360 



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, without injury 

 to its massiveness. On the other hand, pin- 

 nacles and open work, such as are Seen in 

 many of the towers of our cathedrals, arc 

 * 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 ; for 

 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 they 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 thek eficct, though slirtpte, is never 

 meagre. The bataletaented tower radtaita» 



