e great Revolution; and it is only a few
of the heavenly hosts,--the gracious Madonna, Saint Michael, and the
Prophets,--that remain as types of those that were so wantonly
destroyed. The low, empty gables that sheltered lost statues, their
slender, tapering turrets, and the delicate outer curve of the arch, are
of admirable, if not imposing, composition. The portal's wooden doors,
protected by plain casings, abound in carvings partly Renaissance,
partly Gothic. The Sibyls and Prophets stand under canopies, surrounded
by foliage, fruits, and flowers, or isolated from each other by little
buttresses or pilasters. This Gothic portal quite outshines, in its
graceful elaboration, the smaller door which stands near it, in the
simpler and not less potent charm of the Romanesque. And side by side,
these portals offer a curiously interesting comparison of the essential
differences and qualities of their two great styles. If the Romanesque
of Saint-Sauveur is far surpassed at Arles and Digne and Sisteron,
nowhere in Provence has Gothic richer details; and if the noblest of
Provencal creations must be sought in other little cities, the lover of
architectural comparisons, of details, of the many lesser things rather
than of the harmony of a single whole, will linger long in Aix.

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL.--AIX.]

The old city itself shows scarcely a trace of the many historic dramas
of which it has been the scene,--the lowering tragedy of the Vaudois
time,--the bright, gay comedy of good king Rene's Court,--the shorter
scenes of Charles V's occupation,--the Parliament's struggle with
Richelieu and Mazarin,--the day of the fiery Mirabeau,--the grim
melodrama of the Revolution,--all have passed, and time has destroyed
their monuments almost as completely as the Saracens destroyed those of
the earlier Roman days. Only a few, unformed fragments of the great
Temple of Apollo remain in the walls of Saint-Sauveur. The earliest
Cathedral, Sainte-Marie-de-la-Seds, has entirely disappeared, the old
thermal springs are enclosed by modern buildings, and only the statue of
"the good King Rene" and the Church of the Knights of Malta give to Aix
a faint atmosphere of its past distinction. Who would dream that here
were the homes of the elegant and lettered courtiers of King Rene's
brilliant capital, who would think that this town was the earliest Roman
settlement in Gaul, the Aquae Sextiae of Baths, Temples, Theatres, and
great wealth? Aix