strings on the upper part, or
neck, a portion of which has been probably broken off.--I suspect it to
be the old _mandore_, whence the more modern _mandolin_. The rotundity
of the sounding-board may warrant this conjecture.--No. 6 was called the
_psalterion_, and is of very great antiquity, (I mean as to the middle
ages).--Its form was very diversified, and frequently triangular. It was
played with a _plectrum_, which the performer holds in his right
hand.--No. 7 is the _dulcimer_, which is very common in sculpture. This
instrument appears, as in the present case, to have been sometimes
played with the fingers only, and sometimes with a _plectrum_.--No. 8 is
the real _vielle_, or _violin_, of very common occurrence, and very
ancient.--No. 9 is a female tumbler, or _tomllesterre_, as Chaucer calls
them. This profession, so far as we can depend on ancient
representation, appears to have exclusively belonged to women.--No. 10.
A _harp_ played with a _plectrum_, and, perhaps, also with the left hand
occasionally.--No. 11. The figure before the suspended _bells_ has had a
hammer in each hand with which to strike them, and the opposite, and
last, person, who plays in concert with him, has probably had a harp, as
is the case in an ancient manuscript psalter illumination that I have,
prefixed to the psalm _Exaltate Deo_.--I have seen these bells suspended
(in illumination to the above psalm) to a very elegant Gothic frame,
ascending like the upper part of a modern harp."]

[Footnote 9: _Gallia Christiana_, XI. p. 270.]

[Illustration: Distant View of the Abbey of St. Jumieges]

LETTER XV.

ABBEY OF JUMIEGES--ITS HISTORY--ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS--TOMBS OF AGNES
SOREL AND OF THE ENERVEZ.

(_Ducler, July_, 1818)

The country between Ducler and Jumieges is of much the same character
with that through which we had already travelled from Rouen; the road
sometimes coasting the Seine, and sometimes passing through a
well-wooded country, pleasantly intermingled with corn-fields. In its
general appearance, this district bears a near resemblance to an English
landscape; more so, indeed, than in any other part of Normandy, where
the features of the scenery are upon a larger scale.

The lofty towers of the abbey of Jumieges are conspicuous from afar: the
stone of which they are built is peculiarly white; and at a distance
scarcely any signs of decay or dilapidation are visible. On a nearer
approach, however, the Vandalism of t