The history of Notre-Dame is in a great measure the history of France.
It was there that the _Te Deum_ was sung after successful battles, and where the standards which were taken from the enemy were suspended during the continuance of the wars. There, too, in the early part of the 13th century, S. Dominic preached from a book given him by the Blessed Virgin, who appeared to the Saint after an hour"s silent meditation, radiant with beauty, and dazzling as the sunlight. Some fifty years ago, the cathedral, and, indeed, all Paris, was stirred by the _conferences_ held there by one of S. Dominic"s own children, Pere Lacordaire, who, with his friends Lamennais and Montalembert, made an effort to free the Roman branch of the Catholic Church from the fungi which had grown on to it, an effort which was as fruitless as that undertaken by his predecessor Savonarola, 400 years before him.
[Ill.u.s.tration: NOTRE-DAME AT SUNSET.]
On Easter Eve, the 12th April, 1229, the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII., was absolved of the crime of heresy in Notre-Dame. As the old chronicler Guillaume de Puylaurens relates: "Et c"etait pitie de voir un si grand homme, lequel par si long es.p.a.ce de temps avait pu resister a tant et de si fortes nations, conduit nu, en chemise, bras et pieds decouverts, jusqu"a l"autel."
Here is a pleasant little example of some of the doings of the "good old times": Pierre Bonfons tells us that in 1381 the _prevot_ of Paris, one Hugues Aubriot, accused and found guilty of heresy and other crimes, was, through the instrumentality of the University, "presche et mitre publiquement au Parvis-Notre-Dame, et apres ce, cond.a.m.ne a etre en l"oubliette au pain et a l"eau."
On the 27th November, 1431,[107] the child, Henry VI. of England, was crowned King of France in the choir of the cathedral. But the pomp of this ceremony was soon effaced, for, on the Friday in Easter week, 1436, a _Te Deum_ was sung to celebrate the retaking of Paris by the troops of Charles VII.
In the 13th century the Feast of the a.s.sumption was celebrated with great pomp; the whole church was hung with valuable tapestries, and the pavement covered with sweet-smelling flowers and herbs; but two centuries later, gra.s.s from the fields of Gentilly seems to have sufficed to do honour to Our Lady on her _fete_ day.
The same custom prevailed here as at the Sainte-Chapelle and other churches, of letting fly pigeons, and throwing flowers and torches of flaming flax from the windows in celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost; and every year, on the 22nd March, the chapter went in procession to the church of the Grands-Augustins, where a ma.s.s was sung in memory of Henri IV."s entry into Paris in 1594.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PIERRE DE FAYET.]
The original design of the church did not comprise the chapels which flank the nave and somewhat spoil the effect of the exterior. In this respect, the cathedral of Paris cannot be compared to those of Reims and Chartres, which have no chapels between the b.u.t.tresses. They were added to Notre-Dame in 1270, Jean de Paris, archdeacon of Soissons, having bequeathed 100 _livres_ for their construction. The chapels of the _chevet_ were finished at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century. An inscription at the entrance of one of them, S. Nicaise, placed upon the pedestal of a statue of Simon Matiffas de Buci, recorded that this chapel and the two next were founded by the bishop in 1296, and that the others were added subsequently. This precious relic was discovered at S. Denis among a number of others from different churches.
One of these gives the name of Canon Pierre de Fayet[108] as the donor of 200 _livres_ towards the _histoires_ which surround the choir, and some new gla.s.s; and another gives the names of the sculptors of these same _histoires_, the Masters Jean Ravy and Jean le Bouteiller, who carved them in 1351. It must be remembered that the great churches of the Middle Ages were more the work of the people than of the n.o.bility, and thus we find that the armorial bearings upon old gla.s.s or upon the pedestals of statues are mostly those of the different trades-guilds, such as the bakers, the butchers, the woollen-drapers, the furriers, the shoemakers, and the like. These, either as individuals or as corporate bodies, enriched the old churches in money or in kind.
It must not be forgotten that the great churches of the Middle Ages were, in a sense, the schools of the period. The people, not being able to read, were instructed through the medium of sermons and stage plays; they saw the histories of Saints, the story of the Gospel, and legendary and historical matter carved in wood or stone upon all sides of them, and they learnt their moralities by picture tales and clerical discourses. Art was literally the handmaid of Religion, and the great teacher; and being enriched by divers gifts, the churches became receptacles for all kinds of treasures. Guillaume Durand, in his _Rational des Divins Offices_, speaks of rare things, such as stuffed crocodiles, ostrich eggs, and skeletons of whales, besides gold and silver vessels, _intagli_, and _cameii_, as attractions for the people, on the principle that he who comes to see may stay to pray. Churches were, in fact, museums, and places in which to transact business; the naves constantly being thus used.
Notre-Dame has two towers at the west end, and a _fleche_ over the intersection of the nave, choir and transepts. This is modern; and why?
Because, in 1787, an architect was found who considered it well to "amputate" the old one. Listen to Victor Hugo: "Un architect de bon gout l"a ampute, et a cru qu"il suffisait de masquer la plaie avec ce large emplatre de plomb, qui ressemble au couvercle d"une marmite"--doubtless that strange species of turret so common in London, familiarly termed a pepper-box.
The western _facade_, though not so rich as that of Reims, is nevertheless exceedingly beautiful. It is divided into three parts in its width, and into four stories in its elevation.
Here is what our old friend Dibden says of it in his time: "Of Notre-Dame, the West front, with its marygold windows, is striking both from its antiquity and richness. It is almost black from age" (would it were so now!)--"but the alto-relievos, and especially those above the doors, stand out in almost perfect condition. These ornaments are rather fine of their kind. There is, throughout the whole of this West front, a beautiful keeping, and the towers are _here_ somewhat more endurable, and therefore somewhat in harmony. Over the North transept door, on the outside, is a figure of the Virgin--once holding the infant Jesus in her arms. Of the latter only the feet remain. The drapery of this figure is in perfectly good taste, a fine specimen of that excellent art which prevailed towards the end of the XIIIth century. Above is an alto-relievo subject of the _Slaughter of the Innocents_. The soldiers are in quilted armour. I entered the cathedral from the Western door, during service-time. A sight of the different clergymen engaged in the office filled me with melancholy, and made me predict sad things of what was probably to come to pa.s.s! These clergymen were old, feeble, wretchedly attired in their respective vestments, and walked and sung in a tremulous and faltering manner. The architectural effect of the interior is not very imposing, although the solid circular pillars of the nave, the double aisles round the choir, and the old ba.s.so-relievo representations of the Life of Christ upon the exterior walls of the choir, cannot fail to afford the antiquary very singular satisfaction.
The choir appeared to be not unlike that of S. Denis." Notre-Dame should be visited by lovers of plain song. To hear forty men and boys chant Gregorian tones, with _ad libitum_ accompaniments upon a small organ, is a treat not to be forgotten. And note, the _small_ organ, for the large one at the end of the nave is only used for voluntaries; thundering accompaniments to the voices being unknown in Paris.
[ILl.u.s.tRATION: NOTRE-DAME DURING SERMON.]
All the six doors of Notre-Dame bear distinctive names--the Porte du Jugement, the Porte de la Vierge, and the Porte Ste. Anne, at the west end; the Porte du Cloitre, the Porte St. Marcel and the Porte Rouge, at the east end. Each of these is divided into two openings by a central pier, supporting a figure and surmounted by a tympanum; over which is a deep _voussure_, peopled with sculptures innumerable. Tradition formerly recorded a flight of thirteen steps rising to the west front; but the excavations made in 1847 proved this to have been a mistake. If steps existed anywhere, they were probably on the side of the episcopal palace near the southern tower and leading down to the river. At the same time there is no doubt that the church would gain in effect were it raised above the roadway as is the case at Amiens. At present it is even a little lower than the _place_, but allowing for the rising of the ground during seven centuries, it is quite possible that the cathedral originally had not the sunken appearance it has at present. In the niches upon the great b.u.t.tress are tour figures; S. Denis and S. etienne at the extremities, and two women crowned in the centre. These represent a very common conceit of the Middle Ages, the Church and the Synagogue, the one triumphant, the other defeated.
Above the portals is the gallery of the Kings of Judah, the ancestors of the Virgin, and perhaps typical of the sovereigns of France. The gallery of the Virgin is still higher, and upon it in the centre stands the queen of Heaven with attendant Angels, Adam and Eve being above the side doors. Higher still we come to the tower galleries presided over by delightful monsters of various zoological tribes. Nothing gives a visitor to Notre-Dame a better notion of the richness of its sculptures than mounting to this gallery, whence he obtains a full view of the roof and the towers, with their numerous pinnacles, crockets, finials, gargoyles and statues.
Unfortunately the great central portal was hopelessly wrecked by Soufflot in 1771 in order to increase its width for processions; it is one of the many examples which prove the fact that the "stupidity of man" has done more harm to old buildings than time or even disastrous riots and revolutions. In 1773 and 1787, so-called restorations, by architects who ought to have known better, still further mutilated the church.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ROOF AND FLeCHE.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: ANIMALS ON ONE OF THE TOWERS.]
Listen to Victor Hugo once more: "Il est difficile de ne pas soupirer, de ne pas s"indigner devant les degradations, les mutilations sans nombre, que simultanement le temps et les hommes ont fait subir au venerable monument, sans respect pour Charlemagne, qui en avait pose la premiere pierre, pour Philippe-Auguste, qui en avait pose la derniere.
Sur la face de cette vieille reine de nos cathedrales, a cote d"un vide on trouve toujours une cicatrice. _Tempus edax h.o.m.o edacior_: le temps est aveugle, l"homme est stupide." Sixty years have pa.s.sed since this was written, but the great poet lived to see a restoration which he probably sighed over as much as over the mutilations of former times.
Viollet-le-Duc did his work better than most restorers; but of the old church nothing remains but the sh.e.l.l--even the surface of the stone has been sc.r.a.ped and scrubbed, giving the building as new an appearance as that of the churches of S. Augustin and La Trinite. Hugo"s words in 1832, directed against the architects of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., apply equally to those of our time: "Si nous avions le loisir d"examiner une a une avec le lecteur les diverses traces de destruction imprimee a l"antique eglise, la part du temps serait la moindre, la pire celles des hommes, surtout des hommes de l"art." The great destruction occurred between 1699 and 1753. Louis XIV., the great destroyer of men and of their works, in order to carry out the "_Vu de Louis XIII._", made away with the old carved stalls, the _jube_, the cloisters, the high altar with its numerous _cha.s.ses_ and reliquaries, its bronze columns and silver and gold statuettes, the tombs, and the stained gla.s.s. In 1771, the statues above the great west doors disappeared when Soufflot began his evil work of widening them. Another great loss to the church was the destruction of the statue of S. Christopher, a huge colossal figure as celebrated in the Middle Ages as the relics of the Sainte-Chapelle. It stood at the entrance of the nave, and was the work of Messire Antoine des Essarts in 1443, in grat.i.tude to the saintly giant for having saved him from the Burgundians. Miracle-working Virgins, Philippe-Auguste posing as S. Simon Stylites, and two bishops of Paris, likewise upon columns, were amongst some of the former treasures. Whether three great figures in wax of Gregory XI., his niece, and nephew, which tumbled into decay in 1599, are equally to be regretted, is doubtful; but the description of an equestrian statue which stood in the nave, the man in armour, and the horse in emblazoned trappings, sounds fascinating. It was a Louis VI., or a Philippe le Bel--who knows? Perhaps the latter, erected as a thank offering to Our Lady for the victory at Mons, for Philippe founded solemn commemorations of that battle at Notre-Dame, at Chartres, and at S. Denis. But in spite of this evidence, Pere Montfaucon p.r.o.nounced in favour of Philippe de Valois, who rode into the church equipped and armed to give thanks for the victory of Ca.s.sel, and fulfil a vow made in front of the enemy. This same Philippe"s effigy also rode a stone horse upon the _facade_ of the Cathedral of Sens.
Du Breuil cites some quaint verses explaining the dimensions of the church, which were written upon a picture hanging near the statue of S.
Christopher by the doorway:
Si tu veux scauoir comme est ample De Nostre-Dame le grand temple: Il a dans uure, pour le seur, Dix et sept toises de haulteur, Sur la largeur de vingt et quatre; Et soixante cinq sans rabattre, A de long. Au tours hault montees Trente quarte sont bien comptees, Le tout fonde sur pilotis, Ainsi vray que ie le te dis.[109]
When the revolutionary period began, little remained to be done in the way of destruction, but that little the votaries of Reason did pretty well as regards everything pertaining unto royalty; for to be just, we must remember that anything that could be construed into philosophy or art was spared. In August, 1793, it was decided that eight days should be allowed for the destruction of the "_gothiques simulacres_" of the kings upon the portals. Later on the Saints were ordered to share the same fate, but Citizen Chaumette, as we have seen, stepped in and saved the sculpture by a.s.suring his colleagues that the astronomer Dupuis had discovered his planetary system on one of the portals. Thereupon the Citoyen Dupuis was put upon the council for the preservation of public buildings, and in consequence much was saved from complete and hopeless destruction. We all know how a G.o.ddess of the cla.s.s so dear to the kings of old, a vulgar Gabrielle or Pompadour in sabots and a Phrygian cap, was set upon the altar and worshipped in derision, a ceremony followed by others that "we leave under a veil which appropriately stretches itself along the pillars of the aisles--not to be lifted aside by the hand of history."[110] Robespierre and his friends must have been utterly wanting in a sense of humour, or they never would have inst.i.tuted these curious ceremonies. In an old print[111] representing the great Feast of the Supreme Being upon the Champ de Mars, we see the President of the Convention in a fine blue coat, and bearing an enormous bouquet of flowers, discoursing to the mult.i.tude; and, after burning the statue of Atheism, sticking up Wisdom in its place. Young girls in the inevitable white of church processions, beadles, and singing men, with all the paraphernalia of the dethroned ecclesiastical pomp, are depicted: but only one man seems to have seen how ludicrous it all was: "_Tu commence a nous ennuyer avec ton etre Supreme!_" said he to Robespierre, somewhat profanely.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HoTEL-DIEU AND NOTRE-DAME]
The prelates and sovereigns who succeeded to these stormy days endeavoured to restore Notre-Dame; but the ignorance which prevailed at the commencement of the present century with regard to Gothic architecture rather added to the destruction than mended it; and it was not until the Christian art and Liberal Catholic revivals led by Montalembert and his friends that a thorough and rational restoration of the church was commenced by the eminent architects, Viollet-le-Duc and La.s.sus.
The central portal is a ma.s.s of wonderful sculpture. The lower part of the stylobate bears lozenge-shapen compartments enclosing roses and lilies. Above this are the _Virtues and Vices_,[112] the former being figures of women bearing their emblems; the latter, little scenes describing each particular vice. It is interesting to see that the Virtues should be portrayed as women, Guillaume Durand giving the reason that they are men"s nursing mothers; but Eve, having been supposed from all time to have been man"s temptress, how comes it that the Mediaeval sculptors exempted her and all other women from personifying the vice, for example, of curiosity? Courage our first mother undoubtedly had, and so this virtue on the front of Notre-Dame is represented by a woman with a shield bearing a lion. Equally certain is it that Adam was mean and cowardly, and so we find Cowardice painted as a man running away terror-stricken from a harmless hare. Amongst the vicious we see Judas in despair, an iniquitous Nero, an impious Mahomet, and a funny little Nimroud throwing a javelin at the sun, symbolic of that great warrior"s attempt to build a high tower in order to attack Heaven itself.
Above the Virtues and Vices are the Twelve Apostles, placed over the Virtue which in their lives they especially displayed. Nothing in these sculptures was done without a purpose; thus S. Paul stands over Courage, and S. Peter above Faith; indeed the whole doorway was designed to carry out a particular idea, and to ill.u.s.trate the main doctrines of Christ, whose statue stands upon the central pier, giving the benediction to all who enter.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF THE PINNACLES.]
On each side of the doorway are _the Wise and Foolish Virgins_, and in the tympanum, which is divided into three zones, is _the Resurrection of the Dead_. Souls are being weighed; and under one scale a mean little demon may be seen pulling it down with a hook, in case the poor soul"s sins should not be sufficient to weigh it down. It may be noted that the Mediaeval theologians evidently considered the nails which pierced our Blessed Lord"s body of more honour than the tree unto which he was bound; for here we see an Angel holding the cross with bare hands, while another envelopes the nails in a napkin. In the _Voussure_ are rows of personages; the lower ones belonging to the Judgment, the upper ones to the Resurrection. Then come the Angels, Prophets, and Doctors of the church (taking precedence at Notre-Dame of the Martyrs, by reason of Paris being a great seat of learning). Following them are the Martyrs and Virgins.
Didron[113] gives an account by an Armenian bishop of a visit to Paris in 1489-96, in which he describes these sculptures exactly as they now appear, and speaks of the beauty of their colouring and gilding.
The sculptures of the other two doors are of the same character as the Porte du Jugement, but the subjects are taken severally from the histories of the Blessed Virgin and of S. Anne. In the Porte de la Vierge, the _Mother and Child_ hold the central place, and in the tympanum are the _a.s.sumption_ and the _Glorification of the Virgin_. In the stylobate are saints, a conspicuous one being _S. Denis carrying his head_, with Angels upon each side, to prevent anyone damaging his headless body. In the bas-reliefs, amongst other subjects is an almanac in stone representing the earth and the sea, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the occupations, mostly agricultural, of each of the months.
Corresponding to these are the idlings of the season. The industrious man is warming himself by the side of his well-cured hams and sausages; the idle man is sitting enveloped in fur, enjoying a sleep by the fire.
For April we see a personage with two heads, one asleep and one awake; and, showing that the climate was much the same in the 13th century as it is now, we see one side of him clad in the airy costume of our first parents, while the other is well wrapped up in warm raiment. May only wears pyjamas, while June prepares for a bath. The signs of the Zodiac follow the ecclesiastical year, which up to the reign of Charles IX.
commenced at Easter. The custom of carving them on the exterior of churches is a very ancient practice, as it may be seen on the Catholicon at Athens, which is as old or older than the time of Justinian. Nearly all the great churches of France possess them. On S. Denis there are three: one is mosaic; another, a bas-relief on the exterior; and the third, an incised stone upon the pavement of one of the apsidal chapels.
The Porte S. Anne is the oldest of the three portals, and the sculptures being the most ancient of the church, it has been a.s.sumed that they were brought from an older edifice. The central figure is _S. Marcel_, ninth bishop of Paris, who died in 436. He is here seen standing upon a strange and venomous beast with a tail ending serpent-wise, issuing from a winding sheet--the vestment of an unfortunate rich and wicked woman whom the beast had consumed in punishment for her vices. Marcel, in spite of this just retribution, seems to have pitied the poor soul, and went forth to the forest to reprove the dragon; who, listening to the holy man"s words, became repentant and showed his contrition by bending his head and flopping after the Saint for the s.p.a.ce of three miles, wagging his tail like a dog. But S. Marcel could not forgive him. "Go forth," said the Saint, "and inhabit the deserts, or plunge thyself into the sea"; which he seems to have done, for no more was ever heard of the monster from that day forth.
The tympanum is ornamented with the _History of Joachim and Anna_, the _Marriage of the Virgin_ and the _Budding of S. Joseph"s staff_. Angels and a kneeling king complete the composition; the latter probably being Louis VII., the friend of Suger and the father of Philippe-Auguste, as he is presenting a charter of donations and privileges. On the other side is a bishop, bearded, mitred, and vested, but unlike the king, the prelate stands; he is probably the builder, Maurice de Sully. The older part of this doorway is similar in some respects to the _facade_ of S.
Denis. Abbot Suger, its builder, had only been dead about ten years when Maurice de Sully reconstructed the cathedral; and we see in the figures upon the Porte S. Anne the same Romanesque character as at S. Denis.
The beautiful ironwork of the doors of Notre-Dame are worthy their reputed origin; they are said to have been finished in a single night by his Satanic Majesty in consequence of the dilatoriness of Biscornette the blacksmith. The legend has probably grown from the design of a part of the ironwork, a little man with horns and the tail of a fish, who sits upon the branch of a tree. It appears that Biscornette was charged to forge the ironwork of the doors in a given time; but finding himself behind-hand in his work, he determined to call in the aid of the Devil.
This personage arrived, put on the leathern ap.r.o.n, and set to work so vigorously that by dawn it was finished. Biscornette thanked his a.s.sistant, who politely, in recognition of the blacksmith"s grat.i.tude, presented him with his horns. Popular opinion always held that Biscornette could not forge the central door by which the Blessed Sacrament pa.s.sed; and that a curse rested upon that of S. Anne, as it was never opened; but in these latter faithless days it has been found to do so as easily as the others. The sculptures of the tympanum of the Porte du Cloitre represent the _Legend of S. Theophilus_, the deacon, who lived in the 3rd century. This Saint was troubled in his mind, and abjured Christianity through the instrumentality of a Jew; thereupon he fell into the hands of the Father of Lies, and we see him on his knees between the hoofs of the demon. But he was reinstated in the good books of his bishop, in spite of the tempting whisperings of a little demon by his side. Then the Virgin enters upon the scene, and tears up the contract signed by S. Theophilus with his blood; and the demon enraged has the impertinence to seize the raiment of the Virgin, in order to profane her. But Theophilus is forgiven, and the bishop displays the contract, which is now hallowed by the episcopal seal, and upon which is written in Gothic letters: _Carta Theophili_.
At the foot of the Southern _facade_ is the inscription which gives the name of the architect and the date of the church:
ANNO. DNI. M. CC. LVII. MENSE. FEBRVARIO. IDVS.
SECUNDO. HOC. FUIT INCEPTUM, CRISTI. GENITSIS, HONORE.
KALLENSI. LATh.o.m.o. VIVENTE. JOHANNE. MAGISTRO:
John de Ch.e.l.les was wise in his generation, for had he not thus taken care of his own reputation, we should have known nothing about him, there being no record of any other works by him. Ch.e.l.les, the place of his birth, was celebrated for the abbey founded by S. Bathilde; and like Montereau, Bonneuil, and Lusarches, which gave birth to some of the most famous architects of the 13th century, it was situated in the diocese of Paris. The beautiful little Porte Rouge is of the end of the 13th century. In the tympanum a king and queen are represented kneeling at each side of our Lord and His Mother, very probably S. Louis, and his wife, Marguerite de Provence.
Formerly, in front of the grand portals there was a pillory, described by Pere Du Breuil in the 16th century as raised upon a platform. The culprit knelt upon this with a paper, stating his offence, affixed to him; and then he stayed _longtemps mocque et injurie du peuple_. Du Breuil lamented that this object of the spiritual justice and power was no longer to be seen at the abbey of S. Germain.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LA PORTE ROUGE.]
The interior of Notre-Dame is imposing, though somewhat heavy in character; and although the nave and choir were sixty years in construction, there is scarcely any difference in style, except in the details. There is a certain clumsiness about the great round shafts of the nave, but the carving upon the angles of the plinths and of the capitals helps to relieve this effect. Most of the capitals are ornamented with examples of the flora of Parisian fields. At the west end is a gallery now occupied by the great organ, but which formerly was the stage upon which miracle-plays were performed. The choir is by far the most beautiful part of the church; and being filled with stained gla.s.s, it has not that painfully cleaned-up appearance which is the result of over-restoration. Some parts of it, the bays which separate the side-aisles from the crossings, are of the 14th century; and the little Angels blowing trumpets which surmount the archivolt are beautiful specimens of sculpture of that period. The capitals of some of the choir columns being the oldest in the church (the early part of the 12th century) are very rich in the quaint style of decoration delighted in by Mediaeval artists--ma.s.ses of foliage, with heads of grotesque animals peeping out, and biting off the leaves and flowers. One capital (between the seventh and eighth southern chapels) is interesting as showing the transition between the use of personages and animals, and that of foliage only, which was customary in the later period. The subject is very unecclesiastical, as was so often the case in the 12th and 13th centuries--two Harpies, male and female, with human heads and bird bodies, issuing out of the foliage. Much of this is treated in the most realistic manner, and we find specimens of the oak, the ivy and the trefoil.
In many of the chapels are double _piscinae_. From one, the water in which the priest washes his hands _before_ ma.s.s, is ejected by a pipe; from the other, used _after_ ma.s.s, the water descends into the ground.
They are both ornamented with carved canopies.
The Lady chapel, or chapel of the Compa.s.sion, and the two on either side, are painted and gilded, a good deal of the old colouring having survived as a guide. There is some good carving, and in front of the tabernacle hang seven lamps of elegant design. These, added to the beauty of the old stained gla.s.s, make this end of the church by far the most beautiful part.[114] The chapel also contains an inscription, bearing the name of the founder, bishop Simon Matiffas de Bucy, who died in 1304. In the chapel of S. George is the fine marble statue of the martyred archbishop Darboy, shot in 1871 by the Communists.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FOUNTAIN IN THE LITTLE CLOISTER.]