e Bridge
between us and the Father.'

"These tendencies, transplanted from Africa to Europe, were preserved by
the first monks of the West, who followed the example of their
predecessors, and modified and built their churches on the same pattern.

"That repentance, contrition, and awe dwell under these dark vaults,
among these heavy pillars, in this fortress, as it were, where the elect
shut themselves in to resist the assaults of the world, is quite
certain--but this mystical Romanseque also suggests the notion of a
sturdy faith, of manly patience, and stalwart piety--like its walls.

"It has not the flaming raptures of the mystical Gothic, which finds
utterance in all these soaring shafts of stone; the Romanesque lives
self-centred, in reserved fervour, brooding in the depths of the soul.
It may be summed up in this saying of Saint Isaac's: _In mansuetudine et
in tranquillitate, simplifica animam tuam_.'"

"You will confess, Monsieur l'Abbe, that you have a weakness for the
style."

"Perhaps I have, in so far as that it is less petted, more humble, less
feminine, and more claustral than the Gothic."

"On the whole," the priest concluded, as he shook hands with Durtal at
his own door, "it is the symbol of the inner life, the image of the
monastic life; in a word, the true architecture of the cloister."

"On condition, nevertheless," said Durtal to himself, "that it is not
like that of Notre Dame de Poitiers, where the interior is gaudy with
childish colouring and raw tones; for there, instead of expressing
regret and tranquillity, it rouses a suggestion of the childish glee of
an old savage in his second childhood, who laughs when his tattoo marks
are renewed, and his skin rough-cast with crude ochres."

CHAPTER VII.

"How many worshippers can the Cathedral contain? Well, nearly 18,000,"
said the Abbe Plomb. "But I need hardly tell you, I suppose, that it is
never full; that even during the season for pilgrimages the vast crowds
of Mediaeval times never assemble here. Ah, no! Chartres is not exactly
what you would call a pious town!"

"It strikes me as indifferent to religion, to say the least, if not
actually hostile," said the Abbe Gevresin.

"The citizen of Chartres is money-getting, apathetic, and salacious,"
replied the Abbe Plomb. "Above all, greedy of money, for the passion for
lucre is fierce here, under an inert surface. Really, from my own
experience, I pity the young priest who is sent a