EVOLUTION IN ARCHITECTURE. 647 







imposts into the arch itself, instead of the force being directed down- 

 ward, as in the Roman arch. 



The pointed arch made its appearance in the several countries 

 of Europe almost simultaneously, but it took nearly a hundred years 

 to entirely supplant the round arch. During that time pointed and 

 round arches were used indifferently in the same building, as occasion 

 might require or taste dictate ; but in the thirteenth century the 

 pointed form was finally established. Another change is now appar- 

 ent, showing the application of a principle which, perhaps more than 

 any other, distinguishes the best examples of Gothic architecture a 

 desire to rely for the beauty of the work on the form and arrangement 

 of the constituent parts, and to make it as independent as possible of 

 added decoration. This is evidenced by the deeply cut moldings, in 

 continuous lines, strongly marking out the construction, which are so 

 noticeable in what are called " Early English " buildings. More light- 

 ness is also obtained by means of clustered pilars, molded arches, 

 tracery in the windows, and especially by the use of buttresses. The 

 buttresses, first used to give additional strength to an already substan- 

 tial wall, were completely altered in form. Instead of being, as in the 

 Norman period, broad and flat, projecting but slightly from the sur- 

 face of the wall, they were now placed with their breadth at right 

 angles to the wall. They were also lightened by being divided into 

 stages, and divided in their lower parts by arches. By this arrange- 

 ment the weight of the roof and upper portions of the building was 

 transferred to points outside the walls, and this enabled immense 

 progress to be made in the light-seeking principle by leaving a much 

 larger portion of the sides of the building available for windows. 



The art having now assumed a definite and decided character, the 

 succeeding varieties of style show a steady progression on the lines 

 established. The simple pointed arch was formed by describing it 

 from two centers instead of one ; by using more centers, trefoils and 

 quatrefoils were obtained, and the intersection of the circles produced 

 the cusp, another form of point. Points now appear everywhere ; 

 buttresses are prolonged into pinnacles, and towers are surmounted 

 by spires. Ribs under arches and vaults are multiplied, to distract 

 the eye from the weight of the material which they appear to support. 

 Horizontal lines and divisions gradually disappear, or are broken up, 

 until in some cases there is no line to mark where wall ends and roof 

 begins. Even the beautiful geometrical forms of the fourteenth cent- 

 ury had to give way to the perpendicular, which in the fifteenth cent- 

 ury reigned supreme. 



As an example of mediaeval architecture at the highest point of de- 

 velopment it was permitted to reach, we may take the chapel of King's 

 College, Cambridge, one of the finest specimens of advanced Gothic 

 art in Christendom. On entering the chapel the prevalence of the up- 

 ward principle is at once apparent. On either side innumerable ver- 



