The oath of the bishops and abbots was nothing more than a promise of constant respect and obedience on their parts to the church and archbishop of Rouen.  You will find it in the Voyages Liturgiques[121]; in which you will also meet with a great deal of curious matter touching the peculiar customs and ceremonies of this cathedral.  The different metropolitan churches of France before the revolution, like those of our own country prior to the reformation, varied materially from one another in observances of minor importance; at the same time that their rituals all agreed in what may be termed the doctrinal ceremonies of the church.

The last manuscript which I shall mention, is the only one that is commonly shewn to strangers:  it is a Graduel, a very large folio volume, written in the seventeenth century, and of transcendent beauty.  Julio Clovio himself, the Raphael of this department of art, might have been proud to be considered the author of the miniatures in it.  The representations of lapis lazuli are even more wonderful than the flowers and insects.  The whole was done by a monk, of the name of Daniel D’Eaubonne, and is said to have cost him the labor of his entire life.

In earlier times, a similar occupation was regarded as peculiarly meritorious[122].—­There died a friar, a man of irregular life, and his soul was brought before the judgment-seat to receive its deserts.  The evil spirits attended, not anticipating any opposition to the claim which they preferred; but the guardian angels produced a large book, filled with a transcript from holy writ by the hand of the criminal; and it was at length agreed that each letter in it should be allowed to stand against a sin.  The tale was carefully gone through:  Satan exerted his utmost ingenuity to substantiate every crime of omission or commission; and the contending parties kept equal pace, even unto the last letter of the last word of the last line of the last page, when, happily for the monk, the recollection of his accuser failed, and not a single charge could be found to be placed in the balance against it.  His soul was therefore again remanded to the body, and a farther time was allotted to it to correct its evil ways.—­The legend is pointed by an apposite moral; for the brethren are exhorted to “pray, read, sing, and write, always bearing in mind, that one devil only is allowed to assail a monk who is intent upon his duties, but that a thousand are let loose to lead the idle into temptation.”

The library is open every day, except Sundays and Thursdays, from ten to two, to everybody who chooses to enter.  It is to the credit of the inhabitants of Rouen, that they avail themselves of the privilege; and the room usually contains a respectable assemblage of persons of all classes.  The revenue of the library does not amount to more than three thousand francs per annum; but it is also occasionally assisted by government.  The French ministers of state