figures after the Romanesque style; while the arches are pointed and ornamented with billet mouldings. Above and below the triforium gallery is a course of red stone containing sculptures of all sorts of subjects, like the inlaid work of Auvergne. The vaulting is of the fourteenth century. In the sixteenth century the proportions of the cathedral were found defective, the building being considered too short for its length, and several bays were then added to the west end in the florid Northern style of the period. The west portal (Fig. 39), with its richly carved tracery and sculpture, standing as it does at the top of a lofty flight of steps, rendered necessary by the slope of the ground to the westward, must have been a fine example of its style before the statues and carving, which so profusely adorned it, were destroyed during the wars of religion, by the Baron des Adrets, in 1562. The cathedral is 300 feet long by 100 feet wide, but, owing to the mixed character of its design, it is somewhat heavy in effect. A remarkable example of a double round tower of Renaissance art (Fig. 40) stands close to the ancient Forum, and several specimens of antique houses of all ages are to be seen in the busy and picturesque streets. [Illustration: FIG. 40. HOUSE IN VIENNE.] The next town of importance reached is VALENCE, which, however, is not very rich in architectural subjects. The cathedral (St Apollinaire) is of the twelfthcentury, and shews some special features indicative of the influence of the style of Auvergne, such as an arcade on the outside of the nave, with alternate round and straight sided arches. The caps of the nave piers are very Corinthian in character, and the roof is a tunnel vault. The apse is round, and is strengthened with buttresses in the form of small shafts, a feature very common in Auvergne. But this and the other churches have all been reconstructed in Renaissance times. The Maison-des-Têtes (Fig. 41), near the Place des Clercs is a well preserved and telling specimen of a florid domestic façade of 1534. [Illustration: FIG. 41. MAISON-DES-FETES, VALENCE.] In descending the Rhone the traveller cannot fail to notice that the precipitous mountains which bound the plain on the west side of the river are frequently crowned with the shattered remains of mediæval castles. Of these one of the most striking is the CASTLE OF CRUSSOL (Fig. 42) opposite Valence. This great castle, now reduced to a mere fragmentary heap of ruins, was formerly the stronghold of the family of Crussol, Ducs d’Uzès. It forms a fine feature in the landscape, and commands a splendid view of the course of the Rhone and the valley of the Isère, with the Alps to the eastward. But it is now so ruined that a closer inspection is somewhat disappointing to the architect.