Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/96



the "Annales Archéologiques" for December last, M. Didron has suggested this publication as a model for other societies of a similar kind. This is high praise from a stranger so well qualified to judge of the merits of the work, and we are inclined to agree with him; we might find fault with some of the details, but on the whole it is the best work of the kind which has hitherto appeared either in this country or abroad, not even excepting the valuable works of M. de Canmont and others on the vicinity of Caen. Nevertheless, the execution of the plan is not so perfect as we could wish; it is not equally carried out in all parts, but the idea was excellent.

We can conceive few schemes more delightful than to form one of a party of friends, each well qualified in his respective department, agreeing together to explore and examine carefully the antiquities of any given neighbourhood, and to note down their peculiar features, with a view to having these notes afterwards collected and digested for publication, as a guide to others over the same track. One member undertakes to notice the architecture, with all its characteristic mouldings and details, to make out the history from the building itself, to trace out the Norman foundations, with perhaps a doorway and here and there a stringcourse or a flat buttress remaining