Some have said that this cathedral church dates from the fifth century. Possibly this is so, but assuredly there is no authority which makes a statement which is at all convincing concerning any work earlier than the tenth century. Le Puy's first bishop was St. Georges,--in the third century,--at which time, as now, the diocese was a suffragan of Bourges. The cathedral itself is perched on a hilltop behind which rises an astonishing crag or pinnacle,--the _rocher Corneille_, which, in turn, is surmounted by a modern colossal bronze figure, commonly called _Notre Dame de France_. The native will tell you that it is called "the Virgin of Le Puy." Due allowance for local pride doubtless accounts for this. Its height is fifty feet, and while astonishingly impressive in many ways, is, as a work of art, without beauty in itself. [Illustration: _Le Puy_] There is a sort of subterranean or crypt-like structure, beneath the westerly end of the cathedral, caused by the extreme slope of the rock upon which the choir end is placed. One enters by a stairway of sixty steps, which is beneath the parti-coloured façade of the twelfth century. It is very striking and must be a unique approach to a cathedral; the entrance here being two stories below that of the pavement of nave and choir. This porch of three round-arched naves is wholly unusual. Entrance to the main body of the church is finally gained through the transept. The whole structure is curiously kaleidoscopic, with blackish and dark brown tints predominating, but alternating--in the west façade, which has been restored in recent times--with bands of a lighter and again a darker stone. It has been called by a certain red-robed mentor of travel-lore an ungainly, venerable, but singular edifice: quite a non-committal estimate, and one which, like most of its fellows, is worse than a slander. It is most usually conceded by French authorities--_who might naturally be supposed to know their subject_--that it is very nearly the most genuinely interesting exposition of a local manner of church-building extant; and as such the cathedral at Le Puy merits great consideration. The choir is the oldest portion, and is probably not of later date than the tenth century. The glass therein is modern. It has a possession, a "miraculous virgin,"--whose predecessor was destroyed in the fury of the Revolution,--which is supposed to work wonders upon those who bestow an appropriate votive offering. To the former shrine came many pilgrims, numbering among them, it is said rather indefinitely and doubtfully, "several popes and the following kings: Louis VII., Philippe-Auguste, Philippe-le-Hardi, Charles VI., Charles VII., Louis XI., and Charles VIII." To-day, as if doubtful of the shrine's efficacy, the pilgrims are few in number and mostly of the peasant class. The bays of the nave are divided by round-headed arches, but connected with the opposing bay by the ogival variety.