. Wayfaring in France, from Auvergne to the Bay of Biscay. hose who did not wish to be disturbed afterdeath, the charnel-house was the securer place ofburial. Here, as in the underground church, onesees numerous recesses in the wall which were madefor tombs. Those who feel the need of sombreideas will be as likely to find the incentive to themhere as anywhere. Oh, what ghostly places arethese old southern towns, with their heaps of ruins,their churches as dim as sepulchres, their crypts andcharnel-houses filled with bones ! Fellow-wanderer, come and see with me theconvent of the Cordeliers. Th
. Wayfaring in France, from Auvergne to the Bay of Biscay. hose who did not wish to be disturbed afterdeath, the charnel-house was the securer place ofburial. Here, as in the underground church, onesees numerous recesses in the wall which were madefor tombs. Those who feel the need of sombreideas will be as likely to find the incentive to themhere as anywhere. Oh, what ghostly places arethese old southern towns, with their heaps of ruins,their churches as dim as sepulchres, their crypts andcharnel-houses filled with bones ! Fellow-wanderer, come and see with me theconvent of the Cordeliers. There are no monkshere now. Since the Revolution their habitationhas been open to all the winds of heaven, and theshadow of the wild fig-tree falls where that of their CLOISTERS OF THE CORDELIERS 437 own forms once fell as they stood in the stalls oftheir chapel choir. In the cloisters, the ivy and thepellitory and the little cranesbill have crept with themoss and the lichen from stone to stone, and in thecentre of the quadrangle stands a great walnut-tree. Convent of the Cordeliers : the Cloisters. that spreads its branches and long leaves over allthe grassy ground. Birds that cannot be seen singaloft under the flaming sky ; but here in the shadowof the arcades and the dark foliage nothing: movesexcept the snail and the lazy toad at evening amidst 438 BY THE LOWER DORDOGNE the damp weeds. The stones that we see here inthis ruined convent bear testimony to the eternalrestlessness of mans desire to oqve some freshartistic form to his religious aspiration. Some werecarved in the Romanesque period, others in theGothic, others in the Renaissance. Witnesses ofthe human mind in different ages, all are crumblingand growing green together, sharing a common fate. Among the many holes and corners full of curiousinterest at St. Emilion, but which have to besearched for by the visitor, is the cave where duringthe Reism of Terror seven of the Girondins soughtrefuge, and where they remained hi
Size: 1296px × 1929px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1913
