,,cathedrals ,,and ,,cloisters ,,of     
,,the ,,south ,,of ,,france             
,illustration3 ,rodez4  ,sheer and      
straight the pillars rise1 444 and arch 
after arch is lost on the shadows of the
 narrow vaulting of the side-aisle4     
,,cathedrals and ,,cloisters ,,of ,,the 
,,south ,,of ,,france  ,,by  ,,elise    
,,whitlock ,,rose  ,,with               
,,illustrations ,,from ,,original       
,,photographs  ,,by  ,,vida ,,hunt      
,,francis   ,,in ,,two ,,volumes        
,,volume ,i4  ,g4 ,p4 ,,putnam',s ,,sons
 ,,new ,,york ,,and ,,london ,the       
,knickerbocker ,press #aijf             
,copyright1 #aijf by ,g4 ,p4 ,,putnam',s
 ,,sons     ,,preface4   ,for years the 
makers of this book have spent the      
summer time in wandering about the      
,french country2 led here by the fame of
 some old monument1 or there by an      
incident of history4 ,they have found   
the real1 unspoiled ,france1 often      
unexplored by any except the ,french    
themselves1 and practically unknown to  

foreigners1 even to the ubiquitous maker
 of guide-books4 ,for weeks together    
they have travelled without meeting an  
,english-speaking person4 ,it is1       
therefore1 not surprising that they were
 unable to find1 in any convenient form 
in ,english1 a book telling of the      
,cathedrals of the ,south which was at  
once accurate and complete4 ,for the    
,cathedrals of that country are         
monuments not only of architecture and  
its history1 but of the history of      
peoples1 the psychology of the          
christianising and unifying of the      
barbarian and the ,gallo-,roman1 and    
many things besides1 epitomised perhaps 
in the old words1 the struggle between  
the world1 the flesh1 and the devil4 ,in
 ,french1 works on ,cathedrals are      
numerous and exhaustive2 but either so  
voluminous as to be unpractical except  
for the specialist--as the volumes of   
,viollet-le-,duc1--or so technical as to
 make each ,cathedral seem one in an    
endless1 monotonous procession1         

differing from the others only in size1 
style1 and age4 ,this is distinctly     
unfair to these old churches which have 
personalities and idiosyncrasies as real
 as those of individuals4 ,it has been  
the aim of the makers of this book to   
introduce1 in photograph and in         
story1--not critically or exhaustively1 
but suggestively and accurately1--the   
,cathedral of the ,mediterranean        
provinces as it exists to-day with its  
peculiar characteristics of architecture
 and history4 ,they have described only 
churches which they have seen1 they have
 verified every fact and date where such
 verification was possible1 and have    
depended on local tradition only where  
that was all which remained to tell of  
the past2 and they will feel abundantly 
repaid for travel1 research1 and patient
 exploration of towers1 crypts1 and     
archives if the leisurely traveller on  
pleasure bent shall find in these       
volumes but a hint of the interest and  
fascination which the glorious          

architecture1 the history1 and the      
unmatched climate of the ,southland can 
awaken4  ,for unfailing courtesy and    
untiring interest1 for free access to   
private as well as to ecclesiastical    
libraries1 for permission to photograph 
and copy1 for unbounding hospitality and
 the retelling of many an old legend1   
their most grateful thanks are due to   
the ,catholic clergy1 from ,archbishop  
to ,cure and ,vicar4 ,for rare old bits 
of information1 for historical          
verification1 and for infinite pains in 
accuracy of printed matter1 they owe    
warm thanks to ,mrs4 ,wilbur ,rose1 to  
,miss ,frances ,kyle1 and to ,mrs4      
,william ,h4 ,shelmire1 ,jr4 ,for       
criticism and training in the art of    
photographing they owe no less grateful 
acknowledgment to ,mr4 ,john ,g4        
,bullock and ,mr4 ,charles ,r4          
,pancoast4  ,e4 ,w4 ,r4  ,v4 ,h4 ,f4    
,,contents4                             
,,page ,,the ,,south ,,of ,,france      
,i4 ,,the ,,south ,,of ,,france         

#c   ,,ii4 ,,architecture ,,in          
,,provence1 ,,languedoc1 ,,and ,,gascony
       #bi   ,,provence    ,i4 ,,the    
,,cathedrals ,,of ,,the ,,sea           
#ee                                     
,marseilles--,toulon--,frejus--,antibes-
-,nice   ,,ii4 ,,cathedrals ,,of ,,the  
,,hill-,,towns                          
#gb                                     
,carpentras--,digne--,forcalquier--,venc
e--,grasse  ,,iii4 ,,river-,,side       
,,cathedrals                            
#aja                                    
,avignon--,vaison--,arles--,entrevaux--,
sisteron   ,,iv4 ,,cathedrals ,,of ,,the
 ,,valleys                              
#agh                                    
,orange--,cavaillon--,apt--,riez--,senez
--,aix   ,,languedoc    ,i4 ,,cathedrals
 ,,of ,,the ,,cities                    
#bcg                                    
,nimes--,montpellier--,beziers--,narbonn
e--,perpignan--                         
,carcassonne--,castres--,toulouse--,mont
auban     ,illustrations                

,page ,,rodez                           
,frontispiece     ,sheer and straight   
the pillars rise1 444 and arch          
after arch is lost on the shadows of the
 narrow vaulting      of the side-aisle4
  ,,carcassonne1 ,,the ,,invulnerable   
#e  ,,the ,,tower ,,of ,,an ,,early     
,,maritime ,,cathedral--,agde           
#aj  ,a ,,nave ,,of ,,the ,,earlier     
,,style--,arles                         
#ae  ,a ,,nave ,,of ,,the ,,later       
,,style--,rodez                         
#ai  ,,the ,,delicate ,,choir ,,of      
,,saint-,,nazaire--,carcassonne         
#bc  ,a ,,cloister ,,of ,,the           
,,south--,elne                          
#bg  ,a ,,romanesque ,,aisle--,arles    
#ca  ,,the ,,sculptured ,,portals ,,of  
,,saint-,,trophime--,arles              
#cc  ,a ,,gothic ,,aisle--,mende        
#ce  ,,corresponding ,,differences ,,in 
,,style--,carcassonne                   
#ci  ,,fortified ,,gothic ,,built ,,in  
,,brick--,albi                          
#dc  ,a ,,church ,,fortress--,maguelonne

                                     #de
  ,,stately ,,gothic                    
,,splendour--,condom                    
#dg  ,,entrevaux                        
#eb     ,people gather around the       
mail-coach as it makes its      daily   
halt before the drawbridge4  ,,the ,,new
 ,,cathedral--,marseilles               
#eg  ,,the ,,desecration ,,of ,,the     
,,little ,,cloister--,frejus            
#fe  ,,the ,,military ,,omen--,,the     
,,tower--,antibes                       
#gj  ,,the ,,interior ,,of              
,,notre-,,dame-,,du-,,bourg--,digne     
#gg  ,,the ,,interior ,,has ,,neither   
,,clerestory ,,nor ,,triforium--,digne  
#ha  ,a ,,large ,,square ,,tower        
,,served ,,as ,a ,,lookout--,forcalquier
             #hf  ,a ,,suggestive ,,view
 ,,from ,,the                           
,,side-,,aisle--,forcalquier            
#hg  ,,the ,,old ,,round ,,arch ,,of    
,,the ,,bishop',s ,,palace--,vence      
#ib  ,,the ,,low1 ,,broad ,,arches1     
,,and ,,the ,,great ,,supporting        

,,pillars--,vence    #ic  ,,higher      
,,than ,,them ,,all ,,stands ,,the      
,,cathedral--,grasse                 #ig
  ,,the ,,pont ,d',,avignon             
#ii  ,,the ,,interior ,,has ,a          
,,shallow1 ,,gracefully ,,balustraded   
,,balcony--,avignon                     
#ajc  ,,the ,,porch1 ,,so ,,classic ,,in
 ,,detail--,,avignon                    
#ajg      ,from an old print            
,,notre-,,dame-,,des-,,doms--,avignon   
#aaa  ,,the ,,tower ,,of ,,philip ,,the 
,,fair--,villeneuve-les-,avignon        
#aad  ,,the ,,great ,,palace--,avignon  
#aai  ,,on ,,the ,,banks ,,of ,a        
,,pleasant ,,little ,,river ,,is        
,,vaison                  #abc  ,,the   
,,ruined ,,castle ,,of ,,the ,,counts   
,,of ,,toulouse--,vaison                
#abe  ,,the ,,whole                     
,,apse-,,end--,vaison                   
#abg  ,,the ,,south ,,wall1 ,,which ,,is
 ,,clearly ,,seen ,,from ,,the          
,,road--,vaison      #abi  ,,two ,,bays 
,,open ,,to ,,the ,,ground--,vaison     

#aca  ,,the ,,great ,,piers ,,and       
,,small ,,firm ,,columns--,vaison       
#acc  ,,in ,,the ,,midst ,,of ,,the     
,,wealth ,,of ,,antique ,,ruins--,arles 
#ace  ,,the ,,facade ,,of               
,,saint-,,trophime--,arles              
#acg  ,,right ,,detail--,,the           
,,portal--,arles                        
#ada  ,,left ,,detail--,,the            
,,portal--,arles                        
#ade  ,,through ,,the ,,cloister        
,,arches--,arles                        
#adg  ,a ,,nave ,,of ,,great ,,and      
,,slender ,,height--,arles              
#adi  ,,the ,,beauty ,,of ,,the         
,,whole--,arles                         
#aea  ,,the ,,gothic                    
,,walk--,cloister--,arles               
#aec  ,,this ,,interior--,entrevaux     
#aef  ,,the ,,romanesque                
,,walk--,cloister--,arles               
#aeg  ,,one ,,of ,,the ,,three ,,small  
,,drawbridges--,entrevaux               
#aei  ,,the ,,portcullis--,entrevaux    
#afj  ,a ,,fort ,,that ,,perches ,,on ,a

 ,,sharp ,,peak--,entrevaux             
#afa  ,a ,,true ',,place                
,d',,armes'--,entrevaux                 
#afc  ,,the ,,long ,,line ,,of ,,walls  
,,that ,,zigzag ,,down ,,the            
,,hillside--,entrevaux  #afe  ,,the     
,,church ,,tower ,,stood ,,out ,,against
 ,,the ,,rocky ,,peak--,entrevaux       
#afi  ,,the ,,cathedral ,,is ,,near     
,,the ,,heavy ,,round ,,towers ,,of     
,,the ,,outer ,,ramparts--,sisteron     
#agb  ,,the ,,bridge ,,across ,,the     
,,durance--,sisteron                    
#agc  ,,entrances ,,to ,,two ,,narrow   
,,streets--,sisteron                    
#agf  ,,it ,,was ,a ,,low-,,vaulted1    
,,sombre ,,little ,,cloister--,cavaillon
          #ahb  ,,the ,,cathedral',s    
,,tower ,,and ,,turret--,cavaillon      
#ahg  ,,the ,,main ,,body ,,of ,,the    
,,church--,apt                          
#aia  ,,the ,,virgin ,,and ,,saint      
,,anne--,,by ,,benzoni--,apt            
#aid  ,,saint-,,martin-,,de-,,bromes    
,,with ,,its ,,high ,,slim ,,tower      

#aig  ,,the ,,fortified ,,monastery ,,of
 ,,the ,,templars--near ,greoux         
#aii  ,,the ,,tower ,,of                
,,notre-,,dame-,,du-,,siege--,riez      
#bja  ,,nothing ,,could ,,be ,,more     
,,quaintly ,,old ,,and ,,modest ,,than  
,,the ,,baptistery--,riez               
#bjb  ,,between ,,the ,,columns ,,an    
,,altar ,,has ,,been                    
,,placed--,baptistery1 ,riez   #bjc     
,,the ,,beautiful ,,granite             
,,columns--,riez                        
#bjg  ,,the ,,mail-,,coach ,,of ,,senez 
#baa  ,,the ,,open ,,square--,senez     
#bac  ,,the ,,palace ,,of ,,its         
,,prelates--,senez                      
#bad  ,,the ,,cathedral--,senez         
#bae  ,,the ,,cathedral--,senez         
#bah  ,,tapestries ,,beautify ,,the     
,,choir-,,walls--,senez                 
#bai  ,,between ,,branches ,,full ,,of  
,,apple-,,blossoms--,,the ,,church ,,as 
,,the ,,cure ,,saw ,,it--,senez         
#bba  ,,the ,,south ,,aisle--,aix       
#bbd  ,,the ,,romanesque ,,portal--,aix 

#bbe  ,,the ,,cloister--,aix            
#bbg  ,,the ,,cathedral--,aix           
#bca  ,,an ,,amphitheatre ,,which       
,,rivals ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,the         
,,coliseum--,nimes      #bch  ,,the     
,,general ,,effect ,,is ,,somewhat      
,,that ,,of ,a                          
,,port-,,cochere--,montpellier          
#bdd  ,,the ,,finest ,,view ,,is ,,that 
,,of ,,the ,,apse--,montpellier         
#bde  ,,the ,,clock ,,tower ,,is ,,very 
,,square ,,and ,,thick--,beziers        
#bdh  ,,the ,,quaint ,,and ,,pretty     
,,fountain--,beziers                    
#bej  ,,the ,,door ,,of ,,the           
,,cloister--,narbonne                   
#bee  ,,this ,,is ,a ,,place ,,of       
,,deserted ,,solitude--,narbonne        
#beg  ,,these ,,flying-,,buttresses     
,,give ,,to ,,the ,,exterior ,,its      
,,most ,,curious ,,and ,,beautiful      
,,effect--,narbonne                     
#bfa  ,,all ,,the ,,old ,,buildings ,,of
 ,,the ,,city ,,are ,,of ,,spanish      
,,origin--,perpignan                    

#bfe  ,,the ,,unfinished                
,,facade--,perpignan                    
#bfg  ,,the ,,stony ,,street ,,of ,,the 
,,hillside--,carcassonne                
#bfi  ,,the ,,ancient                   
,,cross--,carcassonne                   
#bgb  ,,often ,,too ,,little ,,time ,,is
 ,,spent ,,upon ,,the                   
,,nave--,carcassonne        #bge  ,,the 
,,choir ,,is ,,of ,,the ,,xiv           
,,century--,carcassonne                 
#bgi  ,,the ,,facade1 ,,straight ,,and  
,,massive--,carcassonne                 
#bha  ,,perspective ,,of ,,the          
,,romanesque--,carcassonne              
#bhc  ,,the ,,nave ,,of ,,the ,,xiii    
,,century ,,is ,,an ,,aisle-,,less      
,,chamber1 ,,low ,,and ,,broadly        
,,arched--,toulouse                     
#bia  ,,the ,,present ,,cathedral ,,is  
,a ,,combination ,,of                   
,,styles--,toulouse       #bid          
,,list ,,of ,,works ,,consulted4        
,,bayet4 ,precis de l',histoire de      
l',art4  ,,bodley4 ,france4  ,,bourg4   

,viviers1 ses ,monuments et son         
,histoire4  ,,choisy4 ,histoire de      
l',architecture4  ,,cougny4 ,l',art au  
,moyen ,age4  ,,cook4 ,old ,provence4   
,,corroyer4 ,l',architecture romane4    
,l',architecture gothique4  ,,cox4 ,the 
,crusades4  ,,darcel4 ,le ,mouvement    
archeologique relatif au ,moyen ,age4   
,,de ,,lahondes4 ,l',eglise             
,saint-,etienne1 ,cathedrale de         
,toulouse4  ,,dempster4 ,maritime ,alps4
  ,,ducere4 ,bayonne historique et      
pittoresque4  ,,duruy4 ,histoire de     
,france4  ,,ferree4 ,articles on ,french
 ,cathedrals appearing in the           
,architectural ,record4  ,,gardere4     
,saint-,pierre de ,condom et ses        
,constructeurs4  ,,gould4 ,in           
,troubadour ,land4  ,,guizot4 ,histoire 
de ,france4              ,histoire de la
 ,civilisation en ,france4  ,,hallam4   
,the ,middle ,ages4  ,,hare4            
,south-eastern ,france4                 
,south-western ,france4  ,history of    
,joanna of ,naples1 ,queen of ,sicily   

7published #ahbd74  ,,hunnewell4        
,historical ,monuments of ,france4      
,,james4 ,a ,little ,tour through       
,france4  ,le ,moyen ,age 7avec notice  
par ,roger-,miles74  ,,larned4 ,churches
 and ,castles of ,mediaeval ,france4    
,,lasserre1 ,l',,abbe4 ,recherches      
historiques sur la ,ville d',alet et son
 ancien ,diocese4  ,,lechevallier       
,,chevignard4 ,les ,styles francais4    
,,macgibbon4 ,the ,architecture of      
,provence and the ,riviera4             
,,marlavagne4 ,histoire de la           
,cathedrale de ,rodez4  ,,martin4       
,histoire de ,france4  ,,masson4 ,louis 
,,ix and the ,,xiii ,century4           
,francis ,i and the ,,xvi ,century4     
,,merimee4 ,etudes sur les ,arts au     
,moyen ,age4  ,,michelet4 ,histoire de  
,france4  ,,michelet ,,and ,,masson4    
,mediaevalism in ,france4  ,monographie 
de la ,cathedrale d',albi4              
,,montalembert4 ,les ,moines            
d',occident4  ,,milman4 ,history of     
,latin ,christianity4  ,,palustre4      

,l',architecture de la ,renaissance4    
,,pastor4 ,lives of the ,popes4         
,,pennell4 ,play in ,provence4          
,,quicherat4 ,melanges d',archeologie au
 ,moyen ,age4  ,,renan4 ,etudes sur la  
,politique religieuse du ,regne de      
,philippe le ,bel4  ,,revoil4           
,architecture romane du ,midi de la     
,france4  ,,rosieres4 ,histoire de      
l',architecture4  ,,schnasse4           
,geschichte der bildenden ,kuenste4     
7,volume ,,iii1 etc47  ,,sentetz4       
,sainte-,marie d',auch4  ,,sorbets4     
,histoire d',aire-sur-l',adour4         
,,soulie4 ,interesting old novels whose 
scenes are laid in the ,south of        
,france3--              ,le ,comte de   
,toulouse4              ,le ,vicomte de 
,beziers4              ,le ,chateau des 
,pyrenees1 etc4  ,,stevenson4 ,travels  
with a ,donkey in the ,cevennes4        
,,taine4 ,the ,ancient ,regime4         
,journeys through ,france4              
,origins of ,contemporary ,france4      
,tour through the ,pyrenees4  ',twixt   

,france and ,spain4                     
,,viollet-,,le-,,duc4 ,histoire d'une   
,cathedrale et d'un ,hotel-de-,ville4   
,entretiens sur l',architecture4        
,dictionnaire raisonne de               
l',architecture francaise du ,,xie au   
,,xvie siecle4     ,the ,south of       
,france4     ,i4  ,,the ,,south ,,of    
,,france4   ,if it is only by an effort 
that we appreciate the valour of        
,columbus in the ,,xv century1 his      
secret doubts1 his temerity1 how much   
fainter is our conception of the heroism
 of the early ,mediterranean navigators4
 ,steam has destroyed for us the awful  
majesty of distance1 and we can never   
realise the immensity of this great ,sea
 to the ancients4 ,to ,virgil the       
adventures of the pious ,a,eneas were   
truly heroic4 ,the western shores of the
 ,mediterranean were then the end of the
 earth1 and even during the first       
centuries of our own era1 he who        
ventured outside the ,straits of        
,gibraltar tempted either ,providence or

 the ,devil and was very properly       
punished by falling over the edge of the
 earth into everlasting destruction4    
,why1 asks a mediaeval text-book of     
science1 is the sun so red in the       
evening8 ,and this convincing answer    
follows1 ,because he looks down upon    
,hell4  ,for centuries before the       
,christian era the ,south of ,france1   
with ,spain1 lay in the unknown west end
 of the ,sea4 ,along its eastern shores 
lay civilisations hoary with age2       
,carthage1 to the ,south1 was moribund2 
,greece was living on the prestige of   
her glorious past2 while ,rome was      
becoming all-powerful4 ,legend tells    
that adventurous ,phoenicians and       
,greeks discovered the ,french coasts1  
that ,nimes was founded by a ,tyrian    
,hercules1 and ,marseilles1 about #fjj  
,b4,c41 by a ,phoenician trader who     
married a chief's daughter and settled  
at the mouth of the ,rhone4 ,but these  
early settlements were merely isolated  
towns1 which were not                   

interdependent2--scarcely more than     
trading posts4 ,it was ,rome who took   
southern ,gaul unto herself1 and after  
,roman fashion1 built cities and towns  
and co-ordinated them into              
well-regulated provinces2 and it is with
 ,roman rule that the connected history 
of ,gaul begins4  ,from the outset we   
meet one basic fact1 so difficult to    
realise when ,france is considered as   
one country1 the essential difference   
between the ,north and the ,south4      
,caesar found in the ,south a partial   
,roman civilisation ready for his       
organisation2 and old1 flourishing      
cities1 like ,narbonne1 ,aix1 and       
,marseilles4 ,in the ,north he found the
 people advanced no further than the    
tribal stage1 and ,paris--not even      
,paris in name--was a collection of mud 
huts1 which1 from its strategic         
position1 he elevated into a camp4 ,the 
two following centuries1 the height of  
,roman dominion in ,france1 accentuated 
these differences4 ,the ,north was      

governed by the ,romans1 never          
assimilated nor civilised by them4 ,the 
,south eagerly absorbed all the culture 
of the ,imperial ,city2 her religions   
and her pleasures1 her beautiful        
,temples and great ,amphitheatres1      
finally her morals and effeminacy1 till 
in the ,,ii century of our era1 anyone  
living a life of luxurious gaiety was   
popularly said to have set sail for     
,marseilles4 ,to this day the ,south    
boasts that it was a very part of ,rome1
 and ,rome was not slow to recognise the
 claim4 ,gallic poets celebrated the    
glory of ,augustus1 a ,gaul was the     
master of ,quintilian1 and ,antoninus   
,pius1 although born in the ,imperial   
,city1 was by parentage a native of     
,nimes4  ,illustration3 ,,carcassonne1  
,,the ,,invulnerable4  ,not to the rude 
,north1 but to this society1 so pagan1  
so pleasure-loving1 came the first      
missionaries of the new ,christian      
faith1 to meet in the arenas of ,gaul   
the fate of their fellow-believers in   

,rome1 to hide in subterranean caves and
 crypts1 to endure1 to persist1 and     
finally to conquer4 ,in the ,,iii and   
,,iv centuries many of the great        
,bishoprics were founded1 ,avignon1     
,narbonne1 ,lyons1 ,arles1 and          
,saint-,paul-trois ,chateaux among      
others2 but these same years brought    
political changes which seemed to       
threaten both ,church and ,state4       
,roman power was waning4 ,tribes from   
across the ,rhine were gathering1       
massing in northern ,gaul1 and its      
spirit was antagonistic to the          
contentment of the rich ,mediterranean  
provinces4 ,the tribes were brave1      
ruthless1 and barbarous4 ,peace was     
galling to their uncontrollable         
restlessness4 ,the ,gallo-,romans were  
artistic1 literary1 idle1 and luxurious4
 ,they fell1 first to milder but        
heretical foes2 then to the fierce but  
orthodox ,frank2 and the story of       
succeeding years was a chronicle of     
wars4 ,like a great swarm of locusts1   

the ,saracens--conquerors from ,india to
 ,spain--came upon the ,south4 ,they    
took ,narbonne1 ,nimes1 and even        
,carcassonne1 the ,invulnerable4 ,they  
besieged ,toulouse1 and almost destroyed
 ,bordeaux4 ,other cities1 perhaps as   
great as these1 were razed to the very  
earth and even their names are now      
forgotten4 ,europe was menaced2 the     
,south of ,france was all but destroyed4
  ,again the ,frank descended2 and like 
a great wind blowing clouds from a      
stormy sky1 ,charles ,martel swept back 
the ,arabs and saved ,christianity4     
,before #gdj1 he had returned a third   
time to the ,south1 not as a deliverer1 
but for pure love of conquest2 and by   
dismantling ,nimes1 destroying the      
maritime cities of ,maguelonne and      
,agde1 and taking the powerful          
strongholds of ,arles and ,marseilles1  
he paved the way for his great          
descendant who nominally united all     
,france4  ,but ,charlemagne's empire    
fell in pieces2 and as ,carlovingian had

 succeeded ,merovingian1 so in #ihg     
,capetian displaced the weak descendants
 of the mighty head of the ,holy ,roman 
,empire4 ,the map changed with          
bewildering frequency2 and in these     
changes1 the nobles--more stable than   
their kings--grew to be the real lords  
of their several domains4 ,history      
speaks of ,france from ,clovis to the   
,revolution as a kingdom2 but even later
 than the ,first ,crusade the kingdom   
lay somewhere between ,paris and ,lyons2
 the ,royal ,domain1 not ,france as we  
know it now4 ,the ,duchy of ,aquitaine1 
the ,duchy of ,brittany1 ,burgundy1 the 
,counties of ,toulouse1 ,provence1      
,champagne1 ,normandy1 and many smaller 
possessions1 were as proudly separate in
 spirit as ,norway and ,sweden1 and     
often as politically distinct as they   
from ,denmark4  ,in the midst of these  
times of turmoil the ,church had        
steadily grown4 ,every change1 however  
fatal to ,north or ,south1 brought to   
her new strength4 ,confronted with      

cultured paganism in the first          
centuries1 the blood of her martyrs made
 truly fruitful seed for her victories2 
and later1 facing paganism of another1  
wilder race1 she triumphed more         
peacefully in the one supreme conversion
 of ,clovis2 and the devotion and       
interest which from that day grew       
between ,church and ,king1 gradually    
made her the greatest power of the      
country4 ,after the decline of ,roman   
culture the ,church was the one         
intellectual1 almost peaceful1 and      
totally irresistible force4 ,the great  
lords scorned learning4 ,an ,abbot1     
quaintly voicing the ,church's belief1  
said that every letter writ on paper is 
a sword thrust in the devil's side4     
,when there was cessation of war1 the   
occupation of men1 from ,clovis' time   
throughout ,mediaevalism1 was gone4     
,they could not read2 they could not    
write2 the joy of hunting was1 in time1 
exhausted4 ,they were restless1 lost4   
,the justice meted out by the great     

lords was1 too often1 the right of      
might4 ,but at the ,council of ,orleans1
 in #eaa1 a church was declared an      
inviolable refuge1 where the weak should
 be safe until their case could be      
calmly and righteously judged4 ,the     
beneficent care of the ,church cannot be
 overestimated4 ,between #ejj and #gjj  
she had eighty-three councils in ,gaul1 
and scarcely one but brought a          
reform1--a real amelioration of         
hardships4  ,something of the general   
organisation of her great power in those
 rude times deserves more than the usual
 investigation4 ,even in its small place
 in the ,cathedrals and ,cloisters of   
the ,south of ,france1 it is an         
interesting bit of ,church politics and 
psychology4  ,the ecclesiastical        
tradition of ,france goes back to the   
very first years of the ,christian era4 
,lazarus1 ,mary ,magdalene1 ,martha1 and
 ,mary the ,mother of ,james1 are only a
 few of those intimately connected with 
,christ ,himself1 who are believed to   

have come into ,gaul2 and in their      
efforts to systematically and surely    
establish ,christianity1 to have founded
 the first ,french ,bishoprics4 ,this is
 tradition4 ,but even the history of the
 ,,ii century tells of a venerable1     
martyred ,bishop of ,lyons1 a disciple  
of that ,polycarp who knew ,saint ,john2
 and in the ,,iii century ,gaul added no
 less than fourteen to the ,sees she    
already had4 ,enthusiastic tradition    
aside1 it is evident that the missionary
 ardour of the ,gallic priests was      
intense2 and the glory of their early   
victories belongs entirely to a branch  
of the ,church known as the ,secular    
,clergy4  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,tower  
,,of ,,an ,,early ,,maritime            
,,cathedral4--,,agde4  ,the other great 
branch1 the ,religious ,orders1 were of 
later institution4 ,from the oriental   
deserts of the ,thebaid1 where ,saint   
,anthony had early practised the        
austerities of monkish life1 ,saint     
,martin drew his inspiration for the    

monasticism of the ,west4 ,but it was   
not until the last of the ,,iv century  
that he founded1 near ,poitiers1 the    
first great monastery in ,france4 ,the  
success of this form of pious life1 if  
not altogether edifying1 was immediate4 
,devotional excesses were less common in
 the temperate climate of ,france than  
under the exciting oriental sun1 yet    
that most bizarre of ,eastern fanatics1 
the ,pillar ,saint1 had at least one    
disciple in ,gaul4 ,he--the good        
,brother ,wulfailich--began the life of 
sanctity by climbing a column near      
,treves1 and prepared himself to stand  
on it1 barefooted1 through winter and   
summer1 till1 presumably1 angels should 
bear him triumphantly to heaven4 ,but   
the ,west is not the ,east4 ,and the    
good ,bishops of the neighbourhood drew 
off1 instead of waiting at the pillar1  
as an exalted emperor had humbly stood  
beneath that of ,saint ,simeon          
,stylites4 ,far from being awe-struck1  
they were scandalised2 and they forced  

,wulfailich to descend from his         
eminence1 and destroyed it4 ,this is one
 of the first ,gallic instances of the  
antagonisms between the secular and the 
regular branches of the reverend clergy4
  ,within the ,french ,church from early
 times1 these two great forces were     
arrayed1 marching toward the same great 
end1--but never marching together4 ,it  
is claimed they were1 and are1 inimical4
 ,in theory1 in ideal1 nothing could be 
further from truth4 ,they were in fact  
sometimes unfriendly2 and more often    
than not mutually suspicious4 ,for the  
great ,abbot inevitably lived in a      
,bishop's ,see2 and with human tempers  
beneath their churchly garb1 ,abbot and 
,bishop could not always agree4 ,now the
 ,bishop was lord of the clergy1 supreme
 in his diocese2 but should he call to  
account the lowest friar of any         
monastery1 my ,lord ,abbot replied that 
he was answerable only to the ,pope1 and
 retired to his vexatious imperium in   
imperio4  ,the beginning of the ,,vi    

century saw much that was irregular in  
monastic life4 ,the whole country was   
either in a state of war or of unrestful
 expectation of war4 ,many ,abbeys were 
yet to be established2 many merely in   
process of foundation4 ,wandering       
brothers were naturally beset by the    
dangers and temptations of an unsettled 
life2 and if history may be believed1   
fell into many irregularities and even  
shamed their cloth by licentiousness4   
,into this disorder came the great and  
holy ,benedict1 the learnedly ignorant1 
the wisely unlearned1 the true organiser
 of ,western ,monachism4 ,under his wise
 ,rules the ,abbey of the ,,vi century  
was transformed4 ,it became not only a  
place of prayer and meditation1 but a   
refuge against barbarism in all its     
forms4 ,and this home of books and      
knowledge had departments of all kinds1 
and its dependencies formed what we     
would call to-day a 'model farm4' ,there
 were to be found examples of activity  
and industry for the workman1 the common

 tiller of the soil1 or the land-owner  
himself4 ,it was a school1 continues    
,thierry1 not of religion1 but of       
practical knowledge2 and when it is     
considered that there were two hundred  
and thirty-eight of such schools in     
,clovis' day1 the power of the ,orders1 
though late in coming1 will be seen to  
have grown as great as that of the      
,bishops4  ,from these two branches     
sprang all that is greatest in the      
ecclesiastical architecture of ,france4 
,as their strength grew1 their          
respective churches were built1 and     
to-day1 as a sign of their dual power1  
we have the ,abbey and the ,cathedral4  
,the ,bishop's church had its prototype 
in the first ,christian meeting places  
in ,rome and was planned from two basic 
ideas1--the part of the ,roman house    
which was devoted to early ,christian   
service1 and the growing exigencies of  
the ritual itself4 ,at the very first of
 the ,christian era1 converts met in any
 room1 but these little groups so soon  

grew to communities that a larger place 
was needed and the basilica of the house
 became the general and accepted place  
of worship4 ,the basilica was composed  
of a long hall1 sometimes galleried1 and
 a hemicycle2 and its general outline   
was that of a letter ,t4 ,into this     
purely secular building1 ,christian     
ceremonials were introduced4 ,the       
hemicycle became the apse2 the gallery1 
a clerestory2 the hall1 a central nave4 
,here the paraphernalia of the new      
,church were installed4 ,the altar stood
 in the apse2 and between it and the    
nave1 on either side1 a pulpit or       
reading-desk was placed4 ,bishop and    
priests sat around the altar1 the people
 in the nave4 ,this disposition of      
clergy1 people1 and the furniture of the
 sacred office is essentially that of   
the ,cathedral of to-day4 ,there were   
however many amplifications of the first
 type4 ,the basilica form1 ,t1 was      
enlarged to that of a cross2 and        
increasingly beautiful architectural    

forms were evolved4 ,among the first was
 the tower of the early ,italian        
churches4 ,this single tower was doubled
 in the ,french ,romanesque1 often      
multiplied again by ,gothic builders1   
and in ,byzantine churches1 increased to
 seven and even nine domes4 ,transepts  
were added1 and as1 one by one1 the arts
 came to the knowledge of the ,middle   
,ages and the ,renaissance1 each was    
pressed into the service of the         
,cathedral builders4 ,the interior      
became so beautiful with carvings1      
windows of marvellously painted glass1  
rich tapestries and frescoes1 that the  
ritual seemed yearly more impressive and
 awe-inspiring4 ,the old1 squat exterior
 of early days was forgotten in new     
height and majesty1 and the ,cathedral  
became the dominant building of the     
city4  ,although the country was early  
christianised1 and on the map of        
,merovingian ,france nearly all the     
present ,cathedral cities of the        
,mediterranean were seats of            

,bishoprics1 we cannot now see all the  
successive steps of the church          
architecture of the ,south4 ,the main   
era of the buildings which have come    
down to us1 is the ,,xi-,,xiv centuries4
 ,of earlier types and stages little is 
known1 little remains4  ,illustration3  
,a ,,nave ,,of ,,the ,,earlier          
,,style4--,,arles4  ,in general1 ,gallic
 churches are supposed to have been     
basilican1 with all the poverty of the  
older style4 ,charlemagne's architects1 
with ,san ,vitale in mind1 gave a slight
 impetus in the far-away chapel at      
,aix-la-,chapelle1 and ,gregory of      
,tours tells us that ,bishop ,perpetuus 
built a glorious church at ,tours4 ,but 
his description is meagre4 ,after a few 
mathematical details1 he returns to     
things closer to his heart1--the        
,church's atmosphere of holiness1 the   
emblematic radiance of the candle's     
light1 the ecstasy of worshippers who   
seemed to breathe the air of ,paradise4 
,and ,saint ,gregory's is the religious1

 uncritical spirit of his day1 whose    
interest was in ecclesiastical          
establishment rather than ecclesiastical
 architecture4 ,churches there were in  
numbers2 but they were not architectural
 achievements4 ,their building was like 
the planting of the flag2 they were new 
outposts1 signs of an advance of the    
,faith4 ,with this missionary spirit in 
the ,church1 with priests still engaged 
in christianising and monks in          
establishing themselves on their        
domains1 with a very general ignorance  
of art1 with the absorbing interest of  
the powerful and great in warfare1 and  
the very great struggle among the poor  
for existence1 architecture before the  
,x century had few students or          
protectors4 ,france had neither         
sufficient political peace nor          
ecclesiastical wealth for elaborate     
church structures4 ,no head1 either of  
,church or ,state1 had taste and time   
enough to inaugurate such works4  ,many 
causes have combined to destroy such    

churches as then existed4 ,if they      
escaped the rasings and fires of a      
siege1 they were often destroyed by     
lightning1 or decayed by years2 and some
 of the fragments which endured to the  
,,xiii century were torn down to make   
room for more beautiful buildings4  ,it 
was the ,,xi and ,,xii centuries which  
saw the important beginnings of the     
great ,cathedrals of both ,north and    
,south4 ,these were the years when      
religion was the dominant idea of the   
western world1--when everything1 even   
warfare1 was pressed into its service4  
,instead of devastating their own and   
their neighbour's country1 ,christian   
armies were devastating the ,holy ,land2
 doing to the ,infidel in the name of   
their religion what he1 in the name of  
his1 had formerly done to them4 ,the    
capture of ,jerusalem had triumphantly  
ended the ,first ,crusade2 the ,church  
was everywhere victorious1 and the ,pope
 in actual fact the mightiest monarch of
 the earth4 ,these were the days when   

,peter the ,hermit's cry1 ,god wills it1
 aroused the world1 and aroused it to   
the most diverse accomplishments4  ,one 
form of this activity was church        
building2 but there were other causes   
than religion for the general           
magnificence of the effort4 ,among these
 was communal pride1 the interesting1   
half-forgotten motive of much that is   
great in mediaeval building4  ,the      
,mediaevalism of the old writers seems  
an endless pageant1 in which            
indefinitely gorgeous armies march up   
the hill and then march down again2 in  
newer histories this has disappeared in 
the long struggle of one class with     
another2 and in neither do we reach the 
individual1 nor see the daily life of   
the people who are the backbone of a    
nation4 ,yet these are the people we    
must know if we are to have a right     
conception of the ,cathedral's place in 
the living interest of the ,middle      
,ages4 ,for the ,bishop's church was in 
every sense a popular church4 ,the      

,abbey was built primarily for its      
monks1 and the ,abbey-church for their  
meditation and worship4 ,the ,french    
,cathedral was the people's1 it was     
built by their money1 not money from an 
,abbey-coffer4 ,it did not stand1 as the
 ,cathedral of ,england1 majestic and   
apart1 in a scholarly close2 it was in  
the open square of the city2 markets and
 fairs were held about it2 the doors to 
its calm and rest opened directly on the
 busiest1 every-day bustle4 ,it is not a
 mere architectural relic1 as its       
building was never a mere architectural 
feat4 ,it is the symbol of a past stage 
of life1 a majestic part of the picture 
we conjure before our mind's eye1 when  
we consider ,mediaevalism4              
,illustration3 ,a ,,nave ,,of ,,the     
,,later ,,style4--,,rodez4  ,such a     
picture of a city of another country and
 of the late ,middle ,ages exists in the
 drama of ,richard ,wagner's            
,meistersinger2 and his ,nuremberg of   
the ,,xvi century1 with changes of local

 colour1 is the type of all mediaeval   
towns4 ,general travel was unknown4 ,the
 activity of the great roads was the    
march of armies1 the roving of          
marauders1 the journeys of venturesome  
merchants or well-armed knights4 ,not   
only roads1 but even streets were unsafe
 at night2 and after the sun had set he 
who had gone about freely and carelessly
 during the day1 remained at home or    
ventured out with much caution4 ,when   
armies camped about her walls1 the city 
was doubtless much occupied with outside
 happenings4 ,but when the camp broke up
 and war was far away1 her shoemaker    
made his shoes1 her goldsmith1 fine     
chains and trinkets1 her merchants      
traded in the market-place4 ,their      
interests were in street brawls1        
romancings1 new privileges1 the work or 
the feast of the day--in a word         
town-topics4 ,yet being as other men1   
the burghers also were awakened by the  
energy of the age1 and instead of       
wasting it in adventures and wars1 their

 interest took the form of an intense   
local pride1 narrow1 but with elements  
of grandeur1 seldom selfish1 but civic4 
,this absence of the personal element is
 nowhere better illustrated than in     
,cathedral building4 ,of all the really 
great men who planned the ,cathedrals of
 ,france1 almost nothing is known2 and  
by searching1 little can be found out4  
,who can give a dead date1 much less a  
living fact1 concerning the life of that
 ,gervais who conceived the great       
,gothic height of ,narbonne8 ,who can   
tell even the name of him who planned   
the sombre1 battlemented walls of ,agde1
 or of that great man who first saw in  
poetic vision the delicate choir of     
,saint-,nazaire in ,carcassonne8        
,artists have a well-preserved          
personality1--cathedral-builders1 none4 
,robert of ,luzarches who conceived the 
,parthenon of all ,gothic architecture1 
and the man who planned stately ,sens   
and the richness of ,canterbury1 are as 
unknown to us as the quarries from which

 the stones of their ,cathedrals were   
cut4 ,it is not the ,cathedral built by 
,robert of ,luzarches belonging to      
,amiens1 as it is the ,assumption by    
,rubens belonging to ,antwerp4 ,it is   
scarcely the ,cathedral of its patron1  
,saint ,firmin4 ,it is the ,cathedral of
 ,amiens4  ,illustration3 ,,the         
,,delicate ,,choir ,,of                 
,,saint-,,nazaire4--,,carcassonne4  ,we 
hear many learned disquisitions on the  
decay of the art of church building4    
,lack of time in our rushing age1 lack  
of patience1 decline of religious zeal1 
or change in belief1 these are some of  
the popular reasons for this            
architectural degeneracy4 ,strange as it
 may seem none of these have had so     
powerful an influence as the invention  
of printing4 ,the first printing-press  
was made in the middle of the ,,xv      
century1--after the conception of the   
great ,cathedrals4 ,in an earlier age1  
when the greatest could neither read nor
 write and manuscripts even in          

monasteries were rare1 sculpture and    
carving were the layman's books1 and    
,cathedrals were not only places of     
worship1 they were the people's         
religious libraries where literature was
 cut in stone4  ,in the ,north1 the most
 unique form of this literature was the 
drama of the ,breton ,calvaries1 which  
portrayed one subject and one only1--the
 ,life and ,passion of ,christ1 taken   
from ,prophecy1 ,tradition1 and the     
,gospels4 ,cathedrals1 both ,north and  
,south1 used the narrative form4 ,they  
told story after story2 and their makers
 showed an intimate knowledge of        
,biblical lore that would do credit to  
the most ardent theological student4 ,at
 ,nimes1 by no means the richest church 
in carvings1 there are besides the ,last
 ,judgment and the reward of the ,evil  
and the ,righteous1--which even a       
superficial ,christian should           
know1--many of the stories of the ,book 
of ,genesis4 ,at ,arles1 there is the   
,dream of ,jacob1 the ,dream of ,joseph1

 the ,annunciation1 the ,nativity1      
,purification1 ,massacre of the         
,innocents1 the ,flight into ,egypt2    
almost a ,bible in stone4 ,in these days
 of books and haste few would take the  
trouble to study such sculptured tales4 
,but their importance to the unlettered 
people of the ,middle ,ages cannot be   
overestimated2 and the incentive to     
magnificence of artistic conception was 
correspondingly great4  ,the main era of
 ,cathedral building is the same all    
over ,france4 ,but with the general     
date1 all arbitrary parallel between    
,north and ,south abruptly ends4 ,the   
,north began the evolution of the       
,gothic1 a new form indigenous to its   
soil2 the ,south continued the          
,romanesque1 her evolution of a         
transplanted style1 and long knew no    
other4 ,she had grown accustomed to give
 northward1--not to receive2 and it was 
the reign of ,saint ,louis before she   
began to assimilate the architectural   
ideas of the ,isle de ,france and to    

build in the ,gothic style1 it was      
admiration for the newer ideals which   
led the builders of the ,south to change
 such of their plans as were not already
 carried out1 and to try with these     
foreign and beautiful additions1 to give
 to their churches the most perfect form
 they could conceive4  ,and thus1 from a
 web of ,fate1 in which1 as in all      
destinies1 is the spinning of many      
threads1 came the ,cathedrals and       
,cloisters of the ,south4 ,are they     
greater than those of the ,north8 ,are  
they inferior to them8 ,it is best said1
 ,comparison is idle4 ,who shall decide 
between the fir-trees and the           
olives--between the beautiful order of a
 northern forest and the strange1       
astounding luxuriance of the southern   
tangle8 ,which is the better choice--the
 well-told tale of the ,cathedrals of   
the ,north1 with their procession of    
kingly visitors1 or the almost untold   
story of the ,cathedrals of the ,south1 
where history is still legend1          

tradition1 romance--the story of fanatic
 fervour and still more fanatic hate8   
,illustration3 ,a ,,cloister ,,of ,,the 
,,south4--,,elne4     ,,ii4             
,,architecture ,,in ,,provence1         
,,languedoc1 ,,and ,,gascony4   ,no     
better place can be found than the      
,mediterranean provinces to consider the
 origins of the earliest southern style4
 ,here ,romanesque ,cathedrals arose in 
the midst of the vast ruins of ,imperial
 antiquity1 here they developed strange 
similarities to foreign styles1 domes   
suggesting the ,east1 ,greek motives    
recalling ,byzantium1 and details       
reminiscent of ,syria4 ,and here is the 
battle-field for that great army who    
decry or who defend ,roman influences4  
,some would have us believe that the    
,romanesque dome is expatriated from the
 ,east2 others1 that it is naturalised2 
others1 that it is native4 ,the plan of 
the ,romanesque dome differs very much  
from that of the ,byzantine1 yet the    
general conception seems ,eastern4 ,if  

conceivable in the ,oriental mind1 why  
not in that of the ,west8 ,and yet1 in  
spite of some native peculiarities of   
structure1 why should not the general   
idea have been imported8 ,who shall     
decide8 ,in a book such as this1 mooted 
questions which involve such            
multitudinous detail and such unprovable
 argument cannot be discussed4  ,it is  
unreasonable to doubt1 however1 that    
,roman influences dominated the ,south1 
herself a product of ,roman             
civilisation2 and as in the curious     
ineradicable tendency of the ,south     
toward heresy we more than suspect a    
subtle infiltration of ,greek and       
,oriental perversions1 so in            
architecture it is logical to infer that
 ,mediterranean traders1 ,crusaders1 and
 perhaps adventurous architects who may 
have travelled in their wake1 brought   
rumours of the buildings of the ,east1  
which were adopted with original or     
necessary modifications4                
,viollet-le-,duc1 in summing up this    

much discussed question1 has written    
that in the ,romanesque art of the      
,west1 side by side with persistent     
,latin traditions1 a ,byzantine         
influence is almost always found1       
evidenced by the introduction of the    
cupola4 ,in the lamentable absence of   
records of the majority of ,cathedrals1 
reasonings of origin must be inductive1 
and more or less imaginative1 and have  
no legitimate place in the scope of a   
book which aims to describe the existing
 conditions and proven history of       
southern ,cathedrals4  ,illustration3 ,a
 ,,romanesque ,,aisle4--,,arles4        
,quicherat1 who has had much to say upon
 architectural subjects1 defines the    
,romanesque as an art which has ceased  
to be ,roman1 although it has much that 
is ,roman1 and that is not yet ,gothic1 
although it already presages the        
,gothic4 ,this is not a very helpful    
interpretation4 ,romanesque1 as it      
exists in ,france to-day1 is generally  
of earlier building than the ,gothic2 it

 is an older and far simpler style4 ,it 
was not a quick1 brilliant outburst1    
like the ,gothic1 but a long and slow   
evolution2 and it has therefore         
deliberation and dignity1 not the       
spontaneity of northern creations2      
strength1 and at times great vigour1 but
 not munificence1 not the lavishness of 
art and wealth and adornment1 of which  
the younger style was prodigal4 ,few    
generalisations are flawless1 but it may
 be truly said that ,romanesque         
,cathedrals are lacking in splendour2   
and it will be found in a large majority
 of cases that they are also without the
 impressiveness of great size2 that they
 are almost devoid of shapely windows or
 stained glass1 of notable carvings or  
richness of decorative detail4 ,their   
art is a simple art1 a sober art1 and in
 its nearest approach to opulence--the  
sculptured portals of ,saint-,trophime  
of ,arles or                            
,saint-,gilles-de-,languedoc--there is  
still a reserved rather than an         

exuberant and uncontrolled display of   
wealth4  ,illustration3 ,,the           
,,sculptured ,,portals ,,of             
,,saint-,,trophime4--,,arles4  ,by what 
simple1 superficial sign can this       
architecture be recognised by those who 
are to see it for the first time8 ,it   
exists everywhere and always in southern
 ,france2 but1 side by side with the    
encroachments and additions of other    
styles1 how can it be easily            
distinguished8 ,quicherat writes that   
the principal characteristic of the     
,romanesque is la voute1 and the great1 
rounded tunnel of the roofing is a      
distinction which will be found in no   
other form4 ,but the easiest of         
superficial distinctions is the         
arch-shape1 which in portal1 window1    
vaulting or tympanum is round2 wherever 
the arcaded form is used1--always round4
 ,with this suggestion of outline1 and  
the universal principles of the style1  
simplicity and dignity and absence of   
great ornamentation1 the untechnical    

traveller may distinguish the           
,romanesque of the ,south1 and if he be 
akin to the traveller who tells these   
,cathedral tales1 the interest and      
fascination which the old architecture  
awakes1 will lead him to discover for   
himself the many differences which are  
evident between the ascetic strength of 
the one1 and the splendour and          
brilliance of the other4   ,sidenote3   
,provence4  ,illustration3 ,a ,,gothic  
,,aisle4--,,mende4  ,the three provinces
 which compose the ,south of ,france are
 ,provence1 ,languedoc1 and ,gascony1   
and of these ,provence is1              
architecturally and historically1 the   
first to claim our interest4 ,during the
 era of colonisation it was the most    
thoroughly romanised1 and in the early  
centuries of ,christianity the first to 
fall completely under the systematic    
organisation of the ,church4 ,it has a  
large group of very old ,cathedrals1 and
 is the best study-ground for a general 
scrutiny and appreciation of that style 

which the builders of the ,south        
assimilated and developed until1 as it  
were1 they naturalised it and made it   
one of the two greatest forms of        
architectural expression4 ,provence does
 not contain the most impressive        
examples of ,romanesque4 ,two ,abbeys of
 the far ,norman ,north are more        
finished and harmonious representations 
of the art1 and ,languedoc1 in the      
basilica of ,saint-,sernin of ,toulouse1
 has a nobler interior than any in the  
,midi1 and many other churches of       
,languedoc and ,gascony are most        
interesting examples of a style which   
belonged to them as truly as to         
,provence4  ,yet it is in this province 
that the ,romanesque is best studied4   
,for here the great internecine         
struggles--both political and           
religious--of the ,middle ,ages were not
 as devastating as in ,languedoc and    
,gascony2 ,provence was a sunny land1   
where ,sonnets flourished more          
luxuriantly than did ,holy ,inquisition4

 ,her churches have therefore been      
preserved in their original form in     
greater numbers than those of the two   
other provinces4 ,they are of all types 
of ,romanesque1 all stages of its       
growth1 from the small and simple       
,cathedrals which were built when       
ecclesiastical exchequers were not      
overflowing1 to the greater ones which  
illustrate very advanced and dignified  
phases of architectural development2 and
 as a whole they exhibit the normal     
proportion of failure and success in an 
effort toward an ideal4   ,sidenote3    
,languedoc4  ,leon ,renier1 the learned 
lecturer of the ,college de ,france1    
says3 ,it is remarkable that the        
changes1 the elaborations1 the          
modifications of the architecture given 
by ,rome to all countries under her     
domination were conceived in the        
provinces long before they were         
reproduced in ,italy4 ,rome gave no     
longer2 she received 444 a transfusion  
of a new blood1 more vital and more     

rich4 ,in ,languedoc1 the greater number
 of monuments of this ancient           
architecture have been destroyed2 and   
those of their outgrowth1 the later     
,romanesque1 were so repeatedly         
mutilated that the ,cathedrals of this  
province present even a greater         
confusion of originalities1             
restorations1 and additions than those  
of ,provence4 ,to a multitude of dates  
must be added corresponding differences 
in style4 ,each school of architecture  
naturally considered that it had        
somewhat of a monopoly of good taste and
 beauty1 or at least that it was an     
improvement on the manner which preceded
 it2 and it would have been too much to 
expect1 in ages when anachronisms were  
unrecognised1 that churches should have 
been restored in their consonant1       
original style4 ,architects of the      
,gothic period were unable to resist the
 temptation of continuing a ,romanesque 
nave with a choir of their own school1  
and builders of the ,,xviii century went

 still further and added a showy ,louis 
,,xv facade to a modest ,romanesque     
,cathedral4 ,some churches1 built in    
times of religious storm and stress1    
show the preoccupation of their patrons 
or the lack of talent of their          
constructors2 others belong to          
,bishoprics that were much more lately  
constituted than the ,sees of ,provence1
 and in these cases the new prelate     
chose a church already begun or         
completed1 and compromised with the     
demands of episcopal pomp by an         
addition1 usually of different style4   
,the numerous changes1 political and    
religious1 of the ,mediaevalism of      
,languedoc1 had such considerable and   
diverse influence on the architecture of
 the province that it is not possible1  
as in ,provence1 to trace an            
uninterrupted evolution of one style4   
,the ,languedocian is generally a later 
builder than the ,provencal2 he is      
bolder4 ,having the ,romanesque and the 
,gothic as choice1 he chose at will and 

seemingly at random4 ,he had            
spontaneity1 enthusiasm1 verve2 and when
 no accepted model pleased his taste1 he
 re-created after his own liking4       
,languedoc has therefore a delightful   
quality that is wanting in ,provence2   
and in her greater ,cathedrals there is 
often an originality that is due to     
genius rather than to eccentricity4     
,there is delicate ,gothic at           
,carcassonne1 lofty ,gothic at          
,narbonne1 ,sainte-,cecile of ,albi is  
fortified ,gothic built in brick4 ,the  
interior of ,saint-,sernin of ,toulouse 
is an apotheosis of the austere         
,romanesque1 and ,saint-,etienne of     
,agde is a gratifying type of the       
,maritime ,church of the ,midi4         
,illustration3 ,,corresponding          
,,differences ,,in                      
,,style4--,,carcassonne4  ,this         
,cathedral of the ,sea is a fitting     
example of a peculiar type of           
architecture which exists also in       
,provence1--a succession of             

fortress-churches that extend along the 
,mediterranean from ,spain to ,italy    
like the peaks of a mountain chain4     
,nothing can better illustrate the      
continuous warrings and raidings in the 
,south of ,france than these strange    
churches1 and their many fortified      
counterparts inland1 in both ,languedoc 
and ,gascony4 ,castles and walled towns 
were not sufficient to protect the      
,southerner from invasions and          
incursions2 his churches and            
,cathedrals1 even to the ,,xiv century1 
were strongholds1 more suitable for     
men-at-arms than for priests1 and       
seemingly dedicated to some war-god     
rather than to the gentle ,virgin       
,mother and the ,martyr-,saints under   
whose protection they nominally dwelt4  
,although most interesting1 the military
 church of the interior is seldom the   
,bishop's church4 ,the maritime church  
on the contrary is nearly always a      
,cathedral1 with strangely curious      
legends and episodes4 ,the ,french coast

 of the ,mediterranean was the scene of 
continuous pillage4 ,huns1 ,normans1    
,moors1 ,saracens1 unknown pirates and  
free-booters of all nationalities found 
it very lucrative and convenient to     
descend on a sea-board town1 and escape 
as they had come1 easily1 their boats   
loaded with booty4 ,as late as the ,,xii
 century1 writes ,barr ,ferree1         
buccaneers gained a livelihood by       
preying on the peaceful and unoffending 
inhabitants of the villages and cities4 
,the ,cathedrals1 as the most important 
buildings and the most conspicuous1 were
 strongly fortified1 both to protect    
their contents and to serve as          
strongholds for the citizens in case of 
need4 ,in these churches1 therefore1    
architecture assumed its most           
utilitarian form and buildings are real 
fortifications1 with battlemented walls1
 strong and heavy towers1 and small     
windows1 and are provided with the other
 devices of ,romanesque architecture of 
a purely military type4  ,illustration3 

,,fortified ,,gothic ,,built ,,in       
,,brick4--,,albi4  ,time has dealt      
hardly with them4 ,the kingly power1    
being entrenched in ,paris1 developed   
from the ,isle de ,france4 ,the wealth  
that once enriched the fertile lands of 
the ,south moved northwards1 and the    
great commercial cities of the ,north   
became the most important centres of    
activity4 ,then the southern towns began
 to decline1 and the buildings which    
remain to represent most perfectly the  
,church-,fortress are not those of      
,provence1 which are patched and        
restored1 but those of ,languedoc1      
,agde1 and ,maguelonne1 and ,elne of the
 near-by country of ,rousillon4         
,illustration3 ,a ,,church              
,,fortress4--,,maguelonne4   ,sidenote3 
,gascony4  ,gascony1 the last of the    
southern provinces and the farthest from
 ,rome1 had great prosperity under      
,imperial dominion4 ,many patricians    
emigrated there1 roads were built1      
commerce flourished1 and as in ,provence

 and ,languedoc1 towns grew into large  
and well-established cities4            
,christianity made a comparatively early
 conquest of the province2 and at the   
beginning of the ,,iv century1 eleven   
suffragan ,bishoprics had been          
established under the ,archbishopric of 
,eauze4 ,gascony has many old ,cathedral
 cities1 and has had many ancient       
,cathedrals2 but after the fall of the  
,roman ,empire in the ,v century1 a     
series of wars began which destroyed not
 only the ,christian architecture1 but  
almost every trace of ,roman wealth and 
culture4 ,little towers remain1 supposed
 shrines of ,mercury1 protector of      
commerce and travel2 pieces of statues  
are found2 but the ,temples1 the        
,amphitheatres1 the ,forums1 have       
disappeared1 and even more completely1  
the rude ,christian churches of that    
early period4  ,although the province   
has no ,mediterranean coast and could   
not be molested by the marauders of that
 busy sea1 it lay directly upon the     

route of armies between ,france and     
,spain2 and it is no gasconading to say 
that it was for centuries one of the    
greatest battle-fields of the ,south4   
,vandals1 ,visigoths1 ,franks1          
,saracens1 ,normans1--,gascons against  
,carlovingians1 ,north against ,south1  
all had burned1 raided1 and destroyed   
,gascony before the ,,xi century4 ,it is
 not surprising1 then1 that there are   
found fewer traces of antiquity here    
than in ,provence and ,languedoc4 ,even 
the few names of decimated cities which 
survived1 designated towns on new sites4
 ,eauze1 formerly on the ,gelise1 lay   
long in ruins1 and was finally re-built 
a kilometre inland4 ,lectoure and ,auch 
had long since retired from the river   
,gers and taken refuge on the hills of  
their present situations1 while other   
cities fell into complete ruin and      
forgetfulness4  ,illustration3 ,,stately
 ,,gothic ,,splendour4--,,condom4  ,the 
year #ajjj1 which followed these events1
 was that of the predicted and expected 

end of the world4 ,the extravagances of 
,christians at that time are well known1
 the gifts of all property that were    
made to the ,church1 the abandonment of 
worldly pursuits1 the terrors of many1  
the anxiety of the calmest1 the         
emotional excesses which led people to  
live in trees that they might be near to
 heaven when the great trump should     
sound1--,mundi fine appropinquante4 ,but
 the trumpet did not sound1 and ,raoul  
,glaber1 a monk of the ,,xi century1    
writes that all over ,italy and the     
,gaul of his day there was great haste  
to restore and re-build churches1 a     
general rivalry between towns and       
between countries1 as to which could    
build most remarkably4 ,this activity1  
says ,quicherat1 may show a desire to   
renew alliance with the ,creator4 ,it   
certainly proves that the generation of 
the year #ajjj had fresh and new        
architectural ideas4  ,this was the     
period of recuperation and re-building  
for ,gascony4 ,the monks of the ,,viii1 

,,ix1 and ,x centuries had devoted      
themselves with zeal and success to the 
cultivation of the soil4 ,they had      
acquired fertile fields1 and desiring   
peace1 they had placed themselves in    
positions where their strength would    
defend them when their holy calling was 
not respected4 ,these monasteries were  
places of refuge and soon gave their    
name and their protection to the towns  
and villages which began to cluster     
about them4 ,except the declining       
settlements of ,roman days1 ,gascony had
 few towns in the ,x century2 and many  
of her most important cities of to-day  
owe their foundation1 their existence1  
and their prosperity to these           
,benedictine monasteries4 ,eauze        
regained its life after the             
establishment of a convent1 and in the  
,,xi1 ,,xii1 and ,,xiii centuries1 the  
,abbots of ,citeaux1 ,bishops1 and even 
lords of the laity1 occupied themselves 
in the creation of new cities4 ,many of 
the towns of mediaeval creation         

possessed broad municipal and commercial
 privileges1 they grew to the importance
 of communes and ,bishoprics1 and some  
even styled themselves ,republics4      
,although these were times of much      
re-building1 restoring1 and carrying out
 of older plans of ecclesiastical       
architecture1 the ,,xi and ,,xii        
centuries were none the less filled with
 innumerable private wars1 and in #aafg 
began the bloody and persistent struggle
 with ,england4 ,the city of ,aire was  
at one time reduced to twelve           
inhabitants1 and the horrors of the     
mediaeval siege were more than once     
repeated4 ,in these wars1 ,cathedrals1  
as well as towns and their inhabitants1 
were scarred and wounded4 ,hardly had   
these dissensions ended in #adid1 when  
the ,wars of ,religion commenced under  
,charles ,,ix1 and ,gascony was again   
one of the most terrible fields of      
battle4 ,here the demoniac enthusiasm of
 both sides exceeded even the terrible  
exhibitions of ,languedoc4 ,the royal   

family of ,navarre was openly           
,protestant and contributed more than   
any others to the military organisations
 of their ,faith4 ,jeanne d',albret1 in 
#aeff1 wishing to repay intolerance with
 intolerance1 forbade religious         
processions and church funerals in      
,navarre4 ,the people rose1 and the next
 year the ,queen was forced to grant    
toleration to both religions4 ,later the
 ,king of ,france entered the field and 
sent an army against the ,bearnaise     
,huguenots1 ,jeanne1 in reprisal1 called
 to her aid ,montmorency2 and with a    
thoroughness born of pious zeal and     
hatred1 each army began to burn and     
kill4 ,all monasteries1 all churches1   
were looted by the ,protestants2 all    
cities taken by ,montluc1 head of the   
,catholics1 were sacked4 ,tarbes was    
devastated by the one1 ,rabestans by the
 other1 and the ,cathedral of ,pamiers  
was ruined4 ,with the ,massacre of      
,saint ,bartholomew1 in #aegb1 the      
struggle began again1 and the ,league   

flourished in all its malign enthusiasm4
 ,such disorder as was introduced1 says 
a writer of the period1 such pillage1   
has never been seen since war began4    
,officers1 soldiers1 followers1 and     
volunteers were so overburdened with    
booty as to be incommoded thereby4 ,and 
after this brigandage1 the peasants     
hereabouts ,bigorre abandoned their very
 farms from lack of cattle1 and the     
greater number went into ,spain4        
,during long centuries of such religious
 and political devastation the          
architectural energy of ,gascony was    
expended in replacing churches which had
 been destroyed1 and were again to be   
destroyed or injured4 ,it would be      
unfair to expect of this province the   
great magnificence which its brave1     
cheerful1 and extravagant little people 
believe it once possessed1 or to look1  
amid such unrest1 for the calm growth of
 any architectural style4 ,it is a      
country of few ,cathedrals1 of curious  
churches built for war and prayer1 and  

of such occasional outbursts of         
magnificence as is seen in the          
,romanesque portal of ,saint-,pierre of 
,moissac and in the stately ,gothic     
splendour of the ,cathedrals at ,condom 
and at ,bayonne4 ,it is a country where 
,cathedrals are surrounded by the most  
beautiful of landscapes1 and where each 
has some legend or story of the         
,english1 the ,league1 of the ,black    
,prince1 or the ,lion-hearted1 of ,henry
 ,,iv1 still adored1 or of ,simon de    
,montfort1 still execrated1 where the   
towns are truly historic and the        
mountains truly grand4     ,provence4   
,i4  ,,the ,,cathedrals ,,of ,,the      
,,sea4   ,sidenote3 ,marseilles4        
,perhaps a ,phoenician settlement1      
certainly a ,carthaginian mart1 later a 
,grecian city1 and in the final years of
 the pagan era possessed by the ,romans1
 no city of ,france has had more diverse
 influences of antique civilisation than
 ,marseilles1 none responded more       
proudly to its ancient opportunities2   

and not only was it commercially wealthy
 and renowned1 but so rich in schools   
that it was called another1 a new       
,athens4 ,it was also the port of an    
adventurous people1 who founded ,nice1  
,antibes1 la ,ciotat1 and ,agde1 and    
explored a part of ,africa and ,northern
 ,europe2 and at the fall of the ,roman 
,empire it became1 by very virtue of its
 riches and safe harbour1 the envy and  
the prey of a succession of barbaric and
 infidel invaders4 ,in the ,middle ,ages
 it had all the vicissitudes of wars and
 sieges to which a great city could be  
subjected4 ,it had a ,viscount1 and from
 very early days1 a ,bishop2 it was at  
one time part of the ,kingdom of ,arles2
 and later it recognised the suzerainty 
of the ,counts of ,provence4 ,when these
 lords were warring or crusading1 it    
took advantage of their absence or their
 troubles and governed itself through   
its ,consuls2 became a ,provencal       
,republic after the type of the ,italian
 cities and other towns of the          

,mediterranean country2 treated with the
 ,italian ,republics on terms of perfect
 equality2 and although finally annexed 
to ,france by the wily ,louis of the    
,madonnas1 its people were continually  
haunted by memories of their former     
independence1 and not only struggled for
 municipal rights and liberties1 but    
took sides for or against the most      
powerful monarchs of continental history
 as if they had been a resourceful      
country rather than a city4 ,it succored
 the ,league1 defied ,henry ,,iv and    
,richelieu2 and treating ,kings in      
trouble as cavalierly as declining      
,counts1 ,marseilles tried at the death 
of ,henry ,,iii to secede from ,france  
and recover its autonomy under a        
,consul1 ,charles de ,cazaulx4 ,promptly
 defeated1 it still continued to think  
independently1 and struggle1 as best it 
might1 for freedom of administration2   
and although from the time of ,pompey to
 that of ,louis ,,xiv it has had an     
ineradicable tendency to stand against  

the government1 it has survived the     
results of all its contumacies1 its     
plagues1 wars1 and sieges1 and the      
destructiveness of its phase of the     
,revolution1 when it had a ,terror of   
its own4 ,notwithstanding modern rivals 
in the ,mediterranean1 ,marseilles is   
to-day one of the largest and most      
prosperous of ,french cities4 ,built in 
amphitheatre around the bay1 it is      
beautiful in general view1 its streets  
bustle with commercial activity1 and its
 vast docks swarm with workmen4 ,the    
storms of the past have gone over       
,marseilles as the storms of nature over
 its sea1 have been as passionate1 and  
have left as little trace4 ,instead of  
,temples1 ,forum1 and ,arena1 there are 
the ,palais de ,longchamps1 the ,palais 
de ,justice1 and the ,christian ,arch of
 ,triumph4 ,instead of the muddy and    
unhealthy alley-ways of ,mediaevalism1  
there are broad streets and wide        
boulevards1 and in spite of its         
antiquity ,marseilles is a city of      

to-day1 in monuments1 aspect1 spirit1   
and even in class distinction4 ,here1   
writes ,edmond ,about1 are only two     
categories of people1 those who have    
made a fortune and those who are trying 
to make one1 and the principal          
inhabitants are parvenus in the most    
honourable sense of the word4           
,illustration3 ,entrevaux4  ,people     
gather around the mail-coach as it makes
 its daily halt before the drawbridge4  
,illustration3 ,,the ,,new              
,,cathedral4--,,marseilles4  ,in the    
most honourable sense of the word1 the  
,cathedral of ,marseilles is also       
typical of the city1 parvenue4 ,its     
first stone was placed by ,prince ,louis
 ,napoleon in #aheb1 and as the modern  
has overgrown the classic and mediaeval 
greatness of ,marseilles1 so the new    
,majeure has eclipsed1 if it has not yet
 entirely replaced1 the old ,cathedral2 
and except the stern ,abbey-church of   
,saint-,victor1 an almost solitary relic
 of true mediaeval greatness1 it is the 

finest church of the city4  ,the new    
,cathedral and the old stand side by    
side2 the one strong and whole1 the     
other partly torn down1 scarred and     
maimed as a veteran who has survived    
many wars4 ,even in its ruin1 it is an  
interesting type of the maritime        
,provencal church1 but so pitiably      
overshadowed by its successor that the  
charm of its situation is quite lost1   
and few will linger to study its three  
small naves1 the defaced fresco of the  
dome1 or even the little chapel of      
,saint-,lazare1 all white marble and    
carving and small statues1 scarcely more
 than a shallow niche in the wall1 but  
daintily proportioned1 and a charming   
creation of the ,renaissance4 ,fewer    
still of those who pause to study what  
remains of the old ,majeure1 will stay  
to reconstruct it as it used to be1 and 
realise that it had its day of glory no 
less real than that of the new church   
which replaces it4 ,in its stead1       
,saint-,martin's1 and ,saint-,cannat's  

sometimes called the ,preachers1 have   
been temporarily used for the ,bishop's 
services4 ,but now that the greater     
church1 the ,assumption of the ,blessed 
,virgin ,mary1 has been practically     
completed1 it has assumed1 once and for 
all1 the greater rank1 and a ,cathedral 
of ,marseilles still stands on its      
terrace in full view of the sea4        
,tradition has it that a ,temple of     
,baal once stood on this site and later1
 a ,temple to ,diana2 that ,lazarus came
 in the ,i century1 converted the pagan 
,marseillais and built a ,christian     
,cathedral here4 ,a more critical       
tradition says that ,saint ,victor first
 came as missionary1 ,bishop1 and       
builder4 ,all these vague memories of   
conversion1 more or less accurate1 all  
the legends of an humble and struggling 
,christianity1 seem buried by this huge 
modern mass4 ,it is not a church        
struggling and militant1 but the ,church
 ,established and ,triumphant4 ,it is a 
vast building over four hundred and     

fifty feet long1 preceded by two domed  
towers4 ,its transepts are surmounted at
 the crossing by a huge dome whose      
circumference is nearly two hundred     
feet1 a smaller one over each transept  
arm1 and others above the apsidal       
chapels4 ,the exterior is built with    
alternate layers of green ,florentine   
stone and the white stone of            
,fontvieille2 and the style of the      
church1 variously called ,french        
,romanesque1 ,byzantine1 and            
,neo-,byzantine1 is very oriental in its
 general effect4  ,an arcade between the
 two towers forms a porch1 the entrance 
to the interior whose central nave      
stretches out in great spaciousness4    
,the lateral naves1 in contrast1 are    
exceedingly narrow and have high        
galleries supported by large monolithic 
columns4 ,these naves are prolonged into
 an ambulatory1 each of whose chapels1  
in consonance with the ,cathedral's     
colossal proportions1 is as large as    
many a church4 ,the building stone of   

the interior is grey and pink1 with     
white marble used decoratively for      
capitals and bases2 and these           
combinations of tints which would seem  
almost too delicate1 too effeminate1 for
 so large a building1 are made rich and 
effective by their very mass1 the       
gigantic sizes which the plan exacts4   
,all that artistic conception could     
produce has been added to complete an   
interior that is entirely oriental in   
its luxury of ornamentation1            
half-oriental in style1 and without that
 sober majesty which is an inherent     
characteristic of the most elaborate    
styles native to ,western ,christianity4
 ,under the gilded dome is a rich       
baldaquined ,high ,altar1 and through   
the whole church there is a magnificence
 of mosaics1 of mural paintings1 and of 
stained glass that is sumptuous4        
,mosaics line the arches of the nave and
 the pendentives1 and form the flooring2
 and in the midst of this richness of   
colour the grey pillars rise1 one after 

the other in long1 shadowy perspective1 
like the trees of a stately grove4  ,in 
planning this new ,provencal ,cathedral 
its architects did not attempt to       
reproduce1 either exactly or in greater 
perfection1 any maritime type which its 
situation on the ,mediterranean might   
have suggested1 nor were they inspired  
by any of the models of the native      
style2 and perhaps1 to the captious     
mind1 its most serious defect is that   
its building has destroyed not only an  
actual portion of the old ,majeure1 but 
an historic interest which might well   
have been preserved by a wise           
restoration or an harmonious            
re-building4 ,and yet1 with the large   
,palace of the ,archbishop on the ,port 
de la ,joliette near-by1 the statue of a
 devoted and loving ,bishop in the open 
square1 and the majestic ,cathedral of  
,sainte-,marie-,majeure itself1 the     
episcopacy of ,marseilles has all the   
outward and visible signs of strength   
and glory and power4   ,sidenote3       

,toulon4  ,toulon1 although a foundation
 of the ,romans1 owes its rank to-day to
 ,henry ,,iv1 to ,richelieu1 and to     
,louis ,,xiv's busy architect1 ,vauban4 
,it is the ,gibraltar of ,france1 a     
bright1 bustling1 modern city4          
,sainte-,marie-,majeure1 one of its     
oldest ecclesiastical names1 is a title 
which belonged to churches of both the  
,,xi and ,,xii centuries2 but in the    
feats of architectural gymnastics to    
which their remains have been subjected1
 and in the wars and vicissitudes of    
,provence1 these buildings have long    
since disappeared4  ,a few stones still 
exist of the ,,xi century structure1    
void of form or architectural           
significance1 and the ancient name of   
,sainte-,marie-,majeure now protects a  
,cathedral built in the most depressing 
style of the industrious ,philistines of
 the ,,xvii and ,,xviii centuries4 ,it  
is not a ,provencal nor a truly maritime
 church1 it is not a fortress nor a     
defence1 nor a work of any architectural

 beauty4 ,it has blatancy1 size1        
pretension1--a profusion of rich        
incongruities2 and although religiously 
interesting from its chapels and        
shrines1 it is architecturally obtrusive
 and monstrous4  ,the vagaries of the   
architects who began in #afcd to        
construct the present edifice1 are well 
illustrated in the changes of plan to   
which they subjected this unfortunate   
church4 ,the length became the breadth1 
the isolated chapel of the ,virgin1 part
 of the main building2 the choir1       
another chapel2 and the ,high ,altar was
 removed from the eastern to the        
northern end1 where a new choir had been
 built for its reception4 ,this         
confusion of plan was carried out with  
logical confusion of style and detail4  
,the facade has ,corinthian columns of  
the ,,xvii century2 the nave is said to 
be transition ,gothic1 the choir is     
decorated with mural paintings1 and the 
,high ,altar1 a work of ,revoil1 adds to
 the banalities of the ,,xvii and       

,,xviii centuries a rich incongruity of 
which the ,,xix has no reason to be     
proud4 ,the whole interior is so full of
 naves of unequal length1 and radiating 
chapels1 of arches of differing forms1  
tastes1 and styles1 that it defies      
concise description and is unworthy of  
serious consideration4 ,provence has    
modest ,cathedrals of small             
architectural significance1 but except  
,sainte-,reparate of ,nice1 it has none 
so chaotic and commonplace as           
,sainte-,marie-,majeure of ,toulon4     
,sidenote3 ,frejus4  ,frejus1 which     
claims to be the oldest city in ,france1
 was one of the numerous trading ports  
of the ,phoenician1 and later1 during   
the period of her civic grandeur1 an    
arsenal of the ,roman navy4 ,her most   
interesting ruins are the ,coliseum1 the
 ,theatre1 the old ,citadel1 and the    
,aqueduct1 suggestions of a really great
 city of the long-gone past4 ,frejus    
lost prestige with the decadence of the 
,empire1 and after a destruction by the 

,saracens in the ,x century1 ,nature    
gave the blow which finally crushed her 
when the sea retreated a mile1 and her  
old ,roman light-house was left to      
overlook merely a long stretch of       
barren1 sandy land4 ,owing to this      
stranded1 inland position1 she has      
escaped both the dignity of a modern    
sea-port and the prostitution of a      
,rivieran resort1 and is a little dead  
city1 the seat of an ancient ,provencal 
,cathedral of the ,sea4 ,this ,cathedral
 is largely free from ,,xvii and ,,xviii
 century disfigurements2 and the pity is
 that having escaped this1 a ,french    
church's imminent peril1 it should have 
become so built around that the         
character of the exterior is almost     
lost4 ,the facade is severely plain1 an 
uninteresting re-building of #ahbc1 but 
the carved wood of its portals is       
beautiful4 ,the towers1 as in other     
maritime ,cathedrals of ,provence1      
recall the perils and dangers of their  
days2 and these towers of ,frejus1      

although none the less practically      
defensive1 have a more churchly         
appearance than those of ,antibes1      
,grasse1 and ,vence4 ,over the          
vestibuled entrance rises the western   
tower4 ,its heavy1 rectangular base is  
the support of a super-structure which  
was replaced in the ,,xvi century by one
 more in keeping with conventional      
ecclesiastical models4 ,then the windows
 of the base1 whose rounded arches are  
still traceable1 were walled in2 and the
 new octagonal stage with high windows  
of its own was completed by a           
tile-covered spire4 ,the more           
interesting tower is that which         
surmounts the apse4 ,this was the       
lookout1 facing the sea1 the really     
vital defence of the church4 ,its upper 
room was a storage place for arms and   
ammunition1 and on the side which faces 
the city was open1 with a broad1 pointed
 arch4 ,above1 the tower ends in        
machiolated battlements and presents a  
very strong and stern front seaward1    

perhaps no stronger1 but more artistic  
and grim than towers of other ,provencal
 ,cathedrals4  ,the entrance of the     
church is curiously complicated4 ,to the
 left is the little baptistery2 directly
 before one1 a narrow stairway which    
leads to the ,cloister2 and on the      
right1 a low-arched vestibule which     
opens into the nave of the ,cathedral4  
,the interior of ,saint-,etienne is dark
 and somewhat gloomy1 but that is an    
inherent trait of a fortress-church1 for
 every added inch of window-opening     
brought an ell of danger4 ,the nave is  
unusually low and broad1 and its        
buttressed piers are of immense weight1 
ending severely in a plain1 moulded     
band4 ,on these great piers rest the    
cross-vaults of the roof and the broad  
arches of the wall4 ,the north aisle1   
disproportionately narrow1 is a later   
addition4 ,behind the altar is a true   
,provencal apse1 shallow and            
rectangular1 and beyond its rounded roof
 opens the smaller half-dome4           

,architecturally1 this is an interesting
 interior2 but the traveller who has not
 time to spend in musings will fail to  
see it in its original intention2--cold1
 severely plain1 heavy1 with perhaps too
 many arch-lines1 but sober and simple4 
,a futile wooden wainscot now surrounds 
the church and breaks its wall space1   
liberal coats of whitewash conceal the  
building material1 and taking from the  
church the severity of its stone1 give  
it an appearance of poor deprecatory    
bareness4  ,illustration3 ,,the         
,,desecration ,,of ,,the ,,little       
,,cloister4--,,frejus4  ,near the       
entrance of the ,cathedral is its most  
ancient portion1 the baptistery1        
formerly a building apart1 but now an   
integral part of the church itself4 ,it 
is perhaps the most interesting         
,christian monument in ,frejus1 a       
reminder of those early centuries when1 
in ,france as in ,italy1 the little     
baptistery was the popular form of      
,christian architectural expression4    

,here it has the very usual octagonal   
shape2 the arches are upheld by grayish 
columns of granite with capitals of     
white marble1 and in the centre stands  
the font4 ,between the columns are small
 recesses1 alternately rectangular and  
semi-domed1 and above all1 is a modern  
dome and lantern4 ,structurally         
interesting1 and reminiscent of the     
stately baptistery of ,aix1 the effect  
of this little chamber1 like the        
church's interior1 is marred by the     
whitewashes from whose industrious      
brushes nothing but the grayish columns 
have escaped4 ,and here again1 the      
traveller who would see the builders'   
work1 free from the disfigurements of   
time1 must pause and imagine4  ,yet even
 imagination seems powerless before the 
desecration of the little ,cloister4    
,charming it must have been to have     
entered its quiet walks1 with their     
slender columns of white marble1 to have
 seen the quaint old well in the little1
 sun-lit close4 ,now1 between the       

slender columns1 boards have been placed
 which shut out light and sun4 ,the     
traveller sat down on an old            
wheel-barrow1 waiting till he could see 
in the dim and misty light4 ,all around 
him was forgetfulness of the ,cloister's
 holy uses2 signs of desecration and    
neglect4 ,one end of the cloister-walk  
was a thoroughfare1 where the           
wheel-barrow had worn its weary way2 and
 even in the deserted corners there was 
the dust and dirt of a work-a-day world4
 ,the beautiful little capitals of the  
slender columns rose from among the     
boards1 clipped and worn2 above1 he     
dimly saw the curious wooden ceiling    
which would seem to have taken the place
 of the usual stone vaulting2 through   
chinks of the plank-wall he caught      
glimpses of a little close2 and at      
length1 having seen the most melancholy 
of ,cathedrals of the ,sea1 in its      
disguise of whitewash1 decay1 and       
misuse1 he went his way4   ,sidenote3   
,antibes4  ,that part of the southern   

coast of ,france called the ,riviera    
seems now only to evoke visions of the  
most beautiful banality2 of a life more 
artificial than the stage--which at     
least aims to present                   
reality--transplanted to a scene of such
 incomparable loveliness that ,nature   
herself adds a new and exquisite        
sumptuousness to the luxury of          
civilisation4 ,the ,riviera means a land
 of many follies and every vice2--each  
folly so delicious1 each vice so regal1 
they seem to be sought and desired of   
all men4 ,where else can be seen in such
 careless magnificence ,dukes of ,russia
 with their polish of manner and their  
veiled insolence2 ,englishmen correct   
and blase2 ,americans a bit vociferous  
and truly amused2 great ladies of all   
ages and manners2 adventurers high and  
low2 and the beautiful1 sparkling women 
of no name1 bravely dressed and         
barbarously jewelled8 ,such is the      
,riviera of to-day2 the life imposed    
upon it by hordes of foreign idlers in a

 land whose warmth and luxuriance may   
have lent itself but too easily to the  
vicious and frivolous pleasures for     
which they have made it notorious1 but a
 land which has no native history that  
is effeminate1 nor any so unworthy as   
its exotic present4 ,the ,riviera may be
 ,nice1 ,beaulieu1 and their like1 but  
the ,provencal ,mediterranean and its   
neighbouring territory have been the    
fatherland of warriors in real mail and 
of princes of real power1 of the        
,emperor ,pertinax of pagan times1 of   
those who fought successfully against   
,mahmoud and ,tergament1 and of many    
,knights of ,malta1 long the ,forlorn   
,hope of ,christendom4  ,discreetly     
hidden from vulgar eyes that delight in 
the architecture of the modern          
caravanserai1 are the ruins of these    
older days--,amphitheatres1 ,fountains1 
,temples1 and ,aqueducts of the ,romans2
 the ,castles1 ,abbeys1 and ,cathedrals 
of mediaeval times4 ,here are the larger
 number1 if not the most interesting1 of

 those curious churches of the sea1     
which protected the ,french townsman of 
the ,mediterranean coast from the       
rapacity of sea-rovers and pirates1 and 
many more orthodox enemies of the       
,middle ,ages4  ,from the great beauty  
of its situation1 the small city of     
,antibes is at once a type of the old   
regime and of the new4 ,lying on the    
sea1 with a background of snow-capped   
mountains1 it has not entirely escaped  
the fate of ,nice2 neither has it yet   
lost all its old ,provencal             
characteristics4 ,it is a pathetic      
compromise between the quaint reality of
 the old and the blatancy of the new4   
,the little parish church is of the very
 far past1 having lost its ,cathedral   
rank over six hundred years ago to      
,sainte-,marie in ,grasse1 a town       
scarcely younger than its own4 ,it is   
the type of the church of this coast1   
with its unpretentious smallness1 its   
strength1 and its disfiguring           
restorations2 and it is1 especially in  

comparison with ,vence and ,grasse1 of  
small architectural interest4 ,the      
facade1 and the double archway which    
connects the church and the tower1 are  
of the unfortunate ,,xviii century1 the 
older exterior is monotonous1 and the   
interior1 an unpleasing confusion of    
forms4  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,military 
,,omen--,,the ,,tower4 ,,antibes4  ,the 
real interest of the little ,cathedral  
is its ancient military strength1       
neither very grand nor very imposing1   
but very real to the enemy who hundreds 
of years ago hurled himself against the 
hard1 plain stones4 ,from this          
view-point1 the mannered facade and the 
inharmonious interior matter but little4
 ,toward the foe1 whose sail might have 
arisen on the horizon at any moment1 the
 protecting church presented the heavy  
rounded walls and safely narrowed       
windows of its three apses1 and behind  
them the military omen of the severe1   
rectangular tower4 ,high in every one of
 its four sides1 seaward and landward1  

was a window1 from which many a watcher 
must have looked and strained anxious   
eyes4 ,this is the significance of the  
little sea-side ,cathedral1 this the    
story its tower suggests4 ,and now when 
the sea is sailed by peaceful ships1 and
 the ,cathedral only a place of pious   
worship1 the tower with its gaping      
windows is the only salient reminder of 
the ancient dignity of the church2 the  
reminder to an indifferent generation of
 the days when ,antibes fulfilled to    
,christians the promise of her old1     
pagan name1 ,antipolis1 sentinel of the 
perilous sea4   ,sidenote3 ,nice4  ,the 
situation of its ,cathedral reveals a   
,nice of which but little is written1   
the city of a people who live in the    
service of those whose showy1 new villas
 and hotels stretch along the promenades
 and lie dotted on the hills in the     
,nice of all the world4 ,besides this   
exotic city1 there is the ,nice of the  
,nicois1 a small district of dark1      
crowded streets that are too full of the

 sordid struggles of competing          
work-people to be truly picturesque4    
,here1 in the ,,xvi century1 when the   
,citadel of ,nice was enlarged and the  
,cathedral of                           
,sainte-,marie-de-l',assomption         
destroyed1 the ,church of               
,sainte-,reparate was re-built1 and     
succeeded to the episcopal rank4        
,standing on a little open square1      
surrounded by small shops and the poor  
homes of trades-folk1 it seems in every 
sense a church of the people4 ,here the 
native ,nicois1 gay1 industrious1       
mercurial1 and dispossessed of his town1
 may feel truly at home4 ,finished in   
the most exuberant rococo style1 it is  
an edifice from which all architectural 
or religious inspiration is             
conspicuously absent4 ,it is a revel of 
luxurious bad taste2 a ,cathedral in    
,provence1 a ,cathedral by the ,sea1 but
 neither ,provencal nor                 
,maritime1--rather a product of that    
,italian taste which has so profoundly  

vitiated both the morals and the        
architecture of all the ,riviera4       
,,ii4  ,,cathedrals ,,of ,,the          
,,hill-,,towns4   ,sidenote3            
,carpentras4  ,carpentras is a busy     
provincial town1 the terminus of three  
diminutive railroads and of many little1
 lumbering1 dust-covered stages4 ,it    
stands high on a hill1 and from the     
boulevards1 dusty promenades under      
luxuriant shade-trees1 which circle the 
town as its walls formerly did1 there is
 an extended view over the pretty hills 
and valleys of the neighbouring country4
 ,at one end of the town the ,hospital  
rises1 an immense1 bare1 and imposing   
edifice of the ,,xviii century1 built by
 a ,trappist ,bishop2 and at the other  
is the ,orange ,gate1 the last tower of 
the old fortifications4 ,between these  
historic buildings and the encircling   
boulevards are the narrow streets and   
irregular1 uninteresting buildings of   
the city itself4 ,it is strange indeed  
that so isolated a place1 which seems   

only a big1 bustling country-town1      
should have been of importance in the   
,middle ,ages1 and that bits of its     
stirring history must have caused all   
orthodox ,europe to thrill with horror4 
,stranger still would be the            
forgetfulness of modern writers1 by whom
 ,carpentras is seldom mentioned1 were  
it not that the city's real history is  
that of the ,church political1 a story  
of strange manners and happenings1      
rather than a step in the vital         
evolution towards our own time4  ,in the
 ,middle ,ages ,carpentras was an       
episcopal city1 the capital of the      
,county ,venaissin1 governed by wealthy1
 powerful1 and ambitious ,bishops1 who  
took no small interest in worldly       
aggrandisement4 ,passing by gift to the 
,papacy1 after the sudden death of      
,clement ,v it was selected as the place
 of the ,conclave which was to elect his
 successor4 ,the members were assembled 
in the great episcopal ,palace1 when    
,bertrand de ,goth1 a nephew of the dead

 ,pope1 claiming to be an ally of the   
,french prelates against the ,italians  
in the ,conclave1 arrived from a        
successful looting of the papal treasury
 at ,montreux to pillage in ,carpentras4
 ,he and his mercenaries massacred the  
citizens and burned the ,cathedral4 ,the
 episcopal ,palace caught fire1 and     
their ,eminences--in danger of their    
lives--were forced to squeeze their     
sacred persons through a hole which     
their followers made in the ,palace wall
 and fly northward4  ,this unfortunate  
raid left ,carpentras with many ruins   
and a demolished ,cathedral1 deserted by
 those in whose cause she had           
unwittingly suffered4 ,the new ,pontiff 
was safely elected in ,lyons1 and upon  
his return to the papal seat of ,avignon
 he administered ,carpentras by a       
rector1 and it continued as it had been 
before1 the political capital of the    
,county4 ,during the reigns of          
succeeding ,popes it was apparently     
undisturbed by dangerous honours1 until 

the accession of the ,anti-,pope1       
,benedict ,,xiii4 ,so great was this    
prelate's delight in the city that he   
reserved to himself the minor title of  
her ,bishop1 re-built her walls1 and was
 the first patron of the present and    
very orthodox ,cathedral1               
,saint-,siffrein4 ,by a curious destiny1
 the church had this false prelate not  
only as its first patron1 but as its    
first active supporter2 and in #adjd he 
sent ,artaud1 ,archbishop of ,arles1 in 
his name1 to lay its first stone4  ,wars
 and rumours of wars soon possessed the 
province4 ,benedict fled1 and through   
unrest and lack of money the work of    
,cathedral building was greatly         
hindered4 ,in the meantime the ruins of 
the former ,cathedral seem to have been 
gradually disintegrating1 and in #ahbi  
the last of its ,cloister was destroyed1
 to be replaced by prison cells2 and now
 only the choir dome and a suggestion of
 the nave exist1 partly forming the     
present sacristy4 ,from these meagre    

remains and from writings of the time1  
it may be fairly inferred that          
,saint-,pierre was a ,cathedral of the  
type of ,avignon and ,cavaillon and the 
old ,marseillaise ,church of ,la        
,majeure1 and that1 architecturally     
considered1 it was a far more important 
structure than ,saint-,siffrein4 ,with  
this depressing knowledge in mind the   
traveller was confronted with a sight as
 depressing--the present ,cathedral     
itself4  ,fortunately1 churches of a    
period antedating the ,,xvii century are
 seldom so uninteresting4 ,nothing more 
meagre nor dreary can be conceived than 
the facade with its three1 poor1        
characterless portals4 ,they open on a  
large vaulted hall1 with chapels in its 
six bays and a small and narrow choir4  
,the principal charm of the interior is 
negative2 its dim misty light1 by       
concealing a mass of tasteless          
decorations and the poverty and bareness
 of the whole architectural scheme1     
gives to the generous height and size of

 the room an atmosphere of subdued and  
mysterious spaciousness4 ,the south door
 is the one bit of this ,gothic which   
passes the commonplace4 ,set in a poor1 
plain wall1 the portal has a graceful   
symmetry of design2 and its few carved  
details1 probably limited by the        
artistic power of its builder1 are so   
simple and chaste that they do not      
inevitably suggest poverty of           
conception4 ,the tympanum holds an      
exotic detail1 a defaced and            
insignificant fresco of the ,coronation 
of the ,virgin2 and on the pier which   
divides the door-way stands a very      
charming statue of ,our ,lady of ,snows1
 blessing those who enter beneath her   
outstretched hands4  ,this simple       
portal1 and indeed the whole church1 is 
a significant example of ,provencal     
,gothic1 a style so foreign to the      
genius of the province that it could    
produce only feeble and attenuated      
examples of the art4 ,compared with its 
northern prototypes1 it is surprisingly 

tentative2 and awkward1 unaccustomed    
hands seem to have built it after most  
primitive conceptions4   ,sidenote3     
,digne4  ,well outside the ,alpine city 
of ,digne1 and almost surrounded by     
graves1 stands a small and ancient      
church which is seldom opened except for
 the celebration of ,masses for the     
,dead4 ,coffin-rests stand always before
 the altar1 and enough chairs for the   
few that mourn4 ,there are old          
candlesticks for the tapers of the      
church's poor1 and hidden in the shadows
 of the doors1 a few broken crosses that
 once marked graves1 placed1 tenderly   
perhaps1 above those who were alive some
 years ago and who now rest forgotten2  
on battered wood1 one can still read a  
baby's age1 an old man's record1 and the
 letters ,r4 ,i4 ,p4  ,in this strange1 
melancholy destiny of                   
,notre-,dame-du-,bourg there seems to be
 a peculiar fitness4 ,the mutability of 
time1 forgetfulness1 and at length      
neglect1 which death suggests1 are      

brought to mind by this old church4     
,once the ,cathedral of ,digne1 but no  
longer ,cathedral1 it stands almost     
alone in spite of its honours and its   
venerable age4 ,after the desecration by
 the ,huguenots1 its episcopal          
birthright was given to a younger and a 
larger church2 the city has moved away  
and clusters about its new ,cathedral1  
,saint-,jerome2 and                     
,notre-,dame-du-,bourg is no longer on a
 busy street1 but near the dusty        
high-road1 amid the quiet of the country
 and the hills4  ,parts of its crypt and
 tower may antedate #ijj1 but the church
 itself was re-built in the ,,xii and   
,,xiii centuries4 ,the course of time   
has brought none of the incongruities   
which have ruined many churches by the  
so-called restorations of the last three
 hundred years1 and although its simple 
,romanesque is sadly unrepaired1 it is a
 delight to come into the solitude and  
find an unspoiled example of this stanch
 old style4  ,illustration3 ,,the       

,,interior ,,of                         
,,notre-,,dame-,,du-,,bourg4--,,digne4  
,the ,romanesque shows forth its great  
solidity in the exterior of its         
churches1 and nowhere more than in      
,digne's deserted ,cathedral4 ,flat     
buttresses line the walls1 the transepts
 are square and plain1 and on either    
side the facade wall is upheld by a     
formidable support4 ,this severity of   
line is not greatly modified by the deep
 recesses of a few windows2 nor is the  
tower--which lost its spire three       
hundred years ago--of less sober        
construction1 less solidly built4 ,below
 the overhanging eaves of a miserable   
roof and the curious line of the nave   
vault which projects through the wall1  
is a round window with a frame of       
massive rolls and hollows2 and below    
this again1 under a narrow sloping      
covering1 is the deep arch of the       
,cathedral's porch4 ,this1 in its prime1
 must have been the church's ornamental 
glory4 ,beneath the outer arch1 which is

 continued to the buttresses by         
half-arches1 are the great              
roll-mouldings that twist backward to a 
plain tympanum4 ,capitals still support 
these massive curves of stone1 but the  
niches in which the columns formerly    
stood are empty1 and grinning lions1    
lying on the ground1 no longer support  
the larger columns of the plain arch4   
,all stands in solemn decay4  ,the      
traveller entered a battered1           
brass-nailed door and saw before him the
 stretch of a single1 empty nave1 a     
choir beneath whose lower vault are     
three small windows1 and on either side 
the archways which he knew must lead to 
narrow transepts4 ,in the south side1   
plain1 rounded windows give a glimmering
 light1 and over each projects an arch1 
the modest decoration of the walls4 ,far
 above rises the tunnel-vault1 whose    
sheer height is grandly dignified2 the  
arches rest on roughly carved capitals1 
and the outer rectangle of the piers is 
displaced for half a column4 ,the       

rehearsal of these most simple details  
seems but the writing of the letter     
which killeth1 and not the portrayal of 
the spirit that seems to live within    
these walls4 ,details which seem so     
poorly few when read1 are nobly so when 
seen4 ,this small old church has a true 
religious stateliness1 and it seemed as 
if a priest should bring the            
,sanctuary-light which says1 ,the ,lord 
is in ,his holy temple4  ,saint-,jerome 
was built between #adij and #aejj1 a    
hundred years before its episcopal      
elevation1 and forms a most complete    
antithesis to ,notre-,dame-du-,bourg    
which it supplanted in #aeia4 ,where    
,notre-,dame is small1 ,saint-,jerome is
 large1 where the old church is simple1 
the newer one is either pretentious or  
sumptuous1 and where the one is         
,romanesque1 the other is ,gothic4  ,the
 present ,cathedral stands on the       
heights of the city2 and from one side  
or another its clean1 straight walls can
 be seen in all their large angularity  

and absence of architectural            
significance4 ,towers rise              
conventionally above the facade2 and a  
big broad flight of white stone steps   
leads to three modern portals that have 
been built in an economical imitation of
 the sculptured richness of the ,,xiii  
century4  ,the interior1 also ,gothic1  
has neither clerestory nor triforium1   
and its naves are covered by a vaulting 
which springs broadly from the round1   
supporting piers4 ,the conception is not
 noble1 it has no simplicity1 and no    
more of spiritual suggestion than a     
,madonna of ,titian2 but the space of   
the nave is so largely generous and the 
new polychrome so richly toned that the 
church has majesty of space and harmony1
 deep lights and subdued colourings2 it 
is large and sumptuous with the         
munificence of a ,veronese canvas1 a    
singular and most curious contrast to   
the cold severity of its outer walls4   
,illustration3 ,,the ,,interior ,,has   
,,neither ,,clerestory ,,nor            

,,triforium4--,,digne4  ,before the     
,high ,altar of this ,church lies buried
 one whose spirit suggests the ,christ1 
a ,bishop1 yet a simple priest1 whose   
life deserves more words than does the  
whole of ,saint-,jerome1 once his       
,cathedral-church4 ,he was a ,cure of   
,brignoles1 one of those keen1 yet      
simple-hearted and hard-working priests 
who often bless ,provencal towns4 ,he   
had no great ambitions1 no patronage1 no
 ties except a far-off brother who was  
an upstart general of that most upstart 
,emperor1 ,napoleon4 ,one day while the 
priest was pottering in his little      
garden1--as ,provencal ,cures love to   
dig and work1--a letter was handed him1 
marked thirty sous of postage due4 ,he  
was outraged4 ,his shining old soutane  
fell from the folds in which he had     
prudently tucked it1 he shrugged his    
shoulders and protested1--,a great      
expense indeed for a trivial purpose4   
,where should he find another thirty    
sous for his poor8 ,he never wrote      

letters4 ,therefore by no argument of   
any school of logic could he be         
compelled to receive them4 ,obviously   
this was not for him4 ,the unexpected   
letter was one for which his brother had
 asked and which ,napoleon had signed1 a
 decree which made him ,bishop4  ,long  
afterwards this simple1 saintly prelate 
saved a man from crime1 and history     
relates that this same man died at      
,waterloo as a good and faithful soldier
 fighting for the fatherland4 ,his      
benefactor1 that loyal servant of       
,christ and ,his ,church1 soon followed 
him in death1 and unlike many a ,saint  
whom this earth forgets his memory lives
 on1 not only in the little city of the 
snow-clad ,alps1 but in the hearts of   
those who read of his good deeds4 ,for  
,monseigneur ,miollis of ,digne is truly
 ,monseigneur ,bienvenu of ,les         
,miserables1 and only the soldier of    
,waterloo was glorified in ,jean        
,valjean4   ,sidenote3 ,forcalquier4    
,if it is difficult to picture sleepy1  

stately ,aix as one of the most         
brilliant centres of mediaeval ,europe1 
and the garrisoned castle of ,tarascon  
filled with the gay courtiers and fair  
ladies of ,king ,rene's ,court1 it will 
be almost impossible to walk in the     
smaller ,provencal cities1 and see in   
imagination the cavalcades of mailed    
soldiers who clattered through the      
streets on their way to the castle of   
some near-by hill-top1 my lord proudly  
distinguishable by his mount or the     
length of his plume1 a delicate         
,countess languishing between the       
curtains of her litter1 or a more       
sprightly one who rode her palfrey and  
smiled on the staring townsfolk4 ,it is 
almost impossible to conceive that the  
four daughters of ,raymond ,berenger1 a 
,queen of the ,romans1 of ,france1 of   
,naples1 and of ,england1 were brought  
up in the castle of the little hillside 
hamlet of ,saint-,maime ,dauphin4       
,provence is quiet1 rural1 provincial2 a
 land of markets1 busy country inns1 and

 farms2 not of modern greatness nor of  
modern renown4 ,its children are a fine 
and busy race1 no less strong and fine  
than in the land's more stirring times1 
but they live their years of greatness  
in other1 more progressive parts of     
,france1 and the ,provencal genius1     
which remains very native to the soil1  
is broadly known to fame as ,french4    
,like some rich old wine hidden in the  
cellars of the few1 ,provence lies      
safely ensconced behind ,avignon and    
,arles1 and only the epicures of history
 penetrate her hills4  ,her mediaeval   
ruins seem to belong to a past almost as
 dead and ghostly as her ,roman days1   
and to realise her ,middle ,ages1 one   
must leave the busy people in the town  
below1 climb one of the hills1 and      
sitting beside the crumbling walls of   
some great tower or castle1 watch the   
hot sun setting behind the low mountains
 and lighting in a glow the bare walls  
of some other ruined stronghold on a    
neighbouring height4 ,the shadows creep 

into the valleys1 the rocks grow grey   
and cold1 and the clusters of trees     
beside them become darkly mysterious4   
,then far beneath a white thread seems  
to appear1 beginning at the valley's    
entrance and twisting along its length  
until it disappears behind another hill4
 ,this is the road2 and by the time the 
eye has followed its long course1       
daylight has grown fainter4 ,then       
,provence takes on a long-lost          
splendour4 ,to those who care to see1   
cavalcades of soldiers or of hunters    
come home along the road1 castles become
 whole and frowning1 the dying sun casts
 its light through their gaping         
window-holes1 as light of nightly revels
 used to shine1 and a phantom           
,mediaevalism appears4  ,one of the     
powerful families of the country1 the   
,counts of ,forcalquier1 sprang from the
 ,house of ,berenger in the ,,xi        
century1 and a hundred and fifty years  
later1 grown too great1 were crushed by 
the haughty parent house4 ,more than one

 hill of ,eastern ,provence has borne   
their tall watchtowers1 more than one   
village owed them allegiance1 and a     
large town in the hills was their       
capital and bore their name4 ,and yet   
not a ruined tower that overlooks the   
,provencal mountains1 not a village1    
gate1 or castle--,manosque or old       
,saint-,maime1--but speaks more vividly 
of the old ,counts than does            
,forcalquier1 formerly their city1 now a
 mere country town which has lost       
prestige with its increasing isolation1 
many of its inhabitants by plagues and  
wars1 and almost all of its picturesque 
,mediaevalism through the               
destructiveness of sieges4  ,long before
 this day of contented stagnancy1 in    
#ajfa1 when ,forcalquier1 fortified1    
growing1 and important1 claimed many    
honours1 ,bishop ,gerard ,caprerius of  
,sisteron had given the city a ,provost 
and a ,chapter1 and created the ,church 
of ,saint-,mary1 co-cathedral with that 
of ,notre-,dame of ,sisteron4 ,not      

contented with this honour1 ,forcalquier
 demanded and received a ,bishopric of  
her own4 ,her hill was then crowned by a
 ,citadel1 her ,cathedral stood near-by1
 her walls were intact4 ,now the        
,citadel is replaced by a peaceful      
pilgrims' chapel1 the walls are gone1   
,saint-,mary1 ruined in the siege of    
#adhf1 is recalled only by a few        
weed-covered stumps and bits of wall1   
and its title was given to ,notre-,dame 
in the lower part of the town4  ,no     
,cathedral is a sadder example of       
architectural failure than ,notre-,dame 
of ,forcalquier because it has so many  
of the beginnings of real beauty and    
dignity1 so many parts of real          
worthiness that have been unfortunately 
combined in a confused and discordant   
whole4 ,if1 of all little cities of     
,provence1 ,forcalquier is one of the   
least unique and least holding1 its     
,cathedral is also one of the least     
satisfying4 ,it is not beautiful in     
situation nor in its own essential      

harmony1 and the fine but tantalising   
perspectives of its interior may be     
found again in happier churches4  ,the  
exterior shows to a superlative degree  
that general tendency of ,provencal     
exteriors to be without definite or     
logical proportions4 ,a large1 square   
tower1 heavier than that of ,grasse1    
served as a lookout1 a tall1 thin little
 turret served as a belfry4 ,in the     
facade there is a ,gothic portal which  
notwithstanding its entire mediocrity is
 the chief adornment of the outer walls4
 ,they are irregular and uncouth to a   
degree and their only interesting       
features are at the eastern end4 ,here  
the smaller1 older apses on either side 
betray the church's early origin4 ,the  
central apse1 evidently of the same     
dimensions as the ,romanesque one       
originally designed1 was re-built in    
severe1 rudimentary ,gothic4 ,looking at
 this shallow apse alone1 and following 
its plain lines until they meet those of
 the big tower1 there is a straight     

simplicity that is almost fine1--but    
this is one mere detail in a large and  
barren whole1 and the ,cathedral-seeker 
turns to the nearest entrance4          
,illustration3 ,a ,,large1 ,,square     
,,tower ,,served ,,as ,a                
,,lookout4--,,forcalquier4              
,illustration3 ,a ,,suggestive ,,view   
,,from ,,the ,,side                     
,,aisle4--,,forcalquier4  ,the first    
glimpse of the interior is so relieving 
that one is not quick to notice its lack
 of architectural unity4 ,the few       
windows give a soft light1 and the brown
 of the stone has a mellowness that is  
both rich and reposeful4 ,if the        
,cathedral could have been finished in  
the style of the first bays of the nave1
 it would have been a nobly dignified   
example of the ,romanesque4 ,could it   
have been re-built in the slender       
,gothic of the last bay1 it would have  
been an exquisite example of ,provencal 
,gothic4 ,rather largely planned1 its   
old form of tunnel vaulting and the fine

 curve of its nave arches and heavy     
piers are in violent contrast to the    
,gothic bay1 with its pointed arch1 its 
clustered columns and carved capitals1  
which1 even with the shallow choir and  
its long1 slim windows1 is too slight a 
portion of the ,cathedral to have       
independence or real beauty4 ,from its  
ritualistic position1 it is the         
culminating point of the church1 and its
 discord with the ,romanesque is        
unpleasantly insistent4 ,the side       
aisles1 which were built in the ,,xvii  
century1 are low1 agreeable walks ending
 in the chapels of the smaller apses4   
,they are neither very regular nor very 
significant2 but they give the church   
pleasant size and perspectives1 and by  
avoiding the unduly large and shining   
modern chandeliers which hang between   
the nave arches1 one gets from these    
side aisles the suggestive views which  
show only too well what true and good   
architectural ideas were brought to     
confusion in the re-building1 the       

additions1 and the restorations of the  
centuries4 ,in painting1 anachronisms   
may be quaint or even amusing2 but in   
architecture1 they are either grotesque 
or tragic1 and in a church of such fine 
suggestiveness as ,notre-,dame at       
,forcalquier1 one is haunted by         
lingering regrets for what might and    
should have been4   ,sidenote3 ,vence4  
,a founder of the ,french ,academy and  
one of its first immortal forty was     
,antoine ,godeau1 the idol of the ,hotel
 ,rambouillet4 ,his mind was formed1 as 
it were1 by one of the most clever women
 of that brilliantly foolish coterie1 he
 sang frivolous sonnets to a beautiful  
red-haired mistress whom he sincerely   
admired1 and when he entered ,holy      
,church1 none of his charming friends   
believed that he would do more than     
modify the proper and agreeable         
conventionalities of his former life4   
,they thought that he would add to the  
grace of his worldly manner the suavity 
of the ecclesiastic1 that he would      

choose a pulpit of ,paris1 and that1    
sitting at his feet1 they could enjoy   
the elegant phrases with which he would 
embellish a refined and delicately      
attenuated religion4 ,but an aged       
prelate of the far ,south judged the new
 priest differently1 he had sounded the 
heart of the man who1 at the age of     
thirty1 had quietly renounced a         
flattering1 admiring world2 and his     
dying prayer to ,richelieu was that     
,godeau should succeed him in the ,see  
of ,vence4 ,the keen worldly wisdom of  
the ,cardinal confirmed the old         
,bishop's more spiritual insight1 and   
,godeau was named ,bishop of the        
neighbouring ,grasse4  ,far away in his 
mountain-city of flower gardens and     
sweet odours1 the new ,bishop wrote to  
his ,parisian friends that1 for his     
part1 he found more thorns than         
orange-blossoms4 ,the ,calvinists1 from 
the rock of ,antibes1 openly defied him2
 in spite of the vehement opposition of 
their ,chapters and against his will1   

the ,bishoprics of ,grasse and ,vence   
were united1 and he was made the ,bishop
 of the two warring1 discontented ,sees4
 ,he was stoned at ,vence2 and even his 
colleague in temporal power1 the        
,marquis of ,villeneuve1 showed himself 
as insolent as he dared4 ,at length the 
,king came to his aid1 and being given  
his choice of the ,sees1 ,godeau        
immediately left the perfumed wench1 as 
he called ,grasse1 and chose to live and
 work among his one-time enemies of     
,vence4 ,this gentle and courageous     
prelate is typical of the long line of  
wise men who ruled the ,church in the   
tight little city of the ,provencal     
hills4 ,from ,saint ,veran the          
wonder-worker1 and ,saint ,lambert the  
tender nurse of lepers1 to the end1 they
 were men noted for bravery1 goodness1  
and learning1 and it was not till the   
,revolution that one was found--and     
fittingly the last--who1 hating the     
,oath and fearing the guillotine1 fled  
his ,see4  ,this city of good ,bishops  

was founded in the dim1 pagan past of   
,gaul4 ,from a rocky hill-top1 its      
inhabitants had watched the burning of  
their first valley-town and they founded
 the second ,vence on that height of    
safety to which they had escaped with   
their lives4 ,here1 far above the       
,aurelian road1 the ,gallic tribes had a
 strong and isolated camp4 ,then the    
prying ,romans found them out1 and      
priests of ,mars and ,cybele replaced   
those of the cruder native gods1 and    
they1 in turn1 gave way to the apostle  
of the ,christians4 ,where a temple     
stood1 a church was built2 and unlike   
many early saints who looked upon old   
pagan images as homes of devils and     
broke them into a thousand pieces with  
holy wrath and words of exorcism1 the   
prelate of ,vence buried an image of a  
vanquished god under each and every     
pillar of his church1 in sign of        
,christian triumph4  ,these early days  
of the ,faith were days of growth for   
the little city1 and she prospered in   

her ,mediaevalism4 ,high on her hill1   
she was too difficult of access to      
suffer greatly from marauding foes1 and 
hidden from the sea1 she did not excite 
the cupidity of the ,mediterranean      
rovers4 ,when ,antibes and ,nice were   
sacked1 her little ledge of rock was    
safe2 and people crowded thick and fast 
behind her walls1 until no bee-hive     
swarmed so thick with bees as her few   
streets with citizens4 ,here were arts  
and occupations1 burghers and charters1 
riches and liberties4 ,here came the    
,renaissance1 and ,vence had eager1 if  
not famous sculptors1 painters1 and     
organ-builders1 and a family of artists 
whom even the dilettante ,francis ,i    
deigned to patronise4  ,such memories of
 a busy1 energetic past seem fairy-tales
 to those who walk to-day about the dark
 and narrow streets of ,vence4 ,she     
scarcely has outgrown her ancient walls1
 her civic life is dead1 and in her     
virtual isolation from the modern world 
she lives a dreary1 quiet old age4  ,the

 old ,cathedral1 ,notre-,dame1 lies in  
the heart of the town2 and takes one    
back along the years1 far past the      
,renaissance1 to those grim mediaeval   
days when even churches were places of  
defence4 ,it is a low1 unimpressive     
building1 said to have been built on the
 site of the ,roman ,temple in the ,,iv 
century4 ,enlarged or re-built in the ,x
 century1 it was then long and narrow1 a
 ,latin cross4 ,but in the ,,xii        
century1 deep1 dark bays were added2 in 
the ,,xv1 tribunes were built1 the form 
of the apse was changed to an oval and  
it was decorated in an inharmonious     
style2 and a hundred years ago the nave 
vault was re-built in an ellipse4       
,illustration3 ,,the ,,old ,,round      
,,arch ,,of ,,the ,,bishop',s           
,,palace4--,,vence4  ,in the side wall  
there is a low portal of a late1        
decadent style1 which opens on the      
little square1 but there is no real     
facade2 and to see the church1 the      
traveller passed under the old round    

arch of the ,bishop's ,palace1 through a
 small1 damp street to another tinier   
square where the apse and tower stand4  
,the little ,cathedral-churches of      
,provence are always simply built1 but  
here a rectangle1 a low gabled roof1 a  
small1 round-headed window in the wall1 
would have been architectural bareness  
if a high1 straight tower had not       
crowned it all4 ,this crenellated tower 
is a true type of its time1 square1 yet 
slim and strong1 and crudely graceful as
 some tall young poplar of the plains   
beneath4 ,in the ,,xi and ,,xii         
centuries1 its early days1 it was the   
city's lookout4 ,families lived high up 
in its walls1 and the traveller could   
imagine1 in this little old1 deserted   
square1 the crowds who gathered round   
the tower's base1 and called for news of
 enemies and battle as moderns gather   
about the more prosaic bulletin of      
printed news4 ,he could see them        
surging1 peering up2 and from above he  
almost heard the watcher's cry1 ,they're

 coming on1--with the great answering   
howl beneath1 and the rush to arms4 ,or1
 ,they pass us by1 and then what        
breaking into little laughing groups1   
what joy1 what dancing1 and what        
praying1 that lasted far into the       
evening hours4  ,illustration3 ,,the    
,,low1 ,,broad ,,arches ,,and ,,the     
,,great1 ,,supporting                   
,,pillars4--,,vence4  ,the traveller    
came back in thought to modern times and
 went into the church1 that church of   
five low naves and many restorations1   
that product of most diverse fancies4   
,it is painted in lugubrious white1 and 
its pillars have false bases in a       
palpable imitation of veined red marble4
 ,its pure and early form1 the ,latin   
cross1 is gone1 its fine old stalls are 
hidden in a gallery1 and at the altar   
,corinthian columns desecrate its       
ancient ,romanesque4 ,yet in spite of   
the incongruities the atmosphere of the 
church is truly that of its dim past4   
,there are the low broad arches1 the    

great1 supporting pillars that are      
massive buttresses2 there is the simple 
practicality of a style that aimed at a 
protecting strength rather than at any  
art of beauty2 there is the             
semi-darkness of the small1 safe        
windows1 and the little1 guarded space  
where the praying few increased a       
thousand-fold in times of danger4 ,this 
is1 in spite of all defects1 the small  
,provencal church where in days of peace
 cloudy incense slowly circled round the
 shadowy forms of chanting priests1 and 
where in times of war a crowd of        
frightened women and their children     
prayed in safety for the men who sallied
 forth to fight in their defence4       
,sidenote3 ,grasse4  ,he who is unloving
 of the past may well rush by its       
treasures in a puffing automobile1 he   
who is bored by olden thoughts can hurry
 on by rail1 but the man who wishes to  
know the old hill-towns of ,france1 to  
see them as they seemed to their makers1
 and realise their one-time magnificence

 and strength1 must walk from one town  
to the next1 and climb their steep      
heights2 must see great towers rise     
before him1 great walls loom above him1 
and realise how grandly strong these    
places were when it was man to man and  
sword to sword1 strength against        
strength4 ,he must arrive1 dust-covered1
 at the cities' gates or drive into     
their narrow streets on the small coach 
which still passes through1--for they   
are of the times when great men rode and
 peasants walked and steam was all      
unknown4 ,then he will realise how very 
large the world once was1 how far from  
town to town2 and once within those     
high1 protecting walls1 he will         
understand why the citizen of mediaeval 
days found in his town a world          
sufficient to itself1 and why he was so 
often well content to spend his life at 
home4  ,the power and the force of an   
isolated1 self-concentrated interest is 
well illustrated in the history of the  
free cities of the ,middle ,ages1 and   

,grasse may be counted one of these4    
,counts she had in name2 but the        
,berengers and ,queen ,jeanne had       
granted her charters which she had the  
power to keep2 she was once wealthy     
enough to declare war with ,pisa1 and in
 the ,,xii century the leaders of her   
self-government were ,consuls by the    
grace of ,god alone4 ,therefore when    
,antibes continued to be greatly menaced
 by blasphemous pirates1 the ,bishopric 
was removed to ,grasse1 rich1 strong1   
and safe behind the hills1 where it     
endured from #abdd1 through all the     
perils of the centuries1 until by a     
pen-stroke ,napoleon wiped it out in    
#ahja4  ,illustration3 ,,higher ,,than  
,,them ,,all ,,stands ,,the             
,,cathedral4--,,grasse4  ,to come to    
,grasse on foot or in the stage1 will   
well repay the traveller of             
old-fashioned moods and fancies4 ,afar1 
her houses seem to crowd together1 as   
they used to crowd within the walls1 her
 red roofs rise fantastically one above 

the other1 and higher than them all     
stands the ,cathedral with its firm1    
square tower4 ,such must have been old  
,grasse1 perched on the summit of her   
hill4 ,but once inside the town1 these  
illusions cease4 ,here are the hotels   
and the ,casino of a thermal station1   
and the factories of a new world4 ,the  
traveller finds that the broad upper    
boulevards are filled with tourists and 
smart ,english visitors2 and in the     
narrow streets pert factory-hands come  
noisily from work4 ,still he climbs on  
toward the ,cathedral1 through tortuous 
streets and little alley-ways4 ,and in  
the gloomiest of them all there is no   
odour of a stale antiquity1 but the     
perfume of a garden-full of roses1 of a 
thousand orange-blossoms1 and of        
locusts1 honey-sweet1 and he begins to  
think himself enchanted4 ,he feels the  
dark1 old houses are unreal1 as if1     
instead of cobble-stones beneath his    
feet1 there must be the soft and tender 
grass of ,araby the ,blest4 ,such is the

 magic of a trade1 the perfume industry 
of ,grasse that for so many hundreds of 
years has made her meanest streets full 
of refreshing fragrance4  ,breathless   
from the climb1 the traveller stepped at
 length into the little square1 before a
 most ungainly ,cathedral4 ,chiefly     
built in the ,,xii century1 it may have 
been1 but so bedizened by the           
,renaissance that its heavy old         
,provencal walls and massive pillars    
seem to exist merely as supports for    
additions or unreasonable decorations of
 a poor ,italian style4 ,a certain      
,monseigneur of the ,,xvii century      
re-built the choir in a deep1           
rectangular form2 another prelate       
enlarged the church proper and ruined it
 by constructing a tribune over the     
aisles1 and desiring the revenues of a  
new burial-place1 he ordered ,vauban to 
accomplish the daring construction of a 
crypt4 ,still another ,bishop with like 
architectural tastes built a large new  
chapel which opens from the south aisle2

 and with these additions and ,,xviii   
century changes in the facade1 the      
original style of the church was        
obscured4 ,in spite of the pitiful      
remains of dignity which its three      
aisles1 its firm old pillars1 and its   
height still give to the interior1 it is
 as a whole so mean a building that it  
has fittingly lost the title of         
,cathedral4  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,pont
 ,d',,avignon4     ,,iii4               
,,river-,,side ,,cathedrals4            
,sidenote3 ,avignon4  ,everything which 
surrounds the ,cathedral of ,avignon1   
its situation1 its city1 its history1 is
 so full of romance and glamour that it 
is only after very sober second thought 
one realises that the church itself is  
the least of the papal buildings which  
majestically overtower the ,rhone1 or of
 those royal ruins which face them as   
proudly on the opposite bank of the     
river4 ,yet no church in ,provence is   
richer in tradition1 and in history more
 romantic than tradition4  ,the         

foundation of this church goes back to  
the first ,avignon1 a small colony of   
river-fishermen which gave way before   
the ,romans1 who established a city1    
,avernio1 on the great rocky hill two   
hundred feet above the ,rhone4 ,some    
hundreds of years later the first       
,christian missionaries to ,gaul landed 
near the mouth of this river1--,mary the
 mother of ,james1 ,saint ,sara the     
patron of gypsies1 ,lazarus1 his sister 
,martha1 and ,saint ,maximin4 ,before   
these storm-tossed ,saints lay the fair 
and pagan country of ,provence1 the     
scene of their future mission2 and if   
tradition is to be further believed1    
each went his way1 to work mightily for 
the sacred cause4 ,maximin lived in the 
town that bears his name1 ,lazarus      
became the first ,bishop of ,marseilles1
 and ,saint ,martha ascended the ,rhone 
as far as ,avignon and built near the   
site of the present ,cathedral an       
oratory in honour of the ,virgin then   
living on the earth4 ,two early         

churches1 of which this chapel was      
perhaps a part1 were destroyed in the   
,saracenic sieges of the ,,viii century2
 an inscription in the porch of the     
present ,cathedral records the very     
interesting mediaeval account of its    
re-building and re-consecration nearly a
 hundred years later4 ,it was1 so runs  
the tale1 the habit of a devout woman to
 pray in the church every night2 and    
after the ,cathedral had been finished  
by the generous aid of ,charlemagne1 she
 happened there at midnight1 and        
witnessed the descent of ,christ in     
wondrous1 shining light4 ,there at the  
,high ,altar1 surrounded by ministering 
angels1 he dedicated the ,cathedral to  
,his ,mother1 ,our ,lady of ,cathedrals2
 and so it has been called to the       
present day4 ,if it is an impossible and
 ungrateful task to disprove that the   
re-construction1 or at least the        
re-founding of this ,cathedral was the  
work of ,charlemagne1 so munificent a   
patron and dutiful a son of the ,church1

 to prove it is equally impossible4 ,a  
martyrology of the ,,xi century speaks  
of a dedication in #ajfi1 but as this   
ceremony had been preceded by another   
extensive re-building1 and was followed 
by many other changes1 the oldest       
portions of the present church are to be
 most accurately ascribed to the ,,xi1  
,,xii1 and ,,xiv centuries4 ,the        
additions of the centuries following the
 papal return to ,rome have greatly     
changed the appearance of the church4 ,a
 large chapel1 built in #aejf1 gives    
almost a northern nave4 ,in #afga1      
,archbishop ,ariosto thought the        
interior would be gracefully improved by
 a ,renaissance gallery which should    
encircle the entire nave from one end of
 the choir to the other4 ,to accomplish 
this new work1 the old main piers below 
the gallery were cut away1 the wall     
arches were changed1 and columns and    
piers1 almost entirely new1 arose to    
support a shallow1 gracefully           
balustraded balcony and its bases of    

massive carving4 ,nine years later a new
 ,archbishop added to the north side a  
square ,,xvii century chapel1 richly    
ornamental in itself1 but entirely out  
of harmony with the fundamental style of
 the church4 ,other chapels1 less       
distinguished1 which have been added    
from time to time1 line the nave both   
north and south1 and all are excrescent 
to the original plan4 ,of the exterior1 
only the facade retains its primitive   
character4 ,the side-walls1 entirely    
featureless1 as has been well said1     
reflect only the various periods of the 
chapels which have been added to the    
,cathedral1 and the apse was re-built in
 #afga1 in a heavy1 uninteresting form4 
,illustration3 ,,the ,,interior ,,has ,a
 ,,shallow1 ,,gracefully ,,balustraded  
,,balcony4--,,avignon4  ,these          
additions1 superimposed ornamentations1 
and rebuildings1 together with the very 
substantial substructure of the         
primitive ,cathedral1 form to-day a     
small church of unimpressive1           

conglomerate style1 and except for its  
history1 unnoteworthy4 ,it is therefore 
a church whose interest is almost wholly
 of the past2 and the traveller goes    
back in imagination1 century after      
century1 to the era of ,papal residency1
 when the ,cathedral was not only       
ecclesiastically important1 but         
architecturally in its best and purest  
form4 ,this church1 which ,clement ,v   
found on his removal to ,avignon1 and   
which may still be easily traced1 was of
 the simple1 primitive ,provencal style4
 ,no dates of that period are           
sufficiently accurate to rely upon2 but 
its interest lies not so much in        
chronology as in its portrayal of the   
general type4 ,the interior is the usual
 little hall church of the ,,xi century1
 with its aisle-less nave of five bays1 
and plain piers supporting a tunnelled  
roof1 with double vault arches4 ,beyond 
the last bay1 over the choir1 is the    
,cathedral's octagonal dome1 and from   
the rounded windows of its lantern comes

 much of the light of the interior1     
which is sombre and without other       
windows of importance4  ,the facade is  
architecturally one of the most         
significant parts of the church4 ,above 
the portal the wall is supported on     
either side by plain heavy buttresses1  
and directly continued by the solid bulk
 of the tower4 ,in #adca this tower     
replaced the original one which fell in 
the earthquake of #adje4 ,it is         
conjecturally similar1 a heavy rectangle
 which quite overweighs the church2     
plain1 with its stiff pilasters and two 
stories of rounded windows2 without     
grace or proper proportion1 but pleasing
 by the unblemished severity of its     
lines4 ,above the balustrade with which 
the tower may be properly said to       
terminate1 the religious art of the     
,,xix century has erected as its        
contribution to the ,cathedral a series 
of steps1 an octagon1 and a colossal1   
mal-proportioned statue of the ,virgin4 
,these additions are inharmonious2 and  

the finest part of the facade is the    
porch1 so classic in detail that it was 
formerly supposed to be ,roman1 a work  
of the ,emperor ,constantine4 ,like the 
rest of the church1 its general         
structure is plain and somewhat severe1 
with small1 richly carved details1 in   
this instance closely ,corinthian4 ,the 
rounded portal of entrance is an        
entablature1 enclosed as it were by two 
supporting columns2 and above1 in the   
pointed pediment1 is a circular opening 
curiously foreshadowing that magnificent
 development of the ,north--the         
rose-window4 ,passing through the       
vestibule1 whose tunnel-vault supports  
the tower1 the minor portal appears1    
almost a replica of the outer door1 and 
the whole forms an unusual mode of      
entrance1 graceful in detail1 ponderous 
in general effect4 ,far behind the tower
 of the facade rises the last           
significant feature of the exterior1 the
 little lantern4 ,it is an octagon with 
,doric and ,corinthian motifs1          

continuing the essential characteristics
 of the interior1 and exceedingly       
typical of ,provence4  ,illustration3   
,,the ,,porch ,,so ,,classic ,,in       
,,detail4--,,avignon4 ,from an old      
print4  ,into this church1 with its few1
 unusually classic details1 its         
,provencal simplicity1 its very modest  
size and plainness1 the munificence of  
papal pomp was introduced4 ,this was in 
#acjh1 an era of papal storm and stress4
 ,not ten years before1 ,boniface       
,,viii1 with the tradition of ,canossa  
spurring his haughty ambitions1 had     
launched a bull against ,philip ,,iii1  
whom he knew to be a bad king and whom  
he was to find an equally bad1          
rebellious ,christian4 ,god1 said the   
,prelate1 from ,rome1 has constituted   
us1 though unworthy1 above kings and    
kingdoms1 to seize1 destroy1 disperse1  
build1 and plant in ,his name and by    
,his doctrine4 ,therefore1 do not       
persuade thyself that thou hast no      
superior1 and that thou art not subject 

to the head of the ecclesiastical       
hierarchy2 he who thinks thus is        
insensate1 he who maintains it is       
infidel4  ,past indeed was the time of  
,henry of ,germany1 long past the proud 
day when a ,pope received an ,emperor   
who knelt and waited in the snow4       
,philip burned the ,bull2 and to prevent
 other like fulminations1 sent an agent 
into ,italy4 ,gathering a band1 he found
 the aged ,pontiff at ,anagni1 his      
birthplace1 seated on a throne1 crowned 
with the triple crown1 the ,cross in one
 hand and in the other ,saint ,peter's  
,keys1 the terrible ,keys of ,heaven and
 ,hell4 ,they called on him to abdicate1
 but ,boniface thought of ,christ his   
,lord1 and cried out in defiant answer1 
,here is my neck1 here is my head4      
,betrayed like ,jesus ,christ1 if ,i    
must die like him1 ,i will at least die 
,pope4 ,for reply1 ,sciarra ,colonna1   
one of his own ,roman ,counts1 struck   
him in the face4 ,buffeted by a noble1  
and openly defied by a king1 ,boniface  

died of shame and anger4 ,a month later1
 this same king rejoiced1 if nothing    
more1 at the death of the ,pope's       
successor2 and in the dark forests of   
,saint-,jean-d',angely1 ,philip         
bargained and sold the great ,tiara to a
 ,gascon ,archbishop who1 if ,villani   
speaks truly1 threw himself at the royal
 feet1 saying1 ',it is for thee to      
command and for me to obey2 such will   
ever be my disposition6' ,as was not    
unnatural1 the will of the ,french king 
was that the ,pope should remain within 
the zone of royal influence4 ,so        
,clement lived at ,bordeaux and at      
,poitiers1 and finally retired to the   
,county of ,venaissin which the ,holy   
,see possessed by right1 and established
 the pontifical court at ,avignon4      
,this transfer of the papal residence to
 ,avignon has left many and deep traces 
on the history of ,french ,catholicism4 
,the ,holy ,see was no longer far       
remote2 the ,french ecclesiastic        
desirous of promotion had no dangerous  

mountains to traverse1 no strange city  
to enter1 no foreign ,pontiff to        
besiege1 ignorant or indifferent to his 
claims4 ,the next successor of ,saint   
,peter would logically be a ,frenchman1 
and there was not only a possibility1   
but a probability for every man of note1
 that he might be either the occupant of
 the ,sacred ,chair or its favoured     
supporter4 ,so ,avignon became a city of
 priests as ,rome had been before her2  
and as ,france was the richest country  
in ,europe and the ,church regally      
wealthy1 splendour1 luxury1 and constant
 religious spectacles rejoiced the city1
 and ,bishop1 ,archbishop1 and ,abbot1  
brazenly neglecting the duties of their 
,sees1 lived here and were seldom in    
residence4 ,every one had a secret      
ambition4 ,of such a situation1 the     
,popes were not slow to reap the        
benefits4 ,difference of wealth1 which  
brought difference of position1 counted 
much and was keenly felt4 ,abbots of    
smaller monasteries found themselves    

inferior to ,bishops1 especially in     
freedom from papal interference2 while  
from the inherent wealth and power of   
their foundations1 the heads of the     
great monasteries ranked sometimes with 
,archbishops1 sometimes even with       
,cardinals4 ,the ,pope had the right to 
elevate an ,abbey or a ,priory into a   
,bishopric1 and those who could offer   
the gratification or the provocative1   
might reasonably hope for the desired   
elevation which at once increased their 
local importance1 belittled a           
neighbouring diocese1 and freed them to 
some extent from the direct             
intermeddling of the ,pope4 ,the        
applications for such an increase of    
power became numerous1 and by #acbj a   
number of ,benedictine ,abbeys had been 
made ,bishoprics4 ,their creation       
greatly decreased the direct and        
intimate power of the ,papacy1 but      
temporarily increased the papal         
treasury2 and ,john ,,xxii1 who left ten
 million pieces of silver and fifteen   

million in gold with his ,florentine    
bankers1 seems to have thought          
philosophically1 ,after us1 the deluge4 
,illustration3                          
,,notre-,,dame-,,des-,,doms4--,,avignon 
,another favourite diplomatic and       
financial device1 which was invented by 
these famous ,popes of ,avignon1 was the
 system of the ,commende1 which enabled 
relatives of nobles and all those whom  
it was desirable to placate1 not alone  
ecclesiastics1 but mere laymen and      
bloody barons1 to become ,commendatory  
,abbots or ,commendatory ,priors1 and to
 receive at least one-third of the      
monastery's revenues1 without being in  
any way responsible for the monastery's 
welfare4 ,this care was left to a ,prior
 or a ,sub-prior1 a sort of clerical    
administrator who1 crippled in means and
 in influence1 was sometimes unable1    
sometimes unwilling1 to carry out the   
duties and beneficences of past ages1   
and who was always the victim of a great
 injustice4 ,the depths of uselessness  

to which this infamous practice reduced 
monastic establishments may be inferred1
 when it is remembered that before the  
,,xviii century the famous ,abbey of ,la
 ,baume had had thirteen ,commendatory  
,abbots1 and that the bastards of ,louis
 ,,xiv were ,commendatory ,priors in    
their infancy4  ,the ,popes found the   
,commende useful1 not only as a means of
 income1 but as a method--at once secure
 and lucrative--of gaining to their     
cause the great feudal lords of ,france1
 and making the power of these lords an 
added buffer1 as it were1 between       
,avignon and the grasping might of the  
,french ,kings4 ,for although the ,popes
 were under the special protection of   
the ,kings1 it was as sheep under the   
special protection of a shearer1 and    
they found that they must protect       
themselves against a too special and    
royal fleecing4 ,for they did not always
 agree that--      ',tis as goodly a    
match as match can be     ,to marry the 
,church and the fleur-de-lis     ,should

 either mate a-straying go1     ,then   
each--too late--will own 'twas so4'     
,illustration3 ,,the ,,tower ,,of       
,,philip ,,the                          
,,fair4--,,villeneuve-,,les-,,avignon4  
,haunted by the humiliation of their    
heaven-sent power1 caged in ,babylonish 
captivity1 it is conceivable that the   
,popes were too occupied or1 perhaps too
 distracted1 to object to the unsuitable
 modesty of ,notre-,dame-des-,doms4     
,when a ,pope swept forth from his      
,cathedral1 new-crowned1 to give urbis  
et orbi his first pontifical            
benediction1 his eye glanced1 it is     
true1 on the crowds prostrate before    
him1 before the church1 awed and        
breathless2 but it fell lingeringly--it 
was irresistibly drawn--across the swift
 ,rhone to the town of the kings who had
 defied his power1 to the royal city of 
,villeneuve1 and to the strong tower of 
,philip the ,fair1 standing proudly in  
the sunlight4 ,would it be thought      
strange if their thoughts wandered1 or  

if the portraits of the ,french ,popes  
which hang about the ,cathedral walls at
 ,avignon1 show more worldly            
preoccupation than is becoming to the   
successors of ,saint ,peter and ,vicars 
of ,christ8  ,little indeed in the days 
of their residency did the ,popes add to
 ,notre-,dame-des-,doms4 ,a fragile1    
slender marvel of ,gothic architecture1 
the tomb of ,john ,,xxii1 was placed in 
the nave before the altar2 and a        
monument to ,benedict ,,xii was raised  
in the church4 ,but their ,holinesses   
incited others in ,avignon to good works
 so successfully that ,rabelais         
laughingly called it the ,ringing city  
of churches1 convents1 and monasteries4 
,the bells of ,saint-,pierre1           
,saint-,symphorien1 ,saint-,agricol1    
,sainte-,claire1 and ,saint-,didier     
chimed with those of chapels and        
religious foundations2 the ,grey        
,penitents1 ,black ,penitents1 and      
,white ,penitents1 priests1 and nuns    
walked the streets1 and ,avignon grew   

truly papal4 ,clement ,v and his        
successors proceeded to the safeguarding
 of their temporal welfare in truly     
noble fashion2 and scarcely fifty years 
later they had become so well pleased   
with their new residence that the       
magnificent ,clement ,,vi refused to    
leave in spite of the supplications of  
,petrarch and ,rienzi and a whole       
deputation of ,romans4  ,during the     
reign of this ,pontiff1 the ,papal      
,court became one of the gayest in      
,christendom4 ,clement was frankly1     
joyously voluptuous2 and his life seems 
one moving pageant in which luxurious   
banquets1 beautiful women1 and          
ecclesiastical pomps succeeded each     
other4 ,the lovely ,countess of ,turenne
 sold his preferments and benefices1 the
 immense treasure of ,john ,,xxii was   
his1 and he showered such benefits on a 
grateful family that of the five        
,cardinals who accompanied his corpse   
from ,avignon1 one was his brother1 one 
his cousin1 and three his nephews2 and  

that the ,huguenots who violated his    
tomb at ,la-,chaise-,dieu1 should have  
used his skull as a wine-cup1 seems an  
horrible1 but not an unfitting mockery4 
,it was in vain that ,petrarch hotly    
wrote1 the ,pope keeps the ,church of   
,jesus ,christ in shameful exile4 ,the  
desire for return to ,rome had passed4  
,avignon was not an original nor a      
plenary possession of the ,holy         
,fathers1 but the fairest inheritance of
 the ,berengers1 and it was from that   
family that half of the city had to be  
wrested--or obtained4 ,now the lords of 
,provence were ,kings of ,naples and    
,sicily1 and therefore vassals of the   
,holy ,see4 ,for when the ,normans took 
these ,southern states from the ,greeks 
and thereby incurred the jealousy of all
 ,italy1 they had warily placed         
themselves under the protection of the  
,pope and agreed to hold their new      
possessions as a papal investiture4 ,it 
happened at this time that the vassal of
 the ,pope in ,naples and in ,sicily was

 the beauteous ,reino ,joanno1 the      
heiress of ,provence4 ,what she was no  
writer could describe in better words   
than these1 with extreme beauty1 with   
youth that does not fade1 red hair that 
holds the sunlight in its tangles1 a    
sweet voice1 poetic gifts1 regal        
peremptoriness1 a ,gallic wit1 genuine  
magnanimity1 and rhapsodical piety1 with
 strange indecorum and bluntness of     
feeling under the extremes of splendour 
and misery1 just such a lovely1         
perverse1 bewildering woman was she1    
great granddaughter of                  
,raymond-,berenger1 fourth ,count of    
,provence1--the pupil of ,boccaccio1 the
 friend of ,petrarch1 the enemy of      
,saint ,catherine of ,siena1 the most   
dangerous and most dazzling woman of the
 ,,xiv century4 ,so typically ,provencal
 was this ,queen's nature1 that had she 
lived some centuries later1 she might   
have been ,mirabeau's sister4 ,the same 
'terrible gift of familiarity1' the same
 talent of finding favour and swaying   

popular assemblages1 the same           
sensuousness1 bold courage1 and great   
generosity were found in this early     
orphaned1 thrice widowed heiress of     
,provence4 ,to this day1 the memory of  
the ,reino ,joanno lives in her native  
land1 associated with numbers of towers 
and fortresses1 the style of whose      
architecture attests their origin under 
her reign4 ,it says much for her        
personal fascinations that far from     
being either cursed or blamed she is    
still remembered and praised4 ,the ruins
 of ,gremaud1 ,tour ,drainmont1 of      
,guillaumes1 and a castle near          
,roccaspervera1 all bear her name3 at   
,draguignan and ,flagose1 they tell you 
her canal has supplied the town with    
water for generations3 in the ,esterels1
 the peasants who got free grants of    
land1 still invoke their benefactress4  
,at ,saint-,vallier1 she is blessed     
because she protected the hamlet near   
the ,siagne from the oppression of the  
,chapters of ,grasse and ,lerins4 ,at   

,aix and ,avignon her fame is undying   
because she dispelled some robber-bands2
 at ,marseilles she is popular because  
she modified and settled the            
jurisdiction of ,viscounts and ,bishops4
 ,go up to ,grasse and in the big square
 where the trees throw a flickering     
shadow over the street-traders1 you will
 see built in a vaulted passage a flight
 of stone steps1 steps which every      
barefoot child will tell you belong to  
the palace of ',la ,reino ,joanno4'     
,walls have been altered1 gates have    
disappeared1 but down those time-worn   
steps once paced the liege lady of      
,provence1 the incomparable 'fair       
mischief' whose guilt 444 must ever     
remain one of the enigmas of history4   
,this enigma has strange analogies to   
one which has puzzled and impassioned   
the writers of many generations1 the    
mystery of that other fair mischief of a
 later century1 ,mary ,queen of ,scots4 
,like ,mary1 ,jeanne was accused of the 
murder of her young husband1 and being  

pressed by the vengeance of his         
brother--no less a person than the ,king
 of ,hungary1--she decided to retreat to
 her native ,provence and appeal to the 
,pope1 her gallant and not              
over-scrupulous suzerain4 ,jeanne landed
 at ,ponchettes1 continues the writer   
who has so happily described her1 and   
the consuls came to assure her of their 
devotion4 ',i come1' replied the        
heiress1 whose wit always suggested a   
happy phrase1 'to ask for your hearts   
and nothing but your hearts4' ,as she   
did not allude to her debts1 the        
populace threw up their caps2 the       
,prince de ,monaco1 just cured of his   
wound at ,crecy1 placed his sword at her
 service2 and the ,baron de ,benil1     
red-handed from a cruel murder1 besought
 her patronage which1 perhaps from a    
fellow-feeling1 she promised with great 
alacrity4 ,at ,grasse she won all hearts
 and made many more promises1 and       
finally1 arriving at ,avignon1 she found
 ,clement covetous of the city and      

well-disposed to her4 ,yet morality     
obliged him to ask an explanation of her
 recent change of husbands1 and before  
three ,cardinals1 whom he appointed to  
be her judges1 the ,queen pleaded her   
own cause4 ,not a blush tinged her      
cheek1 no tremor altered her melodious  
voice as she stood before the red-robed 
,princes of the ,church and narrated1 in
 fluent ,latin1 the story of the        
assassination of ,andrew1 the death of  
her child1 and her marriage with the    
murderer1 ,louis of ,tarento1 who stood 
by her side4 ,the wily ,pope noted      
behind her the proud ,provencal nobles1 
the ,villeneuves and d',agoults1 the de 
,baux and the ,lescaris1 who brought the
 fealty of the hill-country1 and who did
 not know that1 having already sold her 
jewels to the ,jews1 their fair ,queen  
was covenanting with the ,pope for      
,avignon4 ,the formal trial ended1 the  
,pontiff solemnly declared the ,queen to
 be guiltless1--and she granted him the 
city for eighty thousand pieces of gold4

  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,great          
,,palace4--,,avignon4  ,clement enjoyed 
ownership in the same agreeable manner  
as his predecessors1 without the untying
 of purse-strings4 ,perhaps he used the 
purse's contents for the more pressing  
claim of the great ,palace of which he  
built so large a part2 perhaps he handed
 it1 still filled1 to ,innocent ,,vi who
 built the famous fortifications of     
,avignon and protected himself against  
the marauding ,white ,companies1 perhaps
 it was still untouched when ,bertrand  
du ,guesclin and his ,grand ,company    
stood before the gate and demanded      
benediction1 absolution1 and two hundred
 thousand pounds4 ,what6 the ,pope is   
said to have cried1 must we give        
absolution1 which here in ,avignon is   
paid for1 and then give money too--it is
 contrary to reason6 ,du ,guesclin      
replied to the bearer of these words1   
,here are many who care little for      
absolution1 and much for money1--and    
,urban yielded4  ,gregory ,,xi1 the last

 of the ,french ,popes1 returned to     
,rome1 and at his death the ,great      
,schism followed2--,clement ,,vii1 in   
,avignon1 was recognised by ,france1    
,spain1 ,scotland1 ,sicily1 and ,cyprus2
 ,urban ,,vi1 in ,rome1 by ,italy1      
,austria1 and ,england4 ,the ,county    
,venaissin was ravaged by wars and the  
pests that come in their train4 ,at     
length the ,avignonnais1 who had not    
enjoyed greater peace under their       
anointed rulers than under worldling    
,counts1 rose against ,pierre de ,luna1 
the ,anti-pope ,benedict ,,xiii1 who    
fled4 ,from that time no ,pontiff       
entered the gates1 and the city was     
administered by papal legates4 ,in later
 days1 in spite of the sacred character 
of its rulers and his own undoubted     
orthodoxy1 ,louis ,,xiv seized ,avignon 
several times2 and ,louis ,,xv1 in      
unfilial vengeance for the              
excommunication of the ,duke of ,parma1 
took possession of the city4 ,but it was
 not until after the beginning of the   

,french ,revolution1 in #agia1 that the 
,avignonnais themselves arose1 chased   
the ,vice-,legate of the ,pope from the 
city1 and appealed for union with       
,france2 and it was at this period that 
the ,chapel of ,sainte-,marthe1 the     
,cloister1 and the ,chapter ,house were 
swept away4 ,thus ended the temporal    
power of the ,papacy in ,france1 planned
 for worldly profit and carried out with
 many sordid compromises2--a residency  
unnoted for great deeds or noble        
intentions and whose close marked the   
,great ,schism4  ,to-day papal ,avignon 
is become ,french ,avignon1 a pleasant  
city where the ,provencal sun is hot and
 where the ,mistral whistles merrily4   
,above the banks of the ,rhone the      
simple ,cathedral stands1 with its      
priests still garbed in papal red1 its  
,host still carried under the white     
papal panoply4 ,here also is the great  
,palace of the ,popes1 which is indeed1 
says ,froissart1 the strongest and most 
magnificent house in the world4 ,and yet

 its grim walls suggest neither peace   
nor rest2 and to him who recalls1 this  
great1 impressive pile tells neither of 
glories nor of triumphs4 ,bands of      
unbelieving ,pastoureaux marched toward 
it2 soldiers of the ,white ,companies   
and soldiers of du ,guesclin gazed      
mockingly at it2 it was the prison of   
,rienzi1 and the home of the harassed   
,popes who had ever before them1 just   
across the river1 the menacing tower of 
that fair king who had led them into    
,babylonish captivity4   ,sidenote3     
,vaison4  ,on the banks of a pleasant   
little river among the ,provencal hills 
is ,vaison1 one of the ancient ,gallic  
towns which became entirely romanised2  
and many illustrious families of the    
,empire had summer villas there as at   
,arles and ,orange4 ,barbarians of one  
epoch or another have devastated ,vaison
 of all her antique treasures1 except   
the remains of an ,amphitheatre on the  
,puymin ,hill4 ,germanic tribes who     
swooped down in early centuries         

destroyed her villas and her greater    
buildings2 and vandals of a later day   
have scattered her sculptures and her   
tablets here and there4 ,some are in the
 galleries of ,avignon2 a ,belus1 the   
only one found in ,france1 was sent to  
the ,museum of ,saint-,germain2 and in  
the multitude of treasures in the       
,british ,museum1 the most beautiful of 
all her statues1 a ,diadumenus1 is      
artistically lost4 ,in the days when it 
still adorned the city1 during the reign
 of the ,emperor ,gallienus1 ,vaison was
 christianised by ,saint ,ruf1 her      
,bishopric was founded1 and in #ccg the 
first ,general ,council of the ,church  
held in ,gaul assembled here4 ,another  
,council in the ,v century1 and still   
another in the ,,vi1 are proof of her   
continued importance4  ,illustration3   
,,on ,,the ,,banks ,,of ,a ,,pleasant   
,,little ,,river ,,is ,,vaison4         
,illustration3 ,,the ,,ruined ,,castle  
,,of ,,the ,,counts ,,of                
,,toulouse4--,,vaison4  ,among the first

 of ,gallo-,roman cities1 she was also  
among the first to suffer4 ,chrocus and 
his horde who sacked ,orange1 seized her
 ,bishop and murdered him2 and ,alains1 
,vandals1 and ,burgundians1 following in
 their wake1 brought disaster after     
disaster to the cities lying near the   
,rhone4 ,vaison1 by miracle1 did not    
lose her prestige4 ,in the ,x and ,,xi  
centuries she built her fine ,cathedral 
with its ,cloisters1 and in #aagi she   
was still great enough to excite the    
covetousness of ,raymond ,,vi1 ,count of
 ,toulouse4 ,this magnificent and       
ambitious prince built a castle on a    
height above the city1 and as he had    
before terrorised my ,lord ,bishop of   
,carpentras1 so now he seized the       
anointed person of ,berenger de         
,reilhane1 who was not only ,vaison's   
,bishop1 but her temporal prince as     
well4 ,berenger was a sufficiently      
powerful personage to make an outcry    
which re-echoed throughout ,christendom2
 the ,pope and the ,emperor came to his 

aid2 and in the ,abbey ,church of       
,saint-,gilles-du-,gard1 ,raymond ,,vi  
did solemn penance1 and1 before         
receiving absolution1 was publicly      
struck by the ,papal ,legate with a     
bundle of birch rods4 ,above the        
,bishop's ,palace the great castle still
 loomed in menace1 but on that day      
,berenger de ,reilhane triumphed and    
,vaison was at peace4  ,it was a peace  
which presaged her quiet1 uneventful    
downfall4 ,for other interests were     
growing stronger in the country1 other  
cities grew where she stood still1 and  
in the ,,xiv century1 when ,avignon     
became the seat of papal power1 ,vaison 
had passed from the world's history4    
,her ,bishopric endured till #ahja1 but 
her doings are worthy only of provincial
 chronicles and to-day she is but a     
little country town1 served by the      
stage-coach4 ,she still lies on both    
banks of the river2 the high city1 with 
long rows of deserted houses1 climbs the
 side of the steep hill and is dominated

 by the ruins of the great castle1 which
 ,richelieu destroyed4 ,the lower city1 
which is the busier of the two1 lies on 
the opposite bank2 and on its outskirts1
 in a little garden-close1 almost       
surrounded by the fields1 is the        
,cathedral1--solitary1 lonely1 and old4 
,illustration3 ,,the ,,whole            
,,apse-,,end4--,,vaison4  ,illustration3
 ,,the ,,south ,,wall ,,which ,,is      
,,clearly ,,seen ,,from ,,the           
,,road4--,,vaison4  ,the decoration of  
the exterior is slight1 a dentiled      
cornice and a graceful foliated frieze  
extend along the top of the side-walls1 
which although most plainly built1 are  
far from being severely angular or gaunt
 and have a quaint and pleasing harmony 
of line4 ,the west front is so          
featureless that it scarcely deserves   
the title of facade4 ,the south wall1   
which is clearly seen from the road1 has
 a small portal and plain buttresses    
that slope at the top4 ,the central apse
 is rectangular and heavy1 the little   

southern apse is short and round1 and   
that of the north is tall and thin as a 
pepper-box4 ,behind them rise the       
pointed roof of the nave and the heavy  
tower4 ,the whole apse-end is           
constructed in most picturesque         
irregularity1 and the new red of the    
roof-tiles and sombre grey of the old   
stone add greatly to its charm4  ,unlike
 many churches of its period            
,notre-,dame of ,vaison is three-aisled4
 ,slender1 narrow naves1 whose tunnel   
vaults are not extremely lofty1 end in  
small circular apses4 ,the nave is a    
short one of three irregular bays1 and  
over the last1 which precedes the choir1
 is the little eight-sided dome1 which  
instead of projecting above the roof is 
curiously placed a little lower than the
 tunnel vaulting of the other bays4 ,the
 ,high ,altar1 which originally belonged
 to an older church1 is well placed in  
the simple choir2 for it belongs in     
style1 if not in actual fact1 to the    
first centuries of the ,faith2 and in   

the semi-darkness behind the altar1 the 
old episcopal throne still stands       
against the apse's wall1 in memory of   
the custom of the ,church's early days4 
,the low arches of the aisles1 the dim  
lighting of the church1 its simple      
ornaments of classic bands and little   
capitals1 its slight irregularities of  
form and carvings1 make an interior of  
fine and strong antique simplicity4  ,a 
little door in the north wall leads to  
the ,cloisters1 which are happily in a  
state of complete restoration1 and not  
as a modern writer has described them1  
practically a ruin4 ,the wall which     
overlooks them has an inscription that  
adjures the ,canons to bear with        
patience the north aspect of their      
cells4 ,the short walks have tunnel     
vaults with cross-vaults in the corners 
and in parts of the north aisle4 ,great 
piers and small1 firm columns support   
the outer arches2 and on the exterior of
 the ,cloister the little arches of the 
columns are enclosed in a large round   

arch4 ,many of the capitals are         
uncarved1 some of the piers have applied
 columns1 but many are ornamented in    
straight cut lines4 ,on one side1 two   
bays open to the ground1 forming an     
entrance-way into the pretty close1     
where the bushy tops of a few tall trees
 cast flickering shadows on the         
surrounding walls and the little grassy 
square4  ,illustration3 ,,two ,,bays    
,,open ,,to ,,the ,,ground4--,,vaison4  
,illustration3 ,,the ,,great ,,piers    
,,and ,,small ,,firm                    
,,columns4--,,vaison4  ,the ,cloister is
 small and simple in its rather heavy   
grace4 ,noise and unrest seem far from  
it1 and underneath its solid rounded    
vault is peace and shelter from the     
world4 ,and in its firm solidity of     
architecture there is the spirit of a   
perfect quiet1 a tranquil charm which   
must insensibly have calmed many a      
restless spirit that chafed beneath the 
churchly frock1 and fled within its     
walls for refuge and for helpful        

meditation4  ,few ,provencal ,cathedrals
 have the interest of ,vaison and its   
,cloister4 ,lying in the forgotten      
valley of the ,ouveze1 in an            
old-fashioned town1 all its surroundings
 speak of the past and its atmosphere is
 quite unspoiled4 ,the church itself has
 been spared degenerating restorations2 
and although it has no sumptuousness as 
at ,marseilles1 no grandeur as at       
,arles1 no stirring history as the      
churches that lay near the sea1 although
 it is one of the smallest and most     
venerable of them all1 no ,cathedral of 
the ,southland has so great an          
architectural dignity and merit with so 
ancient and so quaint a charm4          
,sidenote3 ,arles4  ,in the midst of the
 wealth of antique ruins1 near the      
,theatre1 the ,coliseum1 and the ,forum 
of this little ,rome of the ,gauls1     
stands a noble monument of the ruder    
ages of ,christianity1 the ,cathedral1  
,saint-,trophime4 ,here ,saint          
,augustine1 apostle to ,england1 was    

consecrated2 here three ,general        
,councils of the ,church were held1 here
 the ,donatists were doomed to          
everlasting fire1 and here the ,emperor 
,constantine1 from his summer palace on 
the ,rhone1 must have come to assist at 
,mass4 ,the building in which these     
solemn scenes of the early ,church were 
enacted soon disappeared and was        
replaced by the present one whose older 
walls ,revoil attributes to the ,,ix    
century4 ,the present ,cathedral's first
 documentary date is #aaeb1 in the era  
of the ,republic of ,arles4 ,the name of
 ,saint-,etienne was changed1 and the   
body of ,saint-,trophime1 carried in    
state from the ruined ,church of the    
,aliscamps1 was buried under a new altar
 and he was solemnly proclaimed the     
,patron of the richest and most majestic
 church in all ,provence4               
,illustration3 ,,in ,,the ,,midst ,,of  
,,the ,,wealth ,,of ,,antique           
,,ruins4--,,arles4  ,illustration3 ,,the
 ,,facade ,,of                          

,,saint-,,trophime4--,,arles4  ,nearly  
eight hundred years later a traveller   
stood before the portal of this church4 
,in the midst of his delighted study he 
suddenly felt the attraction of a pair  
of watchful eyes1 and turned to find a  
peasant woman gazing fixedly at him4 ,in
 her strange fascination she had placed 
beside her1 on the ground1 two huge     
melons and a mammoth cabbage1 and her   
wizened hands were folded before her1   
,sunday-fashion4 ,she was a little witch
 of a woman1 old and bent and brown4    
,yes1 my good gentleman1 she said1 ,i   
have been looking at you1--five whole   
minutes of the clock1 and much good it  
has done me4 ,in these days of books and
 such fine learning there is not enough 
time spent before our door2 and ,i who  
pass by it every day1 year in1 year out1
 ,i have watched well1 and only two     
except yourself have ever studied it4   
,the foreigners come with red books and 
look at them more than at the door      
itself1--they stay perhaps three        

minutes1 and go off1 shaking their wise 
heads4 ,our people1 passing every day1  
see but a door1 a place for going in and
 coming out4 ,she paused for breath4    
,and what do you see8 asked the         
traveller4  ,you ask me8 ,she smiled    
wisely4 ,but you know1 since you are    
standing here and looking too4 ,listen6 
,and her old eyes began to gleam4 ,i'll 
tell you of a time before you were born4
 ,i was a child then2 and we marched    
here every ,sunday1 other little girls  
and myself1 and we stood before this    
door4 ,and the nuns--it was often       
,sister ,mary ,dolorosa--told us the    
stories of these stones4 ,see6 ,here is 
,our ,lord ,who loves all mankind1 but  
has to judge us too2--and there is      
,saint-,trophime4 ,but ,i cannot read1  
,monsieur4 ,an old peasant woman has no 
time for such fine things1 and you will 
laugh at me for telling you what you    
have in your books1--but ,i have them   
all here1 here in my heart1 and many a  
time ,i too come to refresh my old      

memory1 and to pray4 ,those pictures    
tell great lessons to those that have   
eyes to see them4 ,well1 well-a-day1 ,i 
must pick up my melons and begone1 for  
,i have taken up your time and said too 
much4 ,but you will excuse it in an old 
woman who is good for little else than  
talking now4  ,they parted in true      
,french fashion1 with expressions of    
mutual esteem1 and the traveller turned 
to the portal which was still fulfilling
 its ancient mission of teaching and of 
making beautiful the ,house of ,god4    
,applied to a severe facade typical of  
the plainness of ,provencal outer walls1
 this is one of the noblest works of    
,mediaevalism1 the richest and most     
beautiful portal of the ,south of       
,france2 and no others in the ,midi1    
except those of ,saint-,gilles-du-,gard 
and ,moissac1 are worthy of comparison  
with it4 ,in boldness and               
intellectuality of conception it excels 
many of the northern works and equals   
the finest of them4 ,for the builder of 

the northern portal seems to have held  
closely to one architectural form1 the  
beautiful convention of the ,gothic     
style2 and within that door he placed1  
in a more or less usual way1 the        
subjects which the ,church had          
sanctioned4 ,in nearly every case the   
treatment of the subject is subordinated
 to the general architectural plan and  
symmetry4 ,at ,saint-,trophime there was
 the limit of space1 the axiom that a   
door must be a door1 and doubtless many 
allowable subjects4 ,but within these   
necessary bounds the unknown sculptor   
recognised few conventionalities4 ,the  
usual place for the portrayal of the    
,last ,judgment1 the tympanum1 was too  
small for his conception of the scene2  
the pier that divides his door-way was  
not built to support the statue of the  
church's patron saint2 he had a         
multitude of fancies1 and instead of    
curbing them in some beautiful          
conventionality of form1 as one feels   
great northern builders often did1 this 

artist made a frame within which his    
ideas found free play1 and1 forcing     
conventionality to its will1 his genius 
justified itself4 ,for not only is the  
portal as a whole1 full of dignity and  
true symmetry1 but its details are      
thoughtfully worked out4 ,they show1    
with the old scholastic form of his     
,faith1 the grasp of the unknown        
master's mind1 the intellectuality of   
his symbolism1 and few portals grow in  
fascination as this one1 few have so    
interesting an originality4             
,illustration3 ,,right ,,detail1        
,,portal4--,,arles4  ,in design it is   
simple1 in execution incomparably rich4 
,the principal theme of the ,last       
,judgment has ,christ seated on a throne
 as the central figure1 and about him   
are the symbols of the four             
,evangelists4 ,this is the treatment of 
the tympanum4 ,underneath1 ,patriarchs1 
,saints1 ,just1 and ,condemned form the 
beautiful frieze4 ,the ,apostles are    
seated2 and to their left is an angel   

guarding the gates of ,paradise against 
two ,bishops and a crowd of laymen who  
have yet to fully expiate their sins in 
,purgatory4 ,behind them1 naked1 with   
their feet in the flames1 are those     
condemned to everlasting ,hell2 and     
still beyond is a lower depth where     
souls are already half-consumed in      
hideous fires4 ,on the ,apostles'       
extreme right is the beginning of our   
human history1 the ,temptation of ,adam 
and ,eve2 and marching toward the holy  
men1 on this same side1 is the long     
procession of those ,redeemed from      
,adam's fall1 clothed in righteousness4 
,an angel goes before them1 and hands a 
small child--a ransomed soul--to        
,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob4 ,the end  
panels treat the last phases of the     
dominant theme2--a mammoth angel in the 
one weighs the souls of the dead2 and an
 equally awe-inspiring devil in the     
other is preparing to cast two of the   
,lost into a sea of fire4  ,the         
remainder of the portal tells of many   

subjects1 and represents much of the    
theological symbolism of its time4      
,light1 graceful columns1 with          
delicately foliated capitals and bases  
rich with meaning sculptures1 divide the
 lower spaces into niches1 and in these 
niches stand statues of ,apostles and of
 ,saints1 each having his story1 each   
his peculiar attributes2 and about these
 chief figures are carved rich designs1 
strange animals1 and numberless short   
stories of the ,bible4 ,above there is a
 small1 subsidiary frieze2 below1 the   
pedestals which tell the tale of those  
who stand upon them4 ,the figures have  
life and meaning1 if not a true         
plasticity2 and in this portal there is 
instruction1 variety1 and majesty1      
wealth of allegory and subtle symbols   
for those who love religious mysteries1 
and splendour of sculpture for those who
 come in search of ,art4  ,there are    
those to whom a simple beauty does not  
appeal4 ,after the richness of the      
portal's carving1 the interior of       

,saint-,trophime is to them far too     
plain2 in futile comparison with the    
,cloister's grace1 it is found too      
severe2 and one author has written that 
only when the refulgence of a           
,mediterranean sun glances through a    
series of long lances1 444 then and then
 only does the ,cathedral of            
,saint-,trophime offer any inducement to
 linger within its non-impressive walls4
  ,it may not be denied that1 together  
with nearly all the ,cathedrals of      
,provence1 this interior has suffered   
from the addition of inharmonious       
styles4 ,the most serious of these is   
its ,gothic choir of the ,,xv century1  
which a certain ,cardinal ,louis        
,allemand applied to the narrower       
,romanesque naves4 ,with irregular      
ambulatory1 chapels of various sizes1   
and a general incongruity of plan1 this 
construction has no architectural       
importance except that of a prominent   
place in the church's worship4 ,the     
remaining excrescences1 ,gothic chapels1

 ,ionic pilasters1 elliptical tribune1  
and the like1 are happily hidden along  
the side aisles or in the transepts2 and
 during the restoration of ,revoil the  
naves were relieved of the disfiguring  
improvements of the ,,xvii century1 and 
stand to-day in much of their fine old  
simplicity4 ,beyond the fifth bay1 and  
rising in the tower1 is the dome of     
dignified ,provencal form that rests on 
the lower arches of the crossing4 ,small
 clerestory windows cast sheets of pale 
light on the plain piers1 rectangular   
and heavy1 that rise to support a tunnel
 vault and divide the church into three 
naves of great and slender height4  ,the
 stern1 ascetic style of the ,,xi and   
,,xii centuries has given the nave piers
 mere small1 plain bands as capitals1   
and for churchly decoration has allowed 
only a moulding of acanthus leaves      
placed high and unnoticed at the        
vaulting's base4 ,there is no pleasing  
detail and no charming fancy2 but a     
fine1 exquisite loftiness1 a faultless  

balance of proportion1 are in this      
severe interior1 and its solemn and     
majestic beauty is not surpassed in the 
,southern ,romanesque4  ,illustration3  
,,left ,,detail1 ,,portal4--,,arles4    
,beyond the south transept1 a short     
passage and a few steps lead to the     
,cloisters1 the most famous of          
,provence1 perhaps of ,france4 ,large1  
graceful1 and magnificent in wealth of  
carving1 they have yet none of the      
poetic charms that linger around many a 
smaller ,cloister4 ,the vaultings are   
not more beautiful than other vaults    
less known2 although they have the help 
of the great piers1 the little1 slender 
columns seem too light to support so    
much expanse of roof1 and even the      
church's tower1 square and high1 looks  
dwarfed when seen across the close4 ,the
 very spaciousness is solitary1 and the 
long vista of the walks conduces to     
vague wonderings rather than to peaceful
 hours of thought4 ,it has not the      
dreamy solitude of ,vaison1 nor the     

bright beauty of ,elne's little close1  
nor any of the sunny cheerfulness that  
brightens the decaying walls of ,cahors4
  ,illustration3 ,,through ,,the        
,,cloister-,,arches4--,,arles4  ,the    
marvel of these ,cloisters is the       
sculptured decorations of their piers   
and columns4 ,those of the ,,xii century
 are the richest1 but each of the later 
builders seems to have vied as best he  
might1 in wealth of conception and in   
lavishness of detail1 with those who    
went before1 and1 even in enforced      
re-building1 the addition of the ,gothic
 to the ,romanesque has not destroyed   
the harmony of the effect4 ,in all the  
sculptors' schemes1 the outer of the    
double columns were given foliated      
patterns or a few1 simple symbols1 and  
the outer of the piers were channelled  
and conventionally cut2 and although the
 fancy of the sculptor is marvellously  
subtle and full of grace1 his greatest  
art was reserved for the capitals of the
 inner columns and the inner faces of   

the piers1 which meditating priests     
would see and study4 ,the symbolism     
authorised by ,holy ,church1 the history
 of precursors of ,our ,lord1 the       
incidents of ,his life and the more     
dramatic doings of the ,saints1 all     
these are carved with greatest love of  
detail and of art2 and in them the least
 arduous priest could find themes for a 
whole year of meditation1 the least     
enthusiastic of travellers1 a thousand  
quaint and interesting fancies and      
imaginations4 ,it is not so much the    
beauty of the whole effect that is      
entrancing in these ,cloisters1 nor that
 most subtle influence1 the good or evil
 spirit of a past which lingers round so
 many ancient spots1 as that mediaeval  
thought and mediaeval genius that found 
expression in these myriad fine examples
 of the sculptor's art4  ,illustration3 
,a ,,nave ,,of ,,great ,,and ,,slender  
,,height4--,,arles4  ,illustration3     
,,the ,,beauty ,,of ,,the               
,,whole4--,,arles4  ,alexandre ,dumas   

has written of ,arles3 ,roman monuments 
form the soil2 and about them1 at their 
feet1 in their shadow1 in their         
crevasses1 a second ,gothic city has    
sprung--one knows not how--by the       
vegetative force of the religious       
civilisation of ,saint ,louis4 ,arles is
 the ,mecca of archaeologists4 ,it is   
also the ,mecca of those who love to    
study people and customs1 for1 in spite 
of the railroad1 and the consequent     
influx of foreign ,french1 it has       
preserved the old graeco-roman-saracenic
 type which has made its beautiful women
 so justly famous1 and1 underneath its  
,provencal gaieties1 their classic      
origins may easily be traced4 ,one      
should see the ,roman ,theatre1 the     
solitary ,aliscamps1 by moonlight1 the  
busy market in the early day1 the       
,cathedral at a ,mass1 and a fete at any
 time1--for      ,when the fete-days    
come1 farewell the swath and labour1    
,and welcome revels underneath the      
trees1       ,and orgies in the vaulted 

hostelries1     ,bull-baitings1         
never-ending dances1 and sweet          
pleasures4   ,sidenote3 ,entrevaux4     
,the most celebrated fortified town in  
,france is the ,cite of ,carcassonne1   
yet1 even in the days of its practical  
strength1 it was scarcely a type4 ,it   
was rather a marvel1 a wonder1--the     
fairest ,maid of ,languedoc1 the        
,invincible4 ,and now the citadel is    
almost deserted4 ,the inhabitants are so
 few that weeds grow in their streets1  
and one who walks there in the still    
mid-day feels that all this completion  
of architecture1 these walls1 perfect in
 every stone1 may be an enchanted       
vision1 a mirage2 he more than half     
believes that the cool of the sunset    
will dispel the illusion1 and he will   
find himself on a pleasant little hill  
of ,languedoc1 looking down upon the    
commonplace ,lower ,city of             
,carcassonne4  ,at ,entrevaux there is  
no suggestion of illusion4 ,this is not 
a show-place that once was real2 it is  

one of a hundred little agglomerations  
of the ,french ,middle ,ages4 ,they had 
no great name to uphold2 no riches to   
expend in impregnable walls and towers4 
,they clung fearfully together for      
self-preservation1 built ramparts that  
were as strong as might be1 and dared   
not laugh at the fortunes of war4       
,except that there is safety outside the
 walls1 and a tiny post and telegraph   
office within1 they are now as they were
 in those dangerous days4 ,the fortress 
of ,carcassonne is dead2 but in the back
 country of ,provence1 ,entrevaux is    
living1 and scarcely a jot or tittle of 
its ,mediaevalism is lost4 ,among high  
rocks that close around it on every     
side1 where1 according to the season1   
the ,chalvagne trickles or plunges into 
the river ,var1 and dominated by a fort 
that perches on a sharp peak1 is the    
strangest of old ,provencal towns4      
,illustration3 ,,the ,,gothic ,,walk1   
,,cloister4--,,arles4  ,the founding of 
the tiny episcopal city was after this  

wise4 ,toward the close of the ,,xiv    
century1 in a time of plagues1 ,jewish  
persecutions1 the growth of heresies1   
and the uncurbed ravages of             
free-booters1 the city of ,glandeves1   
seat of an ancient ,bishopric1 was      
destroyed4 ,the living remnant abandoned
 its desolate ruins4 ,searching for a   
stronger1 safer home1 they chose a site 
on the left bank of the ,var1 and       
commenced the building of ,entrevaux4   
,the ,bishop accompanied his flock1 and 
although he retained the old title of   
,glandeves1 in memory of the antiquity  
of the ,see and its lost city1 the      
,cathedral-church was established at    
,entrevaux4  ,the first edifice1        
,saint-,martin's1 built shortly after   
the founding of the town1 has long been 
destroyed2 and the second1 begun in     
#afaj1 to the honour of the ,assumption 
of the ,blessed ,virgin ,mary1 held     
episcopal rank until the ,see was       
disestablished by the great ,concordat4 
,although this ,cathedral was built in  

the ,,xvii century1 a date perilously   
near that of decadence in ,french       
ecclesiastical architecture1 it was     
situated in so obscure a corner of      
,provence that its plan was unaffected  
by innovating ideas2 it is of the old   
native type1 a building of stout walls  
and heavy buttresses1 a single tower1   
square and straight1 and a              
tunnel-vaulted room1 the place of       
congregation4 ,this interior1 with no   
beautiful details that may not be found 
in other churches1 has as many of the   
defects of the ,italian school as the   
treasury could afford1--marble columns1 
frescoes1 gilding1 and other rococo     
decorations which show that the people  
of ,entrevaux had no higher and no      
better tastes than those of ,nice2 and  
that the old1 simple purity of the      
church's form was rather a matter of    
ignorance or necessity than of choice4  
,the attraction of the episcopal church 
pales before the quaint delight of the  
episcopal city1 and it is as part of the

 general civic defence that it shares in
 the interest of ,entrevaux4            
,illustration3 ,,this                   
,,interior4--,,entrevaux4               
,illustration3 ,,the ,,romanesque       
,,walk1 ,,cloister4--,,arles4           
,illustration3 ,,one ,,of ,,three       
,,small ,,drawbridges4--,,entrevaux4    
,illustration3 ,,the                    
,,portcullis4--,,entrevaux4  ,leaving   
the train at the nearest railroad       
station1 the traveller followed the     
winding ,var1 and he had scarcely walked
 four miles when he saw1 across the     
river1 the sharp peak with its fort1 and
 the long lines of walls that zigzag    
down the hillside till they reach the   
crowded roofs that are clustered        
closely1 in charming irregularity1 near 
the bank4 ,along the water's edge1 the  
only part of the town that is not       
protected by rocks and hills1 there is  
another line of stout walls and two     
heavy1 jutting bastions4 ,from a        
mediaeval point of view ,entrevaux looks

 strong indeed4 ,the only means of      
entrance1 now as in those olden days1 is
 by one of three small drawbridges1 and 
so narrow is every street of the town   
that no wagon is allowed to cross1 for  
if it made the passage of the bridge it 
would be caught hard and fast between   
the houses4 ,as the traveller put foot  
on the drawbridge he felt as though he  
were a petty trader or wandering        
minstrel1 or some other figure of the   
,middle ,ages1 entering for a few hours'
 traffic or a noon-day's rest1 and when 
he paused under the low arch of the     
portcullis-gate1 people stared at him as
 they do at a stranger in little far-off
 towns4 ,once inside1 he turned into a  
street1 and was immediately obliged to  
step into a door-way1 for a man leading 
a horse was approaching1 and they needed
 all its breadth4 ,houses1 several      
stories high1 bordered these incredibly 
dark1 narrow ways1 and some of the upper
 windows had the diminutive balconies so
 dear to the ,south4 ,it was a bright1  

hot day1 but the sun seldom peeped into 
these streets2 and in the shops the     
light was dull at mid-day4 ,as he       
thought of the men and women of         
,mediaevalism1 who did not dare to      
wander in the fields beyond the town1   
because their safety lay within its     
ramparts1 suddenly1 the little public   
squares of walled towns appeared in all 
the real significance of their light and
 breadth and sunshine4 ,space is        
precious in ,entrevaux1 and open places 
are few4 ,there is one where the hotels 
and cafes are found1 another across the 
drawbridge behind the ,cathedral-tower1 
and a tiny one before the church itself4
 ,this is the most curious of them all2 
for1 far from being a ,place de la      
,cathedrale1 it is a true ,place        
d',armes4 ,near the portals1 on whose   
wooden doors the mitre and insignia of  
papal favour are carved1 a few steps    
lead to a narrow ledge where archers    
could stand and shoot from the          
loop-holes in the walls4 ,as the        

traveller sat on this ledge and wondered
 what scenes had been enacted here1 how 
many deadly shots had sped from out the 
holes1 what crowds of excited townsfolk 
had gathered in the church1 what grave  
words of exhortation and of blessing had
 been spoken from the altar or the      
threshold by anxious prelate1 robed and 
mitred for the ,mass of ,supplication to
 a ,god of ,battles1 an humble funeral  
appeared1--a priest1 a peasant bearing a
 black wooden ,cross with the name of   
the deceased painted on it1 a rope-bound
 coffin carried by hot and sorrowing    
women1 and a little procession of       
friends4 ,the pomps and vanities of the 
past disappeared as a mist from the     
traveller's mind1 and he saw ,entrevaux 
as it really is1 without the comforts of
 this world's goods1 without the        
greatness of a ,bishopric1 a small      
,provencal village whose perfection of  
quaintness--so charming to him who      
passes on--means hardship and discomfort
 to those who have been born and must   

live and die there4  ,illustration3 ,a  
,,fort ,,that ,,perches ,,on ,a ,,sharp 
,,peak4--,,entrevaux4  ,illustration3 ,a
 ,,true ,,place                         
,d',,armes4--,,entrevaux4  ,and yet so  
potent is that charm1 when the traveller
 re-crossed the drawbridge and looked up
 at the sharp teeth of the portcullis   
that may still fall and bite1 when he   
had passed out on the high-road and     
turned again and again to watch the     
fading sunlight on the tangled mass of  
roofs1 the illusion had returned4 ,the  
bastions stood out in bold relief1 the  
church tower with its crenellated top   
stood out against the rocky peaks1 the  
sun fell suddenly behind the hill1 and  
the traveller felt himself again a      
minstrel wandering in a mediaeval night4
  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,long ,,lines   
,,of ,,walls ,,that ,,zigzag ,,down     
,,the ,,hillside4--,,entrevaux4         
,sidenote3 ,sisteron4  ,the traveller is
 curious1--frankly curious4 ,almost     
every time that he enters a ,cathedral1 

his memory recalls the words of ,renan1 
these splendid marvels are almost always
 the blossoming of some little deceit1  
and after he has feasted his eye1 he    
thinks of history and of details1 and of
 ,renan1 prejudiced but well-informed1  
and wonders what was here the little    
deceit4 ,at ,grasse1 he had longed for  
the papers a certain lawyer has1 which  
tell much of the city's life a hundred  
and fifty years ago1 and at ,sisteron1  
he sat by the ,durance1 wondering how he
 could induce a kind and good old lady  
of a remote corner of ,provence to lend 
him an ancient manuscript1 which even   
the gentle ,cure said she obstinately   
refused to impart4 ,blessed are they who
 can be satisfied with guide-books1 as  
his friends who had visited ,avignon and
 ,arles1 ,tarascon and the              
,saintes-,maries-de-la-,mer1 and had    
seen ,provence to their entire          
edification while he was merely peering 
about ,notre-,dame-des-,doms and the    
,fort ,saint-,andre4 ,of a more indolent

 and leisurely turn of mind1 he         
suffers--and perhaps justly--the penalty
 of his joyous idleness1 for even       
lawyers and good ladies with hidden     
papers are rare4 ,revolutionary sieges1 
fires1 and a wise discretion have led to
 the destroying of many a fine old page1
 and it is often in vain one goes to    
these decaying cities of ,provence4 ,we 
see1 he said1 gesticulating dejectedly1 
we see their towers and their walls1 but
 if we say we know that place1 how many 
times do we deceive ourselves4 ,it is   
too often as though we claimed to know  
the life and thought and passions of a  
man from looking on his grave4  ,but--to
 consider what we may know4 ,sisteron is
 an old ,roman city1 most strongly and  
picturesquely built in a narrow defile  
of the ,durance4 ,on one side the river 
is the high1 bare rock of ,la ,baume2 on
 the other1 a higher rock where houses1 
supporting each other by outstretched   
buttresses1 seem to cling to the sheer  
hillside as shrubs in mountain          

crevasses1 and are dominated and        
protected by a large and formidable     
fortress-castle that crowns the very top
 of the peak4 ,the town walls are almost
 gone2 the fortress is abandoned2 since 
the ,revolution there are no longer     
,bishops in ,sisteron2 but the old town 
has lost little of its war-like and     
romantic atmosphere of days when it     
commanded an important pass1 and when   
the way across the ,durance was guarded 
by a drawbridge1 and a big portcullis   
that now stands in rusty idleness4      
,illustration3 ,,the ,,church ,,tower   
,,stood ,,out ,,against ,,the ,,rocky   
,,peaks4--,,entrevaux4  ,it is claimed  
that the ,bishopric of this stronghold  
was founded in the ,,iv century1 and    
grew and flourished mightily1 until the 
,bishop dwelt securely on his rock1 his 
,brother of ,gap had a box on the       
opposite bank1 the ,convent of the      
little ,dominican ,sisters was further  
up the river1 and1 besides this busy    
ecclesiastical life1 there was the world

 of burghers in the town and its        
,convent of ,ursulines4 ,here came once 
upon a time a sprightly lady who added a
 thousand lively interests4 ,this was   
,louise de ,cabris1 sister of the great 
,mirabeau1 who1 when a mere girl1 had   
been married to the ,marquis de ,cabris4
 ,part knave1 part fool1 the vices of de
 ,cabris sometimes ended in attacks of  
insanity4 ,his marriage with one who    
united the violence of the ,mirabeaus to
 the license of the ,vassans was        
unfortunate2 444 and after ,louise began
 to reign in the big dark house of the  
,cours of ,grasse1 life never lacked for
 incidents4 ,matters were not mended by 
the arrival of her brother1 twenty-four 
and wild1 and supposed to be living     
under a lettre de cachet in the sleepy  
little town of ,manosque4 ,the two were 
soon embroiled in so outrageous a       
scandal that their father1 who loved a  
quarrel for its own sake1 sided with the
 prosecution2 and declaring that no     
children like his had ever been seen    

under the sun1 took out a lettre de     
cachet for ,louise1 who was sent up to  
,sisteron1 where he requested her to    
repent of her sins at leisure in the    
,convent of the ,ursulines4 ,inheriting 
a brilliant1 restless wit and unbridled 
morals1 her life with the stupid1       
vicious ,marquis had not improved her   
natural disposition1 and she soon set   
,sisteron agog4 ,on pretence of business
 all the lawyers flocked to see her2 and
 with no pretence at all the garrison   
flocked in their train4 ,when the       
,ursulines ventured to remonstrate1 she 
diverted them with such anecdotes of gay
 adventure as were never found between  
the pages of their prayer-books4        
,finally the whole town was divided into
 two camps2 her foes called her a viper1
 and many an eye peered into the dark   
streets1 many a head was judiciously    
hidden behind bowed shutters1 to see who
 went toward the ,convent2 till by wit  
and scheming and after some months of   
most surprising incident1 ,louise       

carried her point1 left the good        
,ursulines to a well-merited repose1 and
 returned to the ,castle of             
,mirabeau1--to laugh at the townsfolk of
 ,sisteron4  ,illustration3 ,,the       
,,cathedral ,,is ,,near ,,the ,,heavy1  
,,round ,,towers ,,of ,,the ,,outer     
,,ramparts4--,,sisteron4  ,illustration3
 ,,the ,,bridge ,,across ,,the          
,,durance4--,,sisteron4  ,when in the   
city1 the prelates occupied their       
,castle of the ,citadel with the high   
lookouts and defences1 far from their   
,cathedral1 which is in the lower town  
near the heavy1 round towers of the     
ramparts4 ,this church1 which has been  
very slightly and very judiciously      
restored1 is of unknown date1 probably  
of the ,,xii century1 it is faithful to 
the native architectural tradition1 and 
in some details more interesting than   
many of the ,provencal ,cathedrals4 ,its
 exterior is small and low4 ,there are  
the familiar1 friendly little apses of  
the ,romanesque2 near them1 above the   

east end of the north aisle1 the squat  
tower with a modest1 modern spire2 and  
at its side1 above the roof-line1 is the
 octagon that stands over the dome4 ,all
 this structure is unaffectedly simple4 
,the walls and buttresses which enclose 
the aisles are plain1 and it is only by 
comparison with this architectural      
,puritanism that the facade may be      
considered ornate4 ,near the top of its 
wall1 which is supported by sturdy      
piers1 are three round windows1 with    
deep1 splayed frames4 ,the largest of   
them is directly above the high1 slender
 portal that is somewhat reminiscent of 
the ,italian influence1 so elaborately  
marked further up the valley1 at        
,embrun4 ,the rounded arch of the       
door-way and its pointed gable are      
repeated1 on either side1 in a half-arch
 and half-gable4 ,an allegorical animal1
 in relief1 stands above the central    
arch1 and a few columns with delicate   
capitals complete the adornment of the  
entrance-way1 which1 in spite of being  

the most decorative part of the church1 
is most discreet4  ,nine steps lead down
 into an interior that is small1 very   
usually planned1 and much defaced by    
,,xvii century gilt--yet is essentially 
dignified and impressive4 ,eliminate the
 tawdry altars1 take away the stucco    
,saints and painted ,virgins1 let the   
chapels be mere shadowy corners in the  
dark perspective1 and the little church 
appears like the meeting-place of the   
,faithful of an early ,christianity4    
,its nave and each of the narrow side   
aisles rise to round tunnel-vaults2     
there are but five bays1 and the last is
 covered by a small1 octagonal dome4    
,the whole church is built of a dark    
stone that is almost black1 its lighting
 is very dim1 and centres in the little 
apses where the holiest statues stand   
and the most sacred rites are           
celebrated2 and the worshippers1        
shrouded in twilight1 have more of the  
atmosphere of mystery than is usual in  
the ,cathedrals of ,provence1 the subtle

 influence of quiet shadowy darkness    
that is so potent in the churches of the
 ,spanish borderland4  ,illustration3   
,,entrances ,,to ,,two ,,narrow         
,,streets4--,,sisteron4  ,many will pass
 through ,sisteron and enjoy its rugged 
strength1 its sun-lit days1 its narrow  
streets1 and the peaks that stand out in
 solemn sternness against the dark blue 
sky at night4 ,notre-,dame-de-,pomeriis 
has none of the salient beauty of any of
 these1 and to appreciate its ancient   
charm1 it must not be forgotten that the
 ,provencal ,cathedral has not the      
distinction of size or the elaboration  
of the greater ,cathedrals of ,gascony1 
that it is far removed from the fine    
originalities of ,languedoc1 that it is 
conventional1 and1 as it were1 clannish1
 and that its highest dignity is in a   
simple quiet that is never awe-full4    
,there is1 in truth1 more than one      
church of this country that needs the   
embellishment of its history to make it 
truly interesting4 ,but ,notre-,dame of 

,sisteron is not of these4 ,it is not   
the big1 empty shell of ,carpentras1 nor
 the little rough ,cathedral of ,orange4
 ,it is the smaller1 more perfect one1  
of finer inspiration1 which the many    
will pass by1 the few enjoy4     ,,iv4  
,,cathedrals ,,of ,,the ,,valleys4      
,sidenote3 ,orange4  ,lying on the      
,rhone1 and almost surrounded by the    
papal ,venaissin1 is a tiny principality
 of less than forty thousand acres4     
,this small state has given title to    
more than one distinguished ,european   
who never entered its borders1 and who  
was alien to it not only in birth1 but  
in language and family4 ,so great was   
the fame of its rulers that this small1 
isolated strip of land suffered for     
their principles1 and probably owes to  
them much of its devastation in the     
terrible ,wars of ,religion4 ,from the  
well-known convictions of the ,princes  
of ,orange1 the country was always      
counted a refuge for heretics of all    
shades1 and in #acch they were in       

sufficient force to demolish the tower  
of the ,cathedral4 ,later in history1   
,charles ,,ix declared ,william of      
,nassau an outlaw and his principality  
confiscate2 and in #aega1 there was a   
three days' massacre of ,protestants4   
,in spite of this horrid orgy the       
,reformers rose again in might and soon 
prevented all celebration of ,catholic  
rites4 ,refugees fleeing from the       
,dragonnades of ,dauphine and of the    
,cevennes poured into the principality2 
and when the ,princes of ,orange were   
strong enough to protect their state1   
its ,catholics lived restricted lives2  
but when the ,protestant power waned1   
,kings and ,captains of ,france raided  
the land in the name of the ,church4    
,and at the death of ,william of        
,orange1 ,king of ,england1 ,louis ,,xiv
 seized the capital of the state1 razed 
its great palace and its walls1 and     
after the ,treaty of ,utrecht had       
awarded the principality to the ,french 
crown1 treated the defenceless          

,huguenots with the same impartial      
cruelty he had meted to their           
fellow-believers in other parts of the  
kingdom4 ,orange's changes in religious 
fate are not unlike those of ,nimes1    
with this essential difference1 that    
here ,catholicism has conquered         
triumphantly4 ,where ten worship in the 
little ,protestant temple1 a thousand   
throng to the ,mass4  ,both in history  
and its monumental ,roman ruins1 the    
capital of this province1 ,orange1 is   
one of the richest cities of the        
,southland1 but its ,cathedral is very  
poor and mean4 ,the plan is one of the  
simplest of the ,provencal conceptions1 
a hall basilica1 archaeologically       
interesting1 but in its present state of
 patch and repair1 architecturally      
commonplace and unbeautiful4 ,in spite  
of ,protestant attacks and ,catholic    
restorations1 the ,,xi century type has 
been maintained1 a rectangle whose plain
 double arches support a tunnel vault   
and divide the interior into four bays4 

,the piers are heavy and severe2 and    
between them are alcoves1 used as       
chapels4 ,the choir1 narrower than the  
nave1 is preceded by the usual dome1 and
 beyond it is a little unused apse1     
concealed from the rest of the interior 
by a wall4 ,unimportant windows built   
with distinctly utilitarian purpose     
successfully light this small1 simple   
room1 and no kindly shadow hides its    
bareness or diminishes the unhappy      
effect of the paintings which disfigure 
the walls4 ,the ,cathedral's exterior is
 so surrounded by irregular old houses  
that the traveller had discovered it    
with some difficulty4 ,it has little    
that is worthy of description1 and after
 having entered by a conspicuously poor 
,renaissance portal only to go out under
 an uninteresting modern one1 he found  
himself lost in wonder that the         
,cathedral-builders of                  
,notre-,dame-de-,nazareth should have   
utterly failed in a town which offered  
them such inspiring suggestions as the  

great ,arch of ,triumph and the still   
greater ,imperial ,theatre1 besides all 
the other remains of ,roman antiquity   
which1 long after the building of       
,notre-,dame1 the practical ,maurice of 
,orange demolished for the making of his
 mediaeval castle4   ,sidenote3         
,cavaillon4  ,it was growing dusk1 of a 
spring evening1 when the traveller      
arrived at ,cavaillon and wandered about
 the narrow streets and came upon the   
,cathedral4 ,glimpses of an interesting 
dome and a turret-tower had appeared    
once or twice above the house-tops1     
leading him on with freshened interest1 
and there was still light enough for    
many first impressions when he arrived  
before the low cloister-door4 ,but here 
was no place for peaceful meditation4   
,an old woman1 coiffed and bent1 brushed
 past him as she entered1 a chair in    
each hand2 and as he effaced himself    
against the church wall1 a younger woman
 went by1 also chair-laden4 ,two or     
three others came1 talking eagerly1     

little girls in all stages of excitement
 ran in and out1 and little boys came   
and went1 divided between assumed       
carelessness and a feeling of unusual   
responsibility4 ,then a priest appeared 
on the threshold1 not in meditation1 but
 on business4 ,another1 old and heavy1  
and panting1 hurried in2 and through the
 cloister-door1 ,monsieur le ,cure1     
breviary in hand1 prayed watchfully4 ,a 
little fellow1 running1 fell down1 and  
the priest sprang to lift him2 the child
 was too small not to wish to cry1 but  
too much in haste to stop for tears4    
,the priest watched him with a kindly   
shrug and a smile as he ran on2--there  
was no time for laughing or crying1     
there was time for nothing but the      
mysterious matter in hand4  ,what is it8
 the traveller finally asked4  ,ah1     
,monsieur1 to-morrow is the day of the  
,first ,communion4 ,we all have just    
prayed1 just confessed1 in the church2  
and our parents are arranging their     
places4 ,for to-morrow there will be    

crowds--everybody4 ,you too1 ,monsieur1 
are coming perhaps8 ,the ,mass is at    
half-past six4  ,such was the living    
interest of the place that the traveller
 moved away without any very clear      
architectural impression of the         
,cathedral1 except of the curiously     
narrow bell-turret and of the height of 
the dome4  ,he did not see the early    
,mass1 but toward ten wandered again to 
the ,cathedral and entered the          
cloister-door4 ,it was a low-vaulted1   
sombre little ,cloister which all the   
chattering1 animated crowds could not   
brighten4 ,formerly two sides were gated
 off1 and priests alone walked there4   
,the other sides were public            
passage-ways to the church4 ,now only   
the iron grooves of the gates of        
separation remain1 and the four walks   
were thronged with people4 ,little girls
 in the white dresses of their ,first   
,communion1 veiled and crowned with     
roses1 were hurrying to their places2 an
 old grandmother1 with her arm around   

one of the little communicants1 knelt by
 a column1 gazing up to the ,virgin of  
the cloister-close2 proud and anxious   
parents led their children into church1 
and friends met and kissed on both      
cheeks4 ,in one corner1 an old woman was
 driving a busy trade in penny-worths of
 barley candy4 ,diminutive altar-boys in
 white lace cassocks and red1           
fur-trimmed capes1 offered religious    
papers for sale4 ,it was a harvest day  
for beggars1 and for the love of the    
good ,god many a sou was given into     
feeble dirty hands4  ,illustration3 ,,it
 ,,was ,a ,,low-,,vaulted1 ,,sombre     
,,little ,,cloister4 ,,cavaillon4  ,for 
a time the traveller walked about the   
,cloister1 so tiny and worn a ,cloister 
that on any other day it must have      
seemed melancholy indeed4 ,so low a     
vaulting is not often found1 massive and
 rounded and seeming to press1 lowering1
 above the head4 ,the columns1 which    
help to support its weight1 are short   
and heavy and thick1 so worn that their 

capitals are sometimes only suggestive  
and sometimes meaningless4 ,on one side 
the carving is distinctly ,corinthian2  
on another altogether lacking4 ,between 
the columns1 one could glance into a    
close so small that ten paces would     
measure its length4 ,it was a charming  
little spot1 all filled with flowers and
 plants that told of some one's         
constant1 tender care4 ,from above the  
nodding flowers and leaves rose the     
statue of the ,madonna and the ,child4  
,the tolling bell called laggards to    
,mass4 ,with them1 the traveller entered
 the church1 and found it so crowded    
that it was only after receiving many   
knocks from incoming children1 and      
sundry blows on the head and shoulders  
from ladies who carried their chairs too
 carelessly1 after minutes of time and a
 store of patience1 that he finally     
reached a haven1 a corner of the ,chapel
 of ,saint-,veran4 ,there1 under the    
care of the ,cathedral's ,patron1 he    
escaped further injuries and assisted at

 a long1 interesting ceremony4  ,mass   
had already begun1 but the voice of the 
priest and the answering organ were lost
 in the movement of excited friends1 the
 murmur of questions1 and the clatter of
 nailed shoes on the stone floor4 ,a    
,suisse1 halberd in hand1 and gorgeous  
in tri-cornered hat and the red and gold
 of office1 kept the aisle-ways open    
with firm but kind insistence2 and the  
priests who were directing the children 
in the body of the church1 were wise    
enough to overlook the disorder1 which  
was not irreverence1 but interest4 ,for 
days1 everybody had been thinking of    
this ceremony2 everybody wanted good    
places4 ,but few found them4 ,for the   
little nave of the church was chiefly   
given up to the communicants4 ,they sat 
on long benches1 facing each other4 ,the
 boys1 sixty or seventy of them1 were   
nearest the ,altar2 the girls1 even more
 numerous1 nearest the door4 ,a young   
priest walked between the rows of boys  
and the old1 panting ,father directed   

the girls4  ,the whole interior of the  
church1 at whose consecration no less a 
prelate than ,pope ,innocent ,,iv had   
presided1 is small and its plan is      
essentially of the ,provencal type4 ,the
 high tunnel vault rests1 like that of  
,orange1 on double arches2 and as the   
nave is very narrow and its light very  
dim1 the church seems lofty1 sombre1 and
 impressive1 with a very serious dignity
 which its detail fails to carry out4   
,the chapels1 which lie between the     
heavy buttresses1 are dim recesses which
 increase the darkened effect of the    
interior4 ,of the ten1 only three differ
 essentially from the general plan2 and 
although of the ,,xvii century1 their   
style is so severe and they are so      
ill-lighted that they do not greatly    
debase the church4 ,the choir is entered
 from under a rounded archway1 and its  
dome is loftier than the nave and much  
more beautiful than the semi-dome of the
 apse1 whose roof1 in these practical   
modern times1 has been windowed4  ,that 

which almost destroys the effect of the 
church's fine lines and would be        
intolerable in a stronger light1 is the 
mass of gilt and polychrome with which  
the interior is covered4 ,the altars are
 monstrously showy1 the walls and       
buttresses are coloured1 and even the   
interesting1 sculptured figures beneath 
the corbels have been carefully tinted4 
,the dead arise with appropriate        
mortuary pallor1 the halo of ,christ is 
pure gold1 and all the draperies of ,god
 and ,his saints are in true1 primary   
shadings4  ,from the contemplation of   
this misuse of paint1 and of a sadly    
misplaced inner porch of the ,,xvii     
century1 the traveller's attention was  
recalled to the old priest4 ,his hand   
was raised1 the eye of every little girl
 was fixed on him and instantly1 in     
their soft1 shrill voices1 they began   
the verse of a hymn4 ,the traveller     
glanced down the nave4 ,every boy was on
 his feet1 white ribbons hanging bravely
 from the right arm1 the ,crown of      

,thorns correctly held in one           
white-gloved hand1 a ,crucifix fastened 
with a bow of ribbon to the coat lapel4 
,every eye was on the young priest1 who 
also raised his hand4 ,then they sang1  
as the girls had sung1 and with a right 
lusty will4 ,and then1 under the guiding
 hands1 both boys and girls sang        
together4 ,there was a silence when     
their voices died away1 and from the    
altar a deep voice slowly chanted ,ite2 
missa est1 and the ,high ,mass of the   
,first ,communion ,day was over4        
,outside1 little country carts stood    
near the church1 and fathers and        
brothers in blue blouses were waiting   
for the little communicants who had had 
so long and so exciting a morning4      
,walking about with the crowds1 the     
traveller saw an exterior whose facade  
was plainly commonplace and whose bare  
lateral walls were patched1 and crowded 
by other walls4 ,finally he came upon   
the apse1 the most interesting part of  
the church's exterior2 and he leaned    

against a cafe wall and looked across   
the little square4  ,externally1 the    
apse of ,saint-,veran has five sides1   
and each side seems supported by a      
channelled column4 ,the capitals of     
these columns are carved with leaves or 
with leaves and grotesques2 on them     
round arches rest2 and above is a narrow
 foliated cornice4 ,in relieving        
contrast to the artificial classicism of
 the ,renaissance of the interior1 the  
feeling of this apse is quite truly     
ancient and pagan1 and it is not less   
unique nor less charming because it is  
placed against a plain1 uninteresting   
wall4 ,the eye travelling upward1 above 
the choir-dome1 meets the lantern with  
its rounded windows and pointed roof1   
and by its side the high little         
bell-turret which completes a curious   
exterior2 an exterior which is          
interesting and even beautiful in       
detail1 but irregular and heterogeneous 
as a whole4  ,the ,cathedral of         
,cavaillon is one of many possibilities4

 ,although small like those of its      
,provencal kindred1 it has more dignity 
than ,orange1 more simplicity of        
interior line than the present ,avignon1
 and it is to be regretted that it      
should have suffered no less from       
restoration than from old age4          
,illustration3 ,,the ,,cathedral',s     
,,tower ,,and ,,turret4--,,cavaillon4   
,sidenote3 ,apt4  ,few of the           
,cathedral-churches of the ,midi are    
without holy relics1 but none is more   
famous1 more revered1 and more authentic
 a place of pilgrimage than the         
,basilica of ,apt4 ,it came about in    
this way1 says local history4 ,when     
,martha1 ,lazarus1 and the ,holy ,marys 
of the ,gospels landed in ,france1 they 
brought with them the venerated body of 
,saint ,anne1 the ,virgin's ,mother2 and
 ,lazarus1 being a ,bishop1 kept the    
holy relic at his episcopal seat of     
,marseilles4 ,persecutions arose1 and   
dangers innumerable2 and for safety's   
sake the ,bishop removed ,saint ,anne's 

body to ,apt and sealed it secretly in  
the wall4 ,for centuries1 ,christians   
met and prayed in the little church1    
unconscious of the wonder-working relic 
hidden so near them2 and it was only    
through a miracle1 in ,charlemagne's    
time and some say in his presence1 that 
the holy body was discovered4 ,this is  
the history which a sacristan recites to
 curious pilgrims as he leads them to   
the sub-crypt4  ,the sub-crypt of       
,sainte-,anne1 one of the earliest of   
,gallo-,roman churches1 is not more than
 a narrow aisle2 its low vault seems to 
press over the head2 the air is damp and
 chill2 and the one little candle which 
the patient sacristan moves to this side
 and to that1 shows the plain1          
un-ornamented stone-work and the        
undoubted masonry of ,roman times4 ,it  
was part of the ,aqueduct which carried 
water to the ,theatre in ,imperial days1
 and had become a chapel in the         
primitive ,christian era4 ,at the end   
which is curved as a choir is a heavy   

stone1 used as an altar2 and high in the
 wall is the niche where the body of the
 church's patron lay buried for those   
hundreds of years4 ,it is a gloomy1     
cell-like place1 most curious and most  
interesting2 and as the traveller saw   
faith in the earnest gaze of some of his
 fellow-visitors1 and doubt in the      
smiles of others1 he wondered what      
ancient ceremonials1 secret ,masses1 or 
secret prayers had been said in this    
tiny chamber1 and what rows of          
phantom-like worshippers had filed in   
and out the dark corridor4  ,directly   
above is the higher upper crypt of the  
church1 a diminutive but true choir1    
with its tiny altar and ambulatory1--a  
jewel of the ,romanesque1 heavy and     
plain and beautifully proportioned1 with
 columns and vaulting in perfect        
miniature4 ,this1 from its absolute     
purity of style1 is the most interesting
 part of the church2 and being a crypt1 
it is also the most difficult to see4   
,in vain the sacristan ran from side to 

side with his little candle1 in vain the
 traveller gazed and peered1--the little
 church was full of shadows and         
mysteries1 dark and lost under the      
weight of the great choir above4        
,illustration3 ,,the ,,main ,,body ,,of 
,,the ,,church4--,,apt4  ,even the main 
body of the church1 above ground1 is    
dimly lighted by small1 rounded windows 
above the arches of the nave1 and from  
the dome of ,saint ,anne's ,chapel4     
,doubtless1 on ,sundays after ,high     
,mass1 when the great doors are opened1 
the merry sun of ,provence casts its    
cheerful rays far up the nave4 ,but this
 is a church which is the better for its
 shadows4 ,a ,romanesque aisle of the   
,,ix or ,x century1 built by that same  
,bishop ,alphant who had seen the       
construction of the little crypt church1
 a central nave of the ,,xi century1    
,romanesque in conception1 and a north  
aisle of poor ,provencal ,gothic make a 
large but inharmonious interior4        
,restoration following restoration1     

chapels of the ,,xviii century1 new     
vaultings1 debased and conglomerate     
,gothic1 and spectacular decorations of 
gilded wood have destroyed the          
architectural value and real beauty of  
the ,cathedral's interior4 ,yet in the  
dim light1 which is the light of its    
every-day life1 the great height of the 
church and its sombre massiveness are   
not without impressiveness4  ,the       
exterior dominates the city1 but it is  
so hopelessly confused and commonplace  
that its natural dignity is lost4 ,the  
heavy arch which supports the clock     
tower forms an arcade across a narrow   
street and makes it picturesque without 
adding dignity to the church itself4    
,the walls are unmeaning1 often hidden  
by buildings1 and there is not a portal 
worthy of description4 ,there is the    
dome of ,saint ,anne's ,chapel with a   
huge statue of the ,patron1 and the     
lantern of the central dome ending in a 
pointed roof2 but each addition to the  
exterior seems only an ignorant or a    

spiteful accentuation of the general    
architectural confusion4  ,to the       
faithful ,catholic1 the interest of     
,sainte-,anne of ,apt lies in its       
wonderful and glorious relics4 ,here are
 the bodies of ,saint ,eleazer and      
,sainte ,delphine his wife1 a couple so 
pious that every morning they dressed a 
,statue of the ,infant ,jesus1 and every
 night they undressed it and laid it to 
rest in a cradle4 ,there is also the    
rosary of ,sainte ,delphine whose every 
bead contained a relic2 and before the  
,revolution there were other treasures  
innumerable4 ,during many years ,apt has
 been the pilgrim-shrine of the         
,faithful1 and great and small offerings
 of many centuries have been laid before
 the miracle-working body of the        
,virgin's sainted ,mother4              
,illustration3 ,,the ,,virgin ,,and     
,,saint ,,anne4 ,by ,benzoni4  ,the most
 famous of those who came praying and   
bearing gifts was ,anne of ,austria1    
whose petition for the gift of a son1 an

 heir for ,france1 was granted in the   
birth of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,in gratitude1   
the ,queen enriched the church by       
vestments wrought in thread of gold and 
many sacred ornaments2 and at length she
 commanded ,mansart to replace the      
little chapel in which she had prayed1  
by a larger and more sumptuous one1 a   
somewhat uninteresting structure in the 
showy style of the ,,xvii century1 which
 is now the resting-place of ,saint     
,anne4 ,in this chapel is the most      
beautiful of the church's treasures     
which1 strange to say1 is a piece of    
modern sculpture given by the present   
,monseigneur of ,avignon4 ,it is small1 
and badly placed on a marble altar of   
discordant toning1 with a draped curtain
 of red gilt-fringed velvet for its     
background4 ,yet in spite of these      
inartistic surroundings it has lost none
 of its tender charm4 ,seated1 with a   
scroll on her knees1 the aged mother is 
earnestly teaching the young ,virgin who
 stands close by her side4 ,the slender 

old hand with its raised forefinger     
emphasises the lesson1 and the loving   
expression of the wrinkled1 ascetic     
face1 the attentiveness of the ,virgin  
and her slim young figure1 make a       
touching picture1 and a beautiful       
example of the power of the modern      
chisel4 ,yet faith in shrines and       
miraculous power is not1 in this ,,xx   
century1 as pure nor as universal as in 
the days of the past2 and ,faith1 in    
,provencal ,apt which possesses so large
 a part of the ,saint's body1 is not as 
simple1 and therefore not as strong as  
in ,breton ,auray which has but a part  
of her finger4 ,republicanism in the    
south country is not too friendly to the
 ,church1 kings and queens no longer    
come with prodigal gifts1 and           
,sainte-,anne of ,apt has not the       
peasant strength of ,sainte-,anne of    
,auray4 ,and in spite of the great      
feast-day of ,july1 in spite of         
,aptoisian pride1 in spite of the       
devotion and prayers of faithful        

worshippers1 the ,cathedral of ,apt is a
 church of past rather than of present  
glories4   ,sidenote3 ,riez4  ,just as  
the church-bells were chiming the       
morning ,angelus1 and the warm sun was  
rising on a day of the early fall1 a    
traveller drove out of old ,manosque4   
,he had no gun1--therefore he had not   
come for the hunting2 he had no         
brass-bound1 black boxes1 and therefore 
could not be a ,commis4 ,what he might  
be1 he well knew1 was troubling the     
brain of the broad-backed man sitting   
before him1 who1 with many a long-drawn 
,ou-ou-u-u- was driving a fat little    
horse4 ,but native courtesy conquered   
natural curiosity and they drove in     
silence to the long1 fine bridge that   
spans the river of evil repute3         
,parliament1 ,mistral1 and ,durance     
,are the three scourges of ,provence4   
,at that time of year1 however1 the     
,durance usually looks peaceable and    
harmless enough2 half its great bed is  
dry and pebbly1 and the water that      

rushes under the big arches of the      
bridge is not great in volume4 ,but the 
size and strength of the bridge itself  
and certain huge rocks1 placed for a    
long distance on either side of the     
road1 are significant of floods and of  
the spring awakening of the monstrous   
river that1 like ,doctor ,jekyll and    
,mr4 ,hyde1 has two lives4              
,illustration3                          
,,saint-,,martin-,,de-,,bromes ,,with   
,,its ,,high1 ,,slim ,,tower4           
,illustration3 ,,the ,,fortified        
,,monastery ,,of ,,the                  
,,templars4--7,,near ,,greoux74  ,the   
road wound about the low hills of the   
,alps1 past a massive1 fortified        
monastery of the ,templars whose windows
 gape in ruin2 past                     
,saint-,martin-de-,bromes with its high1
 slim1 crenellated watch-tower2 past    
many quiet little villages where in the 
old times1 ,taine says1 ,good people    
lived as in an eagle's nest1 happy as   
long as they were not slain--that was   

the luxury of the feudal times4 ,between
 these villages lay vast groves of the  
grey-green olive-trees1 large           
flourishing farms1 and1 further still1  
the bleak mountains of the ,lower ,alps4
 ,it was toward them the driver was     
turning1 for rising above a smiling     
little valley1 surrounded by fields of  
ripened grain1 lay ,riez4 ,a donjon     
stands above a broken wall1 on the      
hillside houses cluster around a        
church's spire1 and alone1 on the top of
 the hill1 stands the little ,chapel of 
,saint-,maxime1 the only relic of the   
,great ,seminary that was destroyed by  
the ,revolutionists of '#hi4 ,here1     
after the destruction of one of the     
several ,cathedrals of ,riez1 the       
,bishop celebrated ,masses1 but the     
little chapel was never consecrated a   
,cathedral4 ,it has been recently       
restored and re-built in an             
uninteresting style1--the exterior is   
bare to ugliness1 the interior so       
painted that the six old ,roman columns 

which support the choir are overwhelmed 
by the banality of their surroundings4  
,the plateau on which the chapel is     
built is now almost bare2 olive-trees   
grow to its edges and there is no trace 
of the ,seminary that was once so full  
of active life4 ,the traveller1 sitting 
in the shade of the few pine-trees1     
looked over the broad view toward the   
peaks whose bare rocks rise with awful  
sternness1 and the little hills that    
stand between them and the valley1 till 
finally his eyes wandered to the town   
beneath1 and the firm1 broad roads which
 approach it from every direction4 ,for 
,riez1 although in the lost depths of   
,provence1 far from railways and        
tourists1 is a bee-hive of industry1    
largely supplying the necessities of    
these secluded little towns4 ,its       
hat-making1 rope factories1 and         
tanneries are quite important2 the shops
 of its main streets are not without a  
tempting attractiveness1 and there is   
all the provincial stateliness of       

,saint-,remy with much less stagnancy4  
,riez was the ,albece ,reiorum          
,apollinarium in the ,colonia ,julia    
,reiorum of the ,romans1 but there are  
very few traces of the city with this   
high-sounding name4 ,the whole          
atmosphere of the little town is ,,xii  
century4 ,two of its old gates1 part of 
the wall1 and the crenellated tower     
still stand1 with ruined convents and   
monasteries of ,capuchins1 ,cordeliers1 
and ,ursulines2 and it may be inferred  
from the remains of the ,bishop's       
,palace and the broad promenade which   
was one of its avenues1 and from the    
episcopal chateau at ,montagnac1 that   
ecclesiastical state was not less       
worthily upheld at ,riez than in the    
other ,sees of the ,south of ,france4   
,many difficulties1 however1 had beset  
the ,cathedral-building prelates4 ,their
 first church1 ,notre-,dame-du-,siege1  
dating partly from the foundation of the
 ,see in the ,,iv century1 partly from  
the ,x and ,,xii centuries1 was         

destroyed by storm and flood1 and its   
site near the treacherous little river  
being considered too perilous1 a new    
,cathedral of ,notre-,dame-du-,siege and
 ,saint-,maxime was begun2 and it was   
then that the ,bishops celebrated       
temporarily at ,saint-,maxime's on the  
hill4  ,during the ,revolution the ,see 
was suppressed2 the church has been much
 re-built and changed2 so that only a   
tower which is part of the present      
,notre-,dame-du-,siege1 and the traces  
of the earliest foundation near the     
little ,colostre1 remain to tell of the 
different ,cathedrals of ,riez4         
,illustration3 ,,the ,,tower ,,of       
,,notre-,,dame-,,du-,,siege4--,,riez4   
,near the site of the oldest church is  
one of the few monuments of a very early
 ,christianity which have escaped the   
perils of time4 ,it is of unknown date1 
and although it is said to have been    
part of the ,cathedral which stood      
between it and the river1 it appears to 
have been always an independent and     

separate building4 ,the peasants say    
that in the memory of their forefathers 
it was used as a chapel1 they call it   
indefinitely the ,pantheon1 the ,temple1
 or the ,chapel of ,saint-,clair1 but it
 was almost certainly a baptistery of   
that curious and beautiful type which   
was abandoned so early in the evolution 
of ,christian architecture4             
,illustration3 ,,nothing ,,could ,,be   
,,more ,,quaintly ,,old ,,and ,,modest  
,,than ,,the ,,baptistery4--,,riez4     
,following the road which his innkeeper 
pointed out1 the traveller became so    
absorbed in the busy movement of the    
communal threshing-ground1 the arrival  
of the yellow grain1 the women who were 
wielding pitchforks1 and the horses     
moving in circles1 with solemn rhythm1  
that he nearly passed a low building1   
the object of his search4 ,nothing could
 be more quaintly old and modest than   
the baptistery of ,riez4 ,it is a small 
square building of rough cemented stone 
whose stucco has worn away4 ,the roof is

 tiled1 and from out a flattened dome1  
blades of grass sprout sparsely4 ,a tiny
 bell-turret and an arch in the front   
wall complete the ornamentation of this 
humble1 diminutive bit of architecture1 
and except that it is different from the
 usual ,provencal manner of             
construction1 one would pass many times 
without noticing it4  ,illustration3    
,,between ,,the ,,columns ,,an ,,altar  
,,has ,,been ,,placed4--,,baptistery1   
,,riez4  ,walking down the steps which  
mark the differences that time has made 
in the levels of the ground and entering
 a small octagonal hall1 one of the most
 interesting interiors of ,provence     
meets the eye4 ,each of its four sides1 
writes ,jules de ,lauriere1 which       
correspond to the angles of the outer   
square1 has a semicircular apse built in
 the walls themselves4 ,the eight       
columns1 placed in a circle about the   
centre of the edifice1 divide it into a 
circular nave and a central rotunda1 and
 support eight arches which1 in turn1   

support an octagonal drum1 and above    
this is the dome4 ,this room is of      
simple and charming architectural       
conception1 and even in melancholy ruin1
 it has much beauty4 ,it gains in       
comparison with the re-constructed      
baptisteries of ,provence1 for something
 of a primitive character has been      
preserved to which such modern altars   
and ,,xvii century trappings as those of
 ,aix and ,frejus are fatal4 ,under the 
heavy dust there is visible an unhappy  
coating of whitewash1 traces of a fire  
still blacken the walls1 fragments of   
,roman sculpture are scattered about1   
and between the columns a pagan altar   
has been placed for safe-keeping4 ,the  
columns themselves are of pagan         
construction1 and as they differ        
somewhat in size and capitals1 it is not
 improbable that they came from the     
ruins of several of the great public    
buildings of ,riez4 ,at the time of the 
baptistery's construction1 the barbaric 
invasion had begun1 and these ,roman    

monuments may have been in ruins2 but in
 any case1 it was a pious and           
justifiable custom of ,christians to    
take from pagan structures1 standing or 
fallen1 stones and pillars that would   
serve for building churches to the one1 
true ,god4 ,the pillars procured for    
this laudable purpose at ,riez1 with    
their beautiful1 carved capitals1 gave  
the little baptistery its one           
decoration1 and far from disturbing the 
simplicity of its style1 they add a     
slenderness and height and harmony to a 
room which1 without them1 would be too  
stiffly bare4 ,in the rotunda which they
 form1 excavations have brought to light
 a baptismal pool1 and conduits which   
brought to it sufficient quantities of  
water for the immersion--whole or       
partial--that was part of the baptismal 
service of the early ,church4 ,but the  
archaeological work has abruptly ceased1
 and it is to be deeply regretted that  
here1 in this deserted place1 where the 
,church desires no present restorations 

in accordance with particular rites or  
modern styles of architecture1 there    
should not be a complete rehabilitation1
 a baptistery restored to the actual    
state of its own era4  ,illustration3   
,,the ,,beautiful ,,granite             
,,columns4--,,riez4  ,wandering across  
the fields1 with the re-constructive    
mania strong upon him1 the traveller    
came across the beautiful granite       
columns which with their capitals1      
bases1 and architraves of marble1 are   
the last standing monument of ,riez's   
,roman greatness4 ,fragments of         
sculpture1 bits of stone set in her     
walls1 exist in numbers2 but they are   
too isolated1 too vague1 to suggest the 
lost beauty and grandeur which these    
lonely columns express4 ,he gazed at    
them in wonder4 ,was he stepping where  
once had been a grand and busy ,forum1  
was he looking at the ,temple of some   
great ,roman god8 ,the voices of the    
threshers sounded cheerily1 the         
,provencal sun shone bright and warm1   

but one of the greatest of mysteries was
 before him1--the silent mystery of a   
dead past that had once been a living   
present4 ,he sat by the river1 and      
tossed pebbles into its shallow waters2 
the slanting rays of the sun gave the   
columns delicate tints1 old yellows and 
greys and violets1 and at length1 as    
evening fell1 they seemed to grow higher
 and whiter in the paler light1 until   
they looked like lonely funereal shafts1
 recalling to the memory of forgetful   
man1 ,riez's long-dead greatness4       
,sidenote3 ,senez4  ,in the comfortable 
civilisation of ,france1 the stage-coach
 usually begins where the railroad ends2
 and however remote a destination or    
tedious a journey1 an ultimate and safe 
arrival is reasonably certain4 ,this was
 the reflection which cheered the       
traveller when he began to search for   
,senez1 an ancient city of the ,romans  
which was christianised in the early    
centuries and enjoyed the rank of       
,bishopric until the ,revolution of     

'#hi4 ,in spite of this dignified rank  
and the tenacity of an ancient          
foundation1 it lies so far from modern  
ken that even worthies who live fifty   
miles away could only say that ,senez is
 not much of a place1 but it doubtless  
may be found ten--perhaps fifteen--or   
even twenty kilometres behind the       
railroad4  ,if ,monsieur alighted at    
,barreme1 probably the mail for ,senez  
would be left there too4 ,and where     
letters go1 some man or beast must carry
 them1 and one could always follow4     
,with these vague directions1 the       
traveller set gaily out for ,barreme1   
where a greater than he had spent one   
bleak ,march night on the anxious       
journey from ,elba to ,paris4 ,the town 
shows no trace of ,napoleon's hurried   
visit4 ,it looks a mere sleepy hamlet1  
and when the traveller left the train he
 had already decided to push his journey
 onward4  ,to ,senez8 ,a man stepped up 
in answer to his inquiry4 ,certainly    
there was a way to get there1 the       

mail-coach started in an hour4 ,and a   
hotel8 ,a very good hotel--not ,parisian
 perhaps1 but hot food1 a bottle of good
 wine1 and a clean bed4 ,could one      
desire more on this earth8  ,the        
traveller thought not1 and left the     
station--to stand transfixed before the 
most melancholy conveyance that ever    
bore the high-sounding name of          
mail-coach4 ,a little wagon in whose    
interior six thin persons might have    
crowded1 old windows shaking in their   
frames1 the remains of a coat of yellow 
paint1 and in front a seat which a      
projecting bit of roof protected from   
the sun1--this was the mail-coach of    
,senez1 drawn by a dejected1 small brown
 mule1 ragged with age1 and a gaunt     
white horse who towered above him4 ,to  
complete the equipage1 this melancholy  
pair were hitched with ropes4  ,in due  
course of time the driver came1 hooked  
an ancient tin box marked ,lettres to   
the dash-board1 threw in a sacking-bag1 
and cap in hand1 invited the traveller  

to mount with him where there was air4  
,the long whip cracked authoritatively1 
the postilion1 a beautiful black dog1   
jumped to the roof1 and the mail-coach  
of ,senez1 with rattle and creak1       
started on its scheduled run4  ,houp-la1
 thou bag of lazy bones done up in a    
brown skin6 ,ho-la1 thou whited         
sepulchre1 thinkest thou ,i will get out
 and carry thee8 ,take this and that4   
,illustration3 ,,the ,,mail-,,coach ,,of
 ,,senez4  ,on either side the whip hit 
the road ferociously1 but the old beasts
 of burden shook their philosophic heads
 and slowly jogged on1 knowing well they
 would not be touched4  ,the hot sun of 
,provence1 which drinks a river as man  
drinks a glass of wine1 shone on the    
long1 white route nationale that        
stretched out in well-kept monotony     
through a valley which might well have  
been named ,desolation4 ,on either hand 
rose mountains that were great masses of
 bare1 seared rocks1 showing the ravages
 of forgotten glaciers2 the soil that   

once covered them lay at their feet4    
,scarcely a shrub pushed out from the   
crevices1 and even along the road1 the  
few thin poplars found the poorest of   
nourishment4  ,crossing a small bridge1 
there came into view an ancient village1
 a mere handful of clustered wooden     
roofs1 irregular1 broken1 and decayed4  
,it was a city in the days when we were 
,romans1 said the ,courier1 and they say
 that there are treasures underneath our
 soil4 ,but who can tell when people    
talk so much8 ,and certainly two sous   
earned above ground buy hotter soup than
 one can gain in many a search for      
twenty francs below4  ,he whipped up for
 a suitable and striking entry into     
town1 turned into a lane1 and with much 
show of difficulty in reining up1 stood 
before the hotel4  ,the traveller1      
having descended1 entered a room that   
might have been the subject of a quaint 
,dutch canvas4 ,he saw a low ceiling1   
smoky walls1 long rows of benches1 a    
sanded floor1 and pine-board tables that

 stretched back to an open door2 and    
through the open door1 the pot swinging 
above the embers of the kitchen fire4   
,the mistress of the inn1 a strong      
white-haired woman of seventy1 came     
hurrying in to greet her guest4 ,it was 
late1 she said1 and quickly put a basin 
full of water1 a new piece of soap1 and 
a fresh towel on a chair near the       
kitchen door2 and as the traveller      
prepared himself for dinner he heard the
 crackling of fresh boughs upon the fire
 and the cheerful singing of the pot4   
,little lamps were lighted1 and when he 
came to his table's end1 he found good  
country wine and a steaming             
cabbage-soup4 ,others came in to dine   
and smoke and talk1 and later from his  
bed-room window1 he saw their ghostly   
figures moving up and down the unlighted
 streets and heard them say good-night4 
,the inn-door was noisily and safely    
barred1 and when the retreating         
footsteps and the voices had died away1 
the quiet of the dark remained unbroken 

until a watchman1 with flickering       
lantern1 passed1 and cried aloud ,all's 
well4  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,open      
,,square4--,,senez4  ,next morning the  
sun shone brightly on ,senez1 and the   
traveller hurried to the open square4 ,a
 horse1 carrying a farmer's boy1        
meandered slowly by1 a chicken picked   
here and there1 and water trickled      
slowly from the tiny faucet of the      
village fountain4  ,illustration3 ,,the 
,,palace ,,of ,,its                     
,,prelates4--,,senez4  ,in this quiet   
spot1 near the lonely desolation of the 
hills1 is the ,cathedral4 ,the ,palace  
of its prelates1 which is opposite1 is  
now a farm-house where hay-ricks stand  
in the front yard1 and windows have been
 walled up because ,provencal winds are 
cold and glass is dear4  ,illustration3 
,,the ,,cathedral4--,,senez4  ,looking  
at this residence1 one would think that 
the last ,bishops of ,senez were        
insignificant priests1 steeped in       
country wine and country stagnancy4 ,but

 such a supposition is very far from    
true4 ,for we know that in the ,,xviii  
century1 ,jean ,soannen1 ,bishop of the 
city1 was called before a ,council at   
,embrun to answer a charge of resistance
 to the far-famed ,bull ,unigenitus1 and
 so strong were his convictions and so  
great his loyalty to his conscience1    
that he resisted the ,council as well as
 the ,bull1 and was deprived of his ,see
 as a ,jansenist and recalcitrant1 and  
exiled to the ,abbey of                 
,la-,chaise-,dieu4 ,in quiet ,senez     
there must always have been time for    
reflection1 and one can imagine the     
bitter struggle of this brave man as he 
walked the rooms of the ,palace1 as he  
crossed and re-crossed the small square 
to the ,cathedral4 ,one can imagine his 
wrestling with ,god and his conscience  
every time that he celebrated a ,mass   
for the people before the ,cathedral's  
altar4 ,one can understand the bitter   
fight between two high ideals1          
irreconcilable in his life1--that of    

work in ,god's vineyard or of doctrinal 
purity as he saw it4 ,he had to choose  
between them1 this ,bishop of ,senez1   
and when he left the town to answer the 
summons of the ,council at ,embrun1 his 
heart must have been sore within him1 he
 must have said farewell to many things4
 ,few decisions can be more serious than
 the renunciation of family and home for
 the service of ,god1 few more solemn   
than the struggles between the flesh and
 the spirit2 but no more pathetic       
picture can exist than that sad figure  
of ,jean ,soannen2 for he had renounced 
family and the world1 and for the sake  
of accepted truth which was false to    
him1 endured helpless1 solitary         
insignificance under the espionage of   
suspicious and unfriendly monks4 ,the   
traveller remembered his tomb1 that tomb
 in a small chapel near the foot of the 
stair-case in the famous ,abbey         
far-away1 and sighing1 hoped that in his
 mournful exile1 the ,bishop may have   
realised that they also serve who only  

stand and wait4  ,the ,bull ,unigenitus1
 which caused his downfall1 is believed 
to have caused1 during the last years of
 ,louis ,,xiv's bigotry1 the persecution
 of thirty thousand respectable1        
intelligent1 and orderly ,frenchmen4 ,de
 ,noailles1 several ,bishops1 and the   
,parliament of ,paris refused to accept 
it1 though they stopped short of open   
rebellion1 and even ,fenelon submitted  
rather than acceded to it4 ,this famous 
and vexatious document was an unhappy   
emanation of ,pope ,clement ,,xiii4     
,hard pressed by his faithful           
supporters1 the ,jesuits1 he promulgated
 it in #agac1 and it condemns with great
 explicitness one hundred and one       
propositions which are taken from       
,quesnel's ,jansenistic ,reflexions     
morales sur le ,nouveau ,testament4 ,the
 ,jesuits held the ,jansenists in a     
horror which the ,jansenists            
reciprocated2 the ,pope owed almost too 
heavy a debt of gratitude to the order  
of ,saint ,ignatius and was constrained 

to repay4 ,but the ,bull1 instead of    
procuring peace1 brought the greatest   
affliction and desolation of mind to    
,his ,holiness1 and when later1 the     
,french envoy asked him why he had      
condemned such an odd number of         
propositions1 the ,pope seizing his arm 
burst into tears4  ,ah ,monsieur        
,amelot6 ,monsieur ,amelot6 ,what would 
you have me do8 ,i strove hard to       
curtail the list1 but ,pere ,le         
,tellier--,louis ,,xiv's last confessor 
and a devoted ,jesuit--had pledged his  
word to the ,king that the book         
contained more than one hundred errors1 
and with his foot on my neck1 he        
compelled me to prove him right4 ,i     
condemned only one more6  ,the          
,cathedral of ,senez is an humble       
village church where frank and simple   
poverty exists with the remains of      
ancient splendour4 ,it is small1 as are 
all churches of its style1 and although 
it does not lack a homely dignity1 it is
 a modest work of ,,xii century         

,romanesque1 and the sonorous title of  
its consecration in #abdb1 the          
,assumption of the ,blessed ,virgin     
,mary1 suggests an impressiveness which 
the ,cathedral never had4  ,two heavy   
buttresses that support the facade wall 
are reminiscent of the more majestic    
,notre-,dame-du-,bourg of ,digne1 and on
 them rest the ends of a pointed        
gable-roof4 ,between these buttresses1  
the wall is pierced by a long and       
graceful round-arched window1 and below 
the window is the single1 pointed portal
 whose columns are gone and whose       
delicate foliated carvings and mouldings
 are sadly worn away4 ,a sun-dial       
painted on the wall tells the time of   
day1 and at the gable's sharpest point a
 saucy little angel with a trumpet in   
his mouth blows with the wind4          
,illustration3 ,,the                    
,,cathedral4--,,senez4  ,entering the   
little portal1 the traveller saw the    
poor wooden benches of the congregation 
massed together1 and beyond them1 the   

stalls of long-departed ,canons4 ,in    
front of these old stalls1 stood the    
church's latest luxury1 a melodeon1 and 
above them hung the tapestries of its   
richer past4 ,tapestries also beautify  
the choir-walls1 and on either side1 are
 the narrow transepts and the apses of a
 good old style4 ,there are also poor   
and tawdry altars which stand in        
strange1 pitiable contrast with the old 
walls and the fine tunnel vaulting1 the 
dignified architecture of the past4     
,illustration3 ,,tapestries ,,beautify  
,,the ,,choir ,,walls4--,,senez4        
,leaving the interior1 where a solitary 
peasant knelt in prayer1 the traveller  
saw side-walls bare as the mountains    
round about1 the squat tower that rises 
just above the roof1 and coming to the  
apse-end he found the presbytery garden4
 ,from the garden1 beyond the fallen    
gate1 he saw the church as the ,cure saw
 it1 the three round apses with their   
little columns1 the smaller decorative  
arches of the cornices1 the pointed     

roof1 and between branches full of apple
 blossoms1 the softened lines of the low
 square tower4 ,here1 trespassing1 the  
,cure found him4 ,and after they had    
walked about the town1 and talked the   
whole day long of the great world which 
lay so far beyond1 they went into the   
little garden as the sun was going down1
 and fell to musing over coffee cups4   
,the priest was first to speak4         
,perhaps1 buried under those old church 
walls1 lie proofs of our early history1 
the stones of some old ,temple1 or      
statues of its gods2 for we were once   
,sanitium1 a ,roman city in a country of
 six ,roman roads4 ,perhaps all around  
us were great monuments of pagan wealth1
 a ,mausoleum near these bare old rocks 
like that which stands in loneliness    
near ,saint-,remy1 ,villas1 ,baths1 or  
,triumphal ,arches4  ,the keen eyes     
softened1 as he continued in gentle     
irony1 ,down in this little valley of   
the ,asse de ,blieux1 our town seems far
 away from any scene in which the great 

ones of earth took part4 ,although ,i   
know that it is true1 it often seems to 
me a legend that the gay and gallant    
,francis ,i1 rushing to a mad war1      
stopped on his way to injure us2 and    
that four hundred years ago a band of   
,huguenots raved around our old         
,cathedral1 and tried to pull it to the 
ground4  ,and do you think it can be    
true1 the traveller asked1 that ,bishops
 held mysterious prisoners in that tower
 for most dreary lengths of time8       
,illustration3 ,,between ,,branches     
,,full ,,of ,,apple-,,blossoms1 ,,the   
,,church ,,as ,,the ,,cure ,,saw        
,,it4--,,senez4  ,the ,cure smiled1 and 
shook his white head4 ,that is a story  
which the peasants tell1--an old        
tradition of the land4 ,it may be true1 
since priests are mortal men and        
doubtless dealt with sinners4 ,he smiled
 indulgently4 ,through the many years ,i
 have been here1 ,i have often wondered 
about all these things1 but it is seldom
 ,i can speak my thoughts4 ,sometimes   

when ,i am here alone1 ,i lose the sense
 of present things and seem to see the  
phantoms of the past4 ,then the dusk    
comes on1 as it is coming now2 the night
 blots ,senez from my sight as fate has 
blotted out its record from             
history1--and ,i realise that our human 
memory is in vain4   ,sidenote3 ,aix4   
,the old ,cathedral of ,saint-,sauveur  
at ,aix is not one of those rarely      
beautiful churches where a complete and 
restful homogeneity delights the eye1   
nor is it a church of crude and shocking
 transitions4 ,it is rather a           
well-arranged museum of ecclesiastical  
architecture1 where1 in sufficient      
historical continuity and harmony1 many 
,provencal conceptions are found1 and   
the evolution of ,provencal architecture
 may be very completely followed4 ,as in
 all collections1 the beauty of         
,saint-,sauveur is not in a general view
 or in any glance into a long           
perspective1 but in a close and loving  
study of the details it encloses2 and so

 charming1 so really beautiful are many 
of the diverse little treasures of ,aix1
 that such study is better repaid here  
than in any other ,provencal ,cathedral4
 ,for this is one of the largest        
,cathedrals of the province1 and the    
buildings which form the ecclesiastical 
group are most complete4 ,with its      
baptistery1 ,cloister1 church1 and      
arch-episcopal ,palace1 it is not only  
of many epochs and styles1 but of many  
historical uncertainties1 and the       
hypotheses of its construction are      
enough to daze the most hardened        
archaeologist4  ,illustration3 ,,the    
,,south ,,aisle4--,,aix4  ,the oldest   
part of the ,cathedral is the           
baptistery1 and the date of its origin  
is unknown4 ,much of its character was  
lost in a restoration of the ,,xvii     
century1 but its old round form1 the    
magnificent ,roman columns of granite   
and green marble said to have been part 
of the ,temple to ,apollo1 give it an   
atmosphere of dignity and an ancient    

charm that even the ,,xvii century--so  
potent in architectural evil--was unable
 to destroy4  ,illustration3 ,,the      
,,romanesque ,,portal4  ,in #ajfj1 after
 the destructive vicissitudes of the    
early centuries1 ,archbishop ,rostaing  
d',hyeres issued a pastoral letter      
appealing to the ,faithful to aid him in
 the re-building of a new ,cathedral2   
and it may be reasonably supposed that  
the nave which is at present the south  
aisle1 the baptistery1 and the          
,cloisters were the buildings that were 
dedicated less than fifty years later4  
,they are the only portions of the      
church which can be ascribed to so early
 a period1 and with the low door of     
entrance1 the single nave and the       
adjoining cloister-walk1 they constitute
 the usual plan of ,,xi century         
,romanesque4 ,considering this as the   
early church1 in almost original form1  
it will be seen that the portal is a    
very interesting example of the         
,provencal use not only of ,roman       

suggestion1 but of the actual fragments 
of ,roman art which had escaped the     
invader2 that the south aisle1 in itself
 a completed interior1 bears a close    
resemblance to ,avignon2 and that the   
,cloister1 although now very worn and   
even defaced1 must have been one of the 
quaintest and most delicate1 as it is   
one of the tiniest1 in ,provence4 ,three
 sides of its arcades support plain     
buildings of a later date2 the fourth   
stands free1 as if in ruin4 ,little     
coupled columns1 some slenderly         
circular1 some twisted1 and some        
polygonal1 rest on a low wall2 piers1   
very finely and differently carved1 are 
at each of the arcade angles2 the little
 capitals of the columns were once      
beautifully cut1 and even the surfaces  
of the arches have small foliated disks 
and rosettes and are finished in roll   
and hollow4 ,unfortunately1 a very large
 part of this detail-work is so defaced 
that its subjects are barely suggested1 
some are so eaten away that they are as 

desolate of beauty as the barren little 
quadrangle2 and the whole ,cloister     
seems to have reached the brink of that 
pathetic old age which ,shakespeare has 
described1 and that another step in the 
march of time would leave it sans       
everything4  ,illustration3 ,,the       
,,cloister4--,,aix4  ,about two hundred 
years later1 in #abhe1 the ,archbishop  
of ,aix found the ,cathedral too        
unpretending for the rank and dignity of
 the ,see1 and he began the ,gothic     
additions4 ,like many another prelate   
his ambitions were larger than his      
means2 and the history of               
,saint-,sauveur from the ,,xiii to the  
,,xix century1 is that oft-told tale of 
new indulgences offered for new         
contributions1 halts and delays in      
construction1 emptied treasuries1 and   
again1 appeals and fresh efforts4 ,the  
beginnings of the enlarged ,cathedral   
were architecturally abrupt4 ,the old   
nave1 becoming the south aisle1 was     
connected with the new by two small     

openings2 it retained much of its       
separateness and in spite of added      
chapels much actual isolation4 ,the     
,gothic nave1 the north aisle and its   
many chapels1 the apse1 and the         
transepts1 whose building and           
re-construction stretched over the long 
period between the ,,xiii and ,,xvii    
centuries1 are comparatively regular1   
uniform1 and uninteresting4 ,the most   
ambitious view is that of the central   
nave1 whose whole length is so little   
broken by entrances to the side aisles1 
that it seems almost solidly enclosed by
 its massive walls4 ,here in ,gothic    
bays1 are found those rounded1          
longitudinal arches which belong to the 
,romanesque and to some structure whose 
identity is buried in the mysterious    
past4 ,the choir1 with its long1 narrow 
windows1 and clusters of columnettes1 is
 very pleasing1 and its seven sides1    
foreign to ,provence1 remind one of     
,italian and ,spanish constructive forms
 and take one's memory on strange       

jaunts1 to the far-away ,frari in       
,venice and the colder ,abbey of        
,london4 ,from the choir of             
,saint-,sauveur two chapels open2 and   
one of them is a charming bit of        
architecture1 a replica in miniature of 
the mother-apse itself4 ,the paintings  
of this mother-apse are neutral1 its    
glass has no claim to sumptuousness1 and
 the stalls are very unpretending2 but  
above them hang tapestries ascribed to  
,matsys1 splendid hangings of the       
,flemish school that were once in old   
,saint ,paul's4  ,with these beautiful  
details the rich treasure-trove of the  
interior is exhausted1 and one passes   
out to study the details of the         
exterior4 ,the ,cathedral's single      
tower1 which rises behind the facade    
line1 was one of the parts that was     
longest neglected1--perhaps because a   
tower is less essential to the ritual   
than any other portion of an            
ecclesiastical building4 ,begun in      
#acbc1 the work dragged along with many 

periods of absolute idleness1 until     
#ahhj1 when a balustrade with pinnacles 
at each angle was added to the upper    
octagonal stage1 and the building of the
 tower was thus ended4 ,the octagon with
 its narrow windows rests on a plain1   
square base that is massively           
buttressed4 ,it is a pleasant1 rather   
than a remarkable tower1 and one's eye  
wanders to the more beautiful facade4   
,here1 encased by severely plain        
supports1 is one of the most charming   
portals of ,provencal ,gothic4          
,decorated buttresses stand on either   
side of a large1 shallow recess which   
has a high and pointed arch1 and in the 
centre1 a slim pier divides the         
entrance-way into two parts1            
pre-figuring the final division of the  
,just and the ,unjust4 ,a multitude of  
finely sculptured statues were formerly 
hidden in niches1 under graceful        
canopies1 and in the hundred little     
nooks and corners which lurk about true 
,gothic portals4 ,standing ,apostles and

 seated ,patriarchs1 baby cherubs       
peering out1 and the more dramatic      
composition of the tympanum--the        
,transfiguration1--all lent a dignity   
and wealth to ,saint-,sauveur4          
,unfortunately many of these sculptures 
were torn from their crannies in the    
great ,revolution2 and it is only a few 
of the heavenly hosts1--the gracious    
,madonna1 ,saint ,michael1 and the      
,prophets1--that remain as types of     
those that were so wantonly destroyed4  
,the low1 empty gables that sheltered   
lost statues1 their slender1 tapering   
turrets1 and the delicate outer curve of
 the arch1 are of admirable1 if not     
imposing1 composition4 ,the portal's    
wooden doors1 protected by plain        
casings1 abound in carvings partly      
,renaissance1 partly ,gothic4 ,the      
,sibyls and ,prophets stand under       
canopies1 surrounded by foliage1 fruits1
 and flowers1 or isolated from each     
other by little buttresses or pilasters4
 ,this ,gothic portal quite outshines1  

in its graceful elaboration1 the smaller
 door which stands near it1 in the      
simpler and not less potent charm of the
 ,romanesque4 ,and side by side1 these  
portals offer a curiously interesting   
comparison of the essential differences 
and qualities of their two great styles4
 ,if the ,romanesque of ,saint-,sauveur 
is far surpassed at ,arles and ,digne   
and ,sisteron1 nowhere in ,provence has 
,gothic richer details2 and if the      
noblest of ,provencal creations must be 
sought in other little cities1 the lover
 of architectural comparisons1 of       
details1 of the many lesser things      
rather than of the harmony of a single  
whole1 will linger long in ,aix4        
,illustration3 ,,the                    
,,cathedral4--,,aix4  ,the old city     
itself shows scarcely a trace of the    
many historic dramas of which it has    
been the scene1--the lowering tragedy of
 the ,vaudois time1--the bright1 gay    
comedy of good king ,rene's ,court1--the
 shorter scenes of ,charles ,v's        

occupation1--the ,parliament's struggle 
with ,richelieu and ,mazarin1--the day  
of the fiery ,mirabeau1--the grim       
melodrama of the ,revolution1--all have 
passed1 and time has destroyed their    
monuments almost as completely as the   
,saracens destroyed those of the earlier
 ,roman days4 ,only a few1 unformed     
fragments of the great ,temple of       
,apollo remain in the walls of          
,saint-,sauveur4 ,the earliest          
,cathedral1 ,sainte-,marie-de-la-,seds1 
has entirely disappeared1 the old       
thermal springs are enclosed by modern  
buildings1 and only the statue of the   
good ,king ,rene and the ,church of the 
,knights of ,malta give to ,aix a faint 
atmosphere of its past distinction4 ,who
 would dream that here were the homes of
 the elegant and lettered courtiers of  
,king ,rene's brilliant capital1 who    
would think that this town was the      
earliest ,roman settlement in ,gaul1 the
 ,aquae ,sextiae of ,baths1 ,temples1   
,theatres1 and great wealth8 ,aix is a  

stately town1 a provincial capital which
 ,balzac might well have described--with
 old1 quiet streets that are a little   
dreary1 with a fine avenue shaded by    
great trees in whose shadows a few      
fountains trickle1 with lines of little 
stages that come each day from the      
country1--a city whose life is as far in
 spirit from the near-by modernity of   
,marseilles as it is from that of       
,paris1 as quaintly and delightfully    
provincial as that other little         
,provencal city1 the ,tarascon of ,king 
,rene and of ,tartarin4     ,languedoc4 
,i4  ,,cathedrals ,,of ,,the ,,cities4  
,sidenote3 ,nimes4  ,entering ,languedoc
 from the valley of the ,rhone1 the     
,cathedral-lover is doomed to           
disappointment in the city of ,nimes4   
,all that intense1 intra-mural life of  
the ,middle ,ages seems to have passed  
this city by1 and its traces1 which he  
is so eager to find1 prove to be neither
 notable nor beautiful4  ,illustration3 
,,an ,,amphitheatre ,,which ,,rivals    

,,the ,,art ,,of ,,the                  
,,coliseum4--,,nimes4  ,the great past  
of ,nimes is of a more remote antiquity 
than the ,cathedral ,building ,ages4 ,a 
small but exquisite ,temple1 a          
,nymphaeum1 ,baths1 parts of a fine     
,portal1 ,roman walls1 and an           
,amphitheatre which rivals the art of   
the ,coliseum1--these are the ruins of  
,nimean greatness4 ,she was essentially 
a city of the ,romans1 and that1 even   
to-day1 she has not lost the memory of  
her glorious antiquity was well         
illustrated in #ahgd1 when the ,nimois1 
with much pomp and civic pride1 unveiled
 a statue to their fellow-countryman1   
the ,emperor ,antoninus ,pius4 ,these   
are the memories in which ,nimes        
delights4 ,yet her history of later     
times1 if not glorious1 is full of      
strange and curious interest4 ,like all 
the ancient cities of the ,south1 she   
fell into the hands of many a wild and  
alien foe1 and at length in #gcg1       
,charles ,martel arrived at her gates4  

,grossly ignorant of art1 no thing of   
beauty that stood in his path escaped   
fire and axe2 and smoke-marks along the 
arena walls show to-day how narrowly    
they escaped the irreparable destruction
 which had wiped out the ,forum1 the    
,capitol1 the ,temple1 the ,baths1 and  
all the magnificence of ,roman          
,narbonne4 ,to both the early and the   
later ,middle ,ages1 ,roman remains had 
scarcely more meaning than they had for 
the ,franks4 ,the delicate ,temple of   
,trajan's wife1 scorned for its pagan   
associations1 was used as a stable1 a   
store-house1 and1 purified by proper    
ceremonials1 it even became a ,christian
 church4 ,the ,amphitheatre has had a   
still stranger destiny4 ,to a mediaeval 
,viscount1 it was naturally             
inconceivable as a place of amusement1  
and as naturally1 he saw in its walls a 
stronghold where he could live as       
securely as ever lord in castle4 ,as a  
fortress which successfully defied      
,charles ,martel1 it was a place of no  

mean strength1 and in #aajj it had      
become a veritable hornets' nest1       
buzzing with warriors4  ,a few years    
before1 ,pope ,urban ,,ii had landed at 
,maguelonne and ridden to ,clermont to  
preach the ,first ,crusade4 ,on his     
return he stopped at ,nimes and held a  
,council for the same holy purpose4     
,raymond de ,saint-,gilles1 ,count of   
,toulouse and overlord of ,nimes1       
travelled there to meet the ,sovereign  
,pontiff1 and amid the wonderful ferment
 of enthusiasm which the ,holy ,war had 
aroused1 the ,south was pledged anew to 
this romantic and war-like phase of the 
cause of ,christ4 ,trencavel1 ,viscount 
of ,nimes1 loyal to ,god and his        
,suzerain1 followed ,raymond to         
,palestine4 ,its natural protectors     
gone1 the city formed a defensive       
association called the ,chevaliers of   
the ,arena4 ,as its name implies1 this  
curious fraternity was composed of the  
soldiers of the ancient amphitheatre4   
,like many others of the time it was    

semi-military1 semi-religious1 its      
members bound by many solemn oaths and  
ceremonies1 and thus1 by the            
eccentricity of fate1 this old pagan    
playground became a fortress consecrated
 to ,christian defence1 the scene of    
many a solemn ,mass4  ,the divisions in 
the ,christian faith1 which followed so 
closely the fervours of the ,crusades1  
were most disastrous to ,nimes4 ,from   
the ,,xiii until the ,,xvii centuries1  
wars of religion were interrupted by    
suspicious and unheeded truces1 and     
these in turn were broken by fresh      
outbursts of embittered contest4 ,an    
ally of the new ,crusaders in ,simon de 
,montfort's day1 ,nimes became largely  
,protestant in the ,,xvi century2 and in
 #aefg1 as if to avenge the injuries    
their ancestors had formerly inflicted  
on the ,albigenses1 the ,nimois sacked  
their ,bishop's ,palace and threw all   
the ,catholics they could find down the 
wells of the town4 ,this celebration of 
,saint ,michael's ,day was repaid at the

 ,massacre of ,saint ,bartholomew4 ,the 
wise ,edict of ,nantes brought a truce  
to these hostilities1--its revocation1  
new persecutions and flights4 ,a hundred
 years later the ,huguenots were again  
in force1 and1 aided by the unrest of   
the ,revolution1 successfully massacred 
the ,catholics of the city2 and during  
the ,white ,terror of #ahae the         
,catholics arose and avenged themselves 
with equal vigour4 ,when it is          
remembered that this savage and         
vindictive spirit has characterised the 
,nimois of the last six hundred years1  
it is scarcely surprising that they     
should prefer to dwell on the remote    
antiquity of their city rather than on  
the unedifying episodes of her          
,christian history4  ,between the       
glories of her paganism and the disputes
 of ,christians1 the ,faith has         
struggled and survived2 but in the      
,cathedral-building era1 religious      
enthusiasm was so often expended in     
mutual fury and reprisals that neither  

time nor thought was left for that      
common and gentle expression of         
mediaeval fervour1 ecclesiastical       
architecture4 ,and the ,church of       
,notre-,dame-et-,saint-,castor1 which   
would seem to have suffered from the    
neglect and ignorance of both patrons   
and builders1 is one of the least       
interesting ,cathedrals in ,languedoc4  
,a graceful gallery of the nave1 which  
also surrounds the choir1 is the notable
 part of the interior1 and the          
insignificance of the exterior is       
relieved only by a frieze of the ,,xi   
and ,,xii centuries4 ,on this frieze is 
sculptured1 in much interesting detail1 
the ,biblical stories of the early years
 of mankind2 but it is unfortunately    
placed so high on the front wall that it
 seems badly proportioned to the facade1
 and as a carved detail it is almost    
indistinguishable4 ,as has been finely  
said the whole church is gaunt and      
unbeautiful2 it is a depressing mixture 
of styles1 ,roman1 ,romano-,byzantine1  

and ,gothic2 and in studying its one    
fine detail1 a photograph or a drawing  
is much more satisfactory than an hour's
 tantalising effort to see the original4
   ,sidenote3 ,montpellier4             
,montpellier is an agreeable city1      
clean1 well-built1 intersected by open  
squares with wide-spread horizons1 and  
fine1 broad boulevards1 a city whose    
distinctive characteristics would appear
 to be wealth1 and a taste for art1     
leisure1 and study4 ,the taste and the  
art are principally those of the        
pseudo-classic style1 an imitation of   
ancient ,greece and imperial ,rome1     
which the ,french of the ,,xviii century
 carried to such unpleasant excess4 ,the
 general characteristics of the         
imitation1 size and bombast1 are well   
epitomised in the principal statue of   
,montpellier's fine ,champ de ,mars1    
which represents the high-heeled and    
luxurious ,louis ,,xiv in the unfitting 
armour of a ,roman ,imperator1 mounted  
on a huge and restive charger4 ,such    

affectation in architectural subjects is
 the death-blow to all real beauty and  
originality1 and ,montpellier has gained
 little from its ,bourbon patrons except
 a series of fine broad vistas4 ,no city
 could offer greater contrast to the    
ancient and dignified classicism of     
,nimes4  ,if the mediaeval origin of    
,montpellier were not well known1 one   
would believe it the creation of the    
,renaissance1 and the few narrow1       
tortuous streets of the older days      
recall little of its intense past1 when 
the city grew as never before nor since1
 when scholars of the genius of         
,petrarch and the wit of ,rabelais      
sought her out1 when she belonged to    
,aragon or ,navarre and not to the ,king
 of ,france4 ,this is the interesting   
,montpellier4  ,in the ,,xiii century1  
she had a ,university which the ,pope   
formally sanctioned1 and a school of    
medicine founded by ,arabian physicians 
which rivalled that of ,paris4 ,more    
significant still to ,languedoc1 her    

prosperity had begun to overshadow that 
of the neighbouring ,bishopric of       
,maguelonne1 and a bitter rivalry sprang
 up between the two cities4 ,from the   
first ,maguelonne was doomed4 ,she had  
no schools that could rival those of    
,montpellier2 she ceased to grow as the 
younger city increased in fame and size1
 till even history passed her by1 and   
the stirring events of the times took   
place in the streets of her larger and  
more prosperous neighbour4 ,finally she 
was deserted by her ,bishops1 and no    
longer upheld by their episcopal        
dignity1 her fall was so overwhelming   
that to-day her mediaeval walls have    
crumbled to the last stone and only a   
lonely old ,cathedral remains to mark   
her greatness4 ,in #aecf my ,lord       
,bishop1 with much appropriate pomp and 
ceremony1 rode out of her gates and     
entered those of ,montpellier as titular
 ,bishop for the first time4  ,he did   
not find the townsmen so elated by the  
new dignity of the city as to have      

broken ground for a new ,cathedral1 nor 
did he himself seem ambitious1 as his   
predecessors of ,maguelonne had been1 to
 build a church worthy of his rank4     
,however1 as a ,bishop must have a      
,cathedral-church1 the chapel of the    
,benedictine monastery was chosen for   
this honour and solemnly consecrated the
 ,cathedral of ,saint-,pierre of        
,montpellier4 ,this chapel had been     
built in the ,,xiv century1 and at the  
time of these episcopal changes1 only   
the nave was finished4 ,it was1 however1
 ,gothic2 and as this style had become  
much favoured by the ,south at this late
 period1 the ,bishop must have believed 
that he had the beginning of a very fine
 and admirable ,cathedral4 ,in the      
religious wars which followed #aecf1    
succeeding prelates found much to       
distract them from any further building2
 the ,cathedral itself was so injured   
that such attention as could be spared  
from heretics to mere architectural     
details was devoted to necessary        

restorations and reconstructions1 and   
the finished ,saint-,pierre of to-day is
 an edifice of surprising modernity4    
,in the interior1 the nave and aisles   
are partially of old construction1 but  
the beautiful choir is the ,,xix century
 building of ,revoil4 ,of the exterior1 
the entire apse is his also1 and as the 
portal of the south wall was built in   
#ahhd and the northern side of the      
,cathedral is incorporated in that of   
the ,bishop's ,palace1 only the tower   
and the facade are mediaeval4           
,illustration3 ,,its ,,general ,,effect 
,,is ,,somewhat ,,that ,,of ,a          
,,porte-,,cochere4--,,montpellier4      
,none of the towers have much           
architectural significance1 either of   
beauty or originality4 ,in comparison   
with the decoration of the facade they  
make but little impression4 ,this       
decoration has more original incongruity
 than any detail ever applied to facade1
 ,gothic or ,romanesque1 and is an      
extreme example of the license which    

southern builders allowed themselves in 
their adaptation of the northern style4 
,it is a vagary1 and has appealed to    
some ,anglo-,saxon travellers1 but      
,french authorities1 almost without     
dissent1 allude to it apologetically as 
unpardonable4 ,its general effect is    
somewhat that of a porte-cochere1 whose 
roofing1 directly attached to the front 
wall1 is gothically pointed1 and        
supported by two immense pillars4 ,the  
pillars end in cones that resemble      
nothing in the world so much as         
sugar-loaves1 and the whole structure is
 marvellously unique4 ,yet strange to   
say1 the effect of the facade1 with the 
smoothness and roundness of its pillars 
and the uncompromising squareness of its
 towers1 while altogether bad1 is not   
altogether unpleasing4 ,standing before 
it the traveller was both bewildered and
 fascinated as he saw that even in the  
extravagance of their combinations1 the 
builders1 with true southern finesse1   
had avoided both the grotesque and the  

monstrous4  ,illustration3 ,,the        
,,finest ,,view ,,is ,,that ,,of ,,the  
,,apse4--,,montpellier4  ,as a whole1   
,saint-,pierre is a fine ,cathedral2    
through many stages of building1        
enlarging1 and re-constructing1 its     
style has remained consonant2 but the   
general impression is not altogether    
harmonious4 ,the perspective of the     
western front1 which should be imposing1
 is destroyed by a hill which slopes    
sharply up before the very portal4 ,the 
facade is attached to the immense1      
unbroken wall of the old episcopal      
,palace1 and the majesty1 which is a    
,cathedral's by very virtue of its      
height alone1 is entirely destroyed by a
 seemingly interminable breadth of wall4
 ,reversing the natural order of things1
 the finest view is that of the apse4   
,and this modern part is1 in reality1   
the chief architectural glory of this   
comparatively new ,cathedral and its    
comparatively modern town4   ,sidenote3 
,beziers4  ,you have only to look from a

 distance at any old-fashioned          
,cathedral-city and you will see in a   
moment the mediaeval relations between  
,church and ,state4 ,the ,cathedral is  
the city4 ,the first object you catch   
sight of as you approach is the spire   
tapering into the sky1 or the huge      
towers holding possession of the centre 
of the landscape--majestically          
beautiful--imposing by mere size4 ,as   
you go nearer1 the pinnacles are        
glittering in the tints of the sunset1  
when down below among the streets and   
lanes twilight is darkening4 ,and even  
now1 when the towns are thrice their    
ancient size1 444 the ,cathedral is     
still the governing force in the        
picture1 the one object which possesses 
the imagination1 and refuses to be      
eclipsed4 ,these words are the          
description of ,beziers as it is best   
and most impressively seen4 ,from the   
distance1 the ,cathedral and its        
ramparts rise in imposing mass1 a fine  
example of the strength1 pride1 and     

supremacy of the ,church4  ,as we       
approach1 the ,cathedral grows much less
 imposing1 and its facade gives the     
impression of an unpleasant             
conglomeration of styles4 ,it is not a  
fortress church1 yet it was evidently   
built for defence2 it is ,gothic1 yet   
the lightness and grace of that art are 
sacrificed to the massiveness and       
resistive strength1 imperatively        
required by southern ,cathedrals in     
times of wars and bellicose heretics4   
,the whole building seems a compromise  
between necessity and art4  ,it is1     
however1 a notable example of the       
,gothic of the ,south1 and of the       
modifications which that style          
invariably underwent1 through the       
artistic caprice of its builders1 or the
 political fore-sight of their patrons1 
the ,bishops4  ,the facade of           
,saint-,nazaire of ,beziers has a       
,gothic portal of good but not notable  
proportions1 and a large and beautiful  
rose-window4 ,as if to protect these    

weaker and decorative attempts1 the     
builder flanked them with two square    
towers1 whose crenellated tops and      
solid1 heavy walls could serve as       
strongholds4 ,perhaps to reconcile the  
irreconcilable1 crenellations joining   
the towers were placed over the         
rose-window1 and at either end of the   
portal1 a few inches of ,gothic carving 
were cut in the tower-wall4 ,the result 
is frank incongruity4 ,and the traveller
 left without regret1 to look at the    
apse4 ,it cannot be denied that the     
clock-tower which comes into view is    
very square and thick2 but in spite of  
that it has a simple dignity1 and as the
 apse itself is not florid1 this proved 
to be the really pleasing detailed view 
of the ,cathedral4 ,the open square     
behind the church is tiny1 and there one
 can best see the curious grilled       
iron-work1 which in the times of        
mediaeval outbreaks protected the fine  
windows of the choir and preserved them 
for future generations of worshippers   

and admirers4 ,it was after noon when   
the traveller finished his              
investigations of ,saint-,nazaire2 and  
as the southern churches close between  
twelve and two1 he took dejeuner at a   
little cafe near-by and patiently waited
 for the hour of re-opening4 ,had there 
been nothing but the interior to        
explore1 he could not have spent two    
hours in such contented waiting4 ,but   
there was a ,cloister1--and on the      
stroke of two he and the sacristan met  
before the portal4  ,illustration3 ,,the
 ,,clock-,,tower ,,is ,,very ,,square   
,,and ,,thick4--,,beziers4  ,in         
describing their monuments1 ,french     
guide-books confine themselves to facts1
 and the adjectives fine and remarkable2
 they are almost always strictly        
impersonal1 and the traveller who uses  
them as a cicerone1 has a sense of      
unexpected discovery1 a peculiar        
elation1 in finding a monument of rare  
beauty2 but he is never subjected to    
that disappointed irritation which comes

 when one stands before the monument and
 feels that one's expectations have been
 unduly stimulated4 ,the ,cloister of   
,beziers is a fine monument1 but as he  
walked about it1 the traveller felt no  
sense of elation4 ,he found a small     
,cloister1 ,gothic like the ,cathedral1 
with clustered columns and little       
ornamentation4 ,it was not very         
completely restored1 and had a sad1     
melancholy charm1 like a solitary sprig 
of lavender in an old press1 or a       
rose-leaf between the pages of a worn   
and forgotten ,missal4 ,in the          
,cloister-close1 stands a ,gothic       
fountain2 but the days when its waters  
dropped and tinkled in the stillness1   
when their sound mingled with the       
murmured prayers and slow steps of the  
priests1--those days are long forgotten4
 ,the quaint and pretty fountain is now 
dry and dust-covered2 while about it    
trees and plants and weeds grow as they 
may1 and bits of the ,cloister columns  
have fallen off1 and niches are without 

their guarding ,saints4  ,illustration3 
,,the ,,quaint ,,and ,,pretty           
,,fountain4--,,beziers4  ,by contrast1  
the ,cathedral itself seems full of     
life4 ,its interior is an aisle-less    
,gothic room1 whose fine height and     
emptiness of column or detail give it an
 appearance of vast and well-conceived  
proportions4 ,except the really         
beautiful windows of the choir1 which   
are a study in themselves1 there is very
 little in this interior to hold the    
mind2 one is lost in a pleasant sense of
 general symmetry4 ,as the traveller was
 sitting in the nave1 a few priests     
filed into the choir1 and began1 in     
quavering voices1 to intone their       
prayers1 and in the peacefulness of the 
church1 in the trembling monotony of the
 weak1 old voices1 his thoughts wandered
 to the stirring history which had been 
lived about the ,cathedral1 and within  
its very walls4 ,for ,beziers was and   
had always been a hot-bed of heretics4  
,here in the ,,iv century1 long before  

the building of the ,cathedral1 the     
,emperor ,constantius ,,ii forced the   
unwilling ,catholic ,bishops of ,gaul to
 join their heretical ,aryan brethren in
 ,council2 here the equally heretical   
,visigoths gave new strength to the     
dissenters2 and here1 again1 after      
centuries of orthodoxy which ,clovis had
 imposed1 a new centre of religious     
storm was formed4 ,it was about this    
period1 the ,,xii and ,,xiv centuries1  
that the ,cathedral was built2 and it is
 perhaps because of the strength of     
those ,french protestants against the   
,church of ,rome1 the ,albigenses1 that 
its essentially ,gothic style was so    
confused by military additions4 ,at the 
beginning of the troublous times of     
which these towers are reminders1       
,raymond-,roger of ,trencavel1 the      
gallant and romantic ,lord of           
,carcassonne1 was also ,viscount of     
,beziers2 and contrary to the fanatical 
enthusiasm of his day1 was much disposed
 toward religious toleration2 therefore 

in the early wars of ,catholics and     
,protestants the city of ,beziers became
 the refuge not only for the terrified  
,faithful of the surrounding country1   
but for many hunted ,protestants4 ,in   
the ,,xiii century1 the zeal of the     
,catholic party1 reinforced by the      
political interests of its members1 grew
 most hot and dangerous4 ,saint ,dominic
 had come into the ,south2 and in his   
fearful1 fiery sermons1 he not only     
prophesied that the ,albigenses would   
swell the number of the damned at the   
,day of ,judgment1 but also advocated   
that1 living1 they should know the hell 
of ,inquisition4 ,partisans of the      
,catholic ,faith were solemnly          
consecrated ,crusaders by ,pope         
,innocent ,,iii1 and wore the cross in  
these ,wars of ,extermination as they   
had worn it in the ,holy ,wars of       
,palestine4 ,in #abji their army        
advanced against ,beziers1 and from out 
their ,councils the leaders sent the    
,bishop of the city to admonish his     

flock4  ,all the inhabitants were       
summoned to meet him1 and they gathered 
in the choir and transepts of the       
,cathedral1--the only parts which were  
finished at that time4 ,one can imagine 
the anxious citizens crowding into the  
church1 the coming of the angered       
prelate1 whose state and frown were well
 calculated to intimidate the wavering1 
and the tense silence as he passed1 with
 grave blessing1 to the altar4 ,in a few
 words1 he advised them of their peril1 
spiritual and material2 he told them he 
knew well who was true and who false to 
the ,church1 that he had1 in written    
list1 the very names of the heretics    
they seemed to harbour4 ,then he begged 
them to deliver those traitors into his 
hands1 and their city to the ,legate of 
the ,holy ,father4 ,in fewer words came 
their answer2 ,venerable ,father1 all   
that are here are ,christians1 and we   
see amongst us only our brethren4 ,such 
words were a refusal1 a heinous sin1 and
 dread must have been written on every  

face1 as without a word or sign of      
blessing1 the outraged ,bishop swept    
from the church and returned to the camp
 of their enemy4  ,the ,crusaders'      
,councils were stormy2 for some of the  
nobles wished to save the ,catholics1   
others cried out for the extermination  
of the whole rebellious place1 and      
finally the choleric ,legate1           
,armand-,amaury1 ,abbot of ,citeaux1    
could stand it no longer1 and cried out 
fiercely1 ,kill them all6 ,god will know
 ,his own4 ,the words of their ,legate  
were final1 the army attacked the city1 
and--as ,henri ,martin finely           
writes1--neither funeral tollings nor   
bell-ringings1 nor ,canons in all their 
priestly robes could avail1 all were put
 to the sword2 not one was saved1 and it
 was the saddest pity ever seen or      
heard4 ,the city was pillaged1 was      
fired1 was devastated and burned till no
 living thing remained4  ,no living     
thing remained to tell the awful tale1  
and yet with time and industry1 a new   

and forgetful ,beziers has risen to all 
its old prestige and many times its     
former size2 the ,cathedral alone was   
left1 and its most memorable tale to our
 day is not that of the abiding peace of
 the ,faith1 but that of the terrible   
travesty of religion of the             
twenty-second of ,july1 hundreds of     
years ago4   ,sidenote3 ,narbonne4      
,narbonne is still mighty and healthful1
 if one is to judge from the activities 
of the present day2 is picturesque and  
pleasing1 and far more comfortably      
disposed than many cities with a more   
magnificently imposing situation4 ,these
 words1 which were running in the       
traveller's mind1 grew more and more    
derisive1 more and more ironical1 as he 
walked about ,narbonne4 ,not in all the 
,south of ,france had he seen a city so 
depressing4 ,her decline has been       
continuous for the long five hundred    
years since the ,roman dykes gave way   
and she was cut off from the sea4 ,agde1
 almost as old1 displays the decline of 

a dignified1 retired old age2           
,saint-,gilles-du-,gard was as dirty1   
but not a whit as pretentious2 ,nimes   
was majestically antique2 ,narbonne1    
simply sordid4  ,it is sad to think that
 over two thousand years ago she was a  
second ,marseilles1 that she was the    
first of ,rome's transalpine colonies1  
and that under ,tiberius her schools    
rivalled those of the ,capital of the   
world4 ,it is sadder to think that all  
the magnificence of ,roman luxury1 of   
sculptured marble--a ,forum1 ,capitol1  
,temples1 ,baths1 ,triumphal            
,arches1--stood where dreary rows of    
semi-modern houses now stand4 ,it is    
almost impossible to believe in the lost
 grandeur of this city1 and that it was 
veritably under the tutelage of so great
 and superb a god as ,mars4  ,the       
eventful ,christian period of ,narbonne 
was very noted but not very long4 ,her  
melancholy decay began as early as the  
,,xiv century4 ,of her great antiquity  
nothing is left but a few hacked and    

mutilated carvings2 of her ambitious    
,mediaevalism1 nothing but an unfinished
 group of ecclesiastical buildings4     
,long gone is the lordly ,narbo         
dedicated to ,mars1 gone the city of the
 ,latin poet1 whose words repeated      
to-day in her streets are a bitter      
mockery1 and gone the stronghold of     
mediaeval times4 ,there remains a rare  
phenomenon for cleanly ,france1--a dirty
 city1 whose older sections are         
reminiscent of unbeautiful old age1     
decrepit and unwashed2 and whose newly  
projected boulevards are distinguished  
by tawdry and pretentious youth4  ,in   
the midst of this city1 stands a group  
of mediaeval churchly buildings1 the    
,palace of the prelate1 his ,cathedral1 
and an adjoining ,cloister4 ,they are   
all either neglected1 unfinished1 or    
re-built2 but are of so noble a plan    
that the traveller feels a divine wrath 
that they should never have reached     
their full grandeur of completion1 that 
this great architectural work should    

have been begun so near the close of the
 city's prosperity1 and that in spite of
 several efforts it has never been half 
completed4 ,it is as if a fatality hung 
over the whole place1 and as if all the 
greatness ,narbonne had conceived was   
predestined to destruction or           
incompletion4  ,illustration3 ,,the     
,,door ,,of ,,the                       
,,cloister4--,,narbonne4  ,of the three 
structures1 the least interesting is the
 former ,palace of the ,archbishops4    
,this is now the ,hotel-de-,ville1 and  
as all the body of the structure between
 the towers of the ,,xii century was    
built in our day by ,viollet-le-,duc1   
very little of the old ,palace can      
properly be said to exist4 ,besides its 
two principal towers1 a smaller one1 a  
gate1 and a chapel remain4              
,viollet-le-,duc has constructed the    
,hotel-de-,ville after the perfectly    
appropriate style of the ,,xiii century1
 but its stone is so new and its        
atmosphere so modern and republican that

 the traveller left it without regret   
and made his way up the dark1 steep1    
badly-paved alley-way which leads to the
 door of the ,cloister4  ,this          
,cloister1 which separated the ,palace  
from the ,cathedral1 is now dreary and  
desolate and neglected4 ,like the       
,cathedral1 it is ,gothic1 with sadly   
decaying traces of graceful ornament4   
,the little plot of enclosed ground1    
which should be planted in grass or with
 a few flowers1 is a mere dirt court1   
tramped over by the few worshippers who 
enter the ,cathedral this way4 ,two or  
three trees grow as they will1 gnarled  
or straight4 ,the sense of peaceful     
melancholy which the traveller had felt 
in the ,cloister of ,beziers is wanting 
here4 ,this is a place of deserted      
solitude2 and with a sigh for the beauty
 that might have been1 the traveller    
crossed the enclosure and entered the   
church by the cloister-door4            
,illustration3 ,,this ,,is ,a ,,place   
,,of ,,deserted ,,solitude4--,,narbonne4

  ,architecturally dissimilar1 the fate 
of this ,cathedral is not unlike that of
 ,beauvais4 ,each was destined to have a
 completed choir1 and each to remain    
without a nave4 ,at ,beauvais the       
addition of transepts adds very         
materially to the beauty of the         
,cathedral4 ,at ,narbonne no transepts  
exist4 ,there is simply a choir1 which  
makes a very singular disposition of the
 church both religious and              
architectural4 ,entering the gates which
 lead from the ambulatory to the choir1 
the traveller found that ,benediction   
had just begun4 ,on his immediate right1
 before the altar all aglow with lights1
 were the officiating priests and the   
altar-boys2 on his left1 in the choir1  
was the congregation in the ,canons'    
stalls2 and at the back1 as at the end  
of a nave1 rose the organ4  ,the        
traveller walked about the ambulatory1  
and leaning against the farthest wall1  
tried to view the church1 only to be    
baffled4 ,there was no perspective4 ,the

 ambulatory is very narrow and the      
choir-screen very high4 ,the impressions
 he formed were partly imaginative1     
partly inductive2 and the clearest one  
was that of sheer height1 straight1     
superhuman height that is one of the    
unmatchable glories of ,french ,gothic4 
,here the traveller thought again of    
,beauvais1 and wished as he had so often
 wished in the northern ,cathedral and  
with something of the same intensity1   
that this freedom and majesty of height 
might have been gloriously continued and
 completed in the nave4 ,such a church  
as his imagination pictured would have  
been worthy of a place with the best of 
northern ,gothic4 ,now it is a          
suggestion1 a beginning of greatness2   
and its chief glory lies in the         
simplicity and directness of its height4
 ,clustered columns rise plainly to the 
pointed ,gothic roof4 ,there is so      
marked an absence of carving that it    
seems as if ornamentation would have    
been weakening and trammelling4 ,it is  

not bareness1 but beautiful firmness1   
which refreshes and uplifts the heart of
 man as the sight of some island        
mountain rising sheer from the sea4     
,the exterior of the ,cathedral1        
imposing from a distance1 is rather     
complicated in its unfinished compromise
 of detail4 ,in the ,,xv century1 two   
towers were built which flank the       
western end as towers usually flank a   
facade2 and this gives the church a     
foreshortened effect4 ,of real facade   
there is none1 and the front wall which 
protects the choir is plainly temporary4
 ,in front of this wall there are       
portions of the unfinished nave1 stones 
and other building materials1 a         
scaffolding1 and a board fence2 and the 
only pleasure the traveller could find  
in this confusion was the fancy that he 
had discovered the old-time appearance  
of a ,cathedral in the making4  ,the    
apse is practically completed1 and one  
has the curious sensation that it is a  
building without portals4 ,having no    

facade1 it has none of the great front  
entrances common to the ,gothic style2  
neither has it the usual lateral door4  
,the choir is entered by the temporary  
doors of the pseudo-facade2 the         
ambulatory is entered through the       
,cloister1 or a pretty little ,gothic   
door-way which if it were not the chief 
entrance of the church1 would properly  
seem to have been built for the clergy  
rather than for the people who now use  
it4 ,if these portals are strangely     
unimportant1 their insignificance does  
not detract materially from the         
stateliness of the apse1 which is       
created by its great height--one hundred
 and thirty feet in the interior        
measurement--and the magnificent        
flying-buttresses4  ,these              
flying-buttresses give to the exterior  
its most curious and beautiful effect4  
,they are a form of ,gothic seldom      
attempted in the ,south1 and exist here 
in a rather exceptional construction4   
,over the chapels which surround the    

apse rise a series of double-arched     
supports1 the outer ones ending in      
little turrets with surmounting         
crenellations4 ,on these supports1 after
 a splendid outward sweep1 rest the     
abutments of the flying arches4 ,these  
have a fine sure grace and withal a     
lightness that relieves the heaviness   
imposed on the church by the towers and 
the immense strength of the body of the 
apse4 ,they are the chief as well as the
 most salient glory of the exterior1 and
 give to the ,cathedral its peculiar    
individuality4  ,illustration3 ,,these  
,,flying-,,buttresses ,,give ,,to ,,the 
,,exterior ,,its ,,most ,,curious ,,and 
,,beautiful ,,effect4--,,narbonne4      
,apart from its buttresses1 ,saint-,just
 has little decorative style4 ,its      
crenellations and turrets are military  
and forceful1 not ornate4 ,for the      
church had its defensive as truly as its
 religious purpose1 and formerly was    
united on the ,north with the           
fortifications of the ,palace1 and      

contributed to the protection of its    
prelates as well as to their            
arch-episcopal prestige4  ,in spite of  
the fostering care of the ,french       
government1 the ,palace1 the ,cloister1 
and the ,cathedral seem in the hands of 
strangers4 ,the traveller who had longed
 to see them in their finished          
magnificence realised the futility of   
this wish1 but he turned away with      
another as vain1 that he might have     
known them even in incompletion1 when   
they were in the hands of the ,church1  
when the ,archbishop still ruled in his 
,palace1 when the ,canons prayed in the 
,cloister1 and the ,cathedral was still 
a-building4   ,sidenote3 ,perpignan4    
,perpignan1 like ,elne1 is in           
,rousillon4 ,the period of her most     
brilliant prosperity was that of the    
,majorcan dominion in the ,,xii century4
 ,later she reverted to ,aragon1 and was
 still so fine a city that for two      
hundred years ,france coveted and sought
 her1 until she finally yielded to the  

greedy astuteness of ,richelieu and     
became formally annexed to the kingdom  
of ,louis ,,xiii4 ,perpignan is a gay   
little town1 much affected by the genius
 and indolence of the ,spanish race4    
,morning is work-time1 noon-tide is     
siesta1 but afternoon and evening were  
made for pleasure2 and every bright day1
 when the sun begins to cast shadows1   
people fill the narrow1 shady streets   
and walk along the promenade by the     
shallow river1 under the beautiful      
plane-trees4 ,the pavements in front of 
the cafes are filled with little round  
tables1 and here and there small groups 
of men idle cheerfully over tiny glasses
 of liqueur and cups of cool1 black     
coffee2 perhaps they talk a little      
business1 certainly they gossip a great 
deal4 ,noisy little teams filled with   
merry people run down from the          
,promenade to the sea-shore2 and after  
an hour's dip1 almost in the shadow of  
the tall ,pyrenees1 the same merry      
people return1 laughing1 to a cooler    

,perpignan4 ,in the evening1 they seek  
the bright cafes and the waiters run    
busily to and fro among the crowded     
little tables2 the narrow streets1      
imperfectly lighted1 are full of moving 
shadows1 and through the open           
church-doors1 candles waver in the      
fitful draught1 and quiet worshippers   
pass from altar to altar in penance or  
in supplication4  ,all the old buildings
 of the city are of ,spanish origin4    
,the prison is the brick1 battlemented  
castle of a ,majorcan ,sancho1 the      
,citadel is as old1 and the ,aragonese  
,bourse is divided between the town-hall
 and the city's most popular cafe4  ,the
 ,cathedral of ,saint-,jean1 which faces
 a desolate1 little square1 was also    
begun in ,majorcan days and under that  
,sancho who ruled in #acbd4 ,at first it
 was merely a church2 for ,elne had     
always been the seat of the ,bishopric  
of ,rousillon1 and although the town had
 suffered from many wars and had long   
been declining1 it was not shorn of its 

episcopal glory until there was         
sufficient political reason for the act4
 ,this arose in #afib1 and was based on 
the old-time ,french and ,spanish claims
 to the same county to which these two  
cities belonged4  ,illustration3 ,,all  
,,of ,,the ,,old ,,buildings ,,of ,,the 
,,city ,,are ,,of ,,spanish             
,,origin4--,,perpignan4  ,over a hundred
 years before ,charles ,,viii had       
plenarily ceded to ,ferdinand and       
,isabella all power in ,rousillon1 even 
that shadowy feudal ,suzerainty with    
which1 in default of actual possession1 
many a former ,french king had consoled 
himself and irritated a royal ,spanish  
brother4 ,ferdinand and ,isabella       
promptly visited their new possessions1 
and made solemn entry into ,perpignan4  
,unfortunately the ,inquisition came in 
their train1 and the unbounded zeal of  
the ,holy ,office brought the ,spanish  
rule which protected it into            
ever-increasing disfavour4 ,in vain     
,philip ,,iii again bestowed on         

,perpignan the title of faithful city1  
which she had first received from ,john 
of ,aragon for her loyal resistance to  
,louis ,,xi2 in vain he ennobled several
 of her inhabitants and transferred to  
her1 from ,elne1 the episcopal power4   
,the city was ready for new and kinder  
masters than the ,most ,catholic ,kings1
 and in #afdb the ,french were received 
as liberators4  ,during all these years 
the ,cathedral had grown very slowly4   
,commenced in #acbd1 over a century     
elapsed before the choir was finished   
and the building of the nave was not    
begun until a hundred years later4 ,the 
,high ,altar1 a ,porch1 and the iron    
cage of the tower were added with equal 
deliberation1 and even to-day it is     
still unfinished4 ,the most beautiful   
part is the strongly buttressed apse2   
the poorest1 the unfinished facade1     
which has been very fitly described as  
plain and mean4 ,looking disconsolately 
at it from the deserted square1 scarcely
 tempted to go nearer1 the traveller was

 astounded at the thought that for      
several centuries this unsightly wall   
had stared on generations of worshippers
 without goading them into any frenzy of
 action1--either destructive or         
constructive4 ,his only comfort lay in  
the scaffolding which was building      
around it1 and which seemed to promise  
better things4  ,illustration3 ,,the    
,,unfinished ,,facade4--,,perpignan4    
,the interior of the ,cathedral is very 
large and lofty4 ,it is without aisles  
and the chapels are discreetly hidden   
between the piers4 ,far above one's head
 curves the ribbed ,gothic vaulting1 and
 all around is unbroken space that ends 
in darkness or the vague outline of an  
altar1 dimly lighted by a flickering    
candle4 ,the walls are painted in rich1 
sombre colours1 and the light comes very
 gently through the good old            
stained-glass windows4 ,it is a southern
 church1 dark1 cool1 and somewhat       
mysterious2 quite foreign to the glare  
and heat of reality4 ,people are lost in

 its solemn vastness1 and even with many
 worshippers it is a solitude where most
 holy vigils could be kept1 a mystic    
place where the southern imagination    
might well lose itself in such sacred   
ardours as ,saint ,theresa felt4 ,the   
traveller liked to linger here2 in the  
day-time when he peered vainly at the   
re-redos of ,soler de ,barcelona1 at    
,mass-time1 when the lighted            
altar-candles glimmered over its fine   
old marble1 but best of all he liked to 
come at night4 ,those summer nights in  
,rousillon were hot and full of the     
murmur of voices4 ,the ,cathedral was   
the only silent place2 more full than   
ever of the mysterious--the felt and the
 unseen4 ,as one entered1 the sanctuary 
light shone as a star out of a night of 
darkness2 in a near-by chapel1 a candle 
sputtered itself away1 and a            
woman--whether old or young one could   
not see--lighted a fresh taper4         
,sometimes a man knelt and told his     
beads1 sometimes two women entered and  

separated for their differing needs and 
prayers4 ,sometimes one sat in          
meditation1 or knelt1 unmoving1 for a   
space of time2 once a child brought a   
new candle to ,saint ,antony2 always    
some one came or some one went1 until   
the hour of closing4 ,then1 the bell was
 rung1 the door shut by a hand but dimly
 seen1 and the last few watchers went   
out--across the little square1 down this
 street or that1 until they were lost in
 the darkness of the summer's night4    
,illustration3 ,,the ,,stony ,,street   
,,of ,,the ,,hillside4--,,carcassonne4  
,sidenote3 ,carcassonne4  ,the train    
puffed into the station at ,carcassonne1
 and the impatient traveller1 throwing  
his bags into an hotel omnibus1 asked   
for the ,cathedral and walked eagerly on
 that he might the more quickly see in  
line the city on the hill1 the castle   
walls as grand as those of ,babylon1 and
 gaze at last on ,carcassonne4 ,his mind
 was full of the poem1 and faithfully   
following directions1 he hurried through

 clean1 narrow streets until he came at 
length1 not upon a poetic vision of     
battlemented walls and towers1 but on   
the most prosaic of boulevards and the  
,church of ,saint-,michel which has been
 the ,cathedral since #ahjc1 a large1   
uncouth building with a big1 unfinished 
tower4 ,there is no facade portal1 and a
 small door-way in the north side leads 
into the great vaulted hall1 one of the 
most usual and commonplace forms of the 
,gothic interior of the ,south4 ,this   
room1 which is painted1 receives light  
from a beautiful rose-window at the     
,west1 and a series of small roses1 like
 miniatures of the greater one1 are cut 
in the upper walls of the nave2 and     
little chapels1 characterised by the    
same heavy monotony which hangs like a  
pall over the whole ,cathedral1 are lost
 in the church's capacious flanks4      
,illustration3 ,,the ,,ancient          
,,cross4--,,carcassonne4  ,having lost  
much of his enthusiasm1 the traveller   
asked for the old--he had almost said   

the real--,cathedral1 and with new      
directions1 he started afresh4 ,leaving 
the well-built1 agreeable1 commonplace  
,lower city of the plain1 he came to the
 bridge1 and there1 sitting on its      
parapet1 near the ancient ,cross1 he    
feasted his longing eyes on that perfect
 vision of ,mediaevalism4 ,the high1    
arid1 and almost isolated hill of the   
,cite stood before him1 and at the top  
rose battlements and flanking towers in 
double range1 bristling1 war-like1 and  
strong2 yet beautiful in their mass of  
uneven1 peaked tower-roofs and          
crenellations4 ,he climbed wearily up   
the stony street of the hillside1 and as
 he passed through the open gate1 he    
realised that ,hunnewell had written    
truly when he said ,carcassonne is a    
romance of travel4 ,for he went into a  
town so quiet1 into streets so still1 so
 weed-grown1 and lonely1 and yet so well
 built1 that he felt as a fairy prince  
who has penetrated into some enchanted  
castle1 and it seemed as if the         

inhabitants were asleep in the upper    
rooms1 behind those bowed windows1 and  
as if1 when the mysterious word of      
disenchantment should be uttered1 all   
would come trooping forth1 men-at-arms  
hurrying to clean their rusty swords1   
old women trudging along to fill their  
dusty pitchers at the well1 and younger 
women staring from doors and windows to 
see the stranger within their streets4  
,the ,cadets de ,gascogne knew the city 
before the evil spell of modern times   
was cast about it4 ,they know and miss  
it now4 ,and although they may no longer
 wear the plumed hat and clanking sword 
of their ancestors1 the spirit beneath  
their more conventional garb is as gay  
and daring as that of ,cadets more      
picturesque4 ,they have conceived a plan
 as exciting as any old adventure1 an   
idea which they present to the world1   
not as ,cyrano1 their most famous       
member1 was wont to convey his thoughts 
at the end of a sword1 but none the less
 dexterously and delightfully4 ,this    

plan1 like the magic word of the        
traveller's fancy1 is to make the old   
,carcassonne live again1 not as the     
traveller had timidly imagined1 in time 
of peace1 but in the stirring times of  
war and battle1 and its magic word is   
the siege of ,carcassonne4 ,truly it is 
but a matter of bengal lights1 blank    
cartridges1 and fire-crackers1 though   
for the matter of that1 ,cinderella's   
coach was but a pumpkin1 yet the effect 
was none the less real4  ,illustration3 
,,often1 ,,too ,,little ,,time ,,is     
,,spent ,,upon ,,the                    
,,nave4--,,carcassonne4  ,on the evening
 of the siege1 a rare1 great fete1 the  
forces of the ,cadets with their lights 
and ammunition are in the upper town1   
and long before dark1 their friends and 
every inhabitant of the country for     
miles around have gathered in the houses
 which face the ,cite1 on the bridges1  
and along the banks of the little ,aude4
 ,as the sunlight fades and the shadows 
creep along1 a strange feeling of       

expectancy comes over everybody1 a hush1
 almost a dread of danger4 ,the towers  
on the hill-top loom dark against the   
sky and the battlements bristle in the  
moonlight1 no sound comes from the      
,cite1 and it seems to lay in           
unconcerned security4 ,memories of      
besieging armies which have vainly      
encamped in this valley return to the   
traveller's mind1 memories of the       
treacheries of ,simon de ,montfort1 and 
he wonders if any crusading sentinel    
ever paced where he now stands watching 
along the ,aude1 if any spy or even the 
terrible ,simon himself had ever crept  
so near the walls to reconnoitre4       
,suddenly every one is startled by the  
sound of distant shots1 which are       
repeated nearer the walls4 ,every one   
peers into the darkness4 ,there is no   
sign of life on wall or tower1 the      
attacking force must still be climbing  
the hill1 out of range of the stones and
 burning oil of the defenders4 ,more    
shots are fired1 and now there are      

answering shots from the besieged2 and  
so naturally does the din increase1 that
 one can follow1 by listening1 the      
progress of the attack and the slow1    
sure gain of the invader4 ,some of the  
illusion of the anxiety and mental      
tension which war brings1 steals over   
the watching crowd1 and they            
breathlessly await the outcome of the   
struggle4 ,the attacking party is now   
seen under the walls--now on them--they 
throw wads of burning cotton1 which are 
at first extinguished4 ,they still      
gain--they fire the walls in several    
places2 and the defenders1 who can be   
seen in the flashes of light1 run       
frantically to the danger spots2 but    
they are gradually overcome1 beaten back
 by the intensity of the heat4 ,flames  
now burst forth from a tower2 there is  
an explosion1 and the fire curls and    
creeps along the walls unchecked4       
,another explosion follows1 another     
burst of flames which soar higher and   
higher4 ,the men of the ,cite seem still

 more frantic and powerless4 ,all the   
towers now stand out in bold relief1--as
 if they were just about to crumble into
 the seething mass below4 ,roofs within 
the walls are on fire1 and finally a red
 tongue licks the turret of the         
,cathedral4 ,in a few seconds its walls 
are hideously aglow1 and the people in  
the valley--although they know the      
truth--groan aloud1 so real is the      
illusion4 ,the nave lines of the        
,cathedral are silhouetted as it burns1 
the fires along the walls growing       
brighter1 spread gradually at           
first1--then rapidly1 and the whole     
,cite is the prey of great1 waving      
clouds of flame and smoke4 ,men and     
women1 as if fascinated by this lurid   
and magnificent destruction1 press      
forward to get the last view of the     
,cathedral's lovely rose1 or the peaked 
roof of some tower which is dear to     
them4 ,but slowly the deep red flames   
are growing paler1 less strong1 and less
 high4 ,then the glare1 too1 begins to  

die away2 the fire turns to smoke and   
the light becomes grey and misty4 ,it is
 all over1 some one whispers1 and with  
backward glances at the charred1        
smoldering hill-top1 they turn silently 
towards home4  ,a few1 sitting on the   
stone parapet of the bridge1 remain to  
talk of the evening's magic1 of the     
inspiration of the ,cadets de ,gascogne1
 and other scenes which their memory    
suggests1 of wars and rumours of other  
wars4 ,and when at length they turn to  
go1 they see the moonlight on the       
glimmering ,aude1 the peaceful lower    
city1 and above1 ,carcassonne--the      
,invincible--rising from her ashes4     
,illustration3 ,,the ,,choir ,,is ,,of  
,,the ,,xiv ,,century4--,,carcassonne4  
,illustration3 ,,the                    
,,facade--,,straight ,,and              
,,massive4--,,carcassonne4  ,the        
,cathedral of the ,cite is worthy of    
great protecting walls and there are few
 churches whose destruction would have  
been so sad a blow to the architecture  

of the ,midi4 ,saint-,nazaire is typical
 at once of the originality of the      
southern builders1 of their idealism1   
and their joyous freedom from           
conventional thrall4 ,the facade1       
straight1 and massive1 has the frowning 
severity of an old donjon wall4 ,its    
towers are solid masses of heavy stone2 
instead of spires1 there are            
crenellations2 instead of graceful      
flying-buttresses at the sides1 there   
are solid1 upright supports on the firm1
 plain side-walls4 ,this is the true old
 ,romanesque4 ,a few steps further1 and 
the apse appears1 as great a contrast to
 the body of the church as a bit of     
,mechlin lace to a coat-of-mail4 ,a     
little tower with gargoyles1 another    
with a fine-carved turret1 windows whose
 delicate traceries could be broken by a
 blow1 and an upper balustrade which    
would have been as easily crushed as an 
egg-shell in the hands of the lusty     
,huguenots1--these are the ornaments of 
its wall1 as true ,,xiv century ,gothic 

as the nave is ,,xii century            
,romanesque4 ,it is sadly disappointing 
to find the ,cloisters in uninteresting 
ruin1 but the church within is so full  
of great beauty that all other things   
are unimportant4 ,the windows glow in   
the glory of their glass1 and the tombs1
 especially those of the lower ,chapel  
of the ,bishop1 are wonderfully carved4 
,the first burial place of de ,montfort1
 terrible persecutor of his ,church's   
foes1 lies near the ,high ,altar1 and in
 the wall1 there is a rude bas-relief   
representing his siege of ,toulouse4    
,all these admirable details are puny in
 comparison with the interior which     
contains them4 ,it is to be feared that 
often1 too little time is spent upon the
 nave4 ,even in mid-day1 lighted by the 
southern sun1 its beautiful1 severe     
lines are mellowed but little1 and one  
turns too instinctively to the ,gothic1 
the greater lightness beyond4 ,yet it is
 a nave of exceedingly fine1 rugged     
strength1 and to pass on lightly1 to    

belittle it in comparison with its      
brighter choir1 is to wantonly miss in  
the great round columns1 the heavy      
piers1 and the dark tunnel vaulting1 the
 conception of generations of men who   
had ever before their mind--and         
literally believed--,a mighty fortress  
is our ,god4 ,the choir is of the ,,xiv 
century1 a day when the beauty of       
holiness seems to have been the         
,cathedral architect's ideal4 ,delicate1
 clustered columns from which ,saints   
look down1 long windows beautifully     
veined1 a glorious rose at each         
transept's end1 and high vault arches   
springing with a slender pointed grace1 
all these are of exquisite proportions2 
and the brilliant stained-glass adds a  
softening warmth of colour1 but not too 
great a glow1 to the cold fragility of  
the shafts of stone4 ,nothing in the    
,gothic art of the ,south1 little of    
,gothic elsewhere1 is more thoughtfully 
and lovingly wrought than this choir of 
,saint-,nazaire1 and few churches in the

 ,romanesque form are more finely       
constructed than its nave4 ,on the      
exterior1 the ,gothic choir and the     
,romanesque nave are so different in    
style it seems they must be1 perforce1  
antagonistic1 that the grace of the     
,gothic must make ,romanesque plainness 
appear dull1 or that the noble          
simplicity of the rounded arch must     
cause the ,gothic arches1 here so       
particularly tall and slender1 to seem  
almost fragile and undignified4 ,in     
reality1 this juxtaposition of the      
styles has justified itself2 and passing
 from one to the other1 the traveller is
 more impressed by the subtle analogies 
they suggest than by the differences of 
their architectural forms4 ,on          
week-days1 when the church is empty1    
they seem to prefigure the two ideals of
 the religion which they serve--the     
stern1 self-conquering asceticism of a  
,saint ,dominic1 and the exquisite1     
radiant visions which ,saint ,cecelia   
saw when heavenly music was vouchsafed  

her4 ,or1 if one has time to fancy      
further1 the nave is the epic of its    
great religion2 the choir1 a song which 
is the expression of most delicate      
aspiration1 most tender worship4 ,on    
,sunday1 when to this beauty of the     
godly habitation is added all the beauty
 of worship1 the music of the oldest    
organs in ,france1 slow-moving priests  
in gorgeous vestments1 sweet smelling   
incense1 chants1 and prayers of a most  
majestic ritual1 one is tempted to read 
into these stones symbolical            
meanings1--as if the heavy nave1 where  
the dim praying figures kneel1 were     
typical of their life of struggle--and  
their glances altarward1 where all is   
light and beauty1 presaged their final  
coming into the presence and glory of   
,god4  ,illustration3 ,,perspective ,,of
 ,,the ,,romanesque4--,,carcassonne4    
,hunnewell has finely written1 that     
while the passions and the terrors of a 
fierce1 rude age made unendurable the   
pleasant land where we may travel now so

 peacefully1 444 and while ,religion1   
grown political1 forgot the mercy of its
 ,lord and ruled supreme1 444 an earnest
 faith and consecrated genius were      
creating some of the noblest tributes   
man has offered to his ,creator1 and it 
may be truly said that of these one of  
the noblest is the church begun in that 
most cruel age of ,saint ,dominic and de
 ,montfort1 in the very heart of the    
country they laid waste1 in the city    
which one conquered by ruse and the     
other tortured by inquisition1 the old  
,cathedral of ,saint-,nazaire in        
,carcassonne4   ,sidenote3 ,castres4    
,in the ,,vii century ,castres1 which   
had been the site of a ,roman camp1     
became that of a ,benedictine ,abbey2   
and around this foundation1 as about so 
many others1 a town grew through the    
,middle ,ages1 and came safely to       
prosperity and importance4 ,untrue to   
its early protectors and in opposition  
to the fervent orthodoxy of the         
neighbouring city of ,albi1 ,castres    

became a ,protestant stronghold1 and its
 fortunes rose and fell with the chances
 of religious wars4 ,it was1 perhaps1   
one of the most intrepid and obstinate  
of all the centres of heresy1 and the   
centuries of struggle seem only to have 
strengthened the fierceness of its      
faith4 ,in #aebe1 when the ,duke de     
,rohan was absent and a royal army again
 summoned it to submission and          
conversion1 the ,duchess had herself    
carried from a sick bed to the gate of  
the city which was threatened1 and it is
 related that the inhabitants of all    
classes1 men1 women1 and children1      
without distinction of sex or age1 armed
 themselves and rushed victoriously to  
her aid4 ,thirty-five years later1 their
 children sacked churches1 destroyed    
altars and images1 and drove out monks  
and nuns4  ,bellicose incidents make    
history a thrilling story1 but they are 
accompanied by such material destruction
 that they too often rob a city of its  
greatest treasures1 and leave it1 as far

 as architectural interest is concerned1
 an arid waste4 ,such a place is        
,castres1 prosperous1 industrial1       
historically dramatic1 but actually     
commonplace4 ,old houses1 picturesque   
and mouldy1 with irregular1 overhanging 
eaves1 lean along the banks of the      
little river as they are wont to line   
the banks of every old stream of the    
,midi1 and they are nearly all the      
remains of ,castres' ,mediaevalism4 ,for
 her streets are well-paved1 trolleys   
pass to and fro1 department stores are  
frequent1 and that most modern of       
vehicles1 the automobile1 does not seem 
anachronistic4 ,no building could be    
more in harmony with the city's         
atmosphere of uninteresting prosperity  
than its ,cathedral1 and he who enters  
in search of beauty and repose1 is      
doomed to miserable disappointment4     
,confronted in the ,,xiv century by a   
growing heresy1 ,john ,,xxii devised1   
among other less ,christian methods of  
combat1 that of the creations of ,sees1 

whose power and dignity of rank should  
check the progress of the enemies of the
 ,church2 and in #acag1 that year which 
saw the beginning of so many of these   
new ,sees1 the old ,benedictine ,abbey  
of ,castres1 lying in the very centre of
 ,protestantism1 was created a          
,bishopric4 ,the century1 if            
unpropitious to ,catholicism1 was       
favourable to architecture1 the ,abbey  
was of ancient foundation1 and from     
either of these facts1 a fine ,cathedral
 might reasonably be hoped for1--a dim  
,abbey-church whose rounded arches are  
lost in the gloom of its vaulting1 or a 
bit of southern ,gothic which the newly 
consecrated prelate might have          
ambitiously planned4 ,but the ,cathedral
 of ,saint-,benoit is neither of these1 
for it was re-constructed in the ,,xvii 
century1 the ,,xvii century in all its  
confusion of ideas1 all its lack of     
taste1 all its travesty of styles4      
,there is the usual multitude of detail1
 the usual unworthiness4 ,portals which 

have no beauty1 an expanse of unfinished
 facade1 dark1 ugly walls whose bareness
 is not sufficiently hidden by the      
surrounding houses1 heavy buttresses1   
ridiculously topped off by globes of    
stone1--such are the salient features of
 the exterior of ,saint-,benoit4  ,the  
spaciousness of the interior has given  
room1 if not for an impartial           
representation1 at least for a reminder 
of all the styles of architecture to    
which the ,,xvii century was heir4      
,there is the ,renaissance conception of
 the antique in the ornamental columns2 
in the rose-window1 there is a tribute  
to the ,gothic2 the tradition of the    
,south is maintained by a coat of       
colours--many1 if subdued2 and the      
ground plan of nave and side-chapels    
might be called ,romanesque4 ,although  
the vaulting is high and the room large1
 there is no simplicity1 no beauty1 no  
artistic virtue in this interior4       
,opposite the church is the episcopal   
,palace which ,mansart built1 a large   

construction that serves admirably as a 
,city ,hall4 ,behind it1 along the      
river1 are the charming gardens designed
 by ,le ,notre1 where ,bishops walked   
and meditated1 looking upon their not   
too faithful city of ,castres4 ,upon    
this very ground was the ancient ,abbey 
and close of the ,benedictines2 and as  
if in memory of these monkish           
predecessors1 ,bishop and builder of the
 ,,xvii century left in an angle of the 
,palace the old ,abbey-tower4 ,this is  
the treasure of ,castres' past1 a       
,romanesque belfry with the pointed     
roofing of the campanile of ,italy1     
heavy in comparison with their grace1   
and stout and strong4   ,sidenote3      
,toulouse4  ,toulouse is one of the most
 charming cities of the ,south of       
,france4 ,it is also one of the largest2
 but in spite of its size1 it is neither
 noisy nor stupidly conventional2 it is1
 on the contrary1 an ideal provincial   
capital1 where everything1 even the     
climate1 corresponds to our preconceived

 and somewhat romantic ideal of the     
southern type4 ,when the wind blows from
 the desert it comes with fierce and    
sudden passion1 the sun shines hot1 and 
under the awnings of the open square1   
men fan themselves lazily during a long 
lunch hour4 ,under this appearance of   
semi-tropical languor1 there is the     
persistent energy of the great southern 
peoples1 an energy none the less real   
because it is broken by the long        
siestas1 the leisurely meal-times1 and  
the day-time idling1 which seem so      
shiftless and so strange to northern    
minds4 ,this is the energy1 however1    
which has made ,toulouse a rich1 opulent
 city1--a city with broad boulevards1   
open squares1 and fine buildings1 and a 
city of the gay ,renaissance rather than
 of the stern ,middle ,ages4 ,yet for   
,toulouse the ,middle ,ages were a dark 
time4 ,what could be gotten by the sword
 was taken by the sword1 and even the   
mind of man1 in that gross age1 was     
forced and controlled by the agony of   

his body4 ,it is a time whose most      
peaceful outward signs1 the churches1   
have been preserved to ,toulouse1 and   
the war-signs1 towers1 walls1 and       
fortifications1 dungeons1 and the       
torture-irons of inquisition1 are       
now--and wisely--hidden or destroyed4   
,of the fierce tragedies which were     
played in ,toulouse1 even to the days of
 the great ,revolution1 few traces      
remain1--the stern1 orthodox figure of  
,simon de ,montfort1 and of ,count      
,raymond1 his too politic foe1 and the  
anguish of the ,crusaders' siege1 the   
bent form of ,jean ,calas and the       
shrewd1 keen face of ,voltaire1 who     
vindicated him from afar1 these memories
 seem dimmed2 and those which live are  
of light-hearted troubadours and gaily  
dressed ladies of the city of the gay1  
insouciant ,renaissance to whom an      
auto-da-fe was a gala between the       
blithesome robing of the morning and the
 serenade in the moonlight4 ,fierce and 
steadfast1 sentimentally languishing1   

dying for a difference of faith1 or     
dying as violently to avenge the insult 
of a frown or a lifted eye-brow1 such   
are the ,languedocians whom ,toulouse   
evokes1 near to the ,gascons and akin to
 them4 ,here is the ,academie des       
,jeux-,floreaux1 the ,college of ,gay   
,wit which was founded in the ,,xiv     
century1 and still distributes on the   
third of every ,may prizes of gold and  
silver flowers to poets1 and writers of 
fine prose2 and here are many hotels of 
the ,renaissance1 rich and beautiful    
homes of the old ,toulousan nobility    
whose courts are all too silent4 ,here  
is the ,hotel du ,vieux-,raisin1 the    
,maison de ,pierre1 and the ,hotel      
d',assezat where ,jeanne d',albret      
lived2 and near-by is a statue of her   
son1 the strongest1 sanest1 and most    
debonnaire of all the great ,south-men1 
,henry of ,navarre4 ,here in ,toulouse  
is indeed material for a thousand       
fancies4  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,nave   
,,of ,,the ,,xiii ,,century ,,is ,,an   

,,aisle-,,less ,,chamber1 ,,low ,,and   
,,broadly ,,arched4--,,toulouse4  ,and  
here the ,cathedral-seeker1 who had     
usually had the proud task of finding   
the finest building in every city he    
visited1 was doomed to disappointment4  
,in vain he tried to console himself    
with the fact that ,toulouse had had two
 ,cathedrals4 ,of one there was no      
trace2 in the other1 confusion2 and he  
was met with the axiom1 true in         
architecture as in other things1 that   
two indifferent objects do not make one 
good one4 ,the ,dalbade1 formerly the   
place of worship of the ,knights of     
,malta1 has a more elegant tower2 the   
,church of the ,jacobins a more         
interesting one2 the portal of the old  
,chartreuse is more beautiful2 the      
,church of the ,bull1 more curious2 and 
the ,basilica of ,saint-,sernin so      
interesting and truly glorious that the 
,cathedral pales in colourless          
insignificance4  ,some cities of        
mediaeval ,france possessed1 at the same

 time1 two ,cathedrals1 two bodies of   
,canons1 and two ,chapters under one and
 the same ,bishop4 ,such a city was     
,toulouse2 and until the ,,xii century1 
,saint-,jacques and ,saint-,etienne were
 rival ,cathedrals4 ,then1 for some     
reason obscure to us1 ,saint-,jacques   
was degraded from its episcopal rank and
 remained a simple church until #ahab   
when it was destroyed4 ,the present     
,cathedral of ,saint-,etienne is a      
combination of styles and a violation of
 every sort of architectural unity1 and 
realises a confusion which the most     
perverse imagination could scarcely have
 conceived4 ,according to every         
convention of building1 the ,cathedral  
is not only artistically poor1 but      
mathematically insupportable4 ,the      
proportions are execrable2 and the      
interior1 the finest part of the church1
 reminds one irresistibly of a good     
puzzle badly put together4 ,the weak    
tower is a sufficient excuse for the    
absence of the other2 from the tower the

 roof slopes sharply and unreasonably1  
and the rose-window is perched1 with    
inappropriate jauntiness1 to the left of
 the main portal4 ,the whole structure  
is not so much the vagary of an         
architect as the sport of ,fate1 the    
self-evident survival of two unfitting  
facades4 ,walking through narrow        
streets1 one comes upon the apse as upon
 another church1 so different is its    
style4 ,it is disproportionately higher 
than the facade2 instead of being       
conglomerate1 it is homogeneous2 instead
 of a squat appearance1 uninterestingly 
grotesque1 it has the dignity of height 
and unity4 ,and although it is too      
closely surrounded by houses and narrow 
streets1 and although a view of the     
whole apse is entirely prevented by the 
high wall of some churchly structure1 it
 is the only worthy part of the exterior
 and1 by comparison1 even its rather    
timid flying-buttresses and             
insignificant stone traceries are       
impressive4  ,illustration3 ,,the       

,,present ,,cathedral ,,is ,a           
,,combination ,,of                      
,,styles4--,,toulouse4  ,the nave of the
 early ,,xiii century is an aisle-less  
chamber1 low and broadly arched4 ,as the
 eye continues down its length1 it is   
met by the south aisle of the           
choir1--opening directly into the centre
 of the nave4 ,except for this curiously
 bad juxtaposition1 both are normally   
constructed1 and each is of so differing
 a phase of ,gothic that they give the  
effect of two adjoining churches4 ,the  
choir was begun in the late ,,xii       
century1 on a new axis1 and was         
evidently the commencement of an entire 
and improved re-construction4 ,in spite 
of the poorly planned restoration in the
 ,,xvii century1 the worthy conception  
of this choir is still realised4 ,it is 
severe1 lofty ,gothic1 majestic by its  
own intrinsic virtue1 and doubly so in  
comparison with the uncouth puzzle-box  
effect of the whole4 ,its unity came    
upon the traveller with a shock of      

surprise1 relieving and beautiful1 and  
after he had walked about its high1     
narrow aisles and refreshed his         
disappointed vision1 he left the        
,cathedral quickly--looking neither to  
the right nor to the left1 without a    
trace of the temptation of ,lot's wife1 
to glance backward4   ,sidenote3        
,montauban4  ,although ,montauban was   
founded on the site of a ,roman station1
 the ,mons ,albanus1 it is really a city
 of the late ,middle ,ages1 re-created1 
as it were1 by ,alphonse ,i41 ,count of 
,toulouse in #aadd4 ,and it was even a  
greater hot-bed of heretics than        
,beziers4 ,incited first by hatred of   
the neighbouring monks of ,le ,moustier1
 and then by the bitter agonies of the  
,inquisition1 it became fervently       
,albigensian1 and as fervently          
,huguenot2 and even now it has many     
,protestant inhabitants and a           
,protestant ,faculty teaching ,theology4
  ,the ,montauban of the present day is 
busy and prosperous1 very prettily      

situated on the turbid little ,tarn4 ,in
 spite of her constant loyalty to the   
,huguenot cause1 perhaps partly because 
of it1 she has had three successive     
,cathedrals2 ,saint-,martin1 burned in  
#aefb2 the ,pro-cathedral of            
,saint-,jacques2 and1 finally1          
,notre-,dame1 the present episcopal     
church1 a heavy structure in the        
,italian style of the ,,xviii century4  
,large and light and bare1 the nudeness 
of the interior is uncouth1 and the     
stiff exterior1 decorated with statues1 
impresses one as pleasantly as clothes  
upon crossed bean-poles4 ,it is         
artificial and mannered2 the last of the
 ,city ,cathedrals of ,languedoc and the
 least4 ,if the notorious vices of the  
,,xviii century were as bad as its style
 of ecclesiastical architecture1 they   
must have been indeed monstrous4        
,,end ,,of ,,volume ,i4