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 Abbe 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 Abbe 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.