Architecture In France.*

take it for granted that the beautiful arrangement of apsidal chapels appears in its earliest example in the north-east of France at the end of the tenth century , or beginning of the eleventh . The interest increases with the next century . In the tenth century nearly all the examples were drawn from the countries near the Rhone ; but in the

eleveuth we must trace the awakening of our art in nearly every part of France , and can find noteworthy examples everywhere . In Picardy and Normandy we have Roeherville , Jumieges , the abbeys of Caen , St . Lo , and others , all bearing strong signs of their Norman parentage , and

being , in fact , more Norman than French , if we may so distinguish the parentage . In Brittany , there is comparatively little worth notice clearl y identified with the eleventh century ; and one is surprised to find that the same must be said of that tract of country so rich in memorials of

the two next centuries , French Flanders , and the Isle of France . Champagne , Burgundy , Lorraine , and Alsace contain little more than Langres—a very large and interesting church with details clearly copied from classic remains ( a good sketch of it is given by De Caumont)—S . Remi , at Rheims , which

clearly shows a German feeling , and Notre Dame de la Couture at Mans , which shows the most northern , to my knowledge , of the Angiovine churches without aisles . ^ But get down farther south and we have a most interesting series gradually appearing . We have in Anjou , Poitou , and the neighbourhood , Loches , Saumur , Villandry , that most interesting example , St . Hilaire , in Poitiers , and others .

Here we have clearly , so far as we can judge , in the eleventh century , the grand arrangement which we find in many of the old basilican churches , of the eastern end raised high above the western part . One finds , too , in nearly all , the barrel vault , carried on great square sectioned ribs ; the apsidal ends sometimes on the chevet lanas at St . Hilaireand

somep , , times in the plainer form of the simple apse to chancel and each aisle , as at Loches . And we find , too , tho simple plan , so well known since as the Angiovine , of the cross church , without aisles , apsidal end and dome at the crux .

St . Hilaire and others , too , have their domes . All these churches are worth attentive study ; St . Hilaire , in particular , seems to me to present as many picturesque features , shorn even as it is of its nave , as any church of the size that I know . Notre Dame de Nantilly , at Saumur , too , is a most interesting place ,

and if the date assigned to its roof ( the eleventh century ) be correct , it shows about the earliest case of the pointed arch , up north , that I am aware of . Then we get further down south to Guienne , and we find ourselves at once in a country where art has advanced in a degree that we should scarcely expect

from the few examples northward . We find Souillac , Perigueux , Toulouse , Moissac , St . Croix at Bordeaux , Carcassonne , and others , all presenting the most picturesque effects of plan and section , and , as a whole , very much beyond the general style of the more northern provinces .

Now here we meet , for the first time , so far as I am aware , _ with well-recorded instances of the real B yzantine pendentives , as distinguished from the form used b y more Eastern nations . This Byzantine form

Architecture In France.*

is so peculiar , difficult , and artificial altogether as to render it very unlikely to be invented by the architects of such , comparatively , rudely constructed works as those which we here investigate . We find it at St . Sophia ' s and St . Marc ' s ; but not all through Venice even ; for at St . Fosea , in Torcello , has the

beginning of a dome which shows a strange sort of compromise between the Byzantine and Eastern , whilst the most interesting church , St . Ciriacco , at Ancona , has a dome which is altogether Eastern . I shall allude again to this peculiarity in tracing the history of art from the south . Then again we find the prototype ( we may almost say the ori g inal ) of Notre Dame de Poitiers , in the earlier church of St . Croix at Bordeaux . "We have

the curious plan of Moissac , not Angiovine , but more like the southern one of Avignon , and above all , we have the glorious church of St . Sernin , at Toulouse , containing , though in a rude way , all the essentials of the finest cathedral , save and accept the clerestory . Five aisles , the centre having a fine barrel vault , a cross planwith aisles to the crossapsidal chapels

, , to the transepts , a bold ajise with aisles , and five apsidal chapels leading from it . One cannot help regretting , in looking over this splendid church , and others akin to it , as one does too with the Renaissance churches of the Rhine , that so successful a beginning had not been further

prosecuted and well worked out into a distinct style . Now we come to Auvergne , a curious tract of country , distinct in its natural characteristics from the rest of France . It was first , I think , brought distinctly under notice in England by Professor DonaLdson , and its main features have since been

excellently described by Mr . Street . Both papers are amongst the Transactions of the Institute . Clermont , Issoire , Brioude , and others , are most interesting , but they are so well known from the above and other works , that I will not detain you with them now . I ought , however , to remark , that two

gentlemen of great knowledge in French art , Mr . Waring and Mr . Street , differ as to the claims of Auvergne as au art school . Mr . Waring considers it to be altogether indigenous and spreading its influence into the surrounding provinces ; whereas Mr . Street assigns its origin to Eastern or Byzantine influence , like those which originated the style of Perigueux and others . ( To be continued . )

Oxford Men At Duppel.

OXFORD MEN AT DUPPEL .

The special correspondent of the Times , in his letter of the 28 th ult ., describing the recent attack on Duppel , says : — " I have mentioned , in some of my foregoing letters , a party of young Englishmen gathered at this place out of mere curiosity to see actual war , and have given my

candid opinion of the rashness with which they had been all this time running into unnecessary danger . I have not named them hitherto because their conduct appeared to me neither sane nor rational . But they turned out in this affair quite the heroes of the day , and , as I have their permission to give their names , I believe it a duty to award them such poor meed of praise as my pen can impart . One of them is the Hon . Auberon