Account of Tour in Normandy

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LETTER XV. ABBEY OF JUMIEGES?ITS HISTORY?ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS? TOMBS OF AGNES SOREL AND OF THE ENERVEZ. (Dueler, July, 1818J The country between Dueler and Jumieges is of much the same character with that through which we had already travelled from Rouen; the road sometimes coasting the Seine, and...
More Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LETTER XV. ABBEY OF JUMIEGES?ITS HISTORY?ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS? TOMBS OF AGNES SOREL AND OF THE ENERVEZ. (Dueler, July, 1818J The country between Dueler and Jumieges is of much the same character with that through which we had already travelled from Rouen; the road sometimes coasting the Seine, and sometimes passing through a well- wooded country, pleasantly intermingled with corn-fields. In its general appearance, this district hears a near resemblance to an English landscape; more so, indeed, than in any other part of Normandy, where the features of the scenery are upon a larger scale. The lofty towers of the abbey of Jumieges are conspicuous from afar: the stone of which they are built is peculiarly white; and at a distance scarcely any signs of decay or dilapidation are visible. On a nearer approach, however, the Vandalism of the modern French appears in full activity. ' For the pitiful value of the materials, this noble edifice is doomed to destruction. The arched roof is beaten in; and the choir is nearly levelled with the ground. Two cart-loads of wrought stones were carried away, while we were there; and the workmen were busily employed in its demolition. The greater part, too, of the mischief, appears recent: the fractures of the walls are fresh and sharp; and the fresco-paintings are unchanged.?Had the proud abbatial structure but been VOL. II. C allowed to have existed as the parochial church of the village, the edifice might have stood for ages; but the French are miserably deficient in proper feeling; and neither the historical recollections connected with Jumieges, nor its importance as a monument of architectural antiquity, could redeem it from their tasteless selfishness. In a few years, its very ruins will have perished; and not a wreck will rema...