d pillars; and in the nave you observe those rounded pilasters--or
alto-rilievo-like pillars--running from bottom to top, which are to be seen
in the abbey of Jumieges. The capitals of these long pillars are
comparatively of modern date. To the left on entrance, within a side
chapel, is the burial place of MATILDA, the wife of the Conqueror. The
tombstone attesting her interment is undoubtedly of the time. Generally
speaking, the interior is cold, and dull of effect. The side chapels, of
which not fewer than sixteen encircle the choir, have the discordant
accompaniments of Grecian balustrades to separate them from the choir and
nave. There is a good number of _Confessionals_ within them; and at one of
these I saw, for the first time, _two_ women, kneeling, in the act of
confession to the _same priest_. "C'est un peu fort," observed our guide in
an under-voice, and with a humourous expression of countenance! Meanwhile
Mr. Lewis, who was in an opposite direction in the cathedral, was
exercising his pencil in the following delineation of a similar subject.

[Illustration]

To the right of the choir (in the sacristy, I think,) is hung the huge
portrait, in oil, within a black and gilt frame, of which Ducarel has
published an engraving, on the supposition of its being the portrait of
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. But nothing can be more ridiculous than such a
conclusion. In the first place, the picture itself, which is a palpable
copy, cannot be older than a century; and, in the second place, were it an
original performance, it could not be older than the time of Francis
I:--when, in fact, it purports to have been executed--as a faithful copy of
the figure of King William, seen by the Cardinals in 1522, who were seized
with a sacred phrenzy to take a peep at the body as it might exist at that
time! The costume of the oil-painting is evidently that of the period of
our Henry VIII.; and to suppose that the body of William--even had it
remained in so surprisingly perfect a state as Ducarel intimates, after an
interment of upwards of four hundred years--could have presented such a
costume, when, from Ducarel's own statement, another whole-length
representation of the same person is _totally different_--and more
decidedly of the character of William's time--is really quite a reproach to
any antiquary who plumes himself upon the possession even of common sense.

In the middle of the choir, and just before the high altar, the body of the