Gothic Horror 221 



motion was chiefly suggested by the extraordi- 

 nary angle at which the curves of the arching 

 touched. 



To any experienced eye, the curves of Gothic 

 arching offer a striking resemblance to certain 

 curves of vegetal growth; the curves of the 

 palm-branch being, perhaps, especially suggested. 

 But observe that the architectural form suggests 

 more than any vegetal comparison could illus- 

 trate! The meeting of two palm-crests would 

 indeed form a kind of Gothic arch; yet the 

 effect of so short an arch would be insignificant. 

 For nature to repeat the strange impression of 

 the real Gothic arch, it were necessary that the 

 branches of the touching crests should vastly 

 exceed, both in length of curve and strength of 

 spring, anything of their kind existing in the 

 vegetable world. The effect of the Gothic arch 

 depends altogether upon the intimation of energy. 

 An arch formed by the intersection of two short 

 sprouting lines could suggest only a feeble power 

 of growth; but the lines of the tall mediaeval 

 arch seem to express a crescent force immensely 

 surpassing that of nature. And the horror of 

 Gothic architecture is not in the mere suggestion 



