sterly portion of the Cathedral
of St. Cyr, which bear the date of 1024. From this foundation the lover
of churches will rear for himself an exceedingly interesting and
uncommon type.

Not of the first rank, St. Cyr has the power to hold one's attention far
more closely and interestingly than many of greater worth and magnitude;
and its environment, from every point of view, composes itself into a
picture which it would be hard to duplicate. The grouping of the chevet
of the choir with the low roofs of the town lying at its base, and the
gardens of the ducal chateau in the immediate foreground, forms an
unusually varied combination of the picturesque.

The wealth of Nevers in architectural monuments would be notable in a
town many times its size. The Port de Paris, a not especially attractive
Renaissance gateway, guards the northerly, and the Port du Croux the
westerly, end of the town. This latter groups nobly with the west end
and tower of the cathedral, and is of itself a monument of the first
rank, being so designated by the _Commission des Monumentes
Historiques_. A feudal defence, square, broad-based, turreted, flanked
with circular watch-towers, and still further strengthened by a barbican
which once held a portcullis, this wonderfully effective barrier more
than suggests the mediaeval stronghold. Two other towers of the ancient
_enceinte_ still remain, the Tour Gougin, and the Tour St. Eloi.

Intimate acquaintance with the cathedral shows a blending, not
offensive, but in no slight manner, of the Romanesque, early and late
Gothic, and finally Renaissance styles. Nevertheless there is an
apparent cohesiveness often lacking in a larger work, or in one built
within a shorter period of time. One distinctly northern feature there
is; namely, the singular effect given by the double apse of the nave and
choir, reminiscent mainly of the Rhine builders, that of the eastern
end being much the older. The half-obliterated frescoes of the domed
vaulting of the western apse indicate that it was completed after the
pure Italian manner at a considerably later time than the opposite end.
It is hardly a beautiful or even a necessary feature to either the
exterior or interior of a great church, and, fortunately, is unusual in
France, though common enough in Germany, notably at Mainz, Worms, and
Treves. The most remarkable interior effect, aside from this western
apse, is that of the lofty Gothic arches, springing high above the