THE
CHURCHES OF PARIS
FROM CLOVIS TO CHARLES X

BY
S. SOPHIA BEALE
Author of "A complete and Concise Handbook to the Museum of the
Louvre" etc
With Illustrations by the Author from Original Sketches
Photographs and Engravings
LONDON
W. H. ALLEN & CO LIMITED
13 WATERLOO PLACE SW
——
1893
All rights reserved

WYMAN AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND REDHILL.

DEDICATED
TO ONE
WHOSE HELP WAS INVALUABLE
BUT WHO IS NOW
TO US
ONLY A MEMORY

"La nef vagant dessus la mer galicque
Porte dedens soy richesse inestimable
Justice y est pour patron magnificque
Raison y sert de Lieutenant notable,
Gens de scauoir par œuure treslouable
Sont galliotz qui lamenent a port,
Marchans y ont tresasseure support.
Prebstres, Bourgeois, nobles, Clercz et gen-darmes.
Icelle nef de se'fertile apport,
Cest de Paris le beau blazon des armes."

PREFACE.

IN a book of this kind, it is difficult to prevent oneself becoming a guide, more or less complete. Dates and facts, architectural details and descriptions, all savour of the handbook; but having determined to keep to the historical and archaeological, rather than the architectural side of the churches, I have tried to rake up quaint and legendary lore, and so add to the interest of an ordinary guide book. I would also pray my readers to bear in mind that, as the work is not intended to be an architectural treatise, I have simply walked in the paths of Viollet-le-Duc and Guilhermy, whenever I have been compelled to describe the technical details of the churches.

My thanks are due to the Editor of the American Architect, for his courtesy in allowing me to build these ecclesiastical monographs upon the foundation of some articles which have appeared from time to time in a condensed form in the Boston (U. S. A.) paper; and also to the Editor of the Magazine of Art, for a similar kindness.

I should also like to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following authors and their works:

"Histoire de la Sainte-Chapelle." Morand.

"Histoire de Saint-Denis." Dom Millet.

"Histoire de Saint-Eustache." L'abbé Koenig.

"Inscriptions du Diocèse de Paris." F. de Guilhermy.

"Itinéraire Archéologique de Paris." F. de Guilhermy.

"l'Église Saint Julien-le-Pauvre." A. Le Brun.

"Monographie de l'Église Royale de Saint-Denis." F. de Guilhermy.

"Sacred and Legendary Art." Anna Jameson.

"The Early British Church." J. Yeowell.

CONTENTS.

THE CHURCHES OF PARIS.

SAINT-ANTOINE DES QUINZE-VINGTS.

Saint Louis, always careful in helping his suffering subjects, founded this hospital for the blind in 1260, upon a piece of ground abutting on the Louvre, now traversed by the Rue de Rivoli. In 1780 the hospital was transferred to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, and took up its abode in the old dwelling place of the Black Musketeers, whose chapel also served as a parish church. It is a little building of no beauty nor interest, although a few inscriptions relating to pious foundations still remain in the chapel, the oldest being dated 1481. One of these tells us of the institution, in 1667, of a somewhat early Mass by one Marie Lambert, maid to the queen mother. It was to be said at 4 a.m. in order that the poor blind people should be able to sally forth a-begging (d'aller à la quête) fortified with the Bread of Life.

LES CARMES DÉCHAUSSÉES

The old church of the barefooted Carmelites in the Rue de Vaugirard was commenced in 1613, and dedicated to S. Joseph in 1625. It is now served by the Dominicans. The crypt is the only interesting part of the church, and is a curiosity, as it contains innumerable bones piled up on every side, the remains of the ghastly September massacres of 1792. The frescoes painted by a Liège artist, Bartholet Flamaël, are very much esteemed. Some of the chapels are richly decorated in the gaudy style of the 17th century. The altar is embellished by a 14th century bas-relief in marble representing the Last Supper. A few epitaphs still remain: that of Cardinal de Beausset, the historian of Fénelon and Bossuet; one of Cardinal de la Luzerne; and a marble, covering the heart of Archbishop Affre, who was shot on a barricade in 1848, while endeavouring to make peace with the insurgents.

LA SAINTE-CHAPELLE.

The origin and foundation of this most lovely example of mediæval art is so much a part of S. Louis' life that it may not be out of place to give some account of the Saint's character and habits before proceeding to describe the history of the chapel.

Louis IX. was pious and practical, and inconvenienced his courtiers as much by his punctuality and the assiduity with which he conducted his business, as by his religious duties. These he considered a part of his daily work, hearing all the canonical offices with the same regularity as he attended to the grievances of his subjects. Often, like our own George Herbert, was he found prostrate before the altar wrapped in prayer. Even Gibbon allowed that he united the virtues of a king, a hero, and a man—he might have added those of a just judge and a lawgiver; and Voltaire sums up his character as follows: "Il n'est guère donné à l'homme de pousser la vertu plus loin." When his more worldly friends cavilled at his austerities, he made his case good by retorting: "Si je passais deux fois autant de temps à jouer, ou à courir les bois, pour m'occuper de la chasse, personne n'en parleroit." As in the case of nearly all exceptionally good men, he probably owed everything to the extreme care that his mother had bestowed upon his education—a care which he repaid by a life-long devotion to her memory. Of good Queen Blanche's character we get a glimpse in the following touching anecdote. It is related that one day at Court, the Queen noticed a beautiful youth with long, fair hair, and asking his name, was answered, "Prince Herman, the son of the sainted Elizabeth of Hungary." On hearing this, Queen Blanche rose from her seat, and, gazing at the boy, said to him, "Fair youth, thou hadst a blessed mother; where did she kiss thee?" Whereat Herman, blushing, placed his finger on his forehead between his eyes, and the Queen, reverently pressing her lips upon the spot, looked up to Heaven and breathed the invocation: Sancta Elisabetha, Patrona nostra dulcissima, ora pro nobis. That a mother so imbued with admiration for the sainted Elizabeth should have a son who walked in the Hungarian queen's steps, is not very remarkable in those ages of faith. S. Louis' faith was simple, loving, and inextinguishable; and so it came about that when he heard of the Emperor Baldwin II.'s financial difficulties, he decided to purchase the relics which had been given more than once, it is said, as pledges for temporary loans. The Emperor's letter upon the subject would lead one to suppose that it was an act of generosity to faire passer the relics to S. Louis; but we know that the King paid very handsomely for them. "Je désire," said the emperor, "ardemment de vous faire passer cette précieuse relique à vous, mon cousin, mon seigneur, et mon bienfaiteur, et au royaume de France ma patrie." Other purchasers seem to have been in the field; for S. Louis only obtained, at that time, the Crown of Thorns and some portion of the True Cross. One of his rivals was our Henry III., who in 1247 summoned all his nobles to London to witness the reception of some of the Holy Blood which had been brought from the East in a crystal vase, by one of the Knights Templars. It was sent by the Master of the Templars and Hospitallers, its genuineness being attested by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the abbots of the Holy Land. On the 13th October, being the feast of S. Edward the Confessor, the King, after prayer and fasting, carried the reliquary from S. Paul's to Westminster, where it was deposited in the Abbey church. The Bishop of Norwich preached, and celebrated mass; and in his sermon took pains to impress upon his hearers that the Holy Blood was more precious even than the True Cross possessed by the King of France—an argument which points to one of the causes of rivalry between the nations during the Middle Ages. Naturally the assembled prelates accorded indulgences to the faithful who should visit the shrine; but this much coveted privilege seems to have caused certain murmurings among some of the assistants; they objected that, whereas our Lord had ascended into Heaven in the body, He could not have left His blood upon the earth. But Robert Grossetête, Bishop of Lincoln, was equal to the occasion, and replied, that Joseph of Arimathea, having saved it from the precious wounds, more especially from the one in His side, had given some of it to Nicodemus, and thus it had been treasured up, and had passed from father to son, until it came into the possession of the Patriarch Robert of Jerusalem. These disputes seem to have been pretty common in those days, in spite of the unquestioning faith of the multitude. In 1357 we read of a squabble which took place between the Dominicans and the Franciscans, one François Baïle of Barcelona affirming that the blood being separated from the Divinity of our Lord was therefore not adorable. Often, indeed, these wranglings became so violent that the Popes were obliged to interfere in order to settle the matter.

The bringing home of the relics reads like a royal pageant. They were carried to Venice by the "Députés de Saint Louis et les ambassadeurs de l'Empire, accompagnés des plus nobles d'entre les Vénitiens. Le convoi mit à la voile dans le tems de Noël, saison où la mer est le plus orageuse. La confidence des Députés éleva leur ame au dessus de la crainte des périls, et elle fut justifiée; ils arrivèrent à Venise sans avoir essuyé de tempêtes. Vatace, Empereur Grec, avait détaché plusieurs galères qui croisoient aux différens détroits où les François devoient passer, pour leur enlever ce précieux butin. Sa vigilance fut trompée; Dieu veilloit sur eux."[1]

"Arrivée à Venise la Relique fut mise en dépôt dans le Trésor de la Chapelle de Saint-Marc. Le roi instruit du succès de la négociation de ses députés, envoya, ainsi que Baudouin, des Ambassadeurs avec l'argent nécessaire pour se l'approprier. De leur côté les Marchands François établis à Venise, plus riches encore des dons de la foi qu'avantagés de la fortune, ouvrirent leur bourse pour payer la somme stipulée. Les Vénitiens auroient bien desiré garder cette Relique, mais retenus par la foi du traité ils la restituèrent quoique à regret."

"Les Ambassadeurs après avoir reconnu les sceaux se mirent en route, et quoique la saison fût pluvieuse ils n'essuyèrent pas une goutte d'eau. Arrivés en Champagne, le Roi partit aussi-tôt pour les joindre. Il étoit accompagné de la Reine, de ses Frères, de l'Archevêque de Sens, de l'Evêque du Puy, et des Seigneurs les plus distingués de sa cour. II rencontra la Relique près de Sens; elle étoit enfermée dans une triple cassette. La première étoit de bois. On l'ouvrit, et on vérifia les sceaux des seigneurs François et du Duc de Venise apposés sur la cassette d'argent dans laquelle se trouva un vase d'or, contenant la Ste.-Couronne. L'ayant découverte on la fit voir à tous les Assistans, qui fondirent en larmes s'imaginant voir réellement Jésus Christ couronné d'épines. Puis le Roi mit son scelle sur la cassette. Tant de précautions écartent assurément tout soupçon d'infidélité."

"Le lendemain la Relique fut portée à Sens dont on avoit tendu toutes les rues. A l'entrée de la Ville, le Roi et le Comte d'Artois, l'aîné de ses Frères, la portèrent sur leurs epaules, les pieds nuds. Le Clergé alla au-devant, et les principaux Seigneurs chargés à leur tour de ce fardeau honorable la placèrent dans l'Eglise Métropolitaine de Saint-Etienne. On se mit ensuite en route pour Paris, où la réception de la Relique se fit avec la plus grande solennité. Tout le Clergé régulier et séculier fut convoqué à cette cérémonie. Les Religieux de Saint-Denis dès la pointe du jour se rendirent à l'endroit qui avoit été indiqué hors de Paris du côté de Vincennes; tous ceux qui assistèrent à cette Procession marchèrent nuds pieds. On avoit dressé un magnifique reposoir près de l'Abbaye Saint-Antoine, où la Châsse fut exposée aux yeux du peuple. Guillaume, Chantre de Saint-Denis, entonna tout ce qui fut chanté pendant la marche et l'Abbé eut place à la droite de l'Autel, avec les Archevêques, Evêques et les autres Abbés, tous en habits pontificaux. Enfin le 18^e jour d'Août la Relique arriva, et fut placée au Palais dans la Chapelle de Saint-Nicolas."[2]

A medal was struck to commemorate this event, with the legend: HÆC REGIS REGUM TOTO PRETIOSIOR AURO, and S. Louis kneeling before an altar upon which is the crown of thorns. As to the particular tree of which the crown was composed, there was much difference of opinion. Clement of Alexandria calls it ex rubo, a sort of thicket; other writers a different sort of shrub or bush, called nerprun, or wild plum; and others, the white thorn.

The antiphon used every day in the offices of the Sainte-Chapelle began: Ecce Crux et Corona Spinea Arnia Regis Gloriae tibi commendantur; and the seal consisted of a cross with the crown of thorns intersecting it, and on each side a fleur-de-lys, with the King's crown at the top. Having acquired the holy relics, it was most seemly that a shrine should be constructed wherein they should rest—a shrine worthy the sanctity of such treasures. And so S. Louis commissioned his architect, Pierre de Montereau, to build him a chapel which should be a marvel of lightness and colour, embellished with windows which should glitter like precious stones, and containing a châsse, resplendent with enamels, and gold and silver—a shrine, as it were, within a shrine. That the architect was worthy the confidence of his royal master, the chapel testifies to this day, and Maître Pierre's immortal work remains the most perfect example of 13th century architecture in France; one might say, the most exquisite architectural gem which the world has yet seen, or is ever likely to see.

Pierre de Montereau, or Montreau, as it is sometimes written, lived eighteen years after the completion of his chef-d'œuvre, and doubtless assisted at some of the splendid ceremonies held in it. He died March 17th, 1266, and was buried in the chapel of the Virgin belonging to the religious of S. Germain des Près, where a splendid monument was erected to his memory. Some of the finest of the buildings attached to the monastery were his work, and up to the last century a stone was to be seen over his burial-place, upon which he was represented with a rule and compass in his hands. His epitaph gives him the titles of fleur pleine de bonnes mœurs, and of docteur des architectes:

FLOS PLENUS MORUM, VIVENS DOCTOR LATO MORUM,
MUSTEROLO NATUS JACET HIC PETRUS TUMULATUS
QUEM REX COELORUM PERDUCAT IN ALTA POLORUM
CHRISTE MILLENO, BIS CENTENO DUODENO
CUM QUINQUAGENO QUARTO DECESSIT IN ANNO.

Another stone recorded the name of his wife Agnes, and on that he is termed, in old French, mestre Pierre de Montereul. The chapel has disappeared, and with it all trace of the tombs; but one at Reims, erected in honour of Hugues Libergier, architect of the celebrated abbey church of S. Nicaise, who died in 1263, gives some idea of what those of Pierre de Montereau and his wife must have been.

The first stone of the church was laid by S. Louis in 1245, and three years later, on the Sunday after Easter, Quasimodo, 25th April, 1248, it was consecrated by the Pope's legate, Eudes de Châteauroux, Bishop of Tusculum, as the Chapel of the Holy Cross and the Holy Crown. On the same day, Philippe Berruyer, Archbishop of Bourges, celebrated the like ceremony in the lower church, putting it under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin. It seems strange that Joinville should not speak of this event, and yet it must have been an imposing sight; but he does not once mention the Sainte-Chapelle in his life of S. Louis. Perhaps this may be accounted for by what he thus relates: "At Easter-tide, in the year of grace 1248, I summoned my vassals and retainers to Joinville, and on the Easter-eve ... was born John, my son, Sire d'Ancarville.... We had feasting and dancing all that week, in the course of which my brother, the Sire de Vancouleurs and other rich persons who were there, gave banquets one after the other on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday." And then he goes on to say that he went to Metz on business before he started for the Holy Land; therefore we may suppose that private affairs kept him away from Paris, and that not being present himself at the consecration, he did not consider it necessary to give an account of the ceremony.

Two charters dated Paris, 1245, and Aigues-Mortes, 1248, respectively give the terms of the endowment by the king. The number of ecclesiastics who first formed the college was fixed at twenty-one; five principal priests or maîtres chapelains, each having an assistant chaplain (a priest), and a deacon, and three beadles who had as many clerks under them. The number was modified from time to time, during five centuries, and latterly it consisted of a treasurer, twelve canons, and nineteen chaplains. The office of treasurer was generally filled by some important personage, and he had the privilege of wearing the mitre and other insignia of the episcopate, and of giving the Benediction upon great festivals; but he was not allowed to bear the crozier.

The most important event of the 13th century connected with the Sainte-Chapelle was the translation of some of S. Louis' bones from S. Denis, in which church they had been laid twenty-seven years previously upon their arrival from Tunis, where the king had died of fever on the 25th August, 1270. Feeling his last moments to have arrived, he caused his body to be placed upon a bed of ashes, and wearing the habit of the third order of S. Francis, his noble spirit passed away. He was embalmed, according to the fashion of the day; or rather, his bones were relieved of their outer casements, by boiling in wine and water; other parts of his body, which it is unnecessary to specify, being given by his son to the King of Sicily, who placed them in the church of Monreale, Palermo. The young Comte de Nevers had died just before S. Louis; and Alfonso de Brienne, Comte d'Eu, son of John de Brienne, King of Jerusalem, and the Chevalier Pierre, the King's chamberlain, had also succumbed to the unhealthy climate. The funeral procession set out, and wended its way towards France under the care of S. Louis' son, Philippe le Hardi. Arriving at Paris, the bodies were placed temporarily in Notre-Dame on the 21st of May; and the next day, amidst a large concourse of people, the procession, consisting of clergy, and religious, started early for S. Denis, Philippe, reverently bearing his father's bones, walking like the rest. Up through the city they went, singing and chanting, and taking much the same route as had been traversed by S. Denis and his companions, after their martyrdom, as recorded by the old chroniclers. In an engraving by Boulogne a long procession of monks and knights is seen issuing from the abbey to meet another coming from Paris, the king and bishops being dressed in that peculiar high wind-blown drapery common to pictorial art in the 17th and 18th centuries. S. Louis' bones were placed in a stone coffin and buried in front of the altar of the Holy Trinity, near the resting place of the bodies of Louis VIII. and Philippe Auguste. Philippe le Hardi's wife, Isabelle, and Tristan, Comte de Nevers, were placed on the right; the chevalier Pierre, who, as chamberlain, had the privilege of sleeping in the King's chamber, was laid at his feet. In 1292, Henri de Luxembourg caused the relics to be placed in a silver shrine and conveyed to the Sainte-Chapelle by the Archbishops of Reims and Lyon; but after some days they were returned to S. Denis, and it was not until 1306 that Philippe le Bel succeeded in his desire of placing the remains of his grandfather in the chapel which was so dear to him, that he felt a malaise each time he heard the divine offices elsewhere. The Bull of canonization was promulgated by Pope Boniface VIII. in 1297, and the translation of the king's skull followed nine years later, accompanied by all the picturesque pomp of the 14th century. The reliquary was in the form of a gold bust of natural size, enriched with precious stones, and supported by Angels upon a pedestal which rested upon four silver-gilt lions. The crown and the collar of the vestment were decorated with rubies, pearls, emeralds, and sapphires; and around the socle were representations of the twenty-nine kings of France, and a Latin inscription giving the date of the work, and the name of the smith, Master Guillaume Juliani. Such was the châsse which enclosed the principal relic of S. Louis: "Afin que la présence du Chef de ce grand roi, qui pendant sa vie avait eu la justice en singulière recommandation, animat les Juges de ce Parlement à maintenir les loix, protéger les gens du bien, rendre la justice à ses sujets sans exception de personne."[3]

L'an mil et trois cens et six ans,
Ot à Paris joie nouvele,
Car li rois mit en sa chapele,
Que S. Loys fist tele faire
Qu'a tout le monde devroit plaire,
Le chief de lui si richement
Et si très-honorablement,
Que par raison de la bel euvre
Que li dons saintuaire queuvre
Le vessel où l'en la mis prisent
Toutes personnes qui l'avisent. (Guil. Guiart.)

On the 15th May, 1843, an interesting discovery was made in the chapel. Some workmen, in removing a stone of the pavement of the apse, discovered a tin box containing the remains of a heart, and a procès-verbal, stating that it had been previously found on the 21st January, 1803. Although the position of the box (the centre of the apse) indicated that it had belonged to some distinguished person, yet there was no clue to its owner, neither inscription, nor name, nor date. The box, it is true, was in the style of the 13th century; but it seemed doubtful, that, had the heart been S. Louis', such an important relic should have been lost sight of, and no record of it given by the Benedictines at S. Denis in their inventory of the treasures which they had received from the Sainte-Chapelle. The matter was referred to the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, and fully discussed; but the members could arrive at no decision, and consequently the box was replaced where it had been found.

While the kings resided in the old Cité, the most brilliant ceremonies succeeded one another at the Sainte-Chapelle; it was, in fact, the chapel belonging to the adjoining palace, now the Palais de Justice. The Queens, Marie de Brabant, second wife of Philippe le Hardi; Marie de Luxembourg, second wife of Charles le Bel; Jeanne d'Evreux, third wife of the same Prince; and Isabelle de Bavière, wife of Charles VI., were all crowned there. The marriage of the Emperor, Henri VII. and Marguerite de Brabant, and the betrothal of Isabeau, eldest daughter of Charles VI. with Richard II. of England, were also solemnised in the chapel. There, in 1332, Philippe de Valois held a great assembly of prelates and barons, to announce his project of another crusade against the Infidels—a project which was never carried out. On the feast of the Epiphany, 1378, King Charles V., the Emperor Charles IV., and his son Wenceslas, King of the Romans, offered gold, frankincense and myrrh, after the manner of the three holy Magi. Every time that the sovereigns convoked an assemblage of the clergy in the palace, the prelates first went to the chapel and asked the blessing of the Holy Spirit, while prostrated before the relics. In 1483, when Louis XI. was lying ill at Tours, he hoped to prolong his life by surrounding himself with the most sacred relics of his kingdom—so reluctant was this devôt to depart from our wicked world. The Sainte Ampoule was brought by the religious of S. Remi from Reims; the canons of the Sainte-Chapelle took the Cross of Victory and the Rod of Moses out of their treasury, and a grand procession of clergy and laity was formed on the 1st of August to carry them from Paris to Plessis-les-Tours. But, alas! to no end; for on the 30th of the same month the poor creature finished his earthly career of hypocrisy.

Boileau, in his Lutrin, gives an amusing account of an unseemly squabble which took place between the canons of the chapel, and which was in this wise. On a certain Sunday in 1667, one of the precentors named Barrin found a huge lectern placed in front of his stall. He protested against the intruder, and the other canons taking his part, it was ordered to be removed. But here the treasurer stepped in with objections, and a whole month was passed in discussions, orders, and counter-orders; the dispute only being ended through the mediation of the first president, Guillaume de Lamoignon, who decreed that the precentor should remain imprisoned behind the lectern an entire morning, until the end of the High Mass, the treasurer undertaking to remove the offending piece of furniture before the hour of vespers.

It was the president who suggested this subject to the poet. Boileau had remarked to M. de Lamoignon that an epic poem could be written upon the most trivial incident, if only a poet had sufficient imagination to work it out. "Faites donc un poème sur le débat de la Sainte-Chapelle. Vous pourrez l'intituler 'Le Lutrin enlevé,' ou 'La Conquête du Lutrin."

"Pourquoi non," replied Boileau. "Il ne faut jamais défier un fou; et je le suis assez, non seulement pour entreprendre ce poème, mais encore pour le dédier à Monsieur le premier president."

The result of defying the "fool," who was withal a wit, is a series of portraits in verse, of the canons, the singers, the precentor, and the treasurer. The latter was not spared, as may be seen by the following lines:—

"Dans le réduit obscur d'une alcove enfoncée,
S'élève un lit de plume à grands frais amassée.
Quatre rideaux pompeux, par un double contour,
En défendent l'entrée à la clarté du jour.
Là, parmi les douceurs d'un tranquille silence,
Règne sur le duvet une heureuse indolence.
C'est là que le prélat, muni d'un déjeuner,
Dormant d'un léger sommeil, attendait le dîner.
La jeunesse en sa fleur brille sur son visage;
Son menton sur son sein descend à double étage,
Et son corps, ramassé dans sa courte grosseur,
Fait gémir les coussins sous sa molle épaisseur."

The canons are touched off with an equal vivacity; all their failings and follies, their idleness and their gluttony, brought into the pure light of day:

"Parmi les doux plaisirs d'une paix fraternelle,
Paris voyait fleurir son antique chapelle;
Ses chanoines vermeils et brillants de santé
S'engraissaient d'une longue et sainte oisiveté;
Sans sortir de leurs lits, plus doux que leurs hermines,
Ces pieux fainéants faisaient chanter matines,
Veillaient à bien diner, et laissaient en leur lieu
A des chantres gagés le soin de leur Dieu."

And then the "machine" itself, the offending lutrin, is described:

"Aussitôt dans le chœur la machine emportée,
Est sur le banc du chantre à grand bruit remontée,
Ses ais demi-pourris, que l'âge a relâchés,
Sont à coups de maillet unis et rapprochés;
Sous les coups redoublés tous les bancs retentissent
Les murs en sont émus, les voûtes en mugissent,
Et l'orgue même en pousse un long gemissement."

The dream of the Chantre, perhaps the indirect cause of all the trouble, in making the man cantankerous, and extra liable to be rubbed up the wrong way, is no less worth quoting:

"Les cloches dans les airs, de leurs voix argentines,
Appelaient à grand bruit les chantres à matines,
Quand leur chef, agité d'un sommeil effrayant,
Encor tout en sueur, se réveille en criant:
'Pour la seconde fois (dit-il) un sommeil gracieux
Avait sous ses pavots appesenti mes yeux;
Quand, l'esprit agité d'une douce fumée,
J'ai cru remplir au chœur ma place accoutumée.
Là, triomphant aux yeux des chantres impuissants,
Je bénissais le peuple, et j'avalais l'encens:
Lorsque, du fond caché de notre sacristie,
Une épaisse nuée à grands flots est sortie,
Que s'ouvrant à mes yeux, dans son bleuâtre éclat
M'a fait voir un serpent conduit par le prélat.
Du corps de ce dragon plein de soufre et de nitre,
Une tête sortait en forme de pupitre,
Dont le triangle affreux, tout hérissé de crins,
Surpassait en grosseur nos plus épais lutrins:
Animé par son guide, en sifflant il s'élance.
J'ai crié, mais en vain; et, fuyant sa fureur
Je me suis réveillé plein de trouble et d'horreur."

An order of the Conseil d'Etat, dated March 11, 1787, sequestered all the goods of the chapel, suppressed the chaplaincies and canonries, and ordained that the services should be continued by the king's ordinary chaplains. Three years later, the chapel shared the fate of all the abbeys, chapters, and religious foundations; and soon after, S. Louis' beautiful oratory was closed. The relics were sent to S. Denis, and the other objects were dispersed to the National museums. Propriété Nationale à Vendre was written upon the building, a piece of information which has only disappeared in our own time. Under the Directoire a club held its meetings there; and later, it was converted into a warehouse for corn and flour. Towards 1800, certain ecclesiastics hired the lower chapel and celebrated mass there, but in 1803 it was further profaned; the upper chapel was turned into a depository for judicial documents, and the lower one was given for the same purpose to the Cour des Comptes. In vain Louis XVIII. and Charles X. endeavoured to restore the building to its proper use; and it was only in 1837, in the reign of Louis Philippe, that its restoration was decided upon. MM. Duban, Lassus, Viollet-le-Duc, and Boeswillwald were commissioned to undertake the work at a cost of 2,000,000 francs, a sum nearly equal to the original value of the relics and reliquaries (2,800,000 francs), while it exceeded by nearly two millions the original cost of the building, 800,000 francs. The 3rd November, 1849, the work was sufficiently advanced for the ceremony of the Institution of the Judicature, when the ancient chants were sung as in former times. Since then, until quite recently, a mass has always been celebrated in the chapel, upon the opening of the Law Courts, in the presence of the judges, barristers, and others who could gain admission. But this function has lately been abolished, and the keeper now impresses upon visitors (rather eagerly and unnecessarily), the permission to keep on their hats. "Mais couvrez vous, messieurs, ce n'est plus une chapelle, ce n'est qu'un monument"!

The celebration of the Fête des Fous was one of the customs of the Middle Ages which was very tenacious of life. Although forbidden by the legate in 1198, it flourished for another 250 years. The Council of Paris, held in 1212, endeavoured to put it down; but it was only in 1435 that the Council of Basle succeeded in suppressing it, together with stage plays and other profanities. It was the custom at the Sainte-Chapelle, upon the Holy Innocents' day, for the boy acolytes[4] to deck themselves in the canons' copes and vestments, and to sit in their stalls, one boy bearing the mace carried by the precentor as an attribute of his dignity. They were also exempted, during a certain time, from doing homage to anyone. A curious custom prevailed at Easter. At three o'clock in the morning, the clergy, carrying the Host, went in procession round the interior of the palace; and by reason of a foundation of one of the canons, Eustache Picot, under-master of music during the reigns of Louis XIII. and XIV., only his own compositions could be sung on the occasion. On Easter day a chronological table of the principal events and festivals connected with the chapel, with the date and the age of the King, was attached to the Paschal candle. Other customs were peculiar to the chapel, as, for instance, on Whit Sunday, when, during mass, while the Gospel was chanted, an Angel descended from the vault, holding a silver cruet, from which he poured water upon the hands of the celebrant. Flowers, roses, wafers, a white pigeon, a quantity of small birds, and flax for burning, had to be provided by the Chevecier[5] in memory of the tongues of fire which descended upon the apostles at Pentecost.

On the Good Fridays of each year the chapel scarcely sufficed to contain the crowds of sick persons who flocked to it from all parts of the city. All maladies were supposed to be curable through the virtues of the holy relics, but specially that known formerly as le mal caduc. At midnight the relic of the True Cross was exposed, and at the same moment the chapel was filled by the most fearful shrieks of these poor epileptics. The afflicted threw themselves about, foamed at the mouth, and fell into convulsions, invoking the aid especially of S. John the Baptist and S. Spire. The people were convinced every year that some wondrous miracle had been wrought; but the abuses connected with this nocturnal exposition were so great that, in 1781, Louis XVI. ordered it to be discontinued. The relics now shown in the Treasury of Notre-Dame, and exposed there during Holy Week, are said to be the veritable ones belonging to the Sainte-Chapelle; but the account of their preservation after the desecration of S. Denis is so miraculous (almost as much so as the original finding of the True Cross by S. Helena) that it requires a large amount of faith to believe in them. The reliquaries were of course all melted up, even Alexandre Lenoir could not save them. Those at Notre-Dame are quite modern, although somewhat of the same form.

Another custom peculiar to the chapel was the singing upon Christmas-day of the hymn "Noël," in place of "O Salutaris Hostia." The former had been originally a joy-song, welcoming the kings upon their entry into Paris; and thus, when our Henry V. entered the capital in 1420, and likewise Henry VI. in 1431, they were greeted with this exclamation.

The kings were not the only persons who profited by the virtues of the relics; the first president of the parlement was so far privileged that he could have them brought to him on his death-bed; and on Quinquagesima Sunday they were exposed at the central window of the chevet for the good of the public in the street. The châsse containing the relics had no less than ten locks, the keys thereof being in the custody of the kings until the reign of Louis XIII.; but while that monarch was at Lyons, a fire broke out in the chapel (26th July, 1630), and the doors of the châsse had to be broken open, a disaster which led to a change in the custodian, the president of the Chambre des Comptes being substituted for the sovereign. This worthy lived opposite; and it was also his duty to keep the relics clean, assisted of course by a vast number of other presidents and officials. It was the duty, or the privilege, of the kings to mount the little winding staircase at the side of the altar, and to exhibit the relics to the people gathered in the chapel below. S. Louis probably ofttimes walked up the steps on the left for this purpose (the right-hand staircase is modern); and on Good Friday, 1423, the Duke of Bedford, as regent of France for Henry VI., gave the blessing with the relics. In 1575, on the 10th July, a great theft took place of a portion of the cross which was frequently shown to the people (not the piece in the principal châsse), and this in spite of six guards who "allans et venans toute nuict par icelle, tant pour la garde des sainctes reliques comme du lieu." This was looked upon as a great calamity by many people; but by some of the incredulous was thought to be a feint of Henri III., who had permitted the relic to be sent to Italy as security for some money borrowed by that good daughter of the Church, the Queen-mother, Catherine de'Medici. In 1793 the destruction of the châsses and the dispersion of the relics was ordered by the Convention, and carried out by the notorious constitutional bishop Gobel. We cannot but lament the loss to art of these reliquaries; whether, reading over the list in full of the relics given by Canon Morand, we need sigh over their destruction, is another matter. They had swollen in number since S. Louis' time, and besides a portion of the true cross, the crown of thorns, and the lance, there was the rod of Moses, the cross of victory borne by the Emperors of the East, part of the purple mantle, the reed, and other instruments of the Passion, the linen with which Our Lord wiped the Apostles' feet, the sponge, the handcuffs, the holy blood, the Virgin's veil and a piece of her hair, an imprint of the face of Our Lord, a piece of the Holy Sepulchre, and the upper part of the head of S. John Baptist. All these objects, and one or two others which it is needless to mention, were enclosed in the reliquaries which either stood or hung in the great châsse. But other valuables were kept elsewhere. There existed up to the reign of Louis XVI. an elegant little sacristy upon the north-east side, having two storeys, in which were deposited deeds, charters, and gold and silver vessels for the use of the altar. In it was kept the splendid agate, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, representing the Apotheosis of Augustus, which was absolutely presented to the people as a pax upon great festivals, until de Peiresc, Councillor of the Parlement of Provence, about 1619, discovered the mistake, and the so-called "Triumph of Joseph" became acknowledged to be the "Apotheosis of Augustus." A careful drawing of the cameo was made by de Peiresc's friend Rubens, which was engraved by Luc Vosterman of Antwerpen. It was called in the inventory of the chapel le Grand Camahieu and the Agate de Tibère; it is, indeed, the largest known, and is of most exquisite workmanship. The whole family of the Cæsars is represented; some on earth, some in Heaven. The cracks in it are mentioned in the inventory of 1480, and it is described as: Item unum pulcherrimum camaut in cujus circuitu sunt plures reliquiæ. The cameo is supposed to have been one of the treasures brought by S. Louis from Constantinople. In 1343, Philippe VI. sent it to the Pope who had desired to see it, but Charles V. restored it to the chapel in 1379, and then the chapter made their possession certain, by engraving upon the socle: ce camaieu bailla à la Sainte-Chapelle du Palais, Charles cinquième de ce nom, roi de France, qui fut fils du roi Jean, l'an MCCCLXXIX. The Byzantine mounting, described by Tristan de Saint-Amant, was melted up when the cameo was stolen, in 1804: Car les quatres évangélistes sont représentés de part et d'autre du châssis ou tableau d'or, dans lequel cette pierre est enchâssée.

Another antique, an agate bust of Valentinian III.,[6] was metamorphosed into a S. Louis, and formed the crowning point of the precentor's mace. The clothing of this bust in silver-gilt drapery, the placing of a crown of thorns in the right-hand and a cross in the left, show the manner in which objects of Pagan art were adapted to Christian uses. That S. Louis should appear as a fat middle-aged man with a clean shaven face and cropped hair, was an anomaly of no consequence to the Mediæval artists. Another instance of the same naïveté is the bust of Caracalla which formerly figured as a S. Peter upon the cover of a book of the Gospels, now in the department of manuscripts. The cover is of silver-gilt, Christ crucified with the Virgin and S. John upon either side, the amethyst bust being placed at the foot of the cross. Upon the other side is Christ enthroned, and an imitation emerald which no doubt represents some precious gem that has since disappeared.

Some idea of the richness of the contents of the treasury may be formed by stating that the list of the images, vessels, reliquaries, crosses, &c., in the last inventory, taken in 1784, occupies twenty pages of Morand's book. Besides the objects already mentioned we read of a silver-gilt statue of S. Louis d'Anjou; a fragment of the cup of S. Martin; a portion of the tunic of S. Louis; an ivory Virgin, and thirty reliquaries of the 13th and 14th centuries. These were all conveyed to S. Denis on the 12th March, 1791, in a coach drawn by eight horses, and guarded by a chaplain and an officer of the king's household, who gave them over to the Benedictines, then still at the Abbey. In 1793 the relics trundled back to Paris in a procession which mimicked the former one, and after being taken to the Convention, they were melted up at the mint.

The Royal archives were stowed away in two great rooms above the sacristy of the upper church. When they were first installed there, is not known; but in 1615, when an inventory was drawn up by Pierre Dupuy and Theodore Godefroy, there were three hundred and fifty drawers, two hundred and sixty registers, fifty-two sacks, forty-two shelves, and fifteen coffers. This inventory consists of eight volumes of manuscripts in folio. In 1783 the sacristry was sacrificed to the love of symmetry in the new Cour d'honneur, and the archives were removed to the Chancellerie du Palais. At the present time some of them are in the Bibliothèque, but the greater part are at the Archives Nationale in the Rue Rambuteau.

The state of dilapidation into which the chapel had fallen when the restoration was commenced, was terrible. The tracery of the windows was destroyed, the glass was broken and filled up with plaster, the flèche and gargoyles had disappeared, and the interior was filled with shelves and woodwork for the storage of the archives. But the beautiful Renaissance staircase of forty-four steps (the scene of Boileau's poem, the Lutrin) had disappeared long before.

The dimensions of the building are as follow:—

M. Viollet-le-Duc, in his "Dictionnaire Raisonné de l'Architecture," thus describes the building: "De la base au faîte, l'edifice est entièrement construit en pierre dure de choix, connue sous le nom de liais cliquart (Portland stone) chaque assise est cramponnée par des agrafes de fer coulées en plomb, les tailles et la pose sont exécutées avec une précision rare; la sculpture en est composée et ciselée avec un soin particulier. Sur aucun point on ne peut constater ces négligences qui ne sont que trop souvent le résultat de la précipitation." At page 401 of the above work is an explanation of the system of courses employed by Pierre de Montereau—a manner of strengthening masonry which was in use before this period (13th century), but which was improved upon by the great architect of the Sainte-Chapelle. It is very similar to the system now in use.

The only communication between the lower and upper chapels at the present time is by means of the small turret staircase, but formerly the upper church was approached by a wide exterior flight of forty-four steps. It was reconstructed many times, and the last one, in the Egyptian style, was dated 1811. The demolition of this is no loss; but it seems a pity it should not have been replaced by one in better taste, as the only approach to the upper chapel (except the turret stairs) is through the corridors of the Palais de Justice.

The first thing that strikes the visitor upon entering is the enormous size of the windows, which occupy the entire space between the buttresses, and rise to the base of the roof. All the weight of the vaulting rests, therefore, upon the exterior buttresses, but not the slightest inflection has ever taken place. The church is built truly east and west, the entrance to each chapel being by separate portals. The only modification the exterior of the building has sustained since S. Louis' time is the addition of a little oratory attributed to Louis XI., and the rebuilding of a part of the façade in the 15th century.

The porch of the lower chapel is divided into two bays by a pier, on which is a statue of the Blessed Virgin, while above in the tympanum, is a representation of the Coronation of the Virgin. The restoration of this and the entire ornament of the doorway is the work of M. Geoffroy-Dechaume. The original statue had the reputation of working miracles; and it is related that when, towards 1304, Jean Duns Scotus, a celebrated theologian of the University of Paris, was praying at its feet, it bent its head in approval of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which that learned doctor was teaching. It has since always remained in the same position. The portal of the upper chapel is of the same character as the lower one, but richer in its decoration. It is nearly all new, for the old ornament had not only been mutilated, but had been completely chiselled off. The voussure is a mass of sculptures—single figures, groups, and ornament. The figures are forty-four in number: Angels carrying the elect to heaven, Angels censing and bearing crowns, martyrs with the instruments of their sufferings, and the lost souls surrounded by the flames of hell, the whole forming a framework to the central subject in the tympanum, the Last Judgement; the work is a marvel of patient study, modelled upon the portals of Notre-Dame and S. Germain l'Auxerrois, each figure having been fitted into its place upon the lines of the original wherever any traces of the old sculptures had been preserved.

The plan of the church is a parallelogram, terminating in a polygonal apse. The buttresses reach to the parapet, and terminate in pinnacles surrounded by gargoyles ornamented with the most grotesque birds and beasts. The windows of the nave are divided into four lights, with foliated circles in the heads very similar to those of the Chapter House at Salisbury. Several flèches have preceded the present one; the first fell in the reign of Charles VI., the second was burnt in the great fire of 16th July, 1630; the third was erected by Louis XIII. in the ogival style of that period, and remained until the 17th century. When it was destroyed, in 1791, it contained five bells, which had been cast in 1738; the Dauphin, the Duc d'Orléans, the Duc de Chartres, and the first President of the Chambre des Comptes being their sponsors. The present flèche was erected in 1853, and is in the style of the 15th century. It is of wood, covered with lead, and consists of three octagonal storeys supporting the spire.

On the lower storey are colossal statues of the twelve Apostles, most of them portraits, the S. Thomas being that of the sculptor Lassus. The gables of the upper storey support Angels with the instruments of the Passion. The crockets of the spire are fleurs-de-lys, and the whole is resplendent with gilding. The summit of the chevet is surmounted by a huge Angel, in lead, holding a processional cross. There was an idea, never carried out, of making this statue turn round mechanically upon a pivot during the twenty-four hours, that it might present the symbol of salvation successively to all quarters of the city. The masks upon the pedestal of this figure are all portraits of the artists and workmen engaged upon the restoration of the chapel, posing as the Kings of France. The oratory, erected by Louis XI., between the two buttresses of the fourth bay, upon the south side, is decorated with niches and corbels of human heads.

The vaulting of the lower chapel is supported by fourteen single-shaft pillars, surrounded by foliated capitals of various designs. The walls are decorated with arcading, terminated at the east end by an apse. The two columns without capitals were added at the same time as the apsidal tribune in the upper chapel. The decoration is in imitation of the original 13th century work, some of which, a fragment of an Annunciation, was discovered in removing the remains of some later work in a style utterly at variance with the architecture, by Martin Fréminet, painter to Henri IV. and Louis XIII. In 1691 the tracery of the windows and the stained glass were destroyed and replaced by white in order to give extra light. Formerly there were seven altars and a font in the lower chapel, Boileau, whose father had a house in the court of the palace, being amongst those who were baptised there.

The upper chapel is one of those buildings which one never tires of admiring. When we wend our way up the turret stairs, and enter it from the semi-darkness of the crypt, it strikes us as the most exquisite scheme of colour imaginable. Add to the beauty of the chapel all the associations which crowd upon the memory—S. Louis' beautiful faith and noble life, his enthusiasm for God's work and man's welfare; all the ceremonies and the processions which have taken place there, with the lights, the flowers, and the incense, and our imagination forms a picture that no hand could adequately paint. The chapel is composed of four bays for the nave, and seven smaller for the apse. The vault is groined and is supported by clustered columns and capitals ornamented with foliage. The windows occupy the entire space between the supporting pillars, and are filled with most beautiful stained glass;[7] while below is an arcade rising from a stone seat. The capitals of the columns are most exquisitely carved in imitation of the flora of France, and the quatrefoils between the arches are filled with a kind of decoration which is as rare as it is effective. The designs were drawn upon the stone, and the backgrounds filled in with incrustations of blue glass and gold, the subjects being taken from the lives of the martyrs. Most of them have been restored; but, very wisely, two or three have been left in the state in which they were discovered. Between the arches of the arcades are Angels with outstretched arms, who seem to be crowning the martyrs in the quatrefoils. At the third bay of the nave on each side are recesses which formed reserved places for some privileged persons during Mass; and it is thought that they were probably occupied by the king and queen, the former on the Gospel, the latter on the Epistle side. On the south wall is a slanting recess, which formerly must have served as a chapel, as there was an altar at the end of it having a painted reredos representing the interior of the great châsse, with all its contents ranged in proper order, and S. Louis praying before it. It is supposed that Louis XI. may have used this niche as a place where he could pray without being seen, but in sight of the altar and the relics.

It has always been the custom at the consecration of a church to place a cross wherever the sign of the cross had been made by the bishop. The architect of the Sainte-Chapelle conceived the happy idea of placing the twelve Apostles as pillars of the Church, supporting these crosses, which are in the form of monstrances. The pedestals on which the figures stand are affixed to the pillars, and the statues, like the rest of the church, are painted and gilt, those of the 13th century being marvellous examples of the sculpture of that period. After the closing of the chapel these statues were sent to the Musée des Monuments Français; but when the Museum was suppressed they were dispersed or broken up. S. Peter was discovered in fragments at S. Denis, another was given to the church at Creteil, where it passed as S. Louis, and four were given to the missionaries for their Calvary at Mt. Valerien. The latter were in perfect preservation, and the colour had not disappeared. They remained at the entrance of one of the chapels of the Way of the Cross until 1830, when some senseless vandals threw them down and broke them; but the fragments were preserved, and are now in the garden of the Hôtel Cluny, a museum of fragments. The rest were replaced in the chapel, and are the fourth and fifth on each side facing the altar; all the others are new.

The pavement is modern incised stone, with incrustations of colour, representing geometrical patterns, animals, and flowers. In the apse are subjects—the Four rivers of Paradise, and the Seven Sacraments in the form of rivers. The altar is an exact copy of the original one. Above it is the tribune and canopy where the relics were exposed, with a spiral staircase leading up to it;[8] the northern one is ancient, and was found by Alexandre Lenoir, in the Musée des Petits-Augustins, where for half a century it had been attached to the façade of the Château de Gaillon, a 16th century work, now in the court of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. On one side of the apse is a very beautiful piscina. Part of the baldachino is ancient, and the rest has been restored from old drawings.

Formerly several statues occupied places in the chapel; one, a terra-cotta Notre-Dame de Pitié, by Germain Pilon, which is now in the chapel of the military school of St. Cyr. A 16th century jubé, with altars attached to it, marked the nave from the chancel. The retables of these altars (now in the Louvre) were in enamel, signed and dated Léonard Limousin, 1533, and contain portraits of François I. and his second wife, Eléonore d'Autriche, sister of Charles V. and of Henri II. and Catherine de'Medici, all kneeling. The choir was filled with carved stalls of the time of Henri II. At the four corners of the altar pavement, Henri III. elevated bronze Angels upon black marble pillars. On the retro-altar was a silver-gilt model of the chapel, three or four feet high, executed in 1631 by Pijard, goldsmith, and guardian of the relics. This contained some of the treasures, and was considered a very fine work of art, costing some 13,000 livres. There is an excellent drawing of the original altar in Viollet-le-Duc's dictionary. Canon Morand tells us, in his history of the chapel, that the ciborium, which is usually placed in the tabernacle, was here suspended in front of the altar—probably the retro-altar, as in the engraving of the High Altar in the Canon's book, there is no representation of it. All the old furniture of the church has disappeared, the carved stalls, the jubé, the altars, and the pulpit. Upon the subject of letting, or taking money for seats or chairs in church, the Abbé waxes wrathful. Nothing is more "indécent que de vendre ou de louer des places à l'Eglise. En Angleterre et en Hollande on est assis dans les Temples sans aucun frais, et sans être interrompu par les Mandians, par les quêteurs, ou par les loueurs de chaises; en quoi les non-Catholiques nous donnent un bel exemple à suivre, si nous étions assez raisonables et assez désinterressés pour cela." This is a proof that the letting of pews which prevailed in this country some years ago was a bad departure from the free-and-open seat system of the last century; and the picture drawn of the restlessness of a French church, from the incessant perambulating of the Suisses, the quêteurs, and the chair-owners, is as true now as it was in the time of Morand.

The Canon then goes on to record the want of reverence of the congregation, how they just half kneel when the bell rings; how they must needs sit, and even gossip, during the short quarter of an hour occupied by a low mass; how they take snuff and bear themselves generally, and then go out and stand about for the greater part of the day at their business.

S. Louis ordained, in his foundation charters, that the offerings received by the priests at the altar should be devoted to the reparation of the glass, and that if it should be insufficient, the necessary funds should be taken from the Royal Treasury deposited at the Temple. The restoration of the windows is now complete, this being the work of MM. Steinheil and Lusson. These artists have done their work so well, and matched the colours so perfectly, that it is difficult to distinguish the new from the old. The rose-window is of the 15th century, the others of the 13th century. The subjects are from the Old and New Testament, and from the life of S. Louis. Some of these latter are original, and, as it is probable that the artists assisted at the ceremonies held in the chapel, it is also probable that the pictures may be true portraits of the personages represented. The subjects of the rose-window are all taken from the Apocalypse.

Such is the chapel which was so dear to the King that he felt a "malaise" when he heard divine service elsewhere, and of which the troubadour Rutebeuf sings the praises in a poem written after the death of the Saint, entitled, Les Regrès au roys Loeys:

Chapèle de Paris! bien ères maintenue
La mort, ce m'est aduis, t'a fet desconvenue
Du miex de tes amys, t'a laissée toute nue
De la mort, sont plaintifs et grant gent et menue."—
(MS. Bibliothèque Nationale.)

SAINT-DENIS.

Although the Benedictine abbey church of S. Denis is some miles from Paris, it is so mixed up with the history of the capital that it ought not to be omitted in a series of "Paris Churches." Moreover, as it is by far the finest church in, or near, the metropolis, and one of the grandest examples of French 13th century architecture, no one ought to grudge the tiresome journey by train or tram in order to see it, even if his stay in Paris be limited to a few days. The only thing required to make it perfectly beautiful is new stained glass in the windows of the clerestory to replace that put up during the early years of this century, a horrible example of the execrable taste of the period.

S. Denis was one of the sacred spots of mediæval Europe—a species of Christian Mecca. "Si les lieux sont reputez saincts," says one of its children, Dom Millet,[9] "à cause des choses sainctes faictes ou aduenuës en iceux, comme ont esté est sont encores, les montagnes de Thabor et de Caluaire, ou bien à cause des choses sainctes qu'ils contiennent, comme estoit l'Arche d'Alliance, et le Sancta Sanctorum des Juifs; je croy qu'il n'y a personne qui n'aduoüe que l'Eglise de S. Denys en France ne soit vn lieu tres-sainct en toutes ces considerations, puis qu'elle a esté dediée des propres mains de nostre Sauueur Jesus-Christ, descendu exprés du Ciel auec vne grande multitude d'Anges et de Saincts, et qu'elle contient en soy tant des choses sainctes, et des Reliques si precieuses et rares." It was a poor but worthy leper who saw this strange vision. He had been left shut up in the church, when in the dead of night he was startled by a dazzling light; and then he beheld the Saviour, His Apostles, multitudes of Angels, and S. Denis and his companions. Our Lord sprinkled the church with holy water, and S. Denis and his companions served Him; and then He said to the leper: "Go and tell le bon roy Dagobort what thou hast seen." "But how can a poor leper penetrate the presence of the King?" said he. Then a wondrous miracle was performed; the Saviour touching him with his finger, made the leper clean. Then he went to the King, and they all believed.

Not only was S. Denis specially favoured by this miraculous dedication, but it was privileged by Charlemagne in a charter, as the chief and mistress of all the churches in the kingdom; and its abbot as the Primate of all the prelates of France. This great man was allowed to have six deacons vested in dalmatics whenever he officiated, an honour conferred upon him by Pope Stephen III. when he consecrated the High Altar in 753, and at the same time anointed and crowned King Pépin and Queen Bertrade, and their two sons Charles and Carloman. People, high and low, from all the ends of the earth, flocked to the famous abbey as we now rush to the World's Fairs; and the great ones of the earth, princes, nobles, and ambassadors, considered that they had seen nought of the civilised world if they had not paid their respects to the relics at S. Denis. Some went for love, some out of sheer curiosity to see the riches of the treasury: divers crosses, reliquaries, statues, vases, chalices, and other vessels for the altars; S. Denis' mitre, chalice, and rings; the famous head of solid silver gilt, containing his skull, and presented to the abbey by Marguerite de France in 1360; a wonderful golden cup enriched with precious stones which had belonged to King Solomon, and a rock crystal vase from the Temple of the wise man—both the gift of Charles the Bald. He, being abbot, made it his custom to attend "the duties of his station at the Abbaye, on the solemn festivals, passing the day in pious conversation with the monks and in religious observances." He also made considerable donations,[10] added to the many lamps which are kept continually burning before the shrines, and increased the number of wax tapers employed in the services of the church. Then further, amongst the curiosities, were the nail of a griffin upon a silver-gilt animal; a unicorn's horn six feet high, sent by Aaron King of Persia to Charlemagne; the hunting horn of Roland, nephew of Charlemagne; and the lantern which was used at the betrayal of our Lord in the Garden, called the Lantern of Judas. The latter was of copper, embellished by rock crystal, through which the light shone. (This was also the gift of Charles the Bald). The mirror of the prince of poets, Virgil, which was of jet; the sword of the genereuse Amazone, Jeanne la Pucelle. Of the beauty of the croziers and pastoral crosses, the mitres and episcopal rings, Dom Millet's description leaves no doubt; and of the magnificence of the abbots, and the splendour of their monastery, we have more than ample evidence. As an old epigram puts it:

Au tems passé du siècle d'or,
Crosse de bois, Evêque d'or,
Maintenant changent les lois,
Crosse d'or, Evêque de bois.

The Huguenots destroyed many of the church ornaments, ruined chapels, and worse still, "ces impies la pillerent (S. Denis) et dissiperent entierement, sans y laisser aucune chose, sinon ce qu'ils ne voulutent point. Ils ne pouuoient faire pis, sinon mettre le feu par tout le Monastere, comme ils firent en tant d'autres par la France." It was supposed that the "Prince de Condé, leur chef," was not present at these little pastimes of his valiant soldiers, for when he heard what had been done "il fit pendre vne douzaine, pour monstrer comment il detestoit leur sacrilege: mais pour cela les pertes ne furent pas reconnettes."

In a History of the Royal Abbaye of Saint Denis, published in London in 1795, we have some curious details connected with the church. "Every Sunday and Holy Day at mass, the Deacons and Sub-deacons, after having received the 'precious body of Our Lord,' repaired to a side altar to suck up through a reed, enclosed in a tube of enamelled gold, the 'precious blood,' according to a very ancient custom adopted in the church of S. Denis, which is retained without any variation to this day." Whether this was so, or whether it was the result of the anonymous writer's imagination, I cannot say, as I find nothing about it in other books that I have studied.

The same author speaks of the "miraculous silver keys of S. Denis which they apply to the faces of those persons who have been so unfortunate as to be bitten by mad dogs, and who receive a certain and immediate relief by only touching them." Alas, that these keys should have been melted up; for here was a cure for hydrophobia without any of the vicarious suffering which M. Pasteur's discovery has caused.

The legend of S. Denis, the patron of France, is exceedingly picturesque. By some ecclesiastical authorities he is said to have lived in the 1st century, by others in the 2nd or 4th, but by most he is one and the same person as Dionysius the Areopagite. Hilduin, abbot of S. Denis at the beginning of the 9th century, seems to have had no doubt upon the subject, and in art the Saint and the disciple of S. Paul have always been looked upon as the self-same personage, although tradition records the existence of another S. Denis, a bishop of Paris, in the 3rd century. Dionysius was an Athenian philosopher named Theosophus. Travelling in Egypt to study astrology with a companion named Apollophanes, they were surprised by a strange darkness that came over the heavens, and were naturally much troubled thereby. Returning to Athens, Dionysius heard S. Paul preach, and thereupon being converted to Christianity, he understood that the darkness which he had seen at Heliopolis was none other than that which fell upon the earth for the space of three hours when the Blessed Redeemer was crucified. Baptised and ordained priest, Dionysius subsequently became bishop of Athens; and in some of the writings attributed to him he relates that he travelled to Jerusalem to see the Blessed Virgin, whom he found continually surrounded by a dazzling light, and attended by a company of Angels. He also gives an account of her death at which he was present with certain of the Apostles. After this, he returned to Athens and was subsequently present at S. Paul's martyrdom in Rome. Thence he was sent by S. Clement to preach the Gospel, together with a priest named Rusticus, and a deacon Eleutherius. Arrived at Paris, an exceeding great city full of people and provided with all the good things of the earth, they found it so attractive that it seemed to them another Athens, and so they sojourned there, teaching the people, who were learned in all things but the way of truth. S. Denis then sent missionaries into other parts of Gaul, and into Germany. But these successes were not pleasing unto Satan, and so he stirred up the nobles against the good bishop, who was accused before the Emperor Trajan. Some say it was Domitian, but in either case the result was the despatch of one Frescennius, a pro-consul, from Rome, with orders to throw Denis and his companions into prison. This was done, and finding that they would not retract, they were put to death upon the Hill of Mercury (who was so much honoured by the Gauls), and which was subsequently called Montmartre (Mons Martyrum).

"Le Saint evêque Denis, et ses deux compagnons, le prêtre Rustique et le diacre Eleuthère, souffrirent leur mémorable et très-glorieuse passion, à la vue de la cité des Parisiens, sur la colline qui se nommait auparavant Mont de Mercure, parce que cette idole y était particulièrement honorée de Gaulois, et qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le Mont des Martyrs en mémoire des saints du Seigneur qui accomplirent en ce lieu même leur martyre triomphal."[11]

Then a stupendous miracle took place. S. Denis not desiring, or not being permitted, to become food for wolves, took up his decapitated head in his hands, and walked for the space of two miles, Angels singing by the way. Accompanied by this celestial body-guard, the Saint marched over the plains beyond the city, and signified, in some way unrecorded, that he desired burial where now stands the church dedicated to his memory. This was accomplished by a pious woman named Catulla, who had ministered unto the three blessed martyrs in their prison, and who now laid their mutilated remains in her own field.

Paris formerly, even as late as the last century, contained many spots sacred to the memory of S. Denis and his three companions. At Notre-Dame-des-Champs a crypt used to be shown where they preached to their first disciples. At S. Benoît, now destroyed, there was formerly an oratory, on the wall of which was an inscription recording that S. Denis first invoked the name of the Most High on that spot. At S. Denis-de-la-Chartre was the prison where the martyrs were visited by our Lord, and where He administered His Blessed Body and Blood to them. At S. Denis-du-Pas was the ground upon which they suffered their first tortures; and upon Montmartre the church of S. Pierre records the spot upon which they were decapitated. The way across the plain from Montmartre to the place of burial was marked by a succession of crosses, and the field where the Saint's remains were laid subsequently became the precincts of the famous abbey.

The first church is said to have been erected before the invasion of the Franks, but this had fallen into ruins in the 5th century, and it was through the piety of S. Geneviève and the people of Paris that it was rebuilt. This Saint, like all good Parisians, held S. Denis in great esteem; and it was during a visit paid to his shrine that her taper, maliciously blown out by the arch-enemy, was successfully relighted through the fervour of her prayers. Gregoire de Tours relates many wondrous miracles which took place in the new church for the benefit of the faithful and the chastisement of the wicked.

But the magnificence with which Dagobert rebuilt and endowed S. Denis completely eclipsed the work of the maid of Nanterre; and so effectually was the king looked upon as the founder of the abbey that, up to the dissolution of the monasteries, the monks celebrated his festival upon the 19th of January with great solemnity and splendour. It was about the year 630 that Dagobert undertook the rebuilding of the church, which is said to have been decorated with precious marbles, magnificent bronze doors, and gold and silver vessels enriched with precious stones. These latter, and the shrine of the Saint, as well as the great cross at the entrance of the choir, were the work of the famous artificer in metals, S. Eloy, who was also the maker of the shrines of SS. Martin, Germain, and Geneviève. These, and, in fact, all this great smith's works (as far as is known) have perished; but his memory is still preserved by pictures and sculptures representing some of the legendary incidents of his life. In the Firenze Academy is a picture by Botticelli, and at the church of Or San Michele is a statue and a bas-relief, both of which represent one of the great events of the Saint's life. A horse having been brought to him to be shod, the animal proved restive, and the Saint being exercised in his mind as to how he should keep the beast still, bethought him of an excellent plan. He calmly cut off the leg, and placing it upon his anvil, fastened on the shoe; this done, he replaced the leg upon the horse, to the amazement of the beast and the edification of his owner. Another picture, painted for the Company of the Goldsmiths, represents S. Eloy under the form of Benvenuto Cellini, presenting a shrine to King Dagobert, who figures in the costume of François I^er. In 754, Pépin and his queen Berthe, after being anointed at S. Denis by Pope Stephen II., began the reconstruction of the Merovingian church which Charlemagne finished and dedicated in 775. From that year until the 12th century, little is known of the history of the abbey. Like all churches and monasteries in the north of France, it was probably destroyed, and its lands laid waste by the invasions of the Northmen and the disastrous civil wars which characterised the end of the Carlovingian dynasty, for nothing remains of the magnificence of the churches of Dagobert and of Charlemagne but a few columns and marble capitals in the crypt.

The third and present church was commenced by the great Abbot Suger, and is considered by many French architects to be the earliest example of Pointed architecture. Suger erected the tower, the portals, the nave, and the choir in rapid succession, and subsequently the chevet and chapels; he filled the windows with the most exquisite jewel-like stained glass, and loaded the shrines and altars with precious stones. Some of the sacred vessels formerly belonging to the church are now in the Salle d'Apollon of the Louvre, and testify to the exquisite artistic taste as well as to the religious enthusiasm of the good abbot. "As it is our duty to present unto God oblations of gems and of gold, I, Suger, offer this vase unto the Lord," is the inscription upon an antique sardonyx amphora which he converted into a vessel for the altar. The dedication of this church took place twice, in 1140 and 1144, but it was only to remain intact some 70 years. In 1219, the day after the feast of the nativity of the Virgin, its flèche was struck by lightning, and a few years after, the church itself was partially destroyed. Abbot Eudes Clément replaced the wooden flèche by a stone one, and raised the interior of the apse; and his third successor, Matthieu de Vendôme, finished the transept and the nave. The chapels of the nave upon the north side were built in the 14th century, and a few unimportant additions were made in the succeeding century. Of the magnificent circular chapel of the Valois erected for Henri II. and Catherine de'Medici, nothing remains but a beautiful colonnade, now forming a sham ruin in the Parc Monceau. The chapel was situated upon the north of the apse, near the steps, and was destroyed during the regency of Philippe d'Orléans, in 1719.

It is generally supposed that the destruction of churches and the despoiling of monasteries in France were the work of the enemies of religion in the form of the "people." But the kings did not hesitate to rob the church when they could drain no more money out of their long-suffering subjects. To Francis I.[12] and Louis XIV. the eighth commandment was no more binding than the seventh; laws, divine or otherwise, were made for the vulgar herd, not for their most Christian Majesties; and so, when the "Grand Monarque" saw fit to please Mme. de Maintenon by founding St. Cyr, he suppressed the abbacy of S. Denis, and relieved the monastery of the abbot's revenues for an endowment. This was the beginning of the downfall, and in 1791, the Benedictines were dispersed after an occupation of twelve centuries. In the memoirs of the organist attached to the abbey at the time, there is a touching account of the last mass celebrated by the prior upon the day of departure. But the church remained intact, and was even made the dépôt of the relics of the Sainte-Chapelle,[13] after the suppression of the chaplains belonging to the latter. The Moniteur of 3rd September, 1791, gives an account of the sittings of the commission of savants, established at the Bibliothèque des Quatre-Nations, for the consideration of the preservation of works of art. This commission was appointed by the National Assembly after the passing of the law for the appropriation of the property of the clergy by la chose publique. M. De Larochefoucauld was the president of this "Commission des Monuments," assisted by many artists and connoisseurs. They first of all chose certain places as receptacles for the works of art, and then decided what to keep and what to destroy. The former quarters of the Petits-Augustins became the museum of tombs and sepulchral sculptures; and to the Capucins, the Grands-Jésuites, and the Cordeliers were sent the books and manuscripts. A descriptive catalogue was drawn up by Alexandre Lenoir,[14] who was appointed curator in 1790. Unfortunately, much was destroyed, as, for instance, at the abbey of Royaumont, where two Benedictines, Poirier and Puthod, were sent by the commission to superintend matters. The mausoleum of the princes of S. Louis' family was "démoli avec adresse," says the Moniteur; the coffins were opened "avec circonspection," the ashes taken up with care, and then, ticketed and sealed, sent to S. Denis. Les sieurs Puthod and Poirier carried off the remains of seven princes and six monuments, which arrived just in time to be packed off to the museum of the Petits-Augustins.

Many of the seventy-three abbots, from Dodon, the first (living in 637), to the last, Jean-François-Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, were distinguished for their piety, for their learning, their greed, or their vices. Amongst them we find the names of Fulrad, Hilduin, Suger, Mathieu de Vendôme, the Emperor Charles the Bald, the Kings Eudes, Robert and Hugues Capet,[15] the Cardinals de Bourbon, de Lorraine, de Guise, and Mazarin. The conventual buildings were all destroyed in the reign of Louis XV., and during the Revolution the church suffered in the same way as Notre-Dame and S. Eustache, by being secularized in the most revolting manner. But if the Revolutionists destroyed and carried away monuments, the Imperial architects did worse, for they began a restoration in their own hideous taste and "style"; and it was not until a few years ago that the old church was restored to its pristine beauty.

Perhaps few churches have seen more changes than the silent walls of S. Denis have witnessed. The burial place of most of the kings of France, it was also upon its High Altar that Louis le Gros deposited the oriflamme, the famous standard of France,[16] while some seven centuries later, its tombs were only preserved from utter ruin by the wit of Alexandre Lenoir. Even the church itself was threatened with destruction, and was only saved by an architect seriously suggesting that it should be turned into a market, the side chapels forming shops. By turns a Temple of Reason, a dépôt of artillery, a theatre of acrobats, a flour warehouse, and a granary, its desecration was not consummated until the glass was removed, and the leaden covering of its roof converted into bullets. Napoleon saved what remained, and began restoring it as a resting-place for the defunct members of his dynasty. The Concordat guaranteed it a chapter, and religious services were restored.[17] But the 19th century proved as disastrous as wars and revolutions. Lightning once more brought down the flèche in 1837, and again in 1846; and scrapings and cleanings carried away all the old surfaces of the walls. Still, through the talent and learning of Viollet-le-Duc, it is one of the finest of 13th century churches, and now that the tombs have all been replaced in their former positions, one of the most interesting.

The façade has three doorways, which are rich in the somewhat rude sculpture of the time of Suger. The subject of the central tympanum and voussure is The Last Judgment. Christ is pronouncing the last sentence, surrounded by the dead who are rising from their graves. His Blessed Mother is interceding for sinners, and Abraham is receiving the elect into his bosom. The Apostles, and the four-and-twenty elders, holding musical instruments, and vases for the reception of the prayers of the just as a sweet-smelling incense, are there, looking on at the damned tossed into hell. Upon the stylobate of the portal we read the parable of the Wise and foolish Virgins.

The southern doorway is decorated with the Martyrdom of S. Denis, and the appearance of our Blessed Lord to the holy martyrs while in prison. Unfortunately, much of these bas-reliefs is modern.

Some statues on one of the transept doorways are curious examples of how a fraud may be perpetuated. They represent, without doubt, some members of the royal house of David, but at some period they were said to be kings of the Capétien line, and as such, casts were taken and sent to Versailles, where they figured as portrait statues of Hugues Capet, Robert, Henri, Philippe, Louis VI., and Louis VII. The capitals of the columns and the foliage ornament of these portals are vastly superior in style to the figures.

On each side of the western rose-window are some bands of black and white marble, after the manner of the churches of Pisa and Genoa, souvenirs, probably, of Suger's travels in Italy. Indeed, he tells us in the account of his administration that he took much trouble in preserving a mosaic which he had brought home and placed in the tympanum of one of the doors. This was unfortunately replaced, in 1774, by a bas-relief of the meanest possible workmanship.

The interior consists of a nave and two aisles, with a chevet of seven chapels at the east end, considerably raised above the level of the nave. Access to these chapels is gained by a flight of steps on each side of the High Altar, and under them is the royal crypt. The whole of the east end of the church, the double aisles, with their single-shaft pillars, the chapels, the vaulting, and the glass, form a mass of colour, and a most beautiful coup d'œil;[18] indeed, there is but one eyesore in the whole building, the aforesaid series of windows representing Louis Philippe's heroic deeds. Blue swallow-tailed coats and white trousers scarcely form a costume which is either effective or appropriate as designs for church windows.

The wood carving of the stalls is of the 15th century, and was brought from the abbey of S. Lucien-lez-Beauvais; the inlaid marquetry work at the backs of the seats is from the Château de Gaillon, built by Cardinal d'Amboise. Many of the misérérés have the usual quaint conceits which one sees everywhere. Portions of the old glass were preserved by Lenoir in the museum of the Petits-Augustins during the stormy period, and were afterwards replaced in the windows of the apse. They consist mainly of fragments of a tree of Jesse, and may be found in the chapel of the Virgin. There are in all eleven lozenge-shaped medallions representing scenes in the life of Moses, and mystical subjects from the Apocalypse, bearing inscriptions by Suger. Upon the medallion of the Annunciation, the good abbot himself is portrayed prostrate before the Blessed Virgin. In one or two of the other chapels there are a few fragments of the legend of S. Laurence.

Of the early kings of France Dagobert was the first to be buried at S. Denis, and his memorial tomb (much restored) still stands on the right of the High Altar. Clovis and Clotilde were buried in the crypt of the first church erected upon the site of S. Geneviève, then called the Church of the Holy Apostles. Childebert was laid in the church of the Abbey of S. Vincent (founded by him), afterwards called S. Germain-des-Près. Chlodoald was buried at S. Cloud; S. Radegonde, wife of Clotaire I., at Poitiers; Chilpéric and Frédégonde laid the body of one of their children in the first church of S. Denis. Besides Dagobert I., his queen, Nanthilde, and their sons, Sigebert II. and Clovis II. were buried at S. Denis; and although it is thought that other Merovingian princes also received burial there, many repose at Chelles, S. Waast d'Arras, S. Bertin, S. Etienne de Choisy, Metz, Angoulême, S. Romain de Blaye, Jumièges, and S. Crépin de Soissons. The monuments of Charles-Martel, Pépin and Berthe, Carloman, Charles the Bald, Ermentrude, Louis, Carloman, and Eudes were all at S. Denis. Charlemagne was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle, where the magnificent châsses containing his skull and some of his bones may still be seen. His descendants were distributed all over Europe: at Köln, Mainz, Prüm, Regensburg, Loresheim, Oettinghen, Reichenau, Audlau, Verona, Milan, and Piacenza; those in France, at Metz, Sens, Bourges, S. Laurent, S. Sulpice, Tours, Angers, Lyon, Portiers, Compiègne, Reims, Péronne, and Soissons.

From Hugues Capet to Louis XV. most of the kings were interred at S. Denis; but it must be borne in mind that almost all the tombs of the earlier sovereigns are modern, either wholly or in part. In the 13th century the strange custom came into fashion of dividing the bodies of royal personages, and burying the parts in different places. The Benedictine monks of S. Denis protested against this division of valuable property, asserting their right to possess the entire remains of the kings; but the Dominicans and the Cordeliers contested these claims, and subsequently gained permission for their own churches to share in the spoil. Later on, other religious orders obtained the same privileges; and the ladies of Val-de-Grâce were distinguished by the possession of the hearts of nearly all the royal princes and princesses from Anne d'Autriche, the founder of the monastery. Naturally, when each defunct sovereign was divided into three portions—the body, the heart, and the intestines—great opportunities were afforded to architects and sculptors; and we thus find three marble monuments with recumbent figures erected for the remains of Charles V., that at S. Denis containing his body, while Rouen and Maubuisson respectively possessed his heart and his et ceteras.[19] Francis I.'s heart was placed in an exquisite urn in the church of the nuns of Haute-Bruyère; while his body was buried in the grand monument at S. Denis. The urn was the work of Pierre Bontems, and is now in the same chapel as the tomb, which was the joint work of Philibert Delorme and Bontems. The beautiful group of the Three Graces, by Germain Pilon, formerly in the church of the Célestins, and now in the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre, supported an urn containing the heart of Henri II.;[20] the hearts of the 13th and 14th Louis, enveloped in shrines in the form of silver Angels, being the property of the church of the Jesuits. The number of monuments erected at S. Denis to the memory of the families of the sovereigns was small; and none of them were to be compared, as works of art, to the beautiful tombs of the Dukes of Bourgogne and of Brétagne at Dijon, at Bruges, and at Nantes. Most of the princes of the different families, the Condés, the Contis, the Valois, the Bourbons, &c., had founded chapels or monasteries where they were afterwards buried; as, for instance, the Orléans chapel at the Célestins, which was celebrated for its magnificence.[21]

None of the monuments of the early kings are anterior to the 13th century; consequently, even the original portions of the effigies which remain cannot be looked upon as in the slightest degree portrait statues. On the other hand, the magnificent tombs in bronze, and the brasses which adorned them, erected to the memory of Philippe Auguste, S. Louis, and his father, and which were destroyed centuries ago, were most probably as valuable as contemporary portraits as they were for their workmanship; likewise the 13th century effigies which remain are remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship. Louis IV. was the last prince who was laid under a simple stone monument. The last tomb erected was that of Henri II., the sovereigns who followed him having had no memorials. They were laid together in one great crypt, and when disturbed by the Revolutionists for the sake of the lead of their coffins ("of the coffins of our old tyrants let us make bullets to hurl at our enemies"), there were fifty-four bodies arranged upon iron trestles side by side, Henri IV.[22] heading the list, and the Dauphin, elder son of Louis XVI., ending it. The monuments now occupy the same position that they did before the Revolution; and if we stand upon the raised platform of the apse behind the High Altar we can gaze down upon what may be called the history of France, from the artistic point of view, during four or five centuries. On the left, the 13th century tomb of Dagobert stands erect; beyond it, the Renaissance mausoleum of Francis I., one of the chefs-d'œuvres of that grand sculptor, Philibert Delorme. On the right, the enamelled brasses of the children of S. Louis and the tomb of Henri II. A mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, the Orléans monument, and the tomb of Louis XII. by the brothers Juste, of Tours, complete the list of important works, while all about are recumbent figures upon arcaded monuments. The resting-places of the abbots were simply marked by inscriptions or flat slabs. The historian of the Abbey, Dom Michel Félibien, records the number of thirteen stones of grand priors with effigies, besides the abbots' tombs.

Among the distinguished men buried at S. Denis were the following:—

Pierre Chambellan, of whom Joinville writes, "Messire Pierre Chambellan fut le plus loial homme et le plus droicturier que je veisse oncques en la maision du roi ... l'homme du monde en qui le roy croirit plus"; and Alphonse, son of Jean de Brienne, King of Jerusalem and uncle of S. Louis, whose epitaph designates him as "moult saige et moult loial chevaliers." Both of them died "au service de Dieu et de Monsieur Loys, roy de France, dessous Cartaige l'an de l'incarnation de Nostre-Seigneur MCCLXX," and were "enterrés en l'église Monsieur Saint Denis" in the year MCCLXXI, "le vendredi devant la Penthecoste le jour et l'heure quand Monsieur le roy Loys fut enterré"; indeed, the old chronicler says, "aus pieds du bon roys tout en la manière qu'il gisoit à ses pieds quand il estoit en vie." Pierre accompanied S. Louis in the disastrous crusade which terminated his reign. No doubt his tomb was of metal, destroyed with many others long before the Revolution, as for example, that of the Comte d'Eu, in gilt copper, enriched with enamels, which succumbed to the greed of the Huguenots.

Close to the tomb of Charles V. were those of Duguesclin, Louis de Sancerre, Bureau de la Rivière, Arnaud de Guilhem seigneur de Barbazan, who, before Bayard, was called le chevalier sans reproche, and who, with six others, was victorious over seven English knights in 1404. Near Duguesclin Charles V. had marked the spot for the burial place of Jean Pastourel, one of his principal councillors, whose wife was laid at S. Denis in 1380, but having, sick of the world, retired to the Abbey of S. Victor towards the end of his life, he desired to be buried there rather than amidst the splendours of the royal tombs. He was the only civilian who was offered this much-coveted privilege.

Guillaume de Chastel was another non-royal personage whom it pleased his master, Charles VII., pour sa grande vaillance et les services qui lui avoit faiz en maintes manières, to bury at S. Denis. The warrior held the town of Pontoise against the English, and died during the siege, 20th July, 1441. Another vaillant capitaine de gendarmes, the chevalier Louis de Pontoise, fell by the side of Louis XI. at the assault of the town of Crotoy, and was rewarded by being laid to rest amongst the Royalties.

Louis XIV. of course accorded burial at S. Denis to his great commanders. First, the Duc de Châtillon, for his magnificent services. Feu nostre très-cher cousin was killed at the taking, in 1649, of Charenton, that peaceful suburb of Paris just outside the Bois de Vincennes; and the King, wishing to tesmoigner le ressentiment que nous avons d'une si grande perte, honoured the valiant Duc with burial at S. Denis. The service was to be at the King's expense, which looks as if the honour were sometimes a costly one to the relatives; and no pomp or ceremony was to be omitted—such were the instructions of his most glorious majesty.

The Marquis de Saint Maigrin seems, according to the King's epistle, to have been of a valeur extraordinaire, dans toutes les occasions où il s'est trouvé; his majesty felt avec beaucoup de douleur la perte que nous en avons faite au dernier combat qui s'est fait dans les fauxbourgs de nostre bonne ville de Paris; and so he, too, was to rest with the great ones, socially, of the earth.

Louis seems to have been a sort of complete letter writer; the note in which he eulogises Turenne might serve as a model for those masters of style amongst us who delight in long sentences and a scarcity of full-stops; but, unlike the moderns, "la grande monarque" never gets involved, he only causes a slight shortness of breath to his readers. Witness the following page: "Chers et bien amez, les grands et signalez services qui ont esté rendus à cet Estat par feu nostre cousin, le vicomte de Turenne, et les preuves éclatantes qu'il a données de son zèle, de son affection à nostre service, et de sa capacité dans le commandement de nos armées que nous luy avons confiées avec une espérance certaine des heureux et grands succès que sa prudence consommée et sa valeur extraordinaire ont procuré à nos armes, nous ayant fait ressentir avec beaucoup de douleur la perte d'un aussi grand homme et d'un sujet aussi nécessaire et aussi distingué par sa vertu et par sa mérite, nous avons voulu donner un tesmoignage public digne de nostre estime et de ses grandes actions, en ordonnant qu'il fust rendu à sa mémoire tous les honneurs qui peuvent marquer à la postérité l'extrême satisfaction qui nous reste, et le souvenir que nous voulons conserver de tout ce qu'il a faict pour la gloire de nos armes et pour le soutien de nostre Estat; et comme nous ne pouvons en donner des marques plus publiques et plus certaines qu'en prenant soin de sa sépulture, nous avons voulu y pourvoir en telle sorte que le lieu où elle séroit, fust un tesmoignage de la grandeur de ses services et de nostre reconnoissance; c'est pourquoy, ayant résolu de faire bastir dans l'église de Saint-Denys une chapelle pour la sépulture des rois et des princes de la branche royale de Bourbon, nous voulons que, lorsqu'elle sera achevée, le corps de nostredit cousin y soit transféré, pour y estre mis en lieu honorable, suivant l'ordre que nous en donnerons; et cependant nous avons permis à nos cousins le cardinal et le duc de Bouillon, ses neveux, de mettre son corps en dépost dans la chapelle de Saint-Eustache de ladite église de Saint-Denys, et d'y eslever un monument à la mémoire de leur oncle, suivant les desseins qui en ont esté arrestez; c'est de quoy nous avons bien voulu vous donner avis, et vous dire en mesme temps que nous voulons que vous exécutiez ce qui est en cela de nostre volonté, en faisant mettre ledit corps dans la cave de ladite chapelle et en laissant la liberté aux ouvriers de travailler audit monument jusqu'à son entière perfection. Si n'y faictes fautes; car tel est nostre plaisir. Donné à Saint-Germain en Laye, le XXII^e jour de Novembre 1675. Signé, Louis. Et plus bas, Colbert. Et sur le reply: A nos chers et amez les abbé, prieur et religieux de l'abbaye royale de Saint-Denys, en France."

The projected Bourbon chapel was never built, and the Revolution found the monument of Turenne in the same chapel, that of S. Eustache, whence it was trundled out as late as April, 1796, and transported to the Petits-Augustins; for up to that time Turenne, not being a royal person, had been left in peace. The demolition of the tombs seems to have gone on fitfully from 1793 to 1795, as a little diversion between more exciting events. After the emigration of the nobility in 1790; the flight of the King to Varennes, and his false swearing to uphold the constitution in 1792; and his treachery in carrying on a correspondence with the enemies at the frontier; the popular anger waxed strong, and led to the storming of the Tuileries on the 10th August,[23] which event was to be celebrated the next year by the demolition of the tombs of S. Denis. Louis XVI. had paid the penalty of his crimes; and like his forerunner, Charles I., had shown that if he did not know how to live, he at least had learnt how to die; but his ancestors had got off scot-free. Why should they be allowed to rest peacefully, what remained of them? Besides, lead was wanted for ammunition; and, just as the church bells were in requisition for guns, and gold and silver vessels for coinage, so the leaden coffins and roofs of churches could be melted up into cannon balls. Imagine the stampede of Parisians along that paved road that led from Paris to S. Denis. Only the other day, when the trams were instituted, were those great rough stones taken up. At Versailles you may still see the like, the paved part of the road very much curved, with mud paths on each side—side walks for the people, while the centre pavement was reserved for the quality. They radiate from the palace, and enabled the "Roi Soleil" to visit his satellites at Bellevue, the Trianon, Meudon, and S. Germain, without danger of his lumbering coach sticking in the mire, to which he and his belonged. Many must have been the journeys from the capital to S. Denis, which the decree of the Convention sanctioned—journeys accompanied by crowbars and pickaxes for the better destruction of the tombs. It was a ghastly idea, but in no wise an exaggerated revenge for the kingly brutalities perpetrated upon the living bodies of Ravaillac, Damiens, and such like canaille.[24] We have a full account of the whole affair from the pen of an eye-witness, one Dom Poirier, the custodian of the archives of the monastery, who was present when the commission carried out the decree of the Convention of the 31st July, 1793. The report of this commission is so curious that I will quote it in full. After assigning to the children of Louis le conspirateur[25] the portion of simple citizens, Barrère continued as to the proposed arrangements to be carried out at "la Franciade": "Enfin, le comité a pensé que, pour célébrer la journée du 10 août, qui a abattu le trône, il fallait, dans son anniversaire, détruire les mausolées fastueux qui sont à Saint-Denis. Dans la monarchie, les tombeaux même avaient appris à flatter les rois. L'orgueil et le faste royal ne pouvaient s'adoucir sur ce théâtre de la mort; et les porte-sceptre qui ont fait tant de maux à la France et à l'humanité semblent encore, même dans la tombe, s'enorgueillir d'une grandeur évanouie. La main puissante de la république doit effacer impitoyablement ces épitaphes superbes et démolir ces mausolées qui rappeleraient des rois l'effrayant souvenir." Thereupon a discussion ensued. One member suggested that the nation being in peril, and wanting guns to carry on its defence, a commission should proceed to Franciade, otherwise S. Denis, in order to commence "l'exhumation des ci-devant rois et reines, princes et princesses, dont les corps étaient renfermés dans les caveaux de cette église." Their coffins were to be broken, the lead and the bronze to be melted up, and sent to the arsenals for conversion into arms and munitions of war. The former Benedictine Dom Poirier was nominated commissioner for the Institut, and ordered to be present at the performance. Some days after, the Moniteur triumphantly records the commencement of the business. Then there must have been a lull, for on the 7th September the Conventionnel Lequinio cried from the Tribune: "Je dénonce l'inexécution du décret qui ordonne l'entière démolition des tombeaux de nos anciens tyrans à Saint-Denis. Sans doute, en détruisant ces restes du despotisme, il faut conserver les monuments des arts; mais il faut qu'au lieu d'être des objets d'idolâtrie, il ne servent plus qu'à nourrir l'admiration des amis des arts, l'émulation et le génie des artistes."

The notes taken by Dom Poirier are full of interesting details, told with a certain naïveté; as, for instance, "in the morning, after dinner, they descended into the tomb." Or "early in the morning they began the work, but left off while they went to déjeûner." It must be remembered, also (to quote M. Guilhermy), that the destruction "des tombeaux et l'extraction des corps ont été deux opérations distinctes. Au mois d'août, 1793, pour célébrer l'anniversaire de la victoire du peuple (10 août), on fit disparaître de l'église la plupart des tombeaux et des statues; mais le temps pressait, on ne profana que les restes déposés dans les massifs des monuments. Au mois d'octobre, on acheva l'œuvre commencée, en fouillant toutes les fosses et tous les caveaux qu'il fut possible de retrouver. On n'épargna ni le temps ni les recherches."

The work went on merrily. Marble tombs were smashed up as effectually as the bodies, which were thrown into a pit dug upon the site of the demolished Orléans chapel. Quick-lime helped the business as far as the kings were concerned, but to the assistants it was of no use; and so they had recourse to the burning of strong smelling powders, and the firing of guns, in order to purify the air. Here is one of Dom Poirier's notes:—

"Nota.—Rièn n'a été remarquable dans l'extraction des cercueils faite dans la journée du mardi 15 Oct^bre, 1793: la plupart de ces corps étaient en putréfaction; il en sortait une vapeur noire et épaisse, d'une odeur infecte, qu'on chassait à force de vinaigre et de poudre qu'on eut la précaution de brûler; ce qui n'empêcha pas les ouvriers de gagner des dévoiements et des fièvres, qui n'ont pas eu de mauvaises suites."

What say the modern sanitary authorities to that!

The body of Henri IV. was found in a perfect state of preservation; and he was kept some time in the church lying-in-state, as it were, while a cast was taken of his face; but it may be noted that Dom Poirier makes no allusion to the story of a soldier cutting off his beard and sticking it on his own face.

The names of the princes and princesses were engraved upon little brass plates attached to the covers of the coffins; and a few years ago three or four of these brasses were found in the shop of a coppersmith, that of Louis XIV. having served as the bottom of a stewpan. How are the mighty fallen!

Let me quote some more of Dom Poirier's jottings:—

Remarques.—In Charles V.'s coffin they found a crown in silver, gilt, in a good state of preservation, a hand of justice of silver, a sceptre 5 feet in length surmounted with acanthus leaves in silver, exquisitely gilt, the gold possessing all its freshness and brilliancy. "Ce sceptre était surmonté d'un bouquet en feuillage, an milieu duquel s'élevait une grappe de corymbe, ce qui lui donne à peu prés la forme d'un thyrse, tel qu'on en voit dans Monfaucon, article de sceptres; morceau d'orfévrerie assez bien travaillé pour son époque." (Alexandre Lenoir, Musée des Monuments français.)

"Remarque. Une singularité de l'embaumement du corps de Charles VII., c'est qu'on y avait parsemé du vif-argent, qui avait conservé toute sa fluidité. On a observé la même singularité dans quelques autres embaumements de corps du XIV^e et du XV^e siècles."

The following may interest some persons:—

"Le mercredi, 16 Octobre, 1793.

"Towards 7 o'clock in the morning the work was continued in the vault of the Bourbons. They began with the coffin of Henriette Marie, daughter of Henri IV. and wife of the unfortunate Charles I., King of England, d. in 1669, aged 60;[26] and continued with Anne Stuart, her daughter, the wife of Monsieur, only brother of Louis XIV. d. in 1670, aged 26."

The body of Louis VIII., the father of S. Louis, had almost disappeared. A cross was sculptured upon the lid of the stone coffin; in it was found a sceptre of rotten wood, and a skull-cap of satin surrounded by a band of gold woven stuff, forming a diadem. The body had been enveloped in a winding sheet of gold tissue, some pieces of which were in a good state of preservation.

Remarques.—His body thus enveloped had been sewn up in a strong leather covering.[27] "Il est vraisemblable qu'on ne l'a fait pour lui que pour que son cadavre n'exhalât pas au dehors de mauvaise odeur, dans le transport qu'on en fit de Montpensier en Auvergne, où il mourut à son retour de la guerre contre les Albigeois."

"Ce cuir avait conservé toute son élasticité.... Dans les fouilles de Saint-Germain-des-Près, on trouva un corps également enveloppé dans un cuir. (Alexandre Lenoir, Musée des Monuments Français.) Nous pourrions citer quelques autres exemples. Les corps de plusieurs princes de la maison des Plantagenets, au douzième siècle, furent apportés à Rouen, cousus dans une enveloppe de cuir; c'étaient ceux de Henry I., de Henry-le-Jeune, de Richard-Cœur-de-Lion. Hugues de Grantemaisnil, mort à Londres en 1098, ayant demandé à être inhumé à l'abbaye de Saint-Évrould, en Normandie, son corps y fut transféré salé, et cousu dans une peau de bœuf. Enfin on sait que saint Bernard fut enseveli dans un sac de cuir" (v. B. de Peterborough; Orderic Vital; Histoire de Saint Bernard, &c.) (Guilhermy).

There are notes upon the height of François I., by Alexandre Lenoir:—

"Le corps de François I^{er.} portait une taille extraordinaire et une structure très-forte; l'un des fémurs de ce prince que j'ai mesuré portait 53^c (20 pouces) des condiles à la tête de l'os." And upon the beauty of another gentleman's locks: "Le connétable Louis de Sancerre avait de forts beaux cheveux; lors de l'exhumation des corps à St Denis, il fut trouvé ayant encore trois longues tresses d'environ 40 centimètres" (Alex. Lenoir).

The procès-verbal makes no mention of the heart of Cardinal de Bourbon, nor of the graves of Châtillon and the Marquis de Saint-Maigrin, nor of the abbots, and grand priors; their remains probably still rest in the soil under the church, for vaults have several times been discovered in all parts during the restorations of the building. It will be seen that the amount of valuables found was not great: Five silver-gilt and five copper-gilt crowns, two silver-gilt sceptres, four of copper-gilt, and three of wood; one silver hand of justice, one silver-gilt, and one broken; (the bâton d'ebêne was possibly the stem of a hand of justice belonging to Charles le Bel); the upper part of a crozier; four rings, two silver and two gold; the silver seal of Constance of Castille bearing the effigy of the princess and an inscription (now in the Bibliothèque); remains of spindles and distaffs; four chains of bracelets; two clasps and a silver buckle; a good many fragments of stuffs, tissues, and embroideries; a winding-sheet of gold tissue, a silver one; a chasuble; a satin belt; shoes; a Carmelite habit, and some gold thread. What became of these things, many of them of no value but for a museum, is not known.

Such was the result of this disgusting entertainment, which was principally a search for valuables to keep up the struggle for life. Empty coffers, starving multitudes, an enemy crying at the frontier; such was the legacy left by the wanton waste of a profligate court, and a debased race of kings. The terrible revenge which followed did them little harm; could they have been made to suffer in their life-time, it would have been better than mauling about their dead bodies and rummaging in their tombs; but unfortunately the last of the race was the least guilty, although he had much heartlessness and treachery to answer for; and had he felt the storm which had been threatening for some time, the hurricane might have passed over. But selfishness is always blind; and so the flood carried the poor thing away; and the skeletons, the lead, the gold and the silver, were all swept into their respective lime-strewn pits and melting pots. Here is the epilogue. In 1815 the "Sous-préfet et le maire de Saint-Denis firent élever un tertre couvert de gazon, de lis et de cyprès sur les deux fosses dans lesquelles avaient été jetés les restes des rois et des princes." (Gilbert, Description historique de l'église de Saint-Denis.) "On se proposait d'ériger en ce lieu un monument expiatoire; mais il parut plus convenable de réintègrer dans l'église les ossements que les deux fosses contenaient encore." (Guilhermy.)

The metal of the monuments, with the exception of two enamelled brass slabs which came from Royaumont, was all melted up. In the Moniteur of 14th August, 1792, may be read a list of the tombs destroyed, furnished by the town of S. Denis. The monument of Charles le Chauve must have been magnificent. The effigy of the emperor reposed on a slab supported by four lions. Two Angels censed the defunct; and four bishops sat at the corners. We know the style of tomb from the description given by Richer, a monk of Sénone, who wrote a chronicle during the reign of S. Louis, and who saw it soon after it was set up. Charles had been a great patron of the abbey and had given it the Holy Nail and a thorn from the Holy Crown, besides part of the course of the Seine and the domain of Ruel.

The tomb of "la noble royne de france Marguerite qui fu fame monseigneur Sainct Loys, jadis roy de France" is engraved in Montfaucon's Monuments de la Monarchie française. The tomb of Arnaud de Guilhem, seigneur de Barbazan, was canopied, the warrior being represented in full armour. The whole was in bronze, with an inscription, at the end of which was the name of the artist: fait à paris par Jehan Morant.

The monument of Charles VIII. was of gilt copper. The king's effigy, praying, was upon the platform, with little Angels at the corners also kneeling and holding shields. Charles VIII. died of apoplexy, at Amboise, praying, "Mon Dieu et la glorieuse Vierge, Monseigneur saint Claude, et Monseigneur saint Blaise me soient en ayde." He was a pious king and had been holding "quelques discours spirituels avec la reyne et autres assistans," when he was struck down, being only twenty-eight years of age. His tomb was said to be the finest in the choir. He was regretted by all his subjects "spécialement de ses domestiques," for he was generous, magnanimous, and decorated with all kingly virtues. The queen was much afflicted, and thought she would die of grief, "demeurant deux jours et deux nuicts sans reposer ny prendre aucun aliment." Thus Dom Millet. Philippe de Commynes says the chamberlains "le feirent ensevelir fort richement, et sur l'heure luy commencea le service, qui jamais ne failloit ne jour ne nuict." For a whole month the chamberlains and others watched the corpse, the entire expense amounting to "quarante-cinq mil francs." The tomb was the work of Paganini of Modena, no doubt one of the "ouvriers excellens en plusieurs ouvraiges comme tailleurs et painctres" whom the king brought from Naples,[28] together with a large collection of works of art, for the carriage of which, and for "la nourriture de XXII. hommes de mestier, de XXXIII. jours à la raison de XL. sous par jour," the king had to pay his tapissier ordinaire 1594 livres; the collection weighing 87,000 livres.

Many marble tombs were also destroyed, some canopied, some resting upon columns, others recumbent, the fragments of which were built up into a pedestal for a figure of Liberty in the Place d'armes opposite the church, a barbarous proceeding, surely; but forget not that the slabs and broken tombs in our old burial grounds are treated much in the same fashion, and piled up into pyramids to ornament the gardens. The transportation of what was saved from the wreck to Paris was no mean work. Think of the huge monument of François I., and about eighty statues! The Convention had no cash to spend upon art; with its fourteen armies defending the frontiers, it had enough expense without paying for the carriage of monuments and such like. And so Lenoir conceived the idea of stopping the military as they returned with empty waggons. Arrived in Paris the difficulties did not end. Statues were chopped about to enable them to fill certain spaces in the museum of the Petits-Augustins, recumbent figures found themselves standing upright; fragments of one tomb were taken to decorate another. But taking it all in all, the museum arranged by Lenoir must have been very imposing. The magnificent tomb of François I. stood in a chapel of the church, now occupied by casts of the works of Michael-Angelo. Louis XII. had a place of honour in another salle. But no sooner was all arranged, indeed before the huge Henri II. monument had been set up, a royal decree of 16th December, 1816, ordered the museum to be closed, the building to be turned into the École des Beaux-Arts, and all the kings and queens to be marched back to S. Denis and the other churches whence they came. So swiftly was the order carried out, that the poor old sovereigns became still more mutilated; some were stowed away in the cellars, others were re-erected upon principles of the greatest economy. If the revolutionists tore down the monuments, the restored monarchists did not take the trouble to set them up again; and those who went to study art in the new schools were enabled to see the respect with which Mediæval art was treated. Statues, canopies, columns, were tossed about anywhere; until Louis XVIII. decided that they should be reinstated at S. Denis. Then strange things occurred. The effigies were matched indiscriminately, and every king was placed by the side of a queen, whether his own or another's. Hence "singuliers incestes de pierre, et des adultères de marbre de la pire espèce. On n'imaginerait jamais ce qui se commit d'immoralités archéologiques sous les voutes obscures de Saint-Denis."[29] The monuments were all arranged, museum fashion, in the crypt until our own day, when they were once again removed, and replaced in their old positions in the church, to be left, let us hope, at last in peace.

The following is a list of the monuments returned to S. Denis:

By far the most beautiful tomb is that of Louis XII. "Sur le lieu de la sépulture de Louis XII. et de la reyne Anne, le roy François leur gendre et successeur à la couronne, leur à fait dresser un très-somptueux mausolée de fin marbre blanc, à deux estages, qui est une des belles pièces de l'Europe, pour ne pas dire la plus belle."[30] Dom Jacques Doublet and Germain Millet both attributed the work to Ponzio; but Félibien, reading a passage in a Latin commentary printed by Jean Brèche in 1550, discovered the true author: "Voyez le monument" (says Brèche) "de marbre consacré à Louis XII., travaillé avec un artifice admirable et plein d'élégance, dans notre très-illustre cité de Tours, par Jean Juste, statuaire du plus grand talent." The discovery of an order for payment of 400 écus to Juste in a letter from the king to Cardinal Duprat, sets the matter at rest if the date of Ponzio's arrival did not also do so.[31] The tomb was taken to S. Denis in 1527; whereas Ponzio did not arrive in France until about 1530. This way of attributing all that is good in art to Italy was formerly very common. Even in our own time all branches of French art were looked upon by our fathers as frivolous and trivial. Italian Renaissance was trivial enough, but French Renaissance utterly meretricious. To the insane worshippers of the "Gothic style," it alone was pure. The sumptuous grandiosities of Louis XIV. were tolerable, because they aimed at being Classic. The portico of the Panthéon or the colonnade of the Louvre were considered fine; but the elegancies of Jean Goujon were wanting in severity. Even Watteau, though admitted to be graceful, was "meretricious"; Berlioz amongst musicians was only "noisy and claptrap;" and sculpture and architecture were criticised in like manner. And yet the designs upon the tomb of Louis XII., especially the pilasters which support the canopy, could not be surpassed in beauty by the artists of any country. Jean Juste, Philibert Delorme, Jean Goujon, Michel Colomb, Jean Cousin, and Germain Pilon formed a group of men scarcely surpassed by Sansovino, Riccio, Desiderio da Settignano and the Rossellini. The Italians led the way, but the French proved themselves very apt pupils.

It is not my intention to describe the tomb of Louis XII., or, indeed, any of the others, minutely. Descriptions without illustrations are mostly dry and dreary. Nor have I tried to illustrate the details of ornament in the churches or their contents—in a book of this size it would be impossible; my aim has rather been to give the general effect of their styles; of their everyday appearance; of the life which goes on in and around them; and of the position, especially in the case of S. Denis, of their tombs and furniture. A large photograph and a magnifying glass will show the beauty of the sculpture of the tombs far better than any drawing of mine; for such subjects photography is unique. But for artistic effect, for general impressions of buildings it mostly fails, and all artists will agree with me that, for some reason or other, photographs of buildings seem generally to have been taken from the worst point of view, and are nearly always wanting in impressiveness.

Jean Juste had a brother Antoine, and they seem together to have been the authors of the beautiful tomb of the children of Charles VIII. at Tours; of the fountain called de Beaune, also at Tours; of the two monuments of the famille Gaudin; and the tomb of the général des finances, Thomas Bohier. In 1530, one Juste de Just, tailleur en marbre, living at Tours received 102 livres 10 sous from the king for a Hercules and a Leda. This Juste was probably the same as Jean. The bas-reliefs round the base of Louis XII.'s tomb represent various campaigns of the king; the figures at the four corners are the Cardinal Virtues, those within the arcades are the twelve Apostles. Within are the king and queen, entirely nude, lying upon a mattress in the last agony of death; while above, upon the platform, they are praying before a cushioned faldstool, for their own departed souls. Such is the motive of this and the other two tombs of the same character, those of Henri II. and François I^er.

The former of these is the work of Germain Pilon, and was originally placed under the dome of Philibert Delorme's magnificent chapel erected for the Valois family. It is of marble with bronze figures. The king and queen pray upon the housetop; at each end are openings through which are to be seen the figures of the defunct in the sleep of death. The terrible side of death, which is prominent in the expression on the faces of Louis XII. and his queen, is here absent; and Catherine is represented young and beautiful as she appeared at the death of her husband, whom she survived thirty years. At the four corners are bronze figures of the Cardinal Virtues; and the kneeling figures of the sovereigns upon the canopy are also in bronze. The tomb has always been justly esteemed as a magnificent work, and even Bernini admired it. "Le cavalier Bernin," says Sauval, "a admiré le tombeau de Valois, qui voulait ne rien trouver de passable en France." The Virtues ornament this tomb also, and present a note-worthy point for Total Abstainers, the figure of Temperance bears two cups; can this be meant for wine as well as water? or for two sorts of water, aërated and mineral?

When the tomb was reconstructed it was found that many of the marbles had antique sculptures upon the back, showing that they had been taken from works of Classic origin.

The monument of François I^er. and Claude de France is the largest of these splendid tombs. It was erected about 1552 by Philibert Delorme with the assistance of several sculptors. Pierre Bontems was the author of the bas-reliefs upon the stylobate and some of the kneeling figures upon the canopy; Germain Pilon sculptured the statues of children under the canopy, allegorically representing Fortune, and Ambroise Perret, the Four Evangelists; while the details of ornament were the work of Jacques Chantrel, Bastien Galles, Pierre Bigoigne, and Jean de Bourges. The recumbent figures have been attributed to Jean Goujon, from the exceptional beauty of the workmanship, but without any positive proof. The tomb is of white marble, with a little black and grey introduced for some of the mouldings; the bas-reliefs represent the king's campaigns in Italy. In the bas-reliefs of the Louis XII. monument many of the costumes are more Roman than French; but those upon the tomb of François I^er. are treated with more historical truth, and represent the fashion of the day. The faces of the recumbent statues are beautifully modelled; that of the queen bearing an expression of the sanctity with which she was accredited.

S. Denis is rich in columns erected as memorials, often bearing urns upon the top containing some worthy heart. That of François II. was formerly at the church of the Célestins. It is the work of Germain Pilon, and was considered by Sauval and "les habiles gens" to be as beautiful as the "Three Graces" or "Charités" which bore the urn containing the heart of Henri II. The pedestal is triangular, of white marble; so, too, are the three little Genii who guard the corners. One weeps for the defunct; the other two seem to take the matter philosophically. The shaft of the column is dotted over with flames, said to be symbolic of the pillar of fire which marched before the Hebrews; may they not rather mean the flames of purgatory?[32] The gilt bronze urn which formerly surmounted it, and the winged child holding a crown, were both consigned to the melting pot. This column was an act of fraternal homage on the part of Charles IX.

The column of Henri III. was originally erected in the church of S. Cloud by the secretary of Henri III., Charles Benoise. The shaft is of red marble, twisted, with ivy twirling round it—the work of Barthélemy Prieur.

The column of the Cardinal Louis de Bourbon formerly bore the effigy of the great man, if honours and emoluments can make a man great. He was naturally a peer; bishop of Laon, of Saintes, of Mans, of Luçon, and of Tréguier; archbishop of Sens; abbot of S. Denis, of Corbie, of Saint-Vincent-de-Laon, of Saint-Faron-de-Meaux, of Ainay, of Saint-Amand, of Saint-Crépin-le-Grand, of Soissons, and of Saint-Serge. And yet some people profess to be scandalised at the excesses of the unprivileged classes!

The cardinal was, however, a great patron of art; at Sens and at Laon, monuments testify to this and all his other magnificences. His body was buried in the cathedral of Laon; the Benedictines of S. Denis only having succeeded in obtaining his heart. The column, like many other beautiful works of art, is by an unknown artist. It is of red marble with a white alabaster base and capital, which is exquisitely sculptured with little figures of children bathed in foliage.

The history of some of the recumbent statues of the kings is curious. Having been made to lie down, they were, after the dispersal of the Musée des Monuments Français, stuck up against the wall of the crypt; and others were rebaptised and renamed. Thus, at the museum, Charles V. and Jeanne de Bourbon became S. Louis and Marguerite de Provence; and so named, when they were trotted back to S. Denis, they received the homage of the faithful. To make matters worse, a copy of S. Louis' statue was sent to Tunis for the church which was built in memory of the saint, and the head became the authentic type for his portraits. The same may be said of the false Marguerite; she wears a costume more than a hundred years too late.

The elaborately enamelled brass slabs of the children of S. Louis, Jean and Blanche, came from Royaument. The design is rude, but the colouring good; the figures are in relief upon a ground incrusted in enamel; the heads and hands, the lions at the feet, and the Angels swinging censers are of polished brass; while the feet and the draperies are in coloured enamel. To see these brasses, permission must be obtained from the architect of the church, as they are upon one side of the High Altar, a part which is not generally shown to ordinary visitors. The motto upon the tomb of Jean is as follows:

HIC JACET: IOANNES: EXCELLENTISSIMI LVD
ovici regis francorum filius qui in etate infancie migra
VIT AD XPM ANNO GRACIE: MILLESI
MO: DVCENTESSIMO: QVADRAGESIMO: SEPTIMO: SEXTO: IDVS: MARTII

The body of Turenne did not have much peace after it was routed out of its tomb. Not being royal, it was put aside in a chapel until the Convention should decide its fate; when thinking so great a man a worthy object as a specimen of natural history, and deeming it profitable for students of various "ologies," it was put into a glass case by the side of stuffed birds, bottled snakes, criminal curiosities, and monstrosities. Then it was transferred to the Petits-Augustins, where it found a niche to repose in; but when Consuls reigned supreme, it was marched with great pomp, with drums and guns and all the paraphernalia of a military funeral, to the church of the Invalides, where it was placed in its old house or the remains of it rebuilt—the S. Denis tomb. The epitaphs of some of the Kings remain, or have been restored:—

ICY GIST LE ROY CHARLES LE QUINT SAGES

ET ELOQUENT FILS DU ROY IEHAN QUI REGNA SEIZE ANS CINQ MOIS ET SEPT JOURS ET TRESPASSA L'AN DE GRACE MCCCLXXX LE XVI^E JOUR DE SEPTEMBRE.

ICI GIST LE ROY CHARLES SIXIESME TRES AME LARGE ET DEBONNAIRE FILS DU ROY CHARLES LE QUINT QUI REGNA QUARANTE ET II ANS UNG MOIS ET SIX JOURS ET TRESPASSA LE XXI^E JOUR DOCTOBRE LAN MIL CCCC VINGT ET DEUX: PRIES DIEU QUEN PARADIX SOIT SON AME:

CY GIST LA ROYNE ISABEL DE BAUIERE ESPOUSE DU ROY CHARLES VI^E ET FILLE DE TRES PUISSANT PNCE ESTIENNE DUC DE BAUIERE COTE PALATIN DU RIN QUI REGNA AUEC SOND ESPOUS ET TRESPASSA LAN M: CCCC ET XXXV LE DERNIER JOUR DE SEPTEMBRE: PRIES DIEU POUR ELLE:

CY GIST LE ROY CHARLES SEPTIESME TRES GLORIEUX VICTORIEUX ET BIEN SERUY FILS DU ROY CHARLES SIXIESMES: QUI REGNA TRENTE NEUF ANS NEUF MOIS ET I JOUR ET TRESPASSA LE JOUR DE LA MAGDELAINE XXVII^E JOUR DE JUILLET LA M: CCCCLXI: PRIES POUR LUY:

ICY GIST LA ROYNE JEHANNE DE BOURBON ESPOUSE DU ROY CHARLES LE QUINT ET FILLE DE TRES NOBLE PRINCE MONS^R PIERRE DUC DE BOURBON QUI REGNA AUĒC̄Q̄S SONE ESPOUS XIII ANS ET DIX MOIS ET TSPĀSSA PASSA LA M: CCCLXXVII LE DERN JOUR DE F̄ĒUER

CY GIST LA ROYNE MARIE FILLE DU ROY DE SICILE DUC DANIOU ESPOUSE DU ROY CHARLES VII^E QUI REGNA AUECQS̄ S̄OND ESPX ET TRESPASSA LE PENULTIESME JOUR DE NOUEMBRE LAN MIL: CCCCLXIII: PRIES DIEU POUR ELLE.

After the restoration of the tombs a tablet was set up to the memory of Jeanne-d'Arc, bearing the representation of some armour of the 16th century, and the following epitaph:—

CE QUE ESTAIT LE HARNAIS DE JEHANNE PAR ELLE BAILLE EN HOMMAGE A MONSEIGNEUR SAINCT DENIS.

Several portraits of the great Abbot Suger existed in Dom Millet's time: "On voit encores aujourd'huy en la partie supérieure de l'église Saint-Denis que nous nommons le chevet, une vieille tapisserie où le roy Louis VII. est représenté avec les habits royaux, et la couronne en teste, qui donne son sceptre et sa main de justice au susdit abbé Sugere représenté en habit pontifical, et au-dessus y a une inscription contenant ceste escriture: Lud. rex franc Suggerium abbatem et reaedificatorem hujus templi, viceregem constituit, anno 1140. Mais le tapissier, ou ceux qui ont fourny le mémoire se sont trompez; car ceste commission ne fut donnée à Sugère que l'an 1147, auquel an le roy partit de France, au mois d'aoust, pour un voyage de la Terre-Sainte."

"Il y a en ceste royale abbaye plusieurs figures de l'abbé Sugère, deux desquelles sont en veue à toutes personnes. L'un est sur l'un des battans de la grande porte de l'église,[33] l'autre en une vitre de la Chapelle Notre-Dame, en la partie supérieure que nous nommons le chevet[34]. Il est représenté en tous les deux endroits, non revestu d'un rochet ou d'un camail, non avec la perruque ou le bonnet carré sur la teste, mais au plus simple habit et en la plus humble posture, qu'on puisse représenter un pauvre religieux, scavoir est avec un froc plissé[35] (approchant fort de celuy dont nous usons maintenant) et la tonsure monacale, couché à plate terre; en la vitre, devant une image de la sacrée Vierge, avec ces mots: Suggerius abbas; sur la porte, devant l'image de Notre-Sauveur, assis à table avec les pélerins d'Emmaüs. Il n'a en l'une ny en l'autre figure aucune marque qui le puisse distinguer d'avec le moindre novice de son monastère, sinon la crosse abbatiale qu'il tient d'une main, pour marque de sa dignité, et pour monstrer que c'est luy qui est là représenté."

"Or, comme il est très-certain que c'est luy-mesme qui a fait faire ces figures, aussi est-il très-asseuré qu'il n'avoit garde de les faire représenter en autre habit que celuy qu'il portoit publiquement et continuellement, spécialement depuis la réformation; car autrement c'eust par une hypocrisie trop grossière se sacrifier à la risée de tout le monde." This description of the portrait is most interesting; we can see the great abbot as Dom Millet paints him upon the glass which he himself devised, if he did not absolutely design it.

The tomb of Dagobert is an enormous canopied structure, originally of the 13th century, but so much restored that it is practically modern. Dagobert died in 638, and was embalmed and buried in the church of his foundation; but of the style of this first tomb we have no knowledge whatever. Of the existing tomb, the principal part is the legendary history of the king taken from the "Gesta Dagoberti," told in three alto-reliefs. Below these, the king sleeps upon his left side in a rather uncomfortable fashion; standing on one side is his wife Nantilde, or Nantechilde; on the other, one of his sons, Clovis II. or Sigebert. At the apex of the arch is Our Lord giving the benediction, with SS. Martin and Denis on each side. These two saints, with S. Maurice, had the kindness to hear the prayers of Dagobert, when he was held in bondage by devils, during a voyage in a boat, on the waters of the great gulf fixed between Abraham and Hades. The story was told by a hermit to Ansoald, on his way back from Sicily, and by the 9th century had been worked up into a fact, as it is mentioned in a letter from Louis le Débonnaire to Hilduin, abbot of S. Denis. May it not have been originally a dovetailing together of the story of Charon and le bon roy Dagobert, a mélange of Classic myth and Christian legend which was very common in the early centuries of the Christian era? The sculptures, although, as regards the drapery, sufficiently graceful, are very curious and quaint, especially the boat and its contents. The three saints coming to the rescue, Dagobert pressing the hand of the foremost, the discomforted demons, and the soul of the king standing upon a napkin held by S. Denis and S. Martin, are all vigorous to a degree, if somewhat rude; but the Angels round the voussure carrying censers, are charming. In the account of the legend given by Guillaume de Nangis, quoted by Alexandra Lenoir, we seem to have another reading of the opening part of the story of Job. "Mais monseigneur saint Denis, qui n'oblia mie son bon amy le roy Dagobert, requist à Nostre Seigneur Jesus-Crist qui luy donast congié d'aler secourre la dicte ame; laquelle chose comme Nostre Seigneur luy eust ottroié, sainct Denis s'en ala et mena avecques luy Sainct Morise et aultres amys que le roy Dagobert avoit moult honorés en sa vie, et avecques eulx orent des anges qui les conduirent jusques en la mer, et quant ils vindrent là où les deables tenoient et ammenoient à grant feste l'ame du roy Dagobert, si le misrent entre eulx et se combattirent encontre les deables". It was all done because of Monseigneur S. Denis' love of "le bon roy," who had founded the abbey in honour of the martyr; and if you doubt these facts, and "ne me croyez, alez à Sainct-Denis en France, en l'église, et regardez devant l'autel où l'en chante tous les jours la grant messe, là où le roy Dagobert gist. La verrez vous audessus de luy ce que vous ay dit, pourtrait et de noble euvre richement enluminée." From this, there can be no doubt that the whole mass of sculpture was originally coloured; indeed, a close inspection shows a little still visible in the folds of the drapery. Lenoir, whose depreciation of Mediæval sculpture as compared to that of the Renaissance was considerable, speaks of the draped figures as pour le style comme pour le goût, comparable aux belles inventions de Raphaël.

Upon the platform of the apse is the mosaic effigy of Frédégonde, not earlier than the 12th century. It is composed of a stone slab of the form of the early stone coffins. The design is marked out by thin bands of metal between which are incrustations of very small pieces of porphyry, serpentine, and white marble. This, like several of the early tombs, was originally in the abbey of S. Germain-des-Près.

The central part of the crypt was formerly the depository for the relics—a sort of sanctuary dedicated to S. Démètre. Another part of the crypt became the burial place of the Bourbon family. All the princes were buried in vaults underneath their tombs. "Tous le roys, reynes et autres ensépulturez à Saint-Denys reposent dans les caveaux qui sont sous leurs tombeaux, sans qu'il y en ait aucun ailleurs, ce que je dis pour désabuser plusieurs personnes (mesmes des gens de qualité) qui s'imaginent qu'il y ait une grande cave dans laquelle sont tous les roys, en chair et en os, et demandent qu'on la leur monstre, dont je me suis souventefois estonné, veu mesme que plusieurs qui vivent encores ont peu voir mettre les cinq derniers roys décédéz non en ceste cave imaginaire, mais dans le tombeau des Vallois, sçavoir, Henry II. et ces trois fils, et Henry IV., dans le caveau commun des rois, où il est encore. On en peut dire autant de François I^er. et de Louis XII., et de tous les autres; car quant à la grotte qui est sous le chevet, il n'y a, ny eut jamais, corps ny sépulture d'aucune personne.[36] The day of the funeral the body was placed in the vault, "sur des barres de fer, devant une statue en marbre de Nostre-Dame." There it remained for a year, after which it was deposited in the tomb of the sovereign's ancestors. This curious arrangement became a custom by pure accident. Henri IV. not having signified any desire as to his place of burial, was left in this vault, "le caveau des cérémonies," while his widow and les Etats discussed the question of erecting a monument; and thus, by force of habit, the succeeding Bourbons being placed by the side of Henri, the "caveau" became the mausoleum of the family. But the Bourbons were a prolific race, and before very long the overcrowding became too great to admit of any more inhabitants; so upon the burial of Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV., it was decided to tunnel a long passage to connect it with the central part of the crypt. It was a difficult and dangerous proceeding: "On perça," says Félibien, "par-dessous le chevet, à l'endroit où estoit une ancienne chapelle de Saint-Démètre, un petit corridor de la largeur de trois pieds sur sept de haut. Les ouvriers voûtoient à mesure qu'ils avançoient; et dans le poursuite de leur ouvrage, ils découvrirent quelques tombeaux dont on ne reconnut que celui de l'abbé Antoine de La Haye, par une inscription qu'on y trouva. Enfin, après avoir poussé environ sept toises et demie, les ouvriers arrivèrent à l'ancien caveau; de sorte qu'il a été aisé d'y joindre, par ce corridor de communication, un caveau spécieux qui occupe aujourd'huy, dessous le chevet, l'ancienne crypte où estoient autrefois les corps des saints martyrs. La place est de neuf toises de long sur environ deux toises et demi dans sa plus grande largeur." The new vault was consecrated the 31st August, 1683. This accounts for the apparent want of an entrance to the centre of the crypt; as all visitors to the church are aware, you look through little apertures to the place where a few post-revolution burials have taken place. I commend all these particulars, which exemplify the horrors of burial above ground, with the rifling of tombs and coffins perpetrated by the officers of the Convention, to the opposers of cremation. Had all these poor royalties been converted into ashes, no such doings could have taken place. The entrance to the Bourbon vaults still exists, close to the altar of S. Maurice, to the right of the High Altar looking eastwards; but visitors enter by some steps farther east, by the side of the ascent to the apse. It is a miserably gloomy hole, with a few coffins upon trestles, shedding their violet coverings. Can any sort of burial equal in horror this of open vaults?

The statues of the early kings were erected by S. Louis. Ordered by him as commemorative effigies of his ancestors, it does not seem to have been within the wit of the 13th century sculptors to vary the physiognomy of the early sovereigns. Thus there is a strong likeness between Charles Martel[37] and Pépin, and Louis and Carloman. There is a curious divergence in the opinions passed upon Louis III. The chronicle of S. Denis calls him a "homs plains de toutes ordures et toutes vanitez;" whereas the annals of Metz say, "Tous les peuples des Gaules pleurèrent sa mort avec une extrème douleur. Il fut en effet homme de rare mérite, et défendit courageusement et virilement contre les incursions des payens le royaume qui lui était soumis." So we see that it is not only the 19th century which vaunts and cries down a man, according as he belongs to the political sheep or the goats.

Carloman, at his eighteen years, has the appearance of a man of forty, and many years older than his brother. The statue of Charlemagne's brother Carloman has had a queer history. It was marched to the Petits-Augustins with the rest, and there christened Charles le Chauve, but when sent back to S. Denis it was rebaptised Henri I.

Hugues Capet was buried at S. Denis close to his father, the great Hugues; his last words addressed to his son Robert prove him to have been possessed of piety, a proper notion of justice, and a large amount of common sense. "Bon fils, je t'adjure, au nom de la sainte et indivisible Trinité, de ne pas livrer ton âme aux conseils des flatteurs et de ne pas écouter les vœux de leur ambition, en leur faisant un don empoisonné de ces abbayes que je te confie pour toujours. Je désire également qu'il ne t'arrive point, conduit par la légèreté d'esprit ou ému par la colère, de distraire ou enlever quelque chose de leurs biens. Je te recommande surtout de veiller à ce que, pour aucune raison, tu ne déplaises jamais à leur chef commun, le grand saint Benoit, qui est un accès certain auprès du souverain juge, un port de tranquillité et un asile de sûreté après la sortie de la chair."[38] His particular friends to whom he commends his son are the Blessed Virgin, S. Benedict, S. Martin, S. Aignan, and SS. Cornelius and Cyprian, and above all S. Geneviève. Queen Adélaïde, like most Middle-Age ladies, did much embroidering as she sat up in her tower, and naturally S. Denis was her first thought. She gave the great statue of S. Martin (I do not know in what part of the church this was placed) a wondrous cope, embroidered between the shoulders with a "Pontife éternel" and adoring Cherubim and Seraphim. In the front was the "Lamb of God" and the Four Beasts of the Apocalypse.[39]

Robert must have profited by the good advice given him by his father, for we find the monk Helgaud giving him a tremendous panegyric in the account of his death. "Peu de temps après avoir reçu le saint et salutaire viatique du corps vivifiant de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ, Robert alla au Roi des rois, au Seigneur des seigneurs, et entra heureux dans les célestes royaumes. Il mourut le vingtième jour de juillet (1031) au commencement de la journée du mardi, au château de Melun, et il fut porté à Paris, puis enseveli à Saint-Denis, près de son père. Il y eut là un grand deuil, une douleur intolérable; car la foule de moines gémissait sur la perte d'un tel père,[40] et une multitude innombrable de clercs se plaignait de leur misère que soulageait avec tant de piété ce saint homme. Un nombre infini de veuves et d'orphelins regrettait tant de bienfaits reçus de lui. Tous poussaient de grands cris jusqu'au ciel, disant d'une commune voix: 'Grand Roi, Dieu bon, pourquoi nous tuer ainsi en nous ôtant ce bon père et l'unissant à toi!' Ils se frappaient avec les poings la poitrine, allaient et venaient au saint tombeau, répétaient encore les paroles marquées plus haut et se joinaient aux prières des saints afin que Dieu eût pitié de lui dans le siècle éternel. Dieu! quelle douleur causa cette mort. Tous s'écriaient avec des clameurs redoublées: 'Tant que Robert a régné et commandé, nous avons vécu tranquilles, nous n'avons rien craint; que l'âme de ce père pieux, ce père du sénat, ce père de tout bien, soit heureuse et sauvée! qu'elle monte et habite pour toujours avec Jésus-Christ, Roi des rois!'.... Dans tout cela, nous avons un grand sujet de douleur, en voyant qu'un tel et si grand homme repose sans une pierre ornée d'inscriptions, sans monument, sans épitaphe, lui dont la gloire et la mémoire ont été en bénédiction à toute la terre." As late as the 16th century Robert's tomb was enriched with colour, and even now a small amount remains.

Another king's death, that of Louis le Gros, is recorded by Suger: "Après avoir reçu en communion le corps et le sang de Jésus-Christ, le roi rejetant loin de lui toutes les pompes de l'orgueil du siècle, s'étendit sur un lit de simple toile. M'ayant vu pleurer sur lui qui, par le sort commun aux hommes, était devenu si petit et si humble de si grand et si élevé qu'il était, il me dit: 'Ne pleure pas sur moi, très-cher ami, mais plutôt triomphe et réjouis-toi de ce que Dieu, dans sa miséricorde, m'a donné, comme tu le vois, les moyens de me préparer à paraître devant lui.'.... Un peu avant de mourir, il ordonna qu'on étendit un tapis par terre, et que sur ce tapis on jetât des cendres en forme de croix; puis il s'y fit porter et déposer par ses serviteurs, et fortifiant toute sa personne par le signe de la croix, il rendit l'âme le jour les calendes d'août (I^er. août 1137), dans la trentième année de son règne et presque la soixantième de son âge. Son corps fut à l'heure même enveloppé de riches étoffes pour être transporté et enterré dans l'église des saints martyrs."

Suger mentions the finding of the remains of Carloman when they were about to bury Louis VI., and how the former were removed to a spot between the altar of the Holy Trinity and that of the Martyrs: "On l'y déposa donc avec le cérémonial d'usage pour les rois, au milieu de chants nombreux, d'hymnes et de prières, après lui avoir fait de pieuses et solennelles funérailles. C'est là qu'il attend d'être admis à jouer de sa résurrection future, et qu'il est d'autant plus près de se réunir en esprit à la troupe des esprits célestes, que son corps est plus voisin des corps des saints martyrs et plus à portée d'en être protégé."

"FELIX QUI POTUIT MUNDI NUTANTE RUINA
QUO JACEAT PRÆSCISSE LOCO...."

"Puisse le Rédempteur ressusciter l'âme de ce roi à l'intercession des saintes martyrs pour lesquels il avait un si pieux dévouement! puisse cette âme être placée au rang des saints par celui qui a donné la sienne pour le salut du monde, notre seigneur Jésus-Christ qui vit et règne, Roi des rois, et maître des puissances, aux siècles des siècles. Amen."[41]

Of the burial of Louis VII. the monk Rigord gives some interesting details: "L'année 1181, le jeudi dix-huitième jour de septembre, mourut à Paris Louis, roi des Français. Son corps fut honorablement enseveli et couvert d'aromates dans l'église de Sainte-Marie de Barbeau, qu'il avait fondée. C'est là qu'en l'honneur de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ et de la bienheureuse mère de Dieu, Marie toujours vièrge, de saints religieux célèbrent jour et nuit les offices divins pour l'âme du défunt roi, pour celles de tous ses prédécesseurs et pour le salut du royaume de France. C'est aussi dans cette église, et sur le lieu même de la sépulture du roi, que l'illustre reine des Français, Adèle[42] son épouse et mère de Phillippe-Auguste, roi des Français, fit construire un tombeau où l'art le plus exquis avait fait un heureux mélange des matières les plus brillantes, d'or et d'argent, d'airain et de pierres précieuses. Jamais chef-d'œuvre aussi étonnant n'avait paru dans aucun royaume depuis le règne de Salomon." In 1182 Philippe Auguste decreed that a taper should always be kept alight before the tomb of his father. What became of the monument is not known. At the Revolution it consisted of a sarcophagus which had been renovated in 1695 by the Cardinal de Furstemberg, abbot of Barbeau[43] and prince bishop of Strasburg. When Charles IX. was at Fontainebleau he had the curiosity to open this latter tomb of Louis. The body was nearly entire; but the sceptre, some silver seals and ornaments, were partially destroyed. The king had rings on his fingers and a gold cross on his neck; "le roi et les princes du sang qui se trouvèrent là présents, les prirent pour les porter en mémoire d'un si bon est religieux prédécesseur."[44] One would like to know why ignorant, poverty-stricken fisher and peasant folk should be anathematized for robbing the dead after a wreck or a battle, when such a pious prince as the author of the massacre of S. Bartholomew pilfered the rings from his ancestor without a word of protest—on the contrary, his relations and friends "du sang" aided and abetted him. But then, of course, a few centuries had elapsed in the latter case, and poor Louis was reduced to a state of dry bones; it was robbing a skeleton, not a body. In the reign of Napoléon the abbey of Barbeau was converted into a school for the daughters of members of the Legion of Honour, and in 1817 the remains of Louis VII. were transported to S. Denis.

Why does it happen that children who die young seem to be so superior to those who survive? Would the Duc de Bourgogne, Philippe, son of Louis VI., Edward V., or Prince Arthur have made better sovereigns than their relations who reigned in their stead? Suger gives a picturesque account of the death of Philippe, "un enfant dans la fleur de l'âge." This "malheur étrange" happened on the 13th October, 1131. "Le fils aîné du roi Louis Philippe, d'une grande douceur, l'espoir des bons et la terreur des méchants, se promenait un jour à cheval dans un faubourg de la cité de Paris; un détestable porc se jette dans le chemin du cheval; celui-ci tombe rudement, renverse, écrase contre une pierre le noble enfant qui le montait, et l'étouffe sous le poids de son corps. Ce jour-là même on avait convoqué l'armée pour une expédition; aussi les habitants de la ville et tout les autres qui apprennent cet évènement, consternés de douleur, crient, pleurent, poussent des sanglots, s'empressent à relever le tendre enfant presque mort, et le portent dans une maison voisine. O douleur! à l'entrée de la nuit il rendit l'âme. Quelle tristesse et quel désespoir accablèrent son père, sa mère et les grands du royaume! Homère lui-même ne pourrait l'exprimer. On l'enterra dans l'église du bienheureux Denis, dans le lieu réservé à la sépulture des rois et à la gauche de l'autel de la Sainte-Trinité, avec tout le cérémonial usité pour les rois, en présence d'une foule d'évêques et de grands de l'Etat."[45] Philippe's was the last statue that S. Louis gave to the church, and the crown and sceptre show that the young prince had been crowned by his father at Reims during the latter's life—probably in order to share the duties of kingship.

Although three abbeys were the happy possessors of the remains of Blanche of Castille (Maubuisson, Lys, and Saint-Corentin-lez-Mantes), no tomb exists of the sweet mother of S. Louis.[46] Upon the monument at Maubuisson the queen was attired in the habit of the Cistercian order, which she assumed in her last moments; the crown was placed over the veil, the royal robes over the nun's habit, and so she passed away, and was thus buried. In 1793 various tombs, armorial bearings, and the like aliments de l'orgueil, were transported from Maubuisson to Pontoise; some were broken, some burnt; golden vessels and silver saints were thrust into the melting-pot; and Blanche of Castille, with the help of a prince perhaps, or a warrior, became transformed into an instrument of war. But the museum of the Petits-Augustins wanted an effigy of the mother of Monsieur Saint Louis; and so they set up a black marble image of Catherine de Courtenay, empress of Constantinople and wife of Charles of Valois, who had lately, and all alone, journeyed from Maubuisson; and, thinking it a joke to turn a black empress into a white queen, they wrote upon the slab, in 13th century characters, that it was the true monument of Madame la royne Blanche mere de Monsieur Saint Loys. After twenty years Madame Catherine-Blanche became divorced from her other half, and the white queen faded away in favour of the black empress.

One of the most beautiful tombs is that of Philippe, the brother of S. Louis, which was formerly at Royaumont. The prince lies upon a sarcophagus, round which are niches filled with little figures of monks, bishops, and angels, full of character and expression. One of these represents a king: "On y voyait le cercueil de Louis porté par les barons de France et par le roi d'Angleterre.[47] Une figure couronnée porte sur l'épaule un des bâtons; c'est le roi anglais"[48]—proving the sovereignty of France over England. There is a curious engraving by Boulogne representing this procession. The church is in the distance; a string of monks are zigzagging across the plain, and in the foreground we see this crowned head and others bearing the reliquary; behind are bishops; the whole in the grandiose style of the 17th and 18th centuries—drapery flying in the wind, bishops and monks prancing, and all the faces turned to the spectator. S. Louis had always held the abbey in most respectful esteem. He visited it before he started upon his various expeditions; and in 1267, when he had conferred the order of chivalry upon his son Philippe and sixty other young noblemen, he rode to S. Denis on horseback to implore the blessing of God, accompanied by a large concourse of courtiers and princes.

The monuments of the battle of Bouvines came from the church of S. Catherine-du-Val-des-Écoliers. They are incised stones, coloured and gilt, bearing the following inscriptions:—

A LA PRIERE DES SERGENS DARMES MONS^R SAINT LOYS FONDA
CESTE EGLISE ET Y MIST LA PREMIERE
PIERRE ET FU POUR LA JOIE DE LA VITTOIRE QUE FU AU PONT DE
BOUINES LAN MIL. CC. ET.XIIII.
LES SERGENS DARMES POUR LE TEMPS GARDOIENT LEDIT PONT ET
VOUERENT QUE SE DIEU LEUR
DONNOIT VITTOIRE ILS FONDEROIENT VNE EGLISE EN LONNEUR DE
MADAME SAINTE KATHERINE ET AINSI FU IL.

Another epitaph to Blanche de France came from the Cordeliers:

ICY GIST MADAME BLANCHE FILLE DE MONSEIGNEUR SANCT
LOYS ET FĒM̄E DE MONS. FERDINAND DE LACERDE ROY DE
CASTILLE QUI TRESPASSA DU CEST SIECLE LAN DE ḠC̄Ē
MCCCXX LE DIX SEPTIESME JOUR DE JUN
PRIES POUR LAME DELLE Q. DEU BONNE MERCI LI FACE, AMEN.

When Isabelle d'Aragon died at Cosenza, in Calabria, her husband, Philippe le Hardi, wrote to the abbot and religious of S. Denis to commend her soul to their prayers, for her life était aimable à Dieu et aux hommes. Her epitaph begins:

DYSABEL. LAME. AIT. PARADYS, etc.

Louis XI. was not buried at S. Denis; he desired to be laid in the church of Our Lady of Cléry, "for which the Heretics (meaning the Huguenots and Calvinists) had not the same respect which they inviolably entertained for the holy and royal tombs of S. Denis.[49] But inspired by the Devil, with an abominable and hellish spirit of rage and profanation, they tore the king's remains from the tomb, and, together with the queen's, burnt them and scattered their ashes to the winds. Thus he who would not let his body rest under the protection of the Holy Martyers found no rest in the grave."[50]

This monument was of bronze, but another was erected in 1622 by an Orléans sculptor, Michel Bourdin. La Fontaine described the latter as follows, in a letter to his wife, dated 1633: "Nous nous arrêtâmes à Cléry. J'allai aussitôt visiter l'église; c'est une collégiale assez bien rentée pour un bourg. Louis XI. y est enterré. On le voit à genoux sur son tombeau, quatre enfants aux coins; ce seraient quatre anges, si on ne leur avait pas arraché les ailes. Le bon apôtre du roi fait là le saint homme, et il est bien mieux pris que lorsque le Bourguignon le mena à Liége.

Je lui trouvai la mine d'un matois:
Ainsi l'étoit ce prince dont la vie
Doit rarement servir d'exemple aux rois,
Mais pourroit être en quelques points suivie.

"À ses genoux sont ses heures et son chapelet, la main de justice, son sceptre, son chapeau et sa Notre-Dame. Je ne sais comment le statuaire n'y a pas mis le prévôt Tristan; le tout est en marbre blanc et m'a paru d'assez bonne main."

This monument suffered some mutilations during the Revolution, the head being chopped into three pieces[51]; but in 1817 it was repaired. It is, in style, very similar to the descriptions of the bronze monument of Charles VIII.

The tomb of the house of Orléans was erected by Louis XII. in the centre of the magnificent chapel of the family, in the church of the Célestins. It contained besides, the statue of Philippe de Chabot, by Jean Cousin; Germain Pilon's Three Graces; the columns of Anne de Montmorency, of François II., and of Timoléon de Brissac; the obelisk of the Longuevilles; the tombs of Rénée d'Orléans, and of the duc de Rohan, by Michel Anguier. The destruction of this chapel and the dispersal of its contents was one of the greatest acts of vandalism of modern times; although a good deal has been preserved, the loss of the rest cannot but be bewailed.

Charles, duc d'Orléans, was a lettered man and given to verse writing; he was made prisoner at the battle of Agincourt, and passed more than twenty years of his life in England. The little porcupine at the king's feet (upon the tomb) symbolized the order of chivalry which he founded, and which adopted that animal as its emblem.

The beautiful marble monument of Rénée d'Orléans recalls those of Santa Croce, and other Italian churches, and it is a magnificent example of French Renaissance sculpture.

The epitaph to Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henri IV., attributed to the queen's authorship, is taken from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque:

Ceste brillante fleur de l'arbre des Valoys
En qui mourust le nom de tant de puissans Roys,
Marguerite, pour qui tant de lauriers fleurirent,
Pour qui tant de bouquets chez les Muses se firent.
A vu fleurs et lauriers, sur sa tête sécher,
Et par un coup fatal, les lys s'en détacher.
Las! le cercle Royal dont l'avoit couronnée
En tumulte et sans ordre un trop prompt himénée,
Rompu du même coup devant ses pieds tombant
La laissa comme un tronc dégradé par les vents.
Epouse sans espoux, et Royne sans royaume,
Vaine ombre du passé, grand et noble fantosme
Elle traisna depuis les restes de son sort,
Et vist jusqu'a son nom mourir avant sa mort.

The epitaph upon Henri's second wife, Marie de' Medici, is in a very different style. Marie, after having built the splendid Luxembourg palace, and filled it with Rubens' sparkling magnificences of colour, died in exile at Köln:

Le Louvre de Paris vit éclater ma gloire;
Le nom de mon époux, d'immortelle mémoire,
Est placé dans le ciel comme un astre nouveau.
Pour gendres j'eus deux rois, pour fils ce clair flambeau,
Qui par mille rayons brillera dans l'histoire.
Parmi tant de grandeur (le pourra-t-on bien croire?)
Je suis morte en exil; Cologne est mon tombeau!
Cologne, œil des cités de la terre Allemande,
Si jamais un passant curieux te demande
Le funeste récit des maux que j'ai soufferts,
Dis: ce triste cercueil chétivement enserre
La reine dont le sang coule en tout l'univers,
Qui n'eut pas en mourant un seul pouce de terre.[52]

Louis XIII., or rather, part of him, was buried at the Jesuits' church; and Anne d'Autriche erected therein a fine monument sculptured by Jacques Sarrazin. Two colossal angels in bronze and silver supported a silver-gilt heart; but its magnificence only made it of greater use to the mint for coinage.

This good king, the thirteenth of his name, was a great devotee of S. Denis. He had instituted reform in the abbey by introducing the congregation of S. Maur; and we are told that he acquired "strength and spirits in his last illness, as he lay languishing upon his bed, as often as he thought of S. Denis. At such times he would remark to his attendants, with a smile of pious serenity, how much he felt himself reconciled to his near approaching dissolution, and fortified against all the usual desires of life or dread of death; in a sweet anticipation of the happiness he should enjoy by reposing near the tombs of the Holy Martyrs, in whom he placed the most sacred and unbounded confidence."

There is one more exquisite work of art which ought to be mentioned, the beautiful urn from the abbey of Haute-Bruyère, which contained the heart of that magnificent profligate, François I^er. It is of white marble, of perfect form, with the most delicious little Genii sitting on the top. The bas reliefs represent the Arts and Sciences, Faith, and the Church. It is the work of Pierre Bontems.

Some of the kings were crowned at S. Denis after having been anointed and consecrated at Reims; some, like Philippe Auguste, were re-invested at the abbey. Philippe le Hardi, Charles VIII., Louis XII., François I^er., and Louis XIII., were all anointed at Reims and crowned at S. Denis. An account in an old book of the coronation of Louis XIII. is so quaint, and gives so graphic a picture of some of the manners and customs of the period, that it is, I think, worth quoting in full.[53]

The description of the magnificent ceremony was extracted from a chronicle of the reign of Louis XIII., and translated into English a hundred and fifty years ago:—

"The royall ornaments, which are kept in the Abbey of Saint Denis, being caryed to Rheims, on the 14th October, 1610, the King made his entrie into the towne, where his Maiestie was received with greate pompe and magnificence; the particularities whereof I am forced, for brevities sake, to omit. The day before the ceremonie, the King went vnto the Cathedrall, to assist at Euensong, and to heare a sermon made by Father Coton, vpon the diuine institution of the unction of the Kings of France, and of confirmation, which he received from the hands of the Cardinall of Joyeuse, to whom he was presented by Queen Marguerite and the Prince of Condé.

"On Sunday, the 17th of October, the King sent foure Barons vnto the Abbey of Saint Remy, to fetch the holie oyle. They parted earlie in the morning, with their Esquires and Gentlemen; either of them having a banner, with his armes, caried before him, causing a white hackney to be led, for the Prior of Saint Remy, who was to carry the said holie oyle.

"The Cardinal of Joyeuse, who was to represent the Archbishop of Rheims, and to doe the office, at the ceremonie, came soone after into the church, with eight Bishops to assist him, where, attending the comming of the Peeres, he sat him downe in his pontificall robes. Two of these Bishops were attired like Deacons, with mitres; two like Sub-Deacons, with mitres; and foure with copes and mitres. Soon after arrived the ecclesiasticall Peeres, in their pontificall robes.... At the same instant there came, from the King's lodging, the Princes of Condé and Conty ... who were deputed by the King to hold the places of ... attyred in their robes and coronets, according to their qualities. Having done their devotions, and saluted one another, they sent the bishops of Laon and Beauuais to fetch the King, in their pontificall habits (having certaine reliques of the holie Saintes hanging about their neckes), conducted by the Master of the Ceremonies; all the Prebendes of oure Ladies church marching in goodlie procession before them. Being come to the King's chamber, and finding it shut, the Bishop of Laon knocked three several times, to either of which the greate Chamberlaine demanded, 'What would ye?' The Bishop answered, 'Lewis the Thirteenth, son to Henrie the Greate'; whereunto the Chamberlaine replied, 'He sleepeth'; then knocking againe, he had the like answere. But at the third time the Bishop answered, 'Lewis the Thirteenth, which God hath given us for King'; then the door was opened, and the Bishops entered with the cheife chaunter of Rheims, &c., where they found the King laid on his bed, having his shirt slit before and behind, to receive the holie Vnction, and uppon it a waistecoat of crimson sattin, slitted in like maner, and thereon a long robe of cloth-of-siluer. The Bishop of Laon having finished a prayer, kissing their hands, they lifted the King from his bed, with all shewes of honour, and then led him, singing, to the church doore. Before him, there marched, first the greate Prouost, with his archeres; then the Clergie which had accompanied the two Prelates; the hundrede tall Swissers of his guard: the drummes, haultbois, and herauldes; the nobilitie; the great Master of the Ceremonies; the Knights of the Holie Ghoste, with their great order hong about their neckes, in the middest of two hundred Gentlemen of the King's house; and the Scottish Guards, in their own proper habiliments. Before his Maiestie went the Mareschall la Chastre, representinge the Constable, carying a naked sworde, &c. &c. After some ceremonies at the church doore, the King approacheth neare untoe the high altar, where he was presented, by the Bishops of Laon and Chalons, untoe the Cardinal Joyeuse, who said many prayers, whilest the King was at his deuotions. After this he was led untoe his seate, with his Noblemen and officers about him. In the meane tyme, all the religious men of Saint Remy came solemnlie in procession, being accompanied by the cheife of the towne, caryinge torches of virgines waxe in their hands: Their Prior was mounted upon the white hackney, having a foote-cloath of cloath-of-silver, carying the violl of holie oyle, in a pixe, hanginge about his necke, being under a canopie of cloath-of-silver, borne by foure Monkes. The Cardinall being advertised of the arrivall of the said oyle, hee went, in his pontificalibus, to meet it, with the eight Bishops which assisted him, and all the singinge men and quiristeres. But before they would deliver it unto the Cardinall, they made him (according to the custome) binde himself to restore it untoe them againe. After saying a praier, hee shewed the holie oyle untoe the people; and then set it down vpon the high altar, with all the Godlie reuerence. (The coronation oath and some ceremonies are here omitted for brevity). The King having taken the oathes, with inuocation of the name of God, laying his handes vpon the Gospel, which he kist with greate reuerence. The King's ornaments ... were layd upon the altar; and on the left hande side, neere vnto them, stoode the Prior of Saint Denis, who hath the keeping of them; and on the right side stoode the Prior of Saint Remy, looking sharplie to the holie oyle.[54] The Bishops of Laon and Beauvais, hauing conducted him vnto the altar, Mons. de Belgarde tooke off his roabe of cloath-of-silver. Being in his waistecoate of sattin, when the Cardinall had made certaine prayers and blessings, the Duke of Esguillon put on his buskins, and the Prince of Condé put on his spurres (in the place of the Duke of Bourgundie) and presentlie took them off againe. After this, the Cardinall blessed the royale sworde, it being in the scabberd, and girt the King therewith, and presentlie ungirted him againe. Then he drew it out of the scabberd, and kissed it, saying manie praiers, whilest that the Quier sang certaine anthems. The King kist the sworde also; and layd it upon the altar, in testimonie of his zeale and affection to the defence of the holie church. The Cardinall delivered it into his hande againe; which his Maiestie tooke reuerentlie vpon his knee, and gave it to the Mareschall la Chastre. The Cardinall returning to the altar, to prepare the sacred vnction, after this manner: 'Hee drewe out of the forenamed holie violl, with a needell of gold, a small quantitie of liquor, of the bignesse of a pease, and mingled it, with his finger, with the holie creme prepared in the couer of the chalice.

"This vnction being thus ordered, the tyinges of the King's garments were let loose both before and behinde, by the Cardinall and the two Bishops; after which his Maiestie kneeled down in his oratorie, and the Cardinall with him, to crave the assistance of God for the preseruation of France. The Lettanie being sung, the Cardinall stoode up, to saye certaine praiers ouer the King, who was yet kneelinge. Then the Cardinall sett him downe, as in the consecration of a Bishop, and holding in his hand the patenne whereon the heavenlie oyle was layd, he beganne, with his right thumbe, to anoynte the King, in divers places, viz., on the crowne of the head, on the stomacke, betwixte his shouldere blades, on bothe shoulderes, and on the bendinges of his armes. The consecration praiers being ended, the Cardinall, with the two Bishops, closed vp his shirte, waistecoate, and other garmentes, in reverence of the sacred Vnction. Then the high Chamberlaine presented the three habitts accustomed to be worne, in the lyke ceremonies, viz., a long jackett, representinge a Sub-Deacon, a surplis for a Deacon, and a royall cloake, insteade of a coape, representinge a Prieste; which ended, the Cardinall anoynted the palmes of his handes, and then put him on thin gloues, lest, peradventure, hee should touche anie thinge with his bare handes, for reverence of the vnction, which gloues he blest, and sprinkled with holie water; the royall ringe being alsoe blest by the Cardinall (a symbole of loue, whereby the King was wedded untoe his realme), he put it on the fourthe fingere of his Maiesties right hande, with all the accustomed ceremonie. This done, hee tooke the sceptere from the altar, and put it intoe his right hande, for a mark of the Soueraigne power: then he tooke the hande of Justice, which hee put into his lefte hande, it being a wande, hauing, on the top thereof, a hande of mylke white iuorie.

"Then the Chancelloure of France came vp, with his face towarde the King, and, with a stoute voyce, did call vp the Peeres, according to their dignities, to assist at the coronation. When as, this ceremonie being ended, the Cardinall took the great crowne from the altar, and lifting it with bothe his handes, did poise it over the King's heade; the Peeres did then come to support them, and the Cardinall blest it; and then he alone sett the crowne upon the King's heade, whereuntoe all the Peeres did incontinentlie put their handes. The Cardinall then said manie praiers, and blest the King; the which being ended, hee took him bie the right sleeve, and conducted him to his royall throne, the which was builded on high at the bottome of the quier, forasmuch as that he might be seene of all the people, holdinge still in his handes the royall sceptere and rod of Justice. The Queen Regent, the whilst she beheld all these ceremonies, was sorely disquieted, not being able to endure, with patience, to see his Maiestie bare headed, vnder the crowne, havinge his capp taken from him; which shewes that crownes and greatness have their discomodities, as well as the most ordinarie thinges, and the poorest cottages. The King being come to his royall throwne, attended bie the Princes, Peeres, and Officers, according to their degrees, the Cardinall, holding him by the hande, caused him to sit downe, and praied untoe God to confirme him in his throne, and to make him invincible and inexpugnable against his enemies. After which, having sayd a praier, being bare-headed, he made a low obeysance untoe the King, and kissed him, saying thrice, with a loude voyce, 'God save the King'; and at the laste, he added, 'God save the King eternallie.' All the Peeres did the lyke obeysance, one after the other, and kist him, with the lyke acclamation, and then returned untoe the seates that were prepared for them on either hand."

The treasury of S. Denis was one of the richest in Europe. Commenced by the religious enthusiasts of the time of Charlemagne, it increased year by year, through the donations of the grateful patients who had been cured, or whose sufferings had been relieved, by the intercession of S. Denis and his companions. For every wax arm or leg, which we see hanging up in bunches at the side of a shrine in these days, the ages of Faith could have produced a valuable plaque, gem, cross, reliquary, or altar vessel. Thankfulness was then more costly in its expression. Doubtless poor offerings were also made, but the richness of the churches and their contents, as compared with the difficulty of obtaining a few thousands at the present day, shows that gratitude was more practical than in modern times. Charles le Chauve was a great donor to the monastery. It was he who gave the magnificent ante-pendium, besides some jewelled Gospels and altar-vessels. Philippe-Auguste bequeathed all his jewels to the abbey, including a cross of gold valued at 400 livres, this benefaction being for the maintenance of twenty additional monks; but his son, Louis, repurchased some of the valuables at the estimated price of 11,600 livres, a little business transaction which was not unprofitable to the convent. Louis le Gros established the custom of leaving the royal ornaments to the abbey at the decease of the kings. Matthieu de Vendôme, one of the regular abbots, gave the marvellous chef of S. Denis, a gold reliquary in the form of a head, with a jewelled mitre, and silver-gilt supporting Angels, and a young Child-angel holding another reliquary containing a portion of the Saint's shoulder-blade. Gilles de Pontoise, another abbot, presented a beautiful reliquary, containing the under-jaw of S. Louis—a marvel of goldsmithy in the form of statuettes of gold, jewelled and enamelled. The great Suger gave a number of magnificent objects of all kinds; the huge gold cross, six feet in height, placed over the altar, and another which stood upon the grille dividing the choir from the nave. These probably were made at S. Denis, as Suger set up a great school for the fashioning of gold and silver, as well as for writing and painting; and so famous did it become, that brethren from other monasteries flocked to the monks of S. Denis to perfect themselves in these arts.

There is a representation of Charles le Chauve's ante-pendium in the picture formerly in the Dudley collection, and now in the possession of Mr. Edward Steinkopff, and generally known as the "Mass of S. Giles." The altar stands as at present; on the right we see a portion of the tomb of Dagobert; and behind are the windows of the apsidal clerestory. The only difference in the sculptures, as represented in the picture, and the actual monument, is that the head of Nantilde is bent in the modern statue, but is erect in the old one; and the feet of Dagobert seem to have nothing to rest upon. A priest is before the altar; on his left is a king; behind are some assistants, one holding a tall candle; and above is an Angel bearing a paper, alluding to the legend, that as S. Giles was once saying mass before a king with some hidden sin he dare not confess, an Angel descended with a written pardon. The question is, Who is the king? May it not be Charles le Chauve, the donor of the retable? Charles was abbot of S. Denis; and his devotion to the Saint was so great that he attended the offices of the church on all solemn days, and passed the rest of the time in pious conversation with the monks. The crown the king wears is of the time of Charles V., but it has upon it the Imperial circle, which seems to point to Charles the Bald; and the later style of the crown may be accounted for, as it has evidently been copied from one in the treasury of S. Denis (see Félibien). Moreover, it very much resembles the one worn by Charles le Chauve in a miniature of a Latin Bible in the Bibliothèque; on the other hand, the king wears a moustache in the latter, whereas in the picture he is bearded.

Another question is this, Does the picture represent a mass? It probably has gained its title as much from being the companion volet to Lord Northbrook's S. Giles as to the incident of the scroll-bearing Angel. But there is not the slightest resemblance between the hunting personage in Lord Northbrook's picture and the king in the "Mass." In the former, the kneeling hunter appears in a cap, and has no beard; may not this be Charles Martel? We are told in the legend of S. Giles that the king of France was one day hunting in the South, near Nismes, when, in the pursuit of a hind, the hunters came upon S. Giles living hermit-wise in a cave. Charles Martel was never actually sovereign, although governing the kingdom; therefore a cap would be an appropriate head covering for the Maire du Palais. And the dates correspond. S. Giles died in 725; Charles Martel in 741. Is there any evidence that the S. Denis picture represents the S. Giles legend? There is no reason why each volet of a triptich should be decorated with incidents in the life of the same saint. Again, does the picture represent a mass? There are no lights upon the altar, which is contrary to the almost invariable custom of the church from all time. Two lights were used from the earliest period; whereas a single light, either taper, torch, or lantern, borne by an assistant kneeling behind the celebrant, generally denotes a communion of the faithful, after, or out of, mass. It is true there is a picture by van der Weyden in the National Gallery of the "Mass of S. Hubert," with no lights, and there is no doubt about the subject, as the vessels requisite for a mass are visible upon the altar; but in the "Mass of S. Giles" there are no evidences of the celebration of mass, except that the priest is elevating the Host while facing the altar, and reading from a book placed thereon; whereas at a communion the celebrant turns his back to the altar when elevating the consecrated wafer. Now may not the picture represent either the communion of Charles le Chauve, or his induction as abbot, or his presentation of the retable? I have not lost sight of the difficulty of the Angel. But if it be really the sin-forgiven scroll which he holds, there is no reason why this particular king should not have had a hidden sin, pious man though he may have been; indeed, that would be a reason for his thinking ill of himself. And must the subject be necessarily that incident, when we know that in Mediæval times Angels were constantly in the habit of flying about with all kinds of objects of celestial manufacture—stoles, girdles, chalices, crowns, palms, &c. (In van der Weyden's picture, mentioned above, an Angel is descending with a stole).

These are merely suggestions of a theory, which others, more qualified than myself, may be able to solve. Suger is said to have added to the ante-pendium given by Charles le Chauve, and placed it over the altar as a retable;[55] therefore there would be nothing extraordinary in the 15th-century artist placing Charles kneeling as the original donor, and Suger celebrating, as the founder of the new altar, or reredos. Has the abbot Giles de Pontoise, who died in 1325, caused any confusion in naming this picture? There is another curious resemblance in the crowns borne by the Angels upon the retable, and the crowns of Guarrazar in the Hôtel Cluny. The latter are supposed to be of Byzantine workmanship, the largest bearing the name of Reccesvinthus, king of the Visigoths, who reigned from 649 to 672. Charles le Chauve died in 823; but, according to Grégoire de Tours, when Childebert returned from a campaign against the Visigoths in Spain, he brought away divers gold and silver treasures, including a gold cross from Toledo; therefore there must have been an extensive school of goldsmithy in Spain at that time, and Toledo is the very spot near which the Guarrazar spoils were discovered. Were they made there some 100 years or so after Childebert's death? Grégoire de Tours also speaks of the king setting up workshops in the Parvis Notre-Dame, doubtless in imitation of the Spanish school; and in his Notice de l'Orfévrerie, M. Alfred Darcel points out a similarity between the Merovingian and the Spanish style of work. "Ce qui ressort de la plupart des passages que nous venons de citer, c'est que l'orfévrerie mérovingienne a pour principal caractère l'alliance des pierreries aux métaux précieux. Ce caractère se retrouve dans l'ornamentation des couronnes de Guarrazar ... et dans l'orfévrerie Byzantine." Is it possible, then, that the ante-pendium presented by Charles le Chauve to S. Denis was made at the workshops set up by Childebert in the Parvis Notre-Dame, in imitation of those he had seen at Toledo; and that the workmanship was also an imitation of the Spanish goldsmithy of a hundred years earlier?

But of all this beauty, of all this wealth, what have we now? Marvellously little; still, considering the robbers, royal and plebeian, the fires, the wars, and the undisciplined mobs, we ought to be thankful that so much has been preserved. That even the great churchmen were not above suspicion we see by the account of the coronation of Louis XIII.; the cardinal being obliged "to binde himself" to restore the "holy oyle" before the monks would let him take it into his hands; and the Prior of S. Remy, who had the custody of it, standing by and "looking sharplie to the holie oyle."

Of the few things which remain from the wreck, the following will be found in the Louvre and the Bibliothèque Nationale, commencing with the former.[56]

The beautiful Egyptian Amphora of porphyry transformed by Abbot Suger[57] into an eagle for service as an altar vessel. It is silver-gilt, and bears an inscription round the bird's neck: Includi Gemmis lapis ista meretur et auro—marmor erat sed in his marmore carior est.[58] Suger himself thus describes it: "Un vase de porphyre, chef-d'œuvre de taille et de sculpture; depuis longues années il était sans emploi dans l'écrin; d'amphore qu'il était, nous l'avons transformé en un aigle, au moyen de l'or et de l'argent, nous l'avons adapté au service de l'autel, et sur ce vase nous avons fait inscrire les vers qui suivent."

Another antique sardonyx[59] set by Suger, with a mounting of silver-gilt filagree and precious stones ornamenting it. Suger's account of this vase is as follows: "Nous avons acheté, pour le service du même autel, un calice précieux de sardonyx; nous y avons joint, en guise d'amphore, un autre vase de la même matière, mais de forme différente, sur lequel sont ces vers: Dum libare Deo gemmis debemus et auro—Hoc ego Sugerius offero vas Domino.".... "Il était de ce sentiment que l'on doit employer à la décoration des autels tout ce que l'on a de plus précieux; il disait que si les juifs se sont servis dans l'ancienne loi de vases et de fioles d'or, pour ramasser le sang des animaux, à plus forte raison doit-on moins épargner, dans la nouvelle, l'or et les pierreries pour tout ce qui a rapport au saint sacrifice du corps et du sang de Jésus Christ." Twenty-four plaques which decorated a book of the Gospels, in cloisonné enamel, are of the 9th century. Some of them are ornamented with foliage, others with the four Evangelists. They belonged to the gold book-cover bearing the legend: Beatrix me in honore Dei omnipotentis et omnium sanctorum eius fieri precepit; which probably refers to Beatrix, grand-daughter of Hugues Capet and sister of Robert, king of France, wife of Ebles I., count of Reims.

A 13th century reliquary in champlevé enamel.

The psalter of Charles le Chauve.

The beautiful antique rock-crystal vase, bearing the name of Aliénor d'Aquitaine. It was given by her to Louis VII., who presented it to Suger, who, in his turn, offered it to the Saints, as saith the inscription upon the foot: "This vase was given by Aliénor to Louis, her husband. Mitadol gave it to her grandfather, and the King to me, Suger; and I, Suger, to SS. Rusticus and Eleutherius."

The paten belonging to Suger's lost chalice. It is a serpentine disc incrusted with golden fishes.

A rectangular plaque of gold, repoussée and gilt, bearing inscriptions in Greek.

A statuette of the Blessed Virgin, in silver, repoussée, chased, and parcel gilt and enamelled. The Virgin holds a fleur-de-lys, enriched with precious stones, in her right hand. It was given to the abbey by Jehanne d'Evreux, in 1334.

A sceptre with a statuette of Charlemagne upon a lily, of the reign of Charles V.

Another statuette of the Blessed Virgin in silver repoussée and parcel gilt; with a little rock-crystal reliquary enclosing a piece of the swaddling clothes.

In the Bibliothèque:

A cameo (sardonyx) head of Augustus, formerly one of the gems of the reliquary containing the skull of S. Hilary. The reliquary was in the form of a mitred head, after the manner of that of S. Denis. The shoulders were vested in a cope, and this cameo set in the centre of the orphrey. The reliquary was made during the administration of Jérôme de Chambellan, grand prior from 1583 to 1606, but part of the mounting holding the pearls and stones seems to be of earlier date. There are three sapphires and three imitation rubies, separated by six bouquets composed of three pearls.[60]

A little chalcedony bust of Annius Verus as Bacchus, inscribed: Verinus consulis probat tempora. The bust bears a striking likeness to some medals and coins of the little son of Marcus Aurelius. It was the custom of the Roman consuls to send presents upon their appointments; thus, in sending this bust to a friend, some consul engraved the inscription, which signifies: The little Verus will remind you of my consulate. In the list by Dom Félibien of the treasury at S. Denis, this is called: Tête d'un enfant faite d'une agate orientale.

One of the most precious of the treasures was the Bacchic cantharus, called the Cup of the Ptolomies. It is a sardonyx cup upon a pedestal, with handles of vine stalks, and covered with bas-reliefs. It is supposed to have gained its name from having belonged to Ptolomy XI., the husband of Cleopatra, who bore the surname of Dionysos or Bacchus. From the subjects of the bas-reliefs, it was undoubtedly consecrated to Bacchus. It has also been called the Cup of Mithridates, as having perhaps belonged to the celebrated collection of vases formed by the famous King. Singular though it may appear, this cup dedicated to Bacchus was given to S. Denis by one of the Carlovingian Kings; was it some blundering over the names, Dionysos and Dionysius? The gold foot was added to give it the form of a chalice, says Tristran de Saint-Amant, and the "grossier distique latin," placed upon this foot, "était profondément gravé sur l'or et la gravure remplie d'émail de couleur d'acier braze." The following inscription is easily read in the engraving in Félibien's history, but not the date: Hoc vas Christe tibi mente dicavit tertius in Francos regmine Karlus.[61]

It has been thought that it was Charles the Simple who made the donation, but Félibien remarks that Charles le Gros as well as Charles le Chauve were also designated Charles III. In any case, it is known to have been in the treasury as early as the 9th century. In 1790, it was placed in the Cabinet de Médailles, but some years after it was stolen with the great cameo and other valuables. The thieves were arrested in Holland, and the cup and the cameo restored to the Bibliothèque; but the mounting of the latter and the foot of the cup had been melted up. According to a tradition referred to by Marion de Mersan, the queens of France drank consecrated wine from this cup upon their coronation day. Another tradition asserts that Henri III., in direful need of money, borrowed the cup, and pawned it to the Jews of Metz for a million of livres tournois.

A beautiful aqua-marine bust is the authentic portrait of the daughter of Titus, wife of Flavius Sabinus. It is signed Evodus, the name of a Greek artist known by two other signed gems. It formed part of the reliquary known as escrain or oratoire de Charlemagne. Félibien speaks of it thus: "Ce reliquaire n'est qu'or, perles et pierreries. Sur le haut est répresentée une princesse que quelques uns estiment être ou Cléopâtre, ou Julie, fille de l'empereur Titus." Some of the stones are gone, but one of the remaining sapphires is an antique intaglio representing upon one side a dauphin, and upon the other a monogram surmounted by a cross of the 5th or 6th century. The letters of the monogram are ΜΑΘΥ, possibly the initials of the owner, or the designation of the Virgin: ΜΑΡΙΑ ΜΗΤΗΡ ΘΕΟΥ (Marie, mère de Dieu).

The Coupe de Chrosroës I., King of Persia, of the dynasty of the Sassanides (531-579) is of transparent rock-crystal, engraved with a representation of the King sitting upon his throne. In the history of the abbey, published in 1625, by F. I. Doublet, we find this cup mentioned as having been in the treasury, under the name of Solomon's cup, for more than ten centuries, "et donnée par l'Empereur et Roy de France Charles le Chauve." How it got into the hands of the King is not known. Chrosroës was defeated by Justinian, general of Tiberius Constantine, Emperor of the East; so that possibly the cup found its way to Constantinople after the battle. Félibien's description of it is: "Espèce de sous-couppe d'or ornée de crystaux de différentes sortes de couleurs. Au milieu l'on y voit un Roy assis dans son trône."

Such are a few of the treasures formerly at S. Denis. The church is lovely now, garnished only with its tombs and glass; what it must have been upon a great festival a couple of hundred years ago, or still farther back, imagination must be left to picture to itself. Even now, upon the fête of the Saint (October 9th), the effect of the procession, as it winds up and down the aisles and steps, is very fine, and quaint, too; for the Suisses wear black hats and feathers, cloaks, breeches, and stockings, after the style of Lawrence's "Kemble as Hamlet"; indeed, they seem to be the Dane, according to the courtly painter, personified. The costume of the boys, also, is different to that of the other churches. They wear violet cassocks, white cottas, scarlet capes with yellow edges, and red skull caps. The whole affair, the old canons bearing the relics, the boys in their quaint attire, the old-world vergers and beadles, the lights few and far between in the great dim church, the vistas of arched aisles ending in darkness, and the sparse congregation, give the impression of some period long before the end of this prosaic 19th century. The châsses are in their old places upon the raised apse behind the altar; but they are of no artistic value. The setting of the jewels is there, but the jewels are gone. The church remains one of the grandest of its date, but its contents have been mended, patched, and re-made. Still, it is an exquisitely beautiful relic, left us by the ages of Faith.

S. Denis still goes barefoot, but not for love. Stern necessity keeps it so, or thrusts its cold feet into wooden shoes. It carries its red flag also, and waves it menacingly at all who love peace and quiet. Likewise, it perambulates in processions; but its relics are rags and hungry children. From a haven of rest, raised up with perhaps some grains of foolish superstition; from an artistic centre of all that was beautiful; from the trysting place of enthusiasts, diluted probably with a certain amount of bigotry, S. Denis has become faithless, hopeless, and restless; bigoted in its excessive Communism, unjust in its perversion of true Socialism, flaunting its Anarchic oriflamme in the face of law and order. It is a strange contrast; but perhaps the cause and effect are nearer allied than is generally supposed.

SAINTE-ELIZABETH.

Situated in the Rue du Temple, the church dedicated to the great Hungarian princess formerly faced the entrance to the grim fortress of the Templars, where the poor little Dauphin sighed out his infant life. The church was built for the nuns of the third order of S. Francis, of which S. Elizabeth was a member; and the first stone was laid in 1628 by a very different sort of Queen, Marie de' Medici. The exterior, with its Doric pilastered doorway, and the interior, with its poor glass and indifferent sculptures, are alike utterly uninteresting; but the white marble font, bearing the date of 1654, and the woodwork which ornaments the aisle of the sanctuary, are worth a visit. The latter consists of a series of little panels representing scenes from the Old and New Testament in bas-relief, of the end of the 16th century, and are said to have been originally in a church at Arras. There is nothing in the building worthy of its patron, that most perfect of saints, whether we think of her as woman, as queen, or as mother.

"AVE GEMMA SPECIOSA!
MULIERUM SYDUS, ROSA!
EX REGALI STIRPE NATA,
MUNDO LICET VIRO DATA
NUNC IN COELIS CORONATA;
CHRISTO TAMEN DESPONSATA.
UTRIUSQUE SPONSALIA,
SIMUL SERVANS ILLIBATA;
SARAM SEQUENS FIDE PIA,
ET REBECCAM PRUDENTIA,
O DILECTA! O BEATA!
NOSTRA ESTO ADVOCATA,
ELIZABETH EGREGIA![62]

SAINT-ÉTIENNE DU MONT.

Upon the summit of the hill which rises up from the Seine, opposite and on the south side of Notre-Dame, is the church of S. Étienne du Mont. Some few years ago this "mountain" was an interesting hunting ground to the archæological explorer and the collector of bric-à-brac; but it has been so cut through by new streets and boulevards that it has almost been improved out of existence. At the foot of it, in a little street turning on from the Quai de la Tourelle, is all that remains of the famous college of the Bernardins, now used by the sapeurs-pompiers. The college was founded by an Englishman, Stephen of Lexington, Abbot of Clairvaux, in 1244, upon some ground belonging to the rich abbey of S. Victor; Alphonse, the brother of S. Louis, being the titular founder and protector of the establishment. The great church, begun in 1338 by Pope Benedict XII. and Cardinal Curti, to replace the one built by Stephen Lexington, was never finished, but was considered, in the 14th century, to be of great beauty. (Pope Benedict, as Jacques Fournier, was professor of theology in the college.) But more fortunate than the church, the refectory has remained intact in all its beauty until our own time, though unfortunately, in 1845, it was sadly mutilated in order to adapt it for use as a barrack. A portion of the cloister may still be seen in the Rue de Poissy, a pointed arch built into the modern wall of a house with square windows in between. It is time the municipality of Paris or the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings bestirred itself to restore the few fragments of old Paris which yet remain. The Revolution did much damage, but often it only put the conventual buildings to secular uses without destroying them, leaving for later governments, and those moreover professedly religious, to utterly demolish the mutilated monasteries and churches, in order to make straight streets and spacious boulevards, which, beautiful as they are, do not prevent us from regretting the past.

The convent of S. Geneviève was founded by Clovis, and so extensive were its lands and dependencies that ere long it drew to it a large population of workmen and labourers for the cultivation of its land. A priest, one of the monks of the abbey, was appointed to take spiritual charge of these people; and from this commencement grew the parish of S. Étienne. Originally the congregation met and worshipped in the crypt of the abbey church, which was dedicated to Our Lady; then the chapel was placed under the protection of S. John the Evangelist, and called St. Jean-du-Mont. But at the beginning of the 13th century the congregation outgrew its chapel, and in 1224 the Bishop of Paris authorised the building of a church by the side of the abbey, to be consecrated to the memory of S. Étienne, the proto-martyr. This first church, in fact, was only a part of the abbey; having had no separate entrance of its own, it could only be entered by a doorway from the choir of S. Geneviève. The reason for changing its name for the third time was probably the demolition of a church dedicated to S. Stephen to make space for Notre-Dame. The memory of the first of martyrs being dear to the citizens, nothing would be more appropriate than the naming of a new church to take the place of the old one, although upon a different site. The first mention of S. Étienne is in the History of Guillaume le Breton, in the year 1221.

This first church lasted three hundred years, and then again, the population having increased enormously, S. Étienne was found to be too small for its congregation, and another and finer church was projected. In 1491 it was deemed better to rebuild than to patch up and enlarge the church; but many years passed in projects and delays, and it was only in 1517 that the work was actually commenced. Abbot Philippe Lebel finished the choir in 1537, and in 1541 the Bishop of Mégare consecrated the altars in the name of the Bishop of Paris; but that the church was not finished in 1552, or even in 1563, the diocesan permission to apply the Lenten offerings to the work is sufficient proof. The jubé was commenced in 1600, the porches nine years later, and the chapel of the Virgin (rebuilt) was only finished in 1661. It was Queen Marguerite de Valois, the lady who so strangely prances about Paris upon a white palfrey at dead of night in the much-admired controversial opera, who laid the first stone of the great portal in 1610; and, moreover, she gave a sum of three thousand livres to aid the work; but what was this when so much was wanted? All was not complete until 1626, and meanwhile the alms during Lent were appropriated to the building fund. However, a glance at a slab of black marble on the north wall of the nave will tell us that on the 25th February, 1626, the Sunday called Sexagesime, under the pontificate of Urban VIII., and in the reign of Louis XIII. of gracious memory, the church and the high altar were dedicated to the glory of God and of the Virgin Mary by the "révérendissime messire Jean-François de Gondi," archbishop of Paris. Another inscription informs the reader of a wonderful accident which took place on this occasion:—

"Et pendant les cérimonies de la dédicace, devs filles de la paroisse tombèrent dv hauvlt des galleries du cœvr, avec l'appvy et devx des ballvstres, qui fvrent miraculeusement préservées, comme les assistants; ne s'étant rencontré personne sovbs les rvines, vev l'affluence dv pevple qvi assistaient avs dites cérimonies."

Before the Revolution the curé was always one of the regular canons of S. Geneviève. At the end of the 16th century he was assisted in his duties by a community consisting of twenty-four priests. In 1791, when the parishes of the city were reorganized, it was determined to remove the relics, the ornaments, and the monuments of the abbey church to S. Étienne, and to re-name the latter after the maid of Nanterre; but the decree was never carried out. Reforms and resolutions followed each other so rapidly that there was no time to put them into execution.

S. Étienne is a cruciform building, very much leaning to the right (as is so common in old churches), with a nave, two aisles, and nineteen chapels. The transepts scarcely project beyond the nave. The exterior is a mass of elegant ornamentation, and on the north side, under the windows, is a passage which connects the porch of the second bay with the charnier, a sort of cloister, built at the end of the Lady Chapel, exterior to the church. The enclosure within this cloister was formerly the little burial ground; the great cemetery being situated in the square which fronts the church.

There is something extremely coquettish and fascinating about the building, with its high-pitched roof, springing from a Renaissance façade, and its 15th century tower surmounted by a pepper-box lantern.

The old church of the abbey, which completely joined S. Étienne, has been entirely swept away to make room for the Rue Clovis; but the refectory and the tower still form a part of the Lycée Henri IV., a little turret at the easternmost angle of S. Étienne indicating the extremity of the monastery's domains.

Above the great doorway is a bas-relief of the stoning of S. Stephen and the legend: Lapis templum Domini destruit, lapis astruit. Right and left are statues of S. Étienne and S. Geneviève, the two patrons; above are Angels bearing torches. Upon the pediment is the Resurrection, and under the lintel we read: Stephano archimartyro sacrum. Two Angels above the great rose window bear the arms of Marguerite de Valois, and at the summit are the statues of S. Hilary and S. Benedict, patrons of two churches in the parish, now demolished.

The interior of S. Étienne is no less singular than the exterior. The side aisles are nearly as high as the nave, and have enormous windows. The shafts which support the vault of the nave are of great height, and the bays are of the same elevation as the side aisles. Above these bays is a clerestory, the windows of which are as broad as they are high, with depressed pointed arches. In order to diminish the enormous height of the bays, the architect conceived a curious device. At about one-third of the height of the shafts he has thrown a depressed arch from pillar to pillar, which forms an elevated passage round the church. It is arrested at the transepts, but taken up again round the choir. The passage encircling each pillar is just wide enough to enable a person to walk. These tournées, as the old records call the gallery, and the splendid jubé form a distinctive feature of the church. On the side of the nave the tournée has an open pilaster balustrade, and at the entrance of the choir it joins the jubé. On each side of this is a spiral staircase leading up first to the jubé and then, a second flight to the choir gallery, the former being formed of a single flying-arch supported by two pilasters. The whole screen is ornamented with rich carving; an Angel with palm leaves is in each spandrel, and above all is a huge crucifix, completing this beautiful and original specimen of French Renaissance, the only jubé which has survived the 17th century restorations. It was the work of a celebrated sculptor named Biart (père). Upon each side of it is a doorway, surmounted by a sitting figure, listening to the chanting of the Gospel. Ascende qui evangelizas Sion. Audiam quid loquatur Dominus meus, are the words upon the right. At the left: Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua. Levavi manus meas ad mandata tua.

The pendant bosses of the nave and crossing are exceedingly rich in ornament—garlands of flowers, Angels' heads, the Symbols of the Evangelists, rosettes, and armorial bearings. The central boss of the transept falls 18ft., and has for ornament Angels playing instruments, the emblems of the Four Evangelists, and a Lamb encircled with thorns and bearing a crown.

The pulpit was designed by Laurent de la Hire, the painter, and sculptured by Claude Lestocard. It is a mass of rich carving. A huge Samson supports the lower part, while upon the canopy are little Angels of the winged-Cupid tribe, and at the summit a draped Angel with a trumpet. Samson is sitting upon the lion he tamed with the jawbone of an ass, and holds the strange weapon in his hand. Sauval remarked that il la porte bien (the pulpit), and certainly he appears to be doing so without much effort. The medallions upon the staircase and round the pulpit represent Evangelists and Doctors, among them Augustin and Jerome, and scenes from the life of S. Stephen, in which he figures as a preacher. The Cardinal Virtues go hand in hand in a becoming fashion with the Theological Ladies: Prudence bearing her mirror, which reflects the wisdom of the serpent hard by; Justice has her sword; Faith a heart as well as her cross; Hope leans upon her anchor; Temperance pours out water from an amphora; Courage holds a dangerous weapon of the mallet order; Charity is surrounded by the most charming of children. All these statuettes are exquisitely carved. Behind the preacher the Word of God, bearing the world, blesses those who preach the Gospel in His name; upon His head the Holy Spirit spreads His wings. Upon the edge of the canopy little Angels are playing with the crowns destined for the elect; and at the summit is a larger Angel bearing a trumpet to awake them from their long sleep. The organ is also a mass of fine carving: S. Stephen stoned; S. Geneviève and her sheep; the Elders of the Apocalypse; the "Jewish ladies of the Bible," as a German kindly interpreted, and the Passage of the Red Sea; above all, our Blessed Lord ascending to Heaven.

When the Abbey of Port-Royal was destroyed in 1710, the body of Racine was transferred to S. Étienne and placed in the crypt of the Lady Chapel by the side of Pascal; and in 1808 a Latin epitaph, composed by Boileau, which was discovered in the pavement of the church of Magny-les-Hameaux, was also transferred. Ten years later, on April 21st, 1818, a great function was held in honour of the poet and the author of those much-loved Pensées; the Academy sent a deputation, and one of their members, the Abbé Sicard, officiated.

EPITAPH ON PASCAL.
PRO COLUMNA SUPERIORI,
SUB TUMULO MARMOREO.
JACET BLASIUS PASCAL CLAROMONTA-
NUS STEPHANI PASCAL IN SUPREMA APUD
AVERNOS SUBSIDIORUM CURIA PRAESI-
DIS [63] FILIUS, POST ALIQUOT ANNOS IN SEVE-
RIORI SECESSU ET DIVINAE LEGIS MEDI-
TATIONE TRANSACTOS, FAELICITER ET
RELIGIOSE IN PACE CHRISTI VITA FUNC-
TUS, ANNO 1662, AETATIS 39º, DIE 19ª
AUGUSTI, OPTASSET ILLE QUIDEM
PRAE PAUPERTATIS ET HUMILITATIS
STUDIO ETIAM HIS SEPULCHRI HONO-
RIBUS CARERE, MORTUUSQUE ETIAM-
NUM LATERE QUI VIVUS SEMPER LATERE
VOLUERAT. VERUM EJUS IN HAC PARTE
VOTIS CUM CEDERE NON POSSET
FLORINUS PERIER IN EADEM SUBSIDIO-
RUM CURIA CONSILIARIUS, GILBERTAE
PASCAL BLASII PASCAL SORORIS CONJUX
AMANTISSIMUS, HANC TABULAM POSUIT
QUA ET SUAM IN ILLUM PIETATEM
SIGNIFICARET, ET CHRISTIANOS AD
CHRISTIANA PRECUM OFFICIA SIBI AC
DEFUNCTO PROFUTURA COHORTARETUR.

Another epitaph in the North aisle of the nave records the virtues and wisdom of Jacques-Bénigne Winslow, the anatomist and member of the Academy of Sciences, brought back from his evil and heretical ways by the preaching of Bossuet. Eustache Lesueur, the somewhat feeble painter of the Life of S. Bruno, was also buried at S. Étienne. Many other names adorn the list of those laid to rest in the churches or burial grounds of the parish: Vigenère, secretary to Henri III., 1598; the surgeon, Thognet, 1642; Antoine Lemaistre, and Lemaistre de Sacy, brought from Port Royal in 1710; the botanist, de Tournefort, 1708; Rollin, rector of the University, who died in 1741, in the Rue Neuve de Saint-Étienne du Mont, which was re-named after him.

But it is the glass of S. Étienne which is perhaps its chief glory. Although a great deal has been destroyed and patched up, much remains which is quite worthy of study, being, as it is, in the best style of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the work of Jean Cousin, Claude Henriet, d'Enguerrand Leprince, Pinaigrier, Michu, François Périez, Nicolas Desengives, Nicolas Lavasseur, and Jean Mounier. But, unhappily, mendings and patchings have quite destroyed our power of discovering to which artist the different windows are due. In the charnier there is a very curious composition, illustrating the allegory of the wine-press; our Lord lies upon the press in the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit, bathed in a sea of blood, which flows from His side, His hands, and His feet. Underneath, the blood pours down through an opening into a large cask. Prelates and kings[64] carry to a cellar those barrels which have been filled with the Sacred Blood by the Doctors of the Church; while, from under a rich Classic portico, we see the faithful flocking to confess their sins, and to receive the Holy Eucharist. In the distance, the Patriarchs are digging the ground and pruning the vines, while the Apostles gather in the vintage. S. Peter throws the grapes into a vat, and a chariot drawn by the Ox, the Lion, and the Eagle of the Apocalypse, and guided by the Angel of S. Matthew, carries the Divine vintage to the four quarters of the earth. Such is the allegory of the wine-press, the Pressoir mystique, the outcome of the verse of Isaiah: "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me"; but, unfortunately for the correctness of the illustration, there is, in this window, a large concourse of people, great and small in worldly means and wisdom. The window is attributed to the Pinaigriers. Robert Pinaigrier had painted the subject for the church of S. Hilaire, at Chartres in 1530; and about a century later Nicolas Pinaigrier reproduced his father's design, with some modifications, at S. Étienne.

The emblem of the Precious Blood was adopted by many confraternities of wine merchants, which led Levieil to think that this window was given to the church by Jean le Juge, a very rich wine merchant. Sauval speaks of this subject being represented at S. Sauveur, at S. Jacques de la Boucherie, at the hospital of S. Gervais, and in the sacristy of the Célestins; and l'abbé Lebeuf notes a window in S. André des Arcs, representing Christ crushed like the grapes in a wine-press. The cathedral of Troyes and the church of S. Foy at Conches still possess windows of the same character.

The following verses describe this subject in quaint old French:—

"Heureux homme Chrestien si fermement tu crois
Que Dieu pour te sauuer a souffert a la croix,
Et que les Sacrements retenus à l'Eglise.
De Son sang precieux ont eu commencement;
Qu'en les bien receuant toute offence est remise,
Et qu'on ne peut sans eux auoir son sauuement."
In te Domine Speravi non confundar in aeternum.—PSAL. XXX.
Non nobis Domine, non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam.—PSAL. CXIII.
"Les anciens patriarches
Qui le futur ont sceu
Pour leur Salut ne fu
A cultiuer le Vigne.

"Ce pressoir fut la Venerable croix
Où le sang fut le Nectar de la Vie;
Quel sang celuy par qui le roy des Rois
Rachepta lhomme et sa race asseruie.

"Tous urais Chrestiens le doiuent receuoir
Auec respect des Prebtres de l'Eglise,
Mais il conuient premierement auoir
L'ame constriste, et la coulpe remise.

"Tous les cantons de ce large Vniuers
En ont gusté par les Evangelistes
Edifies ont esté les peruers
Laissant d'Adam les anciennes pistes.

"Dans les Vaisseaus en reserue il fut mis.
Par les docteurs de l'Eglise, pour estre
Le lauement de nos peches commis,
Mesme de ceux qu'on a Venant a naitre.