Bk. II. Ch. I. PROVENCE. 455 trace back the steps one by one by which the porch at Avignon led to that of Aries, we might almost be inclined to doubt the succession. 314. Porch of St. Trophime, Aries. (From Chapuy, " Moyen Age Monumental.") The porches at Aix, Cuxa, Coustonges, Prades, Valcabre, Tarascon, and elsewhere in this province, form a series of singular interest, and of great beauty of detail mixed with all the rich exuberance of our own Xorinan doorways, and follow one another by such easy gradations that the relative age of each may easily be determined. The culminating example is that at St. Gilles, near the mouths of the Rhone, which is by far the most elaborate church of its class, but so classical in many of its details, that it probably is somewhat earlier than this one at Aries, which it resembles in many respects, though far exceeding it in magnificence. It consists of three such porches placed side by side, and connected together by colonnades — if they. may be so called — and sculpture of the richest class, forming altogether a frontal decoi-ation unsurpassed, except in the northern churches of the 13th century. Such porches, however, as those of Rheims, Amiens, and Chartres, surpass even these in elaborate richness and in dimen- sions, though it may be questioned if they are really more beautiful in design
