--Huet also says, that
it is matter of notoriety that the tiles were laid down towards the
close of the fourteenth century. He mentions, however, no authority for
the assertion; and less credit perhaps will be given to it than it
deserves, from his having stated just before, that the abbey and palace
were contemporary structures.
Upon the outside wall of a chapel that is supposed to have belonged to
the same palace, were ancient fresco paintings of William and Matilda,
and of their sons, Robert and William Rufus. They are engraved by
Montfaucon[81], and are supposed by him, probably with reason, to be
coeval with the personages they represent. The figures are standing upon
animals, the distribution of which is the most remarkable circumstance
connected with the portraits. To the king is assigned a dog; to the
queen a lion: the eldest son has the same symbol as his father; the
younger rests upon a two-bodied beast, half swine, half bird, the bodies
uniting in a female head.--Upon the same plate, Montfaucon has given a
second whole-length picture of the conqueror, which represents him with
the crown upon his head, and the sceptre in his hand. Considering the
costume, he observes with justice that it cannot have been painted
earlier than the latter part of the fourteenth century.
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