that--


"Truth will survive when merry jokes are past;
For rising merit must buoy up at last."


As usual, the buildings dedicated to religion are far more numerous and
valuable than the relics of military architecture. Of these, the first
which salutes the stranger who enters by the great high road, is the
Hôtel Dieu, which is almost intact and unaltered. The basement story
contains large and deep pointed arches, ornamented with the chevron
moulding, disposed in a very peculiar manner.--From the style of the
building, there is every reason to believe that it is of the beginning
of the thirteenth century, at which time William, Count of Magneville,
appropriated to charitable purposes the ground now occupied by this
hospital, and caused his donation to be confirmed by a bull from Pope
Innocent IIIrd, dated in April, 1210.

The abbeys, the glories of Caen, will require more leisure: at present
let us pass on to the parochial churches. Of these, the most ancient
foundation is _St. Etienne le Vieil_; and tradition relates that this
church was dedicated by St. Renobert, bishop of Bayeux, in the year
350.--But, though the present edifice may stand upon the site of an
ancient one, there would be little risk in affirming, that not one stone
of it was laid upon another till after the year 1400. The building is
spacious, and its tower is not devoid of beauty. The architecture is a
medley of debased gothic and corrupted Roman; but the large pointed
windows, decorated by fanciful mouldings and scroll-work, have an air of
richness, though the component parts are so inharmonious.