Conqueror was entombed with great pomp; and a monument erected to his
memory of the most elaborate and costly description. Nothing now remains
but a flat black marble slab, with a short inscription, of quite a recent
date.

In the present state of the abbey,[109] and even in that of Ducarel's time,
there is, and was, a great dearth of sepulchral monuments. Indeed I know
not whether you need be detained another minute within the interior; except
it be, to add your share of admiration to that which has been long and
justly bestowed on the huge organ[110] at the west end of the nave, which
is considered to be the finest in all France. But Normandy abounds in
church decorations of this kind. Leaving therefore this venerable pile,
endeared to the British antiquary by a thousand pleasing associations of
ideas, we strike off into an adjoining court yard, and observe the ruins of
a pretty extensive pile of building, which is called by Ducarel the _Palace
of the Conqueror_. But in this supposed palace, in its _present_ state,
most assuredly William I. _never_ resided: for it is clearly not older than
the thirteenth century: if so ancient. Ducarel saw a great deal more than
is now to be seen; for, in fact, as I attempted to gain entrance into what
appeared to be the principal room, I was stopped by an old woman, who
assured me "qu'il n'y avoit rien que du chauffage." It was true enough: the
whole of the untenanted interior contained nothing but wood fuel. Returning
to the principal street, and making a slight digression to the right, you
descend somewhat abruptly by the side of a church in ruins, called _St.
Etienne le Vieil_. In Ducarel's time this church is described as entire. On
the exterior of one of the remaining buttresses is a whole length figure,
about four English feet in height (as far as I could guess by the eye) of a
man on horseback--mutilated--trampling upon another man at its feet.

It is no doubt a curious and uncommon ornament. But, would you believe it?
this figure also, in the opinion of Bourgueville,[111] was intended for
William the the Conqueror--representing his triumphant entry into Caen! As
an object of art, even in its present mutilated state, it is highly
interesting; and I rejoice that Mr. Cotman is likely to preserve the little
that remains from the hazard of destruction by the fidelity of his own copy
of it.[112] It is quite clear that, close to the figure, you discover
traces of style which are une