n
Normandy_, II. p. 131) appears to have proved that the pointed arch must
have had existence at a considerably earlier period in France; and it is
expected, that some instances which will be adduced in the sequel of the
work, will have the effect of confirming his opinion.

[43] _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 57.

[44] _Sepulchral Monuments_, I. p. 247, t. 30.--The epitaph, which, in
the original, is full of contractions, it is supposed by the Abbe De la
Rue, should be read as follows:--

"Guillelmus jacet hic, petrarum summus in arte:
Iste novum perfecit opus; det premia Christus.
Amen."

[45] A similar row of arches is found on the north transept of Norwich
Cathedral, between the first and second tier of windows.--See _Britton's
Norwich Cathedral_, plate 10.

[46] II. p. 195.

[47] _Antiquites de Caen_, p. 171.

[48] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 203.

[49] See _Neustria Pia_, p. 656.

[50] The inscription upon it, which details the various events that had
befallen the tomb, is given in _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 197.

PLATES XXIV.--XXXIII.

ABBEY OF THE HOLY TRINITY, AT CAEN.

[Illustration: Plate 24. ABBEY CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY, CAEN.
_West front._]

Mention has already been made, under the preceding subject, of the
origin of the convent of the Holy Trinity, whose church, though not an
equally extensive building as that of the monastery of St. Stephen, is
infinitely more rich in its decorations, and has been left almost
entirely in its original form. A more perfect example of a Norman
abbatial church, is perhaps no where to be found; and, as this edifice
had the farther advantage of having been raised at the period when the
province was at the acme of its power, of having been erected by an
individual of the highest rank, and of having owed its existence to an
occasion peculiarly calculated to call forth the exercise of the utmost
liberality and splendor, it has been conceived that the object of a work
like the present, could not be better answered, than by exhibiting such
a building in its fullest details.

With the churches of the Trinity and of St. Georges before him, the
reader will best be enabled to judge what Norman architecture really
was: no difficulty or doubt can arise as to the history or the date of
either; and he may rest satisfied, that whatever has been selected from
them, is, as far as human obs