Page:Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (tr. Shoberl, 1833).djvu/28

 O THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME.

reverential attitude which befits strength in the presence of justice? and the beautiful doors? and the painted windows? and the chased iron-work which discouraged Biscornette? and the delicate carvings of Du Hancy? i What has time, what have men, done with these wonders? I What has been given to us for all these for all this anj cient French history, for all this Gothic art? the heavy elliptic arches of M, de Brosse, the clumsy architect of the porch of St. Gervais so much for art: and, as for history, we have the traditions of the great pillar, which still reverberates the gossip of the Patrus. This is no great matter. Let us return to the veritable great hall of the veritable old palace.

One of the extremities of this prodigious parallelogram was occupied by the famous marble table, of a single piece, so long, so broad, and so thick, that, as the ancient terriers say, in a style that might have given an appetite to Gargantua, " never was there seen in the world slice of marble to match it; " and the other by the chapel where Louis XL placed his own effigy kneeling before the Virgin, and to which, reckless of leaving two vacant niches in the file of royal statues, he removed those of Charlemagne and St. Louis, saints whom he conceived to possess great influence with Heaven as kings of France. This chapel, still new, having been built scarcely six years, was in that charming style of delicate architecture, wonderful sculpture, and sharp deep carving, which marks with us the conclusion of the Gothic era, and prevails till about the middle of the sixteenth century in the fairy fantasies of the revival of the art. The small rose mullion over the porch was in particular a masterpiece of lightness and delicacy; you would have taken it for a star of lacework.

In the middle of the hall,, opposite to the great door, an enclosed platform lined with gold brocade, backed against the wall, and to which there had been made a private entrance by means of a window from the passage to the gilded chamber, was erected expressly for the Flemish envoys, and the other distinguished personages invited to the representation of the mystery.

On this marble table, according to established usage,,