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spring high in the air, reduced to narrow rims of stone, yet still preserving 

 their original form. The arches and pUlars of the choir and transepts are com- 

 plete. The shapes of all the windows may be still discerned, and the frame 

 of the west -svindow is in perfect preservation. The design of the tracery is ex- 

 tremely elegant, and when decorated with painted glass must have produced a 

 fine effect. Critics who censure this window as too broad for its height do not 

 consider that it was not intended for a particular object, but to harmonise with 

 the general plan, and had the architect diminished the breadth in proportion to 

 the height the general effect of the perspective would have been considerably 

 lessened. The general form of the east window is entire, but the frame is much 

 dilapidated. It occupies the whole breadth of the choir, and is divided into two 

 large and equal compartments by a slender shaft, of not less than 50 feet in height, 

 which has the appearance of singular lightness, and in particular points of view 

 seems suspended in the air. 



The style of architecture is early (English) geometrical. Decorated con- 

 ventual examples of this particular period are to be found at Lanercost in Cum- 

 berland ; Rivaulx, Yorkshire ; Westminster Abbey ; at Fountains, the choir and 

 east end ; Netley, Hampshire ; Whitley, in Yorkshire ; Valle Crucis, in Denbigh- 

 shire ; Ripon Minster, and the south transept of Beverley Minster, in Yorkshire ; 

 Milton Abbey, Dorsetshire ; part of the nave of St. Alban's, Tynemouth ; and 

 Brinkbourne, Northumberland ; Vale Royal, in Cheshire ; and the eastern facade 

 of Howden, in Yorkshire. 



The stone used for the buildings is the red and grey sandstone obtained in 

 the vicinity, in part laminated, its component parts being fine and coarse quartz, 

 and other siliceous grains with argillo-sihceous cement, ferruginous spots, and 

 plates of mica, in unequal, but, for the most part, in perfect condition, covered 

 with grey and green lichen. 



One of the most beautiful, and by no means the least interesting parts of 

 the ruin is "the hospitium," or guest hall. It was a finely -proportioned apart- 

 ment, measuring 85 feet long, by 28 feet broad, with a vaulted stone roof, sup- 

 ported on pillars, of one of which the massive bases yet remain. Here the monks 

 dispensed their hospitality to their wandering brethren and to travellers. Tintern 

 was celebrated among the Monasteries of England for good living and lavish 

 hospitality. 



The refectory is about the same length as the hospitium, but six feet 

 broader, and has in the centre of the west side a groined and vaulted niche, about 

 three feet above the surface of the apartment, which (probably) served the purpose 

 of a lectern, whence pious lessons were read to the monks whilst at dinner. The 

 buttery hatch is complete, as also a flight of steps in the north transept by which 

 the Church was connected %vith the domestic portions of the Abbey. Traces of a 

 chapter-house, and cloister, and dormitory also exist. 



Among other sepulchral figures, is the mutilated effigy of a man in a coat of 

 mail, with his shield on his left arm, which is erroneously supposed to represent 



