Monsieur Mouton replied that "he intended to grace
the brows of the angels by putting a _garland_ round each." I felt a sort
of twinge upon receiving this intelligence; but there is no persuading the
French to reject, or to qualify, their excessive fondness for flower
ornaments.

Projecting from the wall, behind the circular part of the choir, I observed
a figure of _St. Sebastian_--precisely of that character which we remark in
the printed missals of the fifteenth century,--and from which the engravers
of that period copied them: namely, with the head large, the body meagre,
and the limbs loose and muscular. It was plentifully covered, as was the
whole surface of the wall, with recent white wash. On observing this, my
guide added: "oui, et je veux le faire couvrir d'une teinte encore plus
blanche!" Here I felt a second twinge yet more powerful than the first. I
noticed, towards the south-side door, a very fine crucifix, cut in wood,
about three feet high; and apparently of the time of Goujon. It was by much
the finest piece of sculpture, of its kind, which I had seen in Normandy;
but it was rather in a decaying state. I wished to know whether such an
object of art--apparently of no earthly importance, where it was
situated--might be obtained for some honourable and adequate compensation.
Monsieur Mouton replied that he desired to part with it--but that it must
be replaced by another "full six feet high!" There was no meeting this
proposition, and I ceased to say another word upon the subject.

Upon the whole, the church of the Holy Trinity is rather a fine and
capacious, than a venerable edifice; and although I cannot conscientiously
approve of the beautifying and repairing which are going on therein, yet I
will do the _planner_ the justice to say, that a more gentlemanly,
liberally-minded, and truly amiable clergyman is perhaps no where to be
found,--within or without the diocese to which he belongs. Attached to the
north transept or side door, parallel with the street, is a long pole.
"What might this mean?" "Sir, this pole was crowned at the top by a
garland, and by the white flag of _St. Louis_,[169]--which were hoisted to
receive me on my return from my long expatriation"--and the eyes of the
narrator were suffused with tears, as he made the answer! It is of no
consequence how small the income of an unmarried minister, may be, when he
thus lives so entirely in the HEARTS OF HIS FLOCK. This church bears
abundant ev