city.
Sainte-Marie-Majeure, one of its oldest ecclesiastical names, is a title
which belonged to churches of both the XI and XII centuries; but in the
feats of architectural gymnastics to which their remains have been
subjected, and in the wars and vicissitudes of Provence, these buildings
have long since disappeared.

A few stones still exist of the XI century structure, void of form or
architectural significance, and the ancient name of Sainte-Marie-Majeure
now protects a Cathedral built in the most depressing style of the
industrious Philistines of the XVII and XVIII centuries. It is not a
Provencal nor a truly "maritime" church, it is not a fortress nor a
defence, nor a work of any architectural beauty. It has blatancy, size,
pretension,--a profusion of rich incongruities; and although religiously
interesting from its chapels and shrines, it is architecturally
obtrusive and monstrous.

The vagaries of the architects who began in 1634 to construct the
present edifice, are well illustrated in the changes of plan to which
they subjected this unfortunate church. The length became the breadth,
the isolated chapel of the Virgin, part of the main building; the choir,
another chapel; and the High Altar was removed from the eastern to the
northern end, where a new choir had been built for its reception. This
confusion of plan was carried out with logical confusion of style and
detail. The facade has Corinthian columns of the XVII century; the nave
is said to be "transition Gothic," the choir is decorated with mural
paintings, and the High Altar, a work of Revoil, adds to the banalities
of the XVII and XVIII centuries a rich incongruity of which the XIX has
no reason to be proud. The whole interior is so full of naves of unequal
length, and radiating chapels, of arches of differing forms, tastes, and
styles, that it defies concise description and is unworthy of serious
consideration. Provence has modest Cathedrals of small architectural
significance, but except Sainte-Reparate of Nice, it has none so chaotic
and commonplace as Sainte-Marie-Majeure of Toulon.

[Sidenote: Frejus.]

Frejus, which claims to be "the oldest city in France," was one of the
numerous trading ports of the Phoenician, and later, during the period
of her civic grandeur, an arsenal of the Roman navy. Her most
interesting ruins are the Coliseum, the Theatre, the old Citadel, and
the Aqueduct, suggestions of a really great city of the long-gone past.