12 On GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 



Conceiving that fome ruftic building, differing widely from 

 the Grecian original, might have fuggefled the Gothic forms, 

 I had made it my bnfinefs to fearch for fuch a one, when the 

 following accidental circumflance greatly aflifted my fpecula- 

 tions. 



It happened that the peafants of the country through which 

 1 was travelling were then employed in colle(51:ing and carrying 

 home the long rods or poles which they make ufe of to fupport 

 their vines, or to fplit into hoops ; and thefe were to be feen, 

 in every village, {landing in bundles, or waving, partly loofe, 

 upon carts. It occurred to me, that a ruftic dwelling might be 

 conflrudled of fuch rods, bearing a refemblance to works of 

 Gothic architedlure, and frona which the peculiar forms of that 

 ftyle might have been derived f . This conjedlure was at firfl 

 employed to account for the main parts of the ftrudlure, and for 

 its general appearance only ; but after an inveftigation carried 

 on, at different intervals, during the courfe of thefe eleven years, 

 with the affiftance of fbme friends, both in the colledlion of ma- 

 terials, and in the folution of difEculties, I have been enabled 



to 



in number. At the time here alluded to, I was acquainted with an opinion, which 

 I have fince found to have originated with Dr Warburton, that the Gothic ftyle 

 was copied from an alley of trees. I was aware of the advantages of this theory in 

 fome eflentisl points, yet it always appeared to me unfatisfaftory in many others ; 

 and 1 conceive it to be at heft far too vague to ferve as a guide to the artift. 



+ This refemblance, though very obvious in many cafes, has not, to my know- 

 ledge, been ob'fef vcd by any one but the late Mr Grose ; to whom it feems to have 

 occurred in a tranfient way. He makes ufe of the ftiape of a bower to afEft his de- 

 fcription of a Gothic roof, (Antiquities of England and Wales, p. 75.) ; but he does 

 not go fo far as to afcribe the architeftonic f jrms to this origin ; a view, which pro- 

 bably, would not have efcaped him, had he not been preoccupied with a different 

 one ; for he confiders the rudiments of a Gothic arch as formed " of two flat ftones 

 with their tops inclined to each other, and touching." I did not meet with this paf- 

 fage till feveral years after I had undertaken the prefent inquiry, and had carried it 

 a confiderable length. 



