dated 1303, and bears the following inscription: "Maitre Pierre de
Fayet, chanoine de Paris, a donné deux cens livres parisis pour aider à
faire ces histoires et pour les nouvelles verrières qui sont sur le
choeur de céans." In the account of the church in 1763, the slab is thus
described: "Avant la construction du nouveau choeur (par le roi Louis
XIV.) on voyait autour de l'ancien choeur et en dedans les histoires de
l'Evangile et des Actes des Apôtres en statues de pierre isolées avec
des inscriptions au bas, et au-dessous l'histoire de la Génèse en
bas-relief. A côté était un chanoine à genoux, dont la mort arriva en
1303, aussi ce bas-relief avait cette inscription derrière lui: 'Messire
Pierre Fayet'.... Mais depuis la construction du nouveau choeur, on a mis
sa statue à la porte collaterale, vis-à-vis la porte rouge."
[109] _Théâtre des Antiquités de Paris._
[110] Carlyle.
[111] Exhibited at the Exhibition of Documents relating to the
Revolution, held at the Tuileries in 1889.
[112] The twelve Virtues, according to Hermas, are Faith, Temperance,
Patience, Magnanimity, Simplicity, Innocence, Peace, Charity,
Discipline, Chastity, Truth, and Prudence. The counting of twelve
Virtues lasted a long time, for we find in 1454 at a _fête_ given at
Lille by the Duc de Bourgogne, Philippe le Bon, that twelve Virtues
dressed in crimson satin danced at the ball with the many knights who
were present. They were the great ladies of the town; and perhaps the
knights personated the Vices, as they were not improbably able to do
with a considerable amount of truth.
[113] _Annales archéologiques._
[114] For a detailed account of the cathedral see Viollet-le-Duc's
_Dictionnaire raisonné d'Architecture_.
[115] This passed through miraculous adventures at the Revolution and
was restored to the cathedral by M. de Quélen.
[116] Its preservation is said to have been in this wise. Louis XVI.
sent it to S. Denis to be in safe keeping, and in 1793 it was offered by
the Convention to the municipality. Thence it passed into the hands of
M. Bonvoisin in 1804, and in 1808 it was placed in its present crystal
reliquary by Cardinal de Belloy.
[117] Jean de Montaigu, beheaded in 1409, was a councillor, grand master
of the palace, and brother of Gérard, 95th bishop of Paris.
[118] Dibden.
[119] Carlyle.
[120] Dibden.
[121] _American in Paris._
End of Project Gutenberg's The Churches of Paris, by S. Sophia Beale