the purpose of doing more justice to the beauty and
elaborate decorations of the oriel window; and it is very much to be
desired that such should be the case; but it is feared that the number
and importance of other subjects, will prevent the intention from being
realized.

PLATE XVI.

CHURCH OF THAN.

(ELEVATION AND DETAILS.)

[Illustration: Plate 16. CHURCH OF THAN.
_Elevation and details._]

The small village of Than lies about ten miles distant from Caen, in a
north-easterly direction, in a valley washed by the diminutive stream,
the Meu, a little to the north of the road which leads to Bayeux. Of its
"short and simple annals," few have come to the knowledge of the writer
of this article; and for those few, he is wholly indebted to the
kindness of M. de Gerville, who, last year, discovered at Mortain the
book containing the charters of the abbey of Savigny, many of which make
mention of the church of Than. The following is an extract from the most
important among them: the deed itself is without a date, but is clearly
of the time of Henry I. Its being anterior to 1135, is distinctly proved
by the title of Earl of Mortain, which it gives to Stephen of
Blois.--"In nomine Ste et individue trinitatis, notum sit universis tam
presentibus quam futuris, qd. ego Guillelmus de Sto Claro, concedente
Hamone fratre meo et cis, dono et concedo in perpetuam elimosinam ecclie
Ste trinitatis de Savigneio et monachis ibidem Deo servientibus totam
possessionem de Thaun, quam ego et antecessores mei, sive in terra
dominica sive in hominibus sive in quibuslibet aliis rebus, unquam
habuimus omnino quietam, ab omni consuetudine absolutam, perpetuo jure
ab eadem ecclesia possidendam. Predictam autem donacionem concessit et
ab omnib. consuetudinibus absolutam confirmavit Stephanus Comes
Moritonii, ad cujus feodum predicta possessio pertinet, &c."--In
addition to the information contained in the above charter, there is
only to be added, that Cardinal Le Moine, when dean of Bayeux, at the
close of the thirteenth century, founded here a chapel, dedicated to St.
John; and that a lord of Than was among the companions of the Conqueror
in his descent upon England.

The church has been selected by Mr. Cotman as a specimen of a religious
edifice in the true Norman style, unaltered, and also uninjured, except
by the loss of the southern aisle; and the removal of this is so far
fortunate, as it affords an opportunity of shewing t