the
top of a dark narrow staircase, projecting from the wall, to the right,
just before you reach the first floor. Some sensation had been excited by
the enquiries, which I had previously set on foot; and on a second visit,
several people were collected to receive us. Lights, warm water, towels,
soap and brushes, were quickly put in requisition. I commenced operations
with a kitchen knife, by carefully scraping away all the layers of hardened
white and ochre washes, with which each generation had embedded and almost
obliterated every feature. By degrees, the hair became manifest: then
followed the operation of soap and water--which brought out the features of
the face; and when the eyes fully and distinctly appeared, the exclamation
of "_Mon Dieu_!" by the spectators, was loud and unremitting. The nose had
received a serious injury by having its end broken off. Anon, stood forth
the mouth; and when the "whiskered majesty" of the beard became evident, it
was quite impossible to repress the simultaneous ejaculation of joy and
astonishment ... "_Voila le vrai portrait de Guillaume le Conquerant_!

The whiskers apparently denote it to be rather _Saxon_ than _Norman_. The
head is nearly eleven inches in length, by seven and a half in width: is
cut upon a very coarse, yet hard-grained stone--and rests upon a square,
unconnected stone:--embedded within the wall. If it ever had shoulders and
body, those shoulders and body were no part of the present appendages of
the head. What then, is the Abbe de la Rue in error? The more liberal
inference will be, that the Abbe de la Rue had never seen it. As to its
antiquity, I am prepared to admit it to be very considerable; and, if you
please, even before the period of the loves of the father and mother of the
character whom it is supposed to represent. In the morning, Madame Rolle
seemed disposed to take ten louis (which I freely offered her) for her
precious fragment: but the distinct, collected view of whiskers, mouth,
nose, eyes, and hair, instantaneously raised the quicksilver of her
expectations to "_quinze_ louis pour le moins!" That was infinitely "trop
fort"--and we parted without coming to any terms. Perhaps you will laugh at
me for the previous offer.

The church of St. Gervais is called the mother church of the town: and it
is right that you should have some notion of it. It stands upon a finely
elevated situation. Its interior is rather capacious: but it has no very
grand eff