ng
spot overlooking the sea, at the foot of the Montagne du Roule. Furnished
with this, we repaired to the Prefet Maritime, who gave us an order to be
presented at the dockyard gate, where it was countersigned, and a guide
appointed to show us over the establishment. We made the tour round all
the basins and workshops, and saw the canot imperial used by the Emperor
on the visit of our Queen,--a most elegant boat, beautifully carved with
marine subjects. The model of a Roman trireme, or galley, is in one of the
basins, and in the little museum, or Salle des Modeles, are the two
flagstones that covered the grave of Napoleon, and were deposited here by
the Prince de Joinville, when he returned with the Emperor's remains from
St. Helena. The dockyard partly stands on a spot called Chantereyne. The
Empress Matilda, fleeing from Stephen, was overtaken by a tempest when
making for Cherbourg, and vowed, if her life were spared, to build a
church. The ship was in jeopardy, but the pilot cheered her spirits, and,
when gaining the port, exclaimed, "Chantes Reine! we are safe in harbour."
The place where she landed has always retained the name; and here the
Empress, in fulfilment of her vow, founded an abbey, which was destroyed
in the Revolution. The habitations of the nuns is the present provisional
Hopital de la Marine; a new one, containing above a thousand beds, being
in course of construction, and a modern church, called Eglise du Voeu, has
been erected in another part of the town in place of that of the Empress
Matilda.

Henry II. held his court in the castle with his empress-mother in great
splendour; it had formerly been tenanted by Duke William of Normandy
before his invasion of England, and, within its enclosure, he built a
church also, in consequence of a vow made during a serious illness. There
are few objects of interest in the town of Cherbourg. The women all wear
the large Normandy cap. In the Place d'Armes is a bronze equestrian statue
of the Emperor Napoleon I., and on the pedestal is inscribed "J'avois
resolu de renouveler a Cherbourg les merveilles de l'Egypte." In the
Library is a curiously sculptured chimney-piece of the fifteenth century,
coloured and gilt, removed from a room of the abbey. The principal church,
La Trinite, is a strange jumble of architecture. There is some beautiful
tracery in the windows, and a fine boss (clef pendante) in the south
porch, now restored. On a board in the church is an inscri