I
INTRODUCTORY

The basin of the Garonne includes all of the lower Aquitanian province, Lower Languedoc,—still a debatable and undefinable land,—and much of that region known of lovers of France, none the less than the native himself, as the Midi.

Literally the term Midi refers to the south of France, but more particularly that part which lies between the mouth of the RhÔne and the western termination of the Pyrenean mountain boundary between France and Spain.

The term is stamped indelibly in the popular mind by the events which emanated from that wonderful march of the legion, known as "Les Rouges du Midi," in Revolutionary times. We have heard much of the excesses of the Revolution, but certainly the vivid history of "Les Rouges" as recounted so well in that admirable book of FÉlix Gras (none the less truthful because it is a novel), which bears the same name, gives every justification to those valiant souls who made up that remarkable phalanx; of whose acts most historians and humanitarians are generally pleased to revile as cruelty and sacrilege unspeakable.

FÉlix Gras himself has told of the ignoble subjection in which his own great-grandfather, a poor peasant, was held; and Frederic Mistral tells of a like incident—of lashing and beating—which was thrust upon a relative of his. If more reason were wanted, a perusal of the written records of the Marseilles Battalion will point the way. Written history presents many stubborn facts, difficult to digest and hard to swallow; but the historical novel in the hands of a master will prove much that is otherwise unacceptable. A previous acquaintance with this fascinating and lurid story is absolutely necessary for a proper realization of the spirit which endowed the inhabitants of this section of the pays du Midi.

To-day the same spirit lives to a notable degree. The atmosphere and the native character alike are both full of sunshine and shadow; grown men and women are yet children, and gaiety, humour, and passion abound where, in the more austere North, would be seen nought but indifference and indolence.

It is the fashion to call the South languid, but nowhere more than at Bordeaux—where the Garonne joins La Gironde—will you find so great and ceaseless an activity.

The people are not, to be sure, of the peasant class, still they are not such town-dwellers as in many other parts, and seem to combine, as do most of the people of southern France, a languor and keenness which are intoxicating if not stimulating.

Between Bordeaux and Toulouse are not many great towns, but, in the words of Taine, one well realizes that "it is a fine country." The Garonne valley, with a fine alluvial soil, grows, productively and profitably, corn, tobacco, and hemp; and by the utmost industry and intelligence the workers are able to prosper exceedingly.

The traveller from the Mediterranean across to the Atlantic—or the reverse—by rail, will get glimpses now and then of this wonderfully productive river-bottom, as it flows yellow-brown through its osier-bedded banks; and again, an intermittent view of the Canal du Midi, upon whose non-raging bosom is carried a vast water-borne traffic by barge and canal-boat, which even the development of the railway has not been able to appreciably curtail.

Here, too, the peasant proprietor is largely in evidence, which is an undoubted factor in the general prosperity. His blockings, hedgings, and fencings have spoiled the expanse of hillside and vale in much the same manner as in Albion. This may be a pleasing feature to the uninitiated, but it is not a picturesque one. However, the proprietorship of small plots of land, worked by their non-luxury demanding owners, is accountable for a great deal of the peace and plenty with which all provincial France, if we except certain mountainous regions, seems to abound. It may not provide a superabundance of this world's wealth and luxury, but the French farmer—in a small way—has few likes of that nature, and the existing conditions make for a contentment which the dull, brutal, and lethargic farm labourer of some parts of England might well be forced to emulate, if even by ball and chain.

Flat-roofed houses, reminiscent of Spain or Italy—born of a mild climate—add a pleasing variety of architectural feature, while the curiously hung bells—with their flattened belfries, like the headstones in a cemetery—suggest something quite different from the motives which inspired the northern builders, who enclosed their chimes in a roofed-over, open-sided cubicle. The bells here hang merely in apertures open to the air on each side, and ring out sharp and true to the last dying note. It is a most picturesque and unusual arrangement, hardly to be seen elsewhere as a characteristic feature outside Spain itself, and in some of the old Missions, which the Spanish Fathers built in the early days of California.

Between Bayonne and Bordeaux, and bordered by the sea, the Garonne, and the Adour, is a nondescript land which may be likened to the deserts of Africa or Asia, except that its barrenness is of the sea salty. It is by no means unpeopled, though uncultivated and possessed of little architectural splendour of either a past or the present day.

Including the half of the department of the Gironde, a corner of Lot et Garonne, and all of that which bears its name, the Landes forms of itself a great seaboard plain or morass. It is said by a geographical authority that the surface so very nearly approaches the rectilinear that for a distance of twenty-eight miles between the dismal villages of Lamothe and Labonheyre the railway is "a visible meridian."

The early eighteenth-century writers—in English—used to revile all France, so far as its topographical charms were concerned, with panegyrics upon its unloveliness and lack of variety, and of being anything more than a flat, arid land, which was not sufficient even unto itself.

What induced this extraordinary reasoning it is hard to realize at the present day.

Its beauties are by no means as thinly sown as is thought by those who know them slightly—from a window of a railway carriage, or a sojourn of a month in Brittany, a week in Provence, or a fortnight in Touraine.

The ennui of a journey through France is the result of individual incapacity for observation, not of the country. Above all, it is certainly not true of Guienne or Gascony, nor of Provence, nor of DauphinÉ, nor Auvergne, nor Savoie.

As great rivers go, the Garonne is not of very great size, nor so very magnificent in its reaches, nor so very picturesque,—with that minutiÆ associated with English rivers of a like rank,—but it is suggestive of far more than most streams of its size and length, wherever found.

Its source is well within the Spanish frontier, in the picturesque Val d'Aran, where the boundary between the two countries makes a curious dÉtour, and leaves the crest of the Pyrenees, which it follows throughout—with this exception—from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

The Garonne becomes navigable at CazÈres, some distance above Toulouse, and continues its course, enhanced by the confluence of the Tarn, the Lot, the ArriÈge, and the Dordogne, beyond the junction of which, two hundred and seventy odd miles from the head of navigation, the estuary takes on the nomenclature of La Gironde.

Of the ancient provinces of these parts, the most famous is Guienne, that "fair duchy" once attached—by a subtle process of reasoning—to the English crown.

It is distinguished, as to its economic aspect, by its vast vineyards, which have given the wines, so commonly esteemed, the name of claret. These and the other products of the country have found their way into all markets of the world through the Atlantic coast metropolis of Bordeaux.

The Gascogne of old was a large province to the southward of Guienne. A romantic land, say the chroniclers and mere litterateurs alike. "Peopled by a race fiery, ardent, and impetuous ... with a peculiar tendency to boasting, hence the term gasconade." The peculiar and characteristic feature of Gascogne, as distinct from that which holds in the main throughout these parts, is that strange and wild section called the Landes, which is spoken of elsewhere.

The ancient province of Languedoc, which in its lower portion is included in this section, is generally reputed to be the pride of France with regard to climate, soil, and scenery. Again, this has been ruled otherwise, but a more or less intimate acquaintance with the region does not fail to endorse the first claim. This wide, strange land has not vastly changed its aspect since the inhabitants first learned to fly instead of fight.

This statement is derived to a great extent from legend, but, in addition, is supported by much literary and historical opinion, which has recorded its past. It is not contemptuous criticism any more than Froissart's own words; therefore let it stand.

When the French had expelled the Goths beyond the Pyrenees, Charlemagne established his governors in Languedoc with the title of Counts of Toulouse. The first was Corson, in 778; the second St. W. du Courtnez or Aux-Cornets, from whence the princes of Orange derive their pedigree, as may be inferred from the hunting-horns in their arms.

Up to the eighteenth century these states retained a certain independence and exercise of home rule, and had an Assembly made up of "the three orders of the kingdom," the clergy, the nobility, and the people. The Archbishop of Narbonne was president of the body, though he was seldom called upon but to give the king money. This he acquired by the laying on of an extraordinary imposition under the name of "Don-Gratuit."

The wide, rolling country of Lower Languedoc has no very grand topographical features, but it is watered by frequent and ample streams, and peopled with row upon row of sturdy trees, with occasional groves of mulberries, olives, and other citrus fruits. Over all glows the luxuriant southern sun with a tropical brilliance, but without its fierce burning rays.

Mention of the olive suggests the regard which most of us have for this tree of romantic and sentimental association. As a religious emblem, it is one of the most favoured relics which has descended to us from Biblical times.

A writer on southern France has questioned the beauty of the growing tree. It does, truly, look somewhat mop-headed, and it does spread somewhat like a mushroom, but, with all that, it is a picturesque and prolific adjunct to a southern landscape, and has been in times past a source of inspiration to poets and painters, and of immeasurable profit to the thrifty grower.

The worst feature which can possibly be called up with respect to Lower Languedoc is the "skyey influences" of the Mistral, dry and piercingly cold wind which blows southward through all the RhÔne valley with a surprising strength.

Madame de SÉvignÉ paints it thus in words:

"Le tourbillon, l'ouragan, tous les diables dechainÉs qui veulent bien emporter votre chÂteau."

Foremost among the cities of the region are Toulouse, Carcassonne, Montpellier, Narbonne, and BÉziers, of which Carcassonne is preËminent as to its picturesque interest, and perhaps, as well, as to its storied past.

The Pyrenees have of late attracted more and more attention from the tourist, who has become sated with the conventionality of the "trippers' tour" to Switzerland. The many attractive resorts which the Pyrenean region has will doubtless go the way of others elsewhere—if they are given time, but for the present this entire mountain region is possessed of much that will appeal to the less conventional traveller.

Of all the mountain ranges of Europe, the Pyrenees stand unique as to their regularity of configuration and strategic importance. They bind and bound Spain and France with a bony ligature which is indented like the edge of a saw.

From the Atlantic at Bayonne to the Mediterranean at Port Bou, the mountain chain divides its valleys and ridges with the regularity of a wall-trained shrub or pear-tree, and sinks on both sides to the level plains of France and Spain. In the midst of this rises the river Garonne. Its true source is in the Piedrafitta group of peaks, whence its waters flow on through Toulouse, various tributaries combining to give finally to Bordeaux its commanding situation and importance. Around its source, which is the true centre of the Pyrenees, is the parting line between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. On one side the waters flow down through the fields of France to the Biscayan Bay, and on the other southward and westward through the Iberian peninsula.

Few of the summits exceed the height of the ridge by more than two thousand feet; whereas in the Alps many rise from six to eight thousand feet above the massif, while scenic Mont Blanc elevates its head over fifteen thousand feet.

As a barrier, the Pyrenees chain is unique. For over one hundred and eighty miles, from the Col de la Perche to Maya—practically a suburb of Bayonne—not a carriage road nor a railway crosses the range.

The etymology of the name of this mountain chain is in dispute. Many suppose it to be from the Greek pur (fire), alluding to the volcanic origin of the peaks. This is endorsed by many, while others consider that it comes from the Celtic word byren, meaning a mountain. Both derivations are certainly apropos, but the weight of favour must always lie with the former rather than the latter.

The ancient province of BÉarn is essentially mediÆval to-day. Its local tongue is a pure Romance language; something quite distinct from mere patois. It is principally thought to be a compound of Latin and Teutonic with an admixture of Arabic.

This seems involved, but, as it is unlike modern French, or Castilian, and modern everything else, it would seem difficult for any but an expert student of tongues to place it definitely. To most of us it appears to be but a jarring jumble of words, which may have been left behind by the followers of the various conquerors which at one time or another swept over the land.

II
ST. ANDRÉ DE BORDEAUX

Taine in his Carnets de Voyage says of Bordeaux: "It is a sort of second Paris, gay and magnificent ... amusement is the main business."

Bordeaux does not change. It has ever been advanced, and always a centre of gaiety. Its fÊtes and functions quite rival those of the capital itself,—at times,—and its opera-house is the most famed and magnificent in France, outside of Paris.

It is a city of enthusiastic demonstrations. It was so in 1814 for the Bourbons, and again a year later for the emperor on his return from Elba.

In 1857 it again surpassed itself in its enthusiasm for Louis Napoleon, when he was received in the cathedral, under a lofty dais, and led to the altar with the cry of "Vive l'empereur;" while during the bloody Franco-Prussian war it was the seat of the provisional government of Thiers.

Here the Gothic wave of the North has produced in the cathedral of St. AndrÉ a remarkably impressive and unexpected example of the style.

In the general effect of size alone it will rank with many more important and more beautiful churches elsewhere. Its total length of over four hundred and fifty feet ranks it among the longest in France, and its vast nave, with a span of sixty feet, aisleless though it be, gives a still further expression of grandeur and magnificence.

It is known that three former cathedrals were successfully destroyed by invading Goths, Saracens, and warlike Normans.

Yet another structure was built in the eleventh century, which, with the advent of the English in Guienne, in the century following, was enlarged and magnified into somewhat of an approach to the present magnificent dimensions, though no English influence prevailed toward erecting a central tower, as might have been anticipated. Instead we have two exceedingly graceful and lofty spired towers flanking the north transept, and yet another single tower, lacking its spire, on the south.

The portal of the north transept—of the fourteenth century—is an elaborate work of itself. It is divided into two bays that join beneath a dais, on which is a statue of Bertrand de Goth, who was Pope in 1305, under the name of Clement V. He is here clothed in sacerdotal habits, and stands upright in the attitude of benediction.

At the lower right-hand side are statues of six bishops, but, like that of Pope Clement, they do not form a part of the constructive elements of the portal, as did most work of a like nature in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but are made use of singly as a decorative motive.

The spring of the arch which surrounds the tympanum is composed of a cordon of foliaged stone separating the six angels of the premiÈre archivolte from the twelve apostles of the second, and the fourteen patriarchs and prophets of the third.

In the tympanum are three bas-reliefs superimposed one upon the other, the upper being naturally the smaller. They represent the Christ triumphant, seated on a dais between two angels, one bearing a staff and the other a veil, while above hover two other angelic figures holding respectively the moon and sun.

The arrangement is not so elaborate or gracefully executed as many, but in its simple and expressive symbolism, in spite of the fact that the whole added ornament appears an afterthought, is far more convincing than many more pretentious works of a similar nature.

Another exterior feature of note is seen at the third pillar at the right of the choir. It is a curious double (back-to-back) statue of Ste. Anne and the Virgin. It is of stone and of the late sixteenth century, when sculpture—if it had not actually debased itself by superfluity of detail—was of an excellence of symmetry which was often lacking entirely from work of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The choir-chevet is a magnificent pyramidal mass of piers, pinnacles, and buttresses of much elegance.

The towers which flank the north transept are adorned with an excellent disposition of ornament.

The greater part of this cathedral was constructed during the period of English domination; the choir would doubtless never have been achieved in its present form had it not been for the liberality of Edward I. and Pope Clement V., who had been the archbishop of the diocese.

The cathedral of St. AndrÉ dates practically from 1252, and is, in inception and execution, a very complete Gothic church.

Over its aisleless nave is carried one of the boldest and most magnificent vaults known. The nave is more remarkable, however, for this gigantic attribute than for any other excellencies which it possesses.

In the choir, which rises much higher than the nave, there comes into being a double aisle on either side, as if to make up for the deficiencies of the nave in this respect.

The choir arrangement and accessories are remarkably elaborate, though many of them are not of great artistic worth. Under the organ are two sculptured Renaissance bas-reliefs, taken from the ancient jube, and representing a "Descent from the Cross" and "Christ Bearing the Cross." There are two religious paintings of some value, one by Jordaens, and the other by Alex. Veronese. Before the left transept is a monument to Cardinal de Cheverus, with his statue. Surrounding the stonework of a monument to d'Ant de Noailles (1662) is a fine work of wood-carving.

The high-altar is of the period contemporary with the main body of the cathedral, and was brought thither from the Église de la RÉole.

The Province of Bordeaux, as the early ecclesiastical division was known, had its archiepiscopal seat at Bordeaux in the fourth century, though it had previously (in the third century) been made a bishopric.

III
CATHÉDRALE DE LECTOURE

Lectoure, though defunct as a bishopric to-day, had endured from the advent of Heuterius, in the sixth century, until 1790.

In spite of the lack of ecclesiastical remains of a very great rank, there is in its one-time cathedral a work which can hardly be contemplated except with affectionate admiration.

The affairs of a past day, either with respect to Church or State, appear not to have been very vivid or highly coloured; in fact, the reverse appears to be the case. In pre-mediÆval times—when the city was known as the Roman village of Lactora—it was strongly fortified, like most hilltop towns of Gaul.

The cathedral dates for the most part from the thirteenth century, and in the massive tower which enwraps its faÇade shows strong indications of the workmanship of an alien hand, which was neither French nor Italian. This tower is thought to resemble the Norman work of England and the north of France, and in some measure it does, though it may be questioned as to whether this is the correct classification. This tower, whatever may have been its origin, is, however, one of those features which is to be admired for itself alone; and it amply endorses and sustains the claim of this church to a consideration more lasting than a mere passing fancy.

The entire plan is unusually light and graceful, and though, by no stretch of opinion could it be thought of as Gothic, it has not a little of the suggestion of the style, which at a former time must have been even more pronounced in that its western tower once possessed a spire which rose to a sky-piercing height.

The lower tower still remains, but the spire, having suffered from lightning and the winds at various times, was, a century or more ago, removed.

The nave has a series of lateral chapels, each surmounted by a sort of gallery or tribune, which would be notable in any church edifice, and there is fine traceried vaulting in the apsidal chapels, which also contain some effective, though modern coloured glass.

The former episcopal residence is now the local Mairie.

On a clear day, it is said, the towers of the cathedral at Auch may be seen to the northward, while in the opposite direction the serrated ridge of the Pyrenees is likewise visible.

IV
NOTRE DAME DE BAYONNE

Bayonne is an ancient town, and was known by the Romans as Lapurdum. As a centre of Christianity, it was behind its neighbours, as no bishopric was founded here until Arsias Rocha held the see in the ninth century. No church-building of remark followed for at least two centuries, when the foundations were laid upon which the present cathedral was built up.

Like the cities and towns of Rousillon, at the opposite end of the Pyrenean chain, Bayonne has for ever been of mixed race and characteristics. Basques, Spaniards, BÉarnese, and "alien French"—as the native calls them—went to make up its conglomerate population in the past, and does even yet in considerable proportions.

To the reader of history, the mediÆval BÉarn and Navarre, which to-day forms the Department of the Basses-PyrÉnÉes in the southwest corner of France, will have the most lively interest, from the fact of its having been the principality of Henri Quatre, the "good king" whose name was so justly dear. The history of the BÉarnese is a wonderful record of a people of which too little is even yet known.

Bayonne itself has had many and varied historical associations, though it is not steeped in that antiquity which is the birthright of many another favoured spot.

Guide-books and the "notes-and-queries columns" of antiquarian journals have unduly enlarged upon the fact that the bayonet—to-day a well-nigh useless appendage as a weapon of war—was first invented here. It is interesting as a fact, perhaps, but it is not of Æsthetic moment.

The most gorgeous event of history connected with Bayonne and its immediate vicinity—among all that catalogue, from the minor Spanish invasions to Wellington's stupendous activities—was undoubtedly that which led up to the famous Pyrenean Treaty made on the Isle du Faisan, close beside the bridge, in the river Bidassoa, on the Spanish frontier.

The memory of the parts played therein by Mazarin and De Haro, and not less the gorgeous pavilion in which the function was held, form a setting which the writers of "poetical plays" and "historical romances" seem to have neglected.

This magnificent apartment was decorated by Velasquez, who, it is said, died of his inglorious transformation into an upholsterer.

The cathedral at Bayonne is contemporary with those at Troyes, Meaux, and Auxerre, in the north of France. It resembles greatly the latter as to general proportions and situation, though it possesses two completed spires, whereas St. Etienne, at Auxerre, has but one.

In size and beauty the cathedral at Bayonne is far above the lower rank of the cathedrals of France, and in spite of extensive restorations, it yet stands forth as a mediÆval work of great importance.

From a foundation of the date of 1140, a structure was in part completed by 1213, at which time the whole existing fabric suffered the ravages of fire. Work was immediately undertaken again, commencing with the choir; and, except for the grand portal of the west front, the whole church was finished by the mid-sixteenth century.

Restoration of a late date, induced by the generosity of a native of the city, has resulted in the completion of the cathedral, which, if not a really grand church to-day, is an exceedingly near approach thereto.

The fine western towers are modern, but they form the one note which produces the effect of ensemble, which otherwise would be entirely wanting.

The view from the Quai Bergemet, just across the Adour, for picturesqueness of the quality which artists—tyros and masters alike—love to sketch, is reminiscent only of St. Lo in Normandy.

Aside from the charm of its general picturesqueness of situation and grouping, Notre Dame de Bayonne will appeal mostly by its interior arrangements and embellishments.

The western portal is still lacking the greatness which future ages may yet bestow upon it, and that of the north transept, by which one enters, is, though somewhat more ornate, not otherwise remarkable.

A florid cloister of considerable size attaches itself on the south, but access is had only from the sacristy.

The choir and apse are of the thirteenth century, and immediately followed the fire of 1213.

Neither the transepts nor choir are of great length; indeed, they are attenuated as compared with those of the more magnificent churches of the Gothic type, of which this is, in a way, an otherwise satisfying example.

The patriotic Englishman will take pride in the fact that the English arms are graven somewhere in the vaulting of the nave. He may not be able to spy them out,—probably will not be,—but they likely enough existed, as a mid-Victorian writer describes them minutely, though no modern guides or works of local repute make mention of the feature in any way. The triforium is elegantly traceried, and is the most worthy and artistic detail to be seen in the whole structure.

The clerestory windows contain glass of the fifteenth century; much broken to-day, but of the same excellent quality of its century, and that immediately preceding. The remainder of the glass, in the clerestory and choir, is modern.

In the sacristy is a remarkable series of perfectly preserved thirteenth-century sculptures in stone which truthfully—with the before-mentioned triforum—are the real "art treasures" of the cathedral. The three naves; the nave proper and its flanking aisles; the transepts, attenuated though they be; and the equally shallow choir, all in some way present a really grand effect, at once harmonious and pleasing.

The pavement of the sanctuary is modern, as also the high-altar, but both are generously good in design. These furnishings are mainly of Italian marbles, hung about with tapestries, which, if not of superlative excellence, are at least effective.

Modern mural paintings with backgrounds in gold decorate the abside chapels.

There are many attributes of picturesque quality scattered throughout the city: its unique trade customs, its shipping, its donkeys, and, above any of these, its women themselves picturesque and beautiful. All these will give the artist many lively suggestions.

Not many of the class, however, frequent this Biscayan city; which is a loss to art and to themselves. A plea is herein made that its attractions be better known by those who have become ennuied by the "resorts."

V
ST. JEAN DE BAZAS

At the time the grand cathedrals of the north of France were taking on their completed form, a reflex was making itself felt here in the South. Both at Bayonne and Bazas were growing into being two beautiful churches which partook of many of the attributes of Gothic art in its most approved form.

St. Jean de Bazas is supposedly of a tenth-century foundation, but its real beginnings, so far as its later approved form is concerned, came only in 1233. From which time onward it came quickly to its completion, or at least to its dedication.

It was three centuries before its west front was completed, and when so done—in the sixteenth century—it stood out, as it does to-day, a splendid example of a faÇade, completely covered with statues of such proportions and excellence that it is justly accounted the richest in the south of France.

It quite equals, in general effect, such well-peopled fronts as Amiens or Reims; though here the numbers are not so great, and, manifestly, not of as great an excellence.

This small but well-proportioned church has no transepts, but the columnar supports of its vaulting presume an effect of length which only Gothic in its purest forms suggests.

The Huguenot rising somewhat depleted and greatly damaged the sculptured decorations of its faÇade, and likewise much of the interior ornament, but later repairs have done much to preserve the effect of the original scheme, and the church remains to-day an exceedingly gratifying and pleasing example of transplanted Gothic forms.

The diocese dates from the foundation of Sextilius, in the sixth century.

VI
NOTRE DAME DE LESCAR

The bishopric here was founded in the fifth century by St. Julian, and lasted till the suppression of 1790; but of all of its importance of past ages, which was great, little is left to-day of ecclesiastical dignity.

Lescar itself is an attractive enough small town of France,—it contains but a scant two thousand inhabitants,—but has no great distinction to important rank in any of the walks of life; indeed, its very aspect is of a glory that has departed.

It has, however, like so many of the small towns of the ancient BÉarn, a notably fine situation: on a high coteau which rises loftily above the route nationale which runs from Toulouse to Bayonne.

From the terrace of the former cathedral of Notre Dame can be seen the snow-clad ridge of the Pyrenees and the umbrageous valley and plain which lie between. In this verdant land there is no suggestion of what used—in ignorance or prejudice—to be called "an aspect austere and sterile."

The cathedral itself is bare, unto poverty, of tombs and monuments, but a mosaic-worked pavement indicates, by its inscriptions and symbols, that many faithful and devout souls lie buried within the walls.

The edifice is of imposing proportions, though it is not to be classed as truly great. From the indications suggested by the heavy pillars and grotesquely carved capitals of its nave, it is manifest that it has been built up, at least in part, from remains of a very early date. It mostly dates from the twelfth century, but in that it was rebuilt during the period of the Renaissance, it is to the latter classification that it really belongs.

The curiously carved capitals of the columns of the nave share, with the frescoes of the apse, the chief distinction among the accessory details. They depict, in their ornate and deeply cut heads, dragons and other weird beasts of the land and fowls of the air, in conjunction with unshapely human figures, and while all are intensely grotesque, they are in no degree offensive.

There is no exceeding grace or symmetry of outline in any of the parts of this church, but, nevertheless, it has the inexplicable power to please, which counts for a great deal among such inanimate things as architectural forms. It would perhaps be beyond the powers of any one to explain why this is so frequently true of a really unassuming church edifice; more so, perhaps, with regard to churches than to most other things—possibly it is because of the local glamour or sentiment which so envelops a religious monument, and hovers unconsciously and ineradicably over some shrines far more than others. At any rate, the former cathedral of Notre Dame at Lescar has this indefinable quality to a far greater degree than many a more ambitiously conceived fabric.

The round-arched window and doorway most prevail, and the portal in particular is of that deeply recessed variety which allows a mellow interior to unfold slowly to the gaze, rather than jump at once into being, immediately one has passed the outer lintel or jamb.

The entire suggestion of this church, both inside and out, is of a structure far more massive and weighty than were really needed for a church of its size, but for all that its very stable dimensions were well advised in an edifice which was expected to endure for ages.

The entire apse is covered, inside, with a series of frescoes of a very acceptable sort, which, though much defaced to-day, are the principal art attribute of the church. Their author is unknown, but they are probably the work of some Italian hand, and have even been credited to Giotto.

The choir-stalls are quaintly carved, with a luxuriance which, in some manner, approaches the Spanish style. They are at least representative of that branch of Renaissance art which was more representative of the highest expression than any other.

In form, this old cathedral follows the basilica plan, and is perhaps two hundred feet in length, and some seventy-five in width.

The grandfather of Henri IV. and his wife—la Marguerites des Marguerites—were formerly buried in this cathedral, but their remains were scattered by either the Huguenots or the Revolutionists.

Curiously enough, too, Lescar was the former habitation of a Jesuit College, founded by Henri IV. after his conversion to the Roman faith, but no remains of this institution exist to-day.

Froissart describes Tarbes as "a fine large town, situated in a plain country; there is a city and a town and a castle ... the beautiful river Lisse which runs throughout all Tharbes, and divides it, the which river is as clear as a fountain."

Froissart himself nods occasionally, and on this particular occasion has misnamed the river which flows through the city, which is the Adour. The rest of his description might well apply to-day, and the city is most charmingly and romantically environed.

Its cathedral will not receive the same adulation which is bestowed upon the charms of the city itself. It is a poor thing, not unlike, in appearance, a market-house or a third-rate town hall of some mean municipality.

Once the Black Prince and his "fair maid of Kent" came to this town of the Bigorre, to see the Count of Armagnac, under rather doleful circumstances for the count, who was in prison and in debt to Gaston Phoebus for the amount of his ransom.

The "fair maid," however, appears to have played the part of a good fairy, and prevailed upon the magnificent Phoebus to reduce the ransom to the extent of fifty thousand francs.

In this incident alone there lies a story, of which all may read in history, and which is especially recommended to those writers of swash-buckler romances who may feel in need of a new plot.

There is little in Tarbes but the memory of a fair past to compel attention from the lover of antiquity, of churches, or of art; and there are no remains of any note—even of the time when the Black Prince held his court here.

The bishopric is very ancient, and dates from the sixth century, when St. Justin first filled the office. In spite of this, however, there is very little inspiration to be derived from a study of this quite unconvincing cathedral, locally known as the Église de la SÈde.

This Romanesque-Transition church, though dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, has neither the strength and character of the older style, nor the vigour of the new.

The nave is wide, but short, and has no aisles. At the transept is a superimposed octagonal cupola, which is quite unbeautiful and unnecessary. It is a fourteenth-century addition which finally oppresses this ungainly heavy edifice beyond the hope of redemption.

Built upon the faÇade is a Renaissance portal which of itself would be a disfigurement anywhere, but which here gives the final blow to a structure which is unappealing from every point.

The present-day prefecture was the former episcopal residence.

The bishopric, which to-day has jurisdiction over the Department of the Hautes-PyrÉnÉes, is a suffragan of the mother-see of Auch.

VIII
CATHÉDRALE DE CONDOM

The history of Condom as an ecclesiastical see is very brief.

It was established only in 1317, on an ancient abbey foundation, whose inception is unknown.

For three centuries only was it endowed with diocesan dignity. Its last titulaire was Bishop Bossuet.

The fine Gothic church, which was so short-lived as a cathedral, is more worthy of admiration than many grander and more ancient.

It dates from the early sixteenth century, and shows all the distinct marks of its era; but it is a most interesting church nevertheless, and is possessed of a fine unworldly cloister, which as much as many another—more famous or more magnificent—must have been conducive to inspired meditation.

The portal rises to a considerable height of elegance, but the faÇade is otherwise austere.

In the interior, a choir-screen in cut stone is the chief artistic treasure. The sacristy is a finely decorated and beautifully proportioned room.

In the choir is a series of red brick or terra-cotta stalls of poor design and of no artistic value whatever.

The ancient residence of the bishops is now the HÔtel de Ville, and is a good example of late Gothic domestic architecture. It is decidedly the architectural piÈce de resistance of the town.

IX
CATHÉDRALE DE MONTAUBAN

Montauban, the location of an ancient abbey, was created a bishopric, in the Province of Toulouse, in 1317, under Bertrand du Puy. It was a suffragan of the see of Toulouse after that city had been made an archbishopric in the same year, a rank it virtually holds to-day, though the mother-see is now known by the double vocable of Toulouse-Narbonne.

Montauban is in many ways a remarkable little city; remarkable for its tidy picturesqueness, for its admirable situation, for the added attraction of the river Tarn, which rushes tumblingly past its quais on its way from the Gorges to the Garonne; in short, Montauban is a most fascinating centre of a life and activity, not so modern that it jars, nor yet so mediÆval that it is uncomfortably squalid.

The lover of architecture will interest himself far more in the thirteenth-century bridge of bricks which crosses the Tarn on seven ogival arches, than he will in the painfully ordinary and unworthy cathedral, which is a combination of most of the undesirable features of Renaissance church-building.

The faÇade is, moreover, set about with a series of enormous sculptured effigies perched indiscriminately wherever it would appear that a foothold presented itself. There are still a few unoccupied niches and cornices, which some day may yet be peopled with other figures as gaunt.

Two ungraceful towers flank a classical portico, one of which is possessed of the usual ludicrous clock-face.

The interior, with its unusual flood of light from the windows of the clerestory, is cold and bare. Its imposed pilasters and heavy cornices are little in keeping with the true conception of Christian architecture, and its great height of nave—some eighty odd feet—lends a further chilliness to one's already lukewarm appreciation.

The one artistic detail of Montauban's cathedral is the fine painting by Ingres (1781-1867) to be seen in the sacristy, if by any chance you can find the sacristan—which is doubtful. It is one of this artist's most celebrated paintings, and is commonly referred to as "The Vow of Louis XIII."

X
ST. ETIENNE DE CAHORS

St. Genulphe was the first bishop of Cahors, in the fourth century. The diocese was then, as now, a suffragan of Albi. The cathedral of St. Etienne was consecrated in 1119, but has since—and many times—been rebuilt and restored.

This church is but one of the many of its class, built in Aquitaine at this period, which employed the cupola as a distinct feature. It shares this attribute in common with the cathedrals at Poitiers, PÉrigueux, and AngoulÊme, and the great churches of Solignac, Fontevrault, and Souillac, and is commonly supposed to be an importation or adaptation of the domes of St. Marc's at Venice.

A distinct feature of this development is that, while transepts may or may not be wanting, the structures are nearly always without side aisles.

What manner of architecture this style may presume to be is impossible to discuss here, but it is manifestly not Byzantine pur-sang, as most guide-books would have the tourist believe.

Although much mutilated in many of its accessories and details, the cathedral at Cahors fairly illustrates its original plan.

There are no transepts, and the nave is wide and short, its area being entirely roofed by the two circular cupolas, each perhaps fifty feet in diameter. In height these two details depart from the true hemisphere, as has always been usual in dome construction. There were discovered, as late as 1890, in this church, many mural paintings of great interest. Of the greatest importance was that in the westerly cupola, which presents an entire composition, drawn in black and colour.

The cupola is perhaps forty feet in diameter, and is divided by the decorations into eight sectors. The principal features of this remarkable decoration are the figures of eight of the prophets, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Jonah, Ezra, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk, each a dozen or more feet in height.

Taken as a whole, in spite of their recent discovery, these elaborate decorations are supposed to have been undertaken by or under the direction of the bishops who held the see from 1280 to 1324; most likely under Hugo Geraldi (1312-16), the friend of Pope Clement V. and of the King of France. This churchman was burned to death at Avignon, and the see was afterward administered by procuration by Guillaume de Labroa (1316-1324), who lived at Avignon.

It is then permissible to think that these wall-paintings of the cathedral at Cahors are perhaps unique in France. Including its sustaining wall, one of the cupolas rises to a height of eighty-two feet, and the other to one hundred and five feet.

The north portal is richly sculptured; and the choir, with its fifteenth-century ogival chapels, has been rebuilt from the original work of 1285.

The interior, since the recently discovered frescoes of the cupolas, presents an exceedingly rich appearance, though there are actually few decorative constructive elements.

The apse of the choir is naturally pointed, as its era would indicate, and its chapels are ornamented with frescoes of the time of Louis XII.; neither very good nor very bad, but in no way comparable to the decorations of the cupolas.

The only monument of note in the interior is the tomb of Bishop Alain de Solminiac (seventeenth century).

The paintings of the choir are supposed to date from 1315, which certainly places them at a very early date. A doorway in the right of the nave gives on the fifteenth-century cloister, which, though fragmentary, must at one time have been a very satisfactory example. The ancient episcopal palace is now the prefecture. The bishop originally bore the provisional title of Count of Cahors, and was entitled to wear a sword and gauntlets, and it is recorded that he was received, upon his accession to the diocese, by the Vicomte de Sessac, who, attired in a grotesque garb, conducted him to his palace amid a ceremony which to-day would be accounted as buffoonery pure and simple. From the accounts of this ceremony, it could not have been very dignified or inspiring.

The history of Cahors abounds in romantic incident, and its capture by Henry of Navarre in 1580 was a brilliant exploit.

Cahors was the birthplace of one of the French Popes of Avignon, John XXII. (who is buried in Notre Dame des Doms at Avignon).

XI
ST. CAPRAIS D'AGEN

Agen, with Cahors, Tulle, Limoges, PÉrigueux, AngoulÊme, and Poitiers, are, in a way, in a class of themselves with respect to their cathedrals. They have not favoured aggrandizement, or even restoration to the extent of mitigating the sentiment which will always surround a really ancient fabric.

The cathedral at Bordeaux came strongly under the Gothic spell; so did that at Clermont-Ferrand, and St. Nazaire, in the CitÉ de Carcassonne. But those before-mentioned did not, to any appreciable extent, come under the influence of the new style affected by the architects of the Isle of France during the times of Philippe-Auguste (d. 1223).

At the death of Philippe le Bel (1314), the royal domain was considerably extended, and the cathedrals at Montpellier, Carcassonne, and Narbonne succumbed and took on Gothic features.

The diocese of Agen was founded in the fourth century as a suffragan of Bordeaux. Its first bishop was St. PhÉrade. To-day the diocese is still under the parent jurisdiction of Bordeaux, and the see comprises the department of Lot-et-Garonne.

A former cathedral church—St. Etienne—was destroyed at the Revolution.

The Romanesque cathedral of St. Caprais dates, as to its apses and transepts, from the eleventh century.

Its size is not commonly accredited great, but for a fact its nave is over fifty-five feet in width; greater than Chartres, and nearly as great as Amiens in the north.

This is a comparison which will show how futile it is not to take into consideration the peers, compeers, or contemporaries of architectural types when striving to impress its salient features upon one's senses.

This immense vault is covered with a series of cupolas of a modified form which finally take the feature of the early development of the ogival arch. This, then, ranks as one of the early transitions between barrel-vaulted and domed roofs, and the Gothic arched vaulting which became so common in the century following.

As to the general ground-plan, the area is not great. Its Romanesque nave is stunted in length, if not in width, and the transepts are equally contracted. The choir is semicircular, and the general effect is that of a tri-apsed church, seldom seen beyond the immediate neighbourhood of the Rhine valley.

The interior effect is considerably marred by the modern mural frescoes by BÉzard, after a supposed old manner. The combination of colour can only be described as polychromatic, and the effect is not good.

There are a series of Roman capitals in the nave, which are of more decided artistic worth and interest than any other distinct feature.

At the side of the cathedral is the Chapelle des Innocents, the ancient chapter-house of St. Caprais, now used as the chapel of the college. Its faÇade has some remarkable sculptures, and its interior attractions of curiously carved capitals and some tombs—supposed to date from the first years of the Christian era—are of as great interest as any of the specific features of the cathedral proper.

XII
STE. MARIE D'AUCH

The first bishop of Auch was Citerius, in the fourth century. Subsequently the Province d'Auch became the see of an archbishop, who was Primate of Aquitaine. This came to pass when the office was abolished or transferred from Eauze in the eighth century. The diocese is thus established in antiquity, and endures to-day with suffragans at Aire, Tarbes, and Bayonne.

The cathedral of Ste. Marie d'Auch is not of itself an ancient structure, dating only from the late fifteenth century. Its choir, however, ranks among the most celebrated in the Gothic style in all Europe, and the entire edifice is usually accorded as being the most thoroughly characteristic (though varied as to the excellence of its details) church of the Midi of France, though built at a time when the ogival style was projecting its last rays of glory over the land.

In its general plan it is of generous though not majestic proportions, and is rich and aspiring in its details throughout.

An ancient altar in this present church is supposed to have come from the humble basilica which was erected here by St. Taurin, bishop of Eauze, soon after the foundation of the see. If this is so, it is certainly of great antiquity, and is exceedingly valuable as the record of an art expression of that early day.

Taurin II., in 845, rebuilt a former church, which stood on the site of the present cathedral; but, its dimensions not proving great enough for the needs of the congregation, St. Austinde, in 1048, built a much larger church, which was consecrated early in the twelfth century.

Various other structures were undertaken, some completed only in part and others to the full; but it was not until 1548 that the present Ste. Marie was actually consecrated by Jean Dumas.

"This gorgeous ceremony," says the AbbÉ BourassÉ, "was accomplished amid great pomp on the anniversary day of the dedication of the eleventh-century basilica on the same site."

In 1597 further additions were made to the vaulting, and the fine choir glass added. Soon after this time, the glass of the nave chapels was put into place, being the gift of Dominique de Vic. The final building operations—as might be expected—show just the least suspicion of debasement. This quality is to be remarked in the choir-screen, the porch and towers, and in the balustrades of the chapels, to say nothing of the organ supports.

The west front is, in part, as late as the seventeenth century.

In this faÇade there is an elaborately traceried rose window, indicating in its painted glass a "Glory of Angels." It is not a great work, as these chief decorative features of French mediÆval architecture go, but is highly ornate by reason of its florid tracery, and dates, moreover, from that period when the really great accomplishment of designing in painted glass was approaching its maturity.

If any feature of remark exists to excite undue criticism, it is that of a certain incongruity or mixture of style, which, while not widely separated in point of time, has great variation as to excellence.

In spite of this there is, in the general ensemble, an imposing picturesqueness to which distance lends the proverbial degree of enchantment.

The warm mouse-coloured cathedral and its archbishop's palace, when seen in conjunction with the modern ornamental gardens and escalier at the rear, produces an effect more nearly akin to an Italian composition than anything of a like nature in France.

It is an ensemble most interesting and pleasing, but as a worthy artistic effort it does perhaps fall short of the ideal.

The westerly towers are curious heavy works after the "French Classical" manner in vogue during the reign of Louis XIV. They are not beautiful of themselves, and quite unexpressive of the sanctity which should surround a great church.

The portal is richly decorated, and contains statues of St. Roche and St. Austinde. It has been called an "imitation of the portal of St. Peter's at Rome," but this is an opinion wholly unwarranted by a personal acquaintance therewith. The two bear no resemblance except that they are both very inferior to the magnificent Gothic portals of the north.

The interior embellishments are as mixed as to style, and of as varied worth, as those of the exterior.

The painted glass (by a Gascon artist, Arnaud de Moles, 1573) is usually reckoned as of great beauty. This it hardly is, though of great value and importance as showing the development of the art which produced it. The colour is rich,—which it seldom is in modern glass,—but the design is coarse and crude, a distinction that most modern glass has as well. Ergo, we have not advanced greatly in this art.

The chief feature of artistic merit is the series of one hundred and thirteen choir-stalls, richly and wonderfully carved in wood. If not the superior to any others in France, these remarkable examples of Renaissance woodwork are the equal of any, and demonstrate, once again, that it was in wood-carving, rather than sculptures in stone, that Renaissance art achieved its greatest success.

A distinct feature is the disposition made of the accessories of the fine choir. It is surrounded by an elaborate screen, surmounted by sculpture of a richness quite uncommon in any but the grander and more wealthy churches.

Under the reign of St. Louis many of the grand cathedrals and the larger monastic churches were grandly favoured with this accessory, notably at Amiens and Beauvais, at Burgos in Spain, and at Canterbury.

Here the elaborate screen was designed to protect the ranges of stalls and their canopied dossiers, and give a certain seclusion to the chapter and officiants.

Elsewhere—out of regard for the people it is to be presumed—this feature was in many known instances done away with, and the material of which it was constructed—often of great richness—made use of in chapels subsequently erected in the walls of the apside or in the side aisles of the nave. This is to be remarked at Rodez particularly, where the reËrected clÔture is still the show-piece of the cathedral.

The organ buffet is, as usual (in the minds of the local resident), a remarkably fine piece of cabinet-work and nothing more. One always qualifies this by venturing the opinion that no one ever really does admire these overpowering and ungainly accessories.

What triforium there is is squat and ugly, with ungraceful openings, and the high-altar is a modern work in the pseudo-classic style, quite unworthy as a work of art.

The five apsidal chapels are brilliant with coloured glass, but otherwise are not remarkable.

In spite of all incongruity, Ste. Marie d'Auch is one of those fascinating churches in and about which one loves to linger. It is hard to explain the reason for this, except that its environment provides the atmosphere which is the one necessary ingredient to a full realization of the appealing qualities of a stately church.

The archiepiscopal palace adjoins the cathedral in the rear, and has a noble donjon of the fourteenth century. Its career of the past must have been quite uneventful, as history records no very bloody or riotous events which have taken place within or before its walls.

FÉnelon was a student at the College of Auch, and his statue adorns the Promenade du FossÉ.

XIII
ST. ETIENNE DE TOULOUSE

The provincialism of Toulouse has been the theme of many a French writer of ability,—offensively provincial, it would seem from a consensus of these written opinions.

"Life and movement in abundance, but what a life!" ... "The native is saved from coarseness by his birth, but after a quarter of an hour the substratum shows itself." ... "The working girl is graceful and has the vivacity of a bird, but there is nothing in her cackle." ... "How much more beautiful are the stars that mirror themselves in the gutter of the Rue du Bac." ... "There is a yelp in the accents of the people of the town."

Contrariwise we may learn also that "the water is fine," "the quays are fine," and "fine large buildings glow in the setting sun in bright and softened hues," and "in the far distance lies the chain of the Pyrenees, like a white bed of watery clouds," and "the river, dressed always in smiling verdure, gracefully skirts the city."

These pessimistic and optimistic views of others found the contributors to this book in somewhat of a quandary as to the manner of mood and spirit in which they should approach this provincial capital.

They had heard marvels of its Romanesque church of St. Saturnin, perhaps the most perfect and elaborate of any of its kind in all France; of the curious amalgamated edifice, now the cathedral of St. Etienne, wherein two distinct church bodies are joined by an unseemly ligature; of the church of the Jacobins; and of the "seventy-seven religious establishments" enumerated by Taine.

All these, or less, were enough to induce one to cast suspicion aside and descend upon the city with an open mind.

Two things one must admit: Toulouse does somewhat approach the gaiety of a capital, and it is provincial.

Its list of attractions for the visitor is great, and its churches numerous and splendid, so why carp at the "ape-like manners" of the corner loafers, who, when all is said, are vastly less in number here than in many a northern centre of population.

The MusÉe is charming, both as to the disposition of its parts and its contents. It was once a convent, and has a square courtyard or promenade surrounded by an arcade. The courtyard is set about with green shrubs, and a lofty brick tower, pierced with little arched windows and mullioned with tiny columns, rises skyward in true conventual fashion.

Altogether the MusÉe, in the attractiveness of its fabric and the size and importance of its collections, must rank, for interest to the tourist, at the very head of those outside Paris itself.

As for the churches, there are many, the three greatest of which are the cathedral of St. Etienne, St. Saturnin, and the Église des Jacobins; in all is to be observed the universal application or adoption of des matÉriaux du pays—bricks.

In the cathedral tower, and in that of the Église des Jacobins, a Gothic scheme is worked out in these warm-toned bricks, and forms, in contrast with the usual execution of a Gothic design, a most extraordinary effect; not wholly to the detriment of the style, but certainly not in keeping with the original conception and development of "pointed" architecture.

In 1863 Viollet-le-Duc thoroughly and creditably restored St. Saturnin at great expense, and by this treatment it remains to-day as the most perfectly preserved work extant of its class.

It is vast, curious, and in a rather mixed style, though thoroughly Latin in motive.

It is on the border-line of two styles; of the Italian, with respect to the full semicircular arches and vaulting of the nave and aisles; the square pillars destitute of all ornament, except another column standing out in flat relief—an intimation of the quiet and placid force of their functions.

With the transition comes a change in the flowered capitals, from the acanthus to tracery and grotesque animals.

There are five domes covering the five aisles, each with a semicircular vault. The walls, with their infrequent windows, are very thick.

The delightful belfry—of five octagonal stages—which rises from the crossing of the transepts, presents, from the outside, a fine and imposing arrangement. So, too, the chapelled choir, with its apse of rounded vaults rising in imposing tiers. This fine church is in direct descent from the Roman manner; built and developed as a simple idea, and, like all antique and classical work,—approaching purity,—is a living thing, in spite of the fact that it depicts the sentiment of a dead and gone past.

It might not be so successfully duplicated to-day, but, considering that St. Saturnin dates from the eleventh century, its commencement was sufficiently in the remote past to allow of its having been promulgated under a direct and vigorous Roman influence.

The brick construction of St. Saturnin and of the cathedral is not of that justly admired quality seen in the ancient Convent of the Jacobins, which dates from the thirteenth century. Here is made perhaps the most beautiful use of this style of mediÆval building. It is earlier than the Pont de Montauban, the churches at Moissac or Lombez, and even the cathedral at Albi, but much later than the true Romanesque brickwork, which alternated rows of brick with other materials.

The builders of Gallo-Romain and Merovingian times favoured this earlier method, but work in this style is seldom met with of a later date than the ninth century.

The Église of St. Saturnin shows, in parts, brickwork of a century earlier than the Église des Jacobins, but, as before said, it is not so beautiful.

When the Renaissance came to deal with brique, it did not do so badly. Certainly the domestic and civil establishments of Touraine in this style—to particularize only one section—are very beautiful. Why the revival was productive of so much thorough badness when it dealt with stone is one of the things which the expert has not as yet attempted to explain; at least, not convincingly.

The contrasting blend of the northern and southern motive in the hybrid cathedral at Toulouse will not remain unnoticed for long after the first sensation of surprise at its curious ground-plan passes off.

Here are seen a flamboyant northern choir and aisles in strange juxtaposition with a thirteenth-century single vaulted nave, after the purely indigenous southern manner.

This nave nearly equals in immensity those in the cathedrals of Albi and Bordeaux. It has the great span of sixty-two feet, necessitating the employment of huge buttresses, which would be remarkable anywhere, in order to take the thrust. The unobstructed flooring of this splendid nave lends an added dignity of vastness. Near the vaulted roof are the only apertures in the walls. Windows, as one knows them elsewhere, are practically absent.

The congregations which assemble in this great aisleless nave present a curiously animated effect by reason of the fact that they scatter themselves about in knots or groups rather than crowding against either the altar-rail or pulpit, occasionally even overflowing into the adjoining choir. The nave is entirely unobstructed by decorations, such as screens, pillars, or tombs. It is a mere shell, sans gallery, sans aisles, and sans triforium.

The development of the structure from the individual members of nave and choir is readily traced, and though these parts show not the slightest kind of relationship one to the other, it is from these two fragmentary churches that the completed, if imperfect, whole has been made.

The west front, to-day more than ever, shows how badly the cathedral has been put together; the uncovered bricks creep out here and there, and buildings to the left, which formerly covered the incongruous joint between the nave and choir, are now razed, making the patchwork even more apparent. The square tower which flanks the portal to the north is not unpleasing, and dates from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The portal is not particularly beautiful, and is bare of decorations of note. It appears to have been remodelled at some past time with a view to conserving the western rose window.

There are no transepts or collateral chapels, which tends to make the ground-plan the more unusual and lacking in symmetry.

The choir (1275-1502) is really very beautiful, taken by itself, far more so than the nave, from which it is extended on a different axis.

It was restored after a seventeenth-century fire, and is supposed to be less beautiful to-day than formerly.

There are seventeen chapels in this choir, with much coloured glass of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, all with weird polychromatic decorations in decidedly bad taste.

Toulouse became a bishopric in the third century, with St. Saturnin as its first bishop. It was raised to the rank of archiepiscopal dignity in 1327, a distinction which it enjoys to-day in company with Narbonne. Six former suffragan bishoprics, Pamiers, Rieux, Mirepoix, Saint-Papoul, Lombez, and Lavaur were suppressed at the Revolution.

In the magnificent MusÉe of the city is un petit monument, without an inscription, but bearing a cross gammÉe or Swastika, and a palm-leaf, symbols of the divine Apollo and Artemis. It seems curious that this tiny record in stone should have been found, as it was, in the mountains which separate the sources of the Garonne and the Adour, as the Swastika is a symbol supposedly indigenous to the fire and sun-worshippers of the East, where it figures in a great number of their monuments.

It is called, by the local antiquary, a Pyrenean altar. If this is so, it is of course of pagan origin, and is in no way connected with Christian art.

XIV
ST. NAZAIRE DE CARCASSONNE

With old and new Carcassonne one finds a contrast, if not as great as between the hyphenated Hungarian cities of Buda and Pest, at least as marked in detail.

In most European settlements, where an old municipality adjoins a modern one, walls have been razed, moats filled, and much general modernization has been undertaken.

With Carcassonne this is not so; its winding ways, its culs-de-sacs, narrow alleys, and towering walls remain much as they always were, and the great stronghold of the Middle Ages, vulnerable—as history tells—from but one point, remains to-day, after its admirable restoration of roof and capstone, much as it was in the days when modern Carcassonne was but a scattering hamlet beneath the walls of the older fortification.

One thing will always be recalled, and that is that a part of the enceinte of the ancient CitÉ was a construction of the sixth century—the days of the Visigoths—and that its subsequent development into an almost invulnerable fortress was but the endorsement which later centuries gave to the work and forethought of a people who were supposed to possess no arts, and very little of ingenuity.

This should suggest a line of investigation to one so minded; while for us, who regard the ancient walls merely as a boundary which sheltered and protected a charming Gothic church, it is perhaps sufficient to recall the inconsistency in many previous estimates as to what great abilities, if any, the Goths possessed.

If it is true that the Visigoths merely followed Roman tradition, so much the more creditable to them that they preserved these ancient walls to the glory of those who came after, and but added to the general plan.

Old and new Carcassonne, as one might call them, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had each their own magistrates and a separate government. The CitÉ, elevated above the ville, held also the garrison, the presidial seat, and the first seneschalship of the province.

The bishopric of the CitÉ is not so ancient as the ville itself; for the first prelate there whose name is found upon record was one Sergius, "who subscribed to a 'Council' held at Narbonne in 590."

St. Hilaire, who founded the abbey at Poitiers, came perhaps before Sergius, but his tenure is obscure as to its exact date.

The cathedral of St. Michel, in the lower town, has been, since 1803, the seat of the bishop's throne.

It is a work unique, perhaps, in its design, but entirely unfeeling and preposterous in its overelaborate decorations. It has a long parallelogram-like nave, "entiÈrement peinte," as the custodian refers to it. It has, to be sure, a grand vault, strong and broad, but there are no aisles, and the chapels which flank this gross nave are mere painted boxes.

Episcopal dignity demanded that some show of importance should be given to the cathedral, and it was placed in the hands of Viollet-le-Duc in 1849 for restoration. Whatever his labours may have been, he doubtless was not much in sympathy with this clumsy fabric, and merely "restored" it in some measure approaching its twelfth-century form.

It is with St. Nazaire de Carcassonne, the tiny Église of the old CitÉ and the ci-devant cathedral that we have to do.

This most fascinating church, fascinating for itself none the less than its unique environment, is, in spite of the extended centuries of its growth, almost the equal in the purity of its Gothic to that of St. Urbain at Troyes. And this, in spite of evidences of rather bad joining up of certain warring constructive elements.

The structure readily composes itself into two distinct parts: that of the Romanesque (round arch and barrel vault) era and that of the Gothic of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

No consideration of St. Nazaire de Carcassonne is possible without first coming to a realization of the construction and the functions of the splendidly picturesque and effective ramparts which enclosed the ancient CitÉ, its cathedral, chÂteaux, and various civil and domestic establishments.

In brief, its history and chronology commences with the Visigoth foundation, extending from the fifth to the eighth centuries to the time (1356) when it successfully resisted the Black Prince in his bloody ravage, by sword and fire, of all of Languedoc.

Legend has it that in Charlemagne's time, after that monarch had besieged the town for many years and was about to raise the siege in despair, a certain tower,—which flanked the chÂteau,—defended only by a Gauloise known as Carcaso, suddenly gave way and opened a breach by which the army was at last able to enter.

A rude figure perpetuating the fame of this Madame Carcaso—a veritable Amazon, it would seem—is still seen, rudely carved, over the Porte Narbonnaise.

It is the inner line of ramparts which dates from the earliest period. The chÂteau, the postern-gate, and most of the interior construction are of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, while the outer fortification is of the time of St. Louis, the latter part of the thirteenth century.

The Saracens successfully attacked and occupied the city from 713 to 759, but were routed by Pepin-le-Bref. In 1090 was first founded the strong vicomtale dynasty of the Trencavels. In 1210 the Crusaders, under Simon de Montfort and the implacable Abbot of Citeaux, laid siege to the CitÉ, an act which resulted in the final massacre, fifty of the besieged—who surrendered—being hanged, and four hundred burned alive.

In addition to the walls and ramparts were fifty circular protecting towers. The extreme length of the inner enclosure is perhaps three-quarters of a mile, and of the outer nearly a full mile.

It is impossible to describe the magnitude and splendour of these city walls, which, up to the time of their restoration by Viollet-le-Duc, had scarcely crumbled at all. The upper ranges of the towers, roof-tops, ramparts, etc., had become broken, of course, and the sky-line had become serrated, but the walls, their foundations, and their outline plan had endured as few works of such magnitude have before or since.

Carcassonne, its history, its romance, and its picturesque qualities, has ever appealed to the poet, painter, and historian alike.

Something of the halo of sentiment which surrounds this marvellous fortified city will be gathered from the following praiseful admiration by Gustave Nadaud:

CARCASSONNE

"'I'm growing old, I've sixty years;

I've laboured all my life in vain;

In all that time of hopes and fears

I've failed my dearest wish to gain;

I see full well that here below

Bliss unalloyed there is for none.

My prayer will ne'er fulfilment know;

I never have seen Carcassonne,

I never have seen Carcassonne!

"'You see the city from the hill—

It lies beyond the mountains blue,

And yet to reach it one must still

Five long and weary leagues pursue,

And, to return, as many more!

Ah! had the vintage plenteous grown,

The grape withheld its yellow store!

I shall not look on Carcassonne,

I shall not look on Carcassonne!

"'They tell me every day is there

Not more nor less than Sunday gay;

In shining robes and garments fair

The people walk upon their way.

One gazes there on castle walls

As grand as those of Babylon,

A bishop and two generals!

I do not know fair Carcassonne,

I do not know fair Carcassonne!

"'The curÉ's right; he says that we

Are ever wayward, weak, and blind;

He tells us in his homily

Ambition ruins all mankind;

Yet could I there two days have spent,

While the autumn sweetly shone,

Ah, me! I might have died content

When I had looked on Carcassonne,

When I had looked on Carcassonne!

"'Thy pardon, Father, I beseech,

In this my prayer if I offend;

One something sees beyond his reach

From childhood to his journey's end.

My wife, our little boy, Aignan,

Have travelled even to Narbonne,

My grandchild has seen Perpignan,

And I have not seen Carcassonne,

And I have not seen Carcassonne!'

"So crooned one day, close by Limoux,

A peasant double bent with age,

'Rise up, my friend,' said I, 'with you

I'll go upon this pilgrimage.'

We left next morning his abode,

But (Heaven forgive him) half way on

The old man died upon the road;

He never gazed on Carcassonne,

Each mortal has his Carcassonne!"

St. Nazaire is possessed of a Romanesque nave which dates from 1096, but the choir and transepts are of the most acceptable Gothic forms of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

This choir is readily accounted as a masterwork of elegance, is purely northern in style and treatment, and possesses also those other attributes of the perfectionnement of the style—fine glass, delicate fenestration, and superlative grace throughout, as contrasted with the heavier and more cold details of the Romanesque variety.

The nave was dedicated by Urbain II., and was doubtless intended for defence, if its square, firmly bedded towers and piers are suggestive of that quality. The principal porte—it does not rise to the grandeur of a portail—is a thorough Roman example. The interior, with its great piers, its rough barrel-vault, and its general lack of grace and elegance, bespeaks its functions as a stronghold. A Romanesque tower in its original form stands on the side which adjoins the ramparts.

With the choir comes the contrast, both inside and out.

The apside, the transepts, the eleven gorgeous windows, and the extreme grace of its piers and vaulting, all combine in the fullest expression of the architectural art of its time.

This admirable Gothic addition was the work of Bishop Pierre de Rochefort in 1321. The transept chapels and the apse are framed with light soaring arches, and the great easterly windows are set with brilliant glass.

In a side chapel is the former tomb of Simon de Montfort, whose remains were buried here in 1218. At a subsequent time they were removed to Montfort l'Amaury in the Isle of France. Another remarkable tomb is that of Bishop Radulph (1266). It shows an unusually elaborate sculptured treatment for its time, and is most ornate and beautiful.

In the choir are many fine fourteenth-century statues; a tomb with a sleeping figure, thought to be that of Bishop du Puy of Carcassonne; statues of the Virgin, St. Nazaire, and the twelve apostles; an elaborate high-altar; and a pair of magnificent candlesticks, bearing the arms of Bishop Martin (1522).

An eleventh-century crypt lies beneath the choir. The sacristy, as it is to-day, was formerly a thirteenth-century chapel.

The organ is commonly supposed to be the most ancient in France. It is not of ranking greatness as a work of art, but it is interesting to know that it has some redeeming quality, aside from its conventional ugliness.

The tour carrÉe, which is set in the inner rampart just in front of the cathedral, is known as the Bishop's Tower. It is a tower of many stages, and contains some beautifully vaulted chambers.

The celebrated tour des Visigoths, which is near by, is the most ancient of all.

The entrance to the old CitÉ is via the Pont Vieux, which is itself a mediÆval twelfth or thirteenth century architectural monument of rare beauty. In the middle of this old bridge is a very ancient iron cross.

"Une petite ville sur la rive droite de l'AriÈge, siege d'un ÉvÊche." These few words, with perhaps seven accompanying lines, usually dismiss this charming little Pyrenean city, so far as information for the traveller is concerned.

It is, however, one of these neglected tourist points which the traveller has ever passed by in his wild rush "across country."

To be sure, it is considerably off the beaten track; so too are its neighbouring ancient bishoprics of Mirepoix and St. Bertrand de Comminges, and for that reason they are comparatively unspoiled.

The great and charming attraction of Pamiers is its view of the serrated ridge of the Pyrenees from the promenade de Castellat, just beyond the cathedral.

For the rest, the cathedral, the fortified Église de Notre Dame du Camp, the ancient Église de Cordeliers, the many old houses, and the general sub-tropical aspect of the country round about, all combine to present attractions far more edifying and gratifying than the allurements of certain of the Pyrenean "watering-places."

The cathedral itself is not a great work; its charm, as before said, lies in its environments.

Its chief feature—and one of real distinction—is its octagonal clocher, in brick, dating from the fourteenth century. It is a singularly graceful tower, built after the local manner of the Midi of France, of which St. Saturnin and the Église des Jacobins at Toulouse are the most notable.

Its base is a broad square machicolated foundation with no openings, and suggests, as truly as does the tower at Albi, a churchly stronghold unlikely to give way before any ordinary attack.

In the main, the church is a rebuilt, rather than a restored edifice. The nave, and indeed nearly all of the structure, except its dominant octagonal tower, is of the seventeenth century. This work was undertaken and consummated by Mansart after the manner of that period, and is far more acceptable than the effect produced by most "restored churches."

The eleventh-century abbey of St. Antoine formed originally the seat of the throne of the first bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Saisset, in 1297.

XVI
ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES

To-day St. Bertrand de Comminges, the ancient Lugdunum Convenarum (through which one traces its communistic foundation), is possessed of something less than six hundred inhabitants. Remains of the Roman ramparts are yet to be seen, and its ci-devant cathedral,—of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries—suppressed in 1790, still dominates the town from its heights. Arthur Young, writing in the eighteenth century, describes its situation thus: "The mountains rise proudly around and give their rough frame to this exquisite little picture."

The diocese grew out of the monkish community which had settled here in the sixth century, when the prelate Suavis became its first bishop. To-day the nearest bishop's seat is at Tarbes, in the archbishopric of Auch.

As to architectural style, the cathedral presents what might ordinarily be called an undesirable mixture, though it is in no way uninteresting or even unpleasing.

The west front has a curious Romanesque doorway, and there is a massiveness of wall and buttress which the rather diminutive proportions of the general plan of the church make notably apparent. Otherwise the effect, from a not too near view-point, is one of a solidity and firmness of building only to be seen in some of the neighbouring fortress-churches.

A tower of rather heavy proportions is to-day capped with a pyramidal slate or timbered apex after the manner of the western towers at Rodez. From a distance, this feature has the suggestion of the development of what may perhaps be a local type of clocher. Closer inspections, when its temporary nature is made plain, disabuses this idea entirely. It is inside the walls that the great charm of this church lies. It is elaborately planned, profuse in ornament,—without being in any degree redundant,—and has a warmth and brilliancy which in most Romanesque interiors is wanting.

This interior is representative, on a small scale, of that class of structure whose distinctive feature is what the French architect calls a nef unique, meaning, in this instance, one of those great single-chambered churches without aisles, such as are found at Perpignan, new Carcassonne, LodÈve, and in a still more amplified form at Albi.

There are of course no aisles; and for a length of something over two hundred feet, and a breadth of fifty-five, the bold vault—in the early pointed style—roofs one of the most attractive and pleasing church interiors it is possible to conceive.

Of the artistic accessories it is impossible to be too enthusiastic. There are sixty-six choir-stalls, most elaborately carved in wood—perhaps mahogany—of a deep rich colouring seldom seen. Numerous other sculptured details in wood and stone set off with unusual effect the great and well-nigh windowless side walls.

The organ buffet of Renaissance workmanship—as will naturally be inferred—is a remarkably elaborate work, much more to be admired than many of its contemporaries.

Among the other decorative features are an elaborately conceived "tree of Jesse," an unusually massive rood-loft or jube, and a high-altar of much magnificence.

The choir is surrounded by eleven chapels, showing in some instances the pure pointed style, and in the latter ones that of the Renaissance.

A fourteenth-century funeral monument of Bishop Hugh de Castillione is an elaborate work in white marble; while a series of paintings on the choir walls,—illustrating the miracles of St. Bertrand,—though of a certain crudity, tend to heighten the interest without giving that effect of the over-elaboration of irrelative details not unfrequently seen in some larger churches.

At St. Bertrand de Comminges and the cathedrals at Arles, Cavaillon, and Aix-en-Provence, Elne-en-Roussillon, and Le Puy-en-Velay are conserved—in a more or less perfect state of preservation—a series of delightful twelfth-century cloisters. These churches possess this feature in common with the purely monastic houses, whose builders so frequently lavished much thought and care on these enclosed and cloistered courtyards.

As a mere detail—or accessory, if you will,—an ample cloister is expressive of much that is wanting in a great church which lacks this contributory feature.

Frequently this part was the first to succumb to the destroying influence of time, and leave a void for which no amount of latter-day improvement could make up. Even here, while the cloister ranks as one of the most beautiful yet to be seen, it is part in a ruinous condition.

XVII
ST. JEAN-BAPTISTE D'AIRE

This city of the Landes, that wild, bleak region of sand-dunes and shepherds, abuts upon the more prosperous and fertile territory of the valley of the Adour. By reason of this juxtaposition, its daily life presents a series of contrasting elements as quaint and as interesting as those of the bordering Franco-Spanish cities of Perpignan and Bayonne.

From travellers in general, and lovers of architecture in particular, it has ever received but scant consideration, though it is by no means the desert place that early Victorian writers would have us believe. It is in reality a well-built mediÆval town, with no very lurid events of the past to its discredit, and, truthfully, with no very marvellous attributes beyond a certain subtle charm and quaintness which is perhaps the more interesting because of its unobtrusiveness.

It has been a centre of Christian activity since the days of the fifth century, when its first bishop, Marcel, was appointed to the diocese by the mother-see of Auch.

The cathedral of St. Jean-Baptiste belongs to the minor class of present-day cathedrals, and is of a decidedly conglomerate architectural style, with no imposing dimensions, and no really vivid or lively details of ornamentation. It was begun in the thirteenth century, and the work of rebuilding and restoration has been carried on well up to the present time.

XVIII
STS. BENOIT ET VINCENT DE CASTRES

Castres will ever rank in the mind of the wayfarer along the byways of the south of France as a marvellous bit of stage scenery, rather than as a collection of profound, or even highly interesting, architectural types.

It is one of those spots into which a traveller drops quite unconsciously en route to somewhere else; and lingers a much longer time than circumstances would seem to justify.

This is perhaps inexplicable, but it is a fact, which is only in a measure accounted for by reason of the "local colour"—whatever that vague term of the popular novelist may mean—and customs which weave an entanglement about one which is difficult to resist.

The river Agout is as weird a stream as its name implies, and divides this haphazard little city of the Tarn into two distinct, and quite characteristically different, parts.

Intercourse between Castres and its faubourg, Villegondom, is carried on by two stone bridges; and from either bank of the river, or from either of the bridges, there is always in a view a ravishingly picturesque ensemble of decrepit walls and billowy roof-tops, that will make the artist of brush and pencil angry with fleeting time.

The former cathedral is not an entrancingly beautiful structure; indeed, it is not after the accepted "good form" of any distinct architectural style. It is a poor battered thing which has suffered hardly in the past; notably at the hands of the Huguenots in 1567. As it stands to-day, it is practically a seventeenth-century construction, though it is yet unfinished and lacks its western faÇade.

The vaulting of the choir, and the chapels are the only constructive elements which warrant remark. There are a few paintings in the choir, four rather attractive life-size statues, and a series of severe but elegant choir-stalls.

The former ÉvÊchÉ is to-day the HÔtel de Ville, but was built by Mansart in 1666, and has a fine escalier in sculptured stone.

As a centre of Christianity, Castres is very ancient. In 647 there was a Benedictine abbey here. The bishopric, however, did not come into being until 1317, and was suppressed in 1790.

XIX
NOTRE DAME DE RODEZ

The cathedral at Rodez, whose diocese dates from the fifth century and whose first bishop was St. Amand, is, in a way, reminiscent—in its majesty of outline and dominant situation—of that at Albi.

It is not, however, after the same manner, but resembles it more particularly with respect to its west faÇade, which is unpierced in its lower stages by either doorway or window.

Here, too, the entrance is midway in its length, and its front presents that sheer flank of walled barrier which is suggestive of nothing but a fortification.

This great church—for it is truly great, pure and simple—makes up in width what it lacks in length. Its nave and aisles are just covered by a span of one hundred and twenty feet,—a greater dimension than is possessed by Chartres or Rouen, and nearly as great as Paris or Amiens.

Altogether Notre Dame de Rodez is a most pleasing church, though conglomerate as to its architecture, and as bad, with respect to the Renaissance gable of its faÇade, as any contemporary work in the same style.

Rodez lacks, however, the great enfolding tower central of Albi.

This mellow and warm-toned cathedral, from its beginnings in the latter years of the thirteenth century to the time when the Renaissance cast its dastardly spell over the genius who inspired its original plan, was the result of the persevering though intermittent work of three centuries, and even then the two western towers were left incomplete.

This perhaps was fortunate; otherwise they might have been topped with such an excrescence as looms up over the doorless west faÇade.

The Gascon compares the pyramidal roofs which cap either tower—and with some justness, too—to the pyramids of Egypt, and for that reason the towers are, to him, the most wonderful in the universe. Subtle humour this, and the observer will have little difficulty in tracing the analogy.

Still, they really are preferable, as a decorative feature, to the tomb-like headboard which surmounts the central gable which they flank. The ground-plan is singularly uniform, with transepts scarcely defined—except in the interior arrangements—and yet not wholly absent.

The elaborate tower, called often and with some justification the beffroi, which flanks, or rather indicates, the northerly transept, is hardly pure as to its Gothic details, but it is a magnificent work nevertheless.

It dates from 1510, is two hundred and sixty-five feet high, and is typical of most of the late pointed work of its era. The final stage is octagonal and is surmounted by a statue of the Virgin surrounded by the Evangelists. This statue may or may not be a worthy work of art; it is too elevated, however, for one to decide.

The decorations of the west front, except for the tombstone-like Renaissance gable, are mainly of the same period as the north transept tower, and while perhaps ultra-florid, certainly make a fine appearance when viewed across the Place d'Armes.

This west front, moreover, possesses that unusual attribute of a southern church, an elaborate Gothic rose window; and, though it does not equal in size or design such magnificent examples as are seen in the north, at Reims, Amiens, or Chartres, is, after all, a notable detail of its kind.

The choir, chevet, and apside are of massive building, though not lacking grace, in spite of the absence of the arcs-boutants of the best Gothic.

Numerous grotesque gargoyles dot the eaves and gables, though whether of the spout variety or mere symbols of superstition one can hardly tell with accuracy when viewed from the ground level.

The north and south portals of the transepts are of a florid nature, after the manner of most of the decorations throughout the structure, and are acceptable evidence of the ingenious craft of the stone-carver, if nothing more.

The workmanship of these details, however, does not rise to the heights achieved by the architect who outlined the plan and foundation upon which they were latterly imposed. They are, too, sadly disfigured, the tympanum in the north portal having been disgracefully ravished.

The interior arrangements are doubly impressive, not only from the effect of great size, but from the novel colour effect—a sort of dull, glowing pink which seems to pervade the very atmosphere, an effect which contrasts strangely with the colder atmosphere of the Gothic churches of the north. A curious feature to be noted here is that the sustaining walls of the vault rest directly on piers sans capitals; as effective, no doubt, as the conventional manner, but in this case hardly as pleasing.

Two altars, one at either end of nave and choir, duplicate the arrangement seen at Albi.

The organ buffet, too, is of the same massiveness and elaborateness, and is consequently an object of supreme pride to the local authorities.

It seems difficult to make these useful and necessary adjuncts to a church interior of the quality of beauty shared by most other accessories, such as screens, altars, and choir-stalls, which, though often of the contemporary Renaissance period, are generally beautiful in themselves. The organ-case, however, seems to run either to size, heaviness, or grotesqueness, or a combination of all. This is true in this case, where its great size, and plentifully besprinkled rococo ornament, and unpleasantly dull and dingy "pipes" are of no Æsthetic value whatever. The organ, moreover, occupies the unusual position—in a French church—of being over the western doorway.

The nave is of extreme height, one hundred and ten feet, and is of unusual width, as are also the aisles.

The rose window, before remarked, shows well from the inside, though its glass is not notable.

A series of badly arched lancets in the choir are ungraceful and not in keeping with the other constructive details. The delicately sculptured and foliaged screen or jubÉ at the crossing is a late fifteenth-century work.

In one of the chapels is now to be seen, in mutilated fragments, the ancient sixteenth-century clÔture du choeur. It was a remarkable and elaborate work of bizarre stone-carving, which to-day has been reconstructed in some measure approaching its former completeness by the use of still other fragments taken from the episcopal palace. The chief feature as to completeness and perfection is the doorway, which bears two lengthy inscriptions in Latin. The facing of the clÔture throughout is covered with a range of pilasters in Arabesque, but the niches between are to-day bare of their statues, if they ever really possessed them.

The choir-stalls and bishop's throne in carved wood are excellent, as also an elaborately carved wooden grille of a mixed Arabesque and Gothic design.

There are four other chapel or alcove screens very nearly as elaborate; all of which features, taken in conjunction one with the other, form an extensive series of embellishments such as is seldom met with.

Two fourteenth-century monuments to former prelates are situated in adjoining chapels, and a still more luxurious work of the same period—the tomb of Gilbert de Cantobre—is beneath an extensive altar which has supposedly Byzantine ornament of the tenth century.

Rodez was the seat of a bishop (St. Amand) as early as the fifth century.

Then, as now, the diocese was a suffragan of Albi, whose first bishop, St. Clair, came to the mother-see in the century previous.

XX
STE. CÉCILE D'ALBI

The cathedral of Ste. CÉcile d'Albi is one of the most interesting, as well as one of the most curious, in all France. It possesses a quality, rare among churches, which gives it at once the aspect of both a church and a fortress.

As the representative of a type, it stands at the very head of the splendid fortress-churches of feudal times. The remarkable disposition of its plan is somewhat reflected in the neighbouring cathedral at Rodez and in the church at Esnades, in the Department of the Charente-InfÉrieure.

In the severe and aggressive lines of the easterly, or choir, end, it also resembles the famous church of St. Francis at Assisi, and the ruined church of Sainte Sophie at Famagousta in the Island of Cyprus.

It has been likened by the imaginative French—and it needs not so very great a stretch of the imagination, either—to an immense vessel. Certainly its lines and proportions somewhat approach such a form; as much so as those of Notre Dame de Noyon, which Stevenson likened to an old-time craft with a high poop. A less Æsthetic comparison has been made with a locomotive of gigantic size, and, truth to tell, it is not unlike that, either, with its advancing tower.

The extreme width of the great nave of this church is nearly ninety feet, and its body is constructed, after an unusual manner, of a warm, rosy-coloured brick. In fact the only considerable portions of the structure not so done are the clÔture of the choir, the window-mullions, and the flamboyant Gothic porch of the south side.

By reason of its uncommon constructive elements,—though by no means is it the sole representative of its kind in the south of France,—Ste. CÉcile stands forth as the most considerable edifice of its kind among those which were constructed after this manner of Roman antiquity.

Brickwork of this nature, as is well known, is very enduring, and it therefore makes much for the lasting qualities of a structure so built; much more so, in fact, than the crumbling soft stone which is often used, and which crumbles before the march of time like lead in a furnace.

Ste. CÉcile was begun in 1282, on the ruins of the ancient church of St. Croix. It came to its completion during the latter years of the fourteenth century, when it stood much as it does to-day, grim and strong, but very beautiful.

The only exterior addition of a later time is the before-remarked florid south porch. This baldaquin is very charmingly worked in a light brown stone, and, while flamboyant to an ultra degree, is more graceful in design and execution than most works of a contemporary era which are welded to a stone fabric whose constructive and decorative details are of quite a distinctly different species. In other words, it composes and adds a graceful beauty to the brick fabric of this great church; but likely enough it would offend exceedingly were it brought into juxtaposition with the more slim lines of early Gothic. Its detail here is the very culmination of the height to which Gothic rose before its final debasement, and, in its spirited non-contemporaneous admixture with the firmly planted brick walls which form its background, may be reckoned as a baroque in art rather than as a thing outrÉ or misplaced.

In further explanation of the peculiar fortress-like qualities possessed by Ste. CÉcile, it may be mentioned here that it was the outcome of a desire for the safety of the church and its adherents which caused it to take this form. It was the direct result of the terrible wars of the Albigenses, and the political and social conditions of the age in which it was built,—the days when the Church was truly militant.

Here, too, to a more impressive extent than elsewhere, if we except the papal palace at Avignon, the episcopal residence as well takes on an aspect which is not far different from that possessed by some of the secular chÂteaux of feudal times. It closely adjoins the cathedral, which should perhaps dispute this. In reality, however, it does not, and its walls and foundations look far more worldly than they do devout. As to impressiveness, this stronghold of a bishop's palace is thoroughly in keeping with the cathedral itself, and the frowning battlement of its veritable donjon and walls and ramparts suggests a deal more than the mere name by which it is known would justify. Such use as it was previously put to was well served, and the history of the troublous times of the mediÆval ages, when the wars of the Protestants, "the cursed Albigenses," and the natural political and social dissensions, form a chapter around which one could weave much of the history of this majestic cathedral and its walled and fortified environment.

The interior of the cathedral will appeal first of all by its very grand proportions, and next by the curious ill-mannered decorations with which the walls are entirely covered. There is a certain gloom in this interior, induced by the fact that the windows are mere elongated slits in the walls. There are no aisles, no triforium, and no clerestory; nothing but a vast expanse of wall with bizarre decorations and these unusual window piercings. The arrangement of the openings in the tower are even more remarkable—what there are of them, for in truth it is here that the greatest likeness to a fortification is seen. In the lower stages of the tower there are no openings whatever, while above they are practically nothing but loopholes.

The fine choir-screen, in stone, is considered one of the most beautiful and magnificent in France, and to see it is to believe the statement. The entire clÔture of the choir is a wonderful piece of stonework, and the hundred and twenty stalls, which are within its walls, form of themselves an excess of elaboration which perhaps in a more garish light would be oppressive.

The wall-paintings or frescoes are decidedly not beautiful, being for the most part crudely coloured geometrical designs scattered about with no relation one to another. They date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and are doubtless Italian as to their workmanship, but they betray no great skill on the part of those unknowns who are responsible for them.

The pulpit is an unusually ornate work for a French church, but is hardly beautiful as a work of art. No more is the organ-case, which, as if in keeping with the vast interior, spreads itself over a great extent of wall space.

Taken all in all, the accessories of the cathedral at Albi, none the less than the unique plan and execution thereof, the south porch, the massive tower, the jube and clÔture of the choir, the vast unobstructed interior, and the outrÉ wall decorations, place it as one of the most consistently and thoroughly completed edifices of its rank in France. Nothing apparently is wanting, and though possessed of no great wealth of accessory—if one excepts the choir enclosure alone—it is one of those shrines which, by reason of its very individuality, will live long in the memory. It has been said, moreover, to stand alone as to the extensive and complete exemplification of "l'art decoratif" in France; that is, as being distinctively French throughout.

The evolution of these component elements took but the comparatively small space of time covered by two centuries—from the fourteenth to the sixteenth. The culmination resulted in what is still to be seen in all its pristine glory to-day, for Ste. CÉcile has not suffered the depredation of many another shrine.

The general plan is distinctly and indigenously French; French to the very core—born of the soil of the Midi, and bears no resemblance whatever to any exotic from another land.

With the decorative elements the case may be somewhat qualified. The baldaquin—like the choir-screen—more than equals in delicacy and grace the portals of such masterworks as Notre Dame de Rouen, St. Maclou, or even the cathedral at Troyes, though of less magnitude than any of these examples. On the other hand, it was undoubtedly inspired by northern precept, as also were the ornamental sculptures in wood and stone which are to be seen in the interior.

Albi was a bishopric as early as the fourth century, with St. Clair as its first bishop. At the time the present cathedral was begun it became an archbishopric, and as such it has endured until to-day, with suffragans at Rodez, Cahors, Mende, and Perpignan.

XXI
ST. PIERRE DE MENDE

In the heart of the GÉvaudan, Mende is the most picturesque, mountain-locked little city imaginable, with no very remarkable features surrounding it, nor any very grand artificial ones contained within it.

The mountains here, unlike the more fruitful plains of the lower GÉvaudan, are covered with snow all of the winter. It is said that the inhabitants of the mountainous upper GÉvaudan used to "go into Spain every winter to get a livelihood." Why, it is difficult to understand. The mountain and valley towns around Mende look no less prosperous than those of Switzerland, though to be sure the inhabitants have never here had, and perhaps never will have, the influx of tourists "to live off of," as in the latter region.

During an invasion of the Alemanni into Gaul, in the third century, the principal city of GÉvaudan was plundered and ruined. The bishop, St. Privat, fled into the Cavern of Memate or Mende, whither the Germans followed and killed him.

The holy man was interred in the neighbouring village of Mende, and the veneration which people had for his memory caused them to develop it into a considerable place. Such is the popular legend, at any rate.

The city had no bishop of its own, however, until the middle of the tenth century. Previously the bishops were known as Bishops of GÉvaudan. At last, however, the prelates fixed their seat at Mende, and "great numbers of people resorted thither by reason of the sepulchre of St. Privat."

By virtue of an agreement with Philippe-le-Bel, in 1306, the bishop became Count of GÉvaudan. He claimed also the right of administering the laws and the coining of specie.

Mende is worth visiting for itself alone and for its cathedral. It is difficult to say which will interest the absolute stranger the more.

The spired St. Pierre de Mende is but a fourteenth-century church, with restorations of the seventeenth, but there is a certain grimness and primitiveness about its fabric which would otherwise seem to place it as of a much earlier date.

The seventeenth-century restorations amounted practically to a reconstruction, as the Calvinists had partly destroyed the fabric. The two fine towers of the century before were left standing, but without their spires.

The city itself lies at a height of over seven hundred kilometres, and the pic rises another three hundred kilometres above. The surrounding "green basin of hillsides" encloses the city in a circular depression, which, with its cathedral as the hub, radiates in long, straight roadways to the bases of these verdure-clad hills.

It is not possible to have a general view of the cathedral without its imposing background of mountain or hilltops, and for this reason, while the entire city may appear dwarfed, and its cathedral likewise diminished in size, they both show in reality the strong contrasting effect of nature and art.

The cathedral towers, built by Bishop de la RovÈre, are of sturdy though not great proportions, and the half-suggested spires rise skyward in as piercing a manner as if they were continued another hundred feet.

As a matter of fact one rises to a height of two hundred and three feet, and the other to two hundred and seventy-six feet, so at least, they are not diminutive. The taller of these pleasing towers is really a remarkable work.

The general plan of the cathedral is the conventional Gothic conception, which was not changed in the seventeenth-century reconstruction.

The nave is flanked with the usual aisles, which in turn are abutted with ten chapels on either side.

Just within the left portal is preserved the old bourdon called la Non-Pareille, a curiosity which seems in questionable taste for inclusion within a cathedral.

The rose window of the portal shows in the interior with considerable effect, though it is of not great elegance or magnificence of itself.

In the Chapelle des Catechismes, immediately beneath the tower, is an unusual "Assumption." As a work of art its rank is not high, and its artist is unknown, but in its conception it is unique and wonderful.

There are some excellent wood-carvings in the Chapelle du BaptistÈre, a description which applies as well to the stalls of the choir.

Around the sanctuary hang seven tapestries, ancient, it is said, but of no great beauty in themselves.

In a chapel on the north side of the choir is a "miraculous statue" of la Vierge Noir.

The organ buffet dates from 1640, and is of the ridiculous overpowering bulk of most works of its class.

The bishopric, founded by St. SÉvÉrein in the third century at Civitas Gabalorum, was reËstablished at Mende in the year 1000.

The Ermitage de St. Privat, the holy shrine of the former habitation of the holy man whose name it bears, is situated a few kilometres away on the side of Mont Mimat. It is a favourite place of pilgrimage, and from the platform of the chapel is to be had a fine view of the city and its cathedral.

XXII
OTHER OLD-TIME CATHEDRALS IN AND ABOUT
THE BASIN OF THE GARONNE

Dax

At Dax, an ancient thermal station of the Romans, is a small cathedral, mainly modern, with a portal of the thirteenth century.

It was reconstructed from these thirteenth-century remains in the seventeenth century, and exhibits no marks of beauty which would have established its ranking greatness even at that time.

Dax was a bishopric in the province of Auch in the third century, but the see was suppressed in 1802.

Eauze

Eauze was an archbishopric in the third century, when St. Paterne was its first dignitary. Subsequently—in the following century—the archbishopric was transferred to Auch.

As Elusa it was an important place in the time of CÆsar, but was completely destroyed in the early part of the tenth century. Eauze, therefore, has no church edifice which ever ranked as a cathedral, but there is a fine Gothic church of the late fifteenth century which is, in every way, an architectural monument worthy of remark.

Lombez

The bishopric of Lombez, in the ancient ecclesiastical province of Toulouse, endured from 1328 (a tenth-century Benedictine abbey foundation).

Its first bishop was one Roger de Comminges, a monk who came from the monastic community of St. Bertrand de Comminges.

The see was suppressed in 1790.

St. Papoul

St. Papoul was a bishopric from 1317 until 1790. Its cathedral is in many respects a really fine work. It was an ancient abbatial church in the Romanesque style, and has an attractive cloister built after the same manner.

Rieux

Rieux is perhaps the tiniest ville of France which has ever possessed episcopal dignity. It is situated on a mere rivulet—a branch of the Arize, which itself is not much more, but which in turn goes to swell the flood of La Garonne. Its one-time cathedral is perhaps not remarkable in any way, though it has a fine fifteenth-century tower in brique. The bishopric was founded in 1370 under GuillaumÉ de Brutia, and was suppressed in 1790.

Lavaur

Lavaur was a bishopric, in the ecclesiastical province of Toulouse, from 1317 to 1790.

Its cathedral of brick is of the fourteenth century, with a clocher dating from 1515, and a smaller tower, embracing a jacquemart, of the sixteenth century.

In the interior is a fine sixteenth-century painting, but there are no other artistic treasures or details of note.

Oloron

Oloron was a bishopric under St. Gratus in the sixth century; it ceased its functions as the head of a diocese at the suppression of 1790.

The former cathedral of Ste. Marie is a fine Romanic-Ogivale edifice of the eleventh century, though its constructive era may be said to extend well toward the fifteenth before it reached completion. There is a remarkably beautiful Romanesque sculptured portal. The nave is doubled, as to its aisles, and is one hundred and fifty feet or more in length and one hundred and six wide, an astonishing breadth when one comes to think of it, and a dimension which is not equalled by any minor cathedral.

There are no other notable features beyond the general attractiveness of its charming environment.

The ancient ÉvÊche has a fine Romanesque tower, and the cathedral itself is reckoned, by a paternal government, as a "monument historique," and as such is cared for at public expense.

Vabres

Vabres was a bishopric which came into being as an aftergrowth of a Benedictine foundation of the ninth century, though its episcopal functions only began in 1318, and ceased with the Revolutionary suppression. It was a suffragan in the archiepiscopal diocese of Albi.

Its former cathedral, while little to be remarked to-day as a really grand church edifice, was by no means an unworthy fane. It dates from the fourteenth century, and in part is thoroughly representative of the Gothic of that era. It was rebuilt in the eighteenth century, and a fine clocher added.

St. Lizier or Couserans

The present-day St. Lizier—a tiny Pyrenean city—was the former Gallo-Romain city of Couserans. It retained this name when it was first made a bishopric by St. ValÈre in the fifth century. The see was suppressed in 1790.

The Église de St. Lizier, of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, consists of a choir and a nave, but no aisles. It shows some traces of fine Roman sculpture, and a mere suggestion of a cloister.

The former bishop's palace dates only from the seventeenth century.

Sarlat

A Benedictine abbey was founded here in the eighth century, and from this grew up the bishopric which took form in 1317 under Raimond de Roquecarne, which in due course was finally abolished and the town stripped of its episcopal rank.

The former cathedral dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and in part from the fifteenth. Connected therewith is a sepulchral chapel, called the tour des Maures. It is of two Étages, and dates from the twelfth century.

St. Pons de Tomiers

St. Pons is the seat of an ancient bishopric now suppressed. It is a charming village—it can hardly be named more ambitiously—situated at the source of the river Jaur, which rises in the Montagnes Noir in Lower Languedoc.

Its former cathedral is not of great interest as an architectural type, though it dates from the twelfth century.

The faÇade is of the eighteenth century, but one of its side chapels dates from the fourteenth.

St. Maurice de Mirepoix

Mirepoix is a charming little city of the slopes of the Pyrenees.

Its ancient cathedral of St. Maurice dates from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and has no very splendid features or appointments,—not even of the Renaissance order,—as might be expected from its magnitude. Its sole possession of note is the clocher, which rises to an approximate height of two hundred feet.

The bishopric was founded in 1318 by Raimond Athone, but was suppressed in 1790.

Appendices

I

II

A Historical Table of the Dioceses of the South of France up to the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Province d'Aix
Name	Diocese founded	First bishop	Date of suppression
Aix	Nice, Avignon, Ajaccio, and Digne were allied therewith in 1802, and Marseilles and Alger in 1822.
(Archbishopric)	First century (?)	St. Maxim (?)
Antibes	Transferred to Grasse
Apt	First century (?)	St. Auspice	1790
Grasse	(Jurisdiction over Antibes.)
Gap	Fifth century	St. DÉmÉtrius
Riez	Fifth century	St. Prosper	1790
FrÉjus	Fourth century	Acceptus
Sisteron	Fifth century	Chrysaphius
Province d'Albi
Albi	Fourth century	St. Clair
Bishopric (Archbishopric)	1317 (?)	Anthime
Castres	647 as a Benedictine Abbey. 1317 as a Bishopric	Robert, the first Abbot	1790
Mende	Third century at Civitas Gabalorum. ReËstablished here in the year 1000	St. SÉvÉrein and Genialis
Cahors	Fourth century	St. Genulphe
Rodez	Fifth century	St. Amand
Arisitum	Sixth century detached from the diocese of Rodez	DÉothaire	Rejoined to Rodez 670
Vabres	Benedictine Abbey, 862. Bishopric, 1317	1790
Province d'Arles
Arles (Archbishopric)	First century	St. Trophime	1790
Marseilles	First century	St. Lazare
St. Paul-Trois ChÂteaux, or Tricastin	Second century	St. Restuit	1790
Toulon	Fifth century	HonorÉ	1790
Orange	Fifth century	St. Luce	1790
Province d'Auch
Eauze (Archbishopric)	Third century	St. Paterne	720
Auch (Bishopric then Archbishopric)	Fourth century	Citerius
Dax	Third century	St. Vincent	1802
Lectoure	Sixth century	Heuterius	1790
Comminges	Sixth century	Suavis	1790
Conserans	Fifth century	St. ValÈre	1790
Aire	Fifth century	Marcel
Bazas	Sixth century	Sextilius	(?)
Tarbes	Sixth century	St. Justin
Oloron	Sixth century	Gratus	1790
Lescar	Fifth century	St. Julien	1790
Bayonne	Ninth century	Arsias Rocha
Province d'Avignon
Avignon (Bishopric, becoming Archbishopric in fifteenth century)	Fourth century	St. Ruf
Carpentras	Third century	St. Valentin	1790
Vaison	Fourth century	St. Aubin	1790
Cavaillon	Fifth century	St. Genialis	1790
Province de Bordeaux
Bordeaux
(Bishopric)	Third century
(Archibishopric)	Fourth century	Oriental
Agen	Fourth century	St. PhÉrade
Condom	Raimond de Galard
(Ancient abbey--foundation date unknown) Bishopric)	Fourteenth century
AngoulÊme	Third century	St. Ansome
Saintes	Third century	St. Eutrope	1793
Poitiers	Third century	St. Nectaire
Maillezais (afterward at La Rochelle)	Fourteenth century	Geoffrey I.
LuÇon (Seventh-century abbey)	1317	Pierre de La Veyrie
PÉrigueux	Second century	St. Front
Sarlat (Eighth-century Benedictine abbey)	1317	Raimond de Roquecorne
Province de Bourges
Bourges (Archbishopric)	Third century	St. Ursin
Clermont-Ferrand	Third century	St. Austremoine
St. Flour (Ancient priory)	1318	Raimond de Vehens
Limoges	Third century	St. Martial
Tulle (Seventh-century Benedictine abbey)	1317	Arnaud de Saint-Astier
Le Puy	Third century	St. Georges
Province d'Embrun
Embrun (Archbishopric)	Fourth century	St. Marcellin	1793
Digne	Fourth century	St. Domnin
Antibes (afterward at Grasse)	Fourth century	St. Armentaire
Grasse		Raimond de Villeneuve (1245)	1790
Vence	Fourth century	EusÈbe	1790
GlandÈve	Fifth century	Fraterne	1790
Senez	Fifth century	Ursus	1790
Nice (formerly at Cemenelium)	Fourth century	Amantius
Province de Lyon
Lyon (Archbishopric)	The Archbishop of Lyon was Primate of Gaul. Second century	St. Pothin
Autun	Third century	St. Amateur
MÂcon	Sixth century	Placide	1790
Chalon-sur-SaÔne	Fifth century	Paul	1790
Langres	Third century	St. Just
Dijon (Fourth-century abbey)	Bishopric in 1731	Jean Bonhier
Saint Claude (Fifth-century abbey)	Bishopric in 1742	Joseph de Madet
Province de Narbonne
Narbonne (Archbishopric)	Third century	St. Paul	1802
Saint-Pons-de-TomiÈres (Tenth-century abbey)	1318	Pierre Roger	1790
Alet (Ninth-century abbey)	1318	BarthÉlmy	1790
BÉziers	Fourth century	St. Aphrodise	1702
NÎmes	Fourth century	St. Felix
Alais	1694	Chevalier de Saulx	1790
LodÈve	Fourth century (?)	St. Flour	1790
UzÈs	Fifth century	Constance	1790
Agde	Fifth century	St. VÉnuste	1790
Maguelonne (afterward at Montpellier)	Sixth century	Beotius
Carcassonne	Sixth century	St. Hilaire
Elne (afterward at Perpignan)	Sixth century	Domnus
Province de Tarentaise
Tarentaise (Archbishopric)	Fifth century	St. Jacques
Sion	Fourth century	St. ThÉodule
Aoste	Fourth century	St. Eustache
ChambÉry	1780	Michel Conseil
Province de Toulouse
Toulouse (Bishopric) (Archbishopric)	Third century 1327	St. Saturnin
Pamiers (Eleventh-century abbey)	1297	Bernard Saisset
Rieux	1317	Guillaume de Brutia
Montauban (Ancient abbey)	1317	Bertrand du Puy
Mirepoix	1318	Raimond Athone	1790
Saint-Papoul	1317	Bernard de la Tour	1790
LombÈs (Tenth-century abbey)	1328	Roger de Commminges	1790
Lavaur	1317	Roger d'Armagnac	1790
Province de Vienne
Vienne (Archbishopric)	Second century	St. Crescent	1790
Grenoble	Third century	Domninus
GenÈve (Switz.)	Fourth century	DiogÈne	1801
Annency	1822	Claude de Thiollaz
Valence	Fourth century	Emelien
DiÉ	Third century	Saint Mars
Viviers	Fifth century	Saint Janvier	1790
St. Jean de Maurienne	Fifth century	Lucien

III

The Classification of Architectural Styles in France according to De Caumont's "AbÉcÉdaire d'Architecture Religieuse."

Architecture Romaine	Primordiale	From the Vth to the Xth centuries.
	Secondaire	From the end of the Xth century to the beginning of the XIIth
	Tertiaire or transition	XIIth century
Architecture	Primitive	XIIIth century
Ogivale	Secondaire	XIVth century
	Tertiaire	XVth and the first part of the XVIth century

IV

A Chronology of Architectural Styles in France

Following more or less upon the lines of De Caumont's territorial and chronological divisions of architectural style in France, the various species and periods are thus further described and defined:

The Merovingian period, commencing about 480; Carlovingian, 751; Romanesque or Capetian period, 987; Transitional, 1100 (extending in the south of France and on the Rhine till 1300); early French Gothic or Pointed (Gothique À lancettes), mid-twelfth to mid-thirteenth centuries; decorated French Gothic (Gothique rayonnant), from the mid-thirteenth to mid-fifteenth centuries, and even in some districts as late as the last decade of the fifteenth century; Flamboyant (Gothique flamboyant), early fifteenth to early sixteenth; Renaissance, dating at least from 1495, which gave rise subsequently to the style Louis XII. and style FranÇois I.

With the reign of Henri II., the change to the Italian style was complete, and its place, such as it was, definitely assured. French writers, it may be observed, at least those of a former generation and before, often carry the reference to the style de la Renaissance to a much later period, even including the neo-classical atrocities of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Bizarre or baroque details, or the style perruque, had little place on French soil, and the later exaggerations of the rococo, the styles Pompadour and Dubarri, had little if anything to do with church-building, and are relevant merely insomuch as they indicate the mannerisms of a period when great churches, if they were built at all, were constructed with somewhat of a leaning toward their baseness, if not actually favouring their eccentricities.

V

Leading forms of early cathedral constructions

VI

The disposition of the parts of a tenth-century church, as defined by Viollet-le-Duc

Of this class are many monastic churches, as will be evinced by the inclusion of a cloister in the diagram plan. Many of these were subsequently made use of, as the church and the cloisters, where they had not suffered the stress of time, were of course retained. St. Bertrand de Comminges is a notable example among the smaller structures.

In the basilica form of ground-plan, which obtained to a modified extent, the transepts were often lacking, or at least only suggested. Subsequently they were added in many cases, but the tenth-century church pur sang was mainly a parallelogram-like structure, with, of course, an apsidal termination.

A	The choir
B	The exedra, meaning literally a niche or throne—in this instance for the occupancy of the bishop, abbot, or prior—apart from the main edifice
C	The high-altar
D	Secondary or specially dedicated altars
E	The transepts, which in later centuries expanded and lengthened
G	The nave proper, down which was reserved a free passage separating the men from the women
H	The aisles
I	The portico or porch which precedes the nave (i. e., the narthen of the primitive basilica), where the pilgrims who were temporarily forbidden to enter were allowed to wait
K	A separate portal or doorway to cloisters
L	The cloister
M	The towers; often placed at the junction of transept and nave, instead of the later position, flanking the west faÇade
N	The baptismal font; usually in the central nave, but often in the aisle
O	Entrance to the crypt or confessional, where were usually preserved the reliques of the saint to whom the church was erected
P	The tribune, in a later day often surrounded by a screen or jubÉ

VII

A brief definitive gazetteer of the natural and geological divisions included in the ancient provinces and present-day departments of southern France, together with the local names by which the pays et pagi are commonly known

GÉvaudan	In the Cevennes, a region of forests and mountains
Velay	A region of plateaux with visible lava tracks
Lyonnais-Beaujolais	The mountain ranges which rise to the westward of Lyons
Morvan	An isolated group of porphyrous and granite elevations
Haute-Auvergne	The mountain range of Cantal
Basse-Auvergne	The mountain chains of Mont Dore and des DÔmes
Limousin	A land of plateaux, ravines, and granite
Agenais	Rocky and mountainous, but with its valleys among the richest in all France
Haut-Quercy	A rolling plain, but with little fertility
Bas-Quercy	The plains of the Garonne, the Tarn, and the AvÉyron
Armagnac	An extensive range of petites montagnes running in various directions
Landes	A desert of sand, forests, and inlets of the sea
BÉarn	A country furrowed by the ramifications of the range of the Pyrenees
Basse-Navarre	A Basque country situated on the northern slope of the Pyrenees
Bigorre	The plain of Tortes and its neighbouring valleys
Savoie	A region comprising a great number of valleys made by the ramifying ranges of the Alps. The principal valleys being those of Faucigny, the Tarentaise, and the Maurienne
Bourbonnais	A country of hills and valleys which, as to general limits, corresponds with the Department of the Allier
Nivernais	An undulating region between the Loire and the Morvan
Berry	A fertile plain, slightly elevated, to the northward of Limousin
Sologne	An arid plain separated by the valleys of the Cher and the Indre
Gatinais	A barren country northeast of Sologne
Saintonge	Slightly mountainous and covered with vineyards—also in parts partaking of the characteristics of the Landes
Angoumois	A hilly country covered with a growth of vines
PÉrigord	An ensemble of diverse regions, often hilly, but covered with a luxuriant forest growth
Bordelais	(Comprising Blayais, Fronsadais, Libournais, Entre-deux-mers, MÉdoc, and Bazadais.) The vine-lands of the Garonne, La Gironde, and La Dordogne
DauphinÉ	Another land of mountains and valleys. It is crossed by numbers of ranges and distinct peaks. The principal subdivisions are Viennois, Royonnais Vercors, TriÈves, DÉvoluy, Oisons, Graisivaudan, Chartreuse, Queyras Valgodemar, Champsaur.
Provence	A region of fertile plains dominated by volcanic rocks and mountains. It contains also the great pebbly plain in the extreme southwest known as the Crau
Camargue	The region of the RhÔne delta
Languedoc	Properly the belt of plains situated between the foot of the Cevennes and the borders of the Mediterranean
Rousillon	The region between the peaks of the CorbiÈre and the AlbÈre mountain chain. The population was originally pure Catalan
Lauragais	A stony plateau with red earth deposited in former times by the glaciers of the Pyrenees
Albigeois	A rolling and fertile country
Toulousain	A plain well watered by the Garonne and the AriÈge
Comminges	The lofty Pyrenean valleys of the Garonne basin

VIII

IX
Dimensions and Chronology

CATHEDRALE D'AGDE

Bishopric founded, Vth century

Bishopric suppressed, 1790

Primitive church consecrated, VIIth century

Main body of present cathedral, XIth to XIIth centuries

ST. CAPRIAS D'AGEN

Former cathedral of St. Etienne, destroyed at the Revolution, 1790

Apse and transepts of St. Caprias, XIth century

Width of nave, 55 feet

ST. JEAN BAPTISTE D'AIRE

Cathedral begun, XIIIth century

ST. SAVEUR D'AIX

Eglise St. Jean de Malte, XIVth century

Remains of a former St. Saveur's, XIth century

Choir, XIIIth century

Choir elaborated, XIVth century

South aisle of nave, XIVth century

Tower, XIVth century

Carved doors, 1503

Episcopal palace, 1512

North aisle of nave, XVIIth century

BaptistÈre, VIth century

ST. JEAN D'ALAIS

A bishopric only from 1694 to 1790

Remains of a XIIth century church

STE. CECILE D'ALBI

Begun, 1277

Finished, 1512

South porch, 1380-1400

Tower completed, 1475

Choir-screen, 1475-1512

Wall paintings, XVth to XVIth centuries

Organ, XVIIIth century

Choir stalls, 120 in number

Height of tower, 256 feet

Length, 300 (320?) feet

Width of nave, 88 feet

Height of nave, 98 feet

ST. PIERRE D'ALET

Primitive cathedral, IXth century (?)

Rebuilt, XIth century

Eglise St. AndrÉ, XIVth to XVth centuries

ST. PIERRE D'ANGOULEME

City ravaged by Coligny, XVIth century

Cathedral rebuilt from foundations of primitive church, 1120

Western dome, XIIth century

Central and other domes, latter part of XIIth century

Episcopal palace restored, XIXth century

General restoration of cathedral, after the depredations of Coligny, 1628

Height of tower, 197 feet

ST. PIERRE D'ANNECY

Christianity first founded here, IVth century

Cathedral dates from XIVth century

Tomb of St. FranÇois de Sales, 1622

Tomb of Jeanne de Chantal, 1641

Episcopal palace, 1784

ST. CASTOR D'APT

Gallo-Romain sarcophagus, Vth century

Tomb of Ducs de Sabron, XIIth century

Chapelle de Ste. Anne, XVIIth century

ST. TROPHIME D'ARLES

Primitive church on same site, 606

Foundations of present cathedral laid, 1152

Nave completed, 1200

Choir and chapels, 1423-1430

Cloisters, east side, 1221

Cloisters, west side, 1250

Cloisters, north side, 1380

Length, 240 feet

Width, 90 feet

Height, 60 feet

Height of clocher, 137 feet

STE. MARIE D'AUCH

Ancient altar, IVth century

First cathedral built by Taurin II., 845

Another (larger) by St. Austinde, 1048

Present cathedral consecrated, 1548

Additions made and coloured glass added, 1597

West front, in part, XVIIth century

Towers, 1650-1700

Episcopal palace, XIVth century

Length, 347 feet

Height to vaulting, 74 feet

NOTRE DAME DES DOMS D'AVIGNON

Territory of Avignon acquired by the Popes from Joanna of Naples, 1300

Popes reigned at Avignon, 1305-1370

Avignon formally ceded to France by Treaty of Tolentino, 1797

Palais des Papes begun, XIIIth century

Pope Gregory left Avignon for Rome, 1376

Cathedral dates chiefly from XIIth century

Nave chapels, XIVth century

Frescoes in portal, XIVth century

Height of walls of papal palace, 90 feet

" " tower " " 150 feet

Length of cathedral, 200 (?) feet

Width of cathedral, 50 (?) feet

NOTRE DAME DE BAYONNE

Foundations, 1140

Choir and apse, XIIth century

Destroyed by fire, 1213

Choir rebuilt, 1215

Completed and restored, XVIth century

ST. JEAN DE BAZAS

Foundations date from Xth century

Walls, etc., 1233

West front, XVIth century

CATHEDRALE DE BELLEY

Gothic portion of cathedral, XVth century

ST. NAZAIRE DE BEZIERS

Primitive church damaged by fire, 1209

Transepts, XIIIth century

Towers, XIVth century

Apside and nave, XIVth century

Glass and grilles, XIVth century

Cloister, XIVth century

Height of clocher, 151 feet

ST. ANDRE DE BORDEAUX

Three cathedral churches here before the XIth century

Romanesque structure, XIth century

Present cathedral dates from 1252

North transept portal, XIVth century

Noailles monument, 1662

Length, 450 feet

Width of nave, 65 feet

NOTRE DAME DE BOURG

Main body dates from XVth to XVIIth centuries

Choir and apse, XVth to XVIth centuries

Choir stalls, XVIth century

ST. ETIENNE DE CAHORS

Bishopric founded, IVth century

Cathedral consecrated, 1119

Cupola decorations, 1280-1324

Choir chapels, XVth century Choir, 1285

Tomb of Bishop Solminiac, XVIIth century

Choir paintings, 1315

Cloister, XIIth to XVth century

Cupolas of nave, 50 feet in diameter

Cupolas of choir, 49 feet in height

Height from pavement to cupolas of choir, 82 feet

Height from pavement to cupolas of nave, 195 feet

Portal and western towers, XIVth century

ST. NAZAIRE DE CARCASSONNE

Present-day cathedral, St. Michel, in lower town, 1083

Restored by Viollet-le-Duc, 1849

Visigoth foundation walls of old CitÉ, Vth to VIIIth centuries

CitÉ besieged by the Black Prince, 1536

ChÂteau of CitÉ and postern gate, XIth and XIIth centuries

Outer fortifications with circular towers of the time of St. Louis, XIIIth century

Length inside the inner walls, ¼ mile

Length inside the outer walls, 1 mile

Saracens occupied the CitÉ, 783

Routed by Pepin le Bref, 759

Viscountal dynasty of Trencavels, 1090

Besieged by Simon de Montfort, 1210

Romanesque nave of St. Nazaire, 1096

Choir and transepts, XIIIth and XIVth centuries

Remains of Simon de Montfort buried here (since removed), 1218

Tomb of Bishop Radulph, 1266

Statues in choir, XIVth century

High-altar, 1522

Crypt, XIth century

Sacristy, XIIIth century

The "Pont Vieux," XIIth and XIIIth centuries

ST. SIFFREIN DE CARPENTRAS

A Roman colony under Augustus, Ist century

St. Siffrein, patron of the cathedral, died, XVIth century

Edifice mainly of the XVIth century

Paintings in nave, XVIIIth and XIXth centuries

Tomb of Bishop Buti, 1710

Episcopal palace built, 1640

Arc de Triomphe, Ist or IId century

Porte d'Orange, XIVth century

ST. BENOIT DE CASTRES

Cathedral dates mainly from XVIIth century

ST. VERAN DE CAVAILLON

Cathedral consecrated by St. Veran, in person, 1259

Tomb of Bishop Jean de Sade, XVIIth century

ST. ETIENNE DE CHALONS-SUR-SAONE

Cathedral completed, XVIth century

Rebuilt, after a disastrous fire, XVIIth century

Remains of early nave, dating from XIIIth century

Bishopric founded, Vth century

Height of nave, 90 feet

Length of nave, 350 feet

CATHEDRALE DE CHAMBERY

First bishop, Michel Conseil, 1780

Main body of cathedral dates from XIVth century

NOTRE DAME DE CLERMONT-FERRAND

Choir and nave, 1248-1265

Urban II. preached the Crusades here, 1095

Sanctuary completed, XIIIth century

Nave completed, except faÇade, XIVth century

Rose windows, XVth century

Western towers and portal, XIXth century

Height of towers, 340 feet

Height of nave, 100 feet

ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES

First monastery here, VIth century

Present cathedral mainly XIIth to XIVth centuries

First bishop, Suavis, VIth century

Monument to Bishop Hugh de Castellane, XIVth century

Length, 210 feet (?)

Width, 55 feet (?)

CATHEDRALE DE DAX

Main fabric, XIIIth century

Reconstructed, XVIIIth century

NOTRE DAME DE DIE

A bishopric in 1285, and from 1672 until 1801

Porch, XIth century

Romanesque fragments in "Porte Rouge," XIth century

Restored and rebuilt, XVIIth century

Length of nave, 270 feet

Width of nave, 76 feet

CATHEDRALE D'EAUZE

Town destroyed, Xth century

Gothic church (not, however, the former cathedral), XVth century

STE. EULALIE D'ELNE

Cathedral rebuilt from a former structure, XVth century

Cloister, XVth century

NOTRE DAME D'EMBRUN

North porch and peristyle, XIIth century

Romanesque tower rebuilt, XIVth century

The "Tour Brune" XIth century

High-altar, XVIIIth century

Painted triptych, 1518

Coloured glass, XVth century

Organ and gallery, XVIth century

NOTRE DAME DE GRENOBLE

Foundations of choir, XIth century

Tabernacle, XVth century

Tomb of AbbÉ ChissÉ, 1407

Former episcopal palace, XIth century

Present episcopal palace, on same site, XVth century

Eglise St AndrÉ, XIIIth century

"La Grande Chartreuse," founded by St. Bruno, 1084

"La Grande Chartreuse," enlarged, XVIth to XVIIth centuries

Monks expelled, 1816 and 1902

ST. LOUIS DE LA ROCHELLE

City besieged unsuccessfully, 1573

City besieged and fell, XVIIth century

Huguenots held the city from 1557 to 1629

Present cathedral dates from 1735

NOTRE DAME DE LE PUY

First bishop, St. Georges, IIId century

Primitive cathedral, Vth century

West faÇade of present edifice, XIIth century

Choir, Xth century

Virgin of Le Puy, 50 feet in height

Aguille de St. Michel, 250 feet in height, 50 feet in circumference at top, 500 feet at base

ST. ETIENNE DE LIMOGES

Nave, XVth and XVIth centuries

Romanesque portion of nave, XIth century

Lower portion of tower, XIth century

Clocher, XIIIth century

Choir, XIIIth century

Transepts, XIVth and XVth centuries

Choir-screen, 1543

Coloured glass, XVth and XIXth centuries

Tomb of Bishop Brun, 1349; de la Porte, 1325; Langeac, 1541

Crypt, XIth century

Height of clocher, 240 feet

Enamels of reredos, XVIIth century

ST. FULCRAN DE LODEVE

City converted to Christianity, 323

Earliest portion of cathedral, Xth century

Main portion of fabric, XIIth century

Cathedral completed, XVIth century

Tomb of Bishop de la Panse, 1658

Height of nave, 80 feet

CATHEDRALE DE LUCON

Ancient abbey, VIIth century

First bishop appointed, 1317

Richelieu bishop here, 1616-1624

Main fabric of cathedral dates from XIIth to XVIIth centuries

Fabric restored, 1853

Cloister of episcopal palace, XVth century

ST. JEAN DE LYON

Bridge across SaÔne, Xth century

Earliest portions of cathedral, 1180

Concile gÉnÉrale of the Church held at Lyons, 1245 and 1274

Portail, XVth century

Glass of choir, XIIIth and XIVth centuries

Great bourdon, 1662

Weight of great bourdon, 10,000 kilos

Chapelle des Bourbons, XVth century

Astronomical clock, XVIth and XVIIth centuries

STE. MARIE MAJEURE DE MARSEILLES

First bishop, St. Lasare, Ist century

Ancient cathedral built upon the ruins of a temple to Diana, XIth century

New cathedral begun, 1852

Practically completed, 1893

Length, 460 feet

Height of central dome, 197 feet

ST. JEAN DE MAURIENNE

Relique of St. Jean Baptiste, first brought here in VIth century

Cloister, 1452

ST. PIERRE DE MENDE

First bishop, Xth century

Main fabric of cathedral, XIVth century

Restoration, XVIIth century

Towers, XVIth century

Organ-case, 1640

Height of western towers, 203 and 276 feet

ST. PIERRE DE MONTPELLIER

Bishopric removed here from Maguelonne, 1536

Pope Urban V. consecrated present cathedral in a former Benedictine abbey, 1364

Length of nave, 181 feet

Width of nave, 49 feet

Length of choir, 43 feet

Width of choir, 39 feet

NOTRE DAME DE MOULINS

Towers and west front, XIXth century

Choir and nave, 1465-1507

Coloured glass, XVth and XVIth centuries

Choir restoration completed, 1885

Sepulchre, XVIth century

Height of western spires, 312 feet

ChÂteau of Ducs de Bourbon (facing the cathedral) XIVth century

ST. JUST DE NARBONNE

Choir begun, 1272-1330

Choir rebuilt, XVIIIth century

Remains of cloister, XIVth and XVth century

Towers, XVth century

Tombs of bishops, XIVth to XVIth centuries

Organ buffet, 1741

Height of choir vault, 120 (127?) feet

ST. CASTOR DE NIMES

St. Felix the first bishop, IVth century

St. Castor as bishop, 1030

Cathedral damaged by wars of XVIth and XVIIth centuries

Length of grande axe of Arena, 420 feet

Capacity of Arena, 80,000 persons

STE. MARIE D'OLORON

Earliest portions, XIth century

Completed, XVth century

Length of nave, 150 feet

Width of nave, 106 feet

NOTRE DAME D'ORANGE

Oldest portions, 1085

Nave, 1085-1126

CATHEDRALE DE PAMIERS

Clocher, XIVth century

Nave rebuilt, XVIIth century

Ancient Abbey of St. Antoine, XIth century

First bishop, Bernard Saisset, 1297

ST. FRONT DE PERIGUEUX

Primitive monastery founded, VIth century

Cathedral dates from 984-1047

Cathedral rebuilt, XIIth century

Cathedral restored, XIXth century

Pulpit in carved wood, XVIIth

Confessionals, Xth or XIth century

Paintings in vaulting, XIth century

Length of nave, 197 feet

Height of pillars of nave, 44 feet

Height of cupola of clocher, 217 feet

Height of great arches in interior, 65 feet

ST. JEAN DE PERPIGNAN

Tower, XIVth century

RÉtable, XIV century

Altar-screen, XIVth century

Bishop's tomb, 1695

ST. PIERRE DE POITIERS

Eglise St. Hilaire, Xth and XIth centuries

BaptistÈre, IVth to XIIth centuries

St. Radegonde, XIth and XIIth centuries

Cathedral begun, 1162

High-altar dedicated, 1199

Choir completed, 1250

Western doorway, XVth century

Coloured glass, XIIIth and XVIIIth centuries

NOTRE DAME DE RODEZ

Dates chiefly from 1275

Choir, XIVth century

Nave, XVth century

Cross-vaults, tribune, sacristy door, and faÇade, from about 1535

ClÔture of choir designed by Cusset

Terrace to episcopal palace designed by Philandrier, 1550

Episcopal palace itself dates, in the main, from XVIIth century

Rose window of faÇade is the most notable in France south of the Loire, excepting Poitiers

ST. PIERRE DE SAINTES

Eglise St. Eutrope, 1081-1096

Primitive cathedral, 1117

Cathedral rebuilt, 1585

First two bays of transept, XIIth century

Nave completed, XVth century

Vaulting of choir and nave, XVth to XVIIth centuries

Height of flamboyant tower (XIVth century), 236 feet

CATHEDRALE DE SARLAT

Benedictine abbey dates from VIIIth century

Cathedral mainly of XIth and XIIth centuries

Sepulchral chapel, XIIth century

CATHEDRALE DE SION

First bishop, St. ThÉodule, IVth century

Choir of Eglise Ste. Catherine, Xth or XIth century

Bishop of Sion sent as papal legate to Winchester, 1070

Main body of cathedral, XVth century

ST. PIERRE DE ST. CLAUDE

Abbey founded by St. Claude, Vth century

Bishopric founded by Jos. de Madet, 1742

Bishopric suppressed, 1790

Bishopric revived again, 1821

Main fabric of cathedral, XIVth century

Cathedral restored, XVIIIth century

Length, 200 feet (approx.)

Width, 85 feet "

Height, 85 feet "

ST. ODILON DE ST. FLOUR

Bishopric founded, 1318

Present cathedral begun, 1375

" " dedicated, 1496

" " completed, 1556

Episcopal palace, 1800

ChÂteau de St. Flour, 1000

ST. LISIER OR COUSERANS

Former cathedral, XIIth and XIIIth centuries

Bishop's palace, XVIIth century

STE. MARIE MAJEURE DE TOULON

Main body of fabric, XIth and XIIth centuries

FaÇade, XVIIth century

Length of nave, 160 feet

Width of nave, 35 feet

ST. ETIENNE DE TOULOUSE

ST PAUL TROIS CHATEAUX

Chapel to St. Restuit first erected here, IVth century
Town devastated by the Vandals, Vth century
" " " "	Saracens, 736
" " " "	Protestants, XIVth century
" " " "	Catholics, XIVth century
Former cathedral, XIth and XIIth centuries

CATHEDRALE DE TULLE

Benedictine foundation, VIIth century

Cloister, VIIth century (?)

Bishopric founded, 1317

Romanesque and transition nave, XIIth century

ST. THEODORIT D'UZES

Inhabitants of the town, including the bishop, mostly became Protestant, XVIth century

Cathedral rebuilt and restored, XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries

Tour FÉnestrelle, XIIIth century

Organ-case, XVIIth century

Height of the "Tour FÉnestrelle," 130 feet

CATHEDRALE DE VAISON

Cloister, XIth century

Eglise de St. Quinin, VIIth century

ST. APOLLINAIRE DE VALENCE

Cathedral rebuilt and reconsecrated by Urban II., XIth century

Reconstructed, 1604

Bishopric founded, IVth century

Foundations laid, XIIth century

Cenotaph to Pius VI., 1799

Height of tower, 187 feet

CATHEDRALE DE VABRES

Principally, XIVth century

Rebuilt and reconstructed, and clocher added, XVIIIth century

NOTRE DAME DE VENCE

Fabric of various eras, VIth, Xth, XIIth, and XVth centuries

RÉtable, XVIth century

Choir-stalls, XVth century

ST. MAURICE DE VIENNE

Bishopric dates from IId century

St. Crescent, first bishop, 118

Cathedral begun, 1052

Reconstructed, 1515

Coloured glass, in part, XIVth century

Tomb of Cardinal de Montmorin, XVIth century

Metropolitan privileges of Vienne confirmed by Pope Paschal II., 1099

CATHEDRALE DE VIVIERS

Choir, XIVth century

Tower, XIVth and XVth centuries

INDEX

Abbey of Cluny, 59, 61.
Abbey of Montmajour, 230.
Acre, 56.
Adelbert, Count of PÉrigueux, 38.
Adour, River, 417.
Agde, 53, 358, 359.
Agde, CathÉdrale de, 358-360, 520.
Agen, 42, 429.
Agen, St. Caprais de, 429, 431, 520.
Agout, River, 471.
Aigues-Mortes, 228, 319, 320.
Aire, St. Jean Baptiste de, 469, 470, 521.
Aix, 36, 230, 283, 293, 323, 324.
Aix St. Jean de Malte, 324.
Aix, St. Sauveur de, 323-327, 521.
Ajaccio, 47.
Alais, 249-251.
Alais, St. Jean de, 249-251, 521.
Alberoni, Cardinal, 240.
Albi, 27, 41, 53, 54, 61, 95, 98, 274.
Albi, Ste. CÉcile de, 363, 482-489, 522.
Albigenses, The, 365, 485, 486.
Alet, 42.
Alet, St. Pierre de, 350, 351, 522.
Amantius, 330.
Amiens, 60, 62.
Andorra, Republic of, 373.
Angers, ChÂteau at, 66.
Angers, St Maurice d', 97.
AngoulÊme, 55, 61, 73, 120, 124.
AngoulÊme, St. Pierre de, 73, 120-125, 523.
Anjou, 45, 71.
Anjou, Duke of, 40, 44.
Anjou, Henry Plantagenet of, 39.
Anjou (La TrinitÉ), 56.
Annecy, 252-254, 256.
Annecy, St. Pierre de, 252-254, 523.
Antibes, 330, 339, 341.
Aosti, 268.
Apt, 289-291.
Apt, St. Castor de, 523.
Aquitaine, 38, 62.
Aquitanians, The, 38.
Aquitanian architecture, 54, 55, 66.
Arc de Triomphe (Saintes), 115.
Architecture, Church, 50-56.
Ariosto, 235.
Arles, 28, 33, 61, 217, 228-235, 283, 293.
Arles, Archbishop of, 46.
Arles, St. Trophime de, 37, 202, 228-235, 524.
Arnaud, Bishop, 354.
Auch, St. Marie de, 432-438, 524.
Auch, College of, 438.
Augustus, 221.
Autun, Bishop of (Talleyrand-PÉrigord), 46.
Auvergne, 29, 62, 72-74.
Auzon, 221.
Avignon, 33, 41, 53, 54, 241.
Avignon, Papal Palace at, 377, 485.
Avignon, Notre Dame des Doms, 204-220, 525.
Avignon, Ruf d', 36.
BaptistÈre of St. Siffrein de Carpentras, 222.
BaptistÈre, The (Poitiers), 95, 96, 101.
Basilique de Notre Dame de FourviÈre, 185.
Bayonne, 28, 57, 373, 387, 405-407, 410, 411.
Bayonne, Notre Dame de, 405-410, 525.
Bazas, St. Jean de, 411, 412, 526.
Bazin, RenÉ, 229, 235.
Bearn, Province of, 395, 406.
Beauvais, Lucien de, 37.
Becket, Thomas À, 111.
Belley, 267.
Belley, CathÉdrale de, 526.
Benedict XII., Pope, 211, 216.
BÉnigne, 171.
Berengarius II., 371.
Berri, 71, 72.
BesanÇon, 267, 274.
BesanÇon, Lin de, 36.
BÉthanie, Lazare de, 36.
BÉzard, 431.
BÉziers, 53, 363-365.
BÉziers, Bishop of, 365.
BÉziers, St. Nazaire de, 363-367, 526.
Bichi, Alexandri, 224.
Bishops of Carpentras, 221.
Bishop of Ypres, 48.
"Black Prince," The, 418, 453.
Blois, ChÂteau at, 66.
Breakspeare, 230.
Bretagne, Slabs in, 64.
Bridge of St. BÉnezet, 219.
Bordeaux, 57, 384, 387, 396, 397, 401.
Bordeaux, St. AndrÉ de, 94, 396-401, 526.
Bossuet, Bishop, 420.
BourassÉ, AbbÉ, 83, 89, 328, 354, 433.
Bourbons, The, 126, 127. 130.
Bourg, 277-279.
Bourg, Notre Dame de, 277-279, 526.
Bourges, 41, 62.
Bovet, FranÇois, 281.
Boyan, Bishop, 247.
Buti, Bishop Laurent, 224.
CÆsar, 171.
Cahors, 42, 44, 425, 428.
Cahors, St. Etienne de, 425-428, 527.
CairÈne type of mosque, 55.
Calixtus II., 189.
Canal du Midi, 367.
Canova, 194, 334.
Capet, Hugh, 38, 39.
Carcassonne, 28, 53, 319, 449-457.
Carcassonne, St. Nazaire de, 57, 319, 449-460, 527.
Carpentras, 221-226.
Carpentras, St. Siffrein de, 221-225, 528.
Carton, Dominique de, 224.
Castres, 42, 471.
Castres, Sts. Benoit et Vincent de, 471-473, 528.
CathÉdrale d'Agde, 358-360, 520.
CathÉdrale de Belley, 526.
CathÉdrale de ChambÉry, 255-257, 529.
CathÉdrale de Condom, 420, 421.
CathÉdrale de Dax, 530.
CathÉdrale d'Eauze, 531.
CathÉdrale de Lectoure, 402-404.
CathÉdrale de LuÇon, 85, 86, 533.
CathÉdrale de Montauban, 422-424.
CathÉdrale de Pamiers, 461-463, 536.
CathÉdrale de Sarlat, 540.
CathÉdrale de Sion, 302-304, 540.
Cathedral of St. Michel, Carcassonne, < a href="@public@vhost@g@html@files@35212@35212-h@35212-h-9.htm.html#page_451" class="pginternal">451, 452.
CathÉdrale de Tulle, 118, 119, 542.
CathÉdrale de Vabres, 543.
CathÉdrale de Vaison, 226, 227, 543.
Cathedrale de Viviers, 195, 196, 544.
Cavaillon, 226.
Cavaillon, St. Veran de, 200-203, 528.
Cevennes, 30, 72, 76-79, 136.
Chalons, Simon de, 247.
Chalons-sur-SaÔne, St. Etienne de, 170-173, 529.
ChambÉry, 28, 253, 255-257, 264, 267, 270.
ChambÉry, CathÉdrale de, 529.
Chapelle des Innocents, Agen, 431.
Charente, River, 115.
Charlemagne, 58, 59, 214.
Charles V., 40, 45, 323.
Charles VIII., 65.
Charles the Great, 304.
Charterhouse, near Grenoble, 62.
Chartres, 60, 62, 232.
Chartres, Aventin de, 37.
Chartreuse, La Grande, 48, 162, 531.
Chavannes, Puvis de, 102, 342.
ChissÉ, Archbishop, 260.
Chrysaphius, Bishop, 281.
Church of St. Saturnin (Toulouse), 440-444.
Church of the Jacobins (Toulouse), 440, 441, 443, 444.
Clairvaux, 62.
Clement V., Pope, 33, 211, 398, 400.
Clement VI., 219,
Clermont-Ferrand, 29, 33, 52, 57, 73, 74.
Clermont-Ferrand, Notre Dame de, 144-151, 531.
Lake of Annecy, 252.
La Madeleine, Aix, 324.
Lamartine, 176.
Languedoc, 32, 40, 44, 390, 391.
La Rochelle, 73, 82, 83.
La Rochelle, St. Louis de, 82-84, 532.
La TrinitÉ at Anjou, 56.
Laura, Tomb of, 33.
Lavaur, 497, 498.
Lectoure, 402.
Lectoure, CathÉdrale de, 402-404.
Les ArÈnes, 240.
Lescar, 413.
Lescar, Notre Dame de, 413-416.
LesdiguiÈres, Duc de, 298.
Les FrÈres du Pont, 220.
Le Puy, 61, 134-136, 327.
Le Puy, Notre Dame de, 97, 134-143, 532.
Limoges, 57, 79, 80, 104, 105.

Limoges (St. Martial), 37.
Limoges, St. Etienne de, 104-111, 532.
Limousin, 71, 72.
LodÈve, 246.
LodÈve, St. Fulcran de, 152-155, 533.
Loire valley, 30.
Lombardy, 33.
Lombez, 496.
Lot, 44.
Loudin, Noel, 110.
Louis IV., 240.
Louis VII., 39.
Louis XI., 295.
Louis XIII., 353.
Louis XIV., 210, 224.
Louis XV., 210.
Louis Napoleon, 397.
LozÈre, 28.
LuÇon, 42.
LuÇon, CathÉdrale de, 85, 86, 533.
Lyon, 28, 177, 178, 259, 267, 273.
Lyon, St. Jean de, 177-185, 533.
Macon, St. Vincent de, 174-176.
Madet, Joseph de, 273.
Maguelonne, 353, 354.
Maillezais, 42.
Maillezais, L'Abbaye de, 81.
Maine, Henry Plantagenet of, 39.
Maison CarÉe, The, 240.
Mansard, 290.
Marseilles, 36, 314, 318, 342.
Marseilles, Ste. Marie-Majeure de, 318, 342-349, 534.
Maurienne, 269-271.
Maurienne, St. Jean de, 256, 269-271, 534.
Memmi, Simone (of Sienna), 211, 216.
Mende, 42, 246, 490, 492.
Mende in LozÈre, 27.
Mende, St. Pierre de, 490-494, 534.
MÉrimÉe, Prosper, 26, 30, 224.
Metz, Clement de, 36.
Midi, The, 383-395.
Midi, Canal du, 386.
Mignard, 250, 282, 290.
Mimat, Mont, 494.
Mirabeau, 46.
Mirepoix, 501.
Mirepoix, St. Maurice de, 501.
Mistral, Frederic, 163, 165, 218, 228.
Modane, 270.
Mognon, 84.
Moles, Arnaud de, 436.
Monastery of La Grande Chartreuse, 260.
Montauban, 422.
Montauban, CathÉdrale de, 422-424.
Mont de la Baume, 282.
Mont DorÉ-le-Bains, 74.
Monte Carlo, 213.
Montfort, Simon de, 455, 459.
Montmajour, Abbey of, 230.
Montpellier, 40, 352-354.
Montpellier, St. Pierre de, 352-357, 534.
Mont St. Guillaume, 295.
Morin, AbbÉ, 36, 37.
Moulins, Notre Dame de, 126-133, 534.
Nadaud, Gustave, 455-457.
Naples, Joanna of, 209.
Naples, Kingdom of, 45.
Napoleon, 27, 210, 240.
Narbonne, 42, 53, 54, 241, 375, 376.
Narbonne, St. Just de, 375-379, 535.
Narbonne (St. Paul), 37.
Nero, Reign of, 36.
Neiges, Notre Dame des, 223.
Nice, St. Reparata de, 328-331.
NÎmes, 28, 33, 40, 61, 218, 228, 229, 236-242.
NÎmes, St. Castor de, 236-244, 535.
Notre Dame de l'Assomption de Gap, 296-299.
Notre Dame de Bayonne, 405-410, 525.
Notre Dame de Bourg, 277-279, 526.
Notre Dame de Clermont-Ferrand, 144-151, 530.
Notre Dame de DiÉ, 287, 288, 531.
Notre Dame de Doms d'Avignon, 204-220, 525.
Notre Dame d'Embrun, 292-295, 531.
Notre Dame de la Gard, 346, 347.
Notre Dame de la Grande (Poitiers), 95.
Notre Dame de Grenoble, 258-264, 531.
Notre Dame de Le Puy, 97, 134-143, 532.
Notre Dame de Lescar, 413-416.
Notre Dame de Moulins, 126-133, 534.
Notre Dame des Neiges, 223.
Notre Dame d'Orange, 197-199, 536.
Notre Dame de Rodez, 363, 474-481, 539.
Notre Dame et St. Castor d'Apt, 289-291.
Notre Dame de Vence, 300, 301, 544.
Notre Dame du Port, 57.
Noyon, 60.
Obreri, Peter, 212.
Oloron, 498, 536.
Oloron, Ste. Marie d', 498, 536.
Orange, 28, 33, 61, 225, 229.
Orange, Notre Dame d', 197-199, 536.
Orb, River, 366, 367.
Order of St. Bruno, 260, 261, 263.
Palais de Justice (Poitiers), 102.
Palais des Papes, 54, 209.
Palais du Constantin, 230.
Palissy, Bernard, 117.
Pamiers, 461.
Pamiers, CathÉdrale de, 461-463, 536.
Paris, 29, 37, 46, 62, 232, 270.
Parrocel, 290.
Pascal, Blaise, 150, 151, 160.
Paschal II., 189.
Pas de Calais, 30.
Pause, Plantavit de la, 154.
PÉrigueux, 55-57, 61.
PÉrigueux, St. Front de, 56, 87-91, 97, 537.
Perpignan, 28, 368, 369, 373.
Perpignan, St. Jean de, 368-371, 537.
Petrarch, 204, 207-209, 211, 213, 221, 264.
Peyer, Roger, 242.
Philippe-Auguste, 40.
Philippe-le-Bel, 41.
Piedmont, 270.
Pierrefonds, ChÂteau at, 66.
Pius VI., 194.
Pius, Pope, 210.
Plantagenet, Henry (of Maine and Anjou), 39.
Poitiers, 42, 73, 95-97, 327.
Poitiers, Notre Dame de la Grande, 95.
Poitiers (St. Hilaire), 61.
Poitiers, St. Pierre de, 92-101, 538.
Poitou, 71-73.
Poitou, Eleanor of, 39.
Polignac, ChÂteau de, 75, 76, 135, 143.
Port Royal, 45.
Provence, 32, 62, 163-167, 313.
ProvenÇal architecture, 54, 55, 57, 66.
Ptolemy, 159.
Puy, Bertrand du, 422.
Puy de DÔme, 29, 73, 74.
Puy, Notre Dame de la, 97, 134-143, 532.
Pyrenees, The, 393-395.
Religious movements in France, 23-48.
RenÉ, King, 323, 326.
RÉvoil, Henri, 348.
Rheims, 60, 62, 229.
Rheims, Sixte de, 37.
RhÔne valley, 28.
Richelieu, Cardinal, 85.
Rienzi, 211.
Rieux, 497.
Riez, 280, 281.
Riom, 73.
Riviera, The, 313-320.
Rochefort, 73.
Rocher des Doms, 213.
Rodez, 29, 42, 274.
Rodez, Notre Dame de, 363, 474-481, 539.
Rouen, 60.
Rouen, Nicaise de, 37.
Rouen (St. Ouen), 52.
Rousillon, 368, 369, 372.
Rousseau, 256.
RovÈre, Bishop de la, 492.
Rubens, 340.
Ruskin, 63.
St. Albans in Hertfordshire, 230.
St. AndrÉ de Bordeaux, 94, 396-401, 526.
St. Ansone, 121.
St. Apollinaire de Valence, 190-194, 543.
St. Armand, 474, 481.
St. Armentaire, 339, 341.
St. Astier, Armand de, 119.
St. Aubin, 226.
St. Auspice, 289.
St. Austinde, 433, 435.
St. Austremoine, 37, 150.
St. Ayrald, 271.
St. BÉnezet, 219.
St. BÉnigne of Dijon, 63.
St. Benoit de Castres, 471-473, 232.
St. Trophime d'Arles, 37, 202, 228-235, 524.
St. Valentin, 221.
St. ValÈre (TrÈves), 37.
St. Venuste, 359.
St. VÉran, 301.
St. VÉran de Cavaillon, 200-203, 528.
St. Vincent de Macon, 174-176.
St. Vincent de Paul, Statue of, 285.
St. Virgil, 230.
Saintes, Eutrope de, 37.
Saisset, Bernard, 463.
SaÔne, River, 170, 174, 181.
Sarlat, 42, 500.
Sarlat, CathÉdrale de, 540.
Savoie, 30, 252, 256, 271.
Scott, Sir Walter, 51, 58.
Senez, 280.
Senlis, 60.
Sens, Savinien de, 37.
SÉvignÉ, Madame de, 392.
Sion, CathÉdrale de, 302-304, 540.
Sisteron,

281.
Sterne, 126, 184.
Stevenson, R. L., 23, 30, 135, 249.
Strasbourg, 51.
Suavis, 464.
Suger, Abbot, 51.
Talleyrand-PÉrigord (Bishop of Autun), 46.
Tarascon, Castle at, 66.
Tarasque, The, 134.
Tarbes, 417. 418.
Tarbes, L'Eglise de la SÈde, 417-419.
Tarentaise, 256, 268, 270.
Tarn, River, 422.
Thevenot, 113.
Toulon, 330, 332.
Toulon, St. Marie Majeure de, 332-334, 541.
Toulouse, 42, 439-441.
Toulouse, MusÉe of, 441, 447.
Toulouse, St. Etienne de, 439-448, 541.
Toulouse, St. Saturnin, 37.
"Tour Fenestrelle," 247.
Touraine, 29, 71, 72.
Tours, 29.
Tours (St. Gatien), 37.
Tours (St. Martin), 61.
Treaty of Tolentino, 210.
TrÈves (St. ValÈre), 37.
Tricastin, 305, 306.
Trinity Church, Boston, 141, 346.
Tulle, CathÉdrale de, 118, 119, 542.
Tuscany, 33.
Unigenitus, Bull, 45.
Urban, Pope, 33.
Urban II., 145, 149, 150, 191, 458.
Urban V., 354.
UzÈs, 245-248.
UzÈs, St. Theodorit de, 245-248, 542.
Vabres, 42, 499.
Vabres, CathÉdrale de, 543.
Vaison, 226, 227.
Vaison, CathÉdrale de, 226, 227, 543.
Valence, 29.
Valence, St. Apollinaire de, 190-194, 543.
Vaucluse, 208.
Vaudoyer, LÉon, 348.
Vehens, Raimond de, 112.
Venasque, 222.
Vence, 300, 301.
Vence, Notre Dame de, 300, 301, 544.
VendÉe, La, 72.
Veronese, Alex., 401.
Veyrie, RÉne de la, 85.
Veyrier, 334.
Vic, Dominique de, 434.
Vienne, 29, 61, 229, 253, 259, 273, 296.
Vienne, St. Maurice, 179, 184, 186-189, 193, 544.
Villeneuve-les-Avignon, 213.
Villeneuve, Raimond de, 339.
Viollet-le-Duc, 88, 131, 146, 377, 442, 452, 455.
Viviers, CathÉdrale de, 195, 196, 544.
Voltaire, 273.
Werner, Archbishop, 51.
Westminster Cathedral, London, 345.
William of Wykeham (England), 51.
William, Duke of Normandy, 39.
Wykeham, William of, 51.
Young, Arthur, 24, 208, 256, 273, 464.
Ypres, Bishop of, 48.

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