GOT 
float in the air in dear days in autumn, and 
is more observable in stubble-fields, and 
upon furze and other low bushes. This is 
probably formed by the flying-spider, 
which, in traversing the air for food, shoots 
out these threads from its anus, which are 
borne down by the dew, &c. 
GOSSYPIUM, in botany, English cot- 
ton, a genus of the Monadelphia Polyandria 
class and order. Natural order of Colum- 
niferse. Malvaceae, Jussieu. Essential cha- 
racter : calyx double, outer trifid ; capsule 
four-celled; seeds wrapped in cotton. There 
are six species. See Manufacture of 
Cotton. 
GOTHIC style, in architecture. The 
characteristics of this manner of building 
are pointed arches, greater height than 
breadth in the proportions, and profuse or- 
nament chiefly derived from an imitation 
of the leaves and flowers of plants. The 
word gothic, by which it has long been dis- 
tinguished in England, has lately been con- 
sidered by its admirers as a term of re- 
proach applied by architects, who were at 
a loss how to imitate its excellence, in order 
to bring it into disrepute, the former 
therefore now call it the pointed style. If 
we were to judge wholly from the com- 
plete oblivion which involves the origin of 
gothic architecture, it must follow that 
architects were held in as little estimation 
about the time of Henry III. as common 
masons are at present; but this inference is 
doubtful, and the cause that the names of 
the most eminent have not reached us may 
be more correctly attributed to the then 
and subsequent neglect of literature. Writ- 
ing was almost exclusively confined to the 
cloister, yet the monks who could best in- 
form us of their architects and the changes 
in their styles were unaccountably silent on 
the subject, an instance may be cited from 
Malcolm’s “ Londinium Redivivum,” in 
which that author introduces a legend of 
the building of the priory of St. Bartho- 
lomew, Smithfield, written immediately 
after the death of Rahere the founder, by 
a monk resident there. This person des- 
cribes the manner in which the money was 
raised, and many miracles performed, but 
not a word occurs relating to the architect: 
Rahere died in 1174, and the monk adds, 
“ And with moor ampliant buildings were 
the skynnys of our tabernacuiys dylatid 
we may therefore suppose that the arches 
under the tower which are partly circular 
in thq Saxon style, gnd partly pointed, 
GOT 
were some of the first essays in the new 
mode of building, and erected about 1200. 
Westminster Abbey was begun by Henry 
III. in 1245, this beautiful edifice is a com- 
plete and regular specimen of the purest 
pointed style, it is consequently perfectly fair 
to suppose, that the interval between the 
above dates was the period when gothic 
architecture superseded its heavy and taste- 
less predecessor. That it soon became the 
favourite mode may be concluded from its 
adoption in all the additions made to old 
churches at that time, which is discover- 
able in an instant by the total disagree- 
ment of the proportions and ornaments. 
There is every probability that the first 
principles of the* style in question were 
derived from the eastern nations, now par- 
tially under the dominion of the East India 
Company, where there are many buildings 
dedicated to their mode of worship that 
might almost be called gothic, and those 
are certainly very aptient. The Romans 
had explored the coasts of those countries, 
and their remote descendants may have 
seen representations of the structures al- 
luded to left by their ancestors and adopt- 
ed them with alterations in some few of 
the earliest specimens of Christian churches. 
When a people of so much importance, in 
the history of the world, as the successors of 
its conquerors introduced any peculiarity 
in their manners or buildings it is reason- 
able to suppose that they were eagerly 
imitated throughout Europe; hence we find 
that a few centuries produced a vast num- 
ber of churches, in the pointed style, in the 
Italian States, Germany, France, Spain, 
&c. &c. though it must be admitted that 
the latter country being conquered by the 
Moors, may have in some measure operated 
to introduce an imitation of their mosques, 
which are very like gothic architecture. 
Such are the conjectures which naturally 
follow the consideration of this subject, and 
yet they may be altogether erroneous, as 
much might be said to induce a supposi- 
tion that the pointed style was gradually 
invented by the abberration of the pencil 
and compasses, or similar instruments 
of ingenious architects, who having ob- 
served intersected arches in some very 
antient Roman buildings, of Grecian archi- 
tecture, admired their effect and followed 
them as fundamental principles in new 
designs. This speculation may be support- 
ed by referring to an engraving by Marco 
Sadeler, representing the ruins of theTerme 
