--It is not worth while now to
inquire into the truth of this story, or the fidelity of the
resemblance. The painting has disappeared in the course of time: it hung
for a while against the walls of the church, opposite to the monument;
but it was stolen during the tumults caused by the Huguenots, and was
broken into two pieces, in which state De Bourgueville saw it a few
years afterwards, in the hands of a Calvinist, one Peter Hode, the
gaoler at Caen, who used it in the double capacity of a table and a
door.--The worthy magistrate states, that he kept the picture, "because
the abbey-church was demolished."
He was himself present at the second violation of the royal tomb, in
1572; and he gives a piteous account of the transaction. The monument
raised to the memory of the Conqueror, by his son, William Rufus, under
the superintendance of Lanfranc, was a production of much costly and
elaborate workmanship: the shrine, which was placed upon the mausoleum,
glittered with gold and silver and precious stones. To complete the
whole, the effigy of the king had been added to the tomb, at some
period subsequent to its original erection.--A monument like this
naturally excited the rapacity of a lawless banditti, unrestrained by
civil or military force, and inveterate against every thing that might
be regarded as connected with the Catholic worship.
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