"Fecamp," as it is remarked by Nodier, "was to the Dukes of Normandy, what the pyramids were to the Egyptian monarchs,--a city of tombs: Richard II. rested there by the side of Richard I. and, near him, his brother Robert, his wife Judith, and his son William."[161]--The list might be lengthened by the addition of many other scarcely less n.o.ble names.
"The abbey of Fecamp is said to have been founded in the year 664 or 666, for a community of nuns, by Waning, the count or governor of the Pays de Caux, a n.o.bleman who had already contributed to the endowment of the monastery of St. Wandrille. St. Ouen, Bishop of Rouen, dedicated the church in the presence of King Clotaire; and so rapidly did the fame of the sanct.i.ty of the abbey extend, that the number of its inmates amounted, in a very short period, to more than three hundred. The arrival, however, of the Normans, under Hastings, in 841, caused the dispersion of the nuns; and the same story is related of the few who remained at Fecamp, as of many others under similar circ.u.mstances, that they voluntarily cut off their noses and their lips, rather than be an object of attraction to their conquerors. The abbey, in return for their heroism, was levelled with the ground; and it did not rise from its ashes till the year 988, when the piety of Duke Richard I. built the church anew, under the auspices of his son, Robert, archbishop of Rouen.
Departing, however, from the original foundation, he established therein a chapter of regular canons, who soon proved so irregular in their conduct, that within ten years they were doomed to give way to a body of Benedictine monks, headed by an abbot, named William, from a convent at Dijon. From his time the monastery continued to increase in splendor.
Three suffragan abbeys, that of Notre Dame at Bernay, of St. Taurin at Evreux, and of Ste. Berthe de Blangi, in the diocese of Boullogne, owned the superior power of the abbot of Fecamp, and supplied the three mitres, which he proudly bore on his abbatial shield. Kings and princes, in former ages, frequently paid the abbey the homage of their worship and their gifts; and, in a more recent period, Casimir of Poland, after his voluntary abdication of the throne, selected it as the spot in which he sought for repose, when wearied with the cares of royalty. The English possessions of Fecamp do not appear to have been large; but, according to the author of the _History of Alien Priories_, the abbot presented to one hundred and thirty benefices, some in the diocese of Rouen, others in those of Bayeux, Lisieux, Coutances, Chartres, and Beauvais; and it enjoyed so many estates, that its income was said to be forty thousand crowns per annum."[162]
The work, from which this account of the abbey of Fecamp has been extracted, also contains some details relative to a few of the princ.i.p.al miracles connected with the convent, and relative to the _precious blood_, to the possession of which Fecamp was indebted for no small portion of its celebrity. But the reader must be referred for all these to the _Neustria Pia_, where he will find them recorded at great length.
The author of that most curious volume, appears to have treated no subject more entirely _con amore_ than Fecamp; and if the more enlightened progeny of the present day incline, in the plent.i.tude of their wisdom, to "think their fathers fools" for listening to such tales, let it at least be recollected, that even these tales, with all their absurdity, are most interesting doc.u.ments of the progress of the human mind; and, above all, let it never be forgotten, that books of this description contain a ma.s.s of materials for the elucidation of the manners and customs of the age, which would in vain be sought for in any other quarter.
The abbatial church of Fecamp is still standing uninjured, and is a work of various ages. Some circular chapels attached to the sides of the choir, are probably remains of the building erected by Duke Richard: the rest is all of the pointed style of architecture; and the earliest part is scarcely anterior to the end of the twelfth century.--The church of St. Stephen, selected here for publication, is undeserving of notice, except for its southern portal, which is an elegant specimen of what is called by Mr. Rickman, the decorated English architecture.
NOTES:
[160] _Turner"s Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 60.
[161] _Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques dans l"Ancienne France_, I.
p. 110.--Seven plates in this work are devoted to the ill.u.s.tration of the religious buildings at Fecamp.
[162] _Turner"s Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 62.
PLATE LXXII.
SCREEN IN THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE, AT EU.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 72. SCREEN IN THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE, AT EU.]
The town of Eu has, by some writers, been supposed to have been the capital of the Gallic tribe mentioned in Caesar"s Commentaries, under the name of the Essui; but a conjecture of this description, founded altogether upon the similarity of the name, and unsupported by any collateral testimony, must be allowed to be at best only problematical; and ancient geography presents so wide a field for the display of ingenuity and learning, that it is in no department of science more necessary to be upon the guard against plausible theories.--There are others who contend for the Teutonic origin of the town, and refer to etymology with equal zeal, and with greater plausibility. The word _Eu_, otherwise spelt _Ou_ or _Au_ signifies a meadow, in Saxon; and the same name was likewise originally applied to the river Bresle,[163] which washes the walls of Eu, within a distance of two miles from its confluence with the ocean at Treport.[164]
The first mention that occurs of Eu in history, is in the pages of Flodoard, according to whom, the town was in existence in the year 925; but, whether the Roman or the Saxon derivation of its name be preferred, in either case etymology would fairly allow the inference, that its foundation was considerably more ancient. During the reign of Louis XI.
Eu obtained a melancholy celebrity: a report was circulated in the summer of 1475, that it was the intention of the English to make a descent upon the coast of France, and to establish themselves there for the winter. At the same time, this town was confidently mentioned as the place where they proposed to fix their quarters. To deprive them of such an advantage, the French monarch had recourse to a measure which could only be justified by the most urgent necessity: he ordered the Marechal de Gamaches to enter the place with four hundred soldiers, on the eighteenth of July, and to set fire to the houses of the citizens, together with the castle. His commands were executed; and the whole was reduced to a heap of ashes, with the exception of the churches. The neighboring towns of Dieppe, St. Valeri, and Abbeville, profited from the misfortunes of Eu, which has never recovered its prosperity, notwithstanding the various privileges subsequently granted to it.--The present population consists of about three thousand four hundred inhabitants, whose only trade is a trifling manufactory of lace.
From as early a period as the year 1102, the t.i.tle of Count was bestowed by Richard I. Duke of Normandy, upon the lords of Eu, who, in 1458, received the additional dignity of _Comtes et Pairs_; probably as some recompense for the misery inflicted upon the place three years before.
In the number of these counts, was the celebrated Duc de Guise, commonly known by the name of _Le Balafre_. His monument of black and white marble, in the church of the Jesuits at Eu, was executed by Genoese artists; as was that of his wife, the d.u.c.h.ess of Cleves. Both of them have long been subjects of admiration.[165] The last of the line of counts of Eu, was the Duc de Penthievre, a n.o.bleman of the most estimable character: the t.i.tle was his at the breaking out of the revolution; and it is not a little to his honor, that a writer of the most decidedly republican principles could be found, in the midst of that stormy period, to bear the following testimony in his favor:--"Ne au milieu d"une cour, ou la corruption et les vices avoient pris le nom de la sagesse et des vertus, il dedaigna leurs delices funestes; il repoussa l"air empeste de Versailles; superieur a leurs prestiges, il oublia sa naissance; il prouva enfin, par de longues annees consacrees a faire le bien, qu"il etoit digne d"etre ne simple citoyen.[166]"--The castle, the residence of the counts, is now converted into a military hospital.
The abbey of Eu is said to have been founded in 1002,[167] by William, first count of the place, natural son of Richard _Sans-peur_, Duke of Normandy. It was at its origin dedicated to the Virgin; but, after a lapse of somewhat more than two hundred years, was placed under the invocation of St. Lawrence, archbishop of Dublin. That prelate had, in the year 1181, crossed into Normandy, with the view of restoring a friendly understanding between the King of Ireland, his brother, and the King of England; and, at the moment of his approaching Eu, and beholding the lofty towers of the abbey, he is said to have exclaimed in strains of pious fervor, "Haec requies mea in seculum seculi: hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam." Having accomplished the object of his mission, he died shortly after at the convent, and was there interred; and the fame of his sanct.i.ty attracting crowds of devotees to his tomb, he was canonized by a papal bull, dated the 11th of December, 1218, since which time the monastery has borne his name.
The church of St. Lawrence, though no longer abbatial, has been suffered to exist; even before the revolution, it served at once as the church to the convent and to the first parish of Eu. The screen here figured, a beautiful specimen of the decorated English architecture, is placed at the entrance of one of the chapels. Another chapel contains a _Holy Sepulchre_, said to be superior, in point of the execution of the figures, to any other in France. In the south transept is a spirally-banded column of extraordinary elegance. The church stands upon the foundations of an earlier building, erected at the close of the twelfth century, and destroyed by lightning in 1426. According to the records of the monastery, it was either wholly, or in great measure, rebuilt by John de Vallier, the twenty-fourth abbot, in 1464.[168]--The following description of the building is borrowed from the journal of a very able friend of the writer of this article, who visited Eu in September, 1819:--"The abbey church of Eu is plain and ma.s.sy on the outside of the nave and transepts. The east end of the choir is highly enriched with flying b.u.t.tresses, &c. The windows of the nave are lancet-headed, and very tall: on the outside is a circular arch, which may be a restoration. The west window has been in three lancet divisions, which have been filled up with more modern tracery. The nave is singularly elegant: the triforium, or rather the upper tier of arches, is new in design, and most extraordinary. In the choir, the triforium is composed of tracery. The north transept is something like Winchester, only the arches are pointed: there are two arches. This arrangement is probably general; as I saw it at Troyes and other places.
In a side-chapel is an entombment: the figures as large as life, or nearly so, and richly painted; quite perfect. Inscriptions on the hems of the garments. The _culs de lampe_ are of the most elegant reticulated work. In the north transept is a circular window filled with late tracery. No towers at the west end. East end, a polygon, as usual.--This church, which is well worthy of an attentive study, is quite distinct in character from the churches in the east of France: it has no marigold window; no row of niches over the portal; no ma.s.sed door-way; so that the general outline of the front agrees wholly with the earliest pointed style. But the exterior is more chaste than any thing we have in England; and its architectural unity is better preserved. On the other hand, its parts are less elaborate."
NOTES:
[163] _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 45.
[164] "Le pas d"Auge a tire son nom de ses prairies. Au, Avv, Avve, et Ou, en Allemand, signifient un Pre.... Aventin est mon temoin dans son explication des noms Allemans. La ville d"Eu, situee dans des prairies, a tire son nom de la meme origine. Elle est nommee dans les vieux Ecrivains, _Auga_, _Augam_, et _Auc.u.m_; et dans les auteurs Anglois _Ou_, d"ou est forme le nom d"Eu. De cette meme origine vient le nom d"_Au_, qu"on a depuis ecrit et p.r.o.nonce _O_, et que portent plusieurs Seigneuries de Normandie et d"ailleurs, et qui est le meme que celui d"_Ou_. _Ou_ est une Comte qui a appartenue a ce Robert, que Robert du Mont qualifie Comte d"_Ou_. Ces mots d"_Eu_, d"_Au_, et d"_Ou_, se trouvent encore dans la composition de plusieurs noms de terres et de Seigneuries. _Eu_, dans le nom d"_Eucourt_, d"_Eumesnil_, et d"_Eulande_, terre dans le pas d"Auge, entre le Mare-Aupoix et Angerville, et ce nom est le meme, sans aucune difference, que celui d"_Oelande_, isle de la mer Baltique, du domaine de la couronne de Suede. Les Suedois et les Danois p.r.o.noncent _Oelande_ ce que nous p.r.o.noncons _Eulande_. _Au_ dans _Aubeuf_, _Aubose_, _Aumesnil_, _Aumont_, _Auvillers_. _Ou_ dans _Ouville_. Pour _Auge_ on a dit _Alge_ en quelques lieux; et c"est de la que vient le nom d"une terre au pas de Bray, qui ne consiste presque qu"en prairies. Le meme nom d"_Auge_, que portent quelques familles, montre a.s.sez qu"il a ete appellatif. Mais la chartre de confirmation de la fondation de l"Abbaye de St. Etienne, donnee par Henry II. Roy d"Angleterre, le montre incontestablement par ces paroles, "_c.u.m sylva et algia et c.u.m terris_"."--_Huet, Origines de Caen_, p. 294.
[165] The church of St. Lawrence likewise contained the monuments of several distinguished personages, as appears by the following extract from the _Description de la Haute Normandie_, I. p. 72.--"La sont inhumez Jean d"Artois, Comte d"Eu, fils de Robert d"Artois, Comte de Beaumont le Roger, et de Jean de Valois, mort le 6 Avril, 1386: Isabelle de Melun, son epouse: Isabelle d"Artois, leur fille, dans la chapelle de Saint Denys, sous une belle table de marbre noir, qui sert de table d"autel: Charles d"Artois, Comte d"Eu, sous l"autel de la chapelle de Saint Laurent: Jeanne de Saveuse, sa premiere femme: Helene de Melun, sa seconde femme, dans la chapelle de Saint Antoine, dite aujourd"hui de Saint Crepin: le Coeur de Catherine de Cleves, Comtesse d"Eu, au bas du Sanctuaire, sous une magnifique colonne de marbre noir: N.... de Bourbon, dit le Duc d"Aumale, fils de Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, legitime de France, Duc de Maine, mort le 8 Septembre, 1708: enfin Philippe d"Artois, Comte d"Eu, et Connetable de France, mort selon son epitaphe a _Micalice_ en Turquie, c"est-a-dire Nicopoli, le 16 Juin, 1397. Le Mausolee de celui-ci, qui est de marbre, est enferme dans une espece de Cage de fer, dont les barreaux n"empechent point qu"on ne puisse en approcher et y porter la main. Le Prince y est represente arme, mais sans casque et sans gantelets, pour marquer, dit-on, qu"il est mort a la guerre, mais non dans le combat: il a deux pet.i.ts chiens a ses pieds, pour signifier, ajoute-t-on, qu"il est mort dans son lit: enfin la grille qui l"environne represente, dit-on encore, qu"il est mort en prison. Le monument, selon l"Ecrivain de qui j"emprunte ces conjectures, n"a coute que 100 livres."
[166] _Noel, Essais sur le Departement de la Seine Inferieure_, I. p.
84.
[167] _Neustria Pia_, p. 694.
[168] _Neustria Pia_, p. 700.
PLATE LXXIII.-LXXV.
CHURCH OF ST. PETER, AT LISIEUX.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plates 73-74. CHURCH OF ST. PETER AT LISIEUX.]
The effects produced by the French revolution upon the religious state of the country, were scarcely less important than upon the political. In both cases, the nation hurried, with the blindest fury, from extreme to extreme; in both, they followed phantoms of ideal perfection through an unexampled series of excesses and sufferings; in both, they rested at length from exhaustion much more than from conviction; and, happily for mankind and for themselves, they finally attained in both nearly the same end, reverting indeed to their original const.i.tutions, but tempering them with a most seasonable mixture of civil and ecclesiastical liberty. The _concordat_ effected for the church, what the charter did for the state. The former of these was one of the master-pieces of Napoleon"s policy, and was likewise one of the earliest acts of his power. It was established in the year 1801, while France yet retained the name of a republic, and the ambition of its ruler had not ventured to grasp, at more than the consular dignity. By this instrument, the whole ecclesiastical const.i.tution was changed; and not only was all the power placed in the hands of the chief of the state, but the provinces and dioceses were entirely remodelled; and, instead of twenty-three archbishoprics and one hundred and thirty-four bishoprics, the number of the former, notwithstanding the vast extension of the French territory, was reduced to ten, and that of the latter to fifty.
The archbishop of Rouen was one of those who suffered least upon the occasion. His dignity was curtailed only by the suppression of two of his suffragans, the bishops of Avranches and of Lisieux.[169] The church, here figured, then resigned the mitre, which it had conferred from the middle of the sixth century, upon an ill.u.s.trious, though not an uninterrupted, line of prelates. It is admitted, in the annals of the cathedral, that either the see must have been vacant for the s.p.a.ce of four hundred years, or at least that the names of those who filled it during that period, are lost. Ordericus Vitalis, who resided fifty-six years in the diocese, and has collected, in the sixth book of his _Ecclesiastical History_, whatever was to be found in his time, relative to its early state, acknowledges the chasm, and accounts for it by the following general remarks.--"Piratae de Dania egressi sunt, in Neustriam venerunt, et christianae fidei divinique cultus penitus ignari, super fidelem populum immaniter debacchati sunt. Antiquorum scripta c.u.m basilicis et aedibus incendio deperierunt, quae fervida juniorum studia, quamvis insatiabiliter sitiant, recuperare nequiverunt. Nonnulla ver, quae per diligentiam priscorum manibus barbarorum solerter erepta sunt, d.a.m.nabili subsequentium negligentia interierunt."
The city of Lisieux represents the capital of the Gallic tribe, mentioned by Caesar, and other almost contemporary writers, under the name of _Lexovii_; and it is supposed by modern geographers, that the territory occupied by these latter, was nearly co-extensive with the late bishopric of Lisieux. On this subject it has been observed, that "it is to be remarked, that the bounds of the ancient bishoprics of France were usually conterminal with the Roman provinces and prefectures."[170] _Neomagus_ or _Noviomagus Lexoviorum_, the capital of the Lexovii, had always been supposed to have occupied the site of the present town, till some excavations made in the year 1770, for the purpose of forming a _chaussee_ between Lisieux and Caen, proved the ancient and the modern city to have been placed at the distance of about three quarters of a mile from each other. Extensive ruins of buildings, situated in a field, called _Les Tourettes_, were then brought to light; and among them were dug up various specimens of ancient art. The researches of more modern times, princ.i.p.ally conducted by M. Louis Dubois, a very able antiquary of Lisieux, have materially added to the number as well as the value of these discoveries; and the quant.i.ty of Roman coins and medals that have rewarded his researches, would have left little doubt as to the real site of Neomagus, even if the circ.u.mstance had not within a very few years been established almost beyond a question, by the detection of a Roman amphitheatre in a state of great perfection.
Tradition, which there is in this instance no reason to impugn, relates that the Gallo-Roman capital disappeared during the incursions of the Saxons, about the middle of the fourth century. In farther confirmation of such opinion, it is to be observed, that none of the medals dug up within the ruins, or in their vicinity, bear a later date than the reign of Constantine; and that, 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.
Modern Lisieux is supposed to have risen at no distant period of time after the destruction of Neomagus. In the writings of the monkish historians, it is indifferently called _Lexovium_, _Lexobium_, _Luxovium__, Lixovium_, and _Lizovium_, names obviously borrowed from the cla.s.sical appellation of the tribe, as the French word _Lisieux_ is clearly derived from them. In the early portion of Norman history, Lisieux is mentioned as having felt the vengeance of these invaders, during one of their predatory excursions from the Bessin, about the year 877. It was shortly afterwards sacked by Rollo himself, when that conqueror, elated with the capture of Bayeux, was on his march to take possession of the capital of Neustria. But the territory of Lisieux was still the last part of the duchy which owned Rollo as its lord: it was not ceded to him by Charles the Simple, till 923, at which time he had for eleven years been the undisputed sovereign of the rest of Normandy.
Neither under the Norman dukes, nor at a subsequent period, does Lisieux appear to have taken any prominent part in political transactions. Its central situation, by securing it against the attacks of the French in former times, and more recently of the English, also prevented it from obtaining that historical celebrity, which, from its size and opulence, it could scarcely have failed to have otherwise gained. The princ.i.p.al events connected with it, upon record, are the following:--It was the focus of the civil war in 1101, when Ralph Flambart, bishop of Durham, escaping from the prison to which he had been committed by his sovereign, fled hither, and raised the standard of rebellion against Henry, in favor of his brother.--In 1136, Lisieux was attacked by the forces of Anjou, under the command of Geoffrey Plantagenet, husband of the Empress Maude, joined by those of William, Duke of Poitiers; and the garrison, composed of Bretons, seeing no hope of resistance or of rescue, burned the town.--Thirty-three years subsequently, the city was honored by being selected by Thomas-a-Becket, as the place of his retirement during his temporary disgrace. Arnulf, then bishop of Lisieux, had labored diligently, though ineffectually, to restore amity between the sovereign and the prelate, espousing, indeed, decidedly the cause of the latter, but at the same time never forfeiting the friendship of the former, for whom, after the murder of Becket, he wrote a letter of excuse to the supreme pontiff, in the joint names of all the bishops of England.--Lisieux, in 1213, pa.s.sed from under the dominion of the Norman dukes, to the sway of the French monarch. It opened its gates to Philip-Augustus, immediately after the fall of Caen and Bayeux; and its surrender was accompanied with that of Coutances and Seez, all of them without a blow, as the king"s poetical chronicler, Brito, relates in the following lines:--
"c.u.mque diocesibus tribus illi tres sine bello Sese sponte sua praeclari nominis urbes Subjiciunt, Sagium, Constantia, Lexoviumque."
In subsequent times, Lisieux suffered severely, when taken by the English army under Henry V. in 1417. Its recapture by Charles VII.
thirty-two years afterwards, was unstained by bloodshed.
A great part of the preceding account of Lisieux has been borrowed from Mr. Turner"s Tour in Normandy: what follows, relative to the church here figured, will be entirely so:--"The cathedral, now the parish church of St. Peter, derived 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 s.p.a.cious square.--Solid, simple grandeur are the characters of this front, which, notwithstanding some slight anomalies, is, upon the whole, a n.o.ble specimen of early pointed architecture.--It consists of 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 princ.i.p.al 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 s.p.a.ce from the bas.e.m.e.nt 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 s.p.a.ce 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 circ.u.mstance lies the princ.i.p.al 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.--Sammartha.n.u.s 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, studiose adornavi, honorifice dedicavi, et cultoribus necessariisque divino servitio vasis aliisque apparatibus copiose 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 (see _plate seventy-five_,) 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: ma.s.sy b.u.t.tresses of several splays bound it on either side.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate 75. CHURCH OF ST. PETER AT LISIEUX.
_South Transept._]
"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 Orleans.
Repentance followed; and, as an atonement for his unrighteous conduct, according to Ducarel, he erected this chapel, and therein founded a high ma.s.s 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 p.r.o.nounced.[171]--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 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.