rtal
illness, after having wantonly reduced the town of Mantes to ashes.
Here, too, that mighty monarch breathed his last, and left a sad warning
to future conquerors; deserted by his friends and physicians, the moment
he was no more; while his menials plundered his property, and his body
lay naked and deserted in the hall.

The ducal palace, and the monastic buildings, are now wholly destroyed.
Fortunately, however, the church still remains, and preserves some
portions of the original structure, more interesting from their features
than their extent. The exterior of the apsis is very curious: it is
obtusely angular, and faced at the corners with large rude columns, of
whose capitals, some are Doric and Corinthian, others as wild as the
fancies of the Norman lords of the country. None reach so high as the
cornice of the roof; it having been the design of the original
architect, that a portion of work should intervene between the summits
of the capitals and this member. A capital to the north is remarkable
for the eagles carved upon it, as if with some allusion to Roman power.

But the most singular part of this church is the crypt under the apsis,
represented in the plate; a room about thirty feet long, by fourteen
wide, and sixteen high, of extreme simplicity, and remote antiquity.
Round it runs a plain stone bench; and it is divided into two unequal
parts by a circular arch, devoid of columns or of any ornament whatever.
Here, according to Ordericus Vitalis,[109] was interred the body of St.
Mello, the first archbishop of Rouen, and one of the apostles of
Neustria; and here his tomb, and that of his successor, Avitien, are
shewn to this day, in plain niches, on opposite sides of the wall. St.
Mello's remains, however, were not suffered to rest in peace; for, about
five hundred and seventy years after his death, which happened in the
year 314, they were removed to the castle of Pontoise, lest the
canonized corpse should be violated by the heathen Normans. The
existence of these tombs, and the antiquity of the crypt, recorded as it
is by history, and confirmed by the style of its architecture, have
given currency to the tradition, which points it out as the only temple
where the primitive Christians of Neustria dared to assemble for the
performance of divine service. Many stone coffins have also been
discovered in the vicinity of the church. These sarcophagi serve to
confirm the general tradition; they are of the simpl