pillars, has much the general effect of the nave of our cathedral at Norwich, one of the purest specimens of Norman architecture in England.  Externally the tower is handsome, and of nearly the earliest pointed style; not altogether so, as its arches, though narrow, contain each a double arch within.  The rest of the building seems to have suffered much from alterations and dilapidation; and whatever tracery there may have been originally has disappeared from the windows; nor are there saints or even niches remaining above the doors.

The exterior of the church of St. Etienne, one of the ten parochial churches of Fecamp, before the revolution, is considerably more imposing; but upon this I will not detain you, as you will see it engraved in Mr. Cotman’s Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, from a sketch taken by him last year.

Henry IInd, of England, made a donation of the town to the abbey, whose seignorial jurisdiction also extended over many other parishes, as well in this as in the adjoining dioceses.  Its exclusive privileges were likewise ample.  Under the first and second race, Fecamp was the seat of government of the Pays de Caux, and the residence of the counts of the district:  it was also a residence of the Norman Dukes.  Their castle was rebuilt by William Longue-Epee, with a degree of magnificence which is said to have been extraordinary.  This duke took particular pleasure in the place, and he and his immediate successors frequently lived here.  But the palace has long since disappeared[35]:  the continual increase of the monastic buildings gradually occupied its place; and they, in their turn, are now experiencing the revolutions of fortune, the inhabitants being at this very time actively employed in their demolition.

The town is at present wholly supported by the fisheries, in which are employed about fourteen hundred sailors[36].  The herrings of Fecamp have always had the same high character in France, as those of Lowestoft and Yarmouth in England.  The armorial lion of our own town ends, as you know, with the tail of a herring; and I really have been often inclined to affix the same appendage to the rump of the lion of Normandy.  You are not much of an epicure, nor are you very likely to search in the Almanach des Gourmands for dainties; if you did, you would probably find there the following proverb, which has existed since the thirteenth century,—­

       “Aloses de Bourdeaux;
     Esturgeons de Blaye;
     Congres de la Rochelle;
     Harengs de Fecamp;
     Saumons de Loire;
     Seches de Coutances.”

The fortifications of Fecamp are destroyed; but, upon the cliffs which command the town, there still remain some slight vestiges of a fort, erected in the time of Henry IVth, when the inhabitants espoused the party of the league.  The capture of this fort was one of those gallant exploits which the historian delights in recording; and it is detailed at great length in Sully’s Memoirs[37].