rom the very inconsistencies and
exuberance of its style, to be of great interest. The fragments that
remain of its former magnificent glass, the sculptured monuments, and
the tombs and curiosities of the "_tresor_," which escaped Revolutionary
spoliation, all combine in a glorious attraction for one who has the
time and inclination to delve into the reminiscence of history and
association of a past age.

The glass of the choir, and of the chapel of St. Savinien, is of the
thirteenth century. The colour is exceedingly brilliant, lively, and
harmonious, with the iridescence of a mosaic of precious stones.

The sixteenth-century glass, none the less than the framing itself, of
the grand rose windows of the north and south transepts, is equally
remarkable as to design and colour. The former represents the
"Glorification of Jesus Christ," and the latter "Events in the Life of
St. Etienne."

The "_tresor_" of the cathedral is very numerous and is considered the
richest in all France. The most notable are a reliquary of gold, set
with sapphires and pearls, containing a fragment of the True Cross,
given by Charlemagne in the year 800; four magnificent tapestries of the
time of Charles V., representing the "Adoration of the Magi;" and the
pontifical robes of St. Thomas (a Becket), chasuble, aube, stole,
manipule, cordon, two mitres, and two collars. This courageous
archbishop, persecuted by Henry II., took refuge in Sens in 1162. An
elaborate tomb (of the eighteenth century), by Constant, is the
mausoleum of the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI.

_PART VI_

_Western Normandy and Brittany_

I

INTRODUCTORY

Most people who have read Ruskin, and most people have done so--in the
past, will undoubtedly concur with his dictum that Rouen's "associated
Norman cities," Bayeux, Caen, Coutances, St. Lo, Lisieux, and Dieppe,
run the entire gamut of mediaeval architectural notes; or, as Ruskin
himself has put it, "from the Romanesque to the flamboyant." He might
well have added, the Renaissance and the pseudo-classicism of a later
day.

Beauties there are in this region, galore; and the examples which no
longer exist, but of which the records tell, point to a still larger
aggregate.

Who thinks to-day of Coutances as of being a "cathedral town?" And yet,
there is within it, as to the general effect of situation and the
magnitude of its towering pinnacles, an edifice which perhaps outranks
all but the very greatest.