[Illustration: THE JUBÉ, SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
The Canon then goes on to record the want of reverence of the congregation, how they just _half_ kneel when the bell rings; how they must needs sit, and even gossip, during the short quarter of an hour occupied by a low mass; how they take snuff and bear themselves generally, and then go out and stand about for the greater part of the day at their business.
S. Louis ordained, in his foundation charters, that the offerings received by the priests at the altar should be devoted to the reparation of the glass, and that if it should be insufficient, the necessary funds should be taken from the Royal Treasury deposited at the Temple. The restoration of the windows is now complete, this being the work of MM. Steinheil and Lusson. These artists have done their work so well, and matched the colours so perfectly, that it is difficult to distinguish the new from the old. The rose-window is of the 15th century, the others of the 13th century. The subjects are from the Old and New Testament, and from the life of S. Louis. Some of these latter are original, and, as it is probable that the artists assisted at the ceremonies held in the chapel, it is also probable that the pictures may be true portraits of the personages represented. The subjects of the rose-window are all taken from the Apocalypse.
Such is the chapel which was so dear to the King that he felt a "_malaise_" when he heard divine service elsewhere, and of which the troubadour Rutebeuf sings the praises in a poem written after the death of the Saint, entitled, _Les Regrès au roys Loeys_:
Chapèle de Paris! bien ères maintenue La mort, ce m'est aduis, t'a fet desconvenue Du miex de tes amys, t'a laissée toute nue De la mort, sont plaintifs et grant gent et menue."-- (_MS. Bibliothèque Nationale._)
Although the Benedictine abbey church of S. Denis is some miles from Paris, it is so mixed up with the history of the capital that it ought not to be omitted in a series of "Paris Churches." Moreover, as it is by far the finest church in, or near, the metropolis, and one of the grandest examples of French 13th century architecture, no one ought to grudge the tiresome journey by train or tram in order to see it, even if his stay in Paris be limited to a few days. The only thing required to make it perfectly beautiful is new stained glass in the windows of the clerestory to replace that put up during the early years of this century, a horrible example of the execrable taste of the period.