ACRE. 21 
provinces of our island, no instance of the pointed chap. 
xt2/k adorned those ecclesiastical establishments ', y-. ^ 
in the north, which, having no connexion with the 
Saxons, were erected at an earlier period, and 
after a different model? It is conceived that this 
question cannot be answered, by urging that the 
pointed style originated in our country from the 
intersection of circular arches. The fact of the 
existence oi pointed arches, before the period as- 
signed for their invention in England, is a plain 
document, which cannot be superseded^: it 
rests upon the evidence of pointed arches situate 
(3) See the very recent but most satisfactory elucidation of this 
subject, by the Rev. T. Kerrich, read before the Society of Antiqua- 
ries, May 11, 18, and June 1, 1809, and since published in the 
XVIth volume of their Archaologia. Speakin<? of the supposed 
English origin of Gothic architecture, Mr. Kerrich says, " The late Mr. 
Gilpin, I believe, first broached this notion, (Sec Gilpin's Northern 
Tour, vol. I.) at least he first delivered it to the world in print : he 
had never been out of England: he was theiefore excusable: but 
how people who had travelled, and had visited the other countries of 
Europe, could patronize such a notion, is really surprising : they 
must know, unless they voluntarily shut their eyes, that, throughout 
the Low Countries, from St. Omer's to Cologne, the old churches are 
all Gothic ; and many of them immense structures, and wonderfully 
beautiful ; such as the cathedrals of dntwerp and Mechlin, St. Gttdnle's 
at Brussels, and St. Bavon's at Ghent, and numberless others. The 
whole of France is covered with them, from Calais to Lyons, and quite 
to the banks of the Rhine, where the cathedral of Strashurg is emi- 
nently light and beautiful. The cathedral and church of St. Nicaise 
at Rheims, the cathedrals of Amiens, Rouen, and Evreux, are also well 
known as buildings of extraordinary dimensions and elegance in this 
style of architecture. According to Ponz's Voyage de Espaiia, and 
the 
