CORNELL. U>flVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library NA5541.B94C3 The cathedrals of northern France, 3 1924 015 394 574 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924015394574 THE CATHEDRAL SERIES. (All very fully Illustrated.') The Cathedrals of England and Wales. By T. Francis Bumpus. With many plates and minor decorations, with specially designed heads and tailpieces to each chapter. 3 vols, 6s. net each. The Cathedrals of Northern Germany and the Rhine. By T. Francis Bumpus. With many plates. 6s.net. The Cathedrals of Northern Spain. By Charles Rudv. Many illustrations, 6s. net. The Cathedrals and Churches of Northern Italy. By T. Francis Bumpus. With 80 plates, many of them in colour, and a coloured frontispiece by F. L. Griggs, 9 by 6i. i6s. net. London Churches Ancient and Modern. By T. Francis Bumpus. 2 vols. 6s. net each. The Abbeys of Great Britain. By H. Claiborne Dixon. 6s net. The English Castles. By Edmund B. d'Auvergne. 6s. net. A History of English Cathedral Music. By John S. Bumpus. 2 vols. 6s. net each. The Cathedrals of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. By T. Francis Bumpus. 9 by 6i. 40 illustrations in colour and tone. i6s. net. Old English Towns. By William Andrews. 6s. net. The Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium. By T. Francis Bumpus. 6s. net. THE ' CATHEDRALS » OF NORTHERN • FRANCE SI'. L'KHAIX, TROYES, THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE By T. FRANCIS BUMPUS AUTHOR OF " THE CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES," ETC., ETC. " Omnis gloria ejus filiae Regis ab intus in fimbriis aureis: circumamicta varietatJbus. Adducentur Regi virgin'es post earn: proxime ejus afFerentur tibi," — Ps. xliv. NEW YORK: JAMES POTT & COMPANY LONDON: T. WERNER LAURIE, CLIFFORD'S INN Copyrighted, igip, By James Pott & Co. {For text only) NA SS4.I I?^C THE SCIENTIFIC PRESS ttOBCRt DRUHMONO AND COMPANV BROOKLYN. N. Y. FOREWORD The Cathedrals described in this volume are those included above two lines drawn across the map of France, from the mouth of the Loire to the AUier, and thence to the Ardennes. For reasons which need not be given here, the descriptions of the Breton Cathedrals of Rennes, Quimper, Saint Biieuc and Vannes, are deferred for the present. To have arranged all these great churches in chro- nological order would have been to impair the usefulness of the book as a touring companion. It has thereforie been thought advisable to group them in their respective Archiepiscopal Provinces. Thus: Amiens, Beauvais, Chilons and Soissons follow Rheims; Bayeux, Cou- tances, Evreux and Seez are grouped mider Rouen ; Blois, Chartres, Orleans and Versailles under Paris; and so on. It must be remarked that the volume only contains those churches which are actually the seats of bishops in the present day, so that many noble cathedrals, sup- pressed at the Revolution, such as Auxerre, Laon, Lisieux, Noyon, Senlis and Saint Omer, are omitted. After these pages had gone to the press the author became haimted with the idea that something might be done to pierce the veil of mystery hanging over the original architect of Rheims Cathedral. Acting upon it, he wrote to M. Demaison, the Muni- cipal Archivist of that city, who, with characteristic French courtesy, has placed him in possession of the following facts: The Cathedral of Rheims was begun on the 6th of May— the Festival of St. John the Evangelist ante vi FOREWORD Portam Latinam— 1211. Jean d'Orbais furnished the plans for the whole building, carrying out the choir and probably the greater part of the transept. His successor was Jean le Loup, who directed the works for sixteen years. He undertook part of the nave, and also the great western front, which was continued by Gauchier de Reims from 1250 to about 1260. Following him was Bernard de Soissons, who constructed the nave from the fifth bay to the ninth bay inclusive, and the great circular west window. It is known that Bernard continued to carry on the work till i287,_ and that it was, without doubt, very soon after this date, that Robert de Coucy became Master of Notre Dame. Robert de Coucy died in 1311, and therefore he could not, as had at one time been believed, have been the original architect of the cathedral or of its porches. The following parts are attributed to him. The four first western bays of the nave, which, although they harmonize with the other bays, yet show distinct differ- ences in style and in the method of construction. The differences of style may be traced in the profiles of the mouldings and in the carving of the capitals. It is very probable that he was the auSior of the side portions and upper parts of the west front, of which he may have modified the design; also of the towers. At the time of his death the great gallery of the front had not yet received its statues. So many legendary statements are afloat about the name of the original architect of Rheims Cathedral and his suct cessors, also concerning the dates of their work, that it is a matter of contentment to have had them set at rest by so. competent and reliable an authority as M. Demaison. In conclusion the author takes the opportunity of expressing his acknowledgments to Mr. Rudolph Dircks and his assistants, for the kindness and courtesy with which they have always aided his researches in the Library of tiie Royal Institute of British Architects. CONTENTS PAGE Introductory Sketch i Rheims 28 Soissons 70 Amiens 77 Beauvais • 107 Ch&lons-siir-Marne 127 Cambkai 133 Arras 140 Paris 146 Meaux 178 Chartres 189 Orleans 225 Versailles and Blois 235 Rouen 240 Evreux 264 Bayeux 278 Coutances 284 Seez 290 TOTJES 299 Le Mans 310 Angers and Laval 320 Nantes 329 Sens 336 Troyes 358 Nevers 373 Moulins-sur-Allier 378 Appendix 385 The Vestments of St. Thomas of Canterbury at Sens 385 The " Good Samaritan Window " at Sens 386 Abrief list of some of the best specimensof Northern French Archi- ture and Stained Glass (eleventh to sixteenth centuries) 386 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Troves, St Uebain Frontispiece SoissoNS Cathedral The Apse .... Facing Page 8 Troves " From the North-East . tt 8 Rheims tc The West Front . " 32 Rheims tt The Nave, looking East It 32 SOISSONS tt The Nave, looking West tt 72 SOISSONS CI The Nave, looking East . tt 72 Amiens (( The West Front . It 86 Amiens <( The Choir during High Mass (from a drawing by Wild) It 86 AlOENS << The South Aisle of the Choir (from Chapuy's Moyen Age Monumental) , tt 104 Chalons-stir- Marne (( The North Tranwpt . tt 104 Beauvais (( From an etching by John Coney ...... tt 120 Beauvais (( The Choir (from a drawing by Wild) ..... It 120 Arras (( The Nave, looking East It 140 Cambrai tc Fenelon's Monument . tt 140 SOISSONS It The South Transept (Transi- tional Work of the Twelfth Century) .... u 148 Notre Dame Chalons-sur-Marne (Transi-, tional Work of the Twelfth Century, from a drawing by Nesfield) .... tt 148 N6tre Dame tt Paris. The West Front . II 156 N6tre Dame It The Choir, looking West . It 156 Meaux tt The South Transept . " 180 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chaetres Cathedral, The Nave, looking East . Facing Page i8o Chartres From the N. W. (from Wild's Architectural Grandeur) {( 202 Ckartres The South Aisle of the Choir (from Wild's Architectural Grandeur) .... tt 202 Orleans ({ The Nave, looking East It 232 Blois " From the West . . " 23a RotJEN ti The Portail des Libraires . (( 24:» Rouen " The Lady Chapel (from a drawing by Nesfield). '* 244 RODEN it The South Aisle of the Nave t f 258 EVREUX it From the South-East tl 258 EVEEUX tl The Nave, looking East tt 274 Seez " The Nave, looking East tt 274 BAYEtrX 1 1 From a drawing by Nesfield tt 282 Bayeux " From Pugin's Architecture of Normandy .... tt 282 COUTANCES ti From the East tt 288 CotTTANCES " North Aisle of the Choir tl 288 St Pol de Leon '* The Kreisker . ... It 294 Church at Berniers From a drawing by Nesfield tl 294 Le Mans Cathedral , The Choir .... ^ti 302 Tours South Aisle of the Choir It 302 Angers The Nave, looking East tt 326 Nantes The Nave, looking East It 326 Sens The West Front . Cf 340 Sens The Nave, looking East (( 340 Teoyes The West Front . (( 3fc Teoyes The Nave, looking East tt 36a Troyes Rose Window of North Tran- sept It 368 MOULINS-SDR- Allier It The Nave, looking East tl 368 THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE INTRODUCTORY SKETCH My ecclesiological friends, and others to whom I dedi- cate these pages, will perhaps follow, with an interest proportioned to the subject which they are intended to illustrate, the details of visits, of study and investigation extending over a series of years, to those ecclesiastical " Glories of France," her cathedrals. It need hardly be said that the churches of France furnish constant interest and occupation to the traveller, and contribute in large measure to the stock of recollec- tions which he carries home. Whether devotional feeling, love of art, or the study of history and antiquities be the ruling passion of his mind, he will find in these churches and their contents a world of matter, not to be exhausted in the term of an ordinary life. The record of the evolution of mediaeval church building from the earliest form to the most complex is a story of constructional change, of progress in mechanical methods, of adopting fresh materials and new ideas to old systems. Rich and elaborate as were the ceremonies of the church in later times, the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages contain few ritualistic features which were not to be foimd, in idea at least, in the early Christian churches. 2 NORTHERN FRANCE Primarily the needs of worship were simple enough: The altar, at which the priest celebrated the communion facing the congregation; the seats of the bishop and clergy; the choir or place for inferior clergy, singers, and attendants; reading desks for the Epistle and Gospel, and a pulpit, comprised a programme that even m the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had few additions. Such changes as were made were due to an elaboration of ritual, not to the introduction of new forms of worship- or the addition of new dogmas to Christian faith. The choirs were enlarged to give more room to those who had place within them. Chapels were built between the buttresses of the aisle walls and around the apse, and by the fourteenth century had become a marked feature of the church. Aisles or ambulatories were carried around the choir for processions and great fimctions. The Lady Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin, was, as a rule, placed at the extreme east of the building, and in English churches was often of great size and beauty. It is more characteristic of English churches than French, because in France very many of the cathedrals, as Amiens, Bayeux, Chartres, Coutances, Evreux, Laon, Noyon, Paris, Rheims, Seez, and Soissons, were dedicated to St Mary. Christian architecture reached its fullest development in the North of Europe, where civilization might be said to be coeval with the growth of Christianity, where the thought of the people and their work were less affected by the paganism of Greece and Rome, and where art could take a fresher, more original, more Christian form than where it v/as constantly in contrast with heathen productions. It was under such circumstances that the great Gothic cathedrals of northern Europe were built, and it is interesting to notice that though in a certain sense they were the product of the barbaric North, though the ancestors of their immediate builders were plunged into the deepest depths of ignorance and heathendom, it was here that Hie greatest of all Christian edifices were INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 3 built. From its environment the Gothic style fully war- rants the name of Christian. The eleventh century is the beginning of the greatest revival in architecture the world has seen, a revival it is well to note in the present connection, due to the in- fluence of Christianity. The fiction, long popular in historical and philosophical circles, that the people of Europe were widely and generally alarmed at the sup- posed approaching end of the world in the year 1000 is no longer admissible. It is true enough that almost immediately after this date great activity is to be noted in architecture all over Europe, but the reason for this activity is not to be found in any feeling of relief at having escaped the terrors of the Last Judgment. The pre- ceding centuries had been centuries of Christian growth; the strength of the church and the people had been exhausted in diffusing a knowledge of the new faith, and in recovering from the disorders attendant upon the break-up of the Roman empire. At the beginning of the eleventh century not only had Christianity become deeply rooted in Western Europe, but society was more settled, government more stable, arts more developed, education, perhaps not more universal, but more widely distributed. It was the political and social condition of Europe rather than any feeling concerned with the Doom that brought about the architectural revival of this time. Towards this the monastic-XiBlers very JargeIy.£ontrib- uted. ~Tr1s"wHr5iipi impossible to exaggerate the value oTThe services the religious orders rendered humanity in ' the past. Their services to architecture are the same as they, ,were to ^SheFf orms'¥r^curfure7 and -flre-^rchitec- tural history of the eleventh century would have been very different from what it was had it not been for the extra- ordinary development of the building art among them. It is safe to say that Gothic architecture would never have been so thoroughly developed, would never have 4 NORTHERN FRANCE penetrated from France where it originated, to England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and even to Scandi- navia, and have retained such general similarity of form and style, had it not been for the monks, who, with their systems of communication and visitations, and energy as architects and builders, devised a persistent form of art that, to but a limited extent, shows the influence of the very varied environments in which it flourished. All the monastic orders had characteristic buildings, but it is to the Cistercians the world is chiefly indebted for the dis- tribution of Gothic architecture. They were the greatest monastic builders, and were one of the prime causes in the revival of the eleventh century. The buildings of the monks were not churches alone, but vast establishments that provided food and shelter for large numbers of people, and included within their walls farms, factories, workshops, and gave labour and sustenance to the inmates without the help of the outer world. Most of these great groups of buildings have disappeared, in England at the Reformation, and in France in the cataclysm of the great Revolution, and such as remain exist in a fragmentary state, but many of the churches still testify to the greatness of the establishments and the genius of the builders. This was especially the case in England, where many of the more important cathedrals were under the special care of some one of the orders. The secular clergy looked with a jealous eye upon the encroachments of the monks on popular favour, as illustrated in the magnificent structures they erected. The great French bishops especially endeavoured to surpass them, and the cathedrals which quickly sprang up in all the chief cities of France were expressions of the growing power of the secular clergy. The age was in every respect an architectural one; popular enthusiasm centred in the art. No effort was too much, no work too stupendous, no toil too arduous INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 5 if it was required to complete the structure that was to be the crowning glory of the city, and an enduring monument to the piety of the state and its love for God. This feeling was eagerly encouraged by the French bishops as an offset to the power of the orders. Chartres, Laon, St Denis, were churches in which the record of popular interest and fervour have been preserved to our day. In Italy there was a similar movement in the civil pride of the cities in their cathedrals. The history of architecture in the Middle Ages is a wonderful illustration of the inspiring influence of religion in architecture. It is not the adaptability of the buUding to the service of the church that is the most conspicuous feature in the mediaeval cathedral, nor even the splendour of the ritual it suggests, but the expression of religious thought, of Christian faith and hope, of trust in God, and love for Christ. Architecture was more than simple building; it was an intellectual expression. All forms of art were pressed into its service — ^painting, sculpture, mosaic, inlay, work in iron, bronze, lead, and other metals, gold, silver and precious stones. The product of the gold-beater, the jeweller, the carver in wood, all had architectural form that helped to make the age the most architectural in the annals of art. These subsidiary arts served both to express the Christian ideas which imderlay the whole edifice. It was fortunate that architecture thus widened its scope and included all forms of art within its field. The buildings were not simple arrangements of columns, vaults, walls, windows, and other architectural features. They were loaded with sculpture in the capitals, string- courses, bosses, windows and door-jambs. Wherever a stone could be carved it was cut and made a portion of a living unity. While it cannot be said that each individual piece of sculpture was an expression of the carver's religious faith, the work, as a whole, was permeated by a thorough Christian feeling and a genuine piety that has 6 NORTHERN FRANCE seldom been so beautifully illustrated. In no part of the cathedral was sculpture employed so freely as in the porches of the doors, and especially in the western facades. There is nothing like the first impression of a lovely landscape on a noble building, and lucky is the traveller who gets that first impression from the road rather liian from the sordid, and in some cases squalid, surroundings of rail approach. Take Chartres, for instance, as ap- proached from Maintenon on a fine summer's evening. The enchantment of distance is on the cathedral, the enchantment of the rich corn-land of La Beauce, where it looks far and wide upon its eminence, the enchantment, too, of the evening, and the memory of the sim-lit valley left behind. But the emotion of that first vision remains an acute pleasure, even through all the nearer impressions; through the after-thought, the recognition, and the intel- lectual enjoyment that a close acquaintance gives. Of many of the French cathedral towns have I had this vivid vision in walking-tour days — of Beauvais, a mighty pearl-gray mass etherealised in sim and distance; of Laon, dramatically poised on its grey rock amongst the woods and meadows; of sepia-coloured Aiixerre, first seen bathed in the crimson after-glow, crowning the pUed- up house tops as they rise from the banks of the Yonne, at the end of a sixteen-mUe walk from Pontigny; of Rheims, Troyes and Orleans, standing out golden and white in the vast plains of Champagne and La Sologne; thes^ and too many another to name, and with each and aU the vision is new and surprising and different in kind, though with each it has the same character in common, that transformation of the grey stones so serious and eloquent in their nature, into a gem-like adornment of the blue distance. There is no feature in which so much varied ingenuity has been displayed by the mediaeval architects— and to the French (of the He de France especially) the palm must be awarded in this matter — as the apse. None others were so capricious or so bold, and I might devote INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 7 a whole chapter in explanation of the various develop- ments of plan which the necessities of the apse and its chevets gave rise to. The Italians and Germans never attempted to compete with them, for though they constantly made use of the apse, it was in an awkward way, and our own ancestors were led to give it up in favour of the square end, which, though it may be as noble in effect, is neither so ingenious nor so difficult in its construction. The whole character of the design of Westminster Abbey is English, not French; and the planning of the apse is unlike that of any French apse, and is distinctly original. I am of opinion that it is the work of an architect who, seeing the results achieved by his French compeers, desired to attain the same ends without exactly concerning himself as to the means they employed; and hence, his work is not only in its detail, but equally in its ground-plan, distinctly an English work. The usual difficulty in planning an apse is to get the sides nearly equal, the bays of the aisle regular, and the chapels beyond equal also, and to do all this without waste of space or unnecessary amounts of walling. It may also be said that no two French chevets are alike, so many were the efforts to produce a perfect residt. In Beauvais, Bourges, N6tre Dame at Paris, Rouen Cathedral and Le Mans Cathedral, we find the most perfect arrange- ments — surpassed, it may be, in some respects, in that of Toledo, Other very beautiful French apses are those of the cathedrals at Rheims, Chartres, Bayeux, Coutances, Tours, and Troyes. At Clermont-Ferrand, Limoges, and Narbonne, in the central and southern parts of France, the architect of Amiens undoubtedly gave all his lines and plans to the designers of those noble cathedrals, as im- doubtedly he did to Cologne, and, not improbably to Leon in Spain; for of all French apses, that of Amiens is the most perfect. The surrounding chapels are all equal, and there is no awkwardness in the jimction of the flying 8 NORTHERN FRANCE buttresses oi the apse with the walls and buttresses of the side aisles. With*ya few notable exceptions we find the French cathedrals following one main type, viz., the Latin cross and ^m apsidal sanctuary, with an aisle round it and chapelt radiating therefrom. The cathedrals of Bourges and Paris were designed with double aisles to both nave and choir, and in these instances the double aisle is carried completely round the apse. At Meaux, St Flour and Troyes there are double aisles to the nave and also to the choir as far as the commencement of the radiating chapels; and the same arrangement is exhibited in the choir at Amiens, Beauvais, Bordeaux, and Rheims. Chartres, Coutances, and Le Mans cathedrals have the double aisle carried completely roimd their choirs with- out interference from the chapels, while at Clermont- Ferrand and Orleans we find double aisles to the nave only. Another remarkable feature of the majority of the great French churches is the continuous series of lateral chapels built between the buttresses at a subsequent period, not only of tiie nave, but of the choir also. Hence we have a grandly developed plan, such as we see at Amiens, Bourges, Coutances, Limoges, Paris, Rouen, and Tours; or without nave chapels as at Rheims, Soissons, Chartres, and Chalons-sur-Marne cathedrals, and St Sernin, Toulouse, the latter being further developed by the addition of an aisle round three sides of each of the transepts. .At St Nazaire, Carcassonne, we have an instance of a Ime of eastern chapels, such as may be seen in certain churches iii Italy — chiefly in those built by the Friars Preachers at Florence, Perugia, Siena, and Viterbo. At Carcassonne there are three on either side of the choir, and these were added to the transepts in the fourteenth century; they are separated from one another by open traceried divisions, and produce a most engaging en- semble. SOlySONS CATHEDRAL. Tho Ansr. TROYES CATHEDRAL, FROM THE N.E. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 9 In the northeast and eastern parts of the country — Champagne, Burgundy, and the Lyonnais — we meet with frequent examples of the aisleless apse, as for in- stance at Braisne, Ch41ons-sur-Marne (St Loup), Dijon (the Cathedral and N6tre Dame), Autun Cathedral, Lyon and Vienne Cathedrals. Bordering as they do .upon German territory these provinces no doubt caught something of the Teutonic spirit in regard to their archi- tecture, the aisleless apse being, as I have pointed out in former works, a characteristic feature in German churches through all the epochs of Gothic. Laon has the distinction of being the largest square-ended church in France — a termination found also at Dol and St Julian, Tours, generally supposed to be exclusively English, but of which numberless examples, not only in France, but in Germany and Italy, might be cited. Bourges Cathedral is the most important transeptless church in France, and with it may be mentioned the cathedrals of Vienne, Nevers, Moulins, and Blois, also the churches of Clam&y and Varzy (on the line of railway from Nevers to Avallon) St Leu d'Esserent, and Mantes, In one great French church only — that at St Quentin — do we find the eastern transept, though an example of it existed in the vast abbey church of Cluny, destroyed early in the last century. Further south we observe that the aisles in St Trophime at Aries are so reduced in width that they form mere passages. Another feature of considerable importance and much effect is the adoption of a lantern at the crossing. At Coutances, Evreux, Le Puy, and Avignon it is octagonal; at Rouen, Caen, Lisieux, and Dijon it is square; and at Blois it is circular. Internal effect is, perhaps, most sought, though the lofty tower of Coutances is very pro- nounced externally. The central tower, it is well known, does not in general occur in churches of the first class except in Normandy. The prominent features presented by the outline at a distance are the pair of western towers, and perhaps a lo NORTHERN FRANCE small leaden fl^che at the intersection, i But many of the architects, it is plain, were not quite satisfied with this meagre substitute for a central tower; they designed an equivalent which, though inferior to the western tower in height, might exceed them in aggregate mass, number, and extent. At Chartres and Rheims and Clermont- Ferrand we see something of the intention, though it is not fully carried out. Take the outline at a distance, and we have only the western steeples, and a line of roof vmbroken by anything above it. But within this outline are masses which, if raised a little higher, would give amazing richness and variety to the edifice, and even as it is they are very striking in the nearer views. At Chartres each transept is flanked with a square tower, as at Rouen, besides which are additional towers of smaller dimensions attached to the choir aisles at the bend of the apse. None of these, however, are carried in height beyond the clere- storey wall. At Laon, where there is a central tower, the facades of the transepts are flanked by towers some of which only have reached their destined height, but this is sufficient to denote how grand an effect might have been produced by such an assemblage of steeples. It must not be supposed that the central tower is quite unknown in France; on the contrary we meet witii it everywhere in churches, whether monastic or parochial. What, for instance, can be grander than the central tower of the abbey at Fecamp, of St Ouen and St Maclou at Rouen; of Paray-Le-Monial, Issoire, and St Semin at Toulouse? Who, conversant with the architecture of the Oise valley, can forget the tower of the village church of ' Certain French churches of the first class have but one tower to their fajades; such are the southwestern ones of Sens and Sois- sons, and the northwestern ones of Meaux and Troyes. In the northern part of France, neighbouring to Belgium the single tower at the west end of the nave is not uncommon. We meet with it at St Omer, Aire-sur-la-Lys, Douai, and St Quentin. The cathe- dral at Cambrai, destroyed early in the last century, had a tower in this position. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH ii Champagne ? Then there is that almost unrivalled series of central towers and spires so liberally dispersed in the vicinity of Caen — BretteviUe, Norrey, and Langrune. Think, too, of St Benoit-sur-Loire, Chemill^, in the Department of Maine-et-Loire; of Vaillys in Aisne, and Mogneville in Oise; of the saddleback steeples at Dor- mans, between Rheims and Epernay, at Auvers, in Seine- et-Oise, and at Voulton in Seine-et-Marne; of the square tower and short, similarly planned spire at Agnetz, in Oise. Sometimes we encounter towers forming a continuation of the transepts as at Lyon; or placed in the angles be- tween the choir and transepts as at ChS.lons-sur-Marne. cathedral. The church of N6tre Dame in the same city has two pairs of steeples, one flanking the western fajade, the other occupying the same position as those at the cathedral. While on the subject of towers and spires, we must not forget the fine group of four at Bordeaux Cathedral, where the pair flanking the northern transept has only received its spires; these, with the choir, which much exceeds the nave in height, group pleasingly with the beautiful one of Ste Eulalie at a little distance to the southeast. In various parts of Brittany we meet some of the most beautiful spires extant, as for example at Tr^guier, St Pol de L6on, Ploare, Cornac, and Redon. There is a certain similarity in the disposition of the west front in all the great French churches of the thirteenth century. The cathedrals of Amiens, Paris, and Rheims are distinguished from our English buildings by nearly the same particulars, though they differ much from each other. They assume in this part more of a pyramidal form; the space between the western towers is propor- tionally smaller than with us. The doorways are much larger, a rose window is placed over the central opening, and above this is one or more ranges of niches with statues nearly hiding the triangular gable end of the nave. 12 NORTHERN FRANCE Sometimes one, or even two ranges of niches occur below the rose window. Occasionally the window is between two ranges of niches, and in some instances, as at Rheims, where a rose fills the typanum of the central portal in lieu of sculpture, there are two such windows. These windows and niches form the elements of the composition, but the arrangement varies in almost every edifice. It should not be forgotten that there are several cathe- drals in France which until comparatively recent times were only abbatial or parochial churches. Such are Arras, Blois, Cambrai, Chamb^ry, Dijon, Laval, and Moulins. At Arras and Cambrai the mediaeval cathe- drals were destroyed at the epoch of the Great Revolution, but on the restoration of religious order at the Concordat of 1801 the bishops were able to find churches of suitable dignity to which they transferred their chairs. At Arras, the quondam abbatial church of St Vaast now serves as the cathedral, while at Cambrai the archiepiscopal throne is in that of St Sepulcre, At Blois, on the elevation of the town to episcopal rank in 1693, the church of St Solenne was chosen for the cathedral in preference to that of St Nicolas, a cruciform structure of quite minster-like pro- portions and one of the most exquisite specimens of the First Pbinted style in Touraine. The diocese of Cham- bery was founded in 1779, by a bull of Pius VI., and at the Concordat was re-established by Pius VII., under the title of Chamb^ry and Geneva, and placed in the province of Lyon. Separated from France in 1815, the see was raised to an archbishopric by the same pontiff two years later, with Tarentaise, Maurienne, Annecy and Aosta as suffragans. By a bull dated Dec. i, 1862, Pius IX. detached the bishopric of Aosta, which was then incor- porated with the province of Turin. The cathedral at Chamb&y is a large, transeptless structure in Late Pointed, of no particular interest, and spoilt internally by vulgar sham-Gothic colouring. At Dijon, the cathe- dral having disappeared at the Revolution, the abbey INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 13 church of St Benigne became the mother church of the diocese under Napoleon I. The see of Laval was only created in 1855, the bishop's throne being placed in one of the parish churches, whose aisleless nave is a fine example of Angevine First Pointed, resembling those of Angers Cathedral and N6tre Dame de la Coftture at Le Mans. At Moulins, on the final establishment of the see imder Louis XVIlI., the bishop had the Flamboyant chapel of the Bourbon Dukes assigned to him as his cathedral. It consisted merely of a choir and aisles, bnt during the last century a nave and western steeples were added to it in the early French Gothic style from Viollet- le-Duc's designs. There are several cathedrals in the Revived Classical style of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, among which may be named Arras, Belley, Cambrai, La Ro- chelle, Montauban, Nancy, Nice, Rennes, and Versailles. The last century has witnessed the completion of several cathedrals that had been left imfinished in the Middle Ages. One of the most important of these works is the addition of transepts and apsidal choir to the Late Gothic cathedral at Nantes. At Clermont-Ferrand and Limoges the nave has been extended westwards; Moulins Cathe- dpal, originally only a Flamboyant choir, has had an Early Pointed nave with western towers and spires added to it, and the towers of Quimper Cathedral have received their spires. Exigencies of space forbid a further dissection of the French cathedrals, albeit the process is a very tempting one. Suffice it to say that in all the great churches of this wonderful country there is something to engage the student of ecclesiology in every branch of that ddightfully absorbing pursuit — above all perhaps in their ^langj the skill in the disposition of which is probably tmequalled. Those interested in provincial localisms will note the differences existing between the architectural schools of French Flanders and Picardy, between those of the He 14 NORTHERN FRANCE de France and the Orleannais; between those of Nor- mandy and Brittany; of Champagne and Burgundy, ^ The sculptor will stand spellbound before the saint- guarded portals of Amiens, Bourges, Chartres, Paris and Rheims. The artist in stained glass will have his tastes gratified, not to say glutted, at Angers, Auxerre, Beauvais, Bourges. Chartres, Le Mans, Rheims, Rouen, Sens, Tours, and Troyes, while the liturgiologist, the musician, and the ritualist (using the last word in its proper sense) will mark the decorum and grandeur with which the Divine offices are performed in these cathedrals, surely among the noblest ever raised by man for the worship of the Almighty. They are open at all times, spreading out their benignant arms of invitation, and in the spirit of the Saviour bidding all who are weary and heavy-laden to come to them and seek rest. No surly official stands at the entrance to scowl away the poor Christian that does not wear the wedding garment of respectability. The interior is not cut up into pews, protected by doors that are slow to open, and often guarded by countenances that are slow to expand into a look of invitation. The deep stillness, felt like a palpable presence, falls with a hushing power upon worldly emotions, and permits whispers, imheard in the roar of common life, to become audible. The few persons who are present are either kneeling in silence or moving about with noiseless steps. In the windless air, the very flames of the tapers do not tremble, but burn like painted flames upon painted candles. If there be a touch * It is most fascinating to seek out and ascertain the names of the architects of cathedrals and churches, because it opens up other sources of enquiry of the highest interest, such as the schools from which were derived all the variety of sentiments and feelings which prevailed in the mediseval monuments throughout the continent. On going into cathedrals and churches in diSerent parts of Europe, It is evident that different types and characters and thought were prevalent in those edifices, distinguishing the one from the other. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 15 of worldly thrift in a picture or other object of more than ordinary value covered by a curtain, which will not be withdrawn except on payment of a fee; if the eye is offended by a piece of furniture or decoration incon- sonant with the style and majesty of the fabric — -who will not consent, in the spirit of candour which is the spirit of wisdom, to overlook these discordant appendages, and say, "What is the chaff to the wheat?" Who has ever entered for the first time some vast cathedral on the Continent where a solemn service has been going on, and has not been struck with some feelings of awe and devotion, though, perhaps, at the time every word of the service was unintelligible, and the music strange and unfamiliar to his ears? The very air of mystery which surrounded the service did but help to deepen those feelings; and since religion itself is a mystery, or as has been well observed, "a religion without mystery is a religion without God," the more we seek to deprive the church's services of their mysterious character, the more we deprive our Holy Mother of one of her greatest weapons wherewith to rob Satan of his power. If everything in the worship and service of God is made so plain and intelligible that the irregular and infrequent church-goer finds no difficulties, and can say, "Oh, I know aU about it, I knew all this before," then the spirit of self-satisfaction and self-sufficiency will become only more and more firmly imbedded in his heart; but, if there be that which he does not fully understand — if an air of mystery pervades the whole service, if the eye is entranced by some imposing spectacle, and the ear listens to strains that are not of this world — then the wholesome spirit of enquiry may happily be raised in the breast of such an one; and he may acknowledge to his soul's eternal profit that he has yet somewhat to learn — that he is not already perfect. Of those who have spent any considerable time in France, at least of those who have lived long enough to i6 NORTHERN FRANCE feel the dangers and duties of life, there are but few, I think, who will not be disposed to thank her churches for something more than mere gratifications of the taste; for influences, transitory, perhaps, but beneficent _ while they last; for momentary glimpses of things spiritually discerned; for a presence that calms and a power that elevates. Christian connoisseurs therefore must regard the surpassingly beautiful temples interspersed in all parts of France, as so many memorials of sanctified labour, to be esteemed and venerated, not so much for the extrinsic grandeur and overpowering magnificence, as for their holy purposes and influences. A vast church adapted for the congregational worship of seven or eight thousand souls deserves the homage of successive generations; and where such design involves all that is sublime and beautiful in architecture and scientific adornments, it must be classed with the finest efforts of the human mind, like a mass of Mozart or a symphony of Beethoven. In order to imderstand something of the condition of ' the church in France at the present day, it is necessary to carry our thoughts back to the latter part of the seven- teenth century, when Louis XIV., who, with all that is to be said against him both as a man and as a king, was at least a ruler with a strong will, who had objects, and who largely carried those objects out, was in the plenitude of his power. The orthodoxy of the Galilean Church from the Roman point of view remained unassailable during the long period of its subjection to the crown, ruled by Jesuit influences. But Louis XIV. was as tenacious of his rights over the church, as jealous of papal interference, as any of his predecessors. He was involved in a long struggle with Pope Innocent XI. respecting the rights of the crown over vacant sees, which ended in the promulgation by the king in 1682 of the celebrated four articles: (i) That the ecclesiastical power has no right over the temporalities of INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 17 the Kingdom, (ii) That a general council is superior to the Pope, (iii) That the exercise of the Papal power should be controlled by canons and local customs, (iv) That the judgment of the' Pope is not infallible except when confirmed by the church. The persecution of the Protestants, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, deprived France of a large number of the most intelligent and industrious inhabitants. The church, however, generally approved of this harsh and unwise measure, and from this time forward the close alliance between the clergy and a despotic monarchy, the repressive line adopted by both towards all freedom of scientific and religious thought, the luxurious and secular style of life prevalent in the upper ranks of the hierarchy, and their close connexion with a highly privileged and wealthy aristocracy, estranged the church from the love and respect of the people, and rendered it quite incapable of stemming the advancing tide of atheistic philosophy and political discontent. At last the crash came. Louis XVI., who in 1774 had succeeded his grand- father, Louis XV. — a man not without capacity, but who seems to have wilfuUy given himself up to vice and idle- ness, and the dominion of unworthy favourites — had to pay the penalty of the misgovemment of so many of his pre- decessors, and above all the last two. Now that there was such a spirit of thought and speculation about in the world, men could no longer bear the abuses of the old French system of government, the absolute power of the king, and the monstrous privileges of the nobles and clergy. The finances of the coimtry, too, were in utter disorder, and generally there was need of reform in everything. Louis XVI., an honest and well-intentioned man, but not strong enough for the place in which he found himself, tried hard to mend matters, though perhaps not always in the wisest way. At last, in 1789, the States General, which had not met since 1614, were called together. They were presently changed into the National Assembly, i8 NORTHERN FRANCE which made the greatest alterations in everything, abolish- ing all the old privileges, and giving all things, as it were, a new start. Inter alia it abolished tithes, confiscated the landed property of the church, and dissolved the monas- teries. In 1790 it framed the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy" which was, in fact, a reconstitution of the church. It suppressed 135 bishoprics and erected 83 in their stead, to correspond in number and extent with the new civil division of France into departments. Bishops and clergy were to be elected by the people, and confirmed by the metropolitan; the Pope was to be informed of the ap- pointment, but no application to be made for his consent. When, towards the close of 1790, eighty episcopal sees, together with parochial cures innumerable, were rendered vacant by the resignation of their non-juring occupants, it became necessary to fill them up, but as the men who were intruded into them owed their appointments to the indiscriminate suffrages of an ignorant populace, and as their consciences must have warned them that they were intruders into sees and benefices already canonicaUy occupied, it is not surprising that the majority of them proved weak when the Terror of 1793-4 came, and bent like reeds before the blast in powerless submission to the ascendant party. On St Matthias' Day, February 24, 1791, Talleyrand, of Autun, one of the few prelates who took the oath before the National Assembly, but who soon after aban- doned the religious for the secular life, consecrated the first two constitutional bishops — ExpiUy to Quimper and MaroUes to Soissons — in the Church of the Oratoire at Paris. The ceremonial, m which he was assisted by Gobel, Bishop of Lydda in partibus and presently Bishop of Paris, and Mirondet, another bishop in partibus, was that prescribed by the Roman Pontifical, but with the omission of some of the customary formalities, including the oath of obedience to the Pope. Others who were early elected to occupy the vacant sees, and who played a INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 19 more or less conspicuous part in the ecclesiastical events of 1791-94, were Lecoz of Rennes, Moise of the Jura, Sauvine of the Landes, Sequin of Besanfon, Fauchet of Calvados, Lamourette of Lyon, and particularly, Grdgoire of Blois, to whom I shall recur later on in these pages. ^ Of the non-juring bishops and clergy thus deprived of their positions and emoluments, some joined the emi- grants at Coblentz, others took refuge in England, where they were warmly received by the bishops of the Anglican Chiirch, but three of the most distinguished of these prelates — Dulau, Archbishop of Aries, and the brothers Rochefoucauld, Bishops of Beauvais and Saintes, perished in that wholesale butchery of priests in the Prison of the Carmes at Paris during the massacres of September, 1792. Instead of an emancipation, the philosophers of the Constituent Assembly made a compact with the power of the clergy, the dreaded influences of the court of Rome, and the inveterate habits of the people. They contented themselves with relaxing the chain which boimd the state to the church. Their duty was to have snapped it asunder. The throne was chained to the altar; they desired to chain the altar to the throne. It was only displacing tyranny — oppressing conscience by law instead of oppressing the law by conscience. The civil constitution of the clergy was the expression of this reciprocal false position. The clergy were deprived of their endowments in landed estates which decimated population in France. They deprived it of its benefices, its religious houses, and its tithes — the feudality of the altar. It received in lieu an endowment in salaries levied on the taxes. As the condition of this arrange- ment, which gave to the working clergy an existence, influence, and a powerful body of ministers paid by the state, the Assembly required the clergy to take ' During the reign of Terror, the heads of Gobel, Fauchet, La- mourette, Expilly, and four others, who in various ways proved obnosious to the Jacobins, fell under the axe of the guillotine. 20 NORTHERN FRANCE the oath of the constitution. This constitution com- prised articles which affected the spiritual supremacy and administrative privileges of the court of Rome. Cathol- icism became alarmed and protested; consciences were disturbed. The Revolution, until then exclusively polit- ical, became schism in the eyes of a portion of the clergy and the faithful. Amongst the bishops and priests, some took the civE oath, which was the guarantee of their exis- tence; others refused, or after having taken it retracted. This gave rise to trouble in many minds, agitation in con- sciences, division in the churches. The great majority of parishes had two ministers — the one a constitutional priest, salaried and protected by the government, the other refractory, refusing the oath, deprived of his income, driven from the church, and raising altar opposing altar in some clandestine chapel, or in the open field. But jurors and non-jurors were soon overwhelmed in the storm of political and religious anarchy which swept over France. Then in the winter of 1793 came the aboli- tion of religion, the desecration — in many instances the total destruction ^ of cathedrals, abbeys and churches, and the scattering to the wind of countless chefd'csuvres of sculpture and painting which ages had transmitted as evidences of their civilisation and the intellectual patri- mony of genius. From that time until early in 1795, when on; the downfall of Robespierre and his party, 'Among the ecclesiastical edifices razed to the ground at this period were the cathedrals of Arras, Avranches, Boulogne, Cambrai, and Dijon; the abbeys of Cluny, St Omer, and St Martin at Tours; and 1,he church of St Nicaise at Rheims. Countless churches, not reopened on the restoration of religion, exist, as e.g., St Etienne-le- Vieux, St Gilles, and St Nicolas, at Caen; St Philibert, at Dijon; St Viricent and St Frambourg, at Senlis; the churches of the Corde- liers and Jacobins at Toulouse; and several in Angers and Rouen. Although the religious establishments at Cluny, Citeaux, and Tours, etc., etc., were dissolved at the Revolution, the fabrics remained until the Napoleonic era, and in some instances until the Restora- tion of the Monarchy. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 21 popular demand for the free exercise of religion was, under certain restrictions, acceded to, all national recognition of Christianity w£is suppressed, and aU forms of Christian worship proscribed. The Roman Catholic faith was that in which the French were brought up, and they were, from habit at least, if not from conviction, attached to it. So far was its over- throw from meeting with the general approbation and concurrence of the nation, that if it was acquiesced in for a time, it was merely from a feeling of inability to avert the blow; and the persecution which it experienced only served, as all persecution does, to endear the object of it more strongly to them. Such would have been the effect even if the attempt made had only been to substitute by force some other mode of faith in its place. But when the question was to annihilate religion itself, no sane mind could possibly dream of ultimate success. The sense of dependence upon some unseen Power far above our com- prehension is a principle inherent in human nature — ^no nation has yet been discovered, however remote from civilisation in customs and manners, in which some ideas of a Power superior to all earthly ones were not to be found. The French are characterised as fond of novelty and always seeking after it with eagerness, and yet, however paradoxical it may appear, it is no less true that in many respects no people adhere more tenaciously to ancient habits and customs. Nothing contributed so essentially to the final overthrow of the violent revolutionists as their endeavouring all at once to deprive the people of many habits and customs which they particularly cherished; nor did anything contribute more strongly to Napoleon's power than his restoration of them. Buonaparte's own religious belief seems to have been of the vaguest de- scription, but from political considerations he determined to restore the public profession of Christianity. For this purpose he entered into negotiations with Pope Pius VII., 22 NORTHERN FRANCE which resulted in the celebrated Concordat of 1801, of which the following were the principal provisions : (i) The Roman Catholic religion was declared to be that of the French Government, and of the majority of Frenchmen; its worship was to be publicly celebrated throughout France, (ii) The ancient sees— 159 in number— were suppressed by the Pope, and 60 new ones were created in their stead, to which the First Consul was to nominate and the Pope to institute, (iii) The bishops were to coUate to the parochial cures, their choice being subject to the approval of the government, (iv) The Pope sanctioned the sale of church property which had taken place during the Revolution ; and the French Government in return pledged itself to make an adequate provision for the maintenance of the clergy of all ranks, (v) The clerics were to take an oath of allegiance to the existing government. Several articles called the "Organic Decrees," artfuUy appended to the Concordat, and regulating the details of administration and public worship, rendered the church more entirely dependent on the state than it had ever been. The Pope and the clergy remonstrated against them, but in vain. In some respects the Concordat had been effected by the exercise of a despotic power on the part of the Pope, but Buonaparte took care that his own authority should be paramount. At his coronation in Paris (December 2, 1804) the Pope anointed him, but he placed the crown on his head with his own hands. The re-establishment of the church was only to impart a kind of dignity and sanctity to his usurpation of the throne, and to assist in imposing the fiction on the world that he was a modern reproduction of Charlemagne, and the representative of the ancient line of Roman emperors. After the fall of Buonaparte, and tlie restoration of the Bourbons, the vigour and activity of the church revived, and many episcopal sees which had been suppressed at the Concordat of 1801 were recreated by another, under INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 23 Louis XVIII., between 1817 and 1821. The Jesuits, who had been banished in 1764, returned; and, unfortunately, their influence, in alliance with an Ultramontane party prevented any return to true Galilean principles. Ultra- montanism was supreme during the reign of Charles X., whose coronation in 1825, exactly fifty years after that of his brother Louis XVI., was made an occasion for a grand display of hierarchical pomp. In the latter part of the reign of Louis Philippe there was a remarkable develop- ment of spiritual and intellectual life in the church, of which the most distinguished leaders were Lacordaire, Montalembert, and Lamennais. The latter endeavoured to combine Ultramontanism with advanced democratical principles, but he ultimately lapsed into infidelity. Monta- lembert remained to the last a Liberal in politics, and a loyal son of the church; but he died out of favour with Pope Pius IX. because he protested against the dogma of Papal infallibility. Under the Second Empire (1852-70) the revival of the true principles of Gothic architecture was pursued with vigour, and cathedrals and churches in every corner of France were restored — in too many cases with more zeal than discretion — and parts of their interiors, especially the chapels ladiating from their apses, lavishly decorated with painting and stained-glass. But little or no at- tempt was made to bring back their ritual arrangements to the state in which they were before the ill-judged alterations and embellishments of the Louis XIV. and XV. periods, and the excesses of the Revolution. The clerical body of England has, generally speaking, taken a far more intelligent and erudite interest in, and more com- pletely mastered the artistic and architectural study of ecclesiology than the French. Lassus, Viollet-le-Duc, Montalembert, the Canons Bourass6 and Cahier, and Pfere Martin, did all they could to ensure ecclesiological correctness, but unfortunately they were not paramount, having to contend with a hierarchy and priesthood for 24 - NORTHERN FRANCE the most part attached to old-fashioned Italian ideas of ecclesiastical fitting and arrangement. One step taken during the reign of Napoleon HI. gave much offence, viz., the abolition of the old Diocesan "Uses" which, although wrecked in the cataclysm of the Great Revolution, had, in various ways, been partially revived under Napoleon I. and the Bourbons. The Gallican Church was always in a great degree independent of the see of Rome, and had its own separate " Uses," such as the sequence of colours, manner of con- ducting the ceremonial, office books, music, and so forth, differing considerably from the Roman ones, and not derived from them, but from an independent source common to both, the tradition of the early church of the apostles. Between 1855 and i860 the Roman Church succeeded in depriving the GaUican Church of this privi- lege, both rituaUy and liturgically, but the change was not effected without much opposition, maiiy dioceses clinging with the greatest affection to their venerable " Uses," and insisting on a retention of a certain amoimt of proprium sanctorum.^ ' I remember once, when visiting the church of St Antoine at Compiegne, being shown a "Maiidement" of the Bishop of Beauvais, Senlis, and Noyon, dated Decem- ber 8, 1856, ordering the adoption of the Rora^n liturgy, in place of the local " Uses," of which he says there were no less than nine in his diocese, so that it oft^n happened that the same priest, "chargd de deux parolsses, trouve dans r^glise ou'il va c^lebrer une Premifere| Messe, une liturgie diff&ente de celle qui s'observe dan^ la paroisse ou'il reside:" — "le chant, les cdrdmonies, lalcouleur des ornements, les usages, tout est change." Th^ Bishop io- terdicted among others the Missals of Beauvkis, Noyon, Senlis, Amiens, Meaux, and Rouen, and hislorder was to take effect from Whitsunday, 1857. All -hese local ' As may be seen by a study of the Paroissiens (the cd^responding term to our Book of Common Prayer) in use in the various dioceses. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 25 "Uses" were no doubt a mine of mterest to the liturgiol- ogist and the ritualist, but they must have been very mconvenient to those who had the practical working of them. Since the promulgation of the dogma of Papal infal- libility, the breach between the Liberal party and the church in France, as in other Roman Catholic countries, has grown continually wider, and under the present republic the hope of reconciliation seems more distant than ever. No doubt, in spite of much infidelity and indifference, a large proportion of the French people are warmly attached to the church, and the clergy are unre- mitting in their labours and irreproachable in conduct. Of their urbanity I can speak, from personal experience, in terms of the warmest praise. Some of them are able, learned, and eloquent, but they are oppressed with poverty. The state is more inclined to reduce than to increase their scanty emoluments, and much spiritual destitution, especially in the rural dis- tricts, is the inevitable result. The expulsion of the religious orders, and other tyran- nical acts, only too painfully fresh in the minds of most, are highly discreditable to a republican government in an age of religious toleration. Whenever I am in Paris I make a point of attending N6tre Dame for the daily Chapter Mass and Vespers, which are, or were, until the recent church troubles, per- formed with much ritual grandeur and musical accom- paniment. I was much struck on one occasion by the singing, at the conclusion of the Mass, of the "Domine Salvum fac," ^ to the Tonus Regius; and as the choir and organ took up the well-remembered strain, I could not help reflecting upon the many characteristic and signifi- cant mutilations which this invocation has undergone through successive dynasties, during the last century and a quarter, in the happier or sadder days by turn, of France; 26 NORTHERN FRANCE A.D. Domine salvum fac Regem nostrum Ludovicum 1785 " " " Rerapublicam i793 " " " Imperatorem nostrum Napoleonein 1804 " " " Regem Ludovicum 1815 " " " Regem Carolum 1824 " " " Regem Ludovicum Philippum 1830 " " " Rempublicam 1848 " " " Imperatorem nostrum Napoleonem 1852 " " " Rempublicam 1870 The traveller need wander at no great distance from our own shores, and need exercise no extraordinary amount of acumen, to discover, with surprise, the discernment, the minuteness, the extent, the activity and the zeal which characterises the practical action of the sister church. Although, however, all her work, deeply rooted as it is — ^yet lies so near the surface that it is to be seen almost for the trouble of looking for it, it is an astonishing fact, that out of the large number of English tourists who cross the channel — for information, relaxation, pleasure, or mere idleness — to so few does it occur that such trouble would be worth taking. There is very little doubt, I believe, that a large proportion of them visit foreign cathedrals and chmrches, and perhaps con- ventual houses; but it seems questionable whether they are actuated by any impulse beyond that of a lounging curiosity, which takes them, as a matter of course, into the public buildings of the places through which they pass. To have paced, in a reverential and Catholic spirit, the aisles of such cathedrals as Amiens, Rouen, Rheims, Bourges, Tours, and Chartres — six of the noblest Gothic edifices in France — is a matter of gratulation and con- tentment; and as this may be accomplished with perfect ' Domine salvum fac Rempublicam, et exaudi nos in die in qua invocaverimus Te. "O Lord, preserve the Republic, and hear us in the day wherein we shall call upon Thee." INTRODUCTORY SKETCH 27 ease in three weeks or a month, I would recommend to all who may be induced to plan a little excursion in the ensuing summer, to make such acquaintance with Picardy, Normandy, Champagne, Berri, La Touraine, and La Beauce, as shall introduce them to scenes and spectacles wherein they wiU most assuredly adopt the sentiments here delivered, and share, to the full, my gratification. Whatever, besides, may be deduced from the ensuing pages, to enhance the pleasurable circumstances of such an expedition, remains to be dealt with accordingly as the tourist shall make foreign travel a study, or a relax- ation from mental labour. We do not all see with the same eyes, nor reflect and judge with the same minds. It is neither natural nor desirable that we should, but in the descriptions here presented to the reader I have endeavoured to fulfil the part of a pioneer, and shaU be sincerely glad if even one remark of mine have helped to clear the way, and point out safe and pleasant paths for others in a land where, thanks to the recent entente cordiale, we no longer appear as strangers and pilgrims. RHEIMS The Cathedral of Rheims has been admirably char- acterised in the expression of an eminent French anti- quiry, "Le Parthenon de ndtre Architecture Nationale." And whilst it is impossible not to recognise in it a purity and unity of style we seekTi vain in the more widely renowned structure of Amiens, it may be questioned if the grandeur^qiid impressiveness of its general effect be at all inferior. \At the same time that it has enjoyed the almost unexampledT^ood fortune to preserve intact its original plan, neither curtailed by the mutilations, nor encumbere^ by the excrescences. of later ages, it is dis- tinguished amongst cbeval buildings of similar magnitude by a perfect consistency of detail in the subordinate members of the architecture. The absence of the range of chapels along th0 nave aisles, a disposition quite at variance with the first design, is eminently favourable to tile repose and harinony of the building, while the senti- ; ment inspired by the aspect of its magnificent interior is one of unmixed satisfaction and delight. A tribe in ancient Gaul, called Remi, is mentioned by Julius Caesar a|nd other writers of his age. They had a town called D^rocortum, and although this name has been lost, there is no doubt at all that the present city of Rheims is on the spot. It is of course much altered since it was occupied by the Romans, but the sites of three.; out of the four gates may still be traced. Indeed, one, the gate of Mars, still exists; and of the two others, the gate of Ceres and tlie gate of Vmus„ih.e position is pointed out. Of the fourth gate, the gate of ^acckus, the site can only be conjectured. Half a century ago a stone was 28 RHEIMS 29 dug up, amongst other remains, bearing an inscription that it belonged to a temple which had been erected to the god Mars by "Tiberius Claudius Caesar." When a Christian church was first built to take the place of the pagan temple we have no means of ascertaining. Some of those who suffered martyrdom during the several persecutions are supposed to have been citizens here; but the point where any history begins is the fifth century, when the great St Remigius, or St Remi,^as he is usually termed, was made archbishop. ^ Th^re are. names of archbishops recorded before him, but we know little or nothing respecting them. Of St Remi we learn a great deal from Hincmar, who filled the arch- iepiscopal throne between 845 and 852, as weU as from the historian Flodoardus, who lived a little later, and from incidental mention in several other early historians.' The great apostle of the French nation was appointed to the see when he was but twenty-two years of age. Hincmar tells us he was bom at Laon, in a castle there belonging to his parents, who were of a noble Gaulish family, and that he had, when quite yoimg, a room in the castle to which he was accustomed to retire for study and devotion. This room, Hincmar says, he visited himself, and many people went to Laon to see it, out of respect to the memory of the great archbishop. St Remi appears to have been born in 439, and his extraordinary piety and devotion at a very early age were so well known that on the death of Benagius, his predecessor in the see of Rheims, he was appointed at once to it, although it was against the Canons that one so young should be appointed to so high an office. This objection, however, the hisbops of the province are said to have overruled, on account of his great piety. A writer, by name Sidoriius Apollinaris, who was a con- temporary with St Remi and who enjoyed his friendship, ' His festival, retained in The Calendar of the English Church, is celebrated on ist October. 30 NORTHERN FRANCE speaks in very warm terms of the zeal and true devotion of the youthful prelate, and he further adds that he obtained copies of the sermons preached by him. To understand the circumstances which have rendered the name of St Remi so honoured, it is necessary to call to mind a little of the history of the times. Gaul had but lately been overrun by the Franks, just as with us Britain had been overnm by the Saxons. It is probable, however, that there was less expulsion of the Gauls than was the case with the Britons; and the newcomers intermixed more freely with, and were less harsh and cruel towards, the conquered tribes than was the case on this side of the channel. They had, too, a remarkable king in the person of Clovis, who had not only treated the conquered tribes with forbearance as regards their possessions, but even respected the religion of those who embraced Christianity, although he himself was a pagan. The story is told of his slaying with his own hand a soldier who refused to restore some costly vessels which he had stolen from the church of Rheims, and which had been discovered. St Remi also seems to have been much esteemed by Clovis, and also by his wife, Clotilda, who was a Christian. The conversion of Clovis was as great an event in the history of the Christian Church as that of our English King Ethelbert, by St Augustine, and although it was as important to the spread of Christianity, Rheims cannot be said to have held in consequence the same position as Canterbury, the spot where St Augustine planted his mission; still, Rheims was, for this reason, much hojj^ oured. For instance, for many years afterwards, it seeflas^ to haye been the custom for successive kings to be con- secrated in the cathedral church here. We know King Pepin, Charles the Simple, Henri I. (of France), and his son, Philip, were crowned here; and we further read that, in iioo, the archbishop claimed the privilege of •consecrating tiie king as a right. It was, however,' dis- RHEIMS 31 puted, and in spite of the acknowledged custom, Louis VI. had himself consecrated at Orleans; after which time, the link having been broken, no more consecrations took place for some time in the Cathedral of Rheims. Still, however, the flask of holy oil, supposed to have been miraculously obtained by St Remi, was preserved there in the tomb of that sainted prelate, and which, if we understand correctly, was long afterwards considered necessary to the ceremony of the consecration. We have to pass over nearly three centxuries after the death of St Remi. We know the names of the archbishops who were appointed in succession, but we hear of no works done by them to the cathedral tiU we come to Archbishop Ebo. Louis le Debonnaire, in 811, not only sanctioned the rebuilding of the church, but allowed the archbishop to take in some of the neighbouring ground, and to take material from the fortifications of the city, of which further need was not anticipated. These were, no doubt, the Roman fortifications, and probably consisted of a wall with a bank of earth on the inside. It may, like some existing Roman walls, have been buUt of stone, or stone with layers of tiles or bricks. This rebuilding rather favours the view that the church was then of wood, which, even if it had been restored by the liberality of Clovis, would have probably in the' course of more than two centuries have become much decayed. The works were superintended by Romwald, the king's ^c|iitect, who, being a serf, was transferred by the mon- Snch to the service of the archbishop, to employ, to the end of his days, those talents which he had received from heaven, in the furtherance of the archbishop's work. There seem to have been some important discussions in the diocese during the episcopate of Ebo, resulting in his twice being deposed. Whether he was in the right or the wrong does not concern us, but these circumstances were 32 NORTHERN FRANCE probably the cause of the work of rebuilding or restor- ation going on somewhat slowly. The cathedral was at~ length consecrated by his successor, Hincmar (who was elected in 845), and the ceremony seems to have been very imposing; the king, Charles le Chauve, and all the bishops of the province, being present. We gather from the extra space thus given that it was a larger edifice than the previous one, and as I said before, probably a good deal of stone was used in the construction. We find his successor, Fulco, adding to the ornamentation of the church, but whether this was stone sculpture, or what is more probable, metal-work, or even only tapestry, we have no means of ascertaining. The words of Flodoardus, the chronicler already alluded to, who was a priest at Rheims, and died about 960, are "This prelate did many good things for the see of Rheims ... he increased its possessions by the gift of land which he had obtained from the king, and he decorated the church of Rheims with much ornamentation. He also surroimded the city with a new waU in the place of that which Ebo had destroyed when he built the church of the Blessed Mother of our Lord." Unfortunately, no traces seem to have been left of this building, under whose roof not only, as I have said, many kings were crowned, but also several coimcils were held. These councils being held at Rheims not only point to the important position which it held, but also seem to show that its church must have been of considerable size to have accommodated such assemblies. Two slight disasters are chronicled as having occurred to the church, one in 927, and the other sixty-two years later, but they were such as were easily repaired. In 1211, however, a fearful fire raged at Rheims, and this time the cathedral was damaged beyond reparation. This event happened on the Festival of St John ante Portam Latinam, May 6, and a year afterwards (on the same day according to some, but according to other ►J 2 Q tjJ3 W c H o < s u en c S z S ■" IS j: RHEIMS 33 authorities on July 24), the first stone of the present glorious structure was laid by Archbishop Alb&ic. The dedication, at least of a part of the building, took place in 1215; Louis VIlI. was crowned in it in 1223, and Louis IX. three years later; the canons entered the choir in 1232, and it was finished, with the exception of certain chapels, in 1241. By the year 1295 the niches were filled, the gargoyles vomited the rain which washed the roofs, thousands of figures were classified and put in their places, the towers were rising majestically, and the eye, astonished, inquired how art could be at once so light and noble. The era that witnessed tl^e commencement of the new cathedral at Rheims was a great building one, and many models were available. Archbishop Alb^ric and his architect had not far to look away. At the other end of Rheims they had before them the Early Pointed Gothic choir which between 1182 and II 98 had taken the place of the Romanesque one at the vast abbey church of St Remi. At Chilons-sur-Marne a choir very similar in many respects to that at St Remi — so much so as to suggest the probability that it formed the model for the one at Rheims — ^had been completed in 1 183; while the cathedrals of Chartres, Laon, Noyon, Paris, Senlis, and Sens, and the churches of St Denis, St Leu d'Esserent and Mantes, doubtless furnished the archbishop and his architect with some valuable hints, as^in all likelihood, did another great Champenois chevet, that of Troyes Cathedral, which had been conunenced, after a fire, as usual, three years before the conflagration at Rheims. All these churches, situated within a radius of fifty miles from Paris — the centre of the old lie de France and the surrounding country — ^belong to that great and grand Transitional period, "the tomb," as it has been called, "of the Romanesque, and the cradle of Gothic art." 34 NORTHERN FRANCE Of the prolific results of the inexhaustable fertility of invention and rapidity of production displayed by the builders of this remarkable period (1130-1190) we have no greater proofs than those which are preserved to us in the cathedrals and churches to which allusion has been made. The character of these wbrks has a strong family re- semblance to typical works of that same period in other parts of Europe; and together with a grace and beauty of its own, possesses in common with the former that fitness of parts, breadth of design, and boldness of con- struction which characterises the work of this period all over Christendom, The point of time at which the new cathedral of Rheims was begun is of the greatest possible interest to the archi- tectural student. During the last ten years of the twelfth century, and the following first ten years of the thirteenth century, a style of building developed itself in England which pro- duced remarkable results during the next thirty years of existence in this country. This style of building is characterised chiefly by its elegant and luxuriant relieved foliage of a conventional type, by a multiplicity of minute and deeply grooved inouldings, by its light clustered shafts, and by its tall narrow-pointed windows. Although this style of building is called Early English or First Pointed, it has been placed beyond doubt that it was not the earliest characteristic English style, and that it was not the first pointed style practised in this country is proved by the fact that the pointed arch was used in a systematic manner in English buildings before 1 1 90. The period during which this style prevailed should preferably be termed the Lancet Period, from its most characteristic and uniformly prevalent feature, the tall, narrow lancet window already referred to. But by whatever term we may choose to designate this period, no one, I think, will offer any objection to the limits I have assigned to it, namely from a.d. 1190 to 1245; or RHEIMS 35 will hesitate to declare it with me to belong to that great phase of European art which we call, by common consent, Gothic; and to be, as I opine it is — the first completely developed style of that phase of mediaeval art. For nowhere in Europe, with a single exception, do we find these two chief principles of lightness and elegance which characterise Gothic work so strongly pronounced and so far advanced as they were during the prevalence of this Lancet Period in England. In Normandy, it is true — and that is the exception to which I refer — we find works which appear to rival in these two respects the works of our own coimtry, but these works are exceptional, not typical works of the country in which they are found; and are, in all proba- bility, the production of men impressed with the in- fluences they had seen at work on the opposite side of the channel. If this be true, it is remarkai)le that, whereas in the eleventh century we received some architecture from Normandy, our builders should, within a century and a half, not only have completely emancipated themselves from the influence of foreign art, but have struck out for themselves. With the exception of certain works in Normandy, nowhere do we find at the close of the twelfth and during the early part of the thirteenth century any trace of that rapid progress in the direction which all European art subsequently took, as we do in England. So far as re- gards the district around Paris, I shall have such ample opportunity of proving the truth in these pages that I need not further detain the reader upon it now. I will only remark that the work of this period in the North, of France differs so materially from that of the same ^te in England, and departs in all its leading features so little from the forms of the Transitional Period, that it appears difficult at first sight to give it a distinct classification, or to fix upon features which may 36 NORTHERN FRANCE enable us to characterise it. There is one feature, how- ever, which it possesses in common with our own con- temporaneous work, and that is the plain lancet window without tracery, which seems to have been employed throughout the whole of this short period; it is broader and shorter than our own, and it has been in numerous cases removed and replaced with larger traceried win- dows, which has also been the case with many of our lancet windows. For want of a better term, this period may be designated by the same term that I have adopted for our own contemporaneous period, - and call it, for tlie present, at all events, the Lancet Period of French art. But although the French did not arrive so soon as we did at the true principles of Gothic art, it is astonishing, when once apprehended by them, how rapidly they gained upon us, and how soon they passed us in the race. Whilst English architects were still travelling on a line of their own, and lingering amongst the delights of the Lancet work of Salisbury, York, Ely, and elsewhere — the last of which was designed so late as 1235 — our con- tinental neighbours were engaged in developing a new style, which soon overran the whole of Christendom, creating prodigies of art in Europe, and in which Gothic architecture attained its climax. Many years before the Geometrical traceried windows of Westminster, Lincoln, and Tintern had seen the light, the designs for Rheims and Amiens cathedrals had been prepared, and we shaU not be far wrong in fixing the year of lie commencement of the new cathe- dral at the former as that of the dawn of the Geometrical period in France. There was formerly, in the centre of the nave a large mosaic pavement, in the form of a labyrinth. ^ A drawing ' As one of the most expressive ornaments on the floor of a church, the labyrinth is deserving of particular mention. It seems to have been introduced as a religious exercise, procuring indulgences for those who were unable to undertake distant pilgrimages.. There RHEIMS 37 of this has been fortunately preserved, but the original has been destroyed. It was formed of bands of square blue and white stones, each band being about twelve inches in width, and was in the form of an octagon, with a smaller octagon protruding from each of the oblique sides. In the central octagonal space which was left, traces of a figure were in existence when the drawing was made, and it has been considered to have represented the chief architect of the building. In the centre of each of the smaller octagons was a space similarly occupied by a figure, and to all these the inscriptions, which were legible at the time the labyrinth was destroyed, afEord in a certain measure the key. To each figure was given some masonic symbol. The figure at the northeast angle held a carpenter's square and the inscription (as it has been transcribed) ran thus: " Jehan Loups ^ qui fut maistre de I'eglise de c^ans, seize ans et en commenca le portail." The figure at the southeast comer held a pair of com- passes, with which he was making out triangular figures. The reading of the inscription appears to have been : " Cette imaige est en remembrance de maistre Jean d'Orbais, qui fut maistre de i'eglise de c6ans." were labyrinths at Amiens, Arras, Bayeux, Chartres, and Sens cathedrals; also in the collegiate churches of St Quentin and St Oraer, and in the abbey church of St Bertin at the last named. At Sens and Chartres the labyrinth was circular; at St Quentin and Rheims it was octagonal. A single white line cunningly and symmetrically contrived with a black one formed the figure. With a little ability but much patience it is possible to follow this line, in representations of these labyrinths from the circumference of the figure to its centre. It takes quite an hour to follow it in all its windings, hence the name league, which is sometimes given to these labyrinths. It is also styled Dedale or Maison Dedalus. The labyrinth at Rheims was destroyed in the eighteenth century by order of the Chapter, because children came into the cathedral to play noisy games upon it. For some details of these curious affairs see Enlart, Manuel d' Archeologie, V. i., p. 719 et seq. ' Or Leloup, as is it elsewhere written. 38 NORTHERN FRANCE The third figure, at the southwestern corner, appears also to have held a pair of compasses, and to have been shown describing a circle. The inscription was as follows: " Cette imaige est en remembrance de maistre Bernard de Soissons, qui fist cinque voutes et travailla a la grande rose du portail; it fut maistre trentecinq ans durant." The remaining figure seems to have been either without any symbol, or the symbol has been defaced. The inscription ran: " Gaucher de Reims qui fut maistre de I'eglise de ceans, sept ans et ouvra a voussures . . . d'or (or as it is given in another book) dix huit ans, qui travailla auvofistes, voussoirs et aux portails." The existence of the two readings probably arises from the very imperfect state in which the inscriptions were found when they were copied. I have followed them as they were written by Jacques Cellier, who lived to- wards the close of the sixteenth century. The vari- ation is given by Povillon Pierard. Neither seems to have been able to read tlie inscription belonging to the central figure; but the French antiquaries seem to take it for granted that it was Robert de Coucy. There is abso- lutely no evidence whatever that the original design was by him, and the belief seems to have arisen from an in- scription on a tomb in another church at Rheims. This tomb, which stood in the cloister of the church of St Denis, bore the words: " Cy gist Robert de Coucy, Maistre de N6tre Dame, et de Saint Nicaise qui tr^passa I'an 1311." Now, considering that the foundation-stone of the cathedral was laid in 12 11, it is impossible, provided that the inscription was copied correctly, that Robert de Coucy could have had anything to do with the original work. If the labyrinth is as late as 1280 or 1290 or thereabouts (it is generally supposed to be about 1240), the figure in the centre might possibly be intended for him, and those at the four corners for the masters of the works who had preceded him. RHEIMS 39 In short, the Cathedral of Rheims forms no exception to the rule which holds so generally with respect to our finest mediaeval cathedrals — the name of their first and chief designer has been lost.^ This is particularly the case with those of France, though we have the names of a good many; among them of the four architects successively engaged at Rheims; of Eudes de Montreuil, who went to the Holy Land with St Louis; and of many more. But were it not for the fortunate preservation of the sketch-book of one of them, we should know but little of their mode of life, or thought, or work. This sketch-book or album was the property of Villard de Honnecourt, — or "Wilars de Honecourt," as William Burges, the distinguished English architect of the last century, with an accuracy not unspiced with the sarcastic, preferred to name the Picard architect— and it brings before us an architect in the early years of the thirteenth century wandering about on business or pleasure, visiting cathedrals, majiing notes and sketches of them, and evidently studying how best to improve himself. If anything might be expected to prove interesting and instructive to architects of the present day, occupied constantly in the attempt to instil new vigour into tiieir art, by investigating the principles by which it was regu- lated at a period when it was practised under healthier and happier influences, it must be some document which should throw light on the professional character, the method and object of study, the feelings and habit of thought of these architects who fixed these principles and derived their expression, but of whom individually we know little or nothing beyond that which is afforded by the reflexion of their mind exhibited in their works. Such a document is the album of Villard de Honnecourt, the ' "L'homme, I'artiste, I'individu s'effacent sui ces grands masses sans nom d'auteur; rintelligence humaine s'y resume et s'y totalise. Le temps est I'architecte, et le peuple est le mafon." — Victor Hugo. 40 NORTHERN FRANCE contents of which, although they may not satisfy all the curiosity we feel, nor convey much instruction to those before whom information must be laid in its most tangible form, will yet be found replete with interest, and sug- gestive of abundant matter for speculation. The MS. was first noticed by Willemin, in his Monu- ments Frangais inedits, late in 1849. ^- Jules Quicherat, Professor of Archaeology, published a notice of the author, with a few of his sketches. It was, however, reserved for the industry and enthusiasm of Lassus to present it to us in its entirety in facsimile, illustrated with all the skill of an accomplished artist, and all the bearing of an experimental archaeologist. In 1859 this extraordinary peep behind the scenes of six hundred years ago was translated into English by Professor Willis, than whom no one more competent could be found. The book was corrected and enlarged, and many of the machines and mechanical puzzles which were inexplicable to M. Lassus and M. Darcel (upon whom, on the premature death ot the former in 1857, was laid the task of bringing it to a final publication), found a lucid interpreter in the Cam- bridge editor. VUlard appears to have been born at Hoimecourt, on the Scheldt, near Cambrai, and he writes in the Picard patois. Now we find that in 1242, Strigonia, then the capital of Hungary — the Gran of the present day — was destroyed in an irruption of the Tartars, and that on their being driven back the next year, Bela IV., king of Hungary, commenced rebuilding the city, and the cathedral dedi- cated to the Virgin Mary; and we may presume that Villard de Honnecourt, then a man of great reputation, was sent for to design and execute these works. It is alleged by M. Lassus in his edition of de Honnecourt, that there are various churches m that neighbourhood which exliibit evidences of French influence. All these dates and circumstances compared, give us some found- RHEIMS 41 ation for fixing the identity of the artist. For instance, he goes to Laon and makes a sketch of one of its wonder- ful western steeples, and writes below it what many of those who have seen it would have agreed with : " I have been in many coimtries, as you may see by this book, but in no place have I seen a tower equal to that of Laon." And then, after a description of its plan, he adds, some- what oracularly, "Meditate upon these things, for if you desire to build such great angle-towers, you must choose a form of sufficient projection. Proceed carefully, and you will do as a wise and careful man ought to do." One peculiarity of Villard's was, that when he copied any executed work he copied it not as he saw it, but with variations of his own, and as he would execute it himself. In his remarkable sketch-book de Honnecourt wrote under a particular drawing : " This shows the elevations of the chapels of the Church of Rheims — ^like them will be those of Cambrai, if they be built." Now the Sanctuary of Cam- brai, the construction of which was directed by de Honne- court, was destroyed at the great revolution; but in 1824 the architect of the city, M. Aim6 Boileux, was enabled to make a complete plan of thefoimdations, andjthis plan coin- cides exactly with that given in the MS. of de Honnecourt. At the time of de Honnecourt's visit to Rheims (c. 1244), the choir must have made considerable progress, for against one sketch which is clearly that of one of the chapels surrounding the apse, is written : Vesci le droite montee des capeles de le glise de Rains et toute le maniere ensi com eles sunt par dedens droites en los estage. " Voici 'I'elevation' des chapelles de I'eglise de Reims, et le fafon dont elles sent etagees k I'interieur." The English rendering would be as follows: " Here you se6 the elevation (literally, the straight or upright height) of the chapels of the Church of Rheims, and exactly the way also in which they are, on the in- terior, raised in stages." 42 NORTHERN FRANCE Another sketch is described as follows: "This is one of the windows of Rheuns. "When I drew this I was under orders to go to the land of Hungary." In examining these drawings, we must remember, first, that a knowledge of the correct laws of perspective were not then attainable, and so the lines present a very con- fused appearance. Next, too, the artist drew only for his own use; they were rough notes such as he would understand, but they were not meant for the public; and hence the lines are often hastily drawn, and very" differently from those on which we see oftentimes so much care bestowed in the illuminated MSS. of the period. Lastly, too, there is in the style something of a professional character rather than artistic; the elevations and sec- tions of any modern architect are not intelligible to apy- one who has not been accustomed to them. These drawings, therefore, are not fairly to be judged by their appearance compared with those of the artist. By their side they appear like child's sketches, and would therefore have no value as regards their accuracy; but if these circumstances are taken into account, we may fairly depend upon them for the presence or absence of certain details. Another master of the thirteenth century, and a con- temporary of de Honnecourt, was Pierre de Corbie, who, directed the construction of several churches in Picardy. The name of Corbie — a small town on the line of rail- way between Amiens and Arras, recalls a strange in- stance of the prolonged duration of Pointed architecture in France. In 1501 the then abbot of the famous abbey of Corbie began the rebuilding of his church on a mag- nificent scale. The transepts and choir were completed, the original Romanesque apse being left, but the naye apparently destroyed, as possibly the size of the existmg part might have rendered necessary, at least we hear nothmg of its retention, but we do hear complaints of the inadequacy of the church. Years went on, and the church RHEIMS 43 remained in this state; at length, in 1687, a plan was prepared in Paris for the completion of the church by building a nave, portals, aisles, including those of the choir, and five chapels. The works had made very little progress till 1701, when the operations were more earnestly undertaken. However, the church was not completed till after 1732. All that now exists of this vast structure is the nave, whose western facade is extremely remark- able. It is of the usual type of a large French church, with three lofty pointed portals of very poor and incor- rect detail. Above the central portal is a rose, and four- light pointed windows above the side ones, the whole being filled with Flamboyant tracery, that of the side windows, at any rate, being of apparently a fair char- acter. Above rise two massive towers of the same height and form, their lower portions being tied together by a flat solid screen, which is surmounted by a pierced parapet, and is repeated in the lower part of the tower. Above this the towers are lit by two-light pointed windows with tracery in the heads; they are surmounted by an open parapet of pointed work, with "smelling bottle" orna- ments at the angles. The whole mass, as might be supposed, looks square and heavy. It is, however, a wonderful work, consider- ing the times in which it was executed. This west front, and the more ornate, though more capricious one at Orleans, executed in the latter half of the eighteenth century, show what an impression the glorious works of the Middle Ages must h^ve produced upon the French mind, when men were found to imitate them even in the cold days of Bourbon bad taste. ^ To resume our history of Rheims Cathedral. Not long after the completion of the main fabric, France was at war; the city of Rheims was placed in a state of de- fence and fortified. In 13 s I Edward III. of England laid siege to it. Charles v., however, was crowned there in 1364, and m 1372 44 NORTHERN FRANCE Archbishop Jehan de Craon accorded forty days of indulgence to those who gave fresh help to repair the church of "Our Lady." Two inscriptions prove some- what as to the date of erection of the southwestern tower: one, 1381, at the springing of the first floor in the arcad- ing facing the Archbishop's palace; the other, 1391, is inscribed upon the sill of a small door at the foot of one of the king's statues in the galerie des wis; and in 1427 Cardinal Guillaume Fillastre, formerly Dean of Rheims, . gave a considerable sum of money for the purpose of completing this same south tower, which was accom- plished three years afterwards. But on the night of July 23, 1481, some plumbers, who had been mending the roof (the fire at Canterbury Cathedral in 1872 seems to show that litde is really learnt from parallel experience), left a brasier, half extinguished, among the timbers; and on the morning of the 24th smoke and flames were seen issuing from the fltche which crowned the choir of the cathedral. Eleven beUs were melted by the heat of the fire, and others fell on the vaults of the building. About three in the afternoon the roof, the central fliche, the transept gables, the parapet arcading crowning the walls, were completely destroyed before the fire abated; and it is attested by contemporary writers that the molten lead ran as far as the cross of St Victor in the middle of the Rue de Vesle. The canons were accused of negligence, and Nicholas de Membru was deputed to excuse the town and throw the fault upon the "negligence des chanoines." The king, Louis XI., whose character is known to Englishmen from the graphic description of him by Sir Walter Scott, is declared to have cried in a moment of irritation: "Par Nostre Dame! si faisions nostre devoir, ja mettrions de bons moines en nostre 6glise de Reims, et chasserions d'icelle ces m^chants chanoines!" At the death of this king, Charles VIII. went to Rheims to be crowned, and in a charter, dated from Vincennes, RHEIMS 45 it is written : "... Desirant participer aux bien faicts des prieres qui se disent en ladicte ^glise, il octroye la somme de cinq deniers tournois sur chaque mynot quintal ou quart de sel k vendre en tous les greniers h, sel du royaume, durant huict ann^es consecutives. ..." All, or nearly all the written agreements and contracts then made between the chapter and sundry master workmen are preserved, and it is certain that no architect, general master, or any central technical authority other than certain canons were then employed. In 15 16 these repairs were suspended, the western towers having been covered with a slate roof; so that thirty-five years after the burning they had not been able to completely rein- state what a few hours had sufficed to destroy. Yet under the direction of Hugues Libergier or an older Robert de Coucy, it has been seen that the choir of the cathedral was sufficiently advanced, to enable the canons to celebrate the offices within it only twenty years after the foimdation stone had been laid. Several inscriptions have been found, and a few afliord positive evidence, but the name of the author of N6tre Dame de Rheims — ^the Queen of the Cathedrals of West- ern Europe — ^has not descended to posterity, and in all probability will ever remain a mystery. ^ Neither are the names of the architects of Noyon and Laon cathedrals known, nor those of Bourges and Chartres. De Honnecourt may have had something to do with Rheims Cathedral, for between 1227 and 1251 he was directing the construction of a part of Cambrai Cathe- dral, and it is possible, as M. Viollet-le-Duc says, that he designed the apsidal chapels of Rheims, more especially as they are twice mentioned by him, as already recorded, in his sketch-book. It is, however, nearly certain that Libergier had nothing whatever to do with the cathedral. The monument, which represents him holding in his left hand a measuring- > Vide Foreword to this volume. 46 NORTHERN FRANCE rod and in his right hand the model of a church with two spires like St Nicaise, with a compass and square at his feet, and an angel on either side of his head, bears the following inscription, which contains no mention of the cathedral— a mightier though not a more beautiful work than St Nicaise: "Ci git maistre Hugues Libergiers, qui commensa cette eglise an Ian de lincamation MCC et XXIX. le Mardi de Pasques et trespassa Ian de lincarnation MCC LXIII. le Samedi apres Pasques, pour Deu priez por lui." • In 1263 the cathedral was in use, and had Libergier been the original architect of it, it is hardly probable that his remains would have been interred in a neighbouring church which he had not lived to complete. Robert de Coucy finished St Nicaise, as the inscription referring to him proves; but Robert who was "Maistre de Nostre Dame at de Sainct Nicaise" died in 1311; and therefore it is impossible that he could have made the plans of a building known to have been commenced ninety-nine years previously. Nevertheless, an endless controversy has taken place over these two stories, and the good people of Rheims, to clinch the difficulty, have named the street leading up to the west front of the cathedral the "Rue Libergier!" and supported the de- cision with quotations from the writings of comparatively modern authorities. Names and inscriptions, however, afford but little assistance in the vexed question of mediae- val masterpieces. A glance at the plan of Rheims Cathedral — at the order and symmetry which characterise the arrangement of tower, buttress, and column — suffices to prove the exist- ence of some central authority or school of learned men, who, nowhere more than at Rheims, have demonstrated for all time their extraordinary powers of creation, as far as man can create, by the philosophical, rather than the naive, deduction of constructive principles. RHEIMS 47 \ Although at Rheims Cathedral the plan of the original master appears to have been respected even two hundred years after the foundation stone was laid, modifications of all kinds were introduced into the subordinate arrange- ments of it. That the lower portion, from the choir to about half the length of the nave, is the work of a laymatk was the opinion of M. Viollet-le-Duc, who thought that^ it was intended to erect a loftier building than that which at present exists. The original architect was compelled to renounce his idea of erecting a colossal edifice for want of fimds or other causes, because the plan of the upper storey does not respond in relative strength to that of the lower one. The buttresses project more than is necessary and are for too strongly constructed to carry merely the com- paratively light weight of the upper portions, which receive the arc bouiants or " flying" parts of the buttresses. The difference between the upper and lower storeys is stiU more marked in the two gables of the transepts, where it was originally intended to erect towers, portions of which existed before the fire of 1481. Rheims, it is well known, was in the "Domaine Royale," and there most of the cathedrals were constructed with the towers which distinguished the large churches built by the Benedictines of Cluny. At Laon and Rouen there were seven towers, and at Chartres there was the same arrangement with the exception of a central tower. At Rheims, before the great fire, there were six towers, as at Laon, and a central tower crowned by a,Jlkhe covered and ornamented with lead. In the tiiirteenth century Guillaume Durand, Bishop of Mende,! gave as a rule for the proper position of ' In his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, of which a translation was published in 1843 by Rev. Benjamin Webb and Rev. John Mason Neale, two of the co-founders of the Ecclesiological Society. Three years later a translation of Messrs. Neale and Webb's Duran- dus was prepared by Mdme. Viot under the superintendence of L'Abb6 Bourass^, a French ecclesiologist of some eminence, who added a long explanatory preface and additional notes. 48 M€)R«THB;aN ^BfAISMSE', religious buildings: "The head of the temple is turned towards the east {l' orient equinoxial), to symbolise the conduct, always equal, of the church militant in her victories and ia her misfortunes." In the twelfth century the statutes of the Chapter of Rheims had proclaimed the same law. But the Ahh6 Cerf, whose views were remarkably broad for so devout a Catholic, did not believe that the cathedral was placed according to the position in which the sim rose on the day when the works were commenced, because all the churches in Rheims are pointed in the same direction — although they were built at different times of the year. He thinks it more probable that the architect planted his building so that the sun might dart its first rays into the middle of the apse on the 15th of August (the Feast of the Assumption) which is the fete day of the patron saint of Rheims, because, he says, upon that day this result is obtained with a precision too astonishing not to have been originally calculated. ■I The stones used in the construction of the walls are generally of large, sometimes of enormous, size, and they are laid upon their natural beds. About halfway up the height of the building there are blocks of 3 and even 4 metres long by i mgtre high — say, 12 feet by 3 feet 6 inches, English. The walls of the western towers are 6 feet 7 inches thick in the lower storey. The principal stones were brought from the quarries of Marsilly, are known as the roche rousse, and are shelly, and to some extent porous. Upon a great number of them are masons' signs and marks, and these are observed both inside and outside the building. These are said to be the guiding marks which the master workmen used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They consist of heads, rounds ornamented with a cross, triangles, squares, etc., and they occur upon a stone as many times as there are courses superposed! V It is not in sculpture alone that the beauty of Rheims' west front resides — ^lovely as are the portals, the statued RHKIMS 49 niches, and the Gallery of Kings above the rose window between the towers. It is modest dimensions, which allow its towers, rising clearly above the roof-line, to assume their just proportions. And this makes us regret all the more the loss in the fire of 148 1 of the four steeples grouped around a central Mche which likewise suffered. With one on either side of each transept front, the pair at the west end, one rising from the jimction of the four arms, and one — the angel spire — still existing on the roof of the apse, such an assemblage of steeples must have produced an effect of extraordinary grandeur, and one which is to some extent presented now by the neigh- boiuring Cathedral of Laon. Only the lower parts of the transeptal towers remain, but as they do not rise beyond the spring of the roof, play no important part in the outline of the cathedral. The two western towers, most graceful specimens of Middle Pointed work, remain to this day as they were roofed in 1515, when the idea of restoring their lead spires was abandoned. Designs for such spires were put forth during the last century, but familiarised as these western towers of Rheims are to us from prints and photographs, we should be sorry to see them otherwise than as they are. I am one of those who believe that Giotto's own spire would not have dam aged the perfection of his lovely campanile at Florence, but it would be sacrilege for anyone now to think of attempting its completion. Neither should we like to see the central towers of York, and Coutances, or the western ones of Wells and Ndtre Dame at Paris, " carried up " by a modern hand : for as the bard of Olney sang : Scenes must be beautifiil which, daily viewed, Please daily, and whose novelty survives Long Knowledge, and the scrutiny of years: Praise justly due to those that I describe. The western towers of Rheims were evidently to have been of the same type as those of Laon. But at the end so NORTHERN FRANCE of the thirteenth century the architect had come to dislike the Laon system in which the open pinnacles were buUt up by a succession of columns and arches piled one on another. He thought long continuous lines of mouldings effective, and though he retained the idea of open pinna- cles he constructed their piers entirely of clusters of mouldings, corresponding with those of his belfry windows. Perhaps the Laon architect had the best of it in the result, but it is impossible not to see the influence he exercised, any more than it is not to admire the beautiful design of the Rhenns steeples. The windows in the apsidal chapels of Rheims Cathe- dral are perhaps the most graceful illustrations of their age and class. They are of two unfoliated lights surmoimted by a large cusped circle, and bear a very close resemblance to those in the eastern part of Westminster Abbey — "a. church built on a French ideal but with English detail; a great French thought expressed in excellent English." i The same type of window is employed at Rheims almost entirely throughout the cathedral; indeed the unity per- vading the design of the whole is most remarkable. The great triple western portal is one of the most com- plete and magnificent specimens of mediaeval iconography; — a work unsurpassed in any country or age for origindity of design and excellence of execution. It comprises nearly six himdred statues, many of which are of colossal size. The central doorway is specially dedicated in honour of the Blessed Virgin, the patroness of the cathe- dral; her effigy occupies the transom which divides the passage into the two bays, and is a work of especial merit. The same may be said of the group between the vertex of each door archway and the point of the gable. In the middle one is the Coronation of the Virgin; in the left- hand one is the Crucifixion, and in the right-hand one Our Lord in his character of Judge of the World. ' Sir Gilbert Scott. RHEIMS 51 The doorway opening to the north aisle is dedicated to Grod the Father; that of the south to God the Son. A complete iconography of these porches is a study in itseK. Some details of it are to be found in M. Gail- habaud's " L' Architecture du V. au XVI. sihde et les Arts qui en dependent," and in M. Viollet-le-Duc's " Dictionnaire de I'Architecture Franfaise," both works of extraordinary research, and which should be found in the library of every admirer of mediaeval art. Of the immense quantity of reverent thought, extending over a number of years, bestowed upon the west front of Rheims, and how carefully and clearly the main object was kept in view, namely j_^to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary and to make Kgr story stand out conspicuously, one "dure hardly spSak. I would, however, more par- ticularly point out the manner in which the Rheims sculpture exemplifies the sculpture of the Middle Ages. It is needless to go further than the central portal for this purpose. The figure of the Virgin in the Visitation scene is replete with womanly dignity. Technically the jambs are draped in admirable lines, but it is more especially the quiet dignity, not only of the features, but the whole figure, which renders this statue remarkable as showing the excellence to which some mediaeval sculpture at- tained. Many, too, of the smaller figures above the porches, such as those fragments which depict Adam and Eve in Paradise, show a remarkable amoimt of technical skill. On the other hand, the figure of the Virgin who stands between the two doorways is, as regards the features, quite deficient in all the finer attributes which distin- guished the secondary figure. Her features are the per- sonification of silliness; the statue, which should be most impressive,, accordingly loses most of its effect upon an uneducated observer. Here, therefore, we have visible, without moving a step, examples showing what has already been mentioned — ^the skill and purity of mediaeval 52 NORTHERN FRANCE sculpture and its unequal character. If the main statue had been like that on the right hand of the entrance, itv would have been even more unpressive than the womanly figure we so much admire. In the same way the nude and almost grotesque statues in the right portal, representing, it is supposed, some of the chief persons of the Old Testament, are in striking contrast with many of the dignified and life-like figures which are so numerous on this west front. I might have fortified my position with more detailed descriptions and more elaborate arguments, but it was my wish rather to suggest this point to anyone who might be about, either professionally or as an amateur, to study Rheims Cathedral. Possibly there may be some who will not agree with these views, but they appear to me to be logical conclusions from a careful observation of the fajade, and the other portions of the building — ^the mass of sculpture for ex- ample in "the interior on either side of the main west door — ^would, I am sure, serve for them to uphold these views. But whatever opinion may be held, nothing can diminish the value of the west front of Rheims Cathedral to those who prize architectural and artistic masterpieces. The two larger portals of the northern transept are of earlier date than the western ones, and are of greater interest to the practical student than their gorgeous sisters. Less important naturally in their dimensions, and much earlier m character, they form, with the lancet windows and the rose above them, special objects for the attention of the true connoisseur at Rheims, The typanum of the central door is carried up so far on the outside as to almost entirely conceal from view the three lancets, which, with an arcading pierced with a like number of small round windows of six cuspings, and the great rose window above, form the ensemble of the north transept. This is the part of Rheims Cathedral to which the student will recur again and again during his examina- RHEIMS S3 tion of the structure; it is unquestionably the noblest feature in the whole design, and the sculpture which surrounds the lancet lights on the inside must be seen closely to be properly appreciated. The great central portal of this facade has its tym- panum occupied with the scene of the Last Judgment, and offers the singularity of its orders of statuary in the arch mouldings being arranged on the same plane, instead of retiring successively in the usual way, within and behind each other. This doorway, too, is divided by a pedestal carrying a statue of Our Lord holding a globe in his hand, signifi- cative of the character of Saviour of the world. This figure has been pronounced by a French critic one of the sublimest conceptions of the Christian iconography of the Middle Ages. The statues which abovmd at Rheims are generally of one piece of stone, which is fixed en delit — ^placed, that is to say, with the bed exposed vertically to tiie air. One of the characteristics of this building which renders it superior to the generality of mediseval works is the quality of its sculpture. Some of the angels, carved about 1225, at the angles of the apsidal chapels imder the cornice, are equal in point of execution to Greek statuary. There is nothing at Paris to rival the Greek character of the north transept of Rheims, even though this door was finished before 1200. Both in composition and execution many of the draperies covering the ahnost colossal figures in the west front resemble Roman work; and this classical feeling,- which pervades much of the early sculpture at Rheims, is due to the numberless vestiges of antique art which then abounded in the metropolis of Belgian Gaul. One fact remains, which may mterest Frenchmen, who from the throne to the garret, seem more or less inspired with the poetry of revolution. There is a statue of St Sixtus, the first Bishop of Rheims, who is represented vested in sacerdotal garments with a 54 NORTHERN FRANCE breastplate {rational) and mitre; and this last is conical in shape, identically the same bonnet which, in the end of the eighteenth century, covered so many vandals' heads, and which, it has been thought, was invented at that period. The "Galerie des Rois," which extends across the western fafade, and forms its third division, is formed of a series of foliated arcades surmounted by gables and supported by groups of slender shafts. Here are forty- two statues of kings of France — from Clovis to Charles VI. Each king is in the attitude of repose, holding his robe with one hand, while the other is placed on his breast; four or five hold the sceptre, and aU are crowned. From the earlier character of their details, it would seem that the lower parts of the transept fronts were portions of previous buildings which, after tiie fire of 121 1, were foimd in a state of preservation sufficient to allow of their being incorporated in the new work. Extremely beautiful are the flanking towers with their large open windows of two uncusped lights surmoimted by a sexfoiled circle; so much so indeed, as to render their non-completion a matter of real regret. They do not rise beyond the grand central rose window, and are capped with square spires. The solid gables of the transepts serve for the display of statuary in high relief — the work, however, of artists of the Flamboyant era, and are the only parts of this cathe- dral which bespeak a date so late as 1481, the year of the destruction of the roof; so that probably they were included in the restorations effected subsequently to that disaster. It is not very usual to find this gable enrichment in a French chvirch. It is, however, very frequent in Ger- many — ^Halberstadt Cathedral presents a magnificent example of it — and it is probable that, from its vicinity to the German frontier, this work at Rheims caught something of the Teutonic spirit. RHEIMS 55 The original architect of Rheims Cathedral appears to have laid the foundations of his church with even more than usual precautions. The piers are carried up in large and selected materials, well jointed and set, and no settlement is anywhere perceptible. The vaults are solid, and skilfully supported by flying buttresses well proportioned, springing at a reasonable breadth, and from buttresses well based; nor do they present any fissure. Throughout the church there are no settle- ments or deviations from the upright. The whole plan is well conceived, and eminently answers to the in- structions given to his architect by the noble founder. It was exactly, and even rapidly, executed up to the height of the vaults over the aisles from and including the choir down to the middle of the nave. The building had scarcely reached that point when it appears that from some cause or other the archbishop and canons determined to renounce the idea of carrying out the project in all its grandeur. The original plans were not abandoned; they were only cut down, affording a proof that even in those days of luxury for architects they were occasionally called upon to modify their projects from circumstances. Those who have examined this cathedral carefully can- not have failed to notice that some alteration was made in the plans when the building had reached the height of the vaulting of the aisles; the external buttresses thus far will be seen to have a weight and dimension by no means corresponding to the slight superstructure which receives the flying buttresses. This observation is con- firmed by the cutting of the stones, the two courses of which thus brought together do not at all correspond; and it may be concluded that a diminution of height was somewhat abruptly effected at the level of the triforium. On turning to the facade of the iforth transept the same observation will be made. The upper storeys of the towers do not altogether well correspond to the lower S6 NORTHERN FRANCE storey; and the change of plan is found to take place exactly at this level. It has been remarked that, in- ternally, Rheims Cathedral is wanting in breadth for its height; certainly, if what has just been said be found correct, the architect intended that it should be still more lofty, that is, 125 feet — the breadth of the nave being in the clear 44 feet, and, with the aisles, in all 99 feet. The internal length of the church is 453 feet. In what manner the architect intended to appropriate any extra height no document exists to enable us to form an opinion. Was a " tribune" over the aisles, as at Laon, N6tre Dame, Paris, and the glorious choir of the neigh- bouring St Remi part of his project? All is doubt. That economy of funds can have had really nothing to do with this change or curtailment is manifest from the execution of the triforia and clerestoreys. The west front must have been built after this resolution was adopted, and neither this, nor the somewhat meaningless yet very elaborate and costly parapet of open work sur- mounting the nave clerestorey, upwards of 14 feet high, evidences a want of funds. The uniformity which pervades the Cathedral of Rheims is not the least of its remarkable features. Throughout the church, except in the fagades of the transepts, the windows are of two plain lancet lights surmounted by a cusped circle. Another remarkable feature is the absence of those side chapels to the nave, which, however much they may add to the picturesque- ness of the internal cross views, prevent the transepts from having their full value, and give an awkward fulness to the design of the whole outside. The columns of the arches which divide the nave and choir from their aisles are alike of uniform character throughout, being composed of a massive cylindrical nucleus with four slender shafts grouped around it Perhaps the capitals, closely copied from natural foliage, are rather too large, but what a magnificent array do RHEIMS 57 these great ranges of pillars present. In the apse the columns are cylinders without the engaged shafts. , > It was generally the custom in the thirteenth century to use wooden bonds or temporary tie-beams during the erection of arcades, in order to sustain the lateral thrust until the piers were sufl&ciently weighted with masonry above them. Only then were these tie-beams removed, and the ends of some of them can stiU be seen imbedded in the soffits of the arches at their springing point over the abacus of the capitals. At Rheims, instead of wood, iron hooks were inserted in the masonry, and iron bars, with an eye at each end, were used; and thus the equilibrium of the piers was maintained until they were strong enough to resist un- aided the thrust of the arches they supported. Some of these hooks have remained in their places as they were originally fixed. Another proof of the robust character of the work at Rheims is liiat in the stairs of the towers three steps are cut in one piece of stone, octagonal in shape, placed en delit. One cannot help being struck, as I have already observed, by the great likeness, especially in their chevets, between Rheims Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. There can be little doubt that King Henry III., durmg his sojourn in France, became enamoured of this ar- rangement, which in its perfected form he may have seen in course of being carried out at Amiens, Beauvais, Rheims, and elsewhere. It would naturally strike him as being well suited to the reconstruction of the eastern portion of a church, already possessing an apse with a circumambient aisle. Judging from internal evidence I should imagine that an English architect or master of the works was commissioned to visit the great cathedrals then in process of erection in France, with a view of making his design on the general idea suggested by them. 58 NORTHERN FRANCE Would that, like his contemporary Villard de Honnecourt, he had bequeathed to us his sketch-book! The general resemblance here referred to does not amount to any proof of identity between the building and its architect, but it is a most interesting fact that Westminster Abbey is the only introduction into England of the perfect French arrangement of chapels at the eastern extremity of the church, as a chevet, a combination of design beautiful beyond comparison; indeed, the square ends of our cathedrals are hardly worthy to be con- sidered, as in any degree equivalent to, the charm of those groups of radiating chapels at Amiens, Beauvais, Le Mans, Altenberg, Cologne, Prague, and elsewhere, and it seems remarkable that where other buildings were really copied almost literally by their architects, and transplanted into England, so beautiful an arrangement as the chevet of which Westminster affords a noble ex- ample should not have taken root in this island. In the minute particulars arising out of the comparison of the east end of Westminster with the contemporary ch-urches of France, Sir Gilbert Scott, in his " Gleanings," mentions remarkable points of difference, and an ab- sence of any such marks as might be sufficient to refer this masterpiece of design and construction to any known architect; neither could he detect a French character in the details, although the comparison is so essentially and singularly foreign. In this respect Westminster stands almost alone. It is indeed a building of marvellous beauty internally; its lofty arcade, richly diapered span- drels, deeply moulded triforium, witli its double order of traceried arches, surmoimted by. lofty clerestorey win- dows, form a composition hardly to be surpassed. Nor is there any cathedral bearing close resemblance to it. Yet, strange to say, the nave of this building has been often compared with the nave of Rheims Cathedral, to which it bears very litde similarity, Westminster being infinitely superior, excepting always the west front of Rheims, which, RHEIMS 59 as a work of its kind, is unsurpa§|,gd. The only reason we can assign for its beirig'puF in comparison with Rheims is that, like Westminster, it has been the church generally chosen for coronations. It may sound remarkable that my first impression of the interior of Rheims, on entry, twenty years ago, was that of disappointment; simply from the circumstance of my having expected to find, after the simlit splendour of the exterior, that dark, religious gloom, and all those dusky tints of ancient stone masonry which impress the mind on entering the cathedral at Milan. Instead of such sombre dimness, all was light and sunny, and looking as fresh as if the glorious edifice had been completed in the second half of the last century. It was, nevertheless, evident that if all the aisle windows had not been rifled of their precious adornment through the Boeotian ignor- ance of the Louis XV. epoch, there would have been none of this garish light. ^ Were this completing adornment restored, the beauty of the interior of Rheims Cathedral would be un paraUlled . " ~Evmas it is, there are scintillations of splendour within these consecrated walls which nothing within the whole range of pictorial art_^can__sijQi»ss, and let come what may within the scope of vision, when these per- fections have once been gazed upon, they leave upon the memory a conviction that Art has here made its chef d'ceuvre, and human ingenuity left nothing to be desired. At the time of this first visit to Rheims the atrocious disfiguration to which the ecclesiastics and commissioners of Taste (!) lent their sanction in 1825, were still in evidence. The capitals of the columns, the ribs of the quadripartite vaulting and the tiers of niches on either side of the interior arch of the great western portal, were bedaubed with bright-yellow ochre. The cells of the vaulting were tinged with shady sky blue. Whether The late Lord Tennyson remarked upon this unequal dis- tribution of light when visiting Rheims for the first time, 6o NORTHERN FRANCE at noon or dusk this most revolting gaudiness was absolutely painful to the sense. Each of the niches on either side the west door is occupied by a statuette, 30 inches high, either of some great scriptural personage or canonised saint; and the effect, however fantastical, of a legion of images engrossing so large a space would have imparted more than ordinary richness to the architectural embellishments of the sacred edifice had the material been left in its natural state; instead of which, all the niches were coated with sky-blue colouring; and the sculptured fret-work above and below them was picked out in yellow ochre. All this extends to an altitude of 60 feet, the niches ascending in threes. The aspect of the whole was bizarre in the extreme, and reminded me of the tiers of "preparations" in Sur- geons' Hall, or any other such museum exhibiting objects of curiosity, in or out of bottles. All these " beautifyings,'' which, to my imboimded gratification, had disappeared when I paid my second visit to this "Queen of French Cathedrals" in 1894, were brought into use for the coronation, on Whitsunday, 1825, of Charles X. The decorative artificers drove great hooks into the columns, from the capitals of which were suspended, through the entire length of the nave, the richest tapestries and banners; and the Chapter and their employes thought it would heighten the effect of the upholsterers' handi- work if the capitals were so coloured as to exhibit the appearance of dead gold. It bore a much stronger resemblance to moutarde de Dijon. But how common in those days was such delinquency! It was a matter of gratulation, in this instance, that some Mr Compo,^ of St Antholin's notoriety, had not added a dash or two of vermUion ! ' Vide Paget's "St Antholin's," published in 1844, and one of the happiest exposes ever written on church beautifying and repairing, or "botching." RHEIMS 6i Since the coronation of Louis XVI., June ii, 1775, there had been none. For Louis XVII., who was made away with, there was none but that of sorrow. Louis XVIII. had desired it eagerly, but he was not sufficiently strong or alert to bear the fatigue of a ceremony so long and complicated, and his infirmities would have been too evident beneath the vault of the ancient cathedral of Rheims. An interval of fifty years — from 1775 to 1825 — separated the coronation of Louis XVI. and that of his brother Charles X. How many things had happened in that half century, one of the most fruitful in vicissitudes and catastrophes, one of the strangest and most troubled of which history has preserved the memory ! In his memoirs, under date May 26, 1825, Chateau- briand gives his impressions of these decorations at Rheims for the coronation of that "Eldest Son of the Church"— Charles X.: "This morning I visited Saint Remi and the Cathedral, decorated in coloured paper. The only clear idea I can have of this last edifice is from the decorations of the Jeanne d'Arc of SchUler, played at Berlin. The opera- scene painters showed me on the banks of the Spree what the opera-scene painters on the banks of the Vesle hide from me. But I amused myself with the old races, from Clovis with his Franks and his legions come down from heaven, to Charles VII., with Jeanne d'Arc." At the time of the Revolution Rheims possessed, besides its cathedral, two churches of almost equal grandeur, St Remi and St Nicaise. The citizens were called upon by the National Assembly to declare which should be saved, and they decided in favour of St Remi, from veneration to the patron saint. Thus St Nicaise, which, if we may judge from a model of it in one of the choir chapels at St Remi, must have deserved its appellation, " Pearl of the City, " was doomed to destruction. Its altar, in the Louis XVI. taste, was translated to the cathedral 62 NORTHERN FRANCE and placed in the long eastern limb, or " arri^re chceur," which does not appear now to be used for any particular purpose, but whose elongated character was no doubt necessitated by the space required to impart due solemnity to the coronation ceremonial of the French kings. In former times this retro-choir was the depository of the treasures of the cathedral — ^much in the same way as the Early English portion of the choir at Ely was, up to the middle of the sixteenth century — of all the many rich and valuable gifts which kings, prelates and pious mdi- viduals of various classes and conditions had offered in their zeal and devotion. Of nearly all these the cathedral was despoiled in 1791, Confiscated by a decree of the National Assembly, they were coined into money for the service of the state. The few that remained were destroyed during the Revolutionary fury of 1793, when the cathedral itself had a very narrow escape. Pacing the aisles of this majestic church, there came into my mind some passages from the "Coronation Mass" of that last and noblest Roman in the purely Classical style of art. I refer to Cherubini,^ in whom a slight episode at the age of nearly fifty years caused a complete change of artistic auns. Worn out with failure and disappointment as a composer of opera, he turned when well into life to sacred art, creating a new kind of religious music which had nothing in common with anything that had been produced before. It was in this cathedral on the occasion of Charles X.'s coronation that this Mass, styled by Girod in his treatise ~ 'Maria Luigi Cherubini, born at Florence in 1760, is perhaps best known at the present day by this Mass, and his overtures to the operas of Anacreon, Les Deux Journees (a wonderful and most poetical creation), and Les Abencerages, by his Requiem, and his Treatise on Counterpoint. Auber and Hal^vy were among the pupils of Cherubini, who was one of the most popular of the many composers who crowded Paris in his day. RHEIMS 63 De la Musique Rengteuse, "the most beautiful of Cheru- bini's Masses," was first performed. To the march played during the king's communion, Berlioz in his criticism of this "Coronation Mass," invites special attention : " A mystical expression in all its purity, contemplation, and Catholic ecstasy, it breathes only of Divine Love, of faith without a doubt, of calm, of the serenity of a soul in the presence of its Creator. No earthly sound comes to mar its heavenly quiet, and it brings tears to the eyes of those who listen to it. If ever the word 'sublime' has had a true and just application it is apropos of Cherubini's 'Communion March.'" The works of this composer, whether for the stage or for the Church, will always serve as models, because written on a system of exactitude almost mathematical. Thus one thinks of Cherubini when pacing the aisles of Rheims Cathedral. The second of Gounod's trilogies — ^the Mors et Vita — far superior to his first (the Redemption) in style, severity of form, and grandeur of treatment, was inspired by, and I believe partly composed in this glorious church. In the archbishop's palace is preserved a very careful drawing of the magnificent Flamboyant jube erected in 1420, with its pair of circular open-work staircases. ^ This was removed in order to gain a more spacious effect. It is to be wished that it were possible to reproduce, from authority, the ancient fittings with the stone enclosures to the choir, probably in the style of the juM, and featuring those at Chartres; and also the ancient stone screens 'The great crucifix which surmounted this juU is, however, preserved in the chapel of St Jean, the first to the right on entering the choir aisle. The pillar of the nave on either side, at the pomt where the screen crossed it, still bears the marks of the two turrets which contained the stairs conducting to the loft. All the kings of France from Charles VII. in 1420 to Louis XV. in 1722 were en- throned in this jube, with the exception of Henri IV. For the coro- nation of Charles X. a temporary jube was erected and the spot where it stood is still pointed out. 64 NORTHERN FRANCE which shut off the apsidal chapels; and above all the magnificent high altar which stood under the crossing on the rich mosaic pavement, brought there in 1791 from, the destroyed abbey church of St Nicaise. The mosaic "maze" already alluded to was taken up in 1779, "parce qu'il etait choqud des courses des enfants, et des Strangers, ; qui s'amusaient quelque fois k parcourir pied a pied toutes les sinuositfe et les concours de ce labyrinthe." Much as the destruction, in the middle of the eighteenth century, of the ancient jube is to be deplored, the view of the interior of Rheims Cathedral from the west door to the very penetralia of the Lady Chapel is truly superb. There are none of those disfigurations of the columns in the apse with sham marbles, nor is there one of those pseudo classical altarpieces with gilt rays and sprawling figures, which, through the combined ignorance and mauvais goM of the clergy might make even angels weep such as we see at Amiens and Chartres; objects which, so far from adorning the sanctuary, tend only to de- grade it. The stalls which occupy the two easternmost bays of the nave were erected in 1745, when the late-fifteenth century ones which Archbishop Pierre de Laval was instrumental in providing were ousted. The Gothic grilles at the entrance of and on either side of the choir were designed in 1825 by a M. Mazois, celebrated for his studies in Pompeian architecture! The case of the choir organ {prgue d' accompaniment) is tolerable Gothic of 1837. The sanctuary is formed within the crossing, the high altar standing under its eastern arch. It is in the storied windows that the almost inapproach- able character of the work at that time in general, and Rheims Cathedral in particular, may be seen. Some of the old traditions still cling to the manners of the chapter.? A family of glass painters in the city have kept the cathe- dral windows in repair for nearly a century and a half; and a century before, in 1640, an ancestor of the same RHEIMS 65 family executed the windows in the cnurch or the Minims at Rethel. In 1684, before the erection of a new building in the court of the archbishop's palace, certain early glass furnaces were discovered. But the names of the original glass painters have not transpired. The earliest inscriptions are : " Jean Monneuze, garson vitrier, 1688; " "Pivori, gars, vitrier, 1632;" and these are probably the pretentious authors of ill-executed repairs. Yet the art of glass painting was practised at Rheims in the eleventh century, since, according to M. Herb^ in his Histoire des Beaux Arts, a monk named Roger made his name famous in that city by the beauty of the windows which he painted. Glass-painting, withal, is as old as the Christian era, and it has been pretended, though upon doubtful evi- dence, that Horace ornamented the glass windows of his apartment with licentious pictures. It is certain, how- ever, that the art was known in the fourth and sixth centuries, and painted glass is mentioned by Suetonius, an author who, in his own words, was a young man twenty years after the death of the Emperor Nero. To the painters of the twelfth century the writings of St Bernard were vast sources of wealth, and formed the text of a thousand sermons in glass. One of the great rose windows of Rheims Cathedral is an almost literal illustration of the death and assumption of the Virgin as described by Jacques de Voragine in the Legende doree. In the windows of the chapels opening from the pro- cession path, the stained glass is in the mosaic style prevalent during the Transitional and Early Pointed Gothic epochs. That in the central window of the Lady Chapel is of exquisite beauty, and seen as it can be from liie western doorway, at a distance of nearly 460 feet, forms one of the most charming objects of .the interior. __J!li£_large„clerestorey- windows, also, gleaming in fine blue and purple, are considered the finest in Europe, 66 NORTHERN FRANCE as one might readily believe, and the cost of their erection was in every instance defrayed from the king's revenues. Thus it is that we are able to accoimt for the over- flowing magnificence of the ornaments introduced into this noble cathedral; for each king of France, at his coronation in Rheims, made a point of presenting to it some princely donation, either to shed splendour on the ceremonial of Divine worship, or to embellish the edifice in which he was crowned. What a magnificent array do these clerestorey windows in the nave at Rheims present! Each has two tiers of figures — a king above, an archbishop below — an arrangement peculiar to Rheims cathedral and one contrary to liturgical rules, but easily explained in a cathedral of coronations. In contemplating this glorious series of windows one cannot help being struck with the great superiority of the glass, in those nearest the transept, of the thirteenth century, over that with which the succeeding one enriched the windows nearest the west end. In the clerestorey windows on either side of the choir are figures of the apostles, and below them, following their rank in the province, those of the bishops suffragan at that time to Rheims, Soissons taking the precedence, and after him, Laon, Beauvais, Noyon, Senlis, Tournai, Cambrai, Chilons, Therouanne, Amiens, etc., with at their side a model of the cathedral. Perhaps the halo crowning this hallowed structure is the upper rose window of the west front, for there are two, one above the other, which is an unusual feature. The uppe r of the se is 40 feet in diameter, and beyoncL all comparison the most brilliant and beautiful in the world. Twenty-four rays divide the circle into coruscant sections, throughout which the most vivid splendours of the ruby, carbuncle, emerald, amethyst, topaz, and - diamond are intermingled with transparent hues of lapis lazuli, as though a meridian sun were blazing with RHEIMS 67 the colours of those several gems appended to its own celestial brightness. This is exclusive praise, indeed; but I unhesitatingly place it on record, and am confident it will stand unimpeached. A detailed study of the marvellous stained glass at Rheims would be deeply interesting from a double point of view — the historical and the artistic. But to the Chris- tian antiquary that in the great rose of the southern transept must appear one of the most marvellous cre- ations of mediaeval art. Conception and execution are alike superb. Here, the figure of the First Person of the Trinity is surrounded by all the celestial powers, blessed spirits who appear lost in an ecstasy of adora- tion in the presence of the supreme majesty of the Eternal. The effect produced upon the crowd of ignorant and really faithful worshippers by such marvellously brilliant illustrations as the storied windows of Rheims can now be easily conceived; but to describe it is stiU impossible. How small an influence similar mediaeval work — of undoubted merit and rare value in the eyes of the present generation — exercised upon the feelings of even educated people only seventy years ago is known to living men; and this, though it can be described, is inexplicable to those who are now reaping the benefits of the revolution which has almost silently taken place in the public mind — a revolution not less efficacious to the prosperity of England than that of the eighteenth century was pernicious to France, when much of the inestimable treasure preserved in the different cathedrals was ruthlessly converted into money; when the statue of Liberty was "elev6e au lieu et place ci-devant Sainte Vierge" in the Cathedral of Paris, and the words in colossal characters — ^"Temple de la Raison" — were inscribed upon that portal beneath which each hereditary king of France, with one Protestant exception from Philip Augustus to Charles X. had humbly passed to receive the blessings of the Church upon his coronation. 68 NORTHERN FRANCE The archbishopric of Rheims was suppressed at the Concordat of 1802, and incorporated with Meaux, but the Concordat of 182 1 re-established this ancient metropole, and gave it as suffragans Soissons, Chilons, Beauvais, and Amiens. Before the Revolution the Archbishop of Rheims had eight suffragans — Soissons, Laon, Beauvais, Noyon, ChMons, Senlis, Amiens, and Boulogne. Of these, Laon, Noyon, Senlis, and Boulogne were sup- pressed at the Concordat.^ Some years ago, when on a tour among the cathedrals and churches of Northeastern France, I "came in," as the expression has it, for a grand function at Rheims. It was Rogation Sunday, when most of the young people go to their first Communion, and a large confirmation by the archbishop afterwards takes place. The latter was one of the most impressive ceremonies I have ever witnessed in a Continental church. The magnificent cathedral was completely filled with a dense crowd (always to my mind in itself an affecting spectacle), and every step or column or grille was occupied by eager, crowds, clustered like bees. From noon till five the mitred Cardinal archbishop continued to circle from the high altar down to the west doors of that long building, administering the rite to successive lines of candidates. Twelve attendant priests assisted him in his arduous task, two monsignori, in purple, holding open his cope, a caudarius or train-bearer, a priest bearing the oU, an acolyte with a lighted taper in what looked very like a bedroom candlestick of silver, others with baskets for tickets, etc. The archbishop's robes were the most splendid I ever saw worn by an ecclesiastic, and his ' The Archbishop of Rheims is now styled as Archbishop of Rheims and Laon; the Bishop of Beauvais as Bishop of Noyon and Senlis; the Bishop of Arras as Bishop of Arras, Boulogne, and St Omer. At the coronation of Charles X. the bishops of Soissons, Beauvais, Chalons and Amiens attended the Archbishop of Rheims when receiving the King at the great west door of the cathedral on the eve of this solemn function. RHEIMS 69 throne, which an emperor might covet (crimson velvet and gold, with large white plumes) occupied the spot where a long line of kings had sat at their coronation. The female candidates were all in white muslin, with long veils ; the youths wore each a white.silk maniple on the left arm, edged with a broad fringe of gold. AU the while the great organ in the north transept beautifully played (with a pause now and then when a Litany was chanted and joined in very generally by the yoimg people), continued to pour forth its notes, now seeming to die away amidst the vaulting, and anon making the fabric vibrate with its thunders. The concluding tableau was most imposing. The archbishop, divested of his mitre, came down from his throne to a footstool in front of the altar, with his cross- bearer, pastoral staff-holder, and all his suite posed round him; the canons left their stalls, the six priests who officiated at the altar knelt round it in their golden copes, with other lesser officials, many in number. The altar itself gorgeous with the rich candelabra, the gifts of successive monarchs, became a blaze of light. I had noticed a great flickering of candles behind the grilles round the arrihre chosur, and at this moment fifty of the most meritorious candidates filed in, each bearmg a long lighted taper, and added themselves to the kneeling crowd. The two marvellous rose windows at the west end began to blaze with emeralds and rubies as the sun declined, and tinged the cloud of incense that rose up when the glittering monstrance was elevated; the great bell of Rheims, heard above the jubilant notes of the organ, added its voice, with a few deep, solemn, thrilling toUs, and the ceremony was over. 70 NORTHERN FRANCE SOISSONS It is in journeying from Compiegne to Soissons that we come first on that grand style which distinguishes the buildings of this part of France. Laon, chief in grandeur, both natural and architectural; Noyon, St Quentin, Meaux, Senlis, and Soissons are magnificent illustrations of the main features of the style, whilst smaller churches and remains of abbeys, such as those of Ourscamp, near Noyon, and Longport, near Soissons, enable us to appre- ciate all its varieties. Nothing can be more delightful to the architectural student than such a tourette as can be made ia a week or ten days from Paris, by way of Meaux and Braisne, to Rheims, and thence to Soissons, Laon and St Quentin, taking Beauvais and Amiens on the way home; for in so doing he will be making acquaintance with a group of churches which impress one more and more each time they are seen. They are remarkable evidences also of the wonderfid vigour of the age in which they were built; for they are all of very nearly the same date — the end of the twelfth and early part of the thirteenth centuries, and conceived on the grandest possible scale. Indeed, France under Philip Augustus affords a spectacle such as perhaps no other coimtry in the world can shew. For if we think of the wars which characterised his reign, it is almost incredible that it should nevertheless at the same time have been possible to foimd such churches as those of Paris, Bourges, Chartres, Amiens, Laon, Meaux, Soissons, Noyon, Rouen, Seez, Coutances, Bayeux; yet such was the case, and some of them were completed in but a few years with extraordinary energy. Few things are more impressive than N6tre Dame at Laon, even in its present state; and what must it not have been with its central steeple and six towers and SOISSONS 71 spires which once adorned its several facades, rising, as they all did, from the summit of a mighty hill, seen on all sides for many a long mile by the dwellers in the plain which stretches away from its feet! And yet, magnificent as is this great church at Laon, it is one only among many; and such a site as Soissons, inferior as it is in situation, affords, nevertheless, in its architectural re- mains, matter of almost equal interest. The general view of Soissons, obtained from a distance, is striking only for its architectural character. The effect is maiuly attributable to the fact that, in addition to the cathedral with its solitary southwest steeple, and the church of St Leger, the city also contains the west front with two towers and spires of the ruined abbey of St Jean des Vignes. It is to this ruin that the eye first turns in anticipation of discovering the famous cathedral of the city; but a little acquaintance with the details of the two buildings leaves no room to doubt that the cathedral, with its lonely square tower, is nevertheless by very much the most interesting and noble example of art which the city contains. Dating in its greater part from 1175 to 1215, Soissons is the purest specimen of Early Gothic in this part of France, and one of the stateliest. Its plan is very remark- able, its details in some parts are of exquisite beauty, and ia point of vinity one might call it the Salisbury of foreign churches; while as for the justness of the pro- portions of the nave, choir, and aisles, both in themselves and to one another, nothing can surpass them. Though the church, compared with others, is not large, it still deserves a place in the first rank of French cathedrals. Every pier in the nave and choir is on the same pattern; all the bays in the vaulting are alike; so are the clerestorey windows, with the exception of the lancets of the apse; so are the beautiful arcades, which form the triforium round both nave and choir. And with all this perfect regularity there is no monotony; the perfect 72 NORTHERN FRANCE proportions instantly arrest the eye, and never cease to give pleasure. But the chief glory of the church is the southern tran- sept, en which I shall presently dilate with all that enthusiasm to which so noble a monument of the genius of the twelfth century is entitled. The western end of Soissons Cathedral hardly satisfies the eye which has become accustomed to the interior. It has indeed those stately doorways of chaste and fault- less pattern; but around them there is a mass of plain wall which seems hardly congruous either with the ornament fitted into it or with the generally elaborate character of the church. Over the central doorway is the usual rose, but in this case enclosed within a highly ornamented pointed arch, an arrangement I do not re- member to have noticed elsewhere. The stone of Soissons, employed at all times in the construction of the church, being one resisting frost, has allowed the edifice to preserve its freshness, without any very extensive repairs being called into requisition. It is a beautiful light grey colour, and when the great apse is seen against a background of blue sky, it reminds one of a perpendicular cliff. The plan of Soissons Cathedral includes two western towers (one of which only rises beyond the spring of the roof); nave and aisles of seven bays; transepts; a choir of five bays, and an apse of five sides. Chapels are formed between the buttresses of the choir, and the apse is surrounded by an aisle and five contiguous chapels. These chapels are circular in plan at the ground line, octag- onal above, and are groined with a vavilt which covers the aisle also — a mode which is seldom satisfactory in execu- tion, a falling off from the structural truth of those plans in which the groining of each chapel is complete in itself, and distinct from that of the aisle. The south transept is apsidal, and has a small circular chapel of two stages in height attached on its southeastern side. The end of ^ ^ < a u hfl X c H ■^ < U o t/l ?^ > o z; tn QJ n ^ c/} rH J ~r < :f a; ^ a w bn K :: < ■j* I ) o t/i (b ?^ ;:; o Z [/J QJ o c, SOISSONS 73 the north transept is square, and a choice example of the Middle Pointed style. It is impossible to examine Soissons Cathedral — particularly its southern transept, which was begun in 117s by Nevillon de Cerisy, bishop of the see, as a first instalment towards the rebuilding of the Romanesque church — ^without having recollections of several other churches forced upon the mind. At Noyon and Tournai, for example, we have noble instances of a church of somewhat earlier date, both of the transepts of which are apsidal; but the south transept of Soissons has a great advantage over Noyon in that it has an aisle round the transept opening with three arches, supported upon slender and lofty shafts into each bay, both on the groimd level and in the triforium. Indeed there are few fairer works of the period than this south transept of Soissons; for whether we regard its plan, general scheme, or detail of design and sculpture, we cannot fail to recognise it as the work of a master mind; the same mind, I should conceive, as is seen at Noyon, but at a slightly later period. Then, again, a comparison of the choir and nave at Soissons with the former of Meaux — erected successively after the completion of the transept, but entirely in the style which developed itself at the beginning of the thirteenth century — shows so great a similarity of plan, dimensions, and design, that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that they were the works of the same man, and at about the same time. And each of these churches has, nevertheless, some one especial feature of its own, wherein it is unique and vmmatched; Soissons has its exquisite south transept, Senlis its grandly expanded choir, Noyon its western porch, and Laon its cluster of steeples, by which everyone who has seen them must especially have been struck. One of the features which marks the churches of this school is the fourfold division in height of the main 74 NORTHERN FRANCE walls. There is first the arcade, then the triforium,i which is large, groined and lighted by its own win- dows, then a blank arcade which is analogous to the triforia of our English churches, and lastly the clere- storey. At Soissons this quadruple division occurs in the south transept only, for by the time the choir and nave were designed the usual triple division had come into fashion. Some of the capitals in this apsidal transept at Soissons are well sculptured, though generally very simply, and they are often held with iron ties (as in Italian examples) to resist the thrust of the groining. It should be noticed that the whole of the walling in this transept is circular in plan; this is generally a mark of early date, and though it occasioned some complexity in the arches and groining, it undoubtedly often produces a very charming effect. On the exterior, one of the most noticeable features is that the ridge of the south transept roof reaches no higher than the eaves of the rest of the church. Yet such is the ease with which the design is managed that this small- ness of scale is not noticed, until from a distance a general view of the building is obtained, when it looks undoubtedly very lopsided. The construction of this transept is exceedingly solid, but affords at the same time abundant light; as a proof of the solidity it remains in a perfect state of preservation, notwithstanding the terrible shock caused in 1813 by the explosion of a powder magazine. ■ These groined triforia, which occur at Paris, Mantes, Senlis, Laon, Noyon, St Remi, at Rheims, etc., are called tribunes by the French antiquaries. At Montierender, where both occur, the upper stage is more than usually similar to our English triforia; and in all these cases it would be best, perhaps, to accept the French terminology as being substantially correct. The tribune is, in fact, a second stage of the aisle. SOISSONS 75 Internally, at the west end of the nave, a vestibule, vaulted at a corresponding elevation with the roof of the side aisles, is placed in communication with these by an arcade of three arches, the one opening into the nave and supporting the tribune de I'orgue being semicircular, those to the aisles lancet-headed and remarkably stilted. From the gallery over the central part of this internal narthex an arch rising to the fuU height of the clerestorey opens on either hand into the towers. The rose window lighting the west end of the nave is of good design; its simplicity by no means detracts from its effect, while the ironwork harmonises well with the other tracery. The seven moderately obtusely pointed pier arches between the nave and its aisles have mouldings of the simplest section {i.e., two orders of edge-rolls) and repose upon single cylindrical columns of very graceful pro- portions. The capitals of these, composed of the usual stiff foliage, offer the singularity of a moulding in no respect different from the astragal, encircling the bell between an upper and lower range of leaves, so as to give the effect of one capital superimposed upon another. The triforium consists of a narrow passage with unpierced wall at the back, and an open arcade of roll-formed equilateral arches on slender-bearing shafts in front. The clerestorey windows throughout the nave and choir, but not in the apse, where from the decreased width of the bays they assume the simple lancet form, are com- posed of two wide obtuse-headed lights bearing a sex- foliated -circle under a common arch, with no other mouldings than a plain chamfer on the edges of the aperture.1 The vaulting, uniformly four-celled, with transverse and diagonal groin ribs, rises from slender shafts carried uninterruptedly down the face of each column. The same remarks apply to the finely developed ■ The same type of window is used in the clerestorey of St. Pierre and the choir aisles of the cathedral at Chartres. 76 NORTHERN FRANCE choir, whose aisle and chapel windows are like those in the nave — ^long obtuse-headed ones of the lancet kind.i The north transept, distributed into three aisles, made upwards into three stages, offers perfect identity of feature with the nave and choir, excepting the front, which is a graceful conception of the Decorated period. The arrangement of this front, internally, is, I think, imique, and appears to be composed of one huge window competely filling it, from top to bottom, and from side to side. The breadth of the wall to the sprmg of the vaulting is occupied by four rather wide trefoil-arched compartments supporting a large circular window with tracery of the "wheel" type. At a little distance down, these four compartments are subdivided into as many smaller openings of two compartments, gabled. Behind these is a passageway, lighted by stained-glass windows corresponding in size and form with the above-mentioned openings. All below this the spaces between the four great mullions of the main window are closed, but richly decorated with colour. There is some very fine old "medallion" stained glass in the lancets of the great apse and those of the central chapel behind it. The rest of the glass is modern, but rich and harmonious without the trickery of antiquation, and the subjects are distinct without impoverishing the grounds. Indeed, for brilliancy and clever contrasts of colour this modern glass at Soissons approaches the best work of the thirteenth century. On the north side of the nave is the chapter-house, a perfect geni of Gothic, and the same must be said of the portal on the eastern side of the north transept, by which I would recommend the visitor to enter in order to gain his first impressions of this Salisbury of France. ' These are the original windows, Soissons being one of the few great French churches that have escaped having chapels thrown out from the nave aisles. AMIENS AMIENS 77 Christian architecture reached its cuhnination in the French cathedrals of the thirteenth century: in Chartres, Paris, Rheims, Bourges, Rouen, Amiens, and Beauvais, Christianity put fortii its mightiest efforts in art and made its greatest successes. There is an immense con- trast between the basilica and the cathedral, both archi- tecturally and from the standpoint of Christianity. The early Christian church was a low small building, without especial external features. The cathedral was Sie largest structure in the city. It was frequently placed on an elevation, and the houses of the people clustered around it as if to gain protection from its proximity. In France this was especially the case. In England the cathedral is more generally on the outskirts of the city, apart from the noise and bustle of everyday life. The French cathedrals were the people's churches; the English were, many of them, monastic churches, and thus quite outside ordinary daily existence. The plan was markedly cruciform; two mighty tran- septs, with fronts scarcely less imposing than the vast western facade, formed the arms of the cross. The eastern arm was likewise well marked, but its chief glory was the cluster of chapels surrounding the apse with their wonderful external and internal perspective, and their buttresses, flying buttresses, pinnacles, and gargoyles. The body of the church consisted of a nave with one or two aisles on either hand, and very often, beyond these, a series of chapels, making the views across the church almost as rich and imposing as the view towards the altar, while the climax to the whole was the vault, built at a higher level than man had heretofore placed a roof. At Amiens we see what is rare in France, a cathedral finished, and one, moreover, that seems altogether to 78 NORTHERN FRANCE (have escaped the ravages of revolutionary fanaticism. None of the external sculptures, which are so numerous and so interesting, have received any other injury than what time and the weather have effected in exposed spots. The reputation of this far-famed edifice is so well established, at least beyond the limits of its own land, as the perfect exemplar, the complete ideal, of the early thirteenth-century style, that there may be some danger of incurring the charge of presumption in questioning its claim to such a distinction. To the powerful creative genius which gave birth to a design on so gigantic a scale, and to the consummate architectural skill which realised so splendid a conception, every enlightened mind will pay ready homage; and littie susceptible, indeed, must he be of ihe pure emotions it is the grand aim of art to awaken and exalt, who retires from the contemplation of this sublime Christian Temple without overwhelming sensations of wonder and delight. But he whose humble and prosaic task leads him into the field of criticism, to estimate architectural value by con- sistency in detail and the individual excellence of parts, will bestow his approbation upon the cathedral of the capital of Picardy with less enthusiasm, and be constrained to pronounce it inferior in these points to its rival sisters -Df Chartres and of Rheims. Although there is no lack of evidence that Christianity had been brought iato Picardy at a very early period, there is very little to record of building before the year 1 220, when the present gigantic edifice was commenced from its foimdations. The legends tell us, and in their main outline there is no reason to doubt them, that St Firmin was the Apostle of Amiens, and that he arrived here before the close- of the third century after Christ. He is said to have been born at Pamplona in Spain, and to have been a disciple of St Saturnius. It is very evident that Amiens was from AMIENS 79 early times a flourishing city, and its situation on the Somme, which was one of the chief channels of traffic between Rome and Britain, was probably the main cause. I must not stop to discuss several questions which would be involved in treating of the early history of the Ambiani, still it should be mentioned that the armies of the Roman Empire were frequently recruited from these parts, and one of the inscriptions in the Catacombs of Rome has upon it the words, Nat. Ambian, or an Ambian by nation. The inscription was set up by Aurelius Optatus to his wife Theodosia, though it is not clear whether he or she came from these parts. It has been accepted by the Roman authorities as a proof that Theodosia was "born at Amiens," and that, as she was buried with a phial by her side, she must have been a Christian mart}r. There is, however, apart from objections which may be taken to the Latin construction, a difficutly in the way of accepting this interpretation; nevertheless, there is no reason why, being of this nation, they should not, when in Rome, have been converted to the faith. At present a day has been set apart in the Calendar of the Church at Amiens for the honour of Theodosia; her remains were taken out from their burial-place at Rome and conveyed to Amiens, where they were received on October 12, 1853, "with extraordinary pomp of music, and ban- ners, and illuminations, and processions, and triumphal arches, and with a large concourse of archbishops and bishops, twenty-eight in number; and they were carried in a magnificent car of triumph to the cathedral church of Amiens; and sermons were then preached to immense congregations congratulating the inhabitants of that city on Sie acquisition of the body of a saint and martyr born within their walls." ^ ' Vide article in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1854, 'The New Patron Saint of Amiens." 8o NORTHERN FRANCE Although then, St Theodosia is now honoured as one of the earliest of the martyrs of the Church of Amiens, the evidence is so very unsatisfactory, that St Firmin, the missionary to this place, the foxmder of the church, and its first bishop, is the only name which seems to rest upon any historical evidence. Tradition adds that he suffered martyrdom here, and it is by no means im- probable. The list of bishops preserved contams the names of St Eulogius, a.d. 325, elected probably on the death of St Firmin; St Firminius, Confessor, 351, said to have been the son of a senator, Faustinianus, who had been converted by St Firmin; Leodardus, 400; Audoenus, 450; Edibius, 484; Beatus, 525; and St Honoratus, 566. In the short account of the lives of these prelates we learn nothing of the state of the building of the church. St Salvius followed afterwards, and an ancient author, in recording his deeds, says, "He constructed a church of good workmanship, which had not till then existed in the place, and he reverently dedicated it in honour of St Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and of St Paul, the teacher of tlie Gentiles." That Salvius built his church in the seventh century of wood is most probable, and, if Amiens formed no exception to the usual custom, it would have been replaced by a stone church about the eleventh century, but as no documentary evidence is at hand, and as no traces of earlier work are visible in the present structure, I have only to speak of the time when Everard was ap- pointed to the see, namely, in 12 12.^ • There is no work in the city of Amiens anterior to the first quarter of the thirteenth century; the churches of St Jacques and St Leu are respectively good and poor Flamboyant, but the diocese which comprises the Department of Somme is rich in specimens of the Romanesque and Transitional periods, as is its neighbour, the Pas de Calais. Perhaps the finest examples are the churches of Dommartin in the Pas de Calais, and Lucheux in that of Somme. Then there are in the former Department, St Omer de Lillers, AMIENS 8i In the earlier part of his episcopate Everard seems to have been at variance with his chapter; but Stephen Langton. Archbishop of Canterbury, is said to have acted as arbiter, if not as judge, and peace was restored. He appears to have done much for his diocese, and within three years of his death commenced the great work of rebuilding his cathedral. ^ The work was begun tlien, in 1220 — the same year as that in which Bishop Roger Poore laid the first stone of Salisbury Cathedral — ^but was a long while about, and the church was not ready for consecration tiU 1288. There is not much documentary evidence, but in this case, different from that of Chartres and Rheims, we find recorded the name of its chief architect, Robert de Luzarches. "Evrard commence k paroistre es Chartres I'an 1212. Ce fut luy qui ietta les premiers fondemonts de ce grand corps de I'eglise de Nostre Dame, qu'U amena assez haut hors de fleur de terre, comme nous I'asseurent ces vers antiques: "En I'an de grace mil deux cens vingt Fust 1' 'ceuure de cheens commenchie Chil qui maistre estoit de I'ouvrage Guarbecques and Berteaucourt des Dames; and in the latter, Namps-au-Val, St Pierre de Roy, Prieure d'Airaines and portions of St Etienne at Corbie. All these churches, together with many others described in M. Enlart's Architecture Romaine dans la region de Picardie, will afford much satisfaction to those desirous of culti- vating the acquaintance of the ecclesiology of a district which has, hitherto, been quite inedited. ' The tombs of Bishop Everard and his successor Geoffrey d'Eu stand in the nave of the cathedral. Of these magnificent castings in bronze, Ruskin, in his "Our Fathers Have Told Us" (pt. I, p. 162) says they are "the only two bronze tombs of her men of the great ages left in France!" 82 NORTHERN FRANCE Maistre Robert estoit nomm^ Et de Lusarche surnommg Maistre Thomas fut apres luy De Cormont, et apres cestuy Son fil Maistre Renault qui mettre Fit a cest point cy cette lettre Que lincarnacion valoit nie ans XII en faloit." ' About the year 1237 the work was interrupted for want of funds, but a fresh impulse was given to the enterprise by the accession of Arnoult, imder whose episcopate much was done towards the completion of the west front: the three porches, the pinnacles between them, the lower stages of the towers, and the gallery of the kings date from this period. And so the work progressed, the support of the king — Saint Louis, and the munificence of tiie citizens not being wanting, until, in 1288, the cathedral was roofed in.^ The towers, however, awaited completion. In 1370 the south tower was finished; but it was not until the commencement of the fifteenth century — as evidenced by the work itseK — that the top stone of the north tower was laid. In the fourteenth century the side chapels had been added to the nave; and, finally, in 1529, the present fliche, at the junction of the four arms, was erected in place of one of stone, destroyed in a thunder- storm two years previously. The ground plan of Amiens Cathedral may be de- scribed as follows : It consists of a nave of six bays, with an aisle on either hand, flanked by chapels. The ex- treme length of the building is 442 feet, and midway is the crossing of the transepts, which are of nearly the • Adrien de la Morlifere, " Les Antiquitez d' Amiens," Fol. 1642, pp. 196-201. ' Magnificum Basilicae Ambianensis opus Bernardus tandem absolvit et perfecit annis 1269 et 1270, ut patet ex hac inscriptione in majori fenestra super altare. — "Bernardus Episc. me dedit MCCLXIX." Gallia Christiana, Vol. X. coll. 1219. AMIENS 83 same width as the nave, and have each three bays with aisles. The width of the cathedral at this point is 194 feet. Following the plan eastwards, we have the choir of four bays with double aisles on either side as far as the commencement of the corona of seven chapels. This part of the cathedral furnishes the most perfect example of the radiation, from a central point, of the chapels surrounding it. With regard to the exterior it cannot be said to have been improved by the chapels added between the great buttresses of the nave during the fourteenth century. Not only do they detract from the length of the nave and transepts, but devoid as they are of projections in the shape of buttresses, give a fiat, lean look to the exterior which is eminently unsatisfactory.^ The external sculptures of Amiens Cathedral are among the finest in design and execution in France, but they are so numerous that it is impossible within these limits to give more than a few brief and generalising remarks upon them. They have, moreover, been described in detail by far abler pens than miae. The portal of the southern transept, styled " Le portail de la Vierge dor^e," but which should strictly speaking be called that of St Honord, as it illustrates incidents in the life of that bishop of Amiens, is perhaps the most curious, but materials for study, and designs of a very high order can be found ia every part. The upright jamb, which divides the portal ia two, has a fine figure of the Virgin and Child, but the most remarkable part is three angels carrying the nimbus; so that, that which in its primary signification was but an irradiation of light, an immaterial essence, is by a curious development rendered a palpable and substantial object. The same thing is often found in the adaptation of the aureola, but 'For some remarks on these appendages, see the chapter on Coutances. 84 NORTHERN FRANCE I do not remember to have seen so strong an instance as respects the nimbus. The lowest part of the tympanum contains some well- draped and exceedingly well-designed figures, represent- ing perhaps St Honor^ and his disciples : the head of the saint is particularly fine in expression. The next series, above this group, is probably a continuation of the history of the saint, and is said to be partly where he receives from heaven episcopal unction, and partly where St Lupicin discovers the relics of some saints, and by his joyful exclamations attracts the notice of St Honord, who is seated by the altar, the sounds being miraculously conveyed through the air from the village of Sains, near Amiens. Above this subject is one in illustration of a miraculous interposition of God in the sacrament of the Eucharist.' A bishop is standing before the altar, and the hand of God is stretched out as if putting the consecrated wafer into the chalice: at another part is a priest, who appears to be introducing a penitent, but it is said to refer to a miracle performed by the saint in restoring a blind man to sight. The figure of the blind man is followed by that of a woman and a dog. Above is a translation of relics, and over this is a crucifix with figures of the Blessed Virgin and St John.^ The voussoirs are filled by figures of the Prophets, Evangelists, and Saints. Many of the figures are really so finely designed as to recall the productions of the Greek artists, to which they are but little inferior. * Supposed to have taken place in the original cathedral of Amiens situated at Saint Acheul. ' This crucifix is' composed of rough boughs. The head of Our Lord is surrounded by the cruciferous nimbus. The legend has it that the celebrated Byzantine crucifix with its effigy, crowned and clothed in a long tunic, which was brought to the cathedral where it is preserved, bowed its head as the relics of St Honors were home past it. AMIENS 85 At the great rose window of this transept there is one of those interesting "Wheels of Life" of which a re- markable specimen exists on the fajade of the north transept of St Etienne at Beauvais. This one at Amiens is chiefly remarkable for the skill of the artist in varying each attitude; for as on one side aU are ascending and on the other descending, and no other kind of discrimination, such as marking the individual character of each period, is attempted, the seventeen figures which tell the story had to be constantly varied to prevent monotony. The greatest success has attended the artist's efforts in con- tending with this difficulty, and in the descending figures especially, every one is distinct from the other. There is a distinction here which one does not find in that of I Beauvais, or the one at Basle; on one side all are young and beardless, and with their clothing well about them; but on the other they are bearded, and their attire is in great disarray, sometimes exposing a great part of their y persons. So that, even here, we have a kind of mixture of the Wheel of Life and the Wheel of Fortune. / The glory of Amiens Cathedral is, however, its west front. The mass of sculpture here is quite bewildering at a first glance, but, when examined in a proper manner, it tells its story with wonderful intelligibility, and affords almost a complete Bible history in the only universal language we know. The ordinary events, in chronological succession, are simply represented in quatre-foil medal- lions, in low relief on the basements, and, in addition to these, about the door of the north angle are the zodiacal signs with the appropriate seasons armexed, each season being symbolised by its proper duties in husbandry. The great central door has over it the Last Judgment; at the top of the space within the tympanum is God the Father, with attendant spirits; beneath this. Our Lord m Judgment, with the Virgin on the right and the Baptist on the left, both kneeling, and angels bearing the em- blems of the Passion, Then come the angels conducting 86 NORTHERN FRANCE the elect to Paradise, and, on the contrary side, the demons forcing the damned to the pit of perdition. On the lowest part is St Michael, with scales weighing souls, angels sounding trumpets, and figures arising from the graves; the latter are invested with a remarkable degree of spirit. The voussoirs of the arch contain a number of figures of the martyrs, saints, and confessors as well as subjects from the Apocalypse in reference to the Judgment, and a number of guardian angels bear- ing souls. It is a most complete arrangement, from its intelligence and the ease with which it can be under- stood. The door south of this is dedicated to the story of the Virgin Mary, and contaiAs her death, with the attendant Apostles, who are said to have assembled from all parts of the earth to be present, her, entombment by angels, and her coronation. The door imder the northern tower has reference to St Firmin, first Bishop of Amiens, the same story which is displayed in the sculptures on the wall dividing' the choir from its south aisle, and over a small entrance on the south side, but near the west end, are figiures of a knight and bishop, and near this is a gigantic figure of St Christopher, very inferior in design and execution to the smaller pieces of sculpture— a defect often to be observed, and arising, perhaps, from a want of power to treat a large mass of material. In his article on sculpture in the DicHonnaire Raisonnk, VioUet-le-Duc speaks of the once coloured decoration- of this statuary. "La statuaire et I'ornamentation des portails de N6tre Dame de Paris, des Cath^drales de Senlis, d'Amiens, de Reims, des porches latereaux de N6tre Dame de Chartres, ^talent peintes et dories, et de m6me que la sculpture, la coloration penchait vers le naturalisme." He proceeds to say how, not merely were flat tints used, but that in the folds of the drapery, and in portions shrouded from the light, dark glazes were put over colour, which had the effect of accentuating ■*Vi*\C ^ l* 'r. J ^» — 'I '* I —ii'mpi »i ►J < . « g H ^ 2 S AMIENS 87 those portions in full light. He would appear to show the sympathy existing between artists at that time, when he says, "Les artistes qui on fait les admirables vitraux du XIF et XIII® sidles avaient une connaissance trop parfaite de I'harmonie des couleurs, pour ne pas ap- pliquer cette connaissance k la coloration de la sculpture." Speaking of the statue of the Beau Dieu d'Amiens, M. le Due says, " Amongst the statues of Christ remaining in France, the most beautiful is that of the ' Christ Man ' (as opposed to other types, such as 'Christ Triumphant') at Amiens, where the type is Byzantine, without any hardness and undue severity of character." Then calling the attention of scxilptors to the beautiful profile of the statue, he says, "This sculpture is treated like the heads carved by the Greeks of ^gina." The same simplicity of model, the same purity of outline, the same execution, at once broad and refiined, the expression grave, without sadness. This head is the more remarkable, because in those of the apostles right and left, and which were carved at the same time, this divine character is not preserved. They are portraits of men of the Picardy type; whereas, that of Our Lord is of a "type consacrfe." A most interesting feature is the beautiful expression of Christ being the "Son of David." David is not foimd in the ranks of the prophets on either hand, but forming the pedestal of Christ. As king, he holds the sceptre, and the scroll as prophet. On the north side of the pedestal is sculptured a lily, on the south, a rose with tendrils of vine above. " I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys." "I am the True Vine." Represented above are the basilisk and the adder, typical of the most active evil principles of the earth; the basilisk half dragon, half cock; the deaf adder laying one ear against the ground, and stopping the other with her tail. Under the feet of Christ himself are the lion and the dragon, the images of sin. 88 NORTHERN FRANCE The first impression gained by an Englishman on entering Amiens Cathedral is one of absolute wonder at its soaring magnificence. Let the eye wander at pleasure (from a standpoint ia either of the transepts) through the vista of grouped columns and intersecting arches, and as it rests upon the beautiful stilted arcade of the apse, or upon the noble pillars of the nave and double aisles of the choir, or is attracted^as indeed it is at first — to the vaulting, 140 feet overhead, nothing but admiration can be felt for the splendid work produced by the daring skUl and enthusiasm of the French worker of the thirteenth century. The general character of the whole building (within and without) is due to its two great qualities of extent and elevation, and the interior gains in effect by the massive and noble proportions of the columns. These consist of a central column with four engaged shafts, the inner one of which is carried up to support the trans- verse rib in the vaulting of the roof. In the capitals we find their circumference broken by the four shafts, a treatment necessitated by the form of the cap; while three of the shafts — the two within the arcades and the one in the aisle — ^have each a smaller capital to crown them. They are sparingly ornamented with "stiff leaf" foliage, and the entire effect produced is one of dignified strength and simplicity. This type of column appears to have made its dibut in the choir of Tours and the nave of Chartrejs, during the second half of the twelfth century, and subsequently was employed throughout the cathedrals of Chartres, Rheims, and Beauvais. We find it also in the choir of St Etienne at Auxerre, at St Julien, Tours, and in the nave of N6tre Dame at St Omer. In the choir of Rouen Cathedral, at Soissons, Seez, Ch&lons-sur-Marne and the apse of the cathedral at Rheims we observe that tall, thick cylindrical column, with or witliout the vaulting shaft carried down it, which AMIENS 89 although it went out of fashion in England after the Transitional period — our architects preferring those grace- ful clusters of slender shafts as seen at Salisbury, Wells, Worcester, Lincoln, and West Walton (whose nave arcade is perhaps one of the most exquisite pieces of Early English work in the kingdom) — reproduced itself in France through all the epochs of Pointed, but par- ticularly in the northeastern provinces — Champagne and French Flanders — as for instance in St Maurice at LiUe, a most graceful five-aisled church — and St Nicolas-de- Porte, in Lorraine; ^ also in Normandy, in Flamboyant days, at St Remy, Dieppe, and the parish church of Caudebec. It is probable that English influence had something to do with the employment, in the early part of the thirteenth century, of those graceful clustered shafts we see in the naves of Rouen Cathedral, the col- legiate church at Eu, and Coutances Cathedral, and the choirs of Bayeux and Le Mans, St Jacques, Dieppe, and St Etienne at Caen. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries groups of slender shafts attached to a pier came into use, as in the .naves of Tours and Troyes cathedrals, throughout St Ouen at Rouen, and further south in the cathedrals of Limoges and Clermont-Ferrand. * This church of St Nicolas-de-Porte is a magnificent late Gothic structure of great height and length, similar to, but immeasurably superior to many of the great Belgian churches of the same epoch. The plan of this church is cruciform; it has a grandly developed clerestorey, and terminates in a graceful aisleless apse, lighted by very tall windows of two compartments. But the most remarkable feature of this church is the transept, which internally is divided into two aisles by a central column rising up to a level with the shafts from which the groining ribs spring. This is, however, only a reproduction on a much grander scale, of the plan we meet with at the end of the twelfth century in the church of St Jean au Bois in the Department of Oise, and a little later in the collegiate church at Epinal in the Vosges. Other examples of the double transept in Flamboyant churches are, Valentignys and Vendeiivre in Aube; Roberval, Fresnoy Rivifere, Vauciennes, and Verberie in Oise, and Brunembert in the Pa§ de Calais- a 90 NORTHERN FRANCE Then we have the angular capless column in which the mouldings of the arches are carried down iminterruptedly to the bases. The arcades of Nantes and Orleans cathe- drals, St Germain at Amiens, St Maclou at Rouen, St WoLEran at Abbeville, and St Aspais at Melun may be adduced as examples of this. Had the nave of Beauvais Cathedral been carried out, its arcades would have assumed this form, which, if but litde used in England, is not altogether unknown in Late Decorated and Per- pendicular work. Very often in Late Flamboyant work we meet with the arch mouldings subsiding into a cylin- drical column, as for example at St Lo in Normandy, the choir of St Etienne at Beauvais, and a chapel on the south side of the nave of the Breton Cathe- dral at St Brieuc. The stout octagonal column is not often used in rows, but a remarkably fine instance of two suites of these occurs in the nave of the church of St Sauve at Montreuil, in the Pas de Calais. In the same district we find, in the choir of the noble church of St Omer, an elongated square pier with shafts only on the sides facing the choir and the , aisles; as it occurs in the choir of Toumai Cathe- dral this genus of column may be considered a local one. Returning from this digression to the great Picard Cathedral, we find a characteristic difference between the architecture of France and England at this period, viz., the pointuig of the arches and windows; and a comparison of the arcades of Westminster or Salisbury with those of Amiens would show the latter to be very much less acute; a greater breadth of effect — ^which is, of course, needed in a cathedral of the size and propor- tions of Amiens — ^being thus obtained. We observe, too, a greater elongation in the beUs of the foliaged capitals to the shafts of the triforium arcades at Amiens than is observable in English works of their age and class. AMIENS 91 The only piece of purely ornamental stone work that attracts the eye in the interior is the exquisitely beautiful stringcourse below the triforiuip. Richness of ornamen- tation and sculpture is bestowed mainly on the exterior, and the claim to beauty of the interior depends chiefly upon the boldness and simplicity of the general design, and upon the unmistakable ability with which it is carried out. But this band of foliage wreathed around the building binds shaft to wall as with a garland chain, and in adding to the internal beauty of the cathedral, it forms just the one feature of repose which the eye welcomes in a place where aU else is suggestive of energy — calm in strength, but full of aspiration. The enlarged windows, which led on, both in France and England, to the Decorated style, appeared apparently at an early period, as the apsidal chapels and clerestoreyT of the choir at Amiens have real Decorated windows,'' but it is not absolutely clear that they are so early as the walls, for many practical reasons might occur to defer the windows — the tracery at least, tUl a later period. At Amiens there was a fire in 1258, and the portions which reveal a style in advance of that of the nave are the restorations consequent upon that catastrophe, whose ravages were not fuUy repaired until the year 1270. However this may be, there seems to have been a rather abrupt assumption of windows with geometrical tracery, much of which, from the large size of the churches, is very beautiful, and very soon appeared the glory of the French large churches — their magnificent rose windows. In this particular we cannot compete with France. I am not certain that we have twenty wheel windows in England which for size and tracery can well be named, while in most of the cathedrals of France there are frequently three, and they are of all dates, from the simple plate traceried work of the thirteenth century as at Chartres, Laon, and 92 NORTHERN FRANCE Mantes, to the latest Flamboyant as exemplified in the transepts of Beauvais, Evreux, and Sens.^ From their size they are often most elaborate, and in many cases fill the head of a lofty window of several lights. The advance of flowing tracery, not Flamboyant, does not seem to have taken place in France so completely as in England, the tracery continuing longer of a geomet- rical character, and then almost at once becoming Flam- boyant. What we style "reticulated" tracery is rarely met with in France, though of common occurrence in Belgium. f The v aulting a tAmiens is different from the usual FrenclTniethod. It seems to have been the aim of the architect to get as much light and shade as possible, so he has made his horizontal section everywhere very square, and to secure this he has not arranged his diagonal vaulting ribs in semi-circles, as is commonly the case in France at this time, but in compoxmd curves generated from the arches spanning the church transversely, and has given a true horizontal line for all the ridges. When they are near the eye such vaults as this at Amiens always seem to me to have a crippled appearance; but here at the great height they are from the floor, we cannot follow the lines of these curves, consequently they have no appearance of being exactly true curves, though at the same time the effect of light and shade is very felicitously secured. 1 We can, however, point with pride to such examples as the two great round windows in the transepts of Lincoln Cathedral — the northern one or "Dean's Eye" being as fine an illustration of plate tracery as that in the opposite transept is of the curvilinear bar tracery; to the two geometrically traceried roses in the transepts of Westminster Abbey, and to the much earlier ones in the eastern transepts at Canterbury. The large rose window in the transept of Cheltenham Church should also be cited, besides several small specimens, as e.g., of Leek, in Staffordshire, Milton-Malsor, North- amptonshire, and Leigh, Cheshire. AMIENS 93 As on the exterior of Amiens Cathedral, so in the interior the effect of the general scheme of the nave has been greatly impaired by the chapels built at a later date between the great buttresses of the aisles. I have referred to their bad , effect upon the external outline; within, these chapels have had the effect of removing the windows so far back between solid walls that in the perspective they are invisible, and so that lantern-like effect which was everywhere else in, this great church the architect's aim to secure is completely neutralised. Had the curtain walls of these chapels been pierced with those unglazed windows which form such a beautiful feature in the cross- views of the interior of Coutances this defect might to a considerable extent have been obviated. It should, how- ever, be noticed that when the architect came to build the easternmost of these chapels on either side o£ the nave at Amiens he removed the glass from the transept windows, but left the framework, consisting of two wide unfoliated lights siurmounted by one large cusped circle. The choirs of Arniens and Beauvais cathedrals are frequently compared. The extra height at Beauvais, the increased stilting of the arches, and the lengthening of the clerestorey windows are defects which, if we may judge by the stained-glass in the last-named, shows that this defect was felt at the time, and the strong architectural lines introduced into the glass at a third of the height of the windows was a clever attempt to remedy the evil. The apse at Amiens just misses looking wiry inside, and confused externally, but the builders of Beauvais fell into both these faults. The English builders of Westminster saw the danger, and most carefully avoided it, for while making use of a French plan, they did away with the stilting of the arches, simplified the buttresses, and de- creased the proportionate height. The apse at Amiens; is such a splendid composition and so thoroughly satis-/ factory in general effect that it is imgracious to criticisel it. However, if it possesses any defects, they are theS 94 NORTHERN FRANCE , stilting of the arches internally, and the breaking through the external cornices by the triangular canopies of the clerestorey windows. Both features, however, are man- aged with skill and delicacy. There are m the nave two grey slabs, without inscription, and quite plain, excepting the indent of an escallop shell on the one, the same repeated on the other with the addi- tion of two footmarks. The substance which originally occupied the matrices is gone, and they have been filled with plaster of paris. There can be very little doubt as to the meaning of these emblems, which evidently indicate the tombs of pilgrims or palmers, the shell being the emblem of St James of Compostella, and the impress of the feet might possibly show that the pilgrim had visited the Holy Land, and the footprints of our Saviour which He is said to have left on earth at His Ascension. Those here interred without name, without country, but simply distinguished by the pilgrim's sign, were, without doubt, returning from their distant and weary Journey; death arrested their steps, and they closed their earthly pil- grimage before the last object of their devout zeal. Of what country were they ? Not imlikely one might be of our own; that they were strangers in the land seems very clear. At all events the route is that which an English pilgrim would take on his return. He would probably set out by Flanders, paying his devotion at the shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne, whence he would ascend the Rhine, and, whether he rested or no at the less cele- brated places of devotion on his route, he would certainly not miss "Our Lady of Einsiedlen," in Switzerland; thence to St Mark at Venice, and by the Adriatic to Loretto, and from hence to Rome. If a palmer, he would continue on to the Holy Land, but a pilgrim for penance, or through devotional zeal, would, in most cases, halt at Rome, and return by the Mediterranean to Barcelona, which is close to the shrine of " Our Lady of Montserrat." He would then proceed to Compostella, and after paying AMIENS 95 his devotions to St James, would cross the Pyrenees into France, and the great celebrity of the relic at Amiens would naturally attract his steps thither; we find, indeed, that in the old play of the Four P's, the palmer says he came "round about to Amias." i From Amiens he would proceed to Boulogne, not for- getting the celebrated image of " Our Lady," before which he would doubtless commend himself to the Virgin's protection before crossing the Channel. There is a partic- ular interest attached to memorials like these, because they are uncommon; and finding them at a celebra- ted shrine seems to suggest the story of those interred beneath. The relic, venerated at Amiens for so many ages, which has certainly triumphed over its rivals, in preserving a better fame for being the irue one, whatever other claims it may have, is the Head of St John the Baptist. It is kept imder a lofty and elegant canopy of fifteenth- century workmanship, and fixed on a kind of plateau, which doubtless represents the "charger," and is covered by a concave glass. Underneath this is the "head" covered with a little crimson velvet cap, adorned with gold lace, not imlike what used to be exposed for sale as "smoking caps." A small aperture discloses an inner covering of thin gold plates, and part of this is removed showing a dark spot, evidently of hair. Looking closely, a small and narrow piece of paper may be observed, about two inches long, and on this in very minute letters may be read : " Chef de Joh' Bap." ; this is aU in fact that there is to convince one that he is looking upon the celebrated head of Our Lord's Forerimner. This history is, however, better developed in an inter- esting series of sculptures of the end of the fifteenth cen- tury which decorate the north side of the enclosure of the choir. ■ Some of the editors of this play think Emmaus is meant, but this is clearly an error. 96 NORTHERN FRANCE The figures are in full relief, painted to imitate nature, and display a great deal of skill and inventive power. One of the most curious groups is that illustrating a pomt in the legendary history of the Baptist, which makes the mother of Herodias to inflict a wound on the face with a knife, which wound is shown, or said to be visible, under the right eye. It is worthy of note that the head is represented in these subjects in a charger, or dish, very like that in which the head is now kept, and even the rude pilgrim's signs have a close resemblance to it. Underneath each compartment are rhyming couplets in French setting forth the story. The southern enclosure is similarly decorated, but with another legend, relating to St Firmin. The most re- markable of its compartments is one representing the baptism of Faustinien. The simplicity with which the artist has treated this subject is most whimsical; the neophyte is perfectly naked up to the middle in the font, leaving the greater part of his person exposed, but with his hands in the attitude of prayer, and downcast eyes, as if absorbed. So edifying a spectacle does this appear to the crowd of bystanders that some lift their hands and eyes in admiration of such piety; others are disposed to follow the example, particularly a gentleman in the foreground, who is so anxious to strip that he has called the assistance of his page to help him off with his upper dress. There is something particularly life-like and spirited in these groups; the story is ever)rwhere told with great force and intelligence, and the minute manner in which the details of costume are attended to make them ex- ceedingly valuable authorities; they are also in excellent preservation, such as we are rarely accustomed to see. These groups, illustrating the life of St Firmin, were begun in 1487, during the episcopate of Bishop Ferry de Beauvoir, whose tomb is recessed in a depressed headed cavity. His effigy is clothed in the episcopal vestments, AMIENS 97 and on the orphreys of the mitre the twelve apostles are sculptured. They are also painted at the back of the recess, holding in their hands their emblems, and scrolls on which are inscribed sentences from the Credo. The groups representing the life of St. Sauve executed ■ after 1530, about the time of the death of Adrien de H^nencourt, nephew^ of Ferry de Beauvoir, and dean of the chapter of Amiens, is of superior execution to those in that of St. Firmin. The tomb of the generous donor of this group is in a recess similar to that one just de- scribed, the rimning ornament which crowns it being extremely remarkable. All these groups in the enclosures of the choir at Amiens are among the latest productions of mediaeval art in the cathedral, and were carefully restored about half a century ago under the direction of MM Caudron, Duthoit, and Lebel, artists of Picardy. At the beginning of the sixteenth century it was thought necessary that the furniture of the choir should assume a magnificence commensurate with that of the cathedral, and with the wealth and importance of its capitular body. One hvindred and twenty stalls were not too much for the forty-three canons and the college of seventy-two chap- lains. Churches stich as those of Rouen, Beauvais, and Saint Ricquier boasted their splendidly equipped and decorated choirs. From the earliest times the sanctuary had seats for the clergy (the germ of our sedilia), the Chorus or Schola Cantorum was devoid of them — the severity of ancient dis- cipline requiring the Divine OfSces to be recited standing. In time, first the infirm, and then all the choir, allowed themselves the indulgence of a kind of crutch, baculum superne rostratum. About the ninth century benches were introduced by more luxurious canons, and for some time there was much disputing between the more strict and the laxer ecclesiastics. At last, about the twelfth century, the matter was brought to a sort of compromise 98 NORTHERN FRANCE by the invention of stalls, with their misereres, Gallic^, misericordes (a name indicative of their origin), on which the clergy might rest, without at the same time deviating wholly from a standing position. Centuries rolled away before Amiens Cathedral received this, its last embeUishment. Adrian of Henencourt, Dean of Amiens, has the merit of patronising this new undertaking, which, commenced in 1508 by the Amien- ois, Arnould Boulin, and continued by him and Alex- andre Huet, was not, it appears, completed till 1522. These artists also associated with them Antoine Avenier, styled tailleur des images, also an Amiens man. Tehan Turpin, who has left his name on the eighty-sixth stall on the left, was only a workman imder these skilful masters. It was required of these artists that, notwith- standing their recognised sldU, they should go and study similar works in various churches in order to render their work more perfect, and in 15 10 the chapter caused two devout Franciscan brothers, well-known experts in the art of wood-carving, to come from Abbeville in order to consult them on various points of the work. Four canons were chosen to direct and superintend this great imdertaking, men whose vocation and learning rendered them storehouses and natural interpreters of science, of religion, and of God. The stalls were once 120 in number, as suited a church whose corporation consisted, besides high dignitaries, of 43 canons and 72 chaplains. Accidents and wilful mutilations have reduced the number to no, and yet tliese stiU include 400 groups and single figures, in- cluding altogether 3,560 figures. From this it will be perceived that the stalls of the most sumptuous days of the latest phase of French mediaeval art are of a richness imprecedented in England. Backs, misereres, arms, pendents — all are alive with imagery, some mystical, some simply narrating sacred history, some degenerating into representations of common daily life. During the AMIENS 99 period that witnessed the execution of this unrivalled series of stalls at Aniiens, the struggle between the mystic and naturalistic parties in art was on the point of termi- nating. The Renaissance triumphed in Italy, imder the reign of Leo X. ; the patronage which Francis I. bestowed upon the arts opened its way into France. Witliout deciding whether the partisans of beauty, purely spiritual and ideal, had or had not merited the reproaches which they then drew down upon themselves, let me only re- mark that at the epoch of the Amiens stalls the victory was soon about to become no longer glorious to the classical school by the excesses into which the sixteenth-century statuary already began to fall, from the ignorance of any other sort of beauty, than that of forms, and the appearing to forget that the breath of God in the body of the first man had been the breath of moral and re- ligious life, at the same time that it was the breath of purely natural and sensuous life. Between the exclusive spiritualism of the Middle Ages and the disorders of sensualism, which so soon dishonoured the artistic reform, there was a mean, a happy accommodation. Some have insisted that such has existed perforce some time or other in every branch of the arts depending on design, though doubtless at different epochs for each of them, and for each coimtry. Glory to the monuments, fruits of this too short alliance! Admirers cannot fail them, because they cannot fail to please the soul and heart at the same time that they do the eye and the imagination. Can the early sixteenth- century woodwork of the stalls at Amiens be ranged in this number ? I think so in many respects. In it we perceive a very lively and very practical reminiscence of the mystical art of the ages of faith in the principal por- tions; the influence, still trniid and measured, of the Renaissance in the ornaments and the subjects of the second class, a touch sufliciently easy to be recognised of the Fletaish school (as from the position of Amiens loo NORTHERN FRANCE might have been expected) cast over the ensemble of the work, in such sort that I may be permitted to style it a happy attempt at accommodation between two exclusive styles. A valuable treatise on these carvings was put forth in 1867 by MM les Chanoines Jourdain and Duval. The philosophy of the eighteenth century having com- pletely extinguished those religious feelings which gave birth to the chefs d'ceuvres of the Middle Ages, the pseudo- Classicist swooped down on this glorious monument of the golden age in France of Middle Pointed. In 1755 the magnificent rood-loft erected in 1490 by Bishop Pierre Verse was removed and the present mere pseudo-Gothic screen with its gates substituted. The gates, however, are for their date very good. They were the work of Michael Angelo Slodtz, an architect, who also furnished the designs of the grilles and gates enclosing the choir beyond the line of the stalls. The hammer of the destroyer was on the point of removing twenty stalls in order to widen the entrance to the choir, and to remonstrations from persons of taste, the Abbe Longier "a distinguished architectural amateur" (in the designing, it is to be presumed, of revived Pagan temples) replied that he was astonished at the canons of Amiens having such affection for stalls which seemed to him to be a useless piece of obstruction. However the mischief was not pushed to the lengths so ardently desired by the Gothic-hating Abb^, only four stalls on either side of the entrance to the choir being removed, in order to make room for some additional width at the entrance.^ The fleur de lys with which the ' Such wanton mischief as this was not confined to France, during the rococo periods of Louis XV.; it was in full swing all over the Continent. In Belgium the churches of Ste Gertrude at Nivelles, and St Barthflemi at Liege; in Germany, the cathedrals of Freising, Fulda, Hildesheim, and Wurzburg; and in Italy, the Duomo at Ferrara {inter plurima alia) were being twisted and AMIENS loi backs of the stalls were so richly strewn were annihilated in 1831, under the government of "The Citizen King," Louis Philippe, as emblems of ancient royalty, but they have since been replaced. There is not so much staii},ed,glassjn_Aniieiis_Cathedral as one wtmld-be led td^expect from a church of its size , and importance, but what exists is of the very best period ' (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries) and full of suggestive-;'' ness for the student of that important art auxiliary to architecture. \ I would direct attention to the following specimens witl^ greater particularity. '\ In the five-light window of the last chapel on the nortli side of the nave — at the bottom of the two left-hand lights^ — are two tiers of figures imder Middle Pointed canopies. | Three of these figures have red background, and one/ green. Some fragments of a similar character lurk ini the windows of the third chapel on the opposite side of the \ nave. Here are two exquisite pieces of glass comprising I groups, chiefly in red and yellow, on ruby groxmds; in/ each group a figure of a bishop is prominent. Much| earlier is the glass which fills the window at the end of the; western aisle of the north transept — a large one of two! plain lancet lights surmoimted by a rose. Each light,' which has a narrow border of singular beauty, contains \ twelve minute groups placed close together on a greyish-' white ground, and collected, I should imagine, from windows in different parts of the cathedral. The sub- jects are, however, so far gone in decay as to be quite j unreadable, but the whole is a glory of colour. One can " tortured into neo-classical in that deplorable spirit of modem innovation which arose in the middle of the eighteenth century among the clergy, chiefly in the capitular bodies, while the destruc- tion of ancient stained glass, rood-lofts, tabernacles and altars went merrily on, with seemingly only a few "unenlightened" persons lifting up their voices against it. Northern Germany and England, fortunately, in a great measure escaped this scoiurge, thanks, perhaps, to the Reformation in those two countries. I02 NORTHERN FRANCE I just decipher that the jewels of red and blue and yellow j are parts of little figure subjects set in misty white of the I most beautiful and indescribable quality. In the lobes j of the rose of this window which, to be thoroughly enjoyed, \ should be viewed at a distance, and also in those of the Uose of the window at the end of the western aisle of the i opposite transept some beautiful fragments may be dis- ■ cerned. The rose of a closed window in the eastern aisle of the same transept contains some equally lovely debris. \ The great rose windows at the ends of the nave and transepts are full of glass most exquisite in arrangement jand tincture, and the effect of the hues thrown by the /glass in the southern rose upon the stonework on the /north side of the choir shortly after noon on a day in the / middle of October will long live in the recollection. \ In the upper parts of the choir, the central window of I the apse clerestorey,i and the central light of several windows in the triforium on either side is some fine work, that in the latter representing large figures of saindy personages. The first window of the north choir aisle — a four-light one — encloses three long strips of mosaic glass, with / groups in medallions on a groimd of deep blue. Several 'of the chapels round the procession path have their windows completely filled widi work of the same descrip- tion, supplemented in some instances by modem glass. The chapel of the inventa Ste Theudosie^ (the one immediately adjacent to the Lady Chapel, on the north side) fitted up and decorated under the direction of VioUet-le-Duc at the cost of the Ex-Empress Eugenie half a century ago, and mos'tiy glazed with modem glass by Alfred Gerente, is decidedly a piece of rich but har- monious colouration. The same architect and artist ' The stained glass in this window was the gift of Bishop Bernard, under whom the cathedral was virtually completed, in 1270. ' See page 79. AMIENS 103 were responsible for the decoration of the Lady Chapel. Much of it is very good. The drapery designs around the basement are very happily executed, the drawing being delicate and the work bold. Much the same may be said of the groined-roof, where richly painted ribs and bosses are relieved on a light- coloured ground powdered with red stars. The one sub- ject of regret in this very complete work is that the two large, spaces of wall on a level with the windows at the entrance of the chapel on either hand are covered with a design imitating geometrical grisaille glass, with its leads and bars and diapered quarries. It caimot be defended by comparison with the markings of stones universally found in old painted roofs coloured in the simplest way. Those stone markings rather represent the idea of construction than of decoration. They carry the eye along the direction of force, and serve to connect together the groups of the groining spandrels. They are almost universally mere red lines on a volute ground, occasionally spotted with a central pattern. There is nothing realistic or imitative about them, whereas the treatment one regrets at Amiens is in fact the painting of sham windows. If there were traces of "sham window-painting" of mediaeval work, it was all very well to restore them; only the principle involved is here criticised. The impression left by this and such other examples of colouring as the chapels in N6tre Dame, Paris, Rheims, Coutances, Dijon, and other cathedrals is that in this art we have not much to learn from France. An art in which the French have surpassed us in the colomred orna- ments of objects used for church purposes, is that of enamel. Their ecclesiastical furniture, even now, is rarely well designed, but its enamelled ornament is admirable, as also is their silver repoussS work for altar- fronts. The designs for these have been mostly taken from ancient examples, and are good and effective. I04 NORTHERN FRANCE In architectural colouring there is not the same superi- ority over us; there are certainly no English cathedrals which can ejdiibit such a surface of coloured ornament as that at Notre Dame, Paris; but in the knowledge of the art, in the widespread feeling for it, and the apprecia- tion of its religious spirit, and especially in the power of original design in it, we have little to fear from com- parison. The damp of our climate and also certain religious objections combined for a long time to keep this art from any important exhibitions of itself in England. Individuals had to do with us what the government has done in France, with the bank of the whole coimtry to draw upon. It is not an art which can be attempted rapidly, or at a cheap rate. The chapels at N6tre Dame give the impression of work done at so much per yard within a given time. Much better would it have been that all the thought, time and labour spread over them had been concentrated on a few smaller and perfected specimens. The original designer is doubtless much at the mercy of the executant. Characteristics of style are so delicate, that however much the designer knew what he was about, the executant, who neither feels nor imder- stands them, often blimders them away. By way of pendant to the illustration "A procession at Amiens," I subjoin the following description of such a function from "Hierbiogus, or the Church Tourist," a pleasing and instruc^e little work, written seventy years ago by a man of taste, learning, and piety.^ The work is shaped in the form of a dialogue, occasionally inter-, spersed with pbetical pieces of much merit, and at the head of the chapters are little vignettes, containing views of sacred buildings or of scenery. The purport of the volume was to point out some of the most remarkable of the churches in England, and to show the different styles that pervaded different localities; while the form ' John Mason Neale, founder of the Cambridge Camden Society, and afterwards warden of Sackville College, East Grinstead. < c' M ~ O _ a, g « z 3 „, 2 o ►J < ™i-," /_,sSM*£^JSi. AMIENS los in which it was composed enabled the author to diverge occasionally from his main purpose, and discuss other points connected with ecclesiastical buUdings and usages; or not seldom to express his admiration of the beauties which nature in her varying aspects assumes when she lavishes on the works of tiie earth "The pomp and prodigality of heaven." Altogether the Hierologus is a valuable and delightful work on the ecclesiastical antiquities of the country, as they existed at the time it was penned, while the knowledge imparted is, as aU knowledge should be, the dutiful and diUgent secretary recording gratefully the works of piety and reverential love, which founded and adorned tiiose mansions erected to the glory of God, and of which the majority had been desecrated to the purposes of man. "If you have never heard and seen it, you cannot imagine the sublimity of a procession in such a church as that of Amiens. I can almost fancy that I see it now, as I saw it for the first time, on much such an evening as this. The stupendous height of the vaulted roof, — the rich foliage of the piers, — the tall lancet arches throwing themselves upward, — the interlacings of the decorated window-tracery, — the richness of the stained-glass,-^ the glow of the sunlight on the southern chapels, — the knotted intricacies of the vaulting ribs, — the flowers, and wreaths, and holy symbols that hang self-poised over the head, — the graceful shafts of the triforium, — the carved angels that with outstretched wings keep guard over the sacred building, — the delicately carved choir- stalls, — ^the gorgeous altar seen faintly beyond them, — the sublime apse, with its inimitably slim lancets, carrying the eye up, higher and higher, through the dark triforium gallery, through the blaze of the crimson clerestorey, to the solemn grandeur of the vaulted roof, — lights, and carving, and jewels, and gold, and the simny brightness of the nave, and the solemn greyness of the choir, — these all io6 NORTHERN FRANCE are but accessories to the scene. The huge nave piers rise from the midst of a mighty multitude; the high-born lady, the peasant-mother with her infant, the grey- headed labourer, the gay bourgeoisie, — the child that knows only the sanctity of the place, — the strong man and the cripple, — the wise and the unlearned, — the great and small, — the rich and the poor, — all meet as equals. The sweet music floats along from the choir — the Amen bursts from the congregation. Now the organ, at the west end, takes up the strain, sweetly and solemnly, like the music of far-off angels; and as the holy doors open, pours forth the hymn 'The Royal Banners Forward Go.' White- robed boys strew the way with rose-leaves; there is the gleaming and the perfume of silver censers; there are the rich silver crosses and the pastoral staff; there is the sumptuous pal Ithat covers the Host; there is an endless train of priests in copes; bright as the hues of a summer sunset, gemmed with the jewels of many lands, lustrous with gold, and chased with flowers and wreaths and devices of pearl, — but each and all bearing, though in different forms, the one symbol, the cross. "Right and left the crowd part, as the train passes; and as the monstrance is borne by, every knee is bent, every head bowed. And now the soft breathings of the organ die away; voice and clarionet and flute take up the hymn; 'The Banners of the King' move statelily down the nave; and in every pause of the strain not a sound is to be heard, save the silver chime of the falling censer- chains. Now they enter the north aisle; now they bear up again towards the choir; now they wind among its chapels; fainter and fainter arises the holy hymn as they recede eastward; now with faint and mellowed sweetness, it steals from the distant altar of Our Lady; now it is silent, and the organ takes up the note of praise.". BEAUVAIS BEAUVAIS 107 The cathedral of Beauvais has, according, to the temper, the object, and the information of various writers, been most variously described, some elevating it to a place among the wonders of the world, and others stigma- tising it as a masonic tour deforce which, though produc- tive of considerable wonderment among the gaping vulgar, is defective and unpleasing. Professor Whewell, (the famous master of Trinity College, 'Cambridge — the clever, shrewd-headed com- panion linked with the simple Quaker Rickman in his Continental rambles by a bond of common admiration for mediaeval art, and with the same purpose exploring the magnificent relics of ancient architecture in France and Germany), in comparing Beauvais Cathedral with that of Amiens has said, "Amiens is a giant in repose, Beauvais a tall man on tiptoe;" ^ while a writer of our own day, M Huysman, has designated it "a melancholy fragment, having no more than a head and arms flung out in despair, like an appeal for ever ignored by heaven." It is proposed in these pages to steer a medium course between the two extremes, and to take a calm and dis- passionate review of the history and characteristics of a structure which has always been adduced by the French as the finest choir they possess, in their well-known formulary for the production of a perfect cathedral — the nave of Amiens, the choir and transepts of Beauvais, the portals of Rheims, the towers of Paris, and the spires of Chartres. ' It is certainly unpleasant to find an artist striving after more than he is really able to attain, and this was completely the case with the architect of Beauvais, whose ' " Notes written during an architectural Tour in Picardy and Normandy" (1835). io8 NORTHERN FRANCE great object was simply to obtain one grand effect, that of height and airiness, and to which everything has been sacrificed. The whole gives o"ne the impression of being the work of an unsatisfactory architect, though at the same time it is impossible to deny the excessive grandeur of the vast dimensions of the interior so far as it is com- pleted, or the beauty of arrangement which marks the original scheme of the ground plan, unpractical and unstable as it was. It may be right, however, to attribute some of the failures to the carelessness of workmen, though no good architect allows himself to be so excused. It seems very like presumption to criticise such a buUding, yet there is little use in architectural study if it is to be pui-sued with that blind enthusiasm which obliges people to admire indiscriminately everything that was built in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. The mere fact that the main intention of tlie people of Beauvais was to build something that should eclipse the work of their neighbours at Amiens is in itself suggestive; and it is not surprising that a building erected on such terms is, when it comes to be closely examined, so un- worthy of its age. It is one of the very few buildings of the kind which impresses me in this way; for usually the feeling derived from the study of mediaeval churches is one of respect for the absence of anything but the most thoroughly artistic feeling on the part of their builders. No doubt the archi- tect of Amiens did his work in the best way he could, with little reference to what was being done by his neigh- bours, and it is curious that the grand success which he achieved should have led, both at Beauvais and (perhaps to a certain extent also) at Cologne, to imworthy and imsuccessful attempts at rivalry. One can quite see that a claim may be made for the architect of Beauvais, as a man of genius who was not quite so safe a constructor as his contemporaries, but who nevertheless conceived the grandest idea of his age, as BEAUVAIS 109 far as size and height were concerned. I can only answer that this is not the character of a great archi- tect, and would lead me to class him with the architect of Fonthill, rather than with the architect of Amiens or Chartres. The first architect of Beauvais was, however, a better architect, in some respects, than his successor; for though his details (seen in the apse) were not of the first order, those of the latter are about the worst of my acquaintance in a French church of such pretensions. Let me trace as briefly and succinctly as possible the history of this extraordinary edifice, which, as left at the end of the sixteenth century, consists of a choir of three bays (subdivided into six lesser ones for a reason which I shall show presently) with double aisles and corona of chapels; of transepts, both with aisles; and of one bay of a nave intended to have been carried out with double aisles upon a scale commensurate with the completed portion of the work. The choir of Beauvais is the loftiest in the world, its height at the highest point under the vaulting being stated to be 158 feet. "There are few rocks, even among the Alps," says Ruskin in his "Seven Lamps of Architec- ture," "that have a clear vertical fall as high as the choir of Beauvais." ^ On the spot where the present cathedral stands a building was commenced in 991, of which the remains are the plain Romanesque building called N6tre Dame de la Basse (Euvre, to distinguish it from the building which stands on the higher ground. This fragment, which is now only used for Low Masses on Sundays and ' The waterfall at Staubbach which rushes over a clear vertical rock, goo feet in height, is one. The width of the choir of Beauvais is 46 feet, with the aisles and chapels, 186 feet; the length from the end of the Lady Chapel to the temporary wall at the west end of the nave, is 236 feet; and had the building been finished as it was projected, the length would be 380 feet. no NORTHERN FRANCE festivals/ is of the plainest Romanesque, and built of good squared masonry, with a little intermixture of red brick between the stone of the arches over the door in the western facade and window openings, and a string course at the level of the springing of the upper arch. The west front presents a lofty gable and two openings, decorated with some rude Romanesque foliage. The ornament, which is in low relief, appears to be anterior to the middle of the eleventh century. In the south aisle is a very large Early Pointed portal which was apparently brought from some building of a date intermediate between the Basse CEuvre and the Cathedral. This Basse CEuvre was injured by fire in 1180, but was subsequently restored. Forty-five years later another fire occurred, on which the greater portion of the building was removed to make way for the present gigantic cathe- dral, which was commenced in 1225 (that is, five years after the date of the commencement of Amiens) by the then bishop. Miles de Nanteuil. This would refer, no doubt, to the chapels round the apse, which were the portions almost invariably first undertaken in the reconstruction of a great French church, but they do not seem to have been planned on an exaggerated scale. The actual choir was commenced in 1247 by the fifty- eighth bishop of Beauvais, Guillaume de Gretz, with the view of surpassing that at Amiens in height; but the piers of the building thus commenced being placed at too great a distance from each other, the vaulting fell in, in spite of the precautions which had been taken to support it, by using iron braces and chains to hold the side walls together. The vaulting Is said to have been reconstructed and finished in 1272, but the architect was again imsuccessful, for it once more fell in, twelve years ' On the occasion of my last visit to Beauvais, Advent Sunday, 1909, this Romanesque fragment was well filled at the 9 o'clock Mass. BEAUVAIS III afterwards, November 29, 1284.^ This accident having proved the insufficiency of iron braces to hold the piers in their places, with so great a height and so wide a span as had been given them, it was resolved to erect intermediate piers, in the spaces which intervene between the original ones. • Forty years were employed in executing this plan of repairs. In 1338 the bishop and chapter chose En- guerrand, surnamed the Rich, as their architect, in- tending to complete the cathedral, and the work was begun, and continued with zeal for several years; but the intestine wars which so repeatedly desolated France during more than a century, and the occupation of a great part of its territory by the English army, interrupted the works; and they were not resumed until 1500, under the episcopate of ViUers de I'Isle Adam, who laid the first stone of the transept with great pomp. The architect of the new work was Martin Chambiges, to whom suc- ceeded, in 1532, Michel Lalze, and as an example of Flamboyant in its last phase is remarkably fine. It was intended to extend tlie building by the addition of a nave corresponding in colossal dimensions, if not in richness, with those of the choir and transepts; but during the latter years of its construction fimds were obtained with some difiicxilty, notwithstanding appeals to the royal bounty of Louis XII. and Francis I., after whose time the age for cathedral building had nearly passed away, and the works in the nave were abandoned when but one bay had been completed. However, as a last and crowning effort, in 1560, two architects, Waast and Mar^chal, wishing, it is said, to prove that the art they practised was capable of as mighty efforts as the revived Classic, constructed at the inter- section of the choir and transept an octagonal spire rising from a square base, with the upper part formed of wood, ' On this very day, 625 years afterwards, I was standing beneath the stupendous vault of Beauvais. 112 NORTHERN FRANCE When this spire was complete, Beauvais Cathedral could boast of being the loftiest building in Europe, being 445 feet high from the level of the ground to the summit of the spire. It seems probable that this magnificent spire might have remained in its integrity until our times, had not one of the four piers on which it rested been built hollow to contain a staircase communicating with the spire; while the nave, which had only just been begim, was not there to receive the lateral pressure. As it was, the architect who was sent to examine the tower, when it was sus- pected to be dangerous, had but just time to warn the people who were still in the cathedral of its approaching fall, which took place before he reached the bottom. This was on Ascension Day, 1573. The original drawings of this tower are still preserved. It is certain that it rose above the vaulting of the choir and transept to the height of 280 French feet. The first storey of it above the vaidting was a square of 48 French feet, in each side of it a large pointed window, filled with good tracery, occupied the whole space between the delicate angular buttresses which rose above this storey of the tower in the form of lofty crocketed pinnacles. The second storey was octagonal, and rose from within the first, and was attached to the pinnacles of it by two sets of light flying buttresses, one above the other; the eight sides of this storey were all filled with pointed windows, of course smaller, but of similar design with those in the square storey below. The slight angular buttresses of this second storey were also elongated into pinnacles which were attached to the third storey of the tower (octagonal also) by two sets of flying buttresses, one above the other. The eight sides of this storey were entirely occupied by pointed windows, of more simple tracery and with very graceful canopies. The angular buttresses of this octagon terminated in pinnacles, which did not rise much above the parapet; from within this rose an- BEAUVAIS 113 other octagon storey whose sides were filled with canopied windows, between the angular buttresses, surmounted by crocketed pinnacles, which, with the canopies of tlie windows, were elevated very much above the parapet. Upon this third octagon was set a beautifully propor- tioned and richly crocketed spire, terminating in a cross. The parapets of the square tower and of the three octagons were aU open, and of various and beautiful design. Stained glass of great brilliancy fiUed the windows of all four storeys. As the lowest octagon rose from within the square tower, and each successive octagon from within the lower one, the whole had the appearance of a spire upon a tower; internally each storey was vaulted, but in such a manner that the whole height was visible from within the cathedral. One can scarcely imagine the effect which the looking up into this tower must have produced, which, from the pavement of the cathedral to the highest point was 450 French feet in height. On days of extraordinary solemnity an immense lamp was suspended from the top and hung about midway down the tower. Seen as this was at great distances from the .city in the night, it must have had a singular and beautiful effect. The necessary repairs consequent on the fall of the steeple were immediately commenced, and they were completed by 1575; but the spire was not rebuilt, its place being occupied by a modest fl^che of wood, which was puUed down at the Revolution. In 1604 aU the works were suspended, after one bay only of the nave had been erected. In style this part of the cathedral, had it ever reached completion, might have resembled the naves of Orleans, Nantes, AbbeviUe, Brou, and St Maclou, Rouen, where the mouldings of the arches are carried uninterruptedly to the bases of the piers. A few observations may here be made on the conse- quences of the enormous height to which the French were so fond of carrying their cathedrals. The effect, imder 114 NORTHERN FRANCE various circumstances is, no doubt, very striking; as, for instance, when they are viewed from a favourable position in the interior, and find the eye carried by their leading members from the floor along the graceful lines of the tracery, to the painted glass of the clerestorey, and further still to the remote region of the vaulting lines — a region so distant, yet so architecturally connected with the spot on which we stand; and this configuration, repeated by each of the compartments, under a varied perspectival aspect, produces an impression so different from that of smaller buildings that it may well be called magical. Externally, also, when seen at a distance, rising over the taUest houses and trees of the city, with no deficiency of visible height, the appearance of such a church as Beauvais is truly amazing. But when we come to look more steadily at the external form of this mass, we find that its height has extinguished almost all possibility of well-proportioned dimensions and parts. Amiens, which is as long as some of our largest cathedrals, looks short, and Beauvais, having no nave, is absolutely shapeless. Moreover, the vertical and flying buttresses which rise aroimd the building are so many and so large that they utterly obliterate its outline. At Beauvais, the buttresses are broad pillars of wall with three lines of flying buttresses connecting them with the building, and have, at a distance, where alone the eye can disentangle them, the effect of what they are, an exterior scaffolding of stone. The pinnacles which surmoimt these buttresses are quite insignificant compared with the masses on which they stand, like a man at the top of a tower, and yet could not be much larger without interfering with the dignity of the building itself, by altering the scale of parts. Its clerestorey is the only part of the cathedral seen at a distance, although the aisles are very tall; we lose, there- fore, here a great deal of the effect of the cathedral ar- BEAUVAIS 115 rangement. And, with this enormous height, it becomes impossible to have any towers which bear such a pro- portion to the building as to give it a good outline. Those of Amiens are hardly free of the roof -line; and yet are not, even so far, well-made towers, for the dimension in the length of the building is such as to make them rather a front screen than anything else. At Beauvais, as we have seen, a centre tower was built, but this fell in a few years from its erection, probably in a great measure from the cause already alluded to. At every stage of the building of this cathedral at Beauvais, indeed, the boldness of the architects appears to have exceeded the limits of prudence, and to have been repaid with defeat, and taken altogether may be con- sidered an example of that "vaulting ambition that o'er- leaps itself." Every principle of Gothic art is here car- ried to an extreme which destroys the aim for which it was designed, and not only practically has caused the ruin of die building, and prevented its completion, but has so far destroyed its artistic effects as to make it an example of what should be avoided rather than of what should be followed. That the well-proportioned magnifi- cence of the neighbouring cathedral of Amiens excited the emulation of the Beauvais people there can be no doubt. It has already been noticed that the first attempts to erect the clerestorey to its present height ended in its fall, and the arrangement of the pier arches and of the clerestorey windows still tells the story of this failure, as well as the details of masonry and ornament. The erection of the tower is said to have been resolved on after 1555, instead of the continuation of the nave, in consequence of the fame which Michael Angelo had obtained by the construction of the dome of St Peter's. The Tramontane architects Waast and Mar&hal wished, it is said, to show that their style was capable of reaching a greater height than that of the Greeks and Romans. ii6 NORTHERN FRANCE If they had not in some measure forgotten or neg- lected the principles of the Gothic architects of the better times of the art, perhaps their boast might have been verified. Considered with reference to the classification of French architecture, the resemblance of Beauvais to Amiens is at first prominent. The plan of the great piers in the choir and its double aisles is the same; the foliage is similarly formed of stiff leaves with free curling tips, and run round the bell of the capital of the cylindrical core as well as those of the attached shafts; the arches are of the same form in the apse, viz., narrow and stilted; and the arch mouldings have the same very simple First Pointed character. The tracery of the triforium and of the clerestorey is, like that of Amiens, of the geometrical kind; and the lateral faces of the buttresses which, seen internally, divide the apsidal chapels, are ornamented with lines of geometrical tracery. Differences, however, soon present themselves to the attentive visitor. The pier arch spaces are narrower, the elerestorey windows much taller, and the arches opening from the choir aisles into the chapfels are sur- moimted by a quasi triforium, formed of a little range of trefoil-headed arches on pillarets and a clerestorey of truncated two-light windows with large foliated circles in their heads, like the one at the end of the south tran- sept aisle of Westminster Abbey. The vaulting of the choir is also peculiar, being in six- ceUed compartments like several of the "Transitional" German churches where one great vaulting bay includes two lesser ones; ^ and the vaulting of the side aisles differs remarkably from the German practice, in that each vaulting compartment corresponds to two of the pier arches; an arrangement which is connected with several peculiarities of detail. ' As, for instance, at Naumburg, Osnabruck, Neuss. BEAUVAIS ■ 117 It would indeed almost appear, by comparing the original construction with that of the neighbouring Cathedral of Amiens, that the limits of strength were here exceeded; for while at Amiens the distance from centre to centre of the piers is 23 feet 10 inches, at Beauvais it is 29 feet, and while the columns at Amiens including the encircling shafts measure 7 feet 2J inches, those at Beauvais measure only 6 feet 8 inches or 6 feet 9 inches. Moreover, the whole height of the vaulting at Amiens is 140 feet 8 inches, and that at Beauvais is 158 feet, so that the difference in dimensions of the bear- ing surfaces of the span of the arches and of the height of the superstructure would lead" to the conclusion, so far as it may be formed by a comparison of these examples, that at Amiens the limits of strength were nearly attained, and at Beauvais they were exceeded; possibly also the stone used at Beauvais — a chalk stone — may have had something to do with the alteration in the construction, as, although of a hard description, it is not able to offer the same resistance to a crushing weight as a more crys- talline limestone, or a harder sandstone. Looking, how- ever, to the present condition of this colossal structure, it does not appear that the defects seen in the buckling of the piers have arisen from any waiit of strength in the stone. Whatever may have been the cause, it appears that sometime subsequent to the erection of the arches of the choir and aisles it became necessary to strengthen the building by introducing in the centre of each original arch a pier, corresponding in form with those already constructed. In order, however, that the filling-in pier may occupy as little space as possible, it is flattened on its axis, while in other respects it corresponds in plan with the original piers. These consist, as at Amiens, of a circular nucleus with smaller single shafts attached and clustered round in the line of the longitudinal and transverse axis. The filling- in piers have the centre shaft compressed, and measure ii8 NORTHERN FRANCE on the transverse axis, 4 feet 6 inches, whilst the original piers measure 6 feet 8 inches. The bases of the piers correspond, but the capitals differ, for whilst the original piers have the stiff foliage of the early Gothic intermixed with crumpled foliage, the interpolated piers have their capitals decorated only with the latter kind. The difference in the diameters of the piers occasions some deformity in the arrangement of the arch mouldings which are governed by them, and these piers being un- equal, the mouldings on the opposite sides of each arch are also of unequal width, and their junction at the apex is not foimd in a vertical line; this irregularity, however, produces no discordant effect, and the inequality in the width of the mouldings is thrown entirely on the plain face, which separates the two principal groups consti- tuting the arch. The imusual height of the clerestorey windows (nearly 60 feet) conduces mainly to the airy effect of the choir, and when it is known that the muUions have only a depth of 2 feet by a width not exceeding 6^ inches in the widest part, with a height of about 40 feet, the whole may be looked upon as a marvel of constructive art. One remarkable feature in this choir is that the original compartments, and consequently the present two sub- compartments on each side, eastward of the centre, are narrower than the two original compartments. This peculiar arrangement was probably adopted to fortify the central piers intended to support the central tower. It should also be remarked that the aisles are built unusually narrow, in order, probably, to assist in propping up the lofty centre compartment. The groining of the choir, although it was executed after the erection of the filling-in piers, still retains in its divisions an apparent indication of the original construc- tion of the piers and arches; for the present compartments of the vaulting seem almost to have been formed of two divisions over the existing arches thrown into one. The BEAUVAIS 119 principal rib runs from one original pier to the other on the opposite side; and the form of what would have been the compartments of the vaulting is indicated by the trans- verse ribs rxmning diagonally from one original pier to another. The original arch seems to be divided into two, the apex of each secondary arch being made to radiate to the point of intersection of what might appear to be the original arches. On the large scale in which this sexpartite vault at Beauvais is carried out, it is wholly satisfactory in effect, but in smaller buildings one would conceive it would not be quite so pleasing. Besides the Ming-in piers of the choir, the arches between the aisles and the side chapels were subdivided, and the vaulting of the aisles, which does not seem to have been rebuilt, or if rebuilt, was rebuilt on the original plan, was strengthened partially between the interpolated piers by cross-arches with open spandrels and mouldings of a date evidently posterior to the arches of the choir and vaulting of the aisles. These cross-arches were not, however, applied throughout the building. At the level of the capitals of the piers all round the apse, iron joggles are to be seen, which were apparently used for the purpose of tying the piers to the side walls of the aisles, but, as the construction of this part of the building does not seem to have been altered, the utility of these joggles is not very clear, imless they may have been found requisite during the construction of the chapels of later date, which were added between the buttresses. After the failure of the vaulting of the choir, there was another notable one in the central lantern, ihe reasons for which have already been given. This occasioned the rebuilding of the piers at the intersection of the choir and transepts, and also one of the piers on the north side in the style of that date (c. 1573). One of the piers on the south side, between the aisles and chapels, was also rebuilt about this period; as the Flamboyant character I20 NORTHERN FRANCE of these piers is carried up to the level of the bottom of the clerestorey, above which the style of the thirteenth century remains unaltered. There is a great difference between the fenestration of the apsidal chapels at Beauvais and those at Amiens. In the former they are of two plain lancet lights with a large foliated circle, while at the latter they are slimmer, also of two lights with tracery composed of three tre- foils. Consequent upon the several rebuildings and additions at Beauvais there is a great variety in the window tracery which ranges from its simplest form at the beginning of the thirteenth century to its most elabo- rate three hundred years later. The vaulting of the roofs is entirely of stone, except at the great crossing, where it is of wood. The buttress chapels on the north and south of the first division of the nave — in reality the western aisles of the transepts, are fine specimens of the Flamboyant, the roofs being richly groined. The exterior of the building, as already observed, is remarkable for its immense elevation; but although the sky-line is much broken and lightened by numerous pinnacles, and by the openings between the flying but- tresses, it still presents, in consequence of the massive- ness of the external counterfeits, and the numerous flying buttresses which spring from them, a general heaviness of effect, less elegant than that of our cathe- drals, but from its immense mass more imposing. It greatly needs the centre spire; but even with the addi- tion of that feature, the neighbouring cathedral of Amiens presents a singular heaviness of external appearance, and on the whole a much less pleasing effect than our own, or the German cathedrals. Eastward of the transepts the architectural style is of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, nearly of the same character as Amiens, but richer. The transepts are of the sixteenth century; the southern one is richly ►J '— < (N K 00 Q "^ W ^^ K H < -rl U Ji rn < > ' — n CO < • ?? w ^ m « fc> ■a 3 0! g n !^ S t. ►J f ^ OS Q o u ^) S H — < ";: o •-— ^ rn >> -1-1 < > B? 3 < « « BEAUVAIS 121 decorated in the Flamboyant style, but although a gorgeous specimen, it is deficient in the yigour, breadth and char- acter of earlier work. Some Italianisms are discernible in it, and on the whole it strongly indicates some of those peciiliarities which accompanied the final corruption of the style. The wooden doors of the entrance, which are thought by some to be the production of Primaticcio, are of sin- gular beauty. Their style is undisguised Renaissance, abounding in that exquisite taste for detail, that minute and delicate chiselling of the fibre of animal forms, and, at the same time, that fulness and pulpiness of appearance which even to this day distinguish tiie French school of ornament. The northern transept, from its greater sobriety, is a tar more pleasing work; grand and simple in its general design, it has sufficient breadth of parts, and whilst it is but little affected by the Classic element, it possesses all the beauties of the style in which it is executed. The rose window of this transept is very fine, and the rich gable above it forms a fitting termination to this front of the building; but the most striking feature is the porch, with its magnificent gable decorated with three fringes of hanging trefoils, the open spaces and hanging points of which, relieved by the deep hollows and mouldings behind, and divided by very distant bands of foliage or other decoration, produce a combination of richness and lightness of which there is perhaps no finer example. The tympanum is treated in the most fanciful and suc- cessful manner by the introduction of an ingenious con- nexion of regular Gothic panelling with the stem of an elegant but leafless tree, which twines into and combines perfectly with the severer forms of the panelling. The idea intended to be presented is that of a genealogical tree — perhaps the Radix Jesse — pushing its ramifica- tions, charged with emblazoned coats of arms, amongst the upright lines of the Gothic tracery. 122 NORTHERN FRANCE The wooden doors on this side rival, in grace, their sisters on the south, but their style is that of the later Gothic, very nearly pure, with only a slight soupgon of the Renaissance in the niches, and in the consoles which carry the figures. The doors taken together furnish a perfect example of the transition from one style to another. The figures represented are — on the right-hand side, the Four Evangelists, and on the left the Four Doctors of the Latin Church. The Sybils are likewise intro- duced. These doors are well preserved, and present a complicated arrangement of bases and details in the architecture, which is treated with the utmost taste and refinement, and, unlike the more corrupt, though perhaps the more fanciful, work of the south transept, gives no indication that this was a last and expiring effort of Gothic art. This fafade, which was commenced in 1530, and finished seven years later, under the special orders of Francis I., is abundantly decorated with all the emblems peculiar to that great patron of art. The stained glass in the great transept windows is a remarkably fine exanple of the art in its latest phase of development. That in the row of lights under the great southern rose was executed by Nicolas Lepot in 1551. That in the opposite transept is attributed to Jean Lepot and Augrande le Prince. It contains in the vertical lights the ten Sybils, finely composed, and the magnificent rose, 36 feet in diameter, is decorated by the representation of a flaming sun in the midst of a starry heaven; but the effect of this is hardly satisfactory. There is much stained glass of far greater age and excellence in other parts of the cathedral, foremost among which must be mentioned that in the clerestorey of the choir and apse, where we find that system which prevailed so extensively in the fourteenth century of arranging the subjects or figures with a band of rich colour about the BEAUVAIS 123 middle of a Ipng succession of windows, so as to produce a decided horizontal line of rich colour throughout the building, harmonising with, and assisting the lines of the architecture, as may be seen at Merton College Chapel, Oxford, or in the nave of York, or in the choirs of Seez and Cologne, in which last instance as well as in the cathedral now under consideration it contributes much to give strength of effect to the clerestorey windows, which otherwise would look weak and wiry and attenuated. The greater part of this glass in the clerestorey of Beauvais belongs to the fourteenth century, but some of the figures were renewed in the sixteenth. In the central window of the apse is the Crucifixion, and in the two on either side of it the twelve Apostles — St Matthias in this instance taking his rightful place with the others, though St Simon is ousted. The remaining windows contain effigies of saints, chiefly of local celebrity. Their icon- ography is as follows : First window, commencing at the north side of the choir, SS Evrou, Just, and Germer; 2nd, St Lucien and his companions, SS Julien and Maxien; 3rd, the Communion of St Denis; 4th, SS Denis, Rustique and Eleuthere; 5th, SS Quentin, Michel, and Romaine; 6th, Jean de Marigny (Bishop of Beauvais in 1324), kneeling before SS Peter and Maxence; 7th to 13th, the Apostles and the Crucifixion; 14th, Jean de Marigny before the Virgin and Child; 15th, SS Adrien, Christophe and Thibault; i6th, SS Germer, Just, and Evrou; 1 17th, the Martyrdom of St Stephen; i8th, St Lucien and his companions; 19th, SS Eloi, Simon the Apostle (whose place is taken in the eleventh window by St Paul), and Catiierine. The earliest glass in the cathedral completely fills the three central windows of the Lady Chapel. It comprises a multiplicity of smaU groups arranged within medal- lions, some of which are circular and others diamond- ' Why these saints should have been doubly honoured is not quite clear; in all probability they were favourites with the donor. 124 NORTHERN FRANCE shaped, the preponderating colours being red and blue. The effect of this glass, which was carefully restored in 1858 by Didron, is much marred, when viewed from the west end of the cathedral, by that in the three windows of the chapel on either side, by a M Lavergne. One would feel inclined, regardless of iconogaphical correctness, to shift the fine early glass (fourteenth century) in the chapels of St Vincent and St Lucien, into these windows, and to relegate the modem work, which evinces no attempt whatever to come into line with the ancient, to the lights thus vacated. The canopy work in this fourteenth centiury glass which represents scenes in the lives of St Peter and St Vincent is particularly worthy of study, while the Coronation of the Virgin which occu- pies the circle in the centre window of both chapels is of singular beauty. This subject, in both instances, is placed in a square medallion, the spaces formed by it with the lobes of the circle being filled with the emblems of the Evangelists. Of Late Gothic and Early Renaissance glass there are some good specimens in the western aisle of either tran- sept. There is no screen at the entrance of the choir, but the debris of one erected during the eighteenth century, and removed before Wild made his fine drawing of the interior (about 1830), exist in the pillars of black marble which form part of the altarpiece in the ChapeUe des Morts (formerly that of SS Peter and Paul) in the western aisle of the south transept. The picture enclosed by two of these columns is a descent from the cross by Lafosse (of the school of Rubens). It was restored in 1845 ^y Am^dee Dupuis. The stalls in the choir came, in part, from the Abbey of Saint Paul, near Beauvais, dissolved at the Revolution. They were purchased in 1801. The woodwork of the bishop's throne, and the case of the organ used to accom- pany the choir offices, are in the Gothic style of 1845. BEAUVAIS 125 The great organ occupies an elevated position in the eastern aisle of the south transept, and though a fine, powerful instrument, rebuilt in 1826 by Cosyn, and renovated in recent times by Barker, cannot compete with that of Amiens in combined strength and refinement of tone.^ There are several pictures, but of not much note, and a most remarkable collection of tapestries, for details of which I must refer the reader to the excellent little handbook on the cathedral by M L'Abbe Pihan. The sacristy contains among other items of interest the dalmatic of Thibaut de NanteuU, Bishop of Beauvais from 1283 to 1300, and either here or in the contiguous Musetim is preserved the mitre of the last bishop ap- pointed under the ancien regime — F. de la Rochefoucauld, who, with his brother, the Bishop of Saintes, the aged Dulau, Archbishop of Aries, and a multitude of the non-juring clergy, was so cruelly put to death in the Prison des Carmes during the massacres of September, 1792. Lamartine, in ttie second volume of his Histoire dcs Girondish has described the terrible scene most vividly: "The Prison des Carmes was an ancient convent, an immense edifice, pierced with cloisters, flanked by the church, and surrounded by courts and gardens. It had been converted into a prison for the priests sentenced ' Although I had paid several visits to Beauvais in former years, no opportunity of assisting at High Mass and Solemn Vespers presented itself until Advent Sunday, 1909. The services on this day were most grand and impressive, and afforded a striking con- trast, both ritually and musically, to those which I had recently attended in Italy. At High Mass the vestments of the officiating clergy were violet (the deacon and subdeacon, in accordance with the custom at solemn seasons, having folded chasubles instead of the dalmatic and tunicle. The choir rulers, at the lectern, wore violet copes. At Vespers— " the First " of some Feast of the Blessed Virgin, whose precise appellation I do not remember) , the copes were white, and for the Office Hymn we had the Ave Maris Stella, to one of the most beautiful melodies I ever heard. 126 NORTHERN FRANCE to be sent out of the country, and the gendarmerie and national guards had posts there; but these had been designedly weakened, and the assassins who, about six in the evening, forced open the gates, closed them after them. . . . " The small numbers of the assassins, the large number of victims, the great size of the building, the extent of the garden, the walls, shrubberies, and hedges thatsheltered the flying priests, slackened the progress of the massacre, and the shades of night were about to envelop them. Their pursuers formed a circle around the garden, and as they approached the buildings, forced the priests, by blows with the flat of their sabres, to enter tiie church, which they then closed. Whilst this battue was going on outside, a general search in the interior drove all the priests who had escaped from the garden into the same place. The assassins carried in their arms those who could not walk. Once shut up in the church, the victims, summoned one by one, were dragged through a little door opening into the garden, and slaughtered on the staircase. The Archbishop of Aries, Dulau, the most aged and venerable of these martyrs, edified the rest by his bearing, and encouraged them by his exhortations. The Bishop of Beauvais and the Bishop of Saintes, two brothers of the house of La Rochefoucauld, embraced each other, and rejoiced to die together. Those who were summoned to die received the kiss of peace and the prayers " for the dying from their brethren. The Archbishop of Aries was one of the first summoned. 'It is you,' said a Marseillais, 'that shed the blood of the patriots at Aries.' 'I!' returned the archbishop — 'I never hurt anyone in my life.' At these words he received a sabre stroke across the face, followed by a second that deluged him with blood. At the third he fell without a groan. A Marseillais dealt him so fxurious a pike-thrust that it broke in twain; then mounted on the body, tore away the pectoral cross, and displayed it as a trophy. The Bishop CHALONS-SUR-MARNE 127 of Beauvais embraced the altar, and then advanced to the door with as much calm and majesty as in a religious procession, followed by all the young priests, on whom he bestowed his benediction. The King's confessor, Hebert, superior of the Eudistes, was the next to fall. Each minute decreased the ranks in the choir; only a few priests kneeling before the altar remained, and soon but one was left. " The Bishop of Saintes, who had his thigh broken in the garden, lay on a mattress in the side chapel, sur- rounded by the gendarmes of the post, who, better armed and more numerous than the assassins, might have rescued their charge. They, however, surrendered the Bishop of Saintes like the rest. 'I do not refuse to die with my brother,' replied the bishop, when summoned; 'but my thigh is broken, and I cannot walk; assist me, and I will go with joy to meet my death.' Two of his assassins supported him by placing their arms around him, and he fell, thanking them. He was the last. It was eight o'clock; the massacre had lasted four hours." CHAL ONS-SUR-MARNE As the cathedral of St Louis at Blois is eclipsed in archi- tectural splendour and interest by the parish church of St Nicolas, so is the Cathedral of St Etierme at Chilons- sur-Marne by the church of N6tre Dame. I do not mean to say that ChSlons must be classed in the same category with Blois — a mere transeptless church, never built for the purpose for which it was only chosen at the end of the seventeenth century — for it has all the attributes of a cathedral; but it can hardly claim a place in the first rank of French churches for magnitude of plan or refinement of detail. Still ChMons Cathedral has some fine points, notably the f af ade of its northern transept, and the imposing series 128 NORTHERN FRANCE of tall cylindrical columns supporting the arches which divide its nave from its aisles, and carry a clerestorey of very grand dimensions. There is neither a central nor a western pair of towers, and since those on the eastern sides of the transepts have been bereft of their spires, something is required, even a light jliche at the inter- section of the four arms, to relieve the sky line. Of the cathedral consecrated with so much pomp by Pope Eugenius III. on SS Simon and Jude's Day, October 28, 1 147, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin, St Stephen, St John the Baptist, and the martyred Saints, Vincent, Valfere, Chrysanthe and Darie, the tow- ers, following the German style in which the church was designed by their position behind the transepts, consti- tute the sole remains. This twelfth-century church was destroyed in a terrific storm eighty years after its dedi- cation, and on its reconstruction assumed a new form, though still a Teutonic one, inasmuch as the choir and its apse were designed without aisles. These were not added until the fourteenth century, the walls below the clerestorey, which in some points resembles that of Rheims, being then pierced with arches, and three chapels thrown out from the procession path. The western parts of the church were proceeding throughout the thirteenth century, and had been terminated with a western fajade in character with the rest of the work; but subsequently the nave was lengthened by two bays, and the facade never reerected. A new one, however, was added in the reign of Louis XIII., and, as might be expected, quite out of character with the rest of the nave. In 1668 a fire broke out in the sanctuary, necessitating the reconstruction of the columns of the apse, which, like the fajade, were carried out in the neo-Classical style then in vogue. In 182 1 the two spires, which until then had crowned the towers, were removed, as they threatened danger; they were, however, rebuilt, but were CHALONS-SUR-MARNE 129 taken down again in 1859, and have not since been replaced. The eastern limb of ChMons Cathedral is the shortest ia France, comprising only one bay besides the apse. This forms the sanctuary, the chorus cantorum occupying the two easternmost bays of the nave, which are fitted up with feeble modern Gothic stallwork. The nine pointed arches on either side of the nave have those typical mouldings which Sir Gilbert Scott was so fond of reproducing in the churches designed by him when under the influence of the Early French Gothic school. The columns, taU stout cylinders, have two rows of leafage in their capitals, which are crowned with octagonal abaci. The westernmost bay on either side is carried on a fine clustered column, and the responds at both ends of the nave are of the clustered type. Looking westward this isolated clustered pier makes an agreeable break in the long range of cylinders, which are very reminiscent of several of the large Belgian churches. The windows in the aisles and clerestorey have good geometrical tracery, and in those of the former is some excellent Late Gothic stained glass. In the clerestorey of the apse the early thirteenth-century windows are of the same type as those at Rheims, viz., of two unfoliated lights surmounted by a sexfoiled circle. The Romanesque towers, placed not quite in the angles formed by the transepts with the choir — a narrow chapel intervening — present some fine arcading of that particular epoch, but the most engaging feature of the exterior of Chalons Cathedral is the rose window which surmounts the portal of the northern transept. The portal itself, which occupies the whole width of the f af ade, and has some mutilated sculpture in the typanum above its double doorways, is crowned with a crocketed gable terminating in a pinnacle, the space between its apex and that of the arch being filled with uncusped tracery. On I30 NORTHERN FRANCE either side the doorway, and placed against the flanking buttresses of the faf ade, is a shallow gabled compartment relieved with arcading in the form of two trefoiled arches above which is a quatrefoiled circle. Behind the gable of the porch is seen the upper half of two windows of the same description with richly moulded containing arches, and above these is a carved stringcourse from which rise six small two-light windows, each under a gable. The rose filling the head of the great window does not touch this series of gabled windows, a row of five quatrefoiled circles intervening, those at the ends being larger than the rest. These circles correspond with the four central windows in the series of six below, the remaining space between the rim of the rose and the containing arch of the whole window being occupied by a simple uncusped lancet. The tracery of the rosace itself is composed of twelve small two-light windows whose arch heads touch the rim of a multi-foiled circle from which — ^wider at the rim of the rose than at that of the central circle — they radiate. (See illustration, page 103.) Apart from the existence of tracery, in itself a suffi- ciently clear characteristic of Decorated and Flamboyant buildings, this combination of the circle with a row of lights below it at Ch&lons offers one of the surest and readiest means of distinguishing between the earlier and later styles. In the former it is invariably a detached, independent opening; in the latter the rose or circle constitutes but the upper portion of a large window, com- pleted by the addition of a lower range of lights; and whether forming itself the real summit of the window, or enclosed in a pointed arch, or circumscribed by a square, all the angular portions between the circle and the boimd- ary lines are pierced into other designs, so as to become accessories to a imited traceried composition. As ex- amples of the earlier practice, embracing both the Transi- tional and the Early Pointed epochs, may be adduced the CHALONS-SUR-MARNE 131 following: The circles in the north and south transept ends of St Hilaire, Poitiers, where the original divisions no longer exist; the north transept front of St Serge, Angers, and both transepts of the cathedral of the same city; the western fagade of N6tre Dame, Chilons-sur- Mame, the two circles in the south transept and the one in the north of the same building; the one in the west fapade and in each of the transept ends at Chartres; the very remarkable one in the north transept of St Etienne, Beauvais; in the external wall of the triforium of the choir of St Etienne, Caen; in the west fronts of Rots and of Mondeville, both village churches near the same city; in both transepts of N6tre Dame, Dijon; and in the western fajades of Laon and Mantes. As instances of the later method, comprehending both Geometrical and Flamboyant Decorated specimens, may be cited: The windows in the west front and transept ends of Amiens Cathedral; in the transept fronts of Beauvais; in the cathedral, St Ouen and St Maclou, Rouen; in St Jacques, Dieppe; in the cathedrals of Sens, Auxerre, Tours, and Troyes; in the western fafades of Strasburg, Toul, Poitiers, and Rheims; in the north transept of Soissons and the southern one of ChMons-sur- Mame cathedrals; in both transepts of N6tre Dame, Paris; and in the transept fronts of Evreux and Seez cathedrals. Like those of every other French church that has not been diverted from its sacred purpose, the doors of Chalons Cathedral stand open from dawn to dark. Portse nitent margaritis, ad}rtis patentibus, Et virtute meritorum illuc introducitur Omnis qui pro Christi nomine hie in mundo premitur, and the visitor may roam about the pillared aisles — choir and chapels included — quite imchallenged by those nuisances, a "visitor's book" and a "chief guide and showman." 132 NORTHERN FRANCE It is needless to say that such freedom of circulation is a great boon to the student, while it constitutes but one of the manifold charms of a French church. Unfortunately our compatriots are too often disposed to abuse this liberty, and their peculiar manner of acting as if they were feudal lords coming amongst superstitious serfs imposes a strain on Gallic courtesy. Bearing in mind, therefore, that a church is primarily a place for worship and not for idle curiosity, and that the procession path of a French church is frequently tenanted by persons engaged in private devotion, the English visitor should move about as noiselessly and unobtrusively, and com- port himself as reverently, as possible. CAMBRAI The bishopric of Cambrai was founded in the second century, but its first authentic occupant, St Vaast, does not appear until the sixth. He had his seat at Arras. Prior to IS 59, when that extension of the episcopate in the Netherlands, which was the primary cause of the religious troubles in the Low Countries, took place under the administration of Philip II. of Spain, Cambrai, which had hitherto been a see suffragan to Rheims, was made the seat of an archbishop, to whom were assigned as suffragans the bishops of Arras, St Omer, Toumai, and Namur.i At the Concordat of 1801 Cambrai lost its title of metropolitan, and became a simple bishopric, suffragan to Paris, but thirty years later it regained its archiepiscopal dignity, with one see, that of Arras, for its suffragan. The diocese of Arras at the present day comprehends the principal part of the old sees of Boulogne and St Omer, from which the mitres were snatched at the end of the eighteenth century. The see dates from the eleventh century, and until the end of the eleventh was dependent upon Cambrai; but in 1094 it entered upon a separate existence as suffragan to Rheims, remaining so until 1559, when it reverted to Cambrai, with which on the redistribution of the French dioceses in 1801,, it was included in the province of Paris. ' The ^ other newly constituted sees in the Netherlands were Antwerp, Bois-le-Duc, Roermond, Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, with at their head, the arch see of Malines; and Haarlem, Middleburg, Leeuwarden, Groningen, and Deventer, all of which were suffragan to Utrecht, 13s 134 NORTHERN FRANCE In 1841 Arras and Cambrai were severed from Paris, the latter, as already stated, being raised to the dignity of metropolitan with the latter as its only suffragan see; and this arrangement has continued to the present day. Of the mediaeval cathedrals of Cambrai and Arras, which imtil the beginning of the last century were the pride and glory, not only of their respective cities, but of north- eastern France, not one stone is left upon another. That brutal instinct revealed in the Revolution — the desire to repudiate all the past of France, which sought to tear out every page of history, and to date aU from the Republic — ^was not alone confined to the capital. The representatives of the Convention and the agents of the Commune traversed the whole surface of France. At Arras and Cambrai Joseph Lebon decimated the departments of Nord and the Pas de Calais. This man is an example of the frenzy which seizes some weak heads in the great oscillations of opinion. Times have their crimes as well as men. Blood is as contagious as air. The fever of revolutions has its delirium. Lebon proved it, and manifested it in all its excesses during the short phases of a life of thirty years. In a period of quiet, he had acquired the name of a man of worth; in darker days, he left the renown of a pitiless proscriber. Bom at Arras, a compatriot of Robespierre, Lebon had entered into the order of Oratorians, the nursery for men who were destined for public tuition. Rejected from the rule of this order, Lebon became cur^ of Vemois near Beaime in Burgimdy, at the commencement of the Revo- lution. His regular piety, his manners, and his feeling for human misery made him at this period the model of priests. The philanthropic doctrines of the Revolution mingled themselves in his mind with the spirit of liberty, of equality, and of the charity of Christianity. He be- lieved he perceived the torch of political truth to be enlightened by the age at the torch of divine faith. He was impassioned with zeal and hope for this religion of CAMBRAI 135 the people, so similar to the religion of Christ. His faith itself incited him against his faitih. He separated himself from the old Galilean church to unite himself to the Constitutional one. When philosophy repudiated this schismatical church, Lebon repudiatai it in his turn. He married. He returned to his country. The pledge he had given to the Revolution caused it to elevate him to public employ. The ascendency of Robespierre and of Saint- Just, at Arras, brought him to the Convention. The Committee of Public Safety opined that they could not confide to a more trustworthy man the mission of watching over and quelling the contra-revolutionary plots of those departments in the neighbourhood of the frontiers, submissive to the clergy, and wrought upon by the con- spiracies of Dumouriez. Sent as a commissary into his department of Nord, he behaved with great moderation and sagacity, but his conduct having caused him to be accused of leniency, he promised to do better next time, and kept his word. He established a revolutionary tribunal at Arras, which surpassed in excesses that of Paris. He nominated and revoked judges and juries at his pleasure. He announced their fate to the accused before trial and sent those to the guillotine in the evening whom' the tribunal itself had acquitted in the morning. Nobles, priests, parents of emigrants, citizens, farmers, servants, women, old men, and children who had not even attained the age of crime, and strangers who knew not even how to read the laws of the country — ^he mingled all in the arrests which he commanded his assassins to execute, and which execution he himself watched over. He was present, from a raised balcony in the Grande Place at Arras, on a level with the instrument of death, at the execution of the condemned. The only crime in his own eyes was pity for the contra-revolutionists; and for the clergy, the companions of his former faith. He condemned and sent to the guillotine whole families, and laid low a score of heads at once. He pushed his cruelty 136 NORTHERN FRANCE to madness, saying he would have the public executioner at his table, have an orchestra by the side of the scaffold, and wotild decapitate a parrot if it said "Vive le Roi!" When on 9th of Thermidor of the Second Year of the Republic (July 27, 1794) the Convention deposed Robes- pierre and twenty-two of his partisans, among whom was Lebon, the latter declared in his defence he was only the agent of others, it availed him nothing: he was drawn to the scaffold amid the execrations of the populace, as one whose outrages had surpassed aU belief. Let us take a sorrowful glance at the old cathedral of Cambrai, so foolishly levelled with the dust little more than a century ago. From the plans and drawings extant it appears like several other great churches in this part of France — Noyon and Toumai may be adduced as instances — to have had apsidal transepts, with aisles and a chapel, also apsidal on the eastern side of each; a choir of five bays with double aisles, an ambulatory, and five chapels open- ing out of it; and a ten-bayed nave, of which the two western ones were included in the steeple. The plan of the choir and its chapels was the work of Villard de Honnecourt, who about 1230 had taken his model for this part of the church from the choir and apse of Rheims. We know also that the vaulting at the junc- tion of the four arms had been built about 1340 by Gerard, master mason of the abbey at Vaucelles, and that a few years after works were going on at tiie fl^he under Huward (1383) and Robert le Mafon (1389). In 1376 there came on the scene Jean Sawalle, who restored the steeple and the flying buttresses of the apse, and Jean Lecoustre — matire de Voeuvre of the abbey of St Bertin at St Omer; then between 1394 and 1415 Jean de Bouchin. At the end of the fourteenth cen- tury Martin de Louvain was consulted as to the renovation of ihejliche, and Gilles Largent, whose presence at Arras and St Quentin has been proved. The state of the great CAMBRAI 137 western tower in 1440 necessitated a fresh examination in which several names figure. We hear of Mathieu de Corbie, Jean Lejosne, both at the time master masons of the city and cathedral, and of Jean Blondel, an expert in carving; of Jean d'Outremepuich, from St Quentin, and of Michel de Reims, from Valenciennes. In 1448 Mathieu de Corbie and Jean du Croquet presented plans for the construction of new flying buttresses to the clerestorey of the nave. From all this we are led to infer that the mediaeval cathedral of Cambrai was second to none of the great churches in French Flanders in point of completeness and structural splendour. Closed for religious worship at the Terror, it was sold as national property on the 6tii of Jxme, 1796, and shortly afterwards demolished with the exception of the tower, which, deprived of its points of support, succumbed to a violent gale on 8th of January, 1809. To-day we search in vain for any vestiges of this remarkable edifice. To those interested in the archaeological and artistic treasures of France, a volume published in 1880, on this cathedral — "Histoire artistique de la Cathddrale de Cam- brai," by M Jules Honday,i cannot fail to be agreeable. With the aid of various inventories M Honday successfully drew up a history, and restored the aspect, at different epochs, of the venerable metropolitan church, which appears to have been the most important and most richly decorated of the religious edifices in the north of France; the diocese, indeed, extended as far as Antwerp. The author follows the cathedral from its origin in the eleventh century, through the transformations which in the middle of the eighteenth century so seriously altered its appear- ance, down to its official destruction in 1796. The perusal of the old accoimts kept by the abbots (matter which to all but archaeologists is essentially "dry") furnish much interesting information, showing, above all, the extraor- dinary artistic atcivity of the Middle Ages. The chrono- ' Lille: L Danel. 138 NORTHERN FRANCE logical table alone of the artisans or artists, — in those days little difference was made between them, but that difference was made well marked, — mentioned in the old accounts, furnish 482 names of glass painters, carpenters, pewter and earthenware potters, plumbers, painters, seal-engravers, coiners, musicians, clockmakers, bellfoimders, locksnuths, imagiers or image scidptors, illuminators, papetiers and bookbinders, embroiderers and architects. A view of the cathedral is given, photographed from an original drawmg (preserved at the Gobelins tapestry works) by Van der Meulen, who accompanied Louis XIV. in his Flemish campaign. With the plan executed at the time of the demolition, and a plan of Cambrai in relief, made in 1695, and carried off at the commencement of the last century, and now preserved at Berlin, we have all that remains of a monument, the history of which is told so skilfully in the little volume to which I have referred. The present cathedral of Cambrai — dedicated to Our Lady — ^was formerly the church of the Abbey of St Sepulchre. Built on the site of an earlier edifice between 1703 and 1729 under the auspices of the forty-second abbot, Louis de Marbay and his successor, Joseph d'Am- brine, it is a transverse-triapsidal structure in the style of the Renaissance as practised in France during the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV., and though not so grandly dimensioned as the cathedral of St Vaast at Arras, is lighter and more ornate. On the night of September 9-10, 1859, a fire did much damage; fortunately, however, liie valuable series of windows en grisaille by the celebrated G^racet of Antwerp, assisted by one of his most distinguished pupils, Sauvage of Toumai, were saved. Works of reconstruction and embellishment imdertaken between 1865 and 1876 have given the edifice the aspect it now wears. The nave has five bays, and the choir four. The latter is finished with a semicircular apse, as are the transepts. It is to be presumed that the predecessor of the present CAMBRAI 139 structure partook of this plan trefle, like several other churches in this part of France. The arches separating the nave and choir from their aisles have no mouldings to their soffits, and rise from Roman Doric pilasters. Between each bay a fluted Corinthian pilaster supports a richly moulded entablature. The transverse arches of the vaulting are carried upon pilasters, and the clerestorey and aisle windows have depressed, not flat, heads. During the repairs of 1865-76 the windows in the upper part of the western facade, the chapel behind the high altar, and in a building adjacent to die south side of the choir were filled with a kind of Lombardic Gothic tracery not harmonizing well with the Renaissance of the period that witnessed the erection of this church. On the north side of the nave is a campanile with belfry windows of the same description. It is sur- mounted by a truncated octagonal spire crowned with a balustrade and a gilt image of the Virgin Mary, certainly one of the ugliest things I ever saw. In the chapel opening out of the aisle behind the apse is the monument of one of the most distinguished, and to English people, most interesting, of the archbishops who have occupied the throne of Cambrai — Francis de Salignac de la Motte Ffeelon. It is a fine piece of work from the chisel of David d' Angers ^ (1825) and represents the prelate vested in his ordinary episcopal robes, reposing in a semi-recumbent attitude upon the tomb, the front of which is adorned with three bas-reliefs of the following incidents in the life of the archbishop : The education of the Duke of Burgundy; dressing the wounds of the injured after the battle of Malplaquet; and his restoration of the cow to the poor peasant. F6nelon, who ruled the diocese of Cambrai — to which a dukedom was attached — from 1695 to 171 5, is perhaps most widely known by his Telemaque and Les Maximes des ' One of the most admired works of this sculptor — The Canova of Anjou— is his statue of "le bon roi" Rini, at Angers. I40 NORTHERN FRANCE Saints sur la Vie intSrieure. On the publication of the latter, which was said to contain principles similar to those of Mdme Guyon, F^nelon was attacked with great bitter- ness by the inflexible Bossuet — the "Eagle of Meaux"— and notwithstanding his vigorous defence, the result was an order of banishment from his diocese. ARRAS Before entering upon a description of the present cathe- dral of Arras, a few words concerning the mediaeval one, so wantonly demolished at the beginning of the last century, may not be out of place. About the year 390 a large portion of Gaul was still plunged in the darkness of idolatry; then St Dioglne, a Greek, despatched by the Pope, Siricus, came to Rheims. Having received episcopal unction from St Nicaise, at that time Bishop of Rheims, he was permitted to share with him the evangelization of the people of Artois, to whom, there is every probability the light of the Gospel had not yet appeared. The holy bishop, by his courage and perseverance, surmoimted every obstacle, and in a short time succeeded in converting a large proportion of the inhabitants of Arras and its surrounding district. It was there that St Diogene planted the first church, which he dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The greatest disasters overtook this church. The Goths, and that horde of barbarians let loose from the north of Germany, carried devastation and death into Artois. With the utmost fury they attacked the priests and their churches. St Diogtee was martyred in the church which he had built and was buried in the ruins. Nearly two centuries, durmg which this region relapsed into paganism, passed away, ere any idea was entertained of rebuilding the cathedral at Arras. Then, early in the sixth century, St Vaast, — known in a. a u X 2J u , 1 s < W « Q M W a ^ H <1 8 fc) (D tfl R < a. ^ K QJ -r j: H ARRAS 141 England as St Vedast, — ^who had prepared King Clovis for baptism, came to Arras. It was, however, with the greatest difficulty that the saint overcame the people's imbelief, but at length he succeeded in establishing the Cross of Christ where naught but superstition and ignorance had prevailed, his first care being to recover the site of the old cathedral of N6tre Dame. This done, he built his church on the same spot, and consecrated it under the same title. St Vaast had been appointed Bishop of Arras, but in 510 the diocese of Cambrai was added to his own, and the two sees for a long time remained united. St Vaast, who was celebrated for his meekness, patience, and charity, worked thus for forty years, and died in the odour of sanctity February 6, 539.^ There are at the present day in England two churches dedicated to St Vedast. One is the well-known structure by Wren in Foster Lane, Cheapside, the other is at Tathwell in Lincolnshire. Until its destruction about 1570 there was a third church dedicated to this saint in Norwich. In Christian art St Vedast is represented in full pontifi- cals with near him a wolf from whose mouth he is said to have rescued a goose belonging to a poor family; some- times a bear is his emblem. EfSgies of St. Vedast exist in painted glass at Blytheburg and Long Melford churches, both in Suffolk. His festival was observed in the old English calendars on February 6th, and he is commemo- rated on that day in several ancient English liturgies, viz., the Benedictional of St .^thelwold, the Missal of Robert of Jumi^ges, the Leofric Missal, the Sarum Missal, ' For full particulars relative to this saint, I must refer the reader to The Life and Legend of St Vedast, by the Rev. W. Sparrow Simpson, D.D., subdean, Minor Canon and Librarian of St Paul's Cathedral (1861-1897) and rector of St Vedast's, Foster Lane (1880-97). To this exhaustive volume its author has appended Carmina Vedastina. 142 NORTHERN FRANCE Breviary and Martyrology, the York Missal and Breviary, and the Hereford Missal. Many churches in the French dioceses of Arras, Cam- brai, Toumai, Amiens, Rheims, and Beauvais have St Vaast for their patron; and his Festival (Feb. 6th) is observed in the greater number of the French and Belgian dioceses. In the MS. extant at Arras there are a number of Sequences or Proses for this festival, and one of these is given in the Supplement aux Graduel et Antiphonaire Romains pour la Diocese d' Arras, where it is set to a fine broad plain-song melody. In the Arras MS., No. 734, folio 79, this Sequence, the first stanza of which I subjoin, is styled as metro dactilico saphico pentametro editus. Voce jocunda resonemus omnes Laudibus sacris studium ferentes Atrebatensem modolando patrem Laude Vedastum. Of Haiminus, the author of this hymn, some account is given by Valerius Andreas in the Bibliotheca Belgica. A disciple of Alcuin, a feUow pupil with Charlemagne, he became a monk of the abbey of St Vaast at Arras, and died in 834. Fresh catastrophes assailed the cathedral built by St Vedast at Arras. The Normans destroyed the city and its cathedral, but the faithful were not slow in repairing this disaster, and many others which succeeded with fearful persistency. In 1020, during the episcopate of Gerard le Premier, after a fire occasioned by lightning, the church rose from its debris more beautiful than before, through the exertions of its treasurer, Raoul. The crypt, which still exists, is attributed to this period. Years rolled on, and the Romanesque cathedral was gradually supplanted by what, from existing records, may be judged to have been one of the most imposing in the north of France. It was cruciform, and orientated ARRAS 143 to the southeast. The choir had five bays and an apse forming half a decagon in plan. The nave comprised eleven bays, and the western facade was flanked by towers of imequal height, the taller one being considered an architectural chef d'oeuvre. Part of the ground covered by this great cathedral at Arras, of which a few remains are preserved in the Museum of that city, is now occupied by the church of St Eloi, a deplorable pseudo-Classical edifice dating from 1840. The present cathedral, as already stated in the chapter on Cambrai, was, until the Revolution, the church of the abbey of St Vaast. The rich and powerful brethren who occupied the extensive conventual buildings wished, about the middle of the eighteenth century, to rebuild their church, which at that time was in a rumous condition. The works were begim in 1755, and although pursued with much ardour, were in an imfinished state when 1789 came and put a stop to them. The house was dissolved and its inmates were obliged to seek elsewhere an asylimi which nobody at that troublous time would take upon them- selves to provide. On the re-establishment of religion it was proposed to confer the title of cathedral upon this great unfinished work, since the mediaeval cathedral had been so foolishly demolished. The works, resumed in 1810, were only com- pleted in 1833, the bishop using as his pro-cathedral the parish church of St Jean Baptiste, a Late Gothic struc- ture of a German type, of no very high merit, but lofty and spacious, and tiierefore well adapted for such a purpose. The present cathedral, consecrated Jime 6, 1833,1 by Bishop de la Tour d'Auvergne, is, as might be expected from the epoch of its construction, in the Classical style, of which it is a fine, if, externally at least, somewhat ponderous example. It is built in the form of a Latin ' An "Inauguration provisoire" took place in 1827 diu-jng a visit of Charles X. 144 NORTHERN FRANCE cross with a nave of six bays, transepts of three, and a choir of three, the last terminating in a semicircular apse. There are aisles throughout, continued round the apse, and seven chapels open out of the circumambient aisle. Externally the finest features are the huge semicircular buttresses to the clerestorey, which is lighted by round- headed windows. The lower stage of the west front has coupled columns of the Composite order, attached on either side the main entrance, above which, in the storey corresponding to the clerestorey, is the same arrangement of detached but less lofty columns supporting a pediment. The ends of the aisles are relieved by coupled pilasters of the same order. The interior is imposing from its grand dimensions and the excellence of its proportions. The nave, choir, and transepts are separated from their aisles by colonnades of tall Corinthian columns, which at the junction of the four arms and in the apse are coupled, thus producing a remarkably fine effect. At the west end a gallery sup- ported on columns ranging in height with those in the nave contains the organ, which in its well-designed, purely Classical case extends the whole width of the church. Between each window of the clerestorey a Composite pilaster carries the round transverse arches of the roof, which has a barrel-shaped vault. There is no stained glass in the tall rovmd-headed windows of the aisles, which have flat roofs crossed at the interval of each bay by a beam which is carried from the abacus of the nave column to a corresponding pilaster in the aisle wall. The plinths of the nave columns are faced with marble, and are 26 feet square, and the width of each bay is 18 feet, thus giving a length of about 150 feet to the nave alone. The whole interior affords a splendid field for pictorial enrichment carried out on some well-digested scheme of iconography. Gildmg applied to the fine Corinthian capitals of the columns and other details would do much ARRAS 145 to relieve the building of the somewhat cold and sombre appearance which it wears at present. An extremely beautiful baptistery, enclosed by balus- trades of white marble, is formed in the western aisle of the north transept. The pavement is composed of alternate layers of white, red, and yeUow marble. The font is a graceful vase of the colour of alabaster, with two handles, and at each angle of the floor stands a black or grey marble pedestal supporting an equally graceful vase of the same material in pale grey. The subdued colours of the materials used in this baptistery at Arras cause it to linger in the memory as one of the most beautiful things of the kind which Revived Classical architecture has produced in modem times. There are several large statues about the cathedral, one of which represents St Vaast, but beyond this I could discover nothing to indicate that any particular reverence was paid to this great Christian missionary to Northern Gaul. It must have been somewhat singular for a French priest to hear enquiries about the altar of St Vaast from an English churchman, whose zeal for the saint evidently far exceeded his own. The courteous vicaire to whom I addressed myself mournfully confessed, "II est tout k fait oubli^!" And so it was! In the shops, the prints and figures were Jeanne d'Arc, not St Vaast, in his own cathedral it was she who was commemorated m popular esteem, and not the bishop; for there, over the great altar at the end of the south transept, was a pasteboard castle with that heroine perched on its summit, evidently expressing surprise (as well she might) at finding herself in such a situation; while in the backgroimd rose a wretched daub representing another castle over which a dove with rays darting from it, and cherubim hovering around, formed conspicuous objects in the sky-piece. Verily, it has been said that the taste of the modem French is evident everywhere but in their churches. PARIS There are absolutely only two churches left standing in the "He de la Cit6" of Paris,— the cathedral of N6tre Dame, and the Sainte ChapeUe, — and there is nothing left in the history of Lutetia which more clearly exhibits the modem disposition to make a tabula rasa of the past. The wonder is that these two churches should have been preserved down to our own time. There they stand, however, somewhat injured by restoration. Yet happily not so much so as they might have been, and likely to last for centuries stiU to come, considering their present excellent condition of material repair. But where are the crowd of little churches that clustered round N6tre Dame as children cluster rovind their great mother? In the Middle Ages she gathered them about her as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; but now they are all gone, and she would be left in complete solitude were it not that from the court of the Palais de Justice there stUl rises one solitary spire answering to hers, and still as in the Middle Ages the birds fly from one to the other. But where is N6tre Dame du Pas, where is St Jean-le-Rond, and where may we find St Christophe,.Ste Genevibve, St Agnan, St Laud, St Pierre, St Denis de la Chartre, Ste Marie, and La Madeleine? Where are all these churches of the past which once stood in consecrated groimd, and were thought to be safe for ever — churches adorned by the mediaeval architect, often repaired and injured by later experimentalists at the Renaissance, yet interesting always for the bits of beautiful old work to be foimd in them ? With the establishment of Christianity in Paris, prob- 146 PARIS 147 ably about a.d. 365, under Valentinian I., a church was founded at the eastern extremity of the city in honour of St Stephen, and a bishop's stool deposited therein. This earliest church was situated to the south of the site occupied by the present building. Placed in a city ever rich, populous, and greedy of novelty, this basilica — for such one would imagine it to have been — was deemed inadequate when Clovis raised Paris to the dignity of a capital of a Christian kingdom. In the middle of the sixth century, Clovis' successor, yielding to the entreaties of St Germain, caused a second cathedral to be constructed, a little to the north of St Stephen's. This he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Venantius Fortunatus,i the courtly poet-bishop of Poitiers, has left a pompous, but it is to be feared somewhat apocryphal, account of this structure, which, in his religious enthusiasm, he compares with Solomon's Temple in point of splendour. For a long time Childebert's N6tre Dame shared cathedral dignity with that of St Etienne. It was at the altar of the former that ¥166.6- gonde took refuge, and foimd an inviolable place of shelter after the assassination of Chilperic in 584. Greg- ory of Tours (544-595) speaks of these two churches in his "History of the Franks," very distinctly. In 829 the Coimcil of Paris assembled in the nave of that of St Stephen, which was the larger and more sump- tuous of the two. In the twelfth century Etienne de Garlande, who died in 1142, made considerable altera- tions and additions to the Church of the Blessed Virgin, and Suger, the famous abbot of St Denis, adorned it with ' To Venantius Fortunatus we owe some of the finest hymns still used in the western church, as, e.g., "Agnoseat omne saeculum"; "Maria ventre concipit"; "Adam vetus qui poUuit"; "Salve festa Dies"; and "Vexilla Regis prodeunt"; all of which were translated by John Mason Neale for the "Hymnal Noted" between 1850 and 1S56. 148 NORTHERN FRANCE some magnificent stained glass, and it gradually eclipsed in splendour its more ancient neighbour, St Stephen. Maurice de Sully had hardly attained to the episcopal dignity when he determined to imite these two cathedrals into one, and laid the foundations of the existing church from the designs of Eudes de Montreuil in 1163, Pope Alexander III. himself assisting; in 11 82 it was sufficiency advanced that the high altar was consecrated by Henry, the Papal legate; and Heraclius, patriarch of Jerusalem, the same who dedicated our Temple Church in London four years later, and had visited Europe for the purpose of preaching a crusade, officiated in the new choir; but at the death of Maurice in 1196 the choir was not com- pleted, as in his wiU he directs 5,000 livres to be paid towards the lead roof. The works actively progressed under his successor, Eudes de Sully, 1197 to 1208, and in the latter year the great west front was commenced under Pierre de Nemours. The last remains of the old basilica of St Etienne were removed to make way for the south transept. Under Philippe Auguste the west end was completed as far as the base of the gallery coimecting the two towers, and the magnificent appearance of this front influenced the re- building (at a period which our history has not yet reached), of the two transept fronts, which before were of a sterner and less elaborate description. N6tre Dame at Paris, taken in the nucleus is, like its namesake at Laon, the grandest and most complete exposition of that period of architecture known as the "Transitional." AH architecture, so long as it was a living art, was, in reality, "Transitional"; it only ceased to be such when its vitality vanished, as it did at the close of the period to which this Transitional was the introduction. Still, from our standpoint, as heirs of all the centuries, we can note certain links in the chain of its progress as having been exceptionally "Transitional," — ^more from their < g-T- S O 2 !s •£ ■= u i: g O li. « S •= < H " O (/5 a PARIS 149 relation to the preceding and succeeding links than from any intrinsic peculiarity of their own. It is in this sense that the period to which a very large portion of the cathedral forming the subject of this chapter belongs, and which has specially obtained the above name, and that its applicability to it has become recognized, and the term consequently familiar. The late Mr Edmund Sharpe,^ who, if not its original sponsor, was its most loving and devoted exponent, has aptly called it "the tomb of the Romanesque, and the- cradle of Gothic." Breadth, horizontality and repose had been the essential characteristics of Classic architecture, and remained so, to a great extent, xmtil this period of the "Transitional." The characteristics of the Gothic architecture, to which that style was the portal, and which was the logical result of the common-sense principles followed by the Christian architects, were, on the contrary, subdivision, verticality, and aspiring energy. The period of the Transition was that of the struggle between these opposite tendencies. To those of my readers desirous of extending their knowledge of this most fascinating period of French architecture, as practised in the country surrounding Paris, I would recommend a study of Johnson's " Speci- mens of Early French Architecture" — a most useful con- tribution to our knowledge of the earliest French Gothic in its native home, published in 1864. It contains exactly one hundred lithographed plates of selected examples of religious architecture from the cathedrals, ' One of the earliest, ablest, and most zealous pioneers of the English Gothic revival, whose "Architectural Parallels," a work illustrating the progress of Ecclesiastical Architecture through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, published about sixty years ago, deserves especial mention. Mr. Sharpe was one of the most delightful of lecturers, and on various occasions piloted architectural parties through such districts of France as the Domaine Royale and Lt Charente. He died in 1877. ISO NORTHERN FRANCE abbeys, collegiate churches, and parish churches of the district known as the He de France. I can imagine no book more fascinating to the mere lover of Gothic archi- tecture, and none more useful to the student, more par- ticularly as the drawings were made before the majority of the churches represented in it had been subjected to the process (so familiar to us all) of what is facetiously called "restoration." For accuracy and minuteness, the drawings made on stone, in ink, by the author himself, may almost vie with photography for accuracy and minuteness. About one-half of the work is devoted to plans, eleva- tions, sections, and details of the various buildings, from actual measurement: the remainder consists of per- spective views, drawings of sculptured capitals, and other decorative features. Among others, geometrical drawings of various portions of Laon and Noyon cathedrals are given; also of N6tre Dame at Chalons-sur-Mame, with one of its towers and the old spire. St Leu d'Esserent — that grand church on the Oise, a few minutes' ride by train from Creil, is given in a most complete manner, as the fine character of its work deserves. The noble desecrated church of St Frambourg, at Senlis, is also illustrated, as well as the smaller, but not less interesting desecrated church of St Evremond, at Creil. A number of smaller buildings such as the churches at CaufEry and Cambronne will be found worthy of careful study, while of equal interest because equally less known are the fine "saddleback" towers at Nogent-les-Vierges and Villers St Paul, both near Creil; the latter being an extraordi- narily fine specimen of the Romanesque just developing into the Pointed. Other examples of more than ordinary interest are the central towers of the parish church at Champagne — a most majestic work of the richest possible architectural detail. The churches of Nesles, St Etienne, Beauvais, and Angy supply plates of great value; the last named is so PARIS 151 large that it seems to reach architecturally above its eccle- siastical status of a mere parish church. In fine, the examples were selected to display that nobleness, simplicity, and masculine vigour so strikingly characteristic of late twelfth and early thirteenth century architecture in France. Those who are studying Christian architecture, either as antiquarians or practical men, will find the result of a laboriously measured series of such specimens of the utmost value. But to resume the thread of our history after this some- what lengthy digression. It will be remembered that Maurice de Sully, who had laid the foundations of the existing choir, in the latter half of the twelfth century, was completing it at the moment death snatched him from the cares of his diocese, in 1 196. But it must not be supposed that the apse of N6tre Dame, as it then was, resembled it in its present condition; and although the work of de Sully still exists, it is so buried beneath more recent additions, and it has been so completely altered, that it requires a long study and a minute investigation to unravel the original con- struction from amidst the successive additions and modi- fications of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the interior the choir has preserved nearly its primitive aspect. It was composed of a great body pierced in its upper part with large pointed windows witiiout tracery, windows of which one can still see perfectly the archivolts and almost Romanesque nook-shafts. The great upper cornice which still remains was composed of a triple row of billets, surmoimted by a projection forming the water channel, which no longer exists. At that period the great roof must have been lower and more obtuse than at present, and destitute at its base of battlements and balustrades. The triforium, of which the interior is untouched, must probably, if we may judge from various fragments found on the vaulting, have been lighted by lunettes, or circular windows similar to those which are 152 NORTHERN FRANCE still to be seen in N6tre Dame at Mantes.* This tri- forium was covered by a simple sloping or lean-to roof, which just touched the bases of the clerestorey windows of the choir. The plan, conceived on a scale of imposing and tmusual grandeur, comprises five aisles, of which the centre one, expanding at the eastern extremity into a semicircle, is accompanied by a double apsidal aisle, resulting from the prolongation on concentric curves of the lateral divisions of the western area.^ In the choir and its aisles the Pointed pier arches of two orders of edge rolls are sustained upon somewhat massive mono-cylindrical pillars with boldly-sculptured capitals,^ but in the aisles on either side of the nave a complex type of piUar is used as well as the simple cylinder. This is composed of a roimd nucleus encircled by twelve disimited shafts: two of these shafts at each of the four corresponding points of the circumference (with a general square abacus) are given to the vaulting ribs in the transverse and longitudinal direction; and the remaining four, each with its independent abacus, are assigned to the diagonal ribs of two contiguous compartments of the quadripartite roof of the aisle. This variation in the form of pillar is extremely pleasing, and relieves from ' This church, which dates from the same epoch, affords valuable information as to the first arrangement of N6tre Dame at Paris. ' N6tre Dame is one of the two great French churches planned with double aisles throughout, the o.ther being the cathedral of Bourges. At Persan-Beaumont, on the Oise, the square-ended ptirish church — a charming specimen of the architecture of the twelfth-thirteenth century — has double aisles to its nave and choir. ' The plants which the sculptors have conventionalised in these capitals are those commonly found in the fields around Paris; they are generally Gothic in feeling, and have nothing in common with those which crown the columns in Anglo-Norman churches. In the piers supporting the three most westerly bays of the nave, the architect has employed that component type, formed by a cylinder with four surrounding shafts, which became such a favourite one in the thirteenth century. PARIS 153 monotony this noble array of aisles, than which there is hardly anything so grand in the domain of Early Pointed architecture. The vaulting of the nave and choir being of the descrip- tion known as sexpartite, and so including two clerestorey windows in each transverse compartment of the vault, gives rise to an alternate arrangement of the vaulting Siafts. But, contrary to the general practise where this disposition obtains, the groups are of uniform character, and differ only in the office they perform. Of three shafts of equal diameter and height, quite detached from the wall in front of which they rise, and so well defined by deep lines of shadow, the centre one is assigned alter- nately to the main transverse rib of the vault and to the central transverse rib between the two diagonals; and the flanking shafts appropriated alternately to the diagonal rib, together with the wall-rib shaft, and to the wall-rib shaft alone. All the ribs are Pointed, except the central transverse one, which is circular and very much stilted. The bases of these tripled vaulting shafts rest upon the abaci of the pier capitals. The flying buttresses (all rebuflt in the thirteenth or even in the fourteenth centuries), could not, like those which we see at present, have been constructed of a single arc. It is probable they were composed of two arcs, the upper one resting on the exterior pillars of the tri- forium, the lower springing from the great exterior but- tresses, so as to rest on those same piers of the triforium. This construction was certainly much more reasonable than that which now exists; nevertheless it is easy to understand why it was modified; I shall return to this point. To resume our history. There is reason to suppose, from tolerably certain indications, that at the death of Maurice de Sully, not only the choir of N6tre Dame was finished, but that the transepts also, and the nave were raised to the same height. In the first place, because the 154 NORTHERN FRANCE great cylindrical piers of the nave have capitals of a style analogous to those of the choir. In the second, because in the great western fapade there can be seen, on the dexter portal, called the portal of St Anne, a tympanum, a lintel, some voussoirs, and two corbels, in the style of the sculpture of the twelfth centur^, which, transferred as they must be to the present fajade, come very probably from the portals of the facade of Maurice de Sully. Lastly, because the wrought-iron work which decorates the two doors to the right and left of the grand facade have much more the appearance of belonging to the epoch of Maurice de Sully than that of the present faf ade, and it certainly was not made for the doors which they now cover. Indeed, those of the door of St Anne are too short, while those of the door of the Vrigin are too long, and are in part concealed by the lintels; the nails, too, are placed without order. Entering, not without caution, into the field of conjecture, we may suppose, not without grounds, that this ironwork and the panels which fill the surface of these two present doors, come from the three doors of the first fapade; and that they were, together with the sculptures alluded to above, preserved in the thirteenth century by the architects of the present facade as precious remains and objects of such a value that they thought they could not do better than replace them in the actual fafade. The Cathedral of Paris is not the only church which thus contains fragments coming from anterior edifices employed by the artists of the thirteenth century. In the cathedral of Bourges, for example, it is easy to perceive that the portal on either side of the nave is composed in great part of figures and bas-reliefs of the twelfth century, placed or replaced by the architects of the thirteenth. The statues on the south door of this great transeptless cathedral belong certainly to the former and are placed on pedestals of the latter. Besides this, other examples might be adduced. In the same way at Ndtre Dame, PARIS iSS Paris, it may be observed that the second lintel and the bas-relief of the portal of St Anne stand in their replace- ment upon a lintel of the thirteenth century, the outliae of the great tympanum describing a more obtuse pointed arch than that adopted by the architects of that period. These have filled up the space so left by ornamentation of their own composition : the voussoirs of the twelfth cen- tury are placed on a row of voussoirs of the succeeding one, and lastly, the two corbels of the twelfth century terminate in foliage which does not continue on the pilasters of the thirteenth century. We may admit then with a reasonable certainty, that these fragments of unusual dimensions came from the fafade commenced by Maurice de Sully; that this fajade haviag been raised only to the height of the portals, and not presenting a sufficiently majestic development, or being found incapable of junction with the last plans of the thirteenth-century architects, was destroyed by them, the most precious ornaments only being preserved in order to reset them into their own work. Be this as it may, from the commencement of the thir- teenth century the work of completion of the Cathedral of Paris was continued with great activity, and it was then that the whole nave was built, and that the fajade was raised as far as the base of the great open gallery. But the exterior of this nave had a very different char- acter from that which lapse of time had given it. The transepts, shorter by a bay than they now are, stopped at the great buttresses which still exist behind the gables of the arms of the cross, i.e.,. in a line with the walls of the outer aisles. Like the choir, the clerestorey of the nave was lighted by simple poiated windows without tracery, two of which still exist in the first bay of the nave con- cealed by the projections of the great buttresses of the towers at the north and south. The single lancet windows which we see in the clerestorey at the end of each of the four arms immediately adjoining the crossing are restora- iS6 NORTHERN FRANCE tions of M VioUet-le-Duc, who has likewise brought back the circular window between them and the triforium. This last-named feature presents an arrangement which appears to belong almost exclusively to the He de France,' and has its counterpart in the manner chore of the Rhenish basilicas as, e.g., the cathedral at Limburg on Lahn, the parish church at Boppart, and the Church of Our Lady at Coblentz. It was principally destined to give light to the nave, for, on the one hand, the clerestorey windows were too high to light the ground storey of the nave, especially if we suppose, as it is probable, that these windows were filled with stained glass; and on the other the nave being flanked by a double aisle, the external openings of the secondary aisle were too far removed from the centre of the church to be of use in lighting it. At that time, the exterior waU of the tri- forium had been raised cpnsiderably above its present cornice, arid it was pierced by broad long windows, the light of which passing throiigh the interior arcade of the tnforium fell jugt in the middle of the pavement of the nave. Lastly, 'tAe double aisle, destitute of chapels, was lighted by simple lancet windows without tracery. One of th^e windows may be discerned under that buttress of the southern tower which is imbedded in the wall of the aisle; this window must have been stopped up when that tower was built. This tends to prove another fact, that the nave aisles had risen to a certain height when the fafade was built. I say the aisles only, for the upper part of the nave, perfectly agreeing as it does in construc- tion with the two towers, must have been built at the same time with them. In the nave, as in the choir, the older flying buttresses ' We meet with this grandly developed triforium at St Germer, near Beauvais, at Laon, Noyon, Senlis, Montiferender, Mouzon, and Mantes; in St Remy at Rheims, Notre Dame at Chalons-sur- Mame, and Epinal. Our great Norman triforia at Ely, Norwich, and Peterbfirough are analogous. < > a c < P a) H O 12 PARIS 157 must have been constructed in two stages and have rested on the external pilasters of the triforium, as the present ones do not agree with the great buttresses be- longing to the first building;, the materials of which they are constructed not being of the same nature as those of the buttresses in question, and the masonry being much finer; in a word these flying buttresses are pierced into the upright ones like mortised woodwork into grooves which show themselves to be afterthoughts. Recurring to the west front, some difllerences of style in the details and construction lead us to assimie that there was an interval of cessation between its lower part and its summit: from the great open gallery up- wards as far as the top of the tower, the profiles and the ornamentation are free from all Romanesque tradition. The building is made with broader courses of stone, and the cuttings are less finely executed; neverthelesSj com- paring this fafade with all the monuments of the lie de France of which the date has been ascertained, we must admit that it was entirely finished before the first decade of the thirteenth century. It is hardly possible to conceive a design more imposing as a whole, more sound in construction, or more skilfully executed in its details than this western fajade of N6tre Dame. Everyone knows it, but few perhaps realise the amount of knowledge, care, resolution, and experience implied by the erection of that colossal pile, within the space of, at most, ten or twelve years. Still, it is, as we see it in Paris, an unfinished work; the two towers were to have been terminated by spires in stone,^ which would have completed and rendered intelligible the admirably designed tower masses. Here indeed we have art, and of the noblest kind. Let me invite the reader's attention to its principal features and excellencies. ' The bases of these projected spires remain apparent in the interior of the two towers. 158 NORTHERN FRANCE The division of the front by horizontal lines form -resting places for the eye. Each division has its purpose: that in the massive basement provides for the three wide and rich portals, connected by the four canopies and colossal statues, which relieve what woidd be the hardness in the lines of the buttresses. The gravity and strength of this basement, emphasised by the continuous belt of ornament formed by the splendid gallery of kings which surmounts it; and the parapet above it, adapted to the scale of the human figure, marks the colossal size of these statues. The great rose window in the centre, and the couplets of the towers on either side repeat and continue the character of the basement storey, as also does the loftier traceried gallery above them form, as it were, an echo to that with the range of royal statues below, and its comparative lightness seems to be the preparation for the aspiring part of the composition which commences there- from. Up to this point the facade has a stem and massive character, which would harmonise perfectly with the horizontality of the buildings which form its foreground. Now the towers disengage themselves, and spring up- wards with their lofty belfry openings and the shafted buttresses, but so vigorously, that they exclaim for some- thing adequate to support, otherwise it must be owned that they would seem superfluously strong. Every part of the composition appears designed to support and lead up gradually to spires which, should then soar heaven- wards unrestrainedly. One other part is noticeable in this western fafade at Paris; this is "variety in imity" as Viollet-le-Duc has so weU said. Though at first sight the portals appear symmetrical, the left doorway differs from the right. The left tower is larger than the other, and the arcading of its grand gallery is the more severe and solemn of the two. The eminent authority above referred to concludes that the spires would have been varied, and in his restoration he has accordingly made them different in many parts. PARIS 159 This diversity is still more observable in the details when examined, and certainly gives an extraordinary feeling of life to the composition. The portion immediately above the completed one would be octagonal with an open arcaded turret sur- mounted by a pinnacle, profusely crocketed against each of the oblique sides; thence would spring the spire, also crocketed. The left-hand or narrower spire would have a gabled squinch on each of its sides at the base, the right- hand one a squinch against each cardinal side only.^ Immediately over the " Galerie des Rois" is another, the "Galerie de la Vierge" so called from the statue of the Blessed Virgin which, accompanied by two angels holding torches, stands upon the parapet in front of the great rose wmdow. In these torches, the Chevecier (treasurer), on the night of- Thursday after Sexagesima placed lighted candles, while the clergy made a station before this eflSgy, on the Place du Parvis.^ It appears that this ceremony was abolished on account of a scandalous scene got up by some masqueraders, who insulted the clergy in the performance of their duties. ' A very spirited drawing of N6tre Dame by Mr. C. E. Mallows, from the east, with the spires completed, will be found in the Builder of March 16, 1889. ' The Parvis or area in front of Notre Dame has been several times enlarged; but particularly in 1748, when the church of St Stephen, together with many subordinate buildings, was removed, and the ground considerably lowered. Before this period the cathedral was so much below the level of Paris that it was entered by a descent of thirteen steps. The word Parvis is no doubt derived from the Italian Paradisa, an open space in front of a church. The Latin Paradisus means a garden, and the open spaces before some Italian churches were laid out as such. In Germany, as, for instance, at Miinster, Paderbom, and Herford, the front porches before the southern doors are called Paradises. It appears that Paradisa was also a name given to a study, as in the descriptions of old houses, "great and little Paradise " frequently occurs. Doubt- less the room over the porch of so many English churches formed a study for the parish priest, hence their name "Parvise" Porches, which is evidently a corruption of the word "Paradise." i6o NORTHERN FRANCE ^""Whd has not heard of the Chimkres or Devils of N6tre Dame, that collection of specimens of fantastic sculptured zoology, unparalleled in Europe? They stand on the west side of the parapet that marks the springing of the towers. The first two creatures are of monstrous birds, half shrouded with drapery; the third figure, of Satanic aspect that glares so vicioudy over Paris is the famous Stryge of Meryon's etching. Nothing could surpass the execution of these grotesques in fearless freedom and unerring certainty of execution. There is no shilly-shallying with the chisel, but the ideas of the master mind have been wrought with unhesitating strokes that admitted no doubt, and tolerated no delay. That strange world in which the fancy of the mediaeval sculptor revelled has no counterpart in Greek art, and the altered conditions of modem life are out of keeping with its extravagances, so that it is futile to challenge com- parison of mediaeval figure work with either the antique on the one hand, or the present-day carvings on the other, for in the field of the true grotesque in art, mediaeval sculpture is, and must reign, supreme. Originality is the poetry and strenuous purpose of the Middle Ages, it developed strangely hand in hand with ignorance and superstition; as it told the tale and taught its lessons to the faithful then, so the enquiring student of to-day may learn that now. The cathedral was hardly finished, about 1230, when the work was recommenced in order to nmke most important modifications in its principal arrangements. Even at this epoch broad and high windows with very simple tracery were used to light the naves. The clergy sought to apply to all ecclesiastical edifices that splen- did decoration, painted glass. The size of the plain surfaces of the walls was more and more diminished, and the light of day was admitted to all the spaces com- prised between the vaultmg shafts. The single lancet PARIS i6i windows of N6tre Dame placed under the ribs of the great vaults above the nave and the choir — small as they were compared with the size of the body of the church — could hardly have been to the taste of the clergy, or of the architects of the middle of the thirteenth century. Accord- ingly, whether a fire which destroyed the ancient roofs, as there is good reason to believe after the examination of the walls above the existing great vaults, obliged the bishops of Paris to undertake new works in their cathe- dral, or whether the interior aspect of the edifice appeared too sombre, they enlarged the clerestorey windows of the nave and choir, cutting down the buttresses as far as the arches of the triforium; they then filled these immense openings with tracery of great simplicity, viz., two unfoliated lights surmoimted by a circle without cuspings; they lowered the exterior walls, and in consequence, the windows of the triforium of the nave, covering them with roofs with a double slope, in order to admit as much light as possible; and they reconstructed the vaults of this triforium, or at least that portion which was above the windows. The exterior walls of the triforium being thus lowered, the great double-arched flying buttresses could hardly remain, for the intermediate piers became too much raised above the level of these walls thus cut, and could no longer remain without peril. The double-arched flying buttresses were then removed, to be replaced by buttresses of a single arch. From that time the original windows of the triforium remained, but at two-thirds of their height topped at haphazard with portions of arches, and crowned by a cornice and a balustrade of the thirteenth century. In order to provide for the new tie-beam roof passing above the vaulting without obstacles, the upper waU of the choir and that of the nave were raised by means of a great cornice. This cornice contained a pipe defended by a balustrade, and finally the west gable was raised and the roof restored. i62 NORTHERN FRANCE "With all these improvements," observes a distin- guished architectural critic, "the Cathedral of Paris has not internally the same grandeur as Chartres, Rheims, and Amiens, though externally there is a very noble sim- simplicity of outline, and appearance of solidity in the whole design. "Internally it still retains the sexpartite arrangement in its vaults over the central aisle, and the quadripartite in the side aisles only. This causes the central vault to overpower those on each side, and makes not only the whole church, but all the parts, look much smaller than would have been the case had the roof been cut into smaller divisions, as was always done afterwards." It is to the middle of the thirteenth century also, that we must refer the wooden fliche covered with lead which surmounted the crossing. Although this spirelet was destroyed during the excesses of 1793, its base existed, and before the restoration of this feature in 1863 imder M VioUet-le-Duc, there could be seen in the centre an enormous scoinson, ornamented by a capital, of which the sculpture and the mouldings belong certainly to the end of the first half of the thirteenth century. The want or the desire of change at N6tre Dame did not stop here, and although the cathedral was then completely finished, from 1240 to 1290, they built between the enormous projections of the nave buttresses, two rows of chapels, decorated on the exterior with gables and geometrically traceried windows. These chapels were made to communicate with the aisles by opening the walls and supporting the ancient cornices and channels of these aisles by means of inverts constructed imder ground. These channels and cornices still exist in a great part above the vaults of these chapels and behind their out- gabling roofs. This important addition, and the enlarge- ment of the clerestorey windows, caused the interior of the cathedral to lose much of its first great character of simplicity, giving immoderate width to its ground plan, PARIS 163 at the same time robbing it of that harmony and unity which formerly reigned between all its parts. The nave, thus flanked by its new chapels, projected beyond the transepts, of which the external gable walls dated probably from the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth. These were then demol- ished, and lengthened by one bay in 1257, as is recorded in the following inscription cut on the base of the southern portal : " ANNO . DOMINI . MDCCLVII . MENSE . FEBRUARIO . IDUS . SECONDO . HOC FUIT . INCEPTUM . CHRISTI . GENETRICIS . HONORE . KALLENSI . LATHOMO , VIVENTE , JOHANNE . MAGISTRO." Although this inscription only exists on the south door, there is an identity of style between this one and that of the northern transept: from this we may conclude that during the reign of St Louis, Regnault de Corbeil, Bishop of Paris, caused these doors to be reconstructed by Jean de CheUes, master of the works. Until the middle of the thirteenth century the choir was destitute of chapels, its double aisles surrounding the apse deriving their light from without by openings of which no traces now remain, but which must have re- sembled those of the clerestorey of Maurice de Sully's choir, of which the pilasters and the archivolts still exist. Regnault de Corbeil must have also built, and at the same time as the gables of the transepts, the three chapels on either side of the choir, besides the little portal (called the Porte Rouge) which have hitched themselves in between the ancient buttresses of the choir; thus, contrary to the usual course, the additions of the chapels to the Cathedral of Paris began by the nave and finished by the choir. The buttresses of the nave projected so far beyond the walls of the aisles that the chapels built between 1240 and 1250, between them, were in reality constructed by i64 NORTHERN FRANCE simply filling them with walls, containing wide openings, so as still to leave tiie heads of the buttresses appearing between them, forming a projection of 2 feet 8 inches. But in the choir, the twelfth-century buttresses did not project enough from the walls of the aisles to give Regnault de Corbeil's chapels sufficient depth. This is why we see that the walls of these chapels, instead of being, like those in the nave, contained between the ancient buttresses, extend beyond them andtform a continuous decoration without projections or returns. The Porte Rouge referred to just now was long regarded as a work of the fourteenth century, the contention being that it was built by Jean Sans Peur, between 1304 and 1309. This is not now admissible, for the work presents all the characteristics of thirteenth-century architecture. The bas-relief of the Coronation of the Virgin is impressed with all the severe grace of the scxilpture of the epoch of St Louis. The abaci of the capitals are square; the capitals themselves are A crochets, the bases have well- defined scotise, and lastly, the diamond-headed pinnacles and the basements decorated with pearled compartments, show a forminess which fixes this little gem of architecture, as well of the chapels built between it and the north transept, at the period of the construction of, the portal of Jean de Chelles. The fact of the construction of chapels being commenced at the western portion of the choir, necessarily called for others at the apse, thus, from the beginning of the fourteenth century that cincture of chapels was reared which enclose the apse. The deeds of foundation of some of these chapels date from 1324, several having been built by the then Bishop of Paris, Matiffas de Bucy. The manner in which these chapels were constructed is so interesting as to demand a few words of explanation. In the aisle round an apse, the first solution was a con- tinuous barrel vault. This was very easy but hardly beautiful; nor was it improved when cross- vaulting was PARIS i6s introduced corresponding to the openings to chapels or arcades on either side. But when it was attempted to divide this aisle for vaulting bays the problem was found to be very difficult. Treated like the square bays, with vaulting ribs going straight from angle to angle, the effect is obviously impleasing, so the diagonal ribs were usually planned in such a manner that they might meet in the real centre of the compartment, though this involved a disagreeable broken line in tne perspective, and was not so popular as to be accepted without protest. It was probably after seeing such vaults constructed that the chevet of N6tre Dame was planned. Here, certainly, great ingenuity is shown. The apse is divided from its aisle by five arches, and this again from the outer aisle by ten, and the vaulting compartments are all as nearly as possible equal triangles on plan. Those conversant with the architecture of the Round Church of the Temple in London will have observed that this form of vault is used alternately with square compartments in the cir- cumambient aisle. Here the same, problem is solved with even greater skill. In these triangular compart- ments. at Paris there is a continuous ridge of level tri- angular spaces, and though a single such compartment is deficient in the light and shade of ordinary vaulting, approaching, really, too nearly in principle to a cradle or waggon vault, of which half of each compartment is a portion, yet in so intricate a plan as Ndtre Dame no such fault can be foimd, for the whole plan is full of variety of light and shade. The addition of the chapels at the beginning of the fourteenth century greatly modified the whole exterior of the chevet of this cathedral. At Bourges we have a chevet which illustrates the probable treatment of the original chapels at Paris. Here as formerly, perhaps, at Ndtre Dame, the outer wall of the second aisle has three compartments for every one in the central apse; and from the centre division of each of these a small circular 1 66 NORTHERN FRANCE chapel projects. This treatment was very graceful, re- taining as it does the windows between the chapels, which was so marked and fine a feature of such early chevets as St Benoit-sur-Loire, and N6tre Dame du Port at Clermont- Ferrand, and relieves what would be the baldness of a chevet consisting, as M Viollet-le-Duc assimies to have been the case at Paris, of two aisles, without any ex- crescences at all round the chevet. The architect of Bourges made another important modification. At Paris the plan involved the placing of a column in the second series of columns opposite the centres of the arches of the first series. The Bourges architect, however, abandoned the attempt to make all the vaulting compartments equal, accepted the irregular plan for the first aisle,i making his intercoluminations wider than in the apse, and these showed that he appreciated the Paris arrangement by dividing the outer wall into three, and making one bay of quadripartite vaulting, which is an exact counterpart of that in the first aisle, only reversed, and two bays of triangular shape. Below, in the crypt, the similarity to the vaulting at Paris is even greater. At Bourges the chevet is a semicircle divided into five exactly -equal portions, and these prolonged by twelve bays westward from the church. The architect, having resolved on immensity of scale, confined himself to the simplest possible plan, but gave great originality to his design by raising the intermediate aisle to such a height as to admit of its having a secondary clerestorey and tri- foriimi, as did the architects of the choirs of Beauvais, Coutances and Le Mans, a few years later. The Cathe- dral of Paris was completed in its first form in .1208; of Bourges the date is not quite certain, but it is safe to fix it at 1220, Coutances and Le Mans are a little later. At Paris, if such projecting apses did exist they were removed in the fourteenth century, when the chapels ' Bourges, it will be recollected, is one of the four first-class French churches designed with double aisles throughout the choir. PARIS 167 round the apse assumed their present form, viz., walls pierced with geometrically traceried windows, following the line of the apse in an unbroken semicircle. There is a perfect identity of style between these chapels; and if they were not all raised through means of resources derived from the same origin, or by a single founder, it is certain they were built at one cast by the same architect. It is to this period that we must refer the construction of the great pinnacles placed at the base of the flying but- tresses of the whole circuit of the choir, and of the five windows which open into the apse in the triforium, as well as the construction of the little flying buttresses, which, placed between the great buttresses, serve to prop llie circxdar portion of the triforium. Lastly, in the interior, that wonderful series of screens, composed of trefoiled arcades surmounted by sculptured groups from the Life of Our Lord — commencing with the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, and ending with scenes from the several appearances of Christ after His Resurrection — ^was erected within the arcades of the choir and apse. Contemporary with these was a jubS decor- ated with bas-reliefs; this, however, was destroyed early in the eighteenth century. It is needless to say that all the windows were filled with stained glass, which Pfere Dubreul, in his "Th^a.tre des Antiquites de Paris," speaks of as wonderful. That which we still see remaining in the three rose windows is of the finest character, and of a perfect execution, though, in consequence of mutilation, considerably supplemented by modem work. The windows in the clerestorey of the choir were en- tirely of coloured glass, admitting a radiant glow of light. Here were formerly figures, about eighteen feet high, executed in a very bold style representing bishops of Paris in full vestments, holding pastoral staves, not croziers, in their hands. White, relieved by ornaments of gold colour, was the dominant feature of these windows. i68 NORTHERN FRANCE The large circles were diversely diapered with black and white, stained with gold, their circumferences having a border of different tinctures, which variegated borders were also carried round the two great lancet lights of the windows. In the nave, the windows were of white glass bordered with foliaged ornaments in the style of the fourteenth century. About the middle, therefore, of the fourteenth century N6tre Dame had become (with the exception of the spires) a complete edifice, to which it was no longer possible to add anything, so much had it been changed with aU the adjuncts of which it could admit. Thus, which is rather a rare thing in the He de France, we find no trace at N6tre Dame of the work of subsequent epochs. One can obtain an idea, by visiting this colossal structure, of the aspect which it must have presented at the end of the fourteenth century, for, save mutilations of detail and the decay caused by the weather, the edifice has come down to us without having been subjected to any notable changes. Although the modifications introduced into the cathe- dral of Paris by the architects of the latter half of the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries may have been the means of iatroducing some beautiful pieces of archi- tecture, it cannot be denied that these successive changes have materially altered the majestic and simple character of the primitive building. Starting from the eighteenth century begins an era of vandalism for the cathedral. In 1699, under the pretext of accomplishing the vow of Louis XIII., the rood-screen, the stalls, the altars, the tombs of the bishops which covered the pavement of the sanctuary disappeared, and the columns and arches of the apse were travestied into Italian Renaissance of the most offensive type. We are, however, indebted to this epoch, for the magnificent array of stalls, designed by Du Goulon which M Viollet- le-Duc had the good sense to retain when restoring the PARIS 169 choir befween i860 and 1863. The backs are adorned with bas-reliefs, representing the life of the Blessed Virgin and other subjects, and the stalls are divided by elbows with arabesques, enriched with emblems of the Passion. Between 1741 and the Revolution of 1789 the old stained glass was removed from the nave and choir; and the central pier of the great western portal and a portion of the fine sculpture in its tympanum were demolished under the direction of the architect, Soufflot, to facilitate the entry of processions. This man had, a few years previously, destroyed a portion of the ancient archiepiscopal palace, of which the principal buildings dated from the twelfth century, and stuck on to the south aisle of the choir a heavy sacristy, which absolutely forced itself into the western chapels of that part of the edifice.^ Later on aU the bases of the pillars in the interior of the cathedral were rechiselled to case them with Languedoc marbles; aU the decorations and the projections of the buttresses of the southern chapels of the nave were entirely cut away, and replaced with a smooth wall covered with squared freestone; the interior was whitewashed ; and the western f ajade was abandoned to a Sieur Parvy, a builder, who suppressed all the gar- goyles and the projections of the buttresses and filled up all the ancient mouldings and copings by means of thin slabs fastened with iron nails — a barbarous piece of work which destroyed the aspect of this fine facade, giving it a mean and naked appearance very different from its primitive character. At length, the Revolution of 1789 came to complete this long series of mutilations; the twenty-eight statues of kings, each ten feet high, which decorated the lower gallery of the fajade, were thrown down: the statues of the Apostles and the Kings of Judah, placed in the splays ' This obtrusive sacristy is shewn \r\ a view of the cathedral in Chapuy's "Moyen Age Monumental et Pittoresque." 170 NORTHERN FRANCE of the doors were broken to pieces; the tombs and monu- ments were demolished and their contents dispersed, the sepulchral brasses, and the contents of the treasury, melted. Thefliche at the crossing was overliirown, and its lead employed for making bullets. Then came, with the end of 1793, the abolition of Christian worship, and the conversion of this august building into a Temple of Reason, and so it continued imtil four years later, when, on the downfall of the Jacobins in 1795, popular demand for the free exercise of religion was, under certain restrictions, acceded to. The building was in a filthy condition when preparations began to be made in it for the inaugural service of a conference held in Paris in August, 1797, under the presidency of Claude Lecoz, Bishop of Rennes (one of the most highly respected and deeply learned of the Constitutional prelates). Easter Day, April 18, 1802, witnessed another most impressive function within the walls of N6tre Dame. It marked simultaneously the conclusion of European peace — soon, alas! too rudely broken — and the recon- ciliation of France with the Catholic Church by means of a Concordat with Pope Pius VII. — that boldest of Napo- leon's enterprises, and one which he had been meditating for five years previously. A very curious circumstance attending this solemnity — at which all the newly appointed archbishops and bishops of France were present — was that the sermon was delivered by the very same prelate who had preached at Rheims on the coronation of Louis XVI. — Mgr Boisgelin, then Archbishop of Aix in Provence, now Archbishop of Tours. His discourse was admitted by all who heard it to be a very judicious one. He did not enter upon politics or launch into fulsome flattery of those in power, but dwelt principally upon the necessity of an established religion, not only as a thing right in itself, but as essential to the preservation of good morals among the people, illustrating his arguments by the excesses into PARIS 171 which they had been led by the temporary abandonment of religion, and bestowing commendation upon those by whom it had been restored. The next great event in the history of the cathedral was the coronation of Napoleon. It took place on Sunday, Dec. 2, 1804, a clear, serene wintry day, and N6tre Dame was decorated with unparalleled magnificence for the occasion. But the Napoleonic era with its restoration of Christianity was not friendly to N6tre Dame or any other French cathedral. Ecclesiastical art had reached its bathos; the symbolism of the earlier Renaissance had been lost, and nothing gained in compensation. A magnificent eagle lectern, designed by Percier and Fon- taine, and still in use for the choir rulers to chant the appointed portions of the offices from was, however, presented by the Emperor. It is needless, and would be wearisome to detail the various "improvements" carried out in the Cathedral of Paris during the First Empire and the restored monarchy. At length, in 1845, more scholarly works of restoration were inaugurated under Louis Ph^ippe, from the designs of M Lassus, and, on his death in 1857, from those of M VioUet-le-Duc, until in 1863 the cathedral assumed the character with which we are so familiar to-day. Such is a brief account of this truly grand cathedral of Paris, which in spite of the storms of seven centuries, and those other storms, even more destructive, of human passion and violence, and robbery and wrong, is marvel- lously majestic. The stem and simple grandeur of its west front, incomplete as it may be without its crowning spires (and long may it remain so), still dominates over the Paris of to-day, as it did over the Paris of the Middle Ages, lifting itself up like a rock, and defying, as it were, the surging waves of tumult and strife which have been successively dashed against its base. It has looked down upon the strife of Burgundians and Armagnacs, and excesses of the Cabocheans, the Huguenots, and the 172 NORTHERN FRANCE fatal feast of St Bartholomew, the League, and the Fronde, the mUitary glories of the " Grand Monarque," Louis, the infinitesimally Little, that awful eighteenth century of shame and its dire retribution, the Terror, the Goddess of Reason, and the dramatic spectacular ex- travagances of Napoleon; it has looked down upon all this through the ages, as it stiU looks down upon Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Silently it teaches to a thoughtless world that lesson of nineteen centuries, the Fall, the Redemption, and the Judgment, sculptured with all the art that religion could prompt the mind to conceive, and the hand to execute — sermons in stones that even the most illiterate as they run may read. A great change was made under Louis XIII. in the state of the clergy of Paris, who, from the first establishment of Christianity had been presided over by a bishop de- pendent on the Archbishop of Sens. Political events had given Paris a great superiority over the city of Sens, and the episcopal see of the capital of France had long been filled by priests, ambitious to be freed from their dependence on the prelates of another city, and to be invested with the power of an archbishopric. A con- currence of circumstances now proved favourable to this aspiring project. The Archbishop of Sens died in 1622, and Cardinal Henri de Gondy, Bishop of Paris, survived him only a few months. Advantage was taken of the two vacancies to create Paris the see of an archbishop; and the bishoprics of Chartres, Meaux, and Orleans were separated from Sens and given to Paris as suffragans. In 1697 a new suffragan was created for Paris at Blois, and in 1801, when Cambrai was deprived of its title of metropolitan and became a simple bishopric, it was included in the province of Paris, as was Arras; but both these sees were separated in 1841, Cambrai resuming its ancient title and Arras being given to it as suffragan. Of the archbishops of Paris prior to the Revolution of PARIS 173 1789, two of the most celebrated were the Cardinals de Retz and de Noailles, who held the see between 1654 and 1679 and 1695 and 1729. At the outbreak of the Revolution, the see of Paris was occupied by Antoine Leclerc de Juign^, Bishop of Ch9,lons, a prelate of eminent integrity and piety, but imfitted by natural temperament to cope with the tremendous diffi- culties of the time. When, on Jime 24, 1789, the first outbreak of revolutionary violence occurred in Paris, he was assailed by the populace on leaving the ecclesias- tical chamber; stones were hurled at his carriage, and one of his chaplains was wounded by his side, and had not his coachman shown remarkable presence of mind, his life would have been in imminent jeopardy. He reached his palace in safety and a detachment of troops was sent to protect it; but the multitude was not to be intimidated; they became more and more furious, and it was found impossible to appease them until a promise had been extracted from the archbishop that he would take his place in the National Assembly. On the next day, accordingly, he yielded to this strange dictation, and was introduced to the Assembly by the Archbishop of Bordeaux. " Gentlemen," said De Juign^, "the love of peace brings me this day into the midst of your august Assembly. Accept the sincere expression of my entire devotion to our country, to the service of the King, and to the welfare of the people. I should esteem myself too happy if I could contribute to these ends, even at the expense of my life. May the steps which I now take prove in some measure serviceable to the cause of conciliation, which must ever be the object of our desires." A little later, when every means of intimida- tion was practised to force upon the Assembly a course of immitigated church spoliation, De Juign^, with many ecclesiastics, panic-stricken and despairing, resolved at this trying moment to abandon their posts and to retire from France, was one of the earliest emigrants. This 174 NORTHERN FRANCE exhibition of weakness threw a manifest advantage into the hands of the ultra democrats, of which they took care to avail themselves to the utmost. He was succeeded in the chair of Paris by the notorious Gobel, previously Bishop of Lydda in parlibus, and one of the few who took the oath to the Constitution in 1790. Under the Republic and the Directory, Archbishop De Juign^ appears, like many other prelates of the old regime, to have lived in a state of retirement. At the Concordat of 1801 he did not resume his archiepiscopal functions, having in all probability refused to accede to the terms imposed in it upon the clergy. Dying in 181 1, he found a resting-place, however, in N6tre Dame, where his monument — a kneeling figure in relief, repaired by Viollet-le-Duc, who modified the original design — ^may be seen in the chapel of St Germain, the second to the east of the Porte Rouge in the north aisle of the choir. Some of the nonjuring French bishops joined the Comte de Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.) at Co- blentz, where there began that series of intrigues, of appeals to foreign armies, and all the other mad and wicked projects which drove France still farther into the abyss of the Terror, and ultimately helped to bring Louis XVI. and his queen to the guillotine. Others found their way to England, the clergy of our Church vieing with many lay individuals in offering hospitality to the fugitives. Large numbers were lodged in the ancient royal residence known as the King's House at Winchester. The Bishop of Durham (Shute Barrington), although firm in his iindeviating opposition to the principles of our Roman Catholic brethren, on no occasion, however, interfered with his kindness to their persons. His palace was open to the French emigrant bishops and clergy. He supplied their wants by his boimty; he admitted the most dis- tinguished among them to his table, and introduced them to his friends. It may not be generally known that Dr Barrington's confidential conveyancer for many years was PARIS 175 a distinguished Roman Catholic barrister — Mr. Charles Butler of Lincoln's Inn — a gentleman celebrated for the alacrity and ability with which he at all times maintained the cause of Roman Catholicism against the doctrines, policy, and interests of the Reformation, and who never forfeited the friendship of the Bishop, though engaged in a controversy with his Lordship's own chaplains, Dr Phillpotts (afterwards Bishop of Exeter) and Dr Towns- hend (afterwards a Canon of Durham). Several of the French Prelates, notably those of AngoulSme, Dol, Tr^guier, and Troyes, reached our shores in a state of great necessity. During .their enforced residence among us, several died, and were interred in the churchyard of Old St Pancras where until its conversion lately into a "recreation groimd," their tombstones, together with those of many another of the French emigrant clergy, might be distinguished. Among the prelates interred here were Du Chalmarel, Bishop of Coutances, Le Mintier of Trdguier, Grimaldi of Noyon, De la Marche of St Pol-de-Leon, the Arch- bishop of Narbonne and the Bishop of Evreux. Of the legitimate prelates of Louis XVI., only seven were left in 1810, and this number was soon reduced to four. Most of them had denounced the Concordat of 1802 as a woric of iniquity and corruption, and refused to return to their old sees. For some years this remnant of the old episcopate presided over a fractional commimion known as the " Petite Eglise." The last of Louis XVI.'s. bishops was De Themines, of Blois, who died in 1829, when the line became extinct. On the restoration of the monarchy in 1814 he was again invited to return. "No" wrote the conscientious old bishop, "in order to induce a French prelate to return to his native land after such sufferings it is not sufficient that the monarchy has been restored; he requires, in addition, the entire and absolute restoration of the religion of his fathers." Of the archbishops who occupied the throne of Paris 176 NORTHERN FRANCE during the last century, three met with a violent end. Mgr Afifre was shot at the barricade in the Faubourg St Antoine during the Revolution of June, 1848; Mgr Sibour was stabbed in the church of St Etienne du Mont on St Genevieve's Day, January 3, 1857, by Verger, a ren- egade priest; and Mgr Darboy was shot in the prison of La Roquette, together with the Ahh6 Ddguerry (cure of the Madeleine), President Bon jean, the Abbd Allard, and Pferes Ducondray and Clair, all of whom had been detained as hostages by the Commune, May 24, 1871. The services at Ndtre Dame are performed with a dignity and grandeur consonant with that archetype of the great churches in the lie de France, both ritually and musically, and I would strongly urge those of my readers who may happen to find thtmselves in Paris on a Simday to attend the Divine Offices here in pref- erence to those at such " fashionable" churches as the Madeleine, St Roch, and La Trinity. Memory recalls a Canon's Mass at Ndtre Dame on a weekday, sung with fiill ritual and musical accompaniment, and fol- lowed by a Requiem. In the course of the latter the Sequence, " Dies Irae, " was simg to the ancient plain song. Several of the verses were embroidered, so to speak, with the faux bourdon, the effect of which was so truly magnificent that it has never been erased from the tablets of memory. In the prefatory chapter, allusion was made to those diocesan " Uses " which to some extent held their ground until the early part of the Second Empire. Paris, like other dioceses, had its own Breviary Hymns. One of these, " Disposer Supreme," assigned in " Hymns Ancient and Modem " to the Festivals of Apostles, has become endeared to such a multitude of churchmen and church- women, that I am tempted to append it here in its original Latin : ' This hymn, which, however, cannot claim very ' Thb translation, by Isaac Williams, was first published, together with the Latin, in the British Review for June, 1836; it was also PARIS 177 high antiquity, having been written about the middle of the seventeenth century by Jean Baptiste Santeuil {Santolius Victorinus) is a good specimen of Latinity. In the Paris Breviary of 1736 it is ordered for use at Noctums on the Festival of St Matthias: IN FESTO SANCTI MATTHLE Ad Officium Noctiirnum. Invit. Christum Apostolorum Magis- trum & Dominum, venite adoremus. Hymnus Supreme quales arbiter Tibi ministros eligis, Tuas opes qui vilibus Vasis amas committere! Haec nempe plena lumine Tu vasa frangi prsecipis; Lux inde magna rumpitur, Ceu nube scissa fulgura Totum per orbem nuntii, Nubes velut citi volant: Verbo graves, Verbo Deo, Tonant, coruscant, perpluunt. Christum sonant: versse ruunt Arces superbse daemonum; Circum tubis clangentibus Sic versa quondam moenia. Fac, Christe, ccelestes tubse Somno graves nos excitant: Accensa de te lumina Pellant tenebras mentiura. Uni sit et trino Deo Suprema laus, summum decus, De nocte qui nos ad suae Lumen vocavit glorias. Amen. included in his Hymns translated from the Paris Breviary, 1839. It has passed either in its full form or abbreviated into several hymnbooks. Of the altered texts the most popular is that in "Hymns Ancient and Modern." For congregational purposes this is one of the most successful of the translator's efforts. 178 NORTHERN FRANCE MEAUX The cathedral of St Etienne at Meaux — pleasantly situated on the Mame, about thirty miles distant from Paris on the line to Epemay and ChMons — is not so widely known as it deserves to be, for it has a choir, which in some respects may vie in dignity and grand- eur of proportion with those of some of the first-class cathedrals. The see, foimded in the third century was, until 1622, suffragan to Sens, but on Paris attaining metropolitical dignity Meaux was given to it as one of the subordinate sees. The first two bishops of Meaux, Saintin and Antonin, besides several others, are honoured in the GaUican Church Calendar, and the throne has been filled in later times by Cardinal Duprat, Henri de Thraid, and Cardinal de Bissy, the last named having been the successor of Bossuet, whose transcendent genius and abilities have been equally honoured by kings and rulers, and the most learned of his nation. He was the great champion of the Roman Catholic church — Lord Macaulay styles him the greatest doctor that that church has produced since the schism of the sixteenth century- defending its doctrines, and asserting its claims to ascend- ency against all the infidels and Protestants of Europe. In one respect, however, he cannot but interest English churchmen. It was Bossuet's most zealous wish that the two churches might be united, and that the Chalice should be extended to the laity; and, with less orthodoxy than proved politic, he used to affirm that the notion of the Pope's infaUibility, and his assumed right to depose kings, ought to be discarded; opinions which cost him a Cardinal's hat, for his liberalism gave pointed offence to Innocent XI. at a period when that astute pontiff was strivmg to annihilate the freedom of the French clergy. MEAUX 179 At the episcopal palace, contiguous to the north side of the cathedral, are still shown the library and avenue of yews, in which the polemical old prelate spent much of his retirement towards the close of his life. This was the residence at which the unfortunate Louis XVI. and his queen and children supped and passed the night, as prisoners of state, on the 24th of June, 1791, when on their way from Varennes (where the arrest took place) to Paris. They left at half-past six on the morning of the next day, this being their last halting- place on a line of road rendered for ever memorable by their intercepted flight and aggravated sufferings, cul- minating a year later in the captivity in the Temple the execution of the king and queen, and the " making away with " of the Dauphin. The cathedral of Meaux, begim in 11 70, was, like those of Troyes, ChSlons, and Seez, built upon bad foun- dations, and of bad materials, necessitating its almost entire reconstruction not only in the middle of the thir- teenth century, but at different times in the nineteenth. The first work was undertaken in 1268, but it was not until the begiiming of the sixteenth century that the cathedral reached completion with the northwest tower. The plan includes a porch of two bays, or rather that portion of the nave lying between the towers; a nave of three bays with double aisles and chapels; tran- septs; a three-bayed choir, also with double aisles and chapels, and an apse with five chapels radiating from the ambulatory. Important works were in progress between 1842 and 1849; the choir was restored between 1851 and 1857; then in i"8s8 a general restoration was entered upon and pursued at intervals down to 1900, under the successive care of MM Danjoy, Devrez and Formig6. The piers at the west end of the nave are very massive and grand — perfect studies, in fact — as upon them are built the towers; this bay is subdivided, and, with the i8o NORTHERN FRANCE three beyond, give a nave of five bays in all, dimensions far "too short for the height and breadth of the building. The twelfth-century church was described in the chapter records of 1268 as a beautifully constructed one, grand and wonderful — " Quoniam tam decora, tam nobilis structure nostrse Meldensis ecclesias." It re- sembled in all probability other great churches built at that period in northeastern France, such as Laon, Noyon, Paris, and Senlis. About the middle of the thirteenth century this church, of which remains may still be traced in the lower tier of arches on either side of the choir, and in the nave adjacent to the tran- septs, threatened ruin, whereupon the bishop, Jean de Poiney, determined to rebuild it on a scale of mag- nificence approaching that of Amiens and Beauvais. Accordingly, at a meeting of the Chapter held in 1268, it was resolved that, besides the offerings of the faithful, one year's income of all the benefices in the diocese that should become vacant within ten years should be applied to the fund. This grand undertaking, entered upon with such enthusiasm, prospered but slowly. For- tunately the choir, with its elegant cluster of chapels was completed when the style was at its apogee: but the remainder of the work, owing to the unsettled state of the country during the English wars, languished, the construction of the transepts, with their portals, and the lower part of the western fafade being spread over the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while the nave and the solitary northwestern tower were not finished imtil 1530, The shortness of the nave, one of the few in France planned with double aisles, is unfortunate, particularly when viewed externally. The piers from which the arches spring are formed of gigantic clusters of slender shafts with capitals chiselled into wreaths of vine and holly — a naturalistic type of foliaged ornament that made its appearance when the pointed style was at the turning < -i. X - w a: OS > 0! ^ < a. a a S 1^ MEAUX i8i point of its career. Several of the pillars separating the double aisles are cylinders of great height and girth, and recall those in the same position in the nave aisles of the minster at Ulm. The two westernmost bays of the nave forming the bases of the towers are very narrow and the arches consequently very acute; but the spaces enclosed by them are nobly vaulted. Part of the triforium in the nave is Middle Pointed, of excellent character, and two clerestorey windows on the north side are imques- tionably of the thirteenth century. In the transepts the workmanship is uncommonly good, particularly the great groups of shafts at the cross- ing, and the wall arcading on either side of the entrances. The windows, to which additional beauty is lent by an inner plane of tracery, are filled with excellent modem stained glass representing small figures of saints xmder canopies. The tinctures are- rich and brilliant and set off to great advantage by the white glass with which they are surrovmded. I should feel disposed to rank the stained glass in the great south transept of Meaux Cathedral among the best produced in France since the revival of the art. But if the richness of the work in the transepts elicits our admiration, we stand enraptured before the apsidal east end of the choir, which, with its colossal round columns, each strengthened by a slender shaft which shoots up from the floor of the sanctuary to the spring of the vaulting ribs, is invested with a combined boldness and lightness. In the chapter on Rheims I gave some account of that curious glimpse behind the scenes — the Sketch-Book or Album of Villard de Honnecourt, a man the knowledge of whose existence depends upon the fact of this work. As we meet with him again in connexion with the cathe- dral which forms the subject of this chapter, a further ref- erence to this clever, energetic artist, who went about with his eyes open and his pen in hand, may be interesting. i82 NORTHERN FRANCE The tower of Laon Cathedral has already been alluded to as the most beautiful he had ever seen, and so he drew it; the rose window at Chartres struck his fancy, and so he gave it, as he thought, from memory, while really making a sketch of his own; a pagan sepulchre engaged his attention, and his reminiscences of it appear strangely Gothicised. A pavement he once saw in Hungary is recorded. Then he turned his attention to "instru- menta," and we have a lectern, and a graceful sugges- tion for a stall-end. Drawings of draped figures (wonder- fully "classical") and one from the nude are given: mathematical tricks of the draughtsman occur, and several ingenious mechanical contrivances are shown. One could multiply the list of subjects till the contents of the "Album" had been catalogued; but I must hurry on to that class of drawings which are to the professed ecclesiologist of the greatest interest, viz., certain plans of churches built or excogitated by Villard, of which, in all but one instance, the east end only is represented; an interesting incidental proof of the importance which, in those days, was attached to sanctuary and chapel arrangement. Plate 27 represents (together with a group of two wrestlers, designed with a good deal of rough energy) a small plan of an entire church with square east end, under which is inscribed: "Vesci une glize desquarie Ki fu esgardee a faire en lordene d'Cistiaux." I.e. — "Voici im^ 6glise carr^e qui fut projett^e pour I'ordre de Citeaux." "Here is a square-ended church, which was designed for the Cistercian order." Alongside it comes the plan of the eastern portion of a church, thus described: "Vesci lesligement del chavet Medame Sainte Marie de Cambrai ansi com il ist de tierre. Avant en cest livre en trouverez les monties dedens, et dehors et tote le maniere des capeles et des plains pour autresi, et le maniere des ars boteres," MEAUX 183 "Here is the plan of the chevet of our Lady S Mary of Cambrai, as it rises out of the ground. Also earlier in this book you will find the internal and external eleva- tions, and all the arrangements of the chapels and walls, and the forms of the flying buttresses." This represents a constructional choir of five bays, with double aisles; a five-bayed apse, and single pro- cession-path opening into five chapels, of which the four smaller ones are semicircular, with five divisions, elongated westward into a shallow bay; while the eastern one is composed of two bays and a rather more than semi- circular apse of seven divisions. Another plate is devoted to a plan described as follows: "Istud presbyterium invenerunt Vlardus de Hunecort et Petrus de Corbeia inter se disputando." And below: "Deseure est une glise a double charole a Vilars de Honecort trova et Pieres de Corbie: "Above is a church with double aisles which Villard de Honnecourt and Peter of Corbie designed." It likewise includes another east end of which we read : " Istud est Presbyterium Sci Pharaonis in Maus." And below: "Vesci lesligenent de la glise de Miax de Sainte Es- tienne." " Here is the plan of the church of St Stephen at Meaux." The church at Meaux is that of St Stephen (the cathedral) still existing, although considerably altered in the later Middle Ages, and not St Faro, which was rebuilt in 1751, but of which a plan still exists in the departmental archives at Melun.i This plan is reproduced in the 1856 edition of Honnecourt's " Album." It shows two bays of the ■ A small town on the Seine 28 miles south of Paris in the diocese of Meaux. It contains two interesting churches — Notre Dame, a mixture of Romanesque and First Pointed, and St Aspais, a picturesque Flamboyant structure, very short and lofty with double aisles and a wealth of fine Late Gothic stained glass. i84 NORTHERN FRANCE eastern limb. The westward having double and the eastward single aisles. The latter bay vaulting into the apse, a five-sided apse, single procession-path, and three three-quarter circle chapels, so spaced as to have a pro- cession-path between the central and each of the side ones. Another plate introduces us to another setting out: "Istud est presbyteriiun beate Marie VaceUensis ecclesie ordinis Cisterciensis," and in which plan we see an attempt to combine the "Meaux" and the "Peter de Corbie" plans. The apse is composed of seven bays, biesides the one on the straight line; parallel to that bay on each side is a square chapel of two bays from north to south beyond the aisle, the inner of these two bays opening into a semicircular chapel, which opens into the bay of the procession-path, which is concentric with the first bay of the apse. The second and sixth bays of the path are chapelless, like the alternate bays at Meaux, while the three eastern ones have at the end a square chapel, and flanking it on each side a semicircular one. Vaucelles, as it is now called, is near Cambrai: its church was consecrated in 1135, and was still standing m 1718, when Martene and Durand visited it and spoke of its magnificence. We therefore see five distinct types of church, each designed and marshalled, as it were, side by side by the same architect, as if to serve his purpose for normal models. Of these, the proposed Cistercian one, and the cathedral of Cambrai, respectively embody in then:, most complete forms of what we are accustomed to regard as the characteristic English and the characteristic French plan, while in that which resulted from Villard's and Corbie's friendly disputation and in that of Vaucelles, we observe a weak compromise between the two prin ciples, and in St Etienne at Meaux a variation on the French model, recalling forms which are seldom found in days posterior to the era of Romanesque. MEAUX i8s As M Lassus, in his edition of this interesting Albiun, points out the curious vaulting contrivances which the partnership church offers in its semicircular chapels, I refer my readers to his description. The square-ended church {glize desquarie) arrests our main interest from its singular resemblance to an English abbey-church. If, as I may venture to assume, the most eastemly bay at all events was not intended to rise higher than the groimd-storey, we should have a building in which the foreign spirit was thoroughly evacuated in favour of a specially English arrangement, and this from the pen of an architect all whose other works bear the French impress. Whence comes this singularity ? This was a question which Lassus considered im- portant enough to submit to the opinions of several of his friends. He accordingly wrote, in 1853, to the Comte de Montalembert, to Mr J. H. Parker, and Herr Schaase, of Berlin, requesting their views upon the rationale of this form. Montalcmbert's reply, founded upon an extensive study of monastic churches, made in the interest of his history of Western Monachism, assumes that the square east end was a Cistercian characteristic, without very clearly defining whether he intended to imply that it was a Cistercian invention. He calls atten- tion to the fact that the church of SS Vincent and An- astasius at Rome, which was given to St Bernard in 1140, and probably rebuilt, had a square end and two chapels on each side (the normal Cistercian form, as at Kjrk- stall). Mr J. H. Parker confined himself to rectifying the error of M. Lassus in supposing that the earliest existing monastic churches in England founded after the Conquest belonged to the Cistercians, quoting a dozen Cluniac abbeys between the time of William I. and the foimdation of Waverley abbey. The solution of the architectural question was referred to Professor Willis, who of course demolished in a few lines the notion of the square end being a Cistercian invention — ^by i86 NORTHERN FRANCE examples of abbey churches as well known as Old Sarum, Ely (as recast by Abbot Richard between looo and 1007), St Frideswide at Oxford, Romsey, St Cross, and the crypt of York minster, all anterior to the foundation of the order of Citeaux. Herr Schaase testified to the prevalence of the square ends in various forms in German Cistercian churches, ^ and threw out a quaere whether Morimond, which was the mother church of most of the German filiations, exhibited this pecularity, a question which Lassus was unable to answer, the building having perished, and no plan existing. Since then the question of Cistercian architecture has been fully dealt with by the late Mr Edmund Sharpe, who was of opinion that variations occur, as a matter of course, due to local or other causes, but they are mostly of slight importance, and were, in fact, of the nature of those exceptions which tend rather to prove the general rule than to invalidate it. Several very large and important Cistercian churches have the apsidal termination, among which may be named Pontigny, near Auxerre, Altenberg near Cologne, and the noble fragment at Heisterbach, about three miles from Konigswinter on the Rhine, What inference, then, are we warranted to draw from the five plans of Villard, and specially from that of the "square church"? The first is the somewhat commonplace one, that it furnishes one proof more of the predilection of the Cistercian Order for that particular form, but that it cannot be said to contribute any greater elucidations than we already possess of the origm of the difference. The second is, that it illustrates in a lively and unexpected manner that scriptural truth which forces itself upon •As, for instance, Loccum, in Westphalia; Riddagshausen, in Brunswick, and Maulbronn, in Wurtemberg, the most perfect example remaining of one of those vast establishments, which under the influence of St Bernard were planted throughout Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. MEAUX 187 all students of philosophic history, tnat there is really "nothing new iinder the sirn" — nothing new in the field of ethics. It seems that the architect of those ages of faith was very like the architect of the twentieth century in his way of doing business. We may have realised much about schools, and national varieties, and hieratic traditions, and yet after allowing to them aU the whole value of which they are capable, we peep round the curtain and discover the professional man of the great thirteenth century, with his note-book in hand impartially satisfying his employer by the "French" chevei with its mystic apse and its radiating coronal of chapels, or else suiting the views of his English or his Cistercian patron with the plain square-ended church, while in his playful moments he solves his ecclesiological argimients with his friend Corbie by sketching a compromise plan. Had Villard's "Album" perished, but the cathedral of Cam- brai survived, and the "glize disquarie" been reared in its vicinity, what brilliant theories on schools of architects and foreign influences might there not have been ven- tilated. To return, after this lengthy digression, to the subject of our chapter. The .two-light windows in the clerestorey of the apse at Meaux — ^which by the way are awaiting their comple- ment of stained glass — may, to an exacting eye, appear hardly lofty enough in comparison with the very svelte arcades opening into the circumambient aisle; a defect which the glazing of the triforium might to a considerable extent have remedied. In the three-bayed choir the two tiers of arches form a remarkable feature. The lower one, a relic of the twelfth-century church, has short piers composed of a cylinder with four shafts grouped roimd it, and it is pos- sible, supported one of those lofty tribunes so common in the architecture of the He de France at that period. The easternmost respond of one of these arcades is still i88 NORTHERN FRANCE discernible in the nave, agamst the last pier on the nortn side; from this one would conclude that these vaulted galleries extended throughout the church, as at Laon, Paris, Senlis, etc. When the reconstruction of the choir was entered upon in 1268, these "tribunes" had gone out of fashion, and been replaced by the lofty unbroken arcade. 1 The architect at Meaux, however, retained the arches which opened into the much lower aisles of the old building, and also those of the tribunes, so as to allow these two lower stages of the elevation to be of the same height as the arcades of the apse which he entirely rebuilt. By subdividing the upper arches, for purposes of stability, not to say elegance, into two trefoil-headed compartments, surmounted by a large sexfoiled circle, he gave us a piece of work which for gracefulness is hardly equalled. In this part of the church the arches of the triforium are slightly triangular, and the clerestorey windows are each of four lights with trefoils in the sub- arcuations and a sex-foiled circle in the head. The double aisles on either side of the choir are sepa- rated from one another by pillars rising to the height of the spring of the arches in the second tier of the choir arcades. They are formed of cylinders with slender shafts at their cardinal points. In the graceful two- light windows of the chapels a commencement of very creditable stained glass has been made, but that in the Lady Chapel labours under the mistake of the artist hav- ing distributed his groups through the lights, instead of confining them to each one separately, as the men of old almost invariably did. Bossuet's statue (erected in the south aisle ninety years ago, representing him seated in a sort of Divinity school chair, with his right arm extended, and his left hand resting on the arm of the chair, has been considered "a poor concern," and a very inadequate impersonation * Compare the elevation of the south transept at Soissons, and that of the nave and choir. CHARTRES 189 of one whose flights of impassioned eloquence arid lofty spirit, "towering in the pride of place," attached to his name the significant annex of tne " Eagle of Meaux." There is another monumental eflSgy in this cathedral: that, in the north aisle, of Phillippe de Castile, who died at Briare on the Loire in 1627. The details in the armour of this statue, which is that of a cavalier, bare- headed, kneeling on a cushion, is exceedingly beautiful. How this statue could have escaped mutilation, not to say utter destruction, is, indeed, inconceivable, when we consider the fury of the insensate multitudes that ravaged the churches and palaces between 1789 and 1795. In all probability it had been secretly removed at the first outbreak of revoltionary tumult, and kept in concealment during subsequent years. It is as per- fect to-day as when it left the atelier of the sculptor. CHARTRES That Paris is France is a very convenient saying, because when Paris has been several times visited, it is possible for a person to feel that he has studied and visited France in anything but a superficial manner. But what I should like to impress upon my readers, and especially those younger ones who have strength and an inclination to spend some of their spare time in travelling, is this, that Paris is by no means France, and that if anyone desires to imderstand and appreciate that country, socially or architectually, he must go to many places besides the capital. Among these places perhaps one of the most noticeable and in one respect the most beautiful, is Chartres. Just under two hours by the fast trains from Paris, the chief town of the Department of Eure-et-Loire, can be comfortably visited by anyone who will make a long day and return to Paris in the evening. 190 NORTHERN FRANCE With a history traced back to the Roman occupation of Gaul, when tiie city was called Antricum, it has been for ages the ecclesiastical capital of a large part of Western France, and stiU boasts itself the possessor of one of the most perfect cathedrals of Europe. It woidd be difficult to imagine a more striking site for a great ecclesiastical edifice. The_cathedral stands on the summit of a hill which rises sha^Iy^SoKrlKe banks of the Eure, whilst a,]I around for many miles lies a vast and fertile plateau, not striking for any particular or individual landscape beauties, quite the reverse; but noticeable from the sea-like expanse of highly cultivated land, in summer one waving mass of grain, for the tract of land called La Beauce is perhaps fitly termed the granary of France. ^ The city itself possesses no noticeable feature for the architect besides the cathedral and the churches of St Pierre and St Aignan; it is white and homely, and clusters round the cathedral in a contented and modest fashion. It is the great commercial rendezvous of that part of the country, and on a Saturday a characteristic scene awaits the visitor who strolls round the market, where scores of peasants are congregated behind their baskets selling the produce of the farms, and the poultry and rabbits which they have raised with true French carefulness. It is well to remind everyone of the fact that, apart, from aU structural beauty or merits, the cathedral of . Chartres gains immensely from the appropriateness of its situation. If the cathedral at Rouen be called to 'The Plain of La Beauce, more particularly that part of it which is traversed by the line of railway from Etampes to Orleans, is curious for the immense number of its churches which catch the eye at the same time. They cluster as thickly as the churches in Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. They seem generally to have flat east ends; the towers gable east and west, and with a slender spirelet rising from the centre of the gable. CHARTRES 191 mind, and St Ouen, even with the clear space around it, it becomes obvious what advantages Chartres possesses by its situation on the summit of a hill, of necessity towering on all sides far above any of the houses that stand about it. Therefore the jjrdumri^architectural . beauties,, are, so to speak, magnified and increased, so that the edifice "Ttselt becCnresTiTOre stnEing7an3""is on that account more worthy of being visited. ' We frequently hear the four cathedrals, Chartres, Amiens, Beauvais and Rheims, compared. The result of the comparison, however, is that each has its special beauty. The spires of Chartre s. th e nav e of Amiens, the choir ^ of Beauvais — for -my own part 1 sIioiiia"'ad^uce that of ^J^Mans — and the western front of Rheims, rank the > first"otlFeif'kln d- iirETiitrp e; s6 that there is some truth _.in tfie popular notion that these" four features combined jn one jfast buflding would make the most perfect cathedral in the world. Before entering into a description of the stupendous edifice which forms the subject of the present chapter, a word must be said about the difficulties which beset us in tracing the early history of cathedrals. Jn all cases. or nearly so. we are mainly dependent upon the records " .Wd ihar'TErev sing its pra ises with heart and soul, and Ihink little'of "t|!eJgpld7^il^^QajKS^of^ate]^^^^^^ wiarMMrffieJe^_ra^ to^e.Bfip^^ The difficulty then in this, to separate the legend from the fact. By the mediaeval writer, the most improbable story, if it only adds to the glory or to the antiquity of the subject on which he is writing, is accepted at once without further enquiry. He has no desire, or even intention, to deceive, yet he inserts the legend, which 192 NORTHERN FRANCE has been handed down from generation to generation in the monastery, and which has probably grown with each telling, amidst and with the same authority as the true historical fact of which he has himself been an eye- witness, or of which the truth is attested by some con- temporary dociunent open before him. In tracing, th en, t he history of Chartres Cath edral. w'^lnaL.smeig. J^eTect the state ment that a century b etoTe' jEe!iSffiiiBg^„Qur Lord,^fcelpQt^jtE£Ej Big iJulM ing' jKas-^JBCtdLsmsja. grove or temp le of the D mTds, cSl lsfe^ crated to the worship of the Biessia^Tigfg ri^ig'TKa t a. 'statu^ ^wood was foimd of that dak^^^mmemscr^^Ssr vi|eJCNi'!EASlTTO:^''i.e.,'''fb the Virgm*wEr"Sian"Tja^ forth a son. With this fiction, for which there seems to be no earlier authority than the fourteenth century, is cormected an- othjrj,j,g.amdy-Jliat..At-«Gharfer.e&-4w®'^^ jia^ed--Sfl#iaien„,and ,. Potentien, ..dedicated a church Jo the Virgin Mary, and that they suffered during the" persecution of the Christians in the first century. The stoiy from this point passes on tothe_.p£acefuL,tUB£C for^^e'cliurch," during the jeigi^^oijiielEmperpr 'Con- stantiiie,„and then we are told that.jttie.. Christians re^ paired their church. Still, aU early documentary evidence seems to be entirely wanting. In the ninth century we seem to gain some glimmering of authentic history; St Frobold was bishop here, and during one of the incursions of the Northmen Chartres was besieged. The barbarians pretended to seek con- version, and for the purpose of being baptised, having been let into the city, they began to ravage the place, setting fire to and plundering all the buildings. St Frobold, with many other Christians, took refuge in the cathedral, and consequently it was set on fire, much in the same manner as Canterbury was during the in- cursions of the Danes. The chronicles give a date for this, namely, the month of June, 858. That a new CHARTRES 193 church was constructed as soon as the country was again secure, is only reasonable to suppose, but the his- torians give its commencement under Gislebert, who is several times named as Bishop of Chartres between 859 and 878, his signature occurring both to deeds and in certain synods. He appears to have endowed the church with some land. Then Aymericus, another Bishop of Chartres, seems to have been a benefactor to the church; and then Agano, who in the Gallia Christiania is termed "Reparator Abbatise, S Petri," and which his deed of gift implies was in ruins and required rebuilding from the foundations. One modem author, the Abb^ Bulteau, speaks of a siege of the city by Richard Duke of Normandy, in 965; but on this point the Gallia Christiania is silent, and as the Abbe gives no authority, one is inclined to think he may have simply transcribed from some careless writer. An attack upon the city of Chartres is noted under the year 898 by Richard Duke of Burgxmdy, and the authorities given are, Ordericus Vitalis, the Caen chronicle, and William of Jumieges. Possibly this is the circumstance meant; but whether it is so or not, it seems clear that the church again suffered by fire within a century or so of its being rebuilt. Again, under the episcopate of Fulbert, in 1020, the church was struck with lightning and again burnt down. This, however, was the age of building in stone, and now probably in this case, as was the case with most other cathedrals, the first stone building was erected. Writing of King Canute, who entered deeply into the devotions of the times by building churches and endowing monasteries, William of Malmesbury says, "By the advice of Archbishop Ethelnoth, the King sent money to foreign churches, and especially to Chartres, which he endowed. Fulbert was then holding the see, a man most remarkable for his piety and his knowledge. He, amongst other monuments to his activity, completed 194 NORTHERN FRANCE with wonderful skill the church of Our Lady, the foimda- tions of which he himself laid. He also desiring to gain as much honour to the church as possible, instituted in it certain kinds of music. It is easy to see how devoted he was in his desire to honour the Virgin Mary, when one listens to his chants full of heavenly aspirations. There is remaining, amongst other works by him, a volume of letters, in one of which he conveys his thanks to Canute, that most munificent sovereign, for that he had so profusely given of his wealth, towards the cost of the church of Chartres." The statement of William of Malmesbury as to the piety and learning of Bishop Fulbert is borne out by other authorities. Some of his lettei's are existing, and he seems to have written to many sovereigns to aid him in what was in that age a very great work. Of his work, or rather of. his foimdations, the little crypt still remains. The church above was probably not much larger. With grand cathedrals before our eyes, and mansions and buildings even grander in scale, we can scarcely realise the fact of a small, low building, almost dark, being spoken of as the wonder of the age — a work that would hand his name down to posterity — ^but so it was.i It was a wonder then, however much we should despise it now. It is hardly necessary to remind hymnologists that to St Fulbert we owe that beautiful hymn for use at Vespers on Saturday from the Octave of Easter to Roga- tion Sunday; Chorus nov^e Hierusalem: Chorus novae Hierusalem Novam meli dulcedinem Promat, colens cum sobriis Paschale Festum gaudiis, ' It was described at the time as "the most beautiful, the most magnificent, and pompous in the world." CHARTRES 195 of which the following translation by Rev. John Mason Neale, to suit the ancient Sarum melody, was made in 1850 for the Hymnal noted: Ye choirs of New Jerusalem To sweet new strains attune your theme! The while we keep from care released, With sober joy our Paschal Feast. Ten years later, when preparations were being made for Hymns Ancient and Modern, the translation in common metre, with which the ijiajority of church-folk are familiar, was made by the compilers to suit the very beautiful melody by Dr Gauntlett. Of course this has brought St. Fillbert's truly inspired stanzas to the knowledge of thousands who might otherwise have remained in ignor- ance of them; but whether the recast is an improvement upon the original is a matter which must be left to private judgment. ^TVip wnrlr \^^A nf\t \\PPr\ rr»Timnpnpprl more than tWO jTar-i brfnrn Fit Fiilhf:l_ diear^ joffi^fHri5^'8r---He was buried in the churfch ofStPeTerm^ is preserved in an ancient manuscript. The dedication of St Fulbert's cathedral was in all probability on the 17th October, 1037. Theodoric was successor to Fulbert, and in his life, given in~ttre"TSW^ ChriSttama, no mention is made of the circumstance. He did not die till after 1041, as he was present at the dedication of a church at that date. Theodoric carried on the work with zeal. King Henry I. gave the timber for the roof; Bishop Ivo contributed the rood screen in 1099, and obtained from our Queen Matilda the funds necessary to cover the roofs with lead, and pur- chased a set of bells, which were hung for the time on the church till the towers should be built for their recep- tion. For the honour of his church Bishop Ivo left 196 NORTHERN FRANCE "six good palls," a vestment something similar to a stole, passing over the shoulders and meeting in front on the chest, and thence hanging down in a single riband; seven copes (cappas), three ... ? . . . (insulas^), and three coverings for the altar (tapetia); also he gave a book of the Mass and of the Epistles, and a text of the Gospels (they were probably richly illuminated), and bound them all with silver. Several other similar deeds are mentioned, but we see here the church becoming gradually endowed, so that it is more than probable Siat building was going on by degrees during the whole of the eleventh century. Although the choir was suf- ficiently advanced in 1037 for the ceremony of the dedi- cation of the high altar, the church was by no means complete, for the western part was stiU being built dur- ing the time of Geoffrey, who succeeded to Ivo in 11 16, and records of the enthusiasm of the people in building this church have been handed down to us by Hamon, a monk of St Pierre-sur-Dives in Normandy, who informs us that "the work went on chiefly through the long days, and that during the night, they lighted candles on tiie carts around the church, over which they kept watch, singing hymns and songs." In 1 115 the foimdations were laid of the two great western towers. Their construction is of the most solid kind, the blocks of stone used being of gigantic dimensions, built as if to last for ever. The quarries from which the materials were raised for the entire cathedral are at Berchieres, a few miles from Chartres. In the "Chronica Normanniae," p. 982, imder the date J 145, we read as follows: " Hoc eodem anno coeperunt homines pribs apud Car- notum quartos^ lapidibus onustos, et lignis, annon^ ' I confess to being quite at fault as to the meaning of the tres insulas. Possibly it is an erroneous reading for tres casulas, i.e., three chasubles. ' Lege, carros. CHARTR^ 197 et rebus aliis trahere ad opus ectHesicB, cuius Tunes tunc fiebant; quae qui non vidit, iam ^imilia non videbit, non solum ibi, sed in tota Francia penfe, et Normannia et multis aliis locis." The admirable workmanship of these towers gives us a very high idea of the skill bestowed upon them. The southern tower was completed to the top, and the northern one was already advanced to half its height when a terrible catastrophe happened. T he church_ again— cau^t- firei— In aU, this made the fourth destruc- tion from the same cause since the commencement. The fact of this fire, and the very date, receives corrob- oration from several independent sources: Rigord, a monk of St Denis, who died in 1209; a priest, Guillaume le Breton, who died ia 1226; and Robert d'Auxerre, who died in 1212, all speak in their several chronicles independently of each other, as to the event happening in 1 194. If they were not eyewitnesses themselves, there is little doubt they had the account at the very time from those who had been present. The news of so great a disaster to so important a church would soon have spread through the several monasteries of France. That a large cathedral should four times within four centuries of its first erection be burnt down, may well excite surprise. In the earlier cases, as I have already hinted, the building was mainly, if not entirely, of wood. The last building, i.e., that of Bishops Fulbert, Thierry, and Ivo, though of stone, had the roof, which held up the walls, of timber. Vaulting over wide spaces had not yet been attempted. And there is little doubt, to hold together such massive walls, much heavy timber was inserted in the roof. Added to this the church was very fidl of shrines and ornamental woodwork. The former, arranged with their altars round the church with much decoration, and tapers constantly burning by night as well as by day, with massive wooden roofs 198 NORTHERN FRANCE above to be caught by the ascending flames, provided all that was necessary to produce a conflagration. A remarkable rood-screen, erected imder the care of Bishop Ivo, is one of the important ornaments mentioned in Robert of Auxerre's account of the fire; without doubt lofty, and of wood. This itself added con- siderable fuel to the flames. The only wonder indeed is, not that the churches with these elements of disaster in them were so often, but that they were so seldom, burnt down. In viewing the question of this fire, however, from an antiquarian point, we must attempt to trace its efifects. By tiie architecture we see at once that the nave is more advanced, as to the style of its ornamental workmanship, than the lower part of the two towers and the fajade between them. The conflagration, therefore, rendered it necessary to rebuild the nave and the choir, leaving only the two towers, the west front and the crypt at the east. We still have, in this, the remains of Fulbert's work, as the fire naturally would not damage it. At the same time the nave, it has been remarked, belongs in plan to the earlier styles, especially the piers, which are very massive. The explanation is very simple: they used what they could of the old work, and hence the foundations of the building of Theodoric and Ivo were used in the new work. It was Melior, Cardinal Legate of Pope Celestin II., who undertook the rebuilding of a church for the see" of Chartres, and to his energy we owe the pile which, enduring to our days, notwithstanding several conflagra- tions, appears stiU to be of a solidity capable pi resisting time. The bishops and canons gave up their revenues, the people aided according to their means. Philippe Auguste, Louis VIII. and St Louis came forward with liberal donations, and the works were brought so far to a termination that it was consecrated in 1260 by Pierre de Majjcy, seventy-sixth bishop of the see. St. Louis, CHARTRES 199 with all the royal family, is said to have assisted at the ceremony. Succeeding generations saw the finishing hand put to this unrivalled monument of thirteenth-century archi- tecture. The sculpture of the porches to the transepts was not complete d in 1280; some of the statues are even of later datS The jube or rood-screen — imfor- tunately demolished in the eighteenth century — was not erected till the end of the thirteenth century, nor the sacristy. The gable ends of the nave and transepts were not carried up till the early part of the succeed- ing century. The Chapel of St Piat — approached by a passage between fhe central chapel of the apse and the one immediately to the south of it, dates from 1349; that of Venddme, built out between the buttresses in the fifth bay of the nave on its south side, from 1413. The screen work which separates the choir from its aisles and forms a backing to the stalls, was commenced in 1514, but not completed till the beginning of the seventeenth century. The spire of the north tower, which had not risen beyond the spinging of the western gable, was commenced early in the sixteenth century from the designs of Jean Texier, called Jehan de Beauce. This first was of wood covered with lead, but this was burned on St Anne's Day (July 26, 1506) about six o'clock in the evening, and replaced by the present stone spire, finished in 1513. The design and workmanship of this spire are excellent for its date, but by no means as models of study to be compared with the "Vieux Clocher," which will ever remain imequalled for the solemn grandeur and simple majesty of its design. A long inscription still exists engraven upon this steeple of Texier's, commenc- ing: " Je fu jadis de plomb et boys construit Grant hault et beau de somptueux ouvraige," but it is too long for insertion here. 200 NORTHERN FRANCE During the episcopate of Rosset de Fleury (1746-80), sad havoc was made in the choir. Not only was much stained glass removed from the lancets of the apse, on the plea that it darkened the building,^ but the mag- nificent jubS was demolished, and the piers and arches in this part of the cathedral transmuted into a sort of Corinthian renaissance. This disfigurement remains to the present day. Fleuret's successor on the throne of Chartres — Jean- Baptiste- Joseph de Lubersac, took part, in 1789, in the meeting of the States General, and two years later, fol- lowing the example of the whole of the French episcopate save two — Jarente, Bishop of Orleans, and Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun — ^having refused to take the oath to the Constitution, was obliged to vacate his see. The diocese thus deprived of its head, the majority of the clergy were, for the same reason, constrained to quit their parishes to avoid persecution, or perhaps assassina- tion in the prisons of Paris. At this time, those of the clergy who had subscribed to the conditions imposed by die National Assembly elected Nicolas Bonnet, curS of St Michel in Chartres, to replace the non-juring Bishop Lubersac. Bonnet assumed the title of Bishop of the Department of Eure and Loire, and received consecration at the hands of Gobel, who by the same means had been thrust into the throne of Paris. On Whitsunday, 1791, all the parish churches in Chartres were tlosed, the cathedral alone remaining open for parocmial purposes. But the imposition of the "constitu- tional" bishops and clergy had so alienated the people from the church that the vast cathedral of Chartres, ' De Moleon, in his Voyages Lilurgiqties, written earlier in the eighteenth century, thus alludes to the stained glass: "Les vitres quoique fort grandes, sent si obscures k cause de la peinture & de r€paisseur du verre, qu'en hiver aprfes la grande messe k dix heures & demie du matin, on se sert encore de bougies dans le choeur pour chanter sextes." CHARTRES 201 formerly incapable of containing half the population of the city, was almost deserted. Bonnet died in November, 1793, only a few days before the Terrorists closed and devastated the cathedrals and churches throughout the country. At Chartres the cathedral does not appear to have suffered material injury at this period, the statuary and stained-glass being preserved intact, but the sacristy was rifled of its precious and varied contents, and the celebrated image of N6tre Dame-sous-Terre, which had hitherto formed the principal object of popular devotion, was torn from its sanctuary and burnt without compunction by some impious wretches in front of the Porte-Royale. The Concordat of 1801 did not recognise the see of Chartres, but created a new one at Versailles, to which it was united, and Mgr de Lubersac, the non-juring bishop who had vacated the see in 1790 — though still its lawful occupant — sent in his resignation to the First Consul. He was subsequently nominated to a canonry at St Denis. The bishop who presided over the united sees of Versailles and Chartres until 182 1 was Mgr Char- rier-de-la-Roche. When in 1819 a new Concordat was signed between Louis XVIII. and Pope Pius VII., several sees which had been overlooked in 1801 were restored, and among them was that of Chartres; but it was not until November 8, 1821, that the newly appointed Bishop, Mgr de Latel, Premier Aumdnier of Monsieur (afterwards Charles X.), was able to take possession of his see. He was enthroned in his cathedral on the following Saturday at solemn Vespers. The new chap- ter was composed of two grands vicaires, ten chanoines tUulaires, and an unlimited number of chanoines hon- oraires. In 1824 Mgr de Latel wels elevated to the arch- bishopric of Rheims, subsequently receiving the cardi- nal's hat. It was during the episcopate of his successor, Mgr Clausel de Montals, almoner of the Dauphiness, that in 202 NORTHERN FRANCE the morning of the 4th of June, 1836, a fire destroyed the whole timber work of the roof and towers. All the bells and all the lead work were melted by the heat; but such was the admirable strength of the vaulting that it endured the severe trial without injury. From one end of France to the other this great misfortune was de- 1 plored. To repair the loss the Government voted nearly ;£So,ooo for the present roof of iron covered with copperl sheeting. Between the new copper roof supported by iron beams and the stone vault, which is uninterruptedly contmued over the nave, transept, and choir, extends one huge cruciform chamber the entire length of the church, which should by all means be explored by the curious in such matters. I have heard the cathedrals of Chartres and Le Mans compared, but they are about as unlike as any two great mediaeval churches well can be. The only point of likeness is that each possesses a magnificent east end of the thirteenth century, of the usual French plan, with the apse: the imbrpken double aisle, the surrounding chapels, the complicated system of flying buttresses. But at ^hartres this east end is part of _a_ whole. The^iiypt .still witnesses "Bo tEe days of Fulbert, the lowest stages of the western towers to those of Adela" and John of,. _Salisburyj but all the rest of the church, including,-. of course, all ffij&TKfteTOjrjs of an urn style and. design. The church throughout follows the usual type of great French churches: the eye, accustomed to the buildings of England or Normandy, misses the central towers of Lincoln or of Coutances, but Chartres is not in England or Normandy, but in France, and its church is built accordingly. At Chartres eight towers were actually intended: two on either side the faf ades of the nave and the tran- septs, and two, one on each side over the outer aisles 6i the choir just at the commencement of the apse. CHARTRES CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-WEST. (From Wild's "Architectural Grandeur.") CHARTRES CATHEDRAL, THE SOUTH AISLE OF THE CHOIR. {From Wild's "Architectural Grandeur.") CHARTRES 203 A fairer q-ueation gilasle. is xaiaai bx_tjie...iaiiequal spires of the west front— "a^ French feature again, but occasionally extending into Normandy and Engtend"," as at Rouen, lilandaff, Lynn, and Canterbury as it was before 1830. But it is only in so long and varied a front as that of Rouen Cathedral that it is really satisfactory. At Chartres tiie-so«few-esteiTi .tower_and spire were jdwarf 63^f their "Irug^dimensions when the faf adi~wS'raised in the thir- t^mmcantury, and it certainly now seems to come down -heavily and awkwardly upon the tower and upon the roof. The upper part of the north tower may appear to a severe critic to be -frittered away with work of a later style. These spires of Chartres are not twins, as they have been called; rather is the southern and older of the two — the alpha, one may style it, of Gothic spires — admirable in massive simplicity and perfect manly propor- tion, and the northern and later, the younger sister, the omega of spires, beautiful in feminine grace, and veiled with the richest and most profuse adornment. Still I must add that, as the day wore on, and I watched them with the westering sim creeping round, even till they glowed with the setting crimson, that while his beauty grew on me every hour, hers somewhat waned. So it ever seems to be: that which is simple wins with time, that which is elaborate and complicated, loses. It may be, however, that even longer habitude would have corrected this back again. The simpler proportions are soon mastered: the more complicated do not reveal themselves but by degrees. I might in a day have learned the relative parts of the older spire, while every week might have disclosed new reasons for the adjustment of details producing such exquisite grace in the other. '■Ii^--4£ai-IfixieE!s_tower3re^ placed _tiie_great JjfiUs — Ma^rie, Joseph, Anne, Elizabeth, Fulbert and Piat. Tl^y^^~^r^ast~ between 1840 and 1845, the fire of 1830 ii'aving diestroyea tfcir predecessors. 204 NORTHERN FRANCE s Allowing for tiie divereity of the steeples, Chartres is a Who j^^gt. consIstent^harro.QiuOJJS whole, of great, though perSaps not first-rate, excellence. The whole scheme was a grand one.i But the material — a very coarse calcareous limestone, full of holes — did not admit of any delicate ,work, and nothing can well be rougher than the work- jmanship of all but certain d elicate 2o rtioa§t.ag^^e.g., the ;two, trans.ept_^orches. The^stohes are put togethw' in 'a clumsy and unworkmanlike manner. Things which are meant to fit do not do so. The cornices and galleries ioutside are so carelessly planned as to have to be fitted jinto their places by taking ofif and curving angles or i filling them up. All the work has the air of having been executed by men who were in a great hurry, who were not used to such work, and who were entirely careless as to the goodness of the execution as long as they could man- age just to put it firmly together. The mouldings are very few and very simple, and the capitals of the columns very plain and rather coarsely carved. The windows too are very large and very plain (the great clerestorey windows are no less than 8 feet 5 inches wide m the clear, and their only moulding is a chamfer). Finally there is very little variety. The same design is carried on all round the church, almost without any change. But this was all done designedly. T he architect h ad determined^ to make hi s work depend"^ for its effect upon a niaghificent io«iwejMgmKeJ~WhlcirshQ.\29 be above and beyond all questions of detail. He could not but know what good svprk was, for the old west end and the south- west steeple had escaped the fire of 1194, and each in its way was admirable in design and detail. ' "Chartres est un pofeme, dont chaque statue dquivaut k un vers ou k un strophe, un poeine dont la conception est plus vaste que celle de I'Endide ou de I'lliade, que celle mfime de la Divine Comddie, puisqu'elle comprend I'histoire religieuse de I'univers, depuissa naissance jusqu'^ sa mort, de la Genfese k I'Apocalypse," — Didron. CHARTRES 205 But in the porches of the north and south transepts the architect has shown such a mastery over delicate detail as has rarely been surpassed, and this with an originality of design and a fertility of invention which it is impossible to praise too highly. It seems as if in designing these portals the architect, having felt himself tied and boimd in his scheme for the church, found him- self breathing freely again, when he had to complete these two colossal entrances — "scooped into the depth and darkness of Elijah's Horeb cave." How does such a whole stand as compared with a building of strange and, at first sight, \mintelligible outline, formed by the juxtaposition of two parts, each of admirable merit in itself, but which startle by their absolute contrast in every way? Chartres was made, Le Mans evidently grew; and different minds will be differently inclined in the comparison between a single harmonious work of art and a union of two buildings widely differing in date, style, and proportion. But, on the other hand, it must be said that nothing at Char- tres equals the parts of Le Mans taken separately, and that, in the inside at least, the incongruity of Le Mans is far from being felt in the unpleasant way that might have been looked for. My first view of Chartres Cathedral was on a glorious evening in the late summer of 1888. As I approached it by the railway from Dreux across that most valuable granary of France, the plain of La Beauce, then a mass of waving golden com, its grey mass uplifted itself against the blue sky like a rising cloud. Th^hei^toiJb&J^oi, beheld from a distance^ of. five mil.e^..se emed_ mcredible ; and the eastern extremity of the mighty edifice appeared to extend itself like the sloping side of some mountainous acclivity, till it blended with contiguous towers and walls in the town, ^^gjwo spires, a. .feature of beauty so Igxely attained^to by these„vast cathedrals of France, are graiS3Iy characteristic, and it was next to impossible 2o6 NORTHERN FRANCE to cease gazing on the majestic object as it grew more and more stupendous and more clearly defined. On a subsequent visit to Chartres my first view of the cathedral was gained under even more enjoyable auspices. I had caught an express train from Paris for Rennes, which I quitted at Maintenon, whence a slow one for Chartres put me down at a village station about five miles' distance from the city. From this spot I walk along the lovely roads that here border the Eure vaUey, till, pausing at a certain crook in the road, wandering on in pleasant thought, I look, and lo ! the red and gold radiance that fills the sky, which, a moment ago, was bounded by a stretch of wheat to left and right, now through a cleft made by meeting road-banks, shines behind a far cluster of pale trees and a mass of buildings — two spires and a long roof line — that is N6tre - Dame de Chartres. Faint purple in the distance that the eye travels stands this Temple of Our Lady, yet such is the poise and the massing of the delicate, cloud-like silhouette, that we know it to be instinct with strength and power and stability. I have already found the whole vocabulary of artistic phrase fail me in the course of these pages, accordingly as my pen essayed to report, with all the fulness such excellence justly claimed, the perfections of Amiens, Rheims and Rouen. How vain would be any endeavour, let memory and the note-book prompt as they will, to characterise in adequate language the solemn majesty of this august cathedral at Chartres! Most difficult it is to declare which is the most astonishing and most de- lectable to behold — the architecture, the stained glass, the sculpture, or the vastness of general design. This mighty House of God abounds with the riches of art and the wonders of. science. All has been nobly, all has been wonderfully — if not, as already observed, somewhat roughly — begun, continued, and ended; and so many are the distinctive features, that mind and body are CHARTRES 207 equally conscious of the labour of contemplation: in other words, it is a relief to the attentive spirit and to the overfraught heart, to pause, as object succeeds to object, and admiration grows more and more intense, amid the overpowering influences of such a spectacle. I shall not presume to weary my readers with details which might fill a volume, or overlay these pages with descriptions which, however minute and graphic, would leave imagination at a loss, and curiosity only too ill- satisfied. A few words may suffice to record the chief characteristics of this amazing fabric, beginning with the consummate merit displayed in the sculptures of its portals. , The western ^oorway or Porte Royalejaj^oitofjhe am3HIe_ Qf J:he twelfth century, though it attracts least notice at first, is pCTliapsJ;l]£.jnost .beautiful in the whole path edral. There' is a simple directness of expression, and a depth of earnest feeling about the sculpture which TsTaJcEmgTiartHe later work. The sculptures in the tym- panum are probably later than the lank and somewhat rude figures on the shafts of the jambs, and are done with marvellous delicacy and charm. Merely observing that the tympanum of the central doorway contains a sculpture of the Majesty within a vesica surrounded by the sym- bolic Four Beasts of the Apocalypse, and that that of the northern one comprises tiie Ascension, I will confine my remarks to the southern portal. The subjects here; are as follows: In the bottom row within the tympanum is the Nativity, with the Virgin, lying in a most daintily carved and canopied bed, with the cradle safely placed upon the top. In the second row comes the Presentation in the Temple, where Simeon and the Mother are holding the Child on the altar lest it should fall off. In an angle of the tympanum is the Adoration of The Holy Babe, seated on His Mother's knee. In the first order of the circumscribing arch are figures emblematical of the Arts and Sciences, doing homage to the Saviour — a 2o8 NORTHERN FRANCE very remarkable piece of iconography; in the second are angels tossing thuribles. Two spaces in this inner ring are taken up by two of the Signs of the Zodiac, for which the sculptor could nqt find room in the door arch on the other side. The capitals give a history of the Life of our Lord, from the cradle to the cross, and are full of the minutest figures fashioned most perfectly, replete with feeling and passion, while between the upright figures on the jambs are shafts carved with representations of the Seasons and their labours. The whole portal is full of the most wonderful fancy, and well deserves the closest study. In other provinces of the covmtry there are numerous examples of the same class of portal, which, though differing in some respect from that just described, and possessing in common features pecioliar t£t themselves, yet claim a kindred with it from the circumstance of a more or less liberal introduction of the pointed arch, the free use of statuary, and its unequivocal character. If the figures in the sides and the arch mouldings of the portals of Angers, Chartres, Bourges, Le Mans, St Trophime at Aries, Autun, and others be compared, the conviction is irresistible that each is but the reproduction of an established, recognised, conventional type, from which the artist never ventured to depart. We are struck by the constant attribution to the same personage, whether king, queen, saint, or martyr; whether the Almighty, the Christ, or the Virgin, of the same unvarying phys- iognomy; by the exaggerated length of the visage, the stiffness of the attitudes, the incorrectness of proportion, and apparent inability to express the foreshortening; the identical costume, adfiering closely to the form; the frittering away of the folds of the robe in an infinity of minute plaits; the profusion of embroidery, precious stones and jewels with which these are loaded; a repeti- tion of the same Scriptural subjects; and, finally, the practice of overlaying with designs more or less intricate CHARTRES 209 the surface of the shafts. It should be observed here that the western wall of the cathedral, with its portals and the triplet of lancets above them, was originally set even with the back of the towers; but at a later period was brought nearly flush with their western fronts, and the nave tiius lengthened by the square of the tower. In the gorgeousness, profusion and variety of decora- tion, the amplitude and skilful arrangement of the magnificent open porches, and the characteristic features and imiform excellence of the statuary, the north and south transept fronts of Chartres are unequalled in this, or in any other style. The superb northern portal may be accepted so far as the historical aspect of its sculptures goes as illustrative of the history of the world up to, and inclusive of the birth of Christ, to comprise the his- tory of the chosen people of God, terminating with the life and death of the Blessed Virgin. This porch, not- withstanding its intimate connection with the old Testa- ment and the old world generally, is dedicated to the Virgn, who was held in the highest honour and deepest veneration in the Middle Ages. It was the usual practice in those centuries whicli.were most remarkable for the erection and rich embellishment of great churches to consecrate north porches and portals to the Mother of Our Lord. The north has not, however, been specially selected either at Rheims, N6tre Dame at Paris, or Amiens. It is true that in the smallest and least ornamented portal m the north transept of Rheims there is an indication of this practice, in so much that a statue of the Virgin and Child occupies a prominent place in the tympanum, and that in the portal of the north transept of N6tre Dame a statue of the' Virgin, also carrying the infant Saviour, is placed against the irumeau or central pier; but in both these vast edifices the chief portals dedicated to the Virgin are in their western facades, as is also the case at Amiens, It should b^ P"i"tpd ""t at rha.rtrpg that whilst the Old Testament history occUpie5_&e,north 2IO NORTHERN FRANCE of left-hand portal, the New Testament history occupies the southern one, and is, accordingly, on the right hand. This is the accepted relation throughout the entire range of Christian symbolical art. Chartres furnishes us with an admirable field in its external sculpture alone for the comparison which may be shown between the written books of the Middle Ages and those books in stone which owe their existence to the chisel of the scidptor. Whilst the former were accessible and intelligible only to the few and learned, the latter were written in char- acters all could understand, and their pages were ever open, in summer and winter, in sunshine and storm. The sculptures in the three great portals should be studied even by those who do not interest themselves in archi- tecture. Sculpture as an art can never be properly appreciated unless its use in Gothic buildings be carefully thought of and its characteristics examined. The sculp- tured figures on the exterior of the cathedral of Char- tres are wonderfully simple in character and excellent 'in workmanship. There is, for example, a figure of a Knight Templar in chain armour which is worked with beautiful minuteness, and the figure, in attitude and form, is most truthful and lifelike. In fact, to go on with details, there is one arm off whichfsthe shirt of mail has fallen to leave the wrist free; thus the workmanship, so -careful and minute, of this single pi^e might well belong to a single work of art standing alone and by itself, and not to one which forms but an infinitesimal part of an immense structure. ..Such self-denying work it is wholly impossible to expect to see again, for its performance required a religious devotion added to great pride of workmanship, and yet a pride which was willing so far to become a sense of dignified contentment that the worker did not desire that his statue shoidd take a more prominent place than that of his fellows, and thus each of those workmen whose names are not wholly forgotten taught at once a lesson of perfect artistic execution united CHARTRES 211 to religious enthusiasm, and a merging of self in the .pride of adding some little to a magnificent whole. Chartres Cathedral shews us all this with striking significance, because we find there admirable execution in the sculp- tured details added to great constructional skill and great general architectural beauty. '^Let us now enter the building. The interior of Char- tres Cathedral is not distinguished by the stupendous elevation which characterises those of Amiens, Beauvais and Rheims; and, possibly, by one who approaches its examination imder the influence of the impressions excited by those colossal structures, will be pronounced inferior to them in architectural effect.^ The height of the nave in proportion to the length and breadth is less con- siderable than that which commonly obtains in the Middle Ages; a circumstance perhaps attributable to the necessity Imposed upon the architect of an adaptation to the already existing west front and vestibule between the towers, iln whatever degree our appreciation of its merits as a whole may be affected by this departure from general practice, there will be felt to be something in its majestic amplitude and freedom of space which has it^ charm also, though of another kind; whilst the purity' of style and the imiform excellence of detail, coupled; with the richness and splendour of the external archi-' tecture, justly place N6tre Dame de Chartres amongst the most august creations of the Pointed style. The nave consists of seven bays with stilted arches, i.e., arches vvhich do not spring from the vertical till some way above the capitals of the columns. These arches increase in width toward the east, the extreme westerly one being narrowest. Those who know the choir at Canter- bury will remember a similar arrangement. There the increase is in a reverse direction, towards the west and not the east. It is very difficult to say what effect this increase of width produces on the eye. Certainly not, ' See illustration, page 180. 212 NORTHERN FRANCE as commonly supposed at Canterbury, the lengthening out of the vista to those who look from the wider to the narrower arches. For if the effect of distance be to diminish in a certain proportion arches of an equal width, then in the case of width gradually lessening, that diminution must be much more rapid, and the vista would appear shorter, not longer. And the same reason- ing would lead to the conclusion that if the eye looked to the opposite direction, from the narrower to the wider arches, the vista would be lengthened. Thus we should have Chartres lengthened by this device to one looking from the west, and Canterbury to one looking from the east. 'WTiether this reaUy is so can never be determined until one can compare simultaneously two series of arches, of one of which the spans are equal, and of the other of which they are imequal — a coincidence not likely to be attained. The eye is at the same time so confident of its own measurements, and so likely to be deceived, that its evidence in such a matter, is not to be trusted. But from speculation let us come to matters of fact. These arches are borne on piers alternately round and octagonal, /the former being set roimd with four octangular shafts, and the latter with circular ones. The triforium stage is but a narrow passage just sufficient for circulation, with an unpierced wall behind, and an arcade of small, pointed, well-formed arches on single piUarets in front, four of these arches comprehending the width of each pier arch. The clerestorey windows of two lights bearing an octo-foliated plate-traceried circle between themselves and the comprising arch are destitute of either shafts or rolls, the edges of the apertures being merely plain-chamiered. These clerestorey windows throughout Chartres Cathedral, except in the apse, where they assume me single lancet form — ^how grand and imposing they are, with their colossal saints in the brightest amber, blue, and crimson! The vaulting being quadripartite, as usual in all Early French work, is provided with transverse diagonal and CHARTRES 213 wall-rib shafts, the five resting on the abacus of the great piers of the nave arcade, well detached from each other and the waU, and banded by the continuation over them of the triforium and clerestorey stringcourses. The windows which light the side aisles, single, obtusef headed, plainly chamfered perforations, are separated by the transverse and diagonal rib-shafts of the vaulting, the first applied on a pilaster face, the latter placed in, the angle produced by the intersection of wall and pilaster,^ and aU rising direct from the pavement. ^he windows in the choir aides_ assume Jiie jongj,.. of . twol^wide ^late-traceriedJlancets jwithin a pointed_arch and a small circle pierced in the stonework above them. The same type of window "dccOrs' in thfe clerestorey of the nave at St Pierre in Chartres, and in that of the nave and choir at Soissons. I --IaJia.no rthem^isle of the choir is enshrined the^^celg- brated image of N6tre Dame du Pilier, so called because it was foriherly raised upon a round column in front of the rood-loft. A source of considerable emolument to the cathedral, this jGnage, which dates from the early part of the sixteenth century, is said to be modelled with much skill and grace, but as it is always enveloped in a rich robe, the features are alone discernible. The woodwork of the "shrine" is. of the most wretched pseudo-Gothic description (c. 1830) from the designs of a M Bravet. The. image has occupied this position. .smcexSoS; 5. priest js. constantly in attendance to guard, it; and as M. Bulteau tells us in his hand-book to the cathedral, "il ne se passe d'heure du jour sans qu6 de pieux fidfeles viennent allumer des cierges et prier devant cette image de la Mfere de Dieu" (i.e., women and girls). The foregoing architectural description is applicable in all points to the east and west sides of both transepts, where, as we stand beneaA tiie great central crossing, let us observe those two rose windows, glowing with so much richness of colour and variety of subject. Windows 214 NORTHERN FRANCE of this kind are not indeed peculiar to French churches, but the abundance and beauty of them in France are so great as to render them almost national, geneath each .great plate-traceried rosace which lights the fagade of either transept is a pierced arcade containing five equal ..lancet windows of admirable colours; in the middle light of both is the figure of the Virgin; on' the south in the other lights are Melchisedec, David, Solomon and Aaron; and on the north an arrangement sometimes favoured by the mediaeval artist; the four great Prophets each bearing on his shoulder an Evangelist; Isaiah having St Matthew; \ Ezekiel, St John; Daniel, St Mark; and Jeremiah, St Luke, ^, The choir has on each side two aisles which make the ' circuit of the semicircular apse, upon the outer one of which open chapels, alternately polygonal and segments of circles. This variation is in itself very beautiful as well as original; but when we corne to descend into the crypt we find out ak once how it has come to be con- trived, and that it was, in fact, the happy result of a necessity turned to good use. W^jgn-th.© original church was burnt in 1194 the crypt sustained, no. damage. It extended the whole length of the church, and the architecr v^as compelled, therefore, to build on the old lines. If we compare the crypt as it was, and the church as it is, we shall come to the conclusion that the compulsion did not amount to much, so different are the two. Rut on comparison of the two plans it will be seen how ingenious the adaptation was. Examining the crypt, we see that the old church had an apse, a single aisle roimd it, and three deep chapels with spaces between them, of the same general outline as many other early French churches. The architect of the present cathedral at Chartres saw that by making a slight corbeUmg forward from the old base, it would be possible to build a choir with two aisles instead of one, with moderktely sized chapels over the old chapels, and shallow ones in the spaces between them. All this could be done, and was done, without CHARTRES 215 any additions to the old foundations, and certainly with the happiest results, and it would be hard to give any better evidence of liie skill of the architect. The groining of the new chevet is not a little complicated; tiie inner aisle is all four-ceUed; the outer one has vaults of five cells opposite and including the small intermediate chapels, whilst the three principal chapels are vaulted separately from the aisle. In some respects this plan is similar to many of later date, as may be seen at St Pierre-aux-Corps, at Bourges, and Ndtre Dame at St Omar; but the Chartres plan is, I venture to think, finer than either of these, giving as it does a beautifully ciirved and varied outline to every part of the apse. Returning to the choir aisles £uiflL.Aeii:continiiation rounS^flie'aps^Tr should IJe observed that they are sepa- rated Trom one another by columns of various sorts. Some are massive plain octagons; some simple cylinders; others are of the compound type like those in the nave, tran- septs and choir. This diversity lends great interest and, it may be added, pictiiresqueness to this part" ofthe church, which is completely cut off from the choir by screens of whose wonderful statuary I shall speak presently. With regard to the choir, the terms used in the descrip- J&!fll_Q.f Jte,S?s^^'^ portions of the cathedral are equally jpplicahle^iere, keeping,,_UL-.^.view the narrower pier arches of ..the apse^mch leave ipace'in the clerestorey lor "But single lancet windows drawn upwards into length- ened graceful proportions instead of the two-light ones of the nave and other parts. But even this noble church has not escaped the marring hand of the vulgariser. In the middle of the eighteenth century philosophy and renaissance were in the ascend- ency,^ and the natural enemy of eveiy French and Italian cathedral, its own Chapter, had grown rich and rampant. The exterior was too irretrievably bad in their eyes for'' even them to " improve," but the interior presented a tempting field. The consequence was tiat almost 2i6 NORTHERN FRANCE every movable object with which the piety of the Middle Ages had enriched the choir disappeared or underwent some sad change. The semicircle of highly stilted narrow arches which Enish tihe church to the east was once as beautiful as the rest; but in an evil hour the Italianizing mania seized the authorities, and they actually cut away the mouldings of the arches, and worked the soffit spandrels into "Classic" panels, thus rendering restoration almost impracticable. The mischief like- wise extended to the arches on either side of the choir. It seems that it was only the Revolution which put a stop to still further damage of this kind, as large sums had been promised to carry on even greater alterations in the structure. It is true the Revolution brought with it its evils, and much harm was done to the sculpture, but still not so much as would have been done had the "embellishments" been carried out. Although in the wild fanaticism of the times a gift of one hundred francs to the "caisse de bienfaisance," as it was termed, gave a right to the subscriber to break a statue, still much has remained to us. Four pounds is a heavy sum to pay to be allowed to smash mediaeval statues, however fine and beautiful the carving, or however gorgeous the colours and the gilding of the draperies! The interior greatly needs fittings worthy of the building, and the removal of the porphyry imitations with which the choir is encrusted, and above all the removal of the horrible Classic casing of the choir arches and their piers is a consummation devoutly to be wished. Those abominations were executed in 1772 by Le Sieur Louis, the architect of the Duke of Orleans, and at the same time the authorities barbarously destroyed the magnificent jubi, which was adorned with bas reliefs, and had two staircases on each side, with "watch-lofts" for the guardians of the church.^ ' The pseudo-Classic successor of this jubS is shewn in Chapu/s view of the cathedral (1828). This in its turn succumbed to the modern innovator and has been replaced by — nothing. CHARTRES 217 The bas reliefs in panels between the choir arches behind the stalls are also part of the eighteenth century "improvements." There are eight groups in white marble framed in blue turquoise marble. On the south side are the Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the Epiphany, the Descent from the Cross, and the Vow of Louis XIII. ; on the north, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Presen- tation in the Temple, the Deposition of Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus, and Isaiah prophesying to the King of Judah that a Virgin shall bring forth a Son. AU these pictures were by Bridan and date from 1772. The present high altar, erected the same time, involved the destruction of the ancient one of 1520, which has been thus described: "Environde de chaque ctti de colonnes en cuivre suimontdes d'anges de la mSme matifere, et couronnde d'une figure de la Sainte Vierge en argent, monument dont comme de tant autres objets sacrifife h. la manie et la mode du jour, nous ne cesserons de ddplorer la perte si importante i. I'histoire de I'art dans le moyen age." When one reads how magnificent an effect the interior formerly presented, the present pseudo-classical furniture is all the more to be regretted. Pre-eminent above alli these rococo decorations of the choir is the high altar," behind which is a large group representing the Assump-j tion. The effigy of the Virgin was on the point of being demolished in 1793, when the revolutionary rabble began to sack and pillage every church and chapel in the realm; and was only preserved by the presence of mind of M le Cur6 Jumentier, who, seizing a red cloth cap (the "bonnet rouge") from one of the most violent of the mob, placed it on the head of the statue, exclaim- ing, "There! you want a (Joddess of Reason, this will suit your purpose as well as anything." The cur^s clerical brethren were scandalized at the 2i8 NORTHERN FRANCE expedient, but the bishop of the diocese, a sensible man, commended his presence of mind and shrewd evasion, and subsequently offered him a preferment; but he pre- ferred retaining the office of simple cure to the day of his decease. The choir is separated from its aisles by stone parcloses, the external surfaces of which. are profusely decorated with sculpture of most intricate design and delicate execu- tion, dating from early in the sixteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century, and for the most part repre- senting with ^large-sized, ^gures the principal- events in the life of Our Lor3'. They a,re arranged in chronological ..order, conunencing at the southwest end of the aisle with,the Appearance of the Angel to Joachim, and con- cluding at the opposite point with the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. All these groups are intelligible enough save one, the twentieth, which is in all probability the restoring of his sight to the blind man. A curious incident in this group is that it includes the sculptimed representation of a Classic church with a dome and peri- style, and a segmental-arched head over the doorway, a feature very imusual even in Late Gothic sculpture. Another curious point about the general design is that it seems to get earlier in style as it rises, for the basement storey of the screen, with its round arcading and panelling with enriched moulding, seems to have fairly merged, if not into Classic, at least into the most debased Gk)⁣ then comes a more Gothic-looking ornament over it, and the upper portion is Late Flamboyant. It is curious to see in liie capitals of the large columns behind, the trace of the Classic capital, and then to see in the panelling of the screen the approach of the Classical element again, after all that has intervened. The scheme of the design is very effective, with the sculptures standing out. against deep shadow, and the figures of modem historical bishops and saints placed, as it were, on another plane in the design, and marking its main division into bays. The CHARTRES 219 CDQtrast JhfiJween, the solid grandeur of , the older Eisnais-: sance. work and the lace-like fragility of the Late Gothic. wQ rk,.,i s as strikmg here as at Gloucester and elsewhere in our oWiTcathedrals.^ In addition to the matchless iconographic system pre- sented by the scxilptures of Chartres Cathedral, we must recognise the rich field of study offered by its wonderful stained glass. A simple enumeration of its windows wiU convey an idea of its wealth in this direction. There are of twelfth century date three singularly rich and noble windows, i.e., those above the great western portals, and of which the distinguished French architect M Lassus has said: "leur &lat est tel, qu'elles font palir tous les vitraux dont le trfezieme sifecle a enrichi cette admirable cath&lrale." Of thirteenth-century date there are 125 large win- dows, 3 immense roses, 35 lesser roses, and 12 small roses. Of the fourteenth century there a^e 6 large win- dows and 2 medium-sized ones; and of the Renais- sance period there are 2 small roses. In_al l there ^jxe ^85 grand windows presenting^ thousands of portraitures, histones7and ^mbolicarsubjects. Next to'tEatirr'tKe three western lancets the oldest glass at Chartres is in the chapels opening out of the procession path. It is probably coeval with the building of this part of the church in the beginning of the thirteenth century. In general character it resembles that in the windows of Trinity Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral; differing from them, however, in this, that here we have in the body of the lancet f idl-length figures mixed with the small medallion groups, and in the borders, figures of men and animals introduced in the midst of the floral patterns. "the beauty of the stained glass at Chartres is perhaps, on the whole, unequalled in France, and will alone repay a pilgrimage; for it has two merits — not alone is it im- rivalled in beauty of colourj but the foESs~cfepicted are ' See illustration, page 202, 220 NORTHERN FRANCE worthy of notice; ,,the illustrations of sacred histo^, the representation of the various trade guilds, " Who loved their city, and thought gold well spent To make her beautiful with piety," aje all painted with rare simplicity and taste. In some of the colours the shades are almost unique; for example, the richness of the green is scarcely to be seen anywhere elge. Jt is a greeii which is perfectly true to nature, which can be seen on the seaweeds on the shore, and which modern artists imtil within comparatively recent years failed to attain — rich and soft, and_,yending, quite beautifully .with the brighter but yet rich colors which form the rest of the windows. Of course I do not mean that this green is more beautiful than the other hues, but it is a more imcommon colour. The history of design in glass is curious; its principle varied considerably in the three great periods of Christian art, and a very short statement of its successive varieties will be useful for our purpose. In the First Pointed style, it was mosaic in idea, and rather non-transparent than transparent; still the draw- ing and treatment of the material were generally very true to its requirements. In Middle Pointed, the idea was also really semi-mosaic, the glass transparent: whilst the superiority of the draughtsmanship, and the conventional imitation of and use of natural forms, gave it a great advantage over its predecessor. In the French Flamboyant, and the English Perpen- dicular or Third Pointed, in its full devdopment, the design was what we should call artistic, attempting to represent nature as perfectly as on canvas, and conse- quently the attempt at deep shadows made the glass neces- sarily often non-transparent, and designs in perspective were continually and in many cases unsuccessfully made. Of these, I believe the Middle Pointed to have been CHARTRES 221 most true in its development in all ways. For there are certain necessities in the construction of glass paintings which it may be well to recapitulate, and it more than either of the others fulfilled these necessities. ist. Each piece of glass must be lined roimd with a black line of lead, imnatural and stiff in effect. 2nd. The pieces so tied together must be each of one colour, two colours not being admissible in one piece. 3rd. The object of a window being to let in light, that glass is the worst which artificially excludes light. It must therefore, if good be very transparent. 4th. The effect of a window must be so decided as to be intelligible from a great distance. 5th. The absence of shading and of perspective are certainly necessities; the first, because it darkens and makes gloomy what should be clear and brilliant; and the second, because it can never be so managed as to look correct, or to harmonize with the straight lines of the architecture or the stiff lines of saddle bars, etc., which confine it on every side; and lastly it is absolutely necessary that the design of the glass should never interfere with or oppose the design of the stonework, but that it should be treated in all cases as subordinate to it. Now all these things are of necessity in stained glass and therefore none can be good without them. First-Pointed regarded most of them, but as it was purely and entirely conventional, in all respects it was inferior to Early and Late Middle Pointed, which in its perfection obeyed all, and taking Nature as a guide, but conventionalising her forms, really worked on the most truthful and best of rules. Whereas Late Third Pointed, pretending to take Nature as a guide, and doing so without conventionalising her, and setting at nought those rules of which the necessities of the material require the strict observance, and further attempting to disregard and override all architectural arrangements and restrictions, too often failed most egregiously. 222 NORTHERN FRANCE The proper use of white glass is one of the most im- portant of all points to be observed. I remember an admirably striking example of the effect it may produce in the cathedral at Chartres, where all the subjects are arranged in regular geometrical forms — circles, quatre- foils, etc. — each form marked out and defined by lines of white glass. During my several visits to Chartres I have been fortunate in finding the cathedral open until very late in the evening, and I availed myself gladly of the opportvinity thus afforded for the study of the wonderful and changing effect of the glass, and I found that as the light gradually faded away an effect was produced which showed strikingly the advantage of the white line, for whilst the rest of the glass became very dark and black in its effect, the white lines stood out brilliantly, and the windows appeared fuU of regular and beautiful patterns. The advantage of the white edge to all glass next to stone was soon perceived by the more intelligent glass- painters of the Gothic Revival, but it is only within the last twenty years or so that they have attained to suf- ficient boldness in its use in other parts. There can be no doubt that its use is founded on a correct principle, and that the contrast which it allows is in the highest degree beneficial in its effect to the rich colours among which it occurs, and' it is a great rule that it should be treated as metal in heraldry; either white on colour or colour on white. White, from its brilliancy and sparkling character, answers to the gold of heraldry, of illumination, and of mural paintings. And in the best glass it is always observable that the white glass increases in amoimt towards the head of the window, and the tracery is frequently almost entirely white with a little yellow stain. Now in too much of the glass that was executed both in France and England during the earlier Epochs of the Revival, the head of the window is generally full of colour, and when so, seldom looks well. CHARTRES 223 but always heavy, and always has a tendency to confuse and darken the stonework too much. „,At Chartres the stained glass evidently formed part of the original scheme. The windows are all of vast size; lancets in the aisles, chapels, clerestorey of the apse .and facades of the nave and transepts, and two light windows with a large plate-traceried circle in the clere- storeys of the nave, transepts and choir; and in spite of this they are a;bsolutely filled with glass of extremely rich and solid colour, all of the same age as the church, and all arranged in a generally uniform scheme, though it is varied in detail iii every part. The architectural features of this portion of the work which most deserve notice are (i) the general arrangement in the upper windows of large figures under canopies, and in the lower windows of subjects in panels; and (2) the beauty of all the drawing of foliage and ornament.^ ia the nupaber a,nd excellence of its stained-glass windows, Chartres has no rival in the world., The storms and winters of nearly seven centuries have spent their fury upon them, and they stiU shine in all their pristine brilliancy. The simbeams have fallen through 'The stained glass in the five-light east window of St Giles, Camberwell — Sir Gilbert Scx)tt's first London church — owes its excellence, for its early date to Ruskin and his friend Oldfield, who were on the building committee. Messrs. Ward and Nixon having submitted a design which was not approved, they were instructed by the church committee to execute a new, one to be prepared by Ruskin and Oldfield. A long correspondence ensued between the friends during May, i844,,;^hen the former was in France studying the painted glass at Chartres and elsewhere. In his letters to Oldfield, Ruskin enjbodied many hints for the execution of this glass at Camberwell; and this correspondence, which is very interesting, is given in the Library Edition of The Works of John Ruskin, Vol. XII. It is to studies of the same models that much of the excellenpe of the glass in the eastern windows of the Temple Church, by Willement, and the double tier of lancets at the east end of Ely Cathedral, by Wailes, is due. 224 NORTHERN FRANCE their blue and ruby stains on the faithful of generation after generation, on Louis the Saint and Louis the Great, on the venerable bishop who consecrated the then newly erected pile, and on more than fifty of his successors in his sacred ofBce, who have successively ministered at its altars, and who sleep beneath the pavement of its crypt. Dynasties have passed away; revolutions have succeeded each other; tiie fabric itself has been twice involved in conflagration; and these glorious windows still shine, and they will glow with tmdiminished splendour, when generations yet imbom will people the ancient city. It is impossible within these limits to detail the icon- ography of this stained glass at Chartres, but it may be interesting to mention that the artists have put the Bible to the north, or left, and the Gospel to the south, or right. It was thus that our Northumbrian Biscop caused the Gospel subjects to be painted on the south of the church. " Detulet imagines evangelicse historiae quibus australlem ecclesice parietem decoraret." Entering Chartres Cathedral on one occasion in the stilhiess of early morning — a stiUness broken only by the tinkle of a bell from one of the chapels where Low Mass was being said in the presence of a few "gathered together in His Name," I involuntarily recalled those touching stanzas on "Stained Glass Windows" from Keble's "Lyra Innocentium": " Oft have I heard our elders say, How sad the autumnal hour, How rude the touch of stern decay. How fast the bright hues melt away In mountain, sky and bower! " Yet it is dear delight to me The rustling leaves to tread. To heap and toss them wild and free. Their fragrance breathe, and o'er them see Soft evening lustre shed. ORLEANS 225 "And some will say, 'tis drear and cold In holy Church to kneel With one or two, Christ's little fold, With blind and lame, with poor and old, There met for Him to heal. " Nay, look again: the Saints are there: Christ's ever-growing Light Through heavenly features grave and fair Is gleaming; all the lonely air Is thronged with shadows bright. "The Saints are there: the Living Dead, The Mourners glad an(J strong; The sacred floor their quiet bed. Their beams from every window shed, Their voice in every song. " And haply where I kneel, some day, From yonder gorgeous pane The glory of some Saint will play: — Not lightly may it pass away, But in my heart remain! " ORLEANS Allusion has been made elsewhere in these pages to the long duration of the Pointed Style in France. Ste Eustache at Paris, a church so large that more than 3,000 worshippers have been counted in the aisles alone, was built between 1532 and 1642. Here, although the details are Italianised, the mass is Pointed. And the rich transepts of Beauvais, with that huge central tower so rashly raised in rivalry of St Peter's, which so soon fell prostrate, are the work of the early years of the latter half of the sixteenth century. The church of St Etienne du Mont at Paris, and that singular manifestation the church at Corbie,^ between Amiens and Arras, may be adduced as remarkable instances of the same phenomenon; * See page 42. 226 NORTHERN FRANCE but both these are eclipsed in size and purity by that stupendous pile — the growth of the seventeenth century — the Cathedral of Orleans. The Calvinists razed aU the previous church with the exception of the chapels roimd tiie apse. Henri IV. began the rebuilding of it, which was carried out in a purely Pointed style upon the old foundations, and at a distance it has the same outline and grandeur of mass which characterise the French cathedrals of earlier days. Among the varieties of French architecture one cer- tainly does not expect to find a stately Gothic cathedral almost correct even to details, built in the seventeenth century. It is probable that the idea of Henri IV., who was the foimder of the new building, was to reproduce the old one destroyed in the religious wars; and some portions of the ancient fabric are worked in among the arches and chapels of the modem church. Still, carefully and successfully as the object has in the main been carried out, instances of poor, shallow work aboimd; the resources of the time, hardly equal even to copying, were overtaxed the moment anythmg beyond this was required. The general effect is that of a body without a soul. The west front, with its two equal towers, betrays, even at a distance, its late character. Taken, however, in the mass, the Cathedral of Orleans is dans son genre, one of the fairest productions of the sev- enteenth century, remarkably free from Renaissance in- fluences, and is certainly an impressive structure, both within and without, though not without the faults which might be expected from the late period to which it belongs. The horizontal line prevails too much in the west front, which it is only just to say is a subsequent addition; and the circular stage on the top of each of the western towers is not in perfect accordance with the Gothic character. Nevertheless, the composition, as seen from a distance, is well proportioned and striking. The weakest portions ORLEANS 227 are the doorways in the west front, where the architect in his endeavour to cast aside the trammels of precedent has, in his efforts to produce something original, failed most dismally; and the facades of the transepts, where in the octagonal turrets which flank them the stringcourses occur at scrupulously regular intervals all the way up, giving them a cold and machine-made look, very different from the spirit in which the mediaeval designers worked; yet the tracery in the rose windows of the west front is treated with remarkable skill and delicacy, and the arcaded gallery, forming the third stage in the elevation, might be taken for a work of the present age of the art. I examined this complex and wonderful masterpiece of masonry — this caniio cygni — at every opportunity afforded me during a few days' sojourn in Orleans and its locaJity. The richness and variety, the purity and execution, were delightful to look upon. The flying buttresses are almost equal in beauty of design and proportion to those at Evreux, which are, I believe, regarded as chefs d'ceuvres of their age, by the most distinguished French architects. To enhance the enjoyment of an uninterrupted view of this remarkable edffice (rebuilt by Henri IV. as a kind of makepeace offering to the offended Catholics), but not finished tiU the middle of the eighteenth century, a vast clearance was made during the early period of the Second Empire by demolishing blocks of decaying houses, and even entire streets, which, however picturesque they may have been, hemmed in the noble cathedral; and at the present day, this mass of architectural perfections and, it must be added, imperfections, stands isolated, and may be viewed to advantage on aU sides. Three churches in different styles — the one Gallo- Roman, the otlier Romanesque, the third Gothic, have preceded the actual Cathedral of Orleans. The last- named was almost entirely ruined by the Huguenots in 1567. The chapels of the procession path, dating from 228 NORTHERN FRANCE the fourteenth century, had alone escaped — also the fafade and towers. In order to trace the history of this gigantic edifice, the pride — and justly so — of the Orleanois, we must carry our thoughts back to the year 1559, when on April 3, at Cateau-Cambr^sis that peace was concluded between Henri II. of France, Philip II. of Spain, and Elizabeth of England, by which France ceded Savoy, Corsica, and nearly two himdred forts in Italy and the Low Countries to Philip. From that time till the end of the sixteenth century the history of France is mainly taken up with the religious wars between the Catholics and Protestants within the country. These lasted, with stoppages, now and then, from 1562 to 1595. The French Protestants were not Luther- ans, but followers of John Chauvin or Calvin, a French- man by birth who settled at Geneva. His teaching went further away from the Roman Church than Luther's did, and was followed by all who accepted the Reformation in the Romance-speaking coimtries, and also in part of Germany. The name Protestant therefore did not belong to the Calvinists in France who called themselves the Reformed, and who were commonly known as Huguenots. They were per- secuted imder Francis I. and Henry II. After Henry, three of his sons reigned in order, Francis II., from 1559 to 1560, Charles IX from 1560 to 1574, and Henry III. from 1574 to 1589. The mother of these three kings, Catherine of Medici, of the House of Florence, had great power, which she used very badly, during the reigns of aU her sons. The religious wars began in 1562, and in the latter part of them the chief part on the Reformed side was taken by Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre. He was the next heir to the Crown of France after the sons of Henry II., tliough the kindred between them in the male line was very remote, as they were descended from ORLEANS 229 different sons of Saint Louis. Henry had inherited from his mother the title of King of Navarre, and with it the possession of that part of the kingdom which lay north of the Pyrenees, and which had been kept by its own kings when all the rest had been conquered by Ferdi- nand of Aragon. He had also large fiefs in the south of France, which was the part where the Huguenots were the strongest, like the Albigenses in olden times. The two parties were constantly at war and always making peace again; but when peace was made, it never gave any real toleration. The Reformed religion was allowed to be practised in particular towns and places, but men were not allowed to follow what religion they pleased everywhere. Philip, of Spain interfered as much as he could, of course helping tiie Catholics. The most famous event of these times was the massacre of the Huguenots in Paris on St Bartholomew's Day, 1572. At last, when Henry III. died in 1589, the Crown came of right to Henry of Navarre, but he found that, as long as he remained a Huguenot, Paris and the greater part of the kingdom would not acknowledge him. So in 1593 he embraced the Old Faith, and then he soon obtained possession of the whole land. Instead of the old title of King of France {Rex Francorum) he styled himself King of France and Navarre. Henry was murdered in 1610 by a fanatic named Ravaillac, 14th May, 1610, the day after the ceremonial of his second queen's coronation,^ which solemnity was performed with extraordinary magnificence, and was succeeded by his young son Louis XIII. who reigned till 1643, and under whose famous minister Cardinal Richelieu, the House of Bourbon began to take the first place in Europe instead of the House of Austria. Protestantism spread rapidly in the Orleanois, where it was spiritedly combated by Henry II., and in the I Marie de Medici, niece to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, aft alliance whidi by no njean? cpntrjbuted to bis felicity. 236 NORTHERN FRANCE spoliation of churches, at the hands of its fanatical adher- ents in various parts of the country, an immense niunber of the treasures which the art, skill and devotion of centuries had accumulated, were lost. But the crowning act of vandalism was the almost total destruction of the cathedral at Orleans. Henri Quatre having been excommimicated by the Pope as a heretic in professing Protestantism, was afterwards absolved, when, in order to secure possession of his throne, he embraced the old religion. One condition of the absolu- tion was that the king shoidd establish certain religious houses in France; but Henri was allowed to exchange this obligation for that of restoring the Cathedral of Orleans. On i8th April, 1601, the first stone of the new building was laid — the ceremony being performed by the king, in person, with great pomp. The monarch was very zealous on the occasion, and expressed, strongly, his determination to complete the work which his hands had thus begun; nevertheless its progress was but slow, for the choir, with its aisles and chapels, was not com- pleted till 1622. The transepts were finished fifty- four years later. Unhappily in the latter the architect departed from the choir precedent and constructed the facades in the Renaissance style. The nave received its final touches in 1685. It was not until long after that the architect, Gabriel, undertook the rebuilding of the fajade and towers which were the last remains of the Romanesque cathedral. Stopped during the Revolu- tion, the works were resumed under the restored monarchy and only brought to a conclusion in 1829. The central fi&che was perfected in i860 from the designs of M Boeswillwald. The nave, exclusive of the part flanked by the towers, has six bays, and double aisles on either side; the tran- septs are likewise aisled, but singly; the choir has seven bays, and the apse, whose clerestorey is lighted by very tall narrow windows of two lights, a corresponding ORLEANS 231 number. The work in the portion that escaped demoli- tion in the sixteenth century is remarkably beautiful, especially the "Bishop's" Door on the north side of the- choir with its statues of apostles and evangelists. The interior of Orleans Cathedral requites many a long hour of inspection. The grandeur and simplicity of the whole is beheld, in my opinion, to the greatest advantage by the spectator standing at the distance of three yards from the last colxmm preceding the northern transept, where he may see one-half of each transept's window, half the choir and the extremity of the north aisle. There are four aisles divided by piUars whose mouldings run through the architraves, and are not stopped by any capitals. The triforium is very well arranged, ^v con- sisting of an arcade of four small trefoil arches occupying a very limited space (in point of height) as compared with the pier arches and the clerestorey. The mouldings have not much force or boldness, but this is a common defect in Flamboyant work. Each clerestorey window in the nave and choir is 25 feet high, and 12 wide; but there is not much stained glass, and such as there is must be con- sidered ordinary enough. Down to the very latest ages of foreign Pointed, down to this seventeenth-century cathedral at Orleans, the windows never lost their separate importance, their indi- vidual character — many churches indeed erred from having them too gorgeously treated, and overladen with heavy gables. At Orleans is a lofty clerestorey with Flamboyant tracery, and below it, and separated from it by a space of blank wall, a most distinct and open tri- forium, and below that again the arcade. I do not, however, think it improbable, indeed, I lean to the belief, that even if Pointed architecture had not been forcibly banished from the Continent by the artificial and pedantic resuscitation of a long-dead style it would yet, enfeebled as it was by inward corruption, have fallen 9, prey, as it had long been doing . in England, to some 232 NORTHERN FRANCE inward poison, some principle alien to its nature, unwarily received into its bosom, which would after a struggle, longer or shorter, have supplanted it, even as Romanesque supplanted Grecian, with a downward, however, not an upward progress. The style of Pointed architecture which may be con- sidered to have the most nearly approached perfection, or as may be more truly said, the furthest departed from imperfection, is that exemplified by such works as the octagon and the three first bays of the choir at Ely, the east ends of Carlisle Cathedral and Selby Abbey, and the nave of the cathedral at Troyes. In the tracery of all these examples the eye wanders along a graceful maze of forms, conducting it to various portions of the window, but no further; the stem frame restrains as much -as ever it did in the earlier development; and at length it falls back whence it came, rejoicing in the entirety of the window, no longer in any degree a congeries ^of dis- cordant parts, but one, and whole, and consistent: " In the Hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column; In the Pentameter aye falling in melody back." The Flamboyant style is but a link in the o-aprj xpvd-ri of Christian architecture, as naturally and immediately connected with fully developed Middle Pointed as this was with Early Middle, and that with Late First Pointed. That Flamboyant was a deterioration from, whilst every previous style had been an improvement upon, its pred- ecessor, may be allowed; but this consideration is manifestly alien to the dry and technical one of mere relationship. Let us now examine the acutely pointed arches separat- ing the nave and choir of Orleans Cathedral from their double aisles. We find, as before observed, the usual divisions into arcade, triforiumi and clerestorey very ' In English Gothic work the triforium began to lose its im- portance considerably before the Perpendicular era,, whereas in w in < U o CO < ; Q S IM K c < o U _o en J ° ^ ORLEANS 233 distinctly marked, and we observe especially that the vaulting shafts springing from the same mass of bases as the arch mouldings, that they run up iminterruptedly, and that the pier-mouldings are also carried uninterrup- tedly round the arches. StiU the three storeys are distinctly marked, as weU as the division between the triforium and the clerestorey, as between it and the arcade, though the latter be tie more distinctly marked. An interesting feature in the interior of Orleans Cathe- dral is the ridge rib of the vaulting — one rarely employed in Continental architecture, but never absent from Eng- lish, whether in Romanesque or Pointed Gothic days. The ridge rib may be defined as the one which runs along the apex of the vaiilt in a longitudinal direction; the transverse rib crosses this and runs along the apex of the cross- vault; the diagonal ribs cover the main groins, and cross each bay of vaulting diagonally, meeting at the intersection of the longitudinal and transverse ribs; the cross springer crosses the main vault at right an'gles; the wall rib occupies the angle at the end of the vault, where it stops against the wall. Such is the no- menclature generally adopted for the different ribs of a vaulted roof. Had Orleans Cathedral been built in England at the same period, its vaulting woiild ^ have assumed a much more complex character, but in France the simple quadripartite or four-celled vault was used for spanning over wide spaces from the earliest to the latest forms of Pointed. It is chiefly in chapels and other France and Belgium it held its ground bravely throughout the the whole of the Flamboyant, which, in effect, corresponds to our Perpendicular. There are, however, examples of large Flam- boyant churches in which the triforium is wanting. This is a manifest corruption, and an indication of a deadening of S5Tnbolism. In Germany the triforium began to fall into disuse very soon after the people of that country abandoned their grand "Transition" style with its lofty Mannerchore, for the complete Gothic. The naves of the cathedrals at Magdeburg and Freiburg-im-Breisgau may be adduced as examples of this. 234 NORTHERN FRANCE such additions to churches that intricately groined vaults were employed in Continental architecture. In the apse at Orleans, the ribs of the vaulting spring from a much lower level than in most of the great early chevets. To obviate what would be a somewhat heavy mass of masonry, the architect has pierced his spandrels with tracery, thus conferring an air of great lightness upon the composition. An example of this treatment is presented by the apse of the Abbey Church at Souvigny, (near Moulins) where the ridge rib is also employed. One of the most distinguished occupants of the see of Orleans in modem times was Felix Antoine Phillipert Dupanloup. Bom at St Fdlix near Annecy in Savoy, he received priest's orders in 1825, and after acting as tutor to the young Orleans princes, was appointed in 1837 Superior of the Little Seminary at Paris. Here he had an opportunity of carrying out stiU further those favourite views as to education which he has expressed in his Haute Education Intelleciuale, published in 1866, and other works on the same subject; and he remained fond of teaching even after his appointment to the bishopric of Orleans in 1849. During the reign of Louis Philippe, Dupanloup strove eamestly in behalf of freedom of education and to secure tolerance for the Jesuits. The publication of the Papal Encyclical and Syllabus in 1864 evoked from his pen. La Convention du 15 Septembre et L'EncycUque du 8 Decembre, a pamphlet which created such widespread interest that thirty-four editions were sold within a few weeks. In this brochure the eloquent Bishop defended the temporal authority of the Pope. Nevertheless, he received with great reserve the first intimation of Pius IX.'s intention to summon a council for the purpose of proclaiming the dogma of Papal Infallibility; and after his arrival in Rome to take part in the deliberations of the council, he protested against the doctrine; but when he found that all opposition was futile, he left the Holy City on the evening prior to the VERSAILLES AND BLOIS 235 promulgation of the decree by the council. Yet, once the dogma was published, he submitted to the will of the Church, and signified his acceptance of it. In 1871 Dupanloup was elected deputy for Orleans to the new National Assembly, the only bishop who sat in it. From this time onwards to the date of his death at Lacombe near Lancey in Isere, October 11, 1879, ^^ struggled man- fully against the attacks which were being made upon the Church of France, both in the Assembly and out- side of it. In 1885 a life of this deeply venerated prelate, translated from the French of Lagrange, by Lady Her- bert, was given to the world, and two years later a hand- some monument from the design of M Douillard en- riched with sculpture from the chisel of M Chapu was raised to his memory in the cathedral of the see over which he presided with such dignity for thirty years. VERSAILLES AND BLOIS The two remaining cathedrals in the province of Paris, Versailles and Blois, may be briefly dismissed. Versailles Cathedral was built between 1743 and 1754, mainly through the instrumentality of Louis XV. It was originally coUegiate, but was raised to the dignity of a cathedral in 1801, when on its suppression at that time the see of Chartres was united with Versailles. The plan — from the designs of Mansard de Sagonne, grandson of the celebrated architect — is cruciform, and comprises a five-bayed nave with a corresponding niunber of chapels; transepts, not projecting beyond the line of the chapels and an apse with procession path. There is an elongated octagonal dome at the crossing of this church which is perhaps neither better nor worse than the generality of those pseudo-Classical absurdities which were being scattered over the face of Continental Europe in the first half of the eighteenth century. 236 NORTHERN FRANCE The see of Blois was not created till the close of the seventeenth century, when the episcopal throne was placed, not in the noble cruciform church of St Nicolas — one of the choicest specimens of Early Pointed in the Touraine, — ^but in the far less interesting and valuable transeptless church of St Solenne — a bishop of Chartres held in great veneration in the Middle Ages. An early church threatening ruin at the end of the fourteenth century, its reconstruction was undertaken but not completed until the sixteenth. A great storm in 1678 almost entirely destroyed this church, leaving only the portal, the nave arcades, and several chapels of the south aisle. Under Louis XIV. the reconstruction of this church was put in hand, and on the elevation in 1693 to episcopal dignity, it was rededicated to St Louis. The works, begun in 1680, were not brought to a con- clusion till 1730. The structure, therefore, is almost in its entirety of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but, on the whole may be cpnsidered a very fair specimen of the Gothic of that period. It comprises a nave with aisles, clerestorey, and chapels; a choir well lighted and surrounded by a procession path from which three chapels open, and a northwestern tower. The body of the church is in the Flamboyant style, and is contained beneath one line of roof; the tower, entirely Renaissance, is of pleasing outline. It has coupled pillars at each end of its four sides, and is surmounted by an octagon, joined to the tower pinnacles by thin flying buttresses, and surmounted by a dome, which in its turn supports a turret and cupola. Of the prelates who have occupied tlie throne of Blois, the most celebrated is Grdgoire, a "constitutional." It has been stated, but quite erroneously, that Grdgoire was one of the first priests who renovmced their ministry, when the current of the Revolution turned towards open terrorism and the proscription of religion. He was, it is true, a partizan of tite civic or constitu- VERSAILLES AND BLOIS 237 tional oath imposed by the Constituent Assembly, in 1790, on the clergy; and in virtue of it, in March, 1791, on the refusal of submission by M de Themines, Bishop of Blois, he took possession of the see, without canonical investiture; so far, no doubt, incurring schism; but he never renounced his ministry. He never was so far abandoned, nor was one of those, like Mattan (Kings, Book II.) : "Qui blasph^ment le nom qu'on invoqud leur p&es." (Athalie, Act I., Sc. i.) On the contrary, when on the 7th of November, 1793, the bishop ^ of Paris, Gobel, with his thirteen vicars, abjured the priesthood, and deposed all the insignia of their sacred functions, which the President of the Con- vention in his ret;iming felicitations for the sacrifice, designated as the baubles (hocheis) of Gkjthic super- stition, Gr^goire on being summoned to follow the example, emphatically said : "Quant h, moi, Catholique par conviction et par sentiment, prdtre par choix, je reste evfique. La religion n^st pas votre domaine; et j'invoque la liberty des cultes" ; a declaration of boldest utterance and perilous daring in that hour of prostrate virtue and triumphant evil. He had, however, acknowledged the legislative suprem- acy, when he advocated the civic oath which it enjoined, thus acting in conformity with the English Church. Gr^goire subsequendy rendered signal service to liter- ature and science by arresting the inroads and progress of vandalism, an epithet which originated with him, in the destruction of the libraries and archives of the nation, though, as in the first excesses of the English Refor- mation, so bitterly deplored by our old antiquary Leland, many precious documents stiU became a prey to popular rage. He was the principal founder, likewise, of the National Institute, which was established on the report ' The arch see had been abrogated. 238 NORTHERN FRANCE presented by him to the Convention, the 24th October, 179s; but the Jews and colonial slaves were the main objects of his protection, and their enfranchisement the zealous pursuit of his life. His expiring words, in April, 183 1, significative, like those last breathed by Napoleon, of his dominant thought were: "Pauvres Haitiens." In 1803 he made a short excursion to England, where he constantly exhibited himself in public, arrayed in his violet-coloured episcopal dress, which he boasted that no Roman Catholic prelate had dared to do since the expulsion of the Stuarts and proscription of their creed. The wretched Gobel, who like Milton's reprobate angel: " Tum'd recreant to God, ingrate and false," fell under the revolutionary axe in conjunction with his colleagues in crime, Chaumette, Cloots, H^ert, etc., in 1794; thus, in the just retribution of heaven, encountering the fate to which they had condemned or destined so many others. "La liberty est vine rose qui fleurit dans le sang," was the fearful maxim of Saint Juste; and exuberant continued to be the ensanguined irrigation of the flower, until saturated with his own and associates' blood. "Nee lex jequior uUa est, Quam necis artifices arte perire sua." (Ovid, de Arte Am. Eleg. i., 657.) At a later period, in the senate, Gr€goire formed one of a minority of five opposed to the accession of the first consul to the throne of France; and he alone objected to the obsequious address of that body to the new sov- ereign. In 1814 he signed the act for deposing the Emperor; and in 1815, as a member of the Institute, he refused to sign the "Additional Act." On the restora- tion of the Bourbons he was excluded from his bishopric; VERSAILLES AND BLOIS 239 and being chosen a member of the chamber of deputies in 18 19, he was prevented from retaining his seat by the royalists. He spent the remaining part of his life in retirement, and died at Paris, as already stated, in 183 1. Among the productions of his ever-busy pen are "Md- moire en faveur des Gens de Couleur ou Sang-m61& de St Domingue," Paris, 1789; a discourse before the na- tional convention, "Sur la Liberte des Cultfe," 1797; "De la Litt&ature des Negres;" "Essai Historique sur les Libertds de I'Eglise Gallicane;" "Les Ruines de Port Royal," and "Traite de I'Esclavage des Noirs et des Blancs, par un Ami des Hommes de toutes les Couleurs." ROUEN Gallo-roman Rotomagus, the capital of its district of Neustria, whose Archbishops were for ages styled Primates of Neustria, and indeed held that title until the Revo- lution — joining with it the Primacy of Canada while Canada was French — ^has been, even externally, much changed by the lapse of centuries. In respect, however, to its being a lively and busy place, finely placed upon the Seine among pleasant hids, the descriptions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries still hold good. At present the approach to Rouen is made enjoyable to the visitor by his passage through a hilly coimtry covered with verdure, by the aspect of the city itself, enlivened as it is by the river, that is studded with merchandise- laden craft. Above the roofs of the houses rise the triple towers and spires of the cathedral, the glorious lantern of St Ouen, the graceful open work spire of St Maclou, and the variously outlined steeples of other churches; and also, it must be admitted, many a taU chimney-shaft. A nearer approach renders the city's aspect less fascinat- ing; it has been vastly changed during the Second Empire and the Third Republic, by being faced, so to say, with' new quays and penetrated by new streets ; ancient build- ings have been removed and new ones erected, so that for the most part the capital of Normandy in its days of diligences only exists in the drawings of Turner, Cot- man, Prout, and Wild. But if the student quits the line of the new thoroughfares, he wUl, notwithstanding these changes, find remains of the old city in the denser parts of the town; these comprise tall houses with many projecting stories and high gables, narrow ways, old 240 ROUEN 241 churches, entire, desecrated, and in fragments, quaint carvings and other marks of ancient prosperity, includ- ing a superb Late Gothic H6tel de Ville. The explorer will add to these characteristics some of more modem date, such as the squalor of a thronging population engaged in ceaseless labour, tall chimneys to the houses and manufactories, shafts which smoke after the pattern of those in our own manufacturing cities, and which alone justify the application of the title " Manchester of France" to Rouen. ' But take it for all in all, Rouen is perhaps the most delightful of French cathedral cities for a brief sojourn, being handy for short trips to Lisieux, with its noble Transition St. Pierre, to the vast Romanesque abbey church of Boscherville, and to the elegant Flamboyant church at Caudebec, while its cathedral is in ensemble a splendid, a glorious edifice, beyond question the most truly picturesque of all the French cathedrals, and a build- ing of which Normandy (and France indeed) may justly be proud. That strong popvilar delusion which has elevated the church of St Ouen into the great attraction of the city deserves to be protested against always; not because the church is not very beautiful, but because St Ouen worship leads people to miss altogether, or only to half see and understand, the extreme value and beauty of the cathedral. For my own part, I find that, unlike some other churches, each time I see Rouen Cathedral I discern new beauties and new value in its art. Besides this, it lies so near to us, and teaches us so much not to be learnt in England, and yet of the utmost value to all of us, that I do not know how to express myself sufficiently strongly as to the advantage of a careful study of it to all engaged in that most fascinating of all pursuits, eccle- siology. Fine as are such churches as Chartres, N6tre Dame, Paris, Amiens and Rheims, I suppose that for perfect 242 NORTHERN FRANCE beauty of plan and poetical inspiration of design Rouen goes near to excelling all. Its ground plan is perhaps, one of the best in France. In particular the chevet is of great beauty. The aisle roxuid the apse, instead of being completely surrounded by chapels, has its alternate bays only so occupied, with great" advantage, in point of effect, both internally and externally. The arrange- ment is almost identical with that of the fine chevet of the ci devant cathedral at St Omer, and appears to me to be 'a happy mean between the one chapel arrange- ment at Sens and Auxerre and the cluster of chapels which crowd the apsidal ends of almost aU the great churches in the north of France. Whilst in its plan it is more skilfully disposed than the somewhat similar chevet of Chartres, it is preferable to those of Mantes and Paris, where there were imtil the fourteenth century, it is believed, no projecting apsidal chapels, or Bourges, where they are so small as to produce no effect.^ There is, however, at Rouen an apsidal chapel open- ing out of the eastern aisle of either transept, which is three bays in depth, the centre bay being double the width of that on either side of it. The choir has five bays, and the apse an equal number, while the nave has eleven, and a corresponding number of chapels which are commensurate only with half the width of the central bay of the transepts. The space at the intersection of the cross is crowned by a noble tower, open to the interior and forming a lantern, a compar- atively rare feature in a great French church, while the two great western towers, instead of being engaged at the extremities of the aisles, are built out beyond them and their chapels, by which means an extraordinary breadth is imparted to the faj ade, as at Wells and Vercelli. ' The plan of the procession path without chapels is, in execution, the only form of apse the effect of which is inferior to our English square ends. It is on the exteriors that its deformity is most con- spicuous. ROUEN 243 Rouen Cathedral offers an epitome of every fashion of architecture which has in txim made its appearance from the Early Pointed to the revival of Classical forms, and as each of the styles that finds its representative here is the best of its epoch, there is no great French church to which the young architect can repair with greater opportimities for study than that of the ancient Rotomagus. The Early French portions of Rouen Cathedral were built after a calamitous fire in 1200, which involved in a common destruction the cathedral, a number of other churches, and a considerable extent of the city: "M.C.C. Eodem anno IV. idus Aprilis, in nocte paschae, combusta est iota ecclesia Rotomagensis cum omnibus campanis, libris et ornamentis ecclesiae, et maxima pars civitatis, et multae ecclesiae," Chron. Rotomag., apud Labbeum; and du Moulin in his Histoire de Nor- mandie, tells us that in the same year, "Jean sans terre . . . repassa en Normandie . . . et fut bien triste de voir que VEglise de Nostre Dame et la meilleure par tie de la ville de Rouen anoit este bruslee." The first portion of the cathedral to be rebuilt was the choir, and the work was undertaken within seven years — from the calamity above mentioned. The recon- struction of the transepts, crossing, and nave progressed steadily during the first half of the thirteenth century, and in 1234 the cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Maurice. In 1302 the original Lady Chapel was taken down, and the present one of more elongated dimensions, completed in 1366, erected. The chapels fringing the nave were doubtless in progress about the same time; the north and south transept ends had been commenced in 1280. The clerestorey windows of the apse were altered to their present form in 1430, and about forty years later the two magnificent portals of the transepts received their finishing touches. The upper storey of the north- western tower (St Remain) is an addition of 1477; the 244 NORTHERN FRANCE foundations of the southwest tower were laid Novembei lo, 1485, during the pontificate of Robert de Croismare, and the work completed in 1507. The great central doorway, commenced in 1509, was finished in 1530, and about the same period the noble central tower which had been progressing through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries received that siagular Early Renaissance spire which was destroyed by lightning in 1822. The mediaeval rood-loft had been demolished in 1777 and a tall open one — a real jubS, not a mere screen — of Ionic character, put in its place. This in its turn disappeared about half a centiuy ago. The present huge spire of cast-iron which surmounts the central tower, was begun about 1830, but did not receive its finishing touches imtil forty years later; and works of restoration have been going on in different parts of the cathedral during the Second Empire and the Third Republic, which, as far as can be determined, appear to have been carried out with taste and judgment. Rouen aboxmds more with the later than the earlier styles. The crypt, however, of Ste Gervais, is said to be of very remote antiquity, but has not any decided architectm-al indication of date, beyond simplicity and rough workmanship. To study Norman Romanesque we must go to Caen, and the village churches so liberally dispersed around that city, to Boscherville, Jumieges, Goumay-en-Bray, Cerisy-la-For6t, Ouistreham, and Montevilliers. Some Romanesque work appears in the northwest tower of the cathedral; but the greatest part of that magnificent structure belongs to the thurteenth and fourteenth centuries. Previously to the fifteenth cen- tury the central tower was, in all probability, the most prominent feature, and the northwestern one formed almost a detached campanile ranging with the front. During the fifteenth and at the beginning of the following century both these towers were raised with Flamboyant Q « ^ H -, -o- u a S -a" S K1^ R^' IB,; Q ^ w <3 — u o D C O ^ ROUEN 245 work, and the southwest tower erected, loftier, in point of masonry, than either of the others; and the Early Pointed west front encrusted with rich Flamboyant. The windows of the towers flanking the transepts seem of earlier character than the fronts themselves, but this is due to the fact that the portals and the magnificent rose windows above them were additions to and inser- tions in the thirteenth-century walls. It may be observed that in the superb southern fafade, which may be con- sidered transitional from Geometrical to Flamboyant, the waved line, having a point of contrary flexure (which in England appears at an early stage of the Decorated), is not to be found; though in the church of St Vivien in the same city is a perfect flowing Decorated window, connected with that style not only by the forms of its tracery, but by its mouldings. We are naturally led to compare the southwestern tower of the cathedral with the central tower of St Ouen; both being finished with that graceful addition the octagonal lantern. This Tour de Beurre i of the cathedral, rising directly from the ground, tapers upwards in stages, and has its deep and massive buttresses in the sides as well as at the angles, forming a good abutment for the numerous flying buttresses which surround the octagon, and which answer a threefold purpose, to enrich it, strengthen it, and to render the junction with the square part of the structure pleasing and harmonious. The cardinal sides of the octagon fall somewhat within those of the tower, thus enabling each angle to throw out, and each pinnacle of the tower to receive, two but- tresses. This arrangement gives a wonderful play of light and shade, and an appearance of great depth and strength. The octagon at St Ouen is larger in propor- tion to the square tower, and simpler in construction, throwing out its flying buttresses only to the turrets at ' So called because built by the sale of indulgences granted for the eating of butter in Lent. 246 NORTHERN FRANCE the angles. The size of the windows also gives it an air of lightness suitable to the superstructure of a tower limited in the depth, massiveness, and number of its buttresses, as must be the case with a tower supported in the centre of a wide and lofty church. That extraordinary wooden spire of Early Renaissance character with which the Cardinal Archbishop d'Amboise II. capped the central tower was a work of the early part of the sixteenth century. It may be seen in Turner's "Picturesque Tour of the Seine," but the most faithful representations of it will be foimd in views of Rouen published before 1820; Cotman's drawing of the western fajade in Dawson-Turner's Normandy gives a somewhat too solid character to the five little storeys immediately above the mediaeval portion of the tower. In 1822 this spire was struck by lightning and burnt, but was replaced by the present ponderous structure of open cast-iron work from the designs of M Alavoine, who died in 1834, having been at work upon it for some years previously. The spire of Rouen Cathedral is legendary. This "unlucky manufactory chimney" has served a nvimber of writers for a long time as a butt for sarcasm and laughter, and this work of Alavoine, who was, never- theless, one of the architects of the Column of July at Paris, had, until the lantern was fixed upon the apex of the spire, only foimd detractors. This had been set up and for long years stood in an adjoining courtyard. Put into its place, this last portion of the spire considerably modified its aspect, and the gigantic ^Ic/ie, 150 metres ia height, has since then been justly appreciated. It was in or about 1879 that the work, commenced in 1827, entered into its last phase. The nakedness of the base before was most unsightly. The architect had projected to overcome this by the aid o\ large turrets aroimd it, and these were foimd effectual. They are nearly 25 metres in height. For a long time previously a model in timber work carefully worked out, ROUEN 247 painted lead colour, had given an idea of the importance of the intended addition. Undoubtedly a spire on the central tower of Rouen Cathedral was essential to the whole composition, but one cannot cease to regret that a cast-iron one was ever thought of. The wooden steeple of Cardinal Amboise, which tapered in successive stages, must, notwithstanding incongruities of style, have been very grand in its outline; and something of similar design, whatever might be the material, would have been the proper termination. The following strikes me as the reason why the present struc- ture is so unpleasing to the eye. It consists mainly of a certain niimber of long iron bars, of apparently equal thickness throughout (if they diminish towards the top, they do it imperceptibly), the lower ends of which rest on the tower, the upper being gathered together at the highest point. The light tracery which fills the openings, when seen from any distance, can hardly be taken into account in considering the substantial structure. Consequently, every horizontal section of the spire appears to be accu- rately, or nearly, equal; there is no diminution in weight as we ascend; a foot taken vertically, near the bottom, would be little heavier than a foot so taken at the very top; the only difference being in the connecting tracery, which, as remarked above, the eye scarcely takes into account. Now, in an ordinary stone spire, even if the walls themselves are continued of the same thickness, there is manifest difference between the sections, or the weights of portions measured on equal vertical lines, near the bottom and the top, and this even when the spire is so much pierced as to become a mass of open-work, as in the cathedral of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, where the masonry evidently becomes lighter in proportion as it ascends. In fact, in this iron spire of Rouen, this increas- ing lightness, the distinctive feature of a spire, is altogether lost; nothing would give it, except substituting a pierced plating of metal for the light tracery. 248 NORTHERN FRANCE The rich effect of the west front of Rouen CathedraJ arises rather from the diversity than from the harmony of its parts; these differ exceedingly in character, origm, and state of completion. Some portions are left in the block, the details, not carved; in others the process of undercutting, as in the florid mouldings over tiie central door, has been carried to its highest degree of finish. In respect to character, we have some parts, as in the roimd arches over the two lesser portals, to which it would be hard to deny a Romanesque origin; and others, such as the upper part of the fafade, which are known to have been completed m 1538. In this front then all that diversity of styles which has rendered this building famous is represented, except so far as regards the extremes of age and character, of which the earliest exists, as already mentioned, in the lower parts (on the eastern side) of St Romain's tower, and, with regard to the most recent, the rococo work of some furniture in the interior. The two noble towers of St Remain and Le Beurre, of which some description has already been given, make a a fafade to which the building, although it cannot compare in many important points with some of the other great churches of France, is one of the most picturesque and beautiful in that coimtry; indeed, as regards the west front, we are almost driven to the wild luxuriance of nature to find anything to which it is possible to liken it. It cannot be ranked with that of Chartres for simple solemn grandeur, nor does it approach the transept fafades of Beauvais in gigantic height. The almost perfect design of the front of Amiens Cathe- dral has no rival in that of the capital of Normandy, nor does the metropolitan cathedral compete with that of Soissons in elegance of proportion — a quality which alone renders the last-named building one of the most beautiful works in existence. Lacking the mighty simplicity of p.heims, the majestic gravity of the cathedral at Paris, the ROUEN 249 classic grace and grandeur of the west front of Peter- borough, Rouen Cathedral has excellencies of its own which render it worthy to be mentioned with great honour, Alliiough the enormous roof of Amiens is but twenty-two feet lower than the southwestern tower of Rouen, that very vastness throws all the other parts out of proportion, and lamentably reduces the effect of the whole. It is contended, for the honour of Rouen, and upon vinchal- lengeable authority, that this facade is wholly the work of native artists. The folly which attributes all good work to Italians is now exploded; example after example prove that each nation possessed its own able men. It is to the lateral doorways in the fajade of Rouen Cathedral that the student will pay more than one enraptured visit. As regards architectural detail in France during the second half of the twelfth century, it is to be noticed that in a great number of buildings it was of extraordinary delicacy and beauty of execution. The three western doorways of Chartres, a doorway in St Benigne, Dijon, the south door of Le Mans Cathedral and the north and south doorways of Bourges Cathedral, all date from about 11 50. They are remarkable not only for the astounding skill of the mechanics who wrought the curious sculptures with which their columns and other members are covered, but for the remarkable fact that among the branches of foliage, in which the utmost skill of Byzantine artists is rivalled, nude figures and animals are represented, with a feeling for nature which is all the more surprising when compared with the stiff and con- ventional representations of life-size hiunan figures in the same work. The century closes with an example of still greater excellence in the north and southwest doors of this magnificent cathedral at Rouen, work whose beauty of design and perfection leave nothing to be desired. They are, to my taste, the most interesting and exquisite portions of the church. Their style is so early, and so 2 so NORTHERN FRANCE immediate a deduction from Byzantine or Romanesque work, that one can imagine a man who had been taught to believe in the absolute perfection of our English fourteenth-century style would be long before he appre- ciated to the full their perfection. They are, moreover, of a kind of work which is as rare as it is excellent. In England we have nothing, as far as my memory serves me, of similar style. Sir Gilbert Scott used to consider that they were executed by the same man who executed the three great portals in the western fafade of Genoa Cathedral, and this evidenced fully his sense of the extreme beauty of the work. These minor entrances to the aisles on either side the principal portal form a singular contrast to it ia workman- ship and detail, and though somewhat rude and coarse in execution, they do not suffer by comparison with the richer work of the Flamboyant period adjoining; indeed some would go so far as to say that they were superior to it. Whether this be the case or not, the subjects in the tympana are most vigorously treated. Those in the tympanvun of the northern door represent scenes in the Deali of St John the Baptist, arranged under a series of roimd arcades across its width. At the left hand the crowned King Herod is seen at his supper-table, seated, with three other individuals, on a bench or couch. The one next to himself, on the left hand of the spectator, is a female, wearing a diadem of simpler design than his own; this, of course, being in- tended to represent Herodias. The next figure is that of a man; but we have no intimation from the page of Scripture enlightening us, beyond the fact of Herod's entertaining at this birthday feast his lords, high cap- tains, and chief estates of Galilee; the third figure, there- fore, and the fourth alongside, which is that of a female, may be supposed to represent this class of guests. Three persons are seen below the dais, on which the table stands. The central figure, a female resting on one knee, is lifting ROUEN 251 up a vase or small tureen; the figure immediately behind her is a yoimg girl, the lower half of whose arm is broken off; but she must have been represented in the act of serving. A little dog is sitting on his haunches behind her, with his fore-feet held up in the attitude of begging. The male figure, unmediately before the principal female attendant, is seated, the right arm and hand resting on his knee, or rather in his lap. The left hand is gone. It may have been designed to represent an attendant; but there is all the expression, in the countenance, of an aged blind mendicant. This effect may have arisen from decay in the stone about the eyes. Immediately beyond the end of the table, to the right of the spectator, is seen Salome, the daughter of Herodias, performing a feat nearly resembling a "somersault," or going head over heels. Beyond this are seen two female figures, which are to be considered as in a separate compartment; for the taller of the two is meant for Herodias (the diaper is exquisitely wrought), who holds out her left hand as if to steady the burden borne in the hands of the other figure, Salome, who is presenting to her, not, "a charger," but a vase or basket, on the top of which is a hiiman head, the hair only turned towards the spectator; and, indeed it would have been impossible to recognise the round mass of stone for a head, — as seen from the pavement below, — but for the Scriptural tale of horror being so well known. This shows that the sculptor had not taken the precaution of elevating his model, to ascertain how much would meet the eye at the height (about twenty-five feet) at which the relievo was contemplated from below;, for, though the entire face is, doubtless, sculptured, and the left cheek lying exposed uppermost, no part of the head is visible except the back; and not enough of that to indicate precisely what the object is which is being carried by Salome. Herodias keeps her right hand enfolded in her robe. Be- yond this group is seen a tall man in hose and Plantagenet 252 NORTHERN FRANCE tunic (with what seems woolly hair — that of a Moor probably), brandishing above his head a long sword with which he is preparing to decapitate the prisoner (St John), who is seen putting his head out of a window the shutter of which is thrown back), and meekly placing himself in a position favoiirable to the death-imBicting descent of the weapon; his hair is also held over his right temple by the executioner. There are numerous barred windows in the building representing the prison, and the Baptist is in the basement floor; but the sculptor has very equivocally regarded the wording of the text, which both in St Matthew and St Mark expressly says, "in the prison:" the saintly prisoner being "in" cer- tainly; but the executioner without. Considering the period (the early part of the thirteenth century) at which this relief was originally wrought, the work is remarkably fine, and wonderfully well preserved. There are some very beautiful groups in the tym- panum of the southwestern portal, representing, appar- ently, the scourging and mocking of Christ (this work is apparently much injured), and in the compartment above it, the session in Glory, enclosed by the vesica piscis or mandola, and adored by angels and men. I win only say further, as to these remains of the earlier cathedral at Rouen, that they have had the rare advantage of not having been restored, and that they are entirely covered in all parts with work of almost uniform excel- lence, though I have a predilection for the sculpture illustrating the martyrdom of St John the Baptist in the tympanum of the northwestern one. The effigy of Archbishop Mauijce is singidarly elaborated; the patterns on the vestments, the details of the censers, and indeed all parts being finished with the elaboration of a genuine Pre-Raphaelite. These doorways are placed between large buttresses, and arches are thrown over them from buttress to buttress. Between the arches of the doors and these upper arches, ROUEN 253 a small space of plain wall remained, which has been treated in the most ingenious manner. Figures are marked in outline on the stone, which were, I think, painted, and the groxmd throughout is diapered with a very simple pattern sunk in the stone. Over the southwest doorway was the Last Judgment; and over the northwest Our Lord seated with angels and saints on either side. In the former Our Lord is seated on a throne, between two candles; angels present souls to Him, other angels bear a soul in a sheet, and others on the right drive the wicked into hell. The visitor having completed his survey of this wonder- ful fagade, will next repair for a leisurely inspection of the bas reliefs sculptured on all sides of the great north transept doorway — the Portail des Libraires. The two subjects most worthy of the attention and which, Tjut for the culpable sportiveness of the monastic artist who designed them towards the close of the fifteenth century, would have awakened, as they ever ought, feelings of the utmost awe and reverence, are the General Resurrection and the Last Judgment. These are in the pointed tympanum. In the latter scene, Satan and his evil angels are represented dragging into eternal punishment a crowd of condemned, among whom are plainly discernible a Pope and a mitred abbot. In the centre are seen Our Lord and His angels, welcoming to eternal happiness a group of hooded friars! — a tolerably good internal presumptive evidence that an "ingenious" friar must have been the decorative designer reserved for the working drawings of the masons of this doorway! The variety of monstrous shapes and chimeras, respectable and unseemly, typical and anti- typical, sculptured in stone medallions, eighteen or twenty inches square, all about this portal, present a series of absurdities unparalleled, one would think, in the whole realm of mediaeval art iconography. Several compartments exhibiting the work of the Creation, Cain 254 NORTHERN FRANCE and Abel, and the life of Joseph are well handled, espe- cially the first named. One can distinguish, also, King David playing with a hammer on five small bells; but the majority of the figures are composite — ^half monk, half monkey; monk's heads and shoulders engrafted on apes, goats, boars, lions, asses, satyrs, or horses (centaur fashion); nuns' heads and shoulders on mermaids' bodies; friars' heads and bodies, and dolphins' tails, shooting with bows. One figure .represents an owl, with the head and cowl of an abbess; another, a friar with long, turkey tail-like feathers instead of hair, clothed in the costume of his order down to the waist, at which point he becomes a lion. He is represented blowing lustily on a clarinet, which is in his left hand. A tambour is suspended alongside of the instrument, which he is represented beating with a stick held in his right hand. But the list of these grotesques and figures of fun is longer than Homer's catalogue of the ships at the siege of Troy, and were I called upon for an equally ancient and classical au- thority to describe this deliriously imagined composition, I should quote the first thirteen lines of Horace's " Epistle to the Pisos" from his de Arte Poeticd. Apart, however, from an almost imexampled beauty of execution in the details, which gives them claims to more than ordinary attention, the north and south tran- sept ends of Rouen Cathedral display so admirable a combination of the leading features of the Complete Gothic style, that no better opportunity will offer itself of becoming acquainted with what will be found to be the general arrangement of a front of this date, wherever buildings of this class exist in a perfect state. The arch of the doorway whose sculpture has just been detailed is surmounted by an acute triangular canopy rising to the height of the centre of the rose window, completely pierced into geometrical designs, of which some of the compartments receive the addi- ROUEN 25s tional decoration of a group of figures. A broad hori- zontal band of foliage, and a moulded string above the apex of the door-archway, crowned by a low parapet of geometrical form, neither intercepting the lines of the canopy nor interrupted by them, terminate this first plane. At the distance of some feet behind the parapet is opened the lower part of the great window of the front, comprising the whole space between the buttresses at the angles, above which retires slightly the upper portion, composed of a magnificent rose, the transition from one to the other being managed^ by a moulded inclined plane above a flowered string. A very rich border, composed of small full-length figures and cherub heads, with expanded wings, enclosed in two strings of foliage, com- pletely encloses the window, which, like the portal, is crowned by a triangular canopy fiUed with tracery of curvilinear form. The parapet extending behind it (the lines of the two being independent of each other, as in the lower instance) resembles the portal parapet. The high-pitched triangu- lar gable which finishes the elevation constitutes the fourth plane, whose surface is relieved by blind tracery of purely geometrical design. It is impossible in this place to do more than glance at the several portions of tiie interior of so bewilderingly interesting a building as Rouen Cathedral. In its varying phases of Early Gothic we may read the habits and motives and almost discern the thoughts of its promoters at certain periods; and even in the successive alterations and additions one cannot fail to observe the different types of beauty which have formed the prevailing standard of various eras. Particularly instructive is the difference between the elevations of tiie choir and transepts and that of the nave. The choir, begun in 1207, seems to have been designed before the influence of French Gk)thic in the He de France had made itself felt. It is distinctly "Norman," like the nave of Seez. 2S6 NORTHERN FRANCE Here we find boldly moulded arches rising from very- tall cylindrical columns with conventional foliage in the elongated bells of their capitals. These lofty bays of the choir at Rouen are carried round the flve-sided apse in a grand sweep, and surmounted by a triforium arcade— with an unpierced wall detached behind them — composed of uncusped lancet arches on slender shafts. In the choir, the clerestorey windows are of four lights with one large and two smaller circles by way of tracery, but those in the apse were altered in 1430 to curvilinear ones of three lights. In the transepts the arcades opening into the aisles are of the same height as those in the choir, but have slender shafts attached to the piers supporting the groining ribs, whereas in the choir the groining shafts are only brought down to the abaci of the columns. The upper stages range with, and are similar to those of the choir; but here we may study the original fenestration of the clerestorey, which is composed of coupled lancets, rather wide, and some of them containing Flamboyant tracery. The Early French work in the aisles of the choir, and in the apsidal chapel opening from the eastern aisle of either transept has hardly a rival for grace in other productions of the " lancet " epoch. When the architect came to design the nave he seems to have felt dissatisfied with the somewhat exaggerated proportions of the arcades in the choir and transepts, so — obliged, however, to keep the height of his aisles the same as those in the eastern parts of the church — he hit upon the very happy idea of breaking up his elevation into four stages. First he gives us ten bays of pointed arches springing from shafts clustered against the great piers of the groining ribs; then over this he places an equal number of arches much lower than, but in other particulars, corresponding with, those below, and open- ing into the aisles behind. Next, he forms a passage- way in the thickness of the wall above these arches, defending it with a pierced balcony behind which is a ROUEN 257 blank wall space, surmounted in its turn by the clerestorey whose windows are of the same type as those in the choir. In the last four bays on either side the nave, the portion of the elevation occupied in the first seven by the above- mentioned gallery has been altered by a later architect, who filled up the space to the spring of the clerestorey windows with Flamboyant arcade work. Such an arrangement as the breaking up of the lowest stage of the elevation into two divisions must be regarded as one of those instances common in mediaeval architectiu-e of seizing upon a difficulty as the best opportunity of achieving a success. The floorless triforium is not a very common feature. In France we meet with it in the fine First Pointed nave of the church at Eu, near Tr^port; in Italy in the cathedrals of Genoa and Modena; and in the nave of our own Norman Rochester. The vaulting of the jiave aisles at Rouen is as beautiful as it is valuable and instructive. The groining ribs diverge from small shafts which rest on the stringcourse above the pier arches, these shafts corresponding to those of the open triforium. But perhaps the most striking feature in these aisles is the group of five slender shafts detached from each other, resting upon the abacus of each pier capital, and serving to relieve the bare span- drel of the arch in the most fascinatingly beautiful man- ner. The chapels opening out of the aisles are of course of the same height as the two first stages of the nave arcade together, and are lighted by large geometrically traceried windows of four compartments, majiy of them retaining their superb late thirteenth or early fomrteenth century glazing. The views looking east up these aisles at Rouen is most engaging, and at the point where they follow the curve of the great apse the " mosaic " stained glass in the lancet windows produces a beautiful and solemn effect. This was enhanced, as I once saw it, by the great crucifix being borne between the two candles in that procession before High Mass on Simdays, which 258 NORTHERN FRANCE is one of the old " uses " still retained in the churches of Normandy. The visitor to the great French churches for the first time cannot fail to be astonished at the absence from them of the rood-screen. Artistically speaking, a church, great or small, without a screen resembles the play of Hamlet with the principal figure omitted. The nave and the choir are actually distinct portions of a building, and it is but reasonable that they should be made to appear, as well as to be, such. Without straining symbolism beyond its simplest and most common-sense import, some dignified means for separating the clergy and choir from the people in a chiu-ch is needed both practically and aesthetically. The rood-screen was the principal means of effecting this desirable separation by the builders and foimders of churches in the Middle Ages, and was first adopted in the monasteries, as being essential to their order, and yet enabling the laity to share, in a measure, in services not primarily intended for them. The practice spread thence to the cathedrals and parish churches during the thirteenth century, but with the reasonable modification that the screens in them were made more open, to enable the faithful to see and take part in the whole of the ser- vices which were performed in their behalf, and in which they were to join. Although the ancient screens that have been left in France are unfortunately few and far between, their destruction is not to be always credited to the fanaticism of the Calvinists in the sixteenth century. It is rather to the apathy and inartistic feeling of the Louis XIV.- XVI. periods that the disappearance of these charming adjuncts to the great French churches is due. When the mediaeval rood screens were destroyed at the period just alluded to they were replaced by an equally high and close, but miserably meagre wall in the worst Italian edition, so that the excuse that the old rood-lofts were ROUEN CATHEDRAL. South Aisle of the Nave. EVREUX CATHEDRAL. From the South-East. ROUEN 259 removed in order to enable those seated in the nave to see and take part in all that was going on in the choir, falls to the ground. These Pagan erections were, from an aesthetic point of view, better than nothing, perhaps, as they served to give an appearance of additional length to the churches, but during the Gothic Revival period in France they have, one by one, succumbed to the mistaken notion, prevalent yet, that a church should be as bare as a barn from end to end, and that all mystery should yield to the obtaining a clear "vista" from the west door to the very penetralia of the apsidal chapels. In France during the last three himdred years there have been four classes of screen destroyers, — " Ambono- clasts," as Pugin very pertinently styled them, — the Calvinist, the Pagan, the Revolutionary, and the Modem. No. I defaced the magnificent works of mediaeval antiquity; No. 2 removed them altogether and replaced them by erections in the most depraved taste of the Renaissance; No. 3 completed the work of spoliation begun by No. i; and No. 4 removed them in whatever style they then existed. Personally, I have reason to be indignant with the last-named class, being a steady opponent on all principles of taste and reverence, and Pugin's sarcastic ridicule of these " Ultramontanes " in his "Treatise on Chancel-screens and Rood-lofts," although sometimes too bitter and his language sometimes too violent, has much inherent truth and common sense in it. The majority of the ancient rood-lofts in France were works of the Later Gothic period, and to judge from the drawings extant of some of them, must have been truly magnificent. At Bayeux, the original screen was defaced by the Calvinists. Between 1698 and 1700 it was replaced by a Classical one. This may be seen in Chapuy's view of the nave of the cathedral; it stood under tiie western arch of the central tower, the stalls being arranged within 26o NORTHERN FRANCE the north and south arches opening to the transepts. At Amiens the original juM^ was removed in 1755, when several of the return stalls were taken away in order to widen the entrance to the choir. The "Mock Gothic" screen which still exists was then erected. In the glorious church at St Quentin, so remarkable for its eastern transept, the screen was destroyed at the Revolution. At Lyon, the jube of mediaeval date was replaced in 1562; rebuilt in the Renaissance style twenty years after, and demolished at the Revolution. At Mantes the screen was remcved in 1788. The mediaeval jubS at Rheims which stood to the west of the three last bays in the nave was removed in 1747, and replaced by an iron railing; this gave place about 1835 to the present tall iron grilles in the Gothic of this period. Shortly after the middle of the eighteenth century the jub6 was taken from Tours Cathedral. That formerly in St Ouen at Rouen having been defaced by the Calvmists in 1562, but restored in 1656, remained in situ vmtil the Revolution, when the church was turned into a forge, but the workpeople, finding that the screen interfered with the passage of their waggons through the choir, caused it to be pulled down.^ The cathedrals of Sens and ' The term jube, as applied to a rood-screen is derived from the formula "Jub^ domine benedicere," prefacing the singing of the Gospel, which took place in the rood-loft. Du Moleon, in his "Voyage Liturgique" — some extracts from which it is proposed to give in the volume on the Southern French Cathedrals, gives us an admirable idea of the great solemnity with which the Church in France celebrated her sacred offices, down to 1790. ' The ancient rood-loft of this splendid abbey church of St Ouen at Rouen, engraved in Dom Pomeraye's history of that great house, must have been truly glorious. It was provided with two circular stone staircases on either side; towards the nave it was subdivided into three grand arches, like a cloister; in the centre bay was the choir door, with brass gates of intricate design; in the other two bays were altars with reredoses, enriched with niches, canopies and images; over the centre bay was the great rood, upwards of 60 feet high from the pavement, with images of ROUEN 261 Soissons were equipped with screens in the "Classic taste" during the eighteenth century; of that in the former church a view is given in Chapuy's work. At Autun, Troyes, and Bourges the mediaeval jubis were destroyed either by the clergy themselves in the middle of the same century or when those cathedrals were desecrated at the Revolution. The vast abbey church of Fecamp boasted a superb rood-screen of about the year 1500; this disappeared in 1802, but as in the case of Le Mans, Rheims, and St Ouen at Rouen, the design has been preserved. At N6tre Dame, Paris, the jube was, as might have been expected, of great grandeur and sumptuousness. This was destroyed in the reign of Louis XIII., when the choir was Italianised, and replaced by one in the Renais- sance style. In its turn this screen was removed at the Revolution and replaced by a meagre rail and dwarf marble wall. But we must close this dreadful catalogue. At the present day the number of screens remaining in France, whether close or open, whether of stone or wood, is, considering the enormous number of the churches, a . sadly small one. The following are the stone jubes still remaining in situ: Appoigny (a lovely Early Pointed church in the department of Aube) ; Albi and Auch Cathedral^; Arques- la-Bataille, near Dieppe; St Bertrand de Cominges, at the opening of the Val de Barouse in the Pyrenees; N6tre Dame de Brou, near Bourg-en-Bresse; La Chaise Dieu (in Auvergne) ; N6tre Dame de I'Epine, near Ch^ops-sur- Mame; Le Fdlgoet (Finistfere) ; La Madeleine, Troyes; St Etienne du Mont, Paris; and St Florentin (in Yonne). Our Blessed Lady and St John; and immediately below the base of the cross, on a corbel pedestal, an image of the Virgin, called of pity, with the body of Our Lord, and styled in art a "Pieta." Such was the general type of French rood-lofts, the nearest approach to which we have is the one in Exeter Cathedral. 262 NORTHERN FRANCE The following stone juhSs are extant, but have been removed to other parts of the churches: Rodez Cathedral; Limoges Cathedral; Sainte Seine (C6te d'Or); St Martin, Pont-a-Mousson; Quimperl^; St G6ry, Cambrai, and St Gdry, Valenciennes. Of wooden rood-screens the following examples may be cited: Luyeres and Villemaur (in Aube); Moutiers- Hubert (Calvados); Notre Dame de Lamballe (C6tes du Nord) ; Lambader, Saint Herbot, La Roche Maurice, and Kerfons (Finistfere); Saint Fiacre-du-Faouet, Saint Nicolas, Ste Avoye-de-Plumeret (Morbihan); Lynde (Nord) ; Saint Germain-de-Clairf euille (Ome) ; Mouli- neux (Seine-Inferifeure). In spite of all that Puritan iconoclasm, Georgian vul- garity, and modem bad taste have done to spoil the works of our forefathers, the cathedral, abbatial, coUegiate, and parochial churches of England have retained far more of their mediaeval arrangements than those of France. The choirs of Canterbury, York, Lincoln, Rochester, Ripon, Manchester, Chester, Exeter, Nor- wich, Gloucester, Winchester and St Davids; of Beverley, Abbey Dore and Cartmel; of St George's Chapel, Wind- sor; and of Ludlow, Walpole St Peters; South-Creak, and Worstead may be taken as sufficient illustrations of this. It is a remarkable circimistance that the light open rood-screen, in the Late Decorated or Perpendicular styles, which, from the designs of such men as Bodley and Comper, have of late years been provided by private munificence for so many of our churches, with the approval of the clergy, and to the delight of many a devout congregation, has never been tried in France; while the suspended rood which forms so solemn a feature of many a German church is almost everywhere conspicuous by its absence. I have alluded in another part of' this book to the long duration of the Geometrical Decorated style in France. ROUEN 263 We have a perfect exemplification of this in the Lady Chapel of Rouen Cathedral, which although in progress duriog the first half of the fourteenth century (1302-1366) when the Flowing Decorated had become established in England, shows no signs whatever of a curvilinear tendency. This chapel, one of the largest dedicated to the Virgin, in the same position in France, i.e., at the extreme east end, though on a much smaller scale than the graceful Saintes ChapeUes at Paris, Vincennes, and St Germer, is on a similar motif. It is of four bays in length, tie one adjoining the three-sided apse being narrower than the others. The windows in the wider compartments are of four lights, those in the narrower one' and the apse are of three; all have geometrical tracery of the very finest description, and externally are set in deep arches whose mouldings are stopped by the massive pinnacle-surmounted buttresses. Each window arch is surmounted by a straight-sided gable richly crocketed, and filled in with open tracery of the best character. At the apex of the apse roof is an angular pedestal supporting a figure of the Virgin and and child. One of the most elaborate, and, perhaps, one of the most beautiful specimens of Early Renaissance detail to be seen in the whole of France is the tomb of the Cardinals known as the Georges d'Amboises, Archbishops of Rouen (uncle and nephew), on the south side of the interior of this Lady Chapel. The general design is evidently the work of an architect, and the figures and carving display the master's hand. Roland de Roux is said to have been the author, and his influence and care are to be noted even in the minute elaboration of their ornamentation. Regnaud Therouyn, Jean Chaillon, Andrd le Flament, Matthieu Laignel, and Jean de Rouen are all mentioned in connection with the execution of the monument. Pierre Desobaulx, to whom is due the beautifully sculp- tured Radix Jesse in the tympanmn of the great western 264 NORTHERN FRANCE portal, most probably designed and carried out the figures of the apostles,^ seated in pairs within the niches ranging above the hooded canopy of the tomb. The figures occupying the arched recesses in the plinths, or base, represent the Virtues, and are attributed to Regnaud Therouyn, and to Andr^ le Flament St George, the patron saint of the brothers D'Amboise, which gracefully fills the centre panel between other saints or martyrs; and the two Cardinals, in devotional postures, . face eastwards, kneeling towards the altar of the Lady Chapel. The simplicity of the leading lines, and the admirable com- position of the monument as a whole are worthy of special remark; and in no way are multiplicity of parts or varied details, which give so conspicuous a character to the' design, allowed to override or unduly assert them- selves in the general appearance of the structure. It possesses all the freedom of the style without any of the extravagance mostly associated with the Renaissance. EVREUX After ages of change and struggle, Europe at the begin- ning of the sixteenth century had assumed nearly its present political division of kingdoms and states. Italy had reached a high state of cultivation; ancient literature, which had there never been wholly lost sight of, was revived; printing had just been discovered; relig- ious enquiry had commenced, and the Reformation was about to take place; material riches had accumulated, society had been formed, and intellectual activity char- acterised the age. In architecture the Alps divided two very different styles. On the north side the colossal transepts of Beauvais were being built, and the lofty spire of the cathedral, which fell five years after itg * In this series the figure of St Paul, who is seated with St Petet, takes the place which should properly belong to St. Matthias. EVREUX 265 erection, whilst its contemporaries, the spire of Antwerp and the unfinished tower of Malines, remain among the greatest works of any time or coimtry. On the other side of the Alps, the great dome of Florence had been built, and the mighty fabric of St Peter's was progressing. Irrespective of foreign influence, it is certain that Gothic art had outgrown itself; it had grown as a stately plant on the ruins of debased Roman or Byzantine art, at first slightly decorated by curling leaves, narrow, nervous, and sparse, as in our Early English of Lincoln, developing itself little by little, growing more pulpy and full, as in St Alban's nave or Beauvais choir, breaking out into more luxuriant branches, with the buds abundant, as in our Early Decorated of Lichfield and the Angel Choir at Lincoln; and the flower expanding itself as in the days of our Edwards, until at last in the full luxuriance of the French Flamboyant and the Late German styles, the flower had expanded sometimes to an iinnatural size and bursting luxuriance, shedding its ripened seed; but whilst the flower grew, the original stem in French architecture had lost its form and significance, its roots had become crystallized into the most complex forms; in Germany the stem had been lopped and pruned, wreathed, inter- twisted, and twined, imtil its early upward tendency was lost, and the style in both coxmtries had grown into a still luxuriant but feeble condition. The Gothic, then, having run its coiurse and expired from pure inanition, the reimportation of classical forms into church architectiure became inevitable. The Italian search after excellence in sculpture and painting was accompanied by an extraordinary desire to recover the lost or buried treasures of antiquity; and Daiite, bom in 1265, and Boccacio, bom in 1313, and Petrarch, 1327, were among the most influential and laborious in bringing the lost treasures of learning again to the knowledge of their countrymen, and through them gradually to the rest of Europe. To these names must be 266 NORTHERN FRANCE added that of Poggio Bracciolini, who flourished about the end of the fourteenth century. In England, Chaucer, born in 1328, soon responded as an author, but we went on for about a century and a half after he began to write before the tide of the medijeval arts of architecture, sculpture, or painting ran down to its lowest ebb, and retui^ied with the flood-tide of the Renaissance. Both in England and France this turn of the tide was nearly contemporary. The French had, however, still more reason than ourselves for hailing the new style. In our Perpendicular we had achieved at least one building worthy of all time. Needless to say that I allude to King's College Chapel, Cambridge, that " immense and glorious work of fine intelligence," that cantio cygni, with its exquisite fan tracery, "self-poised and scooped into ten thousand cells," whilst in France there was nothing but the fritter and pettiness of the Flamboyant. In this state, therefore, the architecture of France was ready to receive the impress of any new thought, and accordingly we find that no sooner had the people of that coimtry become acquainted, through their intercourse with Italy, with the revived Classic architecture, which flourished there, than they at once adopted it, the chief difference between the first Italian and the first French examples being that in the latter only the detail was borrowed, whilst the general form derived from the Gothic was still employed. One of the earliest and most characteristic of the Renaissance efforts in France connected with church architecture are the chapels surrounding the apse of St Pierre at Caen. I should hardly propose this work at St Pierre as a model for imitation, though there are various elements of light and shade about it which are worthy of study. The whole idea of the work is Gothic, but the details are to a great extent Classical. About the time when these chapels at Caen were built, 1521, the exquisite arabesques of San Michele atMurano EVREUX 267 and Sta Maria dei Miracoli at Venice had been finished not less than thirty years; those of the beautiful Badia at Fiesole, by BruneUeschi, more than fifty years. In all these examples the framework of the structure is in harmony with the detail; but in this chevet at St Pierre we perceive a struggle between the two styles which is very curious, and, however much the judgment may be puzzled, the eye is pleased, and we are inclined to say that we feel " Something of the Northern spell Mixed with the softer numbers well." There is a play of fancy and fine outline and chiaroscuro in this specimen of the Early French Renaissance which is to be foimd in a much less degree in the more fully developed and larger example of St Eustache at Paris. For instance, at Caen we have buttresses with angular attached pinnacles; but the body of the buttress is made to suggest a square pilaster with an exquisitely worked cinque-cento capital, and there is planted upon it a smaller pilaster set anglewise, carrying a tapering candela- brum-like composition, which represents the sloping top of a pinnacle. The windows have mouldings essentially Gothic in character, but they are full centred. The pierced parapet, so characteristic of Flamboyant arch- itecture, is there, but the tracery has taken the form of a stout species of arabesque. The designer seems to have felt necessitated by using all four, that, having thus given a bold character to his arabesque, he must also reproduce it to some extent where arabesques are used in the wall surface; and hence arises one of the greatest elegancies of the French Renaissance, namely, Siat there is so great a variety between the more salient and bidkier parts of the arabesques and the more deli- cate, which parts are almost as tender as the Venetian examples, whilst the effect of the whole is more powerful. St Eustache at Paris is certainly a fine church, but 268 NORTHERN FRANCE it seems to show little originality. In this respect the smaller example of St Etienne du Mont, so remarkable for its rood screen and the staircases conducting to it, has more to recommend it. St Etienne du Mont, like St Eusta^he, is a monument of the conflict between Pointed and Revived classical, but, unlike the latter, it is not a homogenous whole of a composite style, but a building which puts forth one element in one position, and another in another — the whole general effect being Pointed. The Renaissance had but little perceptible effect on the structural character of early sixteenth-century works at first, being only introduced as decoration, of which we have very fine examples in the screen surroimding the choir at Chartres, a Flamboyant work most elaborately and exquisitely wrought with a profusion of omamait of the Italian Renaissance, and the arcade next the court- yard of that palace at Blois, which is of the period of Louis XIL, the whple of which is one of the most perfect and characteristic specimens extant of the Late Gothic of that monarch's reign. The new style having once taken root, was not, however, long in fuUy developing itself, and under the fostering patronage of Francis I., who ascenjied the throne in 1515 at the early age of twenty-one, it rapidly rose into great importance, and many remarkable works were produced, which will always remain as models of true and original art.^ In his fascinating "Handbook of Architecture" Mr. Fergusson concluded a survey of English Gothic with an elaborate comparison between the cathedrals of France and England, in some respects greatly to the advantage of the latter. I much regret that its length precludes its quotation, not that I give full adherence to it, but as a statement at once eloquent and able of its side of the questioii. He also felicitously showed the greater good ' A list of some of the best and most interesting examples will be found at the end of this volume. EVREUX 269 fortune of the French architects in having built "all their greatest and best cathedrals d'un seul jet." Our own cathedrals on the other hand "generally dragged on through two or three centuries," the result of which is, in Mr. Fergusson's eyes, "to give them a certain degree of historical interest, and also in some instances a pic- turesqueness of effect the value of which cannot be denied; but it destroys their value as architectural compositions, and prevents their competing on anything like fair terms with the great Continental examples." But if we take the forty-odd cathedrals, I say nothing of the churches, with which the north of France is so richly endowed, we shall find that the majority of thend exhibit as great an admixture of styles as our own. Of cathe- drals in. which the greatest homogeneity is observable, the list reduces itself to ten, viz., Amiens, Bourges, Chartres, Clermont-Ferrand, Coutances, Limoges, Paris, Rheims, Rouen, and Sens. All the rest are works of successive epochs. Thus: Bayeux has a Norman nave arcade, an Early Poiated clerestorey and an Early Pointed choir; at Tours the lower part of the choir and apse are Early Pointed, the triforiimi and clerestorey Middle Pointed, and the nave Flamboyant. Beauvais Cathedral choir is of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the tran- septs of the sixteenth; the choirs of Troyes and Auxerre are Early Pointed; their naves Late Middle Pointed; at Soissons the apsidal south transept is of the Transi- tion period, the nave and choir perfected First Pointed, and the north transept Middle Pointed; in fact the list might be prolonged ad infinitum. Of all the French cathedrals to whose completion successive ages have brought the tribute of their archi- tectural inventions, that of Evreux affords one of the most complete instances, though one link in the chain is wanting. The primitive constructions, inspired in some measure by the contemplation of the ruins of an antique civilisa- 270 NORTHERN FRANCE tion in the days of its degeneracy; the elegant concep- tions and graceful ornaments of perhaps the purest period of mediaeval art; the splendid but excessive decoration in which lurk the germs of future decline; the classical forms which, with the revival of classical literature, emerged from the oblivion in which centuries had shrouded them; and finally the productions of a corrupt and unintelligent system, which, whilst pro- fessing to recognise the leading principles consecrated by tradition, utterly overlooked their spirit and harmony of detail; each of these in turn imfolds itself to the eye of critical examination in this charming, if not vast. Cathedral of Evreux. The history of the Cathedral of Evreux is the exact counterpart of that at Bayeux. Dedicated in the same year (1077), though not completed until 1112, damaged by fire in 11 19, re-established in 1139, parts of the original edifice may be easily recognised in the arcades of the nave. After 1202 the upper part of the nave was built, of which the triforium may be referred to the reign of Philip Augustus, and the windows of the clerestorey to that of St Louis. Under the latter, the series of lateral chapels was commenced. In 1275 the enlargement of the choir was undertaken, in a style grander than the rest of the church, finished with a complete apse, and built with all the elegance of the Gothic style at a period when it had attained its highest excellence, both here and else- where in Europe. In the middle of the fourteenth century the district of Evreux, having become the theatre of the war which John the Good, King of France, and Charles the Bad, King of Navarre, waged against each other, was alter- nately ravaged by the partisans of one or other of these monarchs. In 1355 a struggle for the possession of Evreux was followed by a calamitous fire, in which the cathedral, the bishop's palace, and the greater part of the city suffered. That the beautiful choir of the cathe- EVREUX 271 dral was not included in this disaster we possess the most convincing testimony; for four of the stained-glass windows, intended to commemorate the large share Bishop Geoffrey III. (1335-40) had in its construction, still exist, with the effigy of the prelate, his arms, and accompanying inscription, nearly intact.^ But even in the absence of this material proof, there are circumstances calculated to excite doubts of so total a destruction as the words of the Latin text seem to imply; as, for instance, the omission of any notice of the reconstruction, whilst other peculiarities, comparatively unimportant, have not been thought worthy of trans- mission 2 From these details we learn that though the dean and the greater number of canons took refuge in the neigh- bouring town of Vernon, four of the latter remained to officiate in the cathedral. A few years later (1374) the interment of the Bishop Robert at the foot of the high altar is mentioned; and two years subsequently, in 1376, Charles V. is stated to have given 200 livres d'or for renewing the stalls in the choir; an expenditure which, not being absolutely urgent, would naturally have been postponed until the restoration of the choir was effected ; for which purpose ' LII. Gaufridus III. Hie temporibus suis auxit et ampliavit fabricam Ecclesise Ebroicencis, et principue chorum. Obiit anno domini 1340, 15 die Aprilis. Anniversaria ejus memoria fit in Eccl Ebro, 27 Maii, cui multa bona contulit ad ejusdem fabricae restaurationem, Depingitur in quatuor vitris Chori cum hac inscriptione: "Dominus Gaufridus Abbas Becci, posted episcopus Ebroicensis."— Go//. Chris., Vol. XI., col. 596-598, 600 et 602. ^LIII. Robertus II. (de Brucour), 1340-1374. Anno 1355 basilica, domus episcopalis et maxima pars urbis conflagravit occasione belli inter regem Franjis et Carolum Navarrse regem comitemque Ebroicensem, unde Episcopus, decanus et plerique canonici Vernonem secesserunt, ubi in ecclesia collegiata officium divinum celebrarunt, quatuor tantum canonicis in cathedrali ecclesia remanentibus. Obiisse dicitur Parisiis 24 Januarii 1374. Sepultus tamen est in ecclesia Ebroicensi ad majus altare. — IbU. 272 NORTHERN FRANCE the interval of twenty years or so, in the midst of the obstacles opposed by the disorders of the times, appears somewhat too short had the whole of this portion been devoured by the flames. The Lady Chapel was rebuilt and lengthened between 1465 and 1467 by the notorious and iU-fated Cardinal Balue, with the funds granted to his entreaties by his crafty and tyrannical master, Louis XI. To the same prelate we owe the south transept and the central tower with its gracefxil openwork spire of lead; the library, a part of the cloister, and several buttresses and flying arches, at that time supposed to be essential to the stability of the eastern part of the church. Balue's successors, Ambroise and Gabriel le Veneur, especially the latter, who occupied the episcopal chair of Evreux from 1531 to 1574, constructed the fapade of the northern transept, which is a marvel of combined delicacy and boldness. Fortunate in avoiding the con- tact of the succeeding style, by which so great a number of Flamboyant examples are disfigured, tiiis fafade has just claims to be considered the most perfect, beautiful, and consistent of its class. The same prelate renewed windows, restored the buttresses of the nave, and be- stowed upon his cathedral the further benefit of the completion of most of the chapels along the nave aisles. The style of the Renaissance shows itself only in the western fagade, whose towers received their completion during the reign of Louis XIII. With these dates before us, we may proceed to an examination of this interesting cathedral, in which a specimen of every style except the First Pointed finds a representative. The plan of Evreux Cathedral, by the addition of different epochs, comprises a nave of seven bays with chapels formed between the buttresses; transepts, without aisles; choir of four bays and an apse formed by seven sides of a decagon. Fifteen chapels open upon the EVREUX 273 choir and its circumambient aisle. The Lady Chapel has three bays and is closed to the east by five sides of an octagon; the two succeeding chapels on either side represent three sides of tlie same figure, while the remain- ing ten are parallelograms formed by setting back the wall on the outer edge of the buttress.^ Completing the plan, we have a pair of massive western towers. The interior 2 rather narrow in its western arm, is nevertheless of great beauty and solemnity. The seven Norman Romanesque pier arches, extending from the west door to the crossing, are circular, of two orders, and are sustained upon piers of imiform composition. They present two modes of treatment of tlie arch-mouldings: the five western ones having edge-rolls, whilst the two on each side adjacent to tlie transept have unmoulded edges, and merely a massive half-cylinder on the face of tlie subarch — a distinction which has raised enquiries with regard to tlie latter as a vestige of the cathedral dedicated in 1077, and to tlie former as being the remains of the one which arose after tlie catastrophe of 11 19. But tlie circumstance alone of a somewhat greater complexity in the disposition of tlicse members, unaccompanied by a corresponding cliange in the accessories, as the section of the abacus, tiie base, and decoration of the bells of tlie capitals, which here are idcaitical tliroughout, is too uncertain an indication to be much relied on as implying a difference of date, in proof of which assertion may be adduced tlie fact of many First Pointed arches consisting simply of two ordejs of squau"e-edged members. The piers in these Romanesque arcades of the na\'e at Evreux have been mutilated in front from the triforium string- course upwards, and towards the side aisles completely * TVo of these chapels on the south side haye been shut out from the aisle and conmted into a sacristy. The two Flamboyant doorways which admit into it are among the very best examples of the style. ' Illustrated on page 296, 274 NORTHERN FRANCE cut away, when the vaulting of this latter portion was renewed during the Flamboyant epoch. Such are the relics of an edifice which, according to the testimony of the historian, Guillaume de Jiunifeges, had few rivals in magnitude and splendour in the province of Normandy. The clerestorey is very noble. The windows are lofty ones of four lights each, and take an octofoiled circle at their summit, while a smaller foliated circle rests upon the apices of the lights below. These latter, it should be remarked, are not pointed arches trifoliated, but trefoil arches. The external order of the window arch fulfils the office of the wall rib, and is prolonged to the string- course of the triforium. This last-named order in the elevation of the nave at Evreux, though apparently contemporaneous with the superstructure, is hardly so favourable a specimen of its style. It is composed of four trefoil-headed openings corresponding to the lights of the clere- storey window; and each aperture on the south side is crowned by a plain dripstone, on the north by a triangu- lar crocketed canopy. At the foot of the galleries extends a low parapet of quatrefoils, mere piercings in a solid surface. The chapels which border the nave aisles were opened during the prevalence of the Decorated style. For the contemporaneous windows have been stibstituted Flam- boyant ones of very marked character, inasmuch as some of them offer examples of those unsymmetrical-sided ogee lights which appear one of the last extravagancies of this period of art. The architect, on this occasion, however, has taken care to remove every vestige of the former. At an interval, probably not very remote from tliese insertions, the restoration of the vaulting of the aisles was effected. Its groining ribs, formed of ogee fillets, subside mto the vertical face of the mutilated remains of the piers of the nave arcade and corresponding wall pier of the aisle; and over the original round pier arch is constructed ►J < u K fin Q c W M X o ^ o < u N W 2^ C/} CU < a a a <: u X a w 05 > EVREUX 275 a pointed one, which was necessary for the production of uniformity in the vaulting cells. In the lantern and the transepts, the Flamboyant reigns with undisputed sway, and appears with certain contrivances of . construction and modes of enrichment, as novel as effective. In no part of France, perhaps, was this culminating effort of Gothic art manipulatal with such grace as in Normandy : Louviers, St Maclou at Rouen, Alenfon, and Caudebec sufficiently attest this. The octagon lantern over the crossing is remarkable for the form of the pendentives, by which the transition from the square to the polygon is effected, there being triangular spaces with the apex downwards, and having the surface covered with an intricate network of block tracery. The lantern itself is of two stages in elevation. In four sides of the upper storey is opened a window (glazed) of four lights, with Flamboyant tracery in the head, whilst in the alternate sides, against which the external buttresses are built, the same design appears in panels. In the lower storey there are mere apertures pierced in the inner face of iJie wall, to light the passage which coincides with the thickness of this; and above them, nmning roimd the polygon, we have a pierced parapet, with a broad string of foliage below projecting over the angles so as to form rich corbels there. The groining ribs of the eight-celled ceiling which covers the lantern subside at their springing points on the circum- ference of an engaged shaft in the angles of the polygon. Into all the minutiae of elegant detail in which the transepts abound it is impossible, within these limits, to enter. Suffice it to say that the front of each arm is lighted by a glorious rose window, of which the tracery in the northern one is of more complicated design than that in its opposite sister. It would appear that when the chapter entered i^on the task of rebuilding their choir in that Early Decorated style of which it forms so beautiful an illustration, they 276 NORTHERN FRANCE wished to extend its breadth. To do this, without incur- ring the additional trouble and expense of widening the eastern arch of the crossing, they had recourse to the " canted" bay, that is to say, they made the first compart- ment on either side slope slightly outwards, and the requi- site breadth being thus obtained they built the remaining bays in a Ime from this point. In the choir of Evreux we find ourselves in the presence of pure and well-developed Decorated, to which style the whole of the eastern limb with the exception of the apsidal chapels owes its existence. The arches of the four bays into which it is divided are obtusely pointed at the summit, are carried upon pillars composed entirely of slender circular shafts, alternating with semicircular hollows, and small square fillets, woven round with wreaths of superposed rows of natural foliage and mouldings. The Decorated of France possesses no more beautiful and complete exem- plification of the governing principle of the style than the effective grouping of these clustered cylinders. The clerestorey windows in the four bays of the choir are of four lights. The head of each window contains a circle of five cuspings, resting on two pointed arches, each of which includes a ciuTdlinear triangle, foliated, upon the apices of two pointed trifoliated arches below. The windows in the clerestorey of the polygonal apse, to adapt themselves to the narrower pier arch, which it should be said is made stilted, are of two lights apiece; each light is surmounted by a curvilinear trifoliated triangle, and these in their turn are surmovmted by a cinq-foliated circle filling the external arch. The triforium stage of the choir and apse seems to have been reconstructed at a much later phase of the Decorated style, and is of exceeding richness and beauty. The wall behind the arcades is pierced with windows, not much dissimilar from the arcades in front of them, and glazed. EVREUX 277 In the windows of the chapels round the apse there is much tracery of the curvilinear kind worthy of study, particularly in the Lady Chapel, where the Jleur de lys enters charmingly into the composition. Evreux Cathedral retains a considerable deal of its ancient stained glass. On a comparison of the intrinsic evidence derived from the monument itself with its written history, we find a direct contradiction to its assumed destruction by fire in 1355, in the preservation of four of the windows of the apse, whose construction preceded this period by some twenty years (1335-1340). These windows are, one in the central bay of the apse, the one contiguous on the north, and the two adjacent on the south. The clerestorey window of the nave, commemorating the accession of Guillaume de Cantiers to the see (1400- 1418), is the fifth on the north side from the west in the nave. In addition to the figured glass at Evreux the student will find much to engage his attention in some beautiful quarry-work formed by the leads in diamond- shaped compartments. These have floral designs. At intervals the leads are omitted in order to secure one large compartment of the same shape, and this is deco- rated with a circle containing the figure of an angel. There are other beautiful examples of pattern-work in glazing, of a more conventional type, but none the less worth studying. On the outside of the cathedral there is a great deal of good Flamboyant work; the fafades of the transepts are quite models in their way, and the octagonal lantern is set on the square crossing in a very elegant and airtist- like manner. The exterior of the north transept is a particularly admirable example of this epoch, the flank- ing turrets being very rich, without overpowering the space between them, and being terminated by very graceful clusters of canopies and pinnacles. This front appears to have succeeded in attaining that uniform 278 NORTHERN FRANCE richness and elegance at which the south front of Beauvais has aimed and failed. If anyone wished to trace the Flamboyant to its final disappearance in the revived Italian, Evreux offers many good materials for such a task. A most admirable series of wooden screens to the chapels surrounding the choir gives examples of almost all the ways in which one of these styles may modify the other; and shows, what we might not have so readily supposed, that in wood, at least, many beautiful mixtures may be made of them. The two towers of the west front are also examples of a similar, or rather a later mixture, made by two different methods; and probably neither of them will be judged so favourably as the woodwork. Like the Early Renais- sance towers of St Michel at Dijon and the late ones of the cathedral at Rennes, these western steeples of Evreux may be considered as Gothic conceptions expressed in Classical phrases. BAYEUX Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, before the close of his long episcopate, extending over the space of nearly fifty years (1049-1098), thirty-eight of which were devoted to the construction of the cathedral of his diocese, had the satisfaction to witness its termination. Its conse- cration, in accordance with an almost universal custom, was celebrated some years previously to its completion, in a year rendered famous in the annals of Normandy (1077) by the dedication of the cathedral at Evreux, of the Benedictine church at Bee, of the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames at Caen, etc., as recorded by Ordericus Vitalis: "Anno ab incamatione Domini M.LXXVII. Indic- tione XI. Basilicas plures in Normannia cum ingenti tripudio dedicate sunt. Matrices ecclesiae, Baiocencis, BAYEUX 27,9 Ebroicensis Episcopatus, dedicatae sunt in honore sanctse Dei Genitricis et perpetuse Virginis Mariae." Sharing the common fate of the ecclesiastical edifices raised in these turbulent ages, its pristine splendour proved but of transient duration. Bvumt in an attack upon Bayeux by Henry I. of England in 1106, restored by the same monarch, it became the prey of a second conflagration during an incursion into the province by Henry H. in 1159. The damages of this latter calamity are said to have been repaired by the Bishop Philip, who ruled the diocese from 1 142 to 1 164. It must be remarked that though the expression of the chroniclers of these events appear to point to a total destruction, this inference is contra- dicted by the actual state of the building, whose exami- nation will disclose every architectural indication of the preservation of some portion of the work of Odo. In fact, Bayeux, like our own cathedrals, is an assem- blage of miscellaneous architecture, combined upon Norman foundations, or Norman walls and arcades. These are the means by which so many of the great churches of Northern Europe became possessed of so many choice specimens of different ages. A whole church in a single style is of rare occurrence; when we meet with it as at Salisbury and Laon it is appreciated; but an injury is done to the history of architecture by reducing churches of various styles to this condition, as we have learnt to our sorrow within the last half century in England. Though it is a composition of various dates, thrown together in a casual sort of way, and though the details of the two towers at the west end do not exactly agree, yet the different stages of the fagade of Bayeux Cathedral are worked together so as to produce a very effective result. The later work seems so much to be struck upon the earlier as to grow out of it. One could hardly have thought that the spires of Bayeux, among the most 28o NORTHERN FRANCE elegant of the elegant spires of the district, would have looked so thoroughly in place as they do when crowning towers the lowest parts at least of which are the work of the famous Odo. There is nothing of that incon- sistency which is clearly marked between the upper and lower parts of the front of St Etienne at Caen. They taper from the very ground, in consequence of the but- tresses, which are massive, and project in many stages. The central tower is finished with a modem octagonal tower of Flamboyant design terminating in a cupola, good in its way but not grouping very successfully with the western pair of spires, and the outline would have been finer if the octagon had been kept below the eleva- tion of the early steeples, as at Coutances and St Etienne at Caen. The interior of the cathedral, besides its spaciousness and grandeur of effect, is attractive on other grounds. Many facts in Norman history are plainly legible in the architectural changes which this noble church has under- gone from time to time. The most interesting portion is the nave arcade; the most graceful, perhaps, the choir, with its semicircular termination and corona of chapels. The church of Odo, the church at whose dedication William the Conqueror was present, and which must have been rising at the time of the visit of Harold, now survives only in the crypt of the choir and in the lower portions of the towers. The rest was destroyed by fire, like so many other churches in Normandy during the wars of Henry I. Of the church which then replaced it the columns and arches of the nave stiU remain. No study of Romanesque can be more instructive than a comparison of the work of these two dates. Odo's work is plain and simple, with many of the capitals of a form eminently characteristic of an early stage of the art of floriated enrichment — a form of its own which grew up alongside of others, and gradually budded into such splendid capitals of a century later as we see at Lisieux. BAYEUX 281 A striking contrast to the work of Odo — a contrast as striking as can easUy be found between two things which are, after all, essentially of the same style — is to be seen in the noble arcades of the nave, one of the richest examples to be found anywhere of the later and more ornamented Romanesque. The arches are of un- usual and very irregular width; the irregularity must be owing to something in the remains or foundations of the earlier building. They are crowned, however, not by a triforium and clerestorey of their own style, but by a single clerestory of enormously tall lancets, arranged in pairs, with the faintest approach to tracery in the head. The effect is striking, but the transition is perhaps somewhat too sudden. The choir is one of the most beautiful productions of the thirteenth-century style of the country, always approaching nearer to English work than the architecture of any other part of the Continent at that period. The groimd plan of Bayeux Cathedral does not present any marked departures from the ordinary French ones of its period, though the chapels encircling the apse are not so pronoimced as usual. It is in its proportions, which approach so nearly to those of our own cathedrals, that its main charm resides; nothing is distorted or overstrained, and there is a repose about it, both with- out and witiiin, that is very satisfactory. Perhaps no church in Normandy aboimds in such exquisite detail as Bayeux cathedral; indeed it is difl&cult to know what to admire most — the Romanesque nave with its wealth of diapering in the spandrels, its First Pointed clerestorey and choir, or the rich Middle Pointed of its transepts and nave chapels. The whole structure is extremely magnif- icent. Built upon ground sloping eastwards, enabling a crypt to be formed imder the choir, the eastern parts of the church assume a character of much greater height than one would be led to expect on approaching it from the west. 282 NORTHERN FRANCE At the crossing, which is not open to a lantern as at Rouen, Coutances, Evreux, Lisieux, and other "Norman" churches, is a square tower just clearing the ridges of the four roofs, surmounted by an octagonal steeple of two main stages, and crowned with a dome and crocketed fliche. The original steeple was rebuilt in the first half of the fifteenth century. Shortly after its erection it was burnt, and rebuilt in 1477. Another fire destroyed a wooden spire in 1676, and the tower was then surmounted by a cupola. In 1855 or thereabouts the piers and arches were found, on removing the choir screen which had been set up imder the western arch of the tower on the destruc- tion of the mediaeval jube in the eighteenth century, to be in a very unsafe condition.^ This matter having been successfully put right through the skill of M Flachet, an engineer, the whole of the upper part of the steeple was rebuilt in its present form from the designs of M Ruprich Robert, who accomplished his task with much skill and judgment, while not materially altering the well-remembered contour of the old steeple. Here is a pretty little carillon of bells which at frequent intervals play the first few strains of the beautiful old plain song melody, Sanctorum meritis inclyta gaudia (The merits of the saints, blessed for evermore), an evening hymn for the Festivals of Martyrs. Lying awake at a late hour of the night it was soothing to hear this solemn tune charming the darkness, and lifting the thoughts of the listener to communion with his God. The story of the repairs at Bayeux is strikingly like the story of Chichester,^ though the measures adopted and the result obtained were so dSerent in the two cases. Settle- ' Until the reconstruction of the Tower the chorus cantorum was arranged under it, as at Winchester, Chichester, St David's, Glouces- ter and other Anglo-Norman cathedrals. The stalls, with their canopied backs, are excellent specimens of the early Renaissance. ' Chichester Cathedral spire fell, it may be remembered, in 1861, during the works of restoration then in progress. < o DS P g W = X X < ■■a o ■« W ' >■ w (0 -5 3 a. BAYEUX 283 ments had taken place in the masonry of the tower piers at Bayeux some centuries before, recent repairs and alterations in the fittings — consequent upon the removal of the solid screen between the nave and the choir — ^had laid bare the works of these movements, and had disturbed the condition of equilibrium into which the material of the piers had subsided; so that at Bayeux, as at Chichester, the old movements were resumed; the material forming the piers themselves began to yield unequally in the section of the piers; but at Bayeux the hearting was sounder than the external casing, and it was the latter therefore which gave the first symptoms of immediate danger. The architects consulted in this case seem at once to have perceived the magnitude of the threatened evil, and there was a imanimous conviction amongst them that the only course to be adopted was at once to rebuild the piers. Difference of opinion, however, arose as to the manner of effecting this object. The diocesan archi- tect and M VioUet-le-Duc thought the simplest and cheapest plan was to pull down and rebuild the tower from its very foimdations; others thought that the original structure might be saved by judiciously executing imder- pinning; and M Flachet, whom some people called merely a railway engineer, had sufficient influence to persuade the public authorities to adopt that opinion. M Flachet then was employed to execute the work of consolidation, and he succeeded in effecting it in the manner and under the circiunstances recorded in a valuable book published about the time these works were imdertaken, by his assistants, MM Dion and Lasvignes. Bayeux Cathedral still stands, with the original work of its square tower and octagon lantern intact; and according to all probability it will continue to do so for centuries to come. So efficiently were these repairs executed, in fact, that if the glorious structure should again be menaced with ruin, it may confidently be pre- 284 NORTHERN FRANCE dieted that the tower will be exempt from the danger, and that its substructure will bid defiance to the ravages of time, so long at least as the stone used for the pillars is protected from the action of the frost. COUTANCES The Cathedral of Coutances, nobly situated on a plateau at the summit of the city, whose roughly paved, tortuous streets recall those of ovir own Durham, is one of the most graceful churches of the First Pointed age in France, the only later additions being the chapels fringing the nave, and carried out in a very pure and beautiful Geometrical Decorated style. It consists of a nave with aisles and western steeples, transepts, central lantern, and apsidal choir with double aisles and chapels. Externally the central and western towers compose a group which is unrivalled in France for grace. Ruskin, in a singularly beautiful passage, extols the western steeples of Coutances, whose composition is remarkably good. An octagon, rising from a square tower, supports the spire. The corner pinnacles, how- ever, of the tower, which are carried up beyond the spring of the spire, preserve the square effect, but the outline is varied by the spire lights rising above these pinnacles. A projecting tvuret, at the external angle of the tower, completes the whole. The great octagonal lantern, which at dusk looks very much like the rood-tower of Lincoln Cathedral, was doubt- less intended to have a spire, though it may be questioned whether the tower itself would have been improved by that addition, for which it seems too tall and slight in design; though the general effect of the whole cathedral with its two western spires might have been better balanced thereby; but even in this state the central tower of Cou- tances with its coupled lancet windows on each face, its COUTANCES 285 reed-like shafts, its octagonal pinnacled turrets so pleas- ingly introduced at the oblique sides of the octagon, and its low capping rising from within a parapet pierced with quatrefoils is truly a noble object, and with the Early Renaissance lantern of St Pierre to th§ south of it, assists in composing an architectural group most fascinating to the visitor for the first time to this pleasant old city of the Manche. Nor is the ensemble of the apse with its three tiers of simple lancet windows to the main clerestorey, the clere- storey above the arches between the double aisles, and the chapels debouching from the procession path, the flying buttresses and the pinnacles, less engaging. This part of the exterior is beyond question the loveliest thing ever produced by the Norman thirteenth-century architect, and although it does not overpower one like the colossal east ends of Amiens, Beauvais, and Bourges, is, perhaps, more pleasing than any of these from the sobriety of its treatment and the modesty of its dimensions. A deep porch projects from each of the western towers; the northern one is especially fine. In the tympanum of its inner door at time of my visit, some years ago, were some headless figures, which, when one remembers the reckless fashion in which restoration has been too often conducted in France, have, it is not improbable, been replaced by entirely new work. Six windows filled with Geometrical tracery varying in design light the chapels which have been thrown out between the great buttresses of the nave. To these buttresses, much richness is added by niched statues of kings and queens, while the parapets are beautifully ornamented with open tracery, but on the south side of the nave a falling off in elaboration is apparent. Owing to the almost total absence of colour the im- pression of Coutances Cathedral on entering is rather cold, but the eye soon learns to dwell contentedly on the grand simplicity of the First Pointed work which here, as 286 NORTHERN FRANCE elsewhere in Normandy, is invested with a delicacy that is somewhat lacking in the Frankian examples. The nave piers are all attached. Above the arches runs a balustrade pierced with quatrefoiled circles, and behind this rises the triforium, which is closed, assuming the form of two arcades imder one wide arch commensu- rate in breadth with that of the pier arch below. Between the sub-arches of the triforium is a richly moulded circlet, and within these subarcuations the wall is relieved by two narrow unfoliated arcades. The lancet lights of the clerestorey are very simple, having neither shafts nor mouldings, and in front of each is a passageway, defended by a parapet of trefoiled arcades on pillarets. The moulded stringcourses between the nave arcades and the pierced parapet of the gallery in front of the triforium is replete with interest to the student of Early Pointed detail. The work on the interior of the central lantern is most rich. Immediately above the great arches, where the octagonal stage commences, is a low parapet of trefoils; then a lofty double arcade, a pair of arches filling each of the eight sides; then an elaborately sculptured string- course surmounted by another parapet, and finally tall coupled lancets from whose shafts spring the ribs of the vaulting. In the choir, owing to the omission of the triforium, which here, as at Bourges and Le Mans, is transferred to the aisles, the arcade assimies very stilted proportions, the piers in the apse being circular and placed trans- versely in couples. The choir whose arches are borne on tall piers composed of clusters of graceful, reed-like shafts, has two aisles on either side of it, carried, as at Paris, Bourges, Chartres, and Le Mans, completely roimd the apse. These two aisles are separated by a series of pointed arches, simply moulded in the choir proper and more richly in the five bays composing the apse, carried upon short cylindrical columns with capitals COUTANCES 287 boldly foliated in the h crochet style. Over each bay is a blind triforium consisting of two pointed arches each enclosing two lesser arches, but without any ornament in the tympana. This in its turn carries a clerestorey of two lancets to each bay subdivided into two narrow ones with the supervening space pierced, and from shafts between these pairs of lancets and others carried down to the capitals of the circular columns of the arcade, spring the groining ribs. At the junction of the last bay of the choir with the first of the apse there is a semicircular projection, corbelled off from a couple of slender shafts resting on the capital of the pillar of the arcade, and rising in three stages of shallow arcading to the top of the triforium. This is a most charming feature and one that has engaged the pencil of many a student in this most graceful of Norman Gothic churches. In the second bay of the south aisle a door communi- cates with a lane on that side of the cathedral, and the coup d'ceil to one who enters for the first time by this way is most solemn and striking. There is a good deal of modem painted glass, of con- siderable merit, in the lancet windows of the aisles and chapels, several of which have been richly adorned with colour and gilding. In the great clerestorey windows of the choir and apse, and in the triplets of lancets which light the fafade of the transepts the original glazing remains. This is remarkable, not only as a being the earliest specimen of stained glass extant in Normandy, but for the manner in which the shadows are produced by cross-hatching with a brown pigment. The blues and rubies in this glass at Coutances, flashing out like jewels from the greyish white, are truly superb. From the nave into the transepts is a descent of four steps, and one more from the transepts to the choir aisles, an arrangement contributing not a little towards picturesqueness of effect. I have left till last the chapels on either side of the 288 NORTHERN FRANCE nave aisles. They are, as I have said, the only addition to the building in a later style, and form, so to speak, an embroidery to it. The views across these chapels — separated as they are from one another, not by solid walls as is usually the case, but by unglazed windows corre- sponding in size and style with those at the sides — are perhaps the most beautiful in the whole range of Pointed architecture. The walls of these chapels are richly arcaded, and below the open window between each chapel is a con- structional reredos of trefoiled arcades. The last chapel on the south has, on its east, west, and south sides two tiers of figures imder canopies, all much mutilated, but a crucifixion on the eastern side has been restored. Several of the reredoses in these chapels retain traces of their ancient colouring. With regard to this arrangement of nave chapels — of which Coutances Cathedral exhibits one of the most satisfactory illustrations, a few words must be said. The great revolution which took place in the art of building towards the end of the twelfth centiuy had for one of its results the multiplication of chapels in liie nimierous great churches dating from that epoch. The principle of Siat revolution being to replace the inert masses which had previously resisted the various thrusts by comparatively slender points of support upon which those thrusts could be collected, stability being secured by a scientific collection of forces, it led, as a natural consequence, to a considerable augmentation of disposable surfaces in the interior. These surfaces were mere curtains between the points of support and were ornamented with vast networks of stone, embracing panels of painted glass, on which the principal events of the Old and New Testaments, canopied effigies of saints, and scenes so vividly outlined in the traditions of the times were delineated with admirable art. Jloom was found for chapels of considerable size, not only iii the J ■- "jagf'j| < K Q w K < o z < TOUks 303 fprmed by the convolutions of Ws boughs, corresponding with hexagon-shaped med^llions-in the two side lights, in which are depicted scenes presaimably appropriate to the subject; but it is difficult to maie them out with any certainty. Glass in the Lady Ch^el was taken from the chiurch of St Julian, when it wasMegraded to the use of a diligence office, and appears to nave been collected from several windows. \ No further progress was made towards the completion of the cathedral till nearly the middle W the fifteenth century, when the nave from the second\ pier, with its aisles and chapels, was commenced. A difficulty occurred in the construction, which occasioned a veW unsightly irregularity in the north transept. It appeaii-s from an inspection of the plan of the church that the constructors, being anxious to diminish the width of the building from the commencement of the nave, foimd it necessary to deviate from the line of the choir piers by bringing the large tower-pier of the northeast angle of the Viorth transept a few feet inwards. This had the effect of materially disarranging the vaulting of the westernmost end of the north aisle of the choir, and made it necessa to construct the east wall of the transept at an acute angft and to throw out an enormous flying-buttress from the outer angle of the transept. The space which this but- tress takes is so considerable that a street and part of a garden run under it. At the close of the fifteenth century the nave and the magnificent west front were completed. A marked change here takes place in the character of the architecture. The piers are composed of slender attached shafts, and from the second bay from the choir all the features of the Flamboyant style prevail. There are two magnificent rose windows of the same period in the north and south transepts, but a very unsightly buttress runs through the centre of the former, from the causes that have been noticed above. The organ, 304 NORTHT-^N FRANCE in a superb case of Earl.i»^enaissance design, occupies the end of the southern tra sept. As regards extreme /^chness of detail the west front of St Gatien is only si/t^S'Ssed by that at Abbeville, and those of the transeAS at Beauvais. The three portals and the lower par/of the fapade is in a beautiful and varied Flamboyai/style, continued up to the base of the nave gable. Th/ doors, triply recessed and filled with canopied nichef/containing statues, are flat headed and rather low. Tf^ space between the door and the head of the arch isjalled with Flamboyant tracery, containing rich stained ifess. Behind the pediment of the principal entrance is f^ open gallery, also filled with stained glass, above whi/i is a gorgeous rose window with tracery in the form of a shield, and containing the armorial bearings of the Montmorency family, who were the principal con- tributors to this part of the church. The/enrichments of the doorway are of the most elabo- rate description. Statues of saints and miniature churches, with flying buttresses and windows of exquisite beauty bea-r witness to the patient labour and zeal of those who bi-ilt this metropolitical church. With the gable end of t';ie nave the first signs of Italian feeling become apparent, -culminating in the upper part of the towers and the whole of the south side of the south tower; there, round-arched windows, pilasters, shafts, scale-covered cupolas, and richly designed lantern terminations, scroll buttresses, carrying their loads on to piers of clustered columns, etc., contribute towards a highly picturesque and memorable termination of these important adjuncts to a church. It was Henri IV. who, on beholding these newly finished towers for the first time, exclaimed, full of enthusiasm, "Voila deux beaux bijoux; il n'y manque plusque des 6tuis!" ("Here are two exquisite jewels; they only require caskets! ") Structurally, Tours Cathedral suffered little injury during the wild excesses of the Revolution, but it was TOURS 305 rifled of every portable object that the lawless mob could lay hands on. It was the autumn of 1793. The throne of France had been prostrated and trampled on; the king and queen had been beheaded, the dauphin was in Simon's hands, on the highroad to be "got rid of." Tyrants and their prerogatives were destroyed. France, always great and always generous, had proclaimed the Republic Eternal, Now, then, had come the time when the cause of Reform was triumphant, and when the principles of that Revolution which was to regenerate the human race were to be carried out. And carried out they were, and with a fulness and completness which, it is hoped, will satisfy all future ages as to the result of the revolutionary principle, when carried out to its legitimate conclusion. The tree may be known by its fruits. The first act of the Republic in the fulness of its power was well worthy of its antecedents, and of the manner in which that power had been gained. Hubert and Chaumette publicly expressed their deter- mination "To dethrone the King of Heaven as well as the monarchs of the earth." Gobel, the Constitutional Bishop of Paris, in company with a few men of infamous lives, who, nevertheless, had found their way into holy orders, was induced to appear at the bar of the Conven- tion, and there abjure his Saviour and his God. "I come here," said he, "to submit to the will of the people, by renouncing the fvmctions of my ofl&ce from this day, and by declaring that there should be no national wor- ship, save that of Liberty and Equality." Immediately the churches were stripped of their orna- ments; the sacred vessels sent to the melting pot; mitres, copes, chasubles, office books, fed the flames of bonfires; the cross, and the image of Him who died thereon, were trampled under foot, while the bust of Marat was set up in the holy place, and drunken men and shameless 3o6 NORTHERN FRANCE women danced the Carmagnole around it, and sang horrible parodies of the most solemn offices of the church. This was the way in which France, "always great," chose to show the world that she was "no longer the slave of superstition; that she knew no other worship than that of liberty, no other religion but patriotism." But this was not all; in a few days more, H^ert, Chaumette, Gobel, and their associates — (the guillotine, little as they suspected it, was already waiting for them, though as yet "they ruled the world at will") — appeared again before the Convention, and declared that "God did not exist, and that the worship of Reason was to be substituted in its stead." Then Chaumette — not one of the swinish herd around him lifting up a voice against him — brought in among them a veiled female, and presented her to them, m words which cannot here be transcribed, as their God. Then removing the veil, he showed them a fair face, which many who looked on it recognised as that of one of the most profligate actresses in Paris. Her they seatai in a triumphal car, a month or so later, and the Convention attending, and an enormous crowd following, she was borne to the Cathedral of Paris, and placed — the very abomination of desolation — upon the altar of God, while in other parts of the holy building scenes of licentiousness took place which must not be detailed, but which were of such a character that Robespierre himself declared that Chaumette deserved death for the indecencies which he permitted to be enacted before the eyes of the public on that day. Forced by terror to be present at this file, Bishop Gobel was there, in a tribune, at this parody of the sacred mysteries which but a short time before he had celebrated at the same altar. Motionless from fear, tears of shame rolled down the bishop's cheeks. Yet even this was not the worst. Rather, one ought to say, that this was a trifling act of sacrilege compared TOURS 307 with the unmentionable horrors committed in the Church of St Sulpice, in which, however, the wretched repre- sentative of Reason fell in a swoon upon the altar from shame at her own exposure. The concluding scene with which the repudiation of religion was consummated was in keeping with all that had gone before: the Word of God, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, were cast upon a blazing pile of faggots, — "there to expiate" (such was the Ian- gauge used), "all the fooleries which they had made the human race commit." Such spectacles took place not in Paris alone, but in all the cities and towns of France. At Rheims, the representative Ruhl broke the sainte ampoule upon the public place. In La Vendue, the representatives Lequino and Lai- grelot persecuted even the wax merchants who furnished the candles for the ceremonies of worship. At Nantes large piles lighted upon the public place, burned the statues, images and sacred books. Banners placed in this heap of spoils piled up in irregular masses were inscribed: Destruction to fanaticisml At Tours the churches were desecrated, the statues and pictures destroyed, jewelled crosiers and mitres dashed in pieces and torn into shreds, and even the consecrated wafers thrown into the fire. Sepulchral monuments were violated, the bones of the dead exposed and scattered to the winds; the mouldering remains of defunct citizens, men universally respected in their time, were cast forth from imder the eyes of their rela- tives to be devoured like offal by the dogs in the streets — infamies too monstrous to be tolerated for any length of time. At Bordeaux, baimers were carried in procession in honour of the heroes of the massacres of September, 1792. A band of comedians masqueraded in the streets in derision of the Pope and cardinals, the bishops and 3o8 NORTHERN FRANCE monastic orders; they were preceded by a standard bearing the inscription: "Our reign is past"; and after- wards strippiag off their ecclesiastical vestments, they committed them to the flames amid the laughter and plaudits of the multitude. From the day that the disgraceful scene was enacted in N6tre Dame, Paris, all public worship of God was proscribed; Christian ordinances were interdicted; the dreary gloom of atheistical despotism overpowered the land. The bells, those sonorous voices of Christian churches were, for the most part, cast into money or cannon; fast and festival ceased; the Lord's Day was ignored — the very limit of a week changed from seven days to ten, in order to confound the recollections of the recurrence of Sunday, and every tenth day some dema- gogue ascended the pulpit to instil his pestilential doc- trines into the minds of a bewildered people. The infant was not baptised; no burial service was performed over the dead; marriage, in the Christian sense, ceased. Schools and colleges were closed, even the hospitals and public charities were not spared. Nothing that was venerable, nothing that was holy, nothing that gave evidence of love to Gk)d or man, was tolerated. The principles of the Revolution were carried out, and the world could now look on in horror and amazement at the Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity of France, "always great and always generous." Then came the Terror, when one party after another as it rose to power put its enemies to death. There were wholesale executions by fusillades at Lyon, by the noyades at Nantes. At Bordeaux, Arras, and Paris whole families of citizens, great and obscure, who represented rank in France, the church, the state, the professions, science, situations, riches, industry, opinions, and sentiment, some on one pretext, others on another, proscribed by the sanguinary regeneration of terror, perished under the knife. TOURS 309 Two executions, more inauspicious and more solemn than the others, ended in arousing the indignation of the western quarters of Paris against the location of the guillotine. At the time of the taking of Verdun by the King of Prussia, in 1791, the town had celebrated the entrance of these liberators of Louis XVI. The inhabitants conducted their daughters to a ball, some from opinion, others through fear. After the deliverance of Verdun the republic remembered the rejoicings, of which these young girls had been the ornaments, and not the guilty cause. Conveyed to the capital, and transferred to the Revolutionary Tribunal, their age, their beauty, their obedience to their parents, the long time that had elapsed since the offence, and the triumphs which had avenged the republic, were not counted as excuse. They were sent to die for the crime of their fathers; the eldest was eighteen: they were all clothed in white robes. The cart which conveyed them to the guillotine resembled a basket of lilies, whose heads waved to the motion of the arm. The executioners, touched at the awful spectacle, wept with them. On the following morning, and — as part only of a single day's ensanguined execution, was the sacrifice of eleven nuns of Montmartre to the revolutionary Moloch, martyrs to their faith, surely; for their alleged crime was hearing the mass of a non-juring priest. Mourn- ful in the extreme, and deeply affecting must have been the sight, yet sublime in the contemplation of its inspiring cause, which lent to humble beings, essentially weak in their nature, an elevation of spirit and fortitude of en- durance, xmsurpassed, it may be affirmed, by what philosophy could inculcate, or pride assume. "Prodigse vitae, cruore Purpuratse Martyres; AuspicatsE morte vitam, Pace gaudent perpeti." 310 NORTHERN FRANCE LE MANS The secret of the ever-springing pleasure which follows the sight of a fine cathedral does not lie in its exact pro- portions, grandeur, or beauty as a creation of architecture; it is found in the far deeper source which connects us with the builders themselves. The traditions of the genuine freemasons constructing these glorious churches can now only be faintly perceived by acciurate measure- ments and the closest observation, but we all know that the aim was faultless perfection in the minutest detail, as weU as grandeur in the whole design, — in fact, to symbolise the spiritual church in miniature, just as the Temple of Jerusalem had previously served as " a shadow and pattern," Porches called by the name of Paradise, adoring saints and censing angels, gave a semblance of life to the didl stone, seeming to bear their part in a divine concert; mural colour and brilliant stained glass repre- sented the bow of mercy set in the clouds; sculpture illustrating scriptural history formed the book of the unlearned, and to the eye of the initiated in the length, breadth and height of the biulding holy associations were revived. A cathedral was not merely a great national epic carved in stone, nor a magnificent evidence of the faculty which shadows God's own creative power, but it was instinct with devotional feeling and poetic thought, being the visible expression of the purest and loftiest associations of the human heart. The church points to the east as to the place of the nativity, sacrifice and second coming of the Redeemer — the first and last object in the mind and heart of a ransomed world. It was placed on an elevated site, so as to be open to the light, emblematically of its destination, as a place consecrated to the Most High for intercession between earth and heaven. The porch, nave, choir, and sanctuary, repre- LE MANS 311 sented severally the Penitent, Christian, Saintly, and Heavenly life. The entrance door with its imagery of saints signified Paradise; the pulpit in the nave the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, on which the angel sitting preached the gospel of the resurrection; the stone screen before the choir, the portals of glory, through the power of the Cross which was elevated upon it; the crypt, ^he moral death of man; the cruciform shape, the Atone- ment; and in some instances the lateral walls are inclined inwards towards the east, so as to gviide the eye uncon- sciously towards the holiest of all. The apse indicated the place where the Redeemer's head was laid, the de- flection of the choir represents it drooping in agony; the great transept shows how His arms were spread abroad; the choir-transept portrayed the scroll of the cross; the radiating eastern chapels were the rays of the aureole about His head ; hence the old writers speak of the head, arms, and body of a church. To some readers this ideal may appear purely imag- inative; but at least the fact remains that the art which it inspired has never been rivalled or reproduced with all the greater mechanical appliances, the more abimdant wealth, and the experience of later times. The cathedral of Le Mans may be adduced as a re- markable example of a case in which there is a very elaborate development of the apsidal choir, and the radiating chapels, which in this case not only stand out further from tiie main wall than usual, but are continued to the transepts, which retain the simpler and earlier form without aisles. This no doubt gives a singularly rayonnant appearance to the plan, carrying the idea of the nimbus to its furthest extent, and is a curious illustra- tion of the amount of artistic effect and expression which may be embodied in a mere plan; and it is certainly strange that there is only about thirty or forty years between the exceedingly simple Romanesque transept plan and the ambitious tour de force of the choir plan. 312 NORTHERN FRANCE M Planet, a distinguished French architect, explains this by the very fact of the great elaboration of the choir structure, which necessitated leaving the old plain tran- septs as a kind of buttress to it; but though it certainly has this effect, both on paper and in reality, and contrasts most effectively with the choir architecture, one would very much question the existence of any deliberate inten- tion of contrast of this kind on the part of the builders of the choir. Constructively they may have thought it more prudent to let the transept alone, with a piece of construction in the choir which must have given them quite enough to think about. The cathedral of St Julien at Le Mans, founded in the eighth or ninth century, was entirely rebuilt in the eleventh, A portion of this second church, that is to say, the west front, the outer walls of the nave aisles, and the lower part of the north transept, form part of the existing building. The nave and transept appear to have been considerably altered after a fire in 1134,^ the upper portion even rebviilt, and a vaulting added, in a style which evidently had its origin in the cupolas of die Oriental churches, and which forms so noble a feature in the ecclesiastical buildings of Anjou and Poitou. Shortly after the union of the province of Maine with the Domaine Royale, that is, about 1220, the ancient choir and apsidal chapels were demolished, to make way for the present glorious choir, which with its chapels covers a greater area of ground than the whole of the ancient cathedral. ■ ' In prima Septembris septimana Dominus Deus noster multa per ignem peccata puniit. Cenotnmanis enim et Carnotum, antiquje et opulantae urbes consumptae sunt. Tunc Cenommanis Episcopdlis Basilica, quae pulcherrima erat, concremata est, et feretrum sancti cum corpore Pontificis et Cofessoris Juliani difficulter in Monasterium sancti martyris Vincentij translatum est. — Ordericus Vitalis, lib. XIII. p. 899. The Cenomannis and Carnotum, here referred to, are the cities of Le Mans and Chartres. LE MANS 313 The nave, long, but much lower than the choir and transepts, is quite invisible when the cathedral is viewed from the east. Externally its finest feature is the large round-headed window over the western entrance, very similar to the one in the same position at Angers Cathedral, and into whose receding shafts some graceful natural colour is introduced by means of alternating the white stone with bands of sepia. There are small Romanesque doors at the ends of the lean-to aisles; some pretty reticulation of brickwork in the central gable; deep but- tresses with very prolonged set-offs; lean-to aisles and clerestorey lighted by round-headed windows, singly and in pairs, and a fine southern doorway whose sculpture has all the mid-twelfth century characteristics to which I have alluded in describing the Porte Royale at Chartres. Within, the nave of Le Mans forms a most solemn prelude to the soaring transepts and choir. It is divided by tripled attached shafts, supporting very simple pointed transverse arches, into five great quadripartitely vaulted bays of domical form, and each of these bays is broken up into two by pointed arches springing jointly from cylindrical columns with boldly sculptured capitals, square abaci, and rather low bases. Above each pair of arches rims a blind arcade of round-headed arches on attached pillarets with sculptured capitals of similar type, and then, without the interposition of a stringcourse, a pair of round-headed windows. In the shafts supporting the vaulted roofs of the aisles we observe the same attempt at natiu"al polychromy in their alternate bandings of white and brown. All this work most probably dates from 1134, when great alterations were made in the original Romanesque nave. The present one may be called a very favourable specimen of the Transition as practised during the twelfth century in Maine, with some features reminiscent of the neighbouring school of Anjou. In the transepts the huge windows, some of six, others 314 NORTHERN FRANCE of eight lights, on the western and eastern sides attract notice, but the most beautiful is the great northern rose- little inferior to its compeers at Evreux and Rouen — with its row of windows underneath, where the fleur-de-lys plays a very conspicuous part in the tracery. These windows appear to have been executed in the reign of Charles VII., that is to say, about the year 1440; but they are not the only instance of the introduction of the fleur-de-lys into tracery; there is a very striking example of it in the two-light window in the church at La Haussaye in Brittany; it occurs, too, in the western window of St Maclou at Rouen and in the windows of the chapels flanking the nave of Troyes Cathedral. The south transept contains a gigantic organ in a superb Renaissance case with five towers, and four "flats" of pipes. In front of it is the choir-organ case, and the gallery front is enriched with curious old figures in domed niches. An interesting feature is the large Decorated window lighting the wall space above the arch opening from the low nave into the loftier transepts somewhat after the fashion of that in Gloucester Cathedral. It is natural to compare the choir of Le Mans with that of Chartres, the erection of which only preceded it by a few years, and with those of Bourges and Coutances. The same idea of a double ambulatory and chapels was evidently present to the architects; but how much more delicate and exquisitely finished is the manner in which it is carried out at Le Mans than in the two former churches! The arches between the two aisles on either side of the choir here are, as at Coutances, lower than the main ones, and the vaulting is very adroitly combined. The triforium, usually round the choir, is transferred to the inner aisle and surmounted by a second clerestorey, which serves to distribute an even light to the aisle. The same arrangement is observable at Bourges and Coutances. The chapels, eleven in number, surround the whole choir, LE MANS 315 not merely the apse, as in the other churches. They have also the advantage of depth, and are so arranged as to leave space for the introduction of a window between each, which has the best possible effect. The Lady Chapel is two bays deeper than the other chapels. In all these particulars the choir of Le Mans has the superiority in effect. Perhaps its rival is Beauvais, the chapels of which, though not projecting beyond the apse, are disposed in the same manner and afford means of lighting the aisle. At Le Mans it is evidei^t nothing was spared which could add to the embellishment or excellence of the work so long as it continued, and it is much to be regretted that the chapter were compelled to relinquish, what was no doubt their original intention, the reconstruction of the nave to a plan corresponding in splendour. The gables of the transepts, and the tower, which occupies an unusual position against the front of the southern transept, were not completed till the fourteenth century. The sacristy is of the thirteenth century and is an exten- sion of the third chapel counting from the west on the south side of the choir. This loveliest of French cathedral choirs, this most wonderful work of the wonderful age of St Louis, should be entered for the first time by a small door between two of the chapels radiating from the apse on the north, at the summit of a flight of steps leading up from the great place so proudly dominated by the choir with its array of pinnacles and flying buttresses. Oh, for a mastery of vivid thought, for a wealth of picturing words, that an adequate idea might be given of the greatness and mag- nificence of this frozen dream of men who dreamt nobly, where the most enthusiastic admirer of the beautiful must pause in sober certainty of having reached per- fection! How can I adequately make mention — even in declaring its grandeur, a grandeur contrasting most strikingly with Sie simple solemn Transitional archi- 3i6 NORTHERN FRANCE tecture of the nave, to be unimaginable — of this choir of Le Mans ? A marvellous sight to behold, it is, indeed, more like the preternatural shapes we gaze upon in dreams — embodying in its gigantic proportions the most expressively graceful motif, and witiial the most minute and carefully finished details — than the sober realities emanating from the skill and handicraft of man! After having viewed all those thirteenth-century cathe- drals entitled to a place in the first class of French churches — Amiens, Paris, Chartres, Rheims, and Rouen — I may confidently affirm that I am at a loss to partic- ularise any one the choir of which has, for beauty and solemnity, so indelibly impressed its features on the mental retina as a chef d^osuvre in design and execution as that of Le Mans. (See illustration, p. 302.) The work, as of angel architects, never did it look lovelier than about half-past seven in the evening of one of those glorious days of August, 1893, as the declining sun dyed the choir piers, " whose light shafts Cluster like stems in corn sheaves," with gorgeous colours from the old painted glass, which rivals that of Chartres in brilliancy, if not m profusion; indeed, the violet hues of the gorgeously painted quarrys in the Lady Chapel are only surpassed by those in the Sainte Chapelle at Paris. Ruby and blue tinctures prevail, and becoming more or less intense according as the light increases or diminishes, an effect is created which will be best conceived by liiose who have seen Naples bathed in opal and rose towards five o'clock in an afternoon of late February. The visitor desirous of obtaining the most delightful view of the stained glass in this exquisitly beautiful choir should place himself at the entrance to a chapel (without any name attached to it, if I remember rightly) between the chapel of St Anne and that of St Martin. At one glance, thirty com- LE MANS 317 partments become visible; and there is no part of Rheiras Cathedral — rich as it is in specimens of the glass painter's art — ^that can boast of an effect equal to this. From the transepts five arches open into this matchless choir and its aisles. The centre one is 104 feet high, the same altitude as that of the choir to the crown of its vaulting; the arch immediately on either side of it is commensurate in height with the arcades of the choir, and opens into the inner aisle, which is furnished, as at Coutances, with its own triforium and clerestorey. In the choir the piUars are composed of groups of slender shafts attached to square piers, and with delicately foliaged capitals. From these rise the three arches of this eastern limb, perfect specimens of thirteenth-century work as regards their mouldings, and in contour hardly equalled for grace. In the apse tiie architect has thought proper to give us coupled cylindrical pillars with a slender shaft fitted in at the joins, for stability of effect. The arches here, owing to the apse being apportioned into seven narrow sides, are much stilted, but so beautifully contoured and moulded as to disarm criticism. Here the vaulting shafts are stopped at the abaci of the pillars; in the three bays of the choir they are continued iminter- ruptedly to the floor. There is no triforium, but in front of the tall geometrically traceried windows of the clerestorey is a passageway, defended by a parapet of open arcades. Turning to the separation between the two choir aisles, the visitor's attention will be rivetted by the com- bined boldness and grace exhibited in the triforium, which in the three bays corresponding to those of the central division, is composed of three acutely pointed arcades filled in with stonework, and spanned by an arch of equally elanci character. It should be observed that the bells of the capitals of • the pillarets in this triforium arcade at Le Mans are more elongated than in English work of the same period. The foliaged 3i8 NORTHERN FRANCE ornament of curled leaves is in two rows and the abaci are octagonal. In the solid tympanum of the com- prising arches, quatrefoils, convex-sided triangles, and irregvtlarly shaped diamonds, have afforded a rich field for the chisel of the sculptor in foliaged ornament. Owing to the much narrower sides of this triforium where it sweeps round the apse, there is only room for two arcades in each bay. The spandrels between the comprising arches are relieved with large inverted tre- foils enclosing star-like ornaments of leafage. In the clerestorey here we see uncusped lancets diminishing in height and number with their enclosing arches. They are completely filled with stained glass of the most rechercM description. Opening from the outer aisle are the eleven chapels, in the lancet style of the thirteenth century, and the earliest portion of the work in the choir. The longest of these is the Lady Chapel, carefully restored about forty years ago, when much mural painting made its appear- ance under coats of whitewash and plaster. The sides of this chapel are lighted by three windows of two pointed but uncusped compartments each, with a quatrefoiled circle above them; the apse has five single lancets. The remaining chapels, although far deeper than the generality of those in this situation, are not so long as the Lady Chapel. Each is apsidal, with three lancets, and has a triple dedication. One, however, on the south side — that of SS Gervais, Protais, and Etienne — has its lancets filled with Middle Pointed tracery, and modem stained glass of much richness and brilliancy of tincture carefully copied as regards its architectural accessories from old work. The canopies are particularly happy, and of the conventional Early Middle Pointed type. A very grandiose portal in the richest edition of the French Renaissance forms the entrance to the Chapel of the Sacre Coeur, wherein, above the altar, floats a banner with the inscription, "Cceur de Jdsus, sauve LE MANS France." A portal of similar character, which part of the jube erected in the seventeenth century, a to the sacristy — a noble apartment thrown out from third chapel in the south aisle, and aroimd whose cen vaulting pillar several fine processional crosses may seen fixed in sockets. Here are fine wainscoting, an massively framed portraits of bishops and canons ot Le Mans. The brazier for the incense stands down on the floor, and upon the tables the Eucharistic vestments, of the colour proper for the day, lie spread in readiness for the chapter Mass, which is, or was at the time of my visit seventeen years ago, performed daily with much ritual dignity and musical accompaniment. On the morning that I " assisted " at the Canons' Mass, the chas- uble, dalmatic, and timicle worn by the officiants was of a delicate rose colour. Passing by the monumental effigies of Langey de Bellay and Duke Charles of Anjou, in the north transept, as works of mediocre merit, there is one modern introduction, dated 1858, which attracts and deserves attention. It is the kneeling figure of Bouvier, Bishop of Le Mans, who died in the Vatican. In the relievo on the base he is seen lying on his deathbed, alongside of which sits Pius IX. addressing to him religious consolation. And, now, crossing over to the south transept, we behold on the right hand the sacredly preserved monument of Queen Berengaria, wife of Richard Cceur de Lion. The queen's head bears a crown and rests on a quilted pillow, her long hair flowing down far below her shoulders. Her feet rest upon a very strange device, a lion over- powering if not demolishing a kid or lamb. We hear not, however, of any disposition but that of kindness on the part of the lion-hearted king towards his consort, who survived him thirty-one years, principally residing in her dower city of Mans, and was buried in the Cistercian abbey of L'Espan (called Pietas Dei), to which she was a benefactor, and whence her tomb was transferred in NORTHERN FRANCE I the Cathedral of Le Mans, as recorded in the tog mscription: /lausoleum istud Serenissimse Berengarias, Anglorum jiae hujus cenobii fundatricis inclitae, restauratum et augustiorem locum hunc translatum fuit, in eoque ^condita sunt ossa hsec quae reperta fuerunt in antique tumulo die 27 Maii, anno Domini 1672: ex ecclesia Abbatiali de Pietate Dei translatum fuit, et depositum in ecclesia Cathedrali, die 2 Decembris, 1821." The tomb is enriched by eighteen admirably carved quatrefoil panels, and is massive and handsome; but the recumbent effigy, about six feet in length, is of very indifferent sculpture. Before the conflagration at the Crystal Palace in 1866 there was a very perfect copy of this tomb in the Byzantine Coiirt, but whether it has ever been restored, I cannot remember. The figure, which is engraved in Stothard's "Monu- mental Effigies," was, when the artist went to draw it, buried beneath some com in a bam. ANGERS Perhaps no city in France suffered more from the excesses of the great Revolution, as regards destruction of ancient buildings, than Angers. Up to that period it possessed forty-seven chxirches, twenty-seven convents, and five abbeys, amongst which was the superb foimdation of Ronceray. Some half dozen churches, besides the cathedral, are all that now remain; and of the religious buildings, Ronceray and some others have been secularised in various ways. Nothing can be more striking than the position of the cathedral of St Maurice. It crowns the height up which creep the winding and picturesque streets of "black Angers," and forms the central point to which they lead. ANGERS 321 As soon as the traveller from the south to the north of France passes the hills forming the water-shed between the Rhone and the Garonne he becomes aware that he has entered upon a new architectural province. This province possesses two distinct and separate styles, very unlike one another both in character and detail. The first of these is a roimd-arched tunnel- vaulted Gothic style, more remarkable for the grandeur of its conception than for the success with which those conceptions are carried out, or for beauty of detail. The second is a pointed-arched dome-roofed style peculiar to the province and indicating the presence of an Eastern people, who, if this be the case, can be no other than Basques. This province is Aquitaine, with its wonderful churches at Perigeux, Souillac, Angouldme, Moissac, Conques, Toulouse, and Albi. Still proceeding northward he will enter another province, not so distinctly defined perhaps as Aquitaine as regards its architecture, separated as it is on the north by the clearest line both from Normandy and from the Prankish province, and therefore partaking in some degree of the architectural peculiarities of all three provinces, though at the same time its buildings, particularly those in the two capitals of Angers and Poitiers, belong to a school particularly their own. This is the province of Anjou, and of all the build- ings in the typical Angevine, or as some have termed it, the Plantagenet style, none can serve better to explain in what it differs from the uorthem or resembles the south- em than the cathedral which forms the subject of this essay. On comparing Angers Cathedral, with such an example of the Aquitainian style as the church at Souillac, and more especially with that of the cathedral at Angoul^me, the student will discover how closely it resembles them — the chief point of difference being, that, instead of cupolas over each square compartment of the nave, choir, or 322 NORTHERN FRANCE transepts it has the quadripartite pointed vault of the Northern styles. Its buttresses too, are on the outside of the building, but less in projection than might almost be supposed necessary to support a vault 52 ft. in span. These peculiarities undoubtedly evince a penchant for a Northern style of construction; but the absence of isolated columns, or of aisles, and the ensemble of the whole building are rather Aquitainian peculiarities. Should the student of the Angevine churches proceed to the scene of his delighful labours from — let us say — Tours, he will experience a foretaste of what he may expect in the naves of the cathedral at Laval and the church of Notre Dame de la Cotiture at Le Mans.^ Before entering into the details of this remarkable edifice, a few words must be said anent its chronology. The nave was begun between 1140 and 11 50 under Bishop Ulger, and very shortly after the completion of its windows they were filled, with the exception of three, with stained glass by a canon, named Hugues de Sem- blanfay. This was then a very rare thing, so that the cathedral of Angers must be considered as one of the very first churches in France to have received this magnif- icent species of decoration. Normande de Doud, the immediate successor of Ulger, began, about the seventh decade of the same * The Cathedral of Laval has a three-bayed nave, dating from the latter half of the twelfth century, and of the same tjrpe as that of Angers, but the arcade work below the coupled lancet windows is wanting. It has, however, been spoilt by the intrusion of an ugly Renaissance portal. Between this aisleless nave and a poor Flamboyant choir, stands a Romanesque tower of mo. It opens to the nave and the choir by three arches on cylindrical columns with short fcJliaged capitals; of these arches, which are semi- circular, the side arches are narrower than the centre one. The exterior has been mercilessly "restored" by a M Formigl, but owing to the irregularity of its outline is picturesque. In the win- dows of the eastern portions the tracery has something of the English Perpendicular character about it. ANGERS 323 century, the nave vaulting, which was finished some time after his death. The insertion of painted glass in the windows of an unfinished nave is a somewhat remarkable ciircumstance, but a building upwards of fifty feet wide would require some time to allow the work to settle, before a stone vault could have been ventured upon. During this time, a temporary roof may have been used, perhaps the great arches themselves may have been built, and the intervening spaces ceiled with carpentry, or left open to the outer roof. Towards the end of the twelfth century Bishop Raoul de Beaumont laid the foundations of the choir, which reached completion before his death; and in 1225 the chapter, by the care of Etienne d'Azaire, styled the chanoine procureur de fabrique, undertook the erection of the transepts. These last-named works and the fur- niture of the choir were completed in 1240. Between this period and the sixteenth century little or nothing seems to have been done in the cathedral at Angers. The flourishing condition of this part of France during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries seems suddenly to have ceased. This interval exactly coincides with the period of the English dominion, which appears to have been a continual struggle, and the constant state of civil war was not favourable to the building of churches. Flamboyant chapels were added on both sides of the nave near the west end, and there is a cloister of late date on the south side joined to one of these chapels. Spires were added to the towers between 1518 and 1523, and in 1540 the triangular gable, which, according to almost imiversal usage, may be supposed to have ter- minated the central compartment of the west front, was removed and replaced by a horizontal line of full-length statues covered by tall canopies connecting the towers. The revived Italian tower and octagonal cupola are much more subsequent additions. Assisted by these dates we can feel no difl&culty or 324 NORTHERN FRANCE hesitation in assigning the age of the several parts of this cathedral at Angers, whose plan, a perfect Latin cross, bears a very striking resemblance to that of the much later church of Sta Chiara at Assisi. This Latin cross at Angers is divided into seven equal square compartments, three serving for the nave, and one each for the crossing, transepts, and choir, which termi- nates in a semicircular apse of seven bays. Although the general effect of the west front be some- what impaired by the Italianised additions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the system of architecture in favour at the period of its construction is well characterised in the original portions, and shines forth with peculiar lustre in its magnificent portal. Between the two towers which flank the angles are opened the only windows of the fafade, and the single doorway in the ground storey. ^ The window archway, wide and obtusely pointed like that in the west front of Le Mans Cathedral, and com- posed of three concentric rolls borne on as many attached shafts, is flanked by a panel in which the same form is preserved. The mixture of pointed and circular arches in the arcades of panels on the sides of the towers, the treatment of the capitals of the shafts and the details are quite consistent with the general character of the edifice. The belfry stages of the towers are relieved with tall, narrow, round-headed arcades, four on each side; of these the two centre ones of the southwest tower are supplied with barge boards, while in the opposite tower the stonework between the arcades is pierced with four elongated slits. This, and the greater enrichment of the northwestern spire compared with its sister on the south confer an appearance of great difference upon ' This suppression of the lateral entrances presents itself so fre- quently as to constitute one of the leading features of Transitional edifices, where their situation is occupied by panels of equal dimensions, which are made subservient to the enriched aspect of the fafade. ANGERS 32s these two western steeples of Angers Cathedral, though, in reaHty, the details of the towers themselves, with 5ie exception of the little peculiarity above noticed in their belfries, are precisely the same. The six statues above the west window, popularly called St Maurice and his companions, are ranged beneath canopies of a very graceful Early Renaissance type. The upper part of the north- western spire is rather reminiscent of Lichfield. The arch of the grand western portal is carried on four shafts supporting as many concentric orders of statuary on either side of the doorway. The first and second consist of a suite of personages seated on a sort of throne, crowned, and holding in one hand a musical instrument, in the other a small phial, which, united with the subject in the tympanum, represents the Vision of St John as recorded in tiie 8th Chapter of the Book of the Revelation. The two lower orders consist of angels with expanded wings. These lines of sculpture are separated by two narrow bands of the tooth ornament, worked nearly as we find it in English buildings, and two of an inverted four-petalled flower, which, by means of cutting away the adjacent surface, may easily be imagined to have passed into the former. The centre of the tympanum displays a bas relief representing Onr Lord in a vesica, the head surrounded by the cruciferous nimbus, one hand raised in benediction, the other resting upon a book imfolded on the knees, and attended by the symbols of the Evangelists. Amongst the statues of royal and saintly personages on the faces of the shafts may be recognised Moses and Aaron. The robes of the statues are covered with a profusion of em- broidery and jewels, which still retain traces of gilding and colouring, in the application of which the architect sought the means of enhancing the splendour of his conceptions. The doorway aperture is at present cir- cumscribed by a segmental circular arch, constructed 326 NORTHERN FRANCE below a horizontal transom, which there are some reasons for thinking formed the original disposition. With our minds suitably attuned by a contemplation of the awful subject represented in this portal we may pass to the interior of Angers Cathedral, which, althou^ it may appear strange to the eye accustomed to the inter- minable perspectives and engaging cross-views of the northern churches with their long-drawn aisles and succession of chapels, is undoubtedly most solemn and awe-inspiring. The nave, exclusive of a small part corresponding with the towers, has three bays, forming as many square compartments. It is about 280 feet long, 54 feet wide and 80 feet high, and each compartment is covered with a domical vault of eight cells, not a plain dome, but the central point is the highest, and the ribs, which are square and enriched with the zigzag, meet on this central point. The longitudinal, transverse and diagonal ribs of the vault are pointed, but the nave vault is without the ridge-rib, though the transepts, choir, and crossing have it. The bays or compartments of the church are separated by massive square-edged arches, which are slightly pointed, and are carried on enormous buttresses about 10 feet square at the sides, and 14 feet at the angles; whilst the cornice or corbel tables and strings are carried round them, so that they form rather a thicker part of the wall than buttresses in the ordinary sense. These great transverse arches as well as the diagonal and longitudinal ones are carried on noble clusters of shafts — massive roimd engaged ones — a decided Angevine feature, and the capitals are beautifully enriched with ornament of the d, crochet type. Between each pier is a pointed wall arch, the springs of which are about the height of the base moidding. These arches carry the triforium gallery, defended by a wrought-iron railing from which on great occasions I-) - M ■r3 H ^. fr < 2; 1-^ ►J < Q u a H <; u 05 S W ;^ 2 ^ ANGERS 327 tapestry is suspended, producing, with the coeval glass ill the coupled round-headed windows, a most magnifi- cent effect. The next part of the church is the choir with its apse, which are of a more decided Pointed character, and as I have already said, belong to the end of the twelfth century, while the transepts, though still partaking of the transition character, were built as late as 1240. The chief point of difference between the nave and the other portions of the cathedral resides in the treatment of the wall below the windows. In the transepts and choir this space is enriched by series of lancet arcades on slender shafts, which, in the apse, are unfortunately concealed by the tall Renaissance backs of the staUs. There is a fine rose window at the end of each transept; the southern one is the earliest and of plate tracery, that in the northern one being geometrical and of the usual bar kind. In the first bay of the apse on either side is a single lancet, the remaining five are of two imfoliated lights with a circle of five cuspings; and in the square bays between the crossing and liie apse the space between the two round-headed lights is pierced witli an inverted trefoil. Here stands the high altar under a huge bald- achin in marble and gold supported on coupled columns, all in the Renaissance taste and on the wtioie not accord- ing ill with the surrounding architecture. To account for the priority of the nave to the choir, we may suppose the former to have been added to the eastern part of an earlier church, as is the case with Ste Rad^gonde at Poitiers, whose nave is a fine specimen of Angevine, with some local modifications. The Angevine style, concerning which I shall have more to say when describing the cathedral of Poitiers, is one particularly deserving of study at our hands, connected as it is with Henry II. who built the hall and chapel of the Hospital of St Jean at Angers, and frequently held his court there, while this work was going on, and to 328 NORTHERN FRANCE these meetings of the leading men of the north and south in friendly intercourse one feels disposed to attribute considerable influence on the rapid progress of archi- tecture during the peaceful reign of that monaith in our own country. In the southern provinces they had pointed arches and domical vaults over large spaces, and an excellent school of sculptors, half a century before they had them in the nortii. On the other hand, the northern people had attained to a much greater elevation in their buildings, and greater length in their ground plans, so that each had what the other wanted. Besides the cathedral and the churches of La Trinity, St Martin, Toussaint, and the chapel and hall of the Hospital of St Jean at Angers, the following churches of the province may be selected for especial study: St Pierre, N6tre Dame de Nantilly, and St Nicolas at Saumur; the ruined church of Doud near Saumur;. the abbey church at Fontevraxilt; the cathedral, N6tre Dame, and Ste Rad^gonde at Poitiers; and the churches at Loches, Montiemeuf, and Cimault. In Angers itself is the noble tower of St Aubin, all that remains of what must have been a grand cruciform church. It is of three stages and surmoimted by a hexagonal turret with conically capped toureUes at the angles, and part of a short spire. There are two Early Pointed lancets richly moulded on each face of the upper stage, and one on each side of the hexagon. This grand tower would appear to have served as the model for those of two very remarkable churches, built in widely different districts of the metropolis during the seventies of the last century, by the late Jas. Brooks — St Andrew Plaistow (E), and St John Baptist, Holland Road (W). Neither of these towers has reached completion, though I believe the latter is to be undertaken shortly. NANTES .329 NANTES After viewing the wonderful succession of glories which followed the whole course of pointed architecture, we need not feel surprise that among persons of differently constituted minds, almost every variety, may, to one or another, seem the point of perfection; and it must be admitted that it is hardly possible to arrive at a certain conclusion on such a question. There is perhaps only one way of ascertaining the true position of that culmi- nating point which we all wish to discover; and that is, by carefully studying the differences to be traced out in the courses taken by pointed architecture, in the various countries in which it most flourished; and by observing whether they differed throughout, or had any points in common; and what theory seems to bring the apparent points of perfection attained in each country, most nearly to a chronological coincidence. This leads to a result which seems to promise much, though after all it is difficult to say how we can with certainty test its value. The series of changes, from the early Romanesque to the establishment of pointed architecture at the close of the twelfth century, differs materially in all the different countries of Europe, Germany being the most behind the rest in this accomplishment; all, however, seem gradually to approach nearer and nearer to one another, till towards the close of the thirteenth century, when all appear, though by different routes, to have arrived, in the main at least, at the same point; and though some differences still remained, as might be expected from slight varieties in climate, and materials, and racial habits, the essential principles and elements of the style at that time were perfectly coincident in France, Germany, and England. This coincidence, however, was of short duration; for from this point all diverged, so that, at the time of the 330 NORTHERN FRANCE final extinction of the style at the beginning of the sixteenth century, its national varieties differed as widely as at its commencement. England had produced a style of her own — the Perpen- dicular — inferior to none in purity of Gothic principle, and surpassing every other in the matchless beauty of its detail, and this she kept up well until the epoch of the Reformation. This style may well be the pride of Englishmen; for not only is it almost exclusively our own, but it has produced a train of cathedrals, abbeys, and other churches, the most glorious which our land can boast. Almost nine-tenths of our most magnificent churches owe their chief est beauties to this style; and with whatever other variety of pointed architecture it is brought in con- tact, its merits shine forth pre-eminently, and, so far from suffering, gain additional lustre by the comparison. The contemporary, in France, of our Perpendicular was the Flamboyant, which in its earlier stages is rich, varied, and imposing. But in many instances it is remarkable how much the interest falls off at the end of the fifteenth centmy , and how very poor and meagre it becomes when worked plain. Windows often without mullions or tracery, generally without foliation, and the disuse of the capital of the column, have an effect hardly counteracted by the vaulting, the ribs and ornaments of which often appear rather to be the additions of an indiscreet restorer than the productions of an age coming within the Gothic range. In Germany the Flamboyant of that country ran riot into fantasticality. I had almost said bizarrerie, and in the works of the later stages of the style, one cannot help thinking that religious feeling had given way to human ingenuity, and that the whole vigour and beauty of the art were emaciated by the constant strivings after new and whimsical combinations. The long duration of the Second Pointed or Geometrical style in France, and the acknowledged paucity of com} NANTES 331 buildings of this class, are facts calculated to excite considerable surprise, and at first sight appear irrecon- cilable; but much of this apparent contradiction will vanish if we recall for a moment the calamitous circum- stances in which the country was placed during this period. With the accession of Philippe de Valois to the throne in 1328, commenced the sanguinary and protracted struggle between the rival crowns of France and Eng- land, continued with little interruption to the year 1450. During this contest, signalised by the disastrous defeats of Cr&y, of Poitiers, and of Agincourt, history presents but an imvarying recital of provinces laid waste, towns ruined, and their monuments given up to the flames. The soil of France, traversed in turn by the hostile armies of the stranger, and the scarcely less dreaded bands of ferocious mercenaries charged with her defence; ravaged by pestilence; desolated by famine, offered a field little favourable to the development of an art which, above all others, needs the fostering influence of peaceful institutions. It can excite no surprise, then, that during this extended space of time Architecture remained nearly stationary, and that the funds contributed for religious purposes scarcely sufficed for the achievement of the gigantic works previously commenced (most of which, it must be remembered, remained imfinished), much less permitted the foundation of new edifices. With the deliverance of the territory from its invaders. Art awoke from her profound lethargy; a new impulse was commu- nicated to the zeal of the wealthy and pious, and eccle- siastical monuments arose on all sides. It is worthy of remark that some of the earliest authenticated dates of churches in the Flamboyant style correspond pretty nearly with the expulsion of the English. From this epoch the dates of construction are recorded with greater regularity than at any former era; and henceforth we experience no difficulty in tracing the progress of Pointed Architecture 332 ' NORTHERN FRANCE to the period of its final disappearance in the Renaissance or revived Classical forms. The style which has just engaged our attention main- tained itself in certain parts of France — much in the same way as the Late Decorated in the eastern counties of England did vintil sometime after the introduction of the Perpendicular — whilst in other provinces of the country edifices were being erected of Flamboyant character. The church of Caudebec, on the Seine near Rouen, remarkable among other things, like St Pierre at Caen, for its triangular chevet, presents us, perhaps, the earliest specimen of buildings of this class, having been com- menced in 1426. Nearly contemporary with the foimdations of Caudebec is the cathedral whose name heads this chapter, equally indisputable with the former, as the inscription still exists from which we learn the date of the west front, 1434: "L'an mil quatre cent trente quatre A my auril sans moult rabattre Au portail de cette eglise Fut la premifere pierre assize." I am unable to assign any precise cause to the com- mencement of rebuilding the cathedral at Nantes with the nave, instead of, as ordinarily, the choir. Perhaps the eastern parts of the Romanesque church were in a sounder condition than the western; at any rate they remained until the middle of the last century. The rebuilding of Nantes Cathedral, commenced imder the episcopate of Jean de ChMeau-giron de Malestroit, imder the patronage of Jean V., Duke of Burgundy, made but slow progress; in fact, the three portals were not completed in 1481, and, in the early part of the sixteenth century, operations were suspended altogether, when the nave alone had been finished. Thus the cathedral re- mained, with its lofty nave and low Romanesque choir, for three hundred years, presenting in that condition much NANTES 333 the same aspect as the huge Flamboyant church at Abbe- ville does at the present day. Following the indications given by the plan of the nave, the work of rebuilding the choir and transepts was taken in hand in 1843 imder the direction of M Scheulte, an architect of skUl and taste, but nearly half a century elapsed before this gigantic imdertaking was brought to a conclusion, the only portion of the Romanesque church suffered to remain being the crypt. Nantes is the only cathedral in France completely in the fifteenth-century style, and, as usual with the buildings of that century, is on a grand scale, the vault being nearly twenty feet higher than that of Westminster Abbey. The nave, including that between the towers, has six bays; the choir has three. Both have aisles and flanking chapels, and the aisles of the choir are continued round the apse where they open into a series of five chapels, the end of each one forming on plan three sides of a haxagon. Bmlt as it is entirely in one style, Nantes Cathedral affords little scope for descriptioji, but it is light and ele- gant, and there is a charming play of light and shade in the vaulting cells of the grandly poised roofs. In the original part of the cathedral the mouldings of the acutely pointed arches are continued without break- down to tiie tall and beautifully .moulded bases of the pillars, but in the choir the -pfllars have capitals. As usual, there is no lantern at the crossing, the ribs of the vault there meeting in a plain .round boss. In the choir the ridge-rib has been introduced — a feature very rarely found in French Gothic of any period since the thirteenth century. The triforia throughout the church are weU developed, the clerestorey windows, which are proportionately lofty, are of four flamboyantly traceried lights, except in the five-sided apse, where they are of but two, and the foliaged ornament introduced into the stringcourses above the pier arches commands attepition 334 NORTHERN FRANCE from the elegance of its form and the- skill of its execution. We desiderate, of course, stained glass. This, how- ever, together with other decorations, consonant, it is to be hoped, with the grandeur of the structure, is no doubt in contemplation. Meanwhile, the people of Nantes in general, and the clergy of the cathedral in particular, are to be congratulated upon having brought their church to its present state of completion. It is in the south transept of Nantes Cathedral that the greatest surprise awaits the visitor. This is the superb Renaissance monument — a chef d'ceuvre of the Tours sculptor, Michel Colomb, raised, in 1507, to Franpois II., Duke of Brittany (d. 1488), and his wife. Marguerite de Foix. The centre feature is an altar tomb composed of white marble, relieved with other of various colours, about five feet high and placed upon a marble base covered with mosaic work which entwines the letter F and emblems of the ducal pair. Upon this are the recumbent effigies of the Duke and Duchess, the head of either resting upon a cushion held by three angels. At their feet are a lion and a greyhound, sym- bolical of courage and fidelity, holding between their paws the arms of Brittany and Foix. At the four angles are placed symbolic figures of Wisdom, Prudence, Justice, and Power; all are life-size, in white marble, and of quaint allegorical design. Anne of Brittany is represented in the figure of Justice, in the costume and accessories of queen and duchess with the "couronne fleurdelisde" and "fleuronn^e." On two sides of the pedestal are figures of the apostles in white marble; in the niches the figures are of red marble. At one end and at the side of the head of the tomb are St Francis of Assisi and St Margaret, the patrons of the duke and his spouse, and at the other Charlemagne and St Louis. The base is enriched with small weeping figures, whose face and hands are of white marble and the rest of the body in green. NANTES 335 The cathedral rises finely above the Place Louis XVI., but has no features differing from those of other great churches of its period calling for remark. The western fafade, flanked by towers, as usual unfinished, is adorned with three grandiose portals, the central one being of very imposing dimensions. The jambs and the arch have three continuous orders of canopied niches, those in the latter being occupied by small figures. Between the two doors, which are square headed, but surmoimted by depressed ogees, is a statue under a spiral canopy, and in the tympanum is a large circle filled with tracery. In the tympana of the side portals, which have each two orders of mouldings, is curvilinear tracery, but only par- tially cusped. The centre of the fagade is occupied by a large Flamboyant window of nine lights, below which are two small square-headed windows of two lights with tracery resembling our Kentish curvilinear. The upper parts of the towers lack richness, and therefore con- trast somewhat impleasingly with the more ornate por- tions of the fafade, which must, on the whole, be pro- nounced deficient in that boldness and that well-balanced and careful apportionment of detail which is so pleasing in other works of its age and class. SENS The Cathedral of Sens has a peculiar interest for an English lover of architecture, interest sufi&cient to carry him to that city in preference to others equally within reach, though his immediate object be a place for the retured pursuit of other studies than ecclesiology. Here we might not fairly be out of hope to find some of the motives that William of Sens brought over seas for the extension and embellishment of Canterbury Cathedral, and even apart from this hope there are tem- peraments that find additional zest in reflection upon the art in the native place of its dextrous and brave professor. Who now knows not the story recorded by Gervase the monk, how William succeeded in inducing the church- men, his patrons, to extend their designs to at least the length of their purse, and when disabled by a fall from a scaffold — ^by God's judgment or Satan's malice, Gervase will not decide — went on with the work from his bed, till hopeless of recovery and further efl&ciency, he gave up perforce to have a bruised and broken body transported back to Sens? Referring to the portions of Canterbury Cathedral built by William of Sens (not William the Englishman, for two architects named William were employed in succession there), Professor Willis observes that "it is certain that the pillars of the choir, with the piers and arches and clerestorey walls above were wholly the work of William of Sens." ^ This result the Professor ' Documentary evidence is in existence to show that William of Sens was a working mason; and in the well-known competition of artificers for carrying out the great work at Canterbury, William 336 SENS 337 arrived at from the internal evidence which the building affords, and by the aid of the historical account of the biulding furnished by Gervase. Let us now see how far this assumed work at Canterbury harmonises or corresponds in character with the buildings designed by William of Sens elsewhere. Referring then to the cathe- dral of Sens, a considerable part of which was designed by him, we are struck at once with the close resemblance between the choirs of Sens and Canterbury, both in plan and elevation. Each terminates in an apse of five sides whose arches rise from transversely coupled columns; the compartments of the two choirs (I speak more particularly of that portion of the one at Canterbury beyond the eastern transept) are separated by coupled round pillars having bold capitals with square abaci carr3mig simple but effective moulded arches; above are the openings of the triforium; each bay comprises two arches and pillars in a secondary order; above is a lofty coupled clerestorey window filling up the bay of the vaulting. 1 Single vaulting shafts spring from the caps of the lower arcade and rise to the top of the triforium where the stone vault commences. Nor does the general resemblance end here; the very details are the same, and the section of the base of the column is identical with the bases employed at Sens. Take now the design of any other cathedral of the same date, only a little later, and observe how totally imlike are the proportions and arrangements. Although each example shows great artistic power, this comparison is so distinct that the hand of a different of Sens was the one selected as the best master mason; and had not Gervase's account come down to us, the rebuilding would always have been known as the work of "Archbishop Richard, the architect." ' At Sens, the original clerestorey windows throughout the nave and choir were altered to two light ones at the end of the thirteenth century. 338 NORTHERN FRANCE artist is immediately observable, but looking at the two buildings referred to, Sens and Canterbury, if historical records were wholly wanting, we might, without hesitation, declare that the two buildings were designed by the same architect, owing to the mannerisms so remarkably evi- dent in both structures. I do not use this term in depre- ciation of such undoubtedly beautiful architecture, but simply as proving how difficult it is for any man to divest himself of certain trammels whereby he involuntarily repeats himself. The works of two great church archi- tects of our own day — Butterfield and Eearson — may be taken as modern illustrations of this.^ On entering Sens Cathedral for the first time, I could not help exclaiming, "Well, if this was the parent of Canterbury, it was indeed a glorious one!" The genius of the time, however, in this, as in almost every other period of Gothic architecture, dominates the genius of the master, even of a master like William of Sens, just as in the Church he served even the genius of a Gregory, or an Innocent — these seem expressions of corporate rather than outbursts of individual vigour. Sexpartite vaulting, with varied design of the intermediate piers, predilection for cylindrical columns, paired, grouped, and single, with acanthus-leafed capitals, and almost the normal proportions of columns — these are points of agreement between Sens and Canterbury, but they may be traced between many other structures earlier and later, at hand and remote; and even should character- istic mouldings have more coincidence than it struck me on my visit to Sens was the case, it would not be at all surprising to find agreement still closer with monu- ments at the other extremity of Christendom. Of a truth, it will often occur to the mind, when we ' St Matthias', Stoke Newingtou; St Alban's, Holborn; and St Augustine's, Queen's Gate by the former; and St John's, Red Lion Square; St Augustine's, Kilburn; and St Agnes', Liverpool, by the latter. SENS 339 glance over the wider field, that there was as much of concurrence as of sequence in the development of Gothic architecture, and that men felt their way onwards in parallel directions by sympathy as often as by signal and direct imitation. There are very few English cathe- drals in which every epoch of the style does not find some illustration, and there is more than one which, standing alone, might be taken to contain proof by what natural and easy gradations, — after the primary assxmiption of builders eager for novelty, ardent for improvement, and reckless of precedent as a restraint, — by what leading suggestions of convenience, and through what inviting and apparently manifest occasions of enrichment, the whole history of the art unfolded itself within the limit of a single ecclesiastical foundation. Take a walk down a nave like that of Worcester Cathe- dral, for instance, and scrutinise one pier after another. It is not difficult, after a little study, to discern the con- siderations of effect inducing every change, plausibly, at least, and even manifestly; but we must be cautious in assuming that we are, therefore, without question, at the centre of originality, the exclusive seat of the invention, for we have not to ramble far, and ramble as we may, we shall find the identical motives recognised elsewhere, lingered upon and sometimes dropped as rapidly, and sometimes retained to the end., Witii this reservation recorded, a casual resident, or a conning tourist, at any rate, may do well to restrict his attention to the care that the monument he visits places before him, and will so make the best of his time, both for notes and observations to be noted. Those who care to peruse his notes will probably also thank him for sparing them a digest of a local guide-book, and the authorities they are as familiar with, or know their way to, as well as himself. And so I set down my memoranda of effects for good or for ill, of natural developments and experimental changes, happy or the reverse, that 340 NORTHERN FRANCE struck me in the cathedral at Sens, on the several occasions when I have had the good fortune to visit it, either on the way to, or on the return from churches in the central departments of the coimtry. The main body of the church seems to have been proceeding in 1160 downwards, which was ten years before the murder of Becket, a great name at Sens, where he took refuge, or at least whither he retired in the course of his contest with Henry II. His vestments are still preserved in the treasury, and the sacristan at the time of my first visit to Sens recounted with great gusto how Archbishop Manning had pleased himself with harmlessly putting them on. (See Appendix, p. 385.) As it stood completed — at the end of the twelfth cen- tury, let us say — ^with its lateral chapels of the Virgm and St John, but without the transepts, Sens Cathedral must have presented one of the most perfect and beautiful illustrations of the style of architecture prevalent at the age of the Transition in Europe. Changes in its plan and structure began in 1206, when the chapel of St Savinien was thrown out from the centre of the procession- path. About the same time. King Philippe Auguste caused that curious steeple of lead, which was only re- moved in 1845, to be added to the northwestern tower, then commensurate in height only with the centre of the fafade. On Monday in Easter Week, 1267, the south- western tower, a work of the Transitional epoch, fell, crushing the bay of the nave under it and necessitating considerable alterations in the reconstruction of that part of the church. To this disaster we must attribute the west window, a large one of six lights with tracery composed of three foliated circles, but unpleasing from the depression of its arch, the wall space not permitting the architect to give it the pitch requisite for a window of such breadth. The stained glass with which this window was filled in 1579 from the ateliers of Jehan Grillot, was destroyed fifty-four years later during a :5MCESSi' < ti OS o w f^ WMMtM SENS 341 feu de joie fired in the city in celebration of the birth of the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XIV. Towards the end of the thirteenth century the clerestorey windows through- out the nave and choir were altered from what we may conclude was their originally simple lancet form to larger ones of two lights, and about the same time chapels were added to the aisles of the nave and choir. Subse- quently the belfry stage of the southwestern tower was built, and further embellished during the Late Gothic period with pinnacles and a parapet, but the tall angle turret — a work of combined boldness and grace — ^bespeaks the hand of an architect of the Early Renaissance. The transepts do not appear to have attained their present grand dimensions until the close of the fifteenth century. During the Renaissance period two more chapels were opened out of the procession path — those of the Sacre Cceur and St Colombe. The majestic baldachin over the high altar was erected in 1742 from the designs of Servandoni, but twenty years later the mediaeval rood-loft was removed and a high close screen and pair of gates substituted for it. The former was in the " Pagan Grecian" style, but the gates were of much beauty. At the same time the stalls were surmoimted by tall heavy wooden backs. In 1845 the old tour de plomb which surmounted the northern wing of the western fajade was removed, and a colossal group of Our Lord in the act of blessing and »adored by angels was placed in the highest stage of the front. This group, from the hand of M. Maindron, replaced one of similar character destroyed in 1730 to make room for a clock-dial! Between 1864 and 1872 some very drastic works were undertaken by M. VioUet-le-Duc, who removed the debased Grecian choir-screen and fittings, and substituted for them the present dwarf wall and grilles. ^^Le*-^uc, however, perpetrated a sad piece of mischief by sweep- ing away the Middle Pointed Chapels from the nave aisles. Whether these accretions were first-rate specimens 342 NORTHERN FRANCE of their age and style I cannot say, having but insufficient data to go upon, but they were marks of history and should have been preserved. In the view of Sens Cathedral from the south given by Chapuy in his Cathedrales Frangaises, published between 1823 and 1828, these chapels are shewn, but Chapuy's work is not always to be relied upon. The plates in his Moyen Age Pittoresque, issued between 1835 and 1843, ^^^6 superior, but still fall very far below those in Britton's "Cathedrals," "Architectural Antiquities," and "Picturesque Antiquities of the English Cities," engraved by Le Keux and Turrell from the pencils of such artists as Bartlett, Blore, Capon, Cattermole, Heame, Hodgson, and by that facile princeps of architectural draftsmen, Mackenzie. There is a powerful engine always in operation against the integrity of ancient architecture, viz., the vanity of the person employed, who chafes at the thought of being reduced to the level of a mere copyist.^ But to this an architect must submit, if he has resolved to be faithful to his trust. He can claim no right to injure the design which he is called upon to restore and preserve. Restor- ation by repair, and restoration by rebuilding, are very different operations; and every candid person will admit that Le Due committed a wanton piece of vandalism when he removed these chapels at Sens, and put large round-headed windows in the aisle walls, with under each one a miserable little gloomy chapel opening into the church by triple arcades. Caveaux funSraires, the old sacristan who piloted me round the cathedral con- temptuously, but appositely, styled them. That cruel feat with a cat would, I should imagine, be somewhat difficult of performance, in these miserable little "pseudo-Transitionisms." Fie! M. Le Due! ' The ends of the nave and transepts of St Albans Cathedral, and the tower of St Peter's in the same city, are fearful beacons of warning. SENS 343 In undertakings of this nature, the pride of the architect should be to preserve every footstep of antiquity; but, alas, vainglory steps m, and ancient churches are forcibly stamped with the unauthorized inventions of the aspirant to fame. A consistent, imaffected, and laudable respect for the magnificent edifices of former ages would naturally lead to the scrupulous preservation of every feature and ornament which time has not defaced or destroyed; and the absence of this feeling, backed by a large share of conceit, would lead to the overthrow of whole members of a design for the recompense of so much new stone- work, garnished with interpolations of modem taste in design and execution. Unfortunately, at Sens, these wretched eye traps, which have totally changed the external outline of the cathedral, have been so dexterously invented and set as to lead the unwary into regarding them as "well-restored" examples of Transitional work. I refer to the large round-headed windows which now light the nave aisles, and the triplets of little arcades which open into low chapels. It is needless to say that this pretended " resto- ration" has been most sharply and jusdy criticised by all persons of taste and lovers of architectural history. The wqnder is that while he was about it M. Le Due did not "bring back" the Flamboyant transepts to Transitional! Still, shutting our eyes to this mischief, the external views of Sens Cathedral are extremely fine, and the grey of the stone walls harmonises admirably with the quiet red of the tiled roofs. Particularly grand is the mass of the unfinished northwestern tower when viewed from the north end of the square out of which the facade with its three beautiful but sadly mutilated portals lifts its pearly- grey bulk. The belfry stage of the southwestern tower, though of a date considerably posterior to the four lower stages, has been so skilfully engrafted upon them that the addition does not appear in the least incongruous. The tall 344 NORTHERN FRANCE coupled windows with their boldly projecting barge- boards are most graceful, and the pinnacled buttresses at the angles assist in producing an outline which for elegance can hardly be surpassed. The belfry of Sens has always been celebrated. For- merly it contained a number of bells, but the greater part of them were stolen at the Revolution. At the present day there are but two great bourdons, bearing the names of Savinienne and Potentienne, in honour of the two missionaries' who planted Christianity in this part of France. They were foiuided in 1560, by Gaspard Mongin-Vard, and the deep and rich tones of their voices as they annoimced the hour of the Chapter OflSces on Sundays and Festivals doubtless live in the ears of all who have heard them. Entering this most beautiful of Transitional French churches by one of the lesser portals, let us observe the western bays of the nave which were involved in the same reconstruction as the towers and furnish a most interesting case of comparison with the forms that they superseded, of which presently. Varied and interrupted base mouldings on the exterior betray the alterations, and also the insertions of portals at a still later date. A general character is given to the interior by the prevalence of columns single, paired transversely, and grouped, with attic bases and capitals whose leafage recalls the Corinthian of older days. The first bays of the nave on entering the church are not included in the nave proper, but are specially and grandly treated; two octagonal piers of exceptional mass facing attached piers of corresponding plan. The vaulting is six-celled in the nave and four-celled in the aisles; the nave proper consists of three double bays of compound piers placed lozenge- wise, and intermediate pairs of pillars grouped on trans- verse axis of plan. The piers which terminate the series eastward are the huge ones of the crossing, and the west- ward are those which provide support for the towers, and SENS 345 between which and the west wall are bays of wider span and distinct vaulting, forming an interior porch or in- cluded narthex, as at Soissons. Although, therefore, the external porches are not very important, we are spared that imceremonious and blunt, not to say \mreverential neglect of any intermediate stage between the world without and the church within. The choir eastward, again, consists of three such six-celled compartments, but the coupled column of the arcades between it and the aisles now receive the addition of a pair of smaller columns in their nooks, and the apse is closed at the end by a pair of such groups with no intermediate pier. The extra projection of the great piers of the crossing and of the space between the towers, it will thus be seen, form the nave into one apartment of three double bays. A second division is given by the four great piers of the transept crossing, and then in the choir the two first six-celled bays are again distinguished by the larger size of their more eastern piers; while from these the interval or breadth of the choir narrows towards the turn of the proper apse. The fourfold grouped columns of the choir have a common abacus with a projection on each front, the expression of a distinct abacus for each column; the archivolts of the side arches are thus received very agree- ably where they are met at a right angle, and the jar of a skew incidence at the turn is at least considerably alleviated. The paired columns in the Trinity Chapel at Canterbury have an abacus of the same plan — the side projection being supported below by the projection of the combined leafage of the adjacent capitals. A special distinction is further given to the apse by a modification of the composition of its pairs of piers. There is some rather awkward vaulting in the aisle round the apse in consequence of the wide spread of the chapel piers relatively to the intervals of the apse; but the perspective effect from the choir is very happy, as 346 NORTHERN FRANCE the clear light of the chapel of St Savinien (which at Sens takes the place of that usually devoted to the Blessed Virgin) is seen at the east end, and through the lateral arches of the apse the pier of many members illuminated from the chapel at its side. In the general plan then, we have a very exemplary enunciation of the early Gothic principles to give a very positive expression to every distinct function. It was in this recognition of function that the architects of the time sought and found the source and result of expression and the varieties of architectural motives; but time had to go on before they acquired the art of economising emphasis — of blending and softening tran- sitions, so that contrast should not induce disassociation, nor variety lapse into confusion. The value in archi- tecture, above all other arts, of large breadths of uni- formity was recognised at last, and then repose was conciliated by a greater simplicity of design, by imiformity of piers and less gross diversity of those which still demanded prerogative distinction. The acquiring of such changes was not always in the same direction; in some epochs of architecture the law of well-balanced expression has to fight its way to light through chaotic contrasts; but sometimes its great difficulties lie with the discerning and marshaUings of right directions. As regards Gothic architecture, some of its most costly failures have been due to tameness resulting from the obscuring, not to say the obliteration, of all character, the reduction of the style to a mere scheme for mechanical application of one all-sufficing pattern. The views up or down the aisles of Sens Cathedral are very fine viewed under any conditions of light. I have seen them under all, but particularly grand did they appear on one occasion of my visits. I had arrived in the city on a brilliant Sunday of early August, from Auxerre. The afternoon Offices were being chanted in the choir, and as I crossed the threshold of the south- SENS 347 western door, the hymn before Magnificat for the First Vespers of the Transfiguration, sung to the massive Ascension-tide melody assigned in our "Hymnal Noted" to the " Jesu nostra Redemptio " struck upon the ear. Between each of the verses, the first of which I subjoin, the player on the great organ at the west end of the cathedral improvised upon the melody in a most brilliant manner, thereby producing a fine effect: " Quicumque Christum quaeritis Oculos in altum tollite: Ille licebit visere Signum perennis gloriae." ' All ye who seek in hope and love For your dear Lord, look up above! Where, traced upon the azure sky, Faith may a glorious form descry. — Caswall's Lyra Catholica. The pillars attached to the walls are all imiform, and of general normal proportions, and convey an impression of the germ of a style never yet thoroughly and artistically wrought out of combining the colonnade and the vaults, which causes a sense of regret as we turn to follow the course of development in another direction, promising, fruitful, as this might be: and so again, it is not without regret that we feel constrained to assent to the sacrifice of those transverse coupled columns which are the leading features of the interior of Sens Cathedral, and in them- selves have certainly a very grand effect, though it must be admitted the sculpture of their capitals is inferior to those of Paris and Canterbury, in combined boldness and delicacy. In the triforium, the arches — like those of the main arcade below them — are pointed throughout, and in ' The author of this hymn was Prudentius, and it forms the twelfth or last poem in his Cathemerinon. Though one of his finest efforts, it was comparatively little used in the services of the church until the revision of the Roman Breviary after the Council of Trent. 348 NORTHERN FRANCE both cases the solid keystones show that the reconstruc- tion of the southwestern piers is only answerable for the architect's own division. His changes at the tri- forium are marked enough. He gave more definition to the roll-mouldings of the pair of super-arches; he inserted a blank quatrefoil in the head of each, and, for their common central pier with face shaft, substituted a triplet of shafts — the foliage of the capitals taking, of course, a new form. A few remarks must be made upon one cardinal change in the reconstructed bays, — it is that which we may recognize in the modification of probably every altered Norman cathedral in England, and almost as constantiy on the Continent; it consists in giving enhanced height to the opening of the nave arch. The exposition of the general principle involved in such change, and of the forms and limits of its application, belong to — in fact would constitute — a treatise. It must suffice here to notice that it helped the law of subordination — it helped the expression of lightness and loftiness so essential to the style. In this case the new architect did not, as was frequently the case, interfere with the level of the trifoiium^tringcourse, but he took-^dvaiifage of every inch that fiiiml""aJlowed him, and fairly opens jftie arch up to a level with the crown of the aisle vault. As the line of capitals is also left undisturbed, the nave arch necessarily becomes more acute. The acuteness is further enhanced by the contraction of the free span of the arch consequent upon the substitution of a pier of broader axis for the coupled colimms. Proportions, therefore, are revolutionised in every direction; and if the designer was right in securing at any rate enhanced height for the nave arch, we are still bound to ask whether he made the best compromise, or received the best ad- vantage possible for the disturbance in the other directions; the height of the arch relatively to its span, and also relatively to the height of the colimms become changed, SENS 349 and very important, the proportion between the interval of the piers and the width of the aisles and nave and the breadth of the piers. The characteristic expression of the cathedral was indeed threatened to be materially impaired. The unusual width of the nave harmonises with the free open- ing into the aisles that is favoured by the transversely coupled colimms and the broad open span of the original nave arches, both seriously compromised in the new arrangement. After the contemplation of high antiquity in the western parts of the building, the approach to the transepts awakens tliat sense of veneration which rarely finds language to express its feelings. The most enthusiastic admirer of the beautiful woiild here pause in sober certainty of the Gothic style having reached perfection in its own particular genre. I may affirm that after having seen a thousand fine churches in Europe, I should be at a loss to particularise any one — Beauvais perhaps excepted, the transepts of which have so indelibly impressed their features on my memory as chef d'ceuvres in design and execution. Engrafted between 1490 and 1504 by Martin Cham- biges of Troyes upon the old twelfth-century work, these Flamboyant transepts of Sens present no harsh or sud- den transition, so skilfully and delicately has the work been accomplished. Their glories are, as in most work of the epoch, the_vKindowSi_of which the pair in the clerestorey on the western and eastern sides of either transept are of four lights crossed at mid-height by a transom. These, however, are surpassed in splendour by the great windows at the north and_,so-uth__endSi They are composed of five two-light'windows surmounted by a rose of huge dimensions, the stonework of whose tracery is so exquisitely carved, that but for the certainty of the material having been raised from the quarries of Bailly in Yonne, one would feel disposed to distrust the 3SO NORTHERN FRANCE evidence of one's eyes, and declare the whole to have been wrought in lime-tree wood or African ivory. The effect is charming; and the taste evinced by the architect in every line and curve of these windows indicates all that feeling and genius which, through centuries, has con- tinued to think out and bring into existence such monu- ments, as little else than works emanating from inspiration. Consummate skill and mathematical knowledge must have been brought to bear upon these masterpieces of ecclesias- tical structure. The harmonious arrangement of flowing lines and ingenious combination was not produced solely from a correct perception of the beautiful, but from the nicest sense, also, of the effect resulting from just jiropat- tion, and the distr|b-uLion_of pleasing forms. I have tested many oTmy drawings made at different periods of these glorious designs with a pair of compasses, and foimd them to consist of curves sweeping from many central points, traversed and divided and sub-divided, yet asserting their affinities and blending, of necessity, as it were, one with another, till a perfect curvilinear figure developed itself, to the rich perfectionation of which they had all proved themselves accessoryy- Until 1864, or thereabouts, the choir of Sens^Cathedral was separated from the nave by a pair of very handsomely wrought iron gates, on either side of which was .an altar- piece composed of Ionic columns in pairs. On the removal of this Neo-Classical screen, ■the gates were placed at the entrance of the chapel of Ste Colombe, whither Coustou's great tomb of the dauphin (son of Louis XV.) and his wife, which hitherto had occupied a much too prominent place in the centre of the choir, had been removed some years previously. The gates just aUuded to are a remarkably fine specimen of the Later Renaissance school of ironwork, whose germs are first discerned under Henri IV. Under Louis XIII. a fully developed style is found, which rapidly elaborated imtil it reached its culimating point under Louis XV. During this period SENS 351 nearly every cathedral in France and Belgium seems to have had new choir and chapel grilles, and tiie demand for high-class smith's work must have been prodigious. The publications of Lamour, Fordrin, Cuvillife, and others, sufficiently show its public estimation, and that considerable individuality and diversity existed in style even in France, a diversity greatly accentuated as it spread across the borders in every direction to the coim- tries both far and near. The magnificent gates and screens to the choir aisles and sanctuary of St Paul's, by Tijou, may be adduced in illustration of this.^ The clerestorey of the choir underwent alteration at the end of the thirteenth century, the single lancets beinffchanged into windows of two uncusped lights sur- mj^imted by a large trefoil. •/The high altar stands beneath a very majestic bal- dachino designed by Servandoni about 1742. The four Corinthian columns supporting the canopy are of marble, with pedestals bases and capitals of bronze gilt. At Sens liiis baldachino does not seem so much out of place amidst Gothic surroundings as one would expect. In a French chmrch there is so much that is reminiscent of Rome, one incongruity more or less makes little difference. Habit causes each part to be considered independently, and the relation between them and the whole is generally disregarded. Perhaps the congruity of its pillars with those of the pier-arches induced M. Le Due to have mercy upon this fine specimen of Neo-Classic furniture when he cleared the choir of its screen and stall-backs. At Sens, devotion to St Savinien eclipsed that to the ' It is to be regretted that this fine pair of gates at Sens was not retained as an entrance to the choir. Supplemented with open grilles corresponding in style, the whole would have formed exactly the right separation required between the two portions of the church, giving it an appearance of greater length, but not interfering with the view into the choir. 352 NORTHERN FRANCE Blessed Virgin, so the Chapel of Our Lady was relegated to a less exalted position than the head of the cross/ viz., on the eastern side of the south transept. It occupies the site of an oratory raised by St Savinien, and its last restoration dates from 1574. Until recently this apsidal chapel contained a very interesting and beautifid altar- piece of the same epoch in the style of the Early Renais- sance, but this has unfortunately disappeared and given plan to a modem Gothic one, in which, however, a statue of the Virgin, sculptured in 1334, has been placed. Advancing up the south choir aisle we observe on the right-hand side the chapel of St Martial foimded in 1330 by Archbishop Pierre Roger, afterwards Pope Clement VI., and whose effigy is represented in the beautiful stained glass which fills its four-light geometrically traceried window. The next chapel, that of St Appoline, is a pleasing Flamboyant addition, and then comes that little staircase with its stepped, round arcade, leading to the sacristy, which has so often engaged the pencils of artists. In the large semicircular Renaissance chapel at the bend of this aisle the round-headed windows of four lights are filled with plain curvilinear tracery. St Savinien's Chapel is an elegant addition of the first ten years of the thirteenth century and is two bays in length, terminating in a three-sided apse. The windows, of which the first one on either hand is blocked, are of two unfoliated lights with a quatrefoiled circle above. Here may be seen some remains of Post- Gothic wall painting, and, blocking up the lower part of the central window, a large group 'representing the martyrdom of St Savinien, the backgroxmd to which is in the form of drapery exe- cuted in stucco. The group is good, but by short-sighted people the groundwork might be taken for a piece of sail cloth himg up during some repairs. ' As at Canterbury and Rochester, where the Lady Chapels are on the eastern side of the great transept and on the south side of the nave respectively. SENS 353 This chapel is fitted with stalls for the canons who recite the weekday Offices here. In the plain white glass of the three large round- headed windows which light the Chapel of Ste Colombe, some circular medallions of stained glass, taken probably from the Transitional windows displaced when this chapel was thrown out, have been fixed. The effect is very good. As already mentioned, the fine iron gates enclosing this chapel formed part of the choir screen erected in 1762. Opening from the north transepit is the Chapel of St John the Baptist, whose apse is the only remains of" the precursor of the present cathedral. It is Romanesque, very simple and lighted by three small round-headed windows. The arch opening from this chapel to the north aisle of the choir is also Romanesque, but the western part of the chapel, where it adjoins the transept, is Flamboyant, rather intricately vaulted from capless shafts and lighted on the north side by a richly traceried window of four compartments. This chapel now forms the baptistery, and contains a font in the Renaissance style. In addition to the objects of interest already alluded to in this cathedral are: a stone altarpiece dating from the middle of the sixteenth century and erected against one of the great piers on the north side of the nave as a memorial to his parents, by Archbishop Tristan de Salazar; the tomb of Chancellor Duprat, and the kneeling figures of the brothers Jacques and Jean du Perron, successively archbishops of Sens;^ a series of portraits of archbishops preserved in the chapter house, and some fine tapestries. Sens Cathedral is rich in ancient stained glass of every epoch. The oldest and most valuable is in the four large round-headed windows in the north aisle of the choir. Two of these windows illustrate the Life of St Eustache, ' All this statuary was more or less defaced during the Revolution. 354 NORTHERN FRANCE and the martyrdom of St Thomas of Canterbury; the others, the Story of Humanity as portrayed in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and that of the Prodigal Son.i All this glass dates from the end of the twelfth century, and is one of the best preserved specimens of its age in France. It bears so striking a resemblance to that in the eastern part of Canterbury Cathedral, that it is not unreasonable to suppose that it emanated from the same ateliers. In the St Eustache window the manner in which the lead work forms geometrical patterns is worthy of remark. In the Chapel of St Savinien, the three windows in the apse, executed early in the thirteenth century, exhibit a number of small groups illustrating the lives of St Peter and St Paul, but owing perhaps to ignorance, in the course of renovation, some of the subjects have been disarranged. The effect, however, of the whole is extremely beautiful. Some good fourteenth-century glass, supplemented in places by modem work, adorns the windows in two of the chapels opening from the south aisle of the choir. Here, agreeably to the custom of that epoch, the figures (single ones, canopied) are arranged in the middle of the window, on alternate groimds of blue and ruby, the space above and below being en grisaille. In the opposite aisle some good modem stained glass on the same motif has been inserted. Of the stained glass in the clerestorey of the choir, that in the apse is the most perfect, and has lately been restored. The central window is devoted to scenes from the Passion, with Our Lord in the act of benediction in the circle above the two lights. The window to the left of this, as the spectator faces it, illustrates the principal events in the life of the Virgin; the corresponding one, to the right, those in the life of St Stephen, the patron saint of the cathedral. In the ' Vide Appendix. SENS 355 circle of this window we see the soul of St Stephen carried up into heaven in the form of a small human figure. The six windows of the clerestorey on either side of the choir have simply pattern work, except the circles which enclose half figures of Our Lord and His apostles. All this glass is of the thirteenth century. In the clerestorey windows of the nave, which were inserted in the Transi- tional walls about the same time as those in the choir, the glass is en grisaille, without groups or figures. In the great Flamboyant windows of the transepts the painted glass is entirely of the latest Gothic period. It was executed during the early part of the sixteenth cen- tury by artists of Troyes and Sens, viz., Lidvin Voirin, Venat and Godon, Hympe and Grassot. Jean Cousin, one of the most celebrated stained-glass artists of the latter part of the century, was a pupil of the two last named. The rose above the ten lights of the great south tran- sept window represents the Last Judgment, the lights themselves being filled with scenes from the life of St Stephen. The subjects in the two large four-light windows of the clerestorey on the western side of this transept depict the "Invention" of the body of St Stephen; those in the opposite clerestorey, the Radix Jesse and the history of St Nicholas. In the great window of the northern transept we have, in the ten lights, a series of groups illustrating the several appearances of the angel Gabriel, while in the rose above is a Celestial Concert. This glass is perhaps the finest of all in this part of the building. The subjects relative to St Gabriel were the gift of the Dean, Gabriel Gouffier, who is represented kneeling by the side of the angel in the Annunciation group. The clerestorey windows in this transept represent the histories of Abrahani and Joseph; large single figures of sixteen canonised archbishops of Sens; and eight saints— Savinien, Stephen, Lawrence, and Potentien; 3S6 NORTHERN FRANCE Paule, Colombe, Beate, and the Magdalene. All this glass has been very cleverly restored of late years, under the superintendence of MM Hisch and Didron. In the chapel of the Sacr^ Cceur is a window attributed to Jean Cousin representing the Sybil of the Tiber, showing the Emperor Augustus the Virgin Mother of the Messiah. This window was partly broken in 1814 by the bullets of the Wurtemburg troops, the city of Sens having offered resistance to the army of the Allied Powers. At the period these windows were inserted, i.e., the first half of the sixteenth century, when new ideas came into France from Flanders and Italy, glass painting was thriving as regards technique, and the Renaissance was really in design alone. Motifs of ornament from Flemish and Italian Renaissance were adopted and expressed in Gk)thic technique. At Rouen we have examples showing the transition, and the earliest of them exhibit this rise of Renaissance detail treated technically in the same manner as the Gothic canopies. In King's College Chapel, Cambridge, is a similar series of English examples in which, however, the Italian influence appears less direct. This is not surprising, as in France, Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, Benvenuto Cellini, Prim- aticcio, and many other less-known Italian craftsmen were working. The art of glass painting was the more influenced by Renaissance ideas because the line of sepa- ration between architect, sculptor, painter, and glass painter was little marked. Jean Cousin, who executed the fine stained glass in the first chapel on the south side of the nave at Sens, representing the story of St Eutrope, the first Bishop of Saintes, was at once architect, sculptor, glass painter, and engraver, while he possessed sufficient knowledge of anatomy and mathematics to write a treatise thereon.^ ' Jean Cousin was educated at Sens among glass painters. Windows, attributed to him, may be seen in St Servais at Paris, and St Godard at Rouen. SENS 3S7 It was to the breadth of study then in vogue that we may attribute the power of the work done between 1520 and 1550. The works of the Middle Renaissance show a wondrous combination; the true principles of glass- painting, glorious colour, refinement, grace and power of anatomy, vigour of design, and individuality of con- ception — all might be found united in the same work. It was the work of artists who were thoroughly versed in all the technique of glass painting. After 1550 the glass painter aimed less at producing a beautiful glass painting than a picture full of strong contrasts in light and shade, the technique was interfered with to obtain such contrasts, and so the grace and silveriness of the glass was lost, and the colouration sacrificed. Much of the glass in the Late Gothic choir of St Etienne at Beauvais exemplifies this decadence. Since its foimdation at a very early period of the Chris- tian era by St Savinien, the throne of Sens has been occupied by 1 13 archbishops, of whom about a score are honoured as saints; ten have been admitted to the Cardi- nalate; and one, Pierre Roger, became Pope imder the title of Clement VI. (1342-52). Formerly the metropolitan of Sens had for suffragans the bishops of Chartres, Auxerre, Meaux, Paris, Orleans, Nevers and Troyes. The initial letters of the seven towns form the word Compotj which the arch-see bears on its arms with eight symbolic crosses. In the seventeentii century, the erection of Paris into an archbishopric detached Chartres, Orleans, and Meaux from Sens. In 1801 the see was suppressed and annexed to that of Troyes, but in 1821, after the new Concordat between Louis XVIII. and Pius VII., the archbishopric was restored, with Troyes, Nevers and Moulins as suffragans. In order to preserve the memory of the see of Auxerre, which was suppressed in 1801 and not since restored, Pius VII. by a Brief of June 3, 1823, decreed that in future 3S8 NORTHERN FRANCE the Archbishop of Sens should bear the title of Bishop of Auxerre. Until the Revolution Sens was one of the great metropolitans of the kingdom, the archbishop being entitled " Primate of the Gauls and of Germany." The last prelate of the ancien regime who filled the archiepiscopal chair of Sens was Lomenie de Brienne. He was an early friend of Turgot, and is said to have collaborated with him in his able work, Le Concilateur, ou Lettres d'un ecclesiastique d, un magistrat, published in 1754. In 1781 he was mentioned to Louis XVI., as a possible successor to Archbishop Beaumont in the throne of Paris. "No," said the king," "it is still necessary that an Archbishop of Paris should believe in God." Brienne, who had previously held the see of Toulouse, was the last in the series of ecclesiastics who, with great diversities of intellectual capacity, but with an almost uniformly low average of mind and religious worth, enjoyed political ascendency under the feudal monarchy of France. This prelate held five great abbeys in addition to the Archbishopric of Sens. His ecclesiastical income is said to have reached 68,000 francs (£2'j,2cx>). On his relinquishment of the mitre of Toiilouse for that of Sens in 1789, Lomenie de Brienne was, at the urgent request of Louis XVI. created a cardinal by Pius VI. TROYES Travellers who are turning their faces homewards, either from Switzerland or beyond the Alps, with still a reserve of time for the intermediate "fewdays at Paris," will do wisely to trench on their reserve for an intermediate day or two at Troyes. There is no city on the line of that long day's journey from Basle to Paris that will so well reward the lover of architecture, the student of its development, or the votary of the ancillary arts, to each and all of whom architecture is almost equally TROYES 359 welcome, whether good, bad or indifferent, in progress or in decay, simple or sophisticated, provided it ministers, as it may under any one of these conditions — as it does under each in Troyes — to picturesque effect. There is instruction to be found at Langres, where the Cathedral of St Mammds with its Burgimdian nave alone repays a brief sojourn. There is interest at Chaumont; but a first halt at the old capital of the Comtes de Cham- pagne — and a Sunday should if possible be selected for his purpose, on account of the dignified services in its glorious caliiedral — is likely to induce a resolution to make a second, so numerous are its churches, and, although to some extent "restored," so instinct with life and replete with specimens of all the ancillary arts in a style which the visitor will not be long in discovering to be one quite peculiar to the locality. The history is much the same here as elsewhere, if here its annals in some chapters seem to be written a little more distinctly than usual. In general summary it may seem a very old story indeed. Designs over- matched in daring the means of complete execution within reasonable time; fashion changed meanwhile, or the directing influence was transferred to other hands. The self-assertion of each successor was as merciless here as elsewhere, and work was carried on according to the new taste, and often enough in imsparing disre- gard of the incongruous. Where the transitions are less violent, and especially when they are towards improvement, we may designate them honourably as developments, albeit it may seem that a structure completed in a single though inferior style were better than a hybrid, whereof one half is insulted by contemptuous disregard and the other only notably disgraced by unworthy association. Here at Troyes the story of transitions is carried down well to the days of the Renaissance, and the architectural catena is so unbroken that it seems clear enough that the men 36o NORTHERN FRANCE who put Roman facades to Gothic churches were no foreign intruders, but true and native sons of the fathers who had attached Gothic facades to Romanesque naves. It was clearly open to these later men to cite the precedent and claim to be at least as good — if they had not the Sthenelean confidence to "boast to be better than their sires." They scarcely justified either pretension, — these later men, — certainly not at Troyes, only approxi- mately elsewhere in France. But of the pretension itself they left' no doubt. They turned to work in a revived style indeed, but with a resolution, while so working, to produce results similar to nothing that had existed before; and in this at least they succeeded where there was, per- chance a little too often, no other success to boast of. Few nations can rival the French, it may be safely said, in the arts of peace, in conciliating largeness of design with a taste for detail; daring is the attempt to combine qualifications that seem so often hopelessly incompatible. The greatest results are only to be obtained by forcing them into union, and there is glory even in a splendid failure — "Magnis tamen excidit ausis," — but woe to him who can do no more than overwhelm elegant and ingenious detail by clumsiness of general mass, or who degrades nobility of magnitude and generosity of scale into a mere acervation of paltriness. The architects who built at Troyes just at the crisis when the revulsion of taste came on, could not but prove themselves the sons of their immediate fathers. The tendency to the over- done and the fantastic that was rapidly choking the genius of the traditional style could not but reappear in the new adoption, and very extraordinary indeed are some of the new productions in which its survival is exhibited. In the church of St Martin close to the railway station — the traveller passes it on his way to or from Chilons-sur- Mame — is an example of a Renaissance fafade applied to an elder Gothic church ; elsewhere within the city we find works still more portentous; occasionally Gothic tracery 2^ Q M W c 33 3 H -o <: o o — Cfl ?•' W - o '^ < a c td o < -" TROYES 361 has been removed from windows that are refilled with combinations of pilasters and dwarfed entablatures and flattened circles. In the facade of the cathedral itself, Gothic and Renaissance work were going on concurrently, and even low down about the piers of towers and door- ways, it is impossible to divide the schools and epochs by any horizontal line, or clear vertical section; if the right hand supplied the Gothic frame, the left seems to have been ready to fill it with Classic details; and the cusps and foils of the panels have but the same relief as the sculptured grotesques of mingled foliage and mythological forms, that are niched within and below them. Better than this it was that the new style should strike for entire independence; it was not long in doing so; and at the little village of St Andrd near Troyes, the church of the patron saint has an elaborate double portal, in which the seK-assertion of the intrusive style is complete. It is almost needless to remark that it would be too much to expect every individual building of the same class to fall precisely within any boimdaries which may circumscribe the duration of the various styles, even should these limits be less rigorously defined than by the dates adopted in these pages. The varying disposi- tion of men's minds, some prepared to welconie novelty, others inclined to reject it; a lingering affection for long- consecrated forms on the one hand, the fascination of new ones on the other; the influence of locality, besides numberless circumstances which readily suggest them- selves, but which it is unnecessary to recapitulate — must naturally have tended to retard the adoption of a system in one province or district, and to hasten its naturalisa- tion in another. Add to this, that the two consecutive styles would doubtless for some period be used concurrently before a final preference was given to the more modem one. Of this, so far as regards the Flamboyant and the 362 NORTHERN FRANCE Renaissance, there exists a very interesting illustration m the archives of the city of Troyes, where the origmal plans and sections of the church of St Nicolas are pre- served. Amongst these is the design of a projected portal, represented on the left of the drawing in the Renaissance style, on the right in the Flamboyant. Unfortunately, the former was adopted and executed: its date is 1540. But it is not with the churches which cluster in Troyes almost as thickly as in Cologne ^ that we are now con- cerned. It is not with St Urbain, that most enchanting spectacle the genius of man has bequeathed to the admira- tion of successive ages;^ nor with La Madeleine of the wonderful lace-like juh6; nor with St Pantaloon, so profusely adorned with native works in sculpture and stained glass en grisaille; nor with the equally fascinating St Jean, St Nicolas, St Nizier, and the ChapeUe de St Gilles. For details and illustrations of all these I would refer the reader to Amaud's "Voyage dans le D6partement de I'Aube" and to an interesting series of articles in "The Builder's Journal" of last year. Our business is with the mother church of St Peter and St Paul, assuredly the glory of southern Champagne, and in many ways one of the most interesting and valuable illustrations of the several phases through which the Pointed architecture of France passed, from the begin- ning of the thirteenth century to the middle of the six- teenth. The see of Troyes, founded as it was early in the ' The presence of old open-backed benches in these churches of Troyes and its outlying villages confers that picturesqueness upon them which is hardly attained where chairs — in many cases as snugly upholstered as the pews in a fashionable English district church — are in use. Many of the interesting churches in Troyes and its neighbourhood are figured in Arnaud's "Voyage dans le Department de I'Aube," published about sixty years ago. ' A drawing of the exterior of this beautiful structure has been selected as a frontispiece for this volume. TROYES 26s fourth century, is of remote antiquity. From that time to the present, except between 1802 and 1821, when it had Paris for its metropolitan, the bishopric has been included in the province of Sens. On 25th July, 1 188, a fire, which destroyed the greater part of Troyes, laid in ashes the Romanesque predecessor of the existing magnificent structure, as narrated in the chronicle of a certain "Robertus monachus S. Mariani Autissiod" — "In crastinum euisdem festi, Trecce ciuitas populosa, referta opibus, tectis amplissima, repentina conflagratione fere fimditus est euersa. Episcopalis Ecclesia tegulis plumbeis decenter coperta, illo tunc incendio conflagrauit." This catastrophe happened at a time when Europe was busy with the holy wars, for twenty years elapsed before any steps were taken towards rebuilding the Cathedral of Troyes. It was Herv^e, a zealous bishop, who, in 1208, conceived and urged forward the work of re-edification, but he was not spared to see the accomplishment of his undertaking, for at his death, on the Festival of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin (July 2), 1223, the sanc- tuary of the existing church with its circumscribing aisle and corona of chapels were scarcely finished. During the episcopate of his successor, Robert, the apse sustained much damage through a violent storm of wind. Nicolas de Brie, in 1233, repaired this damage and prosecuted the works in the choir with energy, aided by the offerings of the faithful in response to a bull of the Pope (Gregory IX.), dated September 10, 1229, but it was 1304 before the choir was properly finished xmder the then bishop, Jean d'Auxois. During the reigns of Philippe-le-Bel and Louis Hutin (1285-1314), the works in the transepts were expedited, but on 13th August, 1365, a steeple, which had been raised over the crossing was blown down, the damage caused by this accident delaying the contmuation of the nave, of which one bay only had been finished. The 364 NORTHERN FRANCE English wars also militated seriously against the resump- tion of the works in the western limb of the church. These dragged on through the first half of the fifteenth century, though the nave seems to have been thought sufficiently advanced by 1430 for consecration, since we learn from the " Archives Historiques du D^partement de L'Aube," ^ that the then bishop, Jean VII. (Leguisd) "dedid, le 9. Juillet I'Eglise Cath&irale de Troyes, sous les noms des Ap6tres, S Pierre et S Paul." Louis Raguier continued the works in the nave, which were only brought to a conclusion in 1 506-11, together with the west front, under the direction of the maitre de magonnerie, Martin Cambiche. ^ The long period that elapsed between the inception of this raajestic cathedral in the thirteenth century to its completion in the sixteenth, fully accounts for the diversity of styles reigning in it; but all these styles, begin- ning with the First Pointed of the apse and its chapels, going on through the western part of the choir with the triforiimi and clerestorey, in a later phase of the epoch, to the full-blown Middle Pointed of the transepts and nave, supply us with a perfect succession of the various forms assumed by French Gothic from its birth to its death from pure exhaustion. And what a wonderful manifestation are these great medisval cathedrals, not alone of France, but of all Europe, of the plastic nature of Pointed architecture! The purist may object to this mSlange, and say, why could not the men of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries carry on the work in the style begun by those of the thirteenth? Surely it indicates whim, love of novelty, a trafficking spirit of composition. The reply must be, no! All this variety is due to the fact that men of mind were at work, whose genius was ' MS. pp. 14-16, ig, et 21. ' Mandement . de Louis Raguier, EvSque. H fait porter par Ic diocfese les reliques de la Cath^drale, avec indulgences pour ceux qui les honoreront et contribueront k, I'achfevement de la nef, — Ibid. TROYES 365 not exhausted by a single effort; uniting great originality with great patience and enduring labour, and a thorough, systematic education in their art. The Cathedral of Troyes is another of those five-aisled churches of which Notre Dame at Paris, Meaux, and Orleans have already furnished us examples, with a range of square chapels along the outer aisles of the nave, which, if we include the bay covered by the tower, has seven pier arches on either side. These chapels are formed, as usual, by setting back the enclosing walls upon the edge of the buttresses. Beyond the transept, the external" aisle on each side is coterminous only with the first three bays of the choir, the internal one alone being prolonged round the apse. This last represents seven sides of a dodecagon, which is also the plan of the Lady Chapel; the remaining six radiating chapels com- prise five sides of the same figure, the separation between them being effected by the buttresses seen externally. There are no aisles to the transepts, and the last chapel on either side of the nave has its eastern wall constructed at an acute angle, so that, sloping off from the western wall of the transept it was practicable to give it a window. This arrangement is remarkable, and one which I do not recollect meeting with elsewhere. The choir, if deficient in that expansion and dignity which is so pleasing at Rheims and Chartres is, neverthe- less, a fine piece of Early French work, but Troyes being one of the cathedrals badly built in the first instance, considerable alterations have been perforce made in it since its construction in the thirteenth century. As lately as 1849 fissures presented themselves jn the vaulting of the Lady Chapel and the neighbouring ones, so much so that it was found necessary, at various times between that year and 1872 to take down a considerable portion of the masonry to its fovmdations. In all these chapels the windows are of the simple lancet type, one serving for each side of the apse terminating the chapel, and filled 366 NORTHERN FRANCE as they are, for the most part, with " mosaic " stained glass, they present, when viewed almost in ensemble from a certain point in the choir, a coup cfceil of brilliancy and splendour well-nigh unequalled. No less splendid, but more advanced in style, is the glass which fills the clere- storey windows of the apse and choir. In the former, the windows are of two uncusped lights, bearing a large sex-foiled circle, but the mullions, arches, and circum- scribing circle of the rose are so thin that the tracery looks as though it were a mere framework for its rich vitreous decoration. The visitor should make a point of viewing these windows about noon on a brilliant summer's day from the parvis in front of the cathedral, whence, the great doors being thrown open to their utmost width, the glass suggests tiers of variegated coloured lamps sus- pended at the extremity of a cavern. The clerestorey windows of the choir partake of a semi-Decorated char- acter, the comprising arch being filled with a sex-foliated circle resting upon two pointed arches, each subdivided in its turn into two lights which take between them a circle similarly cusped. It is not improbable that all the windows in the clerestorey of the choir at Troyes were originally of the same character as those in the apse, but on the alterations consequent upon the failing of the masonry in the thirteenth century they were given their present form from considerations of greater security. The triforium storey (a narrow passage) consists, above every pier arch, of four stilted, pointed arches, each comprehending a trefoil upon two trefoil-headed openings below, separated by bearing shafts. The back of this gallery is pierced with windows of corresponding character, to admit light and glazed with stained glass, as at Amiens, Beauvais, Tours, etc. The three pier arches of the centre of the apse, very much stilted and obtusely pointed, are carried upon cylindrical columns with a very slender pillar in front and towards the apsidal aisle for the sustentation of the TROYES 367 vaulting ribs. In the latter these shafts are entirely free as to the columns, but connected with them by their abacus and base mouldings. The two succeeding pier arches on each side completing the apse are sustained on squares with their angles plainly chamfered, having a larger shaft on each of the four faces and a smaller one at each comer. The remaining arches, making up the choir, rest upon piers of the more common plan of an assemblage of shafts of different diameter attached in angular recesses, such, too, being the composition of the four great piers of the crossing. The external aisle of the choir is divided from the internal one by stout octagons carrying a shaft on their alternate sides. This diversity in the planning of the piers of the choir at Troyes is only one of the many pleasing subjects for study in this lovely building. In the outer aisles of the choir the windows are composed of two tall uncusped lancets supporting a circle. The stalls occupy the first two arches of the choir, and behind them, raised on walls a few feet above the floor of the aisles, are modem stone screens, in the form of three unglazed windows to each bay composed of two trefoil-headed openings surmoimted by a cinquefoiled circle. The tops of these screens are horizontal and support figures of angels. A dwarf wall, relieved with arcading and surmounted on either side of the entrance by a pillaret supporting a candelabrum, forms a not very worthy screen between the crossing and the choir. The same type of pier and arch as in the choir is foimd on the eastern side of either transept to the depth of the double aisles of the former. The triforium stage of the sides of the transepts exhibit perfect identity of feature with the corresponding member of the choir, with the single exception of the quintuple vaulting shaft which Here ascends from the floor to the springing of the vaulting ribs. The clerestorey windows in the eastem wall of either arm are magnificent ones of six lights with Flam- 368 NORTHERN FRANCE boya'nt tracery in the heads, and those in the west wall, three-light ones of indifferent geometrical design. In the north and south fronts are opened large rose windows, which from the unusual breadth of the wall space are of great diameter. The Decorated style has certainly given birth to no more graceful conceptions than the elegant and elaborate tracery of these roses at Troyes. The circle is inscribed in a square, the horizontal line at the summit being supported by a multangular pillar with crocketed triangular canopy over each side, which somewhat disa^eeably obstructs the view. Circular windows were employed abroad wherever a window of the ordinary form would become of too low and broad a proportion. The term "marigold" has been applied to these circular windows in which radiating mullions prevail, and "rose" to those in which no such lines are foimd. The preference given to the latter may be traced to the feeling for subordination of the classes tof form. A general form of the third class should not be [filled up with details of the second. The finest rose windows, perhaps, are at St Ouen, Rouen, and the im- mense ones at Beauvais, in which, however, there is not enough subordination of different classes of mullions. The finest of the radiating sort are at Strasburg and the south front of Amiens, where a pleasing variety is pro- duced by the lines radiating from points a little distant from the centre, so as to give alternately a few radiating and a few parallel mullions. The figure called Pentalpha, from five appearances of the letter A radiating from a pentagon in the centre of the circle, without excluding the quatrefoils and rays, is not imcommon in French rose-window tracery. One of the best-known examples, and one which at the period of its execution was regarded as a central feature of beauty hitherto unattempted in the complex design of that class of ornaments, is in the north transept of St < H Q S a ° u o tn ? W o > -a O .5 « & C^ hJ tn < D5 w Q W « < s U hJ rn „ 3 > O C/ TROYES 369 Ouen at Rouen, the legend concerning which is — like that of the celebrated "Prentice pillar" at Rosslyn, too well known to need repetition. Architects of these "rosaces" followed the example of flowers in foundmg their division chiefly on the numbers 3 and 5, those divisible by 4 being extremely rare. The term "wheel," applied indiscriminately to all round windows, would be better restricted to those called in France "roses toumantes," which differ from ordinary roses in having the similar sectors of the pattern not alternately reversed, but all turned the same way, which gives the idea of rotation. There are many varieties of them, though none con- tain more than six or eight panels, there being none above the smallest scale; probably from a feeling of the instability given by their rotatory expression. Hence the use of a larger and complex one as a principal and central feature must be considered as very questionable taste. The piers separating the nave of Troyes Cathedral from its first aisle, and those between the two aisles, although similar in plan, differ as to the treatment of their accessories as the work proceeds westward. In the nave these piers are made up of quadrangular masses, to three of whose sides square-edged pilasters carrying in front an engaged shaft are applied; the six re-entering angles formed by the iatersection beiag also occupied by shafts of smaller diameter, and the pier completed towards the nave by a compact group of vaulting shafts, continued through as in the transept from the floor to the springing of the vault. In the row of piers separating the two aisles, the plan is that of a plain cruciform one with large shafts on the foiu: faces and smaller ones in the four nooks. The foliage in the capitals of these piers, whose shafts cluster like stems in cornsheaves, is deserving of the most careful study, consisting in most instances entirely of productions of the vegetable king- dom, amongst which predominate the oak leaf and 370 NORTHERN FRANCE acorn, the rose leaf, the bud and flower, the vine leaf and fruit, the thistle and the curled cabbage, with snails crawling over it; the imitation being in every case per- fect, and the execution of marvellous delicacy. Two centuries separate these isolated clusters of piers between the nave aisles at Troyes from the alternately cylindrical and clustered ones in the same position at N6tre Dame, Paris. Either range is so beautiful, so captivating, and so perfectly satisfactory in its peculiar genre, that it is difficult to decide as to whom the palm shall be awarded — to the Frankian architect of the Transitional period, or to the Champenois of the fully developed Gothic. The nave piers at Troyes preceded by at least sixty years the greater portion of the superstructure they bear. First, as to the windows of the clerestorey; these are all of six lights, and the tracery in the head assumes those well-known forms from which the Flamboyant has received its designation. The arcade in front, as well as the glazed windows at the back of the triforium gallery, display a design of the same imequivocal character, for the tracery represents a,fleur-de-lys. The windows of the external range of chapels opposite the first three bays, counting from the east, are filled with geometrical tracery of very unusual but not less graceful forms; while those of the fourth and fifth chapels are as clearly Flamboyant; the first named on each side exhibiting a very singular arrangement ol fleur-de-lys, a variety differing, however, from that of the triforium arcade. Of the stained glass which completely fills these two ranges of windows in the nave at Troyes, I shall not presume to weary my reader with detaUs. They might fill a volume, or overlay these conclusoiy pages of the chapter on this cathedral with descriptions which, how- ever minute and graphic, would leave imagination at a loss, and curiosity only too ill satisfied. Still, I cannot quit the subject without a few brief remarks on two of TROYES ^71 the windows which, each in its own style, struck me as something quite out of the common way. One is a remarkable late window of 1499, representing the Radix Jesse, in the clerestorey. Here, the figures no longer occupy the centre of the lights, but are scattered about from side to side, balanced in a very satisfactory way by their names writ large in the background. This characteristic lettering gives not only interesting masses of white or yellow on the ruby ground, but horizontal lines of great value to the composition. In the lower part of the window a separate screen of richest yeUow marks off the figure of Jesse, and at the same time helps (in the glass) to distinguish the donors, together with their family and armorial bearings, from the merely scriptural part of the design.^ The other window is a very striking one of pure Early Renaissance design.. It has an even number of lights, and through the four centre lights, just overlapping into the outer one on either side, is a long canopied erection within which are the effigies of four bishops. This group is in the middle of the window, the parts not occupied by it being of white glass with narrow borders of colour. To some this disposition of the figures may appear to have too much of the effect of a suspended picture, but, as a whole, this piece of Renaissance glass decoration must be regarded as an admirable example of its age and class. For several reasons I prefer the interior of Troyes Cathedral to any I have seen in France. The finest effects are perceptible at about an hour before simset in summer. Nothing can then surpass the effect produced by the 'A "Jesse" window really requires an uneven number of lights for the proper accomplishment of the subject, as figures of the Blessed Virgin, the Crucifixion, and the Majesty play one of the most important parts in it, and these should, strictly speaking, occupy the upper portion of the central light. In this one at Troyes the figure of Jesse occupies the bottom of the right-hand light. 372 NORTHERN FRANCE double aisles and their flanking chapels seen from any one of the four comers of the nave, constituting as they do one of the most memorable characteristics of the sacred fane to which these few remarks are dedicated. The eye, at first entrance by one of the side doors, glances, involuntarily, down the aisle, and here we stand at gaze; — arrested, as it were, by the surprise and astonishment instantaneously resulting from the combined effect of form and colour, as tints of every conceivable variety and richness stream through the illimiinated windows on to the columns and pavement, tiU the stone glows in radiance. I can assure the reader who has yet to make acquaint- ance with this comparatively little-known cathedral, that, at the conclusion of his last visit he wiU seek the outer door with the greatest reluctance, to close it upon such a multitude of attractions. The west front of Troyes Cathedral has certainly been overpraised, as it is overdrawn in Fergusson's "Handbook of Architecture." There is no such depth of effect in the doorways, as he has represented; and the carved work over them, which he has given distinct in light, with dark shade behind, as if it were a light and elegant curtain hung before the deep recesses, is not capable of any such effect, being poor and formal, and having no pendants. The engraving in his fascinating book, which is from Amaud's " Voyage dans le D^partement de I'Aube," is really only an artist's sketch for effect, and has no pretension to accuracy. The details of the carved work are, though early in the Flamboyant style, full of its particular faxdts: a certain symmetry of general design is obtained at the sacrifice of the symmetry, and even of the meanings, of particular portions. In contemplating this vast mass of stone, covered with a confused and unintelligent assemblage of ornament, to which no properly architectural opening imparts NEVERS 373 grace and lightness, the eye has no difficulty in recognising the indications of an art in its decline, when those who practice it, no longer trusting for effect to a noble sim- plicity and happy grouping of the great leading lines of the edifice, seek to compensate this defect by the exercise of a petty ingenuity in the invention of subor- dinate enrichments, and a laborious skill and minuteness in the execution. A series of canopies is continued over the sides and faces of the towers — the northern one only has been finished, and this is a poor heavy thing, whose baldness contrasts most disagreeably with the enrichments below it — where they really shelter nothing, nor appear indeed to have been constructed with such an object, since the niches below them are far too shallow to admit of a statue. From this, some idea may be formed of the wanton profuseness with which decoration is lavished on this front, in which the eye, distracted and bewildered by so cumbrous a display of splendour, seeks in vain to repose itself on any clear, well-defined and dominant outline. NEVERS The cathedral of St Cyr at Nevers may on the whole rank in the second class of French ecclesiastcal edifices on account of the excellence of the east end, the elegance of the tower, and the imposing solemnity of the western apse and its crypt. It stands well, and is much freer from, buildings than is usually the case; but there is no good view of the western fajade, the episcopal garden and shrubberies intervening between it and the road. No one who may find himself on the Great Central of France need grudge the trifling detour from the station of Le Guetin, the branch railway from which commands an excellent view of, the cathedral, rising majestically from the opposite side of the Allier. Like Bourges, the Cathedral of Nevers has no transepts; otherwise it is 374 NORTHERN FRANCE of the usual French arrangement, the choir being dis- orientated strongly to the south ;i the tower at the west end of the south aisle; and a very singular western apse with transepts adjoining it. This apse, with the crypt of Ste Julitta, is a part of the original cathedral, built by Hugh II., and of which the date is pretty well fixed to 1028. It would appear that this church was of the usual Auvergnat type, of which Nevers presents a very curious and important ex- ample in St Etienne. This Auvergnat school of Roman- esque has a distinct and marked tradition of its own, and is as important a family in that era as that of Cologne, Normandy, Pisa or Lombardy. Its principal char- acteristics are: 1. A western narthex, with or without a gallery. 2. An apsidal east end with one pair of chapels to the northeast, and another pair to the southeast. This seems the more usual norm; but there are instances of five or seven apses. 3. An apse to each transept, on the east side; but the church is never, or very rarely, transverse-triapsidal. 4. The Auvergnat arcade, at the internal extremity of each transept; three arches, the central ones straight- sided, the side ones circular. 5. The central tower; which in the first stage is of three or four times the dimensions from north to south that it is from east to west; the second stage has a tendency, though by no means an exclusive one, to the octagonal form. At the Cathedral of Nevers, the narthex remains un- altered, as does the eastern apse of the north transept; the rest was swept away towards the middle of the tWr- teenth century to make way for the present church. ^ Du Moleon, in his account of this church in his Voyages Liiur- giques, is undoubtedly mistaken in saying that it orientated west: the first church must have had an eastern as well as a western apse, and orientated as the present does. NEVERS 375 In the succeeding century a fire arrested the progress of these works, but on their resumption the transept was suppressed, and replaced by two bays. The chapels were added to the nave in the fifteenth century. Resto- rations were undertaken between 1840 and 1852, and subsequently between 1872 and 1889 under the direction of M. Rupert Robert. In plan Nevers Cathedral is a parallelogram ten bays in length, with transepts at the west end of the nave and an apse beyond. The aisles are continued roimd the five- sided apse, and three chapels open from the procession path. These chapels are the earliest existing part of the thirteenth-century church, and although small are of excellent work. The choir, which has a glazed triforiimi and clerestorey, has four bays, and is in a more advanced stage of the style, the window tracery of geometrical form being extremely bold and good. The fire seems to have been confined to the choir, as in the six-bayed nave, the thirteenth-century style appears again, the clerestorey windows being composed of two very broad plain lancet lights imder an almost semicircular head, with a small lozenge-shaped opening pierced in the intervening stone work. Similar windows occur in the clerestorey of St Pierre at Chartres and Soissons cathe- dral. As there is but litde stained glass — certainly none of any antiquity — the flood of light poured in through these great windows at Nevers gives to the church an air of coldness which will be felt by the visitor fresh from the dim religious light of Chartres, Le Mans, and Bourges. All the windows in the clerestorey of the eastern apse are filled with modem stained glass, which although pleasing in ensemble lacks distinctness from the small- ness and multiplicity of the groups, which are enclosed in medallions, and from the preponderance of blue. The triforium is especially elegant— a series of tre- foiled arcadings, the base of each shaft being supported 376 NORTHERN FRANCE by the figure of a saint. The general type of column in this cathedral is the cylinder with four engaged shafts. I have already mentioned the chapels radiating from the procession path as excellent specimens of early thirteenth-century work, and the detail, especially that of the foliaged ornament, is executed with great care. "On y reconnait," remarks that graceful writer, Elis^e Reclus, "tous les feuillages de nos bois, et de nos champs, la feuille de ch6ne, de peuplier, de roseau, de chardon — fris^, etc.; la perfection de I'imitation, et la finesse de travail, sont reelement admirables." This fidelity to nature is perhaps most distinctly noticeable in the foliage of the capitals to the shafts of the great north portal, which, observes the writer just quoted, "attestent ^gale- ment la patience et I'adresse des ciseleurs du XVe siMe." Each of these apsidal chapels at Nevers has five win- dows of two lights each, and their tracery, like that of the windows in the clerestorey of the apse, where it is composed of three large trefoils, is very bold and fine. As in the neighbouring Cathedral of Moulins, the high altar and its accessories have been restored in the mediaeval style, piscina and credence having been duly provided. The mensa of stone rests upon six small pillars, but is destitute of frontal. There is a very pretty stepped predella with small carved subjects from the Passion, and this supports the crucifix and candlesticks. Over aU rises a baldachino, similar in motif to that at Moulins, but of white stone, and exclaiming for the polychro- matic decoration which is, I believe, to be applied to it. Each side of the baldachino has a trefoiled arch under a gable; at each angle where the four gables meet a pinnacled turret is introduced, and from the centre of the roof rises a short octagonal spire with the spaces between the ribs pierced with open tracery work. A beam supporting a crucifix spans the apse immediately in the rear of this ciborium. In the conch of the Romanesque western apse a grand NEVERS 377 Byzantine-like "Majesty" still looms through the veil of whitewash, which, as far as practicable has been removed from it. The tower which stands on the eastern side of the southwest transept, although a graceful conception of two distinct epochs, is not especially remarkable for its size or height. The lower part is satisfactorily attributed to the year 1400, or thereabouts; the upper stage was commenced in 1509, and finished in 1528. The lowest portion which reaches to the top of the clerestorey pre- sents a double series of simple trefoil arcadings: the second portion, where the later work begins, is enriched with the statues of saints. The upper stage of all has lofty windows of two lights, with two and one quatre- foils in their head, and is surmounted by a light pierced parapet. There is no spire or capping of any kind. From the floor of the southwestern transept to the interior of this tower a doorway admits to a spiral staircase which should be especially noted as an example of the impene- tration of mouldings. The line of roof from the transept to the apex of the apse is carried along imbroken save at the j\mction of the nave and choir by a little open turret and cupola surmounted by afliche. The disorientation of the choir of Nevers Cathedral to the south is very marked. The reason for this must perhaps remain doubtful. When it inclines to the Gospel side, it doubtless represents the inclination of our Blessed Lord's head on the cross, by universal tradition said to have been towards His right side, and therefore towards the penitent thief. The archaeologists of Nevers assign a reason for the opposite direction of the choir, which appears far from improbable; namely, as sym- bolical of the truth that Our Lord died for the wicked as well as for the good. 378 NORTHERN FRANCE MOULINS-SUR-ALLIER The effects produced by the French Revolution upon the religious state of the country were scarcely less im- portant than the political. In both cases the nation hurried with the blindest fury from extreme to extreme; in both they followed phantoms of ideal perfection through an unexampled series of excesses and sufferings; in both they rested at length from exhaustion much more than from conviction; and, happily, for mankind and themselves, they finally attained in both nearly the same end, reverting indeed to their original constitutions, but tempering them with a most seasonable mixture of civil and religious liberty. The Concordat effected for the Church what the Charter did for the State. The former of these was one of the masterpieces of Napoleon's policy and was likewise one of the earliest acts of his power. It was established in the year 1801, while France yet retained the name of a republic, and the ambition of its ruler had not ventured to grasp at more than the consular dignity. By this instrument the whole ecclesiastical constitution was changed, and not only was all the power placed in the hands of the chief of the state, but the provinces and dioceses were entirely remodelled; and, instead of twenty- three archbishoprics and 134 bishoprics, the number of the foi^ner, notwithstanding the vast extension of the French territory, was reduced to ten and that of the latter to fifty. Difficulties, however, arose out of this reduction and redistribution of episcopal sees, so many and so com- plicated that the government of the Restoration found it necessary, as one of its earliest measures, to come to .a fresh arrangement with the Court of Rome. The treaty signed at Fontainebleau in January, 1813, having been MOULINS-SUR-ALLIER 379 repudiated immediately afterwards as inconsistent with the ancient rights and prerogatives of the Holy ^ee, was virtually null and void. The Concordat of 1801, even supposing it to be legally in force, was odious to numbers, both of the clergy and laity, as being the work of a usurper, and the fruit of the Revolution. Very many of the prelates of the " Petite Eglise," 1 who refused to adhere to it, returned to France in the suite of Louis XVIII. and claimed to be the legitimate holders of the sees which they had occupied before 1790, notwithstanding the Papal Bull which deposed them. Meanwhile the Church in France was ill-provided with pastors. Important dioceses had been for years without bishops, populous parishes were left without duly qualified spiritual guides; the seminaries lacked the means of fiunishing an adequate succession of candidates for the ministry. -Accordingly another Concordat — that of 15 16, between Francis I. and Leo X., was re-established, and that of 1801 was set aside. The episcopal sees suppressed by the Bull "Qui Christi Domini" in November, 1801, were reconstituted "subject to certain conditions," an expression which doubtless signified that those bishops who had fraternised with the Revolution by accepting the Constitution Civile would be liable to the loss of their preferments. The property of the clergy, secular and regular, which still remained unsold, was to be restored to the Church. The so-called "Organic Articles" were abrogated "in so far as they were contrary to the doctrines and law of the Church." Other clauses related to the circumscription both of the fifty sees then existing and of those to be re-erected, 'A fractional communion presided over by tliose legitimate prelates of Louis XVI., who Iiad denounced the Concordat of 1801 as a work of iniquity and corruption. In 18 10 only seven of these bishops were left and this number was soon reduced to four. The last of the hierarchy appointed under the old regime was De Thy- mines, of Blois, who died in 1829, when the line became extinct. 38o NORTHERN FRANCE their endowments, and the usual stipulations as to the reception of Bulls and other documents proceeding from the Court of Rome; these were not to be executed until they had been duly verified by the Two Chambers, to which they were to be presented by the king. The Pope immediately ratified the Concordat, adding to it a memo- rial by which he claimed the restitution of Avignon and its territory to the Holy See. By a Bull of the same date he erected the sees of Avignon and Chamb6ry into archbishoprics, and.restored the archbishoprics of Rheims, Sens, Alby, Auch, Narbonne, Aries, and Vienne, together with thirty-four diocesan sees which he had so imwillingly suppressed in 1801, among them being Blois, Lucon, Pamiers, and Aire. But for several years the Galilean Chiurch remained fluctuating between the two Concordats, neither of which was fully executed; until at length an arrangement was concluded by which thirty prelates were added to the existing hierarchy, its total number being thus fixed at eighty. The Bull for that purpose issued at Rome, October 10, 1822, and containing the new circumscription of the dioceses throughout France, was published by royal ordonnance on the 31st — "without approbation of any clauses, reservations, formulas, or expressions which it might include, which are or might be contrary to the constitutional Charter, to the laws of the kingdom, or to the franchises, liberties, or maxims of the Galilean Church." Among the sees erected in 1822 imder the Concordat of Louis XVIII. was that of Moulins, in the Department of Allier. A suffragan see to Sens, it was composed of territory taken out of the existing suffragans Clermont Ferrand, Nevers, and Autun. The erection of a diocese for the Bourbonnais was in preparation in 1789, but was not fulfilled till 1817. The prelate nominated to the see, Mgr Antoine de Pons was, however, unable to take possession of his see MOULINS-SUR-ALLIER 381 luitil 1822, when he had assigned to him as his cathedral the Flamboyant chapel of the old chateau of the Duke of Bourbon. In the interim the Department was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Clermont. Since then there have been but three prelates at Moulins— Mgr de Pons (1822-1850), Mgr De Dreux Biizi (1850-1899), and Mgr Dubourg, the present occupant of the see. To the Late Gothic fragment above alluded to, a nave with western towers and spires was added between 1852 and 1888 from the designs of MM Viollet-le-Duc and MiUet, the period selected by those architects being an early one of the thirteenth century, and the material white stone, relieved with bands of puce colour, in imita- tion of those streaks of lava that form so important a feature in the Auvergnat churches. An interesting point about Moulins Cathedral is the mediasval spirit which has been allowed to pervade its instrumenfa. This has likewise extended to the vest- ments of its clergy — ameliorations due to the late bishop, Mgr de Dreux Br6z6, a prelate of great ecclesiological knowledge and research."^ In the side chapels of the choir, however, the altar- pieces stUl retain their Neo-Classical character, and do not seem altogether out of place in the late fifteenth-cen- tury choir, which has four bays, and terminates in a chevet of three wide sides with a square end to its pro- cession path.2 The windows have good Flamboyant tracery, and elongated masses of masonry supporting ' On the morning of my visit — August i, 1894, the Festival of St Peter's Chains — every altar was vested in a white frontal — a thing rarely if ever seen in a French church, — and the clergy celebrating at them wore mediaevally shaped chasubles of corresponding colour. ^ I observed this same rectangular eastern side of the procession path in other churches of this part of France — notably at Clamecy, between Nevers and Auxerre — an early Pointed example. Evidently it is a localism. The "New Building," at the east end of Peter- borough Cathedral may be cited as a remarkable instance of squaring a semicircular apse. 382 NORTHERN FRANCE pinnacles on their outer ends support the flying buttresses of the clerestorey. The roof of this part of the church is a little higher externally than that of the nave, and at its western end, where it is slightly hipped, a turret and Jliche is placed. There are no transepts. The nave has a good bold arcade of pointed arches, on circular pillars with boldly sculptural capitals; the aisles have lean-to roofs, and the clerestorey windows are of two lights with a large cusped circle. The high altar stands at the summit of a few steps just beneath the arch dividing the nave from the choir. It is a double one, with frontals facing east and west, liie same "ornaments" on the retable serving for either side. Over it is a handsome Gothic baldachino of wood, gilded, having a cusped arch surmounted by a gable on each side, and a flat-topped gable roof. Behind it is the chorus cantorum, and in the chord of the chevet stands the episcopal throne with a good modem Gothic canopy , projecting over it. (See illustration, p. 368.) The northeastern comer of the choir presents a charm- ing feature in the shape of a square-headed doorway, surmotmted by an elongated window of two lights with curvilinear tracery. This is the door by which Moulins Cathedral should be entered for the first time, on account of the engaging cross views embracing the Late Gothic choir with its old painted glass ^ and handsome baldachino, and the nave with its bold arcades and Chartres-like clerestorey. In one of the comers of the choir is an elaborately sculptured stone staircase closely resembling the beautiful escalier de I'orgue in St Maclou, Rouen. Hard by in a lateral chapel, within a niche, may be seen a statue, carved in stone, but coloured only too faithfully, to represent a wasted corpse (of a female, most probably), •Much of this, though late, is very beautiful, scrolls in white and stain on purple elaborately twisted about are a leading feature bit. MOULINS-SUR-ALLIER 383 around which the worms (Job xxiv. 20), are seen feed- ing "sweetly." Undemealii is the date, 1557, and the foUowing epitaph: " Olim formoso fueram qui corpore putri Nunc sum: tu simili corpore, lector, eris." Beyond the cathedral and the excellent modem Gothic church of the Sacr6 Coeur, from the designs of Lassus, there is little else to see in this pretty little city of Moulins, which it may be remembered was the retreat of the Earl of Clarendon, when his head was in jeopardy. A refugee from England, and seeking some worthy occupation in perpetual exile, he wrote three or four volumes of his " History of the Great Rebellion" in this pleasant city of the Bourbonnais.^ The visitor to Moulins may, however, espy, according- ing to the promptings of awakened fancy, tiie lane that led out of the city to the spot where Yorick found Maria; and when he enters the market place, he may, perchance, repeat the opening lines of the Second Section of "Moulins" in "The Sentimental Journey:" "Though I hate salutations and greetings in the market- place, yet when we got into the middle of this, I stopped to take my last look and last farewell of Maria." ■ The architectural student will find Moulins a very convenient point de depart for the grand Romanesque churches of Souvigny and St Menoux; Paray-le-Monial, with its typical Burgundian church, is also easily accessible. APPENDIX The Vestments of St Thomas of Canterbury at Sens About sixteen years ago the chasuble of St. Thomas a Becket, preserved in the Sacristy of this cathedral was mutilated to gratify a woman. Such vandalism on the part of one of the guardians of the tr6sor at Sens was likely to make the French people insist that the national property shall be entrusted to more careful hands. That the vestments are genuine is generally believed by archaeologists. The Archbishop of Canter- bury fled to Sens to consult with the Pope, who was also a fugitive in that city, and afterwards remained there for about six years. It is not unlikely that be would leave the vestments behind him, which were probably bor- rowed from the Archbishop of Sens. A part of the chasuble was cut out with an absence of secrecy that suggests how little value was attached to the antique by the clergy. If inquiry were made it is possible many other acts of vandalism would be revealed. It would be better to allow antique remains to rest in places where their interest is enhanced by associations; but if the authorities of a cathedral cannot restrain their hands from vandalism, it would be wiser to remove temptations from them, or to insist that an officer belonging to one of the museums should have the charge of all articles that can be mutilated. 38S 386 APPENDIX The Good Samaritan Window at Sens. (Page 386,) Upon this splendid specimen of stained glass of the second quarter of the thirteenth century, M. Cahier in his Monographie descants with no less truth than eloquence: " Le Samaritain de Sens me parait 6tre un chef d'oeuvre entre des chef-d'oeuvres, c'est a dire que je le tiens pour im des plus admirables vitraux d'lme cathe- drale, oti presque tous sont merveilleux, au moins par quelque endroit. Je ne parle pas de I'omamentation, parce qu'k 'a Sens elle est ordinairement du plus grande style, qui se puisse rencontre (j'ai presque dit imaginer:) mais I'habiletd du dessein dans I'execution des figures semble y atteindre la perfection de la statuaire contem- poraine." So that, admitting it to be true that mediae- val glass has abundant examples of vile drawing, it is equally certain that is furnishes precedents of strictly classical purity. A Brief List of Some of the Best Specimens of North- ern French Architecture and Stained Glass, from THE Romanesque to the Renaissance of the Classi- cal (Eleventh to Sixteenth Centuries). Romanesque. Caen (nave of St Etienne and the greater part of La Trinity). Evreux (nave arcade), Boscherville, near Rouen (abbey of St Georges). Cerisy- la-Forfet in Manche (church at). Berniferes, near Caen (nave of the parish church). Beauvais (nave of St Etienne). Montierender (nave of church) Rheims (nave of St Remy). Nevers (St Etienne). Souvigny, near Moulins-sur-Allier (nave of the abbey). Transitional. The greater part of the cathedrals of APPENDIX 387 Angers, Laon, Noyon, Paris, Senlis, and Sens. Mantes (N6tre Dame). Chartres (west front). Rheims (choir of St Remy) . Ch^lons-sur-Mame (choir of N6tre Dame) . Beauvais (western part of nave of St Etienne). Soissons (south transept). Lisieux (St Pierre). Le Mans (nave). Pontigny, near Auxerre (abbey). First Pointed. The greater part of the cathedrals of Amiens, Coutances, Chartres, Rouen, and Rheims. ChMons-sur-Marne (nave of N6tre Dame). Soissons (nave and choir). Braisne, near Rheims (St Yved). Beauvais (chapels round apse of cathedral). The choirs of Le Mans and Troyes, and of St Etienne, Auxerre. Tours (lower parts of the choir, and church of St Julien). Caen (choir of St Etienne). Bayeux (choir and clerestorey of nave). Blois (St Etienne). Second Pointed {Early). Troyes (nave of cathedral and church of St Urbain). Evreux (clerestorey of nave and greater part of choir). Seez (choir). Coutances (chapels to nave). Rouen (St Ouen). Ste Marie de I'Epiae, near Ch&,lons. Rheims (west front). Treguier, Quimper and Nevers cathedrals. Second Pointed (Late, or Flamboyant). Beauvais (transepts). Evreux (transepts). Abbeville (St Volfran). St Ricquier (near Abbeville). Orleans Cathedral. Tours (west front). Nantes Cathedral. Sens (transepts). Troyes (several churches in). Rouen (west front and S. W. tower of the cathedral). Darn^tal, near Rouen (tower of church). Dieppe (west front of St Jacques). Caudebec-en-Caux (church). Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century. Argentan (Ome) N. W. tower of St Germain; Appoigny (Yonne) rood screen; Chartres, St Aignan; Coutances (central tower of St Michel) ; Dijon, west front of St Michel ; Gisors (Eure) west front of church; Guingamp (C6tes-du-Nord) S. W. tower of N6tre Dame; Laon, screens to chapels in nave 'In examples where the name of the church is not specified, it refers to the cathedral of the city. 38S APPENDIX and choir pf N6tre Dame; Montereau (Seine-et-Marne) western doorway of parish church; Nevers (Nifevre) fapade of the Chapelle de la Visitation; Rouen Cathedral, tomb of the Cardinals Amboises; Saint Calais (Sarthe), doorway in facade of church; St Th^gonnec (Finistfere), tower of church; Ste Amande-les-Eaux (Nord), facade of abbey church; St Florentin (Yonne), rood-loft in church; Tonnerre (Yonne), S. transept facade of St Pierre; Tours, upper parts of cathedral towers; Vend6me (Loire-et- Cher), screens round choir of La Trinitd; Villeneuve-sur- Yonne, western fagade of church; Vouziers (Ardennes), western faf ade, of which portals have alone been finished. STAINED GLASS. First Pointed. The cathedrals of Angers, Sens (north choir aisle). Chartres (aisles of nave and choir, and western triplet). Rheims, Amiens, Beauvais, Tours, and Troyes (apsidal chapels). Soissons (clerestorey of apse). Mantes, N6tre Dame (western rose). Laon, N6tre Dame (eastern triplet and rose). Later First Pointed. Chartres (clerestorey windows of nave and transepts). Rheims, Sens, Troyes, Bourges, Auxerre (clerestoreys of the choirs). Middle Pointed. Beauvais, Clermont-Ferrand, Le Mans, Tours (clerestoreys of choirs). Rouen (St Ouen). Paris (great transeptal roses of N6tre Dame). Tours and Troyes (clerestoreys of choir and nave, respectively). St Omer (clerestorey on eastern side of either transept). Troyes (St Urbain). Flamboyant and Early Renaissance. Beauvais, St Etienne (choir and aisles; great transept windows of cathedral). ChMons-sur-Marne (nave aisles of the cathe- dral and N6tre Dame). Melun', St Aspais (clerestorey of choir and apse). Amiens, St Germain (east window of either choir aisle). Bourges (side chapels of cathedral). Paris (St Etienne-du-Mont). Rouen (St Patrice and APPENDIX 389 St Godard and St Vincent) . Troyes (many of the churches built in that Flamboyant style peculiar to the locality). The cathedrals of Rouen, Evreux, Coutances, and Moulins; and the churches of Alenfon, Argentan, St Florentin, St Quentin, St Remy, at Rheims, and Souvigny, contain much fine glass of different epochs. INDEX Alboti of Villard de Honne- couRT, 39, i8i; Amiens Cathe- dral, 77; history of the see, 78; Ste Th&)dosie, 79; early Chris- tian bishops of, 80; commence- ment and progress of the cathedral, 81; groimd-plan, 82; external sculpture, 83; south transept and portal, 83; western portals, 85; interior, 88; col- umns, 88; foliaged ornament, 91; windows, 91; vaulting, 92; side chapels, 93 ; choir and its comparison with Beauvais, 93 > pilgrims' tombs in the nave, 94; relic of St John Baptist, 95; sculpture round choir aisles, 95; stalls, 97; rood loft, destruc- tion of, 100; stained glass, loi; modern colouring, 102; a pro- cession in, 104 Angers Cathedral, 320; history, 321; western facade and steeples, 324; portals, 325-; interior, 326; walls' and windows, 327 Angevihe style, the, 313, 321, 327 Appendix, 385 Apse, superiority of the French in designing the, 6; coinparison of French -and English apses, S7; Beauvais and Aliens apses compared, 93; variety in treat- ment of, 164, 214; grand development of at Le Mails, 313 Aquitaine, domed architecture of, 321 Architectural colouring, 102 Aries, Archbishop of, arid the September Massacres, 126 Arnaud Voyage dans le Departe- ment de I Aube, 362, 372 Arras Cathedral, 140; history of the see, 140; St. Vaast, 141; the former and present cathe- drals, 142 Auvergnat, architecture of the, 347 B ARLINGTON, Bishop of Durham, kindness to the French emi- grant clergy, 174 Basse CEuvre the, at Beauvais, 109 Bayeux Cathedral, history, 278; facade and steeples, 279; in- terior, 280; plan, and beauty of detail, 281; central tower, 282; skilful reparation of, 283 Beauvais Cathedral, 107; its stupendous height, 108, 114; criticisms on, 108; history, 109; central steeple and its collapse, III, 115; resemblance -of plan to Amiens, 114; causes of failure, 115, 117; piers, 117; peculiar arrangement of choir- arches, clerestory) and vaulting, 116,119; apsidal chapds,-i20, exterior and transepts, 120; portals and doorways,- 121; stained glass, 122; furniture, 124; services, 12^; iresort 125; Bishop Rochefoucauld,' i 25 Becket, Thomas, vestments of, at Sens, 385 Bells, at Chartres, 203; at -Sens, 344 Berengaria, Queen, tomb of at LeMans,-3i9 - 391 392 INDEX Berlioz, on Cherubini's " Commu- nion March," 63, Bishops, the Constitutional, 18; the non- juring, Blois Cathedral, 236; Bishops de Thymines, 175, 237, 379; and Gr^goire, 236 Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, 178; his statue in the cathedral, 188 Bourges Cathedral and Paris compared, 165 Brienne, Lomfoie de, Archbishop of Sens, 358 Caen, Renaissance work at St Pierre, 267 Cambrai Cathedral, 133; his- tory of the see, 133; the Revolu- tion and, 134; the mediseval Cathedral, 136; the present cathedral, 138; Bishop Ffo^- lon's monument in, 139 Canterbury and Sans Cathedrals compared. Carcassonne, St Nazaire, 8 Carmes, Prison of the, massacre of bishops and clergy in, 125 Cathedrals, French, general char- acteristics of, 8, 12; finished in nineteenth century, 13; free- dom of circulation in, 14, 131; desecration and destruction of in the religious wars and the Revolution, 20, 229, 259, 305; religious meaning of the several parts of, 310; and the English wars, 330 Chalons-sur-MarnejCathedral, 127; history, 128; description of, 129; north transept, 129; chapels, apsidal, 7, 41, 72, 165, 214, 242, 315.318,352,365 Chapels, lateral, 8, 93, 274, 288, 341, 342, 352. 36s Chapuy, Cathedrales Francaises, 342 Charles X, coronation of, at Rheims, 61 Chartres Cathedral, 189; situa- tion, 190; first views of, 6, 205; history, 191, 202; Bishops Ful- bert and Ivo, 195; fires at, 197, 201; commencement of present cathedral, 198; additions to and embellislmient of, 199; the Revolution, 200; the Con- cordat, 201; comparison of with Le Mans, 202; the steeples and bells, 203; materials of its construction, and grandeur of conception, 204; western doors and transept, 207; interior, 211; nave arcade windows and vault- ing, 211; Notre Dame du Pilier, 213; choir, 213; eighteenth century vandalisms in, 200, 215; Reovlutionary excesses in, 217; screens, 218; stained glass, 214, 219; Chateaubriand, 61 Cherubini, his association with Rheims Cathedral, 62 Chimlres, or Devils of N6tre Dame, 160 Choir-stalls at Amiens, 97 Chorus nova Hierusalem, 194 Chronica Normannia, 196 Church, the Gallican, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22 Cistercian churches, 184 Clovis, King, 30 Coloring of French churches, 102 Columns, various types of, 88, 152. 228,344,369 Concordat, of Napoleon, 21, 378; of Louis XVIII, 379 Confirmation an, at Rheims, 68 Constitutional Bishops, the, 18, 174, 200 Corbie, church at, 42; Pierre de, 42, 183 Coronation of Charles X at Rheims, 61 Coucy Robert de, VI, 38 Cousin, Jean, 356 Coutances Cathedral, 284; fine groupof steeples, 284; exterior, 28s; interior and central tower, 286; choir and aisles, 286; stained glass, 287; lateral chap- els, 287; Bishop Wilberforce's visit, 289 INDEX 393 Decorated style, the, 36, 262, 387 Destruction of cathedrals and churches at the Revolution, 20 Devils, or ChimSres of N6tre Dame, 160 Dictionnaire Raisonnee, 86 Dioceses, French, 12, 68, 133, 172, 201, 357, 378 Domaine Royal, architecture of the, 23, 70, 149 Domine salvum fac, changes in wording of the, between 1785 and 1870, 25 Doorways, at Amiens, 85 ; Angers, 325; Beauvais, 121; Chartres, 207; Paris, 154, 158; Rheims, 50; Rouen, 249; Tours, 304 Double aisles, 8, 152, 214, 230, 365. 369 Due, VioUet-le, 86, 341 Dulau, Archbishop of Aries, 126 Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, 234 Durandus Rationale, 47 Early Decorated style, 262; long duration of the, in France, 330; specimens of, 387 English and French cathedrals compared, 468 Etienne du Mont St, Paris, 268 Eustache St, Paris, 367 Evreux Cathedral, 264; history, 270; plan, 272; nave, 273; clere- storey, triforium and chapels, 274; lantern tower, 275; choir, 276; stained glass, 277; tran- septs, 277; Renaissance work, 278 Faqades, Amiens, 85; Angers, 324; Bayeux, 279; Beauvais, 121; Chartres, 203; Corbie, 43; Nantes, 335; Orleans, 226; Paris, 154, 157; Seez, 295; Rheims, 50; Rouen, 248, 254; Troyes, 372 F^n61on, Archbishop, 139 First Pointed style, 34, 3*7 Flamboyant style, 231, 331 Fleur de lys, the, in tracery, 277, 314 French and English Cathedrals contrasted, 468 Fulbert St, Bishop of Chartres, 194 Gallia Christiania, 193 Gallian Church, 10, 17, 20, 21, 22, 378 Gobel, Constitutional Bishop of Paris, 18, 305 Gothic style, development and decline of, 36, 264, 329, 359, 364 " Good Samaritan " window at Sens, 386 Gounod, and Rheims Cathedral, 63 Gr^oire, Constitutional Bishop of Blois, 236 Groining, 92, 116, 118, 153, 164, 183, 212, 215, 233, 257, 326 Henri IV, 228, 304 Hierologus, or the Church Tourist, 104 Honday, M, on Cambrai Cathe- dral, 137 Honnecourt, Villard de, 39, 181 Ile de France, architecture of, 23. 70, 149 Ivo, Bishop of Chartres, 195 Jean d'Orbais, original acrhi- tect of Rheims Cathedral, vi Jeanne d'Arc, 145 Johnson's Specimens of Early French Architecture, 149 Jube, origin of the term, 260 Jub&, and their destruction in the eighteenth century, 258 Juignd, Antoine de, Axchbishop of Paris, 173 Labyrinths, 56 Laon, tower group at, 10, 41, 49. 70 Lassus, M., architect, 40, 171, 185 Late Decorated style, 231 Laval Cathedral, 322 394 INDEX Le Bon, Joseph, his atrocities at Arras, 134 Le Due, VioUet, architect, 86, 341 Le Mans Cathedral, 310; grand- eur of its plan, 311; history, 311; nave, 313; transepts, 314; choir, 314; stained glass, 316; choir, aisles and chapels, 317; monumental effigies, 319 Libergier, Hugues, 45 Louis XIV, and the Gallican Church, 16; Louis XVI the Gallican Church, 17 Louis XVIII and the Concordat, 381 Meaux Cathedral, 198; his- tory, 179; nave, 180; tran- septs, 181; choir, 181, 187; Villard de Honnecourt and, 181; Bossuet, 178, 188 Melun, 183 Metal-work, 350 Middle Pointed style, the late, 232, 387 Monastic Orders, influence of on church architecture, 3 Moulins-sur-Allier Cathedral, 378; establishment of the see, 380; description of cathedral, 381; curious tomb in, 382 Nantes Cathedral, 331; his- tory, 332; interior, 333; ducal monument in, 334; exterior, 335 , , Napoleon Bonaparte and the French Church, 21, 378 National Assembly and the French Church, 17 Neale, John Mason, 104 Nevers Cathedral, 373; the Auver- gnat style in, 374; history and description, 375; modern furni- ture, 376; tower, 377; dis- orientation of, 377 Nicaise St, Rheims, 46, 61 Nicolas de Porte St, church at, 89 Non-juring bishops the, and the Revolution, 19, 174, 200 Normandy, beautiful towers and spires in, 293 N6tre Dame, Amiens, 77; Bay- euse, 264, Cambrai, 133; Char- tres, 189; Coutances, 284; Evreux, 264; Moulins, 378; Paris, 146; Rheims, 28; Rouen, 240; Seez, 290 Nuns of Montmartre, their execu- tion under the Terror, 309 Orbais Jean d', original architect of Rheims Cathedral, vi Orleans Cathedral, 225; general character of, 226; its destruc- tion by the Huguenots and re- construction by Henri IV, 227; interior, 231; Bishop Dupan- loup, 234 Orientation of churches, Duran- dus on, 47 Ouen St, Rouen, rood loft formerly in, 47 Pancras St, London, burial of French emigrant clergy in churchyard of, 175 Paradise or Parvis, 159 Parclose screens, at Amiens, 95; Chartres, 218; Paris, 167 Paris, N6tre Dame, 146; archi- tectural hitsory of, 146, 168; choir, 151; double aisles, 152; nave and triforia, 155; vault- ing and buttresses, 153, 156; transepts, 163; western door- ways, 154; clerestorey, 155; west front, 154, 157; towers, 158; parvis, 159; chimSres or devils, 160; changes in the construction, 160; fiSche, 162; chapels, 162-164, 167; Porte Rouge, 163; parclose screens, and stained glass, 167; van- dalism of the eighteenth cen- tury, 168; the Revolution, 169; restorations of, 1845-63, 171; created an archbishopric, 172; Archbishops de Juign^, Affre, Sibour and Darboy, 173-175; INDEX 395 Festival of the Goddess of Reason, 305 Par vis or Paradise, 159 Polychromatic decoration, 102 Portals, at Amiens 83; Angers, 325; Chalons, 229; Chartres, 207; Paris, 154; Rheims, 50; Rouen, 249; Tours, 364; Troyes, 372 Procession, at Amiens, 104 QUICUMQUE Chkistum qu eitis, hymn, 347 Reason, Goddess of, 305 Religion, abolition of, under the Terror, 305 Religious Wars, 228 Remi St, 29 Renaissance the, 265; stained glass of the, 342 Restoration, conservative and de- structive, 342 Revolution, the, and the Gallican Church, 17; cathedrals and churches destroyed in, 20; pro- fanties committed during, 304 Rheims Cathedral v, 28; history of the see and cathedral, 29, 46; the labyrinth, 36; Villard de Honnecourt, 38; destructive fire, 44; Hugues Libergier; alterations in the design, 47; towers, 49; windows, 50; west- ern portals, ^o; north transept portals, 52; '' Galeriedes Rois," 54; imiformity in design, 56; its comparison with Westmins- ter, S7; interior, S9> Corona- tion of Charles X, 61; Cher- ubini, 62; Gounod, 63; fur- niture and stained glass, 63; suppression of the archbishopric, 68; a confirmation, 68 Rochefoucauld, Bishop of Beau- vais, 125 Rochefoucauld, Bishop of Saintes, 125 Romanesque, specimens of the, 386 Rood lofts, and their destruction in the eighteenth century, 258; list of the existing ones, 261 Rose windows, 91, 129, 368; at Amiens, 85; Chalons, 129; Rheims, 66, Rouen, 255; Seez, 296; Sens, 350; Troyes, 368 Rouen Cathedral, 240; beauty of its plan, 242; history, 243; towers, 245; west front, 248; portals, 249; fagade of north transept, 254; interior, 255; nave arcades and aisles, 256; the former rood screens, 258; Lady Chapel, 263; the Amboise monument, 263 Saintes, Rochefoucauld, Bishop of, I2_S "Samaritan" window at Sens, 386 Schism in the Gallican Church, 18 Scott, Sir Gilbert, on Rheims and Westminster, 50 Screens, 95, 167, 218, 258, 367 Sculpture at Amiens, 83; Angers, 325; Chartres, 207, 218; Paris, 152, 154; Rheims, 50; Rouen, 249; Troyes, 369 Second Pointed style, 249, 262, 330. 387 Seez Cathedral, 290; history and faulty construction, 29 r; steeples, 294; fagade, windows, 295; interior, 297 Sens Cathedral, 336; resemblance to Canterbury, 336; character- istics, 338; history, 340; modern vandalism in, 341; exterior, 343; bells, 344; interior, 344; service, 346; piers and columns, 338, 344, 34S. 347; transepts, 349; screens and gates, 350; baldachino, 351; chapels, 351; stained glass, 353; the dio- cese, 357; Archbishop de Brienne, 358; vestments of St Thomas of Canterbury, 385; "Good Samaritan" window, 386 Sens. William of, 336 39<5 INDEX September, 1792, Massacres of in the prisons of Paris, 125 Sketch Book of Villard de Honne- court, 39 Soissons Cathedral, 70; architec- ture of, 181; the locality, 70; characteristics, 71; west end, plan, and south transept, 72; pier arches, triforia and clere- storeys, 75; north transept and stained-glass, 76 Specimens of architecture, 385 Square-ended churches, 182 Stained glass, history of the design of, 220; selected speci- mens of, 388 Stained glass, at Amiens, loi; Beauvais, 122, Chartres, 214, 219; Coutances, 287; Evreuse, 277; Le Mans, 316; Meaux, 181; Paris, 167; Rheims, 64; Sens, 353; Soissons, 76; Tours, 302; Troyes, 390 States General, and the Church, 17 Sterne, Laurence, and Moulins, 383 Styles, admixture of, 269 Sully, Maurice de. Bishop of Paris, 148 Supreme quales arbiler, hymn, 177 Taheyrand, Bishop of Autun, 18 Terror, Reign of, and the French Church, 305 Thymines de, Bishop of Blois, 17s. 237, 379 Theodosie, St, of Amiens, 79 Thomas, St, of Canterbury, 385 Tours Cathedral, 299; history, 300; perfection of plan, 301; triforium of choir and stained glass in, 302; nave, 303; west front, 304; Revolutionary ex- cesses in 305, 307 Towers and spires; 9, 47, 49, 70, III, IIS, IS7, 202, 236, 244, 27s. 278, 279, 284, 293, 304, 324, 335. 340, 374, 377 Transepts, 9, 89, 120, 136, 277 Transitional style, 23, 148, 344, 387 Triforia or "tribunes'' 74, 156 Troyes Cathedral, 358; architec- tural peculiarities of the city and locality, 359; history, 362; slow progress of works at, 364; plan, 365; choir, 365, 366, 370; piers and arches, 367, 369; enclosure of choir, 367; triforia and clerestoreys, ' 367; rose windows, 368; stained glass, 370; magnificent efifect of inter- ior, 371; west front, 372 Uses, suppression of ancient Gallican, 24 Vaast or Vedost, St, 141 Vaulting, 92, 116, 118, 153, 164, 183, 212, 215, 233, 257, 326 Venantius Fortunatus, 147 Versailles Cathedral, 235 Vestments of St Thomas of Can- terbury at Sens, 385 Villard de Honnecourt, 39, 181 Viollet-le-Duc, 86, 341 West Fronts, ii; Amiens, 85; Angers, 324; Chartres, 203, 207; Le Mans, 313; Nantes, 335; Orleans, 226; Paris, 154, 157; Rheims, 50; Rouen, 248; Seez, 293; Sens, 340, Tours, 304; Troyes, 372 Westminster Abbey and Rheims Cathedral, 7, 57 Whewell, Professor, 107 Wilberforce, Bishop, 289 Wrought iron work, 350