THE ARCHIPELAGO OF BREIIAT. 125 



brave them by its impassibility. The north-west 

 wind roars round the towers, darkening its thick 

 o-lass windows with torrents of rain and drifts of 



o 



snow and hail. These impetuous blasts bear along 



with them from the far-spread ocean colossal waves, 



whose crests not unfrequently reach the first gallery, 



but these fluid masses slide away from the round and 



polished surfaces of the granite, which leave them no 



points of adhesion, and darting their long lines of 



foam above the cupola, they break with thundering 



roar against the rocks of Stallio-Bras, or the boulders 



of Sillon. The tower supports these terrific assaults 



without injury, although it bends, as if in homage, 



before the might of its foes. I was assured by the 



keepers, that during a violent storm, the oil in the 



lamps of the highest rooms, presents a variation of 



level exceeding an inch, which would lead us to 



assume that the summit of the tower describes an 



arc of about a yard in extent. This very flexibility 



seems, however, in itself to be a proof of durability. 



At all events we meet with similar conditions in 



several monuments which for ages have braved the 



inclemency of recurring seasons. The spire of 



Strasburg Cathedral, in particular, bends its long 



ogives and slender pinnacles beneath the force of the 



winds, while the cross on its summit gently oscillates 



at an elevation of more than 450 feet above the 



ground. 



To construct a monument on these rocks, which 

 seemed the very focus of all the storms which raged 

 on that part of our coasts, was like building an edifice 

 in the open sea. Such a project must indeed have 



