is further strengthened when it is also recalled that
they are representative of the first really national artistic
expression. For this reason alone, if for no other, the hasty critics
who have so handily claimed precedence elsewhere, might profitably
review the facts of the circumstance which led to so universal an
adoption of the full-blown style in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries.

The Romanesque peoples were confined southwards of mid-France at the
time of the withdrawal of the Roman legions, while, in the north, the
conquering Franks sought to wipe out every vestige of their past
influence; hence it may be considered that the new manner of building
had everything in favour of its speedy growth. It was thus definitely
assured of a warm welcome, and, following in the footsteps of Clovis
himself, the rulers were more than willing to aid what they believed
might be a strengthening influence, politically, as well as morally.

The style may be justly said to be a natural and growthful expression of
a race, and more significant than all else is the fact that nowhere,
not even on the Rhine, which with northern France claims the origin of
the style, is to be found any single example equalling in any like
measure the perfections of "Les Grandes Cathedrales Francaises," though
it be recalled that in many instances the German buildings were planned
and often erected by French architects and artisans.

Among the two thousand or more "Monuments Historiques" paternally cared
for by the French government and under the direct control of the
Ministry of Public Instruction and the Beaux Arts, none are of the
relative importance, historically or artistically, of the Grand
Cathedrals. Certain objects, classed as megalithic and antique remains,
may be the connecting links between the past and the present by which
the antiquarian weaves the threads of his historical lore; but neither
these nor the _reliques_ which have been dug from the ground or untombed
from later constructive elements, all of which are generously included
in the general scheme by the Department of Beaux Arts, which has
provided a fund for their preservation and care, have one tithe of the
appealing interest which these great churches bespeak on behalf of the
contemporary life of the times in which they were built, reflecting as
they do many correlated events, and forming, in the interweaving of the
history of their inception and construction, an epitome of wel