row of twelve queens embodying the twelve
fruits of the Spirit; and linger over the enchanting series of statues
in the moulding at the very edge of the archway of the porch,
representing the occupations of the active and the contemplative life.

"The active life, on the left, is imagined in accordance with the
picture of the virtuous woman in the last chapter of Proverbs. She is
seen washing wool in a bowl, carding it, stripping the flax, beating it,
spinning it on a distaff, and winding it into hanks.

"On the right is seen the contemplative life; a woman praying, holding a
closed book, opening it, reading it; she shuts it to meditate on it,
teaches others, and falls into an ecstasy.

"Finally, in the outermost hollow of the moulding of the arch, the
nearest to us and the most visible, there are fourteen statues of
queens, leaning on shields with coats-of-arms, and formerly holding
banners. The meaning of these statuettes has been much discussed,
especially of the second figure on the left, which is named '_Libertas_'
the word being carved in the stone. Didron believed them to represent
the domestic and social virtues; but the question has been finally and
definitively settled by the most erudite and clearsighted symbolist of
our day, Madame Felicie d'Ayzac, who, in a very edifying pamphlet
published in 1843 on these statues and on the animals of the Tetramorph,
has proved to demonstration that these fourteen queens are none else
than the fourteen heavenly Beatitudes as enumerated by Saint Anselm:
Beauty, Liberty, Honour, Joy, Pleasure, Agility, Strength, Concord,
Friendship, Length of Days, Power, Health, Safety, and Wisdom.

"Is not this porch, as a whole, so closely set with imagery, one of the
most ingenious and interesting doorways known, from the points of view
of theology and of mysticism alike?"

"And no less from the point of view of art. You are perfectly right;
these toiling and meditative women are so delicate and so loving, that
we can but regret that they should be hidden in the shadow of a cavern.
What artists must those have been who worked thus for the glory of God
and for their own satisfaction, creating marvels while knowing that no
man would see them!"

"And they had not even the vanity to sign them; they were always
anonymous."

"Ah! they were men of a different mould from us. Prouder souls, and
humbler."

"And holier," added the Abbe. "Shall we now inquire into the iconography
of the ri