corruption of taste.

'The projecting central porch, and the whole of the upper part, is of
the sixteenth century, the lateral ones being of an earlier period and
chaster in style. Above the central door is carved the genealogy of
Jesse; over the north-west door is the death of John the Baptist, with
the daughter of Herodias dancing before Herod; and above them, figures
of Virgin and Saints.

'The north tower, called St. Romain (the one on the left in our
illustration), is older in date, part of it being of the twelfth
century; the right-hand tower, which is more florid, being of the
sixteenth.' The central spire in the background is really of _cast
iron_, and stands out, it is fair to say, much more sharply and
painfully against the sky, than in our illustration.[44] We must not
omit to mention the beautiful north door, called the 'Portail des
Libraires,' which in Prout's time was completely blocked up with old
houses and wooden erections.

'On entering the doorway of the north porch (says _Cassell_), the
visitor will be struck with the size, loftiness, and rich colour of the
interior, 435 feet long and 89 feet high. The 'clerestory' of the
sixteenth century is full of painted glass. On each side of the nave
there is a series of chapels, constructed in the fourteenth century,
between the buttresses of the main walls; they are full of very fine
stained glass, and contain good pictures and monuments. The transepts
are remarkable for their magnificent rose-windows, and in the north
transept there is a staircase of open-tracery work of exquisite
workmanship.