. Wayfaring in France, from Auvergne to the Bay of Biscay. e is now alittle spot of slow life in the midst of ruins and awilderness of ruin-lovino- weeds. Three walls en-circled it, and although these did long service as thequarries wherefrom the inhabitants drew such build-ing stone as they needed, yet have they not been de-molished, but tell their whole story still, in spite ofwide gaps and breaks—ay, and with a far more soul-moving voice than when they could show to theenemy their crenated parapets without a flaw, whennot a stone was wanting to any tower or gateway,and when the twano- of th
. Wayfaring in France, from Auvergne to the Bay of Biscay. e is now alittle spot of slow life in the midst of ruins and awilderness of ruin-lovino- weeds. Three walls en-circled it, and although these did long service as thequarries wherefrom the inhabitants drew such build-ing stone as they needed, yet have they not been de-molished, but tell their whole story still, in spite ofwide gaps and breaks—ay, and with a far more soul-moving voice than when they could show to theenemy their crenated parapets without a flaw, whennot a stone was wanting to any tower or gateway,and when the twano- of the cross-bow might havebeen heard from every loophole. There are heaps ofstones where the lizard runs, where the coiled snakebasks untroubled, where the dwarfed fig-tree sproutswhen the spring has come, and where the wildcucumber pushes forward its yellow flowers that fearnot the flame of summer. The fig-tree may alsobe seen han«in^ from high walls, and the vinerambles among blooming or embrowned wall-flowers on the top of ruinous gateways, through W-n. 447 448 BY THE GAllONNE which the people still enter and leave the town asthey did centuries ago. The spirit of originality that animated themediaeval architects in this part of France, andwhich has given to so many churches a distinctcharacter, an individual expression, that keeps theinterest of the traveller constantly alive, is stronglymarked upon the church of St. Macaire. Com-menced at the beginning of the twelfth century, itsearliest portions show the Pointed style in itsinfancy, fearful as yet of committing what seemed solike heresy—a departure from the Roman arch ; butin the same building a much bolder Gothic assertsitself in the parts that were added in the thirteenthcentury. The west front and doorway have not themajesty of the style as it was developed chiefly in theNorth, but they have that venerable air which is notalways to be found in the stately and majestic. Thelow tympanum is crowded with figures belonging
Size: 1236px × 2022px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1913
