307 
yards; the collective areas upon which the following cathedrals 
stand amount to but 63,784 superficial yards, — viz., York, 
Salisbury, Lincoln, Chichester, Peterborough, Gloucester, 
Canterbury, Norwich, Wells, Worcester, Rochester, Lich- 
field, Durham, and Oxford ! ! 
Considered relatively, we have in the one case simply an 
all-enduring monument of the building art, — in the other we 
have science carried to its utmost limit, which may be clearly 
proved. 
The superficies of the walls of York, Lichfield, and 
Salisbury Cathedrals is about one-fifth their whole area. 
After what has been said with reference to these structures, 
we may safely assert, that the same principles were adopted 
in their erection. It has been observed, that " this mode of 
" estimating the merit of a building, (viz., the proportion of 
the walling to the whole area enclosed,) renders it, in 
" some measure, independent of taste, whose applause is 
" intermitting. A great building with few materials, besides 
the periodical approbation it will receive from the eye, will 
" have an uniform superiority by this rule." — (Ware on 
Vaults.) Mr. Gwilt, the editor of Sir Wm. Chambers's 
Architecture, states that " there is more constructive skill 
" shown in Salisbury and other of our cathedrals, than in all 
the works of the ancients put together. The balance of 
*' the thrusts of the diff'erent arches — the adjustment of 
" thickness in the vaultings, and the exceeding small ratio of 
" the points of support in these buildings to their whole 
" superficies — and added to these the consequent lightness 
" and elegance of form which they exhibit, leave us nothing 
to desire in this respect." — ( Gwilfs Edit, of Sir William 
Chambers' s Architecture.) 
Lest it should be imagined that the principles to which I 
have referred as existing in York, Sahsbury, and Lichfield 
Cathedrals, do not apply elsewhere, I take this opportunity of 
