VANISHED HALLS AND CATHEDRALS OF FRANCE By George Warton Edwards Illustrated with 32 Plates in full Color and Monotone. 1917 [Illustration: 0001] [Illustration: 0010] [Illustration: 0013] VANISHED HALLS AND CATHEDRALS OF FRANCE FOREWORD Quis funera faudo Explicet, aut possit lacrymis aequare Labores? Urbs antiqua ruit, fnultos dominât a per annos; Plurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passim. Corpora, perque domos, et religiosa deorum Limina! (Virgil, Æneid, II. v. 361.) Surviving the ancient wars and revolutions in this, "the Cockpit of Europe," the great examples of architecture of the early days of France remained for our delight. The corroding fingers of time, it is true, were much more merciful to them, but certainly the destroyers of old never ventured to commit the crimes upon them now charged against the legions of the present invader. These fair towns of Picardy and Champagne are sacked, pillaged and burned even as were the beautiful Flemish towns of Ypres, Malines, Termonde, Dixmude, and Dinant on the Meuse.... Never again shall we enjoy them: the chalices are broken and the perfume forever vanished.... The catastrophe is so unbelievable that one cannot realize it. The Seven Churches of Soissons, Senlis, Noyon, Laon, Meaux, Rheims, St. Remi; these such as man probably never again can match, are either razed to the foundations, or so shattered that it will be impossible to restore them. It is said that the Imperial Government has promised to rebuild these Gothic masterpieces.... One cannot trust one's self to comment upon this announcement. Imagine these sacred ruins.... Rheims!... Rheims can never be restored to what it was before the bombardment. Let it rest thus.... A sacred ruin--the scarred, pierced heart of France! Likewise "these fair sweet towns" of the middle ages; these wonderful little streets and byways, filled with the gray old timbered houses, "old in Shakespeare's day." Up to the outbreak of the war there were many of these throughout France, in spite of the wave of modernity which resulted in so much so called town improvement.