But apart from this, the deepest value of Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres, its importance as a revelation of the eternal glory of mediaeval art and the elements that brought it into being is not lightly to be expressed. To every artist, whatever his chosen form of expression, it must appear unique and invaluable, and to none more than the architect, who, familiar at last with its beauties, its power, and its teaching force, can only applaud the action of the American Institute of Architects in making Mr. Adams an Honorary Member, as one who has rendered distinguished services to the art, and voice his gratitude that it has brought the book within his reach and given it publicity before the world. Whitehall, Sudbury, Massachusetts, June, 1913. CONTENTS PREFACE I. SAINT MICHIEL DE LA MER DEL PERIL II. LA CHANSON DE ROLAND III. THE MERVEILLE IV. NORMANDY AND THE ILE DE FRANCE V. TOWERS AND PORTALS VI. THE VIRGIN OF CHARTRES VII. ROSES AND APSES VIII. THE TWELFTH-CENTURY GLASS IX. THE LEGENDARY WINDOWS X. THE COURT OF THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN XI. THE THREE QUEENS XII. NICOLETTE AND MARION XIII. LES MIRACLES DE NOTRE DAME XIV. ABELARD XV. THE MYSTICS XVI. SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS Preface [December, 1904.] Some old Elizabethan play or poem contains the lines:-- . . . Who reads me, when I am ashes, Is my son in wishes . . . . . . . . . The relationship, between reader and writer, of son and father, may have existed in Queen Elizabeth's time, but is much too close to be true for ours. The utmost that any writer could hope of his readers now is that they should consent to regard themselves as nephews, and even then he would expect only a more or less civil refusal from most of them. Indeed, if he had reached a certain age, he would have observed that nephews, as a social class, no longer read at all, and that there is only one familiar instance recorded of a nephew who read his uncle. The exception tends rather to support the rule, since it needed a Macaulay to produce, and two volumes to record it. Finally, the metre does not permit it. One may not say: "Who reads me, when I am ashes, is my nephew in wishes." The same objections do not apply to the word "niece." The change restores the verse, and, to a very great degree, the fact. Nieces have been known to read in early youth, and in some cases may have read their uncles. The relationship, too, is convenient and easy, capable of being anything or nothing, at the will of either party, like a Mohammedan or Polynesian or American marriage. No valid objection can be offered to this choice in the verse. Niece let it be!