[79] Of Mr. W. B. Richmond's work, undertaken since the above was written, it is as yet impossible to form an opinion.
[80] Chronicles of the Ancient British Church. James Yeowell.
[81] Some of the bas-reliefs by Jean Goujon are now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre: a Deposition from the Cross and the four Evangelists, the latter having been discovered in 1850, embedded in the wall of the staircase of No. 4, Rue S. Hyacinthe-S.-Honoré.
[82] Dibden.
[83] The fine recumbent statues of Louis de Poncher, conseilleur et receveur-trésorier du roi François Ier, and his wife Roberte Legende, now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, were formerly in S. Germain.
[84] "Après avoir," says Grégoire of Tours, "été longtemps malade à Paris, le roi Childebert y mourut et fut enseveli dans la basilique de Saint-Vincent qu'il avait lui-même construite." The bones of Childebert and of his queen, Ultrogothe, were deposited (in 1656) in the centre of the choir. The religious placed them in a new marble tomb, and surmounted it with the antique one which had been repaired in the 11th century, when the church was restored by abbot Morard and his successors. Ultrogothe was a French S. Elizabeth: "Elle était la mère des orphelins, la consolatrice des pupilles, la bienfaitrice des pauvres et des serviteurs de Dieu, le secours des moines fidèles."
Another lady much vaunted by Grégoire de Tours was Ingoberge, the widow of Chérebert. She called in the aid of Grégoire in her last moments, and made many donations to churches; and what was better, "elle donna la liberté à beaucoup de personnes." She was a woman "d'une grande sagesse, vouée à la vie religieuse, assidue aux veilles, aux prières, aux aumônes."
[85] In 1704, a tomb was found which Montfaucon, a Benedictine of the congregation of S. Maur, considered to be that of Chérebert, but the General of the order would not consent to its being opened. However, in 1799, less reverent hands searched the spot, found the coffin, and opened it, only to discover a skeleton vested in a tunic and mantle, its feet shod in leathern shoes, and by its side the fragments of what may have been a crozier, thus proving the remains to have been those of an abbot rather than of a sovereign, but whether of the 6th or the 9th century it was impossible to decide.
[86] "Les tombeaux les plus considérables furent ceux du roy Childéric II., de Bilihilde, son épouse, et du jeune Dagobert, leur fils, qui furent tuez par Baudillon, dans le forêt de Liori. On trouva ces tombeaux dans le chœur." In cleaning the coffin "Childre rex" was found engraved by the side of the head.
[87] "L'on a placé à la porte du réfectoire une statue de pierre qui représente Childebert, laquelle a été faite apparemment sur le modèle d'une autre plus ancienne. Elle est haute de cinq pieds et demi. Childebert a une couronne ornée de trèfles et une sceptre en la main dont l'estrémité d'en haut est cassée. Il a une robe qui descend jusqu'à la cheville du pied; sa ceinture est ornée, d'espace en espace, de petites roses façon d'orfévrerie; son manteau, qui ne le couvre que par derrière, est attaché au devant par un cordon qu'il tient de la main gauche; ses souliers, pointus par le bout, sont échancrés en ovale par le dessus, depuis la moitié du pied jusqu'à la ligature."