct them. The contest
continued during his life, at the close of which they not only shut their
doors against his corpse, but dragged it from the coffin and gave it a public
flagellation. So gross an act of indecency would in all probability be classed
among the many scandalous tales invented of ecclesiastics, but that the
judicial proceedings which ensued leave no doubt of its truth; and it was
even recorded in the burial register of the cathedral.
The church of St. Taurinus offers some valuable specimens of ancient
architecture.--The southern transept still preserves a row of Norman arches,
running along the lower part of its west side, as well as along its front; but
those above them are pointed. To the south are six circular arches, divided
into two compartments, in each of which the central arch has formerly
served for a window. Both the lateral ones are filled with coeval stone-
work, whose face is carved into lozenges, which were alternately coated
with blue and red mortar or stucco: distinct traces of the coloring are still
left in the cavities[43]. To the eastern side of this transept is attached, as at
St. Georges, a small chapel, of semi-circular architecture, now greatly in
ruins. The interior of the church is all comparatively modern, with the
exception of some of the lower arches on the north side.--A strange and
whimsical vessel for holy water attracted our attention. I cannot venture to
guess at its date, but I do not think it is more recent than the fourteenth
century.

The principal curiosity of the church, and indeed of the town, is the shrine,
which contained, or perhaps, contains, a portion of the bones of the patron
saint, whose body, after having continued for more than three hundred years
a hidden treasure, was at last revealed in a miraculous manner to the prayers
of Landulphus, one of his successors in the episcopacy.--The cathedral of
Chartres, in early ages, set up a rival claim for the possession of this
precious relic; but its existence here was formally verified at the end of the
seventeenth century, by the opening of the châsse, in which a small quantity
of bones was found tied up in a leather bag, with a certificate of their
authenticity, signed by an early bishop.--The shrine is of silver-gilt, about
one and a half foot in height and two feet in length: it is a fine specimen of
ancient art. In shape it resembles the nave of a church, with the sides richly
enchased with figures of saints and bishops. Our curious eyes would fain
have pried within; but it was closed with the impression of the archbishop's
signet.--A crypt, the original burial place of St. Taurinus, is still shewn in
the church, and it continues to be the object of great veneration. It is
immediately in front of the high altar, and is entered by two staircases, one
at the head, the other at the foot of the coffin. The vault is very small, only
admitting of the coffin and of a narrow passage by its side. The
sarcophagus, which is extremely shallow, and neither wide nor long, is
partly imbedded in the wall, so that the head and foot and one side alone are

visible.--A portion of the monastic buildings of St. Taurinus now serves as a
seminary for the catholic priesthood.
The west front of the church of St. Giles is not devoid of interest. Many
other churches here have been desecrated; and this ancient building has
been converted into a stable. The door-way is formed by a fine semi-
circular arch, ornamented with the chevron-moulding, disposed in a triple
row, and with a line of quatrefoils along the archivolt. Both these
decorations are singular: I recollect no other instance of the quatrefoil being
employed in an early Norman building, though immediately upon the
adoption of the pointed style it became exceedingly common; nor can I
point out another example of the chevron-moulding thus disposed. It
produces a better effect than when arranged in detached bands. The capitals
to the pillars of the arch are sculptured with winged dragons and other
animals, in bold relief.
These are the only worthy objects of architectural inquiry now existing in
the city. Many must have been destroyed by the ravages of war, and by the
excesses of the revolution.--Evreux therefore does not abound with
memorials of its antiquity. But its existence as a town, during the period of
the domination of the Romans, rests upon authority that is scarcely
questionable. It has been doubted whether the present city, or a village
about three miles distant, known by the name of Old Evreux, is the
Mediolanum Aulercorum of Ptolemy. His description is given with
sufficient accuracy to exclude the pretensions of any other town, though not
with such a degree of precision as will enable us, after a lapse of sixteen
centuries, to decide between the claims of the two sites. Cæsar, in his
Commentaries, speaks in general terms of the Aulerci Eburovices, who are
admitted to have been the ancient inhabitants of this district, and whose
name, especially as modified to Ebroici and Ebroi, is clearly to be
recognized in that of the county. The foundations of ancient buildings are
still to be seen at Old Evreux; and various coins and medals of the upper
empire, have at different times been dug up within its precincts. Hence it
has been concluded, that the Mediolanum Aulercorum was situated there.
The supporters of the contrary opinion admit that Old Evreux was a Roman
station; but they say that, considering its size, it can have been no more than
an encampment: they also maintain, that a castle was subsequently built
upon the site of this encampment, by Richard, Count of Evreux, and that the

destruction of this castle, during the Norman wars, gave rise to the ruins
now visible, which in their turn were the cause of the name of the
village[44].
It is certain that, in the reign of William the Conqueror, the town stood in its
present situation: Ordericus Vitalis speaks in terms that admit of no
hesitation, when he states that, in the year 1080, "fides Christi Evanticorum,
id est Evroas, urbem, super Ittonum fluvium sitam possidebat et salubritèr
illuminabat[45]."
In the times of Norman sovereignty, Evreux attained an unfortunate
independence: Duke Richard Ist severed it from the duchy, and erected it
into a distinct earldom in favor of Robert, his second son. From him the
inheritance descended to Richard and William, his son and grandson; after
whose death, it fell into the female line, and passed into the house of
Montfort d'Amaury, by the marriage of Agnes, sister of Richard of Evreux.-
-Nominally independent, but really held only at the pleasure of the Dukes of
Normandy, the rank of the earldom occasioned the misery of the
inhabitants, who were continually involved in warfare, and plundered by
conflicting parties. The annals of Evreux contain the relation of a series of
events, full of interest and amusement to us who peruse them; but those,
who lived at the time when these events were really acted, might exclaim,
like the frogs in the fable, "that what is entertainment to us, was death to
them."--At length, the treaty of Louviers, in 1195, altered the aspect of
affairs. The King of France gained the right of placing a garrison in Evreux;
and, five years afterwards, he obtained a formal cession of the earldom.
Philip Augustus took possession of the city, to the great joy of the
inhabitants, who, six years before, had seen their town pillaged, and their
houses destroyed, by the orders of this monarch. The severity exercised
upon that occasion had been excessive; but Philip's indignation had been
roused by one of the basest acts of treachery recorded in history.--John,
faithless at every period of his life, had entered into a treaty with the French
monarch, during the captivity of his brother, Coeur-de-Lion, to deliver up
Normandy; and Philip, conformably with this plan, was engaged in
reducing the strong holds upon the frontiers, whilst his colleague resided at
Evreux. The unexpected release of the English king disconcerted these
intrigues; and John, alarmed at the course which he had been pursuing,
thought only how to avert the anger of his offended sovereign. Under

pretence, therefore, of shewing hospitality to the French, he invited the
principal officers to a feast, where he caused them all to be murdered; and
he afterwards put the rest of the garrison to the sword.--Brito records the
transaction in the following lines, which I quote, not only as an historical
document, illustrative of the moral character of one of the worst sovereigns
that ever swayed the British sceptre, but as an honorable testimony to the
memory of his unfortunate brother:--

"Attamen Ebroïcam studio majore reformans
Armis et rebus et bellatoribus urbem,
Pluribus instructam donavit amore Johanni,
Ut sibi servet eam: tamen arcem non dedit illi.
Ille dolo plenus, qui patrem, qui modo fratrem
Prodiderat, ne non et Regis proditor esset,
Excedens siculos animi impietate Tyrannos,
Francigenas omnes vocat ad convivia quotquot
Ebroïcis reperit, equites simul atque clientes,
Paucis exceptis quos sors servavit in arce.
Quos cum dispositis armis fecisset ut una
Discubuisse domo, tanquam prandere putantes,
Evocat e latebris armatos protinus Anglos,
Interimitque viros sub eadem clade trecentos,
Et palis capita ambustis affixit, et urbem
Circuit affixis, visu mirabile, tali
Regem portento quærens magis angere luctu:
Talibus obsequiis, tali mercede rependens
Millia marcharum, quas Rex donaverat illi.
Tam detestanda pollutus cæde Johannes
Ad fratrem properat; sed Rex tam flagitiosus
Non placuit fratri: quis enim, nisi dæmone plenus,
Omninoque Deo vacuus, virtute redemptus
A vitiis nulla, tam dira fraude placere
Appetat, aut tanto venetur crimine pacem?
Sed quia frater erat, licet illius oderit actus
Omnibus odibiles, fraternæ foedera pacis
Non negat indigno, nec eum privavit amore,
Ipsum qui nuper Regno privare volebat."

The vicissitudes to which the county of Evreux was doomed to be subject,
did not wholly cease upon its annexation to the crown of France. It passed,
in the fourteenth century, into the hands of the Kings of Navarre, so as to
form a portion of their foreign territory; and early in the fifteenth, it fell by
right of conquest under English sovereignty.--Philip the Bold conferred it,
in 1276, upon Louis, his youngest son; and from him descended the line of
Counts of Evreux, who, originating in the royal family of France, became
Kings of Navarre. The kingdom was brought into the family by the
marriage of Philip Count of Evreux with Jane daughter of Louis Hutin,
King of France and Navarre, to whom she succeeded as heir general.
Charles IIIrd, of Navarre, ceded Evreux by treaty to his namesake, Charles
VIth of France, in 1404; and he shortly after bestowed it upon John Stuart,
Lord of Aubigni, and Constable of Scotland.--Under Henry Vth, our
countrymen took the city in 1417, but we were not long allowed to hold
undisturbed possession of it; for, in 1424, it was recaptured by the French.
Their success, however, was only ephemeral: the battle of Verneuil replaced
Evreux in the power of the English before the expiration of the same year;
and we kept it till 1441, when the garrison was surprised, and the town lost,
though not without a vigorous resistance.--Towards the close of the
following century, the earldom was raised into a Duché pairie, by Charles
IXth, who, having taken the lordship of Gisors from his brother, the Duc
d'Alençon, better known by his subsequent title of Duc d'Anjou,
recompenced him by a grant of Evreux. Upon the death of this prince
without issue, in 1584, Evreux reverted to the crown, and the title lay
dormant till 1652, when Louis XIVth exchanged the earldom with the Duc
de Bouillon, in return for the principality of Sedan. In his family it remained
till the revolution, which, amalgamating the whole of France into one
common mass of equal rights and laws, put an end to all local privileges
and other feudal tenures.
Evreux, at present, is a town containing about eight thousand inhabitants, a
great proportion of whom are persons of independent property, or rentiers,
as the French call them. Hence it has an air of elegance, seldom to be found
in a commercial, and never in a manufacturing town; and to us this
appearance was the more striking, as being the first instance of the kind we
had seen in Normandy. The streets are broad and beautifully neat. The city
stands in the midst of gardens and orchards, in a fertile valley, watered by

the Iton, and inclosed towards the north and south by ranges of hills. The
river divides into two branches before it reaches the town, both which flow
on the outside of the walls. But, besides these, a portion of its waters has
been conducted through the centre of the city, by means of a canal dug by
the order of Jane of Navarre. This Iton, like the Mole, in Kent, suddenly
loses itself in the ground, near the little town of Damville, about twenty
miles south of Evreux, and holds its subterranean course for nearly two
miles. A similar phenomenon is observable with a neighboring stream, the
Risle, between Ferrière and Grammont[46]: in both cases it is attributed, I
know not with what justice, to an abrupt change in the stratification of the
soil.

Footnotes:

[36] This curious transaction, which took place in the year 1119,
is related with considerable näiveté by Ordericus Vitalis, p. 852,
as follows:--"Henricus Rex rebellibus ultrà parcere nolens, pagum
Ebroicensem adiit, et Ebroas cum valida manu impugnare coepit.
Sed oppidanis, qui intrinsecus erant, cum civibus viriliter
repugnantibus, introire nequivit. Erant cum illo Ricardus filius
ejus, et Stephanus Comes nepos ejus, Radulfus de Guader, et
maxima vis Normannorum. Quibus ante Regem convocatis in
unnm, Rex dixit ad Audinum Episcopum. "Videsne, domine
Præsul, quòd repellimur ab hostibus, nec eos nisi per ignem
subjugare poterimus? Verùm, si ignis immittitur, Ecclesiæ
comburentur, et insontibus ingens damnum inferetur. Nunc ergo,
Pastor Ecclesiæ, diligentèr considera, et quod utilius prospexeris
providè nobis insinua. Si victoria nobis per incendium divinitùs
conceditur, opitulante Deo, Ecclesiæ detrimenta restaurabuntur:
quia de thesauris nostris commodos sumptus gratantèr largiemur.
Unde domus Dei, ut reor, in melius reædificabuntur." Hæsitat in
tanto discrimine Præsul auxius, ignorat quid jubeat divinæ
dispositioni competentius: nescit quid debeat magis velle vel
eligere salubrius. Tandem prudentum consultu præcepit ignem
immitti, et civitatem concremari, ut ab anathematizatis
proditoribus liberaretur, et legitimis habitatoribus restitueretur.

Radulfus igitur de Guader a parte Aquilonali primus ignem
injecit, et effrenis flamma per urbem statim volavit, et omnia
(tempos enim autumni siccum erat) corripuit. Tunc combusta est
basilica sancti Salvatoris, quam Sanctimoniales incolebant, et
celebris aula gloriosæ virginis et matris Mariæ, cui Præsul et
Clerus serviebant, ubi Pontificalem Curiam parochiani
frequentabant. Rex, et cuncti Optimales sui Episcopo pro
Ecclesiarum combustione vadimonium supplicitèr dederunt, et
uberes impensas de opibus suis ad restaurationem earum palam
spoponderunt."

[37] Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 309.

[38] Gallia Christiana, XI. p. 606.

[39] From the manner in, which Ducarel speaks of these statues,
(Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 85.) he leaves it to be understood,
that they were in existence in his time; but it is far from certain
that this was the case; for the whole of his account of them is no
more than a translation from the following passage in Le
Brasseur's Histoire du Comté d'Evreux, p. 11.--"Le Diocèse
d'Evreux a été si favorisé des grâces de Dieu, qu'on ne voit
presqu'aucun temps où l'Hérésie y ait pénétré, même lorsque les
Protestans inondoient et corrompoient toute la France, et
particulierement la Normandie. On ne peut pas cependant
desavoüer qu'il y a eu de temps en temps, quelques personnes qui
se sont livrées à l'erreur; et l'on peut remarquer quatre Statuës
attachées à deux piliers au dehors du chancel de l'Eglise
Cathédrale du côté du Cimetiere, dont trois représentent trois
Chanoines, la tête couverte de leurs Aumuces selon la coûtume de
ce temps-là, et une quatrième qui représente un Chanoine à un
pilier plus éloigné, la tête nuë, tenant sa main sur le coeur comme
un signe de son repentir; parce que la tradition dit, qu'aïant été
atteint et convaincu du crime d'hérésie, le Chapitre l'avoit interdit
des fonctions de son Bénéfice; mais qu'aïant ensuite abjuré son
erreur, le même Chapitre le rétablit dans tous ses droits, honneurs,
et privileges: cependant il fut ordonné qu'en mémoire de

l'égarement et de la pénitence de ce Chanoine, ces Statuës
demeureroient attachées aux piliers de leur Eglise, lorsqu'elle fût
rébâtie des deniers de Henry I. Roy d'Angleterre, par les soins
d'Audoenus Evêque d'Evreux."

[40] This was not the first, nor the only, contest, which was
fought by Taurinus with Satan. Their struggles began at the
moment of the saint's coming to Evreux, and did not even
terminate when his life was ended. But the devil was, by the
power of his adversary, brought to such a helpless state, that,
though he continued to haunt the city, where the people knew him
by the name of Gobelinus, he was unable to injure any one.--All
this is seriously related by Ordericus Vitalis, (p. 555.) from whom
I extract the following passage, in illustration of what Evreux was
supposed to owe to its first bishop.--"Grassante secundâ
persecutione, quæ sub Domitiano in Christianos furuit, Dionysius
Parisiensis Episcopus Taurinum filiolum suum jam
quadragenarium, Præsulem ordinavit; et (vaticinatis pluribus quæ
passurus erat) Ebroicensibus in nomine Domini direxit. Viro Dei
ad portas civitatis appropinquanti, dæmon in tribus figmentis se
opposuit: scilicet in specie ursi, et leonis, et bubali terrere
athletam Christi voluit. Sed ille fortiter, ut inexpugnabilis murus,
in fide perstitit, et coeptum iter peregit, hospitiumque in domo
Lucii suscepit. Tertia die, dum Taurinus ibidem populo
prædicaret, et dulcedo fidei novis auditoribus multùm placeret,
dolens diabolus Eufrasiam Lucii filiam vexare coepit, et in ignem
jecit. Quæ statim mortua est; sed paulò pòst, orante Taurino ac
jubente ut resurgeret, in nomine Domini resuscitata est. Nullum in
ea adustionis signum apparuit. Omnes igitur hoc miraculum
videntes subitò territi sunt, et obstupescentes in Dominum Jesum
Christum crediderunt. In illa die c. homines baptizati sunt. Octo
cæci illuminati, et quatuor multi sanati, aliique plures ex diversis
infirmitatibus in nomine Domini sunt curati."

[41] Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux, I. p.
77.

[42] Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 279.

[43] For this observation, as well as for several others touching
Evreux and Pont-Audemer, I have to express my
acknowledgments to Mr. Cotman's memoranda.

[44] Le Brasseur, Histoire du Comté d'Evreux, p. 4.

[45] Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p. 555.

[46] Goube, Histoire du Duché de Normandie, III. p. 223.

LETTER XIX.
VICINITY OF EVREUX--CHÂTEAU DE NAVARRE--COCHEREL--
PONT-AUDEMER --MONTFORT-SUR-RISLE--HARFLEUR--
BOURG-ACHARD--FRENCH WEDDING.

(Bourg-Achard, July, 1818.)
Evreux is seldom visited by the English; and none of our numerous
absentees have thought fit to settle here, though the other parts of
Normandy are filled with families who are suffering under the sentence of
self-banishment. It is rather surprising, that this town has not obtained its
share of English settlers: the air is good, provisions are cheap, and society is
agreeable. Those, too, if such there be, who are attracted by historical
reminiscences, will find themselves on historical ground.
The premier viscount of the British parliament derives his name from
Evreux; though, owing to a slight alteration in spelling and to our peculiar
pronunciation, it has now become so completely anglicised, that few
persons, without reflection, would recognize a descendant of the Comtes
d'Evreux, in Henry Devereux, Viscount of Hereford. The Norman origin of
this family is admitted by the genealogists and heralds, both of France and
of England; and the fate of the Earl of Essex is invariably introduced in the
works of those authors, who have written upon Evreux or its honors.
It would have been unpardonable to have quitted Evreux, without rambling
to the Château de Navarre, which is not more than a mile and half distant
from the town.--This Château, whose name recals an interesting period in
the history of the earldom, was originally a royal residence. It was erected
in the middle of the fourteenth century by Jane of France, who, with a very
pardonable vanity, directed her new palace to be called Navarre, that her
Norman subjects might never forget that she was herself a queen, and that
she had brought a kingdom as a marriage portion to her husband. Her son,
Charles the Bad, a prince whose turbulent and evil disposition caused so
much misfortune to France, was born here. Happy too had it been for him,

had he here closed his eyes before he entered upon the wider theatre of the
world! During his early days passed at Navarre, he is said to have shewn an
ingenuousness of disposition and some traits of generosity, which gave rise
to hopes that were miserably falsified by his future life.--The present
edifice, however, a modern French Château, retains nothing more than the
name of the structure which was built by the queen, and which was levelled
with the ground, in the year 1686, by the Duc de Bouillon, the lord of the
country, who erected the present mansion. His descendants resided here till
the revolution, at which time they emigrated, and the estate became national
property. It remained for a considerable period unoccupied, and was at last
granted to Joséphine, by her imperial husband. At present, the domain
belongs to her son, Prince Eugene, by whom the house has lately been
stripped of its furniture. Many of the fine trees in the park have also been
cut down, and the whole appears neglected and desolate. His mother did not
like Navarre: he himself never saw it: the queen of Holland alone used
occasionally to reside here.--The principal beauty of the place lies in its
woods; and these we saw to the greatest advantage. It was impossible for
earth or sky to look more lovely.--The house is of stone, with large
windows; and an ill-shaped dome rises in the centre. The height of the
building is somewhat greater than its width, which makes it appear top-
heavy; and every thing about it is formal; but the noble avenue, the terrace-
steps, great lanthorns, iron gates, and sheets of water on either side of the
approach, are upon an extensive scale, and in a fine baronial style.--Yet, still
they are inferior to the accompaniments of the same nature which are found
about many noblemen's residences in England.--The hall, which is spacious,
has a striking effect, being open to the dome. Its sides are painted with
military trophies, and with the warlike instruments of the four quarters of
the globe. We saw nothing else in the house worthy of notice. It is merely a
collection of apartments of moderate size; and, empty and dirty as they
were, they appeared to great disadvantage. In the midst of the solitude of
desolation, some ordinary portraits of the Bouillon family still remain upon
the walls, as if in mockery of departed greatness.
We were unable to direct our course to Cocherel, a village about sixteen
miles distant, on the road to Vernon, celebrated as the spot where a battle
was fought, in the fourteenth century, between the troops of Navarre, and
those of France, commanded by Du Guesclin.--I notice this place, because

it is possible that, if excavations were made there, those antiquaries who
delight in relics of the remotest age of European history, might win many
prizes. A tomb of great curiosity was discovered in the year 1685; and celts,
and stone hatchets, and other implements, belonging, as it is presumed, to
the original inhabitants of the country, have been found beneath the soil.
Many of these are described and figured by the Abbé de Cocherel, in a
paper full of curious erudition, subjoined to Le Brasseur's History of
Evreux. The hatchets resembled those frequently dug up in England; but
they were more perfect, inasmuch as some of them were fastened in deers'
horns, and had handles attached to them; thus clearly indicating the manner
in which they were used.--The place of burial differed, I believe, in its
internal arrangement from any sepulchral monument, whether Cromlech,
Carnedd, or Barrow, that has been opened in our own country. Three sides
of it were rudely faced with large stones: within were contained about
twenty skeletons, lying in a row, close to each other, north and south, their
arms pressed to their sides. The head of each individual rested on a stone,
fashioned with care, but to no certain pattern. Some were fusiform, others
wedge-shaped, and others irregularly oblong. In general, the stones did not
appear to be the production of the country. One was oriental jade, another
German agate. In the tomb were also a few cinerary urns; whence it appears
that the people, by whom it was constructed, were of a nation that was at
once in the habit of burning, and of interring, their dead. From these facts,
the Abbé finds room for much ingenious conjecture; and, after discussing
the relative probabilities of the sepulchre having been a burying-place of the
Gauls, the Jews, the Druids, the Normans, or the Huns, he decides, though
with some hesitation, in favor of the last of these opinions.
From Evreux we went by Brionne to Pont-Audemer: at first the road is
directed through an open country, without beauty or interest; but the
prospect improved upon us when we joined the rapid sparkling Risle, which
waters a valley of great richness, bounded on either side by wooded hills.--
Of Brionne itself I shall soon have a better opportunity of speaking; as we
purpose stopping there on our way to Caen.
A few miles before Brionne, we passed Harcourt, the ancient barony of the
noble family still flourishing in England, and existing in France. It is a
small country town, remarkable only for some remains of a castle[47], built
by Robert de Harcourt, fifth in descent from Bernard the Dane, chief

counsellor, and second in command to Rollo. The blood of the Dane is in
the present earl of Harcourt: he traces his lineage in a direct line from
Robert, the builder of the castle, who accompanied the Conqueror into
England, and fell in battle by his side.
Pont-Audemer is a small, neat, country town, situated upon the Risle, which
here, within ten miles of its junction with the Seine, is enlarged into a river
of considerable magnitude. But its channel, in the immediate vicinity of the
town, divides into several small streams; and thus it loses much of its
dignity, though the change is highly advantageous to picturesque beauty,
and to the conveniences of trade. Mills stand on some of these streams, but
most of them are applied to the purposes of tanning; for leather is the staple
manufacture of the place, and the hides prepared at Pont-Audemer are
thought to be the best in France.
From Brionne the valley of the Risle preserves a width of about a mile, or a
mile and half: at Pont-Audemer it becomes somewhat narrower, and the
town stretches immediately across it, instead of being built along the banks
of the river.--The inhabitants are thus enabled to avail themselves of the
different streams which intersect it.
Tradition refers the origin, as well as the name of Pont-Audemer, to a chief,
called Aldemar or Odomar, who ruled over a portion of Gaul in the fifth
century, and who built a bridge here.--These legendary heroes abound in
topography, but it is scarcely worth while to discuss their existence. In
Norman times Pont-Audemer was a military station. The nobility of the
province, always turbulent, but never more so than during the reign of
Henry Ist, had availed themselves of the opportunity afforded by the
absence of the monarch, and by his domestic misfortunes, to take up arms
in the cause of the son of Robert. Henry landed at the mouth of the Seine,
and it was at Pont-Audemer that the first conflict took place between him
and his rebellious subjects. The latter were defeated, and the fortress
immediately surrendered; but, in the early part of the fourteenth century, it
appears to have been of greater strength: it had been ceded by King John of
France to the Count of Evreux, and it resisted all the efforts of its former
lord during a siege of six weeks, at the end of which time his generals were
obliged to retire, with the loss of their military engines and artillery. This
siege is memorable in history, as the first in which it is known that cannon

were employed in France.--Pont-Audemer, still in possession of the kings of
Navarre, withstood a second siege, towards the conclusion of the same
century, but with less good fortune than before. It was taken by the
constable Du Guesclin, and, according to Froissart[48], "the castle was razed
to the ground, though it had cost large sums to erect; and the walls and
towers of the town were destroyed."
St. Ouen, the principal church in the place, is a poor edifice. It bears,
however, some tokens of remote age: such are the circular arches in the
choir, and a curious capital, on which are represented two figures in combat,
of rude sculpture.--A second church, that of Notre Dame des Prés, now
turned into a tan-house, exhibits an architectural feature which is altogether
novel. Over the great entrance, it has a string-course, apparently intended to
represent a corbel-table, though it does not support any superior member;
and the intermediate spaces between the corbels, instead of being left blank,
as usual, are filled with sculptured stones, which project considerably,
though less than the corbels with which they alternate. There is something
of the same kind, but by no means equally remarkable, over the arcades
above the west door-way of Castle-Acre Priory[49]. Neither Mr. Cotman's
memory, nor my own, will furnish another example.--The church of Notre
Dame des Prés is of the period when the pointed style was beginning to be
employed. The exterior is considerably injured: to the interior we could not
obtain admission.
The suburbs of Pont-Audemer furnish another church dedicated to St.
Germain, which would have been an excellent subject for both pen and
pencil, had it undergone less alteration. The short, thick, square, central
tower has, on each side, a row of four windows, of nearly the earliest
pointed style; many of the windows of the body of the church have semi-
circular heads; the corbels which extend in a line round the nave and
transepts are strangely grotesque; and, on the north side of the eastern
extremity, is a semi-circular chapel, as at St. Georges.--The inside is dark
and gloomy, the floor unpaved, and every thing in and about it in a state of
utter neglect, except some dozen saints, all in the gayest attire, and covered
with artificial flowers. The capitals of the columns are in the true Norman
style. Those at St. Georges are scarcely more fantastic, or more monstrous.-
-Between two of the arches of the choir, on the south side of this church, is
the effigy of a man in his robes, coifed with a close cap, lying on an altar-

tomb. The figure is much mutilated; but the style of the canopy-work over
the head indicates that it is not of great antiquity. The feet of the statue rest
upon a dog, who is busily occupied in gnawing a marrow-bone.--Dogs at
the base of monumental effigies are common, and they have been
considered as symbols of fidelity and honor; but surely the same is not
intended to be typified by a dog thus employed; and it is not likely that his
being so is a mere caprice of the sculptor's.--There is no inscription upon
the monument; nor could we learn whom it is intended to commemorate.
At but a short distance from Pont-Audemer, higher up the Risle, lies the yet
smaller town of Montfort, near which are still to be traced, the ruins of a
castle,[50] memorable for the thirty days' siege, which it supported from the
army of Henry Ist, in 1122; and dismantled by Charles Vth, at the same
time that he razed the fortifications of Pont-Audemer. The Baron of
Montfort yet ranks in our peerage; though I am not aware that the
nobleman, who at present bears the title, boasts a descent from any part of
the family of Hugh with a beard, the owner of Montfort at the time of the
conquest, and one of the Conqueror's attendants at the battle of Hastings.
From Pont-Audemer we proceeded to Honfleur: it was market-day at the
place which we had quitted, and the throng of persons who passed us on the
road, gave great life and variety to the scene. There was scarcely an
individual from whom we did not receive a friendly smile or nod,
accompanied by a bon jour; for the practice obtains commonly in France,
among the peasants, of saluting those whom they consider their superiors.
Almost all that were going to market, whether male or female, were
mounted on horses or asses; and their fruit, vegetables, butchers' meat, live
fowls, and live sheep, were indiscriminately carried in the same way.
About a league before we arrived at Honfleur, a distant view of the eastern
banks of the river opened upon us from the summit of a hill, and we felt, or
fancied that we felt, "the air freshened from the wave." As we descended,
the ample Seine, here not less than nine miles in width, suddenly displayed
itself, and we had not gone far before we came in sight of Honfleur. The
mist occasioned by the intense heat, prevented us from seeing distinctly the
opposite towns of Havre and Harfleur: we could only just discern the spire
of the latter, and the long projecting line of the piers and fortifications of
Havre. The great river rolls majestically into the British Channel between

these two points, and forms the bay of Honfleur. About four miles higher up
the stream where it narrows, the promontories of Quilleboeuf and of
Tancarville close the prospect.--Honfleur itself is finely situated: valleys,
full of meadows of the liveliest green, open to the Seine in the immediate
vicinity of the town; and the hills with which it is backed are beautifully
clothed with foliage to the very edge of the water. The trees, far from being
stunted and leafless, as on the eastern coast of England, appear as if they
were indebted to their situation for a verdure of unusual luxuriancy. A
similar line of hills borders the Seine on either side, as far as the eye can
reach.
It was unfortunate for us, that we entered the town at low water, when the
empty harbor and slimy river could scarcely fail to prepossess us
unfavorably. The quays are faced with stone, and the two basins are fine
works, and well adapted for commerce. This part of Honfleur reminded us
of Dieppe; but the houses, though equally varied in form and materials, are
not equally handsome.--Still less so are the churches; and a picturesque
castle is wholly wanting.--In the principal object of my journey to Honfleur,
my expectations were completely frustrated. I had been told at Rouen, that I
should here find a very ancient wooden church, and our imagination had
pictured to us one equally remarkable as that of Greensted, in Essex, and
probably constructed in the same manner, of massy trunks of trees. With the
usual anticipation of an antiquary, I imagined that I should discover a
parallel to that most singular building; which, as every body knows, is one
of the greatest architectural curiosities in England. But, alas! I was sadly
disappointed. The wooden church of Honfleur, so old in the report of my
informant, is merely a thing of yesterday, certainly not above two hundred
and fifty years of age; and, though it is undeniably of wood, within and
without, the walls are made, as in most of the houses in the town, of a
timber frame filled with clay. There is another church in Honfleur, but it
was equally without interest. Thus baffled, we walked to the heights above
the town: at the top of the cliff was a crowd of people, some of them
engaged in devotion near a large wooden crucifix, others enjoying
themselves at different games, or sitting upon the neat stone benches, which
are scattered plentifully about the walks in this charming situation. The
neighboring little chapel of Notre Dame de Grace is regarded as a building
of great sanctity, and is especially resorted to by sailors, a class of people

who are superstitious, all the world over. It abounds with their votive
tablets. From the roof and walls

"Pendono intorno in lungo ordine i voti,
Che vi portaro i creduli divoti."

Among the pictures, we counted nineteen, commemorative of escape from
shipwreck, all of them painted after precisely the same pattern: a stormy
sea, a vessel in distress, and the Virgin holding the infant Savior in her
arms, appearing through a black cloud in the corner,--In the Catholic ritual,
the holy Virgin, is termed Maris Stella, and she is κατ' εξοχην [English. Not
in Original: pre-eminently, especially, above all] the protectress of
Normandy.
Honfleur is still a fortified town; but it does not appear a place of much
strength, nor is it important in any point of view. Its trade is inconsiderable,
and its population does not amount to nine thousand inhabitants. But in the
year 1450, while in the hands of our countrymen, it sustained a siege of a
month's duration from the king of France; and, in the following century, it
had the distinction, attended with but little honor, of being the last place in
the kingdom that held out for the league.
From Honfleur we would fain have returned by Sanson-sur-Risle and
Foullebec, at both which villages M. Le Prevost had led us to expect
curious churches; but our postillion assured us that the roads were wholly
impassable. We were therefore compelled to allow Mr. Cotman to visit them
alone, while we retraced a portion of our steps through the valley of the
Risle, and then took an eastern direction to Bourg-Achard in our way to
Rouen.
Bourg-Achard was the seat of an abbey, built by the monks of Falaise, in
1143: it was originally dedicated to St. Lô; but St. Eustatius, the favorite
saint of this part of the country, afterwards became its patron. Before the
revolution, his skull was preserved in the sacristy of the convent, enchased
in a bust of silver gilt[51]; and even now, when the relic has been consigned
to its kindred dust, and the shrine to the furnace, and the abbey has been
levelled with the ground, there remains in the parochial church a fragment
of sculpture, which evidently represented the miracle that led to Eustatius'

conversion.--The knight, indeed, is gone, and the cross has disappeared
from between the horns of the stag; but the horse and the deer, are left, and
their position indicates the legend.--The church of Bourg-Achard has been
materially injured. The whole of the building, from the transept westward,
has been taken down; but it deserves a visit, if only as retaining a bénitier of
ancient form and workmanship, and a leaden font. Of the latter, I send you a
drawing. Leaden fonts are of very rare occurrence in England[52], and I
never saw or heard of another such in France: indeed, a baptismal font of
any kind is seldom to be seen in a French church, and the vessels used for
containing the holy water, are in most cases nothing more than small basins
in the form of escalop shells, affixed to the wall, or to some pillar near the
entrance.--It is possible that the fonts were removed and sold during the
revolution, as they were in our own country, by the ordinance of the houses
of parliament, after the deposition of Charles Ist; but this is a mere
conjecture on my own part. It is also possible that they may be kept in the
sacristy, where I have certainly seen them in some cases. In earlier times,
they not only existed in every church, but were looked upon with
superstitious reverence. They are frequently mentioned in the decrees of
ecclesiastical councils; some of which provide for keeping them clean and
locked; others for consigning the keys of them to proper officers; others
direct that they should never be without water; and others that nothing
profane should be laid upon them[53].

As we were at breakfast this morning, a procession, attended by a great
throng, passed our windows, and we were invited by our landlady to go to
the church and see the wedding of two of the principal persons of the
parish, We accepted the proposal; and, though the same ceremony has been
witnessed by thousands of Englishmen, yet I doubt whether it has been
described by any one.--The bride was a girl of very interesting appearance,
dressed wholly in white: even her shoes were white, and a bouquet of white
roses, jessamine, and orange-flowers, was placed in her bosom.--The mayor
of the town conducted her to the altar. Previously to the commencement of
the service, the priest stated aloud that the forms required by law, for what
is termed the civil marriage, had been completed. It was highly necessary
that he should do so; for, according to the present code, a minister of any
persuasion, who proceeds to the religious ceremonies of marriage before the
parties have been married by the magistrate, is subject to very heavy
penalties, to imprisonment, and to transportation. Indeed, going to church at
all for the purpose of marriage, is quite a work of supererogation, and may
be omitted or not, just as the parties please; the law requiring no other proof

of a marriage, beyond the certificate recorded in the municipal registry.
After this most important preliminary, the priest exhorted every one present,
under pain of excommunication, to declare if they knew of any impediment:
this, however, was merely done for the purpose of keeping up the dignity of
the church, for the knot was already tied as fast as it ever could be. He then
read a discourse upon the sanctity of the marriage compact, and the
excellence of the wedded state among the Catholics, compared to what
prevailed formerly among the Jews and Heathens, who degraded it by
frequent divorces and licentiousness. The parties now declared their mutual
consent, and his reverence enjoined each to be to the other "comme un
époux fidèle et de lui tenir fidélité en toutes choses."--The ring was
presented to the minister by one of the acolytes, upon a gold plate; and,
before he directed the bridegroom to place it upon the finger of the lady, he
desired him to observe that it was a symbol of marriage.--During the whole
of the service two other acolytes were stationed in front of the bride and
bridegroom, each holding in his hands a lighted taper; and near the
conclusion, while they knelt before the altar, a pall of flowered brocade was
stretched behind them, as emblematic of their union. Holy water was not
forgotten; for, in almost every rite of the Catholic church, the mystic
sanctification by water and by fire continually occurs.--The ceremony
ended by the priest's receiving the sacrament himself, but without
administering it to any other individual present. Having taken it, he kissed
the paten which had contained the holy elements, and all the party did the
same: each, too, in succession, put a piece of money into a cup, to which we
also were invited to contribute, for the love of the Holy Virgin.--They
entered by the south door, but the great western portal was thrown open as
they left the church; and by that they departed.

Footnotes:

[47] Masson de St. Amand, Essais Historiques sur Evreux, I. p.
39.

[48] Johnes' Translation, 8vo, IV. p. 292.

[49] See Britten's Architectural Antiquities, III. t. 2.

[50] Goube, Histoire de Normandie, III. 249.

[51] Histoire de la Haute Normandie, II. p. 319.

[52] Mr. Gough, (See Archæologia, X. p. 187.) whose attention
had been much directed to this subject, seems to have known only
four fonts made of lead, in the kingdom;--at Brookland in Kent,
Dorchester in Oxfordshire, Wareham in Dorsetshire, and
Walmsford in Northamptonshire; but there are in all probability
many more. We have at least four in Norfolk. He says, "they are
supposed to be of high antiquity; and that at Brookland may have
relation to the time of Birinus himself. To what circumstance the
others are to be referred, or from what other church brought, does
not appear."--The leaden fonts which I have seen, have all been
raised upon a basis of brick or stone, like this at Bourg-Achard,
and are all of nearly the same pattern.

[53] See Concilia Normannica, II. pp. 56, 117, 403, 491, 508, &c.

LETTER XX.
MOULINEAUX--CASTLE OF ROBERT THE DEVIL--BOURG-
THEROUDE--ABBEY OF BEC--BRIONNE.

(Brionne, July, 1818.)
Having accomplished the objects which we had proposed to ourselves in
Rouen and its vicinity, we set out this morning upon our excursion to the
western parts of the province. Our first stage, to Moulineaux, was by the
same road by which we returned a few days ago from Bourg-Achard. It is a
delightful ride, through the valley of the Seine, here of great width,
stretching to our left in an uninterrupted course of flat open country, but, on
our right hand, bordered at no great distance by the ridge of steep chalky
cliffs which line the bank of the river. The road appears to have been a work
of considerable labor: it is every where raised, and in some places as high as
fifteen feet above the level of the fields on either side.--Agriculture in this
district is conducted, as about Paris, upon the plan called by the French la
petite culture: the fields are all divided into narrow strips; so that a piece of
not more than two or three acres, frequently produces eight or ten different
crops, some of grain, others of culinary vegetables, at the same time that
many of these portions are planted with apple and cherry trees. The land is
all open and uninclosed: not a fence is to be seen; nor do there even appear
to be any balks or head-marks. Strangers therefore who come, like us, from
a country entirely inclosed, cannot refrain from frequent expressions of
surprise how it is that every person here is enabled to tell the limits of his
own property.
Moulineaux is a poor village, a mere assemblage of cottages, with mud
walls and thatched roofs. But the church is interesting, though desecrated
and verging to ruin. Even now the outside alone is entire. The interior is
gutted and in a state of absolute neglect.--The building is of the earliest
pointed style: its lancet-windows are of the plainest kind, being destitute of
side pillars: in some of the windows are still remains of handsome painted
glass.--Either the antiquaries in France are more honest than in England, or

they want taste, or objects of this kind do not find a ready market. We know
too well how many an English church, albeit well guarded by the
churchwardens and the parson, has seen its windows despoiled of every
shield, and saint, and motto; and we also know full well, by whom, and for
whom, such ravages are committed. In France, on the contrary, where
painted glass still fills the windows of sacred buildings, now employed for
the meanest purposes, or wholly deserted, no one will even take the trouble
of carrying it away; and the storied panes are left, as derelicts utterly
without value.--The east end of the church at Moulineaux is semi-circular;
the roof is of stone, handsomely groined, and the groinings spring from
fanciful corbels. On either side of the nave, near the choir, is a recess in the
wall, carved with tabernacle-work, and serving for a piscina. Recesses of
this kind, though of frequent occurrence in English churches, do not often
appear in France. Still less common are those elaborate screens of carved
timber, often richly gilt or gorgeously painted, which separate the nave from
the chancel in the churches of many of our smaller villages at home. The
only one I ever recollect to have seen in France was at Moulineaux.--I also
observed a mutilated pillar, which originally supported the altar,
ornamented with escalop shells and fleurs-de-lys in bold relief. It reminded
me of one figured in the Antiquarian Repertory, from Harold's chapel, in
Battle Abbey[54].
Immediately after leaving Moulineaux, the road winds along the base of a
steep chalk hill, whose brow is crowned by the remains of the famous castle
of Robert the Devil, the father of Richard Fearnought. Robert the Devil is a
mighty hero of romance; but there is some difficulty in discovering his
historical prototype. Could we point out his gestes in the chronicle, they
would hardly outvalue his adventures, as they are recorded in the nursery
tale. Robert haunts this castle, which appears to have been of great extent,
though its ruins are very indistinct. The walls on the southern side are rents,
and covered with brush-wood; and no architectural feature is discernible.
Wide and deep fosses encircle the site, which is undermined by spacious
crypts and subterraneous caverns.--The fortress is evidently of remote, but
uncertain, antiquity: it was dismantled by King John when he abandoned
the duchy. The historians of Normandy say that it was re-fortified during
the civil wars; and the fact is not destitute of probability, as its position is
bold and commanding.

Bourg-Theroude, our next stage, is one of those places which are indebted
to their names alone for the little importance they possess. At present, it is a
small assemblage of mean houses, most of them inns; but its Latin
appellation, Burgus Thuroldi, commemorates no less a personage than one
of the preceptors of William the Conqueror, and his grand constable at the
time when he effected the conquest of England.--The name of Turold occurs
upon the Bayeux tapestry, designating one of the ambassadors dispatched
by the Norman Duke to Guy, Earl of Ponthieu; and it is supposed that the
Turold there represented was the grand constable[55].--The church of Bourg-
Theroude, which was collegiate before the revolution, is at present
uninteresting in every point of view.
About half way from this place to Brionne, we came in sight of the remains
of the celebrated abbey of Bec, situated a mile and half or two miles distant
to our right, at the extremity of a beautiful valley. We had been repeatedly
assured that scarcely one stone of this formerly magnificent building was
left upon another; but it would have shewn an unpardonable want of
curiosity to have passed so near without visiting it: even to stand upon the
spot which such a monastery originally covered is a privilege not lightly to
be foregone:--

"The pilgrim who journeys all day,
To visit some far distant shrine;
If he bear but a relic away,
Is happy, nor heard to repine."--

And happiness of this kind would on such an occasion infallibly fall to your
lot and to mine. A love for botany or for antiquities would equally furnish
relics on a similar pilgrimage.
As usual, the accounts which we had received proved incorrect. The greater
part of the conventual edifice still exists, but it has no kind of architectural
value. Some detached portions, whose original use it would be difficult now
to conjecture, appear, from their wide pointed windows, to be of the
fifteenth century. The other buildings were probably erected within the last
fifty years.--The part inhabited by the monks is at this time principally
employed as a cotton-mill; and, were it in England, nobody would suspect
that it ever had any other destination. Of the church, the tower[56] only is in

existence. I find no account of its date; though authors have been unusually
profuse in their details of all particulars relating to this monastery. I am
inclined to refer it to the beginning of the seventeenth century, in which
case it was built shortly after the destruction of the nave. Its character is
simple, solid elegance. Its ornaments are few, but they are selected and
disposed with judgment. Each corner is flanked by two buttresses, which
unite at top, and there terminate in a crocketed pinnacle. The buttresses are
also ornamented with tabernacles of saints at different heights; and one of
the tabernacles upon each buttress, about mid-way up the tower, still retains
a statue as large as life, of apparently good workmanship. They were
fortunately too high for the democrats to destroy with ease. The height of
the tower is one hundred and fifty feet, as I found by the staircase of two
hundred steps, which remains uninjured, in a circular turret attached to the
south side. The termination of this turret is the most singular part of the
structure: it is surmounted by a cap, considerably higher than the pinnacles,
and composed, like a bee-hive, of a number of circles, each smaller than the
one below it. A few ruined arches of the east end of the church, and of one
of the side chapels are also existing. The rest is levelled with the ground,
and has probably been in a great measure destroyed lately; for piles of
wrought stones are heaped up on all sides.
If historical recollections or architectural beauty could have proved a
protection in the days of revolution, the church of Bec had undoubtedly
stood. Ducarel, who saw it in its perfection, says it was one of the finest
gothic structures in France; and his account of it, though only an
abridgement of that given by Du Plessis, in his History of Upper Normandy,
is curious and valuable.--Mr. Gough states the annual income of the abbey
at the period of the revolution, to have exceeded twenty thousand crowns.
Its patronage was most extensive: the monks presented to one hundred and
sixty advowsons, two of them in the metropolis; and thirty other
ecclesiastical benefices, as well priories as chapels, were in their gift[57].--
Its possessions, as we may collect from the various charters and donations,
might have led us to expect a larger revenue. The estates belonging to the
monastery in England, prior to the reformation, were both numerous and
valuable.
Sammarthanus, author of the Gallia Christiana, says, in speaking of Bec,
that, whether considered as to religion or literature, there was not, in the

eleventh century, a more celebrated convent throughout the whole of
Neustria. The founder of the abbey was Hellouin, sometimes called Herluin,
a nobleman, descended by the mother's side from the Counts of Flanders,
but he himself was a native of the territory of Brionne, and educated in the
castle of Gislebert, earl of that district. Hellouin determined, at an early age,
to withdraw himself from the court and from the world: it seems he was
displeased or affronted by the conduct of the earl; and we may collect from
the chroniclers, that it was not a very easy task in those times for an
individual of rank, intent upon monastic seclusion, to carry his purpose into
effect, and that still greater difficulties were to be encountered if he wished
to put his property into mortmain. Hellouin was obliged to counterfeit
madness, and at last to come to a very painful explanation with his liege
lord; and, when he finally succeeded in obtaining the permission he craved,
his establishment was so poor, that he was compelled to take upon himself
the office of abbot, from an inability to find any other person who would
accept it.--The monkish historians lavish their praises upon Hellouin. They
assign to him every virtue under heaven; but they particularly laud him for
his humility and industry: all day long he worked as a laborer in the
building of his convent, whilst the night was passed in committing the
psalter to memory. At this period of his life, a curious anecdote is recorded
of him: curious in itself, as illustrative of the character of the man; and
particularly curious, in being quoted as matter of commendation, and thus
serving to illustrate the feelings of a great body of the community.--His
mother, who shared in the pious disposition of her son, had attached herself
to the convent to assist in the menial offices; and one day, while she was
thus engaged, the building caught fire, and she perished in the flames; upon
which, Hellouin, though bathed in tears, lifted up his hands to heaven, and
gave thanks to God that his parent had been burned to death in the midst of
an occupation of humility and piety!
During the life of Hellouin, the abbey was twice levelled with the ground:
on each occasion it rose more splendid from its ruins, and on each the site
was changed, till at length it was fixed upon the spot from which its ruins
are now vanishing. The whole of Normandy would scarcely furnish a more
desirable situation. Under the prelacy of Hellouin, Bec increased rapidly in
celebrity, and consequently in the number of its inmates: it was principally
indebted for this increase to an accidental circumstance. Lanfranc, a native

of Pavia, a lawyer in Italy, but a monk in France, after having visited
various monasteries, and distinguished himself by defending the doctrine of
the real presence, then impugned by Berengarius, established himself here
in the year 1042, and immediately opened a school, which, to judge from
the language of Ordericus Vitalis[58], seems to have been the first ever
known in Normandy. Scholars from France, from England, and from
Flanders, hastened to place themselves under his care; his fame, according
to William of Malmesbury, went forth into the outer parts of the earth; and
Bec, under his auspices, became a most celebrated resort of literature. To
borrow the more copious account given by William of Jumieges--"report
quickly spread the glory of Bec, and of its abbot, Hellouin, through every
land. The clergy, the sons of dukes, the most eminent schoolmasters, the
most powerful of the laity, and the nobility, all hastened hither. Many,
actuated by love for Lanfranc, gave their lands to the convent. The abbey
was enriched with ornaments, with possessions, and with noble inmates.
Religion and learning increased; property of all kinds abounded; and the
monks, who but a few years before, could scarcely command sufficient
ground for the site of their own building, now saw their estates extend for
many miles in a lengthening line."--Promotion followed the fame of
Lanfranc, who soon became abbot of the royal monastery of St. Stephen, at
Caen, and thence was translated to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury.
It was the rare good fortune of Bec, that the abbey furnished two successive
metropolitans to the English church, both of them selected for their
erudition, Lanfranc and Anselm. It is not a little remarkable, too, that both
were Italians. Lanfranc, whilst archbishop of Canterbury, presided in the
year 1077, at the dedication of the third church built at Bec. We may judge
how far the abbey had at that time increased in consequence; for five
bishops, one of them brother to the Conqueror, honored the ceremony with
their presence; and the nobles and ladies of France, Normandy, and England
crowded to the spot, to refresh their bodies by the pleasures of the festival,
and their souls by endowments to the convent.
In the fifteenth century, when our Henry Vth brought his victorious armies
into France, the monks of Bec were reduced to a painful alternative. It was
apprehended by the French monarch, that the monastery might be converted
into a dépôt by the English; and they were commanded either to demolish
the church, or to fortify it against the invaders. They naturally regarded the

latter as the lesser evil; and the consequence was, that the abbey was
scarcely put into a state of defence, when it was attacked by the enemy, and,
after sustaining a siege for a month, was obliged to surrender. A great part
of the monastic buildings were levelled to the ground; and the fortifications
which had been so strangely affixed to them were also razed: meanwhile the
monks suffered grievously from the contending parties: their sacristy was
plundered; their treasury emptied; and they were themselves exposed to a
variety of personal hardships. At the same time, also, the tomb of the
Empress Maud[59], which faced the high altar, was destroyed, after having
been stripped of its silver ornaments.
Considering the number of illustrious persons who were abbots or patrons
of Bec, and who had been elected from it to the superintendance of other
monasteries, the church does not appear to have been rich in monuments.
We read indeed of many individuals who were interred here belonging to
the house of Neubourg, a family distinguished among the benefactors of the
convent; and the records of the abbey speak also of the tomb of Richard of
St. Leger, Bishop of Evreux; but the Empress was the only royal personage
who selected this convent as the resting-place for her remains; and she
likewise appears to have been the only eminent one, except Hellouin, the
founder, who lay in the chapter-house, under a slab of black marble, with
various figures of rude workmanship[60] carved upon it. His epitaph has
more merit than the general class of monumental inscriptions:--

"Hunc spectans tumulum, titulo cognosce sepultum;
Est via virtutis nôsse quis ipse fuit.
Dum quater hic denos ævi venisset ad annos,
Quæ fuerant secli sprevit amore Dei.
Mutans ergò vices, mundi de milite miles
Fit Christi subito, Monachus ex laïco.
Hinc sibi, more patrum, socians collegia fratrum,
Curâ, quâ decuit, rexit eos, aluit.
Quot quantasque vides, hic solus condidit ædes,
Non tàm divitiis quàm fidei meritis.
Quas puer haud didicit scripturas postea scivit,
Doctus ut indoctum vix sequeretur eum.
Flentibus hunc nobis tulit inclementia mortis

Sextilis quinâ bisque die decimâ.
Herluine pater, sic cœlica scandis ovantèr;
Credere namque tuis hoc licet ex meritis."
In number of inmates, extent of possessions, and possibly, in magnificence
of buildings, other Norman monasteries may have excelled Bec: none
equalled it in the prouder honor of being a seminary for eminent men and
especially for those destined to the highest stations in the church. Lanfranc
and Anselm were not the only two of its monks who were seated on the
archiepiscopal throne at Canterbury. Two others, Theobald and Hubert
obtained the same dignity in the following century; and Roger, the seventh
abbot of Bec, enjoyed the still more enviable distinction of having been
unanimously elected to fill the office of metropolitan, but of possessing
sufficient firmness of mind to resist the attractions of wealth, and rank, and
power. The sees of Rochester, Beauvais, and Evreux were likewise filled by
monks from Bec; and it was here that many monastic establishments, both
Norman and foreign, found their pastors. Three of our own most celebrated
convents, those of Chester, Ely, and St. Edmund's Bury, received at
different epochs their abbots from Bec; and during the prelacy of Anselm,
the supreme pontiff himself selected a monk of this house as the prior of the
distant convent of the holy Savior at Capua.--The village of Bec, which
adjoins the abbey, is small and unimportant.
I was returning to our carriage, when a soldier invited me to walk to a part
of the monastic grounds (for they are very extensive) which is appropriated
to the purpose of keeping up the true breed of Norman horses. The French
government have several similar establishments: they consider the matter as
one of national importance; and, as France has not yet produced a Duke of
Bedford or a Mr. Coke, the state is obliged to undertake what would be
much better effected by the energy of individuals.--A Norman horse is an
excellent draft horse: he is strong, bony, and well proportioned. But the
natives are not content with this qualified praise: they contend that he is
equally unrivalled as a saddle-horse, as a hunter, and as a charger. In this
part of the country the present average price of a hussar's horse is nineteen
pounds; of a dragoon's thirty-four pounds; and of an officer's eighty
pounds.--These prices are considered high, but not extravagant. France
abounds at this time in fine horses. The losses occasioned by the
revolutionary wars, and more especially by the disastrous Russian

campaign, have been more than compensated by five years of peace, and by
the horses that were left by the allied troops. An annual supply is also drawn
from Mecklenburg and the adjacent countries. Importations of this kind are
regarded as indispensable, to prevent a degeneration in the stock. A
Frenchman can scarcely be brought to believe it possible; that we in
England can preserve our fine breed of horses without having recourse to
similar expedients; and if at last, by dint of repeated asseverations, you
succeed in obtaining a reluctant assent, the conversation is almost sure to
end in a shrug of the shoulders, accompanied with the remark--"Ah, vous
autres Anglais, vous voulez toujours voler de vos propres ailes."
As we approached Brionne, the face of the country became more uneven;
and we passed an extensive tract of uncultivated chalk hills, resembling the
downs of Wiltshire.--Brionne itself lies in a valley watered by the Risle: the
situation is agreeable, and advantageous for trade. The present number of its
inhabitants does not amount to two thousand; and there is no reason to
apprehend that the population has materially decreased of late years. But in
the times of Norman rule, Brionne was a town of more importance: it had
then three churches, besides an abbey and a lazar-house. At present a single
church only remains; and this is neither large, nor handsome, nor ancient,
nor remarkable in any point of view. We found in it a monument of the
revolution, which I never saw elsewhere, and which I never expected to see
at all. The age of reason was a sadly irrational age.--The tablet containing
the rights and duties of man, disposed in two columns, like the tables of the
Mosaic law, is still suffered to exist in the church, though shorn of all its
republican dignity, and degraded into the front of a pew.
On the summit of a hill that overhangs the town, stood formerly the castle
of the Earls of Brionne; and a portion of the building, though it be but an
insignificant fragment, is still left. The part now standing consists of little
more than two sides of the square dungeon, The walls, which are about fifty
feet in height, appear crumbling and ragged, as they have lost the greater
part of their original facing. Yet their thickness, which even now exceeds
twelve feet, may enable them to bid defiance for many a century, to "the
heat of the sun, and the furious winter's rages."--Nearly the half of one of
the sides, which is seventy feet long, is occupied by three flat Norman
buttresses, of very small projection. No arched door-way, no window
remains; nor any thing, except these buttresses, to give a distinct character

to the architecture: the hill is so overgrown with brush-wood, that though
traces of foundation are discernible in almost every part of it, no clear idea
can be formed of the dimensions or plan of the building. Its importance is
sufficiently established by its having been the residence of a son or brother
of Richard IInd, Duke of Normandy, on whose account, the town of
Brionne, with the adjacent territory, was raised into an earldom. Historians
speak unequivocally of its strength. During the reign of William the
Conqueror, it was regarded as impregnable. This king was little accustomed
to meet with disappointment or even with resistance; but the castle of
Brionne defied his utmost efforts for three successive years. Under his less
energetic successor, it was taken in a day. Its possessor, Robert, Earl of
Brionne, felt himself so secure within his towers, that he ventured, with
only six attendants, to oppose the whole army of the Norman Duke; but the
besiegers observed that the fortress was roofed with wood; and a shower of
burning missiles compelled the garrison to surrender at discretion.--The
castle was finally dismantled by the orders of Charles Vth.
Brionne is known in ecclesiastical history as the place where the council of
the church was held, by which the tenets of Berengarius were finally
condemned. It appears that the archdeacon of Angers, after some fruitless
attempts to make converts among the Norman monks, took the bold
resolution of stating his doctrines to the duke in person; and that the prince,
though scarcely arrived at years of manhood, acted with so much prudence
on the occasion, as to withhold any decisive answer, till he had collected the
clergy of the duchy. They assembled at Brionne, as a central spot; and here
the question was argued at great length, till Berengarius himself, and a
convert, whom he had brought with him, trusting in his eloquence, were so
overpowered by the arguments of their adversaries, that they were obliged
to renounce their errors. The doctrine of the real presence in the sacrament,
was thus incontrovertibly established; and it has from that time remained an
undisputed article of faith in the Roman Catholic church.

Footnotes:

[54] Vol. III. p. 187.--The engraving in the Antiquarian Repertory
was made from a drawing in the possession of the late Sir
William Burrell, Bart.

[55] The word Turold, in the tapestry, stands immediately over the
head of a dwarf, who is holding a couple of horses; and it has
therefore been inferred by Montfaucon, (Monumens de la
Monarchie Française, I. p. 378.) that he is the person thus
denominated. But M. Lancelot, in the Mémoires de l'Académie
des Inscriptions, VI. p. 753, supposes Turold to be the
ambassador who is in the act of speaking; and this seems the
more probable conjecture. The same opinion is still more
decidedly maintained by Father Du Plessis, in his Histoire de la
Haute Normandie, II. p. 342.--"Sur une ancienne tapisserie de
l'Eglise de Baieux, que l'on croit avoir été faite par ordre de la
Reine Mathilde femme du Conquérant, pour représenter les
circonstances principales de cette mémorable expédition, on lit
distinctement le mot Turold à côté d'un des Ambassadeurs, que
Guillaume avoit envoiez au Comte de Ponthieu; et je ne doute
nullement que ce Turold ne soit le même que le Connétable. Le
sçavant Auteur des Antiquitez de notre Monarchie croit cependant
que ce mot doit se rapporter à un Nain qui tient deux chevaux en
bride derriere les Ambassadeurs; et il ajoute que ce Nain devoit
être fort connu à la Conr du Duc de Normandie. On avoue que si
c'est lui en effet qui doit s'appeller Turold, il devoit tenir aussi à la
Cour de son Prince un rang distingué; sans quoi on n'auroit pas
pris la peine de le désigner par son nom dans la tapisserie. On
avoue encore que le nom de Turold est placé là de maniere qu'on
peut à la rigueur le donner au Nain aussi bien qu'à l'un des deux
Ambassadeurs; et comme le Nain est appliqué à tenir deux
chevaux en bride, on pourrait croire enfin que c'est le Connétable,
dont les titres de l'Abbaïe de Facan nous ont appris le nom:
Signum Turoldi Constabularii. Mais le Nain est très-mal habillé,
il a son bonnet sur la tête, et tourne le dos au Comte de Ponthieu,
pendant que les deux Ambassadeurs noblement vêtus regardent ce
Prince en face, et lui parlent découverts: trois circonstances qui ne
peuvent convenir, ni au Connétable du Duc, ni à toute autre
personne de distinction qui auroit tenu compagnie, ou fait cortege
aux Ambassadeurs."

[56] This tower is figured, but very inaccurately, by Gough, in his
Alien Priories, I. p. 22.--The cupola which then surmounted it is
now gone; and the cap to the turret, which served as the staircase,
has strangely changed its shape.

[57] Alien Priories, I. p. 24.

[58] "Nam antea, sub tempore sex ducum vix ullus Normannorum
liberalibus studiis adhæsit; nec doctor inveniebatur, donec
provisor omnium, Deus, Normannicis oris Lanfrancum appulit.
Fama peritiæ illius in totâ ubertim innotuit Europâ, unde ad
magisterium ejus multi convenerunt de Franciâ, de Wasconiâ, de
Britanniâ, necne Flandriâ."--Duchesne, Scriptores Normanni, p.
519.

[59] A question always existed, whether the Empress was really
buried here, or at the abbey of Ste Marie des Prés, at Rouen.
Hoveden expressly says, that she was interred at Rouen: the
chronicle of Bec, on the other hand, is equally positive in the
assertion that her body was brought to Bec, and entombed with
honor before the altar of the Virgin. The same chronicle adds that,
in the year 1273, her remains were discovered before the high
altar, sewed up in an ox's hide.--Still farther to substantiate their
claim, the monks of Bec maintained that, in 1684, upon the
occasion of some repairs being done to this altar, the bones of the
empress were again found immediately under the lamp (which, in
Catholic churches, is kept constantly burning before the holy
sacrament,) and that they were deposited once more in the ground
in a wooden chest, covered with lead.--The Empress was a
munificent endower of monasteries, and was at all times most
liberal towards Bec. William of Jumieges says, that it would be
tedious to enumerate the presents she made to the abbey, but that
the sight of them gave pleasure to those strangers who have seen
the treasures of the most noble churches. His remarks on this
matter, and his account of her arguments with her father, on the
subject of her choice of Bec, as a place of her interment, deserve
to be transcribed.--"Transiret illac hospes Græcus aut Arabs,

voluptate traheretur eadem. Credimus autem, et credere fas est,
æquissimum judicem omnium non solùm in futuro, verumetiam
in præsenti seculo, illi centuplum redditurum, quod seruis suis
manu sicut larga, ita devota gratantèr impendit. Ad
remunerationem verò instantis temporis pertinere non dubium est,
quòd, miserante Deo, sopita adversa valetudine, sanctitatem
refouit, et Monachos suos, Monachos Beccenses, qui præ
omnibus, et super omnes pro ipsius sospitate, jugi labore
supplicandi decertando pene defecerant, aura prosperæ
valetudinis ejus afflatos omninò redintegravit.--Nec
supprimendum illud est silentio, imò, ut ita dicatur, uncialibus
literis exaratum, seculo venturo transmittendum; quòd antequam
convalesceret postulaverat patrem suum, ut permitteret eam in
Cœnobio Beccensi humari. Quod Rex primo abnuerat, dicens non
esse dignum, ut filia sua, Imperatrix Augusta, quæ semel et iterùm
in urbe Romulea, quæ caput est mundi, per manus summi
Pontificis Imperiali diademate processerat insignita, in aliquo
Monasterio, licèt percelebri et religione et fama, sepeliretur; sed
ad civitatem Rotomagensium, quæ metropolis est Normannorum,
saltem delata, in Ecclesia principali, in qua et majores ejus,
Rollonem loquor et Willelmum Longamspatam filium ipsius, qui
Neustriam armis subegerunt, positi sunt, ipsa et poneretur. Qua
deliberatione Regis percepta, illi per nuncium remandavit,
animam suam nunquam fore lætam, nisi compos voluntatis suæ in
hac duntaxat parte efficeretur.--O femina macte virtutis et consilii
sanioris, paruipendens pompam secularem in corporis
depositione! Noverat enim salubrius esse animabus defunctorum
ibi corpora sua tumulari, ubi frequentiùs et devotiùs
supplicationes pro ipsis Deo offeruntur. Victus itaque pater ipsius
Augustæ pietate et prudentia filiæ, qui ceteros et virtute et pietate
vincere solitus erat, cessit, et voluntatem, et petitionem ipsius de
se sepelienda Becci fieri concessit. Sed volente Deo ut præfixum
est, sanitati integerrimæ restituta convaluit."--Duchesne,
Scriptores Normanni, p. 305.

[60] Histoire de la Haute Normandie, II. p, 281.

LETTER XXI.
BERNAT--BROGLIE--ORBEC--LISIEUX--CATHEDRAL--
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

(Lisieux, July, 1818.)
Instead of pursuing the straight road from Brionne to this city, we deviated
somewhat to the south, by the advice of M. Le Prevost; and we have not
regretted the deviation.
Bernay was once celebrated for its abbey, founded in the beginning of the
eleventh century, by Judith, wife of Richard IInd, Duke of Normandy. Some
of the monastic buildings are standing, and are now inhabited: they appear
to have been erected but a short time before the revolution, and to have
suffered little injury.--But the abbey church, which belonged to the original
structure, is all desolate within, and all defaced without. The interior is
divided into two stories, the lower of which is used as a corn market, the
upper as a cloth hall. Thus blocked up and encumbered, we may yet discern
that it is a noble building: its dimensions are grand, and in most parts it is a
perfect specimen of the semi-circular style, except the windows and the
apsis, which are of later dates. The pillars in the nave and choir are lofty,
but massy: the capitals of some of them are curiously sculptured. On the
lower member of the entablature of one capital there are still traces of an
inscription; but it is so injured by neglect and violence, that we were unable
to decipher a single word. The capital itself is fanciful and not devoid of
elegance.

The convent was placed under the immediate protection of the sovereign,
by virtue of an ordinance issued by Philip Augustus[61], in 1280, at which
time Peter, Count of Alençon, attempted to establish a claim to some rights
affecting the monastery. He alleged a grant from a former monarch to one
of his predecessors, by whom he asserted that the convent had been
founded; and, in support of his claim, he urged its position within the limits
of his territory. The abbot and monks resisted: they gave proof that the
abbey of Bernay was really founded by the duchess; and therefore the king,
after a full and impartial hearing, decided against the count, and declared
that the advocation of the monastery was thenceforth to belong to himself
and his successors in the dukedom for ever.--Judith died before the convent
was entirely built, and the task of completing it devolved upon her widowed
husband, whose charter, confirming the foundation, is still in existence. It
begins by a recital of the pious motives[62] which urged the duchess to the
undertaking; it expressly mentions her death while the building was yet
unfinished; and, after detailing the various lands and grants bestowed on the
abbey, it concludes by denouncing the anger of God, and a fine of two
hundred pounds weight of gold upon those who disturb the establishment,
"that they may learn to their confusion that the good deeds of their
ancestors, undertaken for the love of God, are not to be undone with
impunity."

The parochial church at Bernay is uninteresting. The sculptures, however,
which adorn the high altar, are relics saved from the destruction of the
abbey of Bec. The Virgin Mary and Joseph are represented, contemplating
the infant Jesus, who is asleep. The statues are all of the natural size. We
saw many grave-stones from the same abbey, nine or ten feet long, and
covered with monumental figures of the usual description, indented in the
stone. These memorials were standing by the side of the church door, not
for preservation, but for sale! And at a small chapel in the burial-ground
near the town, we were shewn twelve statues of saints, which likewise came
from Bec. They are of comparatively modern workmanship, larger than life,
and carved in a good, though not a fine, style. In the same chapel is kept the
common coffin for the interment of all the poor at Bernay.
The custom of merely putting the bodies of persons of the lower class into
coffins, when they are brought to the burial-ground, and then depositing
them naked in their graves, prevails at present in this part of France as it did
formerly in England.--In a place which must be the receptacle for many that
were in easy, and for not a few that were in affluent, circumstances, it was
remarkable that all lay indiscriminately side by side, unmarked by any
monumental stone, or any sepulchral record.--Republican France proscribed
distinctions of every description, and those memorials which tended to
perpetuate distinctions beyond the limits of mortal existence, were naturally
most unpardonable in the eyes of the apostles of equality. But doctrines of
this nature have fallen into disrepute for more than twenty years; and yet the
country church-yard remains as naked as when the guillotine would have
been the reward of opposition to the tenets of the day. There are few more
comfortless sights, than such a cemetery: it looks as if those by whom it is
occupied regarded death as eternal sleep, and thought that the memory of
man should terminate with the close of his life. However unlettered the
muse, however hackneyed the rhyme, however misapplied the text, it is
consolatory to see them employed. Man dwells with a melancholy
satisfaction upon the tomb-stones of his relations and friends, and not of
them alone, but of all whom he has known or of whom he has heard.--A
mere hic jacet, with the name and years of him that sleeps beneath,
frequently recals the most lively impressions; and he who would destroy
epitaphs would destroy a great incitement to virtue.--In other parts of
France tomb-stones, or crosses charged with monumental inscriptions, have

re-appeared: at Bernay we saw only two; one of them commemorated a
priest of the town; the other was erected at the public expence, to the
memory of three gendarmes, who were killed at the beginning of the
revolution, and before religion was proscribed, in the suppression of some
tumult.
At less than a mile from Bernay, in the opposite direction, is another
church, called Notre Dame de la Couture, a name borrowed from the
property on which it stands. We were induced to visit it, by the
representation of different persons in the town, who had noticed our
architectural propensities. Some assured us that "C'est une belle pièce;"
others that "C'est une pièce qui n'est pas vilaine;" and all concurred in
praising it, though some only for the reason that "les processions vont tout
autour du choeur."--We found nothing to repay the trouble of the walk.
Bernay contains upwards of six thousand inhabitants, the greater part of
whom are engaged in manufacturing coarse woollen and cotton cloths; and
the manufactures flourish, the goods made being principally for home
consumption. It is the chief place of the arrondissement, and the residence
of a sub-prefect.--Most of the houses are like those at Rouen, merely
wooden frames filled with mortar, which, in several instances, is faced with
small bricks and flints, disposed in fanciful patterns: here and there the
beams are carved with a variety of grotesque figures. The lower story of all
those in the high street retires, leaving room for a wooden colonnade, which
shelters the passenger, though it is entirely destitute of all architectural
beauty. The head-dress of the females at Bernay is peculiar, and so very
archaic, that our chamber-maid at the inn appeared to deserve a sketch, full
as much as any monumental effigy.

On our road between Bernay and Orbec, we stopped at the village of
Chambrais, more commonly called Broglie. Before the revolution, it
belonged to the noble family of that name, and it thence derived its familiar
appellation. The former residence of the Seigneurs of Broglie, which is still
standing, apparently uninjured, upon an adjoining eminence, has lately been
restored to the present Maréchal Duc de Broglie. It looks like an extensive
parish work-house, or like any thing rather than a nobleman's seat.--The
village church is very ancient and still curious, though in parts considerably
modernized. Unlike most churches of great antiquity, it is not built in the
form of a cross, but consists only of a nave and choir, with side-aisles and
an apsis, all on a small scale[63]. Towards the north, the nave is separated
from the aisle by some of the largest and rudest piers I ever saw. They
occupy full two-thirds of the width of the intervening arches, which are five
feet wide, elliptic rather than semi-circular, and altogether without ornament
of any kind. Above each of these arches is a narrow, circular-headed
window, banded with a cylindrical pilaster; and, in most instances, a row of
quatrefoils runs between the pillar and the window. The bases of the
windows rest upon a string-course that extends round the whole building;
and on this also, alternating with the windows, rest corbels, from which
spring very short, clustered columns, intended to support the groinings of
the roof. On the south side, the massy piers have been pared into
comparatively slender pillars; and the arches are pointed, as are all the

lower windows in the church.--The font is of stone, and ancient: it consists
of a round basin, on a quadrangular pedestal, like many in England.--The
west front of the church is peculiar. It is entered by a very wide, low, semi-
circular door-way, of rude architecture, and quite unornamented. Above is a
window corresponding with those in the clerestory; and, still higher, a row
of interlaced arches, also semi-circular. A pointed arch, the receptacle for
the statue of a saint, surmounts the whole; but this is, most probably, of a
later æra, as evidently are the two lateral compartments, which terminate in
slender spires of slate, and are separated from the central division by
Norman buttresses.
We stopped to dine at Orbec, a small and insignificant country town,
formerly an appendage of the houses of Orléans and Navarre, with the title
of a barony; but, more immediately before the revolution, the domain of the
family of Chaumont. Its church is a most uncouth edifice: the plan is
unusual; the entrance is in the north transept, which ends in a square high
tower.
Bernay, Orbec, and Lisieux, communicate only by cross roads, scarcely
passable by a carriage, even at this season of the year. From Orbec to
Lisieux the road runs by the side of the Touques, which, at Orbec, is no
more than a rivulet. The beautiful green meadows in the valley, appear to
repay the great care which is taken in the draining and irrigating of them.
They are every where intersected by small trenches, in which the water is
confined by means of sluices.--In this part of the country, we passed several
flocks of sheep, the true moutons du pays, a large breed, with red legs and
red spotted faces. Their coarse wool serves to make the ordinary cloth of the
country, but is inapplicable to any of a finer texture. To remedy this
deficiency, and, if possible, improve the local manufactures, some large
flocks of Merino sheep were imported at the time when the French
occupied Spain; and they are said to thrive. But it is only of late years that
any attempts, have been made of the kind.--The Norman farmer, however
careful about the breed of his horses, has altogether neglected his sheep;
and this is the more extraordinary, considering that the prosperity of the
province is inseparably connected with that of the manufactures, and that
much of the value of the produce must of necessity depend upon the
excellence of the material. His pigs are the very perfection of ugliness: it is
no hyperbole to say, that, in their form, they partake as much of a

greyhound as of an English pig.--These animals are sure to attract the gaze
of our countrymen; and poor Trotter, in his narrative of the journey of Mr.
Fox, expressed his marvel so often, as to call down upon himself the witty
vengeance of one of our ablest periodical writers.
Melons are cultivated on a great scale in the country about Lisieux. They
grow here in the natural soil, occupying whole fields of considerable size,
and apparently without requiring any extraordinary pains.--As we
approached the city, the meadows, through which we passed, were mostly
occupied as extensive bleaching-grounds. Lisieux is an industrious
manufacturing town. Its ten thousand inhabitants find their chief
employment in the making of the ordinary woollen cloths, worn by the
peasantry of Normandy and of Lower Brittany. Linen and flannels are also
manufactured here, though on a comparatively trifling scale. For trade of
this description, Lisieux is well situated upon the banks of the Touques, a
small river, which, almost immediately under the walls of the town,
receives the waters of a yet smaller stream, the Orbec. A project is in
agitation, and it is said that it may be carried into effect at an inconsiderable
expence, of making the Touques navigable to Lisieux. At present, it is so no
farther than the the little town of the same name as the river; and even this
derives no great advantage from the navigation; for, however near its
situation is to the mouth of the stream, it is approachable only by vessels of
less than one hundred tons burthen.--It was at Touques that Henry Vth
landed in France, in the spring of 1417, when the monarch, flushed with a
degree of success as extraordinary as it was unexpected, quitted England
with the determination of returning no more till the whole kingdom of
France should be subjugated.
The greater part of the houses in Lisieux are built of wood; and many of
them are old, and most of them are mean; yet, on the whole, it is
picturesque and handsome. Its streets are spacious, and contain several large
buildings: it is surrounded with pleasant boulevards; and its situation, like
that of most other Norman towns, is delightful.--In consequence of the
revolution, the city has lost the privilege of being an episcopal see. Even
when Napoléon, by virtue of the concordat of 1801, restored the Gallican
church to its obedience to the the supreme Pontiff, the see of Lisieux was
suppressed. The six suffragan bishops of ancient Normandy were at that
time reduced to four, conformably to the number of the departments of the

province; and Lisieux and Avranches merged in the more important
dioceses of Bayeux and Coutances.
The cathedral, now the parish church of St. Peter, derived, however, one
advantage from the revolution. Another church, dedicated to St. Germain,
which had previously stood immediately before it, so as almost to block up
the approach, was taken down, and the west front of the cathedral was made
to open upon a spacious square.--Solid, simple grandeur are the characters
of this front, which, notwithstanding some slight anomalies, is, upon the
whole, a noble specimen of early pointed architecture.--It is divided into
three equal compartments, the lateral ones rising into short square towers of
similar height. The southern tower is surmounted by a lofty stone spire,
probably of a date posterior to the part below. The spire of the opposite
tower fell in 1553, at which time much injury was done to the building, and
particularly to the central door-way, which, even to the present day, has
never been repaired.--Contrary to the usual elevation of French cathedrals,
the great window over the principal entrance is not circular, but pointed: it
is divided into three compartments by broad mullions, enriched with many
mouldings. The compartments end in acute pointed arches.--In the north
tower, the whole of the space from the basement story is occupied by only
two tiers of windows. Each tier contains two windows, extremely narrow,
considering their height; and yet, narrow as they are, each of them is parted
by a circular mullion or central pillar. You will better understand how high
they must be, when told that, in the southern tower, the space of the upper
row is divided into three distinct tiers; and still the windows do not appear
disproportionately short. They also are double, and the interior arches are
pointed; but the arches, within which they are placed, are circular. In this
circumstance lies the principal anomaly in the front of the cathedral; but
there is no appearance of any disparity in point of dates; for the circular
arches are supported on the same slender mullions, with rude foliaged
capitals, of great projection, which are the most distinguishing
characteristics of this style of architecture.
The date of the building establishes the fact of the pointed arch being in use,
not only as an occasional variation, but in the entire construction of
churches upon a grand scale, as early as the eleventh century.--
Sammarthanus tells us that Bishop Herbert, who died in 1049, began to
build this church, but did not live to see it completed; and Ordericus Vitalis

expressly adds, that Hugh, the successor to Herbert, upon his death-bed, in
1077, while retracing his past life, made use of these words:--"Ecclesiam
Sancti Petri, principis apostolorum, quam venerabilis Herbertus,
praedecessor meus, coepit, perfeci, studiosè adornavi, honorificè dedicavi,
et cultoribus necessariisque divino servitio vasis aliisque apparatibus
copiosè ditavi."--Language of this kind appears too explicit to leave room
for ambiguity, but an opinion has still prevailed, founded probably upon the
style of the architecture, that the cathedral was not finished till near the
expiration of the thirteenth century. Admitting, however, such to be the fact,
I do not see how it will materially help those who favor the opinion; for the
building is far from being, as commonly happens in great churches, a
medley of incongruous parts; but it is upon one fixed plan; and, as it was
begun, so it was ended.--The exterior of the extremity of the south transept
is a still more complete example of the early pointed style than the west
front: this style, which was the most chaste, and, if I may be allowed to use
the expression, the most severe of all, scarcely any where displays itself to
greater advantage. The central window is composed of five lancet divisions,
supported upon slender pillars: massy buttresses of several splays bound it
on either side.
The same character of uniformity extends over the interior of the building.
On each side of the nave is a side-aisle; and, beyond the aisles, chapels. The
pillars of the nave are cylindrical, solid, and plain. Their bases end with
foliage at each corner, and foliage is also sculptured upon the capitals. The
arches which they support are acute.--The triforium is similar in plan to the
part below; but the capitals of the columns are considerably more enriched,
with an obvious imitation of the antique model, and every arch encircles
two smaller ones. In the clerestory the windows are modern.--The transepts
appear the oldest parts of the cathedral, as is not unfrequently the case;
whether they were really built before the rest, or that, from being less used
in the services of the church, they were less commonly the objects of
subsequent alterations. They are large; and each of them has an aisle on the
eastern side. The architecture of the choir resembles that of the nave, except
that the five pillars, which form the apsis, are slender and the intervening
arches more narrow and more acute.--The Lady-Chapel, which is long and
narrow, was built towards the middle of the fifteenth century, by Peter
Cauchon, thirty-sixth bishop of Lisieux, who, for his steady attachment to

the Anglo-Norman cause, was translated to this see, in 1429, when
Beauvais, of which he had previously been bishop, fell into the hands of the
French. He was selected, in 1431, for the invidious office of presiding at the
trial of the Maid of Orléans. Repentance followed; and, as an atonement for
his unrighteous conduct, according to Ducarel, he erected this chapel, and
therein founded a high mass to the Holy Virgin, which was duly sung by the
choristers, in order, as is expressed in his endowment-charter, to expiate the
false judgment which he pronounced[64].--The two windows by the side of
the altar in this chapel have been painted of a crimson color, to add to the
effect produced upon entering the church; and, seen as they are, through the
long perspective of the nave and the distant arches of the choir, the glowing
tint is by no means unpleasing.--The central tower is open within the church
to a considerable height: it is supported by four arches of unusual boldness,
above which runs a row of small arches, of the same character as the rest of
the building; and, still higher, on each side, are two lancet-windows.--The
vaulting of the roof is very plain, with bosses slightly pendant and carved.

At the extremity of the north transept is an ancient stone sarcophagus, so
built into the wall, that it appears to have been incorporated with the edifice,
at the period when it was raised. The style of the medallions which adorn it
will be best understood by consulting the annexed sketch, which is very
faithful, though taken under every possible disadvantage. The transept is
now used as a school; and the little filthy imps, who are there taught to
drawl out their catechisms, continued swarming round the feverish artist,
during the progress of the drawing. The character of the heads, the crowns,
and the disposition of the foliage, may be considered as indicating that it is
a production, at least of the Carlovingian period, if it be not indeed of
earlier date. I believe it is traditionally supposed to have been the tomb of a
saint, perhaps St. Candidus; but I am not quite certain whether I am
accurate in the recollection of the name.--Above are two armed statues,

probably of the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. These have been engraved by
Willemin, in his useful work, Les Monumens Français, under the title of
Two Armed Warriors, in the Nave of the Cathedral at Lisieux; and both are
there figured as if in all respects perfect, and with a great many details
which do not exist, and never could have existed, though at the same time
the draftsman has omitted the animals at the feet of the statues, one of
which is yet nearly entire.--This may be reckoned among the innumerable
proofs of the disregard of accuracy which pervades the works of French
antiquaries. A French designer never scruples to sacrifice accuracy to what
he considers effect.--Willemin describes the monuments as being in the
nave of the church. I suspect that he has availed himself of the unpublished
collection of Gaignat, in this and many other instances. It is evident that
originally the statues were recumbent; but I cannot ascertain when they
changed their position.--No other tombs now exist in the cathedral: the
brazen monument raised to Hannuier, an Englishman, the marble that
commemorated the bishop, William d'Estouteville, founder of the Collège
de Lisieux at Paris, that of Peter Cauchon in the Lady-Chapel, and all the
rest, were destroyed during the revolution.
The diocese of Lisieux was a more modern establishment than any other in
Normandy. Even those who are most desirous to honor it by antiquity, do
not venture to date its foundation higher than the middle of the sixth
century. Ordericus Vitalis, a monk of the province, suggests with some
reason that we ought not to be hasty in forming our judgment upon these
subjects; for that, owing to the destruction caused by the Norman pirates
and the abominable negligence (damnabilis negligentia) of those to whom
the care of the records of religious houses had subsequently been intrusted,
many documents had been irretrievably lost.--The see of Lisieux was also
peculiarly unfortunate, in having twice been in a state of anarchy, and on
each occasion for a period of more than a century. The series of its prelates
is interrupted from the year 670 to 853, and again from 876 to 990.
It is rather extraordinary, that no one of the Lexovian bishops was ever
admitted by the church into the catalogue of her saints. Many of them were
prelates of unquestionable merit. Freculfus, in the ninth century, was a
patron of literature, and himself an author; Hugh of Eu, grandson of
Richard, Duke of Normandy, was one of the most illustrious ecclesiastics of
his day; Gilbert is described by Ordericus Vitalis as having been a man of

exemplary charity, and deeply versed in all sciences, though it is admitted
that he was somewhat too much addicted to worldly pleasures, and not
averse from gambling; and Arnulf, whose letters and epigrams are
preserved among the manuscripts of the Vatican, was a prelate who would
have done honor to St. Peter's chair.--All these were bishops of Lisieux,
during the ages when canonization was not altogether so unfrequent as in
our days. Arnulf particularly distinguished himself by taking a leading part
in the principal transactions of the times. He accompanied the crusaders to
the holy land in 1147; five years subsequently he officiated at the marriage
of Henry Plantagenet with Eleanor of Guyenne, the repudiated wife of
Louis le Jeune, which was performed in his cathedral; he assisted at the
coronation of the same king, by whom he was shortly afterwards employed
in a mission of great importance at Rome; and he interposed to settle the
differences between that sovereign and Thomas à Becket; and though he
espoused the part of the prelate, he had the good fortune to retain the favor
of the monarch. A life thus eventful ended with the conviction that all was
vanity!--Arnulf, disgusted with sublunary honors, abdicated his see and
retired to a monastery at Paris, where he died.--One of the immediate
successors of this prelate, William of Rupierre, was the ambassador of
Richard Coeur-de-Lion to the Pope; and he pleaded the cause of his
sovereign against Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, on the occasion of the
differences that originated from the building of Château Gaillard. He also
resisted the power usurped by King John within the city and liberties of
Lisieux, and finally obtained a sentence from the Norman court of
exchequer, whereby the privileges of the dukes of the province were
restricted to what was called the Placitum Spathæ, consisting of the right of
billetting soldiers, of coining money, and of hearing and determining in
cases of appeal. The decision is honorable both to the independence of the
court, and the vigor of the prelate.--In times nearer to our own, a bishop of
Lisieux, Jean Hennuyer, obtained a very different distinction. Authors are
strangely at variance whether this prelate is to be regarded as the protector
or the persecutor of the protestants. All agree that his church suffered
materially from the excesses of the Huguenots, in 1562, and that, on the
following year, he received public thanks from the Cardinal of Bourbon, for
the firmness with which he had opposed them; but the point at issue is,
whether, after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, ten years subsequently, he
withstood the sanguinary orders from the court to put the Huguenots to the

sword, or whether he endeavored, as far as lay in his power, to forward the
pious labor of extirpating the heretics, but was himself effectually resisted
by the king's own lieutenant.--Sammarthanus tells us that the first of these
traditions rests solely upon the authority of Anthony Mallet[65] but it
obtained general credence till within the last three years, when a very well-
informed writer, in the Mercure de France, and subsequently in the article
Hennuyer in the Bibliographie Universelle, espoused, and has apparently
established, the opposite opinion.
We visited only one other of the churches in Lisieux, that of St. Jacques, a
large edifice, in a bad style of pointed architecture, and full of gaudy altars
and ordinary pictures. On the outside of the stalls of the choir towards the
north is some curious carving; but I should scarcely have been induced to
have spoken of the building, were it not for one of the paintings, which,
however uninteresting as a piece of art, appears to possess some historical
value. It represents how the bones of St. Ursinus were miraculously
translated to Lisieux, under the auspices of Hugh the Bishop, in 1055; and it
professes, and apparently with truth, to be a copy, made in the seventeenth
century, from an original of great antiquity. The legend relating to the relics
of this saint, is noticed by no author with whom I am acquainted, nor do I
find him mentioned any where in conjunction with the church of Lisieux, or
with any other Norman diocese.--But the extraordinary privilege granted to
the canons of the cathedral, of being Earls of Lisieux, and of exercising all
civil and criminal jurisdiction within the earldom, upon the vigil and feast-
day of St. Ursinus, in every year, is most probably connected with the
tradition commemorated by the picture. The actual existence of the
privilege, in modern times, we learn from Ducarel; who also details at
length the curious ceremonies with which the claim of it was accompanied.
The exercise of these rights was confirmed by a compact between the
canons and the bishop, who, prior to the revolution, united the secular
coronet of an earl with the episcopal mitre, and bore supreme sway in all
civil and ecclesiastical polity, during the remaining three hundred and sixty-
three days in the year.

Footnotes:

[61] This ordinance is preserved by Du Monstier in the Neustria
Pia, p. 400.

[62] The preamble of the charter is as follows:--"Nulli dubium
videri debet futuros esse haeredes Regni coelestis, et cohaeredes
Dei, qui Christum haeredem sui facientes, eorum, quæ in hujus
vitae peregrinatione, quasi a quadam paterna haereditate possident,
locis ea Divino cultui deditis mancipare non dubitant. Ad quam
rem, nostram firmat fidem calix aquæ frigidae, qui, juxta
Evangelicum verbum, suo pollet munere. Non ergò divini muneris
gratia privari credendi sunt, qui Ecclesiasticis obsequiis, etsi
officio non intersunt, rerum tamen suarum admistratione, Divini
officii sustentant ministros: ea spe temporalem subministrantes
alimoniam, ut sic solummodò coelestibus reddant intentos, qui
coelestis Regis assiduo constituuntur invigilare obsequio,
participes fiant ejusmodi beneficii omnimodò."--Neustria Pia, p.
398.

[63] The following are the dimensions of the building, in English
feet:--

LENGTH. WIDTH.
Nave 54 15
Choir 45 15
North aisle 7
South ditto 15

[64] Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 47.

[65] "Sed ne quid omittam eorum etiam quæ unum Antonium
Mallet habent auctorem, anno 1572, cum prorex urbis Lexoviensis
Livarotus a Carolo rege literas accepisset, quibus qui Lexovii
infecti erant hæresi occidi omnes jubebantur per eos dies quibus
princeps civitas cruore ejus insaniæ hominum commaduerat,
easque communicasset episcopo: Neque sum passurus, inquit
præsul, oves meas, et quamquam evagatas Christi caula, meas
tamen adhuc, necdum desperatas, gladio trucidari. Referente
contra prorege imperio se mandatoque urgeri principis; quod si
posthabeatur, omnem esse periculi aleam in caput suum
moriendique necessitatem redituram: Et polliceor, inquit

episcopus, illa te eximendum, postulantique cautionem, præsul
consignatum manu sua scriptum tradidit, fidem datam confirmans.
Qua illico publicata clementia, et ad errantes oves perlata,
sollicitudine præsulis vigilantis circa gregis commissi sibi salutem
et conservationem, rediere sensim in ecclesiæ sinum omnes
quotquot Lexovii per ea tempora novum istud fataleque delirium
dementarat, nec ultra ibidem diu visi qui a recta fide aberrarent."--
Gallia Christiana, p. 802.

LETTER XXII.
SITE AND RUINS OF THE CAPITAL OF THE LEXOVII--HISTORY
OF LISIEUX--MONASTERIES OF THE DIOCESE--ORDERICUS
VITALIS--M. DUBOIS--LETTER FROM THE PRINCESS
BORGHESE.

(Lisieux, July, 1818.)
Lisieux represents one of the most ancient capitals of the primitive tribes of
Gaul. The Lexovii, noticed by Julius Cæsar, in his Commentaries, and by
other authors, who were almost contemporary with the Roman conqueror,
are supposed by modern geographers to have occupied a territory nearly co-
extensive with the bishopric of Lisieux; and it may be remarked, that the
bounds of the ancient bishoprics of France were usually conterminal with the
Roman provinces and prefectures.
The capital of the Lexovii was called the Neomagus or Noviomagus
Lexoviorum; and no doubt ever was entertained but that the present city
occupied the same site, till an accidental discovery, in the year 1770, proved
the contrary to be the fact.--About that time a chaussée was formed between
Lisieux and Caen; and, in the course of some excavations, which were made
under the direction of M. Hubert, the superintending engineer, for the
purpose of procuring stone, the laborers opened the foundations of some
ruined buildings scattered over a field, called les Tourettes, about three-
quarters of a mile from the former town. The character of these foundations
was of a nature to excite curiosity: they were clearly the work of a remote
age, and various specimens of ancient art were dug up amongst the ruins.
The extent of the foundations, which spread over a space four times as large
as the plot occupied by modern Lisieux left no doubt but that Danville, and
all other geographers, must have been mistaken with respect to the position
assigned by them to the ancient Neomagus. M. Hubert drew a plan of the
ruins, and accompanied it with an historical memoir; but unfortunately he
was a man little capable of prosecuting such researches; and though M.
Mongez, in his report to the National Institute[66], eulogized the map as

exact, and the memoir as excellent, they were both of them extremely faulty.
It was reserved for M. Louis Dubois, of whom I shall have occasion to speak
again before I close this letter, to repair the omissions and rectify the
mistakes of M. Hubert, and he has done it with unremitting zeal and
extraordinary success. The researches of this gentleman, among the remains
of Neomagus Lexoviorum, have already brought to light a large number of
valuable medals, both in silver and bronze, as well as a considerable quantity
of fragments of foreign marble, granite, and porphyry, some of them
curiously wrought. The most important of his discoveries has been recently
made: it is that of a Roman amphitheatre, in a state of great perfection, the
grades being covered only by a thin layer of soil, which a trifling expence of
time and labor will effectually remove.
Such vestiges prove that Neomagus must have been a place of importance;
and, like the other Gallo-Roman cities, it would probably have maintained
its honors under the Franks; but about the middle of the fourth century, the
Saxons, swarming from the mouths of the Elbe and Weser, laid waste the
coasts of Belgium and of Neustria, and finally established themselves in that
portion of northern Gaul called the Secunda Lugdunensis, which thence
obtained, in the Notitia Imperii, the title of the Littus Saxonicum.--In the
course of these incursions, it is supposed that Neomagus was utterly
destroyed by the invaders. None of the medals dug up within the precincts of
the town, or in its neighborhood, bear a later date than the reign of
Constantine; and, though the city is recorded in the Itinerary of Antoninus,
no mention of it is to be found in the curious chart, known by the name of
the Tabula Peutingeriana, formed under the reign of Theodosius the Great;
so that it then appears to have been completely swept away and forgotten.
The new town of Lisieux and the bishopric most probably arose together,
towards the close of the sixth century; and the city, like other provincial
capitals in Gaul, took the name of the tribe by whom the district had been
peopled. It first appears in history under the appellation of Lexovium or
Lexobium: in the eleventh century, when Ordericus Vitalis composed his
history, it was called Luxovium; and soon after it became Lixovium, and
Lizovium, which, gallicised, naturally passed into Lyzieulx, or, as it is now
written, Lisieux. The city was ravaged by the Normans about the year 877, in
the course of one of their predatory excursions from Bayeux: it again felt
their vengeance early in the following century, when Rollo, after taking

Bayeux by storm, sacked Lisieux at the head of his army on his way to
Rouen. The conqueror was not put in possession of the Lexovian territory by
Charles the Simple till 923, eleven years after the rest of Neustria had been
ceded to him.
United to the duchy, Lisieux enjoyed a short respite from the calamities of
war; nor does it appear to have borne any prominent part in the transactions
of the times. The name, indeed, of the city occurs as the seat of the council
held for the purpose of degrading Malgerius from the primacy of Normandy;
but, except on this occasion, Lisieux is scarcely mentioned till the first year
of the twelfth century, when it was the seat of rebellion. Ralph Flambart,
bishop of Durham, a prelate of unbounded arrogance, had fled from
England, and joined Duke Robert, then in arms against his brother. Raising
the standard of insurrection, he fixed himself at Lisieux, took forcible
possession of the town, and invested his son, only twelve years old, with the
mitre[67], while he himself exercised despotic authority over the inhabitants.
At length, he purchased peace and forgiveness, by opening the gates to his
lawful sovereign, after the battle of Tinchbray.--In the middle of October, in
the same year, Henry returned to Lisieux, and there held an assembly of the
Norman nobility and prelates, who proclaimed peace throughout the duchy,
enacted sundry strict regulations to prevent any infringement of the laws,
and decreed that Robert, the captive duke, should be consigned to an English
prison.--Two years subsequently, another council was also assembled at
Lisieux, by the same sovereign, and for nearly the same objects; and again,
in 1119, Henry convened his nobles a third time at Lisieux, when this
parliament ratified the peace concluded at Gisors, six years previously, and
witnessed the marriage[68] of the king's son, William Adelin, with Matilda,
daughter of Fulk, earl of Anjou.
Historical distinction is seldom enviable:--in the wars occasioned by the
usurpation of Stephen, Lisieux once more obtained an unfortunate celebrity.
The town was attacked in 1136, by the forces of Anjou, under the command
of Geoffrey Plantagenet, husband of the Empress Maud, joined by those of
William, Duke of Poitiers; and the garrison, consisting of Bretons, seeing no
hope of effectual resistance or of rescue, set fire to the place to the extreme
mortification of the invaders, who, in the language of the chronicles of the
times, "when they beheld the city and all its wealth a prey to the flames,
waxed exceedingly wroth, at being deprived of the spoil; and grieved sorely

for the loss of the booty which perished in the conflagration."--The town,
however, was not so effectually ruined, but that, during the following year, it
served King Stephen as a rallying point, at which to collect his army to
march against his antagonist.--In 1169, it was distinguished by being
selected by Thomas à Becket, as the place of his retirement during his
temporary disgrace.
History from this time forward relates but little concerning Lisieux. Though
surrounded with walls during the bishopric of John, who was promoted to
the see early in the twelfth century, the situation of the town, far from the
coast or from the frontiers of the province, rendered the inhabitants naturally
unwarlike, and caused them in general to submit quietly to the stronger
party.--Brito, in his Philippiad, says that, when Philip Augustus took
Lisieux, in 1213, the Lexovians, destitute of fountains, disputed with the
toads for the water of the muddy ditches. His mentioning such a fact is
curious, as shewing that public fountains were at that early period of
frequent occurrence in Normandy.--Our countrymen, in the fifteenth century,
acted with great rigor, to use the mildest terms, towards Lisieux. Henry, after
landing at Touques, in 1417, entered the town, in the character of an enraged
enemy, not as the sovereign of his people: he gave it up to plunder; and even
the public archives were not spared. The cruelty of our English king is
strongly contrasted by the conduct of the Count de Danois, general of the
army of Charles VIIth, to whom the town capitulated in 1449. Thomas
Basin, then bishop, negociated with such ability, that, according to
Monstrelet, "not the slightest damage was done to any individual, but each
peaceably enjoyed his property as before the surrender."
The most celebrated monasteries within the diocese of Lisieux were the
Benedictine abbeys of Bernay, St. Evroul, Preaux, and Cormeilles.--
Cormeilles was founded by William Fitz-Osborne, a relation to William the
Conqueror, at whose court he held the office of sewer, and by whom he was
promoted to the earldom of Hereford. Its church and monastic buildings had
so far gone to ruin, in the last century, as to call forth a strong remonstrance
from Mabillon[69]: they were afterwards repaired by Charles of Orléans, who
was appointed abbot in 1726.--The abbey of Preaux is said to have existed
prior to the invasion of the Normans; but its earliest records go no farther
back than the middle of the eleventh century, when it was restored by
Humphrey de Vetulis, who built and inclosed the monastery about the year

1035, at which time Duke Robert undertook his pilgrimage to the Holy
Land. This abbey, according to the account given by Gough, in his Alien
Priories, presented to thirty benefices, and enjoyed an annual revenue of
twenty thousand livres.--Among its English lands which were considerable,
was the priory of Toft-Monks in our own immediate vicinity: the name, as
you know, remains, though no traces of the building are now in existence.
The third abbey, that of St. Evrau or St. Evroul, called in Latin, Monasterium
Uticense, was one of the most renowned throughout Normandy. The abbey
dates its origin from St. Evroul himself, a nobleman, who lived in the reign
of Childebert, and was attached to the palace of that monarch, "from which,"
to use the words of the chronicles, "he made his escape, as from shipwreck,
and fled to the woods, and entered upon the monastic life."--The legend of
St. Ebrulfus probably savors of romance, the almost inseparable companion
of traditional, and particularly of monastic, history: it is safer, therefore, to
be contented with referring the foundation of the monastery to the tenth
century, when William Gerouis, after having been treacherously deprived of
his sight and otherwise maimed, renounced the world; and, uniting with his
nephews, Hugh and Robert de Grentemaisnil, brought considerable
possessions to the endowment of this abbey. The abbey was at all times
protected by the especial favor of the kings of France. No payment or service
could be demanded from its monks; they acknowledged no master without
their own walls, besides the sovereign himself; they were entitled to
exemption from every kind of burthen; and they had the privilege of being
empowered to castellate the convent, and to compel the people of the
surrounding district to contribute their assistance for the purpose.
St. Evroul, however, principally claims our attention, as the sanctuary where
Ordericus Vitalis, to use his own expressions, "delighted in obedience and
poverty."--This most valuable writer was an Englishman; his native town
being Attingesham, on the Severn, where he was born in the year 1075. He
was sent to school at Shrewsbury, and there received the first rudiments,
both of the humanities and of ecclesiastical education. In the tenth year of
his age, his father, Odelerius, delivered the boy to the care of the monk
Rainaldus. The weeping father parted from the weeping son, and they never
saw each other more. Ordericus crossed the sea, and arrived in Normandy,
an exile, as he describes himself, and "hearing, like Joseph in Egypt, a
language which he understood not." In the eleventh year of his age, he

received the tonsure from the hands of Mainerius, the abbot of St. Evroul. In
the thirty-third year of his age, he was ordained a priest; and thenceforward
his life wore away in study and tranquillity. Aged and infirm, he completed
his Ecclesiastical History, in the sixty-seventh year of his age; and this great
and valuable work ends with his auto-biography, which is written in an
affecting strain of simplicity and piety.--The Ecclesiastical History of
Ordericus is divided into parts: the first portion contains an epitome of the
sacred and profane history of the world, beginning with the incarnation, and
ending with Pope Innocent IInd. The second, and more important division,
contains the history of Normandy, from the first invasion of the country,
down to the year 1141.--Though professedly an ecclesiastical historian, yet
Ordericus Vitalis is exceedingly copious in his details of secular events; and
it is from these that his chronicle derives its importance and curiosity. It was
first published by Duchesne, in his collection of Norman historians, a work
which is now of rare occurrence, and it has never been reprinted.
Valuable materials for a new edition were, however, collected early in the
eighteenth century, by William Bessin, a monk of St. Ouen; and these, before
the revolution, were preserved in the library of that abbey. Bessin had been
assisted in the task by Francis Charles Dujardin, prior of St. Evroul, who had
collated the text, as published in the collection of Norman historians, with
the original manuscript in his own monastery, to which latter Duchesne
unfortunately had not access, but had been obliged to content himself with a
copy, now in the Royal Library at Paris. It is to be hoped, that the joint
labors of Bessin and Dujardin may still be in existence, and may come to
light, when M. Liquet shall have completed the task of arranging the
manuscripts in the public library at Rouen. The manuscript which belonged
to St. Evroul, and was always supposed to be an autograph from the hands of
Ordericus Vitalis himself, was discovered during the revolution among a
heap of parchments, thrown aside as of no account, in some buildings
belonging to the former district of Laigle. It is now deposited in the public
library of the department of the Orne, but unfortunately, nearly half the
leaves of the volume are lost. The earliest part of what remains is towards
the close of the seventh book, and of this only a fragment, consisting of eight
pages, is left. The termination of the seventh book, and the whole of the
eighth are wanting. From the ninth to the thirteenth, both of these inclusive,
the manuscript is perfect. A page or two, however, at the end of the work,
which contained the author's life, has been torn out.--At the beginning of the

sixteenth century, the manuscript was complete; for it is known that, at that
time, a monk of St. Evroul made a transcript of it, which extended through
four volumes in folio. These volumes were soon dispersed. Two of them
found their way to Rouen, where they were kept in the library of St. Ouen:
the other two were in that of the abbey of St. Maur de Glandefeuille, on the
Loire. A third, though incomplete, copy of the original manuscript was also
known to exist in France before the revolution. It formerly belonged to
Coaslin de Camboret, Bishop of Metz, by whom it was presented, together
with four thousand manuscripts, to the monks of St. Germain des Prés at
Paris. But the greater part of the literary treasures of this abbey fell a prey to
the flames in July, 1793, and it is feared that the copy of Ordericus perished
at that time.
The original code from St. Evroul, was discovered by M. Louis Dubois,
whom I have already mentioned in connection with the ruins of Neomagus.
He is an antiquary of extensive knowledge and extraordinary zeal. His
History of Lisieux, which he has long been preparing for the press, will be a
work of great curiosity and interest. The publication of it is for the present
suspended, whilst he superintends an edition of the Vaux-de-Vires, or Vaux
de villes, of Olivier Basselin, an early Norman poet. Meanwhile, M. Dubois
still continues his researches among the foundations of the ancient city, from
which he has collected a number of valuable relics. Some of the most
pleasant and instructive hours of my tour have been spent in his society; and,
whilst it was under his guidance that I visited the antiquities of Lisieux, his
learning assisted me in illustrating them. M. Dubois likewise possesses a
large collection of original autograph letters, which I found much pleasure in
perusing.
During the reign of Napoléon, he held the office of librarian of Alençon, a
situation that afforded him the opportunity of meeting with many literary
curiosities of this nature. Among others, which thus fell into his hands, was
the following letter, written by the Princess Borghese, sister to the Emperor,
and addressed to the Empress Marie-Louise, by whom it was received, while
on a tour through the western departments. I annex a transcript of this
epistle; for, although it has no immediate connection with the main subject
of our correspondence, it yet is a very singular contribution towards the
private history of the dynasty of Napoléon.--The odd mixture of caudle-cup
compliment and courtly flattery, is sufficiently amusing. I have copied it,

word for word, letter for letter, and point for point; for, as we have no other
specimen of the epistles of her imperial highness, I think it right to preserve
all the peculiarities of the original; and, by, way of a treat for the collectors
of autographs, I have added a fac-simile of her signature.
Madame et tres chere Sœur,
je recois par le Prince Aldobrandini la lettre de V.M. et la
belle tasse dont elle a daigné, le charger pour moi au
nom de L'empereur, je remercie mille fois votre aimable
bonté, et j'ose vous prier ma tres chere sœur d'être aupres
de L'empereur l'interprete de ma reconnaissance pour
cette marque de souvenir.--je fais parler beaucoup le
Prince et la Princesse Aldobrandini sur votre santé, sur
votre belle grossesse, je ne me lasse pas de les
interroger, et je suis heureuse d'apprendre que vous vous
portés tres bien, que rien ne vous fatigue, et que vous
avés la plus belle grossesse qu'il soit possible de desirer,
combien je desire chere sœur que tous nos vœux soient
exaucés, ne croyés cependant pas que si vous nous
donnés une petite Princesse je ne l'aimerais pas. non, elle
nous serait chere, elle resemblerait a V.M. elle aurait sa
douceur, son amabilité, et ce joli caractere qui la fait
cherir de ceux qui out le bonheur de la Conaitre--mais
ma chère sœur j'ai tort de m'apesantir sur les qualités
dont serait douée cette auguste princesse, vous nous
donnerés d'abord un prince un petit Roi de Rome, jugés
combien je le desire nos bons toscans prient pour vous,
ils vous aiment et je n'ai pas de peine a leur inspirer ce
que je sens si vivement.
je vous remercie ma tres chere sœur de l'interest que
vous prenez a mon fils, tout le monde dit qu'il ressemble
a L'empereur. cela me Charme il est bien portant a
present, et j'espere qu'il sera digne de servir sous les
drapeaux de son auguste oncle.--adieu ma chere sœur
soyés assés bonne pour Conserver un souvenir a une
sœur qui vous est tendrement attachée. Napoléon ne
cesse de lire la lettre pleine de bonté que V.M. a daigné

lui ecrire, cela lui a fait sentir le plaisir qu'il y avait a
savoir lire, et l'encourage dans ses etudes--je vous
embrasse et suis,
Madame et tres chere Sœur
de V.M.
La plus attachée

Pitti le 18 janvier 1811

Footnotes:

[66] See Magazin Encyclopédique, for 1802, III. p. 504.

[67] This transaction appears to have been peculiarly flagrant: a
long detail of the circumstances, accompanied by several letters,
very characteristic of the feeling and church-government of the
times, is preserved in the Concilia Normannica, p. 520.--The
account concludes in the following words:--"Exhorruit ad facinus,
non Normannia solum et Anglia, quibus maledicta progenies
notissima erat, sed et universa Gallia, et a singulis ad Apostolicum
Paschalem delatum est. Nec tamen utrique simul ante
quinquienniuin sordes de domo Dei propulsare prævaluerunt.
Ceteris ferventiùs institit Yvo Carnotensis Antistes, conculcatæ
disciplinæ ecclesiasticæ zelo succensus; in tantum ut Neustriacos
Præsules quasi desides ac pusillanimes coarguere veritus non sit:
sed ea erat Ecclesiæ sub ignavo Principe sors per omnia

lamentabilis, ut ipsemet postmodum cum laude non invitus
agnovit."

[68] Sandford, in his Genealogical History of the Kings of
England, says, that this marriage was solemnized at Luxseul, in
the county of Burgundy; but he refers for his authority to
Ordericus Vitalis, by whom it is stated to have been at Luxovium,
the name by which he always calls Lisieux; and he, in the same
page, mentions the assembly of the nobles also held there.

[69] Annal, IV. p. 599.

LETTER XXIII.
FRENCH POLICE--RIDE FROM LISIEUX TO CAEN--CIDER--
GENERAL APPEARANCE AND TRADE OF CAEN--ENGLISH
RESIDENT THERE.

(Caen, August, 1818.)
Our reception at Caen has been somewhat inauspicious: we had scarcely
made the few necessary arrangements at the hôtel, and seated ourselves
quietly before the caffé au lait, when two gens-d'armes, in military costume,
stalked without ceremony into the room, and, taking chairs at the table,
began the conversation rather abruptly, with "Monsieur, vous êtes sous
arrêt."--My companions were appalled by such a salutation, and
apprehended some mistake; but the fact turned out to be, that our passport
did not bear the signature of the mayor of Rouen, and that this ignorance of
the regulations of the French police had subjected us to so unexpected a
visit. It was too late in the day for the deficiency to be then supplied; and
therefore, after a few expostulations, accompanied with observations, on
their part, that we had the good fortune to have fixed ourselves at an honnête
hôtel, and did not wear the appearance of suspicious persons, the soldiers
took their leave, first exacting from me a promise, that I would present
myself the next morning before the proper officer, and would in the
meanwhile consider myself a prisoner upon my parole.
The impression which this occurrence could not fail to make upon our
minds, was, that the object of the gens-d'armes had been either to extort from
us money, or to shew their consequence; but I have since been led to believe
that they did no more than their duty.--We have several acquaintance among
the English who reside here, and we find from the whole of them, that the
utmost strictness is practised in all matters relating to passports, and not less
towards natives than foreigners. No Frenchman can quit his arrondissement
unprovided with a passport; and the route he intends to take, and the distance
he designs to travel, must also be specified. A week or two ago the prefect of
the police himself was escorted back to Caen, between a couple of gens-

d'armes, because he inadvertently paid a visit to a neighboring bathing-place
without his passport in his pocket. This is a current story here: I cannot
vouch for its authenticity; however it is certain, that since the discovery of
the late plot contrived by the ultras, a plot whose existence is generally
disbelieved, the French police is more than usually upon the alert.
When I presented myself at the Hôtel de Ville, to redeem my promise, a
recent decree was pointed out to me, containing a variety of regulations
which shew extraordinary uneasiness on the part of the government, and
which would seem to indicate that they are in possession of intelligence
respecting projects, that threaten the public tranquillity[70]. To judge from all
official proceedings, it seems as if we were walking upon a smothered
volcano, and yet we are told by every body that there is not the slightest
room for apprehension of any kind.
This interruption has thrown me out of the regular course of my narration.--
My last letter left me still at Lisieux, from which city to Caen the road lies
through a tract of country altogether without interest, and in most places
without beauty. During the first half of the ride, we could almost have
fancied ourselves at home in Norfolk.--About this part of the way, the road
descends through a hollow or dale, which bore the ominous name of "Coupe
Gorge." When Napoléon was last in Normandy, he inquired into the origin
of the appellation.--The diligences, he was answered, "had often been
stopped and robbed in this solitary pass."--Napoléon then said, "If one
person can be made to settle here, more will follow, for it is conveniently
situated between two good towns. Let the prefect buy a little plot of ground
and build a house upon it, and give it to an old soldier, upon condition that
he shall constantly reside in it with his family." The orders of Napoléon were
obeyed. The old soldier opened an inn, other houses arose round it, and the
cut-throat pass is now thoroughly secure. The conductor and the post-boy
tell the tale with glee whilst they drive through the hamlet; and its humble
dwellings will perhaps recal the memory and fame of Napoléon Buonaparte
when the brazen column of the grand army, and the marble arch of the
Thuilleries, shall have been long levelled with the ground.--As to the
character of the landscape, I must add, that though it makes a bad picture,
there are great appearances of care in the agriculture, and of comfort in the
population. The country, too, is sufficiently well wooded; and apple and pear

trees every where take the place of the pollard oaks and elms of our hedge-
rows.
Norman cider is famous throughout France: it is principally, however, the
western part of the province that produces it. Throughout the whole of that
district, the lower classes of the inhabitants scarcely use any other beverage.
Vines, as I have already had occasion to mention, were certainly cultivated,
in early times, farther to the north than they are at present. The same proofs
exist of vineyards in the vicinity of Caen and Lisieux, as at Jumieges.
Indeed, towards the close of the last century, there was still a vineyard at
Argence, only four miles south-east of Caen; and a kind of white wine was
made there, which was known by the name of Vin Huet. But the liquor was
meagre; and I understand that the vineyard is destroyed.--Upon the subject
of the early use of beer in Normandy, tradition is somewhat indistinct. The
ancient name of one of the streets in Caen, rue de la Cervoisiere, distinctly
proves the habit of beer-drinking; and, when Tacitus speaks of the beverage
of the Germans, in his time, as "humor ex hordeo vel frumento in quandam
similitudinem vini corruptus," it seems highly improbable but that the same
liquor should have been in use among the cognate tribes of Gaul. Brito,
however, expressly says of Flanders, that it is a place where,

"Raris sylva locis facit umbram, vinea nusquam:
Indigenis potus Thetidi miscetur avena,
Ut vice sit vini multo confecta labore."

And the same author likewise tells us, that the Normans of his time were
cider-drinkers--

"... Siceræque potatrix
Algia tumentis ...
Non tot in autumni rubet Algia tempore pomis
Unde liquare solet siceram sibi Neustria gratam."

Huet is of opinion, that the use of cider was first introduced into Neustria by
the Normans, who had learned it of the Biscayans, as these latter had done
from the inhabitants of the northern coast of Africa.
We did not find the Norman cider at all palatable: it is extremely sour, hard,
and austere. The inhabitants, however, say that this is not its natural

character, but is attributable to the late unfavorable seasons, which have
prevented the fruit from ripening properly.--The apple-tree and pear-tree in
Normandy, far from being ugly, and distorted, and stunted in their growth, as
is commonly seen in England, are trees of great beauty, and of extreme
luxuriance, both in foliage and ramification. The Coccus, too, which has
caused so much destruction among our orchards at home, is fortunately still
unknown here.
The only place at which we stopped between Lisieux and Caen, was
Croissanville, a poor village, but one that possesses a degree of historical
interest, as the spot where the battle was fought between Aigrold, King of
Denmark, and Louis d'Outremer, King of France; a battle which seated
Richard Fearnought upon the throne of Normandy.--The country about
Croissanville is an immense tract of meadow-land; and from it the Parisian
market draws a considerable proportion of its supplies of beef. The cattle
that graze in these pastures are of a large size, and red, and all horned; very
unlike those about Caen, which latter are of small and delicate proportions,
with heads approaching to those of deer, and commonly with black faces and
legs.
From Croissanville to Caen the road passes through a dead flat, almost
wholly consisting of uninclosed corn-fields, extending in all directions, with
unvaried dull monotony, as far as the eye can reach. Buck-wheat is
cultivated in a large proportion of them: the inhabitants prepare a kind of
cake from this grain, of which they are very fond, and which is said to be
wholesome. Tradition, founded principally upon the French name of this
plant, sarrazin, has given rise to a general belief, that buck-wheat was
introduced into France by the Moors; but this opinion has, of late, been ably
combated. The plant is not to be found in Arabia, Spain, or Sicily; the
countries more particularly inhabited by Mahometans; and in Brittany, it still
passes by the Celtic appellation, had-razin, signifying red-corn, of which
words sarrazin may fairly be regarded a corruption, as buck-wheat, in our
own tongue, ought unquestionably to be written beech-wheat; a term
synonymous to what it is called in Latin and German. The present name may
well appear inexplicable, to those who are unacquainted with the Anglo-
Saxon and its cognate dialects.
In the midst of this level country, in which even apple-trees are scarce,
stands the ancient capital of Lower Normandy, extending from east to west

in so long a line, that on our approach it appeared to cover as much ground
as Rouen, which is in fact double its size.--From a distance, the view of
Caen is grand; not only from the apparent magnitude of the town, but from
the numerous spires and towers, that, rising from every part of it, give it an
air of great importance. Those of the abbeys of St. Stephen and the Trinity, at
opposite extremities, constitute the principal features in the view.--The same
favorable impressions continue when you enter the town. The streets are
wide, and the houses of stone; and a stone city is a pleasing sight to eyes
long accustomed to the wooden buildings of Rouen, Bernay, and Lisieux.--
Besides, there is a certain degree of regularity in the construction of the
buildings, and some care is taken in keeping them clean.--Lace-making is
the principal occupation of females of the lower class in Caen and the
neighborhood; the streets, as we passed along, were lined almost
uninterruptedly on either side, with a row of lace-makers; and boys were not
uncommonly working among the women. It is calculated that not fewer than
twenty thousand individuals, of all ages, from ten or twelve years old and
upwards, are thus employed; and the annual produce of their labor is
estimated at one hundred and seventy thousand pounds sterling. Caen lace is
in high estimation for its beauty and quality, and is exported in considerable
quantities.
The present population of Caen amounts to about thirty-one thousand
individuals. The town, no longer the capital of Lower Normandy, is still
equally distinguished as the capital of the department of the Calvados. The
prefect resides here; and the royal court of Caen comprises in its jurisdiction,
not only the department more especially appertaining to it, but also those of
the Manche and the Orne.--The situation of the town, though at the
confluence of the Orne and the Odon, is not such as can be regarded
favorable to extensive trade. The united rivers form a stream, which, though
navigable at very high tides for vessels of two hundred tons burthen, will, on
other occasions, admit only of much smaller ones; while the channel, nearer
to its mouth, is obstructed by rocks that render the navigation difficult and
dangerous. Many plans have been projected and attempted for the purpose of
improving and enlarging the harbor, but little or no progress has yet been
made. Vauban long since pointed out the mouth of the Orne as singularly
well adapted for a naval station; and Napoléon, in pursuance of this idea,
actually commenced the excavation of a basin under the walls of the town,
and intended to deepen the bed of the river, thinking it best to make a

beginning in this direction. All idea, however, of prosecuting such a plan is
for the present abandoned.--Other engineers have proposed the junction of
the Orne with the Loire by means of a canal, which would be of the greatest
importance to France, not only by facilitating internal commerce, but by
saving her vessels the necessity of coasting Capes Finisterre, and la Hogue,
and thus enabling them to avoid a navigation, which is at all times
dangerous, and in case of war peculiarly exposed.
For minor purposes, however, for mills and manufactories of different kinds,
Caen is certainly well situated; being in almost every direction intersected
with streams, owing to the repeated ramifications of the Odon, some of
which are artificial, and of as early a date as the eleventh century. The same
circumstance contributes materially to the pleasantness of the town; for the
banks of the river are in many places formed into walks, and crowned by
avenues of noble trees.

The grand cours at Caen is almost as fine a promenade as that at Rouen. On
Sunday evening it was completely crowded. The scene was full of life and
gaiety, and very varied. All the females of the lower rank, and many of the
higher orders, were dressed in the costume of the country, which commonly
consists of a scarlet gown and deep-blue apron, or vice versâ. Their hair,
which is usually powdered, is combed entirely back from every part of their
faces, and tucked up behind. The snow-white cap which covers it is
beautifully plaited, and has longer lappets than in the Pays de Caux. Mr.
Cotman sketched the coiffure of the chamber-maid, at the Hôtel d'Espagne,
in grand costume, and I send his drawing to you.--The men dress like the
English; but do not therefore fancy that you or I should have any chance of
being mistaken for natives, even if we did not betray ourselves by our
accent. Here, as every where else, our countrymen are infallibly known: their
careless slouching gait is sure to mark them; and the police keep a watchful
eye upon them. Caen is at present frequented by the English: those indeed,
who, like the Virgilian steeds, "stare loco nesciunt," seldom shew themselves
in Lower Normandy; but above thirty British families have taken up their
residence in this town: they have been induced to do so principally by the
cheapness of living, and by the advantages held out for the education of their
children. A friend of mine, who is of the number of temporary inhabitants,
occupies the best house in the place, formerly the residence of the Duc
d'Aumale; and for this, with the garden, and offices, and furniture of all
kinds, except linen and plate, he pays only nine pounds a month. For a still
larger house in the country, including an orchard and garden, containing
three acres, well stocked with fruit-trees, he is asked sixty pounds from this
time to Christmas. But, cheap as this appears, the expence of living at
Coutances, or at Bayeux, or Valognes, is very much less.
Were I obliged to seek myself a residence beyond the limits of our own
country, I never saw a place which I should prefer to Caen. I should not be
tempted to look much farther before I said,

"Sis meæ sedes utinam senectæ:"--

The historical recollections that are called forth at almost every turn, would
probably have some influence in determining my choice; the noble
specimens of ancient architecture which happily remain, unscathed by wars
and Calvinists and revolutions, might possibly have more; but the literary

resources which the town affords, the pleasant society with which it
abounds, and, above all, the amiable character of its inhabitants, would be
my great attraction.--At present, indeed, we have not been here sufficiently
long to say much upon the subject of society from our own experience; but
the testimony we receive from all quarters is uniform in this point, and the
civilities already shewn us, are of a nature to cause the most agreeable
prepossessions. It is not our intention to be hurried at Caen; and I shall
therefore reserve to my future letters any remarks upon its history and its
antiquities. To a traveller who is desirous of information, the town is
calculated to furnish abundant materials.

Footnotes:

[70] The following were among the articles of the decree:--"No
individual to leave his arrondissement without a passport.--No
person to receive a stranger in his house, or suffer one to quit it,
without apprising the police.--The inhabitants to carry their arms
of all kinds to the Hôtel de Ville.--No plays to be performed,
except first approved by the officers of the police.--The manager
of the theatre to give notice every Friday to the mayor, of the
pieces intended to be acted the following week.--The actors to read
nothing, and say nothing, which is not in the play.--The
performance to begin precisely at six, and close at ten.--Only a
certain interval to be allowed between the different pieces, or
between the acts of each.--Every person to be uncovered, except
the soldiers on duty.--No weapons of any kind, nor even sticks or
umbrellas, to be taken into the theatre."

LETTER XXIV.
HISTORIANS OF CAEN--TOWERS AND FORTIFICATIONS--
CHÂTEAU DE LA GENDARMERIE--CASTLE--CHURCHES OF ST.
STEPHEN, ST. NICHOLAS, ST. PETER, ST. JOHN, AND ST.
MICHEL DE VAUCELLES.

(Caen, August, 1818.)
France does not abound in topographical writers; but the history and
antiquities of Caen have been illustrated with singular ability, by men to
whom the town gave birth, and who have treated their subject with equal
research and fidelity--these are Charles de Bourgueville, commonly called
the Seigneur de Bras, and the learned Huet, Bishop of Avranches.
De Bourgueville was a magistrate of Caen, where he resided during almost
the whole of the sixteenth century. The religious wars were then raging; and
he relates, in a most entertaining and artless manner, the history of the events
of which he was an eye-witness. His work, as is justly observed by Huet, is a
treasure, that has preserved the recollection of a great variety of the most
curious details, which would otherwise have been neglected and forgotten.
Every page of it is stamped with the character of the author--frankness,
simplicity, and uprightness. It abounds in sound morality, sage maxims, and
proofs of excellent principles in religion and politics; and, if the writer
occasionally carries his naïveté to excess, it is to be recollected that the book
was published when he was in his eighty-fifth year, a period of life when
indulgence may reasonably be claimed. He died four years subsequently, in
1593.--In Huet's work, the materials are selected with more skill, and are
digested with more talent. The author brought to his task a mind well stored
with the learning requisite for the purpose, and employed it with judgment.
But he has confined himself, almost wholly, to the description of the town;
and the consequence is, that while the bishop's is the work most commonly
referred to, the magistrate's is that which is most generally read. The
dedication of the former to the town of Caen, does honor to the feelings of
the writer: the portrait of the latter, prefixed to his volume, and encircled

with his quaint motto, "L'heur de grace use l'oubli," itself an anagram upon
his name, bespeaks and insures the good will of the reader.
The origin of Caen is uncertain.--Its foundation has been alternately ascribed
to Phoenicians, Romans, Gauls, Saxons, and Normans. The earliest historical
fact connected with the town, is recorded in an old chronicle of
Normandy[71], written in 1487, by William de Talleur, of Rouen. The author,
in speaking of the meeting between Louis d'Outremer, King of France, and
Richard Ist, Duke of Normandy, about the year 945, enumerates Caen among
the good towns of the province. Upon this, Huet observes that, supposing
Caen to have been at that time only recently founded, it must have acquired
importance with much rapidity; for, in the charter, by which Richard IIIrd,
Duke of Normandy, granted a dowery to Adela, daughter of Robert, King of
France, whom he married in 1026, Caen is not only stated as one of the
portions of the dower, but its churches, its market, its custom-house, its quay,
and its various appurtenances are expressly mentioned; and two hundred
years afterwards, Brito in his Philippiad, puts Caen in competition with
Paris,

"Villa potens, opulenta situ, spatiosa, decora,
Fluminibus, pratis, et agrorum fertilitate,
Merciferasque rates portu capiente marino,
Seque tot ecclesiis, domibus et civibus ornans,
Ut se Parisio vix annuat esse minorem."--

Caen is designated in Duke Richard's charter, by the appellation of "in
Bajocensi comitatu villa quæ dicitur Cathim, super fluvium Olnæ."--From
Cathim, came Cahem; and Cahem, in process of time, was gradually
softened into Caen. The elision that took place in the first instance, is of a
similar nature to that by which the Italian words padre and madre, have been
converted into père and mère; and the alteration in the latter case continued
to be indicated by the diæresis, which, till lately, separated the two adjoining
vowels.--Towards the latter part of the eleventh century, Caen is frequently
mentioned by the monkish historians, in whose Latin, the town is styled
Cadomus or Cadomum.--And here ingenious etymologists have found a
wide field for conjecture: Cadomus, says one, was undoubtedly founded by
Cadmus; another, who hesitates at a Phoenician antiquity, grasps with
greater eagerness at a Roman etymon, and maintains that Cadomus is a

corruption from Caii domus, fully and sufficiently proving that the town was
built by Julius Cæsar.
Robert Wace states, in his Roman de Rou, that, at the time immediately
previous to the conquest of England, Caen was an open town.--

"Encore ert Caen sans Châtel,
N'y avoit mur, ny quesnel."--

And Wace is a competent witness; for he lived during the reign of Henry Ist,
to whom he dedicated his poem. Philip de Valois, in 1346, allowed the
citizens to surround the town with ditches, walls, and gates. This permission
was granted by the king, on the application of the inhabitants, Caen, as they
then complained, being still open and unfortified. Hence, the fortifications
have been considered to be the work of the fourteenth century, and, generally
speaking, they were unquestionably, of that time; but it is equally certain,
that a portion was erected long before.
A proof of the antiquity of the fortifications may perhaps be found in the
name of the tower called la Tour Guillaume le Roi, which stands
immediately behind St. Peter's, and was intended to protect the river at the
extremity of the walls, dividing the town from the suburb of Vaugeux. This
tower is generally supposed to be the oldest in the fortifications. Its masonry
is similar to that of the wall with which it is connected, and which is known
to have been built about the same time as the abbey of St. Stephen. The
appearance of it is plain, massy, and rugged; and it forms a picturesque
object. Such also is the Tour au Massacre, which is situated at the
confluence of the Orne and Odon. The tower in question is said to have
received its gloomy title from a massacre, of which our countrymen were
guilty, at the time when the town was taken in 1346. There is, however,
reason to believe that this tale is a mere fiction. Huet, at the same time that
he does not venture so far to oppose popular belief, as altogether to deny the
truth of the story of the massacre, adds, that the original name of the tower
was la Tour Machart, and suspects its present appellation to be no more than
a corruption of the former one. Renauld Machart was bailiff of Caen two
years prior to the capture of the place by Edward IIIrd; and the probability is,
that the tower was erected by him in those times of alarm, and thus took his

name. It has been supposed that the figure sculptured upon it, may also be
intended for a representation of Machart himself.
Caen contains another castellated building, which might easily mislead the
studious antiquarian. The Château de Calix, as it is sometimes called, is
situated at the extremity of the suburb known by that name; and the curious
inhabitants of Caen usually suppose that it was erected for the purpose of
commanding the river, whilst it flowed in its ancient, but now deserted, bed;
or, at least, that it replaces such a fortification. According to the learned
Abbé de la Rue, however, and he is a most competent authority, no real
fortification ever existed here; but the castle was raised in conformity to the
caprice of Girard de Nollent, the wealthy owner of the property, who
flourished towards the beginning of the sixteenth century.--Girard de
Nollent's mansion is now occupied by a farmer. It has four fronts. The
windows are square-headed, and surrounded by elegant mouldings; but the
mullions have been destroyed. One medallion yet remains over the entrance;
and it is probable that the walls were originally covered with ornaments of
this kind. Such, at least, is the case with the towers and walls, which,
surrounding the dwelling, have given it a castellated aspect. The circular
tower nearest the gate forms the subject of the accompanying sketch: it is
dotted on all sides with busts in basso-relievo, enclosed in medallions, and of
great diversity of character. One is a frowning warrior, arrayed in the helmet
of an emperor of the lower empire; another, is a damsel attired in a ruff; a
third, is a turbaned turk. The borders of the medallions are equally
diversified: the cordelière, well known in French heraldry, the vine-leaf, the
oak-leaf, all appear as ornaments. The battlements are surmounted with two
statues, apparently Neptune, or a sea-god, and Hercules. These heathen
deities not being very familiar to the good people of Caen, they have
converted them, in imagination, into two gens-d'armes, mounting guard on
the castle; and hence it is frequently called the Château de la Gendarmerie.
Some of the busts are accompanied by inscriptions--"Vincit pudicitiam
mors;" "Vincit amor pudicitiam;" "Amor vincit mortem;" and all seem to be
either historical or allegorical. The battlements of the curtain-wall are
ornamented in the same manner. The farther tower has less decoration, and is
verging to decay. I have given these details, because the castle of Calix is a
specimen of a style of which we have no fair parallel in England, and the
workmanship is far from being contemptible.

In the Rue St. Jean is a house with decorations, in the same style, but more
sumptuous, or, perhaps I ought rather to say, more perfect. Both of them are
most probably of nearly the same date: for it was principally during the
reigns of Charles VIIIth and Louis XIIth, that the practice prevailed in
France, of ornamenting the fronts of houses with medallions. The custom
died away under Francis Ist.
I must now return to more genuine fortifications.--When the walls of Caen
were perfect, they afforded an agreeable and convenient promenade
completely round the town, their width being so great, that three persons
might with ease walk abreast upon them. De Bourgueville tells us that, in his

time, they were as much frequented as the streets; and he expatiates with
great pleasure upon the gay and busy prospect which they commanded,
The castle at Caen, degraded as it is in its character by modern innovation, is
more deserving of notice as an historical, than as an architectural, relic. It
still claims to be ranked as a place of defence, though it retains but few of its
original features. The spacious, lofty, circular towers, known by the names of
the black, the white, the red, and the grey horse, which flanked its ramparts,
have been brought down to the level of the platform. The dungeon tower is
destroyed. All the grandeur of the Norman castle is lost; though the width of
its ditches, and the thickness of its walls, still testify its ancient strength. I
doubt whether any castle in France covers an equal extent of ground.
Monstrelet and other writers have observed, that this single fortress
exceeded in size the towns of Corbeil or of Montferrand; and, indeed, there
are reasons for supposing that Caen, when first founded, only occupied the
site of the present castle; and that, when it became advisable to convert the
old town into a fortress, the inhabitants migrated into the valley below. Six
thousand infantry could be drawn up in battle-array within the outer ballium;
and so great was the number of houses and of inhabitants enclosed within its
area, that it was thought expedient to build in it a parochial church, dedicated
to St. George, besides two chapels.
One of the chapels is still in existence, though now converted to a store-
house; and the Abbé de la Rue considers it as an erection anterior to the
conquest, and, belonging to the old town of Caen. Its choir is turned towards
the west, and its front to the east.--The religious edifices upon the continent
do not preserve the same uniformity as our English ones, in having their
altars placed in the direction of the rising sun; but this at Caen is a very
remarkable instance of the position of the entrance and the altar being
completely reversed[72]. The door-way is a fine semi-circular arch: the side
pillars supporting it are very small, but the decorations of the archivolt are
rich: they consist principally of three rows of the chevron moulding,
enclosed within a narrow fillet of smaller ornaments, approaching in shape
to quatrefoils. Collectively, they form a wide band, which springs from flat
piers level with the wall, and does not immediately unite with the head of the
inner arch. The intermediate space is covered by a reticulated pattern
indented in the stone. Above the entrance is a window of the same form, its
top encircled by a broad chequered band, a very unusual accompaniment to

this style of architecture. The front of the chapel presents in other respects, a
flat uniform surface, unvaried, except by four Norman buttresses, and a
string-course of the simplest form, running round the whole building, at
somewhat less than mid-height. The sides of the chapel are lighted by a row
of circular-headed windows, with columns in the angles; and between these
windows are buttresses, as in the chapel of the lazar-house of St. Julien, at
Rouen.
Huet endeavours to prove that the first fortress which was built at Caen, was
erected by William the Conqueror, who frequently resided here with his
Queen Matilda, and who was likely to find some protection of this nature
desirable, as well to guard his royal residence against the mutinous
disposition of the lords of the Bessin, as to command the navigation of the
Orne. The castle was enlarged and strengthened by his son Henry; but it is
believed that the four towers, just mentioned, and the walls surrounding the
keep, were added by our countrymen, during that short period when the
Norman sceptre was again wielded by the descendants of the Norman dukes.
Under Louis XIIth and Francis Ist, the whole of the castle, but particularly
the dungeon, underwent great repairs, by which the original form of the
structure was entirely changed.--From that period history is silent respecting
the fortress. I cannot, however, take leave of it without reminding you, that
Sir John Fastolf, whilom our neighbour at Castor, was for some time placed
in command here, as Lieutenant to the Regent Duke of Bedford. You, who
are acquainted with the true character of the knight, need scarcely be told,
that even his enemies concur in bearing testimony to his ability, his
vigilance, and his valor: it is to be regretted that he has not met with equal
justice at home. Not one individual troubles himself about history, whilst a
thousand read the drama; and the stains which Shakspeare's pen has affixed
to the name of Fastolf, are of a nature never to be wiped away; thus
disproving the distich of the satyrist, who indeed, by his own works, has
effectually falsified his own maxim, that--

"Truth will survive when merry jokes are past;
For rising merit must buoy up at last."

As usual, the buildings dedicated to religion are far more numerous and
valuable than the relics of military architecture. Of these, the first which
salutes the stranger who enters by the great high road, is the Hôtel Dieu,

which is almost intact and unaltered. The basement story contains large and
deep pointed arches, ornamented with the chevron moulding, disposed in a
very peculiar manner.--From the style of the building, there is every reason
to believe that it is of the beginning of the thirteenth century, at which time
William, Count of Magneville, appropriated to charitable purposes the
ground now occupied by this hospital, and caused his donation to be
confirmed by a bull from Pope Innocent IIIrd, dated in April, 1210.
The abbeys, the glories of Caen, will require more leisure: at present let us
pass on to the parochial churches. Of these, the most ancient foundation is
St. Etienne le Vieil; and tradition relates that this church was dedicated by St.
Renobert, bishop of Bayeux, in the year 350.--But, though the present
edifice may stand upon the site of an ancient one, there would be little risk in
affirming, that not one stone of it was laid upon another till after the year
1400. The building is spacious, and its tower is not devoid of beauty. The
architecture is a medley of debased gothic and corrupted Roman; but the
large pointed windows, decorated by fanciful mouldings and scroll-work,
have an air of richness, though the component parts are so inharmonious.
Attached to the wall of the choir of this church is still to be seen an
equestrian statue[73], part of the celebrated group supposed to represent
William the Conqueror making his triumphal entry into Caen. A headless
horse, mounted by a headless rider, and a figure, which has lost all shape and
form, beneath the feet of the steed, are all that now remain; but De
Bourgueville, who knew the group when perfect, says, that there likewise
belonged to it a man and woman upon their knees, as if seeking some
explanation for the death of their child, or rather, perhaps, in the act of
imploring mercy.--I have already pointed out the resemblance between these
statues and the bas-relief, of which I have sent you a sketch from St.
Georges. One of the most learned antiquaries of the present time has found a
prototype for the supposed figure of the Duke, among the sculptures of the
Trajan column. But this, with all due deference, is far from a decisive proof
that the statue in question was not intended for William. Similar adaptations
of the antique model, "mutato nomine," frequently occur among the works
of the artists of the middle ages; and there is at least a possibility that, had
the face been left us, we might have traced some attempt at a portrait of the
Norman Duke. Upon the date of the sculpture, or the style of the
workmanship, I dare not venture an opinion. There are antiquaries, I know,

(and men well qualified to judge,) who believe it Roman: I have heard it
pronounced from high authority, that it is of the eleventh century, others
suspect that it is Italian, of the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries; whilst M.
Le Prevost and M. De Gerville maintain most strenuously that it is not
anterior to the fifteenth. De Bourgueville certainly calls it "une antiquité de
grand remarque;" but we all know that any object which is above an hundred
years old, becomes a piece of antiquity in the eye of an uncritical observer;
and such was the good magistrate.
The church of St. Nicholas, now used as a stable, was built by William the
Conqueror, in the year 1060, or thereabouts. Desecrated as it is, it remains
entire; and its interior is remarkable for the uniformity of the plan, the
symmetry of the proportions. All the capitals of the pillars attached to the
walls are alike; and those of the arches, which very nearly resemble the
others, are also all of one pattern. In the side-aisles there is no groining, but
only cross vaulting. The vaulting of the nave is pointed, and of late
introduction. Round the choir and transepts runs a row of small arches, as in
the triforium.--The west end was formerly flanked by two towers, the
southern of which only remains. This is square, and well proportioned: each
side contains two lancet windows. The lower part is quite plain, excepting
two Norman buttresses. The whole of the width of the central compartment,
which is more than quadruple that of either of the others, is occupied below
by three circular portals, now blocked up.--Above them are five windows,
disposed in three tiers. In the lowest are two not wider than loop-holes: over
these two others, larger; another small one is at the top. All these windows
are of the simplest construction, without side pillars or mouldings.--The
choir of the church ends in a semi-circular apsis, divided into compartments
by a row of pillars, rising as high as the cornice: in the intercolumniation are
windows, and under the windows small arches, each of which has its head
hewn out of a single stone.--The roof of the choir is of stone, and the pitch of
it is very high.
Here, then, we have the exact counterpart of the Irish stone-roofed chapels,
the most celebrated of which, that of Cormac, in Cashel Cathedral, appears,
from all the drawings and descriptions I have seen of it, to be altogether a
Norman building. Ledwich asserts that "this chapel is truly Saxon, and was
erected prior to the introduction of the Norman, and gothic styles[74]." If, we
agree with him, we only obtain a proof that there is no essential difference

between Norman and Saxon architecture; and this proposition, I believe, will
soon be universally admitted. We now know what is really Norman; and a
little attention to the buildings in the north of Germany, may terminate the
long-debated questions, relative to Saxon architecture and the origin of the
stone-roofed chapels in the sister isle.
In the burial-ground that surrounds the church of St. Nicholas, are several
monumental inscriptions, all of them posterior to the commencement of the
reign of Napoléon, and all, with one single exception, commemorative of
females. The epitaphs are much in the same tone as would be found in an
English church-yard. The greater part, however, of the tomb-stones, are
uninscribed. They are stone coffins above-ground, sculptured with plain
crosses, or, where they have been raised to ecclesiastics, with an addition of
some portion of the sacerdotal dress.

Among the churches of comparatively modern erection, St. Peter deserves
most attention. From every part of the town and neighborhood, its lofty
spire, towering above the surrounding buildings, forces itself upon your
view. It is not easy to carry accurate ideas of height in the memory; but, as
far as recollection will serve me, I should say that its elevation is hardly
inferior to that of the spire of Salisbury cathedral. I have no hesitation in
adding, that the proportions of the tower and spire of the church at Caen, are
more pleasing. Elegance, lightness, and symmetry, are the general characters
of the whole, though the spire has peculiar characters of its own.--The tower,
though built a century later than that of Salisbury, is so much less
ornamented, that it might be mistaken for an earlier example of the pointed
style. The lowest story is occupied wholly by a portal: the second division is
surrounded by pointed arches, beneath crocketed gables: the third is filled by

four lancet arches, supported by reeded pillars, so lofty, that they occupy
nearly two-thirds of the entire height of the tower. The flanking arches are
blanks: the two middle ones are pierced into windows, divided by a central
mullion. The balustrade at the top of the tower is of a varied pattern, each
side exhibiting a different tracery. Eight crocketed pinnacles are added to the
spire, which is octangular, and has a row of crockets at each angle. From the
base to the summit it is encircled, at regular distances, with broad bands of
stone-work, disposed like scales; and, alternating with the bands, are
perforations in the form of cinquefoils, quatrefoils, and trefoils, diminishing
as the spire rises, but so disposed, that the light is seen distinctly through
them. The effect of these perforations was novel and very pleasing.

This tower and spire were built in the year 1308, under the directions of
Nicolle L'Anglois, a burgher of Caen, and treasurer of the church.--How far
we are at liberty to infer from his name, as Ducarel does, that he was an
Englishman, may admit of some doubt. He was buried here; and De

Bourgueville has preserved his epitaph, which recounts among his other
merits, that

"Et par luy, et par sa devise
Fut la tour en sa voye mise
D'estre faicte si noblement."--

But the name of the architect who was employed is unrecorded.--The rest of
the church was erected at different periods: the northern aisle in 1410; the
opposite one some time afterwards; and the eastern extremity, with the
vaulted roof of the choir and aisles, in 1021.--With this knowledge, it is not
difficult to account for the diversity of styles that prevails in the building.--
The western front contains much good tracery, and well disposed, apparently
as old as the tower.--The exterior of the east end, with its side-chapels, is
rather Italian than gothic.--The interior is of a purer style: the five arches
forming the apsis are perhaps amongst the finest specimens of the luxuriant
French gothic: roses are introduced with great effect amongst the tracery and
friezes, with which the walls are covered. The decorations of the chapels
round the choir, although they display a tendency towards Italian
architecture, are of the most elaborate arabesque. The niches are formed by
escalop shells, swelling cylinders of foliage, and scrolls: some of the
pendants from the roofs are of wonderfully varied and beautiful
workmanship.--The nave has nothing remarkable, saving the capital of one
of the side pillars. Its sculptures, with the exception of one mutilated group,
have been drawn by Mr. Cotman.--The subjects are strangely inappropriate,
as the ornaments of a sacred edifice. All are borrowed from romance.--
Aristotle bridled and saddled by the mistress of Alexander. Virgilius, or, as
some say, Hippocrates, hanging in the basket. Lancelot crossing the raging
flood.--The fourth, which is not shewn in the sketch, is much defaced, but
seems to have been taken from the Chevalier et la Charette. According to
the usual fate of ancient sculpture, the marguilliers of the parish have so
sadly encumbered it with white-wash, that it is not easy to make out the
details; and a friend of mine was not quite certain whether the bearded figure
riding on the lion, was not a youthful Cupid. No other of the capitals has at
present any basso-relievo of this kind; but I suspect they have been chopped
off. The church suffered much from the Calvinists; and afterwards, during
the revolution, when most of the bas-reliefs of the portal were destroyed.

The neighboring church of St. John appears likewise to be the work of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This building and St. Peter's agree in
general character: their towers are nearly the counterparts of each other. But,
in St. John's, the great tower is placed at the west end of the edifice, the
principal portal being beneath it. This is not very usual in the Norman-gothic
churches, though common in England. The tower wants a spire; and, at
present, it leans considerably out of the perpendicular line, so that some
apprehensions are entertained for its safety. It was originally intended that
the church should also be surmounted by a central tower; and, as De
Bourgueville says, the beginning was made in his time; but it remains to the
present day incomplete, and has not been raised sufficiently high to enable
us to form a clear idea of the design of the architect, though enough remains
to shew that it would have been built in the Romanizing-gothic style.--The
inside is comparatively plain, excepting only the arches in the lower open
part of the tower. These are richly ornamented; and a highly-wrought

balustrade runs round the triforium, uniform in its pattern in the nave and
choir, but varying in the transepts.--In the other ecclesiastical buildings at
Caen, we saw nothing to interest us.--The chapel of St. Thomas l'Abattu,
which, according to Huet, "had existed from time immemorial," and which,
to judge from Ducarel's description and figure, must have been curious, has
now entirely disappeared.
In the suburb of Vaucelles, the church of St. Michael contains some
architectural features of great curiosity[75]. The circular-headed arches in the
short square tower, and in a small round turret that is attached to it, are
unquestionably early Norman, and are remarkable for their proportions,
being as long and as narrow as the lancet windows of the following æra. It
would not be equally safe to pronounce upon the date of the stone-roofed
pyramid which covers this tower. The north porch is entered by a pointed
arch, which, though much less ornamented, approaches in style to the
southern porch of St. Ouen, and, like that, has its inner archivolt fringed with
pendant trefoils. The wall above the arch rises into a triangular gable,
entirely covered with waving tracery, the only instance of the kind which I
have seen at Caen.

Footnotes:

[71] Huet, Origines de Caen, p. 12.

[72] Upon this subject, Huet has an extraordinary observation,
(Origines de Caen, p. 186.) "that, in the early times of Christianity,
it was customary for all churches to front the east or north, or some
intermediate point of the compass."--So learned and careful a
writer would scarcely have made such a remark without some
plausible grounds; but I am at a loss where to find them. Bingham,
in his Origines Eccleslasticæ, I. p. 288, says, "that churches were
so placed, that the front, or chief entrances, were towards the west,
and the sanctuary or altar placed towards the east;" and though he
adduces instances of a different position, as in the church of
Antioch, which faced the east, and that of St. Patrick, at Sabul,
near Down in Ulster, which stood from north to south, he cites
them only as deviations from an established practice.

[73] Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, t. 20.

[74] Antiquities of Ireland, p. 151.

[75] See Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, t. 18,
19.

LETTER XXV.
ROYAL ABBEYS OF THE HOLY TRINITY AND ST. STEPHEN--
FUNERAL OF THE CONQUEROR, EXHUMATION OF HIS
REMAINS, AND DESTRUCTION OF HIS MONUMENT.

(Caen, August, 1818.)
The two royal abbeys of Caen have fortunately escaped the storms of the
revolution. These buildings are still standing, an ornament to the town, and
an honor to the sovereign who caused them to be erected, as well as to the
artist who planned, and to the age which produced them. As models of
architecture they are the same land-marks to the history of the art in Lower
Normandy, as the church of St. Georges is in the upper division of the
province. Their dates are equally authenticated; and the characteristic
features in each are equally perfect.
Both these noble edifices rose at the same time, and from the same motive.
William the Conqueror, by his marriage with Matilda, daughter of Baldwin,
Earl of Flanders, had contracted an alliance proscribed by the degrees of
consanguinity. The clergy inveighed against the union; and they were
supported in their complaints by Lanfranc, then resident at Bec, whose
remonstrances were so uncourtly and strenuous, that the duke banished him
from the province. It chanced that the churchman, while in the act of
obedience to this command, met the sovereign. Their interview began with
recriminations: it ended with reconciliation; and Lanfranc finally engaged to
undertake a mission to the supreme Pontiff, who, considering the turbulent
disposition of the Normans, and that a better end was likely to be answered
by peaceable than by hostile measures, consented to grant the necessary
dispensation. At the same time, by way of penance, he issued an injunction
that the royal pair should erect two monasteries, the one for monks, the other
for nuns. And in obedience to this command, William founded the abbey of
St. Stephen, and Matilda, the abbey of the Holy Trinity; or, as they are
usually called at Caen, l'abbaye aux hommes, and l'abbaye aux dames.

The approach to the monastery of the Trinity is through a spacious gate-
tower, part of the original structure. Over the rent and shapeless door-way
are three semi-circular arches, upon the capitals of which is distinctly
observable the cable-moulding, and along the top of the tower runs a line of
the same toothed ornament, remarked by Ducarel at Bourg-Achard, and
stated by him to have been considered peculiar to Saxon architecture[76]. The
park that formerly environed the abbey retains its character, though
abandoned to utter neglect. It is of great extent, and is well wooded. The
monastic buildings, which are, as usual, modern, are mostly perfect.--A
ruined wall nearly in front of the church, with a chimney-piece, perhaps of
Norman workmanship, belonged to the old structure. Such part of the
chimney wall as was exposed to the flame is built of large tiles, placed
diagonally. All other vestiges of the ancient apartments have been removed.

The noble church[77] is now used as a work-house for the department. At the
revolution it became national property, and it remained unappropriated, till,
upon the institution of the Legion of Honor, Napoléon applied it to some
purpose connected with that body, by whom it was lately ceded for it present
object. But, if common report may be credited, it is likely soon to revert to
its original destination. The restoration may be easily effected, as the
building has sustained but little injury. A floor has been thrown across the
nave and transept, dividing them into two stories; but in other respects they
are unaltered, and divine service is still performed in the choir.
A finer specimen of the solid grandeur of Norman architecture is scarcely to
be found any where than in the west front of this church. The corresponding
part of the rival abbey of St. Stephen is poor when compared to it; and
Jumieges and St. Georges equally fail in the comparison. In all of these,
there is some architectural anomaly: in the Trinity none, excepting, indeed,
the balustrade at the top of the towers; and this is so obviously an addition of
modern times, that no one can be misled by it. This balustrade was erected
towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the oval apertures
and scrolls seen in Ducarel's print were introduced. Anciently the towers
were ornamented with very lofty spires. According to some accounts, these
were demolished, because they served as land-marks to the English cruizers,
being seen far out at sea; but other accounts state, that the spires were pulled
down by Charles, King of Navarre, who was at war with his namesake,
Charles Vth, then Dauphin and Regent. The abbey at that time bore the two-

fold character of nunnery and fortress.--Strangely inconsistent as this union
may appear, the fact is undoubted. Even now a portion of the fosses remains;
and the gate-way indicates an approach to a fortified place. Ancient charters
likewise expressly recognize the building in both capacities: they endow the
abbey for the service of God; and they enjoin the inhabitants of the adjacent
parishes to keep the fortifications in repair against any assaults of men. Nay,
letters patent, granted by Charles Vth, which fix the salary of the captain of
the Fort of the Trinity, at Caen, at one hundred francs per annum, are yet
extant.
I shall attempt no description of the west front of this monastery, few
continental buildings being better known in England. The whole remains as
it was in the time of Ducarel, except that the arches of entrance are blocked
up, and modern windows have been inserted in the door-ways.--The north
side of the church is quite concealed by the cloisters and conventual
buildings. The southern aisle has been plastered and patched, and converted
into a range of work-shops, so that its original elevation is wholly
obliterated. But the nave, which rises above, is untouched by innovation.
The clerestory range is filled by a row of semi-circular headed windows,
separated by intervening flat buttresses, which reach to the cornice. Each
buttress is edged with two slender cylindrical pilasters; and each window
flanked by two smaller arches, whose surfaces are covered with chequer-
work. The arch of every window has a key-stone, formed by a grotesque
head.--Above the whole is a corbel-table that displays monsters of all kinds,
in the form of beasts, and men scarcely less monstrous.--The semi-circular
east end is divided in its elevation into three compartments. The lower
contains a row of small blank arches: in each of the other two is a window,
of a size unusually large for a Norman building, but still without mullions or
tracery; its sides ornamented with columns, and its top encircled with a
broad band of various mouldings. The windows are separated by cylindrical
pillars, instead of buttresses.--In the upper part of the low central tower are
some pointed arches, the only deviations of style that are to be found in the
building. To the extremity of the southern transept has been attached a
Grecian portico, which masks the ancient portal. Above is a row of round
arches, some of which are pierced into windows.
Of the effect of the nave and transept within, it is difficult now to obtain a
correct idea, the floor intervening to obstruct a general view.--High arches,

encircled with the embattled moulding below; above these, a wide billeted
string-course, forming a basis for a row of smaller arches, without side-
pillars or decoration of any kind; then another string-course of different and
richer patterns; and over this, the triforium, consisting also of a row of small
arches, supported by thick pillars;--such is the elevation of the sides of the
nave; and the same system is continued with but small variation in the
transepts. But, notwithstanding the general uniformity of the whole, no two
compartments are precisely alike; and the capitals are infinitely varied. It is
singular to see such a playfulness of ornament in a building, whose architect
appears, at first view, to have contemplated only grandeur and solidity.--The
four arches which support the central tower are on a magnificent scale. The
archivolts are encircled by two rows of lozenged squares, indented in the
stone. The rams, or rams' heads, upon the capitals of these piers, are peculiar.
The eastern arch rises higher than the rest, and is obtusely pointed; yet it
seems to be of the same date with its circular companions.--So exquisite,
however, is the quality of the Caen stone, that no opinion drawn from the
appearance of the material, ought to be hazarded with confidence. Seven
centuries have elapsed since this church was erected, and there is yet no
difference to be discovered in the color of the stone, or the sharpness of the
work; the whole is as clean and sharp as if it were but yesterday fresh from
the chisel. The interior of the choir has not been divided by the flooring; and
the eastern extremity, which remains perfect, shews the original design. It
consists of large arches, disposed in a double tier, so as to correspond with
the windows of the apsis, and placed at a short distance from the wall; but
without any Lady-Chapel beyond. The pillars that support these arches are
well proportioned: the sculptures on their capitals are scarcely less grotesque
than those at St. Georges; but, barbarous as they are, the corners of almost
every capital are finished with imitations, more or less obvious, of the
classical Ionic volute.--Among the sculptures is a head resting upon two
lions, which has been fancied to be a representation of the Conqueror
himself; whilst a faded painting of a female, attired as a nun, on the north
side of the altar, is also commonly entitled a portrait of the foundress.--Were
any plausible reason alleged for regarding the picture as intended to bear
even an imaginary resemblance to Matilda, I would have sent you a copy of
it; but there appear no grounds to consider it as authentic.--Willing, however,
to contribute a mark of respect to a female, styled by William of
Malmesbury, "fæminam prudentiæ speculum, pudoris culmen," and, by way
of a companion to the rough sketch of her illustrious consort, in the initial

letter in the library at Rouen, I add the fac-simile of a seal, which, by the
kindness of a friend has fallen into my hands. It has been engraved before,
but only for private distribution; and, if a suspicion should cross your mind,
that it may have belonged to the Empress Maud, or to Matilda, wife to
Stephen, I can only bespeak your thanks to me, for furnishing you with a
likeness of any one of these ladies.

Matilda was interred in the middle of this choir; and, according to Ordericus
Vitalis, a monument of exquisite workmanship, richly ornamented with gold
and precious stones, and bearing a long inscription in letters of gold, was
raised to her memory. Her effigy was afterwards added to the monument; the
whole of which was destroyed in 1652, by the Calvinists, who tore open the
Queen's coffin, and dispersed her remains. After a lapse of an hundred and
forty years, the royal bones were again collected, and deposited in this
church. At the same time, the splendid monument was replaced by a plain
altar-tomb, which existed till the revolution, when all was once more swept
away. The marble slab, inscribed with the original epitaph, alone remained
entire, and was carried to the abbey church of St. Stephen's, where it still
forms a part of the pavement in a chapel. The letters are finely sculptured
and perfectly sharp. However, it is not likely to continue there long; for
Count de Montlivault, the prefect of the department, has already caused a
search to be made for Matilda's remains, and he intends to erect a third
monument to her memory. The excavations for this purpose have hitherto

been unsuccessful: the Count met with many monumental stones, and many
coffins of various kinds, but none that could be mistaken for the desired
object; for one of the inscriptions on the late monument expressly states, that
the Queen's bones had been wrapped in a linen cloth, and enclosed in a
leaden box.

The inquiry, however, will not be discontinued[78]: there are still hopes of
success, especially in the crypt, which corresponds in its architecture with
the church above. It is filled with columns placed in four ranges, each
standing only four feet from the other, all of elegant proportions, with
diversified capitals, as those in the choir.--Round it runs a stone bench, as in
the subterraneous chapel in St. Gervais, at Rouen.
Founded by a queen, the abbey of the Trinity preserved at all times a
constitution thoroughly aristocratical. No individual, except of noble birth,
was allowed to take the veil here, or could be received into the community.
You will see in the series of the abbesses the names of Bourbon, Valois,
Albret, Montmorenci, and others of the most illustrious families in France.
Cecily, the Conqueror's eldest daughter, stands at the head of the list.
According to the Gallia Christiana, she was devoted by her parents to this
holy office, upon the very day of the dedication of the convent, in July 1066.
The black marble slab which covered her remains, was lately discovered in
the chapter-house. A crozier is sculptured upon it. It is delineated in a very
curious volume now in the possession of the Abbé de la Rue, which contains
drawings of all the tombs and inscriptions that formerly existed in the abbey.
The annual income of the monastery of the Trinity is stated by Gough, in his
Alien Priories, at thirty thousand livres, and that of the monastery of St.
Stephen, at sixty thousand; but Ducarel estimates the revenue of the former
at seventy thousand, and of the latter at two hundred thousand; and I should
not doubt but that the larger sums are nearest the truth; indeed, the grants
and charters still in existence, or noticed by historians, would rather lead to
the supposition that the revenues must have been even greater. Parsimony in
the endowment of religious buildings, was not a prevailing vice in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries. Least of all was it likely that it should be
practised in the case of establishments, thus founded in expiation of the
transgressions of wealthy and powerful sinners. Page after page, in the
charters, is filled with the list of those, who, with

"Lands and livings, many a rood,
Had gifted the shrine for their soul's repose."

The privileges and immunities enjoyed by these abbeys were very extensive.
Both of them were from their origin exempted by Pope Alexander IInd, with
the consent of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, from all episcopal jurisdiction; and
both had full power, as well spiritual as ecclesiastical, over the members of
their own communities, and over the parishes dependent upon them; with no
other appeal than to the archbishop of Rouen, or to the Pope. Express
permission was likewise given to the abbot of St. Stephen's, by virtue of a
bull from Pope Clement VIIth, to wear a gold mitre studded with precious
stones, and a ring and sandals, and other episcopal ornaments.
Many of the monuments and deeds of the greater abbey are now in the
prefecture of the department. The original chartulary or register was saved
by the Abbé de la Rue, and is at this time preserved in his valuable
collection. The charters of the Trinity were hid, during the revolution, by the
nuns, who secreted them beneath the tiling of a barn. They were discovered
there not long since; but damp and vermin had rendered them wholly
illegible.
Lanfranc, whose services at Rome well deserved every distinction that his
sovereign could bestow, was the first abbot of St. Stephen's. Upon his
translation to the see of Canterbury, he was succeeded by William, who was
likewise subsequently honored with an archiepiscopal mitre. The third abbot,
Gislebert, was bishop of Evreux; and, though the series was not continued
through an uninterrupted line of equal dignity, the office of abbot of this
convent was seldom conferred, except upon an individual of exalted birth.
Eight cardinals, two of them of the noble houses of Medici and Farnese, and
three others, still more illustrious, the cardinals Richelieu, Mazarine, and
Fleury, are included in the list, though in later times the abbacy was held in
commendam by these powerful prelates, whilst all the internal management
of the house devolved upon a prior. Amongst the abbots will also be found
Hugh de Coilly, grandson of King Stephen, Anthony of Bourbon, a natural
son of Henry IVth of France, and Charles of Orléans, who was likewise of
royal extraction.--St. Stephen was selected as the patron of the abbey, in
consequence of the founder having bestowed upon it the head of the

protomartyr, together with one of his arms, and a phial of his blood, and the
stone with which he was killed.

The monastic buildings now serve for what, in the language of revolutionary
and imperial France, was called a Lycée, but which has since assumed the
less heathen appellation of a college. They constitute a fine edifice, and, seen
from a short distance, in conjunction with the east end of the church, they
form a grand tout-ensemble. The abbey church, from this point of view, has
somewhat of an oriental character: the wide sweep of the semi-circular apsis,
and the slender turrets and pyramids that rise from every part of the building,
recal the idea of a Mahometan mosque. But the west end is still more
striking than the east; and if, in the interior of the church of the Trinity, we
had occasion to admire the beautiful quality of the Caen stone, our
admiration of it was more forcibly excited here: notwithstanding the
continual exposure to wind and weather, no part appears corroded, or
discolored, or injured. A character of magnificence, arising in a great
measure from the grand scale upon which it is built, pervades this front. But,
to be regarded with advantage, it must be viewed as a whole: the parts, taken
separately, are unequal and ill assorted. The simplicity of the main division
approaches to meanness. Its three door-ways and double tier of windows
appear disproportionally small, when contrasted with the expanse of blank

wall; and their returns are remarkably shallow. The windows have no
mouldings whatever, and the pillars and archivolts of the doors are very
meagre. The front consists of three compartments, separated by flat
buttresses; the lateral divisions rising into lofty towers, capped with octagon
spires. The towers are much ornamented: three tiers of semi-circular arches
surround the upper divisions; the arches of the first tier have no mouldings
or pillars; the upper vary in pattern, and are enriched with pillars and bands,
and some are pierced into windows.--Twelve pinnacles equally full of
arches, some pointed, others semi-circular, surround each spire. Similar
pinnacles rise from the ends of the transepts and the choir.--The central
tower, which is short and terminates in a conical roof, was ruined by the
Huguenots, who undermined it, thinking that its fall would destroy the whole
building. Fortunately, however, it only damaged a portion of the eastern end;
the reparations done to which have occasioned a discrepancy of style, that is
injurious to the general effect. But the choir and apsis were previously of a
different æra from the rest of the edifice. They were raised by the Abbot
Simon de Trevieres, in the beginning of the fourteenth century.--I am greatly
mistaken, if a real Norman church ever extended farther eastward than the
choir.
The building is now undergoing a thorough repair, at the expence of the
town. No other revenues, at present, belong to it, except the sous which are
paid for chairs during mass.
A friend, who is travelling through Normandy, describes the interior in the
following manner; and, as I agree with him in his ideas, I shall borrow his
description:--"Without doubt, the architect was conversant with Roman
buildings, though he has Normanized their features, and adopted the lines of
the basilica to a barbaric temple. The Coliseum furnished the elevation of
the nave;--semi-circular arches surmounted by another tier of equal span,
and springing at nearly an equal height from the basis of the supporting
pillars. The architraves connecting the lower rows of pillars are distinctly
enounced. The arches which rise from them have plain bold mouldings. The
piers between each arch are of considerable width. In the centre of each pier
is a column, which ascends as usual to the vault. These columns are
alternately simple and compound. The latter are square pilasters, each
fronted by a cylindrical column, which of course projects farther into the
nave than the simple columns; and thus the nave is divided into bays. This

system is imitated in the gothic cathedral, at Sens. The square pilaster ceases
at about four-fifths of its height: then two cylindrical pillars rise from it, so
that, from that point, the column becomes clustered. Angular brackets,
sculptured with knots, grotesque heads, and foliage, are affixed to the base
of these derivative pillars. A bold double-billeted moulding is continued
below the clerestory, whose windows adapt themselves to the binary
arrangement of the bays. A taller arch is flanked by a smaller one on the right
or the left side, as its situation requires. These are supported by short massy
pillars: an embattled moulding runs round the windows.
"In the choir the arches become pointed, but with Norman mouldings: the
apsis is a re-construction. In that portion of the choir, which seems original,
there are pointed windows formed by the interlacing of circular arches: these
light the gallery.
"The effect produced by the perspective of the interior is lofty and palatial.
The ancient masonry of the exterior is worthy of notice. The stones are all
small, perhaps not exceeding nine or twelve inches: the joints are about
three-quarters of an inch."
At the north-west angle of the nave has been built a large chapel,
comparatively a modern erection; and in the centre of this lies Matilda's
gravestone.--There is no other chapel to the nave, and, as usual, no
monument in any portion of the church; but in front of the high altar is still
to be seen the flat stone, placed there in 1742, in memory of the Conqueror,
and bearing the epitaph--

QUI REXIT RIGIDOS NORMANNOS ATQUE
BRITANNOS
AVDACTER VICIT FORTITER OBTINVIT
ET CENOMANENSES VIRTVTE COERCVIT ENSES
IMPERIIQVE SVI LEGIBUS APPLICVIT
REX MAGNVS PARVA JACET HIC VILLELMVS IN
VRNA
SVFFICIT HÆC MAGNO PARVA DOMVS DOMINO
TER SEPTEM GRADIBVS SE VOLVERAT ATQUE
DVOBVS
VIRGINIS IN GREMIO PHOEBVS ET HIC OBIIT
ANNO MLXXXVII
REQVIESCEBAT IN SPE CORPVS BENEFICIENTISSIMI
FVNDATORIS QVVM A CALVINIANIS ANNO MDLXII
DISSIPATA SVNT EIVS OSSA VNVM EX EIS A VIRO
NOBILI

QVI TVM ADERAT RESERVATVM ET A POSTERIS
ILLIVS
ANNO MDCXLII RESTITVTVM IN MEDIO CHORO
DEPOSITVM
FVERAT MOLE SEPVLCHRALI DESVPER EXTRVCTA
HANC
CEREMONIARVM SOLEMNITATE MINVS
ACCOMMODAM
AMOVERVNT MONACHI ANNO MDCCXLII REGIO
FVLTI DIPLOMATE ET OS QVOD VNVM SVPERERAT
REPOSVERVNT IN CRYPTA PROPE ALTARE
IN QVO IVGITER DE BENEDICTIONIBVS METET
QVI SEMINAVIT IN BENEDICTIONIBVS
FIAT FIAT
The poetical part of this epitaph was composed by Thomas, archbishop of
York, and was engraved upon the original monument, as well as upon a plate
of gilt copper, which was found within the sepulchre when it was first
opened. Many other poets, we are told by Ordericus Vitalis, exercised their
talents upon the occasion; but none of their productions were deemed worthy
to be inscribed upon the tomb. The account of the opening of the vault is
related by De Bourgueville, from whom it has been already copied by
Ducarel; but the circumstances are so curious, that I shall offer no apology
for telling a twice-told tale. From Ordericus Vitalis also we may borrow
some details respecting the funeral of the Conqueror, which, though strictly
appertaining to English history, have never yet, I believe, appeared in an
English dress.
In speaking of the church of St. Gervais at Rouen, I have already briefly
alluded to the melancholy circumstances by which the death of this monarch
was attended. The sequel of the story is not less memorable.
The king's decease was the signal for general consternation throughout the
metropolis of Normandy. The citizens, panic struck, ran to and fro, as if
intoxicated, or as if the town were upon the point of being taken by assault.
Each asked counsel of his neighbor, and each anxiously turned his thoughts
to the concealing of his property. When the alarm had in some measure
subsided the monks and clergy made a solemn procession to the abbey of St.
Georges, where they offered their prayers for the repose of the soul of the

departed Duke; and archbishop William commanded that the body should be
carried to Caen, to be interred in the church of St. Stephen, which William
had founded. But the lifeless king was now deserted by all who had
participated in his munificence and bounty. Every one of his brethren and
relations had left him; nor was there even a servant to be found to perform
the last offices to his departed lord. The care of the obsequies was finally
undertaken by Herluin, a knight of that district, who, moved by the love of
God and the honor of his nation, provided at his own expence, embalmers,
and bearers, and a hearse, and conveyed the corpse to the Seine, whence it
was carried by land and water to the place of its destination.
Upon the arrival of the funeral train at Caen, it was met by Gislebert, bishop
of Evreux, then abbot of St. Stephen's, at the head of his monks, attended
with a numerous throng of clergy and laity; but scarcely had the bier been
brought within the gates, when the report was spread that a dreadful fire had
broken out in another part of the town, and the Duke's remains were a
second time deserted. The monks alone remained; and, fearful and irresolute,
they bore their founder "with candle, with book, and with knell," to his last
home. Ordericus Vitalis enumerates the principal prelates and barons
assembled upon this occasion; but he makes no mention of the Conqueror's
son, Henry, who, according to William of Jumieges, was the only one of the
family that attended, and was also the only one worthy of succeeding to such
a father.--Mass had now been performed, and the body was about to be
committed to the ground, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," when, previously to
this closing part of the ceremony, Gislebert mounted the pulpit, and
delivered an oration in honor of the deceased.--He praised his valor, which
had so widely extended the limits of the Norman dominion; his ability,
which had elevated the nation to the highest pitch of glory; his equity in the
administration of justice; his firmness in correcting abuses; and his liberality
towards the monks and clergy; then, finally, addressing the people, he
besought them to intercede with the Almighty for the soul of their prince,
and to pardon whatsoever transgression he might have been guilty of
towards any of them.--At this moment, one Asselin, an obscure individual,
starting from the crowd, exclaimed with a loud voice, "the ground upon
which you are standing, was the site of my father's dwelling. This man, for
whom you ask our prayers, took it by force from my parent; by violence he
seized, by violence he retained it; and, contrary to all law and justice, he
built upon it this church, where we are assembled. Publicly, therefore, in the

sight of God and man, do I claim my inheritance, and protest against the
body of the plunderer being covered with my turf."--The appeal was
attended with instant effect; bishops and nobles united in their entreaties to
Asselin; they admitted the justice of his claim; they pacified him; they paid
him sixty shillings on the spot by way of recompence for the place of
sepulture; and, finally, they satisfied him for the rest of the land.
But the remarkable incidents doomed to attend upon this burial, were not yet
at an end; for at the time when they were laying the corpse in the
sarcophagus, and were bending it with some force, which they were
compelled to do, in consequence of the coffin having been made too short,
the body, which was extremely corpulent, burst, and so intolerable a stench
issued from the grave, that all the perfumes which arose from all the censers
of the priests and acolytes were of no avail; and the rites were concluded in
haste, and the assembly, struck with horror, returned to their homes.
The latter part of this story accords but ill with what De Bourgueville relates.
We learn from this author, that four hundred and thirty years subsequent to
the death of the Conqueror, a Roman cardinal, attended by an archbishop
and bishop, visited the town of Caen, and that his eminence having
expressed a wish to see the body of the duke, the monks yielded to his
curiosity, and the tomb was opened, and the corpse discovered in so perfect a
state, that the cardinal caused a portrait to be taken from the lifeless
features.--It is not worth while now to inquire into the truth of this story, or
the fidelity of the resemblance. The painting has disappeared in the course of
time: it hung for a while against the walls of the church, opposite to the
monument; but it was stolen during the tumults caused by the Huguenots,
and was broken into two pieces, in which state De Bourgueville saw it a few
years afterwards, in the hands of a Calvinist, one Peter Hodé, the gaoler at
Caen, who used it in the double capacity of a table and a door.--The worthy
magistrate states, that he kept the picture, "because the abbey-church was
demolished."
He was himself present at the second violation of the royal tomb, in 1572;
and he gives a piteous account of the transaction. The monument raised to
the memory of the Conqueror, by his son, William Rufus, under the
superintendance of Lanfranc, was a production of much costly and elaborate
workmanship: the shrine, which was placed upon the mausoleum, glittered
with gold and silver and precious stones. To complete the whole, the effigy

of the king had been added to the tomb, at some period subsequent to its
original erection.--A monument like this naturally excited the rapacity of a
lawless banditti, unrestrained by civil or military force, and inveterate
against every thing that might be regarded as connected with the Catholic
worship.--The Calvinists were masters of Caen, and, incited by the
information of what had taken place at Rouen, they resolved to repeat the
same outrages. Under the specious pretext of abolishing idolatrous worship,
they pillaged and ransacked every church and monastery: they broke the
painted windows and organs, destroyed the images, stole the ecclesiastical
ornaments, sold the shrines, committed pulpits, chests, books, and whatever
was combustible, to the fire; and finally, after having wreaked their
vengeance upon eyery thing that could be made the object of it, they went
boldly to the town-hall to demand the wages for their labors.--In the course
of these outrages the tomb of the Conqueror at one abbey, and that of
Matilda at the other, were demolished. And this was not enough; but a few
days afterwards, the same band returned, allured by the hopes of farther
plunder. It was customary in ancient times to deposit treasures of various
kinds in the tombs of sovereigns, as if the feelings of the living passed into
the next stage of existence;--

"... quæ gratia currûm
Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes
Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos."

The bees that adorned the imperial mantle of Napoléon were found in the
tomb of Childeric. A similar expectation excited the Huguenots, at Caen.
They dug up the coffin: the hollow stone rung to the strokes of their daggers:
the vibration proved that it was not filled by the corpse; and nothing more
was wanted to seal its destruction.
De Bourgueville, who went to the spot and exerted his eloquence to check
this last act of violence, witnessed the opening of the coffin. It contained the
bones of the king, wrapped up in red taffety, and still in tolerable
preservation; but nothing else. He collected them, with care, and consigned
them to one of the monks of the abbeys who kept them in his chamber, till
the Admiral de Châtillon entered Caen at the head of his mercenaries, on
which occasion the whole abbey was plundered, and the monks put to flight,
and the bones lost. "Sad doings, these," says De Bourgueville, "et bien peu

réformez!"--He adds, that one of the thigh-bones was preserved by the
Viscount of Falaise, who was there with him, and begged it from the rioters,
and that this bone was longer by four fingers' breadth than that of a tall man.
The bone thus preserved, was re-interred, after the cessation of the troubles:
it is the same that is alluded to in the inscription, which also informs us that
a monument was raised over it in 1642, but was removed in 1742, it being
then considered as an incumbrance in the choir.
With this detail I close my letter. The melancholy end of the Conqueror, the
strange occurrences at his interment, the violation of his grave, the
dispersion of his remains, and the demolition and final removal of his
monument, are circumstances calculated to excite melancholy emotions in
the mind of every one, whatever his condition in life. In all these events, the
religious man traces the hand of retributive justice; the philosopher regards
the nullity of sublunary grandeur; the historian finds matter for serious
reflection; the poet for affecting narrative; the moralist for his tale; and the
school-boy for his theme.--Ordericus Vitalis sums the whole up admirably. I
should spoil his language were I to attempt to translate it; I give it you,
therefore, in his own words:--"Non fictilem tragoediam venundo, non
loquaci comoedia cachinnantibus parasitis faveo: sed studiosis lectoribus
varios eventus veraciter intimo. Inter prospera patuerunt adversa, ut
terrerentur terrigenarum corda. Rex quondam potens et bellicosus, multisque
populis per plures Provincias metuendus, in area jacuit nudus, et a suis, quos
genuerat vel aluerat, destitutus. Aere alieno in funebri cultu indiguit, ope
gregarii pro sandapila et vespilionibus conducendis eguit, qui tot hactenus et
superfluis opibus nimis abundavit. Secus incendium a formidolosis vectus
est ad Basilicam, liberoque solo, qui tot urbibus et oppidis et vicis
principatus est, caruit ad sepulturam. Arvina ventris ejus tot delectamentis
enutrita cum dedecore patuit, et prudentes ac infrunitos, qualis sit gloria
carnis, edocuit[79]."

Footnotes:

[76] Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 45.

[77] See Cotman's Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, t. 24-33.

[78] A detailed account of the proceedings on this occasion, is
given in the Journal Politique du Département du Calvados, for
March 21, and May 6, 1819.--The first attempt at the discovery of
Matilda's coffin, was made in March, 1818, and was confined to
the chapter-house: the matter then slept till the following March,
when Count de Montlivault, attended by the Bishop of Bayeux,
Mr. Spencer Smythe, and other gentlemen, prosecuted his inquiries
within the church itself, and, immediately under the spot where her
monument stood, discovered a stone coffin, five feet four inches
long, by eleven inches deep, and varying in width from twenty
inches to eleven. Within this coffin was a leaden box, soldered
down; and, in addition to the box, the head of an effigy of a monk,
in stone, and a portion of a skull-bone filled with aromatic herbs,
and covered with a yellowish-white membrane, which proved,
upon examination, to be the remains of a linen cloth. The box
contained various bones, that had belonged to a person of nearly
the same height as Matilda is described to have been. No doubt
seemed to remain but that the desideratum was discovered. The
whole was therefore carefully replaced; and the prefect ordered
that a new tomb should be raised, similar to that which was
destroyed at the revolution; and that the slab, with the original
epitaph, should be laid on the top; that copies of the former
inscription, stating how the queen's remains had been re-interred
by the abbess, in 1707, should be added to two of the sides; that to
the third should be affixed the ducal arms of Normandy; and that
the fourth should bear the following inscription:--

"Ce tombeau renfermant les dépouilles mortelles
de l'illustre Fondatrice de cette Abbaye,
renversé pendant les discordes civiles,
et déplacé depuis une longue série d'années,
a été restauré, conformément au voeu des
amis de la religion, de l'antiquité et des arts,
1819.
Casimir, comte de Montlivault, conseiller d'état,
préfet.
Léchaudé d'Anisy, directeur de l'Hospice."

The ceremony of the re-interment was performed with great pomp
on the fifth of May; and the Bishop of Bayeux pronounced a
speech on the occasion, that does him credit for its good sense and
affecting eloquence.

[79] Hist. Normannorum Scriptores, p. 662.

LETTER XXVI.
PALACE OF THE CONQUEROR--HERALDIC TILES--PORTRAITS
OF WILLIAM AND MATILDA--MUSEUM--PUBLIC LIBRARY--
UNIVERSITY--ACADEMY--EMINENT MEN--HISTORY OF CAEN.

(Caen, August, 1818.)
Within the precincts of the abbey of St. Stephen are some buildings, which
do not appear to have been used for monastic purposes. It is supposed that
they were erected by William the Conqueror, and they are yet called his
palace. Only sixty years ago, when Ducarel visited Caen, these remains still
preserved their original character.
He describes the great guard-chamber and the barons' hall, as making a
noble appearance, and as being perhaps equally worth the notice of an
English antiquary as any object within the province of Normandy. The walls
of these rooms are standing, but dilapidated and degraded; and they have lost
their architectural character, which, supposing Ducarel's plate to be a faithful
representation, must have been very decisive. It is scarcely possible to
conceive how any man, with such a specimen of the palace before his eyes,
could dream of its being coeval with the Norman conquest: every portion is
of the pointed style, and even of a period when that style was no longer in its
purity. Possibly, indeed, other parts of the edifice may have been more
ancient; such certainly was the "Conqueror's kitchen," a singular octagon
building, with four tall slender chimneys capped with perforated cones. This
was destroyed many years ago; but Ducarel obtained an original drawing of
it, which he has engraved. Amongst the ruins there is a chimney which
perhaps belonged to this building.--The guard-chamber and barons' hall are
noble rooms: the former is one hundred and ninety feet in length and ninety
in breadth. You remember how admirably the Lay of the Last Minstrel opens
with a description of such a hall, filled with knights, and squires, and pages,
and all the accompaniments of feudal state. I tried, while standing by these
walls, to conjure up the same pictures to my imagination, but it was
impossible; so desolate and altered was every thing around, and so

effectually was the place of baronial assemblage converted into a granary.
The ample fire-place still remains; but, cold and cheerless, it looks as if had
been left in mockery of departed splendor and hospitality. I annex a sketch of
it, in which you will also see a few scattered tiles, relics of the magnificent
pavement that once covered the floor.

This pavement has been the subject of much learned discussion; because, if
the antiquity of the emblazoned tiles could be established, (which it certainly
cannot) we should then have a decisive proof of the use of armorial bearings
in the eleventh century. Nearly the whole of these tiles are now removed.
After the abbey was sold, the workmen entirely destroyed the tiles, breaking

them with their pick-axes. The Abbé de la Rue, however, collected an entire
set of them; and others have been preserved by M. Lair, an antiquary of
Caen.--Ducarel thus describes the pavement when perfect: "The floor is laid
with tiles, each near five inches square, baked almost to vitrification. Eight
rows of these tiles, running from east to west, are charged with different
coats of arms, said to be those of the families who attended Duke William in
his invasion of England. The intervals between each of these rows are filled
up with a kind of tessellated pavement, the middle whereof represents a
maze or labyrinth, about ten feet in diameter, and so artfully contrived that
were we to suppose a man following all the intricate meanders of its volutes,
he could not travel less than a mile before he got from one end to the other.
The remainder of the floor is inlaid with small squares of different colors,
placed alternately, and formed into draught or chess-boards, for the
amusement of the soldiers while on guard."
Such is the general description of the floors of this apartment: with regard to
the date of the tiles, Ducarel proceeds to state that "it is most probable the
pavement was laid down in the latter part of the reign of King John, when he
was loitering away his life at Caen, with the beautiful Isabel of Angoulême,
his queen; during which period, the custom of wearing coats of arms was
introduced."--Common tradition assigns the tiles to higher date, making
them coeval with the conquest; and this opinion has not been without
supporters. It was strenuously defended by Mr. Henniker Major, who, in the
year 1794, printed for private distribution, two letters upon the subject,
addressed to Lord Leicester, in which he maintained this opinion with zeal
and laborious research. To the letters were annexed engravings of twenty
coats of arms, the whole, as he observes, that were represented on the
pavement; for though the number of emblazoned tiles was considerable, the
rest were all repetitions[80]. The same observation was found in the
inscription attached to a number of the tiles, which the monks kept framed
for public inspection, in a conspicuous part of the monastery; and yet some
of the armorial bearings in this very selection, differ from any of those
figured by Mr. Henniker Major. The Abbé de la Rue has also many which
are not included in Mr. Henniker Major's engravings. In one of the coats the
arms are quartered, a practice that was not introduced till the reign of
Edward IIIrd. The same quarterings are also found upon an escutcheon,
placed over the door that leads to the apartment. This door is a flattened

arch, with an ogee canopy, the workmanship probably of the fourteenth
century.
To the same date I should also refer the tiles; and possibly the whole palace
was built at that period. There are no records of its erection; no document
connects its existence with the history of the duchy; no author relates its
having been suffered to fall into decay. So striking an absence of all proof,
and this upon a point where evidence of different kinds might naturally have
been expected, may warrant a suspicion how far the building was ever a
royal palace, according to the strict import of the town. A friend of mine
supposes that these buildings may have been the king's lodgings. During the
middle ages it was usual for monarchs in their progresses, to put up at the
great abbeys; and this portion of the convent of St. Stephen may have been
intended for the accommodation of the royal guests.
The assigning of a comparatively modern date to the pavement, does not
necessarily interfere with the question as to the antiquity of heraldic
bearings. The coats of arms which are painted upon the tiles may have been
designed to represent those of the nobility who attended Duke William on
his expedition to England: it is equally possible that they embraced a more
general object, and were those of the principal families of the duchy--De
Thou gives his suffrage in favor of the former opinion, but Huet of the latter;
and the testimony of the bishop must be allowed, in this case, to outweigh
that of the president.--Huet also says, that it is matter of notoriety that the
tiles were laid down towards the close of the fourteenth century. He
mentions, however, no authority for the assertion; and less credit perhaps
will be given to it than it deserves, from his having stated just before, that
the abbey and palace were contemporary structures.
Upon the outside wall of a chapel that is supposed to have belonged to the
same palace, were ancient fresco paintings of William and Matilda, and of
their sons, Robert and William Rufus. They are engraved by Montfaucon[81],
and are supposed by him, probably with reason, to be coeval with the
personages they represent. The figures are standing upon animals, the
distribution of which is the most remarkable circumstance connected with
the portraits. To the king is assigned a dog; to the queen a lion: the eldest son
has the same symbol as his father; the younger rests upon a two-bodied
beast, half swine, half bird, the bodies uniting in a female head.--Upon the

same plate, Montfaucon has given a second whole-length picture of the
conqueror, which represents him with the crown upon his head, and the
sceptre in his hand. Considering the costume, he observes with justice that it
cannot have been painted earlier than the latter part of the fourteenth century.
Ducarel, who, as usual, has copied the Benedictine's engravings, says that, in
his time, the same portrait existed in fresco over a chimney-piece in the
porter's lodge.--We saw two copies of it; the one in the sacristy of the abbey
church, the other in the museum, an establishment which may, without
injustice to the honors of Caen, be dismissed with the brief observation, that,
though three rooms are appropriated to the purpose, there is a very scanty
assortment of pictures, and their quality is altogether ordinary.
The public library is a handsome apartment, one hundred and thirty feet in
length, and it contains about twenty thousand volumes, mostly in good
condition; but a great proportion of the books are of a description little read,
being old divinity. To the students of the university, this establishment is of
essential service; and on this account it is to be regretted, that the very scanty
revenue with which it is endowed, amounting only to twelve hundred francs
per annum, prevents the possibility of any material increase to the collection,
except in the case of such books as the liberality of the state contributes. And
these are principally works of luxury and great expence, which might
advantageously be exchanged for the less costly productions of more
extensive utility. We inquired in vain after manuscripts and specimens of
early typography. None were to be found; and yet they might surely have
been expected here; for a public library has existed in Caen from an early
part of the last century, and, previous to the revolution, it was enriched with
various donations. M. de Colleville presented to it the whole of the
collection of the celebrated Bochart; Cavelier, printer to the university, a
man known by several treatises on Roman antiquities, added a donation of
two thousand volumes; and Cardinal de Fleury, who considered it under his
especial protection, gave various sums of money for the purchase of books,
and likewise provided a salary for the librarian. I suspect that no small
proportion of the more valuable volumes, have been dispersed or stolen.
Round the apartment hang portraits of the most eminent men of Caen: tablets
are also suspended, for the purpose of commemorating those who have been
benefactors to the library; but the tablets at present are blank.

For its university Caen is indebted to Henry VIth, who, anxious to give éclat
and popularity to British rule, founded a college by letters patent, dated from
Rouen, in January, 1431. The original charter restricted the objects of the
university to education in the canon and civil law; but, five years
subsequently, the same king issued a fresh patent, adding the faculties of
theology and the arts; and, in the following year, he still farther added the
faculty of medicine.--To give permanency to the work thus happily begun,
the states of Normandy preferred their petition to Pope Eugene IVth, who
issued two bulls, dated the thirtieth of May, 1437, and the nineteenth of May,
1439, by which the new university received the sanction of the holy see, and
was placed upon the same footing as the other universities of the kingdom.
The Bishop of Bayeux was at the same time appointed chancellor; and
sundry apostolical privileges were conceded, which have been confirmed by
subsequent pontiffs.--Thus Normandy, as is admitted by De Bourgueville,
owed good as well as evil to her English sovereigns; but Charles VIIth had
no sooner succeeded in expelling our countrymen from the province, than
jealousy arose in his breast, at finding them in possession of such a title to
the gratitude of the people, and he resolved to run the risk of destroying what
had been done, rather than lose the opportunity of gratifying his personal
feeling. The university was therefore dissolved in 1450, that a new one
might hereafter be founded by the new sovereign. The king thought it
necessary to vary in some degree from the example of his predecessor; and
for this purpose he had recourse to the extraordinary expedient of abolishing
the faculty of law. A petition, however, from the states, induced him to
replace the whole upon its original footing in 1452, and it continued till the
time of the revolution to have all the five faculties, and to be the only one in
France that retained them. Two years only intervened between the dates of
the patents issued by Charles VIIth, upon the subject of this university; yet
there is a remarkable difference in their language. The first of them, which is
obviously intended to disparage Caen, styles it a large town, scantily
inhabited, without manufactures or commerce, and destitute of any great
river to afford facilities towards the transport of the produce of the country.
The second was designed to have an opposite tendency; and in this, the
people of Caen are praised for their acuteness, and the town for its excellent
harbor and great rivers. The patent also adds, that the nearest university, that
of Paris, is fifty leagues distant.

In the estimation, at least, of the inhabitants, the university of Caen ranks at
present the third in France; Paris and Strasbourg being alone entitled to stand
before it. The faculty of law retains its old reputation, and the legal students
are quite the pride of the university. Since the peace, many young
jurisprudents from Jersey and Guernsey have resorted to it. Medical students
generally complete their education at Paris, where it is commonly considered
in France, that, both in theory and practice, the various branches of this
faculty have nearly attained the acmè of perfection. The students, who
amount to just five hundred, are under the care of twenty-six professors,
many of them men of distinguished talents. The Abbé de la Rue fills the
chair of history; M. Lamouroux, that of the natural sciences. They receive
their salaries wholly from the government; their emoluments continue the
same, whether the students crowd to hear their courses, or whether they
lecture to empty benches. It is strictly forbidden to a student to attempt to
make any remuneration to a professor, or even to offer him a present of any
kind. The whole of the dues paid by the scholars go to the state; and the state
in its turn, defrays the expences of the establishment.
There is likewise at Caen an Academy of Sciences, Arts and Belles Lettres,
which has published two volumes; not, strictly speaking, of its Transactions,
but exhibiting a brief outline of the principal papers that have been read at
the meetings. The antiquarian dissertations of the Abbé de la Rue, which
they contain, are of great merit; and it is much to be regretted, that they have
not appeared in a more extended form. A chartered academy was first
founded here in the year 1705; and it continued to exist, till it was
suppressed, like all others throughout France, at the revolution. The present
establishment arose in 1800, under the auspices of General Dugua, then
prefect of the department, who had been urged to the task by the celebrated
Chaptal, Minister of the Interior.--Some interesting, letters are annexed to
the second part of the poems of Mosant de Brieux, in which, among much
curious information relative to Caen, he describes the literary meetings that
led to the foundation of the first academy. The town at that time could boast
an unusual proportion of men of talents. Bochart, author of Sacred
Geography; Graindorge, who had published De Principiis Generationîs;
Huet, a man seldom mentioned, without the epithet learned being attached to
his name; and Halley and Ménage, authors almost equally distinguished,
were amongst those who were associated for the purposes of acquiring and
communicating information.

Indeed, Caen appears at all times to have been fruitful in literary characters.
Huet enumerates no fewer than one hundred and thirty-seven, whom he
considers worthy of being recorded among the eminent men of France. The
greater part of them are necessarily unknown to us in England; and
allowance must be made for a man who is writing upon a subject, in which
self-love may be considered as in some degree involved; the glory of our
townsmen shining by reflection upon ourselves. A portion, however, of the
number, are men whose claims to celebrity will not be denied.--Such, in the
fifteenth century, were the poets John and Clement Marot; such was the
celebrated physician, Dalechamps, to whom naturalists are indebted for the
Historia Plantarum; such the laborious lexicographer, Constantin; and, not
to extend the catalogue needlessly, such above all was Malherbe. The medal
that has been struck at Caen in honor of this great man, at the expence of
Monsieur de Lair, bears for its epigraph, the three first words of Boileau's
eulogium--"Enfin Malherbe vint."--The same inscription is also to be seen
upon the walls of the library. So expressive a beginning prepares the reader
for a corresponding sequel; and I should be guilty of injustice towards this
eminent writer, were I not to quote to you the passage at length.--

"Enfin, Malherbe vint, et le premier en France
Fit sentir dans les vers une juste cadence:
D'un mot mis en sa place enseigna le pouvoir,
Et reduisit la muse aux règles du devoir.
Par ce sage écrivain, la langue repareé,
N'offrit plus rien de rude à l'oreille épureé.
Les stances avec grâce apprirent à tomber,
Et le Vers sur le Vers n'osa plus enjamber."

Wace and Baudius, though not born at Caen, have contributed to its honor,
by their residence here. Baudius was appointed to the professorship of law in
the university, by the President de Thou; but he disagreed with his
colleagues, and soon removed to Leyden, where he filled the chair of history
till his death. Some of his earlier letters, in the collection published by
Elzevir, are dated from Caen. His Iambi, directed against his brethren of this
university, are scarcely to be exceeded for severity, by the bitterest
specimens of a style proverbially bitter. Their excessive virulence defeated
the writer's aim; but there is an elegance in the Latinity of Baudius, and a
degree of feeling in his sentiments, which will ensure a permanent existence
to his compositions, and especially to his poems.--He it was who called forth
the severe saying of Bayle, that "many men of learning render themselves
contemptible in the places where they live, while they are admired where
they are known only by their writings."--Wace was a native of Jersey, but an
author only at Caen. The most celebrated of his works is Le Roman de Rou
et des Normans, written in French verse. He dedicated this romance to our
Henry IInd, who rewarded him with a stall in the cathedral at Bayeux.

Quitting the departed for the living, I send you a profile of M. Lamouroux,
the professor of natural history at this university, to whom we have been
personally indebted for the kindest attention. His name is well known to you,
as that of a man who has, perhaps, deserved more than any other individual
at the hands of every student of marine Botany. His treatises upon the
Classification of the Submersed Algæ, have been honored with admission in
the Mémoires du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, and have procured him the
distinction of being elected into the National Institute: his subsequent
publication on the Corallines, is an admirable manual, in a very difficult
branch of natural history; and he is now preparing for the press, a work of
still greater labor and more extensive utility, an arrangement of the organized
fossils found in the vicinity of Caen.
The whole of this neighborhood abounds in remains of the antediluvian
world: they are found not only in considerable quantity, but in great
perfection. In the course of last year; a fossil crocodile was dug up at
Allemagne, a village about a mile distant, imbedded in blue lias. Other
specimens of the same genus, comprising, as it appears, two species, both of

them distinct from any that are known in a living state, had previously been
discovered in a bed of similar hard blue limestone, near Havre and Honfleur,
as well as upon the opposite shores of England. But the Caen specimen is the
most interesting of any, as the first that has been seen with its scales perfect;
and the naturalists here have availed themselves of the opportunity thus
afforded them, to determine it by a specific character, and give it the name of
Crocodilus Cadomensis.
The civil and ecclesiastical history of Caen will be amply illustrated in the
forthcoming volumes of the Abbé de la Rue, as he is preparing a work on the
subject, à l'instar of the Essays of St. Foix. In the leading events of the
duchy, we find the town of Caen had but little share. It is only upon the
occasion of two sieges from our countrymen, the one in 1346, the other in
1417, that it appears to have acted a prominent part. The details of the first
siege are given at some length by Froissart.--Edward IIIrd, accompanied by
the Black Prince, had landed at La Hogue; and, meeting with no effectual
resistance, had pillaged the towns of Barfleur, Cherbourg, Carentan, and St.
Lô, after which he led his army hither. Caen, as Froissait tells us, was at that
time "large, strong, and full of drapery and all other sorts of merchandize,
rich citizens, noble dames and damsels, and fine churches." In its defence
were assembled the Constable of France, with the Counts of Eu, Guignes,
and Tancarville. But the wisdom of the generals was defeated by the
impetuosity of the citizens. They saw themselves equal in number to the
invaders, and, without reflecting how little numerical superiority avails in
war against experience and tactics, they required to be led against the foe.
They were so, and were defeated. The conquerors and conquered entered the
city pell-mell; and Edward, enraged at the citizens for shooting upon his
troops from the windows, issued orders that the inhabitants should be put to
the sword, and the town burned. The mandate, however, was not executed:
Sir Godfrey de Harcourt, with wise remonstrances, assuaged the anger of the
sovereign, and diverted him from his purpose.--Immense were the riches
taken on the occasion. The English fleet returned home loaded with cloth,
and jewels, and gold, and silver plate, together with sixty knights, and
upwards of three hundred able men, prisoners. This gallant exploit was
shortly afterwards followed by the decisive battle of Crécy.
Caen suffered still more severely upon the occasion of its second capture;
when Henry IVth marched upon the town immediately after landing at

Touques. The siege was longer, and the place, taken by assault, was given up
to indiscriminate plunder. Even the churches were not spared: that of the
Holy Sepulchre was demolished, and, among its other treasures, a crucifix
was carried away, containing a portion of the real cross, which, as we are
told, testified by so many miracles its displeasure at being taken to England,
that the conquerors were glad to restore it to its original destination.
From this time to the year 1450, our countrymen kept undisturbed
possession of Caen. In the latter year they capitulated to the Count de
Dunois, after a gallant resistance. But though the town has thenceforward
remained, without interruption, subject to the crown of France, it has not
therefore been always free from the miseries of warfare. A dreadful riot took
place here in 1512, occasioned by the disorderly conduct of a body of six
thousand German mercenaries, whom Louis XIIth introduced, by way of
garrison, to guard against any sudden attack from Henry VIIIth. The
character given by De Bourgueville of these Lansquenets is, that they were
"drunkards who guzzle wine, cider, and beer, out of earthen pots, and then
fall asleep upon the table." Three hundred lives were lost upon this occasion,
on the part of the Germans alone.--In the middle of the same century,
happened the civil wars, originating in the reformation: and in the course of
these, Caen suffered dreadfully from the contending parties. Friend and foe
conspired alike to its ruin: what was saved from the violence of the
Huguenots, was taken by the treachery of the Catholics, under the plausible
pretext of its being placed in security. Thus, after the Calvinists had already
seized on every thing precious that fell in their way, the Duke de Bouillon,
the governor of the town, commanded all the reliquaries, shrines, church-
plate, and ecclesiastical ornaments, to be carried to him at the castle; and he
had no sooner got them into his possession, than "all holy, rich, and precious,
as they were, he caused them to be melted down, and converted into coin to
pay his soldiers; and he scattered the relics, so that they have never been
seen more."--Loosen but the bands of society, and you will find that, in all
ages of the world, the case has been nearly the same; and, as upon the banks
of the Simoeis, so upon the plains of Normandy,--

"Seditione, dolis, scelere, atque libidine, et irâ,
Iliacos extra muros peccatur et intra."

Footnotes:

[80] Engravings of the same tiles, and of some others, chiefly with
fanciful patterns, are to be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for
March 1789, LIX. p. 211, plates 2, 3. The subjects of the latter
plate are those tiles which were hung in a gilt frame, on the walls
of the cloister of the abbey, with an inscription, denoting whence
they were taken.

[81] Monumens de la Monarchie Française, I. p. 402, t. 55.

LETTER XXVII.
VIEUX--LA MALADERIE--CHESNUT TIMBER--CAEN STONE--
HISTORY OF BAYEUX--TAPESTRY.

(Bayeux, August, 1818.)
Letters just received from England oblige us to change our course entirely:
their contents are of such a nature, that we could not prolong our journey
with comfort or satisfaction. We must return to England; and, instead of
regretting the objects which we have lost, we must rejoice that we have seen
so much, and especially that we have been able to visit the cathedral and
tapestry of Bayeux.
At the same time, I will not deny that we certainly could have wished to
have explored the vicinity of Caen, where an ample harvest of subjects, both
for the pen and pencil, is to be gathered; but the circumstances that control
us would not even allow of a pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of la
Délivrande, on the border of the English Channel, or of an excursion to the
village of Vieux, in the opposite direction.--Antiquaries have been divided in
opinion, concerning the nature and character of the buildings which
anciently occupied the site of this village.--The remains of a Roman
aqueduct are still to be seen there, and the foundations of ancient edifices are
distinctly to be traced. In the course of the last century, a gymnasium was
likewise discovered, of great size, constructed according to the rules laid
down by Vitruvius, and a hypocaust, connected with a fine stone basin,
twelve feet in diameter, surrounded by three rows of seats. Abundance of
medals of the upper empire, among others, of Crispina, wife to Commodus,
and Latin inscriptions and sarcophagi, are frequently dug up among its
ruins[82]. Hence, a belief has commonly prevailed that during the Roman
dominion in Gaul, Vieux was a city, and that Caen, which is only six miles
distant, arose from its ruins. This opinion was strenuously combated by
Huet; yet it subsequently found a new advocate in the Abbé Le Beuf[83]. The
bishop contends that the extent of the buildings rather denotes the ruins of a
fortified camp, than of a city; and he therefore considers it most probable,

that Vieux was the site of an encampment, raised near the Orne, for the
purpose of defending the passage of the river, at the point where it was
crossed by the military road that led from the district of the Bessin, to that of
the Hiesmois.--Portions of the causeway, may still be traced, constructed of
the same kind of brick as the aqueduct; and the name of the village so far
tends to corroborate the conjecture, that Vieux originally denoted a ford; and
the word Vé, which is most probably a corruption from it, retains this
signification in Norman French.--The Abbé, at the same time that he does
not pretend to contradict the argument deduced from etymology, maintains
that a careful comparison of the position of Vieux, with the distances marked
on the Tabula Peutingeriana, and with what Ptolemy relates of certain towns
adjoining the Viducassian territory, will support him in the assertion, that
Vieux was the ancient Augustodurum the Viducassian capital; and that
Bayeux was probably the site of Arigenus another of the towns of that tribe.-
-The red, veined marble of Vieux is much esteemed in France; as are also the
other marbles of this department, which vary in color from a dull white,
through grey, to blue. The quarries, as is generally believed, were first
opened and worked by the Romans. Vieux marble is to be seen at Paris,
where it was employed by Cardinal Richelieu, in the construction of the
chapel of the Sorbonne.
At about a mile from Caen, on the road to Bayeux, stands the village of St.
Germain de Blancherbe, more commonly called in the neighborhood la
Maladerie, a name derived from the lazar-house in it, the Léproserie de
Beaulieu, founded by Henry IInd, in 1161.--Robert Du Mont terms the
building a wonderful work. It was a princely establishment, designed for the
reception of lepers from all the parishes of Caen, except four, whose patients
had an especial right to be admitted into a smaller hospital in the same place.
The great hospital is now used as a house of correction. Seen from the road,
it appears to be principally of modern architecture though still retaining a
portion of the ancient structure; the same, probably, as is mentioned by
Ducarel, who says, that "part of the magnificent chapel, which was
considered as the parish church for the lepers, and ruined by the English, is
turned into a large common hall for the prisoners, and separated from the
other part, which is made into a chapel, by means of an iron gate, through
which they may have an opportunity of hearing mass celebrated every
morning."--Within the village street stands a desecrated church of the earliest
Norman style, with a very perfect door-way. The present parish church,

though chiefly modern, deserves attention on account of the west front,
which is wholly of the semi-circular style, and is somewhat curious, from
having two Norman buttresses, that rise from a string-course at the top of the
basement story, (in which the arched door-way is contained,) and are thence
continued upwards till they unite with the roof. The decorations round its
southern entrance are also remarkable: they principally consist of a very
sharp chevron moulding, interspersed with foliage and various figures.
The quarries in this village, and in that of Allemagne, on the opposite side of
the Orne, supply most of the free-stone, for which Caen has, during many
centuries, been celebrated. Stone of the finest quality is found in strata of
different thickness, at the depth of about sixty feet below the surface of the
ground. If worked much lower, it ceases to be good. It is brought up in
square blocks, about nine feet wide, and two feet thick, by means of vertical
wheels, placed at the mouths of the pits. When first dug from the quarry, its
color is a pure and glossy white, and its texture very soft; but as it hardens it
takes a browner hue, and loses its lustre.
In former days this stone was exported in great quantity to our own country.
Stow, in his Survey of London, states that London Bridge, Westminster
Abbey, and several others of our public edifices were built with it. Extracts
from sundry charters relative to the quarries are quoted by Ducarel, who
adds that, in his time, though many cargoes of the stone were annually
conveyed by water to the different provinces of the kingdom, the exportation
of it out of France was strictly prohibited, insomuch that, when it was to be
sent by sea, the owner of the stone, as well as the master of the vessel on
board of which it was shipped, was obliged to give security that it should not
be sold to foreigners.--We omitted to inquire how far the same prohibitions
still continue in force.
At but a short distance from St. Germain de Blancherbe, stands the ruined
abbey of Ardennes, now the residence of a farmer; but still preserving the
features of a monastic building. The convent was founded in 1138, for
canons of the Præmonstratensian order. Its Celtic name denotes its antiquity,
as it also tends to prove that this part of the country was covered with timber.
The word, arden, signified a forest, and was thence applied, with a slight
variation in orthography, to the largest forest in England, and to the more
celebrated forest in the vicinity of Liege. According to tradition, the Norman
ardennes consisted: of chesnut-trees. De Bourgueville tells us that timber of

this description is the principal material of most of the houses in the town.
John Evelyn relates the same of those in London; and in our own counties
wherever a village church has been so fortunate as to preserve its ancient
timber cieling, the clerk is almost sure to state that the wood is chesnut.
Either this tree therefore must formerly have abounded in places where it has
now almost ceased to exist, or oak timber must have been commonly
mistaken for it: and we may equally adopt both these conjectures. The yew
and the service, as well as the chesnut, are occasionally mentioned in old
charters, and are admitted by botanists to be indigenous in England. I should
doubt, however, if any one of them could now be found in a wild state; and
there is a fashion in planting as well as in every thing else, which renders
peculiar trees more or less abundant at different times.
About half way between Caen and Bayeux, is the village of Bretteville
l'Orgueilleuse, the lofty tower of whose church, perforated with long lancet
windows, and surmounted by a high spire, excites curiosity. Churches are
numerous in this neighborhood, and there is no other part of Normandy, in
which, architecturally considered, they are equally deserving of notice.
Scarcely one is to be seen that is not marked by some peculiarity. I know not
why Bretteville acquired the epithet attached to its name; and I am equally at
a loss for the derivation of the word Bretteville itself; but the term must have
some signification in Normandy, at least eleven villages in the duchy being
so called.
The first part of the road to Bayeux passes through a flat and open district,
resembling that on the other side of Caen; in the remaining half, the country
is enclosed, with a more varied surface. Apple-trees again abound; and the
old custom of suspending a bush over the door of an inn is commonly
practised here. For this purpose misletoe is almost always selected.
Throughout the whole of this district and the neighboring province of
Brittany, the ancient attachment of the Druids to misletoe continues to a
certain degree to prevail. The commencement of the new year is hailed by
shouts of "au gui; l'an neuf;" and the gathering of the misletoe for the
occasion is still the pretext for a merry-making, if not for a religious
ceremony.
Bayeux was the seat of an academy of the Druids. Ausonius expressly
addresses Attius Patera Pather, one of the professors at Bordeaux, as being of
the family of the priesthood of this district:--

"Doctor potentum rhetorum,
Tu Bajocassis stirpe Druidarum satus;"

And tradition to this hour preserves the remembrance of the spot that was
hallowed by the celebration of their mystic rites. This spot, an eminence
adjoining the city, has subsequently served for the site of a priory dedicated
to St. Nicholas de la chesnaye, thus commemorating by the epithet, the oaks
that formed the holy grove. Near it stood the famous temple of Mount
Phaunus, which was flourishing in the beginning of the fourth century, and,
according to Rivet, was considered one of the three most celebrated in Gaul.
Belenus was the divinity principally worshipped in it; but, according to
popular superstition, adoration was also paid to a golden calf, which was
buried in the hill, and still remains entombed there. Even within the last fifty
years, two laborers have lost their lives in a fruitless attempt to find this
hidden treasure. Tombs, and urns, and human bones, are constantly
discovered; yet neither Druidic temples, nor pillars of stone, nor cromlechs
or Celtic remains of any description exist, at least, at present, in the
neighborhood of Bayeux.
Roman relics, however, abound. The vases and statues dug up near this city,
have afforded employment to the pen and the pencil of Count Caylus, who,
judging from the style of art, refers the greater part of them to the times of
Julius and Augustus Cæsar. Medals of the earliest emperors have likewise
frequently been detected among the foundations of the houses of the city;
and even so recently as in the beginning of the present century, mutilated
cippi, covered with Latin inscriptions, have been brought to light. These
discoveries all tend to shew the Roman origin of Bayeux, and two Roman
causeways also join here; so that, notwithstanding the arguments of the Abbé
le Beuf, most antiquaries still believe that Bayeux was the city called by
Ptolemy the Næomagus Viducassium.--The term Viducasses or Biducasses
was in early ages changed to Bajocasses; and the city, following the custom
that prevailed in Gaul, took the appellation of Bajocæ, or, as it was
occasionally written, of Baiæ or Bagicæ. Its name in French has likewise
been subject to alterations.--During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it
was Baex and Bajeves; in the fourteenth Bajex; in the sixteenth Baieux; and
soon afterwards it settled info the present orthography.

Pursuing the history of Bayeux somewhat farther, we find this city in the
Notitia Galileæ holding the first rank among the towns of the Secunda
Lugdunensis. During the Merovingian and Carlovingian dynasties, its
importance is proved by the mint which was established here. Golden coins,
struck under the first race of French sovereigns, inscribed HBAJOCAS, and
silver pieces, coined by Charles the Bald, with the legend HBAJOCAS-
CIVITAS, are mentioned by Le Blanc. Bayeux was also in those times, one
of the head-quarters of the high functionaries, entitled Missi Dominici, who
were annually deputed by the monarchy for the promulgation of their
decrees and the administration of justice. Two other cities only in Neustria,
Rouen and Lisieux, were distinguished with the same privilege.--Nor did
Bayeux suffer any diminution of its honors, under the Norman Dukes: they
regarded it as the second town of the duchy, and had a palace here, and
frequently made it the seat of their Aula Regio.
The destruction of the Roman Bayeux is commonly ascribed, like that of the
Roman Lisieux, to the Saxon invasion. No traces of the Viducassian capital
are to be found in history, subsequently to the reign of Constantine; no
medals, no inscriptions of a later period, have been dug up within its
precincts. During the earliest incursions of the Saxons in Gaul, they seem to
have made this immediate neighborhood the seat of a permanent settlement.
The Abbé Le Beuf places the district, known by the name of the Otlingua
Saxonia, between Bayeux and Isigny; and Gregory of Tours, in his relation
of the events that occurred towards the close of the sixth century, makes
repeated mention of the Saxones Bajocassini, whom the early Norman
historians style Saisnes de Bayeux. Under the reign of Charlemagne, a fresh
establishment of Saxons took place here. That emperor, after the bloody
defeat of this valiant people, about the year 804, caused ten thousand men,
with their wives and children, to be delivered up to him as prisoners, and
dispersed them in different parts of France. Some of the captives were
colonized in Neustria; and, among the rest, Witikind, son of the brave chief
of the same name, who had fought so nobly in defence of the liberty of his
country, had lands assigned to him in the Bessin. Hence, names of Saxon
origin commonly occur throughout the diocese of Bayeux; sometimes alone
and undisguised, but more frequently in composition. Thus, in Estelan, you
will have little difficulty in recognizing East-land: Cape la Hogue will
readily suggest the idea of a lofty promontory; its appellation being derived
from the German adjective, hoch, still written hoog, in Flemish: the Saxon

word for the Almighty enters into the family names of Argot, Turgot, Bagot,
Bigot, &c.; and, not to multiply examples, the quaking sands upon the sea-
shore are to the present hour called bougues, an evident corruption of our
own word bogs.
When, towards the middle of the same century, the Saxons were succeeded
by the Normans, the country about Bayeux was one of the districts that
suffered most from the new invaders. Two bishops of the see, Sulpitius and
Baltfridus, were murdered by the barbarians; and Bayeux itself was pillaged
and burned, notwithstanding the valiant resistance made by the governor,
Berenger. This nobleman, who was count of the Bessin, was personally
obnoxious to Rollo, for having refused him his daughter, the beautiful
Poppea, in marriage. But, on the capture of the town, Poppea was taken
prisoner, and compelled to share the conqueror's bed. Bayeux arose from its
ruins under the auspices of Botho, a Norman chieftain, to whom Rollo was
greatly attached, and who succeeded to the honors of Berenger. By him the
town was rebuilt, and filled with a Norman population, the consequence of
which was, according to Dudo of St. Quintin, that William Longa-Spatha,
the successor of Rollo, who hated the French language, sent his son, Duke
Richard, to be educated at Bayeux, where Danish alone was spoken. And the
example of the Duke continued for some time to be imitated by his
successors upon the throne; so that Bayeux became the academy for the
children of the royal family, till they arrived at a sufficient age to be removed
to the metropolis, there to be instructed in the art of government.
The dignity of Count of the Bessin ceased in the reign of William the
Conqueror, in consequence of a rebellion on the part of the barons, which
had well nigh cost that sovereign his life. From that time, till the conquest of
Normandy by the French, the nobleman, who presided over the Bessin, bore
the title of the king's viscount; and, under this name, you will find him the
first cited among the four viscounts of Lower Normandy, in the famous
parliament of all the barons of this part of the duchy, convened at Caen by
Henry IInd, in 1152.--When Philip Augustus gained possession of
Normandy, all similar appointments were re-modelled, and viscounts placed
in every town; but their power was restricted to the mere administration of
justice, the rest of their privileges being transferred to a new description of
officers, who were then created, with the name of bailiffs. The bailiwicks
assigned to these bore no reference to the ancient divisions of the duchy; but

the territorial partition made at that time, has ever since been preserved, and
Caen, which was honored by Philip with a preference over Bayeux,
continues to the present day to retain the pre-eminence.
After these troubles, Bayeux enjoyed a temporary tranquillity; and,
according to the celebrated historical tapestry and to the Roman de Rou, this
city was selected for the place at which William the Conqueror, upon being
nominated by Edward, as his successor to the crown of England, caused
Harold to attend, and to do homage to him in the name of the nation. The
oath was taken upon a missal covered with cloth of gold, in the presence of
the prelates and grandees of the duchy; and the reliques of the saints were
collected from all quarters to bear witness to the ceremony. Bayeux was also
the spot in which Henry Ist was detained prisoner by his eldest brother, and
it suffered for this unfortunate distinction; for Henry had scarcely ascended
the English throne, when, upon a shallow pretext, he advanced against the
city, laid siege to it, and burned it to the ground; whether moved to this act of
vengeance from hatred towards the seat of his sufferings, or to satisfy the
foreigners in his pay, whom the length of the siege had much irritated. He
had promised these men the pillage of the city, and he kept his word; but the
soldiers were not content with the plunder: they set fire to the town, and
what had escaped their ravages, perished in the flames.[84] In 1356, under the
reign of Edward IIIrd, Bayeux experienced nearly the same fate from our
countrymen; and in the following century it again suffered severely from
their arms, till the decisive battle of Formigny, fought within ten miles of the
city, compelled Henry VIth to withdraw from Normandy, carrying with him
scarcely any other trophies of his former conquests, than a great collection of
Norman charters, and, among the rest, those of Bayeux, which are to this
hour preserved in the tower of London.
During the subsequent wars occasioned by the reformation, this town bore
its share in the common sufferings of the north of France. The horrors
experienced by other places on the occasion were even surpassed by the
outrages that were committed at Bayeux; but it is impossible to enter into
details which are equally revolting to decency and to humanity.
Of late years, Bayeux has been altogether an open town. The old castle, the
last relic of its military character, a spacious fortress flanked by ten square
towers, was demolished in 1773; and, as the poet of Bayeux has sung[85],--

"... Gaulois, Romains, Saxons,
Oppresseurs, opprimés, colliers, faisceaux, blasons,
Tout dort. Du vieux château la taciturne enceinte
Expire. Par degrés j'ai vu sa gloire éteinte.
J'ai marché sur ses tours, erré dans ses fossés:
Tels qu'un songe bientôt ils vont être effacés."

And in truth, they are so effectually effaced, that not a single vestige of the
walls and towers can now be discovered.
Bayeux is situated in the midst of a fertile country, particularly rich in
pasturage. The Aure, which washes its walls, is a small and insignificant
streamlet, and though the city is within five miles of the sea, yet the river is
quite useless for the purposes of commerce, as not a vessel can float in it.
The present population of the town consists of about ten thousand
inhabitants, and these have little other employment than lace-making.--
Bayeux wears the appearance of decay: most of the houses are ordinary; and,
though some of them are built of stone, by far the greater part are only of
wood and plaster. In the midst, however, of these, rises the noble cathedral;
but this I shall reserve for the subject of my next letter, concluding the
present with a few remarks upon that matchless relic, which,

"... des siècles respecté,
En peignant des héros honore la beauté."

The very curious piece of historical needle-work, now generally known by
the name of the Bayeux tapestry, was first brought into public notice in the
early part of the last century, by Father Montfaucon and M. Lancelot, both of
whom, in their respective publications, the Monumens de la Monarchie
Française[86], and a paper inserted in the Mémoires de l'Académie des
Inscriptions[87], have figured and described this celebrated specimen of
ancient art. Montfaucon's plates were afterwards republished by Ducarel[88],
with the addition of a short dissertation and explanation, by an able
antiquary of our own country, Smart Lethieuilier.
These plates, however, in the original, and still more in the copies, were
miserably incorrect, and calculated not to inform, but to mislead the inquirer.
When therefore the late war was concluded and France became again

accessible to an Englishman, our Society of Antiquaries, justly considering
the tapestry as being at least equally connected with English as with French
history, and regarding it as a matter of national importance, that so curious a
document should be made known by the most faithful representation,
employed an artist, fitted above all others for the purpose, by his knowledge
of history and his abilities as a draughtsman, to prepare an exact fac-simile
of the whole. Under the auspices of the Society, Mr. C.A. Stothard undertook
the task; and he has executed it in the course of two successive visits with
the greatest accuracy and skill. The engravings from his drawings we may
hope shortly to see: meanwhile, to give you some idea of the original, I
enclose a sketch, which has no other merit than that of being a faithful
transcript. It is reduced one half from a tracing made from the tapestry itself.
By referring to Montfaucon, you will find the figure it represents under the
fifty-ninth inscription in the original, where "a knight, with a private banner,
issues to mount a led horse." His beardless countenance denotes him a
Norman; and the mail covering to his legs equally proves him to be one of
the most distinguished characters.

Within the few last years this tapestry has been the subject of three
interesting papers, read before the Society of Antiquaries. The first and most
important, from the pen of the Abbé de la Rue[89], has for its object the
refutation of the opinions of Montfaucon and Lancelot, who, following the
commonly received tradition, refer the tapestry to the time of the conquest,
and represent it as the work of Queen Matilda and her attendant damsels.
The Abbé's principal arguments are derived from the silence of
contemporary authors, and especially of Wace, who was himself a canon of
Bayeux;--from its being unnoticed in any charters or deeds of gift connected
with the cathedral;--from the improbability that so large a roll of such
perishable materials would have escaped destruction when the cathedral was
burned in 1106;--from the unfinished state of the story;--from its containing
some Saxon names unknown to the Normans;--and from representations
taken from the fables of Æsop being worked on the borders, whereas the
northern parts of Europe were not made acquainted with these fables, till the

translation of a portion of them by Henry Ist, who thence obtained his
surname of Beauclerk.--These and other considerations, have led the learned
Abbé to coincide in opinion with Lord Littleton and Mr. Hume, that the
tapestry is the production of the Empress Maud, and that it was in reality
wrought by natives of our own island, whose inhabitants were at that time so
famous for labors of this description, that the common mode of expressing a
piece of embroidery, was by calling it an English work.
The Abbé shortly afterwards found an opponent in another member of the
society, Mr. Hudson Gurney, who, without following his predecessor
through the line of his arguments, contented himself with briefly stating the
three following reasons for ascribing the tapestry to Matilda, wife to the
Conqueror[90].--First, that in the many buildings therein pourtrayed, there is
not the least appearance of a pointed arch, though much pointed work is
found in the ornaments of the running border; whilst, on the contrary, the
features of Norman architecture, the square buttress, flat to the walls, and the
square tower surmounted by, or rather ending in, a low pinnacle, are therein
frequently repeated.--Secondly, that all the knights are in ring armour, many
of their shields charged with a species of cross and five dots, and some with
dragons, but none with any thing of the nature of armorial bearings, which,
in a lower age, there would have been; and that all wear a triangular sort of
conical helmet, with a nasal, when represented armed.--And, Thirdly, that
the Norman banner is, invariably, Argent, a Cross, Or, in a Bordure Azure;
and that this is repeated over and over again, as it is in the war against
Conan, as well as at Pevensey and at Hastings; but there is neither hint nor
trace of the later invention of the Norman leopards.--Mr. Gurney's arguments
are ingenious, but they are not, I fear, likely to be considered conclusive: he
however, has been particularly successful in another observation, that all
writers, who had previously treated of the Bayeux tapestry, had called it a
Monument of the Conquest of England; following, therein, M. Lancelot, and
speaking of it as an unfinished work, whereas, it is in fact an apologetical
history of the claims of William to the crown of England, and of the breach
of faith and fall of Harold, in a perfect and finished action.--With this
explanation before us, aided by the short indication that is given of the
subjects of the seventy-two compartments of the tapestry, a new light is
thrown upon the story.

The third memoir is from the pen of Mr. Amyot, and concludes with an able
metrical translation from Wace. It is confined almost exclusively to the
discussion of the single historical fact, how far Harold was really sent by the
Confessor to offer the succession to William; but this point, however
interesting, in itself, is unconnected with my present object: it is sufficient
for me to shew you the various sources from which you may derive
information upon the subject.
Supposing the Bayeux tapestry to be really from the hands of the Queen, or
the Empress, (and that it was so appears to me proved by internal evidence,)
it is rather extraordinary that the earliest notice which is to be found of a
piece of workmanship, so interesting from its author and its subjects, should
be contained in an inventory of the precious effects deposited in the treasury
of the church, dated 1476. It is also remarkable that this inventory, in
mentioning such an article, should call it simply a very long piece of cloth,
embroidered with figures and writing, representing the conquest of England,
without any reference to the royal artist or the donor.
Observations of this nature will suggest themselves to every one, and the
arguments urged by the Abbé de la Rue are very strong; and yet I confess
that my own feelings always inclined to the side of those who assign the
highest antiquity to the tapestry. I think so the more since I have seen it. No
one appears so likely to have undertaken such a task as the female most
nearly connected with the principal personage concerned in it, and especially
if we consider what the character of this female was: the details which it
contains are so minute, that they could scarcely have been known, except at
the time when they took place: the letters agree in form with those upon
Matilda's tomb; and the manners and customs of the age are also preserved.--
Mr. Stothard, who is of the same opinion as to the date of the tapestry, very
justly observes, that the last of these circumstances can scarcely be
sufficiently insisted upon; for that "it was the invariable practice with artists
in every country, excepting Italy, during the middle ages, whatever subject
they took in hand, to represent it according to the costume of their own
times."
Till the revolution, the tapestry was always kept in the cathedral, in a chapel
on the south side, dedicated to Thomas à Becket, and was only exposed to
public view once a year, during the octave of the feast of St. John on which
occasion it was hung up in the nave of the church, which it completely

surrounded. From the time thus selected for the display of it, the tapestry
acquired the name of le toile de Saint Jean; and it is to the present day
commonly so called in the city. During the most stormy part of the
revolution, it was secreted; but it was brought to Paris when the fury of
vandalism had subsided. And, when the first Consul was preparing for the
invasion of England, this ancient trophy of the subjugation of the British
nation was proudly exhibited to the gaze of the Parisians, who saw another
Conqueror in Napoléon Bonaparté; and many well-sounding effusions, in
prose and verse, appeared, in which the laurels of Duke William were
transferred, by anticipation, to the brows of the child and champion of
jacobinism. After this display, Bonaparté returned the tapestry to the
municipality, accompanied by a letter, in which he thanked them for the care
they had taken of so precious a relic. From that period to the present, it has
remained in the residence appropriated to the mayor, the former episcopal
palace; and here we saw it.
It is a piece of brownish linen cloth, about two hundred and twelve feet long,
and eighteen inches wide, French measure. The figures are worked with
worsted of different colors, but principally light red, blue, and yellow. The
historical series is included between borders composed of animals, &c. The
colors are faded, but not so much so as might have been expected. The
figures exhibit a regular line of events, commencing with Edward the
Confessor seated upon his throne, in the act of dispatching Harold to the
court of the Norman Duke, and continued through Harold's journey, his
capture by the Comte de Ponthieu, his interview with William, the death of
Edward, the usurpation of the British throne by Harold, the Norman
invasion, the battle of Hastings, and Harold's death. These various events are
distributed into seventy-two compartments, each of them designated by an
inscription in Latin. Ducarel justly compares the style of the execution to
that of a girl's sampler. The figures are covered with work, except on their
faces, which are merely in outline. In point of drawing, they are superior to
the contemporary sculpture at St. Georges and elsewhere; and the
performance is not deficient in energy. The colors are distributed rather
fancifully: thus the fore and off legs of the horses are varied. It is hardly
necessary to observe that perspective is wholly disregarded, and that no
attempt is made to express light and shadow.

Great attention, however, is paid to costume; and more individuality of
character has been preserved than could have been expected, considering the
rude style of the workmanship. The Saxons are represented with long
mustachios: the Normans have their upper lip shaven, and retain little more
hair upon their heads than a single lock in front.--Historians relate how the
English spies reported the invading army to be wholly composed of
ecclesiastics; and this tapestry affords a graphical illustration of the
chroniclers' text. Not the least remarkable feature of the tapestry, in point of
costume, lies in the armor, which, in some instances, is formed of interlaced
rings; in others, of square compartments; and in others, of lozenges. Those
who contend for the antiquity of Duke William's equestrian statue at Caen,
may find a confirmation of their opinions in the shape of the saddles
assigned to the figures of the Bayeux tapestry; and equally so in their cloaks,
and their pendant braided tresses.
The tapestry is coiled round a cylinder, which is turned by a winch and
wheel; and it is rolled and unrolled with so little attention, that if it continues
under such management as the present, it will be wholly ruined in the course
of half a century. It is injured at the beginning: towards the end it becomes
very ragged, and several of the figures have completely disappeared. The
worsted is unravelling too in many of the intermediate portions. As yet,
however, it is still in good preservation, considering its great age, though, as
I have just observed, it will not long continue so. The bishop and chapter
have lately applied to government, requesting that the tapestry may be
restored to the church. I hope their application will be successful.

Footnotes:

[82] The most interesting relic of Roman times yet found at Vieux,
is a cippus of variegated marble, about five feet high by two feet
wide, and bearing inscriptions upon three of its sides. It generally
passes in France by the name of the Torigny marble, being
preserved at the small town of the latter name, whither it was
carried in 1580, the very year when it was dug up. The Abbé Le
Beuf has made it the subject of a distinct paper in the Mémoires de
l'Académie des Inscriptions. This cippus supported a statue raised
in honor of Titus Sennius Sollemnis, a Viducassian by birth, and

one of the high priests of the town. The statue was erected to him
after his death, in the Viducassian capital, upon a piece of ground
granted by the senate for the purpose, in pursuance of a general
decree passed by the province of Gaul. The inscriptions set forth
the motives that induced the nation to bestow so marked a
distinction upon a simple individual; and, in the foremost rank of
his merits, they place the games which he had given to his fellow-
citizens, during four successive days.

[83] Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, XXI. p. 489.

[84] Archæologia, XVII. p. 911.

[85] Bayeux et ses Environs, par M. Delauney, p. 12.

[86] I. p. 371-379; pl. 35-49, and II. p. 1-29; pl. 1-9.

[87] VI. p. 739, and VIII. p. 602.

[88] Anglo-Norman Antiquities, Appendix, No. 1.

[89] Archæologia, XVII. p. 85.

[90] Archæologia, XVIII. p. 359.

LETTER XXVIII.
CATHEDRAL OF BAYEUX--CANON OF CAMBREMER--COPE OF
ST. REGNOBERT--ODO.

(Bayeux, August, 1818.)
Excepting the tapestry and the cathedral, Bayeux, at this time, offers no
objects of interest to the curious traveller. Its convents are either demolished,
or so dilapidated or altered, that they have lost their characteristic features;
and its eighteen parish churches are now reduced to four. We wandered
awhile about the town, vainly looking after some relic of ancient art, to send
you by way of a memento of Bayeux. At length, two presented themselves--
the entrance of the corn-market, formerly the chapel of St. Margaret, a
Norman arch, remarkable for the lamb and banner, an emblem of the saint,
sculptured on the transom stone; and a small stone tablet, attached to an old
house near the cathedral. The whimsical singularity of the latter, induced us
to give it the preference. It may possibly be of the workmanship of the
fourteenth century, and possibly much later. In all probability, it owes its
existence merely to a caprice on the part of the owner of the residence,
whose crest may be indicated by the tortoises which surmount the columns
by way of capitals. Still there is merit in the performance, though perhaps for
nothing so much as for the accurate resemblance of peeled wood; and this I
never saw imitated with equal fidelity in stone.
But, however unattractive Bayeux may be in other respects, so long as the
cathedral is suffered to stand, the city will never want interest. It is supposed
that the first church erected here was built by St. Exuperius otherwise called
St. Suspirius, or St. Spirius, who, according to the distich subjoined to his
portrait, formerly painted on one of the windows of the nave, was not only
the earliest bishop of the diocese, but claimed the merit of having introduced
the Christian faith into Normandy,--

"Primitùs hic pastor templi fuit hujus et auctor,
Catholicamque fidem Normannis attulit idem."

St. Exuperius lived in the third century, and his efforts towards the
propagation of the gospel were attended with so great success, that his
successor, St. Regnobert, was obliged to take down the edifice thus recently
raised, and to re-construct it on a more enlarged scale, for the purpose of
accommodating the increasing congregation. Regnobert is likewise reported
to have built the celebrated chapel on the sea-coast, dedicated to our Lady de
la Délivrande; and the people believe that a portion at least, of both the one
and the other of these original edifices, exists to the present day. The Abbé
Béziers, however, in his History of Bayeux, maintains, and with truth, that
St. Regnobert's cathedral was destroyed by the Normans; and he adds that,
immediately after the conversion of Rollo, another was raised in its stead on
the same spot, and that this latter was one of those which the chieftain most
enriched by his endowments at the period of his baptism.
A dreadful fire, in the year 1046, reduced the Norman cathedral to ashes; but
the episcopal throne was then filled by a prelate who wanted neither
disposition nor abilities to repair the damage. Hugh, the third bishop of that
name, son to Ralph, Count of the Bessin, who, by the mother's side, was
brother to Duke Richard Ist, presided at that time over the see of Bayeux.
Jealous for the honor of his diocese, the prelate instantly applied himself to
rebuild the cathedral; but he lived to see only a small progress made in his
work. It was finished by a prelate of still greater, though evil celebrity, the
unruly Odo, brother to the Conqueror, who, for more than fifty years,
continued bishop of this see, and by his unbounded liberality and
munificence in the discharge of his high office, proved himself worthy of his
princely descent. The Conqueror and his queen, attended by their sons,
Robert and William, and by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, as well
as by the various bishops and barons of the province, were present at the
dedication of the church, which was performed in 1077, by John, Archbishop
of Rouen. Odo, on the occasion, enriched his church with various gifts, one
of which has been particularly recorded. It was a crown of wood and copper,
sixteen feet high and thirty-eight feet in diameter, covered with silver plates,
and diversified with other crowns in the shape of towers; the whole made to
support an immense number of tapers, that were lighted on high festivals.
This crown was suspended in the nave, opposite the great crucifix; and it
continued to hang there till it was destroyed by the Huguenots, in 1562.

It is doubtful how much, or indeed if any portion, of the church erected by
Odo be now in existence. Thirty years had scarcely elapsed from the date of
its dedication, when, as I have already mentioned to you, the troops of Henry
Ist destroyed Bayeux with fire. The ruin was so complete, that for more than
fifty years, no attempt was made to re-construct the cathedral; but it
remained in ashes until the year 1157, when bishop, Philip of Harcourt,
determined to restore it. A question has arisen whether the oldest part of
what is now standing, be the work of Philip or of Odo. The lapse of eighty
years in those early times, would perhaps occasion no very sensible
difference in style; and chroniclers do not afford the means of determining,
if, at the time when Bayeux suffered so dreadfully in 1106, the church was
actually burned to the ground, or only materially damaged. In the History of
the Diocese we are merely told that Philip, having, by means of papal bulls,
happily succeeded in regaining possession of all the privileges, honors, and
property of the see, began to rebuild his cathedral in 1159, and completed it
with great glory and expence.--From that time forward, we hear no more of
demolition or of re-edification; but the injuries done by the silent lapse of
ages, and the continued desire on the part of the prelates to beautify and to
enlarge their church, have produced nearly the same effect as fire or warfare.
The building, as it now stands, is a medley of various ages; and, in the
absence of historical record, it would be extremely difficult to define the
several portions that are to be assigned to each.
The west front is flanked by two Norman towers, bold and massy, with semi-
circular arches in the highest stories. The spires likewise appear ancient,
though these and the surrounding pinnacles are all gothic. The northern one,
according to tradition, was built with the church; the southern, in 1424. They
both greatly resemble those of the abbey-church of St. Stephen at Caen. But
the whole centre of this front, and indeed both the sides also, as high as the
roof, is faced by a screen divided into five compartments. In the middle is a
large, wide, pointed arch, with a square-headed entrance beneath. North and
south of this are deep arches, evidently older, but likewise pointed, having
their sides above the pillars, and the flat arched part of the door-way, filled
with small figures. The door-ways themselves are arches that occupy only
one half of the width of those which enclose them. In the two exterior
compartments the arches are unpierced, and are flanked by a profusion of
clustered pillars. Over each of the four lateral arches, rises a crocketed
pyramid: the central one is surmounted by a flat balustrade, above which,

behind the screen, is a large pointed window, and over it a row of saints,
standing under trefoil-headed arches, arranged in pairs, the pediment
terminating above each pair of arches in a pyramidal canopy.
The outside of the nave is of florid gothic, but it is not of a pure style; nor is
the southern portal, which, nevertheless, considered as a whole, is bold and
appropriate. On each side of the door-way were originally three statues,
whose tabernacles remain, though the saints have been torn out of the niches.
Over the door is a bas-relief, containing numerous figures disposed in three
compartments, and representing some legendary tale, which our knowledge
of that kind of lore would not enable us to decipher.--The exterior of the
choir is likewise of pointed architecture: it is considerably more simple, and
excels, in this respect, the rest of the church. But even here there is a great
want of uniformity: some of the windows are deeply imbedded in the walls;
others are nearly on a level with their surface.--The cupola, which caps the
low central tower, is wretchedly at variance with the other parts of the
building. It was erected in the year 1714, at the expence of the bishop,
Francis de Nesmond; and it is, as might be expected from a performance of
that period, rather Grecian than gothic. Whichever style it may be termed, it
is a bad specimen of either. And yet, such as it is, we are assured by Béziers,
that it was built after the designs of a celebrated architect of the name of
Moussard, and that it excited particular attention, and called forth loud
praises, on the part of the Maréchal de Vauban, who was, probably, a better
judge of a modern fortification, than of a gothic cathedral.
The interior of the church consists of a wide nave, with side-aisles, and
chapels beyond them. The first six piers of the nave are very massy, and
faced with semi-circular pillars supporting an entablature. The arches above
them are Norman, encircled with rich bands, composed chiefly of the
chevron moulding and diamonds. On one of them is a curious border of
heads, as upon the celebrated door-way at Oxford; but the heads at Bayeux
are of much more regular workmanship and more distinctly defined. Had
circumstances allowed, I would have sent you an accurate drawing of them;
but our time did not permit such a one to be made, and I must beg of you to
be contented with the annexed slight sketch.

The wall above the arches is incrusted with a species of tessellated work of
free-stone, of varied patterns, some interwoven, others reticulated, as seen in
the sketches: the lines indented in the stones, as well as the joints which
form the patterns, are filled with a black cement or mastich, so as to form a
kind of niello.

With the sixth arch of the nave begins the pointed style. The capitals of the
pillars are complicated, and the carving upon them is an evident attempt at
an imitation of the Grecian orders. In this part of the church there is no
triforium; but a row of small quartrefoils runs immediately above the
ornaments of the spandrils; and above the quatrefoils is a cornice of an
antique pattern, which is surmounted by a light gallery in front of the
windows of the clerestory, the largest windows I remember to have seen in a
similar situation. They extend almost from the roof to the line of the old
Norman basement. Their magnitude is rendered still more remarkable by
their being arranged in pairs, each separate pair inclosed within a pointed
arch, and its windows parted only by a clustered pillar. The very lofty arches
that support the central tower, are likewise pointed; as are those of the
transepts, the choir, the side-aisles, and the chapels. In short, excepting the

arches immediately beneath the northern and southern towers, which are
most probably relics of Odo's cathedral, the part of the nave, which I first
described, is all that is left above-ground of the semi-circular style; and this
is of a very different character from whatever else I have seen of Norman
architecture. The circular ornaments inserted in the spandrils of the arches of
the choir, possess, as a friend of mine observes, somewhat of the Moorish,
or, perhaps, Tartarian character; being nearly in the style of the ornaments
which are found in the same situation in the Mogul mosques and tombs,
though here they have much more flow and harmony in the curves. Some are
merely in bas-relief: in others the central circles are deeply perforated, whilst
the ribs are composed of delicate tracery.--There are so many peculiarities
both in the arrangement and in the details of this cathedral[91], that it is quite
impossible to convey an adequate idea of them by a verbal description; and I
can only hope that they will be hereafter made familiar to the English
antiquarian by the pencil of Mr. Cotman or Mr. Stothard.

The screen that separates the nave from the choir is Grecian, and is as much
at variance with the inside of such a church, as the cupola, which is nearly

over it, is with the exterior.--Upon the roof of the choir, are still to be seen
the portraits of the first twenty-one bishops of Bayeux, each with his name
inscribed by his side. The execution of the portraits is very rude, particularly
that of the twelve earliest, whose busts are represented. The artist has
contented himself with exhibiting the heads only, of the remaining nine.
Common tradition refers the whole of these portraits to the time of Odo; but
it is hardly necessary to observe, that the groined and pointed vaulting is
subsequent to his date.--Bayeux cathedral abounded in works of this
description of art: the walls of the chapels of the choir were covered with
large fresco-paintings, now nearly obliterated.--It is believed, and with every
appearance of probability, that the Lady-Chapel was erected at a time
posterior to the rest of the building; but there is no certain account of its date.
Before the revolution, it served as a burial-place for some of the bishops of
the see, and for a duke of the noble family of Montemart. Their tombs
ornamented the chapel, which now appears desolate and naked, retaining no
other of its original decorations, than a series of small paintings, which
represent the life of the Holy Virgin, and are deserving of some attention
from the character of expression in the faces, though the drawing in general
is bad. Over the altar is a picture, in which an angel is pointing out our
Savior and the Virgin to a dying man, whose countenance is admirable.--The
stalls of the choir display a profusion of beautiful oak carving; and beneath
them are sculptured misereres, the first which we have observed in
Normandy.--Very little painted glass is to be found in any part of the church;
but the glazing of the windows is composed of complicated patterns. This
species of ornament was introduced about the time of Louis XIVth; and
Felibien, who has given several pattern plates in his treatise on architecture,
observes, that it was intended to supply the place of painted glass, which, as
it was then thought, excluded the light.
Beneath the choir is a subterraneous chapel dedicated to St. Maimertus,
otherwise called St. Manvieu. Its character is so similar to that of the crypt at
the abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen, that there would be little risk in
pronouncing it to be part of Odo's church. It is supported on twelve pillars,
disposed in two rows, the last pillar of each row being imbedded in the wall.
The capitals of the pillars are carved, each with a different design from the
rest. Their sculpture bears a strong resemblance to some of what is seen in
similar situations in the Egyptian temples; indeed, so strong, that a very able
judge tells me he has been led to suspect that the model might have been

introduced by an anchorite from the desert. Take the following as a
specimen.

The walls of the crypt are covered with paintings, probably of the fifteenth
century; but those upon the springing of the arches above the pillars, appear
considerably older. Each spandril contains an angel, holding a trumpet or
other musical instrument. The outlines of these figures are strongly drawn in
black.--Upon the right-hand side, on entering the chapel, is the altar-tomb of
John de Boissy, who was bishop at the beginning of the fifteenth century;
and, on the opposite side, stands that of his immediate predecessor, Nicolas
de Bosc. Their monuments were originally ornamented with bas-reliefs and
paintings, all which were mutilated and effaced during the religious wars. De
Boissy's effigy, however, remains, though greatly injured; and the following
epitaph to his memory is preserved in a perfect state, over the only window
that gives light to this crypt. The inscription is curious, as recording the
discovery of the chapel, which had been forgotten and unknown for
centuries.

"En l'an mil quatre cens et douze
Tiers jour d'Avril que pluye arrouse
Les biens de la terre, la journée
Que la Pasques fut célébrée
Noble homme et révérend père
Jehan de Boissy, de la mère
Eglise de Bayeux Pasteur

Rendi l'âme à Son Créateur
Et lors en foillant la place
Devant le grant autel de grâce
Trova l'on la basse chapelle
Dont il n'avoit esté nouvelle
Ou il est mis en sépulture
Dieu veuille avoir son âme en cure,--Amen."
This inscription is engraved as prose: verse is very frequently written in this
manner in ancient manuscripts, which custom, as Joseph Ritson conjectured,
arose "from a desire of promoting the salvation of parchment." I must also
add, that the initial letters are colored red and blue, so that the whole bears a
near resemblance to a manuscript page.
There is another epitaph, engraved in large letters, upon the exterior of the
southern tower, which is an odd specimen of the spirit of the middle ages. It
is supposed to have been placed there in the twelfth century.

"Quarta dies Pasche fuerat cum Clerus ad hujus
Que jacet hic vetule venimus exequias:
Letitieque diem magis amisisse dolemus
Quam centum tales si caderent vetule."

Some authors contend, that the old lady alluded to was the mistress of one of
the Dukes of Normandy: others believe her to have been the chère amie of
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, illegitimate son to Henry Ist.
Till lately, there was an epitaph within the church, which, without containing
in itself any thing remarkable, strange, or mysterious, had a legend
connected: with it, that supplied the verger with an inexhaustible fund of
entertainment for the curious and the credulous. The epitaph simply
commemorated John Patye, canon of the prebend of Cambremer, who died
in 1540; but upon the same plate of copper with the inscription, was also
engraved the Virgin, with John Patye at her feet, kneeling, and apparently in
the act of reading from a book placed on a fald-stool. Behind the priest stood
St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the prebend, having one hand upon
his votary's neck, while with the other he pointed to a lamb.--In all this, there
was still nothing remarkable: unfortunately, however, the artist, wishing
perhaps to add importance to the saint, had represented him of gigantic

stature; and hence originated the story, which continues to the present day, to
frighten the old women, and to amuse the children of Bayeux.--
Once upon a time, the wicked canons of the cathedral
murdered their bishop; in consequence of which foul
deed, they and their successors for ever, were enjoined,
by way of penance, annually to send one of their number
to Rome, there to chaunt the epistle at the midnight
mass. In the course of revolving centuries, this vexatious
duty fell to the turn of the canon of Cambremer, who, to
the surprise of the community, testified neither anxiety
nor haste on the occasion.--Christmas-eve arrived, and
the canon was still in his cell: Christmas-night came, and
still he did not stir. At length, when the mass was
actually begun, his brethren, more uneasy than himself,
reproached him with his delay; upon which he muttered
his spell, called up a spirit, mounted him, reached Rome
in the twinkling of an eye, performed his task, and, the
service being ended, he stormed the archives of the
Vatican, where he burned the compulsory act, and then
returned by the same conveyance to Bayeux, which he
reached before the mass was completed, and, to the
unspeakable joy of the chapter, announced the happy
tidings of their deliverance.
So idle and unmeaning is the tale, that I should scarcely have thought it
worth while to have repeated it, but for the Latin distich, which, as the story
goes, was extemporized by the demon, at the moment when they were flying
over the Tuscan sea, and by which he sought to mislead his rider, and to
cause him to end his journey beneath the deep.--The sense of the verses is
not very perspicuous, but they are remarkable for reading forwards and
backwards the same; and though to you they may appear a childish waste of
intellect, you will, I am sure, admit them to be ingenious, and they may
amuse some of the younger members of your family:--

"Signa te, signa, temerè me tangis et angis;
Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor."--

I must dismiss the canon of Cambremer, by stating, that I am informed by a
friend, that the same story is also found in the lives of sundry other wizards
and sorcerers of the good old times.
Bayeux cathedral, like the other Neustrian churches, has been deprived of its
sainted relics, and its most precious treasures, in consequence of the
successive spoliations which have been inflicted upon it by heathen
Normans, heretical Calvinists, and philosophical jacobins. The body of St.
Exuperius was carried, in the ninth century, for safety to Corbeil, and the
chapter have never been able to recover it: that of St. Regnobert was in after
times stolen by the Huguenots. Many are the attempts that have been made
to regain the relics of the first bishop of the see; but the town of Corbeil
retained possession, whilst the Bajocessians attempted to console themselves
by antithetical piety.--"Referamus Deo gratias, nec inde aliquid nos minus
habere credamus, quòd Corbeliensis civitas pignus sacri corporis vindicavit.
Teneant illi tabernaculum beatæ animæ in cineribus suis; nos ipsam
teneamus animam in virtutibus suis: teneant illi ossa, nos merita: apud illos
videatur remansisse quod terræ est, nos studeamus habere quod coeli est:
amplectantur illi quod sepulchre, nos quod Paradiso continetur. Meminerit et
beatior ille vir, utrique quidem loco, sed huic speciali se jure deberi."--St.
Regnobert's chasuble is however, left to the church, together with his
maniple and his stole, all of them articles of costly and elaborate
workmanship. They were found in his coffin, when it was opened by the
Calvinists; and they are now worn by the bishop, on the anniversary of the
saint, as well as on five other high festivals, during the year; at which times,
the faithful press with great devotion to kiss them. When not in use, they are
kept in an ivory chest, magnificently embossed with solid silver, and bearing
an inscription in the Cufic character, purporting that whatever honor men
may have given to God, they cannot honor him so much as He deserves.
Father Tournemine, the Jesuit, is of opinion, that this box was taken by the
French troops, under Charles Martel, in their pillage of the Saracen camp, at
the time of the memorable defeat of the infidels; and that it was afterwards
presented to Charles the Bald, whose queen, Hermentrude, devoted it to the
pious purpose of holding the relics of Regnobert, in gratitude for a cure
which the monarch had received through the intercession of the saint. But
this is merely a conjecture, and it is not improbable but that the chest may
have been brought from Sicily, which abounded with Arabic artificers, at the
time when it was occupied by the Normans.

St. Regnobert, who was one of the most illustrious bishops of Bayeux, is
placed second on the list, in the History of the Diocese; but in the Gallia
Christiana he stands twelfth in order. It was customary before the revolution,
and it possibly may be so at present, for the inhabitants of the city, upon the
twenty-fourth of October, the anniversary of his feast, to bring their domestic
animals in solemn procession to the church, there to receive the episcopal
benediction, in the same manner as is practised by the Romans with their
horses, on the feast of St. Anthony.--St. Lupus, the fourth bishop, and St.
Lascivus, the tenth, are remarkable for their names. St. Lupus is said to have
been so called from his having destroyed the wolves in the vicinity of
Bayeux[92]; and the other is reported to have been descended from the same
person, whom Ausonius addresses in the following stanza, which has
likewise been applied to this bishop.

"Iste Lascivus patiens vocari,
Nomen indignum probitate vitae
Abnuit nunquam; quia gratum ad aures
Esset amicas."--

But neither among her ancient nor her modern prelates can Bayeux boast of
a name equally distinguished as that of Odo. Many were unquestionably the
misdeeds of this great man, and many were probably his crimes, but no one
who wore the episcopal mitre, ever deserved better of the see. As a
statesman, Odo bore a leading part in all the principal transactions of the
times: as a soldier, he accompanied the Conqueror to England, fought by his
side at Hastings, and by his eloquence and his valor, contributed greatly to
the success of that memorable day. Nor was William tardy in acknowledging
the merits of his brother; for no sooner did he find himself seated firmly on
the throne, than he rewarded Odo with the earldom of Kent, and appointed
him his viceroy in England, whilst he himself crossed the channel, to
superintend his affairs in Normandy. But the mind which was proof against
difficulties, yielded, as too commonly happens, to prosperity. Nothing less
than the papacy could satisfy the ambition of Odo: he abused the power with
which he was invested in a flagrant manner; and William, finally, disgusted
with his proceedings, arrested him with his own hand, and committed him
prisoner to the old palace at Rouen, where he continued till the death of the
monarch.--The sequel of the story is of the same complexion: more plots,
attended now with success, and now with disgrace; till at length the prelate

resolved to expiate his sins by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and died on
his journey, at Palermo.--Such was Odo in his secular character: as a
churchman, historians unanimously agree that he was most zealous for the
honor of his diocese, indefatigable in re-building the churches which time or
war had destroyed, liberal in endowments, munificent in presents, and ever
anxiously intent upon procuring a supply of able ministers, establishing
regular discipline, and reforming the morals of the flock committed to his
charge.
The Bishop of Bayeux has at all times claimed the distinction of being
regarded the first among the suffragan bishops of the Norman church. In the
absence of the archbishop, he presides at, the ecclesiastical assemblies and
councils. His revenue, before the revolution, was estimated at one hundred
thousand livres: per annum. The see, in point of antiquity, even contests for
the priority with Rouen. From time immemorial, the chapter has enjoyed the
right of mintage; and they appear to have used it till the year 1577, at which
time their coin was so much counterfeited, that they were induced to recal it
by public proclamation. Their money, which was of the size of a piece of
two sous, was stamped, on one side, with a two-headed eagle, and the legend
moneta capituli; and on the obverse, with the letter V, surrounded by the
word Bajocensis. The eagle was probably adopted, in allusion to the arms of
the see, which were, gules; an eagle displayed with two heads, or[93].--
Another privilege of the chapter was, that no person of illegitimate birth
could be allowed to hold place in it, under any pretext or dispensation
whatever.--Among their peculiar customs, they imitated that of the see of
Rouen, in the annual election of a boy-bishop upon Innocents'-day; a
practice prevalent in many churches in Spain and Germany, and notoriously
in England at Salisbury. The young chorister took the crozier in his hands,
during the first vespers, at the verse in the Magnificat, "He has put down the
mighty from their seats, and has exalted the humble and meek;" and he
resigned his dignity at the same verse in the second vespers.--The ceremony
was abolished in 1482.

Footnotes:

[91] The following are the dimensions of the church, in French
measure, according to Béziers.

FEET.
Height of the central tower 224
Ditto of the two western ditto 230
Length of the interior of the church 296
Width of ditto 76
Height of ditto 76
Length of the nave 140
Width of ditto 38
Ditto of side-aisles 17
Ditto of chapels 15
Length of the transepts 113
Width of ditto 33
Length of the choir 118
Width of ditto 36

[92] A new St. Lupus is now wanted for the see; for wolves are by
no means extinct in the neighborhood of Bayeux. We saw a tame
one, kept near the cathedral, which had been taken in the woods,
about a year ago, when it was quite young. Wild boars are likewise
found in considerable numbers, and the breed is encouraged for
the purposes of hunting.

[93] In its origin, the Baiocco of Naples seems to have been the
two-penny piece of Bayeux, its denomination being abbreviated
from the last word in the legend. It has been supposed that the coin
was struck and named by lusty Joan, as a token of her affection
towards a Frisick warrier, who, in his own country, was called the
Boynke, or the Squire; but we think that our etymology is the most
natural one.

LETTER XXIX.
CHURCH AND CASTLE OF CREULLY--FALAISE--CASTLE--
CHURCHES-FAIR OF GUIBRAY.

(Falaise, August, 1818.)
Previously to quitting Bayeux, we paid our respects to M. Pluquet, a diligent
antiquary, who has been for some time past engaged in writing a history of
the city. His collections for this purpose are extensive, and the number of
curious books which he possesses is very considerable. Amongst those
which he shewed to us, the works relating to Normandy constituted an
important portion. His manuscript missals are numerous and valuable. I was
also much pleased by the inspection of an old copy of Aristophanes, which
had formerly belonged to Rabelais, and bore upon its title-page the mark of
his ownership, in the hand-writing of the witty, though profligate, satirist
himself. M. Pluquet's kindness allowed me to make the tracing of the
signature, which I send you.--

Such an addition as we here find to Rabelais' name, denoting that the owner
of a book considered it as being the property of his friends conjointly with
himself, is not of uncommon occurrence. Our friend, Mr. Dibdin, who had
been here shortly before us, and had carried off, as we were told, some
works of great rarity from this collection, has enumerated more than one
instance of the kind in his Bibliographical Decameron; and the valuable
library of my excellent friend, Mr. Sparrow, of Worlingham, contains an
Erasmus, which was the property of Sir Thomas Wotton, and bears, stamped
upon its covers, Thomae Wotton et amicorum.

From Bayeux we returned to Caen, by way of Creully, passing along bad
roads, through an open, uninteresting country, almost wholly cropped with
buck-wheat.--The barony of Creully was erected by Henry Ist, in favor of his
natural son, the Earl of Gloucester: it was afterwards held by different noble
families, and continued to be so till the time of the revolution. At that period,
it gave a title to a branch of the line of Montmorenci, whose emigration
caused the domain to be confiscated, and sold as national property; but the
baronial castle is still standing, and displays, in two of its towers and in a
chimney of unusual form, a portion of its ancient character: the rest of the
building is modernized into a spruce, comfortable residence, and is at this
time occupied by a countryman of our own, General Hodgson.
The church at Creully is one of the most curious we have seen. The nave,
side-aisles, and choir, are all purely Norman, except at the extremities. The
piers are very massy; the arches wide and low; the capitals covered with
rude, but most remarkable sculpture, which is varied on every pillar. Round
the arches of the nave runs a band of the chevron ornament; and over them is
a row of lancet windows, devoid of ornament, and sunk in a wall of
extraordinary thickness. Externally, all is modernized.
The view of Caen, on entering from this direction, is still more advantageous
than that on the approach from Lisieux. Time would not allow of our making
any stop at the town on our return: we therefore proceeded immediately to
Falaise, passing again through an open and monotonous country, which,
thoughtfully cultivated, has a most dreary aspect from the scantiness of its
population. We saw, indeed, as we went along, distant villages, thinly
scattered, in the landscape, but no other traces of habitations; and we
proceeded upwards of five leagues on our way, before we arrived at a single
house by the road-side.

Falaise appeared but the more beautiful, from the impression which the
desolate scenery of the previous country had left upon our minds. The
contrast was almost equally pleasing and equally striking, as when, in
travelling through Derbyshire, after having passed a tract of dreary moors,
that seems to lengthen as you go, you suddenly descend into the lovely
vallies of Matlock or of Dovedale. Not that the vale of Falaise may compete
with those of Derbyshire, for picturesque beauty or bold romantic character;
but it has features exclusively its own; and its deficiency in natural
advantages is in some measure compensated, by the accessories bestowed by
art. The valley is fertile and well wooded: the town itself, embosomed within
rows of lofty elms, stretches along the top of a steep rocky ridge, which rises
abrupt from the vale below, presenting an extensive line of buildings, mixed
with trees, flanked towards the east by the venerable remains of the castle of
the Norman Dukes, and at the opposite extremity, by the church of the
suburb of Guibray, planted upon an eminence. Near the centre stands the
principal church of Falaise, that of St. Gervais; and in front of the whole
extends the long line of the town walls, varied with towers, and approached
by a mound across the valley, which, as at Edinburgh, holds the place of a
bridge.

The name Falaise, denotes the position of the town: it is said to be a word of
Celtic origin; but I should rather suppose it to be derived from the Saxon,
and to be a modification of the German word, fels, a rock, in which
conjecture I find I am borne out by Adelung: falesia, in modern Latinity, and
falaise, in French, signify a rocky shore. Hence, Brito, at the commencement
of his relation of the siege by Philip Augustus, says,

"Vicus erat scabrâ circumdatus undique rupe,
Ipsius asperitate loci Falæsa vocatus,
Normannæ in medio regionis, cujus in altâ
Turres rupe sedent et mœnia; sic ut ad illam
Jactus nemo putet aliquos contingere posse."--

The dungeon of Falaise, one of the proudest relics of Norman antiquity, is
situated on a very bold and lofty rock, broken into fantastic and singular
masses, and covered with luxuriant vegetation. The keep which towers
above it is of excellent masonry: the stones are accurately squared, and put
together with great neatness, and the joints are small; and the arches are
turned clearly and distinctly, with the key-stone or wedge accurately placed
in all of them. Some parts of the wall, towards the interior ballium, are not
built of squared free-stone; but of the dark stone of the country, disposed in a
zigzag, or as it is more commonly called, in a herring-bone direction, with a
great deal of mortar in the interstices: the buttresses, or rather piers, are of
small projection, but great width. The upper story, destroyed about forty
years since, was of a different style of architecture. According to an old
print, it terminated with a large battlement, and bartizan towers at the angles.
This dungeon was formerly divided into several apartments; in one of the
lower of which was found, about half a century ago, a very ancient tomb, of
good workmanship, ornamented with a sphynx at each end, but bearing no
inscription whatever. Common report ascribed the coffin to Talbot, who was
for many years governor of the castle; and at length an individual engraved
upon it an epitaph to his honor; but the fraud was discovered, and the
sarcophagus put aside, as of no account. The second, or principal, story of
the keep, now forms a single square room, about fifty feet wide, lighted by
circular-headed windows, each divided into two by a short and massy central
pillar, whose capital is altogether Norman. On one of the capitals is
sculptured a child leading a lamb, a representation, as it is foolishly said, of
the Conqueror, whom tradition alleges to have been born in the apartment to

which this window belonged: another pillar has an elegant capital, composed
of interlaced bands.
Connected with the dungeon by a stone staircase is a small apartment, very
much dilapidated, but still retaining a portion of its original facing of Caen
stone. It was from the window of this apartment, as the story commonly
goes, that Duke Robert first saw the beautiful Arlette, drawing water from
the streamlet below, and was enamoured of her charms, and took her to his
bed.--According to another version of the tale, the earliest interview between
the prince and his fair mistress, took place as Robert was returning from the
chace, with his mind full of anger against the inhabitants of Falaise, for
having presumed to kill the deer which he had commanded should be
preserved for his royal pastime. In this offence the curriers of the town had
borne the principal share, and they were therefore principally marked out for
punishment. But, fortunately for them, Arlette, the daughter of one Verpray,
the most culpable of the number, met the offended Duke while riding
through the street, and with her beauty so fascinated him, that she not only
obtained the pardon of her father and his associates, but became his mistress,
and continued so as long as he lived. From her, if we may give credence to
the old chroniclers, is derived our English word, harlot. The fruit of their
union was William the Conqueror, whose illegitimate birth, and the low
extraction of his mother, served on more than one occasion as a pretext for
conspiracies against his throne, and were frequently the subject of personal
mortification to himself.--The walls in this part of the castle are from eight to
nine feet thick. A portion of them has been hollowed out, so as to form a
couple of small rooms. The old door-way of the keep is at the angle; the
returns are reeded, ending in a square impost; the arch above is destroyed.
Talbot's tower, thus called for having been built by that general, in 1430 and
the two subsequent years, is connected with the keep by means, of a long
passage with lancet windows, that widen greatly inwards. It is more than one
hundred feet high, and is a beautiful piece of masonry, as perfect, apparently,
as on the day when it was erected, and as firm as the rock on which it stands.
This tower is ascended by a staircase concealed within the substance of the
walls, whose thickness is full fifteen feet towards the base, and does not
decrease more than three feet near the summit. Another aperture in them
serves for a well, which thus communicates with every apartment in the
tower. Most of the arches in this tower have circular heads: the windows are

square.--The walls and towers which encircle the keep are of much later
date; the principal gate-way is pointed. Immediately on entering, is seen the
very ancient chapel, dedicated to St. Priscus or, as he is called in French, St.
Prix. The east end with three circular-headed windows retains its original
lines: the masonry is firm and good. Fantastic corbels surround the summit
of the lateral walls. Within, a semi-circular arch resting upon short pillars
with sculptured capitals, divides the choir from the nave. In other respects
the building has been much altered.--Henry Vth repaired it in 1418, and it
has been since dilapidated and restored.--A pile of buildings beyond, wholly
modern in the exterior, is now inhabited as a seminary or college. There are
some circular arches within, which shew that these buildings belonged to the
original structure.
Altogether the castle is a noble ruin. Though the keep is destitute of the
enrichments of Norwich or Castle Rising, it possesses an impressive
character of strength, which is much increased by the extraordinary
freshness of the masonry. The fosses of the castle; are planted with lofty
trees, which shade and intermingle with the towers and ramparts, and on
every side they groupe themselves with picturesque beauty. It is said that the
municipality intend to restore Talbot's tower and the keep, by replacing the
demolished battlements; but I should hope that no other repairs may take
place, except such as may be necessary for the preservation of the edifice;
and I do not think it needs any, except the insertion of clamps in the central
columns of two of the windows which are much shattered[94].
From the summit we enjoyed a delightful prospect: at our feet lay the town
of Falaise, so full of trees, that it seemed almost to deserve the character,
given by old Fuller to Norwich, of rus in urbe: the distant country presented
an undulating outline, agreeably diversified with woods and corn-fields, and
spotted with gentlemen's seats; while within a very short distance to the
west, rose another ridgy mass of bare brown rock, known by the name of
Mont Mirat, and still retaining a portion of the intrenchments, raised by our
countrymen when they besieged Falaise, in 1417.--By this eminence the
castle is completely commanded, and it is not easy to understand how the
fortress could be a tenable position; as the garrison who manned the
battlements of the dungeon and Talbot's tower, must have been exposed to
the missiles discharged from the catapults and balistas planted on Mont
Mirat.

The history of the castle is inseparably connected with that of the town: its
origin may safely be referred to remote antiquity, the time, most probably, of
the earliest Norman Dukes. If, however, we could agree with the fanciful
author just quoted, it would claim a much earlier date. The very fact of its
having a dungeon-tower, he maintains to be a proof of its having been
erected by Julius Cæsar inasmuch as the word, dungeon, or, as it is written in
French, donjon, is nothing but a corruption of Domus Julii! More than once
in the course of this correspondence, I have called your attention to the
fancies, or, to speak in plain terms, the absurdities, of theoretical antiquaries.
The worthy priest, to whom we are indebted for the Recherches Historiques
sur Falaise, "out-herods Herod." Writers of this description are curious and
amusing, let their theories but rest upon the basis of fair probability. Even
when we reject their reasonings, we are pleased with their ingenuity; and
they serve, to borrow an expression from Horace, "the purpose of a
whetstone." But M. Langevin has nothing farther to offer, than gratuitous
assertion or vague conjecture; and yet, upon the faith of these, he insists
upon our believing, that the foundation of Falaise took place very shortly
after the deluge; that its name is derived from Felé, the cat of Diana, or from
the less pure source of Phaloi-Isis; that the present site of the castle was that
of a temple, dedicated to Belenus and Abraxas; and that every stone of
remarkable form in the neighborhood, was either so shapened by the Druids,
(notwithstanding it is the character of rocks, like those at Falaise, to assume
fantastic figures,) or was at least appropriated by the Celtic priesthood to
typify the sun, or moon, or stars.
Various tombs, stone-hatchets, &c., have been dug up at Tassilly, a village
within six miles of Falaise, and fragments of mosaic pavements have been
discovered in the immediate vicinity of the castle[95]; but history and
tradition are alike silent as to the origin of these remains.--The first historical
mention of Falaise is in the year 1027; during the reign of the fifth Norman
Duke, Richard IIIrd, at which period this town was one of the strong holds of
the duchy, and afforded shelter to Robert, the father of the Conqueror, when
he rebelled against his elder brother. Falaise on that occasion sustained the
first of the nine sieges, by which it has procured celebrity in history.--
Fourteen years only elapsed before it was exposed to a second, through the
perfidy of Toustain de Goz, Count of Hiesmes, who had been intrusted with
the charge of the castle, and who, upon finding that his own district was
ravaged by the forces of the King of France, voluntarily offered to surrender

to that monarch the fortress under his command, on condition that his
territory, the Hiesmois, should be spared. But Duke William succeeded in
retaking the place of his birth before the traitor had an opportunity of
introducing the troops of his new ally.--In the years 1106 and 1139, Falaise
opposed a successful resistance to the armies of Henry Ist, and of Geoffrey
Plantagenet. Upon the first of these occasions, the Count of Maine, the
general of the English forces, retired with shame from before the walls; and
Henry was foiled in all his attempts to gain possession of the castle, till the
battle of Tinchbray had invested him with the ducal mantle, and had induced
Robert himself to deliver up the fortress in person to his more fortunate
brother. On the second occasion, Robert Marmion, lord of the neighboring
barony of Marmion le Fontenay, a name equally illustrious in Norman and in
English story, held Falaise for Eustace of Boulogne, son to Stephen, and
twice repelled the attacks of the husband of the Empress Maud.--The fourth
siege was conducted with different success, by Philip Augustus: for seven
days the citizens quietly witnessed the preparations of the French monarch;
and then, either alarmed by the impending conflict, or disgusted by the
conduct of their own sovereign, who had utterly deserted them, they opened
their gates to the enemy.--In 1417 the case was far otherwise, though the
result was the same. Henry Vth attacked Falaise upon the fourth of
November, and continued to cannonade it till the middle of the following
February; and, even then, the surrender was attributed principally to famine.
Great injuries were sustained by the town in the course of this long siege;
but, to the credit of our countrymen, the efforts made towards the reparation
of them were at least proportionate. The fortifications were carefully
restored; the chapel was rebuilt and endowed afresh; Talbot's tower was
added to the keep; and a suite of apartments, also named after that great
captain, was erected in the castle.--The resistance made by the English
garrison of Falaise in 1450, at the time when we were finally expelled from
the duchy, was far from equal to that which the French, had previously
shewn. Vigour was indeed displayed in repeated sallies, but six days sufficed
to put the French general in possession of the place. Disheartened troops,
cooped up in a fortress without hope of succour, offer but faint opposition;
and Falaise was then the last place which held out in Normandy, excepting,
only Domfront and Cherbourg, both which were taken almost immediately
afterwards.--Falaise, from this time forwards, suffered no more from foreign
enemies: the future miseries of the town were inflicted by the hands of its
own countrymen. In common with many other places in France, it was

doomed to learn from hard experience, that "alta sedent civilis vulnera
dextræ."--Instigated by the Count de Brissac, governor of the town, and one
of the most able generals of the league, the inhabitants were immoveable in
their determination to resist the introduction of tenets which they regarded as
a fatal variance from the Catholic faith. The troops of Henry IIIrd, in alliance
with those of his more illustrious successor, were vainly brought against
Falaise in 1589, by the Duc de Montpensier; a party of enthusiastic peasants,
called Gautiers, from the name of a neighboring village, where their
association originated, harassed the assailants unremittingly, and rendered
such effectual assistance to the garrison, that the siege was obliged to be
raised.--But it was only raised to be renewed at the conclusion of the same
year, by Henry of Bourbon, in person, whom the tragical end of his late ally
had placed upon the throne of France. Brissac had now a different enemy to
deal with: he answered the king's summons to surrender, by pleading his
oath taken upon the holy sacrament to the contrary; and he added that, if it
should ultimately prove necessary for him to enter into any negotiation, he
would at least delay it for six months to come. "Then, by heavens!" replied
Henry, "I will change his months into days, and grant him absolution;" and;
so saying, he commenced a furious cannonade, which soon caused a breach,
and, in seven days, he carried the town by assault. Brissac, who, on the
capture of the fortress, had retired into the keep, found himself shortly
afterwards obliged to capitulate; and I am sorry to add, that the terms which
he proposed and obtained, were not of a nature to be honorable to his
character. The security of his own life and of that of seven of his party, was
the principal stipulation in the articles. The rest of the garrison were
abandoned to the mercy of the conqueror, who contented himself with
hanging seven of them in memorial of the seven days of the siege; but, if we
may believe the French historians, always zealous for the honor of their
monarchs, and especially of this monarch, Henry selected the sufferers from
among those, who, for their crimes, had, subjected themselves to the pain of
death.
From these various attacks, but principally from those of 1417 and 1589, the
fortifications of Falaise have suffered materially; and since the last no care
has been taken to repair them. The injuries sustained at that period, and the
more fatal, though less obvious ones, wrought by the silent operation of two
centuries of neglect, have brought the walls and towers to their present state
of dilapidation.

The people of Falaise are commonly supposed to be Normans κατ εξοχην
[English. Not in Original: pre-eminently, especially, above all]; and when a
Norman is introduced upon the French stage, he calls himself a Falesian, just
as any Irishman, in an English farce, is presumed to come from Tipperary.
The town in the French royal calendar is stated to contain about fourteen
thousand inhabitants; but we are assured that the real number does not
exceed nine thousand. Its staple trade is the manufacture of stockings, coarse
caps, and lace. The streets are wide; and the public fountains, which are
continually playing, impart a freshness, which, at the present burning season,
is particularly agreeable.--The town now retains only four churches, two
within its precincts, and two in the suburbs. The revolution has deprived it of
eight others. Of those which are now standing, the most ancient is that
situated near the castle, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Langevin assures
us that it was built upon the ruins of the temple of Felé, Isis, Belenus, and
the heavenly host of constellations, and that in the fifth century it changed its
heathen for its Christian patrons. The oldest part (a very small one it is) of
the present structure, appertains to a building which was consecrated in
1126, by the Archbishop of Rouen, in the presence of Henry Ist, but which
was almost entirely destroyed by the cannonade in the fifteenth century. An
inscription in gothic letters, near the entrance, relates, that after this
desolation, a beginning was made towards the re-building of the church, "in
1438, a year of war, and death, and plague, and famine;" but it is certain that
not much of the part now standing can be referred even to that period. The
choir was not completed till the middle of the sixteenth century, nor the
Lady-Chapel till the beginning of the following one. Architecturally
considered, therefore, the church is a medley of various styles and ages.
The larger church, that of St. Gervais and St. Protais, is said to have been
originally the ducal chapel, and to stand in the immediate vicinity of the site
of the Conqueror's palace, now utterly destroyed. According to an ancient
manuscript, this church was consecrated at the same time as that of the
Trinity. The intersecting circular-headed arches of its tower are curious. The
Norman corbel-table and clerestory windows still remain; and the exterior of
the whole edifice promises a gratification to a lover of architectural
antiquity, which the inside is little calculated to realize.--An invading army
ruined the church of the Trinity; civil discord did the same for that of St.
Gervais. The Huguenots, not content with plundering the treasure, actually
set fire to the building, and well nigh consumed it: hence, the choir is the

work of the year 1580, and the southern wall of the nave is a more recent
construction.
We see Falaise to a great advantage: every inn is crowded; every shop is
decked out; and the streets are full of life and activity; all in preparation for
the fair, which commences in three days, on the fifteenth of this month, the
anniversary of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin. This fair, which is
considered second to no other in France, excepting that of Beaucaire, is held
in the suburbs of Guibray, and takes its name from the place where it is held.
For the institution, Falaise is indebted to William the Conqueror; and from it
the place derives the greatest share of its prosperity and importance. During
the fourteen days that the fair continues, the town is filled with the
neighboring gentry, as well as with merchants and tradesmen of every
description, not only from the cities of Normandy, but from Paris and the
distant provinces, and even from foreign countries. The revolution itself
respected the immunities granted to the fair of Guibray, without, at the same
time, having the slightest regard, either to its royal founder, or its religious
origin.--An image of the Virgin, discovered under-ground by the scratching
and bleating of a lamb, first gave the stamp of sanctity to Guibray.
Miraculous means had been employed for the discovery of this statue;
miraculous powers were sure to be seated in the image. Pilgrims crowded
from all places to witness and to adore; and hawkers, and pedlars, and, as I
have seen inscribed upon a hand-bill at Paris, "the makers of he-saints and of
she-saints," found Guibray a place of lucrative resort. Their numbers
annually increased, and thus the fair originated.--We are compelled to
hasten, or we would have stopped to have witnessed the ceremonies, and
joined the festivities on the occasion. Already more than one field is covered
with temporary buildings, each distinguished by a flag, bearing the name and
trade of the occupant; already, too, the mountebanks and showmen have
taken their stand for the amusement of the company, and the relaxation of
the traders; and, what is a necessary consequence of such assemblages, you
cannot stir without being pestered with crowds of boys, proffering their
services to transport your wares.
The church of Guibray, like the others of Falaise, offers specimens of
Norman architecture, strangely altered and half concealed by modern
innovations. In the first syllable of the name of the place, you will observe
the French word for misletoe, and may thence infer, and probably not

without reason, the antiquity of the station; the latter syllable, albeit in
England sheep are not wont to bray, is supposed by the pious to have
reference to the bleating of the lamb, which led to the discovery of the
miraculous image.--Etymology is a wide district in a pleasant country,
strangely intersected by many and deceitful paths. He that ventures upon the
exploring of it, requires the utmost caution, and the constant control of sober
reason: woe will be sure to betide the unfortunate wight, who, in such a
situation, gives the reins to fancy, and suffers imagination to usurp the place
of judgment, without reflecting, as has been observed by the poet on a
somewhat similar occasion, that

"Tis more to curb than urge the generous steed,
Restrain his fury, than provoke his speed."

Footnotes:

[94] The outline of the castle is egg-shaped; and the following are
its dimensions, in French measure, according to M. Langevin.--
Length, 720 feet; mean width, 420; quantity of ground contained
within the walls, two acres and a perch.

[95] Recherches Historiques sur Falaise, p. XIX. and XXIX.

LETTER XXX.
ROCK AND CHAPEL OF ST. ADRIEN--PONT-DE-L'ARCHE--
PRIORY OF THE TWO LOVERS--ABBEY OF BONPORT--
LOUVIERS--GAILLON--VERNON.

(Mantes, August, 1818)
The last letter which I wrote to you, was dated from Falaise. Look in the
map and you will see that you now receive one from a point completely
opposite. In four days we have passed from one of the most western towns
of the province, to a place situated beyond its eastern frontier; and in four
more, we may almost hope to be with you again. In this hasty journey we
travelled through a district which has not yet become the subject of
description to you; and though we travelled with less comfort of mind, than
in the early part of our tour, I am yet enabled to send you a few details
respecting it.
From Falaise we went in a direct line to Croissanville: the road, which we
intended to take by St. Pierre sur Dive to Lisieux, was utterly impracticable
for carriages. From Croissanville to Rouen we almost retraced our former
steps: we did not indeed again make a détour by Bernay; but the straight
road from Lisieux to Brionne is altogether without interest.
There are two ways from Rouen to Paris: the upper, through Ecouis, Magny,
and Pontoise; the lower, by the banks of the Seine. Having travelled by both
of them before, we could appreciate their respective advantages; and we
knew that the only recommendation of the former was, that it saved some
few miles in distance; while the latter is one of the most beautiful rides in
France, and the towns, through which it passes, are far from being among the
least interesting in Normandy. In such an alternative, there was no difficulty
in fixing our choice, and we proceeded straight for Pont-de-l'Arche. The
chalk cliffs, which bounded the road on our left, for some distance from
Rouen, break near the small village of Port St. Ouen, into wild forms, and in
one spot project boldly, assuming the shape of distinct towers. These

projections are known by the name of the rock of St. Adrien; thus called
from the patron saint of a romantic chapel, a place of great sanctity, and of
frequent resort with pilgrims, situated nearly mid-way up the cliff.--The
chapel is indeed little more than an excavation, and is altogether so rude, that
its workmanship affords no clue to discover the date of the building. Its
south side and roof are merely formed of the bare rock. To the north it is
screened by an erection, which, were it not for the windows and short square
steeple, might easily be mistaken for a pent-house. The western end appears
to display some traces of Norman architecture. The hill, which leads to this
chapel, commands a view of Rouen, the most picturesque, I think, of all that
we have seen of this city, so picturesque from various points. You can
scarcely conceive the eagerness with which we endeavored to catch the last
glimpse, as the prospect gradually vanished from our sight, or the pleasure
with which we still dwell, and shall long continue so to do, upon the
recollection. All round the chapel, the bare chalk is at this time tinged with a
beautiful glow, from the blue flowers of the Viola Rothomagensis: the Isatis
Tinctoria, the true Woad, is also common on the steep sides of the cliff. This
plant, which is here indigenous, became, during the reign of Napoléon, an
object of attention with the government, as a succedaneum for indigo, at the
same time that beet-root was destined to supply the continent with sugar, and
salsafy, or parched wheat, to hold the place of coffee. The restoration of
peace has caused the Isatis to be again neglected; but the Reseda luteola, or,
Dyer's woad, is much cultivated in the neighborhood, as is the Teasel for the
use of the cloth manufactory.
Pont-de-l'Arche, though now a small mean town, may boast of high
antiquity, if it be rightly believed to be the ancient Pistae, the seat of the
palace erected by Charles the Bald, in which that sovereign convened
councils in the years 861 and 869, and held assemblies of his nobles in 862
and 864; and from which, his edicts promulgated in those years, are dated.
The same monarch also built here a magnificent bridge, defended at one
extremity by a citadel upon a small island.--From this there seems every
reason to believe that the town has derived its name; for, in a diploma issued
by our Henry IInd, he calls the place Pontem Arcis; and its present
appellation is nothing but its Latin name translated into French. The fortress
at the head of the bridge was demolished about thirty years ago, at the time
when Millin published his[96] account of the town. The plate attached to that
account, represents one of the towers as still standing.--Though deprived of

its citadel, Pont-de-l'Arche retains to the present day its walls, flanked by
circular towers; and its bridge, which is the lowest stone bridge down the
Seine, is a noble one of twenty-two arches, through which the river at a
considerable depth below, rolls with extraordinary rapidity. In the length of
this bridge are some mills, which are turned by the stream; and the current is
moderated under one of the arches, by a lock placed on the down-stream
side, into which barges pass, and so proceed with security; The bridge, with
its mills, forms a very picturesque object.
At a short distance from the bridge, to the left, looking towards Paris, is the
Colline des deux amans, formerly surmounted by the priory of the same
name. Of the history of the monastery nothing is known with certainty, nor is
even the date of its foundation ascertained, though it is stated by Millin to be
one of the most ancient in Normandy[97]. But the traditionary tale connected
with this convent, forms the subject of one of the lays of Mary of France;
and it has been elegantly translated by the late Mr. Ellis, in the introduction
to his History of our Ancient Metrical Romances;--Du Plessis[98] is,
however, of opinion, that the name of the priory is nothing more than a
corruption from the words, deux monts, in allusion to the twin hills, on one
of which it stands; or, if lovers must have any thing to do with the
appellation, he piously suggests that divine love may have been intended,
and that the parties were no other than our Savior and the Virgin, whose
images were placed over the door of the conventual church.
On the opposite side of the bridge of Pont-de-l'Arche, stand the remains of a
far richer abbey, that of Bonport, of the Cistertian order, founded by Richard
Coeur-de-Lion, in 1190, as an ex voto. The monarch, then just in possession
of his crown, was indulging with his courtiers in the pleasures of the chace,
and, carried away by the natural impetuosity of his temper, had plunged in
pursuit of the deer into the Seine, whose rapid current brought his life into
imminent danger; and he accordingly vowed, if he escaped with safety, to
erect a monastery upon the spot where he should reach the shore. Hence,
according to Le Brasseur[99], the foundation, and hence the name. I ought,
however, to add, that no record of the kind is preserved in the Neustrta Pia,
nor even by Millin, who has described and figured such of the monastic
buildings and monuments as had been spared at the early part of the
revolution[100]. Another view of the ruins has since been published by
Langlois, in the first number of a work which was intended to have

comprised a long series of Norman antiquities, but was discontinued for
want of encouragement. The author, whose portrait I have sent you in the
course of this correspondence, is himself a native of Pont-de-l'Arche, and
has subjoined to his fas-ciculus a couple of plates, illustrative of the costume
and customs of the neighborhood.--In one of these plates, an itinerant male
fortune-teller is satisfying a young peasant as to the probability of her speedy
marriage, by means of a pack of cards, from which he has turned up the king
and queen and ace of hearts. In the other, a cunning woman is solving a
question by a book and key. The poor girl's sweetheart is an absent soldier,
and fears and doubts are naturally entertained for his safety. To unlock the
mysteries of fate, the key is attached to the mass-book, and suspended from
the tip of the finger of the sybil, who reads the first chapter of the gospel of
St. John; and the invocation is answered by the key turning of its own
accord, when she arrives at the verse beginning, "and the word was made
flesh[101]."--A fine rose-window in the church of the abbey of Bonport, and
two specimens of painted glass from its windows, the one representing
angels holding musical instruments, supposed to be of the thirteenth century,
the other containing a set of male and female heads of extraordinarily rich
color, probably executed about a century later, are given by Willemin in his
very beautiful Monumens Français inédits. In the same work, you will
likewise find two still more interesting painted windows from Pont-de-
l'Arche; some boatmen and their wives in the Norman costume of the end of
the sixteenth century, and a citizen of the town with his lady, praying before
a fald-stool, bearing the date, 1621.
The church of Pont-de-l'Arche, though greatly dilapidated, is a building
worth notice, in a fine style of the decorated gothic. The nave is very lofty;
the high altar richly carved and gilt; the oak pulpit embossed with saints; and
the font covered with curious, though not ancient, sculpture. Rich tracery
abounds in the windows, which are also filled with painted glass, some of it
of very good quality. Scripture history and personages occupy, as usual, the
principal part; but in one of the windows we noticed a representation of the
Seine full of islands, and the town of Pont-de-l'Arche, with a number of
persons quitting it with their horses, baggage, &c. in apparent confusion. So
shattered, however, is the window, that the story is no longer intelligible in
its details; and fragments, quite illegible, are all that remain of the
inscriptions formerly beneath it. It is probable, that the intention of the artist
was to give a picture of the miseries experienced by the inhabitants at the

burning of the town by our troops under Edward IIIrd.--On the south side of
the church the buttresses are enriched with canopies and other sculpture; and
there was originally a highly-wrought balustrade, ornamented with figures of
children, a part of which remains.--Pont-de-l'Arche claims the merit of
having been the first town in France, which acknowledged Henry IVth as its
lawful sovereign, after the assassination of his predecessor, in 1589.
On leaving this place, we passed through the forest of the same name, an
extensive tract covered with young trees, principally beech, oak, and birch.
The soil, a mixture of chalk and gravel, is poor, and offers but little
encouragement to the labors of the plough. All around us, the distant
prospect was pleasantly varied with gentle hills, upon one of which, nearly
in front, we soon saw Louviers, a busy manufacturing town, of about seven
thousand inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in making the fine cloth of
the district, which is considered superior in quality to any other in France.
Spanish wool is almost exclusively used for the purpose.
Throughout the vicinity of Louviers, are the most undoubted symptoms of
commercial prosperity; new houses every where erecting, and old ones
undergoing improvement. But the streets of the town itself are, as usual,
dirty and narrow, and the people of the lower orders more than commonly
ragged and beggarly. It was impossible to mistake the nature of their
occupations; so many of them had their faces and hands, and every part of
their limbs and bodies that was visible, died of a bright blue.--The church at
Louviers is very much injured, but very handsome; and though reduced to a
nave with its four aisles it is still a spacious edifice. The south porch, which
projects boldly in the form of a galilee, is scarcely to be excelled as a
specimen of pointed architecture at its highest pitch of luxuriant beauty. Yet,
even in this, the saints have been torn from their pedestals by the wanton
violence of the Calvinists or democrats. The central tower is square and
short: it is, however, handsome. Two windows, very similar to those of the
tower of St. Romain, in Rouen cathedral, light it on either side; and saints,
placed under canopies, ornament the angles behind the buttresses.--The great
western door is closed, and the front defaced: the eastern end, likewise, is
altogether modern.--Within, the same kind of architecture prevails as in the
exterior, but the whole is so concealed, and degraded by ornaments in the
worst of taste, and by painted saints in the most tawdry dresses, that the
effect is disgusting. I never saw so great an array of wretched representations

of the heavenly host: the stone images collected round the holy sepulchre,
are even worse than those at Dieppe. Near the chapel of the sepulchre,
however, are four bas-reliefs, attached to the wall, exhibiting different events
in our Savior's life of good execution, and not in had taste: an open gallery
of fillagree stone-work, under the central tower on the south side, is an
object really deserving of admiration.
M. Langlois has engraved the gable end of an old house at Louviers, said to
have belonged to the Knights Templars. We found it used as an engine-
maker's shop; and neither within nor without, could we discover any thing to
justify his opinion, that it is a building of the twelfth or thirteenth century.
On the contrary, the windows, which are double, under a flatly-pointed arch,
and are all of them trefoil-headed, would rather cause it to be considered as
erected two centuries later.
The town of Louviers, though never fortified, is noticed on several occasions
in history. It was the seat of the conferences between Richard Coeur-de-Lion
and Philip Augustus, which ended in the treaty of 1195, defining new limits
to Normandy.--It was, as I have already mentioned, one of the items of the
compensation made by the same Duke to the Archbishop of Rouen, for the
injury done to the church, by the erection of Château Gaillard.--During the
wars of Edward IIIrd, "Louviers," to use the language of old Froissart, "after
the battle of Caen, was soon entered by the Englishmen, as it was not closed;
and they over-ran, and spoiled, and robbed it without mercy, and won great
riches; for it was the chief place in all Normandy for drapery, and was full of
merchandize."--And, in the subsequent warfare of the fifteenth century, this
town, like the others in the duchy, was taken by our countrymen, under
Henry Vth, and lost by them under his successor.--Hither the Norman
parliament retired when the Huguenots were in possession of Rouen; and
here they remained till the recapture of the capital.--It was probably owing in
a great measure to this circumstance, that Louviers was induced to
distinguish itself by a devoted attachment to the party of the league, for
which it suffered severely in 1591, when it was captured and pillaged by the
royalists shortly after their victory at Ivry. The town was then taken through
the treachery of a priest of the name of Jean de la Tour, who received, as a
recompence, a stall in the cathedral at Evreux, but was so much an object of
abhorrence with his brethren, that he scarcely ever ventured to appear in his
place. During the holy week, however, he attended; and it once happened,

that while he was so officiating, all the canons contrived to leave the church
towards the close of the psalm, which immediately precedes the Benedictus
at Laudes, so that the anthem, Traditor autem, which is sung with that hymn,
necessarily fell to the part of de la Tour, who found himself compelled to
chaunt it, to his own extreme confusion, and the infinite amusement of the
congregation. Irritated and mortified, the poor priest preferred his complaints
to the king; but it was one thing to love the treason, and another to love the
traitor; and his appeal obtained no redress.
From Louviers our next stage was Gaillon, on our road to which we passed
some vineyards, the most northern, I believe, in Normandy. The vines
cultivated in them are all of the small black cluster grape; and the wine they
produce, I am told, is of very inferior quality,--No place can appear at
present more poverty-stricken than Gaillon; but the case was far otherwise
before the glories of royal and ecclesiastical France were shorn by the
revolution. Ducarel, who visited this town about the year 1760, dwells with
great pleasure upon the magnificence of its palace and its Carthusian
convent and church. Of the palace the remains are still considerable; and,
after having been suffered to lie in a state of ruin and neglect from an early
period in the revolution, they are now fitting up as a prison. The long
inscription formerly over the gate might with great propriety be replaced by
the hacknied phrase, "Sic transit gloria mundi;" for the vicissitudes of the
fortune of noble buildings are strikingly illustrated by the changes
experienced by this sumptuous edifice, long proverbial throughput France
for its splendor.
Philip Augustus conferred the lordship of Gaillon upon one of his captains of
the name of Cadoc, as a reward for his activity in the conquest of Normandy.
Louis IXth afterwards, early in the thirteenth century, ceded the town in
perpetuity to the Archbishop of Rouen. St. Louis here received by way of
exchange the Château of Pinterville, which he bestowed upon William
d'Aubergenville, whose uncle, the Bishop of Evreux, had, while chancellor
of France, done much service to him and to Queen Blanche, his mother.
From that time to the revolution the archbishops had their country seat at
Gaillon, and enjoyed the sole right of trying civil and criminal causes within
the town and its liberties. Their palace, which was destroyed during the wars
of Henry Vth, in 1423, was rebuilt about a century afterwards by the
munificence of the first cardinal Georges d'Amboise, one of whose

successors in the prelacy, Colbert, expended, as it is said, more than one
hundred thousand livres towards the embellishment of it.--Another
archbishop, the Cardinal of Bourbon, founded the neighboring monastery, in
the year 1571. The conventual church was destroyed by fire, through the
carelessness of some plumbers, shortly after Ducarel visited it; and with it
perished the celebrated monument of one of the counts of Bourbon Soissons,
said to have been a master-piece of sculpture.
The limits assigned to Normandy by the treaty of Louviers, made Gaillon a
frontier town of the duchy; and here therefore I should take my leave of you,
but that, in the prouder days of its history, Vernon was likewise swayed by
the ducal sceptre. Vernon also seems peculiarly connected with England,
from the noble family of the same name still flourishing, agreeably to their
well-known punning motto, on your side of the water. This motto is in the
highest degree inapplicable to the present state of the town, whose old and
ruinous appearance looks as if it had known neither improvement nor repair
for centuries. Better things might have been expected from the situation of
Vernon, on the banks of the Seine, in a singularly beautiful valley, and from
its climate, which is reported to be so extraordinarily healthy, that instances
of individuals attaining in it the age of one hundred are not unfrequent.
The royal palace, formerly here, is now wholly swept away; and of the
ancient fortifications there remains little more than a tower, remarkable for
the height and thickness of its walls, a part of the castle, which, in the reign
of Henry IInd, was held by the service of sixteen knights for its defence[102].-
-Prior to the revolution, Vernon contained five religious houses, three of
them founded by St. Louis, who is said to have regarded this town with
peculiar favor, and probably on that account assigned it as a jointure to his
queen, an honor which it has received upon more than one other occasion.
The present parish church of Vernon was collegiate. It was founded about
the year 1052, by William of Vernon, and was endowed by him, at the time
of its dedication, with the property called, La Couture du Pré de Giverny,
and with a fourth part of the forest of Vernon, all which the dean and canons
continued to enjoy till the revolution. This William appears to have been the
first of the family who adopted the surname of Vernon. His son, Richard, by
whom the foundation was formally confirmed, attended the Conqueror to
England, and obtained there considerable grants. One of their descendants

ceded the town in 1190 to the King of France, accepting in return other
lands, according to a treaty still preserved in the royal library at Paris. The
tombs of the founder, and of his namesake, Sir William de Vernon, constable
of England, who died in 1467, and of many others of the family, among the
rest the stately mausoleum of the Maréchal de Belle Isle, were destroyed
during the reign of jacobinism and terror. The portraits, however, of the
Marshal and of the Duc de Penthièvre, both of them very indifferent
performances, were saved, and are now kept in the sacristy. The only
monument left to the church is that of Marie Maignard, whose husband,
Charles Maignard, was Lord of Bernières and president of the parliament of
Normandy. She died in 1610. Her effigy in white marble, praying before a
fald-stool, has also been spared.

The church itself is a spacious building, consisting of a nave and two aisles,
with chapels beyond, separated by lofty pointed arches, supported on
clustered pillars, to each of which is still attached a tabernacle; but the
statues have been destroyed. The choir is altogether in a different style of
architecture: that portion of it which immediately surrounds the altar, is early
Norman, and most probably belonged to the original structure. Its arches
vary remarkably in width. The most narrow among them are more decidedly
horseshoe-shaped, than any others which I recollect to have seen.--The west
front, though much mutilated, is still handsome. It is flanked by two small,
very short turrets, richly ornamented.--The square central tower, capped by a
conical roof, does not even equal the height of the nave, which is greatly
superior to that of the choir.--Upon an eminence in the immediate vicinity of
Vernon, are the remains of a Roman encampment.
With Vernon we quitted ancient Normandy: our ride thence to Mantes has
been delightful; and this town, for the excellence of its buildings, for
neatness, and for a general air of comfort, far excels any other which we
have seen in the north of France. The name of Mantes also recals the
memory of the Duc de Sully, and recals that of the Conqueror, whose life fell
a sacrifice to the barbarous outrage of which he was here guilty.--But, I now
lay down my pen, and take my leave of Normandy, happy, if by my
correspondence during this short tour, I have been able to impart to you a
portion of the gratification which I have myself experienced, while tracing
the ancient history, and surveying the monuments of that wonderful nation,
who, issuing from the frozen regions of the north, here fixed the seat of their
permanent government, became powerful rivals of the sovereigns of France,
saw Sicily and the fairest portion of Italy subject to their sway, and, at the
same time that they possessed themselves of our own island, by right of
conquest, imported amongst us their customs, their arts, and their
institutions, and laid the basis of that happy constitution, under which, by the
blessing of God, Britain is at this moment the pride and envy of the world!

Footnotes:

[96] Antiquités Nationales, IV. No. 48.

[97] Antiquités Nationales, II. No. 17.

[98] Histoire de la Haute Normandie, II. p. 332.

[99] Histoire d'Evreux, p. 161.

[100] Antiquités Nationales, IV. No. 40.

[101] This mode of divination by the Bible and key, is also to be
found among the superstitions of our own country.--See Ellis'
edition of Brand's Popular Antiquities, II. p. 641.

[102] Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 93.--Respecting
Vernon, see also Millin, Antiquités Nationales, III. No. 26, in
which four plates, and near fifty pages of letter-press, are devoted
to this town.

APPENDIX I.

The printing of this work was just concluded, when the
author was favored with drawings, accompanied with
short descriptions, of the chapel of our Lady of the
Délivrande, near Caen, and of an ancient font at
Magneville, near Valognes. For the former he is indebted
to Mr. Cohen, to whom he has so often in the course of
the work, had occasion to express his obligations; for the
latter, to M. de Gerville, an able antiquary at Valognes.
Both these subjects are of such a nature, that he is
peculiarly happy to be able to add them to his imperfect
account of the Antiquities of Normandy: the whole
duchy does not contain a religious building more
celebrated for its sanctity than the chapel; and while
ancient fonts of any description are rare in the province,
he doubts if another is to be found like that of
Magneville, ornamented with sculpture and an
inscription.

Some historians suppose, that the country situated between Caen and the sea,
formed at least, a part of the Saxon shore of Neustria. Amongst the other
ancient buildings which are found in this district, the chapel of Notre Dame
de la Délivrande, to which the Normans have resorted in pilgrimage during
the last eight hundred years, is, perhaps, the most remarkable.
When the philosophers of the revolution envied the religious enjoyments of
the common man, all pilgrimages were forbidden, and the road leading to
our Lady's Chapel, and which, indeed, is the only high road in this part of
the country, became almost impassable. Under the Emperor it was
thoroughly repaired, and, as they say, by his especial order; and since the
accession of the present French king, the fathers of the mission, who lose no

favorable opportunity of fostering the spirit of devotion, have erected roods
and tabernacles, at due distances, all along the way side.
After leaving Caen, the traveller will not fail to linger on the little hill which
he ascends just after passing by the first crucifix. Hence he enjoys a lovely
prospect, such as delighted the old masters. In the foreground is the lofty
cross, standing on a quadrangular pyramid of steps. The broken hollow path
bending upwards round the base, is always occupied by a grotesque group of
cripples and beldames, in rags and tatters, laughing and whining and
praying. The horizon is bounded by long lines of grey and purple hills,
nearer are fields and pastures, whilst the river glitters and winds amidst their
vivid tints. Nearer still, the city of Caen extends itself from side to side,
terminated at each extremity by the venerable abbeys of William and
Matilda. There are no traces of work-shops and manufactories, or of their
pollution; but the churches with their towers and spires rise above the houses
in bold architectural masses, and the city assumes a character of quiet
monastic opulence, comforting the eye and the mind.
About four miles farther on from Caen, we reached Cambre, one of the
many seignories which belonged to the very noble family of Mathan. There
was a Serlo de Mathan, who appears as a witness to one of the Conqueror's
charters, and the family is now represented by the present Marquis, who has
recovered his château, and a fragment of his domain. Cambre is also the
residence of the Abbé de la Rue, by whom the Marquis was educated. When
they both took refuge in England, the Abbé was the only protector of his
pupil, who now returns the honorable obligation. It is well known that the
Abbé has devoted his life to the investigation of the antiquities both of
Normandy and of the Anglo-Normans. Possessing in a high degree the acute
and critical spirit of research which distinguished the French archaiologists
of the Benedictine school, we have only to regret, that the greater part of his
works yet remain in manuscript. His History of Anglo-Norman Poetry,
which is quite ready for the press, would be an invaluable accession to our
literature; but books of this nature are so little suited to the taste of the
French public, that, as yet, he has not ventured upon its publication. The
collections of the Abbé, as may be anticipated, are of great value; they relate
almost wholly to the history of the duchy. The château escaped spoliation.
The portraits of the whole line of the Mathans, from the first founder of the
race, in his hauberk, down to the last Marquis, in his frisure, are in good

preservation; and they are ancient specimens of the sign-post painting
usually found in old galleries. The Marquis has also a finely-illuminated
missal, which belonged to a Dame de Mathan, in the fourteenth century, and
which has been carefully handed down in the family, from generation to
generation.
The church of Douvre, the next village, is rather a picturesque building. The
upper story of the tower has two pointed windows of the earliest date. A
pediment between them rests on the archivolt on either side. This is
frequently seen in buildings in the circular style. The other stories of the
tower, and the west front of the church are Norman; the east end is in ruins.
The British name of the village may afford ground for much ethnigraphical
and etymological speculation.
Saint Exuperius is said to have founded the Chapel of La Délivrande, some
time in the first century. The tradition adds, that the chapel was ruined by the
Northmen,--and the statue of the Virgin, which now commands the
veneration of the faithful, remained buried until the appointed time of
resuscitation, in the reign of Henry Ist, when it was discovered, in
conformity to established usage and precedent in most cases of miraculous
images, by a lamb. Baldwin, Count of the Bessin and Baron of Douvre, was
owner of the flock to which the lamb belonged. The Virgin would not remain
in the parish church of Douvre, in which she was lodged by the Baron, but
she returned every night to the spot where she was disinterred. Baldwin
therefore understood that it was his duty to erect a chapel for her reception,
and he accordingly built that which is now standing, and made a donation of
the edifice to the Bishop of Bayeux, whose successor receives the mass-
pennies and oblations at this very day. Some idea of the architecture of the
building may be formed from the inclosed sketch of the western front.
During the morning mass, the chapel was crowded with women, young and
old, who were singing the litany of the Virgin in a low and plantive tone. A
hymn of praise was also chaunted. It was composed by the learned Bishop
Huet, and it is inscribed upon a black marble tablet, which was placed in the
chapel by his direction. The country women of the Saxon shore possess a
very peculiar physiognomy, denoting that the race is unmixed. The Norman-
Saxon damsel is full and well made, her complexion is very fair, she has
light hair, long eyelashes, and tranquil placid features; her countenance has
an air of sullen pouting tenderness, such as we often find in the women

represented in the sculptures and paintings of the middle ages. And all the
girls are so much alike, that it might have been supposed that they all were
sisters. As to our Lady, she is gaily attired in a Cashemire shawl, and
completely covered with glaring amber necklaces and beads, and ribband
knots, and artificial flowers. Many votive offerings are affixed round her
shrine. The pilgrim is particularly desired to notice a pair of crutches, which
testify the cure of their former owner, who lately hobbled to the Virgin from
Falaise, as a helpless cripple, and who quitted her in perfect health. Of
course the Virgin has operated all the usual standard miracles, including one
which may be suspected to be rather a work of supererogation, that of
restoring speech to a matron who had lost her tongue, which had been cut
out by her jealous husband. Miracles of every kind are very frequently
performed, yet, if the truth must be told, they are worked, as it were, by
deputy, for the real original Virgin suffered so much during the revolution,
that it has been thought advisable to keep her in the sacristy, and the statue
now seen is a restoration of recent workmanship. In order to conciliate the
sailors and fishermen of the coast, the Virgin has entered into partnership
with St. Nicholas, whose image is impressed on the reverse of the medal
representing her, and which is sold to the pilgrims.
The country about La Délivrande is flat, but industriously cultivated and
thickly peopled. The villages are numerous and substantial. From a point at
the extremity of the green lane which leads onward from La Délivrande, six
or eight church spires may be counted, all within a league's distance. By the
advice of the Abbé de la Rue, we proceeded to Bernieres, which is close to
the sea. The mayor of the commune offered his services with great civility,
and accompanied us to the church, which, as he told us, was built by Duke
William. We easily gave credit to the mayor's assertion, as the interior of the
nave is good Norman. The pillars which support the groining of the roof are
square; this feature is rather singular. The tower and spire are copied from
Saint Peter, at Caen. Those of Luc, Courseilles, Langrune, and the other
neighboring villages, are upon the same model. Many instances of the same
kind of affiliation occur at home, which shew how easily a fashion was set in
ecclesiastical architecture.

APPENDIX II.

The most remarkable among the ancient inscriptions found in that part of
Normandy, which is now comprised in the Department of La Manche, are
upon an ancient altar, at Ham, on a medallion attached to the outside of the
church of Ste. Croix, at St. Lô, and upon the font at Magneville, near
Valognes. The first of these has generally been referred to the seventh
century; the second seems to be of the ninth; and the last may with safety be
considered as of the latter part of the tenth, or beginning of the eleventh, at
which period, the choir of the church of Magneville appears also to have
been erected. Of the sculpture upon the font, as well as of the inscription, an
accurate idea may be formed, from the annexed drawing: the most
remarkable character of the inscription seems to be in its punctuation. The
letters upon the altar, at Ham, touch one another, and there is no separation
of any kind between the words: here, on the contrary, almost all the words
are divided by three or four points placed in a perpendicular direction,
except at the end of the phrases, where stops are wholly wanting. At Ham,
also, the letters are cut into the stone, while at Magneville they are drawn
with a brush, with a kind of black pigment.
G.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

INDEX.
A.

Abbey, of Ardennes, 225
--Bec, 106
--Bernay, 119
--Bonport, 284
--Cormeilles, 145
--Ducler, 1
--Jumieges, 17
--Preaux, 145
--St. Evroul, 146
--St. Georges de Bocherville, 3
--St. Stephen, at Caen, 192
--St. Taurinus, 74
--Trinity at Caen, 182.
Academy of Druids, at Bayeux, 227.
Academy of Sciences, at Caen, 214.
Agnes Sorel, buried at Jumieges, 34
--her statue destroyed by the Huguenots, 34
--her tomb destroyed at the revolution, 34
--inscription upon, 35.
Amphitheatre, Roman, found near Lisieux, 140.
Amyot, Mr. his paper on the Bayeux tapestry, 238.
Andelys, origin of the name, 52
--history of, 53
--seat of an early monastery, 53
--great house at, 55
--birth-place of Poussin, 57.
Andromeda polifolia, found near Jumieges, 18.
Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, a monk at Bec, 110.
Aqueduct, Roman, remains of, at Vieux, 222.
Archbishops of Rouen, their palace at Gaillon, 290.
Arches, trefoil-headed, early specimen of, at Jumieges, 33.

Ardennes, abbey of, near Caen, 225.
Arlette, mother of the Conqueror, native of Falaise, 268.
Arnulf, bishop of Lisieux, 135.
Arthur, Prince, knighted at Gournay, 43.
Asselin, forbids the interment of the Conqueror, 200.
Audinus, bishop of Evreux, authorizes Henry Ist to burn the city, 67.
Augustodurum, probably the site of, at Vieux, 223.

B.

Bailiffs, first established in Normandy under Philip Augustus, 232.
Baiocco of Naples, named after Bayeux, 261.
Bas-relief, in the church of St. Georges de Bocherville, 9.
Baudius, professor of law for a short time at Caen, 216.
Bayeux, seat of an academy of Druids, 227
--Roman relics found near, but no Druidic, 228
--a Roman station, 228
--probably the Næomagus Viducassium, 228
--its ancient name, 229
--its importance under the early French kings, 229
--its history, 231
--the place where the Norman princes were educated, 231
--castle, 233
--situation, population, and trade, 234
--tapestry, 235
--cathedral, 244.
Bayeux, Roman, probably destroyed by the Saxons, 229.
Bec, abbey of, its present state, 106
--former income and patronage, 107
--church described by Du Plessis, 107
--founded by Hellouin, 108
--history, 108
--seminary for eminent men, 114.
Belenus, worshipped near Bayeux, 228.
Berengarius, his tenets impugned by Lanfranc, 105
--of Brionne, 117.
Bernay, abbey of, 119
--church, 121

--burial-ground, 122
--population and trade, 123
--costume of the females, 124.
Bernieres, church of, 299.
Blanche, wife of Charles the Bel, confined in Château Gaillard, 63.
Bochart, one of the founders of the academy at Caen, 214.
Boileau, his eulogium on Malherbe, 215.
Bonport, abbey of, 284.
Borghese, Princess of, original letter by, 151.
Bouillon, Duke of, Lord of Evreux, at the revolution, 83.
Bourg-Achard, seat of an abbey, dedicated to St. Eustatius, 96
--leaden font, 97.
Bourg-Theroude, 104.
Bourgueville, his antiquities of Caen, 164
--present at the exhumation of the Conqueror's remains, 303.
Boy, bishop, annually elected at Caen, 261.
Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse, church of, 226.
Brionne, situation of, 116
--seat of the council which condemned the tenets of Berengarius, 117
--castle, 116.
Brito, his account of the siege of Gournay, 41
--of Château Gaillard, 60
--of the murder of the French garrison of Evreux, 82
--of Caen, 166.
Broglie, church of, 125.
Bruce, David, a resident in Château Gaillard, 63.
Buck-wheat, much cultivated in Lower Normandy, 158
--etymology of its French name, 158.

C.

Caen, arrival at, 153
--distant view of, 159
--trade and population, 159
--situation, 160
--grand cours, 161
--costume of females, 161
--house-rent, 162

--foundation, 165
--described by Brito, 166
--etymology of the name, 166
--fortifications, 167
--Château de Calix, 168
--castle, 170
--chapel in the castle, 171
--hospital, 173
--royal abbeys, 182
--college, 193
--palace, 205
--museum, 210
--library, 210
--universities, 211
--men of eminence, 214
--academy, 214
--Malherbe, 215
--history, 217
--neighborhood abundant in fossil remains, 217
--seen from the road leading to La Délivrande, 295.
Caen-stone, large quarries of, 224
--formerly much used in England, 225.
Cambre, 296.
Cambremer, Canon of, tale respecting, at Bayeux, 255.
Cannon, first used in France, at the siege of Pont Audemer, 91.
Canons, four statues of, at Evreux, 70.
Castle, of Bayeux, 234
--Brionne, 116
--Caen, 170
--Creully, 264
--Falaise, 266
--Gisors, 45
--Montfort, 93
--Neufmarché, 44.
Cathedral of Bayeux, founded by St. Exuperius, 244
--history, 244
--described, 246
--crypt, 253

--stripped of its relics, 257
--revenue, 261
--right of mintage, 261.
Cathedral of Evreux, often destroyed, 67
--its present state, 69
--little injured by the Huguenots, 71
--founded by St. Taurinus, 71.
Cathedral of Lisieux, now the parish church of St. Peter, 129
--described, 129
--remarkable tomb in, 133.
Cauchon, Peter, bishop of Lisieux, president at the trial of Joan of Arc,
132.
Cecily, daughter of the Conqueror, abbess at Caen, 191.
Chapel, subterranean, in Bayeux cathedral, 253
--in the castle at Caen, 171
--in the castle at Falaise, 269
--of St. Adrian, 281
--of La Délivrande, 298.
Chapel in the castle at Caen, built fronting the east, 171.
Chapels, stone-roofed, in Ireland, of Norman origin, 176.
Charles the Bad, born in the Château de Navarre, 86.
Charters, of the abbey of St. Georges de Bocherville, 4.
Château de Navarre, 86.
Château Gaillard, its situation, 58
--described, 59
--account of, by Brito 60
--history, 61.
Château de Calix, at Caen, 168.
Chesnut-timber, formerly much used in Normandy, 226.
Church, of the abbey of Bec, 107
--Bernieres, 299
--Bernay, 121
--Bretteville l'Orgueilleuse, 226
--Broglie, 125
--Creully, 264
--Ducler, 1
--Ecouis, 64
--Falaise, 276