The worst feature in this elevation (Woodcut No. 616) is the clerestory, where the difficulties of the vaulting introduced a lop-sided arrangement very destructive of true architectural effect, and only excusable here from the inherent difficulties of a first attempt. [Illustration: 617. Compartment, Abbaye-aux-Dames, Caen. (From Pugin.)] During the twenty or thirty years that elapsed between the building of St. Stephen’s church and that of the Abbaye-aux-Dames, immense progress seems to have been made towards the new style, as will be seen from the annexed elevation of one compartment of the nave of the latter. The great gallery is omitted, the side-aisles made higher, the piers lighter and more ornamental. The triforium is a mere passage under the upper windows, and so managed as not to intercept their light from any part of the church. Even the vaulting, though in some parts hexapartite, in others shows a great approach to the quadripartite vaulting of the subsequent age; this, however, is obtained by bringing down the main vault to the level of the side vault, and not by raising the side arches to the level of the central, as was afterwards done. The greatest change is in the richness and elegance of the details, which show great progress towards the more ornamental style that soon afterwards came into use. [Illustration: 618. East End of St. Nicolas, Caen. (From Dawson Turner’s ‘Normandy.’)] The parochial church of St. Nicolas at Caen is naturally plainer than either of these royal abbeys. It shows considerable progress in construction, and deserves far more attention than it has hitherto met with. It is the only church, so far as I know, in Normandy, that retains the original external covering of its apse. This consists, as shown in the Woodcut (No. 618), of a high pyramidal roof of stone, following to the eastward the polygonal form of the apse, and extending one bay towards the west. From an examination of the central tower, it is clear that this was not the original pitch of the church roof, which was nearly as low in all Norman churches as in those of Auvergne. In this instance the roof over the apse was a sort of semi-spire placed over an altar, to mark externally the importance of the portion of the church beneath it. In appearance it is identical with the polygonal cones at Loches, before mentioned. At Bourges, and elsewhere in France, similar cones are found over chapels and altars; but in most instances they have been removed, probably from some defect in construction, or from their not harmonising with the wooden roofs of the rest of the church. They were in fact the originals of the spires which afterwards became so much in vogue, and as such their history would be interesting, if properly inquired into.