roil THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL MONUMENTS. 407

But this account was more commendable for its ingenious inferences than for the correctness of its dates, one of which, viz. the year 900, assigned to the nave because of a resemblance of its capitals to some in a crypt at Oxford stated to have been built by St. Grimbald of Tournay about that time. Dr. Bromet felt it necessary to impugn by informing the meeting that this state- ment was now considered apocryphal. But M. Dumortier still contended that this early date was corroborated by the accordance of the measure- ments of the nave with the Ro.nan foot, whereas the transept was planned with the Byzantine foot, and the choir with the foot of Tournay. Of these and other opinions, however, there was so general a doubt that the President thought fit to suggest the propriety of not further discussing the subject until after the inspection of the morrow. In the evening some of the Spanish edifices in Lille were visited, among which were the party-coloured brick gates of Gaud and of Iloubaix, both still retaining the armorial bearings of Castile. The third day was occupied by the excursion to Tournay, but to this we can only allude in oiu' subsequent account of the proceedings to which it gave rise. On the fourth day, with reference to the question as to the absence of statuary on the faQades of Flemish churches, a discussion took place con- cerning those equestrian figures so common on church fonts in Poitou. The Abbes Jourdain and Duval of Amiens considered them as representa- tions of the " smiting of Heliodorus by the horse of the terrible rider ; and so did M. de Caumont, because of their being frequently accompanied with a human figure under the horse's " fore-feet." But M. de Lambron — alluding to the equestrian figures on seals, and to the absence of nimbi about the heads of these statutes — thought with M. de Clerge that they are portraits of the founders or patrons of the churches on which they ajipear. M. Didron, however, thought Christian art could not be explained by profane history, and he therefore looked upon them as figures of St. Martin and St. George, many being accompanied with a dragon. M. de Lessaulx of Coblenz then read a memoir illustrated with plans of several ancient churches in Ger- many, and of a mode of building vaults without centerings, referring to the Exchange at Lisle for examples of such construction. M. de Roisin gave an account, with drawings, of a large church lately built by the munificence of the Count von Fiirstenberg near Remagen upon the Rhine ; and the Count then presented a collection of casts made by Herr Lenhart of Co- logne from some architectural ornaments in that neighbourhood, and which casts, according to the custom of the Society, were forthwith deposited in the museum of the town in which the congres had taken place. In the afternoon's sitting, M. de Godefroy gave an interesting viva voce account of a discussion in the Historical section relative to the locality where Julius CfEsar " overcame the Nervii," and which. Dr. Leglay stated, was on the Scheld between Bonavis and Vaucellcs. The Secretary of the Ar- chaeological section also gave a narration of the preceding day's visit to Tournay; especially mentioning the examination of the cathedral and the