ow in successive lines,
leaving but a scanty space for some small gardens, in which the vine,
the fig-tree, and the almond, flourish in great luxuriance. The walls of
the castellated abbey impend, and jut out in bold decided masses; and
the whole is crowned by the florid choir of the abbey church. The
architects of the latter time seemed to have wished to adapt this
glorious building to its site. All its divisions of parts, windows, and
pinnacles, are narrower and more lofty than usual; and the projections
are bolder, so as to be distinctly visible from below. The stranger is
admitted to the mount by a gate, of the time of Louis XII. or Francis I.
He proceeds along the walls, which continue leading upwards; and,
traversing desolate towers, and staircases above staircases, hanging on
the sides of the rock, all forlorn, grassy, and mouldering, he is
conducted to the gate of the abbey. The outside of the first gate-way
has round towers: the second has a pointed arch. One pile of buildings
has a row of small arches round the top. The present population of the
town amounts to about two hundred and fifty inhabitants, who derive
their chief support from the fishery.

Of the church itself, a view is given in the Bayeux tapestry; rude
indeed, but curious, as coeval.--The following is a short chronological
summary of the principal events connected with the building:--

In 1103, the roof fell in, and involved in its ruins a portion of the
dormitory.

Ten years afterwards, on the twenty-third of April, 1113, the lightning
set fire to the abbey, which was wholly consumed, except the crypt and
the great columns of the nave, and some other parts of the church.
Roger, then abbot, repaired the injury, rebuilding the refectory and the
dormitory, and the splendid apartment, called the Knights' Hall.

[Illustration: Plate 96. MOUNT ST. MICHAEL.
_Interior of the Knights' Hall._]

Bernard, who was abbot from 1135 to 1140, rebuilt the north part of the
church, and erected the tower between the nave and the choir.

Of the works done at the beginning of the thirteenth century, in
consequence of the injuries received by the church during the wars of
Philip-Augustus, no particulars are preserved. It is only said in
general terms, that they were considerable.

Richard Turstin, abbot in 1275, began buildings upon an extensive scale,
between the extremity of the cloisters and the barracks.

On the thirteenth of July, 1300, the lightning