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_The Cathedral Series_
_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top profusely
illustrated. $2.50_
_The Cathedrals of Northern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_
_The Cathedrals of Southern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_
_The Cathedrals of England BY MARY J. TABER_
_The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely
illustrated. Net, $2.00_
_The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine BY FRANCIS MILTOUN_
_The Cathedrals of Northern Spain BY CHARLES RUDY_
_L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
New England Building, Boston, Mass._
[Illustration: NOTRE DAME ... _de NOYON_]
THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE
By FRANCIS MILTOUN
WITH EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS,
PLANS, AND DIAGRAMS,
By BLANCHE McMANUS
[Illustration]
BOSTON
L. C. Page and Company
MDCCCCIIII
_Copyright, 1903_
BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)
_All rights reserved_
Published October, 1903
Colonial Press
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
_THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST TO THE GENIUS OF
RACE WHICH MADE POSSIBLE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE ARCHITECTURAL
"GLORIES OF FRANCE"_
APOLOGIA
_"There are two ways of writing a book of travel: to recount the journey
itself or the results of it." This is also the case with regard to any
work which attempts to purvey topographical or historical information of
a nature which is only to be gathered upon the spot; and, when an
additional side-light is shown by reason of the inclusion, as in the
present instance, of the artistic and religious element, it becomes more
and more a question of judicious selection and arrangement of fact,
rather than a mere hazarding of opinions, which, in many cases, can be
naught but conjecture, and may, in spite of any good claim to
authoritativeness, be misunderstood or perverted to an inutile end, or,
what is worse, swallowed in that oblivion where lies so much excellent
thought, which, lacking either balance or timeliness, has become
stranded, wrecked, and practically lost to view because of its
unappropriate and unattractive presentation._
_To-day, the purely technical writer may have little hope of immortality
unless he is broad-minded enough to take a cultivated interest in many
matters outside the ken of his own particular sphere. The best-equipped
person living could not produce a new "Dictionary of Architecture," and
expect it to fill any niche that may be waiting for such a work, unless
he brought to bear, in addition to his own special knowledge, something
of the statistician, something of the professed compiler, and, if
possible, a little of the not unimportant knowledge possessed by the
maker and seller of books, meaning--the publisher. Given these
qualifications, it is likely that he will then produce an ensemble as
far in advance of what otherwise might have been as is the modern
printing machine, as a factor in the dissemination of literature, as
compared with the ancient scribes working to the same end._
_The sentimentalist and rhapsodist in words and ideas is a dwindling
factor at the present day, and a new presentation of fact is
occasionally to be met with in the printed page. The best "book of
travel" within the knowledge of the writer, and perhaps one of the
slightest in bulk ever written in the English language, is Stevenson's
"Inland Voyage"--here were imagination, appreciation, and a new way of
seeing things, and, above all, enthusiasm; and this is the formula upon
which doubtless many a future writer will build his reputation, though
he may never reach the significant heights expressed by Stevenson in the
picturesque wording of his wish to be made Bishop of Noyon._
_This apparent digression into a critical estimate of the making of
books is but another expression of the justification of the writer in
the attempt herein made to set forth in attractive and enduring form
certain facts and realities with regard to the grand and glorious group
of cathedrals of Northern France._
_They have appeared as demanding something more than the conventional
guide-book, or even technical estimates as to their perfections, and the
belief is that the gathering together, after this fashion, of the
contemporary information not always to the hand of the general reader
presents an attraction as appealing and deserving of a place on the
book-shelf as would be an avowed reference work, or a volume made to
sell on the strength of its bulk or ornateness, or, lacking these
questionable attributes, presented in the guise of a whilom text-book,
the sole province of which is to impart "knowledge" after a certain
well recognized and set pattern._
_It is believed that, regardless of much that has been said and written
anent the subject, the fact remains that some considerable numbers of
persons may be supposed to exist who would be glad of a further
suggestion which would make possible an acquaintance with the cathedrals
of France as a part of their own personal experience. To all such, then,
it is to be hoped this book will appeal._
F. M.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction 11
PART I. TRANSITION EXAMPLES
I. Introductory 41
II. Notre Dame de Laon 43
III. Notre Dame de Noyon 49
IV. Notre Dame de Soissons 54