[Submount-devel] off fr

[Smyser <mon...@fo...>]

Eau" or court is surrounded by a double row of pointed arches,
interlacing each other, and filled in with flowered spandrils and
cornices, carved with the greatest delicacy and endless variety. The
church which crowns the building is supported by a circle of enormous
columns in the crypt beneath, called the Souterrain des Gros Piliers: it
has been entirely restored, and the carvings are the work of the
prisoners who were confined here. From one of the doors we went out to
the platform or terrace called Beauregard, from the beauty of its
prospect, or sometimes Sault Gautier, from a prisoner of that name, who
three times threw himself off the platform to commit suicide. The view
from hence is most extensive, the whole circuit of the bay extending to
the west as far as Cancale. In 1203 St. Michel became a royal demesne,
and the buildings were entirely reconstructed by the Abbot Jourdan,
assisted by Philip Augustus; and the works were continued by his
successors to 1260. Beneath and adjacent to the Mount, is the little
island of La Tombeleine or tombeau d'-Helene, so called from a young
lady of that name, who unable to accompany her lover knight when he left
for England with the Conqueror, as soon as the vessel which carried him
away disappeared from her sight, laid down on the shore and died. Every
year, on the anniversary of her death, the fishermen will tell you they
see a dove seated upon the Tombeleine rock, and remain there till
morning's dawn. The guide pointed out to us the window of St. Michel,
from which Barbes tried to escape by means of a cord made of his sheets
cut into strips and tied together; but the line was too short, and he
fell upon the rock and was taken up much hurt. The provisions for the
fortress are brought in up an inclined plane, and raised by means of a
tread-wheel, formerly worked by the prisoners. We were conducted to the
spot where stood, with bars only three inches apart, the iron cage in
which so many celebrities were immured. Dubourg, the Dutch journalist,
who wrote against Louis XIV., died within its bars, devoured, it is
said, by the rats. In 1777, the Comte d'Artois (afterwards Charles X.)
desired it should be destroyed, but his wishes were disregarded. His
cousin,