[44] We must not
omit to mention the beautiful north door, called the 'Portail des
Libraires,' which in Prout's time was completely blocked up with old
houses and wooden erections.
'On entering the doorway of the north porch (says _Cassell_), the
visitor will be struck with the size, loftiness, and rich colour of the
interior, 435 feet long and 89 feet high. The 'clerestory' of the
sixteenth century is full of painted glass. On each side of the nave
there is a series of chapels, constructed in the fourteenth century,
between the buttresses of the main walls; they are full of very fine
stained glass, and contain good pictures and monuments. The transepts
are remarkable for their magnificent rose-windows, and in the north
transept there is a staircase of open-tracery work of exquisite
workmanship.
'The choir, separated from the nave by a modern Grecian screen, was
built in the thirteenth century, the carving of the stalls is extremely
curious. The elaborately carved screen in front of the sacristy was
executed in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and its
wrought-iron door must not be passed unnoticed.'[45]
The Church of St. Ouen 'surpasses the cathedral in size, purity of
style, masterly execution, and splendid, but judicious decoration, and
is inferior only in its historic monuments. It is one of the noblest and
most perfect Gothic edifices in the world.
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