The church of Pont-de-l'Arche, though greatly dilapidated, is a building
worth notice, in a fine style of the decorated gothic. The nave is very
lofty; the high altar richly carved and gilt; the oak pulpit embossed
with saints; and the font covered with curious, though not ancient,
sculpture. Rich tracery abounds in the windows, which are also filled
with painted glass, some of it of very good quality. Scripture history
and personages occupy, as usual, the principal part; but in one of the
windows we noticed a representation of the Seine full of islands, and
the town of Pont-de-l'Arche, with a number of persons quitting it with
their horses, baggage, &c. in apparent confusion. So shattered, however,
is the window, that the story is no longer intelligible in its details;
and fragments, quite illegible, are all that remain of the inscriptions
formerly beneath it. It is probable, that the intention of the artist
was to give a picture of the miseries experienced by the inhabitants at
the burning of the town by our troops under Edward IIIrd.--On the south
side of the church the buttresses are enriched with canopies and other
sculpture; and there was originally a highly-wrought balustrade,
ornamented with figures of children, a part of which
remains.
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