St. Michel has always had a sort of vested proprietorship in such pinnacles as this, and this tiny chapel in his honour was the erection of a prelate of the diocese of Le Puy in the tenth century. The chapel is Romanesque, octagonal, and most curious; with its isolated situation,--only reached by a flight of many steps cut in the rock,--and its tesselated stone pavements, its mosaic in basalt of the portal, and its few curious sculptures in stone. As a place of pilgrimage for a twentieth-century tourist it is much more appealing than the Virgin-crowned _rocher Corneille_; each will anticipate no inconsiderable amount of physical labour, which, however, is the true pilgrim spirit. The château of Polignac _compels_ attention, and it is not so very foreign to church affairs after all; the house of the name gave to the court of Louis XIV. a cardinal. To-day this one-time feudal stronghold is but a mere ruin. The Revolution finished it, as did that fury many another architectural glory of France. [Illustration: _The Black Virgin, Le Puy_] XIV NOTRE DAME DE CLERMONT-FERRAND Clermont-Ferrand is the hub from which radiates in the season,--from April to October,--and in all directions, the genuine French _touriste_. He is a remarkable species of traveller, and he apportions to himself the best places in the _char-à bancs_ and the most convenient seats at _table d'hôte_ with a discrimination that is perfection. He is not much interested in cathedrals, or indeed in the twin city of Clermont-Ferrand itself, but rather his choice lies in favour of Mont Doré, Puy de Dôme, Royat, St. Nectaire, or a dozen other alluring tourist resorts in which the neighbouring volcanic region abounds. By reason of this--except for its hotels and cafés--Clermont-Ferrand is justly entitled to rank as one of the most ancient and important centres of Christianity in France. [Illustration: NOTRE DAME _de CLERMONT-FERRAND_] Its cathedral is not of the local manner of building: it is of manifest Norman example. But the Église Notre Dame du Port is Auvergnian of the most profound type, and withal, perhaps more appealing than the cathedral itself. Furthermore the impulse of the famous crusades first took form here under the fervent appeal of Urban II., who was in the city at the Council of the Church held in 1095. Altogether the part played by this city of mid-France in the affairs of the Christian faith was not only great, but most important and far-reaching in its effect. In its cathedral are found to a very considerable extent those essentials to the realization of the pure Gothic style, which even Sir Christopher Wren confessed his inability to fully comprehend.