In speaking of the church of St. Gervais at Rouen, I have already briefly alluded to the melancholy circumstances by which the death of this monarch was attended.  The sequel of the story is not less memorable.

The king’s decease was the signal for general consternation throughout the metropolis of Normandy.  The citizens, panic struck, ran to and fro, as if intoxicated, or as if the town were upon the point of being taken by assault.  Each asked counsel of his neighbor, and each anxiously turned his thoughts to the concealing of his property.  When the alarm had in some measure subsided the monks and clergy made a solemn procession to the abbey of St. Georges, where they offered their prayers for the repose of the soul of the departed Duke; and archbishop William commanded that the body should be carried to Caen, to be interred in the church of St. Stephen, which William had founded.  But the lifeless king was now deserted by all who had participated in his munificence and bounty.  Every one of his brethren and relations had left him; nor was there even a servant to be found to perform the last offices to his departed lord.  The care of the obsequies was finally undertaken by Herluin, a knight of that district, who, moved by the love of God and the honor of his nation, provided at his own expence, embalmers, and bearers, and a hearse, and conveyed the corpse to the Seine, whence it was carried by land and water to the place of its destination.

Upon the arrival of the funeral train at Caen, it was met by Gislebert, bishop of Evreux, then abbot of St. Stephen’s, at the head of his monks, attended with a numerous throng of clergy and laity; but scarcely had the bier been brought within the gates, when the report was spread that a dreadful fire had broken out in another part of the town, and the Duke’s remains were a second time deserted.  The monks alone remained; and, fearful and irresolute, they bore their founder “with candle, with book, and with knell,” to his last home.  Ordericus Vitalis enumerates the principal prelates and barons assembled upon this occasion; but he makes no mention of the Conqueror’s son, Henry, who, according to William of Jumieges, was the only one of the family that attended, and was also the only one worthy of succeeding to such a father.—­Mass had now been performed, and the body was about to be committed to the ground, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” when, previously to this closing part of the ceremony, Gislebert mounted the pulpit, and delivered an oration in honor of the deceased.—­He praised his valor, which had so widely extended the limits of the Norman dominion; his ability, which had elevated the nation to the highest pitch of glory; his equity in the administration of justice; his firmness in correcting abuses; and his liberality towards the monks and clergy; then, finally, addressing the people, he besought them to intercede with the Almighty for the soul of their prince, and to pardon whatsoever