, even here, some of the ecclesiastical buildings have escaped the
hand of time and violence; and among these, few, if any, more completely
than that of Lery, a village situated upon the right bank of the Eure,
at a distance of about two miles from Pont de l'Arche, and nearly the
same from Louviers.

Lery gives its name to the adjoining _commune_; and it may reasonably be
inferred, that it was in former times a place of more importance, than
would be imagined from its present appearance. The ingenious and
estimable M. Langlois, of Rouen, in a work[79] which he commenced upon
the antiquities of Normandy, and in which he has figured the west front
of this church, tells us, that but a few years since, Lery could boast
of several specimens of domestic architecture of unusual size and
embellishment. Of one of these, an engraving has lately been given by M.
Willemin, in his exquisite _Monumens Inedits de la France_. It was known
by the name of the Palace of Queen Blanche; and if, by the Blanche in
question, is to be understood the Princess of Navarre, consort of Philip
VI. who died in 1350, there is nothing in the exterior of the building
to prevent its being ascribed to that aera. It was entered by a flat
door-way, under a wide, pointed, crocketed arch; the transom-stone
enriched with a trefoil-headed moulding; and the whole portal surmounted
with a balustrade of quatrefoils. But, unfortunately, nothing more can
now be said of the building, than is supplied by the plate in question.
It had, in its earlier time, repeatedly suffered from the effects of
fire; and a similar calamity completed its ruin, during the month of
June, 1814. The lower part of the walls and the gothic portal are all
that are left standing, to attest the original size and magnificence of
the palace.

The church of Lery is referred by M. Langlois to the aera of the
Carlovingian dynasty, a period that extended from the middle of the
seventh century, to the concluding years of the tenth. Its claim to so
extraordinarily high a degree of antiquity, is founded, in his opinion,
upon the resemblance borne by the columns and capitals of the west
front, particularly those of the windows, to the same parts in the crypt
of the abbey of St. Denis, generally supposed to be the joint work of
Pepin and of Charlemagne. But these latter decidedly partake more of the
character of the classical model,[80] while every member throughout the
whole front of Lery, (_see plate fo