The choir, the more ancient portion (1465-1507), expands into a more ample width than the nave and has a curiously squared-off termination which would hardly be described as an apside, though the effect is circular when viewed from within. The choir, too, rises to a greater height than the nave, and, though there is no very great discrepancy in style between the easterly and westerly ends, the line of demarcation is readily placed. The square flanking chapels of the choir serve to give an ampleness to the ambulatory which is unusual, and in the exterior present again a most interesting arrangement and effect. The cathedral gives on the west on the Place du Château, with the bare, broken wall of the ducal château immediately _en face_, and the Gendarmerie, which occupies a most interestingly picturesque Renaissance building, is immediately to the right. The interior arrangements of this brilliant cathedral church are quite as pleasing and true as the exterior. There is no poverty in design or decoration, and no overdeveloped luxuriance, except for the accidence of the Renaissance tendencies of its time. There is no flagrant offence committed, however, and the ambulatory of the choir and its queer overhanging gallery at the rear of the altar are the only unusual features from the conventional decorated Gothic plan; if we except the _baldachino_ which covers the altar-table, and which is actually hideous in its enormity. The bishop's throne, curiously enough,--though the custom is, it appears, very, very old,--is placed _behind_ the high-altar. The triforium and clerestory of the choir have gracefully heightened arches supported by graceful pillars, which give an effect of exceeding lightness. In the nave the triforium is omitted, and the clerestory only overtops the pillars of nave and aisles. The transepts are not of great proportions, but are not in any way attenuated. Under the high-altar is a "Holy Sepulchre" of the sixteenth century, which is penetrated by an opening which gives on the ambulatory of the choir. There is a bountiful display of coloured glass of the Renaissance period, and, in the sacristy, a _triptych_ attributed to Ghirlandajo. There are no other artistic accessories of note, and the cathedral depends, in the main, for its satisfying qualities in its general completeness and consistency. XIII NOTRE DAME DE LE PUY "Under the sun of the _Midi_ I have seen the Pyrenees and the Alps, crowned in rose and silver, but I best love Auvergne and its bed of gorse." --PIERRE DE NOLHAC. Le Puy has been called--by a discerning traveller--and rightly enough, too, in the opinion of most persons--"_the most picturesque spot in the world_." Whether every visitor thereto will endorse this unqualifiedly depends somewhat on his view-point, and still more on his ability to discriminate.