In the Hall of the Fourteenth Century are some very curious monuments, which show the improvement in the art of design, which the Crusaders brought back with them. A new species of decoration, the Arabian taste, was introduced into architecture. The heavy edifices of the former age gave way to more elegant buildings, and gilding and brilliant colours ornamented the churches. This hall is decorated with the ruins of the St. Chapelle in Paris, built about the year 1300. The Apostles, sculptured in stone of natural size, were taken from this chapel, and are remarkable for the naturalness of their expression and excellent execution. Their habits give an exact idea of the stuffs and embroidery then in fashion, the former of which being not unlike our Indian shawls. The mosaics which cover the ceilings and the walls of this hall were formed from materials taken from St. Denis. The painted windows in this hall are of the same century, and were taken from the “Celestines” and the “Bonshommes de Passy.” [Sidenote: TOMB OF LOUIS XII.] In the fifteenth century artists began to produce general plans, and to connect the calculations of their minds with a grand and careful execution. Gothic art in consequence disappeared. As Paris did not afford many palaces or ornamented houses of this century, M. Lenoir went several times among the monuments left by Cardinal d’Amboise, who employed in the decoration of his palaces Jean Juste, a sculptor, born at Tours, whom the Cardinal had sent at his own expense to Rome, for the purpose of studying the revived Grecian art. The ceiling, windows, and in general the whole embellishment of this hall are composed on the type of the tomb of Louis XII., which stands in the middle of it, together with the materials brought from the Château de Gaillon, which has been lately demolished. The pillars which support the gates are a present to M. Lenoir from the Administrators of the Department of Eure et Loire, who, to M. Lenoir’s consternation, pulled down the portico of the church of the St. Père at Chartres in order to place its fragments at his disposal. This portico was erected in 1509, and superadded to an ancient edifice built by Hildnard, a Benedictine monk, in 1170. Two bas-reliefs in this hall merit attention, one, representing God the Father in the midst of angels, was taken from the Cemetery of the Innocents. The other, from the church of St. Geneviève, represents the Pentecost. The violet and blue grounds, the gilded framework and the carmined legend are characteristic of the fifteenth century. Four marble medallions are worthy of careful notice, purchased from the ruined château of Gaillon. Anne of Brittany is represented as Minerva, Louis XII. as Mars, Gallas and Vespasian occupy the remaining medallions.