--This building was erected in the year
1512, and chiefly by voluntary contributions, if such can be called
_voluntary_ as were purchased by promises from the archbishop, first of
forty, and then of one hundred, days' indulgences, to all who would
contribute towards the pious labor.--The central tower resembles that of
the cathedral, both in the interior and the exterior. It now appears
truncated; but it was originally surmounted by a spire, which was of
such beauty, that even Italian artists thought it worthy to be engraved
and held out as a model at Rome[97]. The spire, however, was greatly
injured by a hurricane, in 1705, and it was at last taken down thirty
years afterwards. To the triple porch, I have already alluded, in
describing the intended front of St. Ouen. The general lines of the
church, are such as in England would be referred to the fourteenth
century: on a closer examination, however, the curious eye will
discover the peculiar beauties of the French Gothic. Thus the bosses of
the groined roof are wrought and perforated into filagree, the work
extending over the intersections of the groins, which are seen through
its reticulations.
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