domestic architecture; but we must not neglect to examine the pointed
Gothic of the 13th century in the cathedral of St. Pierre. The door of
the south transept, and one of the doors under the western towers (the
one on the right hand) is very beautiful, and is quite mauresque in the
delicacy of its design. The interior is of fine proportions, but is
disfigured with a coat of yellow paint; whilst common wooden seats (of
churchwardens' pattern) and wainscotting have been built up against its
pillars, the stone work having been cut away to accommodate the painted
wood. There are some good memorial windows; one of Henry II. being
married to Eleanor (1152); and another of Thomas-à-Becket visiting
Lisieux when exiled in 1169.

The church of St. Jacques with its fine stained-glass, the interior of
which is much plainer than St. Pierre, will not detain us long; it is
rather to such streets as the celebrated '_Rue aux Fèvres_' that we are
attracted by the decoration of the houses, and their curious
construction. There is one house in this street, the entire front of
which is covered with grotesquely carved figures, intricate patterns,
and graceful pillars. The exterior woodwork is blackened with age, and
the whole building threatens to fall upon its present tenant--the keeper
of a café. The beams which support the roof inside are also richly
decorated.

To give the reader any idea of the variety of the wooden houses at
Lisieux would require a series of drawings or photographs: we can do
little more in these pages than point out these charming corners of the
world where something is still left to us of the work of the middle
ages.

The general character of the houses is better than at Pont Audemer, and