by a grand town-gate, is the now
cathedral church, uncouth enough in the external view, and we may fairly
say unworthy of its new rank, but which reveals one of the most
instructive pieces of architectural history to be found anywhere.
Imbedded in later additions, we still find the choir, transepts, and
lantern of a comparatively small Romanesque church, perhaps hardly on a
level with Ambrieres, but its nave has given way to a vast Angevin nave
as wide as the transepts of the original building, and itself furnished
with transepts to the west of them. The antiquary will earnestly pray
that no one may be led by zeal without discretion to rebuild this church
on a scale and style more worthy of its present rank. Let the diocese of
Laval, if anybody chooses, be furnished with a new cathedral; but let
the present building stand untouched, as one that has undergone changes
as instructive as any that can be found.

But the church of the new diocese, though perhaps, by virtue of its
singular changes, the most interesting, is hardly the most attractive
ecclesiastical building in Laval and its immediate neighbourhood. Not
far off in a suburb by the river-side is the church of Our Lady of
Avesnieres, not improved certainly by its modern spire, but keeping a
most stately Romanesque apse with surrounding chapels. Inside it
supplies one of the best examples of the transition, the pointed arch
having made its way into the great constructive arcades, but not into
any of the smaller arches. But the taste of those who designed its
capitals must have been singular. Any kind of man, beast, or bird, it
has been said, can put himself into such a posture as to make an Ionic
volute. When the volutes are made by the heads of eagles, well and good;
but it is certainly strange to make them out of the heads of cranes, who
are holding down their long necks to peck each one at a human skull
which he firmly holds down with one of his feet. And on the other side
of Laval will also be found the church of Price, an almost untouched
Romanesque building the masonry of which seems to carry it back to days
before the growth of either Angevin or Norman taste. And the land of
Maine too is full of other spots at which we can barely glance, many of
which are famous in the history of the district. On the railway between
Laval and Le Mans, Evron has its abbey, with portions both of the
earlier Romanesque and of the later Gothic, but where one little
transitional c