bourgeois.  The want of unity is much less surprising than the unity, but it is still evident, especially in the glass.  The mosaics of Monreale begin and end; they are a series; their connection is artistic and theological at once; they have unity.  The windows of Chartres have no sequence, and their charm is in variety, in individuality, and sometimes even in downright hostility to each other, reflecting the picturesque society that gave them.  They have, too, the charm that the world has made no attempt to popularize them for its modern uses, so that, except for the useful little guide-book of the Abbe Clerval, one can see no clue to the legendary chaos; one has it to one’s self, without much fear of being trampled upon by critics or Jew dealers in works of art; any Chartres beggar-woman can still pass a summer’s day here, and never once be mortified by ignorance of things that every dealer in bric-a-brac is supposed to know.

Yet the artists seem to have begun even here with some idea of sequence, for the first window in the north aisle, next the new tower, tells the story of Noah; but the next plunges into the local history of Chartres, and is devoted to Saint Lubin, a bishop of this diocese who died in or about the year 556, and was, for some reason, selected by the Wine-Merchants to represent them, as their interesting medallions show.  Then follow three amusing subjects, charmingly treated:  Saint Eustace, whose story has been told; Joseph and his brethren; and Saint Nicholas, the most popular saint of the thirteenth century, both in the Greek and in the Roman Churches.  The sixth and last window on the north aisle of the nave is the New Alliance.

Opposite these, in the south aisle, the series begins next the tower with John the Evangelist, followed by Saint Mary Magdalen, given by the Water-Carriers.  The third, the Good Samaritan, given by the Shoemakers, has a rival at Sens which critics think even better.  The fourth is the Death, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin.  Then comes the fifteenth-century Chapel of Vendome, to compare the early and later glass.  The sixth is, or was, devoted to the Virgin’s Miracles at Chartres; but only one complete subject remains.

These windows light the two aisles of the nave and decorate the lower walls of the church with a mass of colour and variety of line still practically intact in spite of much injury; but the windows of the transepts on the same level have almost disappeared, except the Prodigal Son and a border to what was once a Saint Lawrence, on the north; and, on the south, part of a window to Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna, with an interesting hierarchy of angels above:—­seraphim and cherubim with six wings, red and blue; Dominations; Powers; Principalities; all, except Thrones.