Vanished Halls and Cathedrals of FranceEdwards, George Wharton
History
Vanished Halls and Cathedrals of France
Edwards, George Wharton
Cathedrals -- France; Cities and towns -- France; France -- Description and travel
The little town was the residence of the great Cardinal de Retz, who is
said to have written his memoirs here. The Rue Notre Dame, which led to
the ancient abbey, and the church of St. Michael, had some very fine
old fifteenth century houses, which were still (in 1910) in an
excellent state of preservation. The great church dated in part from the
seventeenth century, and contained a remarkable statue of the Madonna,
attributed to Ligier Richier, a pupil of Michelangelo, who also carved
the noted sepulchral monument of René de Châlons, Prince of Orange, in
the church of St. Pierre at Bar-le-Duc. There was here too, a figure of
a child surrounded by skulls, with two of which she was playing. Said
to be by Jean Richier, this was a most beautiful piece of seventeenth
century miniature work.
The Madonna mentioned above was depicted as fainting in the arms of St.
John, the pose being most remarkable. One of the curiosities of the
old church was the remains of a stone rood loft, a structure said by
architects to be very rarely met with. The ruined remains of the abbey
at the east end of the church were found near some sort of public
offices, which should have been cleared away so that they might be seen
the better. In the Rue des Ingénieurs was the house of the sculptor,
Ligier Richier, dated 1538. And in the church of St. Sepulcré was the
famous tomb by this master, consisting of thirteen figures, showing
the Virgin, Mary Cleopas and John, and some dice players, all of great
realism and character.
This whole region is filled with legend, related with such great
circumstantial detail that one might not venture, on pain of giving
offense, to show disbelief, no matter how fantastic the story. There
was one curious old house which I saw in the Rue de la Vaux, which had
a rude frieze of great animals below its roof, the effect being so
singular as to be well nigh unbelievable. What its history or origin
I was unable to discover. Indeed much mystery was made of it, when I
inquired; much as if I had asked an indiscreet question. So I desisted.
In the neighborhood were the most delightful walks and rambles,
overgrown with verdure, leading past small farmsteads embosomed in thick
forests, in a region filled with myth and legend.
Following the course of the Meuse, dotted with small mills taking toll
of her one by one, whose splashing mossy wheels she cheerfully spins;
eddying here and there, bright gardens, one was led to a certain gushing
fountain, under a shelving bay of ferny rock, and this was named "the
Easter fountain." It would be strange indeed if a fountain in this
region had not a story connected with it. This one was no exception,
and here follows this story of the Easter fountain, as told by Brother
Antoine of St. Mihiel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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