[Footnote 16: Mr. Cotman has figured this porch, (_Architectural Antiquities of Normandy_, t. 4) but has, by mistake, called it "_An Arch on the West Front of the Abbey Church_."] [Footnote 17: See a paper by M. Le Prevost in the _Précis Analitique des Travaux de l'Académie de Rouen_, 1815, p. 131.] [Footnote 18: _Histoire de la Haute Normandie_, II, p. 260.] LETTER XVI. GOURNAY--CASTLE OF NEUFMARCHÉ--CASTLE AND CHURCH OF GISORS. (_Gisors, July_, 1818) We are now approaching the western frontiers.--Gournay, Gisors, and Andelys, the objects of our present excursion, are disposed nearly in a line between the capitals of France and Normandy; and whenever war broke out between the two states, they experienced all the glory, and all the afflictions of warfare. This district was in fact a kind of debatable land; and hence arose the numerous strong holds, by which the country was once defended, and whose ruins now adorn the landscape. The tract known by modern topographers, under the names of the _arrondissemens_ of Gournay and of Andelys, constituted one of the general divisions of ancient Normandy, the _Pays de Bray_. It was a tract celebrated beyond every other in France, and, from time immemorial, for the excellence of the products of its dairies. The butter of Bray is an indispensable requisite at every fashionable table at Paris; and the _fromage de Neufchâtel_ is one of the only two French cheeses which are honored with a place in the bill of fare at Véry's at Grignon's, or at Beauvilliers'.