Polychrome decoration was attempted occasionally, chiefly on the Continent, and in some instances successfully. The best examples are the restorations of the Ste. Chapelle and St. Germain des Prés, in Paris, though the latter belongs more properly to the Romanesque period. Many churches have been completely spoiled as regards their inside appearance by coats of whitewash applied to the whole interior surface, giving them a bleak and barn-like aspect fatal to architectural effect; this is especially frequent in Belgium. This whitewash, coupled with horribly incongruous late Renaissance decoration, has gone far in many cases to ruin what would otherwise be fine buildings. Externally all _good_ Gothic buildings showed a direct correspondence with the interior: buttresses, flying buttresses, pinnacles, etc., were all constructive and never decorative devices; there was never such a thing as a façade or false front built independently of the interior, and though the harmony of the lines of both were often difficult to reconcile, it was just in the overcoming of such difficulties that the brilliant qualities of Gothic architects were called forth. In the arrangement of the West fronts the French were at their best, for the combination of deeply recessed porches with the rose window and gable above, flanked by the towers, which in France were usually placed here, was both judicious and effective. In England such porches as those of Rheims, or deep openings, such as the entrances to the cathedral of Paris, were not used, and the West elevations are consequently less interesting. Peterborough is an exception to this rule, but the design is so exaggerated, that the three immense arcades dwarf everything connected with them. The custom of placing a tower and spire over the intersection of the nave and transept was always adhered to in England, and was always a happy arrangement which gave the building dignity and character, even when the Western towers were omitted. Of this the celebrated Salisbury Cathedral is a beautiful example. The spires of Chartres and of St. Ouen, at Rouen, are the finest in France, where towers were frequently built to receive spires which were never added. The height to which the nave was carried there often prevented the towers from having their due effect, as it was impossible to carry them out on a scale large enough to give them a corresponding proportion. English architects contented themselves with moderate interior heights, rendering the proportioning of their buildings a much easier task than that which their neighbours imposed upon themselves, by attempting with each new building a more daring altitude, until the crumbling vaults of Beauvais set a limit to their audacity.