The subterranean church of La Couture is very remarkable, and is, no doubt, of Roman construction; the capitals of the pillars are extremely curious, and its height and dryness are peculiar.

The famous warrior, Helie de la Fleche, so often named in the wars of the eleventh century, was here buried; and here, it is said, was deposited the body of the blessed St.Bertrand.It is a very grand and interesting church in all its parts, and preserves some curious memorials of Roman and early Norman architecture.
The abbey church of Du Pre is equally curious, and its circular arches, strange capitals, niches and ornaments, prove its extraordinary antiquity.
There are a great many houses still existing in the oldest part of Le Mans which retain part of their original sculpture, and are of great antiquity, though it is not likely that they reach so far back as the time of Berangere, or La Reine Blanche, as she is traditionally called--a designation always given to the widowed queens of France.
The house in the Grande Rue--one of the most dilapidated streets in the town--said to have formed part of her palace, is now divided into two poulterers' shops; and when we visited it, the chamber called that of the widow of Coeur de Lion, was occupied by seven women, not employed in weaving tapestry or stringing pearls, but in plucking fowls.

The chimney-piece is curious, adorned with two fine medallions of male heads, in high relief, very boldly executed.

The outside of the house has some curious carving of eagles with expanded wings, strange monkey-shaped figures, lions _couchant_, crosslets and scrolls; but the facade is so much destroyed, that it is difficult to connect any of these ornaments.

The crosslets were the arms of Jerusalem, of which the counts of Anjou called themselves kings; but to what period all these sculptures belong it is difficult to say.
The Grande Rue is full of these remains; in the Rue des Chanoines, some circular-arched windows, ornamented with roses, stars, and _toothed_ carving, indicate that here once stood the church founded by St.Aldric, in the ninth century; and some pieces of wall and brick still prove its original Roman construction.
In the Place St.Michel, a stone house of ancient date is shown as having been inhabited by Scarron; and in almost every street of the old town, some curious bits, worthy of an artist's attention, may be found; but the search after them is somewhat fatiguing, and involves a visit to not the most agreeable part of the pretty city: all of which is interesting, whether new or old.
Of the once famous Chateau of Le Mans, erected long before the time of William the Conqueror, who destroyed it in part, nothing now remains but the Pans de Gorron, and a few _tourelles_.