This magnificent church is three hundred and seventy feet long and seventy high; the transept, including the Chapel of the Precious Blood, one hundred and twenty feet long; the tower two hundred feet high.  A portion of it was burned in 1460, but soon repaired.  William de Ros, third abbot, rebuilt all the upper part in a better taste, and enlarged the nave, which was not finished till 1200.  A successor of his at the beginning of the next century completed the chapels round the choir.  The screen was begun by one of the monks about 1500, who erected the chapel dedicated to the death of the Virgin, a master-piece of architecture and adorned with historical carving.  The cloister was built so late as 1712.  Cathedral service was performed in the church, in which were the tombs of the first and second of the Richards of Normandy; of Richard, infant son of the former, and of William, third son of the latter; of Margaret, betrothed to Robert, son of William the Conqueror, who died 1060; of Alard, third Earl of Bretagne, 1040; of Archbishop Osmond, and of a Lady Judith, whose jingling epitaph has given rise to a variety of conjectures, whether she was the wife of Duke Richard IInd, or his daughter, or some other person.—­

       “Illa solo sociata, mariti at jure soluta,
     Judita judicio justificata jacet;
     Et quae, dante Deo, sed judice justificante,
     Primo jus subiit sed modo jura regit.”

As to Duke Richard Ist, he caused a sarcophagus of stone to be made and placed within this church; and so long as he lived, it was filled with wheat on every Friday, and the grain, together with five shillings, distributed weekly among the poor.  And when his death approached, he expressly charged his successor, “Bury not my body within the church, but deposit it on the outside, immediately under the eaves, that the dripping of the rain from the holy roof may wash my bones as I lie, and may cleanse them of the spots of impurity contracted during a negligent and neglected life.”

Our party could not ascertain whether any of the historical monuments were yet in existence.  The church, at the time they were there, was wholly occupied with preparations for the approaching confirmation.  Young girls in their best dresses, all in white, and holding tapers in their hands, filled the nave, while the chapels were crowded with individuals at prayer, or still more with females waiting for an opportunity of confessing themselves, previously to receiving the expected absolution from the archbishop.  Under such circumstances nothing could be examined; but there appeared to be in the chapels five or six fine, though mutilated, altar tombs:  to whom, however, they belonged, or what was their actual state, it was impossible to tell.  Accompanying them are also some curious pieces of sculpture.  For the same reason no farther remark could be made upon the interior of the building, except that its architecture is imposing, and its roof, supported by tall clustered