been a work of unrivalled dignity. Nowhere else do we find carving more expressive, nor more perfectly subordinated to the architectural scheme. [Illustration: _Photo_] [_Ed. Hautecœur, Paris._ APOSTLES. (From the central doorway.)] [Illustration: _Photo_] [_Ed. Hautecœur, Paris._ THE PORTE SAINTE ANNE. (Figures from the Old Testament)] The doorway on the south is variously described as the _Portal of St. Anne_ or _St. Marcel_. According to some writers it is the most ancient of the three, and contains fragments of “the sculpture which formerly adorned the old church of St. Stephen (St. Etienne). These, it is said, were executed at the expense of Etienne de Garlande, who died in 1142. The dividing pier or _trumeau_ bears the statue of St. Marcel (see p. 33). The tympanum is adorned with the “History of Joachim and Anna,” the “Marriage of the Virgin,” and the “Budding of Joseph’s Staff.” Each side is occupied with four statues of saints of the Old Testament. The four main buttresses which divide the façade perpendicularly into three parts are pierced with niches containing statues on a level with the vaulting of the portals. These statues represent Religion, Faith, St. Denis, and St. Stephen. [Illustration: _Photo_] [_Ed. Hautecœur, Paris._ “CHIMÈRES.”] The second story of the façade is occupied by a noble arcade which shelters twenty-eight colossal statues. This is known as _La Galerie des Rois_, and stretches across the entire width of the front. The statues were formerly believed to be conventional representations of the ancient kings of France, but they are doubtless intended for the kings of Judah as ancestors of the Virgin. A similar feature will be found as part of the façade of Amiens. There, however, the statues are at a greater height from the ground, and are twenty-two in number. Above the _Galerie des Rois_ at Paris there is a graceful open arcade of slender arches and columns. The five large statues here date only from the year 1854. The third main division has in the centre a vast wheel window with open tracery, while in each of the lateral bays we have pointed arches with twin pointed openings and small circular panels in the tympanum. The vacant space in the spandrels of each division is occupied by a trefoil panel. At Amiens once more we meet with a main division similarly composed. At Notre Dame, immediately over the division containing the wheel window, is an open arcaded screen of gigantic proportions, surmounted by a parapet or pierced cornice behind which rise the two towers. So dexterously has this arcade been planned, so graceful are its lines, so delicate its details, that the impression which it leaves on the mind--in spite of the solidity of its construction and the vastness of its scale--is almost that of some such unsubstantial material as lace. To the platform supported by this screen everybody should ascend, if only