THIS TOWER OT ST. PETER exceeded all the others,
    as well in its height, as in its curious form of construction.”
    Antiq. de Caen; p.36.  He regrets, however, that the name of
    the architect has not descended to us. [It is right to correct an
    error, in the preceding edition, which has been committed on the
    authority of Ducarel.  That Antiquary supposed the tower and spire to
    have been built by the generosity of one NICHOLAS, an ENGLISHMAN.” 
    Mons. Licquet has, I think, reclaimed the true author of such
    munificence, as his own countryman.—­NICOLAS LANGLOIS:—­whose
    name thus occurs in his epitaph, preserved by Bourgueville.

      Le Vendredi, devant tout droict
      La Saint Cler que le temps n’est froit,
      Trespassa NICOLLE L’ANGLOIS,
      L’an Mil Trois Cens et Dix Sept.]
        &c. &c.

Reverting, to old BOURGUEVILLE, I cannot take leave of him without expressing my hearty thanks for the amusement and information which his unostentatious octavo volume—­entitled Les Recherches et Antiquitez de la Ville et Universite de Caen, &c. (a Caen, 1588, 8vo.) has afforded me.

The author, who tells us he was born in 1504, lived through the most critical and not unperilous period of the times in which he wrote.  His plan is perfectly artless, and his style as completely simple.  Nor does his fidelity appear impeachable.  Such ancient volumes of topography are invaluable—­as preserving the memory of things and of objects, which, but for such record, had perished without the hope or chance of recovery.

[115] [Ten years have elapsed since this sentence was written, and the
    experience gained in those years only confirms the truth (according to
    the conception of the author) of the above assertion.  Such a tower and
    spire, if found in England, must be looked for in Salisbury Cathedral;
    but though this latter be much loftier, it is stiff, cold, and formal,
    comparatively with that of which the text makes mention.]

[116] [For six months in the year—­that is to say, from Lady Day till
    Michaelmas Day—­this great Bell tolls, at a quarter before ten, as a
    curfew.]

[117] A plate of it may be found in the publication of Mr. Dawson Turner,
    and of Mr. Cotman.

[118] Of this building Mr. Cotman has published the West front, east end,
    exterior and interior; great arches under the tower; crypt; east side
    of south transept; elevation of the North side of the choir:  elevation
    of the window; South side exterior; view down the nave, N.W.
    direction.