worship
and their gifts; and, in a more recent period, Casimir of Poland, after
his voluntary abdication of the throne, selected it as the spot in which
he sought for repose, when wearied with the cares of royalty. The
English possessions of Fecamp do not appear to have been large; but,
according to the author of the _History of Alien Priories_, the abbot
presented to one hundred and thirty benefices, some in the diocese of
Rouen, others in those of Bayeux, Lisieux, Coutances, Chartres, and
Beauvais; and it enjoyed so many estates, that its income was said to be
forty thousand crowns per annum."[162]

The work, from which this account of the abbey of Fecamp has been
extracted, also contains some details relative to a few of the principal
miracles connected with the convent, and relative to the _precious
blood_, to the possession of which Fecamp was indebted for no small
portion of its celebrity. But the reader must be referred for all these
to the _Neustria Pia_, where he will find them recorded at great length.
The author of that most curious volume, appears to have treated no
subject more entirely _con amore_ than Fecamp; and if the more
enlightened progeny of the present day incline, in the plentitude of
their wisdom, to "think their fathers fools" for listening to such
tales, let it at least be recollected, that even these tales, with all
their absurdity, are most interesting documents of the progress of the
human mind; and, above all, let it never be forgotten, that books of
this description contain a mass of materials for the elucidation of the
manners and customs of the age, which would in vain be sought for in any
other quarter.

The abbatial church of Fecamp is still standing uninjured, and is a work
of various ages. Some circular chapels attached to the sides of the
choir, are probably remains of the building erected by Duke Richard: the
rest is all of the pointed style of architecture; and the earliest part
is scarcely anterior to the end of the twelfth century.--The church of
St. Stephen, selected here for publication, is undeserving of notice,
except for its southern portal, which is an elegant specimen of what is
called by Mr. Rickman, the decorated English architecture.

NOTES:

[160] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, I. p. 60.

[161] _Voyages Pittoresques et Romantiques dans l'Ancienne France_, I.
p. 110.--Seven plates in this work are devoted to the illustration of
the religious buildings at Fecamp.