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21 LETTER XXI. MONS. MOUTON. CHURCH OF STE. TRINITE. COMTE DE LA FRESNAYE. GUIBRAY CHURCH. SUPPOSED HEAD OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. M. LANGEVIN, HISTORIAN OF FALAISE. PRINTING OFFICES. I Lose no time in the fulfilment of my promise. The church of Sainte Trinite, of which Monsieur Mou- ton is the Cure", is the second place of worship in rank in the town. During; the Revolution, Mons. Mouton was compelled, with too many of his professional brethren, to fly from the general persecution of his order. One solitary and most amiable creature only remained; of the name of Langevin of whom, by and bye. Monsieur Mouton did me the honour of shewing me the interior of his church. His stipend (as he told me) does not exceed 1500 francs per annum; and it is really surprising to observe to what apparent acts of generosity towards his flock, this income is made subservient. You shall hear. The altar consists of two angels of the size of life, kneeling very gracefully, in white glazed plaister: in the centre, somewhat raised above, is a figure of the Virgin, of the same materials; above which again, is a representation of the Trinity in a blaze of gilt. The massive circular columns surrounding the choir probably of the fourteenth century were just fresh painted, at the expense of the worthy Cure", in alternate colours of blue and yellow imitative of marble; that is to say, each column, alternately, was blue, andyellow. It was impossible to behold any thing more glaring and more tasteless. I paid my little tribute of admiration at the simplicity and grace of the kneeling figure of the Virgin but was stubbornly silent about every thing else. Monsieur Mouton replied that " he intended to grace thebrows of the angels by putting a garland round each." I felt a sort of twinge upon receiving th...
