JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 109 
features of the churches throughout the period known as the 
Classical in literature. The very word Gothic became a 
synonym for barbarous. Nothing was in good taste that was 
not of Grecian origin. This is one of the most striking 
phenomena in the history of art. The men of the Renaissance 
did not cast aside the Gothic style and adopt the Classical 
because the latter was intrinsically more artistic. Indeed, it is 
doubtful if it was so. ‘They really rejected the Gothic and 
adopted the Classical because, under the charm of the superior 
Classical philosophy and poetry, they rejected their own 
medizeval literature and, along with it, what was no part of 
it, their medizeval architecture. 
The Church of the Madeleine of the year 1807 represents 
a new phase of development. It is true that it was intended 
by Napoleon not as a Christian church but as a temple of 
glory, and so could be fashioned more appropriately after the 
model of a pagan edifice. But that is not the only reason for 
it being an almost exact copy of a Grecian temple. It is easy 
to see by comparing, for instance, Saint-Etienne du Mont 
(1517) with the Pantheon (1764) that originality of design 
was waning. The Madeleine marks the close of the eras of 
invention and the beginning of the era of imitation. It is a 
far cry from the free spirit of inventiveness which produced a 
facade like that of Reims to the spirit of imitation which pro- 
duced the colonnade, however beautiful, of the Madeleine. The 
nineteenth century is the age when men are more anxious 
to secure historical accuracy than to invent bold, striking 
novelties. The field from which to choose models has been very 
much widened, however, since the Romantic movement of 
1830. Hugo and his contemporaries turned their attention to 
medizeval architecture and rediscovered, so to speak, the Gothic 
cathedral. ‘That graceful form became again an object of 
admiration, and architects took it as a model for modern 
structures. But Romanesque and Classical models are not 
excluded. In fact, nearly all types of buildings are copied in 
our time. ‘The two great characteristics of modern French 
churches are variety of style and, what may seem paradoxical, 
lack of originality. 
