The choir remained intact until 1638, when Louis XIII., putting his kingdom especially under the protection of the Blessed Virgin, registered that unfortunate vow that he would consecrate the sanctuary of Notre-Dame to the fulfilment of it. "_Afin que la postérité ne puisse manquer à suivre nos volontés à ce sujet, pour monument et marque incontestable de la consécration présente que nous faisons, nous ferons construire de nouveau le grand autel de l'église cathédrale de Paris, avec une image de la Vierge qui tienne entre ses bras celle de son précieux fils, descendu de la croix, et où nous serons représentés aux pieds du fils et de la mère, comme leur offrant notre couronne et notre sceptre._" Louis XIII. died in 1643, before he was able to carry out his marvellous design; but unfortunately, his son, Louis XIV., was only too ready to embellish buildings in the miserable taste of his time, and so the altar is disfigured by a _Descent from the Cross_ by Nicolas and Guillaume Coustou, and a pair of kneeling kings (the 13th and 14th Louis) by Coysevox. In themselves these sculptures are fine examples of the art of the period, but they and the eight bronze Angels by Cayot, Vanclève, Poirier, Hurtrelle, Nagnier and Anselme Flamen, are all equally out of place in a 13th century church. The bas-reliefs of the altar were by Vassé, and Du Goulon was the sculptor of the beautiful woodwork representing scenes from the life of the Virgin. The altar was destroyed in 1793, in order to erect a symbolic "_montagne_" upon "_les pompeux débris de l'antique imposture_." The present one was reconstructed in 1803, _the Entombment_, in gilt copper, from designs by Vanclève, being conveyed from the chapelle des Louvois, in the old church of the Capuchins in the Place Vendôme. The cross and candelabra belonged to the cathedral of Arras before the Revolution; and the beautiful bronze lectern, as exquisite in design as in workmanship, is signed and dated, "Duplessis 1775." The statue of the Virgin, on a pillar at the entrance of the choir, had the reputation of working miracles. It was thrown down at the Revolution, but was found later at S. Denis and replaced in Notre-Dame. Such is the history of the statue, but whether it is the identical figure, it is impossible to say. In any case it is mainly of the same date as the church, which cannot be said of the reliquaries in the treasury, that are also supposed to have survived the Revolution. [Illustration: PART OF THE STALLS.]