dom is. The city is hardly in keeping with what we are wont
to associate with the environment of a great cathedral, though this of
itself in no way detracts from its charms. The weekly cattle-market
takes place almost before its very doors, and the battery of hotels
which flank the open square present the air of catering more to the need
of the husbandman than to the tourist;--not a wholly objectionable
feature, either.

Beyond such evidences as an occasional sign-board announcing the fact
that the hostelry possesses a _garage_, _fosse_, or what not for the
necessitous requirements of the automobilist, the inns remain much as
they always were, mere _bourgeoise_ caravansaries.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres jumps full into view immediately
on leaving the railway station, though here it is to be noted that no
delineation has ever been made by modern hand which shows its facade in
its entirety. The roofs of the houses and shops around its base indicate
no special squalor or poverty, as is the case with regard to some
Continental churches, and there is a picturesque grouping of firs and
poplars to the left which adds considerably to an already pleasing
prospect. The whole grouping is, perhaps, none the less attractive than
if the facade, with those extraordinarily beautiful non-contemporary
spires, stood quite unobstructed. In fact, it is doubtful if many a
monumental shrine might not lose considerably, were it taken from its
environment and placed in another which might not suit its graces so
well.

These really fascinating spires, famed of all writers, archaeologists,
and painters alike, are the _clef_ by which the whole harmony is
sounded. One cannot but echo, and reecho, all that has been said of
them, though in a quandary as to which of the two is the more
beautiful: the plain, simple, symmetrical, older spire, or that
wonderful work of Texier's, replacing another burned in 1506, which
rises in gently sculptured and tapered ranges to a height which exceeds
its companion by some twenty-five feet. No more appropriate or
convincing wording could be given of it than by quoting Fergusson's
estimate, which sums it up as being "the most beautifully designed spire
in Europe, surpassing even Strasburg and Antwerp."

It is rather a pity that from no suitably near-by point can one obtain a
full view of the effect of the western facade. One poor little house
seems ever to thrust itself into the ensemble, though it is