It is doubtful how much, or indeed if any portion, of the church erected by Odo be now in existence.  Thirty years had scarcely elapsed from the date of its dedication, when, as I have already mentioned to you, the troops of Henry Ist destroyed Bayeux with fire.  The ruin was so complete, that for more than fifty years, no attempt was made to re-construct the cathedral; but it remained in ashes until the year 1157, when bishop, Philip of Harcourt, determined to restore it.  A question has arisen whether the oldest part of what is now standing, be the work of Philip or of Odo.  The lapse of eighty years in those early times, would perhaps occasion no very sensible difference in style; and chroniclers do not afford the means of determining, if, at the time when Bayeux suffered so dreadfully in 1106, the church was actually burned to the ground, or only materially damaged.  In the History of the Diocese we are merely told that Philip, having, by means of papal bulls, happily succeeded in regaining possession of all the privileges, honors, and property of the see, began to rebuild his cathedral in 1159, and completed it with great glory and expence.—­From that time forward, we hear no more of demolition or of re-edification; but the injuries done by the silent lapse of ages, and the continued desire on the part of the prelates to beautify and to enlarge their church, have produced nearly the same effect as fire or warfare.  The building, as it now stands, is a medley of various ages; and, in the absence of historical record, it would be extremely difficult to define the several portions that are to be assigned to each.

The west front is flanked by two Norman towers, bold and massy, with semi-circular arches in the highest stories.  The spires likewise appear ancient, though these and the surrounding pinnacles are all gothic.  The northern one, according to tradition, was built with the church; the southern, in 1424.  They both greatly resemble those of the abbey-church of St. Stephen at Caen.  But the whole centre of this front, and indeed both the sides also, as high as the roof, is faced by a screen divided into five compartments.  In the middle is a large, wide, pointed arch, with a square-headed entrance beneath.  North and south of this are deep arches, evidently older, but likewise pointed, having their sides above the pillars, and the flat arched part of the door-way, filled with small figures.  The door-ways themselves are arches that occupy only one half of the width of those which enclose them.  In the two exterior compartments the arches are unpierced, and are flanked by a profusion of clustered pillars.  Over each of the four lateral arches, rises a crocketed pyramid:  the central one is surmounted by a flat balustrade, above which, behind the screen, is a large pointed window, and over it a row of saints, standing under trefoil-headed arches, arranged in pairs, the pediment terminating above each pair of arches in a pyramidal canopy.