^Esthetic Evolution. 233 



the gothic churches at the time of their erection. Now, 

 however, the assistance of the laity at " office " has all 

 but ceased ; nor have we, nor are we likely to have, 

 troops of canons, regular and secular, to fill the deep 

 stalled chancels and vast enclosed choirs of our medi- 

 aeval edifices. Almost daily benedictions, frequent ex- 

 positions, and prayers recited at the altar's foot, to be 

 heard and responded to by the people find in general a 

 more suitable and congruous home in an Italian church 

 than in a real gothic structure, which is thus again, 

 to a certain extent, unavoidably anti-Roman. As to the 

 requirement that the interior should not be greatly ob- 

 structed by columns, it has been demonstrated by the first 

 writer, and admitted by his opponent, that " gothic " by 

 no means necessitates its infringement. 



The eighth requirement, that of an adequate supply of 

 light, can equally be met by either style. But the mode 

 of meeting it is different in both, and seems to the pre- 

 sent writer to be objectionable in both. As H. W. B. most 

 justly observes, a gothic church may be " all window," 

 as is the case with the noble pointed choir added to the 

 old Dom of Aachen; and indeed, the pointed style in 

 its fullest development, such as the choir of Beauvais, 

 with large lower windows and with double, glazed tri- 

 foria as well as clerestory, becomes one enormous lantern. 

 Moreover, these pointed windows, with their graceful 

 tracery, are beautiful objects in themselves, apart from 



