ces have, as a natural course,
been subject to many retarding influences which have been wanting
elsewhere; for invasion from without may be depended upon to be as
baneful for the preservation of a nation's art treasures as a revolution
from within. The Christian element early forced its way among the
Franks, and Clovis, at the solicitation of his Christian queen and her
bishop, was not averse to adopting what he might otherwise have regarded
as a superstition. His conversion at Reims not only fostered and
propagated Christianity, but gave an impetus to the foundation and
building of churches in a most generous fashion.

The region to the eastward of Paris, which has played no unimportant
part in the history of France, while prolific as to varied types of
church building, possesses but one example of the very first rank,--and
that, as a style which typifies Gothic art, may be said to rank supreme
over all others,--Notre Dame de Reims. As the seat of the Metropolitain,
and the City of Coronations, it was allied closely with early affairs of
Church and State.

The principles and manner adopted by Guillaume of Sens in his great
works early affected the style here, as seen by the many transition
examples, just as the influence of the Monk of St. Benigne of Dijon
caused the round-arched species of the west of France. At all events the
primitive Gothic influences were early at work and in a measure absorbed
the Romanesque tendencies which had flourished previously.

The most notable exception, an example of the distinctly southern type,
is at Besancon, which has a remarkable array of contrasting style, with
the Romanesque, though not of the best, predominating.

With the cathedrals in the extreme northerly section we have little to
do,--in fact there is little that can be said. St. Omer is possessed of
a wonderful old church which at one time ranked as a cathedral, and
which has glimpses here and there of very good Gothic. There are also,
in this otherwise not very interesting city, two other church buildings
worthy of more than an ordinary amount of attention, the ruins of the
Abbey of St. Bertin and the Church of St. Denis.

Boulogne-sur-Mer has a modern pseudo-classical structure built well into
the nineteenth century. It is more notable as a monument to the
industry of the man who brought about its erection, taking the place of
a former structure burnt during the Revolution, than as a satisfactory
example of a great