vel
capitulum intraturus, non nisi cum moderata societate accedat, quae vita
et moribus sit honesta; ut per officium visitationis ejusdem, non
dissolutionis vel scandali, sed aedificationis potius materia
ministretur."--The instrument, which is of considerable length, goes on
to accuse the prelate of affording protection to some refractory nuns,
and enjoins him never to suffer his clergy to frequent the abbey upon
any pretext, or upon any occasion.

The church of Montivilliers, represented in the present plate, is the
same as before the revolution belonged to the abbey. The portion to the
north is the chapter-house, and is the work of the fourteenth century.
The greater part of the rest of the building, though altered in some
places, may safely be referred to the eleventh; at which time it is upon
record, that Elizabeth, who succeeded Beatrice as abbess, nearly, if not
altogether, rebuilt the whole. At subsequent periods, the church
underwent many considerable repairs and alterations. A sum of seven
hundred florins was expended upon it in 1370, the proceeds of a fine
imposed upon the town, for some injuries done to the nuns; and
Toussaints Varrin, archbishop of Thessalonica, dedicated the edifice, in
1513, under the invocation of the Holy Virgin. Five years subsequently,
the abbess, Jane Mustel, repaired the ceiling and painted windows, and
made the stalls in the choir.[187]--The exterior of the Lady-Chapel
affords a fine example of early pointed architecture; its lofty narrow
windows are separated by slender cylindrical pillars, as in the church
of the Holy Trinity, at Caen. The embattled ornament round the southern
door of the western front, is far from commonly seen in such situations.
In the interior of the nave, the same massive semi-circular architecture
prevails as in the towers; but it is mixed with some peculiarities that
will scarcely be found elsewhere, particularly a flat band in the form
of a pilaster, enriched with losenges, which is attached to the front of
one of the columns, and is continued over the roof, and again down the
pillar on the opposite side. Mr. Turner noticed a small gallery, or
pulpit, of elegant filigree stone-work, at the west end, near the
roof;[188] and, upon the authority of the well-known antiquary, John
Carter, he supposed it most probably intended to receive a band of
singers on high festivals. But some corresponding erections in England
would make it seem more likely that this ga