eir cloth by
licentiousness. Into this disorder came the great and holy Benedict, the
"learnedly ignorant, the wisely unlearned," the true organiser of
Western Monachism. Under his wise "Rules" the Abbey of the VI century
was transformed. It became "not only a place of prayer and meditation,
but a refuge against barbarism in all its forms. And this home of books
and knowledge had departments of all kinds, and its dependencies formed
what we would call to-day a 'model farm.' There were to be found
examples of activity and industry for the workman, the common tiller of
the soil, or the land-owner himself. It was a school," continues
Thierry, "not of religion, but of practical knowledge; and when it is
considered that there were two hundred and thirty-eight of such schools
in Clovis' day, the power of the Orders, though late in coming, will be
seen to have grown as great as that of the Bishops."

From these two branches sprang all that is greatest in the
ecclesiastical architecture of France. As their strength grew, their
respective churches were built, and to-day, as a sign of their dual
power, we have the Abbey and the Cathedral.

The Bishop's church had its prototype in the first Christian meeting
places in Rome and was planned from two basic ideas,--the part of the
Roman house which was devoted to early Christian service, and the
growing exigencies of the ritual itself. At the very first of the
Christian era, converts met in any room, but these little groups so soon
grew to communities that a larger place was needed and the "basilica" of
the house became the general and accepted place of worship. The
"basilica" was composed of a long hall, sometimes galleried, and a
hemicycle; and its general outline was that of a letter T. Into this
purely secular building, Christian ceremonials were introduced. The
hemicycle became the apse; the gallery, a clerestory; the hall, a
central nave. Here the paraphernalia of the new Church were installed.
The altar stood in the apse; and between it and the nave, on either
side, a pulpit or reading-desk was placed. Bishop and priests sat around
the altar, the people in the nave. This disposition of clergy, people,
and the furniture of the sacred office is essentially that of the
Cathedral of to-day. There were however many amplifications of the first
type. The basilica form, T, was enlarged to that of a cross; and
increasingly beautiful architectural forms were evolved. Among the first
wa