y are sung after the Use of Solesmes, so that you can
alternately attend that church and those chapels and the Cathedral,
since perfection is to be found in neither."

"Of course. Still, is it not horrible to think that the Hottentot taste
of a few bawling old men can pursue the Virgin even in Her sanctuary
with such musical insults? Ah, there is the rain again," said Durtal
with vexation, after a short silence.

"Well, here we are. We can take shelter in the church, and study the
interior at our leisure."

They knelt before the Black Virgin of the Pillar; then they sat down in
the deserted nave, and the Abbe said in an undertone,--

"I explained to you the other day the symbolism of the outside of the
building. Would you like me now to inform you in a few words as to the
allegories set forth in the aisles?"

And on seeing Durtal agree by a nod, the priest went on,--

"You are, of course, aware that almost all our cathedrals are cruciform.
In the primitive Church, it is true, you will find that some were
constructed of a circular form and surmounted by a dome. But most of
these were not built by our forefathers; they are ancient temples of the
heathen adapted by the Catholics, with more or less alteration, to their
own use, or imitated from such temples before the Romanesque style was
recognized.

"We need then seek in these no liturgical meaning, since that form was
not a Christian invention. At the same time Durand of Mende, in his
_Rationale_, asserts that a building of rounded form symbolizes the
extension of the Church over the whole circle of the universe. Others
explain the dome as being the crown of the Crucified King, and the
smaller cupolas which occasionally support it as the huge heads of the
Nails. But we may set aside these explanations, which are but based on
existing facts, and study the cruciform plan shown here, as in other
cathedrals, in the arrangement of the nave and transepts.

"It may be noted that in a few churches, as, for instance, the abbey
church of Cluny, the interior, instead of showing a Latin Cross, was
planned on the lines of the Cross of Lorraine, two _crosslets_ being
added to the arms.--Now, behold the whole scheme!" the priest said, with
a gesture that comprehended the whole of the interior of the basilica of
Chartres.

"Jesus is dead; His head is at the altar; His outstretched arms are the
two transepts; His pierced hands are the doors; His legs are the nave
where we are