rcumstance, takes occasion to mention the importance of
the place, stating that the town was then a great one, and "the chief
town of all Normandy for drapery and riches, and full of merchandize.
But, not being closed, the hostile army soon entered it." He goes on to
add, not much to the credit of the invading host, that "they overran,
and spoiled and robbed without mercy; and that they won there great
riches."--In 1360, Louviers was once more chosen as the spot where peace
was signed: the treaty that had been concluded at Bretigny, was
confirmed at Paris by the Regent, and was finally ratified by the Black
Prince in this town.--During the subsequent wars, under Henry V. and VI.
Louviers is repeatedly mentioned; but principally for opposing a
resistance of twenty-six days to the English in 1418.--In the time of
the league, it distinguished itself most unfortunately by its devoted
attachment to the Catholic cause; in consequence of which, it was
pillaged by the royalists shortly after the battle of Ivry.[181]

The church of Louviers is an imposing structure: though materially
injured, and reduced to no more than a nave with its four aisles, it is
still a spacious and handsome building. The great western door is
closed, and the front defaced: the eastern end is likewise altogether
modern. The central tower is handsome, though square and short. Two
windows, very similar to those of the tower of St. Romain, in Rouen
cathedral, light it on either side; and saints, placed under canopies,
ornament the angles behind the buttresses. A second tower, to the west,
is surmounted with a truncated cone. The south porch,[182] here figured,
is the great feature of the exterior; and, for beauty and elegance in
the formation or disposition of its parts, it may safely be put in
competition with any similar portion of an ecclesiastical building,
either in Normandy or in England. Yet, even here, the saints have been
torn from their pedestals by the wanton violence of Calvinists or of
democrats.

Internally, the church is a fine specimen of the pointed architecture of
the thirteenth century;[183] but, to use the words of Mr. Turner, from
whose Tour[184] a great part of the preceding description has been
borrowed, "the whole is so concealed and degraded by ornaments in the
worst of taste, and by painted saints in the most tawdry dresses, that
the effect is disgusting." In the windows of the church there still
remains a considerable quantity o