corner towers, upon that part which runs immediately parallel with the Seine, there is a noble terrace, now converted into garden ground, which commands an immediate and extensive view of the embouchure of the river. It is the property of a speculator residing at Havre. Parallel with this terrace, runs the more modernised part of the castle, which the last residing owner inhabited. It may have been built about fifty years ago, and is--or rather the remains of it are--quite in the modern style of domestic architecture. The rooms are large, lofty, and commodious;--yet nothing but the shells of them remain. The revolutionary patriots completely gutted them of every useful and every valuable piece of furniture; and even the bare walls are beginning to grow damp, and threaten immediate decay. I made several memoranda upon the spot, which have been unluckily, and I fear irretrievably, misplaced; so that, of this once vast, and yet commanding and interesting edifice, I regret that I am compelled to send you so short and so meagre an account. Farewell--a long and perhaps perpetual farewell--to the Castle of Montmorenci!" NOTES: [192] According to Masseville, (_Histoire de Normandie_, II. p. 192,) this abbey was not founded till the year 1114; but such a statement is irreconcileable with the fact of the dead body of the Conqueror having been carried there in 1087; and, moreover, both the _Gallia Christiana_ and _Neustria Pia_ expressly state that it was in 1114 that William, fifth son of the founder, and himself also hereditary chamberlain of Normandy, removed from St. Georges the canons established there by his father, and replaced them with monks from St. Evroul. [193] So called by Masseville, I. p. 205. [194] Mr. Dibdin uniformly calls this castle, the Castle of Montmorenci; but on no occasion does he state his authority for so doing; the author of these remarks never heard it so styled in Normandy, nor can he find it mentioned under that name by Nodier, or any other author. If, as appears probable, the people of the neighborhood are in the habit of so designating it, the probability is, that the modern part (see _plate eighty-five_) was erected at a period when Tancarville belonged to some member of the noble family of Montmorenci. PLATE LXXXVII. AND LXXXVIII. CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS, AT ST. LO. (WESTERN DOOR-WAY, AND VARIOUS SPECIMENS OF SCULPTURE.) [Illustration: Plate 87. CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS AT ST. LO. _Western Entrance._]