respect, and receiving the homage, of a grateful
congregation! At the very moment my mind was deeply occupied by the effects
produced from this magnificent spectacle, I strolled into _Our Lady's
Chapel_, behind the choir, and beheld a sight which converted seriousness
into surprise--bordering upon mirth. Above the altar of this remotely
situated chapel, stands the IMAGE OF THE VIRGIN with the infant Jesus in
her arms. This is the usual chief ornament of Our Lady's Chapel. But what
drapery for the mother of the sacred child!--stiff, starch,
rectangularly-folded, white muslin, stuck about with diverse artificial
flowers--like unto a shew figure in Brook Green Fair! This ridiculous and
most disgusting costume began more particularly at Caudebec. Why is it
persevered in? Why is it endured? The French have a quick sensibility, and
a lively apprehension of what is beautiful and brilliant in the arts of
sculpture and painting ... but the terms "joli," "gentil," and "propre,"
are made use of, like charity, to "cover a multitude of sins" ... or
aberrations from true taste. I scarcely stopped a minute in this chapel,
but proceeded to a side one, to the right, which yet affords proof of its
pristine splendour. It is covered with gold and colours. Two or three
supplicants were kneeling before the crucifix, and appeared to be so
absorbed in their devotions as to be insensible of every surrounding
object. To them, the particular saint (I have forgotten the name) to whom
the little chapel was dedicated, seemed to be dearer and more interesting
than the general voice of "praise and thanksgiving" with which the choir of
the cathedral resounded. Before we quit the place you must know that
fourscore candidates were ordained: that there are sixty clergy attached to
the cathedral;[138] and that upwards of four hundred thousand souls are
under the spiritual cognizance of the BISHOP OF BAYEUX. The treasures of
the Cathedral were once excessive,[139] and the episcopal stipend
proportionably large: but, of late years, things are sadly changed. The
Calvinists, in the sixteenth century, began the work of havoc and
destruction; and the Revolutionists in the eighteenth, as usual, put the
finish to these devastations. At present, from a very respectable source of
information, I learn that the revenues of the Bishop scarcely exceed
700_l_. per annum of our own money. I cannot take leave of the cathedral
without commending, in strong terms of admiration,