At
length, two presented themselves--the entrance of the corn-market,
formerly the chapel of St. Margaret, a Norman arch, remarkable for the
lamb and banner, an emblem of the saint, sculptured on the transom
stone; and a small stone tablet, attached to an old house near the
cathedral. The whimsical singularity of the latter, induced us to give
it the preference. It may possibly be of the workmanship of the
fourteenth century, and possibly much later. In all probability, it owes
its existence merely to a caprice on the part of the owner of the
residence, whose crest may be indicated by the tortoises which surmount
the columns by way of capitals. Still there is merit in the performance,
though perhaps for nothing so much as for the accurate resemblance of
peeled wood; and this I never saw imitated with equal fidelity in stone.
But, however unattractive Bayeux may be in other respects, so long as
the cathedral is suffered to stand, the city will never want interest.
It is supposed that the first church erected here was built by St.
Exuperius otherwise called St. Suspirius, or St. Spirius, who, according
to the distich subjoined to his portrait, formerly painted on one of the
windows of the nave, was not only the earliest bishop of the diocese,
but claimed the merit of having introduced the Christian faith into
Normandy,--
"Primitus hic pastor templi fuit hujus et auctor,
Catholicamque fidem Normannis attulit idem.
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