this, and also that Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (the Conqueror's
half-brother), ordered and arranged the work to the exact length of the
walls of the church, round which it was intended that it should have
been placed.




CHAPTER VI.

_ST. LO--COUTANCES--GRANVILLE. (CHERBOURG.)_


On our way to ST. LO, COUTANCES, and GRANVILLE on the
western coast of Normandy, we may do well--if we are interested in the
appliances of modern warfare, and would obtain any idea of the
completeness and magnificence of the French Imperial Marine--to see
something of CHERBOURG, situated near the bold headland of Cap
de la Hague.

If we look about us as we approach the town, we shall see that the
railway is cut through an extraordinary natural fortification of rocks;
and if we ascend the heights of Le Roule, we shall obtain, what a
Frenchman calls, a _vue féerique du Cherbourg_. We shall look down upon
the magnificent harbour with its breakwater and surrounding forts, and
see a fleet of iron-clads at anchor, surrounded by smaller vessels of
all nations; gun-boats, turret-ships and every modern invention in the
art of maritime war, but scarcely any ships of commerce. The whole
energy and interest of a busy population seem concentrated at Cherbourg,
either in constructing works of defence or engines of destruction.