he most interesting, tasteful, and accurate of antiquarian
productions. See a subsequent note.]

[137] See page 12, ante.

[138] ["That was true, when M. Dibdin wrote his account; now, the number
must be reduced one half." LICQUET, vol. ii. p. 121.]

[139] Cette eglise ... etoit sans contredit une des plus riches de France
en
vases d'or, d'argent, et de pierreries; en reliques et en ornemens. Le
proces-verbal qui avoit ete dresse de toutes ses richesses, en 1476,
contient un detail qui va presque a l'infini." Bezieres, _Hist.
Sommaire_, p. 51.

[140] [But ONE letter has passed between us since this separation. That
letter, however, only served to cement the friendliness of our
feelings towards each other. M. Pierre Aime Lair had heard of the
manner in which his name had been introduced into these pages, and
wished a copy of the work to be deposited in the public library at
Caen. Whether it be so deposited, I have never learnt. In 1827, this
amiable man visited England; and I saw him only during the time of an
ordinary morning visit. His stay was necessarily short, and his
residence was remote. I returned his visit--but he was away. There are
few things in life more gratifying than the conviction of living in
the grateful remembrance of the wise and the good; and THAT
gratification it is doubtless my happiness to enjoy--as far as relates
to Mons. PIERRE AIME LAIR!]

LETTER XV.

VISIT NEAR ST. LOUP. M. PLUQUET, APOTHECARY AND BOOK-VENDER. VISIT TO THE
BISHOP. THE CHAPTER LIBRARY. DESCRIPTION OF THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY. TRADE AND
MANUFACTURE.

Well, my good friend! the stranger has been visited: his library inspected:
his services accepted: and his character partly unfolded. To this I must
add, in the joy of my heart, (as indeed I mentioned slightly in my last)
that both the Chapter LIBRARY and the famous TAPESTRY have been explored
and examined in a manner, I trust, worthy of British curiosity. I hardly
know what sort of order to adopt in this my second and last epistle from
Bayeux; which will be semi-bibliomaniacal and semi-archaeological: and sit
down, almost at random, to impart such intelligence as my journal and my
memory supply.

The last was almost a purely _ecclesiastical_ dispatch: as I generally
first take off my cap to the towers and turrets of a cathedral. Now then
for THE STRANGER! ... for it would be cruel to prolong the ag