424: THE S0TJECE8 OF AECHTTECTUEAL TYPES. 



out ; aud that hence our love of completeness is offended. 

 But then there come the further questions — How do we 

 know that the architect's conception was symmetrical ? 

 Whence comes this notion of symmetry which we have, 

 and which we attribute to him ? Unless we fall back upon 

 the old doctrine of innate ideas, we must admit that the 

 idea of bilateral symmetry is derived fi'om without ; and 

 to admit this is to admit that it is derived from the higher 

 animals. 



That there is some relationship between Gothic archi- 

 tecture and vegetable forms is a position generally admit- 

 ted. The often-remarked analogy between a groined nave 

 and an avenue of trees with interlacing branches, shows' 

 that the fact has forced itself on men's observation. It is 

 not only in this analogy, however, that the kinship is seen. 

 It is seen still better in the essential characteristic of Goth- 

 ic ; namely, what is termed its aspiring tendency. That 

 predominance of vertical lines which so strongly distin- 

 guishes Gothic from other styles, is the most marked pecu- 

 liarity of trees, when compared with animals or rocks. To 

 persons of active imagination, a tall Gothic tower, with its 

 elongated apertures and clusters of thin projections run- 

 ning from bottom to top, suggests a vague notion of growth. 



Of the alleged connexion between inorganic forms and 

 the wholly irregular and the castellated styles of building, 

 we have, I think, some proof in the fact that when an edi- 

 fice is irregular, the more irregular it is the more it pleases 

 us. I see no way of accounting for this fact, save by sup- 

 posing that the greater the irregularity the more strongly 

 are we reminded of the inorganic forms typified, and the 

 more \Tividly are aroused the agreeable ideas of rugged 

 and romantic scenery associated with those forms. 



Further evidence of these several relationships of styles 

 of architecture to classes of natural objects, is supplied by 

 the kinds of decoration they respectively represent. The 



