Chapter MCCCXX: Le DIX Septiesme Jour De Jun (5)

Although this "Alleluiatic victory," as we have seen, is related by Bede (who copied it from Constantius) and Fuller, it does not appear that the Welsh MSS. take any notice of it, and its truth is doubted by Dr. Whitaker in his _Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall_; but, says Mr. Yeowell, "that a battle was fought at Maesgarmon, in the parish of Mold, Flintshire, under circumstances which were afterwards improved into a miracle, is not improbable; and there are names of places in that neighbourhood which show that the district has, for some reason or other, been tenacious of the memory of S. Germain."[80] Pelagius himself was a Welshman given to travel--he visited Italy, Africa, and even Palestine; and it was at Rome that the evil communications of one Rufinus, a man deeply imbued with the principles of Origen, corrupted his good faith in regard to the doctrine of original sin. But the heresy appears to have been introduced into Britain by Agricola, a Gallic bishop, and Celestius.

After this victory the good bishop returned to his own country; but in 447, the Pelagians again becoming aggressive, he took a second journey to Britain, and this time not only baffled the heretics, but banished them. "News is brought out of Britain," says Constantius, "that the Pelagians' perverseness is again diffused by a few preachers. The supplications of all are once more conveyed to this most blessed man that he would come and preserve the cause of God, which he had formerly won. With this petition he hastily complies, being delighted with the labour, and willingly spending himself for Christ." This time Germanus was attended by one of Lupus' scholars, "a man of all sanctity, who, being then consecrated bishop of Trèves, was preaching the word of life to the inhabitants of Germania Prima." On their arrival, they were again met by a great multitude, whom they blessed; and then preaching the word of God, discomfited the heretics and banished them from the island.

Germanus seems to have reformed the British Church, and modelled it upon the Gallican; for it was about his time, and no doubt through his influence, that parochial churches were founded in country places; the rural populations having previously depended upon missionaries from the towns and monasteries for their spiritual teaching. But in 442, the council of Vaison, in Gaul, decreed that presbyters should be attached to country parishes as well as to the city churches.

Germanus is thought by some authorities to have introduced the Gallican liturgy into Britain; he certainly established schools of learning, colleges and monasteries, where study was the principal work accomplished. During the Roman occupation of the country, there were no doubt professors of Greek and Latin in all the chief cities, possibly at London, York, and Caerleon; for it is not probable that the edict of Gratian, which required all the chief cities of the Empire to maintain such professorships, should not have been in force in Britain. But after the withdrawal of the Roman legions, it became difficult to keep up these professorships; and hence the foundation of monasteries, as schools of learning for the training of youths for the service of the Church, was suggested by Germanus; and to this end he consecrated Dubricius archbishop of Llandaff, and Daniel bishop of Bangor, besides appointing Iltutus to a place which took his name--Llan Iltut. The former founded colleges at Hentland-on-the-Wye (where he had a thousand pupils), and Llancarfan, or Llanfeithin, Caerworgorn, and Caerleon. The word _bangor_ in Welsh is simply a name for any college; and towards the end of the 5th century all Christian societies began to assume that epithet, _ban_, high; _côr_, circle or congregation. The word is written variously (in MSS.), "Ban Cor," "Banchor,"and "Bangor." Bangor Garmon, or the College of Germanus, at Llanveiltrin, in Glamorgan, was founded by him in 460. The congregation instituted by the Emperor Theodosius in Caer Worgorn having been destroyed by the Irish in the middle of the 5th century, was restored by Germanus, who placed Iltutus over it. This is now called in Welsh, "Llanilltyd Vawr," in Glamorganshire. According to the Triads, it contained no less than two thousand four hundred members, one hundred being employed every hour in order that the praise and service of God might be continued day and night without intermission. Gildas, the historian, and Talhaiarn, the bard, are said to have been educated there; and S. Cadvan and S. Padarn, the companions of S. Germanus, were among the members of the college until their appointment to similar work elsewhere. The College of S. Cadoc was also founded under the direction of Germanus and Catog, who preferred a life of study and religion to succession to his father's principality.

Little is known of the internal regulations of these colleges, but the discipline instituted by S. Columba, about a hundred years later, was very severe. Religious offices were held three times during the day, and as often during the night. Each day office consisted of prayers and three psalms, and in the night ones, from October to February, the monks were to chant thirty-six psalms and twelve anthems at three different times; but on Saturday and Lord's Day nights, twenty-five psalms and as many anthems. That such training raised up a set of men who went by the names of "_Ordo Apostolicus_," "_Ordo Divi Colombæ_," is not astonishing, although by themselves they were called "_Famuli Dei_," the servants of God.

That S. Germanus was a remarkable man there is no doubt, as we also owe the discovery of S. Geneviève to his foresight; for when he saw her at Nanterre, on his way to Britain, he was so impressed by her piety that he consecrated her to the service of God.

The church in Paris was probably founded in commemoration of some miracle performed by the bishop during his sojourn in that city, perhaps by his namesake S. Germain of Paris, who held the memory of his brother of Auxerre in great esteem and veneration. That its origin was very ancient is shown by the record of certain gifts from King Childebert and Queen Ultrogothe. It was probably a round church in its early days, as in 866, when it was pillaged and destroyed by the Normans, it was called S. Germain-le-Rond, and it must have been in that edifice that S. Landry, bishop of Paris, was buried. Formerly a chapter composed of a dean, a precentor, thirteen canons, and eleven chaplains, served the church, and it ranked immediately after the cathedral; but in 1744, its chapter was merged into that of Notre-Dame, and it became a simple parish church.

The Quai and Place de l'École, situated near S. Germain, owed their names, as early as the 13th century, to a public school of great celebrity, which was established about, or soon after, the time of Charlemagne. S. Germain was rebuilt by King Robert, and again in the 12th century, to which period the tower belongs. The principal door, the choir, and the apse are of the 13th century; the porch, the greater part of the _façade_, the nave and aisles, and the chapels of the _chevet_, are of the 15th and 16th centuries. The cloister which surrounded the church has disappeared, as also the dean's house which stood in the space between the church and the Louvre. It was in traversing the cloisters of S. Germain that Admiral Coligny was shot, and it was the great bell of this church which gave the signal for the massacre of S. Bartholomew. S. Germain was the parish church of the Louvre and the Tuileries, and some of the royal children were baptised there; and many a time the kings went there in great state to perform their paschal duties.

The portico projects in front of the three principal West doors, and is the work of Master Jean Gaussel. It was constructed in 1435, and is a mass of very beautiful carving. Some of the corbels are examples of the grotesque imagery of the period. The interior was decorated with frescoes some years ago, but they are in a parlous, peeling, condition. Two of the statues are old, S. Francis of Assisi, and S. Mary of Egypt holding the three little loaves which nourished her in the desert. The central doorway is of the 13th century, the two side ones are of the 15th. The whole is decorated with statues of various Saints--amongst others S. Germain, S. Vincent, and S. Geneviève holding her candle, which a hideous little demon is trying to extinguish. Round the tympanum, the subject of which is the Last Judgment, are the Wise and Foolish Virgins, the Apostles and the Martyrs. Abraham sits on one side holding a napkin on which are three little souls; while upon the other is a cauldron from the lower regions containing three lost souls (one mitred), and two horrible demons--one tormenting a soul with a whip, the other throwing a poor creature into the flames, having already torn his flesh into shreds. The gargoyles are peculiarly grotesque: a grinning savage is being ejected from the jaws of a hippopotamus; a man carries a hooded ape on his shoulders; and a showman is making a monkey dance. A corbel shows us a quantity of rats persecuted by a cat--the rats being the wicked who encumber the earth; the cat, the demon who awaits their souls.

The plan of the church is cruciform; the entire length is 240 ft., and the width at the transepts 120 ft. The interior is very plain, that is to say, what remains of the old church after the embellishments of the renovating architects of 1745. These gentlemen fluted the pillars of the choir, and converted the mouldings of the capitals into garlands and flowery festoons, giving the whole a grandly Classic appearance. Happily they left the arches pointed, instead of filling them in with round-headed ones as at S. Séverin; and, likewise, we may be thankful that the nave was not "improved," and that the bosses and the ornament of the Lady Chapel were allowed to remain in their primitive beauty. Among the subjects of the bosses may be cited a S. Christopher crossing a torrent with the infant Christ on his shoulder; and a S. Germain in episcopal vestments, painted and gilt, may be seen upon an openwork ground in the Lady Chapel.

In 1744 the choir was enclosed by a magnificent screen, the combined work of Pierre Lescot and Jean Goujon;[81] but the _curé_ and churchwardens, upon the suppression of the chapter, lost no time in destroying this work of art, in order to open up the east end of the church to the congregation--not the only case of its kind.

Had the modern improvers of the church only pulled this down they might have been forgiven, but they did not rest until they had appointed an architect named Bacarit to "purify" the church of its "_barbarie Gothique_." Unfortunately for the reputation of the academicians of 1745, the project submitted to, and approved by them, appears to us, so far as it was carried out, to be a decided _barbarie Classique_; and even in the beginning of this century, when the Empire had introduced a sort of _pseudo_-Classic style, and made it fashionable, people of taste were no less severe upon the re-dressing of the old pillars and capitals in Greek garments: "Nearer to my residence, and of a kindred style of architecture, is the Church of S. Germain Auxerrois. The west front is yet sound and good. Nothing particular strikes you on the entrance, but there are some interesting specimens of rich old stained glass in the windows of the transept. The choir is completely and cruelly modernised. In the side chapels are apparently several good modern paintings; and over an altar of twisted columns, round which ivy leaves apparently composed of ivory are creeping, is a picture of three figures in the flames of purgatory. This side chapel is consecrated to the offering up of orisons 'for the souls in purgatory.' It is gloomy and repulsive. Death's heads and thigh bones are painted in white colours upon the stained wall; and in the midst of all these fearful devices I saw three young ladies intensely occupied in their devotions at the railing facing the altar."[82]

The chapels of the _chevet_ have niches in the wall surmounted by round-headed arches, and containing statues. There are in all thirteen chapels, but four of them have been converted into a sacristy and the north door, the exterior of which is a good specimen of Renaissance work.

The abbé Lebeuf attributed some of the glass of the choir to the commencement of the 14th century, but not a vestige of this remains; there is nothing earlier than the two following centuries. Here also the good gentlemen of the 18th century "improved" much; the church was dark and gloomy, and so, forsooth, the stained glass of the nave was taken out, and the colour, and golden _fleurs-de-lys_ of the vaults and columns, were scraped off or whitewashed over. Thus was lost the history of S. Germain which formed the subject of the windows. But happily the rose-windows of the two transepts, four lights in the south aisle and two of the north aisle, still remain; but these being only of the 16th century, are consequently not in the best taste. Some have Gothic and some Renaissance surroundings, but the colour is, if rather bright, clear and rich. Unfortunately, time has obliterated many of the heads and hands; but enough remains to make out the subjects. In the north rose, the Eternal Father, in a Papal tiara, is surrounded by Angels, Cherubim, Martyrs, and Confessors; amongst whom may be recognised SS. Catherine, Vincent, Margaret, Agnes, Martha, Germain, and King Louis. Above and below are the four Fathers of the Latin Church. In the north transept the subjects are taken from The Passion, The Acts of our Lord, Scenes in the Life of the Patriarch Abraham, a gentleman donor accompanied by his sons, and a lady followed by her daughters, a S. Peter, and S. Anne instructing her daughter, and patronising another donor. In the southern rose, the Holy Spirit descends from Heaven in the form of a dove; The Blessed Virgin and The Apostles receiving light from above, with enthusiastic expressions upon their visages. In the southern transept: The Incredulity of S. Thomas; The Ascension; The Death of the Virgin; and The Assumption. Above, the Coronation of the Virgin and a well, recalling the attribute "Well of living water" given to her by the Fathers. There are a great many modern windows, but except those in imitation of the glass in the S. Chapelle, by MM. Lassus and Didron, they are of little artistic value. M. Lassus was the architect who superintended all the later restorations and decorations.

The chapel of the Blessed Virgin is a little church in itself, with stalls, organ, pulpit, screen and altar, all richly decorated. The reredos is the tree of Jesse which surrounds the Virgin with its branches. This is in stone, of the 14th century, and comes from a church in Champagne. Some restorations in 1838 brought to light a curious 16th century wall painting, representing a cemetery with the graves giving up their dead to the sound of the Angels' trumpets. Three statues were also found of the same date as the chapel, and serve as the retable of the altar: they represent the Blessed Virgin sitting, and S. Germain and S. Vincent (who are united in all the decorations of this church), standing on each side of her. The _banc-d'oeuvre_ was executed in 1648 by Mercier, from drawings by Lebrun. It is handsome in its way, and excellently carved, but utterly out of keeping with the rest of the church. It is composed of Ionic columns supporting a huge baldachino; and probably looked its best when it was filled with royal personages on high festivals and state occasions. Another exquisite example of wood carving may be seen in the chapel of Notre-Dame de Compassion, forming the retable. It belongs to the latest Gothic period, and is covered with a multitude of figures, representing the Genealogy and History of the Virgin, and the Life and Death of Christ. This came from a Belgian church. The organ, pulpit, and stalls are part of the old furniture, but are not remarkable in any way.

S. Germain was formerly a museum of tombs of the 16th and 17th centuries; but the only remaining ones are the recumbent marble figures by Laurent Magnier, of Etienne d'Aligre, and his sons, both chancellors of France, who died respectively in 1635 and 1677; two statues and several marble busts which belonged to the mausoleums of the house of Rostaing, formerly situated in S. Germain, and in a chapel of the monastery of the Feuillants; and an epitaph of a lady of Mortemart, Duchess of Lesdiguières, who died in 1740.[83] Under the church is a crypt full of bones, symmetrically arranged as in the catacombs: it was excavated in 1746-7 as a burial place for the parishioners.

Amongst the tombs of a crowd of courtiers and statesmen were those of Malherbe, the poet; André Dacier, the _savant_; the painters Coypel, Houasse, Stella and Santerre; the sculptors Sarazin, Desjardins, and Coyzevox; the medallist Warin; the goldsmith Balin; the engraver Israël Sylvestre; the architects Louis Levau and François Dorbay; the geographer Sanson; and the Comte de Caylus, the distinguished antiquary; but they have all disappeared. The grandest tomb was that erected by Charles V. to his jester. Says Sauval, in his _History of Paris_ (which was not published until after his death, in 1670): "Charles ne s'est pas contenté d'avoir des fous et des plaisants; il leur a encore dressé des mausolées, presque aussi superbes que celui du connétable Du Guesclin. Car j'apprends des registres de la chambre des Comptes, qu'il en fit enterrer un dans l'église de Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Sur une grande tombe de marbre noir était couchée de côté une figure peinte et grande comme nature, dont la tête et les mains étaient d'albâtre, les cuisses, les jambes, les pieds et le corps de marbre blanc, et qui servit de modèle au mausolée qu'il fit faire en 1375, à Thévenin, autre fou, dans l'église de Saint-Maurice (de Senlis), par Hennequin de la croix." But even in the time of Sauvel this curious work of art was no more.

A few fragments of former monuments have found a quiet resting-place in the Louvre, in the Renaissance Museum. Calvin lived near S. Germain; and at the dean's house, between the Louvre and the church, a celebrity of another kind died suddenly on Easter-Eve, 1599--"la belle Gabrielle d'Estrées." The Maréchal d'Ancre (Concini) was also buried at S. Germain after his assassination; but the body was torn from the grave the next day by an infuriated mob, who drew it through the street on hurdles, then hung it, and finally burnt it.

SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE.

The Château of S. Germain has existed since the time of Charles V., and has received additions during the reigns of François I., Henri II., Henri IV., and Louis XIII. It was given over to James II. of England, and in the church is his monument, gazed at, if bronze eyes can penetrate stone walls, by M. Thiers, who sits in an arm-chair outside.

SAINT-GERMAIN DES PRÉS.

The Abbey of S. Germain-in-the-fields, of which nothing remains but the church and the abbot's palace, was, after Notre-Dame, the oldest foundation in Paris. It dates back to the earliest period of the French monarchy, and its history is interwoven with that of some of the best and noblest sons of France. The Saint to whom this church is dedicated was an early bishop of Paris, and must not be confounded with S. Germain of Auxerre, whose legend is described on page 178.

The foundation of the abbey was in this wise. Childebert I. having made a second expedition against the Visigoths in Spain, returned in 543 with much loot of various kinds: S. Vincent's tunic; a rich gold cross ornamented with precious stones, from Toledo; some vases which had belonged (so said tradition) to King Solomon; and a quantity of chalices, patens and golden covers for the Gospels. What could be more natural, in the 6th century, than to consult a holy man as to the future destination of such valuables? Accordingly, Childebert communed with S. Germain on the subject, and the bishop suggesting the foundation of a church as a fitting home for the treasures, the king laid the first stone amid the green fields and woods of what is now the densely populated Faubourg S. Germain. The enclosure extended from the Rue Jacob on the north, to the Rue Ste. Marguerite on the south, while upon the east and west the boundaries were the present Rue Lachaudé and the Rue Bonaparte. The buildings within the precincts were very numerous, almost forming a city in themselves, enclosed by walls and surrounded by a moat filled by the waters of the Seine. There were three gates: the Petit-Bourbon, Ste. Marguerite, and St. Benoit. The church was originally dedicated to the Holy Cross and S. Vincent, the consecration taking place upon the very day of Childebert's death in 558.[84] It was cruciform in plan; the roof, which was covered with plaques of gilt copper, was supported by enormous marble columns; the walls, decorated with paintings upon gold grounds, were pierced with numberless windows; and the pavement was laid in mosaic. At the end of the church was the chapel of S. Symphorien, which in 576 became the burial-place of good Bishop Germain, and was subsequently the scene of many wondrous and miraculous cures, so many indeed that the original patrons, S. Vincent, S. Symphorien, and the Holy Cross, drifted into almost complete oblivion; and S. Germain, getting the credit of the cures, became the acknowledged and chief patron of the famous abbey. Before the foundation of S. Denis by _le bon roy Dagobert_, S. Germain served as the burial-place of the Mérovingian kings and their consorts. Thus, during the 6th and 7th centuries, the following princes were interred there: the Kings Childebert I., Chérebert,[85] Chilpéric I., Clotaire II., and Childéric II.; the queens Ultrogothe, Frédégonde, Bertrude, and Bilihilde; the sons of Mérovée, Clovis, and Dagobert; the princesses Chrodesinde and Chrotberge, daughters of the first Childebert. Some of these tombs were opened in the time of Dom Bouillart (1655), who gives an account of the performance in his _Histoire de l'Abbaye_. The bodies were swathed in shrouds of silk and other precious stuffs; some of them reposed on beds of odorous herbs, others were surrounded by phials of aromatic scents. The coffins were of stone, without any exterior ornament, and contained, besides the bodies, fragments of drapery, of crossbelts, and foot gear.[86] Some of these stone coffins may be seen at the Hôtel Carnavalet, which, besides having been the dwelling-place of Madame de Sevigné, is most interesting on account of its unique collection of curiosities. But we have been anticipating.

When the abbey was finished, S. Germain sent to its namesake, S. Symphorien at Autun, for some monks to serve it. At first they followed the rules of S. Anthony and S. Basil; but shortly after the foundation, they joined the order of the great legislator of the monks of the west, S. Benedict. In the 17th century a second reform took place, and they adopted the rule of S. Maur; and it was after this return to primitive discipline that the monks of S. Germain became famous throughout Europe by the works of Jean Mabillon, Bernard de Montfaucon, and other members of their order. The abbots were formerly all-powerful, exercising spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the whole Faubourg S. Germain; but jealousies occurring there as elsewhere, between the ecclesiastical and the lay element, and squabbles arising between the bishops and the mitred abbots, it came about that the kings, uniting their forces with those of the bishops, were enabled to restrict the power of the abbots to the immediate precincts of their abbey. Among the famous persons who bore the dignity of abbot of S. Germain were Hugues Capet, Jean Casimir, King of Poland, several princes of the House of Bourbon, and many cardinals.

When the Normans swooped down upon France, Paris was their goal, and the monasteries and churches their desire. Over and over again they came; pillaging, burning and destroying all they could not carry off. Once in, or near Paris, S. Germain lay at their feet; its fame, its riches, its magnificence, made it a mark for attack; and upon one occasion, when King Eudes had driven out the barbarians, all that was left of church and monastery was a heap of ruins. But Morard, the twenty-ninth abbot, who ruled the community from 990 to 1014, undertook the entire restoration, or rather the rebuilding of the abbey; and it is to him that we owe the oldest portions of the nave of the actual church. Whether Morard left the work unfinished, or whether the monks resolved to improve upon his design, we know not; but about a hundred and fifty years later we find the choir being rebuilt upon a plan of great magnificence.

Situated as it was, amidst what was termed the _Pré-aux-Clercs_, the resort of students and other bellicose persons, it became necessary to guard against assaults and incursions, by surrounding the monastic buildings with fortified walls and a moat, strong gates and watch-towers, from whence to keep an eye upon dangerous neighbours. Later, when students at the University had become more civilized, when danger of civil war had faded away, and the Huguenots had been suppressed, streets took the place of the moat, and houses occupied the site of the fortifications. At the commencement of the last century the monks built several large houses from plans by Victor d'Ailly, for artisans and labourers; but for the privileges obtained by living within the abbey precincts they paid a heavy rental. These habitations formed the Rues Childebert, Ste. Marthe, Cardinale, Abbatiale, and de Furstemberg--all within the walls. Originally there were two cloisters situated to the north of the church, but with the exception of a portion of the larger one, which has been converted into dwelling-rooms, they have been completely destroyed. The round arches and Doric pilasters belong to the 17th century; the older part, which was built by Abbot Eudes, was cut through and improved away, for the completion of the Rue de l'Abbaye. The same streets, and the houses thereof, have also to answer for the destruction of the refectory, the chapter-house, the great sacristy, and the Lady Chapel, to which the little cloister gave access. The refectory was a large hall constructed during the life of Abbot Simon by the celebrated architect of the Sainte-Chapelle, Pierre de Montereau. It was filled with stained glass bearing the arms of France and of Castille, some fragments of which may be seen in the church. The stone statue of Childebert, that stood at the entrance gorgeous with painting and gilding, is now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre. Dom Jacques Bouillart, describing the refectory as built between 1239-44, speaks of this statue as "apparently modelled upon a more ancient one."[87] De Montereau was also the artist-builder of the chapel of the Virgin, commenced under abbot Hugues d'Issy, who died in 1247, and finished under Thomas de Mauleon, who resigned his dignities in 1255. This chapel had but one rival, the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of its architect; but all authorities speak of the beauty and gracefulness of the Lady Chapel, and its similarity to the Sainte-Chapelle in style and plan. When the great architect died, in 1266, the then abbot Gérard de Moret, desiring to perpetuate the memory of him who had done so much to beautify the convent, caused a magnificent tomb to be erected in the chapel of his creation. Pierre was represented with a rule and compass in his hand, and the epitaph describes him as _Flos plenus morum_ and _Doctor latomorum_.[88] Gérard be Moret was the builder of the chapter house, an oblong edifice divided into two naves by a row of four central columns, paved with encaustic tiles and illuminated with stained glass. Passing behind the church down the Rue de l'Abbaye, is the abbot's palace, a handsome stone and redbrick building erected by the Cardinal de Bourbon, about 1586. At the summit of one of the pavilions is a figure of a woman bearing the arms of the founder upon an escutcheon. Fragments of the chapel of Our Lady, columns, capitals, gargoyles, balustrades, and other remains of ornament which were found in a garden hard by, have been placed in the grounds of the Hôtel Cluny; but the statue of the Virgin and Child, which was formerly upon a pier, was sent some years ago to S. Denis.

The gaol was rebuilt in the 17th century, and was flanked by four turrets. It was the scene of many horrors from time to time, the abbots possessing the power of punishing as well as of trying criminals; and during the Revolution it was filled with priests and nobles, who suffered for the crimes of their forefathers, as well as for their own, being the scene in 1792 of the hideous September massacres. It was afterwards used as a military prison, and in 1854 was pulled down. The library was justly celebrated for its manuscripts, printed books, and other objects of value; but was destroyed by fire at the commencement of the Revolution.

The only part of the church which contains any remains of Childebert's structure is the apse, into the triforium of which are built some early white marble capitals and some various coloured marble shafts; but inasmuch as they have been painted over, all interest in them is destroyed.

The earliest part of the present church dates from the beginning of the 11th century, the choir and apse from the second half of the 12th century. The best view of the apse with its flying-buttresses is to be obtained from the garden of the abbot's palace; but since the clearing away of the houses which formerly were almost built on to the church, and the planting of gardens round it, the view is very picturesque from any point. An insignificant 17th century porch leads to the west door, which is underneath the tower, and has, in its tympanum, a much mutilated bas-relief of _The Last Supper_. The tower has been so much restored and renovated from time to time that little of the original remains. It has a high, but stumpy spire covered with slates. Dom Bouillart relates that on the 2nd November, 1589, Henri IV. mounted to the top of it (accompanied by only one ecclesiastic) to examine the situation of Paris; and, continued the monk, "He afterwards walked round the cloisters, and without speaking one word, departed." Of the other two towers which were formerly at the angles of the choir and transepts, nothing remains but the bases, which were considered necessary for the support of the church. It seems that they were pulled down about 1822, to save the expense of their restoration! a piece of vandalism which destroyed the originality of the building and the _raison d'être_ for its nickname of "_l'Église aux Trois Clochers_."

The building is 265 feet long, 65 feet broad, and 59 feet high. The nave is divided into five bays, the choir into four, and the apse into five; but these latter are much narrower than those of the nave. In the 17th century, the timber roof of Abbot Morard gave place to a stone vault, the transepts were rebuilt, and the nave much altered; but quite recently it has been restored to its primitive condition and decorated with frescoes by Hippolyte Flandrin. The church having been used during the Revolution as a saltpetre manufactory, the corrosive waters had so undermined the foundations of the pillars that they were obliged to be supported by enormous scaffoldings while the bases were repaired.

The choir and the apse are surrounded by square and polygonal chapels. The lower arches are round, the upper pointed; the intermingling being in no way inharmonious. Most of the present capitals are copies of the twelve remaining original ones which were transferred to the garden of the Hôtel Cluny; but they are of very inferior workmanship. The subjects treated are various: Angels, Saints, the Lamb of God, Daniel surrounded by the lions, priests celebrating the Holy Mysteries, Samson breaking the jaw of the lion. The old capitals are rough, but full of character, whereas the modern ones are utterly devoid thereof. A few of the old ones may be studied embedded in the walls of the aisles; the subjects being: The Visitation, The Birth of Christ, Warriors costumed as Roman soldiers, Syrens, male and female, surrounded by fish, interlaced serpents, hippopotami holding smaller beasts between their paws, and other quaint imagery peculiar to the Romanesque period. In the Hôtel Cluny may also be seen the upper part of an early ivory crozier belonging to the abbey, which was found in a coffin during some excavations in 1854--and some fragments of stone coffins. The choir, beautiful in its vigorous simplicity, remains as the 12th century left it. It was dedicated by Pope Alexander III., on the 21st of April, 1163; and on the same day Hubald, bishop of Ostia, assisted by three other bishops, consecrated the apsidal chapels. On entering the church at the west end, and looking towards the altar, it will be seen that the building deviates considerably from a straight line, which M. Guilhermy ascribes rather to difficulties of construction, which always occur when a new building is placed amongst older ones of which it is to be a part, than to the legend which attributes this arrangement (so common in Mediæval churches) to the position of our Lord upon the Cross. S. Étienne du Mont is even more out of a straight line--it turns more than any church I have seen. The columns resemble those of Notre-Dame in their massiveness. All the arches of the choir and chapels are round, but those of the apse and clerestory are pointed. The capitals of these choir pillars are all worthy of study, being in the best style of the period, and full of the quaint symbolism of the Middle Ages: human heads of a grotesque style, lions, harpies, birds pecking vigorously at the heads of men and women, griffins, and winged animals. The bases are all ornamented with foliage; but between the second and third chapels on the south side is an example of ornament which is probably unique, viz., two slippers, one embroidered and one plain, evidently those of a bishop or abbot.

The original High Altar, renovated in 1704, has been destroyed since 1792, up to which time it had existed in all its pristine beauty and splendour. The frontal was of gilt copper, with silver-gilt figures under canopies; and upon the retable rested the _châsse_ of S. Germain, a magnificent specimen of smithcraft enriched with precious stones. It was made in the time of Abbot Guillaume III., about 1408 or 1409, and contained twenty-six marks two ounces of gold, 250 marks of silver, 260 precious stones, and 197 pearls. One would like to know what became of so many gems. Six of the cipolin columns of the baldachino, which were brought from the ruins of a Roman town upon the African coast in the reign of Louis XIV., are now doing duty in the gallery of paintings of the Louvre. The tomb of S. Germain, which was the scene of so many miracles and wonders, has been suppressed and covered up by the pavement. It was sunk below the level of the church, near the fourth column of the choir on the north side, and for centuries was a favourite spot for prayer and meditation. The chapel of S. Symphorien, at the end of the nave on the south side, is modern, having been consecrated by the great teacher, S. François de Sales, on the 27th April, 1619; the monument which marked the first burial-place of S. Germain being no longer in it. The chapels of S. Marguerite and of S. Casimir, in the transept, are ornamented with marble columns. That of the Blessed Virgin is modern, and in wretched taste; and the High Altar, the first stone of which was laid by Pius VII., is equally out of keeping with the rest of the church.

In an apsidal chapel are some fragments of 13th century glass, representing SS. Anna and Joachim, The Annunciation and the Marriage of the Virgin. In the south side of the nave is a large marble statue, called Notre-Dame la Blanche, given in 1340 by Jeanne d'Évreux to the Abbey of S. Denis. Placed at the Revolution in the Musée des Petits-Augustins, it was afterwards transferred to S. Germain. The marble statue of S. Marguerite is by one of the brothers of the convent, Jacques Bourlet; and that representing S. François Xavier is by Coustou the younger. The following tombs were partially restored in 1824: Jean Casimir, King of Poland, who, having renounced his throne, became abbot in 1669, and died in 1672 (the kneeling figure is by Marsy, the bas-relief by Jean Thibaut, of the Congregation of S. Maur); Olivier and Louis de Castellan, killed in the service of the king in 1644 and 1669 (the figures and medallions are by Girardon); William Douglas, eighteenth Earl of Angus, who died in 1611, and his grandson James Douglas, killed in 1645, near Douai, aged twenty-eight. The epitaphs, which the Academy set up in 1819 to the memory of Nicholas Boileau, of René Descartes,[89] of Jean Mabillion, and of Bernard de Montfaucon, which were formerly at the Musée des Petits-Augustins, were placed here on the dispersal of that museum. Boileau reposed formerly in the Sainte-Chapelle, and Descartes at S. Geneviève. What remained of the royal tombs was transferred to S. Denis. Of the riches of the Treasury nothing whatever was saved; it was all pillaged and dispersed.

The whole church has been painted in polychrome; red shafts and gilded capitals, a blue-and-gold starred vault. All round nave, transepts, and choir, just below the clerestory, are the exquisite frescoes by Flandrin, one of the few 19th century religious painters who has shown the possibility of uniting the sentiment of the early Florentine and Flemish schools with the, in some respects, superior knowledge of the modern. His work is so purely religious, and yet so essentially modern, that one wonders whence he drew his inspiration. There is nothing of the Archaic in his pictures; his figures are never attenuated, and yet the sentiment is as full of piety as in the work of Angelico: it is as if the Frenchman had drunk in the beauty of form of the Greeks, and amalgamated it with the faith of the Early Christians. And yet there is none of the false sentimentality of the modern school, the Saints who simper, and the milk-and-water misses bearing palm branches and crowns, and calling themselves martyrs. Flandrin's is essentially a masculine type of art; it is powerful as well as graceful, vigorous as well as refined. His Saints and Angels have all the sweet expression of those of Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi; while they are as perfectly modelled as a Greek Apollo, or the figures of Buonarroti and Raffaello. But Flandrin was not ashamed of calling himself a believer in the doctrines and mysteries of the Christian faith, and in the Biblical subjects which he was called upon to illustrate. The man who considered religious painting to be "the height of Art, and the most worthy employment of genius," and who wrote upon the door of his studio, "Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work, I will triumph in the works of Thy hands," could not have been, as a Christian, on a much lower level than Fra Angelico, who is said to have painted while assuming the attitude of prayer. Flandrin was the favourite pupil of Ingres, and won the Grand Prix de Rome of 1832. Humble-minded, gentle, courageous, he worked for love rather than for fame or money. His early struggles when he first arrived in Paris from his native place were terrible. He lived in a veritable garret with his brother, sacrificing anything in order to work at painting. Often in winter they went to bed at 5 o'clock in the afternoon to escape the cold of their attic. Their dinner was frequently some fried potatoes bought at stalls in the streets and squares; and it is probably to the privations endured for love of art that his bad health and early death may be attributed. But his enthusiasm carried him on; and he lived long enough to count his sacrifices as nothing compared to his successes. He stands out in this 19th century an example to all artists, and as the one man who can be compared to the blessed monk of Fiesole.

Like so many artists, he had to surmount many a home obstacle; and, being the fourth of a family of seven children, with two brothers devoting themselves to their father's calling, it is no wonder that the good mother wished Hippolyte to try some trade by which he could live. The father had been ambitious; but had been obliged to give up _genre_ for miniature painting. The boys, however, plodded on, and sketched all that came in their way, which seems to have been mainly soldiers; and when a sculptor named Fayatier, happening to see their drawings, gave them a little encouragement, the mother's opposition melted, and they entered the studio of Magnin at Lyons. There and at the Beaux-Arts, they remained seven years, selling drawings and lithographs wherewith to gain a little nest-egg to enable them to go to Paris, the goal then, as now, of ambitious students. It was little enough, but the journey, being taken upon foot, the whole hoard was reserved for household expenses and lessons. Once in the capital, the brothers resolved to put themselves under M. Ingres, if he would allow them, and so encouraging was his welcome, that a friendship soon sprang up between master and pupils. Many traits in Ingres' character which came out in the history of the Flandrins' early artistic career prove him to have been sympathetic to the highest degree; and not a little pleasant is it to find that, when he heard of his pupils' forced asceticism, he exclaimed, "And I was taking their money!" Indeed, there are many anecdotes which prove as much the love of the master for the pupils as the devotion of the pupils for the master. He was inconsolable when Hippolyte failed to gain the _Prix de Rome_. "You have no notion how hard it is for a young man's hopes to be dashed to the ground!" he said to his wife; and he spoke of him as the "Lamb which had been slaughtered." He knew that it was unjust, and he felt the injustice as much as if it had been done to himself.

The account Hippolyte gives his brother Auguste of the whole affair is most touching.[90] "_Mon bon ami, mon cher_ Auguste, I have experienced the last trial in competing for the _Grand Prix_, but it has been dreadful! The subject was a figure in painting, three feet high. I executed it, and yesterday was the day of the decision. I was satisfied with myself, and was hopeful, _mais tu verras_. M. Ingres, M. Guérin, M. Granet, and three other members of the Institute, on entering the exhibition hall, wished to place me first. _Mais non_: M. Gros and his party carried it otherwise; and instead of _first_, I have been voted _last_. M. Ingres, in despair, at length left the room, protesting with all his might against the proceedings of the meeting; and I have not been received. You may imagine what I felt when I heard I was excluded.... I dared not call upon M. Ingres; still I could not reproach myself; my figure was far the best; I can say so without pride. At last, in the evening, I determined to go. I found him at dinner, but he ate nothing. Several members of the Institute had come to comfort him, but he would not be consoled. He received me with, "Behold the lamb they have slaughtered!" ... And all this with the accent of a heart so deeply moved that tears filled his eyes. He made me sit at his table, dine with him, and at last embraced me as a father would his son. I went away and was comforted. Oh! what do not I owe to this man who has already done so much for us, and who, on this occasion, has perhaps done more.... But sometimes regret seizes me, for this would have been the means of taking a great step.... And then it was the only way to show my gratitude to M. Ingres; for to you, my brother, I can say that my good master had founded great hopes on my picture." The next year the same difficulties (want of money to pay for models, &c.) made him almost give up the idea of competing; but getting some portraits to do, and knowing that his master was keen upon the matter, he sent in his name. One of his sitters happened to be a _gen-d'arme_, whom he had promised to paint for 30 fs. When the portrait was finished, the man was so pleased that he said to the painter, "_I promised you 30 fs., but here are 35 fs.!_" Flandrin often said that he never was so pleased as when he received those additional 5 fs.

But a greater enemy to work than poverty appeared--cholera, the scourge of 1832. One of the competitors for the _Prix de Rome_ died on his way to the school, and Hippolyte was attacked. He struggled against it, and, weak though he was, he went on working; but at length he had to give way, and for a whole month he was in bed. A few days before the time for sending in the pictures, he returned to work, and managed to finish his subject, which was at once pronounced as having the _Grand Prix_. At Rome, Flandrin was in his element; he studied the great masters, and drank in all their wisdom, working almost entirely upon religious subjects. Even Ary Scheffer, then at the height of his fame, felt the extreme beauty of his young rival's art. "No, I know nothing, nothing at all," he said to Hippolyte, on seeing the latter's picture of _Jesus with the Little Children_.

Flandrin's first commission for Church decoration was in his native city, S. Severinus of Lyon; his second, S. Germain; but his greatest work was the mural painting of S. Vincent de Paul, which he accomplished some years later.

On the 21st of March, 1864, Flandrin died at Rome of small-pox, whither he had gone for his health. He was buried at Père-la-Chaise; but the funeral service was held in the church he did so much to embellish; and, two years after, his friends placed a monument by M. Oudine to his memory, upon the wall of the north aisle. It is composed of white marble, four columns supporting a pediment, and resting upon a freize. Below the bust is an epitaph which is little in keeping with the man or the place:

À HIPPOLYTE FLANDRIN.
SES AMIS, SES ELÈVES, SES ADMIRATEURS, LYON, 22 MARS,
1809,--ROME, 21 MARS, 1864.

Not one word of what he loved above all things, his home, his country, his art, and his God; and yet his friends, his pupils, and in fact everyone acquainted with him, must have known that such a man would have liked a few words upon his tomb which would have borne witness to the depth of his religious feelings. Here is an extract from a letter to his eldest brother which breathes through it his piety and his love of home: "You cannot imagine how I long to see you and embrace you, as well as the mother and father. Almost every night I fancy myself at Lyon, and yesterday I was really angry with Paul (his brother, helper, and fellow-student), because he awoke me just at the moment when I thought I was kissing you. I was crying for joy.... Remember that we agreed to pray for each other every evening. I never fail to do so, and I feel sure our poor mother never forgets: she loves us so much, and she is so far off. _Pauvre père, la bonne mère, vous n'êtes plus entournés par tous vos enfants._"

The choir was the first part of S. Germain which was decorated, and it is the most successful, the nave pictures being somewhat flat, and faded in colour; but without the use of gold it was impossible to make the subjects effective with the bright polychrome surroundings, and Flandrin justly considered that the nave should be subordinate in splendour to the choir and sanctuary. On the right and left of the commencement of the choir are two large compositions: Christ entering into Jerusalem, and The Way of the Cross, both upon gold grounds. Above these are the twelve Apostles clothed in white, and the allegorical Virtues; and higher still are the founders of the church, Childebert and S. Germain, with the patron S. Vincent, Queen Ultrogothe, and abbot Morard. All these works are full of intense feeling, and the group of the Blessed Virgin and S. John have rarely been surpassed, from the pathetic point of view, by any religious painter. There is a certain modernness about them; the figures seem to emphasize the human element in our Lord's person, the sympathy, the love, and the sorrow; there is no weak sentimentality depicted--and yet the treatment adheres to the conventional traditions. The richness of the gold around, too, enhances the beauty of the compositions, and makes them almost as gorgeous as mosaics.

The frescoes of the nave occupy the space between the arches and the clerestory windows--in all, twenty compositions. The subjects are taken from the history of our Lord, and the corresponding Old Testament types. The two pictures forming one subject in each architectural division, show how perfectly the arts of painting and architecture may be made to harmonize, to be welded together as it were, although seven centuries separate the builder from the decorator. Except for a certain modernness of style, Flandrin might have lived and worked with the original architect, for his plan is that so often seen in the works of the Mediævalists, as for instance in the _Biblia Pauperum_.

In the first arcade on the left, on entering the church, we see The Annunciation and the Burning Bush, and under the window the text: "_Domine mitte quem missures es_" (Exodus iv. 13). The characteristic of the first of these pictures is the simplicity of the Virgin's expression, as she hears the Angels' message. Next comes The Nativity and its type, The Fall, with the legend, _Per hominem mors, per hominem resurrectio_ (1 Corinthians xv. 21). The figures of Adam and Eve are excellent examples of the purity of form so commonly found in Flandrin's work. The Nativity is treated in the conventional manner, except that three Angels watch the child and its mother (who lie upon a rustic bed); while behind them, a Seraph bears a banner upon which is written: "_Gloria in, Excelsis Deo._"

This is followed by The Adoration of the Magi and Balaam, the text being: "_Habitantibus in regione umbrae ... lux orta est_" (Isaiah ix. 2). The Old Testament subject depicts the moment when Balaam, taken to the top of Pethor by Balak, blesses instead of curses the enemy. Before them is the altar; around them are the princes of Moab, angry and threatening; in the background are the tents of the children of Israel. The victims are ready for the sacrifice, but to the astonishment of the king and his followers, Balaam lifts up his voice and blesses those he was brought to curse. _How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!_ This is one of the finest of the series.

In The Baptism we see the ascetic figure of S. John the Baptist pouring water upon Our Lord's head, while three Angels kneel upon the bank of the river, doing homage. Above is the descending dove and the verse: _Erit Sanguis Vobis in Signum_ (Exodus xii. 13). In the Passage of the Red Sea, the majestic figure of Moses stands upon the shore, his hair and drapery blown by the wind. He raises his hand, and the waters close over the Egyptians, while the Israelites lift up their voices in triumphant songs, Miriam leading them to the sound of the timbrel: _Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea._

The Institution of the Eucharist is treated from the purely Roman Catholic point of view. Our Blessed Lord is standing, holding up the wafer for adoration, while He places the other hand upon His side, symbolical of the gift of the sacred heart combined with His precious body. The Apostles form two groups, one on each side: _Novi Testamenti Mediator est_ (Hebrews ix. 15). The Old Testament type is Melchizedek appearing to Abram: _And Melchizedec King of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God._