Not far from the chapel of the Virgin, in the right aisle, on looking
eastward, we find the sacristy. We should stop a moment before its stone
partition with its iron door: they are both much esteemed works of the
end of the XVth century. The partition wall is from the liberality of
Philip de la Rose, chief-archdeacon, and was erected in the year 1473
according to Farin, but 1479 according to Pommeraye[10].

Leaving now the inside of the cathedral let us examine the exterior of
this admirable edifice. Here, details are impossible; we must see the
whole mass, to form an idea of it. Who could number so many pieces of
sculpture, capitals, sculptured galleries, bas-reliefs, and ornaments,
which are multiplied under all forms? Historical explanations are those
only which can be offered to the reader. We may add, that they are the
most useful, since the rest is an affair of the eyes. The whole of the
western facade, comprehended between the two front towers, is from the
munificence of cardinal d'Amboise I. The building commenced on the 12th
of june 1509, and was finished in 1530. The bas-reliefs, which decorate
the doorways under the three entrances from the porch, were more or less
mutilated by the calvinists in 1562. That on the right is now scarcely
to be recognized: that of the great portal represents the genealogical
tree of Jesse, or of the family of the Virgin; that on the left, the
beheading of John the Baptist; the latter porch suffered considerably
from a frightful storm, which took place in 1683.[11]

The tower, which terminates the facade to the north, bears the name of
Saint-Romain. Its foundation is the most ancient part of the whole
edifice; the rest was built later and at different periods. The whole
was terminated in 1477, under the cardinal d'Estouteville. Before the
revolution the tower of Saint-Romain contained eleven bells, there were