where the stag, after leaping upon a rock, has turned,
and shows a crucifix between his horns, the stag on
one side balancing the horse on the other, while Placidas
on his knees yields to the miracle of Christ.
Then Placidas is baptized as Eustace; and in the centre,
you see him with his wife and two children—another
charming composition— leaving the city.
Four small panels in the corners are said to contain
the signatures of the Drapers and Furriers. Above,
the story of adventure goes on, showing Eustace bargaining
with a shipmaster for his passage; his embarcation
with wife and children, and their arrival at some
shore, where the two children have landed, and the
master drives Eustace after them while he detains the
wife. Four small panels here have not been identified,
but the legend was no doubt familiar to the Middle
Ages, and they knew how Eustace and the children came
to a river, where you can see a pink lion carrying
off one child, while a wolf, which has seized the
other, is attacked by shepherds and dogs. The
children are rescued, and the wife reappears, on her
knees before her lord, telling of her escape from
the shipmaster, while the children stand behind; and
then the reunited family, restored to the Emperor’s
favour, is seen feasting and happy. At last Eustace
refuses to offer a sacrifice to a graceful antique
idol, and is then shut up, with all his family, in
a brazen bull; a fire is kindled beneath it; and, from
above, a hand confers the crown of martyrdom.
Another subject, which should have been placed in
the apse, stands in a singular isolation which has
struck many of the students in this branch of church
learning. At Sens, Saint Eustace is in the choir,
and by his side is the Prodigal Son. At Bourges
also the Prodigal Son is in the choir. At Chartres,
he is banished to the north transept, where you will
find him in the window next the nave, almost as though
he were in disgrace; yet the glass is said to be very
fine, among the best in the church, while the story
is told with rather more vivacity than usual; and
as far as colour and execution go, the window has
an air of age and quality higher than the average.
At the bottom you see the signature of the corporation
of Butchers. The window at Bourges was given by
the Tanners. The story begins with the picture
showing the younger son asking the father for his
share of the inheritance, which he receives in the
next panel, and proceeds, on horseback, to spend, as
one cannot help suspecting, at Paris, in the Latin
Quarter, where he is seen arriving, welcomed by two
ladies. No one has offered to explain why Chartres
should consider two ladies theologically more correct
than one; or why Sens should fix on three, or why
Bourges should require six. Perhaps this was
left to the artist’s fancy; but, before quitting
the twelfth century, we shall see that the usual young
man who took his share of patrimony and went up to
study in the Latin Quarter, found two schools of scholastic