ON THE PERPENDICULAE OF SOMERSET, 31 



cathedral. The P^arly Engllsh arcades of the nave do not 

 seem to differ more widely from the Perpendicular ones of" 

 the choir and side chapels than the latter do from one 

 another. The general effect is the .same throughout. 



Coming on ftu-ther, the Decorated work in Bristol 

 Cathedral is another step towards the local Perpendicular, 

 It is intensely Continuous ; indeed it is so to an exagge- 

 rated extent, which the Perpendicular bullders did not 

 generally imitate. We must take it in connexion with 

 the Decorated work at North CuiTy and Frome, In these 

 cases the imposts of the piers are continuous ; the mould- 

 ings, among which the wave-moulding is predominant, being 

 carried uninterruptediy along pier and arch, unbroken by 

 any shaft or capital. At Bristol, the pier itsclf is of this 

 character, only the members which are attached as vault- 

 ing-shafts are provided with capitals. But no arrangement 

 can be more thoroughly Continuous ; and this is the more 

 remarkable, as the tracery is rather behind-hand in its 

 development, whereas generally we find the tracery very 

 far in advance of the arcades, 



The choir of Bristol, from its very small elevation in 

 comparison with its width, and from the absence of a 

 clerestory, has a general effect of massiveness, which in a 

 Gothic church is somewhat oppressive. But looking 

 directly across the choir, it is at once seen that the arcades 

 taken alone have an extraordinarily light and soaring ap- 

 pearance, The bays are narrow, the piers slender and lofty, 

 the arches wonderfuUy acute. This last feature indeed 

 is caused by the peculiar arrangements of the roof, and is 

 not to be found in either the earlier or the later examples 

 with which we have compared it, But the general notion 

 of the arcade is one which may claim very close relationship 

 with the Perpendi(5ular of Wrington and St, Stephen's ; and 



