It is well known that the Abbe has devoted his life to the investigation
of the antiquities both of Normandy and of the Anglo-Normans. Possessing
in a high degree the acute and critical spirit of research which
distinguished the French archaiologists of the Benedictine school, we
have only to regret, that the greater part of his works yet remain in
manuscript. His _History of Anglo-Norman Poetry_, which is quite ready
for the press, would be an invaluable accession to our literature; but
books of this nature are so little suited to the taste of the French
public, that, as yet, he has not ventured upon its publication. The
collections of the Abbe, as may be anticipated, are of great value; they
relate almost wholly to the history of the duchy. The chateau escaped
spoliation. The portraits of the whole line of the Mathans, from the
first founder of the race, in his hauberk, down to the last Marquis, in
his _frisure_, are in good preservation; and they are ancient specimens
of the sign-post painting usually found in old galleries. The Marquis
has also a finely-illuminated missal, which belonged to a Dame de
Mathan, in the fourteenth century, and which has been carefully handed
down in the family, from generation to generation.
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