windows, often occupy the gables, and are many of them very fine
compositions.

_Mouldings and Ornaments._

The mouldings of the French first pointed are usually larger than our
own. Compared with ours they are also fewer, simpler, and designed to
produce more breadth of effect. This may partly result from their
originating in a sunshiny country where effects of shade are easily
obtained. In the second and third periods they more nearly resemble
those in use in England at the corresponding times.

The carving is very characteristic and very beautiful. In the
transition and first pointed a cluster of stalks, ending in a tuft of
foliage or flowers, is constantly employed, especially in capitals.
The use of this in England is rare; and, on the other hand, foliage
like E. E. conventional foliage is rare in France. In the second
pointed, natural foliage is admirably rendered (Fig. 37). In the third
a somewhat conventional kind of foliage, very luxuriant in its
apparent growth, is constantly met with.

This carving is at every stage accompanied by figure-sculpture of the
finest character. Heads of animals, statues, groups of figures, and
has reliefs are freely employed, but always with the greatest
judgment, so that their introduction adds richness to the very point
in the whole composition where it is most needed. In every part of
France, and in every period of Gothic architecture, good specimens of
sculpture abound. Easily accessible illustrations will be found in the
west entrance and south transept front of Rouen Cathedral, the porches
and portals at Chartres, the choir inclosure of Notre Dame at Paris,
and the richly sculptured inclosure of the choir of Amiens Cathedral.

[Illustration: FIG. 37.--CAPITAL FROM ST. NICHOLAS, BLOIS, FRANCE.
(13TH CENTURY.)]

Stained glass has been more than once referred to. It is to be found
in its greatest perfection in France, as for example in La Sainte
Chapelle at Paris, and the cathedrals of Le Mans, Bourges, Chartres,
and Rheims. All that has been said in the introductory chapter on
this, the crowning ornament of Gothic architecture, and on its
influence upon window design, and through that, upon the whole
structure of the best churches, is to the full as applicable to French
examples. Coloured decoration was also frequently employed in the
interior of churches and other buildings, and is constantly to be met
with in French buildings, both secular and religious. In m