GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 



a cliifTcl; that the vaultiiif; of the fiJo aides of the choir 

 MMs plain, whllft that of the new choir was- groined and 

 iixed vvitli key-lloiivs ; that the former choir had a flat 

 c-iUng orua;iK-ntally pointed ; but that the fnccecding choir 

 was elegantly vaulted with hard rtone for its ribs, and hglit 

 l(iph ito'.ie for the interilices ; finally, that there was oiily 

 oue tnjor'uivi, or g.dlery, round the ancient choir, whilll 

 there were two fuch in the modern choir. The call end of 

 this venerable cathedral, as it is feen at the prelent day, 

 iuid as It is reprefented by Mr. Carter, exaftly correfponds 

 in tiiefe and in other particulars with this delcription ot it, 

 given 600 years ago. It is all in the firil order ot the 

 poiiited llyle, except the main pillars, which are (to the eye) 

 round, with a fort of Corinthian capital, and except the 

 arches fpringlng from thefe pillars, which are alio circular 

 iii; far as the concha abficlis or altar end, thefe being point- 

 ed, as likewife with the exception of certaiT hlocicings 

 and mouldings, where the Saxon billet ornament is Hill 

 leen. 



Tlie improved architeclure of this, the moil dignified 

 church in the ifland, could not fail of being adopted in our 

 other churches, when there was occafion for rebuilding or 

 repairing them. I.,incoln cathedral feems to have led the 

 way in this particular about the year 1 195, under the di- 

 rection of its bilhop St. Hugh, who was riot lefs renowned 

 for his (l<ill in architefture than for the fanftity of his life. 

 This prelate undertook to rebuild the whole of his vail ca- 

 thedral, and he was fo intent upon the work, that, as Mat- 

 thew Paris tells us, he carried mortar and ftones on his own 

 (boulders for the ufe of the malons. The building was fo 

 far advanced at the time of his death, which happened in 

 the year 1 200, that he is confidered and called its founder, 

 thougli his work was not finilhed till about fifty years after- 

 wards, in the epifcopacy of Robert Grofetete. Excepting 

 the welt front, which is ahnoll all the work of the Norman 

 prelate Remigius, and the towers, the groining, the flcreens, 

 and certain other decorations added in the fourteenth cen- 

 tiu-y, the whole vail pile of St. Mary's church and Chapter- 

 lioufe at I..incoln is in the fimple ilyle of the firfl or lancet 

 order ot ponited architedture ; but awful and beauteous be- 

 yond the conception of thofe who have not feen it, and 

 greatly luperior to any church of the fame order and period 

 to be found in France. In 1202, the rich and powerful 

 bifliop Godfrey de Lucy, amongll his other great works, 

 began to rebuild the eallern part of his cathedral at Win- 

 cheiler, wliich he executed in the llyle of tlie Metropolitical 

 choir, but without the lead mixture of the Saxon. His 

 extenfive work is ftill to be feen there, confiding of long 

 narrow fliarp-pointed windows and other arches, detached 

 pillars of Purbec marble, qnatre-foil mouldings, and light 

 groining of fimple interfecting ribs. And, whereas, it 

 became very ulual, for the fake of gracefulnefs and 

 alfo of ufe, where they were ufed as windows, to place two 

 or thefe narrow arches clofe together under another pointed 

 arch of greater width, in conlequence of which a vacant 

 fpace occurred between their heads; a trefoil, qnatrefoil, or 

 cniqaefoil was frequently introduced, with the happiell 

 f fleet, to fill up this fpace. In 1227 archbilliop Walter 

 de Grey began to rebuild the northern Metropolitan church 

 of York in the prevailing flyle, and he aflually finilhed the 

 iouth crofs aide as it is now feen. The fame kind of work 

 was going on at this time at Worcefler, Sahlhurv, and other 

 cathedral and abbey churches!^ The lail-meiitioned church, 

 which was an entire new foundation, begun by bifliop De 

 Foore in 1220, and finilhed by bilhop Bridport in 1258, ex- 

 hibits, in its front and other parts, the double lancet aix'h, 

 wjth the intermediate quatretoil role, and al! the other clia- 



" rafters defcribcd above. There being occafion, however, 

 to place tlu-ee lancet arches together in the windows of the 

 upper llory, the head of the middle one was gracefully 

 raifed above the other two, an iijipmvement wliich was fooii 

 adopted in many other churches. A ilill more llriking im- 

 provement which took place, if not at Salilhury for the 

 iirll time, at leall about the time of its completion, was 

 the elevation of the cornice, pediment, or canopy which had 

 hitherto adhered, or at leall had been very near to the archi- 

 trave of the arch. This was now raif.-d, like the two fides 

 of a triangle, to a confidcrable height above it. The jambs 

 of the pediment were at firll rather fliort, not reaching, by 

 any means, fo low as the fpringijig ot the arch, and gene- 

 rally relling on fome fmall flower or otlier flight ornament. 

 The point of the canopy always terminated in a trefoil or 

 other graceful ornament, but was not, as yet, adorned with 

 crockets or foliage down the jambs. Biihop De Poorc, 

 being tranllated to Durham, began to ornament the call end 

 of his prefent cathedral in the llyle which he had introduced 

 into the one he liad left. Whilll the work at Salilhury was 

 drawing towards a conclufion, that at Wellminller abbey 

 was beginning, namely, in the year 1245. The north trau- 

 fept, and part of the adjoining nave ot the church, remain 

 in almoft the fame flate they were left in by their founder 

 Henry III. The windows of the lall-mentioncd portion 

 of the abbey, together with the correfjjonding aifle, are 

 larger and better Droportioned than any -.vhich had hitherto 

 been feen in this ifland. Here alfo we meet with the cinque- 

 foil rofe between the heads of the two lights ; while the ex- 

 terior windows of the triforium or gallery confill entirely af 

 a triple cinquefoil under a pointed arch. Thefe two models 

 for the upper part of church windows were long followed. 

 On the other hand, the arches and windows of the tranfept, 

 being placed in a regular order, a.:d very near to each other, 

 prefented an appearance of thofe large muliioned windows 

 which, in the fuccceding period of this llyle, came into 

 fafliion. In this part alfo of the abbey church, namely, 

 the infide of the tranfept, we begin to meet with good 

 ilatuary. 



During the reign of Henry's fon, Edward I., wliich be- 

 gan in 1272, the architefture of tliis countrv, through the 

 ingenuity and indullry of its artills. acqvured a new charac- 

 ter, and may be faid to haie grown into a new order of the 

 pointed fliyle. The firil and diilinguilhing feature of this 

 was the general adoption of the well proportioned and well 

 turned alpiring arch. The arches which had hitherto been 

 conilrudled, though fometimes accidentally perfect, were, 

 for the moft part, too acute. But the arches built at the 

 latter end of the thirteenth century generally approached 

 to the perfeA proportion. This proportion, according 

 to the bell judges, is when an equilateral triangle can be 

 infcribed within the crown and impolls of the arch. The 

 arches alfo were gracefully turned. Befides all this, they 

 were now invariably ornamented in their heads with cufps, 

 fo as to form trefoils, cinquefoils, or feptfoils. In like 

 manner the pediments or canopies over the arches were uni- 

 verlally purfled, that is to fay, adorned with the reprefenta- 

 tion of foliage called crockets, from the corbel on which 

 they reftcd up to the rich flower or other elaborate finial in- 

 which they terminated. Thefe corbels or brackets now 

 correfponded in iieight with the fpringing of the arch, and. 

 mollly exhibited bulls of the founders or other benefaclors 

 of the ellablifiiment. Pinnacles, which hitherto had been 

 both very fimple and very rare, were, in this improved order, 

 placed at the fides of alinoil every arch, and on the top of 

 ahnoll every buttreis, being invariably purfled and fur- 

 mounted with rich finials, A pinnacle of a proportionable 



fi.'.e 



