ens." Like Reims, its three portals of great size are peopled with a
throng of statues. The central portal, known as the Porche du Souvenir,
contains the statue of the Good God of Amiens; that on the right is
called after the Mere de Dieu, and that on the left for St. Fermin the
Martyr. Above the gables is the "Gallery of Kings," just below the
enormous rose windows. Above rise the two towers of unequal loftiness,
and lacking, be it said, thickness in its due proportion. The carven
figures in general are not considered the equal in workmanship of those
at Reims, though the effect and arrangement is similar. For a complete
list of them, numbering some hundreds on this facade alone, the reader
must refer to some local guide-book, of which several are issued in the
city.

The south portal, the _Portal de la Vierge doree_ or _Portal de Saint
Honore_, shares company with the west facade in its richness of
sculpture and its rose window and its gable. Here also are to be seen
the supporting buttresses which spring laterally from the wall of the
transept and cross with those which come from the choir.

The north portal, on the side of the Bishop's Palace, does not show the
same richness as the others, though perhaps more than ordinarily ornate.

The spire above the transept crossing is a work of the sixteenth
century, and is perhaps more remarkable than its rather diminutive
appearance, in contrast with the huge bulk of the edifice, would
indicate.

The extreme height of nave and choir (147 feet), adds immeasurably to
the grand effect produced by the interior, a height in proportion to
breadth nearly double that usual in the English cathedrals. The vaulting
is borne aloft by over one hundred columns. The natural attribute of
such great dimension is a superb series of windows, a promise more than
fulfilled by the three great rose windows and the lofty clerestory of
nave and choir. The sixteenth century glass is exceedingly profuse and
brilliant.

The lateral chapels of the nave were added subsequent to the work of the
early builders, all being of the sixteenth century, while the eleven
choir chapels are of the thirteenth century, all with very ornate iron
grilles, which are a feature only second to a remarkable series of
"choir stalls," numbering over one hundred, showing a wonderful variety
of delicate carved figures of the sixteenth century, the work of one
Jean Turpin, the subjects being mainly Biblical.

A stone scree