Maurice, and Saint Martin, beseeching them to
deliver him and carry him to Abraham's bosom.
These saints, accordingly, rushed at the devils,
tore from their claws the soul of Dagobert, and
carried it to heaven with psalms and songs of
praise." For the proper understanding of these
bas-reliefs, it is necessary to begin at the bottom
and follow the story upwards. First, then, is
seen the effigy of King Dagobert lying at full
length with his hands clasped on his breast, and
above him this inscription: " Cy git Dagobert,
Premier fondateur de Céans, vii Roi, en l'an
vixxxii, jusques a vixlv." In the next compartment,
Dagobert is represented at the point
of death, listening to the exhortations of Saint
Denis. Then comes a tree, to mark, according
to the old custom, that that which follows has
no connexion with what preceded it. After the
tree, appears a boat-load of devils ill treating
the soul of poor Dagobert, and above is
written: " Saint Denis reveals to John, the
Anchorite, that the soul of Dagobert is in
torment." In the central bas-relief appear two
angels, together with St. Denis and St. Martin,
who come floating over the waves and depriving
the devils of their prey, several of the demons
taking headers into the sea, with this explanation:
" The soul of Dagobert is delivered by
the merits of Saint Denis, Saint Martin, and
Saint Maurice." The third relief represents
Saint Denis, Saint Martin, and Saint Maurice
holding the soul of Dagobert in an upright position
in a sheet, with an angel on each side, and
two others in the background engaged in choral
salutation. That there may be a proper
distinction observed between soul and body, the
figure of Dagobert appears of the neuter
gender. At the very summit of the tomb, Saint
Denis and Saint Martin are shown on their
knees before Abraham, praying him to receive
the ransomed soul into his bosom. On each
side of the entire monument, as if supporting
the ogive, are Queen Nantilda, the wife of
Dagobert, and his son, Clovis the Second, who,
like his father, was one of the benefactors of
the abbey church; and his example was followed
by Thierry the Third, Pepin-le-Bref, and
Charlemagne. The latter, indeed, in the year 775,
made magnificent additions. After the great
king, all those of the third race, Hugh Capet
and Saint Louis in particular, delighted in
ornamenting the shrine of the apostle of the Gauls.
The first building, of which mention has been
made, bore the designation of Saint Denis de
l'Estrée, and the concourse of pilgrims soon
created a village round it, which village, in
the reign of Louis-le-Jeune, grew into a town
of tolerable size, so that, seeing the church
did not suffice for the wants of the faithful,
the celebrated Suger, twenty-sixth abbot from
the foundation, resolved to build a larger on
the same site, and for this purpose pulled
down the additions made by Charlemagne,
constructed the nave, finished the principal
portal, began the two towers, and raised three
lateral oratories, which were dedicated to Saint
Romain, Saint Hippolyte, and Saint Nicolas,
the last of whom, the patron of thieves, sailors,
and little children, always contrived to come in
for a good share of what was going on in the
shape of dedication. The work of Suger was
completed by Saint Louis, who resolved that the
place of sepulture of the kings of France,
irregularly chosen up to his reign, should be
irrevocably fixed at Saint Denis, and thus, of the
present edifice, all that is above ground is the
construction of the son of Blanche of Castile,
while the crypt belongs to the first foundation.
As a modern writer justly says, the abbey church
of Saint Denis is one of the most beautiful
specimens of the architecture of the thirteenth
century now remaining in France. "It is a
regular cruciform building, with double aisles
and a circular east end. Its total length is three
hundred and ninety feet; breadth, one hundred
feet; and height of vaulting, eighty feet. Both
the nave and choir, with the transepts, have a
light triporium gallery and clerestory windows,
with the curves of the arches curiously adapted
to the vaulting. At the eastern end of the choir
is a beautiful lady chapel, containing specimens
of ancient and modern stained glass. Of the
exterior of the church, the most remarkable
features are the curious pinnacles that crown
the buttresses of the aisles, the spire and
pinnacles of the western tower, and the richly-
sculptured doorway of the northern transept.

It would be lèse-majesté to this noble structure
to leave unnoticed the monuments by which
it was once, and happily is again adorned; we
shall, therefore, give a slight notice of the
principal amongst them. There are three, belonging
to the same period of art, which at once attract
attention. These are the tombs of Louis the
Twelfth and Anne of Brittany, of Francis the
First and Claude of France, and of Henry the
Second and Catherine de' Medici. On the same
side with the monument to Dagobert, rises in
white marble, the work of the famous Italian,
Paolo Poncio, the memorial of " the Father of
his country," and his beautiful Breton wife. The
effigies of Louis the Twelfth and his queen are
represented on a cenotaph surrounded by twelve
arches, ornamented with charming arabesques,
beneath which are placed statues of the twelve
apostles, admirable for design, attitude, and
execution. The whole rests upon a pedestal
enriched with bas-reliefs, representing the battles
fought in Italy in the reign of Louis, including
that of Agnadel, and the king's entry into Milan.
Above the cornice are kneeling statues of Louis
and Anne. The whole is a splendid work of art,
inferior only to the tomb raised by Anne herself
to the memory of her father and mother, Francis
the Second the last Duke of Brittany, and
Marguerite de Foix, in the cathedral of Saint Pierre
at Nantes. Close beside the monument to
Louis and the duchess-queen is that of Henry
the Second and the treacherous Catherine, whose
effigies, in white marble, stretched on a couch,
are from the designs of Philip Delorme, executed
by Germain Pilon. The drapery of Catherine's
dress is exquisitely wrought, and the likeness of
the wily Italian, is held to be more authentic