conflagration, which was
at the same time destructive to the greater part of the city: another
church, built shortly after, and chiefly by the munificence of Richard
Coeur-de-Lion, shared the same fate in 1248. But even these repeated
disasters in no wise abated the spirit of the monks: they had retired
with the wreck of their property to one of their estates near Rouen, and
there, by economy on their own part, and liberality on that of others,
they soon found themselves in a state to undertake the erection of a
fourth convent, of greater extent than any of the former, and to inclose
it with high walls.

The honor of laying the first stone of the new church, the same that is
now standing, is attributed to one of the most celebrated of the abbots,
John Roussel, more commonly known by the name of _Marcdargent_.[175] He
had been elected to the prelacy in 1303; and, fifteen years afterwards,
he commenced the structure. He presided over the monastery thirty-seven
years, and was buried in the Lady-Chapel of the church, which he had
completed as far westward as the transepts. The pomp with which his
funeral was conducted, is recorded at length in the _Neustria Pia_; and
the same work has also preserved the following inscription, engraved
upon his coffin, which describes, with great precision, the progress
made by him in the building:--

"HIC JACET FRATER JOANNES MARCDARGENT
ALIAS ROUSSEL, QUONDAM ABBAS ISTIUS MONASTERII,
QUI COEPIT AEDIFICARE ISTAM ECCLESIAM
DE NOVO; ET FECIT CHORUM ET CAPELLAS,
ET PILLIARIA TURRIS, ET MAGNAM PARTEM
TURRIS S. AUDOENI, MONASTERII DICTI."

The remaining parts of the church were not finished till the beginning
of the sixteenth century, when it was brought to its present state by
the thirty-fourth abbot, Anthony Bohier, who, in the annals of the
convent, bears the character of having been "a magnificent restorer and
repairer of ancient monasteries." Admirable as is the structure, the
original design of the architect was never completed. The western front
remains imperfect; and this is the more to be regretted, as that part is
naturally the first that meets the eye of the stranger, who thus
receives an unfavorable impression, which it is afterwards difficult
wholly to banish. The intention was, that the portal should have been
flanked by magnificent towers, ending in a combination of open arches
and tracery, corresponding with the outline and fashion of the central
tower. An engra