But the most curious feature in this building is, that
one of the buttresses is pierced with a narrow lancet window; a decisive
proof, that the Normans regarded their buttresses as constituent parts
of the edifice at its original construction, and that they did not add
them at a subsequent time, or design them to afford support, in the
event of any unexpected failure of strength. Indeed, what are usually
called Norman buttresses, such as we find at Yainville, and at the
lazar-house at St. Julien, have so very small a projection, that they
seem much more designed to add ornament or variety than for any useful
purpose.--Yainville is a parish adjoining Jumieges, and was formerly
dependent upon the celebrated abbey there, which will furnish ample
materials for a future letter.
Footnotes:
[63] _Taillepied, Antiquites de Rouen_, p. 77.
[64] Vol. II. part V. p. 8.
[65] _Seroux d'Agincourt, Historie de la Decadence de l'Art_; plate 10,
_Sculpture_, fig. 4-7.
[66] _Du Moulin, Histoire Generale de Normandie,_ p.
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