GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 



Ctc being pWed on a tower, inftead of a butlrcfs, hrcame 

 a broach or f'pire. Accordingly the ufc of fpirus became 

 ahnoll general in the fourtecntli century. We even read of 

 a new built towi-r being pulled down, becaufe it was unequal 

 to bear the weight of this grand ornament, when a new 

 one was built, which, with its fpire, was as high as the 

 church was long. In the fame fpirit of ornamental grandeur, 

 the buttrefi'es, fupporting tlu- upper part of the nave, in- 

 ftead of being concealed in the roofs of the (ide aides, were 

 brought into view with fuitable decorations, and made to ilreteh 

 over the tops of thofe ai(!es, in what are called Hying but- 

 trefles. The window no longer confilted of an arch divided 

 by a iimple nuiUion, and funnounted with a fingle or a tri- 

 ple rofe, but was henceforward, in all grand churches, por- 

 tioned out by mullions into three, four, five, fix, and foine- 

 tiracs into nine diflerent bays or days, as the feparate lights 

 ii\ a window were then called; and thel'e again were frequent- 

 ly fubdivided by one or more tranfoms ruiuiiiig acrofs tliem. 

 Their heads alio were varied by tracery work into a variety 

 of architeiElural defigns, and fonietimes, as at the weft end 

 of York, into the form of a beautiful flower. The plain 

 niches of the thirteenth century became, in the fourteenth, 

 gorgeous tabernacles, in which as much architeftural llcill 

 was often difplayed as in the whole church to which they 

 belonged. Tliefe tabernacles, as well as various other parts 

 of th.e iacred edifice, were filled with llatucs, which fiequciilly 

 ftiewed equal fpirit in the defign and art in the execution. 

 Finally, the ribs fupporting the groined ceiling were no 

 longer fimple interfcding arches ; but they branched out 

 into tracery work, ftill richer and more elegant than that in 

 the grand windows of this period ; and wherever the ribs 

 met, they were tied together by an architedlwral knot or 

 bofs, which generally exhibited fome inftrnftive device. It 

 rtiuft not be torgotten, that during the latter part of this 

 period, the pediments which before had been llraight, began 

 to humour tl\e fweep of the arch, by which means they 

 became lefs higli and more graceful. 



We have inilances of thefe improvements, or rather of 

 this new order of the pointed ftyle, in the three remaining 

 architeiilural crofles, erecled by Edward I. thofe of Nor- 

 thampton, Geddington, and Waltham, to the memory of 

 his queen Eleanor, who died in 1290; likewife in the Tiiag- 

 iiificent tomb of his brother Edmund Crouchback in Welt- 

 minfter abbey, who departed this life in 1296. But the 

 moil complete fpccimen of the v/hole detail of thcle improve- 

 ments is York Miniler, the nave of whicli, as it Hands, was 

 built between the years 1290 and 1330, and the choir fome 

 thirty years after the latter period. If any fimilar llruClure 

 in the fame llyle, but upon a fmaller fcale, could, in its 

 time, have vied with this in beauty and grandeur, it was St. 

 Stephen's chapel, Wellminller, now the houfe of commons, 

 which Edward III. began to ereft in 1348. Of the inimi- 

 table beauties of the latter ereftion, only a few fcattered 

 veftiges remain, to fliew the architectural antiquary wliat it 

 was in its glory. There are few, if any, of our cathedrals 

 and remaining abbey churches which were not rebuilt or re- 

 ftored in fome conliderable part or other of them, according 

 to this improved order. Before 132 I, biihop Langton had 

 added the Lady chapel to his catliedral of Litchfield, had 

 groined the nave and choir, and had erecled the magnificent 

 weftern fai;ade. About the fame, lime the greater part of 

 the nave of Wellmiufter abbey church \\.'»3 rebuilt. Be- 

 tM'een the years 1327 and 1 340, Exeter cathedral was 

 groined, and its heavy Norman arches and pillars were 

 changed into liglit and graceful pointed arches and cluitcr- 

 columns, by its munificent pv.-lale Grandifou. During the 



Vol. XVI. 



pontificate of archbifliop Courtney, wliich began in I3<!r, 

 and that of his fncceilbr Arundel, the nave of Catilcrbury 

 cathedral was rebuilt. During the fame period that eminent 

 prelate and architcft, William of Wykcham, was employed 

 in performing the fame difTicult tranfmutation of the nave 

 ot Wincheiler cathedral, which had been pcrfonr.ed in 

 that of Exeter. The circular calumns and arihcs were not 

 taken down, as has been generally fuppofcd, but the former 

 were cafed and t!ie latter reduced to a point. This may be . 

 afccrtained by an attentive examination of the work within 

 the roofs of thofe rtruftures; and without this trouble, by 

 fimply looking at the nave of Gtoixcfter, St. Albann, or 

 Rumfey great church, where the operation here defcribcd 

 will appear to have been performed, on two or three of 

 the circular pillars and arches at the well end, and to have 

 been left off with refpcft to the other pillars and arches. 

 The talle for thefe improvements defccndcd even to country 

 parifh chr.rchco, few of wliich did not fooHcr or later ex- 

 change their ancient windows, at leaft, for thofe of the 

 pointed ilyle. 



But human arts, like the human body, when they have at- 

 tained to t'-.e perfeftioii of their Hate, tend towards their de- 

 cline. This was the cafe with that fingnlar invention, point- 

 ed architecture. Its rife, progrefa, and decline, occupy lit- 

 tle more in the chronology of the world than fo-ir centiiric*. 

 As its charafteriilical pcrfciSion confu'.cd in the due elevation 

 of the arch, fo its decline commenced by an undue deprefiion 

 of it. This nev/ flyle, or third order of pointed architefture, 

 took place in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and ii 

 to be feeii in the royal chapels of St. George, Windfor, of 

 King's college, Cambridge, and of Henry VII., Wcftmin- 

 fler. It eannot be denied, that the builders of thefe fplen- 

 did and julUy admired flruClures difplayed more art and 

 more profefiional fcicnce than even their predcccfibrs had 

 done ; but then they di played this at the cxpence of the 

 llylc itlelf, which they cultivated, and of the awful and de- 

 vout iniprcfTions which this ilyle was invented to excite. 

 The fpeiilator was now amaz.ed to fee huge maffes of ftotie, 

 called pendent capitals, each one of more than a ton weight, 

 hanging in the air, which, inftcad of fuprorting the vaft 

 groins they were fixed in, were fupportf j by them ; the 

 confequcnce of this, however, was to brin.g the flat arches of 

 the ceiling ftill nearer to the eye, fo that their curvature was 

 henceforward dilccrnible at thoir fpringi:ig rather fliaji at 

 their point. Finally, ingenuity was at tliis period much 

 more aifeiSled than awfulnefs : hence thofe royal chapels, and . 

 teveral mortuary ones built in Winchefter, Peterborough, 

 and our other grand churches, during the time of the two 

 la!l Henries, are feen covered over with tracery, and loaded 

 in their groins and friezes with buftp, armorml bearings, and 

 rcbufes, beyoiul all due proportion, fo that, however ele- 

 gant the doiign, and cxquifite the execi t on of them (^nc- 

 rally is, a judicious fpeflator, after admiring them, fails net 

 to prefer to them the chafle grandeur of York Minllcr, or 

 even the unadorned majefty of Salilbury cathedral. The 

 church-windows of this period were fo multiplied and en- 

 larged, as to become what a late writer, Mr. Whittingto*. 

 profell'es to admire " all window,'' but which they certainly 

 could not become without great detriment to the character 

 of awfulnefs in the church itfelf. The fas-.e deprelTion of 

 the poiuted arch took place on the outfide as in the inlide of 

 the building.s of this period. Inftead of the tapering pin- 

 nacles and lofty fpires v.Iiich had hitherto adorned the towers 

 of churches, thele ftruoluivs were now generally covered 

 with round cupulas, and tlie portals, inltcad of being fur- 

 mountcu witli erucketed pediments and graceful piongclcs, 

 3 y wen: 



