which accompanies this letter, represents a fragment of the inner
door-way of the south-west porch, and may enable you to form your own
judgment upon the subject.

[Illustration: Sketch of fragment of inner door-way]

The stones immediately over the entrance are joggled into each other,
the key-stone having a joggle on either side.--I have not observed this
peculiarity in any other specimen of Norman masonry.--Between these
porches apartments, along the interior of which runs a cornice,
supported by grotesque corbels, and under it a row of windows, now
principally blocked up, disposed in triplets, a trefoil-headed window
being placed between two that are semi-circular, as seen in the
accompanying drawing. The date of the origin of the trefoil-headed arch
has been much disputed: these perhaps are some of the earliest, and they
are unquestionably coeval with the building.

[Illustration: Ancient trefoil-headed Arches in Abbey of Jumieges]

The stupid and disgraceful barbarism, which is now employing itself in
the ruins of Jumieges, has long since annihilated the invaluable
monuments which it contained.--In the Lady-Chapel of the conventual
church was buried the heart of the celebrated Agnes Sorel, mistress of
Charles VIIth, who died at Mesnil, about a league from this abbey,
during the time when her royal lover was residing here.--Her death was
generally attributed to poison; nor did the people hesitate in
whispering that the fatal potion was administered by order of the Queen.
Her son, the profligate tyrant Louis XIth, detested his father's
concubine; and once, forgetting his dignity and his manhood, he struck
the _Dame de Beauté_.--The statue placed upon the mausoleum represented