CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



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General 

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In 1381, the nave of Canterbury was rebuilt under 

 Courtney and Arundel ; and the nave of Winchester was 

 changed by William of Wykeham. 



By looking into the roofs of the side aisles of Win- 

 chester, or at the west front of Gloucester, St Alban's, 

 and Rumney churches, it may be seen in what manner the 

 circular architecture of the llth was changed into the 

 pointed of the 14th ; and this taste was extended even 

 to parish churches, especially to the windows. 



This pointed style of architecture occupied little more 

 than four centuries. As it acquired its character by be- 

 ing elevated above the semicircle, so its decline commen- 

 ced by a depression below that standard. This took 

 place in the latter end of the 15th century, of which the 

 most celebrated examples are St George's Chapel at 

 Windsor, built by Edward IV. who died in 1483 ; King's 

 College Chapel, Cambridge ; and Henry Seventh's Cha- 

 pel, Westminster. The architects were Bishop Cloose 

 and Sir Reginald Bray. The royal chapels and ora- 

 tories during the reigns of the two last Henry's, are co- 

 vered with a redundancy of tracery and ornaments of 

 excellent execution, but tiresome from its excess and 

 want of relief. The whole walls of the edifice were con- 

 verted into a glass frame. The Lady's Chapel at Glou- 

 cester is a striking example of this style ; but from this 

 false taste must be excepted the cathedral church at 

 Bath, built by Bishop Oliver King in 1500, and the 

 chancel of Winchester, built by Bishop Fox in 1525. 



The chief symptoms of the decline of this pointed 

 style, were rendering the walls a mere glass case, de- 

 pressing the arches, employing a redundancy of tracery 

 ramified into fibres, and loaded at meetings with heavy 

 armorial bearings, badges and releases, towers covered 

 with hemispherical cupolas, and portals inclosed with 

 square architraves. 



The first order of the pointed style is to be traced 

 up to Henry I. in 1132, or more certainly to the be- 

 ginning of Stephen, 1136. It was perfected before the 

 conclusion of the 12th century, and continued till near 

 the conclusion of the 13th century. It is distinguished 

 by its sharp arch, pillars frequently Saxon, but after- 

 wards by detached slender shafts, groining of simply in- 

 tersecting ribs, plain pediments without crockets or side 

 pinnacles, the windows either without mullions or only 

 having a simple bisecting one, and with a single trefoil 

 or quatrefoil, or other flower, at top. The specimens 

 are the east end of Canterbury, west end of Lincoln, the 

 whole of Salisbury, and the transepts of York and West- 

 minster. 



The second order reigned from the latter end of the 

 13th to the middle of the 15th century. Its character- 

 istics are, the finely formed arch, including an equilateral 

 triangle, clustered columns, formed mostly of one stone, 

 elegant and chaste tracery in windows and groins, crock. 

 eted pinnacles, tabernacles, and pediments ; the latter, to- 

 wards the end of the 14th century, being formed with a 

 tweep. The specimens are, the nave of Westminster, nave 

 and choir of York, naves of Winchester, Exeter, Canter- 

 bury, Wykeham's two colleges, and St Stephen's, West- 

 minster. 



The third order has been minutely detailed in men- 

 tioning the symptoms of decline. It reigned from the 

 latter end of the 15th to nearly the middle of the 16th 

 century. The specimens are, St George's Chapel at 

 Windsor ; King's College Chapel, Cambridge ; and 

 Henry Seventh's Chapel, Westminster. 



Having distinctly traced the progress of the pointed 

 style in England, having also arranged it into three se- 

 parate orders, distinguishing the periods in which each 



sion. 



was employed, and referred to numerous and splendid History, 

 specimens now existing, Dr Milner, with the view of ^^"Y~~ > 

 removing some objections and assumptions made by Mr 

 Whittington, concludes with the following remarks :. 



There is no good reason for alleging, that the inter. R fmar!cs - 

 secting and open pointed arches of St Cross, near Win- 

 chester, were not a part of the original structure, but 

 introduced in subsequent alterations and repairs ; because, 



1. Without the twenty windows, the whole would 

 have been dark at noon-day. 



2. The cornice from which the pointed arches spring- 

 goes quite through the wall, and is evidently a part of 

 the structure. 



3. The pointed arches in the south transept are the 

 same as the windows, both in regard to design and work- 

 manship. 



The primary object of the inventors of pointed ar- 

 chitecture being to excite devotion and awe, for this pur- 

 pose they studied sublimity rather than richness : Hence 

 the portals of Amiens and Rheima are,, notwithstand- 

 ing the armies of saints, prophets, martyrs, and angels, 

 inferior to those of York and Litchfield. Admitting 

 the French taste, the fasade of walls would be the most 

 beautiful of our English cathedrals. But the same false 

 taste prevails in producing Amiens as a model of perfec- 

 tion, on account of having the appearance of being all 

 windows ; and Dr Milner produces the choir of Lincoln 

 and nave of York as superior to the same parts in the 

 boasted cathedrals of Beauvais and Amiens. 



Having impartially sketched out the views taken by Condu- 

 these well informed men, of the rise and progress of Go- 

 thic architecture in France and England, the reader will 

 form his own judgment respecting the claims of the two 

 countries. We shall probably be not far from the truth 

 in admitting, that the advantages were mutual, and that 

 benefits alternately flowed from the operations on each 

 side of the channel. That the French and Norman* 

 had, earlier than the Saxons in England, erected splen- 

 did ecclesiastical edifices, must be admitted ; and that 

 the English did not acquire information from examining 

 the French works, during the wars they carried on in 

 that country, is improbable ; but, on the other hand, as 

 England was tranquil while France was harassed during 

 the 14th and 15th centuries, it is admitted, even by Mr 

 Whittington, that the former country was, from that cir- 

 cumstance, enabled to carry Gothic architecture to a great- 

 er degree of perfection than the former ; and without dis- 

 puting as to the mere discovery of the first, or exclusive 

 claim to the latter, the regular steps so distinctly traced 

 by Dr Milner, seem to secure to England the merit of 

 forming, and practising most extensively, the second or 

 most perfect order of the pointed style. 



This Gothic school is not more remarkable for the 

 elegance of its forms, than the scientific skill with which 

 the essential parts are adjusted. The small quantity of 

 materials employed in edifices of great extent and eleva- 

 tion, when compared to similar Greek and Roman 

 works, resemble films of net work, or slight frames of 

 timber or iron. To construct edifices of this descrip- 

 tion, with small sand stones, so as to be stable and last- 

 ing, far surpasses the efforts of ancient artists, whose 

 trust was reposed in the hardness and magnitude of their 

 materials. In Gothic construction, all depended upon 

 the correct adjustment of the bearings and thrusts of the 

 different arches operating in various directions ; not oppo- 

 sed by thick walls, but balanced by each other, and by 

 buttresses and pinnacles, apparently only objects of de- 

 coration. 



The Greek architects having no arches, had onl to 



