to make the acquaintance of the famous _Chimères_ or “_Devils of Notre Dame_.” This collection of specimens of fantastic sculptured zoology is without parallel in Europe. These weird beasts which scowl from their point of vantage upon the French metropolis fascinated the great etcher Méryon, and more recently they have formed the subject of a series of admirable drawings by Mr. Joseph Pennell, the value of which has been enhanced by an essay, partly descriptive, partly philosophical, from the pen of the late R. A. M. Stevenson. The _chimères_ are not merely curious examples of the extravagantly grotesque. Their horror lies, not in their departure from natural forms, but in the fact that, while the features of various beasts or monsters are retained, they are impressed with characteristics of ferocity and cunning which are essentially diabolical or suggestive of the lowest depths of human depravity. They have nothing in common with the crude and impossible gargoyles so frequently found in buildings erected when the pointed style was in its decadence. Speaking roughly, their anatomy is possible: it is conceivable that they should breathe and live. [Illustration: _Photo_] [_Ed. Hautecœur, Paris._ “CHIMÈRES.”] Readers of Hugo’s _Notre Dame_ will remember his description of the Archdeacon as he clung to the lead gutter of the tower: “Meanwhile he felt himself going bit by bit; his fingers slipped upon the gutter; he felt more and more the increasing weakness of his arms and the weight of his body; the piece of lead which supported him inclined more and more downwards. He saw beneath him, frightful to contemplate, the pointed roof of St. Jean-le-Rond, small as a card bent double. He looked, one after another, at the imperturbable sculptures of the tower--like him suspended over the precipice--but without terror for themselves or pity for him. All around him was stone,--before his eyes the gaping monsters; in the Parvis below, the pavement; above his head, Quasimodo weeping.” [Illustration: “LE STRYGE,” ONE OF THE CHIMÈRAS OF NOTRE DAME, WITH THE TOWER OF ST. JACQUES. (After Méryon’s Etching. _Insatiable vampire l’éternelle luxure, Sur la grande cité convoite sa pâture._)]