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
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