stands
magnificently arrayed in a stiff-pleated robe channelled lengthwise,
like a stick of celery. The bodice is richly trimmed and stitched; below
her waist hangs a cord with loose jewelled knots; on her head is a
crown. Both arms are broken; one hand rested on her bosom; in the other
she held a sceptre, of which a small portion remains.

"This queen is smiling, artless, and engaging--quite charming. She looks
down on all comers with wide open eyes under high-arched brows. Never,
at any period, has a more expressive face been formed by the genius of
man; it is a masterpiece of childlike grace and saintly innocence.

"Here, amid the pensive architecture of the twelfth century, one of a
crowd of devout statues, symbolical to some extent of simple love in an
age when men were in perpetual dread of everlasting hell, she seems to
stand at the Gate of the Lord as the exorable image of forgiveness. To
the terrified souls of habitual sinners who after perseverance in guilt
no longer dare cross the threshold of the Sanctuary, she stands kindly
reproving such reticence, conquering regrets and soothing terrors by her
familiar smile.

"She is the elder sister of the prodigal son, of whom St. Luke indeed
makes no mention, but who, if she ever existed, would have pleaded for
the absent wanderer, and have insisted with her father on the killing of
the fatted calf when the son returned.

"Chartres, to be sure, does not see her in this indulgent aspect; local
tradition names her Berthe of the broad foot; but while there is no
argument to support this hypothesis, it is in fact quite absurd, as the
statue is graced with a nimbus. This mark of holiness would not have
been given to Charlemagne's mother, whose name is not on the list of the
saints of the Church Triumphant.

"According to the notions of those archaeologists who believe that the
sculptured dignitaries of this porch represent the ancestry of Christ,
she must be a queen of the Old Testament. But which? As Hello very truly
remarks, tears abound in the Scriptures, but laughter is so rare that
Sarah's, when she could not help mocking at the angel who announced that
she should bear a son in her old age, has remained on record. So it is
in vain that we inquire to what personage of the ancient books this
queen's innocent joy may be ascribed.

"The truth is that she must remain a perennial mystery; she is an
angelic, limpid creature, who has attained, no doubt, to the purest j