Chapter VII: The Cathedral (2)

The north porch, which was always in the Middle Ages dedicated to the Virgin, is peopled by 705 statues, who are the characters of a vast poem in stone. The subject of this poem is the ‘Glorification of Mary.’ ‘It recounts,’ says M. Bulteau, ‘the carnal and spiritual genealogy of the Virgin, her prerogatives, her acquaintances, her virtues, her occupations, her life, death, assumption and crowning in heaven.’ Then come the personages and the biblical scenes which have foreshadowed the Messiah and His Mother; S. John the Baptist and S. Peter, who inaugurated the Christian era; and to connect this vast whole with the Church of Chartres, S. Potentian, S. Modesta and the donors of the porch, S. Louis at their head. The Creation, the Earth, the Sea and the Heavens, Time also, and its seasons, assist at this glorification of the Mother of God, and appear to render her respectful homage.

We have had occasion to notice before (p. 27) the prominent position which S. Anne is allotted in the iconography of this Cathedral, and we have explained that the reason is that Chartres possessed a precious relic of that saint. For, after the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Emperor Baldwin sent the head of S. Anne, the Virgin’s mother, to Chartres, ‘in order that the head of the mother might rest in the house of the daughter.’ Departing, therefore, from the almost invariable custom by which the Virgin is represented on the pier between the two sections of the central door, the sculptors have here given us a colossal statue of S. Anne carrying the little Mary in her arms. Beneath her feet are the remains of a group in which S. Joachim, feeding his sheep, was depicted receiving from the angel Gabriel the announcement of the future birth of Mary.

Ranged on either side of this central doorway are ten large statues, beneath canopies and wearing haloes. They are the personages of the Old Testament who have prefigured the birth of Jesus Christ, His passion, His death, His resurrection and His eternal priesthood. They emphasise once more the parallelism of the Old Testament and the New; the New hidden in the Old; the Old made manifest in the New. The same thought is symbolised by the figurative image of the Son which the five statues on the left carry, and the effigy of our Lord which is borne by those on the right. For thereby the prophecy and its accomplishment is symbolised. The cathedrals of Paris, Amiens, Rouen, Sens, Bourges, Senlis and Reims, and all the great cathedrals of the thirteenth century, in fact, show the same persons surrounding the Virgin.

And at Reims several of the statues would seem to be from the same chisel as those at Chartres. The characters represented are Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, Samuel and David on the left, and on the right, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Simeon, S. John the Baptist and S. Peter. S. John is introduced as the link between the old and the new, the prophecy and its fulfilment. He stands close to S. Peter, for he was the immediate precursor of Christ and S. Peter, shown here in the garb of a thirteenth century Pope, the immediate successor.

Melchizedek is the first and one of the best statues. He wears a priestly garment bound at the waist by a knotted girdle, and on his head a Papal tiara of the thirteenth century, the lower part suggestive of a crown, for both as king and priest he prefigures Christ.

In one hand he holds a censer, in the other the bread which he offered to Abraham. His grave features and absorbed mysterious gaze admirably shadow forth that most enigmatic personage, Melchizedek, King of Salem, the Priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning after the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave tithes; Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness as his name implies, and the King of Peace also, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, who was the forerunner and prototype of Jesus ‘made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’

Christ, as the Son offered by the Father and the sacrificial Ram, is prefigured in the neighbouring statue of Abraham with his son Isaac, whom he holds ready bound for the sacrifice. Beneath his feet is the ram caught in the bush. His face, which, with its flowing beard and prolonged nose, is distinctly of the Jewish type, is averted, for he is looking up at the angel who bade him stay his hand. Moses, trampling on the golden calf and carrying in his left hand the table of the law and a column about which the brazen serpent entwines, stands next to Abraham, and likewise symbolises Christ, the Deliverer and the Law-Giver. His right hand points to the serpent and suggests the words of our Lord himself, ‘Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.’ Next comes Samuel, clad in a garment which resembles the _taled_ of the Jews, preparing to sacrifice and to anoint Saul, who is represented by the small kneeling figure beneath. This statue illustrates 1 Samuel ix. Lastly David, crowned in royal majesty, carries the lance and crown of thorns, instruments of that passion which he had so minutely prophesied in the Psalms. The lion at the base alludes to David’s answer to Saul when he beheld Goliath, or else is the ramping and roaring lion of the Messianic psalms. Equally with David, Isaiah foretold in detail the events of the Gospels, and he, clad, like most of the other personages that remain, in a long robe and mantle, occupies the niche of the right bay facing David. The stem which was to come forth from Jesse rises at his feet, and the prophet points to the flower which should grow from that root.

Jeremiah is at his side, the sublime chanter of lamentations, bearing a beautifully-wrought Greek cross and recalling to mind his own words, ‘Is it nothing to you all ye who pass by? behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.’

Next to him the aged Simeon caresses the young Christ whose sufferings he had foreseen.

S. John the Baptist, the prince of monks, is the link between these forerunners of Christ and His Apostles. His ascetic figure is revealed beneath his rough raiment of skins, for, in accordance to the usual practice of the Middle Ages, but not of former or more recent times, he is represented in the Apostolic costume of tunic and mantle, and as with the Apostles his feet are bare. He tramples under foot a dragon which typifies Vice, not a locust as some suppose. The extraordinary tenderness with which he clasps to his breast the lamb, which is Jesus, the lively expression of his worn and wrinkled countenance and his emaciated body, proclaim this to be one of the finest statues of the Cathedral porches. Lastly comes S. Peter, as we have described him above. He stands upon a rock in reference to the words of our Lord, ‘Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build My Church.’

All the details, the costumes and ornaments of these statues are wrought with extraordinary skill and minuteness, so that, like that of the western porch, the work might almost seem that of a jeweller, not a mason.

To the right of Melchizedek and to the left of S. Peter are two large figures which are related to the scheme of the central doorway. For they are Elijah and Elisha, who were the types of the ascension and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Elijah is shown mounting to heaven in his chariot of fire; Elisha, promising to the Shunamite the son whom he afterwards raised from the dead.

In the tympanum of the doorway we have the Death, the Resurrection and the Crowning of the Blessed Mary, a subject which has received its most perfect treatment at Reims. It will be noticed that the Virgin is represented as quite young, for, as Michelangelo finely explained, when he had painted his Lady of the Seven Sorrows, virtue confers an eternal youth. Above are angels censing. The figures have been sadly mutilated. In the splay of the vaulting the first row contains a multitude of angels with halos, bearing censers, torches, books and palms, witnesses of the triumph of the Virgin. The next four rows exhibit the ancestors of Mary according to the flesh and according to the spirit--the prophets, that is, who announced her. Together they form a tree of Jesse growing from between the feet of Jesse below on the left. Compare it with the tree in the twelfth-century Jesse window of the Porte Royale and you will see that, though it follows the same order, the stone tree is even more complete. It includes the greater and minor prophets, with Judith, Esther and Deborah, and, beginning from the fourth row, the twenty-eight ancestors of the Virgin, mostly as described in the first chapter of the Gospel of S. Matthew. The last two rows translate into stone the first chapter of Genesis, giving the story of the Creation of the World and of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in a series of admirable tableaux which explain themselves sufficiently. In the gable is Christ surrounded by angels.

Large statues of benefactors of the Cathedral and of the prophets Jephthah and Zachariah adorn the piers in front. The first two on the left are Philippe Hurepel, Count of Boulogne, and his wife Mahaut. The statue of the latter is particularly beautiful, the expression full of life and grace, the costume of striking simplicity. Next to these two there used to be, before the Revolution, statues of Philippe-Auguste, King of France, and Richard Cœur-de-Lion, rivals in the field but united here in their generous devotion to Notre-Dame de Chartres. The decoration of the plinths of these two piers is different from that of the others; it is Anglo-Norman in character, and the name RŌBIR cut hereon is probably that of the Norman sculptor who made them under the patronage of Richard in Normandy.

The brackets of these four statues are storied with incidents from the life of David--(1) a group representing the young shepherd being anointed by Saul, (2) David chasing away the melancholy of Saul, (3) David armed before Saul, (4) David and Goliath, (5) David triumphing over Goliath. The armour of Goliath is extremely curious.

On the right is a prophet in the Jewish Schimla, who may be Jephthah or perhaps Ezekiel, and next to him Louis VIII. and Isabella, his daughter, pious Sister of S. Louis. She is habited as a nun, for she founded the Convent of Longchamps, and died there, its abbess.

Zachariah, father of S. John the Baptist, comes next, and on the brackets beneath are six exquisite scenes from the life of Samuel. The prophet is shown with Hannah and Elkanah taking a lamb to Eli, serving in the Temple, beholding a vision. The remaining scenes are those of the capture of the Ark by the Philistines, the fall of Dagon, and the return of the Ark.

The second part of the north porch is the left bay, and it is consecrated to the life and virtues of the Virgin. On the splays of the porch wall are represented on either side the Annunciation and the Visitation, whilst on the left is Isaiah, the prophet of the Incarnation, on the right Daniel. The heads of Isaiah and Gabriel are broken, and indeed most of this bay is in a deplorable state. Of the surviving figures those of Mary, of Elizabeth and Daniel are rightly considered masterpieces. They are beautiful in pose, and their draperies are skilfully arranged, distinctly Greek in feeling. About them there seems to blow the wind that comes before the dawn of the Renaissance.

The tympanum is filled with the familiar scenes of the first Christmastide, the birth of Christ, the Announcement to the Shepherds, the Adoration of the three Magi, traditionally named Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, and their gifts of gold for the King, incense for the God, and myrrh for the Man who should die for men. Lastly comes the scene of their warning in a dream. These scenes are lit by a row of torch-bearing angels. The second and part of the third row of the vaulting contains the ten virgins of the parable, on the left the five foolish, with elegant garments and worldly, licentious faces, and lamps turned upside down; the five wise on the right, modest and veiled, hold their flaming lamps upright. The rest of the third row represents the battle of the Vices and the Virtues; Wisdom carrying an open book, and at her feet Folly nude and eating a stone; Justice with her sword and a balance, which the Injustice whom she tramples on vainly endeavours to disturb; Christian Strength in full armour, with Cowardice, a terror-stricken soldier, grovelling before her; Temperance caressing a dove, and at her feet Luxury, the abandoned courtesan. On the right hand, after these cardinal virtues, are the three theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, and also Humility, with their corresponding vices. Faith catches in a chalice the blood of a lamb upon the altar, whilst Infidelity, with bandaged eyes, cowers below; the hands of Hope are clasped and she gazes heavenward, but Despair lies at her feet and has plunged a sword into her breast; Charity gives her garment to clothe the naked, but Avarice plays with pieces of gold and hides them about her person; Humility holds in her hand a dove, which is her symbol, and at her feet Pride has fallen. These Virtues and Vices are succeeded by a row of twelve queenly figures, which symbolise the Fruits of the Spirit. They are a translation of the passage in Galatians (v. 22) in which S. Paul enumerates them.

More remarkable still and more charming are the statuettes which fill the fifth row and which translate the doctrine of the mediæval theologians with regard to the active life and the contemplative life. These, according to S. Gregory, were typified by the two wives of Jacob, Leah and Rachel,[81] and again by Martha and Mary. Here, on the left, the active life is portrayed with extraordinary vividness and delicacy in the character of the virtuous woman described in the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs. ‘She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands ... she layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff.’ The six degrees of the contemplative life are shown on the right-hand side in the form of a veiled woman praying before reading, opening her book to read, reading in her book of hours, closing it immediately, comprehending the lesson she has learnt, and thereafter rapt in ecstasy.

At the ends of the moulding of the vaulting are two statuettes which seem to be connected with the subject of the active and the contemplative life; they are, a cobbler cutting leather and a monk reading.

In the last and outermost row were sculptured, for the first and only time, the fourteen Heavenly Beatitudes first described by S. Anselm, ‘In heaven the bodies of the just shall enjoy the seven beatitudes, which are Beauty, Swiftness, Strength, Liberty, Health, Pleasure, Longevity; and likewise the souls of the just shall receive the seven beatitudes, which are Wisdom, Friendship, Concord, Honour, Power, Security and Joy.’

Two statues personifying the Synagogue and the Church were in front of this bay till 1793, and on the pedestals of these and the two other statues which were on these piers, but of which one only, that of Philippe III. le Hardi, remains, traces of a series of Virtues trampling the Vices underfoot are still visible.

On the wall of the right-hand bay, which is devoted to the persons of the Old Testament who prefigured and foretold the Messiah and His Mother, are six splendid statues representing Balaam, the Queen of Sheba and Solomon on the left, and, on the right, Jesus, son of Sirach, Judith and Joseph. Each of these statues and the figures on which they rest demand careful study, but especially the statue of Joseph, the precursor of Christ in his persecution, his selling into captivity, and his deliverance of the people. A beardless figure with curling hair and a simple, open countenance, with Pharaoh’s ring upon his finger and the sceptre of authority in his hand, and about him a robe of fine linen, he treads underfoot the bronzed dragon who is pouring into the eager ear of Potiphar’s wife his foul suggestions. With extraordinary delicacy and reserve the artist has succeeded in making every line of this portrait--for a portrait it must be--express all the innocence and charm, all the passionate purity of youth.

In the tympanum, over the door, is, first, Job on his hearth, with a demon, for the trials and patience of Job foreshadowed the agony and triumph of Christ, and, second, the Judgment of Solomon, the prototype of Him who is called the Sun of Justice. The vaulting above contains twelve angels doing homage to Christ, then, on the left, the story of Samson, the story of Esther, and, on the right, the story of Gideon and that of Judith. The fourth row tells the story of Tobias, and on the outer edge are the twelve months of the year with the corresponding signs of the Zodiac and the allegorical representations of summer and winter, which should be compared with those of the western porch (_see_ p. 130).

Four large statues on the arcade outside this bay represent Ferdinand, King of Castile, a great benefactor of the Cathedral, who was canonised 1671, two hundred years after his death, and whose body is

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preserved at Seville. He is accompanied by a Judge of Israel, Barak, M. Bulteau suggests. On the right pier Tobias accompanies S. Louis. The beautiful and appropriate portrait of that devoted patron of Notre-Dame was fashioned in all probability shortly after the pilgrimage which he made to Chartres in 1260, walking, in spite of extreme fatigue, barefoot all the way from Nogent-le-Roi. He is represented, it will be noticed, with bare feet here, either in allusion to this pilgrimage, or to his annual practice of visiting barefoot, and in penitential garb, all the churches of any town in which he might be on Good Friday. But there is another incident in his life to which reference may be intended. In 1239 he and his brother Robert carried barefoot into Paris the instruments of the Passion which he had redeemed from Venice.

On the graceful supports of these four statues are allegorical representations of the arts and sciences: Agriculture, personified by Adam, Abel and Cain; Music, by Jubal, with his lyre; Metalwork, by Tubal-Cain; Medicine, by Hippocrates; Geometry and Architecture, by Archimedes; Painting, by Apelles; Philosophy, by Aristotle; Magic, by a wizard and a dragon. These, it will be seen, unlike those of the western porch, are not merely representations of the seven liberal arts taught since the sixth century. The artist of S. Louis’s day is breaking away from the old tradition. He invents new types; he is looking for a new system. Lastly, on the western side of the porch, are two very beautiful statues, the one of S. Potentian, the other of S. Modesta (_see_ p. 18). Below the former is a scene in which he, together with SS. Altin and Eodald are baptizing a neophyte, and another in which the Roman Governor, Quirinus, in spite of the intercession of his daughter Modesta, condemns him to be cast into chains. Below the graceful and impressive figure of Modesta are several bas-reliefs of incidents in her life. They are much worn and mutilated, but you can discern an angel rising from the Well of the Martyrs, the martyrdom of Modesta, and a pair of angels carrying her soul up to heaven.

We will now walk round to the south side of the Cathedral, turning, as it were, the last leaf of the Bible of Chartres. And, indeed, the south porch[82] may well be regarded as a postscript to the story of the windows and the porches; not only because it is later in date--it was begun under Philippe-Auguste, at the expense of Pierre Mauclerc, Count of Dreux, and only finished in the reign of Philippe le Bel--but also because the subject of it is a variant of that of the Porte Royale. It is the Glorification of our Lord again, but here in His office as Supreme Judge and in the presence of His saints and elect.

Like the northern one, the south porch is evidently an afterthought, and, like it, it consists of three open porticoes, corresponding to the doors of the transept, and supported in front by six piers, which are treated with amazing originality and skill. Enormous lintels of Berchères stone connect the vestibule with the doorway. These have had to be strengthened, as on the other side, by iron ties. Though only a couple of yards or so broader than the north porch, the south porch, thanks to the open space in which it stands, and to its advantageous position on top of seventeen steps, appears much larger and more imposing. The bays and the vestibule are peopled by 783 figures, in which the visitor will note the advance in art made by the sculptors since they took in hand the statuary of the western and, again, of the northern porch. The anatomy of these figures and the treatment of their drapery are infinitely more correct; the pose is more probable, the work more polished, the whole undoubtedly much more beautiful according to all the canons of classical art. But quite as undoubtedly there has been a loss of charm as well as a gain in the technique. The figures, if they are less crude, are also less expressive. The superb Christ of the central bay, classic in its calm and regularity, is not so convincing, so unforgettable as the Christ surrounded by the winged beasts of the western façade. Even the magnificent effigies of S. Theodore and S. George have not the same haunting loveliness as the earlier nameless kings and queens, which are ill-drawn, and unknown indeed, but alive for ever in their human simplicity.

The majestic statue of Christ, trampling under foot a lion and dragon, which I have mentioned, is on the face of the central bay, and holds the place of honour as the Master in the midst of His Apostles. On His right is the bay of the martyrs, whose strength He is, and He is the Light of the confessors in the bay on His left. His divine kingship is suggested by the representation of Him in the upper part of the central bay, judging the living and the dead.

Beneath the central statue are the figures of Pierre Mauclerc, Count of Dreux, and Alice, his wife, who spent some 10,000,000 francs upon this porch and the rose window above. They are represented in two scenes, praying and being married, but in both giving bread to the poor.

The Christ is surrounded by His Apostles. On His right, S. Peter, with a cross and two keys, tramples under foot Simon the magician. Next to S. Peter comes S. Andrew, his brother, clasping the cross of his martyrdom to his breast, and, beneath his feet, the proconsul who condemned him to death; S. Philip, with a sword, and, beneath, the King of Hierapolis, who crucified him; S. Thomas, with the sword of his martyrdom, standing upon the Indian King who gave him to the priests to be cut in twain; and similarly with swords, and trampling on their persecutors, S. Matthew and S. Simon. Opposite are S. Paul and the beardless John, the former holding and pointing to the sword of his martyrdom, and trampling down Nero, the latter with the (broken) palm of his martyrdom and the book of his Gospel, and, beneath him, Aristodemus, priest of Diana, offering to him a vase of poisonous snakes; S. James, the brother of John, comes next, and, below him, is Herod Agrippa, who put him to the sword; then S. James the Less, and the Jew who slew him with a club, S. Bartholomew and S. Jude and their persecutors beneath. All these statues are of great beauty and in the grand manner, varied in pose and movement, and correct in design.

Above them, in the tympanum of the bay, is Christ enthroned as the Judge, on the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the Virgin and S. John on either side of Him intercede for sinners, and around Him six angels bear the instruments of the Passion. Below are two scenes--S. Michael weighing a soul, and the separation of the just from the unjust. On the right of the archangel is the glorious army of the elect, clad in long robes, and wearing an expression of serene happiness. They are being led by guardian angels to the abodes of everlasting joy. On the continuation of the lintel are several types of the elect being led to Abraham’s bosom. On the left of S. Michael is a lively picture of the fate of the wicked, the condemned of every class are being dragged by horrible demons to the mouth of hell, a dragon with flaming jaws, and on the continuation of the lintel also various types of sinners are meeting with a like fate.

On either side of the central figure of Christ the second row represents the Resurrection of the Dead, and, above this, are nine choirs of angels, then twenty-eight pairs of statuettes, representing the prophets of the Old Testament; and, lastly, fourteen admirable figures of Christian virgins who have fought the good fight of chastity, and carry in their hands, as symbols of their purity, fleurs-de-lis.

The Virgin Mother, holding the child Jesus on her knees, sits enthroned in a niche of the gable, whilst two archangels cense. The square pillars continue the main thesis, and carry on one side the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse and their instruments of music, and, on the other side, the twelve Vices and twelve corresponding Virtues, in accordance with which the Last Judgment is decided. Here, then, we have once more, as on the north porch, Faith and her cross opposed to Idolatry and her idol, Hope to Despair, Charity to Avarice; Chastity, with her curious symbol, the Phœnix, confronts Luxury, Prudence, Folly, Humility, Pride. These appear on the western and southern sides of the left pillar; the series is continued on the one opposite. Docility, with an ox, faces, on the south side, Intractability, Mildness, Anger, Strength, Cowardice; and, on the east face, Perseverance, Inconstancy, Temperance with a camel, Drunkenness, Concord, Discord.

The left or western bay is entirely concerned with the noble army of martyrs, of whom the eight most honoured at Chartres, resting on storied bases, and beneath rich canopies of the kind called heavenly Jerusalem, adorn the walls. They are, on the left, S. Laurence, S. Clement, S. Stephen, and S. Theodore. The latter is clad in a coat of mail, of the time of S. Louis and the Crusaders. The statue is beautifully modelled and splendidly wrought, and forms a noble counterpart to the magnificent portrait of S. George opposite, who, likewise accoutred for battle, is trampling on the wheel of his martyrdom. The other martyrs on the right-hand wall are S. Vincent, S. Denis, and the S. Piat of whom we have spoken above (p. 44), and the outside of whose chapel, with the beautiful staircase connecting it with the main body of the Cathedral, we can see beyond the apse on our right.

(_From the South Porch_)]

The story of S. Stephen is retold in the tympanum and the first row of the vaulting; in the next five rows are twenty-eight statuettes, representing the hierarchy of martyrs; in the sixth, the parable of the wise and foolish virgins reappears, and in the gable is S. Anne seated, holding a vase, in which is a lily, the symbol of purity.

The square pillar on the left hand, which helps to support the vaulting, gives us twenty-four scenes from the Golden Legend of the deaths of martyrs. On the east face, at the top, is S. Thomas of Canterbury, whose secretary and friend, John of Salisbury, one of the most attractive characters and typical minds of the Middle Ages, was Bishop of Chartres the last three years of his life. Among the other martyrs are several whose names occur in the story of Chartres--S. Blaise, S. Leger, S. Vincent, S. Laurence, S. Chéron; on the south face, S. John the Baptist, S. Denys of Athens, S. Saturnin, S. Piat, S. Procopius, S. Symphorian; on the west face, S. Calixtus, S. Cyprian, S. Ignatius, S. Theodore, S. Eustace, S. Gervais and S. Protais; on the north, S. Clement, S. Potentian, S. Lambert, S. Vitus and S. Modesta, S. Bacchus and S. Quentin.

The right-hand bay is devoted to the confessors, and corresponds in arrangement to that of the one we have just left. Eight large statues fill the walls; on the west, S. Nicholas, S. Ambrose, S. Léon and S. Laumer (the latter a fourteenth-century insertion); and on the right or east, S. Martin of Tours, S. Jerome, S. Gregory the Great, S. Avitus (also fourteenth century). The tympanum gives the story of the lives of S. Martin and S. Nicholas. In the vaulting above S. Léon the legend of S. Giles is told, and in the outermost row of the vaulting are ten of the Apostles, crowning five rows in which is represented the whole hierarchy of confessors--warriors, monks, laymen, priests, abbots, bishops, archbishops, kings, emperors and popes, all wearing the halo of sanctity. In the gable the Blessed Mary is seated holding a book, supported by Gabriel and another archangel.

The pier on the right gives various incidents from the lives of confessors: on the west face, S. Léon praying at the tomb of S. Peter; S. Martin blessing a man who has threatened to strike him; S. Lubin (p. 36) giving extreme unction to S. Calétric; S. Avit, Abbot of Micey, reposing; S. Anthony reading the Scriptures and a devil appearing; S. Benedict seated and reading. On the south face is S. Gregory the Great writing his commentaries, inspired by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and his secretary Peter behind a thick curtain; S. Remi consecrating and S. Solemnis blessing Chlovis; S. Laumer healing the Abbess Ulfrade; S. Calais or Karilef digging (the cloak in which, whilst he was working in his vineyard, a wren nested and laid an egg, is suspended from a neighbouring tree); S. Hilarion visiting S. Anthony. On the east face, S. Sylvester baptizing Constantin; S. Martin restoring a child to life near Chartres; S. Calétric visiting S. Lubin; S. Benedict blessing the poisoned cup (appearing thus for the second time on this pier, first as a hermit in the Cave of Subiaco, and now as Abbot of Vico-Varo, where the monks objecting to his strict rule vainly endeavoured to poison him); S. Lié or Lœtus of Pithiviers seated, and at his feet the owner of the forest to which the holy priest retired, and which afterwards became the site of the village Saint-Lié, in the department of Loiret. The gift of this forest to the saint as a dwelling-place is symbolised by the faggot which the owner is depositing; S. Armel exorcising a dragon; a Breton saint, born in Great Britain 482, and founder of the monastery at Plouarzel.

On the north face of the pier, S. Ambrose converting S. Augustine; S. Martin healing a deaf mute at Chartres; S. Marcel of Paris leading a dragon in his stole; S. Giles casting out a devil from a man at Athens; S. Jerome translating the Holy Scriptures; S. Martinien, the hermit of Cæsarea, with the penitent courtesan Zoe.

Above the porch, in the Gallery of the Kings of Judah, are eighteen life-size statues arrayed in the royal vestments of the time of S. Louis. They are the ancestors of Christ, and that was the only merit of some of them, as their history is given us in the Books of Chronicles and Kings. Varied in age and pose but similar in costume, they are, where they stand, sufficiently decorative, but they cannot compare with the kings and queens of the western porch.

Regarded merely as works of art, a large proportion of the two thousand odd statues in the porches of Chartres deserve almost as much praise as they excite interest. But when we consider the intentions of the artists who made them, and remember the conditions under which they were wrought, as they have been suggested in the previous chapters, we shall be able to appreciate them with a more perfect sympathy and to judge them with a broader understanding. The sculptors of the thirteenth century did not aim exclusively at sensuous beauty or at anatomical perfection, and they did not attain it. They were concerned with psychology as well as and even more than anatomy, and they strove to give by their art not only pleasure but instruction also. The perfection of the human body was not so obvious to them as the imperfection of the human soul. For them the flesh was only desirable when it exhaled the odour of virtue, when it was inspired by the sympathetic sadness which springs from the consciousness of frailty and resignation to the burdens of this life, combined with a burning desire for the eternal life to come, or when it was rendered sweet by the holy joyousness of spirit which springs from peace, pity and love. They added, then, to the science of art, the science of ideas. And if, therefore, mediæval sculpture never rose to the height of artistic perfection achieved by a Phidias or Praxiteles, yet their work remains fulfilled with a quality not possessed by any Apollo, the charm of a spiritual intelligence.

DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL.

ft. ins.
1. Total Length {Exterior, 506 4
{Interior, 426 5
This is less than that of the Cathedrals
of Le Mans, Reims, Amiens, Bordeaux
and Rouen.
2. Length of Nave, 240 4
3. Length of Choir, 121 5
4. Length of Transept (largest in France), 211 6
5. Width of West Front, 156 0
6. Width of Nave (largest in France), 53 6
7. Length of Crypt, 366 6
8. Width of Crypt, 18 0
9. Height of Vaulting of Nave, 122 3
10. Height of Vaulting in Aisles, 45 6
11. North Tower (Clocher Neuf), 377 4
12. South Tower (Clocher Vieux), 349 6
13. Diameter of the three large Rose Windows, 44 0