This is undoubtedly true of churches as well, and the sympathetic observer--the enthusiastic lover of churches for their peculiarities, none the less than their general excellencies--is the only person who will derive the maximum amount of pleasure and profit from an intimacy therewith. Whether a great church is interesting because of its antiquity, its history, or its artistic beauties matters little to the enthusiast. He will drink his fill of what offers. Occasionally, he will find a combination of two--or possibly all--of these ingredients; when his joy will be great. Herein are catalogued as many of the attributes of the cathedrals of the south of France--and the records of religious or civil life which have surrounded them in the past--as space and opportunity for observation have permitted. More the most sanguine and capable of authors could not promise, and while in no sense does the volume presume to supply exhaustive information, it is claimed that all of the churches included within the classification of cathedrals--those of the present and those of a past day--are to be found mentioned herein, the chief facts of their history recorded, and their notable features catalogued. _PART I_ _Southern France in General_ I THE CHARM OF SOUTHERN FRANCE The charm of southern France is such as to compel most writers thereon to become discursive. It could not well be otherwise. Many things go to make up pictures of travel, which the most polished writer could not ignore unless he confined himself to narrative pure and simple; as did Sterne. One who seeks knowledge of the architecture of southern France should perforce know something of the life of town and country in addition to a specific knowledge of, or an immeasurable enthusiasm for, the subject. Few have given Robert Louis Stevenson any great preëminence as a writer of topographical description; perhaps not all have admitted his ability as an unassailable critic; but the fact is, there is no writer to whom the lover of France can turn with more pleasure and profit than Stevenson. There is a wealth of description of the country-side of France in the account of his romantic travels on donkey-back, or, as he whimsically puts it, "beside a donkey," and his venturesome though not dangerous "Inland Voyage." These early volumes of Stevenson, while doubtless well known to lovers of his works, are closed books to most casual travellers. The author and artist of this book here humbly acknowledge an indebtedness which might not otherwise be possible to repay.