the IV century, partly from the X and XII
centuries, was destroyed by storm and flood, and its site near the
treacherous little river being considered too perilous, a new Cathedral
of Notre-Dame-du-Siege and Saint-Maxime was begun; and it was then that
the Bishops celebrated temporarily at Saint-Maxime's on the hill.

During the Revolution the See was suppressed; the church has been much
re-built and changed; so that only a tower which is part of the present
Notre-Dame-du-Siege, and the traces of the earliest foundation near the
little Colostre, remain to tell of the different Cathedrals of Riez.

[Illustration: "THE TOWER OF NOTRE-DAME-DU-SIEGE."--RIEZ.]

Near the site of the oldest church is one of the few monuments of a very
early Christianity which have escaped the perils of time. It is of
unknown date, and although it is said to have been part of the Cathedral
which stood between it and the river, it appears to have been always an
independent and separate building. The peasants say that in the memory
of their forefathers it was used as a chapel, they call it indefinitely
"the Pantheon," "the Temple," or "the Chapel of Saint-Clair," but it was
almost certainly a baptistery of that curious and beautiful type which
was abandoned so early in the evolution of Christian architecture.

[Illustration: "NOTHING COULD BE MORE QUAINTLY OLD AND MODEST THAN THE
BAPTISTERY."--RIEZ.]

Following the road which his innkeeper pointed out, the traveller became
so absorbed in the busy movement of the communal threshing-ground, the
arrival of the yellow grain, the women who were wielding pitchforks, and
the horses moving in circles, with solemn rhythm, that he nearly passed
a low building, the object of his search. Nothing could be more quaintly
old and modest than the baptistery of Riez. It is a small square
building of rough cemented stone whose stucco has worn away. The roof is
tiled, and from out a flattened dome, blades of grass sprout sparsely. A
tiny bell-turret and an arch in the front wall complete the
ornamentation of this humble, diminutive bit of architecture, and except
that it is different from the usual Provencal manner of construction,
one would pass many times without noticing it.

[Illustration: "BETWEEN THE COLUMNS AN ALTAR HAS BEEN
PLACED."--BAPTISTERY, RIEZ.]

Walking down the steps which mark the differences that time has made in
the levels of the ground and entering a small octagonal hall, one of the
most