36'0 



always strikes and pleases the eye ; it also 

 admits of a high degree of ornament. The 

 battlement is the simplest break to the uni- 

 formity of a mere wall; it is sufficient to 

 give variety to the summit, A^thout injar3' 

 to its massiveness. On the other hand, pin- 

 nacles and open work, such as are seen in 

 many of the towers of our cathedrals, are 

 the most striking specimens of richness and 

 lightness, both of. design and execution. 

 They are, however, on account of that rich- 

 ness, less suited to a village than to a city, 

 yet they will not bear to be simplified ; fof 

 where a plain pinnacle is placed on each 

 corner of a tower, the whole has a very 

 meagre appearance: indeed, when we con- 

 sider, what are the chief characteristics of 

 the style of architecture to which the}" be- 

 long, plain simple Gothic, is almost as 

 great a contradiction, as plain simple intri- 

 cacy and enrichment. Battlements are 

 not liable to the same objection as pinna- 

 cles, for their effect, though simple, is never 

 Pi.'^Sgi'§'. The ba,ttlemented tower admits, 



