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, opprimes, colliers, faisceaux, blasons, Tout dort.  Du vieux chateau la taciturne enceinte Expire.  Par degres j’ai vu sa gloire eteinte.  J’ai marche sur ses tours, erre dans ses fosses:  Tels qu’un songe bientot ils vont etre effaces.”

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 siecles respecte,
    En peignant des heros honore la beaute.”

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 Francaise[86], and a paper inserted in the Memoires de l’Academie 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.