JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 107 
CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN NORTHERN FRANCE 
ABSTRACT OF A LECTURE 
Delivered before the Hamilton Scientific Association, by 
Professor John Squair, March 21st, 1901. 
(ILLUSTRATED BY LANTERN PROJECTIONS. ) 
We shall disregard many interesting relations of archi- 
tecture to mathematics, aesthetics, etc., and consider it mainly 
in its relations to the ideas and tendencies of the different 
centuries of which we shall treat, particularly of the time 
subsequent to the Renaissance. 
The art of France in the Middle Ages is one of great 
richness ane variety. All the forms of literature flourished : 
epic poetry, lyric poetry, the drama and history. Sculpture 
was carried to a high state of excellence. But the architecture 
of the period is the richest form of artistic legacy bequeathed 
to modern times. An attempt has been made in the nineteenth 
century to revive an interest in medizeval literature and many 
beautiful things have been brought to our notice which were 
ovetlooked by the men of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries. Scholars and critics have republished and expounded 
and sometimes modernised the great epics and dramas of the 
Middle Ages, but it is doubtful whether any permanent vogue 
regarding these works will ever be re-established. Some of 
great patriotic value such as the Chanson de Roland, or some 
of the beautiful lyrics appeal strongly to men of our time and 
will not be forgotten, but the number of ancient poems secured 
from oblivion will be small. Quite otherwise is it with archi- 
tecture. Here all the samples of medizeval art which remain 
are regarded with the greatest favour. The contempt which 
