chapels of the choir were covered with large fresco-paintings, now nearly obliterated.—­It is believed, and with every appearance of probability, that the Lady-Chapel was erected at a time posterior to the rest of the building; but there is no certain account of its date.  Before the revolution, it served as a burial-place for some of the bishops of the see, and for a duke of the noble family of Montemart.  Their tombs ornamented the chapel, which now appears desolate and naked, retaining no other of its original decorations, than a series of small paintings, which represent the life of the Holy Virgin, and are deserving of some attention from the character of expression in the faces, though the drawing in general is bad.  Over the altar is a picture, in which an angel is pointing out our Savior and the Virgin to a dying man, whose countenance is admirable.—­The stalls of the choir display a profusion of beautiful oak carving; and beneath them are sculptured misereres, the first which we have observed in Normandy.—­Very little painted glass is to be found in any part of the church; but the glazing of the windows is composed of complicated patterns.  This species of ornament was introduced about the time of Louis XIVth; and Felibien, who has given several pattern plates in his treatise on architecture, observes, that it was intended to supply the place of painted glass, which, as it was then thought, excluded the light.

Beneath the choir is a subterraneous chapel dedicated to St. Maimertus, otherwise called St. Manvieu.  Its character is so similar to that of the crypt at the abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen, that there would be little risk in pronouncing it to be part of Odo’s church.  It is supported on twelve pillars, disposed in two rows, the last pillar of each row being imbedded in the wall.  The capitals of the pillars are carved, each with a different design from the rest.  Their sculpture bears a strong resemblance to some of what is seen in similar situations in the Egyptian temples; indeed, so strong, that a very able judge tells me he has been led to suspect that the model might have been introduced by an anchorite from the desert.  Take the following as a specimen.

[Illustration:  Capital of pillar]

The walls of the crypt are covered with paintings, probably of the fifteenth century; but those upon the springing of the arches above the pillars, appear considerably older.  Each spandril contains an angel, holding a trumpet or other musical instrument.  The outlines of these figures are strongly drawn in black.—­Upon the right-hand side, on entering the chapel, is the altar-tomb of John de Boissy, who was bishop at the beginning of the fifteenth century; and, on the opposite side, stands that of his immediate predecessor, Nicolas de Bosc.  Their monuments were originally ornamented with bas-reliefs and paintings, all which were mutilated and effaced during the religious wars.  De Boissy’s effigy, however, remains, though greatly injured; and the following epitaph to his memory is preserved in a perfect state, over the only window that gives light to this crypt.  The inscription is curious, as recording the discovery of the chapel, which had been forgotten and unknown for centuries.