erba quae sequentur in introitu atrii;--Adest, reverende
pater, tua sponsa, nostra mater, haec Rothom. ecclesia, cum maximo gaudio
recipere te parata, ut eam regas salubriter, potenter protegas et
defendas.--Responsio Archiepiscopalis;--Haec, Deo donante, me facturum
promitto.--Iterum Decanus vel alius;--Firma juramento quae te facturum
promittis.--Ego, Dei patientia, bujus Rothom. ecclesiae minister, juro
ad haec sancta Dei evangelia quod ipsam ecclesiam contra quoslibet tam in
bona quam in personas ipsius invasores et oppressores pro posse
protegam viriliter et defendam, atque etiam ipsius ecclesiae jura,
libertates, privilegia, statuta et consuetudines apostolicas servabo
fideliter. Bona ejusdem ecclesiae non alienabo nec alienari permittam,
quin pro posse, si quae alienata fuerint, revocabo. Sic me Deus adjuvet
et sancta Dei evangelia."

The oath of the bishops and abbots was nothing more than a promise of
constant respect and obedience on their parts to the church and
archbishop of Rouen. You will find it in the _Voyages Liturgiques_[121];
in which you will also meet with a great deal of curious matter touching
the peculiar customs and ceremonies of this cathedral. The different
metropolitan churches of France before the revolution, like those of our
own country prior to the reformation, varied materially from one another
in observances of minor importance; at the same time that their rituals
all agreed in what may be termed the doctrinal ceremonies of the church.

The last manuscript which I shall mention, is the only one that is
commonly shewn to strangers: it is a _Graduel_, a very large folio
volume, written in the seventeenth century, and of transcendent beauty.
Julio Clovio himself, the Raphael of this department of art, might have
been proud to be considered the author of the miniatures in it. The
representations of lapis lazuli are even more wonderful than the flowers
and insects. The whole was done by a monk, of the name of Daniel
D'Eaubonne, and is said to have cost him the labor of his entire life.

In earlier times, a similar occupation was regarded as peculiarly
meritorious[122].--There died a friar, a man of irregular life, and his
soul was brought before the judgment-seat to receive its deserts. The
evil spirits attended, not anticipating any opposition to the claim
which they preferred; but the guardian angels produced a large book,
filled with a transcript from holy writ by the hand of the crimina