[14] Here Mons. Corroyer directly traverses the opinion of Viollet-le-duc, who could see no ground whatever for ascribing a French origin to the choir of Lincoln. Indeed, the conception of that choir, and nearly all its details, are not only unlike, they are opposed to those of French contemporary examples. Here are the words of the great French architect: "After the most careful examination I cannot find, in any part of the Cathedral of Lincoln, neither in the general design, nor in any part of the system of architecture adopted, nor in the details of ornament, any trace of the French school of the twelfth century (the lay school, from 1170 to 1220), so plainly characteristic of the Cathedrals of Paris, Noyon, Senlis, Chartres, Sens, and even Rouen.... The construction is English, the profiles of the mouldings are English, the ornaments are English, the execution of the work belongs to the English school of workmen of the beginning of the thirteenth century."--_Gentleman's Magazine_ for May 1861--Letter to "Sylvanus Urban." The date of Lincoln choir is known. It belongs to the last years of the twelfth century, and so anticipates such French work as can show analogies with it, Le Mans, for instance, where the work in question dates from 1210-1220.--ED. In Belgium French influence manifested itself so early as the first half of the thirteenth century in the building of the remarkable Church of Ste. Gudule at Brussels. Up to this period the methods of the Rhenish schools had obtained in the Low Countries, and the setting aside of these methods in favour of the new system of France is significant of the high repute of the latter throughout Western Europe. Further evidence to this effect is to be found in the great churches of Ghent, Tongres, Louvain, and Bruges among others, which were either built between 1235 and 1300, or at any rate begun during this period, to be completed in the fourteenth century and even later. [Illustration: 64. BRUSSELS CATHEDRAL (STE. GUDULE). WEST FRONT] Ste. Gudule at Brussels was begun about 1226; but only the choir and the transept were finished by 1275. The nave was built in the fourteenth century, together with the towers of the west front, which, however, were not finally completed till the following century, or perhaps the sixteenth. Several chapels, the windows of which are filled with magnificent painted glass, date from the same period as these towers. French influence is no less patent at Cologne, which is undoubtedly the daughter of Amiens. The opinion of a German writer is of special interest on this point. [Illustration: 65. COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. SOUTH FRONT]