dral of Coutances, which has a very fine central lantern
tower--that is to say, one with windows that throw a light upon the
centre of the interior of a building--and a beautiful tapering spire;
and the Cathedral of Lisieux, with a very characteristic chevet and
vaulting resembling that of the Cathedral of Amiens.

The Cathedral of Le Mans, already referred to in connection with its
noble Romanesque nave, has a most beautiful late 13th century Gothic
choir, with one of the finest chevets in France. The aisles, that at the
western end of the building are single, develop at the transepts into a
double circlet, with chapels radiating from them, whilst the choir has
exceptionally fine 13th and 14th century stained glass windows. The
general effect of the interior, in which the solemn dignity of the nave
contrasts with the almost ethereal beauty of the choir and its
surroundings, is most impressive, whilst the exterior with its graceful
flying buttresses and pinnacles is equally fine.

The Cathedral of Bourges is another typical 13th century Gothic building
which, though it is without the usual transepts, has a beautiful apse,
the ambulatories of which have unusually wide spaces between the
columns, double aisles flanking the nave as well as the choir and
chevet, producing a unique impression of vastness, whilst the exterior
is equally effective with its five grand western portals, a long main
roof unbroken by towers or spires, and a series of steeply pitched
supplementary roofs above the chapels of the eastern end.

Dating from the same period as the cathedrals just noticed is the
fortified Abbey of Mont St. Michel, that has been again and again
rebuilt, and in which the gradual evolution of the Gothic style in
France can be well studied, especially in the lovely chapel justly
called the Merveille or the Marvel, that, with its cloisters, is still
much what it was when finished in 1228, whilst the Chatelet or
Gate-house, with its massive round towers and the various abbatial
buildings, such as the Salle des Hotes or Guest-Hall, are equally
characteristic of French domestic architecture of the same period. On
the other hand the Abbey Church, that crowns the mount, has been so
much-restored and modified that little of the original structure
remains, except the crypt which, with its massive piers and arches and
many supplementary chapels, is practically the same as that from which
uprose the famous abbey, the building of whic