644 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



since been an important, often the most important, feature in archi- 

 tectural works. 



The Roman architect was thus in possession of all the constructive 

 elements pillar, architrave, pediment, and arch which distinguish an 

 architectural edifice from a building merely made up of walls and a 

 roof. Without speculating as to the origin of pillar and architrave, 

 with their subsidiary elements of plinth, capital, corniee, etc., it is clear 

 that the last two the pediment and the arch resulted from the press- 

 ure of new and external circumstances. Into the history of the orders 

 we need not enter. Their function is that of ornament, and the choice 

 of their forms was probably governed by considerations of taste rather 

 than the requirements of situation. The classic architecture in the 

 best examples presents all the characteristics of a finished and matured 

 art ; and if the old civilization had been maintained, in the old places, 

 though an additional order or two might perhaps have been invented 

 for the sake of variety, there is no indication that there would have 

 been any important change in the style of building. The disintegra- 

 tion of the Roman Empire, however, and the triumph of the barba- 

 rians, brought into play an entirely new set of forces, and prepared the 

 way for that wonderful series of beautiful and ever-varying creations 

 which we know by the name of Gothic architecture. 



Can we discover what it was that inspired the mediaeval builders 

 in the production of forms of so much beauty, often at times when all 

 other arts were dead and gross ignorance abounded ? One considera- 

 tion may help us. The periods of the Gothic styles (including those 

 which led up to the styles to which the term is sometimes restricted) 

 are precisely those which are called the darJc ages ; and in the suc- 

 cessive changes through which the art passed in those ages can we not 

 perceive a yearning for light light in a threefold sense religious, 

 artistic, and physical ? 



1. Moral or religious light. An upward tendency now begins to 

 manifest itself. There is an evident disposition to make the buildings 

 appear as if springing up from the earth, instead of resting upon it. 

 In the temples of antiquity all the principal lines are horizontal, in 

 agreement with the surface of the earth ; in the mediaeval buildings 

 the tendency of the prevailing lines is to assume a vertical position, 

 pointing heavenward. 



2. Artistic lightness. The Greeks and Romans appear to have paid 

 little regard to economy of material in the construction of their public 

 edifices. Many of their works seem to rely for their effect chiefly upon 

 their massive grandeur. But the Gothic architects seem to have been 

 distressed with the weight of the material in which they worked. They 

 found means, from time to time, to diminish its weightiness, in appear- 

 ance at least, by diapering, molding, and tracery. 



3. Physical light. Under the semi-tropical skies of Southern Eu- 

 rope, little regard had to be paid to this blessing, beyond providing 



