Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/583

 Bk. II. Ch. IX. FRENCH GOTHIC CATHEDRALS. 551 central and side aisles both in themselves and to one another. Though the church is not large, and principally of that age — the latter half of the 13th century — in which the effect depended so much on painted glass, now destroyed or disarranged, it still deserves a place in the first rank of French cathedrals. The two cathedrals of Toul and Tours present many points of great beauty, but their most re- markable features are their western facades, both of late date, each possessing two towers termi- nating in octagonal lanterns, with details verging on the style of the Renaissance, and yet so Gothic in design and so charmingly executed as almost to induce the belief, in spite of the fanciful extrav- agance which it displays, that the architects were approaching to something new and beautiful ^ when the mania for classical details overtook 404. window of catuedvui at Lyons. (From Pey- theni. ree's " Manuel de rAicii- The two cathedrals of Limoges and Dijon belong to the latter half of the 13th century, and, will, consequently when better known fill a gap pain- full v felt in the history of the art. It would be tedious to enumerate all the great cathedrals of the country, or to attempt to describe their pecu- liarities ; but we must not omit all mention of such as Lisieux, remark- able for its beautiful facade, and Evreux, for the beauty of many of its ])arts, though the M'hole is too much a patchwork to ])rodaoe an entirely ])leasing effect. ISTevers, too, is re- markable as beinar one of the onlv two double-apse cathedrals in France, Besan9on being the other. At Nevers this was owing to the liisch altar having been originally at the west, a defect felt to be intolerable in France in the 16th century, Avhen the church was rebuilt, when it was done without destroying the old sanc- tuary. Bordeaux, already mentioned Plan of Cathedral at Bazas. (From Lamothe.') Scale 100 ft to 1 iu. ^ " Compte Rendu des Travaux de la Commission des Monuments," elc. : Rapport presente au Prefet de la Gironde, 184S et seq.