but the terms “joli,” “gentil,” and “propre,” are made use of, like charity, to “cover a multitude of sins” ... or aberrations from true taste.  I scarcely stopped a minute in this chapel, but proceeded to a side one, to the right, which yet affords proof of its pristine splendour.  It is covered with gold and colours.  Two or three supplicants were kneeling before the crucifix, and appeared to be so absorbed in their devotions as to be insensible of every surrounding object.  To them, the particular saint (I have forgotten the name) to whom the little chapel was dedicated, seemed to be dearer and more interesting than the general voice of “praise and thanksgiving” with which the choir of the cathedral resounded.  Before we quit the place you must know that fourscore candidates were ordained:  that there are sixty clergy attached to the cathedral;[138] and that upwards of four hundred thousand souls are under the spiritual cognizance of the BISHOP OF BAYEUX.  The treasures of the Cathedral were once excessive,[139] and the episcopal stipend proportionably large:  but, of late years, things are sadly changed.  The Calvinists, in the sixteenth century, began the work of havoc and destruction; and the Revolutionists in the eighteenth, as usual, put the finish to these devastations.  At present, from a very respectable source of information, I learn that the revenues of the Bishop scarcely exceed 700_l_. per annum of our own money.  I cannot take leave of the cathedral without commending, in strong terms of admiration, the lofty flying buttresses of the exterior of the nave.  The perpendicular portions are crowned with a sculptured whole length figure, from which the semi-arch takes its spring; and are in much more elegant taste than any other part of the building.

Hard by the cathedral stood formerly a magnificent EPISCOPAL PALACE.  Upon this palace the old writers dearly loved to expatiate.  There is now however nothing but a good large comfortable family mansion; sufficient for the purposes of such hospitality and entertainment as the episcopal revenues will afford.  I have not only seen, but visited, this episcopal residence.  In other words, my friend Pierre-Aime Lair having promised to take his last adieu of me at Bayeux, as he had business with the Bishop, I met him agreeably to appointment at the palace; but his host, with a strong corps of visitors, having just sate down to dinner—­it was only one o’clock—­I bade him adieu, with the hope of seeing the Bishop on the morrow—­to whom he had indeed mentioned my name.  Our farewell was undoubtedly warm and sincere.  He had volunteered a thousand acts of kindness towards me without any possible motive of self interest; and as he lifted up his right hand, exclaiming “adieu, pour toujours!” I will not dissemble that I was sensibly affected by the touching manner in which it was uttered ... and PIERRE AIME LAIR shall always claim from me the warmest wishes for his prosperity and happiness.[140]