effigies of heroes and heroines of the faith,
royal patrons, &c., with emblematic animals, fruit, flowers, and
foliage, welding the most incongruous forms into an elaborate and
beautiful scheme of ornamentation.

[Illustration: Gargoyle]

It was in Northern France that the Gothic style was first developed, and
there, as elsewhere, it passed through three phases. The first,
characterised by comparative severity of style and simplicity of
decoration, prevailing in the 12th and 13th centuries; the second, to
which the name of Rayonnant is sometimes given, on account of the
ray-like window tracery, in the 14th; and the third, known as the
Flamboyant, because of the flame-like tracery and general brightness of
the ornamentation, in the 15th century.

[Illustration: Flying Buttress]

A hint of the coming change was, as has already been shown, given in
many a Romanesque building, notably, to quote but two cases in point, in
the Cathedral of Evreux, and the Church of S. Etienne, Beauvais, but it
was in the Cathedral of S. Denis, near Paris, founded in 1140, that the
full significance of that change was revealed. It retains, it is true,
round-headed arches above some of its windows and a few projecting
decorative mouldings, but in other respects it is essentially Gothic,
its double aisles foreshadowing those of the later Notre Dame of Paris,
which may justly be said to be an epitome of the development of the
pointed style in France. Specially dear to the French nation on account
of its intimate association with many thrilling episodes of its history,
it remains, in spite of all the vicissitudes through which it has
passed, so far as its general structure is concerned, very much what it
was when first completed in the late 13th century. The noble western
facade, with its profuse and ornate ornamentation, and the fine square
towers flanking it, each pierced with effective openings and adorned
with grotesque gargoyles, contrast with the slender central
spire--which, by the way, is modern--tiers of graceful flying
buttresses, and the numerous groups of pinnacles, whilst the long line
of the great roof ridge brings into relief the comparative intricacy of
the design of the rest of the building, especially of the extremities of
the transepts with their fairy-like arcading, beautiful sculptures, and
grand rose windows.

The most distinctive details of the interior of Notre Dame are the
massive piers and symmetrical arches of vary