favor of the former opinion, but Huet of the latter; and the testimony of the bishop must be allowed, in this case, to outweigh that of the president.—­Huet also says, that it is matter of notoriety that the tiles were laid down towards the close of the fourteenth century.  He mentions, however, no authority for the assertion; and less credit perhaps will be given to it than it deserves, from his having stated just before, that the abbey and palace were contemporary structures.

Upon the outside wall of a chapel that is supposed to have belonged to the same palace, were ancient fresco paintings of William and Matilda, and of their sons, Robert and William Rufus.  They are engraved by Montfaucon[81], and are supposed by him, probably with reason, to be coeval with the personages they represent.  The figures are standing upon animals, the distribution of which is the most remarkable circumstance connected with the portraits.  To the king is assigned a dog; to the queen a lion:  the eldest son has the same symbol as his father; the younger rests upon a two-bodied beast, half swine, half bird, the bodies uniting in a female head.—­Upon the same plate, Montfaucon has given a second whole-length picture of the conqueror, which represents him with the crown upon his head, and the sceptre in his hand.  Considering the costume, he observes with justice that it cannot have been painted earlier than the latter part of the fourteenth century.  Ducarel, who, as usual, has copied the Benedictine’s engravings, says that, in his time, the same portrait existed in fresco over a chimney-piece in the porter’s lodge.—­We saw two copies of it; the one in the sacristy of the abbey church, the other in the museum, an establishment which may, without injustice to the honors of Caen, be dismissed with the brief observation, that, though three rooms are appropriated to the purpose, there is a very scanty assortment of pictures, and their quality is altogether ordinary.

The public library is a handsome apartment, one hundred and thirty feet in length, and it contains about twenty thousand volumes, mostly in good condition; but a great proportion of the books are of a description little read, being old divinity.  To the students of the university, this establishment is of essential service; and on this account it is to be regretted, that the very scanty revenue with which it is endowed, amounting only to twelve hundred francs per annum, prevents the possibility of any material increase to the collection, except in the case of such books as the liberality of the state contributes.  And these are principally works of luxury and great expence, which might advantageously be exchanged for the less costly productions of more extensive utility.  We inquired in vain after manuscripts and specimens of early typography.  None were to be found; and yet they might surely have been expected here; for a public library has existed in Caen from an early part of the last century, and, previous to the revolution,