We shall also have many opportunities of observing the influence of the modified classic art imported from Byzantium. Thence came the dome which forms one of the most important elements in the mediæval architecture of Aquitaine and the South, as well as numerous details and ornaments which served as the foundation or motive for much of the architectural decoration of the West, especially in Provence. How strongly these influences produced their impress on the architecture of the region we are to traverse, will be apparent; and it will probably be agreed by all that although the art of Provence was thereby advanced at first, the chief tendency of these classic reminiscences was to encourage an adherence to traditional forms, which prevented such a free growth and development as was afterwards displayed in the Northern districts, where the classic elements were less abundant. But in one respect at least the architecture of Provence deserves our gratitude and admiration, for, amidst all its classic surroundings, it boldly adopted and adhered to the true principle of arcuated construction, and introduced the use of the pointed arch. Although in its earlier stages this important feature was accompanied and encumbered with the revived details of Roman work, still, as we shall see, in its later phase, it entirely and completely discarded them; and in the twelfth century, under the guidance of the Cistertians, Provence produced a simple and natural style of arcuated architecture in which every feature is regulated by strict adherence to the genuine principles of stone construction. Of this simple but strong and impressive style we shall meet with many fine examples. Up to this time the Provençal architects had led the way, but the period had now arrived when their principles were to be taken up and carried out with the boldness and energy of the Northern kingdom of France, then in its youthful prime. The lay architects of the North, seizing on the Provençal principle of the pointed arch, which they at once perceived to be so flexible and easy of application to every requirement, soon developed from it the magnificent system of the perfected Gothic of the thirteenth century. This was at once felt and acknowledged on all hands to be an immense step in advance of anything hitherto attempted in the West, and was speedily allowed to overshadow, and finally to supersede all other varieties of mediæval development. Of this result numerous illustrations will occur in the course of our journey; but we shall also observe how tenaciously the original forms of construction and plan were adhered to in the South, even after the Northern Gothic had been accepted as supreme in all minor details. [Illustration] VI.