PART III. 



ARCHITECTURE. 



97 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE GOTHIC STYLE. 

 SECT. I. OF THE POINTED GOTHIC STYLE. 



A very rational idea of the origin of this style may be formed, 

 by supposing the artist to have chosen from thick woods such 

 young trees as, from being crowded in their growth, had sprung 

 up into tall slender stems with few or no branches. When he 

 wanted a column, he did not fix on a large cylindrical tree, as 

 the Grecian artists are supposed to have done ; but collected a 

 number of these slender trunks, placed them together, and 

 fixed them by bandages. In this way he formed a column. 

 These columns were never placed in the open air to support an 

 entablature, as in the Grecian style ; but always in the internal 

 parts of the building to support the roof. For this purpose, 

 one bandage was fixed on these rods near the ground, and ano- 

 ther tied round them at a proper height. The rods were then 

 spread out in every direction ; and as two rows of columns 

 were always necessary, their tops, composed of these rods, were 

 spread out in the same manner. Their extremities, by intersect- 



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