=Chartres.=--Cathedral, one of the finest in the world, built chiefly in early part of thirteenth century; magnificent twelfth and thirteenth century glass; remarkable north and south porches, encrusted with carving and statuary; early crypt. Churches of (1) St. Père-en-Vallée, (2) St. Aignan, (3) St. Martin-au-Val, (4) St. André, (5) St. Foi. Hôtel de Ville (Renaissance); the Bishop’s Palace; Maison de Loëns; Maison du Médecin (Renaissance); Maison du Saumon, fifteenth century; Escalier de la Reine-Berthe, sixteenth century; Porte Guillaume, the only gateway of the city, fourteenth century; and many old houses and portions of city walls. =Orleans.=--A city of new appearance on the Loire; cathedral, thirteenth, sixteenth, and eighteenth centuries. Churches: (1) St. Pierre-le-Puellier has ninth to twelfth century work, (2) St. Aignan, (3) St. Euverte (Flamboyant), (4) Notre Dame de Recouvrance. Hôtel de Ville (Renaissance); the Bishop’s Palace; Rue du Tabour, containing Musée and Maison Jeanne d’Arc; Hôtel Cabut, containing Musée Historique; remains of city walls. CHARTRES In approaching the city across the plain from Dreux the huge bulk of the cathedral alone broke the monotonous horizon, and when one is inside the moat and fragmentary ramparts, the vast Gothic church remains the paramount interest. In its fabric is the story of Chartres, and apart from the cathedral there is little to tell of the town’s genesis. The Cathedral began as a little church built over a grotto where the early missionaries from Rome had discovered a statue of the Virgin. It was venerated under the name _Notre Dame-de-Sous-Terre_. Quirinus, the Roman Governor of the town, then called _Autricum_, in the time of the Emperor Claudius put a number of the Early Christians to the sword, and had their bodies thrown into a well called the _Puits de Saints Forts_. This interesting link with Gallo-Roman Chartres was lost in the seventeenth century, and was only rediscovered in 1901. It can be seen in the crypt behind the altar of the Virgin. This _Crypt_ is the largest in France, and, next to St. Peter’s at Rome and Canterbury Cathedral, it is the largest in the world.