praebendae integrae cum duabus semipraebendis, e quibus
undecim antiquae fundationis, quas qui tenent barones vocantur. Sunt et
aliae sex praebendae _Volantes_ dictae, quae quotidianis non gaudent
distributionibus. Sunt adhuc in eadem ecclesia 4 vicarii, quorum tres
revocabiles, et 30 capellani, quorum septem episcopus, et 23 instituit
capitulum. Praeter parochias supra memoratas, sunt et aliae undecim in
urbe et baleuca Lexoviensi, rectoriae duodecim: quatuor in exemtione de
Nonanto prope Bajocas, quarum sex rectores, et quinque in exemtione S.
Candidi senioris in urbe et dioecesi Rotomagensi, quarum unam, scilicet
S. Candidi senioris collegiatam simul et parochialem administrant
quatuor canonici, qui alternis vicibus parochialia obeunt munia;
decanatus enim annexus est episcopo Lexoviensi qui jurisdictionem
exercet in quinque illas ecclesias. Tota denique dioecesis Lexoviensis
487 parochias continet, rectorias 520."

[170] _Turner's Tour in Normandy_, II. p. 139.

[171] _Anglo-Norman Antiquities_, p. 47.

PLATE LXXVI.

ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN, AT ROUEN.

[Illustration: Plate 76. ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. OUEN, AT ROUEN.
_North East View._]

The beauty of the church of St. Ouen has been a frequent theme of
admiration among the lovers of ancient ecclesiastical architecture. The
excellencies of the building have been denied by none, while some have
gone so far as to consider it as the very perfection of that style,
which has generally, however improperly, obtained the name of _Gothic_.
A recent English traveller, whose attention was expressly directed to
the different departments of the arts, bears the following testimony in
its favor: "Beyond all comparison, the finest specimen of Gothic
architecture which we have met with in France, is _Saint Ouen_, the
secondary church at Rouen. Contrasted with Salisbury cathedral, it is
small; but it does not, I think, yield to that or any other structure I
have ever seen, in elegance, lightness, or graceful uniformity."[172]

Previously to the suppression of monasteries in France, the church of
St. Ouen made part of the abbey of the same name, one of the most
celebrated and most ancient in Normandy. It is now a parochial church,
and is happily in nearly a perfect state, having suffered comparatively
but little from the mad folly of the Calvinists of the sixteenth
century, or the democrats of the eighteenth; though every studied insult
was offered to it by the former,