I was speaking of those at Beauvais as suggesting the beech and the reed; if you think of the columns at Laon, they have nodes all up their stems, resembling the regular swelling of bamboos, to the point of imitation.

Note also the stone flora of the capitals and the pendants of the vault, terminating the long ribs of the arches.

Here the animal kingdom seems to have inspired the architect.

Might we not conceive of a fabulous spider, of which the key-stone is the body and the ribs stretching under the vaults are the legs?
The image is so accurate as to be irresistible.

And then what a marvel is the gigantic Arachne, wrought like a jewel and heightened with gold, which might have spun the web of those three flaming rose windows!" "By the way," said the Abbe, when they had left the church and were walking down the street, "I forgot to point out to you the Number which is everywhere stamped on Chartres; it is identical with Paray-le-Monial.
Here, again, everything is in threes.