There is much analogy between the worship of the patronal Virgin of the country round Chartres and that of the Virgin of the Pillar at Saragossa. The two statues are alike in regard to posture, costume, and general character, and moreover they date back to the same epoch--namely, the fourth or fifth century. The Chartres cathedral, though ancient--for it was in existence during the seventh century--was nevertheless posterior to the first pilgrimages established in honour of “the Virgin who has borne a child,” according to the denomination given to this Notre-Dame by the first apostles who preached Christianity in this district, which was the centre of the Druidical religion. During the whole of the Middle Ages, and down even to our own day, there have been daily arrivals of pilgrims at Chartres, and their number always increases upon the fête days of the Virgin. [Illustration: Fig. 300.--Charles VI. fulfilling his vow to Our Lady of Hope (1389).--The king, who was at that time but twenty years of age, having lost his way one night in a forest near Toulouse, made a vow that if he recovered his road he would offer the value of his horse to Our Lady of Hope. In the painting he is represented in the act of carrying out his vow, bareheaded and on horseback, accompanied by his brother, the Constable of Clisson, and other nobles. Above are seen angels with streamers, on which are written the word “Hope.”--After an ancient Fresco in the Cloister of the Carmelite Monastery at Toulon.] The worship of Our Lady of Rocamadour is very possibly contemporaneous with that of Our Lady of Chartres--dating back to the first age of Christianity in Gaul. Nothing is known as to the origin of this devotion, which is supposed to have replaced that of some local divinity. The Virgin of Rocamadour was famous as early as the eighth century, for, if tradition is to be believed, Charlemagne and his brave followers came to pay it homage on their return from an expedition against the Gascons; and the sword of Roland, deposited as an offering upon the altar of the chapel of St. Michael, is still to be seen. Around this sanctuary, dedicated to the Virgin, were seventeen chapels hewn in the rock; they were dedicated to Jesus Christ, to the Twelve Apostles, to St. John the Baptist, to St. Anne, to St. Michael, and to St. Amadour, whose hermitage was here, and who had no doubt brought from the East the black Virgin who has been venerated there for twelve or fifteen centuries.