ty by warding off Attila's attack.
Clovis captured it in 498, but at his death it became the capital of an
independent kingdom which was afterward, in 613, united with that of
Paris. Activities no less extensive or vivid followed, till the English
besieged the city in 1429, only retiring before the conquering hosts led
by the Maid of Orleans on the 7th of May; the Huguenots held it as a
stronghold under Coligny; and latterly the Germans occupied it, were
driven out, and again reoccupied it as a base in 1870-71. Such, in
brief, is a partial record of its troubles and trials, with scarce a
reference to a Christian or religious motive, if we except Attila's
unsuccessful attack and Coligny's Protestant fervour.

The almost legendary part played by Jeanne d'Arc should suffice to
impress indelibly upon the mind the chief event in connection with any
city with which her name and fame were associated.

In the third century seven bishops were sent out from Rome, to extend
the influence of the Church, to Tours, Orleans, Toulouse, Narbonne,
Paris, Limoges, and Auvergne; though, in spite of the success with which
they met, and the zeal with which they worked, their meetings were
chiefly held in the houses of their more opulent converts, and church
building at the time appears not to have been so much desired as the
dissemination of the Word itself. Since its occupation by the Germans in
"'71," great contrasting elements have sprung up. Nowhere, not even in
the "up-to-date" Rhine cities of Germany, is better exemplified the
trend of the age in which we live. There are notable indications of its
modernity in the architecture of public and private buildings, many
streets and boulevards of the city being laid out anew and bisecting the
older portions.

The Cathedral of St. Croix, of widely contrasting styles and eras, forms
a pleasing enough key-note to it all, in spite of its garish crudities.
At its best, when viewed from the bridge which spans the well-nigh dry
bed of the Loire, it composes well with what is at all times a pleasing
prospect, and is set off to great advantage by the fringe of green
boulevard along the river bank,--a fine enough setting for an
architectural monument of whatever rank, be it new or old, consistent or
conglomerate. As for the classification of the architectural style of
the cathedral itself, it is an unprincipled mixture of components, but
little related to each other. The southern influence is apparen