sought for. Nothing can be more delightful than to read the reigns of
the Plantagenets in the dramas of Shakspeare, or the tales of later
times in the ingenious fictions of the author of Waverley. But those
who would draw historical facts from their hiding-places must be
content to plod through many a ponderous worm-eaten folio, and many a
half-legible and still less intelligible manuscript.

"Yet," continues he, "if the Bayeux tapestry be not history of the
first class, it is, perhaps, something better. It exhibits genuine
traits, elsewhere sought in vain, of the costume and manners of that
age which, of all others, if we except the period of the Reformation,
ought to be the most interesting to us; that age which gave us a new
race of monarchs, bringing with them new landholders, new laws, and
almost a new language.

"As in the magic pages of Froissart, we here behold our ancestors of
each race in most of the occupations of life, in courts and camps, in
pastime and in battle, at feasts and on the bed of sickness. These
are characteristics which of themselves would call forth a lively
interest; but their value is greatly enhanced by their connection with
one of the most important events in history, the main subject of the
whole design."

This magnificent piece of work is 227 feet in length by 20 inches in
width, is now usually kept at the Town-hall in Rouen, and is treasured
as the most precious relic. It was formerly the theme of some long and
learned dissertations of antiquarian historians, amongst whom
Montfaucon, perhaps, ranks most conspicuous.

Still so little _local_ interest does it excite, that Mr. Gurney, in
1814, was nearly leaving Bayeux without seeing it because he did not
happen to ask for it by the title of "Toile de St. Jean," and so his
request was not understood; and Ducarel, in his "Tour," says, "The
priests of this cathedral to whom we addressed ourselves for a sight
of this remarkable piece of antiquity, knew nothing of it; the
circumstance only of its being annually hung up in their church led
them to understand what we wanted; no person there knowing that the
object of our inquiry any ways related to William the Conqueror, whom
to this day they call Duke William."

During the French Revolution its surrender was demanded for the
purpose of covering the guns; fortunately, however, a priest succeeded
in concealing it until that storm was overpast.

Bonaparte better knew its value. It was disp