The clerestory, of a prodigious height, is borne aloft by a series of
rather squat-looking pillars, but again figures demonstrate that the
cathedral at Metz is truly one of the wonders of its kind.

There is a north tower which is, or was, a part of the civic
establishment as well, in that it contained an alarm-bell, similar to
those employed in the Netherlands, known as La Mutte. Twin towerlets
straddle the nave of the cathedral in a quite unexplainable manner.

Altogether the building has a most remarkable and not wholly beautiful
sky-line, to which one must become accustomed before it is wholly loved.

Decidedly the least likable portion of the exterior of St. Stephen's is
the west front, which is decidedly incongruous, whereas in most places
it is the west front that shines and is truly brilliant. Certainly, in
this respect Metz does not follow that French tradition which, in its
Gothic churches, it otherwise obeys.

St. Stephen's really rises to almost a supreme height. It has been said
to exceed that of Amiens and Beauvais, but this is manifestly not so,
for, if the figures are correct, it is some seven feet lower than Amiens
and twenty lower than Beauvais. Still, it rises to a daring height, and
its "walls of glass," with their enormously tall clerestory windows,
only accentuate its airiness and grace.

This last quality is remarkable in Gothic architecture of so early a
period, the thirteenth century. At St. Ouen at Rouen, to which its
openness may be compared, and perhaps to Gloucester in England, the work
is of a much later date.

The interior of St. Stephen's presents an equally marked effect of
height and brilliancy, with perhaps an exaggeration of the ample
clerestory at the expense of the triforium.

There is a remarkable symmetry in the nave and its aisles; and its
strong columns, with their shafting rising to the roof groins, show a
method of construction so daring that modern builders certainly would
not care to copy it.

The glass of the great clerestory windows in the choir dates only from
the sixteenth century, and was designed by one Bousch of Strasburg.

The windows of the north and south transepts are exceedingly brilliant
specimens of the mediaeval glass-workers' art. There are some fragmentary
remains, in the clerestory of the nave, of glass of a much earlier
period than that in the choir, possibly contemporary with the fabric
itself (thirteenth century). If this is so, it is of the