i^9^' GRECIAN AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 273 



creafes, and the di(lin£1: portions of the roof regularly 

 fpringing from each column, and deminilhing as they 

 recede from the eye by a natural perfpetSlive, mark the 

 diftancc there In a more regular and pleafmg manner, 

 and with lels effort of the beholder than ever yet has 

 been effe£ted by any other mode. The mind is thus 

 led to form, without difficulty or confufion, a diftinft 

 idea of the vaft dimeniions, and great regularity of the 

 whole. When the eye glances too, on each fide, the 

 columns are fo open as not to hinder its progrefs. The 

 near windows on the fides are diftinftly feen, the pil- 

 lars that fcparate thefe windows, with their divaricat- 

 ing arches fupporting the roof receding in regular per- 

 fpeftivc, till they are at laft gradually loft behind the 

 prominent parts, leaves the mind at freedom to 

 purfue their courfe in idea^ long after thefe parts are 

 hid from the eye. The figures too of men and other 

 animals that are (een in any part, being always fully il- 

 luminated, are fhown to great advantage, and ferve as 

 a natural fcale for meafuring the fizc of every part. 



No one, however, feems to have examined the Gothic architedlurej 

 or taken the troubk to fpend a thouglit about the origin of that iHle of 

 conftruftion peculiar to it ; and therefore we have not heard any thing 

 of the objeifls that ferved for a model to the artii^, though it fcems to 

 me much more obvious than thefe hints refpedliiig the Grecian ftiJe. 

 A frrowiiig tree, with all its branches fpreading wide, intermingling 

 with thofe of others around, and forminjr above a clofe covering by its 

 thick foliage, has been obvio;jfly the architype of the beautiful objeift<! 

 we at prcfer.t contemplate. The column reprcfunts the bole, and the 

 ribs, diverging on every fide, reprefcnt the branches. The rounded 

 ribs that frequently are feen to mark die ftcm of the tree, a great way 

 below the place where the branch leaves it, has even given rile obvi- 

 oufly to the idea of thefe ribs, or rods, as they havs been called, of the 

 Gothic column. The refemblaace is fo cxaiil as cannot fail to flrike 

 fcvery one as Icon as it Is pointed out. Indeed no objeil purely arti- 

 ficial, I ever faw, is fo exadl an imitation of a natural one, (if 

 the r.:adci will pardon the fmall inaccuracy of calling trees planted id 

 rbws natural objeAs,) than the general appearance of the view along 

 the aiflc of a large catlicdral, terminated by its wiridow, and a villa 

 open at the end, formed by parallel ftraight rows of trees; as every 

 pcrfon who has been much in tlie country inuft have remarked. 



Vol. v. t , M m 



